Here is another good story about the newspapers in September 1861:

The Memphis newspaper correspondents that observed the Gallant Creoles reported, “Among the many fine companies which have passed through Memphis, none surpassed in appearance and respectability the Donaldsonville Cannoneers.” Another wrote they were a “splendid company” and, “one of the finest artillery companies we have ever seen since the war commenced.” The newspapers likewise informed the citizens, “The officers of the Prince of Whales speak in the highest terms of the gallant and gentlemanly bearing of all the members…and commend them to the hospitalities of our citizens.”

The day the Compagnie d’Artillerie landed in Memphis one newspaper took note of the levee along the river where twenty-four 6-pounder cannons cast at the Richmond Tredegar Iron Work sat awaiting allocation. The article compared these guns for beauty and general appearance with those cast in Memphis by the Quinby and Robinson Company, and proclaimed that the Memphis cast guns, “cannot be excelled by any in the world.” In the same newspaper column immediately above the “Memphis Manufactured Cannon” article was a story entitled “Interesting Relic.” This story informed its readers, “Among the pieces brought to this city by the Donaldsonville Cannoneers yesterday, is a brass six pounder cannon captured from the English at the battle of New Orleans. It had been captured from the French in 1792. Upon top the piece are the words ‘Liberty and Equality,’ in French. What service it did for the republic and how it was obtained by the English would no doubt be a very interesting history, and we regret that we are unable [to] narrate it.” Another of Memphis’ tabloids gave the same account but clarified, “It was taken by General [Andrew] Jackson at the battle of New Orleans.”

It is unknown if the newspaper journalists interviewed an officer, or one of the privates, or if the entire Compagnie d’Artillerie were in on the ‘tit mensonge (‘tit for petit, meaning small, and mensonge meaning story or fib.) It was such a good tale though; the New Orleans newspaper Daily True Delta reprinted the article for its readers on September 26, 1861.

In the 1814-15 campaign for New Orleans the British lost fourteen cannons, all were 18 and 24-pounder guns which were spiked and abandoned because of their size when they retreated.