which demolished the American schooner. Gaining confidence from his success, he put his army in motion early on the next morning, the 28th, and advanced against the American works. At the distance of half a mile, his heavy artillery opened, and quantities of bombs, balls, and Congreve rockets were discharged. It was a commencement of noise and terrific grandeur, which he had probably calculated would excite a panic in the minds of the raw recruits of Jackson's army, and compel them to surrender, or abandon their stronghold. But he did not know Jackson, and he was not present on the night of the 23d, or he might have known Jackson's men better. They had then afforded

abundant proof, that whether disciplined or not, they well knew how to defend the honour and interests of their country; and had sufficient valour not to be alarmed at the reality-still less, the semblance of danger. The British rockets, though a kind of instru

BRITISH ATTACK THE WORKS.

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ment of destruction to which they, unskilled in the science of desolating warfare, had been hitherto strangers, excited no other feeling than that which novelty inspires. At the moment, therefore, that the British in different columns were moving up, in all the pomp and parade of battle, preceded by these insignia of terror more than danger, and were expecting to behold their opponents tremblingly retire and flee before them, the batteries, well served by the Baratarians and seamen, opened, and arrested their advance.

The severest check to their advance, however, was given by the sloop of war Louisiana, which lay in the river, nearly opposite the line of defence. No sooner did her commander, Lieutenant Thompson, discover the approach of the columns, than warping his vessel around, he brought her starboard guns to bear, and worked them with such effect, as soon to compel the enemy to retreat. Falling back to a comparatively safe distance, they maintained the conflict with their heavy artillery for seven hours, when, unable to make a breach in the line or silence the fire from the sloop, they abandoned a contest in which so few advantages seemed to be presented.

The crew of the Louisiana was composed of new recruits and of discordant materials, of soldiers, citizens, and seamen; yet by the activity of their commander, they were so well perfected in their duty, that they already managed their guns with the greatest precision and certainty of effect; and by three o'clock in the afternoon, with the aid of the land batteries, had completely silenced and driven back the enemy. Emboldened by the effect produced the day before on

the Caroline, the furnaces of the enemy were put in operation, and many hot shot were thrown from a heavy piece which was placed behind and protected by the levee. When the enemy retreated, those who attempted to carry off this piece, losing the protection of the levee, were fairly exposed to the fire from the sloop, and suffered greatly by it. In their endeavours to remove, "I saw," says Commodore Patterson, "distinctly, with the aid of a glass, several balls strike in the midst of the men who were employed in dragging it away."

In this engagement, the Americans received very little injury. The Louisiana sloop, against which the most violent exertions were made, had but a single man wounded, by a fragment of a shell which burst over her deck. Their entire loss did not exceed nine killed, and eight or ten wounded; and this small number would have been less, if the line of defence had been completely finished. The enemy, being more exposed, acting in the open field, and in range of our guns, suffered considerable injury. They had at least one hundred and twenty killed and wounded.

COLONEL HENDERSON KILLED.

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Of the nine Americans killed, six of them were shot without the lines. An advanced party of the British had taken post behind a fence that ran obliquely to, and not very far from the ditch. Colonel Henderson, with a detachment of two hundred men, was sent out to dislodge them. He was ordered to march in the direction of the wood, and turning the enemy's right, cut off his retreat. Misunderstanding the order, the colonel proceeded in front, in the direction of the river, leaving the fence between him and his enemy, and waded through the water, which was there nearly knee-deep, until he reached a dry knoll, where he formed and attempted to execute his order. Being in an open and exposed situation, directly in front of the British party, he was soon killed by a ball in the head. Deprived of their commander, and perceiving their situation hazardous and untenable, the detachment retreated to the line, with the loss of their colonel and five men.

While this advance was being made, a column of the enemy threatened an attack on the extreme left of the American line. To frustrate the attempt, General Jackson ordered Coffee with his riflemen to hasten through the woods and check their approach. The enemy, though greatly superior to him in numbers, no sooner discovered his movement, than they retired and abandoned the attack which they had meditated.

Frequent light skirmishes by advanced parties, without material effect on either side, were the only incidents that took place for several days. Colonel Hinds, at the head of the Mississippi dragoons, on the 30th of December, was ordered to dislodge a party

of the enemy, who, under cover of a ditch that ran across the plain, were annoying the American fatigue parties. In this advance he was unexpectedly thrown into an ambuscade, and became exposed to the fire of a line which had hitherto lain concealed and unobserved. His collected conduct and gallant deportment extricated him from the danger in which he was placed, and gained him and his corps the approbation of the commanding general. The enemy, forced from their position, retired, and he returned to the line with the loss of five of his men.

Though foiled in their attack on the 28th, the British resolved to attempt another, and one which they believed would be more successful. Presuming their failure to have arisen from not having sufficiently strong batteries and heavy ordnance, a more enlarged arrangement was resorted to, with a determination to silence opposition, and make such breaches in the entrenchment as would enable their columns to pass, without being exposed to any considerable hazard. The time between the 28th of December and 1st of January was accordingly spent in preparing to execute their designs. Their boats had been despatched to the shipping, and an additional supply of heavy cannon landed through the Bayou Bienvenu, whence they had first debarked.

During the night of the 31st of December they were busily engaged. They erected three batteries on the edge of a ditch, within six hundred yards of the line, on which they mounted eighteen and twenty-four pound carronades. A thick fog next morning, which was not dispelled until eight o'clock, by concealing