shot and shells upon the schooner, and soon succeeded in setting her on fire, to the great joy of all the British army. Gen. Jackson in his official account, states: "On the inorning of the 27th of December, the enemy succeeded in blowing up the Caroline by means of hot shot thrown from a land battery, which he had erected the previous night. "Emboldened by this event, he marched his whole force along the levee, in hopes of driving us from our position, and with this view opened his fire upon us at a distance of about half a mile with bombs and rockets. He was, however, repulsed with considerable loss, not less, it is believed, than one hundred and twenty men killed. "Our own loss was inconsiderable, not more than six men killed and twelve wounded. Since this attack, he has not ventured to repeat the attempt, though lying close together. There has, however, been frequent skirmishing between our pickets." Gen. Jackson here laments that he had not sufficient means to carry on offensive operations against his adversaries. On the 28th of December, the brave Colonel Henderson and several private soldiers were killed by the advance of the enemy on the left wing of the army. Colonel Henderson was a brave, meritorious officer, and a great loss to our army. The Kentucky troops had not yet arrived, and Gen. Jackson's effective force at this point did not exceed three thousand men, while the British army were more than double that number. Prisoners and deserters both agreed that more than seven thousand British troops had landed from their boats. While Gen. Jackson pursued the undeviating policy of harassing the enemy along his advance posts with the United States troops and drilled volunteer regiments, his main line of defence was daily being strengthened by recruits from the interior of Kentucky and Tennessee. It is to be presumed that a large portion of these men were farmers, who, from their childhood, had been accustomed to the use of the axe and the spade, and therefore were extremely useful in erecting temporary fortifications. These men, under the direction of Colonel La Tour, the chief engineer, were constantly employed in collecting and placing logs of forest trees along the whole line, while numerous citizens from New Orleans were occupied in collecting bags of cotton and placing them in a position to form embrasures for the artillery. These logs, with cotton bags and other materials filled in with mud and earth, soon formed, as it were, a wall of defence about six feet high. In front of these works was a broad wet ditch, and although these fortifications were rudely constructed, they were nevertheless sufficiently strong and thick to protect the Americans from the fire of their assailants. In our Western States, almost every farmer is trained from his boyhood to the use of the rifle; consequently a large proportion of these troops were good marksmen, and very efficient in defending fortifications. General Jackson's main defence, according to a draft or plan by Colonel La Tour, was between 1,800 and 1,900 yards, that is a little over a mile in length. The right commenced at the river side and ran across the plain to the extreme left, extending to a large wet cypress swamp. The writer of these pages visited the battle ground where these thrilling scenes transpired, some eighteen months after their occurrence, and within a few years has again passed over the same memorable fields, so that he is still familiar with all the important locations within a circle of fifty miles from New Orleans. After this little digression, I will proceed to follow up the historical narration connected with these important events. On the right bank of the river, opposite Gen. Jackson's strong defence, Gen. Morgan had an entrenched camp protected by two marine batteries on the bank, erected and superintended by Commodore Patterson. Within this camp Gen. Morgan had under his command the New Orleans Contingent, the Louisiana Militia, and a detachment of Kentucky troops. Commodore Patterson had placed his vessel, the United States Ship Louisiana, in the river near the fort to protect Gen. Morgan's camp, and also to protect Gen. Jackson's flank on the opposite side of the river, and to repel the invaders whenever they should come within the reach of his guns. By all accounts, the heroic Patterson was in every place where he could do the enemy the most harm. In Commodore Patterson's dispatches to the Secretary of the Navy, dated December the 29th, he says "Yesterday morning our advanced guards retreated towards our lines. The enemy pursued throwing rockets, firing shot and shells from field artillery while they advanced on the road behind the levee. I got springs on the cables of the Louisiana, and soon brought her broadside to bear on the invaders. "At half-past eight the enemy opened their fire upon the ship, with shells, hot shot, and rockets. We instantly returned their fire, which was continued without intermission till 1 P.M., when the enemy slackened their 27 fire, and retreated with a part of their artillery, evidently with great loss. "At 3 P.M. the enemy were silenced; at 4 we ceased firing from the ship, the invaders having retired beyond the reach of our guns. Many of their shot passed over the ship, and their shells burst over our decks, which were strewed with their fragments; and yet after an incessant cannonading of upwards of seven hours, during which time eight hundred shot were fired from the ship, one man only was slightly wounded by a piece of shell, and one shot passed between the bowsprit and the heel of the jib-boom." Gen. Jackson having applied for officers and seamen to work the heavy cannon on his lines, Lieutenants Norris and Crawley, late of the schooner Caroline, with the greater part of her crew, instantly volunteered. They behaved with great gallantry, under the immediate eye of the Commander-in-Chief. EXTRACT OF A LETTER FROM AN OFFICER UNDER GEN. JACK- CAMP, FOUR MILES BELOW NEW ORLEANS, "The enemy have made several attempts to carry our works, but up to this date have been uniformly repulsed and driven back. It is now fourteen days since the first battle took place between our troops and the British, and for the whole of the last two weeks we have been almost constantly employed in cannonading the invaders. "We have battered down their advanced works as fast as they could erect them. I am sorry to say we have lost from a hundred and fifty to two hundred men, among whom were some of our most respectable citizens. Gen. Jackson is a perfect hero. I think, however, he exposes himself too much, for should a chance shot take him off, it is impossible to say what would be the consequence to our army. His head-quarters are so near the British lines, that at least thirty cannon balls have passed through the plantation house which he occupies. "The opposing lines are so near each other, that the picket-guards skirmish daily." While the cannonading and skirmishing were kept up without much cessation by both the belligerent parties, it was evident to Gen. Jackson, from some uncommon movements he discovered in the British camp, that the enemy was preparing to make a general assault upon his lines, and if possible, carry, his defences by storm. He therefore kept up a show of resistance opposite the British out-posts, while he ordered the main arıny to fall back and retire to the rear of his strong defence. He arranged the different corps of his army as follows the regular troops and part of the militia of Louisiana occupied and defended six hundred yards on the right, next to the river; Gen. Carroll's division, twelve hundred strong, eight hundred yards in the centre; Gen. Coffee's corps of riflemen, seven hundred strong, the remainder of the ground on the extreme left near the swamp. Besides the foregoing, there were about six or eight hundred of the Kentucky militia in the rear of the line, to act as a reserve corps, to assist at any point where their services should be most required. Gen. Jackson says in his official report, that the whole number of his men, on this side of the river, did not exceed three thousand five hundred and ninety. All along this extended line were placed parks of |