One single ball from her killed fifteen of his men. Her fire at last broke his columns, and forced them to disperse and fall back into the fields, where they took a position on Bienvenu's plantation, under cover of some buildings.

It is but justice to say, that the services rendered on this day by the Louisiana, were of the greatest importance. The cannonading lasted seven hours, during which she fired upwards of eight hundred shot. The spirited exertions of her commander, lieutenant Thompson, on that occasion, cannot be too highly commended. (See Appendix, No. 26.)

During this engagement the enemy abandoned several batteries he had established on the river the preceding night; and his loss, in other respects, was considerable.

Two days previous to this engagement, general Carroll's troops had taken post on the prolongation of Rodriguez's canal, and had worked without intermission at the breastwork of the lines, which, until the 1st of January, had towards the left hardly more than sufficient thickness to protect the men from musketry. During the whole day, the enemy incessantly threw Congreve rockets, which wounded some of our men. By one of these, major Carmick, of the marines, had his horse killed, and was himself wounded in the hand. The British had great expectation from the effect of this weapon, against an enemy who had never seen it before. They hoped that its very noise would strike terror into us; but we soon grew accustomed to it, and thought it little formidable; for in the whole course of the campaign, the rockets only

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wounded ten men, and blew up two caissons. That weapon must doubtless be effectual to throw amongst squadrons of cavalry, and frighten the horses, or to set fire to houses; but from the impossibility of directing it with any certainty, it will ever be a very precarious weapon to use against troops drawn up in line of battle, or behind ramparts.

The twenty-four-pounder just mentioned, was served in the beginning of the action by a detachment of captain St. Gemes's dismounted dragoons, and afterwards by a part of the crew of the late Carolina, commanded by lieutenant Norris. About eight in the morning captain Dominique's artillery company, then about twenty men strong, returned from fort St. John, whither it had been sent on the 23d, and was stationed on the lines; to it was committed the service of a twenty-four-pounder, battery No. 3, which had been mounted the preceding evening. These mariners, all veteran gunners, served their piece with the steadiness and precision of men practised in the management of cannon, and inured to warfare; and the battery No. 3 was not the least destructive to the enemy during the campaign.

Lieutenant Crawley, with another part of the crew of the Carolina, repaired to the lines on the morning of the 28th, and during the whole of the action served a howitzer at the battery No. 1. In the evening, general Jackson having ordered a thirty-two-pounder to be mounted in the centre of the line, lieutenant Crawley caused the platform to be established, and had the piece mounted in the night.

The first regiment of Louisiana militia had taken a position on the right, the preceding evening, and

remained on the line during the whole of the action of the 28th. On the morning of the same day, the 2d regiment received orders to re-enforce the extremity of the left, which was under the command of general Coffee.

We lost on that day seven men, and had ten wounded: amongst the former was colonel Henderson, of the Tennessee division, under general Carroll. The enemy's light troops having advanced along a ditch to a fence which ran in an oblique direction to our lines, its extremity being only at the distance of one hundred yards, opened an irregular fire on our outposts:-general Carroll ordered colonel Henderson to advance with a detachment of two hundred men along the wood, and then to make an oblique movement on the right, towards the river, and endeavour to turn the enemy, who, by this manœuvre, would have been cut off. Instead of executing this order, colonel Henderson advanced towards the right, leaving the fence between him and the wood: the enemy being thus covered by the fence, opened on our detachment a galling fire, which killed the colonel and five men, and forced the others to fall back. The enemy re-occupied the fence, where he maintained his position until our artillery once more dislodged him.

From the destruction that our artillery dealt in the enemy's ranks, and from the report of a prisoner and some deserters, the British must have lost from two to three hundred men on that day.

The Louisiana had but one man slightly wounded by the bursting of a shell, and the vessel was struck under her bowsprit by a red-hot shot, but without receiving any damage. (See Appendix, No. 27.)

It appears that this attack was but a feint, to try what effect would be produced on raw troops by the sight of columns marching, displaying, and forming in order of battle. But if after the night of the 23d the enemy could still have any doubt of our being firmly disposed to withstand him, the affair of the 28th must have convinced him that his manœuvres could no more intimidate us than his rockets, and that in whatever manner he might attack us, he would find men defending themselves with valour and intrepidity, and determined to sell their lives dearly. That attack served at least to convince the enemy that he must expect a most obstinate resistance, if he attempted to force our lines; and that perhaps, after having sacrificed numbers of his men, he might be once more obliged to retire within his camp, with the shame of having made a useless and disgraceful attempt. He had now witnessed the effect of our artillery, which was soon to prove to him, beyond all doubt, our superiority in skill, promptitude, and precision in firing.

It was ordered by general Jackson that fortified lines should be established on the right bank from the river to the Cypress swamp, behind general Morgan's encampment. For that purpose I made choice of Boisgervais' canal, three miles from the city. One hundred and fifty negroes, under the direction of Mr. Lefevre, in six days completed the parapet, the whole length of the canal, and levelled the earth to form a glacis on the opposite side. It will be seen in the sequel,

that it was behind those lines, which we had not time to complete and secure with bastions and redoubts, that general Morgan s troops rallied after their flight, on the memorable 8th of January.

Captain Henley, of the late Carolina, came also next day to take command of a square redoubt, formed by a brick-kiln, opposite the city, on the very bank of the river. A fosse twenty-five feet wide was dug all round it, and the earth from it served to form a very steep glacis from the summit of the wall, serving as a parapet, to the brink of the fosse. A palisade extended along its whole length on the inside. The redoubt was furnished with a small powder magazine, and was mounted with two twenty-fourpounders. Its battery commanded at once the road and the river.

From all accounts it appears that at that time the British troops of the line amounted to between nine and ten thousand men. General Gibbs' division had landed, and sir Edward Packenham had taken the command of the army. The British head-quarters were at the house of general Villeré; their hospitals were established in the buildings of Jumonville's plantation, where their black troops were stationed. The British had taken all the horses belonging to the plantations, from Bienvenu's to Jumonville's inclusively; the finest were picked out for the officers of the staff, the others served to mount a squadron of dragoons, or to draw the artillery. Their reconnoitring parties advanced as far as Philipon's plantation, where they established a post of black troops, which continued there until their final evacuation. The meat