The shells and shot from the vessel broke up
their camp, when they were attacked in the dark by Jackson and his
followers. The combat that followed was indecisive, except in making the
invaders more cautious and discreet. In this night conflict, the
Americans lost about two hundred men, while the British loss was
twice as many.
New Orleans was saved from surprise; now it had to be saved from open
invasion. The events of the 23d dispirited the British, and in this
condition General Packenham found the troops on his arrival on Christmas
day with reinforcements, to take the chief command. He was a veteran,
fresh from the Spanish peninsula, and was delighted to find under his
control some of the best of Wellington's regiments.
He immediately prepared to effect the capture of New Orleans and the
subjugation of Louisiana without delay. With hot shot the annoying
_Carolinia_ was burned, and the _Louisiana_ was the only American vessel
left on the river.
Jackson was wide awake, however, and began throwing up a line of
intrenchments from the banks of the Mississippi to an almost
impenetrable swamp in the rear, four miles from New Orleans.
There has been some dispute in regard to the redoubt which defended New
Orleans. There was an old story that a part of the redoubt was composed
of cotton bales taken from a rich planter named Mulanthy, and that the
cotton bales were afterward sold with hundreds of pounds of British
bullets in them.
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