216 Naval War of 1812 



were grappled amid fierce resistance; the boarding- 

 nettings were slashed through and cut away; with 

 furious fighting the decks were gained; and one 

 by one, at push of pike and cutlass stroke, the gun 

 boats were carried in spite of their stubborn de 

 fenders; but not till more than one barge had been 

 sunk, while the assailants had lost a hundred men, 

 and the assailed about half as many. 



There was now nothing to hinder the landing of 

 the troops; and as the scattered transports arrived, 

 the soldiers were disembarked, and ferried through 

 the sluggish water of the bayous on small flat-bot 

 tomed craft; and finally, Dec. 23d, the advance 

 guard, two thousand strong, under General Keane, 

 emerged at the mouth of the canal Villere, and 

 camped on the bank of the river, 5 but nine miles 

 below New Orleans, which now seemed a certain 

 prize, almost within their grasp. 



Yet, although a mighty and cruel foe was at their 

 very gates, nothing save fierce defiance reigned in 

 the fiery Creole hearts of the Crescent City. For a 

 master-spirit was in their midst. Andrew Jackson 

 having utterly broken and destroyed the most pow 

 erful Indian confederacy that had ever menaced the 

 southwest, and having driven the haughty Spaniards 

 from Pensacola, was now bending all the energies 

 of his rugged intellect and indomitable will to the 



6 Letter of Major-General John Keane, Dec. 26, 1814. 



