The Battle of New Orleans 221 



his unyielding temper and iron hand. Moreover, 

 he was one of themselves ; he typified their passions 

 and prejudices, their faults and their virtues; he 

 shared their hardships as if he had been a common 

 private, and, in turn, he always made them par 

 takers of his triumphs. They admired his personal 

 prowess with pistol and rifle, his unswerving loyalty 

 to his friends, and the relentless and unceasing war 

 that he waged alike on the foes of himself and his 

 country. As a result they loved and feared him 

 as few generals have ever been loved or feared; 

 they obeyed him unhesitatingly; they followed his 

 lead without flinching or murmuring, and they ever 

 made good on the field of battle the promise their 

 courage held out to his judgment. 



It was noon of December 2$d when General 

 Keane, with nineteen hundred men, halted and 

 pitched his camp on the east bank of the Mississippi ; 

 and in the evening enough additional troops arrived 

 to swell his force to over twenty-three hundred sol 

 diers. 11 Keane's encampment was in a long plain, 



11 James ("Military Occurrences of the Late War," by 

 Wm. James, London, 1818), ii, p. 362, says 2,050 rank and 

 file; the English returns, as already explained, unlike the 

 French and American, never included officers, sergeants, 

 drummers, artillerymen, or engineers, but only "sabres and 

 bayonets" (Napier, iv, 252). At the end of Napier's fourth 

 volume is given the "morning state" of Wellington's forces 

 on April 10, 1814. This shows 56,030 rank and file and 7,431 

 officers, sergeants, and trumpeters or drummers; or, in other 



