226 Naval War of 1812 



hand to hand. Many a sword, till then but a glitter 

 ing toy, was that night crusted with blood. The 

 British soldiers and the American regulars made 

 fierce play with their bayonets, and the Tennessee- 

 ans with their long hunting-knives. Man to man, 

 in grimmest hate, they fought and died, some by 

 bullet and some by bayonet-thrust or stroke of 

 sword. More than one in his death agony slew the 

 foe at whose hand he himself had received the mor 

 tal wound; and their bodies stiffened as they lay, 

 locked in the death grip. Again the clouds came 

 over the moon ; a thick fog crept up from the river, 

 wrapping from sight the ghastly havoc of the battle 

 field ; and long before midnight the fighting stopped 

 perforce, for the fog and the smoke and the gloom 

 were such that no one could see a yard away. By 

 degrees each side drew off. 15 In sullen silence 

 Jackson marched his men up the river, while the 

 wearied British returned to their camp. The former 

 had lost over two hundred, 16 the latter nearly three 



16 Keane writes: "The enemy thought it prudent to retire, 

 and did not again dare to advance. It was now 12 o'clock, 

 and the firing ceased on both sides"; and Jackson: "We 

 should have succeeded ... in capturing the enemy, had not 

 a thick fog, which arose about (?) o'clock, occasioned some 

 confusion. ... I contented myself with lying on the field 

 that night." Jackson certainly failed to capture the British; 

 but equally certainly damaged them so as to arrest their march 

 till he was in condition to meet and check them. 



16 Twenty-four killed, 115 wounded, 74 missing. 



