248 ANDREW JACKSON 



upon the Americans one crushing and humiliating de- 

 feat, such a defeat, for instance, as the French had 

 lately suffered at Vitoria. That this could be done 

 few Englishmen doubted, and so confident was the 

 expectation of victory that governors and comman- 

 dants for the towns along the Mississippi River were 

 actually appointed and sent out in the fleet ! The 

 situation, so far as British intentions went, was thus 

 extremely threatening. Even had nothing of all this 

 been accomplished beyond the conquest of New 

 Orleans, when we remember what annoyance so weak 

 a nation as Spain had been able to inflict upon us dur- 

 ing the twenty years preceding 1803, we can imagine 

 how insufferable it would have been had the mouth of 

 the Mississippi passed under the control of the greatest 

 naval power in the world. 



When Jackson rode into New Orleans on the 2d of 

 December, 1814, he was so worn out by disease and so 

 jaded by his long journey in the saddle that the fittest 

 place for him was the hospital, and almost any other 

 man would have gone there. But in the hawklike 

 glare of his eye there shone forth a spirit as indomi- 

 table as ever dwelt in human frame. His activity dur- 

 ing the following weeks was well-nigh incredible. 

 There was one time when he is said to have gone five 

 days and four nights without sleep. Before his arrival 

 there was dire confusion and consternation, but his 

 energy soon restored order, and there was something 

 in his manner that inspired confidence. He never 

 for a moment admitted the possibility of defeat, he 

 never doubted, fumbled, or hesitated, but always saw 

 at a glance the end to be reached, and went straight 

 toward it without losing a moment. At first it rather 



