he morass. Nor were the enemy idle; there was constant skirmishing
at the outposts, and a continual fire was kept up on the camp from a
six-gun battery mounted on the bank of the river.

After nine days' incessant toil the road was completed; the sick and
wounded were first removed, then the baggage and stores, and on January
17th, the infantry alone remained in the camp. On the evening of the
18th it also began its retreat. Leaving the camp-fires burning as if no
movement were taking place, battalion after battalion stole away in the
darkness in the most profound silence. Marching all night over the
fragile road of reeds, through which the men sank knee-deep into the
mud, the army reached the borders of the lake at dawn. Boats were in
readiness, and regiment after regiment embarked and set sail for the
fleet, the only loss being the capture of a boat containing two officers
and forty men of the 14th Light Dragoons.

After remaining a few days at the Chandeleur Islands, the naval
commander decided, in concert with Major-General Lambert, to make an
attack on Mobile, and the fleet accordingly proceeded to that place. On
February 12th, Fort Bowyer, which commanded the entrance to the harbour,
surrendered, and a British garrison being left in the citadel, the fleet
retired to Isle Dauphin, West Florida. Hostilities were then terminated
by a treaty of peace, and the 1st West India Regiment returned to
Barbados, where early in March, Brigade-Majors Cassidy and Winkler
rejoined from the West India staff. The former succeeded to the
majority, vice Weston, deceased.[40]

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 37: "The Campaigns of the British Army at Washington and New
Orleans," by an Officer.]

[Footnote 38: According to Major-General Lambert's despatch to Earl
Bathurst, the 5th West India Regiment was to cross the river with
Colonel Thornton.]

[Footnote 39: This officer was afterwards dismissed the service.]

[Footnote 40: The British force employed in this expedition has been
thus estimated:

14th Dragoons 295
Royal Artillery 570
Sappers and Miners 98
4th Foot 747
21st Foot 800
44th Foot 427
85th Foot 298
93rd Foot 775
95th Foot 276
1st and