ith anger and
shame over the repulse, and were bent upon destroying the privateer
at all costs. Next day, after much exertion, one of the war-brigs was
warped into position to attack the American, but she first took her
station at long range, so that her carronades were not as effective as
the pivot gun of the privateer; and so well was the latter handled, that
the British brig was repeatedly hulled, and finally was actually driven
off. A second attempt was made, however, and this time the sloop-of-war
got so close that she could use her heavy carronades, which put the
privateer completely at her mercy. Then Captain Reid abandoned his brig
and sank her, first carrying ashore the guns, and marched inland with
his men. They were not further molested; and, if they had lost their
brig, they had at least made their foes pay dear for her destruction,
for the British had lost twice as many men as there were in the whole
hard-fighting crew of the American privateer.

THE BATTLE OF NEW ORLEANS

The heavy fog of morning
Still hid the plain from sight,
When came a thread of scarlet
Marked faintly in the white.
We fired a single cannon,
And as its thunders rolled,
The mist before us lifted
In many a heavy fold.
The mist before us lifted,
And in their bravery fine
Came rushing to their ruin
The fearless British line.
--Thomas Dunn English.

When, in 1814, Napoleon was overthrown and forced to retire to Elba, the
British troops that had followed Wellington into southern France
were left free for use against the Americans. A great expedition was
organized to attack and capture New Orleans, and at its head was placed
General Pakenham, the brilliant commander of the column that delivered
the fatal blow at Salamanca. In December a fleet of British war-ships
and transports, carrying thousands of victorious veterans from the
Peninsula, and manned by sailors who had grown old in a quarter of a
century's triumphant ocean warfare, anchored off the broad lagoons of
the Mississippi delta. The few American gunboats were carried after a
desperate hand-to-hand struggle, the troops were landed, and on December
23 the advance-guard of two thousand men reached the banks of the
Mississippi, but ten miles below New Orleans, and there camped for the
night. It seemed as if nothing could save the Creole City from foes who
had shown, in the storming of many