g up to a point opposite, in cannon reach,
had occurred before; but the difficulty was in finding a way to cross
over the troops and artillery, with the Americans in command of the
means of transportation. The suggestion came from Admiral Cochrane that
the Villere Canal from the bayou could be easily deepened and widened to
the river bank and opened into the river for the passage of the boats
and barges from the fleet, and a sufficient force thrown across the
river in that way under cover of night. This seemed feasible, and the
strategy determined on. It is related further that Lord Pakenham
insisted that the main attack upon the city for its capture should be
made by a heavy detachment in this direction, and at the same time only
a demonstration in force made on the American breastworks with the whole
army, supported by the artillery. He urged that to directly assault the
fortified line in front would be at a fearful loss of life, if
successful; if it failed it would be disastrous. The Admiral replied to
this tauntingly, that there was no cause for alarm over anticipated
defeat; he would undertake to force the lines of the American militia
with two or three thousand marines. In allusion to this, Latour says:
"If the British commander-in-chief was so unmindful of what he owed to
his country, and to the army committed to his charge, as to yield to the
ill-judged and rash advice of the Admiral, he sacrificed reason in a
moment of irritation; though he atoned with his life for having acted
contrary to his own judgment." Undoubtedly the English made their last
and most fatal blunder here.

As the English writers who were with the army have so variously
minimized the forces under Colonel Thornton, and so exaggerated the
numbers of the Americans in this affair on the west bank, we quote from
the official report of Major-general Lambert, who succeeded to the
immediate command of the invading army after the fall of Generals
Pakenham, Gibbs, and Keene, what appears to be reliable:

_To Lord Bathurst_: JANUARY 10th, 1815.

It becomes my duty to lay before your Lordship the proceedings of the
force lately employed on the right bank of the Mississippi River.
Preparations had been made on our side to clear out and widen the
canal that led from the bayou to the river, by which our boats had
been brought up to the point of disembarkation, and to open it to the
Mississippi, by which our troops could be