n, in command of the British troops, in advancing to the
attack, readily perceived with his trained military eye the vulnerable
situation of the American forces. Gleig, the English author present,
gives the disposition of the enemy's assaulting columns as follows: The
Eighty-fifth, Colonel Thornton's own regiment, about seven hundred men,
stretched across the field, covering our front, with the sailors, two
hundred in number, prepared to storm the battery and works; while the
marines formed a reserve, protecting the fleet of barges. It is not
probable that the attack upon the entrenchments next to the river was
intended to be more than a demonstration in force to hold the attention
of General Morgan and his command there, while the main assault was
being directed with the Eighty-fifth Regiment against the thin and
unsupported line of the Kentucky militia, with a view of flanking these
and getting in the rear of General Morgan's breastworks.

We quote from Major Latour's "Historical Memoir" a further account:

The enemy advancing rapidly by the road opposite the left of the
line, the artillery played on him with effect; and as he came nearer,
the musketry began to fire also. This having obliged him to fall
back, he next directed his attack against the detached Kentuckians on
our right, one column moving toward the wood and the other toward the
centre of the line. Now was felt the effect of the bad position that
we occupied. One of the enemy's columns turned our troops at the
extremity of Colonel Davis' command, while the other penetrated into
the unguarded space between the Kentuckians and the breastwork of the
Louisianians. Flanked at both extremes by four times their own
number, and unsupported, the Kentucky militia, after firing several
volleys, gave way; nor was it possible again to rally them.
Confidence had vanished, and with it all spirit of resistance. If
instead of extending over so much space, those troops had been
formed in close column, the confusion that took place might have been
avoided, and a retreat in good order made.

The enemy having turned our right, pushed on towards the rear of our
left, which continued firing as long as possible. At length the
cannon were spiked just as the enemy arrived on the bank of the
canal. Commodore Patterson had kept up an artillery fire on the
British over the river. As they advanced up the road, he would now