Forty-fourth regulars, Plauche's and Daquin's battalions, and a squad of
Choctaw Indians, all under the command of Colonel Ross.

The second invading division of the British army, made up of the
Twenty-first, Forty-fourth, and Ninety-third Regiments, with a corps of
artillery, in all about twenty-five hundred men, was disembarked at the
terminus of Villere Canal at half-past seven o'clock in the evening of
the twenty-third, just as the roar of the ship's cannon announced the
opening of the night battle. At seven o'clock Commodore Patterson had
anchored the Carolina in the Mississippi, as requested, in front of the
British camp, and but a good musket-shot away. Such was the security
felt by the enemy in camp that they stood upon the levee and viewed her
as a common boat plying the river. Within thirty minutes she opened upon
the enemy a destructive fire which spread consternation and havoc
throughout their camp. In half an hour more they were driven out, with
many killed and wounded. About eight o'clock the troops on the right,
led by Jackson himself, began the attack on the enemy's left. The
Seventh and Forty-fourth regulars became hotly engaged along the line,
supported by McRae's artillery. Plauche's and Daquin's battalions coming
up, the fighting became furious from the road to Laronde's garden. The
British were forced back within the limits of Lacoste's plantation, the
combatants being often intermingled and fighting hand-to-hand, almost
undistinguishable in the darkness of night, made denser by the smoke of
battle and the gathering fog.

Meanwhile, Coffee's troops, from the rear of Laronde's plantation, were
moved to the boundary limits of Lacoste and Villere, with a view of
taking the enemy in the rear. Coffee extended his front and ordered his
men to move forward in silence and to fire without orders, taking aim as
best they could. They drove the enemy before them, and took a second
position in front of Lacoste's plantation. Here was posted the
Eighty-fifth Regiment of the British army, which was forced back by the
first fire toward their main camp. Captain Beale's Riflemen advanced on
the left into the British camp at Villere's, driving the enemy before
them and taking some prisoners, but sustained some loss before joining
Coffee again. Coffee's division finally took a last position in front of
the old levee, near Laronde's boundary, where it harassed the enemy as
they fell back, driven by Jackson on the right