er outpost commands,
could easily have reached English Turn at five o'clock. General Morgan
knew that the invading army were in bivouac seven miles above. By eight
o'clock he could have had his troops in attacking distance of the enemy,
and in their rear. When Jackson and Coffee assaulted the British lines
at eight o'clock, and drove them back in confusion upon their camp, a
spirited surprise attack by Morgan's command in the rear, any moment
before nine o'clock, would probably have routed the entire British
division engaged and forced them to lay down their arms or retreat to
their boats. He did move his command forward, and halt them at some
distance from the enemy, but it was probably too late. The battle was
over and the opportunity gone.

An after-incident throws a ray of light upon the criticism of the day
upon the above affair. Honorable Magloire Guichard, President of the
House of Representatives, in his testimony before the Committee of
Inquiry on the military measures employed by Jackson against the
Legislature, said:

On the twenty-seventh of December, when I got home, I found Colonel
Declouet (of Morgan's command), who had just crossed the river. Amid
the conversation of the evening, I expressed my surprise at his not
having attacked the British from the lower side, on the night of the
twenty-third; that had he done so with the men under his command, at
the same time with the troops coming from the city, all would have
terminated on that evening, and the British would have laid down
their arms. He expressed great sorrow that he had not been the master
to do so. He declared that this was his intention, but that General
Morgan refused to comply with his request. Afterwards, having
resolved to come toward midnight to reconnoitre, they had met with a
small picket, who fired upon them; they returned the fire, and then
retired.

The British loss in this initial night-battle is put by our authorities
at four to five hundred in killed, wounded, and prisoners. Their own
official reports admit three to five hundred. The Americans had
twenty-four killed, one hundred and fifteen wounded, and seventy-four
made prisoners. The fall of Colonel Lauderdale, of Mississippi, was much
lamented.

So unique in the annals of military experience was this fiercely fought
night-battle, so startling in its surprise of the bold and confident
Britons, and so characteristic of Jackson's grim hum