nd brutally treated by a British officer;
cut with a sword because he refused to black his boots for him."

"Was that so, sir?" queried Walter. "Well, I shouldn't wonder if the
recollection of all that made him more ready to fight them in the next
war, particularly at New Orleans, than he would have been otherwise."

"No doubt," returned the captain. "Jackson was a man of great energy,
determination, and persistence. It is said his maxim was, 'till all is
done nothing is done.' In May of 1814 he was made a major-general in the
regular army and appointed to the command of the Department of the
South, the Seventh Military District, with his headquarters at Mobile,
of which the Americans had taken possession as early as April, 1812.

"Jackson's vigilance was sleepless. The Spanish had possession of
Pensacola, and, though professing neutrality, were secretly favoring the
British. Of this Jackson promptly informed our government, but at that
time our War Department was strangely apathetic, and his communication
was not responded to in any way.

"But he had trusty spies, both white and dark-skinned, everywhere, who
kept him informed of all that was taking place in the whole region
around. He knew that British marines were allowed to land and encamp on
shore; that Edward Nichols, their commander, was a guest of the Spanish
governor, and the British flag was unfurled over one of the forts. Also,
that Indians were invited to enroll themselves in the service of the
British crown, and that Nichols had sent out a general order to his
soldiers, and a proclamation to the people of Kentucky and Louisiana,
announcing that the land and naval forces at Pensacola were only the van
of a far larger number of vessels and troops which were intended for
the subjugation of Louisiana and especially the city of New Orleans.

"Jackson arrived in that city on the 2d of December, and prepared to
defend it from the British, whom he had driven out of Florida. They had
planned to take the lower Mississippi Valley, intending to keep
possession of the western bank of the river. They had among them some of
the finest of Wellington's troops, who, but a short time before, had
been engaged in driving Napoleon out of Europe.

"In December, 12,000 men under the command of Sir Edward Packenham,
brother-in-law of Wellington, were landed below New Orleans. They had
come from Jamaica across the Gulf of Mexico. Their expedition was a
secret one, and they appro