back on the field of
Chalmette.

Early in December the movement of the British upon New Orleans took
definite shape. On the 8th of that month, the calm waters of the Gulf
of Mexico, off the Chandeleur Islands, were the scene of a grand
rendezvous of British naval and military forces. All the vessels of
Cockburn's Chesapeake fleet were there, with other men-of-war,
transports, and schooners, to the number of fifty vessels. At the head
was the towering two-decker "Tonnant," carrying the Admiral's flag.
Frigates, corvettes, and sloops-of-war came trooping in the rear; and
the transports bore seven thousand men for the capture of the Southern
city. The British were in high good-humor as the anchors were let fall
and the ships swung round with their heads to the tide. The voyage
across the gulf from the rendezvous at Jamaica had been like a holiday
trip. The weather had been fine, and the sea smooth; and the soft air
of that semi-tropical region was a never-ending source of delight to
sailors who had been suffering the hardships of a Northern station.

The point at which the British fleet had come to anchor lay about
fifty miles due east of New Orleans. In that day of sailing-vessels,
no enemy could breast the waters of the rolling Mississippi and crush
the resistance of the city's defenders, as did Farragut in 1862.
Knowing that they could not hope to take their ships up to the levee
of the city, the enemy determined to cast anchor near the entrance of
Lake Borgne, and send through a chain of lakes and bayous a mammoth
expedition in barges, to a point within ten miles of the city. But
this well-laid plan had been betrayed to the Americans by Lafitte; and
a little band of American sailors, under the command of Lieut. Catesby
Jones, had taken up a position at the Rigolets, and were prepared to
dispute the farther progress of the invading forces. Five gunboats,
and one hundred and eighty-five men, constituted the American force,
which for a time held the British in check. Finally, the enemy,
finding that the swift American cutters could easily evade the
lumbering war-vessels, fitted out a fleet of forty-five barges, manned
by a thousand veteran British sea-dogs, who had seen service in half
a dozen naval wars. The Americans had news of the contemplated attack,
and made skilful preparations to meet it. The gunboats were moored in
a fore and aft line, at a point near the Rigolets. Their broadsides
bore upon the enemy, and the