It was a swamp, containing a small space of firm
ground at one end, and almost wholly unadorned with trees of any sort or
description. The interior was the resort of waterfowl; and the pools and
creeks with which it was intercepted abounded in dormant alligators.

"Upon this miserable desert the army was assembled, without tents or
huts, or any covering to shelter them from the inclemency of the
weather.... After having been exposed all day to the cold and pelting
rain, we landed upon a barren island, incapable of furnishing even fuel
enough to supply our fires. To add to our miseries, as night closed, the
rain generally ceased, and severe frosts set in, which, congealing our
wet clothes upon our bodies, left little animal warmth to keep the limbs
in a state of activity; and the consequence was, that many of the
wretched negroes, to whom frost and cold were altogether new, fell fast
asleep and perished before morning."

By December 21st the whole army was collected at Pine Island, and next
day it was formed into three brigades, the 1st West India Regiment with
the 21st and 44th Regiments composing the 2nd Brigade. The 1st West
India Regiment, which had left Negril Bay 500 strong, was now so reduced
by mortality and sickness that barely 400 men were in a condition to
take the field. The cold was intense, and, considering the latitude, 29 deg.
N., almost incredible. It appears that when the regiment left Jamaica no
attempt was made to furnish the men with warm clothing, and their
sufferings from this cause, they being all natives of the tropics, can
be better imagined than described. During the voyage the regiment had
been much scattered in small craft, where the soldiers were obliged to
sleep on deck, exposed to the torrents of rain which fell by day and to
the frosts that came on at night; and, being unaccustomed to the
severity of an American winter, large numbers of them died from cold and
exposure, the 5th West India Regiment suffering equally with the 1st.

On December 22nd, the 1st Brigade (1600 strong) left Pine Island in
boats to proceed to Bayou Catalan, a small creek eighty miles distant,
which ran up from Lake Ponchartrain, through the middle of an extensive
swamp, to within ten miles of New Orleans. Next day it landed at the
mouth of the creek and advanced along an overgrown footpath on the
banks of a canal, its movements being concealed by the tall reeds of the
swamp. After being delayed by several small st