hether they were friends or foes.
The consequence was that more feats of individual gallantry were
performed in the course of the conflict than many campaigns might
have afforded. The combat having begun at eight in the evening, and
long and obstinately contested, continued until three in the morning;
but the victory was decidedly ours, for the Americans retreated in
the greatest disorder, leaving us in possession of the field. Our
losses, however, were enormous. Not less than five hundred men had
fallen, many of whom were our first and best officers.

The recall being sounded, our troops were soon brought together,
forming in front of the ground where we had at first encamped. Here
we remained until the morn, when, to avoid the fire of the vessel, we
betook ourselves to the levee on the bank, and lay down. Here we lay
for some hours, worn out with fatigue and loss of sleep, and
shivering in the cold of a frosty morning, not daring to light a fire
or cook a meal. Whenever an attempt was made, the ship's guns opened
on us. Thus was our army kept prisoners for an entire day.

This was not a field victory for either combatant, but rather a drawn
battle, as each party fell back to the lines occupied at the opening. It
was a very great victory for the Americans in its bearings on the final
issues of the campaign. The attack of Jackson was to the British like a
bolt of lightning from a clear sky. It paralyzed and checked them on the
first day, and at the first place of their encampment on shore, and
enabled him to adopt measures to beat back the invaders in every attempt
they made for a further advance inland. The enemy had found an open way
and expected an easy march, with a certainty that the Crescent City, by
Christmas Day, would become an easy prey for their "Loot and Lust," as
Admiral Cochrane is said to have promised. Instead of a garden of
delights, they had walked into a deathtrap at the gate of entrance.
Confidence and prestige were shaken in the front of a foe equal in valor
and as skilled in arms as themselves. The rude reception given by
Jackson had compelled the army of the invaders to halt in its first
camp, and to re-form, to reinforce, and to rehabilitate its plans,
before daring another step forward. This delay, fatal to the British,
probably saved the city. On the next morning early (of the
twenty-fourth) the first division of the British army would have been