disorder. Pakenham,
unconscious that Colonel Mullens, of the 44th, had neglected his
orders, and only fancying that the troops being fairly in for it, were
staggering only under the heaviness of the enemies' fire, rode to the
front, rallied the troops again, led them to the slope of the glacis,
and was in the act, with his hat off, of cheering on his followers,
when he fell mortally wounded, pierced, at the same moment, by two
balls. General Gibbs and General Keane also fell. Keane led on the
reserve, at the head of which was the 93rd Sutherland Highlanders, a
thousand strong. Undaunted by the carnage, that noble regiment dashed
through the disordered throng, in front, and with such fury pressed the
leading files on, that without either fascines or ladders, they fairly
found their way by mounting on each other's shoulders into the work.
But they were then cut down to a man. The fire from the enemy's rifles
was terrific. It was almost at the same moment that Colonel Ranney
penetrated the intrenchments on the left only to be mowed down by grape
shot. An unforeseen circumstance had too long delayed an attack which
could only have been successfully made in the dark, and General
Lambert, who had succeeded to the command by the death of Pakenham and
the wounds of Gibbs and Keane, finding it impossible to carry the
works, and that the slaughter was tremendous, drew off his troops.
Thornton had been altogether successful on the left bank of the
Mississippi. With fourteen hundred men this able and gallant officer
repaired to the point assigned to him on the evening of the 7th, but it
was nearly midnight before even such a number of the boats as would
suffice to transport a third part of his troops across, were brought
up. Anxious to co-operate at the time appointed, he, nevertheless,
moved over with a third of his men, and, by a sudden charge, at the
head of part of the 85th regiment and a body of seamen, on the flank of
the works, he succeeded in making himself master of the redoubt with
very little loss, though it was defended by twenty-two guns and
seventeen hundred men, and amply provided with supplies. And when
daylight broke, he was preparing to turn the guns of the captured
battery on the enemy's flank, which lay entirely exposed to their fire,
when advices were received from General Lambert of the repulse on the
left bank of the river. Thornton was unwilling to retire from the
battery, but Colonel Dixon, who had been sent