re all the skill of which he was master; that his movements
must be both courageous and persevering if he would save his army from
destruction.

"Jackson, too, was busy with his preparations, extending his line of
intrenchments, placing guns, establishing batteries, and appointing
those who were to command and work them.

"A company of young men from the best families, under Captain Ogden,
were made his body-guard and subject to his orders alone. They were
posted in Macarte's garden.

"Everybody was full of enthusiasm, active and alert. Particularly so
were the Tennessee riflemen; they delighted in going on 'hunts,' as they
called expeditions to pick off the sentinels of the enemy. So successful
were they in this kind of warfare on Jackson's left, very near the
swamp, that soon the British dared not post sentinels there. They (the
British) threw up a strong redoubt there which Captain You and
Lieutenant Crawley constantly battered with heavy shot from their
cannon; but the British persevered, and by the end of the month had
mounted several heavy guns, with which, on the 31st, they began a
vigorous fire upon the Americans.

"That night the whole of the British army moved forward to within a few
hundred yards of the American lines, and in the gloom, began rapid work
with spade and pickaxe. They brought up siege guns from the lake, and
before dawn had finished three half-moon batteries at nearly equal
distances apart, and six hundred yards from the American line.

"They (the batteries) were made of earth, hogsheads of sugar, and
whatever else could be laid hold of that would answer the purpose. Upon
them they placed thirty pieces of heavy ordnance, manned by picked
gunners of the fleet, who had served under Nelson, Collingwood, and St.
Vincent.

"That morning was the 1st of January, 1815. A thick fog hid the two
armies from each other until after eight o'clock. Then a gentle breeze
blew it aside, and the British began firing briskly upon the American
works, doubtless feeling sure they would presently scatter them to the
winds, and that their own army, placed ready in battle array, would then
rush forward, overpower the Americans, and take the city.

"Heavier and heavier grew their bombardment; the rocketeers sent an
incessant shower of fiery missiles into the American lines and upon
Jackson's headquarters at Macarte's, more than a hundred balls, shells,
and rockets striking the building in the course of ten minutes