ould be occupied. Fort St. Philip, on the left or north
bank, was a work of brick and earth, flanked on either hand by a
water battery. In the main work were mounted, in barbette, four
8-inch columbiads and one 24-pounder gun; the upper water battery
carried sixteen 24-pounders, the lower one one 8-inch columbiad,
one 7-inch rifle, six 42-pounders, nine 32-pounders, and four
24-pounders. Besides these, there were seven mortars, one of 13-inch
calibre, five of 10-inch, and one of 8-inch. Forty-two of the guns
could be brought to bear upon the fleet ascending the river.

Fort Jackson, on the south or left bank of the river, was a casemated
pentagon of brick, mounting in the casemates fourteen 24-pounder
guns, and ten 24-pounder howitzers, and in barbette in the upper
tier two 10-inch columbiads, three 8-inch columbiads, one 7-inch
rifle, six 42-pounders, fifteen 32-pounders, and eleven 24-pounders,
in all sixty-two guns. The water battery below the main work was
armed with one 10-inch columbiad, two 8-inch columbiads, and two
rifled 32-pounders. Fifty of these pieces were available against
the fleet, but of the whole armament of one hundred and nine guns,
fifty-six were old 24-pounder smooth-bores.

The passage of the forts had been obstructed by a raft or chain
anchored between them. The forts once overcome, no other defence
remained to be encountered until English Turn was reached, where
earthworks had been thrown up on both banks. Here at Chalmette,
on the left bank, it was that, in 1815, Jackson, with his handful
of raw levies, so signally defeated Wellington's veterans of the
Peninsula, under the leadership of the fearless Pakenham.

Fort St. Philip stands about 700 yards higher up the river than
Fort Jackson; the river at this point is about 800 yards wide, and
the distance between the nearest salients of the main works is
about 1,000 yards. A vessel attempting to run the gauntlet of the
batteries would be under fire while passing over a distance of
three and a half miles. The river was now high, and the banks,
everywhere below the river level, and only protected from inundation
by the levees, were overflowed. There was no standing room for an
investing army; the lower guns were under water, and in the very
forts the platforms were awash.

When the fleet was ready, Butler embarked eight regiments and three
batteries under Phelps and Williams on transports, and, going to
the head of the passes, held h