rts, majestically entered the bay. As may
be imagined, our curiosity was strongly excited to learn what
reinforcements they contained, and what intelligence they
brought; insomuch, that they had scarcely dropped anchor when
they were boarded from almost every one of the ships which they
came to join.

NEGRIL BAY.

It appeared that this powerful reinforcement consisted of the
following corps:--the 93rd regiment, a fine battalion of
Highlanders, mustering nine hundred bayonets; six companies of
the 95th rifle corps; two West India regiments, each eight
hundred strong; two squadrons of the 14th Dragoons dismounted;
detachments of artillery, rockets, sappers, and engineers;
recruits for the different corps already in this part of the
world; and though last, not least, Major-General Keane to take
upon himself the command of the whole. The intelligence brought
was likewise interesting, for it informed us of the point whither
we were to proceed; and it was soon known throughout the fleet,
that the conquest of New Orleans was the object in view.

But before I pursue my narrative further, having arrived, as it
were, at a second commencement, it may be well if I state in full
the number of men of which the army now consisted. In the first
place, then, there were the 4th, 44th, and 85th regiments,
originally dispatched from Bordeaux, and the 21st, which joined
the expedition at Bermuda. These battalions, being considerably
reduced by past service, could not at present muster conjunctly
above two thousand two hundred men; and being likewise deprived
of the Marine battalion, which had fought beside them in the
Chesapeake, they retained no followers except the artillery,
sappers, &c. which had accompanied them from the first. The whole
amount of this corps may, therefore, be estimated at two thousand
five hundred men.

Without computing the individual strength of each detachment
now arrived, I will venture to fix the aggregate at two thousand
five hundred; and thus the whole, taken collectively, will amount
to five thousand combatants. That it might somewhat exceed or
fall under this computation, I do not deny; but neither the
excess nor deficiency could be considerable; and therefore my
statement may be received as correct, with very little allowance.

This, it must be confessed, was a formidable force, and such as,
had all its parts been trustworthy, might have done much. But on
the black corps little reliance could