ylight, have been difficult, with our Light Artillery,
to have kept down the fire so completely but that a few matchlock men
might have kept their position near the gateway; and in that narrow
space a smart fire from a few pieces might have obliged the party to
retire. The obscurity of the night, to say nothing of the confusion
which it must occasion among undisciplined troops, is certainly the best
protection to a body of men engaged in an enterprise of this nature.
Blue lights certainly render objects distinctly visible, but their light
is glaring and uncertain, especially to men firing through loopholes.

The party consisted of eighteen officers, twenty-eight sergeants, seven
buglers, and two hundred and seventy-six rank and file.

It was made of this strength, not only to keep up a heavy fire upon the
parapets, and thereby divert attention from the party at the gateway,
but also because we were not aware whether the faussebraye was occupied
or not, and as it extends so much in advance as to take the gate
completely in reverse, it would have been necessary, had a fire opened
from it, to have carried it by assault before the party with the bags
could have advanced. The party with Lieutenant Durand was accompanied
by six men of the 13th, without their belts, the better to secure them
from observation, to protect them from any sortie that might be made
from the postern of the faussebraye on the right, or even from the gate
itself, while another party under an officer, Lieutenant Jennings,
accompanied me as far as the tower so as to check any attempts that
might have been made from the faussebraye on the left, and at the same
time keeping up a fire on such of the enemy as showed their heads above
the parapet; of this party one man was killed and a few wounded.

Nothing could have been more gallant than the conduct of Lieutenants
Durand and McLeod, and the men under their command; or more efficient
than the manner in which they executed their duty.

The powder being in sand bags of a very coarse open texture, a long hose
and port fire was thought to be the safest method of firing it. The end
of the hose fortunately just reached the small postern. The casualties,
however, during this operation were much fewer than was expected, being
in all one private killed, two sergeants, and twenty-three rank and file
wounded.

The heaviest fire was certainly outside the bridge, for the enemy near
the gateway being marked, whenever