On December 15, Jackson notified Coffee that a large enemy fleet had been observed arriving off Cat and Ship islands, a dozen miles off the Mississippi Coast and 60 miles from the mouth of the Mississippi. In his communication, Jackson thought it unlikely that the British would attack up the river, because the approach from its mouth was guarded by two forts, Bourbon and St. Philip. Major W. H. Overton, of Nashville, one of Jackson’s capable subordinates, commanded St. Philip. Coffee was skeptical that the invaders would try the other logical route open to them, crossing Lake Borgne and marching directly on the city. In the event that the British should choose this route he promised, “I shall be ready to meet them, in the swamps, where one Tennessean can run down ten sailors, and worn out Europeans, through mud, water, and brush,—I do not believe they will ever land, but should they attempt it, I have no doubt as to the result, being favorable to our army.[[17]]” Events proved that Coffee’s confidence in his men was fully justified.
Jackson quickly augmented his New Orleans garrison by ordering Coffee to make a forced march of 135 miles from Baton Rouge to New Orleans, a feat which the latter accomplished in three days. Coffee encamped at Avart’s Plantation, five miles upriver from the city, on December 20. Further upriver, Carroll received a similar command to hasten his best trained and equipped troops and additional arms to supply Coffee’s men, whose arms and ammunition had been damaged by the heavy rain.[[18]]
After the defeat and capture of the five little American gunboats on Lake Borgne on December 14, the road to New Orleans was open for the invaders. The British secretly disembarked their troops between December 16 and 20 on Pea Island. Then on the 22nd, they boarded open boats and cautiously crossed Lake Borgne, about 60 miles across. Under cover of darkness the trip was made even more somber by the biting, penetrating cold weather. Jackson, seemingly, lost sight of the British army’s movements following its arrival at Ship and Cat islands. Arriving the following morning at Fisherman’s Village (an extreme point on Villere’s Canal) on the Bayou Bienvenue, the invaders with their movements still unnoticed marched stealthily across Villere’s plantation toward the Mississippi River. About 9 a.m., they surprised and captured Major Gabriel Villere, and a detachment of troops. Major Villere managed to escape into a nearby cypress swamp, and make his way to New Orleans where he notified Jackson at his headquarters on Royal Street that the British were below the city.[[19]]
Faced now with a sudden crisis, Jackson was equal to the occasion. It was noon when Jackson learned that the Redcoats were at the Mississippi, seven miles below New Orleans. About 2 p.m. he learned from Major Arsene Lacarriere Latour, his chief engineer, that the British numbered between 1,600 and 1,800. Jackson, meanwhile had called in his troops from various points on the outskirts of New Orleans. Coffee marched down from Avart’s plantation in mid-afternoon to rendezvous at Fort St. Charles. Carroll was sent to the upper branch of the Bayou Bienvenue to command Jackson’s center. The conference between Jackson and Coffee was brief. Jackson thought of awaiting the British attack, but acceded to Coffee’s strategy of carrying the fight to the enemy by a night attack. Thereupon, Coffee and his mounted infantry proceeded southward through the city, where one observer remembered them as follows:
Their appearance, however, was not very military. In their woolen hunting shirts and coperas dyed pantaloons; with slouched hat or cap made from the skins of raccoons or foxes; with belts of untanned deer-skin and in which were stuck their hunting-knives—but were admirable soldiers, remarkable for endurance and possessing that admirable quality in soldiers, of being able to take care of themselves. At their head rode their gallant leader, a man of noble respect, tall and herculean in appearance, mounted upon a fine Tennessee thoroughbred, was stately and impressive.[[20]]
The main body of the British army, lighthearted and confident that their movements were undetected, bivouacked the night of the 23rd on the upper part of Villere’s plantation. To a man they were fully confident of an overwhelming victory. A short distance away, however, the frontiersmen crept and crawled into position under the brilliant moonlight which enveloped the area. Drifting silently down river at the same moment was the small American schooner, the Carolina, which suddenly opened fire on the British camp about 7:30 p.m. The confused invaders were driven back three or four hundred yards from the river’s bank by the unexpected attack.
Determination is written all over the face of Andrew Jackson in this portrait by Ralph E. W. Earle in the Brooks Gallery, Memphis.