The officers and men who had already landed were as follows:—
| Royal Artillery: | 16 | officers, and | 320 | non-com. officers and men. |
| R. A. Drivers: | 2 | officers, and | 61 | non-com. officers and men. |
Sixty-four horses had also been landed.
The Marine Artillery numbered 1 officer and 26 men, and they were assisted by 3 naval officers and 39 seamen.
The guns were distributed as follows:—
| 2 9-prs. | Major Michell. |
| 2 6-prs. | |
| 4 light 3-prs.: Captain Deacon. | |
| 2 6-prs. | Capt. Carmichael. |
| 1 light 5½-inch howr. | |
| 1 heavy 5½-inch howr. :Capt. Crawford. | |
The first duty which Colonel Dickson had to perform was to place what guns he had in battery, to destroy a 14-gun corvette, which lay in the Mississippi, and annoyed the camp. The gallant Colonel had a weakness for hot shot, and having made the necessary arrangements, placing all his guns on the levée (as the river embankment was called), except his 3-pounders, which were sent on with the advanced guard, he opened fire at 8 A.M. on the morning of the 27th December. He fired hot shot from his 9-pounders and shell from the other guns. He got the exact range almost at once, and the practice was excellent. The enemy returned a few random shots, and then the crew made for the shore; and until half-past 10, when the vessel blew up, not another shot was fired from it. The number of rounds expended in destroying this corvette was 191.
The army now prepared to advance against New Orleans; but, from want of horses, Colonel Dickson was obliged to leave two 6-pounders and a light howitzer behind; and as it had been resolved to make the ground which was their first head-quarters a sort of depôt for stores, &c., Captain Crawford was also left behind to superintend the forwarding of the necessary ammunition, &c., for the Artillery. The cold was so intense that the men of the West India Regiments suffered greatly, many dying from its effects, and all being more or less torpid. It seems superfluous to inform the reader that no change had been made in their dress or equipment, on leaving the West Indies, to prepare them for the change in temperature and the continued exposure.
On Sir E. Pakenham’s arrival, a rearrangement took place among the troops of the divisions. Major-General Gibbs was placed in command of the 4th, 44th, 21st, and 1st West India Regiments; and Major-General Keane in command of the 85th, 93rd, 95th, and 5th West India Regiments. The Artillery was distributed, as follows, for the advance:—Captain Deacon’s 3-pounder brigade and half the rocket equipment under Lieutenant Crawley, were to advance with General Gibbs’s brigade by a road leading through the fields to the main piquet-house of the enemy, against which they were to be employed to drive the enemy from the post, and to cover the advance of the column. The small mortars, and the other half of the rocket equipment, under Captain Lane, were attached to General Keane’s brigade, ordered to advance by the chief road, running along the bank of the river. Major Michell’s two 9-pounders and heavy howitzer, and Captain Carmichael’s two 6-pounders, were to be in reserve, and to move with General Keane’s column. The guns left behind with Captain Crawford were placed in battery on the river, to prevent boats or vessels passing up or down.
On the morning of the 28th December, at daybreak, the army moved forward; but the results of the day’s operations were far from favourable. General Gibbs’s column marched against the enemy’s piquet-house, known as La Ronde’s, and the 3-pounders and rockets having opened on it, it was soon evacuated by the American troops. Both columns then pressed on, and suddenly, at a turn of the road, found themselves within 700 or 800 yards of the enemy, whose force was drawn up behind an entrenchment flanked on either side by the river and a wood. A corvette was at anchor in the stream, to assist the American troops. A brisk cannonade was immediately opened against the English, and, although heartily replied to, the advantages of the enemy’s position were such that it was found advisable to withdraw to a distance of about 2200 yards from the enemy’s line, and to take up a position parallel to that of the Americans, and flanked by the river and the wood. Captain Carmichael’s 6-pounders had been disabled by the enemy’s fire, and were therefore exchanged for those left behind at the depôt. Entrenchments were thrown up in front of the 9-pounders, and a battery commenced in which it was proposed to place two 18-pounders which had been brought from the ships, transported on bullock-waggons originally intended for the conveyance of sugar hogsheads. This battery was at the angle of a field adjoining the high road to New Orleans, which ran parallel to the river. It was placed under the command of Lieutenant Speer, with a detachment of twenty gunners; and, as might have been expected from Colonel Dickson’s well-known proclivities, it was speedily supplied with the necessary apparatus for heating shot.
As Sir Edward Pakenham had decided on deferring any assault on the enemy’s position until some effect had been produced by heavy artillery, every exertion was used to land 18-pounder guns and 24-pounder carronades from the ships, and to draw them as far as La Ronde’s house, to remain there until the batteries should be got ready. Ammunition was also landed; but it was found necessary to take all the made cartridges to pieces and make fresh quantities, for which purpose all the available cotton and sheeting were taken from the houses in the neighbourhood, and all the regimental tailors were employed in making cartridges. The want of any artillery machines for the transport or placing of heavy ordnance was severely felt; the necessary guns however having been brought up on the 31st December, and ammunition having been prepared at the rate of 68 rounds per gun and 40 for each carronade, Sir Edward Pakenham directed that batteries should be made and armed that evening, as follows,—their position being where the army had penetrated when the first encounter with the enemy behind his entrenchments took place—about 800 yards distant from the American line:—