On the other hand, the outcome of the night struggle dismayed the British forces to the extent that they became overly cautious, and permitted Jackson valuable time in which to prepare his New Orleans defenses.23 They could, however, take some satisfaction from the fact that they were not dislodged from their positions.
Some of the Tennessee casualties included Colonels Robert H. Dyer and John H. Gibson, who were wounded, and the capture of Majors David Hubbard and Charles Kavennaugh. The deaths of Colonel James Lauderdale and Lieutenant Samuel T. Brooks were serious losses to Coffee. Lauderdale, who had fought with unusual courage in the Creek War and was wounded at Horseshoe Bend, was still recovering from his wounds when he returned to active service with the Tennessee Mounted Volunteers. During the engagement which took his life, Lauderdale customarily overexposed himself in leading his men forward. But he fought to the last with the instinctive skill of a battle-tested soldier. Many were the eulogies expressed for Colonel Lauderdale, by none was more appropriate than that which appeared in the Nashville Whig:
With such examples as that of Lauderdale, which by their splendor and their number will soon constitute for us a national character capable of the sublimest efforts of steady fortitude and masculine courage, tho’ the enemy were to land a hundred thousand men on our shores we need not tremble—they would but serve to illustrate the invincible rigor of our free constitution, and the irresistible energy of our spirit.24
There were, of course, many individual acts of heroism performed by Tennesseans, some of which, fortunately, have been recorded. John Donelson, Coffee’s brother-in-law, captured an important British officer, Major Mitchell. Lieutenant William Trousdale, himself destined for later fame as governor of Tennessee, was in the company which captured a major, two lieutenants, and thirty privates. The intrepid Trousdale barely escaped while leading a charge against the British who were entrenched behind a fence and a river levee. Having already leapt upon the fence, Trousdale glanced behind him only to discover to his dismay that the company had been ordered to retreat, leaving him alone in the enemy’s fire. He scrambled down from the fence and escaped back to his lines amid a hall of bullets.
Again, as at Horseshoe Bend, the excellent teamwork of Jackson and Coffee was evident. Coffee’s troops bore the brunt of fire and, as disciplined fighting men, had carried the fight to the enemy. Their outward simplicity concealed the marrow of the born soldier, willing—perhaps eager—to endure any personal hardship to gain his mission. Governor William C. C. Claiborne of Louisiana noted this quality and wrote that the “Tennessee troops equal the high expectations which were formed of them; nor is it possible for men to display more patriotism, firmness in battle, or composure under fatigue and privations.”25 It was evident that even after the December 23 engagement, the British were still inclined to underestimate American ability in massed battle array. It is just as well as they reasoned from a faulty premise and lacked the benefit of Latour’s estimation:
General Coffee’s Tennesseans, those modest and simple sons of nature, displayed that firm composure which accompanies and indicates true courage.... Instinctively valiant, disciplined without having passed through the formal training of reviews and garrison maneuvers, they evinced on this memorable night, that enthusiasm, patriotism, and a sense of a just cause, which were of far more avail than scientific tactics. The heroes of Wellington, who boasted of their military tactics and disciplined valor, were often doomed by woful (sic) experience, to appreciate the prowess of those warlike sons of the western country.26
V
Both armies now began in earnest to prepare for the impending big battle. The British ferried in several thousand more soldiers, bringing their number to approximately 8,000. General Sir Edward M. Pakenham, the Duke of Wellington’s brother-in-law, arrived on Christmas Day eager to add other laurels to his 22-year military career. His accomplishments already included his decisive attack as division commander at Salamanca in the Peninsula Campaign against Napoleon.
Jackson, although elated over the results of the initial encounter, realized that the British had come to fight, not as a striking force similar to that of the Washington foray, but as a conquering army bent upon seizing the Mississippi Valley. When, early in the morning of December 24, there was no move by the invaders, Jackson drew his army back about two miles to a point between the McCarty and Chalmette plantations and formed a line which extended from the Mississippi River on his right to a cypress swamp on the left.27 The Rodriguez Canal, a large wet ditch five feet deep, ran in front of the works. There the soldiers worked feverishly day and night to erect strong breastworks. Carroll’s position was on an extension of the canal. Coffee, on the extreme left of Jackson’s line after a scare on December 28, extended his ditch and works into the swamp, eliminating almost any further possibility for a flanking attack. The entire line covered about three-quarters of a mile, with about two-thirds of this being across the open plain.
Although no general action ensued immediately after the night battle, conditions in the battlefield area were hardly tranquil prior to January 8. On the evening of December 27, the British rushed a strong force forward, causing Jackson’s advance guard to fall back under heavy cannon, rocket, and musket fire. Pakenham staged a reconnaissance in force the next day and before it was called off the British were able to install a sizable force behind a fence oblique to the American line. Carroll instructed Colonel James Henderson and a detachment of 200 men to sweep along a wooded area, make a turn to the right toward the river and thus cut off the Redcoats. Unfortunately, Henderson’s slant to the right was premature and left the British still well covered by the fence, and his detachment several yards away from the protective covering of the woods.28 A burst of musketry killed Henderson and five men and the others fell back into the woods. In the noisy and heavy artillery duel of January 1, casualties on each side were few, but the Americans at the guns proved as keen marksmen as the Tennessee riflemen, and impressed the British considerably.
The British sentries were indeed terrified by the Tennesseans’ ability with their rifles. These sentries called the Tennesseans dirty shirts because their brown hunting dress camouflaged them in the thick undergrowth and dry grass. These militiamen were not soldiers in the European definition of the word. Many were frontiersmen who had battled the wilderness and endured the merciless elements of nature. Small wonder it is that they were not awed by the polished legions poised for their defeat. In truth, their pride grew as they measured themselves against the reputation of their heralded foe.
They gained considerable satisfaction, for example, from their harassment of the enemy. One operation which they called the “hunting party” amounted to nothing more than slipping out at night and disposing of as many British sentries as possible. In one night’s effort, one old Tennessean killed three sentries, took their arms and accouterments, and returned before dawn boasting of his feat.
When Jackson was finally in position, his force of some 5,000 presented a heterogeneous array of the unlikeliest components for an army. The blue-coated American regulars anchored one end of the line and Coffee’s militiamen the other. In between were various groups such as the Louisiana militia; New Orleans volunteers; Mississippians; battalion of free men of color; Louisiana Creoles; and the recently arrived Kentuckians. The Baratarian pirates had their cannons, ranging in size from 6- to 32-pounders, loaded and ready to fire on signal. The breastworks were five feet high, and were considered by Jackson to be impenetrable by small projectiles. Pakenham apparently did not share this view. His plan of attack was now devised, and before the misty morning of January 8 was gone, the Americans and British engaged each other in their last great struggle.