Editing Battle of New Orleans (section)

===Disembarkation by the British===
Sixteen hundred British soldiers under the command of General [[John Keane (British army officer)|John Keane]] were rowed 60 miles west from Cat Island to Pea Island (possibly now Pearl Island), situated about {{convert|30|mi|km}} east of New Orleans. It took six days and nights to ferry the troops, each transit taking around ten hours.{{sfnp|Brown|1969|pp=81-82}}

There were three potential routes to the east of the Mississippi that the British could take, in addition to traversing up the Mississippi itself.{{sfnp|Daughan|2011|p=381}} Rather than a slow approach to New Orleans up the Mississippi River, the British chose to advance on an overland route.{{sfnp|Lambert|2012|p=344}} The first route was to take the Rigolets passage into Lake Pontchartrain, and thence to disembark two miles north of the city. One hindrance was [[Fort Pike|the fort at Petit Coquilles]] at the Rigolets passage.

The second option was to row to the Plain of Gentilly via the Bayou Chef Menteur, and to take the Chef Menteur Road that went from the Rigolets to the city. It was narrow, and could be easily blocked. Jackson was aware of this, and had it well guarded.{{sfnp|Daughan|2011|p=381}}

The third option was to head to [[Bayou Bienvenue]], then Bayou Mazant and via the Villeré Canal to disembark at a point one mile from the Mississippi and seven miles south of the city. This latter option was taken by Keane.{{sfnp|Daughan|2011|p=381}}

Andrew Lambert notes that Keane squandered a passing opportunity to succeed, when he decided to not take the open road from the Rigolets to New Orleans by way of Bayou Chef Menteur.{{sfnp|Lambert|2012|p=344}} Reilly observes that there has been a general acceptance that Cochrane cajoled Keane into a premature and ill-advised attack, but there is no evidence to support this theory.{{sfnp|Reilly|1976|p=221}} Codrington's correspondence does imply that the first option was intended to be followed by Cochrane, based upon inaccurate map details, as documented by Cochrane's papers. The shallow waters of the narrow passes of the Rigolets and the Chef Menteur could not take any vessel drawing eight feet or more.{{sfnp|Reilly|1976|p=226}}

A further hindrance was the lack of shallow draft vessels, which Cochrane had requested, yet the Admiralty had refused.{{sfnp|Daughan|2011|p=379}} As a consequence, even when using all shallow boats, it was not possible to transport more than 2,000 men at a time.{{sfnp|Gleig|1827|p=273}}{{sfnp|Daughan|2011|p=381}}{{sfnp|Reilly|1976|p=226}}