Editing Battle of New Orleans (section)

===British reconnaissance-in-force===
On Christmas Day, General [[Edward Pakenham]] arrived on the battlefield. Two days later he received nine large naval artillery guns from Admiral Cochrane along with a [[Heated shot|hot shot]] furnace to silence the two U.S. Navy warships, the sloop-of-war {{USS|Louisiana|1812|6}} and the schooner {{USS|Carolina|1812|6}}, that were harassing the army for 24 hours per day the past week from the Mississippi River. The ''Carolina'' was sunk in a massive explosion by the British, but the ''Louisiana'' survived thanks to the [[Barataria Bay#History and economy|Baratarian]] pirates aboard getting into rowboats and tying the ship to the rowboats and rowing it further north away from the British artillery. The ''Louisiana'' was not able to sail northward under her own power due to the attack. These two vessels were now no longer a danger to the British, but Jackson ordered the ships' surviving guns and crew to be stationed on the west bank and provide covering fire for any British assault on the river road to Line Jackson (name of the U.S. defensive line at the [[Rodriguez Canal]]) and New Orleans. After silencing the two ships, Pakenham ordered a [[reconnaissance-in-force]] on December 28 against the earthworks. The reconnaissance-in-force was designed to test Line Jackson and see how well-defended it was, and if any section of the line was weak the British would take advantage of the situation, break through, and call for thousands of more soldiers to smash through the defenses. On the right side of this offensive the British soldiers successfully sent the militia defenders into a retreating panic with their huge show of force and were just a few hundred yards from breaching the defensive line, but the left side of the reconnaissance-in-force turned into disaster for the British. The surviving artillery guns from the two neutralized warships successfully defended the section of Line Jackson closest to the Mississippi River with [[Enfilade and defilade#Enfilade|enfilading fire]], making it look like the British offensive completely failed even though on the section closest to the swamp the British were on the verge of breaking through. Pakenham inexplicably decided to withdraw all the soldiers after seeing the left side of his reconnaissance-in-force collapsing and retreating in panic. The British suffered 16 killed and 43 wounded and the Americans suffered 7 killed and 10 wounded. Luck saved Line Jackson on this day and this was the closest the British came during the whole campaign to defeating Jackson.{{sfnp|Dale|2015|pp=97–101}}

After the failure of this operation Pakenham met with General Keane and Admiral Cochrane that evening for an update on the situation. Pakenham wanted to use [[Chef Menteur Pass]] as the invasion route, but he was overruled by Admiral Cochrane, who insisted that his boats were providing everything needed.{{sfnp|Patterson|2008|pp=214–215}} Admiral Cochrane believed that the veteran British soldiers would easily destroy Jackson's ramshackle army, and he allegedly said that if the army did not do it, his sailors would, and the meeting settled the method and place of the attack.{{sfnp|Patterson|2008|pp=215–216}}

[[File:The American Soldier 1814.jpg|thumb|[[H. Charles McBarron Jr.|H. Charles McBarron]], ''Free Men of Colour and Choctaw Indian Volunteers at New Orleans, Louisiana'' (1982)]]
When the British reconnaissance force withdrew, the Americans immediately began constructing earthworks to protect the artillery batteries, further strengthening Line Jackson. They installed eight batteries, which included one 32-pound gun, three 24-pounders, one 18-pounder, three 12-pounders, three 6-pounders, and a {{convert|6|in|mm|adj=on}} [[howitzer]]. Jackson also sent a detachment to the west bank of the Mississippi to man two 24-pounders and two 12-pounders on the grounded warship {{USS|Louisiana|1812|6}}.  Jackson in the first week of the New Orleans land campaign that began on December 23 also had the support of the warships in the Mississippi River, including USS ''Louisiana'', USS ''Carolina'', the schooner USS ''Eagle'', and the steamboat {{ship||Enterprise|1814|2}}.  The naval warships were neutralized by the heavy naval artillery guns brought in by Pakenham and Cochrane a few days after Christmas. Major [[Thomas Hinds]]' Squadron of Light Dragoons, a militia unit from the [[Mississippi Territory]], arrived at the battle on December 22.{{sfnp|Remini|1999|p=74}}