December 12, 1814

Cat Island – Aboard HMS TONNANT British spy Harold Lowe meets Admiral Cochrane’s staff, including his brother Fleet Captain Godfrey Lowe and points out the new redoubts and fortifications at the Chef Menteur Pass and the Rigolets. Some fortifications, yet he reports on the lack of US troops and their general unpreparedness. Harold also points out a route below the city, using the canals through the swamp where an army could pop up six miles beneath New Orleans on dry, plantation ground, with a straight shot into the city. There are no American defenses south of the city.

from BATTLE KISS, Part 2, “The British Invade” www.oneildenoux.net