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?The Battle of Lake Bourne,? painted ca. 1815, depicts the fighting between American and British warships in the Mississippi Sound in December 1814 during the War of 1812. Illustration courtesy of the New Orleans Museum of Art.
The 1814 battle in the Mississippi Sound
Views From a Front Porch
by Paul Estronza La Violette laviolet@mail.datasync.com
In the early morning hours of 13 December 1814, three large barges armed with cannon and carrying British marines moved into the Bay of St. Louis.
The British were there to capture an American vessel that was loading military supplies and ammunition at Shieldsboro (the name of Bay St Louis at that time).
The American ship resisted.
The sharp cannon duel that followed was the start of a two-day naval battle that in that long ago December involved exploding ships, sunken barges, and hand-to-hand fighting.
There is a historical marker in downtown Bay St Louis whose heading reads: THE NAVAL BATTLE OF BAY ST. LOUIS.
Put there by the Hancock County Historical Society, the plaque marks the approximate location where most of the first day?s bloody action took place.
Today, if you would stop someone on the street in Bay St Louis or Waveland and ask about the plaque the person would more than likely be hard pressed to remember that any such battle occurred, much less where, when, or even why it was fought. Yet all of the naval actions took place within Mississippi waters in the Bay of St Louis and in the Mississippi Sound ? and all occurred in the waters off southern Hancock County.
The two-day battle was the first event in an escalating series of actions that would culminate in Chalmette, Louisiana, in what is called the ?Battle of New Orleans.? In describing the battle, historians have written much about the actions in and about Chalmette, but say very little about the intensively fought naval actions
that took place in Mississippi waters three weeks earlier. But the actions did take place, and they affected the events that occurred later in Chalmette.
On this, 12 December, the anniversary eve of the first battle associated with these events, it might be well to remember this extraordinary, almost forgotten portion of our Mississippi heritage.
8 - 11 DECEMBER 1814: THE BRITISH
It all started in the second week of December 1814.
At that time, an armada of 65 ships carrying more than
10,000	British troops began to rendezvous in the Gulf of Mexico just outside two barrier islands, Ship Island and Cat Island.
The troops involved were the cream of the British army, consisting in the main of battle-hardened troops that Wellington had used against Napoleon in the Peninsular Campaigns in Spain. They were there to invade the southern United States, starting with the capture of the city of New Orleans.
In addition to the troops and their weapons, the ships carried scores of large barges. These were to be used in the shallow waters of the Mississippi Sound and Louisiana?s Lakes Borgne and Pontchartrain. Augmented by launches from the various ships, the barges were to ferry the troops and weapons to an assault site more than 60 miles away.
Each barge was armed with either a 13-, 19-, or 24-pound carronade, a short barreled cannon that, while not accurate at ranges beyond a few hundred yards, was devastating at shorter distances. In comparison to
normal cannon, they could be likened to comparing a shotgun to a rifle. A carronade uses less powder and, thus, has less recoil than a standard cannon, a factor important aboard the comparatively thinhulled barges.
Although some were equipped with sail, the chief mode of propelling the barges was by large oars, six to a side. Thus, the barges? movements were not governed by wind conditions and, in the adept hands of the British sailors, were ideal for rapidly maneuvering through the shallow waters of the Mississippi Sound.
8 - 11 DECEMBER 1814: THE AMERICANS
From the very beginning of their assembly, the British armada had been under the observation of units of a small American flotilla. Com-manded by Lt. Thomas Ap Catesby Jones, these vessels were there to watch and report on the British movements to General Jackson in New Orleans. Lt. Joness orders read that he should observe and hinder the invading force; and, if the situation made it necessary, he was to withdraw to the protection of Fort Petites Coquilles in the Rigolets. There, he was to make his stand and ?Sink the enemy or be sunk.?
The flotilla he commanded was all that General Andrew Jackson could spare to defend the entire coast.
The major elements of these were five rather cumbersome gunboats. They bore such unimaginative names as No. 5, No. 23, No. 156, No. 162 and No.
163.	Schooner rigged, each gunboat carried a heavy cannon (32-pounder) and several smaller guns.
In addition to the gunboats, Lt. Jones had two support vessels, a small schooner, Alligator, and a tender, Sea Horse. Alligator carried a light 4-pounder cannon and a crew of 8. Sea Horse was larger and carried a 6-pounder cannon.
During the period when the British armada was assembling, Lt. Jones sailed out to their anchorage just outside the barrier islands.
His plan was to bombard the British transports with the heavy cannon of his vessels. This plan was quickly thwarted by the Tonnant, a 74-gun British ship of the line, and several frigates that hovered protectively about the transports. Faced with this superior firepower, Lt. Jones retreated back into the Sound and bided his time.
12	DECEMBER 1814: HENDERSON POINT
On December 12, with all of
the British ships having arrived at the rendezvous, the British barges were placed in the water and loaded with the first of what was to be a massive shuttle of troops. The barges moved in perfect weather through the pass between Cat and Ship Islands. The British invasion had begun.
Once the barges entered the shallow Sound, they were beyond the protection of the large warships. Lt. Jones watched them attentively. He felt that shooting at the barges would be like hurling bowling balls at ants. But given a chance, this was what he intended to do.
From the moment they had arrived off Ship Island, the British had been aware of the presence of the observing gunboats and the danger posed by their large guns. For this reason, Vice Admiral Cochrane formed a volunteer unit of marine, sailors and soldiers and had them occupy a large part of this initial wave of invading barges. He put this elite cadre under the command of Captain Nicholas Lockyer and gave him specific orders: destroy the gunboats.
The barges, moving closer to the mainland, anchored off Henderson Point.
They spent the night of 12 December sorting themselves out in preparation for the next day?s action. It was planned that Captain Lockyer?s force was to go into action against the gunboats as soon as possible. The remaining barges would follow as needed.
From his position west of the Bay of St Louis, Lt. Jones could not be sure what the British intentions were. He thought that they may be going to land at Henderson Point and use it
as a staging area. He decided to send Sea Horse into the Bay of St Louis to remove munitions and stores from Shieldsboro to keep them from the British. He then sent Alligator to New Orleans to warn General Jackson of the British invasion.
The stage was set for the start of the naval actions in the Bay of St Louis and the Mississippi Sound and the beginning of the battles that would be finalized at Chalmette.
13	DECEMBER 1814: THE BAY OF ST LOUIS
The British had seen Sea Horse going into the Bay of St. Louis, and on the morning of 13 December, three British barges rowed into the Bay to capture her. Sea Horse was being loaded below the bluff located at present-day Ulman Avenue, close to where the historical marker now stands. Most of the munitions were already aboard and Sailing Master William Johnson was hurrying to load the remaining military stores.
In the town of Shieldsboro, there was a great deal of excitement.
Word of the British fleet of barges had quickly spread through the countryside. By morning, a crowd had gathered along the bluff above the busy Seahorse.
From their vantage point, they could see the large force of British barges lying off Henderson Point. As the crowd watched, they saw three barges separate from the larger force and move into the Bay, obviously headed toward Sea Horse.
There is a colorful story that says that among the people
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