His words and his presence inspired confidence. And when his flag was run up above his headquarters in Royal Street a sense of security was felt by the inhabitants. The conditions about him, however, were far from promising, and to a less determined spirit than that of Jackson would have been appalling. The troops under him were few in number and poorly equipped for battle. The Crescent City was ill equipped for defense. The governor and the Legislature were at loggerheads. As was his way in a crisis, General Jackson took matters into his own hands. He placed the city under martial law and made every man a sailor or a soldier compelled to the restrictions and the rules governing the army. He was aware that his action was open to severe censure, but in the face of the object to be attained he held this as of little consequence. While engaged in examining a situation for a fortification in one direction, the British effected a landing in another. They had captured the American flotilla guarding the entrance to Lake Borgne and were making ready to advance upon the city. This information brought consternation to the inhabitants but not to the indomitable Jackson. Obstacles to him were but objects to be overcome. He swung his troops into line and went out to meet the enemy. The advance was checked by a sharp engagement with little loss to either side. He then set the little schooner _Carolina_, in the Mississippi, to bombarding the levee where the British gunners had taken refuge. With her guns continuously roaring she kept the Britishers at bay for three whole days, when she succumbed to their heavy fire and exploded. Her entire crew escaped with the exception of one man killed and six wounded. On the field of Chalmette, a few miles below New Orleans, the opposing armies threw up intrenchments from the same soft ooze and mud, so close they now stood to each other. From an upper room of the McCarte mansion house--the home of a wealthy Creole--General Jackson surveyed the operations of the enemy; and directed the movements of his own troops. December the 28th an advance was made by the British on the American lines but without significant results. On New Year's Day another attack was made. In the interim between these assaults went out an order from General Jackson to Governor Claiborne that involved the general for years thereafter in legal complications with the Louisiana Legislature. News was borne to General Jackson on the field that the Legislature was preparing to capitulate New Orleans in the belief that the city would be captured. "Tell Claiborne," said the irate Jackson, "to blow them up." Later, he wrote to Governor Claiborne, in case the report was true, to place a guard at the door of the legislative hall and keep the members in it; where they could, he satirically remarked to a friend, have full time to make some wholesome laws for the State without distraction from outside matters.