Jackson also was observing Pakenham on the afternoon of the seventh and he concluded that a major assault upon his works was imminent. Fascines and scaling ladders were in evidence, as were additional troops which had arrived the previous day under the command of Major General John Lambert, who had sailed from England at the end of October. Jackson’s plan of defense, a simple one, was designed to frustrate and repulse the British onslaught. The riflemen were numbered “one” and “two.” At the signal, the “ones” would fire first, step back, reload, and then wait for the “twos” to fire. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [Illustration: A typical mid-19th century conception of how the Battle of New Orleans on January 8, 1815 was fought. The officer on the white horse presumably is Sir Edward M. Pakenham, who commanded the British forces. The sharpshooter with his knee on the parapet has delivered the fatal shot that killed the British commander. This sketch, by an unknown artist, appeared in Harper’s Weekly.] ------------------------------------------------------------------------ The night hours wore slowly on until the first vestiges of morning light which was hardly perceptible because of the low-hanging fog. Every Tennessean fingered his trigger, checking occasionally to see if his trusty long knife was in place should hand-to-hand struggle become necessary. Finally, when the rolling mists parted, there was seen a red line advancing across the plain of Chalmette toward the American entrenchments. When Jackson saw this, he felt that the plan of attack would fail because no frontal attack could storm his entrenchments. Coffee strode up and down his line encouraging his men to remain steady and to withhold their fire until “one could see their belt-buckles.”[29] On and on the silent line flowed, until it seemed like a great red carpet across the battlefield. Coffee recalled seeing the provocative scene of Redcoats advancing “in solid column in superior numbers and great order.” Within a few moments a mighty blast of artillery mowed down entire columns, but failed to halt the now surging tide streaming dangerously near the entrenchments. The British had come to within forty yards of Coffee’s flank before he roared: “Now men, aim for the center of the cross belts——fire!”[30]