On December 15, Jackson notified Coffee that a large enemy fleet had been observed arriving off Cat and Ship islands, a dozen miles off the Mississippi Coast and 60 miles from the mouth of the Mississippi. In his communication, Jackson thought it unlikely that the British would attack up the river, because the approach from its mouth was guarded by two forts, Bourbon and St. Philip. Major W. H. Overton, of Nashville, one of Jackson’s capable subordinates, commanded St. Philip. Coffee was skeptical that the invaders would try the other logical route open to them, crossing Lake Borgne and marching directly on the city. In the event that the British should choose this route he promised, “I shall be ready to meet them, in the swamps, where one Tennessean can run down ten sailors, and worn out Europeans, through mud, water, and brush,—I do not believe they will ever land, but should they attempt it, I have no doubt as to the result, being favorable to our army.[17]” Events proved that Coffee’s confidence in his men was fully justified. Jackson quickly augmented his New Orleans garrison by ordering Coffee to make a forced march of 135 miles from Baton Rouge to New Orleans, a feat which the latter accomplished in three days. Coffee encamped at Avart’s Plantation, five miles upriver from the city, on December 20. Further upriver, Carroll received a similar command to hasten his best trained and equipped troops and additional arms to supply Coffee’s men, whose arms and ammunition had been damaged by the heavy rain.[18] After the defeat and capture of the five little American gunboats on Lake Borgne on December 14, the road to New Orleans was open for the invaders. The British secretly disembarked their troops between December 16 and 20 on Pea Island. Then on the 22nd, they boarded open boats and cautiously crossed Lake Borgne, about 60 miles across. Under cover of darkness the trip was made even more somber by the biting, penetrating cold weather. Jackson, seemingly, lost sight of the British army’s movements following its arrival at Ship and Cat islands. Arriving the following morning at Fisherman’s Village (an extreme point on Villere’s Canal) on the Bayou Bienvenue, the invaders with their movements still unnoticed marched stealthily across Villere’s plantation toward the Mississippi River. About 9 a.m., they surprised and captured Major Gabriel Villere, and a detachment of troops. Major Villere managed to escape into a nearby cypress swamp, and make his way to New Orleans where he notified Jackson at his headquarters on Royal Street that the British were below the city.[19]