“General Jackson saw them too,” Ezekiel whispered. “But we have a problem.”

Zeb scanned the faces in the restaurant. The British had already seized control of the shoreline ten miles south of New Orleans. The city's population was less than 40,000, and now foreign soldiers were preparing to invade.

Andrew Jackson was preparing a defense. He had fortified his own troops with Choctaw Indians, pirates from Barataria Bay, 500 African-American soldiers and militias from Tennessee, Kentucky, Mississippi, and Louisiana. Before the British could invade and to give his men time to prepare the defense, Jackson would send his troops to attack them. Tonight.

“But the British will know he's coming.”