The Battle of New Orleans

Do you remember anything about the War of 1812 except for the fact it started in 1812?  I don’t either.  But I’m still learning while traveling.  We visited the battlefield of The Battle of New Orleans.  It was the last major battle of the war and a major victory for the United States.

My summarization of the war: Britain was fighting France.  Along with some other disagreements, Britain stole several U.S. ships and impressed U.S. sailors to fight in their war. The U.S. objected (duh!) and declared war on Britain.  The first couple of years of the war was half-hearted (sounds very weird) since Britain was busy fighting France.  After they won that war, their more experienced military came to the U.S.
 

In August 1814, they attacked Washington D.C. and burned down the Capital and the White House .  The British now planned to attack New Orleans and gain control of the Mississippi River. 

With over 8,000 experienced soldiers, they headed for New Orleans.  Our general Andrew Jackson had around 5,000 but these included some experienced American soldiers along with recruited militia, freed blacks, slaves, Choctaw Indians, locals, and even pirates (really!) to protect New Orleans.  Long story of the battle on January 8, 1815, but anyhow over 2,000 Brits were killed, wounded, or captured while 13 Americans died. At one point, a group of British soldiers were leaderless after several senior officers were killed.  Without orders to advance or retreat they were left in the open and shot down by the entrenched Americans.  I have to comment that I'm always shocked to watch movies of the wars of this time. Why anyone would have thought it was smart to march across a field standing upright in a straight line amazes me.  I guess the line was used for flat fields (like this one) to demoralize the enemy and keep your soldiers from deserting since you wouldn't want to be seen leaving the line.  You would definitely have to be brave (and a bit stupid).  

 

Andrew Jackson was a hero, had a square named after him in New Orleans along with the statue, and became president a few years after. 

 

Interestingly, diplomats in Belgium had signed the Treaty of Ghent on December 24, 1814.  The British ratified the treaty on December 27.  The treaty didn’t arrive in Washington until February 17.  Officially the War of 1812 was over on February 18, 1815.  If we had had better communications, the Battle of New Orleans (January 8) wouldn’t have been fought.

Nearby is a National Cemetery.  Only 1 person here fought in the Battle of New Orleans.  The rest are from the Civil War, the Spanish-American War, the World Wars, or Vietnam War.