War of 1812/Battle of New Orleans
Submitted by Frances Ball Turner December 1997

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History of Louisiana by Henry E. Chambers
Vol. I, Chapter LXXXVI - Four Strenuous Years, pg. 515

Louisiana has never experienced a more contentious period than the first
four years of statehood.
...
The United States had entered upon a second war with Great Britain.
(footnote:  The so-called War of 1812.)   It had before the period of
actual hostilities declared an embargo upon all commerce which prevented
ships from leaving American ports.  Louisiana was now one of the United
States and shared with the other states the irritation which this stoppage
of commerce entailed.  To the other states, however, the embargo was but a
questionable policy.  To Louisiana it was an act of tyranny.  The governor
bore the brunt of the general complaint and made enemies by his loyal
support of the President's policies.

A part of Great Britain's strategy in this war was to incite the hostility
of the Indians upon the Northwestern frontier against the Americans.
Emissaries from these hostile races, even Tecumseh himself, the war chief
of the Shawnees, penetrated to the habitats of several Southern tribes and
incited an uprising against the whites.  The Creeks of Alabama and Western
Georgia readily responded, committing an act of unspeakable atrocity in
massacring the garrison of Fort Mims, Alabama, bringing upon themselves the
vengeance of Gen. Andrew Jackson, military commander of the Southern
district.  Creeks, Choctaws, Chickasaws and Cherokees, all powerful tribes,
had not as yet been removed beyond the Mississippi, but were still in
frictional contact with the expanding white settlements in the South.
Louisiana felt the effects of this hostile propaganda.  Bodies of
swaggering Choctaws visiting the various towns apparently to trade,
conducted themselves more and more insolently.  Finally raiding parties of
these Indians made life unsafe upon the outlying farms of St. Helena, St.
Tammany and Baton rouge parishes.  The conquest and punishment of the
Creeks by Jackson put an end to the Indian menace east of the Mississippi.
Claiborne himself went to Natchitoches and held council with
representatives of the Caddos and other Red River tribes, securing from
them assurances of friendship.  ...

Chapter LXXXVIII - The Baptism of Battle, pg. 528

In its conduct of the second war against England the United States has
little over which to boast, if exception be made to the long and almost
uninterrupted series of victories on sea by which the infant American navy
surprised the world.  But on land the chronicle is one of wretched
unpreparedness; of opening disasters and continued inefficiency; of
mutinous militia and insubordinate commanders; of disheartening secession
threats and opposition to plans and conduct of defense; of our national
capital seized, our public buildings desecrated and burned, and the
officers of our national government scampering in hot haste into the
interior to avoid threatened capture.  As an offset to these disasters we
have the gallant victories of Chippewa and Lundy's Land on the Niagara
frontier in which Generals Scott, Ripley and Gaines distinguised
themselves. (footnote:  Generals Ripley and Gaines subsequently became
distinguished citizens of Louisiana.)  We have also the brilliant defeat of
the British and their Indian allies under Tecumseh at the battle of the
Thames in Western Canada near the Detroit frontier.  The one engagement,
however, that overtopped all others in restoring American self-respect and
prestige was the brilliant repulse of the British by Gen. Andrew Jackson on
the plains of Chalmette just below the City of New Orleans.
...
The title of the United States to Louisiana was still regarded, to the
British way of thinking, as questionable.  If Louisiana did not rightfully
belong to the United States, it was the property of either France or Spain.
 If the former,Great Britain as a war measure against her traditional enemy
could take it over.  If the later, as Spain was her ally, she still could
take this ally's part by restoring to her the splndid domain which Napoleon
had once forced from her by false pretenses.  Above all she could weaken
the United State irretrievably by such a conquest.  English possession of
this Western country from Canada on the north to the Gulf on the south
would make it impossible for the United States to ever regain this
magnificent region.

What a fate then hung almost upon a cast of Destiny's die, as the forces of
England gathered formidably at Jamaica and made preparations for a descent
on the all but defenseless section about the Mississippi's mouth.
...
While none in American knew the exact destination of this expedition, in
New Orleans a premonition was current that that city would be the first
point of attack.  Truly had the citizens of the Crescent City reason to
complain of the indifference of the Federal government in the matter of
providing adquate defenses for their section against the impending attack.
Four companies of regulars and a half dozen light-draft gunboats were all
the assistance vouchsafed the Louisianians, a force that did not have even
a David's chance against the Goliath that was soon to appear.
...
An advance force of the British sought to gain a foothold at the entrance
of Mobile Bay but they were repulsed by the Fort Bowyer garrison and
retired to the friendly shelter of Pensacola where the Spanish authorities
gave them comfort and encouragement.  General Jackson hearing of this,
ignoring all international law governing such occasions, Spain being at
peace with the Unite States, plunged across the Spanish border, seized Fort
Barancas, turned its guns upon Spaniards and Englishmen alike and was about
to fire when the latter retired to their ships and sailed away.  It was
then that New Orleans became the British objective and when this purpose
became plain Jackson hastened to the city to defend it in person.
...
The British approached the city by way of Lake Borgne, routing a small
American Flotilla that tried gallantly to retard the enemy's advance.
December 23, 1814, saw General Keane and a division of the English army
stealing quietly up Bayoui Bienvenue to a point within nine miles of New
Orleans.  (footnote:  On this same day, three English and five American
commissioners were meeting at the Hotel des Pays Bas, in Ghent, Belgium,
arrange the details of a treaty of peace which was signed the next day.
Had we had the cable and telegraph in those days, the battle of New Orleans
would never have been fought.)
...
The British dead numbered more than 700; their wounded twice as many; 500
were taken prisoners.  The American loss was but eight killed and thirteen
wounded.  General Lambert to whom now fell the (British) command, withdrew
his men, summoned Thornton to return, and by the 20th (Jan. 1815), the
British army embarked and sailed away.
...
As stated, the withdrawal of the British was completed by the 20th.
Jackson returned in triumph to New Orleans.  Three days of exuberant
congratulations and rejoicings followed.  The 23rd was made a special day
of thanksgiving.  Divine services were held at the Cathedral; a Te Deum
sung; the troops in proud array reviewed; addresses and poems delivered and
responded to.  Soon came the news that the Peace Treaty of Ghent had been
signed, informing all that the Battle of New Orleans had unnecessarily been
fought.  It had not been fought in vain, however.  America needed the
victory as a heartener for the future.  The Creole needed the battle to
give him a baptism of patriotism be which he was born again, that he might
enter the portals of American citizenship in full realization of its
privileges and its meaning.

Respectfully submitted,

Frances (Ball) Turner
Vancouver, WA