The Battle of New Orleans is by far the most famous battle of the War of 1812, and arguably the war’s most brilliant American victory. But, fought after the war was already virtually over—the Treaty of Ghent had been signed but not yet ratified—it had no effect on the military outcome (though it had a great political effect in the United States).
For those who don't know, I live in a converted campervan and travel around the country, posting photo diaries of places that I visit. I am currently in New Orleans.
After failing to capture Fort McHenry and Baltimore, the British turned towards the major American port at New Orleans, hoping to seize the city and use it as a bargaining chip in the peace negotiations, or perhaps hold it and give the British control over the Mississippi River trade routes. The Crescent City also presented the opportunity to hold a land area within the United States that could serve as a basis for British demands to establish an independent “Indian Territory” in the south, to be populated by England’s Creek allies and serve as a barrier to American expansion.
Before the end of 1814, England had sent more ships to expand the Royal Navy presence in North America, under Vice Admiral Alexander Cochrane, and had assembled a force of almost 15,000 men under the command of General Sir Edward Pakenham. They were battle-tested veterans from the war with France. (The Crown Government had actually asked the hero of the Napoleonic Wars, the Duke of Wellington himself, to command the British forces in America, but he had declined.) The English sentiment was captured by Cochrane, who wrote in a letter, “I have it much at heart to give them a complete drubbing before peace is made.”
Pakenham’s original plan had been to capture the port at Mobile AL and then advance overland from there to New Orleans, but his attempted landing in Alabama was rebuffed. So, on December 14, Cochrane’s fleet carried the British troops to Louisiana, landing them near Lake Borgne. Ten days later, an advance force of 1800 royal infantry had approached to within 6 miles of New Orleans, where they camped and waited for the rest of the army to catch up.
In the city, General Andrew Jackson knew that he was in trouble. Declaring martial law and conscripting every able-bodied male, he was able to scrape together only a little less than 5,000 men. But he was determined to fight it out. When one state legislator gave a speech advocating surrender, Jackson had him arrested, and threatened to blow up the capitol building if there were any more such speeches.
One unexpected ally was the local pirate captain Jean Lafitte, who Jackson had initially wanted to capture and hang. Now, Lafitte’s pirate fleet kept Jackson informed about British movements, and ultimately it was Lafitte’s sailors who manned most of the American cannons in the coming fight.
Jackson gathered his men (a mixture of Army Regulars, some US Marines and Navy sailors, his own Tennessee militia, other militia from Kentucky, Mississippi, and Louisiana, a small force of friendly Choctaw, and even a unit of free African-Americans) and deployed them along with eight cannon batteries in a series of log and sand breastworks in the town of Chalmette, along the Rodriguez Canal that ran next to the Mississippi River. Another group was sent to the other side of the Mississippi to establish another cannon battery. A few American gunboats sailed up and down the river.
The battle began with some raids and skirmishes on Christmas Eve, then a British cannonade that lasted most of New Years Day 1815, halting only when some of the batteries ran out of ammunition. Pakenham decided to wait for resupplies, and also for some straggling British units to arrive. He did not know that his bombardment had caused part of Jackson’s militia force to break and run, and had he attacked, he likely could have overrun the Americans and taken the city.
The British assault finally came on January 8, 1815. The battle plan was simple: one column would be sent in boats across the Mississippi to capture the American cannon battery there, and at the same time the main English force would assault directly into Jackson’s breastworks, using bundles of wood to fill in the ditches and scaling ladders to get over the walls. Pakenham assumed the ill-prepared American militia would run, and the victory would be quick.
But the British had bad luck from the beginning. The secondary force got bogged down and was delayed in crossing the river. When the main assault was launched, there was a thick morning fog which protected them from American fire, but shortly after the fighting began the fog lifted, exposing the British to cannons. Contrary to Pakenham’s expectations, the American militia held firm and poured rifle shots at the red-coated officers. The troops bearing the scaling ladders were scattered, and only a few of Pakenham’s men were able to ascend the barrier and engage the Americans hand-to-hand. They were quickly beaten back.
When the first attack foundered, Pakenham himself led the second charge, and was killed by a blast of American grapeshot. His second-in-command, General Samuel Gibbs, was then killed shortly later. Now leaderless, the British troops turned and ran. The attack across the Mississippi River, meanwhile, had been successful: the American guns were captured, but seeing the slaughter of the main force, the British there retreated back across the river and fled.
In less than half an hour, it was all over. The British had lost 2,000 killed, wounded or captured: the Americans less than 100. It was the most spectacular win of the entire war—but it came too late. Unknown to all the participants, a peace treaty had already been signed in Europe on Christmas Eve that ended the war. (The Treaty of Ghent specified, however, that it would not go into effect until both sides had ratified it, so the Battle of New Orleans was technically not fought after the war had ended, as is popularly believed.)
Because of the slow communications during the 19th century, the news of Jackson’s win at New Orleans reached the American people at about the same time that word arrived of the peace treaty and the end of the war, and this had the effect of melding the two events together in the public’s imagination. It was widely assumed that it had been Jackson’s victory that had forced the British to end the war.
That was not true, but the mistaken impression continued for over a century afterwards. In 1959, folk singer Johnny Horton recorded a song titled “The Battle of New Orleans” which became a huge hit and stayed at the top of the music charts. Although the song’s historical accuracy is lacking, it helped to continue the popular misconception that the US had won the War of 1812 through Jackson’s fight in Louisiana.
Today, the Chalmette Battlefield is part of the Jean Lafitte National Historical Park, near New Orleans. There is a walking path that winds around the battlefield, as well as a cemetery and a monument. The grounds also contain the Malus-Beauregard House, a pre-Civil War plantation house which was not there at the time of the battle, but is now open for tours.
Some photos from a visit.