The Battle of New Orleans: 1815-2015

Two hundred years ago today, the American army, in the War of 1812, defeated a mighty British force at the Battle of New Orleans, successfully defending the city and fighting what turned out to be the last battle of the war.

The Battle of New Orleans was fought be a ragtag assemblage of American army regualrs, militiamen, mercenaries, and pirates agisnt a sophisticated British force.  It's depicted as a battle between British professionals and Americnas with nothing but grit, but it was actually more complicated than that.  The British did indeed launch a sophisticated assault under the command of General Sir Edward Packenham, but the Americans under the command of Major General Andrew Jackson - held the high ground outside New Orleans were able to defend the city and fight back against the British quite easily when the British advanced on the American lines in an open field and were picked off one by one - including Sir Edward, who died in battle. With their command in disarray, the British were doomed.

Soon after word of the American victory reached President James Madison in Washington, word arrived from Belgium that the Treaty of Ghent had been signed there a little over two weeks earlier, on December 24, 1814. The treaty ended the war as a draw for both sides and rendering that battle militarily valueless. Except that it wasn't. The fact that the war with Great Britain ended with such a smashing victory for the United States after two and a half years of fighting proved that the Americans could hold their own against the mightiest empire in the world - which is why the War of 1812 is sometimes called the Second War for Independence - and the victory at New Orleans turned Andrew Jackson into the greatest military hero since George Washington, leading him to become the seventh President of the United States. The Battle of New Orleans is significant for another reason; it marked the last time the British and the Americans would fight on a battlefield against each other; a century and change later, during World War I, they would fight on a battlefield side by side. This bicentennial anniversary of the Battle of New Orleans marks two hundred years of unbroken piece between the United States and Great Britain. 

And that's the way it was. (I miss those Bicentennial minutes.)

(This post was updated and modified on January 15, 2015.)