Battle of New Orleans

The Battle of New Orleans was fought on January 8, 1815, between the British Army under Major General Sir Edward Pakenham and the United States Army under Brevet Major General Andrew Jackson, roughly 5 miles (8 km) southeast of the French Quarter of New Orleans, in the current suburb of Chalmette, Louisiana.

The battle was the climax of the five-month Gulf Campaign (September 1814 to February 1815) by Britain to try to take New Orleans, West Florida, and possibly the Louisiana Territory which began at the First Battle of Fort Bowyer. Britain started the New Orleans campaign on December 14, 1814, at the Battle of Lake Borgne and numerous skirmishes and artillery duels happened in the weeks leading up to the final battle.

The battle took place 15 days after the signing of the Treaty of Ghent, which formally ended the War of 1812, on December 24, 1814, though it would not be ratified by the United States (and therefore did not take effect) until February 16, 1815, as news of the agreement had not yet reached the United States from Europe. Despite a British advantage in numbers, training, and experience, the American forces defeated a poorly executed assault in slightly more than 30 minutes. The Americans suffered 71 casualties, while the British suffered over 2,000, including the deaths of Pakenham and his second-in-command, Major General Samuel Gibbs.

Background

In August 1814, Britain and the United States began negotiations to end the War of 1812. The British Secretary of State for War and the Colonies Henry Bathurst issued Pakenham's secret orders on October 24, 1814, commanding him to continue the war even if he heard rumors of peace. Bathurst expressed concern that the United States might not ratify a treaty and did not want Pakenham either to endanger his forces or miss an opportunity for victory. Prior to that, in August 1814, Vice Admiral Cochrane had convinced the Admiralty that a campaign against New Orleans would weaken American resolve against Canada and hasten a successful end to the war.

There was a major concern that the British and their Spanish allies wanted to reclaim the territories of the Louisiana Purchase because they did not recognize any land deals made by Napoleon (starting with the 1800 Spanish cession of Louisiana to France, followed by the 1804 French sale of Louisiana to the United States). This is why the British invaded New Orleans in the middle of the Treaty of Ghent negotiations. It has been theorized that if the British had won the Battle of New Orleans, they would have likely interpreted that all territories gained from the 1803 Louisiana Purchase would be void and not part of U.S. territory. There was great concern by the Americans that Britain would hold onto the territory indefinitely, but it is left unanswerable due to the outcome of the New Orleans battle. This is contradicted by the content of Bathurst's correspondence, and disputed by historian Jon Latimer, with specific reference to correspondence from the Prime Minister to the Foreign Secretary dated December 23, 1814.

Opposing forces

Prelude

Lake Borgne

left|thumb|[[Lake Borgne, Louisiana, 1720.]]

A fleet of British ships had anchored in the Gulf of Mexico to the east of Lake Pontchartrain and Lake Borgne by December 14, 1814, under the command of Vice Admiral Sir Alexander Cochrane. An American flotilla of five gunboats, commanded by Lieutenant Thomas ap Catesby Jones, blocked British access to the lakes. On December 14, around 980 British sailors and Royal Marines under Captain Nicholas Lockyer set out to attack Jones's force. Lockyer's men sailed in 42 rowboats, almost all armed with a small carronade. Lockyer captured Jones's vessels in a brief engagement. Casualties included 17 British sailors killed and 77 wounded, while 6 Americans were killed, 35 wounded, and the remaining crews captured. The wounded included both Jones and Lockyer.

One unintended consequence is that it is believed the gunboat crews in captivity were able to mislead the British as to Jackson's strength in numbers, when they were questioned. There is a popular story concerning Purser Thomas Shields and Surgeon Robert Morrell, who were sent under a flag of truce to negotiate the return of the prisoners on parole. They were placed in a cabin where their conversation could be heard. Shields, having hearing difficulties, talked loudly and mentioned that 20,000 troops were under Jackson's command. There was nothing in the actions of the British commanders to indicate they believed they were faced with superior numbers.

Disembarkation by the British

Sixteen hundred British soldiers under the command of General John Keane were rowed 60 miles west from Cat Island to Pea Island (possibly now Pearl Island), situated about east of New Orleans. It took six days and nights to ferry the troops, each transit taking around ten hours.

There were three potential routes to the east of the Mississippi that the British could take, in addition to traversing up the Mississippi itself. Rather than a slow approach to New Orleans up the Mississippi River, the British chose to advance on an overland route. The first route was to take the Rigolets passage into Lake Pontchartrain, and thence to disembark two miles north of the city. One hindrance was the fort at Petit Coquilles at the Rigolets passage.

The second option was to row to the Plain of Gentilly via the Bayou Chef Menteur, and to take the Chef Menteur Road that went from the Rigolets to the city. It was narrow, and could be easily blocked. Jackson was aware of this, and had it well guarded.

The third option was to head to Bayou Bienvenue, then Bayou Mazant and via the Villeré Canal to disembark at a point one mile from the Mississippi and seven miles south of the city. This latter option was taken by Keane.

Andrew Lambert notes that Keane squandered a passing opportunity to succeed, when he decided to not take the open road from the Rigolets to New Orleans by way of Bayou Chef Menteur. Reilly observes that there has been a general acceptance that Cochrane cajoled Keane into a premature and ill-advised attack, but there is no evidence to support this theory. Codrington's correspondence does imply that the first option was intended to be followed by Cochrane, based upon inaccurate map details, as documented by Cochrane's papers. The shallow waters of the narrow passes of the Rigolets and the Chef Menteur could not take any vessel drawing eight feet or more.

A further hindrance was the lack of shallow draft vessels, which Cochrane had requested, yet the Admiralty had refused. As a consequence, even when using all shallow boats, it was not possible to transport more than 2,000 men at a time.

Villeré Plantation

thumb|left|Affair Below New Orleans: December 23, 1814|alt=

On the morning of December 23, Keane and a vanguard of 1,800 British soldiers reached the east bank of the Mississippi River, south of New Orleans. They could have attacked the city by advancing a few hours up the undefended river road, but Keane decided to encamp at Lacoste's Plantation and wait for the arrival of reinforcements. The British invaded the home of Major Gabriel Villeré, but he escaped through a window and hastened to warn General Jackson of the approaching army and the position of their encampment.

alt=Plan of the city and suburbs of New Orleans : from an actual survey made in 1815|thumb|Plan of the city and suburbs of New Orleans from an 1815 survey

Commencement of battle

Jackson's raid on the British camp

Following Villeré's intelligence report, on the evening of December 23, Jackson led 2,131 men in a brief three-pronged assault from the north on the unsuspecting British troops, who were resting in their camp. He then pulled his forces back to the Rodriguez Canal, about south of the city. That evening, the raid was supported by cannon fire from two gunboats and USS Carolina, signaling the start of the attack.

A half an hour after the Carolina's bombardment, Jackson sent his forces forwards with the Marines pressing forward along the levee, the 7th and 44th Infantry Regiments in column to the Marines' left, Plauche and Daquin's battalions coming in from the rear. The 7th and 44th Regiments made initial contact, routing a British force behind a hedge and ditch. As the battle progressed British reinforcements from the 21st Regiment of Foot and 93rd Regiment of Foot arrived and engaged the Americans, with the 21st Regiment of Foot beating back John Coffee's Mounted Rifles.

The Americans suffered 24 killed, 115 wounded, and 74 missing, while the British reported their losses as 46 killed, 167 wounded, and 64 missing. The action was consequential, since at December 25 Pakenham's forces now had an effective strength of 5,933 out of a headcount of 6,660 soldiers. Historian Robert Quimby states that the British won a "tactical victory, which enabled them to maintain their position", but they "were disabused of their expectation of an easy conquest". As a consequence, the Americans gained time to transform the canal into a heavily fortified earthwork.

Jackson in the first week of the New Orleans land campaign that began on December 23 also had the support of the warships in the Mississippi River, including , , USS Eagle, two gunboats and the steamboat . Major Thomas Hinds' squadron of light dragoons, a militia unit from the Mississippi Territory, arrived in theater on December 22. As of December 23, Jackson mustered a strength of 3,300 men.

British reconnaissance-in-force

On Christmas Day, General Edward Pakenham arrived on the battlefield. The following day, he received nine large naval artillery guns from Admiral Cochrane along with a hot shot furnace to silence the and the , that were harassing his troops the past week from the Mississippi River. The British covertly erected a gun battery with embrasures, hidden behind the levee, camouflaged with corn stalks. On December 26, the hot shot furnace had been completed. Under cover of night, the cannons were moved to the battery. On December 27, the Carolina was sunk in a massive explosion, caused by a fire started when the British fired a heated shot. The Louisiana was 300 yards away, and sited where it was able to take advantage of a breeze, to sail upstream and out of range of the concealed British battery. Further movement upriver, against the flow, was made by warping and hard towing, in the absence of winds.

Pakenham ordered a reconnaissance-in-force on December 28 against the earthworks. The reconnaissance-in-force was designed to test the American line and see how well-defended it was, and if any section of the line was weak the British would take advantage of the situation, break through, and call for thousands of more soldiers to smash through the defenses. On the right side of this offensive the British soldiers successfully sent the militia defenders into a retreating panic with their huge show of force and were just a few hundred yards from breaching the defensive line, but the left side of the reconnaissance-in-force turned into disaster for the British. Jackson's artillery pieces, in concert with Louisiana, successfully defended the section of Line Jackson closest to the Mississippi River with enfilading fire, making it look like the British offensive completely failed even though on the section closest to the swamp the British were on the verge of breaking through. Pakenham inexplicably decided to withdraw all the soldiers after seeing the left side of his reconnaissance-in-force collapsing and retreating in panic. The British suffered 16 killed, 38 wounded, 2 missing and the Americans suffered 7 killed and 8 wounded. Luck saved Line Jackson on this day and this was the closest the British came during the whole campaign to defeating Jackson. American prisoners were told by their British captors they believed Louisiana had prevented them from succeeding in taking Line Jackson. While enduring an incessant seven‑hour cannonade by the British, Louisiana retaliated by firing approximately 800 rounds while suffering only one seaman wounded.

After the failure of this operation Pakenham met with General Keane and Admiral Cochrane that evening for an update on the situation. Pakenham wanted to use Chef Menteur Pass as the invasion route, but he was overruled by Admiral Cochrane, who insisted that his boats were providing everything needed. Admiral Cochrane believed that the veteran British soldiers would easily destroy Jackson's ramshackle army, and he allegedly said that if the army did not do it, his sailors would, and the meeting settled the method and place of the attack.

thumb|[[H. Charles McBarron Jr.|H. Charles McBarron, Free Men of Colour and Choctaw Indian Volunteers at New Orleans, Louisiana (1982)]]

When the British reconnaissance force withdrew, the Americans immediately began constructing earthworks to protect the artillery batteries, further strengthening Line Jackson. They installed eight batteries, which included one 32-pound gun, three 24-pounders, one 18-pounder, three 12-pounders, three 6-pounders, and a howitzer.

Jackson approved a proposal by Patterson, on December 28, for the construction of a fortified position on the right bank to provide covering fire for any British assault, on the other bank, heading to Line Jackson (name of the U.S. defensive line at the Rodriguez Canal) and New Orleans. Given that Patterson manned it with his crews, it was christened the Marine Battery. Jackson also sent a detachment to the right bank of the Mississippi to man two 24-pounders and two 12-pounders from Louisiana brought ashore and placed in redoubts.