The 1815 Battle of New Orleans secured the Louisiana Territory for America
AWE News interviews Pat Gallagher and Roger Villere (both descendants of veterans of the Battle of New Orleans) on remembrance and the battle’s impact on America.
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. It took place approximately 5 miles (8.0 kilometers) east-southeast of the center of the original city of New Orleans, close to the town of Chalmette, Louisiana, and it was a U.S. victory.
The battle took place directly after the signing of the Treaty of Ghent on December 24, 1814, before news of the treaty could reach the United States. American troops defeated a poorly executed British assault on New Orleans in slightly more than 30 minutes, despite the British having a large advantage in training, experience, and fielded troops. The Americans suffered roughly 62 casualties in total, while the British suffered roughly 2,000 overall.
Sixty British ships had anchored in the Gulf of Mexico to the east of Lake Pontchartrain and Lake Borgne by December 14, 1814 with 14,450 soldiers and sailors aboard under the command of Admiral Sir Alexander Cochrane.
On the morning of December 23, Keane and a vanguard of 1,800 British soldiers reached the east bank of the Mississippi River, 9 miles (14 km) south of New Orleans. They could have attacked the city by advancing a few hours up the river road, which was undefended all the way to New Orleans, 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.
At the close of Major Villeré’s narrative the General drew up his figure, bowed with disease and weakness, to its full height, and with an eye of fire and an emphatic blow upon the table with his clenched fist, exclaimed: “By the Eternal, they shall not sleep on our soil!”
With the Americans outnumbered, it seemed that the city of New Orleans was in danger of being captured, so the Ursuline nuns and many people of New Orleans gathered in the Ursuline Convent’s chapel before the statue of Our Lady of Prompt Succor. They spent the night before the battle praying and crying before the statue, begging for the Virgin Mary’s intercession and vowed to have a Mass of Thanksgiving sung annually should the American forces win. General Jackson went to the convent himself to thank the nuns for their prayers. “By the blessing of heaven, directing the valor of the troops under my command, one of the most brilliant victories in the annals of war was obtained. The vow made by Mother Ste. Marie has been faithfully kept throughout the years.
The victory in New Orleans inspired America to develop the Louisiana Purchase of 1803.
Henry Clay’s “American System,” devised in the burst of nationalism that followed the War of 1812, remains one of the most historically significant examples of a government-sponsored program to harmonize and balance the nation’s agriculture, commerce, and industry. This “System” consisted of three mutually reinforcing parts: a tariff to protect and promote American industry; a national bank to foster commerce; and federal subsidies for roads, canals, and other “internal improvements” to develop profitable markets for agriculture. Funds for these subsidies would be obtained from tariffs and sales of public lands. Clay argued that a vigorously maintained system of sectional economic interdependence would eliminate the chance of renewed subservience to the free-trade, laissez-faire “British System.”
The establishment of a protective tariff, a 20%–25% tax on imported goods, would protect a nation’s business from foreign competition. Congress passed a tariff in 1816 which made European goods more expensive and encouraged consumers to buy relatively cheap American-made goods.
The improvement of the country’s infrastructure, especially transportation systems, made trade easier and faster for everyone. Poor roads made transportation slow and costly.
Tariffs were subsequently raised until they peaked in 1828 after the so-called Tariff of Abominations. After the Nullification Crisis in 1833, tariffs remained the same rate until the Civil War. During the Nullification Crisis, South Carolina refused to collect Tariffs on imports. Andrew Jackson prepared to wage war on South Carolina via The Force Act on 1833.
On April 13, 1830, at the traditional Democratic Party celebration honoring Jefferson’s birthday, Jackson chose to make his position clear. Jackson’s toast was “Our Federal Union: It must be preserved.”
General Butler carved those words on the Jackson Monument in New Orleans during the Union Army occupation.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_New_Orleans
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