Today, January 8th, is the anniversary of the famous Battle of New Orleans. Back in 1815 General Andrew Jackson led a motley crew of US soldiers, Kentucky and Tennessee militia volunteers, Free Men of Color from New Orleans, Choctaw Indians, Creole gentlemen volunteers, and the legendary Baratarian pirates under Jean Lafitte, the buccaneer and privateer, to victory against a huge well-trained force of British Regulars.
The British army under Gen. Pakenham was soundly defeated about 4 miles below the old city of New Orleans (which was then really just the Vieux Carre' a.k.a. the French Quarter) in Chalmette. The British army had assembled from many stations world-wide to capture the key port of New Orleans in this famous War of 1812 battle.
Gen. Jackson wisely placed his army on the British path to the city between a cypress swamp and the Mississippi River denying the British room to maneuver. The redcoats launched a frontal assault on a foggy morning and were destroyed by musket and rifle fire and the deadly cannon fire precisely aimed by Lafitte's pirates. More fighting occurred accross the river on the West Bank; but with the British defeat in Chalmette, the Americans under Jackson won a stunning victory. (The artwork is from public domain from "commons wikipedia" depicting the battle at the American rampart in Chalmette.)
We discussed the battle today in our school and noted the contributions made also by the Ursuline nuns from New Orleans who in 1815 acted as nurses for the wounded American soldiers in the battle.
--Adrian
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