Five Fast Facts on the Battle of New Orleans

Five Fast Facts on the Battle of New Orleans

By Andrew Harrod in American Thinker

January 8, 2015, marks the bicentennial of the Battle of New Orleans in the United States’ War of 1812 with the United Kingdom, from which a fledgling America had just gained independence some three decades earlier in 1783.  Here are five fast facts on the battle:

1) The battle occurred after a December 24, 1814, signing of a peace treaty in Ghent, Belgium. Yet the Treaty of Ghent’s first article specified a coming into force only upon ratification by both parties. The second article even included grace periods of varying lengths for retention of prizes taken in diverse ocean waters after treaty ratification. Afraid of American treaty revision demands, the British maintained pressure with continued fighting until final American ratification, something that occurred unanimously in the Senate on February 16, 1815.

2) The British suffered a lopsided defeat. General Andrew Jackson’s 4,000 Americans, mostly militia, decisively stopped 7,000 hardened British regulars in their attempt to advance on New Orleans. Marching upon American entrenchments across muddy fields, the British suffered more than 2,500 casualties, including about 700 killed, against only 71 American casualties (13 dead). British dead included their commanding general, Sir Edward Michael Pakenham, the 36-year old brother-in-law of the Duke of Wellington, among 20 senior British officers killed in the battle.

3) Free black troops fought on both sides. Black slaves in British Caribbean possessions could acquire their freedom through enlistment in British West India Regiments, the First and Fifth of which fought at New Orleans. Louisiana’s Battalion of Free Men of Color, meanwhile, fought on the American side as the only black militia unit in the United States with black commanding officers.

4) The Seventh Infantry Regiment, one of the five oldest regiments in the United States Army, derives its name from the Battle of New Orleans.  During the battle the regiment fought behind fortifications made of cotton bales and thus became known as the “Cottonbalers.” Accordingly, the insignia of the regiment that has seen more campaigns than any other American infantry unit features a cotton bale.

5) American commander Jackson was the only president to serve in both the American Revolution and the War of 1812. Born in 1767, Jackson had fought during the Revolution as an adolescent with American guerillas in the backcountry of the Carolinas before being taken prisoner by the British. Victory at New Orleans made Jackson a national hero, second in American esteem only to Founding Father George Washington.  Fame helped win Jackson two presidential terms from 1829-1837.

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