By: Brian T (8TH GRADE- FAYETTEVILLE)
The battle of New Orleans was a major victory for the Americans. Even though it was after the war, the British thought they could go walking into the United states and claim what they wanted. The British wanted New Orleans back, so they decided to go and claim it not long after a treaty was signed between the United states and Great Britain.
When the people in New Orleans found out about this, they turned to Andrew Jackson for help. When Jackson arrived in the late fall of 1814, he brought his own army along to help. He also recruited freed African American slaves and the militia of New Orleans to help fight. When the British arrived on December 23rd, two American officers came running to Jackson to give him the news. That night, Jackson launched a surprise attack on the British camp.
After the attack, the British were so surprised that they delayed their attack plans giving the American army time to recreate. Jackson retreated 3 miles to the Chalmette plantation on the banks of the Rodriguez canal which was basically a big ditch. Here, Jackson’s men constructed a 3/5 mile long rampart. It was the perfect position too because they had the rampart up front, the Mississippi river to the right and the cypress swamp to their left.
As General Pakenham prepared to attack, the Americans dug trenches and settled into their surroundings. On December 28th, the British tried to break through the American defenses but were turned back with the help of a ship called the Louisiana stationed to the right of the troops. Four days later, the British tried to bombard the Americans with their artillery but once again were turned back. On January 4th , 1815, the British received a fresh supply of troops which greatly increased their chance of success. General Pakenham decided to cross the Mississippi river and overwhelm the thin line of defense. Their plan was simple. They would construct ladders from bundled sticks to get past the ramparts. There was only one problem however. The British had forgotten to bring their ladders so an easy task of climbing a ladder got a whole lot harder.
The British had two forces that were to meet up and overwhelm the Americans but the secondary force on the west side of the Mississippi was delayed so the main force had to attack without them to take advantage of the early morning fog. As the British army of more than 10,000 walked across, the badly out numbered U.S. rag tag army were crammed behind narrow fortifications prepared to fight.. Even though the Americans were outnumber 4,000 to 10,000, the British made easy targets marching across a quarter mile of open ground wearing bright suits, and marching in perfect rhythm like “civilized” men. When the firing started, the British army started falling like dominoes. The two most senior British Generals were killed along with general Pakenham. Before he died he told his successor not to retreat. The man was obviously not a lunatic like Pakenham and gave the order to retreat.
In the end, the Americans killed were 8 and 13 wounded; The British on the other hand had well over 2,000 killed or wounded and more than 100 captured. |
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