Andrew Jackson, who was now a major general in the regular army, had assumed command of the Gulf Coast region in May 1814. He was convinced that Pensacola was the key to British operations in the region. “Pensacola,” he said, “is more important to the British arms than any other point on our South or Southwest.”176 Officials in Washington, however, feared that any military action against this city might lead to war with Spain. Hence in late October the secretary of war ordered Jackson not to invade Spanish territory. This directive, however, arrived too late to affect Jackson’s plans.177
On November 7, 1814, Jackson attacked Pensacola with a force of 4,100 regulars, militia, and Indians. The Spanish governor, who had perhaps 500 troops at his disposal, could not decide whether or not to offer resistance, and Jackson marched in almost unopposed. Disgusted, the British blew up the forts on Pensacola Bay and retired to the Apalachicola River.178 With its forts destroyed, Pensacola was neutralized, and Jackson marched to Mobile. Almost belatedly—since he fully expected the British to attack Mobile first—Jackson raced to New Orleans, arriving in the Crescent City on December 1.179
New Orleans Threatened
Jackson found that little had been done to prepare New Orleans against attack. Before being transferred north in 1813, Wilkinson had squandered the public funds under his control, and people throughout Louisiana radiated disloyalty and defeatism.180 “The War of the U.S. is very unpopular with us,” John Windship, a transplanted New Englander, reported in early 1814. French and Spanish residents, who constituted a large majority of the population, were called up for militia duty in New Orleans but “absolutely refused to be marched” and “declared themselves liege [feudal] subjects of Spain or France.” If the British should attack, Windship concluded, “there is no force competent to repell them.”181 There was also a growing scarcity of cash in New Orleans, and local banks refused to advance the government money. “Few, very few,” lamented an American army officer, “are disposed to aid the General Government in the present crisis.”182
Jackson’s arrival had a dramatic effect on the people. “General Jackson,” wrote one contemporary, “electrified all hearts.” “His immediate and incessant attention to the defence of the country,” said another, “soon convinced all that he was the man the occasion demanded.”183 After making a detailed study of the area, Jackson ordered all the water approaches from the Gulf blocked and batteries established at strategic points. He also established an excellent intelligence system to keep abreast of enemy movements.184 In addition, he issued a proclamation calling on everyone to assist in the defense of the city. “Those who are not for us,” he said, “are against us, and will be dealt with accordingly.”185 Jackson’s energetic actions dissipated the defeatism that had prevailed in the city. According to one witness, “The streets resounded with Yankee Doodle, the Marseilles Hymn, the Chant du Depart, and other martial airs.”186
Governor William Claiborne (brother of the Creek War general Ferdinand Claiborne) called out all the militia in the area, and troops began to pour in from miles around. John Coffee raced 850 mounted Tennessee riflemen to New Orleans from Baton Rouge, covering 135 miles in three days. Jackson already had appealed to free black men to enlist in the regular army, and he now accepted the services of a special corps of black troops, mostly refugees from Santo Domingo, raised by Captain Jean Baptiste Savary. Speaking on behalf of the white citizens, Governor Claiborne protested against these policies, but Jackson brushed his objections aside.187
The Baratarian pirates, headed by Jean and Pierre Laffite (or Lafitte), also offered their services. Even though an American naval force had destroyed their base on Grand Terre Island in September, the Baratarians rejected British overtures to side with them.188 Instead, they pleaded with American officials to accept their services, no doubt believing that this best served their interests. According to one observer, “this transition from piracy to Patriotism” was due to Edward Livingston. The pirates had promised the influential and well-connected lawyer $20,000 if he could secure their acquittal on charges of violating the trade laws, and he had advised them to enlist under the American banner.189
Although Jackson had once described the pirates as “hellish Banditti,” he could use more men who were accustomed to combat and knew the lay of the land.190 Hence he reluctantly accepted their offer. Some fifty Baratarians joined his force. They proved to be excellent artillerymen, and their knowledge of the local terrain was valuable. Jean Laffite got along so well with Jackson that he became the general’s unofficial aide-de-camp. Although the Baratarians’ contribution to victory that followed was modest, such was their influence in the state that the Louisiana legislature asked Madison to pardon them, which he did. Laffite later resumed his privateering career and served as a spy for the Spanish, but the park commemorating the Battle of New Orleans is now called Jean Lafitte National Historical Park and Preserve.191
Meanwhile, the British had been assembling a large army—about 10,000 strong—in Jamaica for their Gulf Coast campaign.192 After Ross’s death, the command was assigned to Major General Edward Pakenham, the Duke of Wellington’s brother-in-law. Pakenham was an able and experienced officer. According to one subordinate, he was “a hero, a soldier, a man of ability in every sense of the word.”193 Pakenham had the support of two accomplished officers, Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Dickson, who was considered the best artillery officer in the British army, and Lieutenant Colonel John Fox Burgoyne, an experienced engineer who was the illegitimate son of Major General John Burgoyne of Saratoga fame. At the end of November most of the British troops were put on board transports in a large convoy—commanded by Cochrane—and shipped to the Gulf Coast. Although the campaign was supposed to be a secret, it was reported in the press on both sides of the Atlantic.194
On December 5 the convoy arrived off the coast of Florida. British officials, hoping to use the Indians in a diversion, issued a proclamation promising to help them recover lands “of which the People of Bad Spirit have basely robbed them.”195 The Indians who responded, however, were unimpressive. Hence the British, who hardly needed native assistance anyway, proceeded without them. Although the British initially had planned an overland campaign against New Orleans from Mobile, they now decided to attack from the sea instead. Accordingly, the convoy weighed anchor and sailed west, reaching Cat Island—about eighty miles northeast of New Orleans—on December 13.196 From here the British could attack either from the east via Lake Borgne, from the north via Lake Pontchartrain, or from the northeast via the land mass between the lakes, which was known as the Plain of Gentilly.
The Battle of Lake Borgne
Because they lacked enough small boats to operate further north, the British decided to attack through Lake Borgne.197 As they moved toward the lake, they found their way blocked by Lieutenant Thomas ap Catesby Jones, who had five gunboats and 185 men. To destroy the American force, the British sent an assault force of forty-five boats under the command of Captain Nicholas Lockyer. The British boats were much smaller than the American gunboats, but they carried 1,200 men and a lot more guns. In the engagement that followed on December 14, the British prevailed but suffered about 100 casualties. Jones lost about forty killed and wounded, and he was among the wounded. The rest of his men were captured. Although the United States could ill afford to lose Jones’s boats, the Battle of Lake Borgne delayed the British advance to New Orleans, allowing Jackson additional time for defensive preparations.198
Having disposed of Jones’s force, the British established a base on Pea Island, 30 miles from New Orleans. The weather was cold and windy, and although primitive shanties were erected for the officers, everyone suffered. The morning of December 19, said Rear Admiral Edward Codrington, “produced a N.-W. gale, as bitter cold as we could have felt in England; and the nights of the 19th and 20th were so severe as to produce ice an inch thick in [water] tubs.” The cold weather continued for another a week. “Neither day nor night,” Codrington complained, “can we contriv
e to make ourselves comfortably warm.”199
After hiring some Spanish and Portuguese fishermen as guides, the British advanced across Lake Borgne to Bayou Bienvenu and thence to Bayou Mazant. From here they took a canal to Jacques Villeré’s plantation, which was located on the Mississippi River eight miles below New Orleans. On December 23 a British advance party of 1,600 men, commanded by Colonel William Thornton, occupied the plantation home. The British used Villeré’s house as their headquarters for the rest of the campaign. Thornton’s men captured thirty militia in the process, but Villeré’s son escaped to warn Jackson of the British approach.200
The Battle of Villeré’s Plantation
Jackson was determined to meet the British beyond New Orleans and before they were at full strength. Hence as soon as he learned of Thornton’s arrival at Villeré’s, he assembled 1,800 men and marched them to within a mile of the British position. Jackson’s men were supported by two warships, the U.S. Schooner Carolina (14 guns) and the U.S. Sloop Louisiana (22 guns), which was a converted merchantman. At 7:30 at night on December 23, the Carolina opened fire on the British camp.201 The attack caught the invaders by surprise. A British officer described the scene: “flash, flash, flash, came from the river; the roar of cannon followed, and the light of her own broadside displayed to us an enemy’s vessel at anchor near the opposite bank, and pouring a perfect shower of grape and round shot, into the camp.”202
Shortly thereafter Jackson ordered his army to attack. The British troops, who were now under the command of Major General John Keane, were unaware of Jackson’s presence and were again caught by surprise. Much close combat ensued, resulting in a large number of bayonet wounds. The lines were not clearly drawn, and in the darkness, smoke, and fog there was considerable confusion on both sides. Friendly troops fired on each other or blundered into enemy lines. By the time the Battle of Villeré’s Plantation ended, the British had suffered 275 casualties, the Americans 215.203
British reinforcements began to arrive the following day, and the day after that (Christmas Day) Pakenham himself arrived with additional troops, bringing total British strength to more than 4,000. Unaware that his army was much larger than Jackson’s, Pakenham failed to press his advantage. This enabled Jackson to pull back unmolested and establish a new line behind a canal about two miles from the British. In the days that followed, the Americans constructed earthworks along the edge of the canal between a cypress swamp on the east and the Mississippi River on the west.204 At the same time, the American ships in the river continued to fire on British positions, while Tennessee and Choctaw sharpshooters harassed British pickets. The British found the sniper fire infuriating. “To us,” said an officer, “it appeared an ungenerous return to barbarity.”205
Pakenham was none too sanguine about breaching Jackson’s defenses but decided to proceed with the campaign. To protect his flank, he had to knock the American ships out of action. Accordingly, he ordered a furnace for hot shot built and then on December 27 launched an artillery attack against the vessels. Contrary winds made it difficult for the ships to pull back, and the Carolina caught fire and blew up. The Louisiana was saved only because her crew ran tow lines to the opposite shore and pulled her to safety.206
The British Reconnaissance in Force
The next day—December 28—Pakenham ordered his troops to advance in two columns toward the American lines, which were now defended by about 4,000 men. The British suffered such intense fire, not only from the American troops but also from the Louisiana (which fired 800 rounds), that Pakenham gave up the attack and ordered a withdrawal. In this engagement, known as the British Reconnaissance in Force, the losses on both sides were light: perhaps thirty-five for the United States and fifty-five for the British.207
Jackson again used the respite to good advantage to strengthen his position. He extended his defensive works further into the swamp, so that his line was now a mile long. He also established additional artillery batteries in his line, bringing the total to eight. As a hedge against disaster, he built two additional lines closer to the city in case his men had to fall back. In addition, he ordered the construction of a defensive line on the western side of the river to be anchored by naval guns from the Louisiana.208
The Battle of Rodriguez Canal
On December 31 Pakenham established four new batteries of heavy guns that had been laboriously brought up from the fleet. The batteries were placed behind earth-filled sugar casks which were not tall enough to offer adequate protection. The following day—January 1, 1815—the British began bombarding Jackson’s main line. The barrage was supposed to destroy the American defenses but most of the rounds either overshot their mark or pounded harmlessly into the earthworks. Although caught unprepared, the Americans recovered quickly and responded with artillery fire of their own, destroying one of the British guns. The remaining British batteries lacked the ammunition to keep pace. “Our fire slackened every moment,” said a British naval officer; “that of the Americans became every moment more terrible, till at length, after not more than two hours and a half of firing, our batteries were all silenced.”209 With their ammunition exhausted, the British pulled back. In the Battle of Rodriguez Canal (also known as the Artillery Duel at New Orleans), the British suffered about seventy-five casualties, the Americans about thirty-five.210
Pakenham now waited for reinforcements that were en route to his camp. Each soldier brought a cannon ball in his knapsack to replenish the supply in the front lines. When a boatload of these troops overturned on Lake Borgne, the extra weight carried many of the men to the bottom.211 Those troops who made it safely to Pakenham’s camp raised his total strength to about 6,000 men. Meanwhile, Cochrane had taken advantage of the lull in the fighting to dam Villeré Canal. He hoped to bring boats through the canal in order to ferry 1,500 troops across the Mississippi River. But the dam failed, and the number of boats actually brought forward made it possible to move only 600 troops to the opposite shore.212
The Battle of New Orleans
The British battle plan called for Colonel William Thornton, who had been wounded at Bladensburg, to lead the troops across the river and launch a night attack against the American position there, which was defended by about 700 ill-trained Louisiana and Kentucky militia under the command of Major General David B. Morgan. Thornton was to seize the American guns and turn them on Jackson’s main line across the river. Then at dawn Pakenham’s principal force, about 5,300 strong, was to advance in three columns across Chalmette’s plantation to Jackson’s main line, which was now defended by 4,700 men.213
Thornton fell behind schedule and did not launch his attack until nearly daylight on January 8. His troops routed the militia and gained possession of the American guns, one of which was a brass howitzer that carried the inscription “taken at the surrender of York town 1781.” Even though Morgan’s men had not spiked all their guns before retreating, Thornton had no chance to follow up on his victory. The British attack on the other side of the river had stalled, and Thornton was ordered to withdraw.214
The main British force attacked about an hour and a half after Thornton. A fog covered the advance for a time, but it lifted suddenly, leaving the British troops completely exposed to American fire. When the British got within 500 yards, the Americans started firing their big guns. When they were within 300 yards, American riflemen opened up; and when they got within 100 yards, those with muskets opened fire. “The atmosphere,” said one American, “was filled with sheets of fire, and volumes of smoke.”215 The effect of this fire—particularly the grape and canister from the American artillery—was devastating. According to a British veteran of the Napoleonic Wars, it was “the most murderous [fire] I ever beheld before or since.”216 The Americans, by contrast, remained under cover, firing their big guns and small arms without exposing themselves to enemy fire.
All along the battle line the British were mowed down before they could get near the American earthworks. Only a small column advancing along
the riverbank got to the American line, but these troops suffered such withering fire that they had to fall back. The fire was so intense that many hardened British veterans hit the ground or fled. Pakenham did his best to rally his men, but as he rode across the battlefield he made a conspicuous target. A horse was shot out from under him, and he was twice wounded. Shortly after commandeering another horse, he was “cut asunder by a cannon ball.”217
This panoramic view of the Battle of New Orleans is based on a sketch drawn up by Jackson’s chief engineer, Arsène Lacarrière Latour. The drawing understates the height of the American defense works, focuses the viewer’s eye on the British assault column along the river, and shows little of the carnage that the British suffered elsewhere on the battlefield. (Benson J. Lossing, Pictorial Field-Book of the War of 1812)
Major General John Lambert, who took command after Pakenham fell, broke off the engagement. “It was a disastrous affair from beginning to end,” recalled a young British naval volunteer.218 The battle had lasted only a half hour on the eastern side of the river, and yet the toll was terrific. One eyewitness said the field was a terrible sight to behold, “with dead and wounded laying in heaps”—all dressed in scarlet British uniforms.219 Those who had thrown themselves to the ground in the heat of battle got up when the fighting ended. A few fled but most surrendered. One officer reportedly surrendered because “these d—d Yankee riflemen can pick a squirrel’s eye out as far as they can see it.”220
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