T h e U . S.

A r m y C a m pa i g n s
o f t h e Wa r o f 1 8 1 2

Gulf
Theater
1813-1815
The

A detail view of the Battle of New Orleans, by Jean Hyacinthe de

Laclotte (Library of Congress)

CMH Pub 747

The Gulf Theater

18131815
by
Joseph F. Stoltz III

Center of Military History

United States Army
Washington, D.C., 2014

Introduction

The War of 1812 is perhaps the United States least known

conflict. Other than Andrew Jacksons 1815 victory at New Orleans
and Francis Scott Keys poem The Star-Spangled Banner written
in 1814 during the British attack on Baltimore, most Americans
know little about the countrys second major war. Its causes are
still debated by historians today. Great Britains impressment of
American sailors, its seizure of American ships on the high seas,
and suspected British encouragement of Indian opposition to further American settlement on the western frontier all contributed to
Americas decision to declare war against Great Britain in June 1812.
None of these factors, however, adequately explain why President James Madison called for a war the country was ill-prepared
to wage. Moreover, the war was quite unpopular from the start.
Many Federalistschiefly in the New England statesopposed
an armed conflict with Great Britain, continued to trade with the
British, and even met in convention to propose secession from the
Union. Some members of the presidents own Republican Party
objected to the wars inevitable costs and questionable objectives,
such as the conquest of Canada.
To declare war was one thing, but to prosecute it successfully was
a different matter. Much of the story of the War of 1812 is about
the unpreparedness of Americas Army and Navy at the conflicts
outset, and the enormous difficulties the new nation faced in raising
troops, finding competent officers, and supplying its forces. Most of
Americas military leaders were inexperienced and performed poorly,
particularly in the first two years of war. Only gradually did better
leaders rise to the top to command the more disciplined and welltrained units that America eventually fielded. But despite costly initial
setbacks, by the time the fighting stopped American arms had won
key victories at Chippewa, Lundys Lane, and New Orleans under
excellent officers such as Winfield Scott, Jacob Brown, and Andrew
Jackson. Although the United States achieved few of its political
objectives in the War of 1812, its Regular Army emerged more
professional, better led, and fit to take its place as the foundation of
Americas national defenses.
5

I encourage all Army leaders and soldiers to read this pamphlet

and the others in our series of campaign pamphlets in commemoration of the bicentennial of the War of 1812. We can all profit from
greater knowledge about the beginnings of our Army: an Army forged
in victory and defeat during what has often been called the second
war of American independence.

RICHARD W. STEWART
Chief Historian

The Gulf Theater

18131815

Most of the fighting between the United States and Great Britain
occurred along the Canadian border during the War of 1812, but
the Gulf of Mexico eventually became another important theater
of conflict. To understand the nature of this struggle, one must first
understand the importance of the Mississippi River to the United
States and the multicultural city of New Orleans.

Strategic Setting
Stretching for over 2,300 miles, the Mississippi River is the fourth
longest river in the world. At a time when most of North America was
a trackless wilderness, the Mississippi and its many tributaries served
as the primary means of transportation and communications into the
central and western reaches of the continent. Whoever controlled the
Mississippi would dominate the continent. Although Canadian and
American settlers could access the Mississippi watershed from the
north and east, respectively, the most economical way to export the
vast regions rich bounty was to the south, where the river emptied
into the Gulf of Mexico. At this critical juncture lay the city of New
Orleans. Founded by the French in the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, whoever owned New Orleans could either promote
or strangle the economic development of the trans-Appalachian west.
In 1763, New Orleans passed to Spain as a consequence of
Frances defeat in the Seven Years War (or, as the conflicts North
American component was known, the French and Indian War).
After the United States won its independence from Britain in 1783, the
number of Americans moving west of the Appalachian Mountains
increased, making access to the river, and particularly the port of New
Orleans, of growing interest to the new republic. The Treaty of San
Lorenzo, or Pinckneys Treaty, between the United States and Spain
in 1795 seemingly guaranteed American navigation on the Mississippi
and access to the Gulf of Mexico. Spains agreement to transfer New
7

Orleans and much of the territory west of the Mississippi River to

France, however, introduced an element of uncertainty in 1800. Even
though France was a more powerful and active state than Spain at
this time, the terms of the Franco-Spanish treaty specifically stated
that France could not under any condition transfer its newly acquired
lands to an English-speaking country. President Thomas Jefferson
nevertheless sent a delegation to Paris to inquire if French leader
Napoleon Bonaparte might be willing to sell New Orleans. Fortuitously for the American diplomats, a slave uprising in the Caribbean
island colony of Saint-Domingue had drained French resources and
diverted Napoleon from building a colonial empire in North America.
Moreover, Napoleon needed money to finance an imminent war with
Great Britain, a nation whose mighty navy would likely capture New
Orleans in any case should war occur. Consequently, in November
1803, Napoleon ignored Spanish protests and sold New Orleans and
its associated territories to the United States in what became known
as the Louisiana Purchase. Twenty days later, detachments of the U.S.
Army and Mississippi territorial militia lowered the French tricolor
and raised the Stars and Stripes over New Orleans.
The sale caused relations between Spain and the United States
to become difficult. The Spanish considered the sale to be illegal
on the grounds that France had promised not to sell the land to an
English-speaking country. Moreover, Spain feared further American
encroachment into its remaining colonies adjacent to the United
StatesEast and West Florida and Texas. In 1806, disputes along
the Sabine River, the border between Spanish Texas and Louisiana,
nearly propelled the two nations into war. Napoleons 1808 invasion
of Spain further weakened the Spanish empire, and the next year,
tensions flared again between the United States and Spain in a dispute
over the ill-defined boundary of West Florida. American and British
settlers living in Spanish territory along the Gulf Coast between the
Mississippi and Perdido Rivers rebelled and declared the formation
of an independent Republic of West Florida. More trouble followed
when the governor of Louisiana Territory, William C. C. Claiborne,
denied Spanish access to the Gulf of Mexico through New Orleans
and Lake Pontchartrain. Spanish authorities countered by hindering traffic on the Mobile River and by denying Americans the use
of the rivers port city of Mobile, both important for the economic
livelihood of Americans living in what would become the state of
Alabama. In response, Claiborne personally led a flotilla of a dozen
gunboats to Mobile Bay and threatened to capture the town if the
Spanish officials did not relent. The Spanish backed down, but tension
8

remained between a resentful but

weak Spain and an American
nation that increasingly regarded
the acquisition of all of North
America as its natural destiny.
By 1812, the United States
seemed poised to gain all of
Spains land along the Gulf
Coast with minimal effort. The
acquisition of this land would
allow the United States to consolidate the gains made over the
past decade, hinder the ability
of foreign powers to encourage
disaffection among the Indian
nations in the southeast, and
secure opportunities for further
western expansion. The outbreak
William C. C. Claiborne
of war between the United States

and Great Britain in June of that

year dramatically changed the
situation, particularly because by
this point Spain had become Britains ally in the war against Napoleonic France. Britain, like Spain, feared losing its North American
territories to American expansionism while it was heavily tied down
in Europe fighting Napoleon. Unlike Spain, however, Britain had
sufficient sea power to threaten the United States.
Although the defense of Canada was uppermost in their minds,
British leaders recognized that they might accrue some advantages
by spreading the conflict to Americas Gulf Coast. Harassing actions
in the south might divert U.S. troops away from the U.S.-Canadian
border. A more substantial offensive to capture New Orleans would
require more resources, but would hurt the United States economically and provide Britain with a bargaining chip that it could use
during peace negotiations. It would also give Britain the option to
curb the further westward expansion of the United States, either by
keeping the Louisiana Territory for itself or by returning the land to
Spain. Britain was also interested in fostering an independent Native American entity that could block further American expansion.
Toward that end, the British had been assisting the Shawnee leader
Tecumsehs bid to create a pan-Indian confederacy that would stretch
from the Great Lakes to the Gulf Coast. Canada provided the means
9

for supporting Tecumsehs activities in the north; but to assist Tecumsehs followers in the southmost notably those among the Creek
Indians who lived in the area of modern-day Georgia, Alabama, and
MississippiBritain would need a presence on the Gulf Coast, thus
offering another incentive for activity in the region. Conversely, all
of these reasons made it important for the United States to thwart
any British designs on the Gulf Coast.

Operations
Securing the Gulf Coast
The Americans were the first to militarize the situation in the
Gulf. Three months before the United States declared war against
Great Britain, elements of the Georgia militia, aided by members
of the U.S. Army and U.S. Navy, invaded Spanish East Florida in
an attempt to capture St. Augustine. The invasion was motivated
by desires for enhanced local security and territorial aggrandizement. President James Madison disavowed any involvement and
condemned the action, leading the invaders to withdraw. Congress,
however, used the apparent weakness of the Spanish government to
press the claim that West Florida should have been included in the
Louisiana Purchase of 1803. Accordingly, on 14 April 1812, Congress
ordered the governor of the Mississippi Territory to administer all
the lands west of the Perdido River. Spain objected, but it could do
little to oppose the action. Spanish troops continued to garrison Fort
Charlotte in Mobile, but Spain exercised no actual authority in the
territory beyond.
Toward the end of the year, the U.S. government authorized
Maj. Gen. Andrew Jackson to lead about two thousand Tennessee
militia to New Orleans to help secure that city against possible attack. The 46-year-old Jackson harbored an intense hatred for the
British that originated from his service in the Revolutionary War.
After joining a militia unit at age thirteen to serve as a courier, he
was captured and treated cruelly. He still bore the scars on his left
hand and head where a British officer had slashed him with a sword
for refusing to clean his boots. While in captivity, Jackson nearly
starved and contracted smallpox before being released. After the
war, he became a successful lawyer, planter, and land speculator.
He served as a delegate to Tennessees Constitutional Convention
in 1796. After Tennessee achieved statehood that same year, voters
elected him first to the U.S. House of Representatives and later to
10

the Senate. After resigning his

seat, he received an appointment
as a justice on the Tennessee
Supreme Court. Remaining active in the militia, he rose to the
position of commanding officer
with the rank of major general.
Jackson and his militia
army departed Tennessee for the
Gulf Coast in January 1813. An
unabashed expansionist, Jackson hoped to exploit the opportunity and to invade Spanish
Florida. It was not to be. Adverse weather and inadequate
supplies hampered his progress,
as did confusion and tensions
in the U.S. military command,
which in February instructed
him to halt near the Mississippi
Andrew Jackson,
port town of Natchez, 176 miles
by Thomas Sully
northwest of New Orleans.
(Philadelphia History Museum)
There, his army endured harsh

weather with inadequate food

and shelter until March, when
the War Department ordered Jackson to disband his army and
return to Tennessee. The mood in Congress had shifted. A series
of military disasters along the Canadian frontier had dampened
enthusiasm for offensive operations, and voices arose against
doing anything that might drive Spain into a closer alliance with
Great Britain. Jackson tramped back to Tennessee in a cold fury.
No sooner had Jackson returned to Tennessee than officials in
Washington changed their minds once again. In April, the secretary
of war ordered the commander in New Orleans, Brig. Gen. James
Wilkinson, to expel the Spanish from Mobile. The presence of British
traders in Mobile who sold arms and supplies to the Indians, and the
nagging fear that Spain would cooperate with any possible British
military operation in the Gulf region, justified the move.
Wilkinson promptly led eight hundred men and five gunboats into
position at the mouth of Mobile Bay to block Spanish reinforcements
coming by sea, while four hundred soldiers moved east from Fort
Stoddert to block reinforcements coming from Pensacola by land.
11

After effectively isolating Fort Charlotte, Wilkinson demanded its

surrender. Fortunately for everyone involved, the Spanish commander,
Capt. Cayetano Prez, recognized the hopelessness of his situation and
capitulated. Wilkinson allowed the Spanish soldiers to leave the fort
with their personal weapons and equipment, but the United States
took possession of the fort as well as its artillery and military stores.
The Spanish minister to Washington, Luis de Ons, lodged a cautious protest. He believed that diplomacy was the best way to handle
the United States. As long as Spain was fighting for survival in Europe,
it could send little support to its colonies. Indeed, threatening military
action might provoke the United States into seizing even more territory. Although Ons cautious policy dampened tensions with the
United States, it did not sit well with other Spanish officials in the New
World. Juan Ruiz Apodaca, the captain-general of Cuba, wanted to
use the threat of force to deter the United States from invading any
more Spanish land. He dispatched a militia regiment from Cuba to
reinforce the garrison at Pensacola, but could do little else. To compound the problem, the soldiers already in Pensacola suffered from
low morale and had not received pay in fifty-six months. Apodaca
realized that if the Americans made a serious attempt on the colonies
under his care, he might be forced to call on Spains ally Great Britain for assistance. That act would be personally embarrassing to the
Spanish commander and possibly encourage a British takeover of the
threatened colonies. Caught between several unpalatable outcomes,
the captain-general came round to Ons point of view that inaction
was perhaps the wisest course.

A New Threat
Although America enjoyed some success in bullying Spain in
1813, the situation in the southern United States remained perilous.
With British encouragement, elements of the Creek Nation allied
with Tecumseh launched a war against the United States in midyear,
and subduing the Red Sticks, as the hostile warriors were called,
was proving difficult. Moreover, during 1813 Britain and its allies
made significant progress in their war with France in Europe, allowing officials in London to contemplate sending more forces to
North America.
British officials began planning operations in the Gulf of Mexico
in mid-1813. Charles Cameron, the Royal Governor of the Bahamas
at Nassau, provided his superiors with detailed information about
the region culled from his connections with area traders visiting the
Bahamas and their friendly Indian contacts. Camerons intelligence
12

presented the Gulf Coast as an easy target. According to his sources,

scores of Indians, as well as French and Spanish whites and both free
and slave Africans, would leap at the opportunity to fight against the
United States. Cameron proposed sending British military personnel
into the region to help organize and train the local allies.
Spanish West Florida became the focal point of British machinations. Despite Americas seizure of Mobile, Spain still maintained
neutrality in the Anglo-American conflict. Not wanting to provoke
the United States into annexing more of its land, Spain hesitated to
openly assist in Camerons scheme. The British suggested that the
Spanish quietly abandon their fort on the Apalachicola River, in a
sparsely traveled area east of Pensacola, to give the Americans little
reason to encroach into the area. The British would then quietly
move in, and if the United States discovered their presence, Spain
could disavow knowledge and feign outrage at the British intrusion.
In April 1814, as Emperor Napoleon abdicated his throne in
defeat, Capt. Hugh Pigot of the Royal Marines sailed for the Apalachicola to make contact with Indians hostile to the United States.
Ten prominent Creek and Seminole chiefs heartily greeted the officer,
but also brought the news of a major defeat in which Jacksons forces
had killed almost one thousand Red Stick warriors at the Battle of
Horseshoe Bend. The Tennessee general had continued his advance
deeper into Creek territory and had compelled the Creeks to surrender. The defeat of the main Red Stick forces, together with the
defeat of Tecumseh at the Battle of the Thames River in Canada the
previous October, dealt fatal blows to the dream of creating an Indian
confederacy to contain American expansion and to raising significant
numbers of Indian recruits to help the British attack the Gulf Coast.
The setback notwithstanding, Pigot proceeded to assemble supplies and to gather as many native allies as he could. Scarce provisions
plagued his efforts and limited his ability to train the disparate group
as a cohesive force, but early results were promising. The marine officer reported that the warriors showed great enthusiasm and might
even prove effective light cavalrymen if properly equipped. He also
argued that boys as young as ten years of age were willing to fight
but that the muskets Britain had supplied were too long. In response,
British officials sent Pigot both saddles and short-barreled carbines.
By August 1814, Maj. Edward Nicholls of the 3d Battalion of
Royal Marines had arrived on scene to assume command of the operation. Before continuing to his destination, Governor Cameron briefed
Nicholls about conditions on the Gulf Coast. The Spanish still had
reservations about giving direct aid to the British. Although the fort
13

at Apalachicola provided the British with a useful base for recruiting

native allies and runaway slaves, Britain required a deepwater port
on the Gulf to harbor an invasion fleet. When the British asked for
permission to use Pensacola, the captain-general of Cuba refused
to allow such a flagrant violation of Spanish neutrality. Fortunately
for Nicholls, the governor of Pensacola, Gonzlez Manrique, had no
such concerns. Fearful of an impending American attack, he asked
Nicholls to bring his troops to the town.
Nicholls contingent of marines and native allies quickly took over
Pensacola. Many Spaniards soon regretted their governors decision.
The British imposed a strict passport system to control movement
and began recruiting the slaves of Spanish owners into service. British rule was so oppressive that even British commercial agents began
supplying the United States with intelligence.
Satisfied with his new base of operations, Nicholls assembled
more forces for his growing army. On Pigots advice, he sought to
enlist the service of Jean Laffite, the leader of a band of smugglers
operating as privateers with dubious letters of marque from various
Latin American authorities in rebellion against Spain. Laffites base
of operations lay south of New Orleans on islands in Barataria Bay,
one of the swampy inlets along the Gulf of Mexico. The self-styled
Baratarians knew intimately the myriad bayous and waterways that
snaked across lower Louisiana. If Nicholls could secure the Baratarians assistance, the British could secretly move an attack force to the
very gates of New Orleans.
Nicholls sent two trusted officers to bribe Laffite and his men for
their help. The Crown offered Laffite a commission, title, $30,000
prize money, and proportional gratuities for his subordinates. Laffite
asked for time to consult his various ships captains and sent the British on their way, then forwarded the British documents to Governor
Claiborne and warned him of the impending attack. Laffite and his
men had often had legal troubles with the United States over smuggling, but they enjoyed significant popular support in New Orleans
due to their ability to smuggle luxury goods past the British blockade.
Additionally, the British alliance would have required Laffite and his
men to refrain from attacking Spanish shipping, their most common
and lucrative prey. An alliance with the British was simply not in
Laffites best interest.

First Battle of Fort Bowyer, 15 September 1814

Fort Bowyer, located at the end of the Mobile Point peninsula,
commanded the narrow entrance to Mobile Bay. In August 1814,
14

General Jackson, having replaced Wilkinson as commander of the U.S.

7th Military District, learned that British forces at Pensacola intended
to attack and capture Mobile before moving by land against New
Orleans. He also knew that Britains Spanish allies, who had abandoned
the area in 1813, were eager to regain possession. After posting some
regulars near the town and calling for militia reinforcements, Jackson
sent Maj. William Lawrence with one hundred thirty men from the
Corps of Artillery and 2d U.S. Infantry to man and strengthen Fort
Bowyer. Construction of the post had been begun shortly after the
Spanish evacuation but had since been abandoned. Lawrence improved
the sand-walled redoubt, erected battery positions, and increased the
armament from nine to twenty guns (see Map 1).
V. Adm. Alexander Cochrane, commander of the Royal Navys
North American Station, ordered Capt. Henry Percy, who held the
local rank of commodore, to reduce harbor defenses. Percys command included a flotilla of four warships, several tenders, and a
mixed landing force of British marines and trained Seminoles and
Red Stick Creeks under now Lt. Col. Edward Nicholls. With more
than thirteen hundred men and ninety cannon, Percy was confident
that he could easily capture Fort Bowyer.
The British ships appeared off the peninsula on 12 September and
anchored about six miles to the east of the fort. Shortly after Nicholls
led the landing force ashore, he took ill and returned to the flagship.
Capt. George Woodbine assumed command of the shore party and
advanced to within eight hundred yards of Fort Bowyer, where Royal
Marine artillerymen established a firing position for their 5-inch
howitzer. They would create a diversion on the landward side, while
Percys ships pounded the fort into submission. For the next two
days, the British sent sailors in launches to take soundings offshore
and reconnaissance parties to scout the land approaches through the
dunes to the defensive works. Whenever they drew uncomfortably
close, U.S. artillery fire drove them back.
At 1200 on 15 September, the four warships weighed anchor and
stood out to sea, struggling against contrary winds. Two hours later,
they changed tack and bore down on the fort until they were close
enough for the U.S. gunners to engage. The batteries commenced firing, and the Royal Navy answered with all the shipboard guns aboard
HMS Hermes, followed shortly with those of HMS Sophie, but the
rest could not get close enough to bear. By 1600, Percys flagship, HMS
Hermes, anchored within musket range, and the other vessels took station forming line of battle astern. When the firing become general, the
marines artillery piece joined the attack, only to be silenced in short
15

Pe a

Lake
Pontchar train

rl R

Fort St. John

NEW ORLEANS

Pine Island

Fort St. Leon

VILLER PLANTATION
23 Dec 1814

English Turn

LAKE BORGNE

Lake Borgne

14 Dec 1814

GRAND RECONNAISSANCE
28 Dec 1814

ARTILLERY DUEL
1 Jan 1815

L O U I S I A N A

NEW ORLEANS
8 Jan 1815

M
is

si

ss
ip

pi
R

Lake
Barataria

FORT ST. PHILIP

918 Jan 1815

F
O

Map 1

M I S S I S S I P P I
T E R R I T O R Y

Fort Stoddert

Pa

ca

ob

go

ile

ula

Fort Montgomery

Mobile

Fort Charlotte

P e r did

Mobile Bay

oR

Dauphin Island

FORT BOWYER

S PA N I S H
WEST
FLORIDA

15 Sep 1814
912 Feb 1815

Fort San Carlos de Barrancas

PENSACOLA

Fort Santa Rosa

7 Nov 1814

Pensacola
Bay

G U L F T H E AT E R
18141815
General Jacksons Advance
Battle

30

0
Miles

order by U.S. counterbattery fire. The British shore party advanced

with sixty Creek and Seminole warriors in the center and an equal
number of marines on the flanks. When the group got within range of
the fort, grapeshot from the U.S. artillery pinned them down, compelling Woodbine to break off the engagement and retire.
Meanwhile, a projectile had cut Hermes anchor cable, and the
ship drifted to shore and ran aground. Captain Percy ordered the
crew to abandon the helpless ship and to set it on fire to prevent its
capture. Intense gunfire from the fort drove off the remaining warships, damaging two and inflicting numerous casualties in the process. The forts gunners then directed their attention on the stricken
flagship until the flames ignited its powder magazine. At about 2300,
Hermes blew up in a tremendous explosion. After exchanging signals
with Percy, Woodbine and his force retreated back to the beach and
re-embarked. Percy sailed the remnants of his battered flotilla back
to Pensacola. The British had suffered thirty-two dead and forty
wounded both ashore and afloat, including Colonel Nicholls. The
Americans sustained four dead and five wounded.

The Capture of Pensacola, 7 November 1814

General Jackson responded to the attack on Fort Bowyer by
calling the Mississippi Territory militia into active service. He correctly deduced that the British intended to use Mobile or Pensacola
as a base for future operations. He sent reinforcements to Mobile
and strengthened Fort Bowyer. He then planned an attack to drive
the British out of Pensacola. As a pretext to crossing the international border of a neutral nation, Jackson contended that Spains
inabilityor unwillingnessto secure its own territory from British
invasion had violated its neutrality. Within a few weeks, Jackson had
about four thousand troops assembled at Fort Montgomery on the
Alabama River poised to advance into West Florida. He informed
the Spanish governor that he must evict the British from Pensacola
and allow the United States to occupy the forts guarding Pensacola
harbor. Should the governor refuse, Jackson threatened to take matters into his own hands.
The governor rejected Jacksons demand but could do little to
resist his army. By all accounts, the 500-man Pensacola garrison
lacked motivation and coordination and had few supplies. The garrisons poor condition had been the reason the Spanish had allowed
the British to land in the first place. Just as the Spanish could not
prevent the British takeover, they could do little to halt the Americans
without British assistance.
18

On 7 November, Jackson began his assault. Knowing the U.S.

camp lay to the west of the town, the Spanish positioned the bulk
of their forces to meet an attack from that quarter. The British ships
in the harbor likewise trained their guns in that direction. Jackson
deceived both by leaving a force of five hundred men in camp to hold
their attention. Then, in the predawn darkness, he marched most of
his forces around to the east side of the town. At dawn, with the sun
at their backs, the Americans attacked.
Jacksons army advanced in four columns: three of white troops
and one of allied Choctaw warriors. Each of the columns that would
penetrate the main enemy defenses included a company of regulars
in the van with orders to conduct immediate bayonet assaults on any
enemy encountered. The British warships in the harbor attempted to
repel the Americans with gunfire, but Jacksons soldiers advanced into
the town so quickly that the Royal Navy could not fire without risking
setting Pensacola afire. Hardened after over a year of campaigning in
Creek country, the American forces carried the town within minutes
of initiating the attack.
With the town securely under his control, Jackson planned to
capture the outlying forts guarding the harbor the following day. His
delay gave the enemy time to detonate the powder in the magazines at
Forts San Carlos de Barrancas and Santa Rosa before he evacuated
them, thereby destroying the defenses. The Americans had captured
the town, but they could not hold it against a determined naval attack without those forts. Nevertheless, Jackson had dealt a serious
blow to British plans.

The Battle of Lake Borgne, 14 December 1814

While in Pensacola, Jackson received reports that the British had
assembled a major invasion force at Jamaica with intentions to attack
New Orleans. He immediately ordered his troops back to Mobile
before traveling to New Orleans to supervise preparations for its
defense. He arrived in New Orleans on 1 December and immediately
went to work. His first objective was to prevent any British attempt to
advance directly up the Mississippi River. He ordered Fort St. Philip
at Plaquemines Bend, about sixty-five miles downriver from the city
and thirty miles from the rivers mouth, reinforced with additional
artillery. He also ordered the strengthening of the entrenchments and
artillery redoubts at Fort St. Leon. Located closer to the city, its guns
commanded an S-shaped bend in the Mississippi called the English
Turn, where sailing vessels would be exposed to withering fire as they
waited for the wind to change direction before proceeding.
19

Battle of Lake Borgne, by Thomas Lyle Hornbrook

(U.S. Naval Academy Museum)

New Orleans rested on relatively high ground along the east bank
of the Mississippi River. A myriad of waterways and bayous crisscrossed the surrounding landscape. An invading army would require
reliable guides to traverse them. The citys multilingual population
of about twenty-five thousand, of whom a fraction were American,
teemed with ethnic, racial, and social tension, which made it difficult
to know who would be loyal to the United States when the British
arrived. Jackson had to assume that some residents might assist the
invaders and guide them through the swamps. Therefore, he imposed
martial law on 15 December and posted the most reliable local militia
units to guard the approaches. He kept the more experienced troops
he had brought with him near the city proper. From that location, he
could quickly move to block an attempted British landing as soon as
it was discovered. Meanwhile, his ground forces prepared entrenchments to cover the most likely avenues of approach. To the east of
the city, Jackson supplemented the defense with a naval force of seven
vessels and 209 men commanded by Lt. Thomas ap Catesby Jones
on Lake Borgne, a shallow body of water separated from the Gulf
of Mexico by marshes.
As it happened, the British chose to advance via Lake Borgne.
Admiral Cochrane sent Capt. Nicholas Lockyer, of HMS Sophie, in
command of a squadron of forty-five ships boats, each armed with a
20

bow-mounted cannon, and about twelve hundred sailors and marines

to overcome the U.S. flotilla. After withdrawing up the lake, on 13
December Jones positioned the one-gun tender Seahorse to protect
his stores on the shore. Seahorse fought seven British launches for
a half hour before its crew abandoned ship, setting fire to both the
vessel and the stores to prevent their capture.
The next day Jones moored his gunboats, most of which mounted
five guns each, on line in shoals between two islands. The lighter British launches closed in on them and opened fire at about 1050. After
quickly capturing the one-gun tender Alligator, the launch carrying
Captain Lockyer assailed Jones gunboat. U.S. gunboats quickly sunk
two enemy launches and repelled two attacks before British sailors
boarded Jones gunboat and turned its guns on the other American
craft. Having ruptured the U.S. line, the British boarded and captured the rest of the gunboats in quick succession. The battle ended
by 1230. The loss of the barges allowed the British to land troops
unimpeded. They could now strike overland toward New Orleans or,
if they chose, Baton Rouge, where they could cut New Orleans off
from communications and reinforcement coming down the Mississippi River from the north.
When the British questioned the captured Lieutenant Jones,
he convinced them that five hundred Americans with forty guns
guarded the Rigolets, the narrow waterway that linked Lake Borgne
with Lake Pontchartrain, a large body of water immediately north
of New Orleans. Cochrane took Jones word at face value and ruled
out an attempt to advance by Lake Pontchartrain. Instead, Cochrane
decided to have his sailors row their shallow-draft vessels to a site
where the British land forces under the command of Maj. Gen. John
Keane would face a difficult trek through bayous and swamps to get
to New Orleans.
The Royal Navy disembarked British soldiers on a pile of sand
generously called Pine Island at the north end of Lake Borgne. There,
the soldiers regained their land legs as the sailors prepared to row
the men across to the main landing site on Bayou Bienvenu. British
light infantrymen surprised a militia picket near a small fishing camp
inhabited by Spanish-speaking Isleo residents. British officers
persuaded at least one Isleo to guide their convoy of troop-laden
small craft through the swamps along Bayou Mazant. The bayou
connected to a canal that ended where the soldiers could disembark
on dry land at the plantation home of the adjutant general of the
Louisiana militia, Jacques Viller, which was located on the east bank
of the Mississippi about eight miles below New Orleans.
21

Keane divided his force into

three brigades. On the morning
of 22 December, he accompanied
the sixteen hundred men of his
1st, or Light Brigade, forward.
Under the command of Col.
William Thornton, it consisted
of the 4th and 85th Regiments
of Foot, and six companies from
the 95th (Rifle Corps) Regiment.
The 4th and 85th were specially
trained as light infantry, while the
95th, equipped with rifled muskets
and green uniforms, was ideally
suited for light infantry missions.
All had seen considerable service
in Europe against Napoleon, and
Edward M. Pakenham
both the 4th and 85th had fought
(National
Park Service)
at Bladensburg and Baltimore,

Maryland.
After hours of moving from
Lake Borgne through the swamps along Bayous Bienvenu and Mazant and the Viller Canal, Thorntons troops arrived at the Viller
Plantation. Riflemen from the 95th surprised and captured a small
guard of about thirty militia commanded by the generals son, Maj.
Gabriel Viller.
By questioning the prisoners and Isleo fishermen, the British
discovered that Jackson might have as few as two thousand men
in New Orleans. Although he actually had twice that number, the
general had spread them out across the region to cover several possible avenues of approach. Thornton urged Keane to bring the rest
of the available troops forward so they could move quickly on the
city before Jackson concentrated his forces. Keane, however, chose
to wait for reinforcements led by Maj. Gen. Sir Edward Pakenham.

The Viller Plantation Night Battle, 23 December 1814

At about noon on 23 December, after he had learned that the
British had landed, Jackson ordered some of his most reliable troops
to assemble from all around the city for an immediate attack. He
pledged, By the eternal they will not sleep on our soil tonight!
After ordering Maj. Gen. William Carrolls division of Tennessee
militia to remain in reserve at New Orleans, Jackson assembled a
22

number of militia and regular

units, including an artillery detachment with two 6-pounder
field pieces. While Jacksons
dragoons reconnoitered the British positions, Maj. Jean Baptiste
Plauchs volunteer militia battalion answered Jacksons call.
Determined to get in the fight,
the French-speaking men jogged
from Fort St. John. Hearing the
commotion when he saw Plauchs men approaching, Jackson
bellowed, Ah, here come my
brave Creoles! At 1400, the general ordered his force of 2,131
men to advance (see Map 2).
Halting at the de la Ronde
Plantation, five hundred yards
from the British camp, Jackson
Jean Baptiste Plauch,
by Jean Joseph Vaudechamp
organized his units into line of
(Louisiana State Museum)
battle with two divisions and

advanced at dusk. The Right

Division, under his personal
command, consisted of a brigade
commanded by Col. George Ross, which included the regulars of
the 7th and 44th U.S. Infantry regiments; Plauchs battalion; Maj.
Louis DAquins battalion of Saint-Domingue Free Men of Color;
and a detachment of Choctaw Indians. This division would attack the
British left flank, extending to the left from the levee road, while the
two-gun artillery detachment went into a battery astride the road, and
a company of marines supported them from the levee road right to
the riverbank. The Left Division, under the command of Brig. Gen.
John Coffee, consisted of a brigade of Tennessee volunteer mounted
riflemen fighting on foot, Capt. Thomas Beales Orleans Rifle Company, and Col. Thomas Hinds squadron of Mississippi dragoons.
To protect his flanks from British advancing from the direction of
Lake Borgne, Governor Claiborne commanded the 1st, 2d, and 4th
Regiments of Louisiana militia, totaling around twenty-five hundred
men to the northeast, while Brig. Gen. David Morgan commanded a
force of three hundred fifty Louisiana militiamen posted downriver
at English Turn.
23

Free Men of Color and the Choctaw Indian Volunteers,

by H. Charles McBarron
(U.S. Army Art Collection)

BIENVENU

JA

Map 2

D E

Yards

500

L A

1000

R O N D E

British Counterattack

British Retreat

American Axis of Attack

23 December 1814

NI GHT BAT T LE

CO
P

L A C O S T E

N
IO

V I L L E R P L A N TAT I O N

ON

FE
E
I

VIS

FT
DI

LE

CK

SO
N

ISI

DIV

IGH
T

Carolina
I

KEANE HQ

on ent
ng em
mi g
co nga
h
e
s
iti he
Br ng t
ri
du

V I L L E R

l
na
Ca
r
Vil
le

JUMONVILLE

Night Action of the Twenty-Third of December

(John Frosts 1861 Pictorial Life of Andrew Jackson)

In the twilight, British soldiers saw the masts of a ship on the

Mississippi River adjacent to their position. Believing it to be a Royal
Navy vessel, soldiers ran to the levee and began hailing the ship. They
realized their mistake when the U.S. Navys twelve-gun schooner
Carolina, commanded by Capt. John D. Henley, opened fire with a
broadside of grapeshot. Meanwhile, advancing under cover of darkness and guided by the British campfires, the American divisions assaulted the camp on both flanks. The attacking Right Division drove
the camps pickets before them. Fighting spread inland and Coffees
Left Division pressed the British right in an attempt to encircle the
defenders. The surprised redcoats initially retreated but soon rallied.
They counterattacked along the road and nearly captured the two
American cannon before U.S. infantry drove them back once more.
The fighting became general, confused, and hand to hand in the darkness, with some U.S. units becoming separated or lost in the dark.
At about 0400, Col. Arthur Brookes 2d Brigade began arriving to
support the British defenders. Jackson ordered his men to disengage
and retire. The 7th and 44th U.S. Infantry, along with some attached
militia, covered the retreat against a possible counterattack, but
Keanes army was in no condition to pursue. Perplexed over the rapid
and undetected American advance, and their camp in shambles, Keane
ordered his men to take defensive positions. U.S. casualties amounted
26

to 24 killed, 115 wounded, and 74

missing or captured. British losses
included 46 killed, 166 wounded,
and 64 missing.
Although he considered the
battle a victory, Jackson realized
that the British outnumbered his
force. After falling back in reasonably good order, Jacksons troops
re-formed along the Rodriguez
Canal, the boundary between the
Chalmette and Macarty Plantations, and started throwing
up earthworks. Named Line
Jackson, the newly established
defenses ran along the canal from
the east bank of the Mississippi
River to a cypress swamp. No longer used for irrigation, the canal
had a dry bottom and caved-in
Daniel Todd Patterson,
banks for much of its length when
photograph of a painting
Jacksons engineers started work.
by John Wesley Jarvis
Soldiers cut the levee to flood the
(U.S. Naval Historical Center)
canal for much of its lengthto

a depth of five to six feet in some

places. They raised a rampart on
the canal bank by constructing two double walls of logs, filled the space
in between with the excavated spoil, and added a parapet.
General Pakenham arrived on Christmas Day and assumed
command of the British land forces. The armies cautiously watched
each other for the next few days. The new commander reorganized
his men into three brigades as the Royal Navy ferried more troops
and artillery ashore and evacuated the wounded. Pakenham realized
that the U.S. Navys vessels on the Mississippi River could enfilade
his left flank in any move toward New Orleans. Under the command
of Master Commandant Daniel T. Patterson, who held the local
rank of commodore, the Mississippi Flotilla consisted of Carolina,
riding at anchor; the unfinished converted sixteen-gun sloop-of-war
Louisiana, anchored about one mile farther upriver and being used
as a floating battery under Lt. Charles Thompsons command; and
two gunboats. To deal with this threat, Pakenham ordered his chief
of artillery, Lt. Col. Alexander Dickson, to sink Carolina and, if
27

possible, Louisiana. After cutting embrasures in the levee during the

night of 25 December, the British erected furnaces for heating hot
shot, and waited for more ammunition.
The British opened fire at dawn on 27 December. With guns firing
round shot and howitzers firing shell, the artillerymen quickly found
the range to Carolina. Both Louisiana and Carolina returned fire, but
only the forward 12-pounder aboard the latter could reply effectively.
Patterson ordered both ships and the gunboats to withdraw upstream.
Shot and shell raked the deck as Carolina struggled against the current
and northwest wind. A hot shot penetrated to the hold and started a
fire. When he realized the flames were out of control, Captain Henley
ordered the crew to abandon ship before the fire spread to the magazine
and ignited the powder. The resulting explosion destroyed the ship at
about 1020. Although at maximum range, British artillerymen now
turned their attention on Louisiana, but the crew used their boats to
tow the ship upstream to safety. The men of Carolina later salvaged
some guns from the sunken hulk and served on shore.

The Grand Reconnaissance, 28 December 1814

With Carolina eliminated, and eager to determine what lay ahead
of him, Pakenham directed a major probe of the U.S. defenses. By giving the appearance of a full-scale attackwithout intending to bring
on a general engagementPakenham hoped Jackson would commit
his forces and reveal his dispositions and strength. His staff could use
the intelligence to plan a deliberate attack once the rest of the British
infantry and artillery arrived. Late on the afternoon of 27 December,
Pakenhams light infantry drove the American pickets back and occupied de la Ronde and Bienvenu Plantations. There, he discovered that
U.S. artillery and retreating infantry had already destroyed many of
the buildings to clear fields of fire in front of their main line.
The demonstration began as soon as the early morning mist
cleared. About three thousand British troops advanced across the
cane-stubble fields in two columns with skirmishers from the light
infantry and 95th Rifle Corps companies deployed in front of and
between them. Maj. Gen. Samuel Gibbs led the 2d Brigade, or Right
Column, which advanced along the edge of the cypress swamp with
the 4th, 21st, and 44th Regiments of Foot and the 1st West India
Regiment toward the American left. Keane led the 3d Brigade, or
Left Column, as the 85th Foot, 93d Highland Regiment, and 5th West
India Regiment advanced along the river and the levee road against
Jacksons right. With continual supporting cannon and rocket fire, the
infantrymen drove the remaining pickets of Maj. Henry D. Peires 7th
28

Infantry and Hinds dragoons off the Chalmette Plantation and back
to the main U.S. defenses. However, the green militia did not panic
at the sight of tight, disciplined columns of bayonet-wielding troops.
When Keanes column drew within six hundred yards of the
American right, four U.S. artillery batteries engaged it in front, while
the guns of Louisiana fired into its flank, inflicting serious loss. After
the British infantry took shelter in shallow ditches and hastily built
earthworks, their own light artillery came forward and went into
action to silence the U.S. batteries. The troops noted the water-filled
ditch but could not determine if it was fordable.
About one thousand yards from the river, where Louisianas
guns could not engage them, the men of Gibbs brigade made good
progress toward the American left. They saw that the ditch in front of
General Carrolls division of Tennessee militia was dry and that the
breastworks were unfinished. Lt. Col. Robert Rennies light infantry,
advancing through the swamp on Gibbs flank, succeeded in driving
back the American outposts. Carroll sent Lt. Col. James Henderson
with a battalion of Tennesseans in an attempt to encircle them, but
the British drove them back with several wounded and a number
of killed, including Henderson. Nevertheless, with Keanes brigade
pinned down and several of his artillery pieces destroyed or damaged
by effective counterbattery fire, Pakenham halted the advance. Some
of the more exposed forward British troops waited to retreat under
cover of darkness. After falling back, the British began constructing
new artillery positions and repairing their damaged pieces. The action had cost the British 152 killed, wounded, or captured, against 8
dead and 8 wounded Americans. Based on the experience, the British
commander decided to wait for the last of his infantry and artillery
to arrive, and he requested that the Royal Navy provide him with
more naval cannon. Pakenham wanted to ensure success by massing
as much heavy ordnance as possible to overwhelm the U.S. batteries
and to breach the earthworks.
The Americans meanwhile strengthened Line Jackson. To give the
east bank defenses more depth, Louisiana militiamen began working on Line Dupre, about one-half mile behind Line Jackson, and
Line Montreuil, another one and one-quarter mile farther upriver.
On the west bank, a brigade of Louisiana militiamen under General
Morgans command established Line Boisgervais. In addition, Pattersons sailors removed most of the naval guns from Louisiana and
positioned them in a marine battery along the riverfront, where
they could fire across the Mississippi and into the flanks of a British
army advance (see Map 3).
29

Artillery Duel and Battle, New Years Day 1815

On the first of January 1815, British batteries totaling about
thirty naval and field guns, howitzers, mortars, and Congreve rockets
opened fire. One British battery concentrated its fire at the guns on
the high road on the American right, while another fired from behind
the Chalmette house at Louisiana. In conjunction with rockets, batteries of howitzers shelled the right and center of the U.S. line, and a
grand battery of light field guns positioned astride the road provided
support for the main infantry effort.
The cannonade surprised the Americans. The Macarty house,
where Jackson and his staff maintained their headquarters, sustained
over one hundred hits, but most rounds overshot the U.S. positions
and landed harmlessly in the fields beyond. Those rounds that struck
the parapet tended to bounce harmlessly off the improved earthworks.
After determining the range to the British positions, U.S. artillerists
responded with effective counterbattery fire from Line Jackson, joined
by Pattersons naval batteries across the river. They inflicted great
damage and destroyed and disabled many of the less-well-protected
British pieces. While the artillery exchange continued, a British column advanced against the left of Line Jackson to exploit the weakness
observed during the earlier reconnaissance, but Coffees Tennessee
volunteers easily repulsed the probe. Off in the swamp, Colonel Rennies light infantry again advanced to within one hundred yards of
the American left, where the men took cover and waited for a signal
to attack. They received a recall order instead.
After a three-and-one-half-hour cannonade with no significant
effect, Pakenham ordered the artillery to cease fire. The British fell
back to their positions near the de la Ronde house, leaving a quantity
of ammunition and a number of guns on the battlefieldsome to
be captured by U.S. patrols. The action convinced British commanders that only a simultaneous attack on both sides of the Mississippi
would break the defenses and clear the way to New Orleans. British
losses for the day numbered thirty killed and forty wounded. The
Americans suffered eleven killed and thirty-three wounded, with
casualties disproportionally heavy among those in the rear bringing
ammunition forward to the batteries.

The Battle of New Orleans, 8 January 1815

As the Americans wielded picks and shovels to further improve
their earthworks, Pakenham again reorganized his command and
planned the next attack. He eventually developed a complex scheme
30

Map 3

is

Fort St. Leon

Woodsville

English Turn

Redoubt

Redoubt
Fishermans Camp

Fort Viller

Bayou Mazant

Bayou Jumonville

Viller Canal

British
Redoubt

British Batteries

Bayou Bienvenu

Redoubt

Lake Pontchartrain

LINE JACKSON

LINE DUPRE

LINE MONTREUIL

Fort St. Charles

Battery

R AG U E T C A N A L

Pattersons Marine Battery

LINE JOURDAN

L I N E B O I S G E R VA I S

si
s

si

NEW ORLEANS

Fort St. John

Lake Borgne

Miles

Coquilles Fort

British Counterattack

British Retreat

American Axis of Attack

December 1814January 1815

NEW ORLEANS AND VICINITY

10

of maneuver involving a river crossing and three coordinated assaults.

Getting Thorntons Light Brigade across the Mississippi required moving boats through bayou and canal, over land, and then to the river
by cutting an access through the levee. After landing on the opposite
bank, his 700-man brigadecomprised of his 85th Regiment of Foot,
a composite Royal Marine battalion, a detachment of Royal Navy seamen, and some supporting artillerywould attack the U.S. batteries
along the river and Line Boisgervais. Thornton would then turn the
captured guns to enfilade Line Jackson in support of the main assault.
Once again, the twenty-one hundred men of Gibbs 2d Brigade, or
Right Column, would conduct the primary effort against the American left. The 4th, 21st, and 44th Regiments of Foot would advance in
column, close to the edge of the swamp, where the irregular wood
line would obscure the Americans view for much of the distance.
Advancing under cover of darkness, it was imperative that the assaulting regiments reached the ditch at first light. Using bound bundles
of sticks, called fascines, to bridge the ditch and ladders to scale the
earthwork, the British would then assault the apparently weaker U.S.
left flank. Keanes 3d Brigade, or Left Column, twelve hundred men
strong, would conduct a supporting attack against the right of Line
Jackson. Colonel Rennies battalion, composed of the light infantry
companies detached from the regiments in Brig. Gen. John Lamberts
brigade, would attack the redoubt that blocked the levee road at the
extreme right of Line Jackson. The 93d Highland and 5th West India
Regiments of Keanes main column would either exploit a success by
Rennie or support Gibbs by attacking the American center. General
Lamberts 1st Brigade with the 7th and 43d Footarguably the most
reliable troops in the armyand the 1st West India Regiment, minus
the light infantry companies detached to Rennie, would remain in reserve, ready to exploit a breach of the U.S. line. As Pakenhams staff
completed the plan, the last of his artillery and infantry arrived to
bring his strength to more than nine thousand men. Meanwhile, British soldiers fashioned bundles of sticks into fascines for crossing the
canal and ladders to scale the breastworks. Before the attack, soldiers
would place the fascines and ladders in the battery positions that were
abandoned after the 1 January artillery battle, and designated men of
the 44th would carry them forward with the leading assault companies.
By 7 January, about five thousand men defended Line Jackson.
The fortification bristled with eight batteries that mounted twelve
artillery pieces of various calibers and stretched from the Mississippi
River across the open fields for one thousand yards, then continued
into the cypress swamp for another five hundred yards. Engineers had
32

A 7th U.S. Infantry

Sergeant, 1815, during the
Battle of New Orleans,
by Don Troiani
(Don Troiani Image Bank)

constructed a redoubt, or demi-bastion, on the right and in front of

the line at a point where the canal intersected the road along the river.
Maj. Howell Tatum, the topographic engineer on Jacksons staff, noted,
Two embrasures were constructed in its base to rake the Canal and
plane in front of the line, and two others in its face for the purpose of
raking the Levey & road. It was encircled by a [moat]. At designated
Battery One, the Americans placed two brass 12-pounders and a 5inch howitzermanned by regular artillerymen and supported by a
company of the 7th U.S. Infantryin the strongpoint. A bridge over
the Rodriguez Canal connected the small outwork to the main line.
Battery Two rested ninety feet from the redoubt on the main
line. It consisted of a 24-pounder manned by U.S. sailors. Baratarian privateers served two 24-pounders at Battery Three, fifty yards
down the line. Next, only twenty yards away, U.S. sailors manned
a 32-pounder at Battery Four. Regular artillerymen manned two
6-pounders at Battery Five. Over two hundred yards separated Batteries Four and Five, but the range of the naval ordnance on the right
enabled them to engage troops assaulting on the left with enfilade
fire. Just thirty-six yards from Battery Five, a 12-pounder, crewed by
militiamen that counted a number of veterans of Napoleons army
among its French immigrant members, constituted Battery Six. Just
before Jacksons line entered the cypress swamp, regular artillerists
and Tennesseans manned Batteries Seven and Eight. Battery Seven
consisted of an 18-pounder and a 6-pounder field gun, and Battery
Eight had a small brass carronade loaded with grapeshot and canister
(or case shot), which contained hundreds of small musket-ball-size
projectiles. Thus, the British would face heavy cannon fire as they
crossed the two thousand yards of open ground that lay before Jacksons earthwork (Map 4).
The American infantry took position along the line between the
batteries in several brigade-size units. The brigade of regulars and
Louisiana volunteer militia deployed on the right and extended to
the left as far as Battery Five. Commanded by Colonel Ross, the
brigade included the 7th U.S. Infantry (minus those stationed at Fort
St. Philip); Beales riflemen; Plauchs battalion; Maj. Pierre Lacostes
battalion of Orleans Free Men of Color; DAquins Saint-Domingue
Free Men of Color; several companies of the 44th U.S. Infantry commanded by Capt. Isaac Baker; and a company of marines under the
command of 1st Lt. Francis DeBellevue. General Carrolls division
of Tennessee militia manned the line from Battery Five to a point
beyond Battery Eight, supported by two regiments of Brig. Gen.
John Adairs recently arrived brigade of Kentucky militia posted
34

Map 4

West Indian

LACOSTE

93 d

MACARTY

VILLER

DE LA RONDE

CHALMETTE

BIENVENU

KEANE

ROSS

LANGUILLE

7th

95th

PA K E N H A M

43d

CARROLL

st
21

h
4t

British Battery
B

Yards

American Battery

British Axis of Advance

8 January 1815

500

B AT T L E O F N E W O R L E A N S

We st Ind ian

LINE JACKSON

Rodrig uez Canal

S W A M P

COFFEE

C Y P R E S S

th
44

behind their center. From the left flank of Carrolls division, Coffees
brigade held the remainder of Line Jackson into the cypress swamp,
including where it turned ninety degrees to the left to refuse the flank.
American skirmishers and Choctaw Indians deployed into the swamp
to harass any British movement in that area, while the 10th Regiment
of Louisiana militia posted in reserve behind Coffees brigade.
Morgans brigade, with the 1st and 2d Regiments of Louisiana
militia, defended the west bank. Just before the battle, Jackson
reinforced them with a battalion of Louisiana drafted militia and
a regiment from Adairs Kentucky brigade. After receiving these
reinforcements, Morgan had nearly one thousand men. He began
to construct a second line lower down the river along the Raguet
Canal to better support Pattersons marine battery on the Mississippis bank, and improved his main defense on Line Boisgervais,
opposite Line Jackson.
The British attack went awry almost from the start. Numerous
problems hampered Thorntons crossing and reduced the size of
his assault force. When the British finally launched their boats, the
Mississippi current carried them about one thousand yards below
the intended landing site, causing further delay. Growing impatient,
Pakenham signaled the main attack to commence at about 0500
without waiting for the diversionary attack on the west bank.
Rocket and artillery batteries fired as skirmishers from the 95th
Rifles and the battalion light infantry companies moved forward.
Withdrawing American pickets gave the alarm, so that U.S. forces
were alert and ready when the fog lifted and the British came into
view. The batteries of artillery on the American left opened a heavy
fire. The green-clad British riflemen rushed the canal, scrambled into
the ditch, but could not cut their way up the rampart. Meanwhile,
U.S. artillery fire became more deadly the closer the main British
columns approached. Gibbs brigade inclined to the left into the open
fields and presented a more lucrative target. British artillery failed
to silence the U.S. guns, and as the advancing brigade came within
range, the Tennessee and Kentucky infantry opened with deadly volleys of rifle and musket fire.
Although they were supposed to follow closely behind the skirmishers of the 95th, Gibbs column halted when officers of the 44th
discovered that the fascines and ladders that were supposed to be
prepositioned had not been brought forward as planned. While waiting for a detachment to bring them up, the rest of the regiments lead
elements, contrary to orders, halted in the open and traded shots with
the Americans. As small arms, grape, canister, and solid shot took
36

Battle of New Orleans, 1815, by Don Troiani,

depicting Rennies attack on the bastion
(Don Troiani Image Bank)

their toll, many of the British fell back in disorder and took cover in
furrows, ditches, or the previously abandoned artillery positions. After
officers rallied their troops, the British advanced once more, but in
the withering fire, only about four hundred reached the U.S. line. A
few managed to claw their way up the embankment, but the British
could not get enough men over the wall to overwhelm the defenders
before either being killed, wounded, or captured.
Keanes brigade fared no better. Pattersons naval battery on
the west bank commenced firing as the column advanced along
the river. Pakenham rode forward toward Gibbs column and sent
orders for Keanes men to follow him. Keane complied, and in an
effort to minimize the damage from Pattersons guns on the west
bank, he led most of his men obliquely across the American right
to assault the center. When they came within range, the American
infantrystanding four ranks deep behind a protective parapet
fired withering volleys of rifle and musket fire, as the guns of Battery Four opened at point-blank range. The 93d Highlanders took
a severe punishing as they approached the American line. Their
attack ground to a halt, broken, and they withdrew leaving behind
many dead and wounded.
37

Battle of New Orleans and Death of Major General Pakenham

on the 8th of January 1815, engraving by Joseph Yeager from a
painting by William Edward West (Library of Congress)

Rennies battalion came on in a rush along the levee road and

initially enjoyed some success. After driving in the U.S. pickets it
reached the redoubt. Not wanting to hit their withdrawing pickets, the
Americans in the bastion had held their fire until it was too late and
had to evacuate as the redcoats entered the position. With Keanes
brigade no longer following them, the success could not be exploited.
Consequently, some U.S. regulars and Beales riflemen poured fire
into the attackers, killing Rennie and two other officers as they tried
to lead an attack across the bridge into the main line. Infantrymen of
the 7th Regiment then attacked and drove the surviving British out of
the bastion. The entire action lasted about twenty-five minutes. The
withdrawing British light infantry continued to suffer under heavy
infantry and artillery fire.
By that time the entire attack had stalled, Lt. Col. Timothy Jones
flanking maneuver through the swamp had failed, with Jones mortally wounded. Back with the main body of his brigade, Gibbs too
fell mortally wounded. A messenger reported that Keane had been
seriously wounded and was out of action. Pakenham came forward
to rally the troops but was also mortally wounded. It is said that
before he was carried to the rear where he died, he ordered Lambert
38

A panoramic view of the Battle of New Orleans, by Jean

Hyacinthe de Laclotte (Library of Congress)

to commit the reserve, but U.S. fire had pinned it down as well. In
an hour and a half, hundreds of British lay dead and wounded on
the field, and many units were badly disorganized. With many senior
officers killed or wounded, General Lambert assumed command and
halted the attack on the east bank.
On the west bank, Thorntons brigade, reduced in number to
about five hundred sixty men due to a shortage of boats, had finally
advanced after the attack on the east bank had already started. It
first moved to capture Pattersons guns that were enfilading the attack
on Jacksons line. The British quickly routed the forward deployed
pickets of Maj. Paul Arnauds Louisiana battalion and Col. John
Davis Kentucky regiment, who withdrew to the line along the Raguet
Canal. Thornton then attacked the U.S. line and Pattersons batteries,
forcing the Americans to retreat to Line Boisgervais. Although the
withdrawing U.S. sailors managed to spike some of the cannon, most
fell intact to the British, who lost six killed and seventy-six wounded,
compared to one dead, three wounded, and fifteen missing Americans.
Ultimately, Thornton advanced to about twelve hundred yards
from Morgans second line. As a detachment of his men destroyed the
U.S. naval batteries, Thornton sent word to Lambert that he would
need two thousand men to assault the main U.S. entrenchment and
39

hold the west bank position. Lambert, having already decided not
to renew the attack on Line Jackson, ordered Thornton to retire and
withdraw back across the Mississippi. The battle was over.
Lambert asked Jackson for a truce to gather the dead and to
treat the wounded. The two sides agreed to a 300-yard-wide zone
extending from Line Jackson in which the Americans would recover
and care for the British casualties that remained on the field. British
casualties in the battle on the east bank amounted to 285 killed, 1,265
wounded, and 484 captured or missing. The Americans suffered 13
dead, 30 wounded, and 19 captured or missing in the main battle.
For the next week, the U.S. and British troops watched each other
across their lines and contemplated their next moves. As the British
buried their dead and evacuated their wounded seventy miles to the
fleet, a general air of defeat hovered over the camp. Naval officers
like Admiral Cochrane wanted to make another attempt, but the
army officers had had enough. Some of Jacksons subordinates urged
him to attack, but he realized that the American army had the good
fortune of fighting from behind prepared positions, and he did not
care to risk a battle in the open. Since 23 December, the land battles
had cost a total of 333 U.S. and 2,459 British casualties.

The Battle of Fort St. Philip, 918 January 1815

The day after the Battle of New Orleans, a British squadron
consisting of a sloop-of-war, a gun-brig, a schooner, and two bomb
vesselsapproached Fort St. Philip. The fort, which was built on
the foundation of an old Spanish work at Plaquemines Bend on the
east bank of the Mississippi River, had its position strengthened in
recent weeks by Jacksons engineers and artillerists. Maj. Walter H.
Overton commanded the post whose armament consisted of twentynine 24-pounder guns, a 6-pounder cannon, eight 5-inch howitzers,
and one 13-inch mortar in the fort and two 32-pounders in an earthen
battery at water level. Two companies of regular artillerymen, two
companies from the 7th Infantry, and two of Louisiana volunteer
militia, including one of Free Men of Color, manned the post, while
a U.S. Navy gunboat lay offshore.
At 1500 on 9 January, British barges were taking soundings of
the river bottom about one and one-half miles below the fort when
the Americans opened fire with their cannons. Although they drove
the scouts back, the artillerymen had revealed the maximum range
of their guns. The British ships anchored a safe 3,960 yards below the
fort, and their two bomb vessels opened fire with mortars. Problems
with fuses and ammunition rendered the U.S. mortar incapable of
40

Genl. Andrew Jackson: The Hero of New Orleans,

by N. Currier (Library of Congress)

counterbattery fire, and consequently the garrison hunkered down

as it waited for the British to approach close enough to engage. The
shelling continued into the night. Several armed launches pulled
close to the fort firing grape and round shot from their bow guns as
a diversion for the larger vessels. When the British ships closed the
range, however, U.S. artillery fire drove them back. The bombardment
continued intermittently for the next eight days. When the garrison
received a fresh supply of ammunition and fuses for the piece, the
forts mortar went into action. Its fire effectively disrupted the British
formation. Just after dawn on 18 January, the British weighed anchor
and retreated downriver. The Americans suffered two dead and seven
wounded, while the British reported no casualties.
Meanwhile, back at the Chalmette Plantation, the two sides
exchanged prisoners, and on the evening of 18 January, the British
completed their withdrawal from the battlefield, leaving behind
fourteen spiked artillery pieces. The retreat was executed in such
secrecy that Jackson did not learn of it until the next day when
a British doctor approached with a letter from Lambert asking
the Americans to care for eighty patients too badly wounded to
make the journey to the fleet. By the evening of 27 January, all
the landing forces had re-embarked.
Undeterred, Admiral Cochrane decided to revert to the earlier
plan to take New Orleans by moving overland from Mobile. He
dispatched a messenger to Colonel Nicholls at Apalachicola with
orders to send one force of Indian allies northeast to raid the
Georgia frontier and another northwest to cut off Fort Stoddert
and the communities north of Mobile. Cochranes fleet would
attack up Mobile Bay and put Lamberts army ashore to capture
Fort Bowyer before marching from Mobile to Baton Rouge. After
cutting New Orleans off from the rest of the United States, the
army would entrench and wait for Jacksons army to attackturning the tables of 8 January.

The Capture of Fort Bowyer, 912 February 1815

The British received reinforcements of infantry and artillery
before they withdrew from the Lake Borgne area. Meanwhile,
General Lambert decided on a plan to put a brigade ashore at the
end of Mobile Point to capture Fort Bowyer and the entrance to
Mobile Bay. In addition to clearing the way to Mobile, a quick
victory would help restore morale. The rest of the army would
land on Dauphin Island to further secure the entrance to the bay
and to create a supply base. Following the reduction of the fort,
42

Lambert would decide whether to continue up the peninsula to

seize Mobile before making a second attempt against New Orleans.
With the memory of the unsuccessful attempt to capture the fort
the previous September still fresh in mind, the British determined
to carry the works at the lowest possible cost.
On 6 February, now Lt. Col. William Lawrence and the garrison of 375 U.S. regular artillerymen and infantrymen watched
as British warships anchored a safe distance offshore. Two days
later, twelve hundred British soldiers landed on the peninsula.
Deployed along Fort Bowyers less defended landward side, the
British effectively cut the bastion off from resupply and reinforcement. Colonel Dickson then landed with 450 artillerymen and six
guns, two howitzers, and eight mortars, and Lt. Col. John Fox
Burgoyne of the Royal Engineers came ashore with the armys
Sappers and Miners.
At dawn on 9 February, the defenders discovered that the British had cut a trench parallel to the forts north curtain wall, and
by the end of the day, the redcoats had extended the length of the
trench to one hundred fifty yards. British infantrymen took particular aim at U.S. gun crews as both sides continued to exchange
artillery and musket fire. The next day, the attackers cut another
trench and extended it three hundred yards to join the first one.
By early morning on 11 February, the British had advanced a sap,
or approach trench, to within thirty yards of the forts protective
ditch, as their batteries opened an intense cannonade. At about
1000, the firing ceased, and a British officer advanced under a flag
of truce to present Lawrence with General Lamberts demand to
surrender. If refused, Lambert promised to allow the U.S. soldiers
dependent women and children time to leave before he initiated
an assault.
With no hope of reinforcement, ammunition running low, and
facing overwhelming odds, the colonel knew further resistance
would prove futile. After consulting his officers, Lawrence agreed
to capitulate, and so notified his counterpart that afternoon. The
garrison marched out into captivity at noon the next day. The
five-day siege had cost the British 13 killed and 18 wounded, while
the Americans suffered 1 dead, 10 wounded, and 366 captured.
Brig. Gen. James Winchester, commander of the U.S. forces
defending Mobile, had sent a column to the forts relief that attacked a British picket post and captured seventeen redcoats,
but not before Lawrence had surrendered. Following the British
occupation of the fort, Admiral Cochrane and General Lambert
43

The Signing of the Treaty of Ghent, Christmas Eve, 1814,

by Sir Amde Forestier (Smithsonian American Art Museum)

gave the British Army an opportunity to rest before resuming the

invasion. Two days later, the sloop-of-war HMS Brazen arrived
with the news that a preliminary peace agreement had been signed
in Ghent, Belgium.
Although U.S. and British commissioners had concluded a
treaty on 24 December 1814, the war had not ended on that day.
It is therefore a mistake to believe that the Battle of New Orleans
was fought after the war had ended. The U.S. government in
Washington learned of Jacksons victory on 4 February 1815,
followed two days later by the arrival of the official copies of the
Treaty of Ghent. The British Parliament ratified the treaty on 30
December 1814; the U.S. Senate followed suit on 16 February
1815. The next day, Secretary of State James Monroe, on behalf
of the United States, exchanged the signed and ratified copies with
a British ambassador in Washington. The day after, as specified
in the treaty, the War of 1812 officially ended when peace was
proclaimed on 18 February 1815.
Jackson received notification of the wars termination on 13
March. He immediately ordered a cessation of hostilities. The
44

next day, he released the militia and volunteers from federal service and sent them home for discharge and final pay. Jackson also
revoked the order of 15 December that had placed New Orleans
under martial law, and he proclaimed a pardon for all military
offenses committed. He sent some of the regular units to replace
the volunteers manning forts in the district. News of the armistice
reached Mobile on 14 March, and British troops embarked and
sailed for Europe the following day.

Analysis
The importance of the Gulf campaign is difficult to gauge. A
successful British invasion would have cut American commerce
moving along the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers from access to the
sea, with dire economic consequences. It also would have allowed
Britain to seize control of the Louisiana Territory. Had the war
continued, these would have been serious threats. But the Treaty
of Ghent, already negotiated but not yet ratified by the time of
the battle of New Orleans, made these points moot. Perhaps the
British might have reconsidered the treatys terms if they had
captured New Orleans; but Great Britain, tired by the long war
with Napoleon, was in no mood to continue a conflict that it had
never wanted in the first place just for the chance of gaining five
hundred thousand acres of North American wilderness. As it happened, both sides readily embraced the treatys call for returning
to prewar territorial boundaries.
Another possible danger stemming from a British victory
at New Orleans is that Britain might have turned the region
over to Spain rather than to the United States on the grounds
that Spain was the rightful prewar owner. But if Britain had
insisted on transferring Louisiana to Spain, it is unlikely that
beleaguered nation would have been able to hold the territory
against an aggressive, expansionist United States. Already fighting a losing battle to retain its Latin American colonies from
indigenous independence movements, Spain was in no position
to defend its North American territories from encroachment.
Spain acknowledged this reality in 1819 when it ceded Florida
to the United States. In exchange, the two nations agreed on a
firm boundary between the United States and Spanish territory
west of Louisiana. Even this did not save the Spanish empire in
North America, as two years later the regions population won
its independence from Spain and established the country of
45

Mexico, thus ending Spains 300-year presence in North America.

In short, had Britain won the battle of New Orleans, it is difficult
to see how it or any European power could have stopped the relentless westward drive of the American people.
Last but not least, a British victory might have reinvigorated
efforts to establish an Indian confederacy to bottle the United
States up along the eastern seaboard. But this too seems unlikely.
British negotiators at Ghent had already abandoned this goal in
the quest for peace. Had the British changed their minds, an Indian confederacy would have had little chance of survival given
Americas decisive victories over Tecumseh and his adherents
during the war. If the War of 1812 had accomplished anything,
it had ended Indian power east of the Mississippi once and for
allpower which, given Americas rising population and Indian
vulnerabilities, could never have held the United States in check
in any case.
The impact of the last major battle of the War of 1812 is
questionable, and it is a befitting description for a war whose
entire legacy is ambiguous. After roughly two and a half years
of fighting, the two sides called it quits without resolving any of
the issues that had led to war. Americas bid to conquer Canada
had failed miserably, with the two sides agreeing to return to the
prewar international boundaries. British infringement on U.S.
maritime rights at sea, a major irritant that had led the United
States to declare war, ended, but only because Britain had defeated
Napoleonic France and had no further need to continue these
measures. In fact, Britain refused to renounce the right to impose
similar hardships on neutrals in the future, although as events
turned out it would never apply them against the United States
again. After spending over $90 million and suffering over 6,700
battlefield casualties (88 percent of whom came from the Army
and militia), the United States thus had little to show for its June
1812 decision to declare war on Great Britain.
If the war neither redrew the map of North America nor established Americas rights to ply the seas free of British harassment, it
nevertheless had some important consequences. It cleared the way
for further westward expansion by completing the destruction of
Tecumsehs confederacy, and spurred domestic manufacturing. In
the military realm, the nation overcame initial missteps to develop
viable combat forces led by a new cohort of talented, battle-tested
officers. One such officer, Winfield Scott, would dominate U.S.
military affairs for another forty years. Early war disasters also
46

sparked reforms, such as the wartime formation of a small General

Staff and a postwar revamping of the U.S. Military Academy to
produce a more professional officer corps. These and other initiatives came to fruition under the energetic leadership of John C.
Calhoun, the secretary of war from 1817 to 1825. The benefits
would be in full evidence several decades later when Scott would
lead American arms to victory in the Mexican War of 18461848.
Wars bring fame to the successful, and as so often happens in
American history, some warriors are able to transform battlefield
victories into success at the ballot box. Two such men were Maj.
Gens. Andrew Jackson and William H. Harrison, who became
presidents of the United States in 1829 and 1841, respectively. A
third albeit lesser hero of the war, Zachary Taylor, became president in 1849, although his performance in the Mexican War was
a greater factor than his 1812 service in propelling him into the
presidency. Victory did not always translate into political success,
however. Fame from both the War of 1812 and the Mexican War
was not sufficient to win the White House for Scott when he ran
for president in 1852.
The War of 1812 is often called Americas Second War for Independence. This is not literally true, as the United States was never
in danger of becoming a British colony again. Yet, there is a grain of
truth to the notion, at least in the abstract. Great Britain had never
fully implemented the 1783 treaty that had ended the American War
of Independence, and it certainly did not treat Americans as equals
on the international stage. Early American defeats seemed only to
reaffirm in British minds Americas status as a rather uncouth and
backward relative. Many Americans also harbored self-doubts, with
the burning of Washington, D.C., in August 1814, adding insult to
the injuries inflicted by the many embarrassing defeats of the previous two years. But this perception began to change in the summer
of 1814, when American arms defied one of the most professional
armies in the world at Chippewa, Plattsburgh, and Baltimore. The
victory at New Orleans, fought against a large contingent of British veterans of the Napoleonic War, amplified the successes of the
previous year tenfold. The fact that news of Jacksons victory arrived
on the east coast of the United States just before news of the peace
treaty convinced many Americans that they had trounced the British
and won the war. The Battle of New Orleans thus helped generate
a wave of national pride and confidence in the United States that
historians would later label the Era of Good Feelings. Having
shaken thoughts of inferiority and self-doubt, Americans would
47

go forward with optimism and confidence to conquer a continent

in the coming decades. Largely ignored in Europe at the time, in
retrospect the War of 1812 indicated that the United States was
beginning to come of age.

48

The Author

Joseph F. Stoltz III is the Rowan Postdoctoral Fellow in Military

History at the United States Military Academy and the associate
editor of The West Point History of Warfare. He received his Ph.D.
from Texas Christian University and his masters and bachelors
degrees from the University of New Orleans. His Ph.D. dissertation
examined the role of the Battle of New Orleans in American memory
and culture over the past two centuries.

49

Further Readings

Brooks, Charles B. The Siege of New Orleans. Seattle: University of

Washington Press, 1961.
Brown, Wilburt S. The Amphibious Campaign for West Florida and
Louisiana, 18141815: A Critical Review of Strategy and Tactics
at New Orleans. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 1969.
Carter, Samuel, III. Blaze of Glory: The Fight for New Orleans,
18141815. New York: St. Martins Press, 1971.
Latour, Arsne Lacarrire, and Gene A. Smith, ed. Historical Memoir
of the War in West Florida and Louisiana, 181415. Gainesville:
University Press of Florida, 1999.
Owsley, Frank, Jr. Struggle for the Gulf Borderlands: The Creek War
and the Battle of New Orleans, 18121815. Tuscaloosa: University
of Alabama Press, 2000.
Pickles,Tim. New Orleans 1815: Andrew Jackson Crushes the British.
Oxford, UK: Osprey Publishing, Ltd., 1993.
Reilly, Robin. The British at the Gates: The New Orleans Campaign
in the War of 1812. Toronto: Robin Brass Studio, 2002.
Remini, Robert V. The Battle of New Orleans: Andrew Jackson and
Americas First Military Victory. New York: Penguin Books, 2001.
For more information on the U.S. Army in the War of 1812, please
read other titles in the U.S. Army Campaigns of the War of 1812 series
published by the U.S. Army Center of Military History.
(www.history.army.mil)

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New Orleans 1814-1815

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PIN : 104650000