The Battle of New Orleans: Andrew Jackson and America's First Military Victory

Wow. Cover to cover, I read it as fast as I could, read it at lunch, before and after dinner, and lost a lot of sleep up reading late. What a book. I love American history, and for me, the Battle of New Orleans is where we started thinking as Americans, believing in Liberty and the things we all take for granted today. Buy it, read it, a must have for any history collection. Remini gives excellent quotes complete with consumate sources and background on both the Americans and our invading British enemies of that time. An excellent read.

Battle of New Orleans - Robert Remini This book is about the Battle of New Orleans that took place as the last fight with Britain in the War of 1812. For me, I had to read it at one sitting. Great book. The battle took place in January 1815, with 2 more attempts by the British, to defeat the Americans after their defeat on the fields of Chalmette. The book includes 3 maps to support some of the writing as to where the battle was fought and who was where. However, the author goes into a lot of detail explaining which unit was where on the battlefield, and no maps are shown for the kind of detail written. The book details events before and after the battle. He notes that a group of states in the Northeast had met in Hartford Ct, and had drafted a proposal to secede from the U.S. The war was going badly, and we had been defeated everywhere, except at Baltimore. The British had reason to believe they could just brush the Americans off the field of battle, as they had done this in several previous battles, including Washington, which they burned, and Hampton, Virginia, where they raped the women. New Orleans was the key to the Mississippi, and the British were sending an army south from Canada, and this army was to go north. The armies would meet, and then they would march east to the Atlantic ocean, shredding the American military in its way. They were the best of the British army, fresh from defeating Napoleon. 15,000 of them vs. 5,000 Americans. New Orleans was bulging with goods, having been cut off from shipping due to the war. Only the Barataria pirates dared to venture into the Gulf. The British army knew that New Orleans had plenty of booty to share when they won the battle, and lots of women to rape, so they were very much in favor of the battle. The British endured much to get to the battlefield, but the men thought it worth the prize. The Brits though, had to deal with Andrew Jackson. He fought the Creeks, allies of the Brits and defeated them before the British army arrived. Had they not been defeated, it is likely that the combination of the Indians and the British army would have defeated Jackson. Jackson attacked the Indians in Alabama and Spanish Florida, and defeated the Spanish and Indians at Pensacola. The Brits had a fort at Pensacola too, and blew it up when Jackson defeated the Spanish at the 2 Spanish forts defending Pensacola from a land attack. I have read accounts indicating that Jackson was insubordinate, disobeying orders from Washington not to attack the Spanish. Jackson did not get orders not to attack until after the battles were over. Frustrating a British attack on New Orleans starting from Pensacola, the Brits attacked Mobile. Jackson's men defeated them there too, successfully defending a fort defending Mobile bay. This defeat meant that the British could not attack New Orleans over land, the easy way. They had to attack from the east, in the swamps. This they did, attacking from lake B

Remini has filled a gap for lovers of American history. The War of 1812, which the Battle of New Orleans ended convincingly (allowing the previously negotiated Treaty of Ghent to be accepted by both the British and our side as negotiated), has had too few treatments in recent years.Yet the Battle of New Orleans, as the author argues, perhaps was the event that convinced hostile Europeans that America was here to stay as a free nation. I would not completely agree with Remini's contention that the Battle of New Orleans was America's first major victory over European arms (he dismisses Yorktown and Saratoga as mere surrenders doing in my opinion a disservice to the aggressive American commanders and troops who did fight and convincingly beat the British at Saratoga). The author makes a case that this neglected Battle of a forgotten war earned our country the grudging respect it would need to grow unmolested over the next few decades.That having been said, the book is a very well written account of a stirring and fascinating story. General Andrew Jackson, after defeating the Creek Indians and punishing Spanish Florida for aiding that foe as well as the British, leads his American volunteers to Louisianna to defend against the expected British move on New Orleans.The British proceed to the bayous of the Mississippi delta and engage in another European style campaign against wiley American back country fighters. One wonders why the English high command did not learn the lessons of Gen. Braddock's defeat in the French and Indian War or numerous defeats during the American Revolution. Doctrinaire plans and rigid troop handling along the lines of European war were not very successful against citizen soldiers who know how to use their weapons with skill and fight from behind cover.Using first person sources to illustrate the events in December 1814 to January of 1815, Remini gives voice to the events and people who helped make New Orleans a stirring American victory. Unsurprisingly, this biographer of Jackson paints a good portrait of the man whose talents and traits were sorely needed by our side in facing British regiments who had recently faced down Napolean's best troops. The hodge-podge of defenders are given colorful treatment. The pirate Laffite brothers and their outlaw band who manned our artillery, backwoodsmen in buckskin (giving the name the British used for our troops -- 'dirty shirts'), freed blacks, Creols and New Orleans first citizens all manned the barracades to await the onslaught.The British, with their straight ahead determination, poor avenue of attack and lack of planning aided the American cause. But Jackson earned much of the glory that surrounded his victory. He cajoled troops and supplies, built a well fortified line, attacked before the British were all up and ready and worked to keep together an army that in reality was more like today's UN peacekeeping forces than a coherent Am

A fine account. Lucid, flowing prose and an interesting subject. The author is able to relate the details that make battles interesting from the point of view of the common soldier to the officers in charge, yet also connects the events of battle to the war itself and larger diplomatic and political issues thus highlighting their significance. This book also has what some good military histories foolishly lack -- good, detailed battlefield maps that make the action understandable. Take it from a former soldier (US Army 1966-69, Vietnam service 1968-69) you will enjoy this book.

This is a subject I thought I had thoroughly studied, most significantly in Remini's definitive Jackson three-volume biography. However, as with his other books, The Battle of New Orleans is replete with new information, new perspectives, and new insights. Above all, Professor Remini always makes his topics, (even those the reader thought he knew well), exciting. Like a good novel, I had trouble putting down the book.