Chapter 16:
The Battle of New Orleans

 

The first invasion of the continental United Sates did not occur on September 11, 2001, but on Nov. 1814. The British had planned the invasion of Louisiana for months as a decisive end to the War of 1812. They did not recognize the Louisiana Purchase, and intended the retrocession of the territory. They still had plenty of ships and troops freed up from the defeat of Napoleon, and following the burning of Washington on Nov. 26, England’s forces were on the move. After their fleet picked up 9,000 troops from Jamaica, General Pakenham, Wellington’s brother-in-law and a brave but inept officer, was made commanding General for the first occupying invasion on American soil.

Unlike the incursions at Lake Champlain, Baltimore and Washington, here the British planned to stay. They brought with them civil officers to run the territory with revenue collectors, clerks, printers with printing presses, and office paraphernalia. They brought empty merchant ships with the fleet to carry home booty which they estimated would be worth 14 million dollars—and they took along many officers’ ladies to share in the adventure and glory. New Orleans was America’s second largest port and controlled the new Louisiana territory. Occupation here would allow England to block American expansion into the west.

The U.S. campaign leading up to the battle of New Orleans actually started five months earlier on Nov. 6, 1814, with General Jackson taking Pensacola from “neutral” Spain and their British ally. Pensacola was taken with a bayonet charge by detachments of the 3rd, 39th, and 44th regiments, General Coffee’s Tennesseans, Hind’s battalion of Mississippi dragoons, and Choctaws—a total of 3,000 men. The Spaniards surrendered the city and left for Havana with their 400 men. The British also left, stealing 400 Spanish slaves in the process. The Americans then marched to reinforce New Orleans.

The British fleet, moving westward towards New Orleans, attacked Fort Bowyer with its command of Mobile Bay on Sept. 12, 1814, using four British ships, 90 cannon, 600 Royal Marines and 200 Indians. Even though the odds were six to one, they were repulsed by Major Lawrence and his 130 defenders with 20 cannon. The British ship Hermes was blown up and Major Lawrence was presented in gratitude a sword adorned with suitable emblems.

The British fleet with 60 sail then occupied Ship Island as a base for their U.S. invasion, going on to attack the American gunboat flotilla on Lake Borgne—a side approach to the city—on Dec. 14. The American flotilla was a “forlorn hope"—a term used then for a suicide mission—as they had only six small gunboats, 35 guns, 35 Marines and 182 sailors commanded by Lieutenant Thomas Ap Catesby Jones to slow the advance of the British while Jackson prepared his defenses. In a cost-saving move, President Jefferson had ordered a gunboat fleet built to go up against 1,000 British men-a-war, which were huge three-gun-deck ships. Against those odds, this gunboat fleet proved to be sheer amateur folly.

The British launched 45 barges armed with carronades and 1,200 sailors and Royal Marines setting out “to clear the lakes of the American flag.” With odds of seven to one, the British were confident and rowed against a strong easterly current for 36 hours to reach the Americans at the lake.

The Americans opened fire, beginning a heated battle involving musket-to-musket, pistol-to-pistol, cutlass-to-cutlass, and man-to-man action. The battle was over in two hours and 15 minutes, with the Americans losing three Marines killed, two wounded Marines from Gunboat #156 and 35 wounded sailors. The British had lost 300 men. The “forlorn hope” had made a good showing. More important, valuable time had been bought for Jackson.

England’s juggernaut kept on coming, however, landing their troops at the mouth of the Pearl River. They had no tents, the ground was drenched with dew, and the air was chilled with frost during the night, parched under the sun by day. Many on England’s side—especially the West Indian troops who were not used to the cold—would die. Jackson had ordered that all the bayous leading from the ocean into the interior were to be obstructed, but a Spanish fisherman traitor showed the British a bayou to follow. They found a flank movement leading for 12 miles through Lake Pontchartrain to Villere’s plantation a few miles below the city.

Captain Spencer and some of his men reconnoitered the route dressed as fishermen. From the village of Bayou Bienvenu, they paddled in a pirogue and went via Villere’s Canal to the Mississippi river. They found the route easy, and the advance army of 1,600 British and two cannon followed. The army found a sharp frost that numbed the soldiers. Sir Alexander Cochrane and General Keane believed a story they heard through a captured Creole gentleman that the Americans had 12,000 men. Thus, they waited for their other brigades rather than surprise the city. The opportunity for victory was lost.

The ground went from marsh with tall reeds to more ground. Reeds gave way to wood and wood to enclosed fields. They marched through cypress, palmettos, cane brakes, vines and more. They finally reached the orange grove at the Villeres’ plantation where Major Villere escaped—"catch or kill him” was the cry from the British platoon—but they couldn’t catch him. He carried the news of the British Army to New Orleans.

Populated by settlers from many lands and cultures, the city was thought to hold little allegiance to the U.S. and so was considered easy pickings. The British broke through, landed at the Villeres’ plantation and sent New Orleans into a panic. But the panic turned into a catalyst for resistance—everyone began running to get their rifles in working order and casting round ball.

The commander of the Royal Marines issued an order for “rape and plunder” so the citizens knew what to expect. New Orleans ladies in their coteries prepared lint and bandages. They also packed small daggers in their belts in reaction to the British war cry of “Beauty and Booty.” They had heard how American women were raped in Hampton, Virginia by a contingent of foreign British troops. Jackson declared martial law in the city and every man who could hold a rifle and had four teeth to bite open a paper cartridge “volunteered” for the army. They had no choice, for Jackson vowed he would burn the city before letting it fall to the enemy. He hated the British and sported a scar on his face which he had received from a British officer’s sword, when as a boy during the American Revolution, he refused to polish the officer’s boots.

The inhabitants of New Orleans were an interesting mixture of people ready to resist the invader. There were French émigrés who had fought the British under Napoleon and were only too eager for another crack at the English. There were a battalion of refugees from Santo Domingo who had defended their land against the British. There were Creoles who hated the Americans but hated the British even more. And there were Baratarians who were professional smugglers adept at evading American revenue cutters. Their captains—Dominique You and Beluche, ex-soldiers of Napoleon—would lead the pardoned pirates in manning the great guns on Line Jackson.