The Wallace miner. [volume] (Wallace, Idaho) 1907-current, 1915-01-14
The Battle of New Orleans---One
Hundred Years Ago Andrew Jack
son Repulsed Last Attempt to In
wade the United States.
(New York SUM

vas LpuSHl anu Won DN the American
troops under Andrew Jackson Sine,
then the continental domain of tn,
United States has never been subject.
ed to a hostile invasion.
The battle of New Orleans has moi
figured as prominently in many of oul
histories as it deserved from the mag,
nitlde Of the victory simply because /,
was fought after peace was concluded
at Client, and therefore ii was assum-
ed that it could have had no effect II
determining the conditions of that
agreement. As an orator said some
years later But what are treaties In
the view of the cabinets of Europe
Treaties, fellow citizens, are instru-
ments Of which convenience at once
dictates the terms and constitutes the
obligation. The treaty of Client had
been concluded under the pressure of
great difficulties in experience, and
greater still in apprehension The al
lies were much embarrassed in at
tempting to arrange the new balance
of political power"
In short, they were fearful of Ma
poleon Bonaparte and England, as one
Of them was particularly anxious to
withdraw her scattered forces from
America to array her fullest strength
nearer home for the purpose of crush
ing the Corsicau
Had the British succeeded in their
attempt on New orleans, would they
have evacuated it before the battle of
Waterloo, would it ever have been
evacuated without a struggle?' In an
swcr we have the words of a British
officer Of great ability w"'ttnn short
ly after the defect Of 1onernl Paken-
hams army
THAT our failure is to be lamented
no one will deny, since the conquest
Of New Orleans would have been be-
You'd all comparison the most valuable
acquisition that could have been made
to the British dominions throughout
the whole western hemisphere In
possession of that point, we should
have kept the entire southern trade of
the United States in check and fur
nished means of commerce to our own
merchants Of mcalculable value"
On November %, 1914, Admiral Sii
Alexander Cochrane sailed away from
Ton,aico Will, bic ovnaditio1 of er
sails conveying Sir Edward Paken-
hams army Of more than $4,000 sea.
soned troops, with New Orleanss as
their objective. At the battle of the
Nile Is years before, Admiral Nelson
had a less formidable fleet at his com.
mand and the combined equipment Of
SHIPS and army bound for the gull
coast cost England a matter of quite
$40000,000.
Great Britain had spared no expense
for she was bent upon laying her mail.
ed hand upon the richest section of the
country Had she succeeded she Nigh
effectually have barred off the eastern
states from the rest of the continent
lying west of the Appalachians. Ii
was a bold strategic move and was
aimed against the section Of our shores
where we were least prepared to re-
sist with anything like commensurate
force.
- those days New Orleans was wei
night an alien city. Most of it's in.
habitants were French or of French
extraction and their traditions foreign
for the city had come under our dom
nance but u years before There were
no forts and but few troops and the
best naval force the United States
could muster were a few gunboats and
tenders of modest armament
Happily Andrew Jackson was not
far away. For the better part of the
two years preceding he had fought
and defeated the Creeks of Florida and
later had driven the British away
from Pensacola, the property Of Spain
where they had sought to establish a
base for operations against us. with
his handful of seasoned troops Old
Hickory was able to whip into some
sort of shape the militia and recruits
that gathered about him when the APP
proach of Lord Cochrane's armada be-
came known.
The British fleet came to anchor of
the Chandelier islands on December
8 and Sir Edward Pakenham decided
to strike toward New ORLEANS by way
Of Lake Borgne, thus avoiding the 100
mile journey up the Mississippi river
with its grave perls to the sail pro-
PEELED ships of Admiral Cochrane's
squadrons. Along this route the Am
orleans under Lieutenant Thomas
Catesby Jones could oppose but five
gunboats and two tenders against a
flotilla of heavily armed launches, AZ
in number manned by $50 men picked
from among the ships of the British
fleet On December IA the two nava
forces met and for nearly two hours
the American flotilla. mastering but
1914 men, not only held the enemy a.
bay, but inflicted large losses. In the
end our sailors We're borne down by
weight of men and metal
Threading the bayous the barge'
reached the levee below New Orlean!
at a point about nine miles from thu
city. and there the troops Of Sir Ed
ward Pakenham were landed in thu