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Chapter VI - The War Ends,
"0ld Hickory" Storms New Orleans The War Ends, "0ld Hickory" Storms New Orleans 1814 - 1816
Led by cautious British General Sir Edwin Pakenham, seventh-five hundred grizzled veterans of European conflicts sailed into the Gulf of Mexico in November of 1814. Slowly and carefully the British troops took up their positions just south of New Orleans. At the same time hard-headed "0ld Hickory" Andrew Jackson seized the city of Pensacola without authorization, effectively ending "British intrigues" in Spanish Florida. Receiving word of Pakenham's maneuvers, Jackson swiftly arrived in New Orleans in December to discover a city and army woefully unprepared for battle. Luckily, Pakenham's caution in attacking New Orleans allowed Jackson the time to pull together an army consisting of frontier militiamen, Creole aristocrats, free black men and pirates, one of whom was the adventurous Jean Lafitte.
On January 8, 1815, Pakenham finally ordered a frontal assault against Jackson's well-entrenched army which was fortified behind thick cotton bales and earthworks. Pakenham's armies emerged from a low ground fog and ran headlong into a "murderous hail of artillery shells and deadly rifle fire." Over two thousand British soldiers, as well as Pakenham himself, died on that damp, gray January moaning. The Americans, on the other hand, lost only eighteen men. The Battle of New Orleans, later called "less a battle than organized carnage," was over, forever dashing Britain's fond hope of closing the busy, strategic port of New Orleans.
Ironically, the highly publicized Battle of New Orleans occurred two weeks after war was formally ended with a treaty signed in Ghent, Belgium, on December 24, 1814. Though it made no mention of impressments blockades or neutral rights, the Treaty of Ghent essentially restored prewar status quo. hostilities ended, prisoners were released, and territory was returned; but boundary disputes were left foolishly unresolved.
In spite of significant omissions in the Treaty of Ghent, the War of 1812 had many beneficial consequences. American victory reaffirmed the independence of the struggling republics opened up Indian territory to adventurous settlers, led to massive internal improvements in transportation and communications and stimulated economic development. Victory also sealed once and for all the fate of the Federalist Party, which was viewed by many Americans as unpatriotic in its lack of war effort and support. In 1816 Madison's secretary of state, James Monroe, defeated the last Federalist presidential candidate, William H. Crawford, with 183 to 34 electoral votes. This "Second War of Independence" against the greatest military power on earth energized Americans and strengthened the bonds of nationalism. However, along with nationalism and rapid economic growth came serious problems.
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