The Battle of New Orleans was a prolonged battle which took place around New Orlean, Louisiana from December 23, 1814 to January 8, 1815, and was the final major battle of the War of 1812. American forces, commanded by General Andrew Jackson, defeated an invading British Army intent on seizing New Orleans and the vast territory America had acquired with the Louisiana Purchase. The Treaty of Ghent had been signed on 24 December 1814, but news of t...
more
The Battle of New Orleans was a prolonged battle which took place around New Orlean, Louisiana from December 23, 1814 to January 8, 1815, and was the final major battle of the War of 1812. American forces, commanded by General Andrew Jackson, defeated an invading British Army intent on seizing New Orleans and the vast territory America had acquired with the Louisiana Purchase. The Treaty of Ghent had been signed on 24 December 1814, but news of the peace would not reach the combatants until February. The battle is often regarded as the greatest American land victory of the war.
By December 12, 1814, a large British fleet under the command of Sir Alexander Cochrane with more than 10,000 soldiers and sailors aboard, had anchored in the Gulf of Mexico to the east of Lake Pontchartrain and Lake Borgne. Preventing access to the lakes was an American flotilla, commanded by Thomas ap Catesby Jones, consisting of five gunboats. On December 14, around 1,200 British sailors and Royal Marines in...
less