Who Is Andrew Jackson Responsible For The Battle Of New Orleans

In 1814-1815 the battle of New Orleans caused many soldiers, both British and American, to lose their lives. Since this battle there have been many roaring debates as to whether or not Andrew Jackson should be president due to the fact that people were elected for being heroes of war. Although General Jackson was considered a war hero in his time, with the knowledge we have today, it’s questionable that he would of still been considered the hero he was thought of then. Andrew Jackson fought for the Americans in the battle of New Orleans to defend New Orleans against the British in one of the most pointless battles of the century, where nothing was lost but nothing was gained other than military status for General Jackson and a song we as Americans

The British and Americans were the two main enemies in the Battle of New Orleans. Although America was not originally involved in the war, they were the enemy of the British in all four battles for control of New Orleans. Britain had originally fought France and blockaded their sea trade. In the words of Jeremy Black, due to this blockade against France, America stepped in to bot help France and to try to gain control of Canada. Although America helped to stop Britain they did not defeat Canada (“Black”). There were actually four battles that took place in New Orleans. These battles all took place on different dates. The battle that took place on December 23, 1814 was the first technical battle of New Orleans, as mentioned in The War of 1812 by Don Nardo (93). However, as John McManus states, the battles that took place on January 8, 1815 was considered the Battle of New Orleans mentioned in American history books. This battle was fought by an army of artisans, farmers, and frontiersmen against highly trained British redcoats (“McManus). This battle took place roughly 1,000 miles

Since New Orleans was surrounded by swamp and river, the British couldn’t get close enough to launch an attack from sea (Nardo 93). The swamps surrounding New Orleans made it to where British forces had to use a canal to get to the city (95). The British had to row supplies onto the shore from the ships nearly fifty miles away (93).On the day of the last battle it was foggy so it was hard for both sides to see in front of them yet alone the enemy coming for them. Along with several officers, Pakenham was killed in battle (“McManus”). Many of the British surrendered to Andrew Jackson by the end of the battle because of the terrible defeat (Gutman 120). It wasn’t a huge shock that the British lost to the Americans. Throughout the whole battle Pakenham was unconfident and nervous (Albright