January 8, 1816: Andrew Jackson defeats the British Army at New Orleans to end fighting in the War of 1812.

You are there: One figure dominates events in the deep South during the War of 1812: Andrew Jackson, Major General of the Tennessee Militia.

Jackson is 45 years old when the second conflict with Britain begins. He has been in the militia since fighting in the Revolutionary War at age thirteen and has lived on the western frontier since 1787. He is a natural leader, the right man to command American forces in the interior. He does so in the two important battles that take place in the deep South – one at Horseshoe Bend, Alabama, in March 1814, and then again at the climactic clash at New Orleans that closes out the fighting.

Ironically Jackson’s victory at New Orleans takes place after diplomats from Britain and the U.S. have signed the peace Treaty of Ghent on December 24, 1814, officially ending the war.

The word, however, does not reach America before the British attack is under way.

In late November General Edward Packenham, a veteran of the Napoleonic wars, and brother-in law of Wellington, sails from Jamaica with 18,000 crack troops to join the American campaign – his objective being to capture, hold and then govern the city of New Orleans.

But Packenham and Admiral Alexander Cochrane first need to choose how best to approach the city. One path is to send British ships up some 100 twisting miles up the Mississippi, past Ft. St. Philip and other outposts, and attack from the south to north.

The other, which Cochrane chooses, is to locate the fleet in the Gulf of Mexico, just below and to the east of Lake Pontchartrain – and attack overland for some 15 miles from there.

On December 12, Cochrane anchors on Lake Borgne at Fisherman’s Village, and Packenham disembarks. He does not, however, race directly toward the prize, instead choosing to proceed at a leisurely pace to set up a base camp and prepare his eventual assault.

This delay gives General Jackson, who doesn’t arrive in New Orleans until November 30, the time he needs to organize his opposition.

When he hears on December 23 that Packenham’s advance guard of 1800 troops under General John Keane have reached the Mississippi at Lacostes Plantation, some 7 miles downriver from the city, he sets in motion a three-pronged attack against the encamped British.

His rallying cry at the moment is pure Jackson, the leader of men into battle: “By the Eternal, they shall not sleep on our soil.”

The battle on the 23th proves a stand-off, but it again slows down the British move north to New Orleans and gives Jackson even more time to build defensive positions. On December 28, Packenham sends out probing attacks to assess the challenge which lies ahead for him.

It is not, however, until January 8, 1815 – with all 8,000 troops on hand – that he advances from south to north against the “Jackson Line” set up at Chalmette Plantation, five miles below New Orleans.

Jackson’s main position is flanked on his right by the Mississippi River and on the left by swampland. He has arrayed his 4,000 militia and 16 cannon behind breastworks that run roughly a thousand yards in from the river to the swamp. Across the riven, he has also stationed a force to protect his right flank.

Packenham’s strategy is to drive two separate columns of redcoats straight at Jackson, while also sending a detachment across the river to try to enfilade the Americans on their right. But the later maneuver develops too slowly for the General.

So he sends his lines forward, as the overnight fog lifts on the field leading to the US positions. First, it is General Gibbs with 3,000 men on the British right, who try to force Jackson before being turned back well short of the ramparts.

Seeing this repulse, Packenham himself leads Keane’s left-side column of 900 Highlanders in an oblique march across the face of the American guns – to join Gibbs in a second charge. But chaos accompanies this assault, as the British command is cut down one by one.

Packenham is wounded by gunfire in the left knee, then the right arm, and finally is hit by a shell that severs an artery in his leg, bleeding him out in minutes. Gibbs receives a mortal wound in the neck and Keane is also wounded and carried from the field.

Still the British make a third and final assault on their right, led by a Major, the highest ranking officer left. This time they penetrate all the way into Jackson’s lines, before being turned back – effectively ending the battle.

Jackson has triumphed and saved New Orleans!

And the casualty figures prove the size of the victory, the defensive-minded Americans suffering 101 killed, wounded, and captured, to 2,037 for the attacking British.

After the battle, Andrew Jackson is hailed as a national hero, and begins his trail toward the presidency. Edward Packenham, a hero of the day in his own, has his body packed into a preserving cask of rum and shipped home to Ireland for burial.