If the English had taken New Orleans, they’d have controlled the Mississippi, and with Canada on the North, Spanish Florida on the South, and the Atlantic to the East, America would have been cut off. There would have been no westward expansion, and the country would very likely have returned to English possession.
The battle was an unbelievable upset—a miracle or a slaughter, depending on which side you were on. The English army was the most powerful force in the world, and the American hardly more than a volunteer militia and some guys with guns. Mistakes, a harsh terrain, and differences in battlefield protocol were the reasons for such an unfathomable upset. For one thing, Europeans had an unspoken rule that officers weren’t targets in a battle. But the Americans killed officers first, leaving soldiers with nobody to command. Though sources differ, the final casualty count is estimated at more than 2,300 English soldiers lost and less than twenty Americans.
But what makes this battle truly important is the unity General Jackson was able to create in a divided city. The cultural, racial, and class prejudices in New Orleans ran deep, spanning generations. But Andrew Jackson knew division would be their downfall. If the various factions couldn’t learn to work together, they would turn against one another. He took the different groups and turned them into an army. Wealthy Creoles fought side by side with Native Americans, slaves, pirates, and frontiersmen. They had a common enemy and a common goal that overrode their prejudices as they put into action Thomas Jefferson’s truth, penned nearly forty years earlier in the Declaration of Independence, “that all men are created equal.” They were all Americans.
About the Author
Jennifer Moore is a passionate reader and writer of all things romance due to the need to balance the rest of her world, which includes a perpetually traveling husband and four active sons who create heaps of laundry that are anything but romantic. Jennifer has a BA in linguistics from the University of Utah and is a Guitar Hero champion. She lives in northern Utah with her family. You can learn more about her at authorjmoore.com.
Other Books by Jennifer Moore
Becoming Lady Lockwood
Lady Emma’s Campaign
Miss Burton Unmasks a Prince
Simply Anna
Lady Helen Finds Her Song
A Place for Miss Snow
Miss Whitaker Opens Her Heart
Miss Leslie’s Secret
“Let Nothing You Dismay” in Christmas Grace
My Dearest Enemy
The Shipbuilder’s Wife
“Love and Joy Come to You” in A Christmas Courting
Charlotte's Promise Page 22