After the Creek War, Andrew Jackson had shown he was a reliable General. He was appointed to protect New Orleans. The city served as a port for crops grown in the south. It was also a gateway to the Mississippi River. The river was the passage to the Louisiana Territory all the way to the Great Lakes region. If the British could seize New Orleans, they would be able to control a large part of the United States.
Jackson arrived in New Orleans on December 1, 1814. He found the city almost completely undefended. Within a few weeks he had gathered 4,700 volunteers, most from Tennessee. Nearly all the new soldiers had no training.
Jackson, however, had a plan. He ordered his men to build a fortification, a wall of packed earth a mile long on the east side of the Mississippi River. They finished the job just as 8,000 British troops surrounded the city. Jackson’s forces crouched behind their wall and fired at the end enemy. The British could not break through the fortification.
The battle became known as the Battle of New Orleans lasted less than a half hour. The British surrendered. They had suffered approximately 2,000 casualties. The Americans sustained less than 100 casualties.
Although the battle of New Orleans occurred on January 8, 1815, after the Treaty of Ghent had been signed, historians still consider it a great American victory. Under Jackson the Americans had to defeat a larger, better trained, and better armed force. Like William Henry Harrison, Andrew Jackson became an American hero. Most importantly, he proved to both the United States and Europe that Americans could fight.