The Battle Of New Orleans

The Battle of New Orleans was significant because it was the biggest part of the American Revolution for the United States. Andrew Jackson and his untrained army outsmarted the British, causing them to retreat and in result stopping the British from capturing New Orleans. The Battle of New Orleans was also important because it was the last major battle of the War of 1812. Andrew Jackson, America’s General who led the war, would be known as an American hero after this war. General Jackson heard about the British advancing towards New Orleans and he felt like he needed to save New Orleans. On January 8, 1815, American forces, under Major General Jackson, defeated the British forces trying to capture New Orleans. The battle, which takes place after the treaty of Ghent has been signed, was the most successful American victory of the war.

"When New Orleans fell in the spring of 1862, the triumvirate Vicksburg, Grand Gulf and Port Hudson was destined to become the last obstacle to the total Federal control of the Mississippi." Abraham Lincoln thought Vicksburg was 'the key,' so Vicksburg was the focal point of Union strategy. Obviously, Vicksburg was one of the most important objectives of the Union army. General Ulysses S. Grant was placed in charge of the Vicksburg campaign. He was an exceptional strategist and arguably one of the best generals this country has ever seen.

The Northern and Western states fought to preserve the Union. While the South fought to establish Southern

After that war, Congress instructed the Corps of Engineers to survey the Mississippi and its tributaries with an eye to improving inland navigation.

The Union could use the Mississippi for bombarding cities in which they were fighting, and to move troops to where they were needed. It would also cut the South in half. Texas, Louisiana, and Arkansas would be cut off from the rest of the South. 75,000 Union forces

It can be said that the South began the Civil War from a winning position. They had declared their independence, formed their own country and government, and they needed only to keep what they already had. But this was a monumental task as the government was required to protect every inch of land within the Confederacy. As a new country, the Confederacy needed to demonstrate the ability to defend its own territory from external threat. Without this ability, the Confederacy could never receive the international recognition and support it needed to survive. Aside from this reason, the South also needed to protect the institution of slavery from outside interference. If the Northern armies took control of a particular Southern area, the Confederates felt that they would free all the slaves, thus destroying the entire structure of society and its economic value. Because of this, Jefferson Davis was forced to devise a flawed war strategy which attempted to preserve the entire Confederacy at the cost of concentrating his forces.

Frederick Douglass once said “What a change now greets us! The Government is aroused, the dead North is alive, and its divided people united…The cry now is for war, vigorous war, war to the bitter end, and war till the traitors are effectually and permanently put down” (Allen, 2005). In 1861, the start of the Civil War was needed by the Confederacy and the Union. Ever since the American Revolution and the birth of the United States, seventy-eight years earlier, there were many disagreements that began to tear apart the country. The main issues that were debated were state rights, unfair taxation, and slavery. Slavery was the main issue because it caused a separation between the north and the south. The north had mostly abolished slavery by this time because it became an industry driven economy, while the south was made up of plantations that grew crops. Almost half of the southern population was made up of slaves because about one-third of families owned slaves. The southern states wanted to break away to start their own establishment and we able to have slaves if they wanted. The Civil War began with the Battle of Fort Sumter. Fort Sumter is located in the Charleston, South Carolina harbor, three and a half miles from the shore. Many events occurred leading up to, during, and after the battle to mark it as an important part of the Civil War.

Robert Anderson led the force of U.S. soldiers at Ft. Sumter. Anderson couldn’t use his powerful cannons to fire back at the Confederate attack. The cannons were in open space above the fort, where lots of the gunners had no

They were so ill equipped that they had to use small river boats before they could sail out to sea. The first ship that the South made was the Ironclad or Virginia as they named it. The ship itself started off as an old river steamer. Then the Confederates found it, fixed it, and reinforced it with heavy and solid iron plates. When the Union cut off Southern trading, they released their Ironclad on the blockade. It destroyed two ships and managed to get one of the ships to retreat. But the Union counteracted with their own Ironclad named the Monitor. The battle had no winner because neither ship could damage the other. They both gave up but the Union still had their blockade over Southern ports. The Confederacy was angered by this and lost their trading route with Europe. But later in the war they started to increase their navy by moving some army troops to the

Fought two weeks after the signing of the Treaty of Ghent, the Battle of New Orleans was the greatest American victory of the War of 1812. The battle consisted of two battles, both taking place near New Orleans, Louisiana, however the first skirmish occurred nearly 15 miles south at the Lacoste and Villere Plantations on 23 December 1814. The main battle occurred nearly two weeks later in New Orleans at the Rodriguez Canal on 8 January 1815. The American Forces were commanded by Major General Andrew Jackson, while the British Forces, consisting of about 8,000 troops, were led by General Edward Pakenham.

With Fort Sumter being the first battle from the confederacy against abolitionist and ending it with that Manassa battle the union's defeat showed Lincoln the war would be long. The northerners being more industrialized than the south they were able to defeat the confederacy. Free black slaves in the north helped fight the Civil War to gain equality and freedom to all men. The war was about a new birth of freedom. In slave plantations, they were hoiused in shacks spreading diseases, less than four out of one hundred survived till sixty. The southerners knowing the north was far more better economically, still didn't think of changing their way of lifestyle over slavery. A white man being killed over slavery, sparked protest and meeting all over the north, discovering slavery would become a issue in war. When Lincoln was president he wanted the declaration of independence to express that all men can go as far as talent can take them. South feared the North would abolish slavery and North felt the South would expand slavery

Economically the Union was very strong and greatly outweighed the South. President Lincoln, as the war had begun, quickly declared a blockade, as described earlier, against the main Confederate ports. This was supposed to be under an international treaty, that hadn’t been signed yet, which had created the controversial political issues for Lincoln. Fortunate enough for the Union, when war broke out the United States Navy was small like it’s army, and its ships were scattered around the oceans. Of the American ships that were in surrounding waters, ten were partially destroyed or destroyed to prevent them from going to the Confederates when Virginia seceded. If they did this would have taken the Norfolk naval base with it.

In New Orleans, the British created plans to invade, however these plans were disrupted then they were moved down by American troops. British attacked Lake Champlain, Washington D.C and New Orleans. Invasions also occurred in upper and lower Canada as American leaders assumed it would be easy to overrun. British launched a double offensive in the south a few weeks before the Treaty of Ghent.

     The first battle of the Civil War occurred on April 10, 1861 when Brigadier General Beauregard demanded the surrender of Fort Sumter. The commander of the fort, Major Anderson, refused. Two days later Confederate artillery came crashing down on the fort. On

The Mississippi river was closed by federal ships as naval officers closed off confederate seaports beside the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic coastal. Due to naval operations, the confederate states experienced food shortages that led to increase prices of food