Despite the general incompetence of the American leadership in the War
of 1812, Andrew Jackson emerged from the campaigns as a genuine war
hero. The Battle of New Orleans, which ironically was fought after the
peace treaty had been signed in Europe, was a great victory. Jackson’s
troops, greatly outnumbered, barricaded themselves behind cotton bales
and earthworks and mowed down the British as they stormed the American
positions. In the two selections that follow, we print first the account
of the battle by the British officer George Gleig and then General
Jackson’s terse report to the Secretary of War.