Field ArTillery - US Army Center Of Military History

30 The OrganizaTiOnal hisTOry Of field arTillery
Battle of New Orleans by Kurz & Allison
Artillery did play an important part against the British at New Orleans in January
1815, but as siege artillery rather than as mobile artillery accompanying an army in
the field. The condi tions there were optimum for the employment of artillery in its
traditional defensive role. After both sides had received reinforce ments, Maj. Gen.
Andrew Jackson’s troops numbered only 6,000 in comparison to the British force
of 15,000. Using every available man, General Jackson emplaced eight batteries,
consisting of thirteen to fifteen guns of different calibers. 38 Regulars commanded
or commanded and manned four of the eight batteries; militia and privateers,
two batteries; and the Navy, two batteries. On the opposite (west) bank of the
Mississippi River, Commodore Daniel Patterson erected naval batteries to fire across
the river in support of Jackson’s forces. With their commander dead and their ranks
depleted, the British abandoned the disastrous campaign on 18 January and withdrew
to their ships. 39 The battle of New Orleans did not affect the outcome of the war as
the peace treaty had been signed three weeks earlier, but the victory did prove to
the Americans that they could defeat a major European power in battle.
38 The battle of New Orleans is described in Brackenridge, History of the Late War, pp. 283–88;
Claiborne, Notes on the War, p. 78; Quimby, War of 1812, ch. 23; John K. Mahon, The War of 1812
(Gainesville: University of Florida Press, 1972), pp. 361–68; Wilburt S. Brown, The Amphibious
Campaign for West Florida and Louisiana, 1814–1815 (University: University of Alabama Press,
1969), pp. 101–51.
39 Some controversy exists as to the numbers and types of guns as well as to who manned them.