Chalmette : The Battle for New Orleans and How the British Nearly Stole the Louisiana Territory

Chalmette shows how the United States nearly lost the Louisiana Territory at the end of the War of 1812 and WHY the British were even at New Orleans. See how General Andrew Jackson manuevered thge British Army into a position where a rag tag militia could beat them. (longer description follows) Chalmette is not just another book about the Battle of New Orleans, but maybe for the first time you will understand WHY the British were there. This book shows how the United States nearly lost the Louisiana territory at the end of the War of 1812. In the summer of 1814 England had finaly conquered Napolean and France. After twenty-one years of tremendous struggle against the European continent, England had become a highly efficient war machine, They were left standing, a superpower. They had been carrying out a war in Europe with only an occasional jab at the United States. Now they were turning their full attention on that irritating loose association of states across the Atlantic. The United States had almost no standing army; they had only the militia that each community maintained for protection against indians. Most militia were a social club where men fired their weapons once a month. Therefore during the early part of the War of 1812 their performance was pretty dismal. The exception was in the western states (between the Applachians and the Mississippi River) where the militia was a working military force in frequent combat with Indians. These community militia from Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi, Louisiana and a few from southern Ohio answered the call to join General Andrew Jackson to meet the British at New Orleans. Follow Jackson's militia as they manuever a far superior British Army into a position where Jackson's men had a better than even chance of winning. They had to subdue the British allies (the Creek indian Nation). And they had to stop any Spanish help at Pennsacola and Mobile (the best invasion point) and lastly had to get them to land in a spot almost impossible to support. It was the bleakest point in the history of the United States. The whole East Coast had been blockaded, raided and burned at will. British Canada uled the north and noe the English ere going to take New Orleans, control of the Mississippi River and the Louisiana Territory. With the United States almost completely boxed in, see how, with determination and luck, they pulled off a victory that electrified the united Staes and stunned Europe.