In the fall of 1814, the world's greatest military was sent from its victory over the forces of Napoleon to the new world.  The British army and navy came prepared with 11,000 to 14,450 "heroes of Wellington" led by Major General Packenham, their sights set on New Orleans. The British came prepared for victory, their ships prepared to take away all the plunder from New Orleans, a government-in-waiting ready to make the Louisiana Purchase into a British colony joined to the colony in Canada.  



As they advanced toward New Orleans on January 8, 1815, all that stood between them and victory was a rag-tag band of fighters made up of regular army, state militias, and pirates led by General Andrew Jackson.  Yet by the end of the battle, the British had suffered the worst defeat they ever undergone in the New World.  Where the Americans lost 71 men, the British lost over 2,000, including Gen. Packenham and several of his most important officers. 



Now the Louisiana Anthology has added for the first time in HTML the Historical Memoir of the War by Major Arsene Latour, the engineer who devised the defensive line the Americans used to defeat the British.  We have his first-hand account of the battle itself, with the events before and after it.  This is the essential starting place for anybody with a desire to learn more about the Battle of New Orleans.

http://www2.latech.edu/~bmagee/louisiana_anthology/texts/latour/latour--historical_memoir.html



We also have the 64 Appendices he included in the book, with dozens of letters, proclamations, circulars, resolutions, etc., written by the major players; Jackson, Gov. Claiborne, Packenham, and even the pirate Jean Lafitte.  

http://www2.latech.edu/~bmagee/louisiana_anthology/texts/latour/latour--appendices.html



Finally, we have included the Atlas from the original book, with its maps and diagrams of the events of the battle, designed by those with first-hand knowledge of the events.

http://www2.latech.edu/~bmagee/louisiana_anthology/texts/latour/latour--atlas.html