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Article: The big easy, the big prize: for centuries, New Orleans has been a strategically critical city coveted by European imperial powers and visionary American statesmen.(HISTORY--STRUGGLE FOR FREEDOM)
- Article from:
- The New American
- Article date:
- October 17, 2005
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2005 American Opinion Publishing, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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"I shall eat my Christmas dinner in New Orleans," boasted British Admiral Alexander Cochrane as soldiers under his command disembarked on the lower Mississippi on December 12, 1814. As the British troops, many of them hardened veterans of Wellington's campaigns against Napoleon, prepared for battle, it seemed likely that Great Britain would end its war against the upstart United States without suffering a single significant defeat. The U.S. campaign in Canada had ended disastrously, and the White House, along with much of the U.S. capital city, had been reduced to rubble by invading British troops. By seizing New Orleans, the British would control the Mississippi River ...