Page:The Presidents of the United States, 1789-1914, v. I.djvu/327

ANDREW JACKSON 271 Federalist press Jackson now found himself free to devote all his energies to the task of defending New Orleans, and there, after an arduous journey, he arrived on December 2. The British expedition directed against that city was more formidable than any other that we had to encounter during that war. Its purpose was also more deadly. In the north the British warfare had been directed chiefly toward defending Canada and gaining such a foothold upon our frontier as might be useful in making terms at the end of the war. The burn ing of Washington was intended chiefly for an insult, and had but slight military significance ; but the expedition against New Orleans was intended to make a permanent conquest of the lower Mis sissippi valley and to secure for Great Britain the western bank of the river. The fall of Napoleon had set free some of Wellington s finest troops for service in America, and in December a force of 12,000 men, under command of Wellington s brother-in-law, the gallant Sir Edward Pakenham, was landed below New Orleans. To oppose these veterans of the Spanish peninsula, Jackson had 6,000 of that sturdy race whose fathers had van quished Ferguson at King s Mountain, and whose children so nearly vanquished Grant at Shiloh. After considerable preliminary manoeuvring and skirmishing, Jackson intrenched himself in a strong position near the Bienvenu and Chalmette planta-