Editing Andrew Jackson (section)

====Battle of New Orleans====
{{Further|Battle of New Orleans}}
:[[File:HNOC 1958.98.6 - Battle of New Orleans.jpg|thumb|upright=1.5| Colored [[wood engraving]] of Jackson rallying the troops, from ''Ballou's Pictorial Drawing Room Companion'', 1856 (Historic New Orleans Collection)|alt=diverse men in frontier outfits with their backs to the viewer, facing ranks of British soldiers marching towards them.]]

Jackson arrived in New Orleans on December 1, 1814.{{sfn|Remini|1977|p=247}} There he instituted [[martial law]] because he worried about the loyalty of the city's [[Louisiana Creole people|Creole]] and Spanish inhabitants. He augmented his force by forming an alliance with [[Jean Lafitte]]'s smugglers and raising units of free African Americans and Creek,{{sfn|Wilentz|2005|p=29}} paying non-white volunteers the same salary as whites.{{sfn|Remini|1977|p=254}} This gave Jackson a force of about 5,000 men when the British arrived.{{sfn|Remini|1977|p=274}}

The British arrived in New Orleans in mid-December.{{sfn|Owsley|1981|p=138}} Admiral [[Alexander Cochrane]] was the overall commander of the operation;{{sfn|Owsley|1981|pp=134, 136}} General [[Edward Pakenham]] commanded the army of 10,000 soldiers, many of whom had served in the Napoleonic Wars.{{sfn|Wilentz|2005|pp=29–30}} As the British advanced up the east bank of the Mississippi River, Jackson constructed a fortified position to block them.{{sfn|Remini|1977|pp=268–269}} The climactic battle took place on January 8 when the British launched a frontal assault. Their troops made easy targets for the Americans protected by their [[parapets]], and the attack ended in disaster.{{sfn|Wilentz|2005|pp=31–32}} The British suffered over 2,000 casualties (including Pakenham) to the Americans' 71.{{sfn|Remini|1977|p=285}}

The British decamped from New Orleans at the end of January, but they still remained a threat.{{sfn|Owsley|1981|p=169}} Jackson refused to lift martial law and kept the militia under arms. He approved the execution of six militiamen for desertion.{{sfn|Tregle|1981|p=337}} Some Creoles registered as French citizens with the French consul and demanded to be discharged from the militia due to their foreign nationality. Jackson then ordered all French citizens to leave the city within three days,{{sfn|Remini|1977|p=309}} and had a member of the Louisiana legislature, Louis Louaillier, arrested when he wrote a newspaper article criticizing Jackson's continuation of martial law. U.S. District Court Judge [[Dominic Augustin Hall|Dominic A. Hall]] signed a writ of ''[[habeas corpus]]'' for Louaillier's release. Jackson had [[Arrest of Dominic Hall and Louis Louaillier|Hall arrested]] too. A military court ordered Louaillier's release, but Jackson kept him in prison and evicted Hall from the city.{{sfn|Tregle|1981|pp=377–378}} Although Jackson lifted martial law when he received official word that the [[Treaty of Ghent]], which ended the war with the British, had been signed,{{sfn|Remini|1977|p=312}} his previous behavior tainted his reputation in New Orleans.{{sfn|Tregle|1981|p=378–379}}

Jackson's victory made him a national hero,{{sfn|Wilentz|2005|pp=29–33}} and on February 27, 1815, he was given the [[Thanks of Congress]] and awarded a [[Congressional Gold Medal]].<ref name="US Congress Bio">{{cite web|url=http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=j000005|title=Andrew Jackson|publisher=Biographical Directory of the U.S. Congress|access-date=April 13, 2017|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131218110615/http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=J000005|archive-date=December 18, 2013}}</ref> Though the Treaty of Ghent had been signed in December 1814 before the Battle of New Orleans was fought,{{sfn|Meacham|2008|p=32}} Jackson's victory assured that the United States control of the region between Mobile and New Orleans would not be effectively contested by European powers. This control allowed the American government to ignore one of the articles in the treaty, which would have returned the Creek lands taken in the Treaty of Fort Jackson.{{sfn|Owsley|1981|pp=178–179}}