Patriotic Fire: Andrew Jackson and Jean Laffite at the Battle of New Orleans

by Winston Groom

Book Overview

December 1814: its economy in tatters, its capital city of Washington, D.C., burnt to the ground, a young America was again at war with the militarily superior English crown. With an enormous enemy... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1400044367
• ISBN13: 9781400044368
• Release Date: May 2006
• Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf
• Length: 292 Pages
• Weight: 1.42 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.2" x 6.6" x 9.5"

Customer Reviews

A 5-star read for its research and detail--and a good story

(Historical/Military genre) America stands on the brink of extinction, Maine has all but seceded from the Union, Washington D.C. has been sacked and lies in ruins, an amphibious invasion force has made its way around Florida and is in the Gulf of Mexico. Where it will land and continue to punish America, no one knows. There are only two men and one army left in the south that can take the field against overwhelming odds--a crotchety old Indian fighter named Andrew Jackson and a pirate cum privateer named Jean Lafitte. Patriotic Fire is not a novel about some future war with an as yet unknown foe. It is in my estimation, the best and most thoroughly researched documentation of the events that led up to the battle that changed lives forever in the bayous south of New Orleans in the winter months of 1814. The British, fresh from their victories over the armies of Napoleon all across the peninsular Portugal and Spain, and much of southern France, were at the time the premier land-fighting force on the face of the earth. They found themselves in a debacle once the Admiralty and its commander on the scene, Admiral Cochrane, decided that New Orleans was the next logical target. This has become one of those moments in history--that if a single aspect of the events of this battle had not taken place--America as we know it today would be a very different place indeed. Winston Groom has chronicled the events of the war of 1812 in such a fashion as to provide to the reader an engaging and entertaining recollection of the personalities of brawling, dueling, unbending Andrew Jackson and smuggling business man, turned patriot, Jean Laffite. He details each to such an extant that there is little you won't know about them. He provides footnotes for clarity and an index for quick reference. This is everything you want in an historical biography of the men and the places and events that make up America's "Second War of Independence." NOTE: In 1994 Winston Groom wrote Conversations with the Enemy, nominated for a Pulitzer Prize. He also wrote Better Times Than These in 1978, but is best known for writing Forrest Gump in 1986 (and subsequent Gump books). Armchair Interviews says: Fantastically written, funny at times, and horrific in its detail in others. Every American should know where we came from. Patriotic Fire will tell them.

Good History

This is a entertaining book with lots of new information and history. I found it very passionate to the subject and compatable to my own love of this place and period of history. I really appreciate the work. My only criticism would be of a lack of only a few details and facts in the Battle of Lake Borgne; and in at least one case of incorrect information..example; Lt. Thomas Ap Catesby Jones of 1815 did not command the CSS Virginia during the American Civil War in 1862. That would have been his nephew Lt. Catesby Roger ap Jones(1821-1877), son of Major General Roger Jones. There is so little actual detailed information on this history that the problem of contridictions is large especially when it comes to WHO fought at the Battle (seige?) of New Orleans. I highly recommend this book.

Enough to prove the short-sightedness of human hope and human prudence

The War of 1812 is one of the American conflicts that is less well known to the general public. Beyond the White House being burned, the composition of "The Star Spangled Banner" as the British assaulted Fort McHenry at Baltimore, and some vague notions of the Battle of New Orleans (and that from the pop song from 1959 by Jimmy Driftwood and sung by Johnny Horton), it doesn't hold much of a place in our already too weak sense of our own history. This well written popular history of the battle by Winston Groom will help anyone who is not already a scholar on the subject, learn more about the famous Battle of New Orleans, what was really at stake, the great leadership of Andrew Jackson, the vital contributions of Jean Laffite and his Baratarian privateers (well, pirates), and the strength of the British that was squandered by the mistakes of the British officers. Groom provides a nice background of the life of Andrew Jackson and the political context that led to the War of 1812 (and the stupidity of the political leaders on both sides) and how the Indian war led by Tecumseh contributed to Jackson and his army being where they were to thwart the British in late 1814 and early 1815. The life of Jean Laffite is also told in what detail we know. The author does a nice job in letting us know when there are different points of view and varying claims about the biographies of Jackson, Lafitte, and the forces in the battle. On paper, the battle should have gone the vast resources the British brought to the battle. A huge number of ships, thousands upon thousands of professional soldiers, tons of gunpowder, cannon, and shell, and confidence born of success in battle in Europe. The Americans were a ragged bunch; mostly militia that were under equipped and with almost no clothes. Yet Jackson had them build a huge rampart that British delays allowed them to strengthen. The Baratarians provided the Americans with much needed supplies and were experts with cannon. The British were also unable to adapt to the unprofessional style of fighting of the Americans and were demoralized that their enemies would fight according to European rules. Truly the British accomplished some difficult tasks to bring such a vast army and its resources to such a difficult point to fight, but the Americans were fighting for their native soil. The delays and mistakes and miscommunications led the British to defeat. When you go to all the trouble of building ladders and tools to scale the rampart, but leave them behind when you go to fight, well, you actually deserve to lose. One of the aspects of the War of 1812 that rhymes with our present fighting is that press from New York and Boston was strongly against the war and the administration that waged it. The war was labelled "Mr. Madison's War" and there was strong talk of the New England states seceding from the Union. George Cabot, a U.S. Senator from Massachusetts(!)and presiding officer of the Hartford Conventio

Wellington's Finest Humbled

Many people will recognize Winston Groom as the creator of "Forrest Gump." But Groom is also an accomplished chronicler of military history, and here he applies his considerable narrative talents to the climactic engagement of the War of 1812, the Battle of New Orleans. Sadly, many Americans have little or no knowledge of this epic battle, one of the most consequential and lopsided victories in U.S. history. Andrew Jackson and a polyglot band of Tennessee and Kentucky "brown shirts," French Creoles, Indians, Free Men of Color (many of them refugees from the slave revolt in Haiti), Privateers, and ordinary New Orleans citizens did not just repulse a vastly superior force of British invaders. They decimated Wellington's Finest, fresh off their victory over Napoleon. The British suffered some 3,750 casualties, including 850 killed, as compared with 55 Americans killed and 333 total casualties. Included among the 850 was Wellington's brother-in-law, General Sir Edward Pakenham, overall commander of the British ground forces. Pakenham, whose remains were shipped back to England preserved in a vat of rum, inherited a bad strategic situation and, Grooms says, made it worse. Groom maintains there may never have been a New Orleans victory -or thus a Jackson Presidency - without Jean Laffite and his Privateers from the island of Barataria. Rejecting British offers of cash and bounty, the Baratarians provided the Americans with desperately needed munitions, especially gunpowder; an intimate familiarity with the terrain and waterways leading to New Orleans; and a skill in handling artillery that may have been decisive. What's more, it was Laffite who convinced Jackson to strength and extend his left line, prescient counsel that helped to thwart the British attack plan. Overall, Groom says, the Baratarians' contributions to victory "were substantial, if not crucial." The New Orleans triumph came at a time of extreme peril for the young nation. To that point, The War of 1812 had largely been a series of ignominious setbacks or worse, punctuated by the torching of the nation's capital. Secessionist fever gripped New England. And the British invasion of New Orleans was clearly the first move in a land grab designed to cut the U.S. in half. None of this transpired, thanks to the stalwart defense of New Orleans mounted by Jackson, Laffite and their compatriots. This is a terrific story of patriotism and heroism, which Groom recoounts masterfully. A very worthwhile read.

Very readable

An excellent account of an important chapter in the early history of our great nation. Very well written and most enjoyable to read.