Posted on 01/05/2005 10:49:33 AM PST by Incorrigible
Tue Jan 4, 6:17 AM ET U.S. National - AP
By JOHN GEROME, Associated Press Writer
NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Forget about Christmas, Thanksgiving and New Year's. What are you doing for the Eighth of January — the 190th anniversary of Andrew Jackson's defeat of the British at the Battle of New Orleans?
If this were 1835 instead of 2005, you'd surely have plans because the day was a national holiday with parades, feasts, dances and speeches.
Perhaps no other major American holiday has been so forgotten, historians argue.
"We've lost touch with a significant event," said Danny Forbis, park ranger at Chalmette National Battlefield about six miles south of New Orleans where the battle — the last in a series of skirmishes fought for control of the strategic port — was waged in 1815
"It was a great turning point in U.S. history and a lot of people in New Orleans don't even know that the battlefield is here," Forbis said.
The Eighth was celebrated widely in the years after the battle and became a national event after Jackson took the presidency in 1828. Newspaper accounts tell of balls and parades and speeches in the nation's largest cities. One report from Nashville in 1844 recounts cannon blasts, early adjournment of the state Legislature, a parade and large crowds at The Hermitage, Jackson's home near Nashville.
"This was a national holiday that rivaled everything but July 4th. It was bigger than Christmas," said Tony Guzzi, curator of The Hermitage.
The Battle of New Orleans was the final engagement of the final war with England and came at a perilous time for the young republic. Jackson was a decided underdog, facing a much larger and better trained army of British forces with a ragtag group that included regular U.S. troops, New Orleans militia, Kentucky and Tennessee frontiersmen, freed slaves and blacks, and a band of outlaws led by the pirate Jean Lafitte.
"The British had come in and burned the capital, burned the White House. The country was in a state of panic," Guzzi said. "Jackson came in in the midst of all this and delivered this triumphant victory.
"It was sort of a second victory of independence for the United States. It was their statement to the world that we're here to stay."
Jackson's victory actually came after the war was over. The Treaty of Ghent was signed in Europe ending the War of 1812 weeks before the Battle of New Orleans. But word of the treaty didn't reach the United States until after the British were defeated at New Orleans.
Still, the victory made Jackson a national hero and propelled him to political prominence. He became a U.S. senator and ran for the presidency in 1824, but when neither candidate won a majority, the decision went to the House of Representatives and it chose John Quincy Adams.
Four years later, Jackson ran again and won the first of his two terms.
After that, the Eighth of January became intertwined with politics. Places that supported Jackson celebrated it more vehemently than those that didn't, and his political opponents used the day to hold rallies against him.
"A lot of the celebration was wrapped around Jackson himself," Guzzi said. "His popularity and the political equation really drove it for many years. Once he's out of the picture and once the tragedy of the Civil War takes shape, it just sort of gets lost in all of that."
By 1865, after the large and bloody battles of the Civil War and Jackson's death in 1845, the holiday had faded.
The battle was resurrected in popular culture again in 1959 with Johnny Horton's hit song, "The Battle of New Orleans," which was sung to a traditional American fiddle tune called "The Eighth of January."
Today, the anniversary is still celebrated in Nashville and New Orleans. A ceremony is held each year at Jackson's tomb at The Hermitage, with free admission to the home that day. At Chalmette National Battlefield, a living history encampment draws thousands. In New Orleans, the Daughters of 1812 have a wreath laying ceremony on Jackson Square.
But the attention is very different from what it was 170 years ago. In fact, on Jan. 8, Jackson is sure to be upstaged by another Tennessee icon.
"When I ask tour groups if they know why January 8th is important, someone always brings up Elvis' birthday," Forbis said. "January 8th is really a bigger deal in Memphis than anywhere else now."
Not for commercial use. For educational and discussion purposes only.
AJ was a great harbinger of the current democratic party, still from the little guy and give it to your cronies.
Well of course it's been forgotten. It commemorates war, and war is icky. Ask the nearest public school teacher, he or she will tell you the same thing.
well I do remember the song In 1814 we took a little trip, along with Colonel Jackson on the Mighty Mississipp etc etc
Like so many historical figures, AJ was a mixed one. He DID champion the little man, yet he also instigated the trail of tears. But he did not hate Native Americans--he had adopted one as his own child. All in all, I would have to rate AJ as a great, but flawed, man, and a good president, though not perfect. Not bad, really, considering that this on side of heaven, none of us reach perfection.
We fired our guns and the British kept'a runnin' on down the Mississippi to the Gulf of Mexico!
He was born in the Carolinas. No one knows which one for sure.
Wow. Thanks for posting this.
January 8th ought to be resurrected as a day of celebration, along with days of other great victories.
I am supposed to be a direct descendant of one of Jackson's siblings, or some other relative although I have never tried to document it.
The FReeper Foxhole Profiles General Andrew Jackson - Oct 18th, 2003 http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-vetscor/1003416/posts
It's 3:22 am here in Shanghai, but this thread reminded me to print out the lyrics for the "Battle of New Orleans", in preparation for our opening gig at an Aussie bar, frequented by expats of all types - to give a friendly reminder to some of my Bush-bashing Brit friends - as to "Who won the bloody war anyway?" - to quote Basil Fawlty...
AJ was a flawed man, like everyone since Jesus Christ. But he was a patriot down to his toes. Bigger than life, arrogant, brave, thoroughly American; the dems version of TR. The modern democrat party is an injustice to his memory.
Naval battle of Lake Champlain was a more important victory for the US in the War of 1812 than New Orleans, and gets basically no pub at all.
Apparently the tune is originally from a Irish song.
I had to go look it up: (http://www.niehs.nih.gov/kids/lyrics/battleof.htm)
Well, in eighteen and fourteen we took a little trip
along with Colonel Jackson down the mighty Mississip.
We took a little bacon and we took a little beans,
And we caught the bloody British near the town of New Orleans.
We fired our guns and the British kept a'comin.
There wasn't nigh as many as there was a while ago.
We fired once more and they began to runnin'
down the Mississippi to the Gulf of Mexico.
Well, I see'd Mars Jackson walkin down the street
talkin’ to a pirate by the name of Jean Lafayette [pronounced La-feet]
He gave Jean a drink that he brung from Tennessee
and the pirate said he’d help us drive the British in the sea.
The French said Andrew, you’d better run,
for Packingham’s a comin’ with a bullet in his gun.
Old Hickory said he didn’t give a dang,
he’s gonna whip the britches off of Colonel Packingham.
We fired our guns and the British kept a'comin.
There wasn't nigh as many as there was a while ago.
We fired once more and they began to runnin'
down the Mississippi to the Gulf of Mexico.
Well, we looked down the river and we see'd the British come,
and there must have been a hundred of 'em beatin' on the drum.
They stepped so high and they made their bugles ring
while we stood by our cotton bales and didn't say a thing.
Old Hickory said we could take 'em by surprise
if we didn't fire a musket til we looked 'em in the eyes.
We held our fire til we see'd their faces well,
then we opened up with squirrel guns and really gave a yell.
We fired our guns and the British kept a'comin.
There wasn't nigh as many as there was a while ago.
We fired once more and they began to runnin'
down the Mississippi to the Gulf of Mexico.
Well, we fired our cannon til the barrel melted down,
so we grabbed an alligator and we fought another round.
We filled his head with cannon balls and powdered his behind,
and when they tetched the powder off, the gator lost his mind.
We’ll march back home but we’ll never be content
till we make Old Hickory the people’s President.
And every time we think about the bacon and the beans,
we’ll think about the fun we had way down in New Orleans.
We fired our guns and the British kept a'comin,
But there wasn't nigh as many as there was a while ago.
We fired once more and they began to runnin'
down the Mississippi to the Gulf of Mexico.
Well, they ran through the briars and they ran through the brambles
And they ran through the bushes where a rabbit couldn't go.
They ran so fast the hounds couldn't catch 'em
down the Mississippi to the Gulf of Mexico.
We fired our guns and the British kept a'comin.
But there wasn't nigh as many as there was a while ago.
We fired once more and they began to runnin'
down the Mississippi to the Gulf of Mexico.
In fact I think they had a distinct dislike for each version>
Myself I have always preferred the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band's version of Johnny Horton, most RMP's (Royal Military Police) Have no preference for the one I played while drinking. In fact I think they had a distinct dislike for each version
Strangely enough, my fellow guitfiddlist/banjoist and I just practiced the shorter Nitty Gritty version today - in preparation for our Friday, 7 jan gig. We had no idea about the anniversary - but knowing that now - I'm gonna save it for the third set - sometime after midnight when it is officially 8 jan - so we can do it with much fanfare on the anniversary of the battle.
Knowing that it is an Irish tune will help us blindside the Brits, by announcing it as an Irish tune celebrating a national holiday..heh-heh. And the Irish expats will make sure it gets a rousing rendition on the choruses.
I agree with your assessment entirely!
That's great!
Please ping me back to this thread and let us know if the reaction was what I'm thinking it will be!
Then this website might interest you: http://www.fadedgenes.com/genealogy/tjp/faq.html
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