Gen. Edward Pakenham (1778-1815), who was killed in the battle of New Orleans, was the first cousin of Richard Pakenham (1797-1868), the British diplomat who negotiated the Oregon Treaty in 1846 which divided the Oregon Territory between the US and British North America. Both were born in County Westmeath, Ireland.
History does not record whose idea it was but one of the reasons for the American victory at New Orleans was that Jackson’s troops took cotton bales and completely soaked them with water. They had the effect of absorbing the British cannon balls without them doing any harm. They also doused the British rocketry, which was used by the British at the time to cow and terrify enemy ranks. Americans, using rifled weapons, were able to shoot from behind the wet cotton bales, which are very large, and pick off the marching British without suffering effective return fire.