Two hundred years ago this November an important battle in American History, which held ensure the success of General Andrew Jackson’s campaign against the British on the Gulf Coast took place in Florida. This campaign culminated in the Battle of New Orleans, arguably the greatest victory in American military history.

In 1814, Pensacola and Florida was still nominally Spanish territory although the Napoleonic Wars had left much of Spain’s control over its colonial empire in ruins. With the United Kingdom of Great Britain & Ireland at war with the United States, General Andrew Jackson who had just defeated the Creek Indians at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend continued his march southward and confronted the British, the Spanish and their native American allies in Pensacola. 

In August 1814, the Bourbon Spanish had let the British with whose support they had won the Peninsular War against Napoleon and the puppet monarch he placed on the Spanish throne (Napoleon’s brother Joseph) occupy Pensacola. The British not only occupied Pensacola but gave safe haven to Native Americans fleeing American settlers and to runaway slaves, many of whom become part of a fighting force with British regulars.

The strategy for the British was simple. Build a force to march on New Orleans capturing that city from the United States and potentially ending the War of 1812 in American defeat. The Americans having  recently seen Washington DC sacked by the British and three attempts to invade Canada end in disaster were losing the war. But the British had yet to come up against Andrew Jackson, and he turned the tide of the war and the history of a nation.

On November 6th Jackson reached Pensacola and offered surrender to the city without a shot being fired. The Spanish instead shot the American messenger and Jackson attacked the next day. The battle swiftly turned in the Americans favor and by November 9th the Spanish and the British had fled towards Mobile, giving Jackson a base from which to wage his campaign to protect New Orleans.

The Battle of New Orleans  which began in December 1814, was of course was a great American victory. Despite his overt racism which later meant an attempt to exterminate Native Americans and continue the subjugation of African-Americans, General Jackson showed his pragmatism in this battle. Jackson’s fierce hatred of the British was cemented when much of his family was killed during the American Revolution. Hatred of the British led to his integration of Native Americans and free African-Americans and Creole speakers into his army. Anyone who was not British was welcome to join his force. When confronted by local Plantation owners about this, Jackson rebuffed their concerns and paid his Black soldiers equal to his white ones.

In time Jackson would prove to be the conqueror of Florida as well for the United States but that is a story for another day. As the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Pensacola arrives this year, I sincerely hope our state’s leaders will celebrate it appropriately. Regardless of people’s 21st century views of Jackson (more on this in a future post), he was an American titan and his accomplishments in securing the future of Florida and the United States must be honored properly.

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