Battle of New Orleans

The Battle of New Orleans was an engagement fought between January 8 and January 18, 1815, constituting the final major and most one-sided battle of the War of 1812. American combatants, commanded by Major General Andrew Jackson, prevented the British Army, Royal Marines and a large Royal Navy fleet, commanded by Admiral Alexander Cochrane and General Edward Pakenham, from seizing New Orleans as a strategic tool to end the war by using it as a starting point for an occupation of the vast territory the United States had acquired from the Louisiana Purchase. The British at the time were occupying the Florida Panhandle and attempting a westward expansion through the territory which is the present day Gulfport–Biloxi Mississippi metropolitan area. Strategically, New Orleans would have anchored these conquests. Conditions were harsh for the British who were used to Northern European conditions.

The British defeat convinced the Spanish to sell these territories to the US, as ratified in the Adams–Onís Treaty, thus depriving the British of a larger stake in the Caribbean.

Effects of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans

As the center of Hurricane Katrina passed southeast of New Orleans on August 29, 2005, winds downtown were in the Category 1 range with frequent intense gusts and tidal surge. Hurricane-force winds were experienced throughout the city, although the most severe portion of Katrina missed the city, hitting nearby St. Bernard and Plaquemines parishes. Hurricane Katrina made its final landfall in eastern St. Tammany Parish. The western eye wall passed directly over St. Tammany Parish, Louisiana as a Category 3 hurricane at about 9:45 am CST, August 29, 2005. The communities of Slidell, Avery Estates, Lakeshore Estates, Oak Harbor, Eden Isles and Northshore Beach were inundated by the storm surge that extended over six miles inland. The storm surge affected all 57 miles (92 km) of St. Tammany Parish’s coastline, including Lacombe, Mandeville and Madisonville. The storm surge in the area of the Rigolets Pass was estimated to be 16 feet, not including wave action, declining to 7 feet (2.1 m) at Madisonville. The surge had a second peak in eastern St. Tammany as the westerly winds from the southern eye wall pushed the surge to the east, backing up at the bottleneck of the Rigolets Pass.

The Battle of New Orleans

"The Battle of New Orleans" is a song written by Jimmy Driftwood. The song describes the 1815 Battle of New Orleans from the perspective of an American soldier; the song tells the tale of the battle with a light tone and provides a rather comical version of what actually happened at the battle. It has been recorded by many artists, but the singer most often associated with this song is Johnny Horton. His version scored number 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1959 (see 1959 in music). Billboard ranked it as the No. 1 song for 1959.

In Billboard magazine's rankings of the top songs in the first fifty years of the Billboard Hot 100 chart, "The Battle of New Orleans" was ranked as the twenty-eighth song overall and the number-one country music song to appear on the chart.

Members of the Western Writers of America chose it as one of the Top 100 Western songs of all time.

History

The melody is based on a well-known American fiddle tune "The 8th of January," which was the date of the Battle of New Orleans. Jimmy Driftwood, a school principal in Arkansas with a passion for history, set an account of the battle to this music in an attempt to get students interested in learning history. It seemed to work, and Driftwood became well known in the region for his historical songs. He was "discovered" in the late 1950s by Don Warden, and eventually was given a recording contract by RCA, for whom he recorded 12 songs in 1958, including "The Battle of New Orleans."

Wide Prairie

Wide Prairie is a posthumous compilation by Linda McCartney. The album was compiled and released in 1998 by Paul McCartney after his wife's death, after a fan wrote in enquiring about "Seaside Woman"; a reggae beat type song which Wings had recorded in 1972, under the name Suzy and the Red Stripes, featuring Linda on lead vocals. Her husband compiled all her recordings with the help of Parlophone Records and MPL Communications. Lead guitar on the song "The Light Comes from Within" is played by the McCartneys' son, musician/sculptor James McCartney. The album reached number 127 in the UK charts, while the title track made the top 75, at number 74. "The Light Comes from Within" also charted, at number 56 in the UK charts.

Track listing

All songs by Linda McCartney, except where noted.

New Orleans (film)

New Orleans is a 1947 musical drama featuring Billie Holiday as a singing maid and Louis Armstrong as a bandleader; supporting players Holiday and Armstrong perform together and portray a couple becoming romantically involved. During one song, Armstrong's character introduces the members of his band, a virtual Who's Who of classic jazz greats, including trombonist Kid Ory, drummer Zutty Singleton, clarinetist Barney Bigard, guitar player Bud Scott, bassist George "Red" Callender, pianist Charlie Beal, and pianist Meade Lux Lewis. Also performing in the film is cornetist Mutt Carey and bandleader Woody Herman. The music, however, takes a back seat to a rather conventional plot. The movie stars Arturo de Cordova and Dorothy Patrick, features Marjorie Lord, and was directed by Arthur Lubin.

Production

New Orleans has its origins in an abandoned component of an unfinished RKO Pictures feature film by Orson Welles — "The Story of Jazz" segment of It's All True. A history of jazz alternatively titled "Jam Session", the section of the film was being written by Elliot Paul in 1941 under contract to Welles. The story of Louis Armstrong was to have been central to that segment of It's All True.

New Orleans (Rotterdam)

New Orleans is 43-storey, 158.3 m (519 ft) residential skyscraper in Rotterdam, Netherlands, designed by Álvaro Siza Vieira. It is currently the tallest residential building in the Netherlands.

References

External links

Battle of New Orleans (disambiguation)

Two battles and a song have the name Battle of New Orleans.

See also