January 18th 1815, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA The Battle of New Orleans was the most important battle of the War of 1812, and a battle fought after a peace treaty between the United States of America and Great Britain was signed. On July 18th 1812 American president James Madison, had the American congress declare war on Great Britain, due to rising tensions between the two nations, mainly caused by Great Britain press-ganging American sailors on to English ships to fight against Napoleonic France. On August 14th 1814, British Maj-General Robert Ross landed close to Washington D.C. and marched on the city and proceeded to burn it down. About a month later Ross marched to Baltimore, but was defeated at the Battle of Baltimore by American General Samuel Smith. The fighting at Baltimore would inspire a poem by Francis Scott Key and eventually become the Star Spangled Banner, the American national anthem. The British then had plans to attack and capture the city of New Orleans. General Andrew Jackson who was in the area and had significant experience fighting the local Creek Indians, headed to New Orleans. When Jackson arrived he began recruiting from the locals to bolster his forces and assembled a rag-tag force of American soldiers, militiamen, French pirates and smugglers and Choctaw Indians. In late December 1814 the British arrived and set up a camp. During the night Jackson raided the camp, inflicting some losses on the British before withdrawing when morning came. In early January 1815 Jackson had fortifications constructed along a canal, which was named "Jackson's Line". At this point the Americans had around 5k men, while the British had around 8k led by Maj-General Edward Pakenham. On January 8th 1815 Pakenham began the attack on New Orleans under the cover of fog as he believed this prevent American cannons from firing at his men. But as the British got about halfway to Jackson's Line the fog lifted and American cannons began firing. The Americans were also much more accurate shots than the British dues to most of Jackson's men being hunters. During the battle Pakenham was killed, and discipline broke down among the British causing them to retreat. The battle lasted around 30 minutes, with the British losing 2k men and the Americans only losing 70. At this point word of a peace treaty had been signed almost a month ago reached America and ended the War of 1812. The Battle of New Orleans made Andrew Jackson a hero among the Americans.