The Battle of New Orleans was the last major battle of the War of 1812 and the greatest U.S. land victory of the war. By preventing the British from capturing New Orleans and the mouth of the Mississippi River, it protected a vital trade route and blocked a major British strategic goal. The lopsided American win boosted national pride, helped many Americans feel they had "won" the war, and turned Andrew Jackson into a national hero who helped shape politics in the following decades.
The message’s figures are broadly in line with standard historical estimates. The American Battlefield Trust, using period reports, gives about 5,700 U.S. troops and 8,000 British engaged, with 71 American casualties (13 killed, 39 wounded, 19 missing) versus about 2,034 British killed, wounded, or missing—often summarized as "over 2,000" British casualties. Other modern syntheses, such as World History Encyclopedia and Wikipedia, report very similar strengths and casualty totals, though some historians give slightly different counts, so the exact numbers are approximate rather than exact tallies.
The Battle of New Orleans took place after the peace treaty was signed but before it was ratified and took effect. American and British negotiators signed the Treaty of Ghent on December 24, 1814, while the battle was fought on January 8, 1815, before news of the treaty had crossed the Atlantic. The U.S. Senate did not approve the treaty until February 16, 1815, so the war was still legally in progress when the battle occurred.
Major General Sir Edward Pakenham (1778–1815) was an Anglo‑Irish British Army officer, a veteran of the Napoleonic Wars, and the Duke of Wellington’s brother‑in‑law. In late 1814 he was appointed to command British land forces in the Gulf Coast and New Orleans campaign, where he organized repeated assaults on Andrew Jackson’s fortified line at Chalmette. On January 8, 1815 he rode forward to rally faltering British troops during the main attack and was mortally wounded by grapeshot, contributing to the collapse of the assault and the British decision to withdraw.
America 250 (often styled America250) is the official national commemoration of the 250th anniversary of the United States’ founding in 2026, run by the congressionally created U.S. Semiquincentennial Commission and its nonprofit partner to engage Americans in remembering the nation’s history and imagining its future. The White House’s "America 250" program, through its Salute to America 250 Task Force, is planning a year‑long series of historical events and educational efforts from 2025 to July 4, 2026, and explicitly encourages a renewed interest in American history. Within that commemoration, the Battle of New Orleans is highlighted as a milestone because it was a decisive victory in the young republic’s first major post‑Revolution war and helped secure U.S. control of New Orleans and the Mississippi River—key themes in the story of American independence and nation‑building that America 250 aims to showcase.
Jackson’s leadership at New Orleans made him a national celebrity and the archetypal frontier hero. The American Battlefield Trust notes that the victory "elevated Maj. Gen. Andrew Jackson to national fame" and "propels Jackson toward the presidency," and the date January 8 was widely celebrated for decades. The Historic New Orleans Collection describes how his unexpected victory turned him into the "Hero of New Orleans," a powerful popular symbol of toughness and democracy; that reputation as a war hero and man of the people underpinned his later political rise and helped him win the presidency in 1828.
After their defeat at New Orleans and the ratification of the Treaty of Ghent, British expeditionary forces withdrew from Louisiana and other occupied U.S. territory and did not attempt another invasion; the American Battlefield Trust notes that the battle was the last major armed engagement between the United States and Britain and that the treaty ushered in two centuries of peace between them. In that sense, the message’s claim that the British were "forever expelled from American soil" is rhetorical, meaning that Britain effectively abandoned hopes of reconquering the United States and never again fought a full‑scale war against it, not that all British people disappeared from U.S. territory. Britain continued to rule nearby colonies such as Canada and remained present in North America through trade, migration, and diplomacy, but no later British army occupied U.S. soil as an invading force after 1815.