Exploring the changing narrative of the Battle of New Orleans through
two centuries of commemoration.
Once celebrated on par with the Fourth of July, January 8th--the
anniversary of the Battle of New Orleans--is no longer a day of
reverence for most Americans. Although the United States' stunning 1815
defeat of the British army south of New Orleans gave rise to the
presidency of Andrew Jackson, the Democratic Party, and the legend of
Jean Laffite, the battle has not been a national holiday since 1861.
Joseph F. Stoltz III explores how generations of Americans have
consciously revised, reinterpreted, and reexamined the memory of the
conflict to fit the cultural and social needs of their time. Combining
archival research with deep analyses of music, literature, theater, and
film across two centuries of American popular culture, Stoltz highlights
the myriad ways in which politicians, artists, academics, and ordinary
people have rewritten the battle's history. While these efforts could be
nefarious--or driven by political necessity or racial animus--far more
often they were simply part of each generations' expression of values
and world view.
From Andrew Jackson's presidential campaign to the occupation of New
Orleans by the Union Army to the Jim Crow era, the continuing
reinterpretations of the battle alienated whole segments of the American
population from its memorialization. Thus, a close look at the Battle of
New Orleans offers an opportunity to explore not just how events are
collectively remembered across generations but also how a society
discards memorialization efforts it no longer finds necessary or
palatable.
