BATTLE OF NEW ORLEANS
ITS REAL MEANING
Exposure of Untruth Being Taught Young America
Concerning the Second Most Important Military Event in the Life of the Republic.
By Reau E. Folk,
Chairman Tennessee Commission of Research as to the True Value of the Victory at New Orleans.
DEDICATION
This Volume Is Dedicated To:
The State of Tennessee, which authorized the Investigation;
The Ladies’ Hermitage Association, charged with primary duty of preserving the home of Andrew Jackson, whose military genius, courage, and patriotism saved the nation in the second War of Independence;
The Descendants of the Soldiers who fought at New Orleans, whose memory should always be cherished; and
The noble band of School Teachers everywhere, whose high impulse is to impart the truth.
REAU E. FOLK.
Nashville, Tenn.
Copyright, 1935, Reau E. Folk
Published by Ladies’ Hermitage Association, Nashville, Tenn.
Limited Edition
Cullom & Ghertner, Publishers, Nashville, Tenn.
COMMISSION REPORT
Below is given report to the Governor of Tennessee by the author ofthis volume as chairman of the authorized Tennessee Committee of Research.Attached are letters of concurrence from two of his associate members.The remaining member is out of the country. Documents havebeen sent to him, but at the time of this printing sufficient time has notelapsed to hear from him. In a later edition his comments will be given.
NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE
To His Excellency, The Honorable Hill McAllister,
Governor of Tennessee.
Sir:
The General Assembly of Tennessee of 1927 adopted the following joint resolution:
WHEREAS, the Battle of New Orleans, fought on January 8, 1815, is one of theoutstanding military events of American History; and,
WHEREAS, the memory of the great American victory achieved there, is especiallycherished by Tennesseans because of Andrew Jackson, and the other Tennesseanswho therein immortalized themselves; and,
WHEREAS, school histories, adopted for and taught in our schools, convey theimpression that the battle was a needless one in that it occurred fifteen days after theTreaty of Peace had been signed at Ghent, Belgium, by the Commissioners representingthe United States and England; and,
WHEREAS, serious criticism is made that such textbooks present an erroneousappraisement of the value of the battle, by omitting the reference to an essential fact,to-wit: that England did not construe the Peace Treaty of Ghent as applicable toLouisiana, for the reason that she held as invalid the title of the United States to thatDomain, conveyed by Napoleon Bonaparte in 1803; and,
WHEREAS, it is of prime importance that our school children should receiveevery essential truth from historical textbooks, and especially those textbooks placedin the hands of Tennessee students should portray in its true significance the Battle ofNew Orleans in which the ancestors of so many were engaged; now,
THEREFORE, be it resolved by the Senate, the House of Representatives concurring,tha