Doug...I picked 5 of them...
1) New Orleans
2) Vikings
3) Trojan
4) Bushy Run
5) Ticonderoga
New Orleans appeals to me the most though..."no ifs ands or buts"...
I have a good base of those figures already and would like to build the defense works for that battle...
The US side was comprised of the most eclectic group of men ever assembled... United States army troops with a ramshackle mix of American forces from Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi, and Louisiana militia; Baratarian pirates, Choctaw warriors, free black soldiers, sailors, and various other militias, with 8 batteries containing 32's, 24's, 18's, 12's and 6's...plus howitzers...defeating Britain's finest white and black troops drawn from Europe and the West Indies...
quite a mix of figures if John ever went this way...
I also read somewhere that Jackson road the streets of New Orleans on horseback prior to the battle recruiting anybody he could...drunk or sober...and was also very effective at persuading them...
this was a big victory for the US...a regional effort...
Militia units from surrounding states joined local troops in defending Louisiana. These included mounted militia and dragoons, (mounted troops who rode into battle, dismounted, and fought on foot). Major Gabriel Villeré commanded the Louisiana Militia, and Major Jean Baptiste Plauché headed the New Orleans uniformed militia companies. Each of these companies had its own distinctive, colorful uniform, and many of their members had previous military experience in France, Saint-Domingue (Haiti), and Latin America.
Louisianians contributed to the American victory in many ways. Behind the front lines white and free black men forty-five years and older formed home guards to protect private property and maintain order in New Orleans and surrounding towns and posts. Slaves and citizens helped widen canals and build defenses along them. Slaves also fortified military positions and fought in several battles of the Louisiana campaign. Women at home made clothing for the troops and flags and bandages for the militia regiments, while nuns and free women of color nursed the wounded at hospitals and convents.
The First and Second Battalions of Free Men of Color, comprising over six hundred men, played an important role in the Louisiana campaign, just as free black men had during the colonial period in the service of France and Spain. Louisiana was the first state in the Union to commission a military officer of African descent, and an act passed by the Louisiana legislature in 1812 was the first in the nation to authorize a black volunteer militia with its black line officers.
Fighting with Jackson's forces in Louisiana was a group of Choctaws, longtime enemies of the pro-British Creek nation. They were under the command of Major Pierre Jugeant, a part-Choctaw scout who had grown up among Native Americans and spoke various dialects.
The legendary Baratarian pirates also lent assistance to Jackson and the Americans, primarily in the form of military supplies and artillery power. The Baratarians had been approached by British officials to act as allies and waterway guides. Acting as leader of the "Frenchmen of Barataria," Jean Laffite went to American authorities while considering the British offer, ultimately securing from Jackson promises of amnesty for past offenses in return for siding with the United States and committing his men to battle.
http://lsm.crt.state.la.us/cabildo/cab6.htm
more celebrity figures than you could shake a stick at...this series is loaded...
Jean Laffite...Jackson..........this series would be cool...
