A bloodless victory : the Battle of New Orleans in history and memory / Joseph F. Stoltz III.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Stoltz, Joseph F., III (Joseph Frederick), author.

Series:

Johns Hopkins books on the War of 1812

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

New Orleans, Battle of, New Orleans, La., 1815.

Nationalism and collective memory--United States.

Nationalism and collective memory.

Louisiana--New Orleans.

United States.

Physical Description:

xiii, 176 pages ; 24 cm.

Place of Publication:

Baltimore, Maryland : Johns Hopkins University Press, 2017.

Summary:

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 anniversary 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 politicians, artists, academics, and ordinary people have rewritten the battle's history. 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. Book jacket.

Contents:

1 "By the Eternal, They Shall Not Sleep on Our Soil": The New Orleans Campaign 1

2 "Half a Horse and Half an Alligator": The Battle of New Orleans in the Era of Good Feelings 13

3 "Under the Command of a Plain Republican-an American Cincinnatus": The Battle of New Orleans in the Age of Jefferson 30

4 "The Union Must and Shall Be Preserved": The Battle of New Orleans and the American Civil War 45

5 "True Daughters of the War": The Battle of New Orleans at One Hundred 59

6 "Not Pirate ... Privateer": The Battle of New Orleans and Mid-Twentieth-Century Popular Culture 75

7 "Tourism Whetted by the Celebration": The Battle of New Orleans in the Twentieth Century 86

8 A "Rustic and Factual" Appearance: The Battle of New Orleans at Two Hundred 99.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9781421423029

1421423022

OCLC:

974567630