To: 
From: "Vern Humphrey" 
Reply-To: r_catholic-l{at}yahoogroups.com

To: goffscalif{at}aol.com [mailto:goffscalif{at}aol.com]
>
> > Assumptions that are quite reasonable -- Old Hickory might have
> been rough
> > and uncouth, but he had a lifetime of fighting experience in America.
> > Whereas the British really did the best they could.  Flanking
> movements and
> > seiges are more easily spoken of than executed in battle.
>
> Especially given the terrain on which they fought the Battle of
> New Orleans.
> The American position had its right on the Mississippi River -
> very difficult
> to turn that flank.  The other flank rested on what was
> essentially swampland
> - again, difficult to turn (especially since the British had just
> finished
> slogging through swamps to get there and were in consequence
> exhausted).  To get
> to the American position, it was necessary to cross several
> canals, mostly
> small but at least one fairly large.  I'm not tactician, but I
> would not want to
> have to assault that American position, even if I had regulars
> while they had
> a rather two-by-four army (as was indeed the case).

Essentially, the British were partially defeated by the terrain.
Communications was another problem -- they could not coordinate their
efforts under such conditions.
>
> Assuming a practical way to do it, the best thing the British
> could have done
> would have been to cross the river and bypass the Americans.
> They probably
> would have, too, had it been practical, but it wasn't - the other
> side of the
> Mississippi was wilderness.  The British did try to bypass the American
> position on the river, but came under fire from the levee and had
> to abandon the
> attempt.

The great danger of a bypass operation is that you expose your flank, and
leave an unmolested enemy in your rear.  The British did not have the
capability to suppress and fix the American positions.
>
> Maneuver is great if you can do it.  But if your only choice is a direct
> assault across open ground on fortified positions whose defenders
> are firing from
> cover, you're going to suffer even if you win, for all the
> advantage lies with
> the defenders.
>
Correct.
>


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