Chapter II

Containing a High Commission and an Indictment.

There is no nobler calling than that of the school teachers of America, who are ministering to the instruction and development of the future citizens and leaders of the Republic. These teachers are bound to be deeply concerned when they find that through school histories furnished them, they have been imparting a falsehood about an important event in United States history—the Battle of New Orleans, fought January 8, 1815. These school histories minimize the value of the battle, describing it as needless, because fought after peace, when as a fact, the battle was not fought after peace, and the victory, in fact, prevented a carefully planned conquest of the then lately acquired Louisiana Domain, with all the attendant, untoward complications, another war being one of them.

It is the purpose of this volume to show by reliable authorities, the truth as to the value of this battle.

History, as is well known, is honey-combed with lies, originally projected either in ignorance, prejudice or adulation. We are always fortunate if able to arrest and correct one before too late.

The Legislature of Tennessee, at its session of 1927, adopted the following resolution:

“WHEREAS, the Battle of New Orleans, fought on January 8, 1815, is one of the outstanding military events of American History; and,

“WHEREAS, the memory of the great American victory achieved there, is especially cherished by Tennesseans because of Andrew Jackson, and the other Tennesseans who therein immortalized themselves; and,

“WHEREAS, school histories, adopted for and taught in our schools, convey the impression that the battle was a needless one in that it occurred fifteen days after the treaty of Peace had been signed at Ghent, Belgium, by the Commissioners representing the United States and England; and,

“WHEREAS, serious criticism is made that such textbooks present an erroneous appraisement 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 to Louisiana, for the reason that she held as invalid the title of the United States to that Domain, conveyed by Napoleon Bonaparte in 1803; and,

“WHEREAS, it is of prime importance that our school children should receive every essential truth from historical textbooks, and especially those textbooks placed in the hands of Tennessee students should portray in its true significance the battle of New Orleans in which the ancestors of so many were engaged; Now,

“THEREFORE, be it resolved by the Senate, the House of Representatives concurring, that the Governor be, and is hereby empowered and authorized, to appoint five, or in his discretion seven, persons of known historical knowledge and research, who shall constitute a Commission, charged with the duty of carefully examining the authorities, touching the true value of the Battle of New Orleans, fought January 8, 1815; and,

“Said Commission shall incorporate its conclusions and recommendations in a report to the Governor who shall transmit the same to the Legislature.”

The present writer, who was appointed a member of the authorized Committee, has been engaged in making research into the matter involved, and has found facts, not hard of access, which should, and will, when understood, force a radical revision of school histories in the version they present as to the value of the New Orleans victory.

Other members of the Commission appointed by the Governor were: John H. DeWitt, of Nashville, Judge of the Tennessee Court of Appeals and president of the Tennessee Historical Society; John Trotwood Moore, of Nashville, State Librarian and historian; Claude G. Bowers, New York, author, historian, and editor—now ambassador to Spain; John S. Kendall, of New Orleans, historian and professor in Tulane University.

It is the purpose of the writer, after submission for comment to his distinguished fellow Committeemen, to make this volume the basis of report to the Governor of Tennessee for transmission to the Legislature.

In order to present, in as simple a way as possible, the case, or the indictment, for such it is, actual and authenticated excerpts are given herewith from all the American histories prescribed for Tennessee Public Schools by the State Text Book Commission.

These extracts were obtained from the office of the Secretary of State, where under statute, copies of all adopted text books are kept.