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Yeah, that's a great song. The Battle of New Orleans by Johnny Horton.

The actual history of the battle from MSN Encarta:

The Battle of New Orleans of the War of 1812 was fought on January 8, 1815, between about 6500 American troops, mostly irregulars, under the command of the American general Andrew Jackson and a British force of about 8700, commanded by the British general Sir Edward Pakenham.

The British planned to attack New Orleans and thereby gain access to the entire Mississippi Valley. The entrance of British troops into the Gulf of Mexico in the autumn of 1814 prompted Jackson's arrival at New Orleans on December 1, 1814. Later that month a fleet of 50 British vessels made a surprise landing at Lake Borgne, east of New Orleans, after which some 2000 British troops walked across the swamps to the banks of the Mississippi just below New Orleans. Jackson hastily fortified the area. After a number of skirmishes during late December and early January, Jackson, with the valuable aid of the French pirate Jean Laffite, won the decisive battle in less than a half hour on January 8. Jackson's improvised fortifications proved highly effective, and the American force suffered only 71 casualties while inflicting more than 2000; Pakenham was one of the 289 British dead. The overwhelming defeat caused the British to abandon further combat projects, and they soon embarked for England. The battle had no effect on the war. Peace terms had already been agreed on in the Treaty of Ghent, signed on December 24, 1814; at the time of the battle, however, the treaty had not yet been ratified by the U.S. Senate.

I still think we should have carried the war over into Canada, and made all those Canucks citizens of New Hampshire. Would have served them right, too!

you guys all hear about the canadians who died from the U.S. fighter? that's too bad (too bad it wasn't the brits i mean!)
(it's a joke, don't hurt me) (and i'm serious about it being too bad in general)

@Aragorn, that's tasteless. I think you owe an apology, a sincere one, to the SYM forum, and especially to its Canadian and British members.

i'm sorry, i realize it was a tragedy and i'm sorry i joked about it. i'm also sorry to all the british members of the forum for making such a cruel remark.

Later that month a fleet of 50 British vessels made a surprise landing at Lake Borgne, east of New Orleans, after which some 2000 British troops walked across the swamps to the banks of the Mississippi just below New Orleans.

That is dedication to duty there. The swamps of Lousiana are not a nice place to be. Rats big as dogs live down there.

Originally posted by Weasel
The swamps of Lousiana are not a nice place to be. Rats big as dogs live down there

But if you show them your boobs, they'll give you a string of beads.

Originally posted by HighLordDave


But if you show them your boobs, they'll give you a string of beads.

LMFAO

As a disclaimer, I wasn't meaning the women in Lousiana where rats.

Originally posted by Weasel


LMFAO

As a disclaimer, I wasn't meaning the women in Lousiana where rats.

You just saved yourself from a Cajun lynching, I suspect. Ever been down that way, @Weasel? Those bayous are quite real and extremely nasty. The Cajuns are an amazing culture. I've heard tell ("heard tell" I picked up from my mother-in-law, whose speech patterns resemble the writings of Mark Twain--regionalisms hang around a long time in the Midwest) that the Cajuns were researched by French lexicographers because of their French archaisms, but I wonder if this isn't simply an urban legend.

I worked in the Plaquemines for a while. Nothing but swamp, rats, ducks, deer the size of small dogs and the very rare gator. The town I went out from was called The End of the World, (Can anyone guess the real name).

From my experience, the first time you meet a real Cajun, you will most likely not understand a single word. IMHO I would call it speed up English. After being out for three weeks on a boat in the middle of the swamp with them, I hardly noticed the difference. Contrary to the way movies make them out to be, they are some of the nices people I have ever meet.

Originally posted by fable


You just saved yourself from a Cajun lynching, I suspect. Ever been down that way, @Weasel? Those bayous are quite real and extremely nasty. The Cajuns are an amazing culture. I've heard tell ("heard tell" I picked up from my mother-in-law, whose speech patterns resemble the writings of Mark Twain--regionalisms hang around a long time in the Midwest) that the Cajuns were researched by French lexicographers because of their French archaisms, but I wonder if this isn't simply an urban legend.

I don't know if that's urban legend or not. My significant other is half Arcadian--family is all from New Brunswick. The cajuns are all arcadians. They were exiled there during the war between the British and the French over the maritimes. A lot of other arcadians were sent back to France, or to New England. And a lot went to Quebec and became assimilated there. So, I would imagine that cajun French is an interesting dialect with some old phrases left over from the 18th c. The French have some great linguistic projects--they had one whose goal was to record all the languages that were dying out in the world. I forget the name of the program.

But, we better not get started on the French.

Hey! I actually know a French person (she works with me and she's crazy) so I can judge all other French people (they are all crazy). Take it from me. I know.

Also, I have always blamed the French for all the most difficult-to-spell words in English. My grades would have been much better in Elementary School. Thanks for nothin'!

Oh, wait. You said:

Originally posted by VoodooDali
But, we better not get started on the French. (emphasis added)

Oops.

Originally posted by Gwalchmai
Oh, wait. You said:


Oops.

You've never seen the inside of a French jail cell, have you? Being forced to drink cheap white wine and eat stale croissants, while the guards stand outside poking fun at your un-French barbarities. Not a pretty sight.

I've had two French exchange students stay with me, each for a month, and they were some of the nicest people you could meet. Likewise, I've been on holiday backpacking through France and Italy twice and in my experience the french were as nice as could be. The italians, on the other hand...were not nice. As long as you try (and in my case fail miserably) to speak French then the people of france think you're OK.

French is still a pain of a language to learn, though.

I don't know much about US history, but I remember reading a 10 best things about ---------(insert nationality here). The entry for Canada was

1. Only country to successfully invade the US and burn it's capital to the ground.
2. Only country to successfully invade the US and burn it's capital to the ground.
3. Only country to successfully invade the US and burn it's capital to the ground.
4. Only country to successfully invade the US and burn it's capital to the ground.
5. Only country to successfully invade the US and burn it's capital to the ground.
6. Only country to successfully invade the US and burn it's capital to the ground.
7. Only country to successfully invade the US and burn it's capital to the ground.
8. Only country to successfully invade the US and burn it's capital to the ground.
9. Only country to successfully invade the US and burn it's capital to the ground.
10. Only country to successfully invade the US and burn it's capital to the ground.

Go Canuk's

@Gwally - The Sun is a comic, with a recommended reading age of 6 years old.

@Jace:
We're also the only country in the world that would take a Canadian actor with the stature of say, William Shatner, and turn him into a pop icon. What's the world coming to?

Originally posted by HighLordDave
@Jace:
We're also the only country in the world that would take a Canadian actor with the stature of say, William Shatner, and turn him into a pop icon. What's the world coming to?

I think the phrases "William Shatner" and "actor" are mutually exclusive.

fable . . . you . . . have . . . got . . . to be . . . kidding . . . me. Shatner . . . is a . . . god! He . . . even . . . has . . . his own . . . church.