Sir Edward Pakenham

Major-General Sir Edward Michael Pakenham, (19 March 1778 – 8 January 1815), was a British Army officer and politician. He was the son of the Baron Longford and the brother-in-law of the Duke of Wellington, with whom he served in the Peninsular War. During the War of 1812, he was the commander of British forces attempting to take the Southern port of New Orleans (1814–15). On 8 January 1815, Pakenham was killed in action while leading his men at the Battle of New Orleans.

Early life

Pakenham was born at Pakenham Hall (present-day Tullynally Castle) in County Westmeath, Ireland, to Edward Pakenham, 2nd Baron Longford, and his wife Catherine Rowley. He was educated at The Royal School, Armagh. His family purchased his commission as a lieutenant in the 92nd Regiment of Foot when he was only sixteen.

Political career

Between 1799 and 1800, Pakenham also represented Longford Borough in the Irish House of Commons.

Military career

Pakenham served with the 23rd Light Dragoons against the French in Ireland during the 1798 Rebellion and later in Nova Scotia, Barbados, and Saint Croix. He led his men in an attack on Saint Lucia in 1803, where he was wounded. He also fought in the Danish campaign at the Battle of Copenhagen (1807) and in Martinique against the French Empire, where he received another wounding. In 1806, his sister Catherine married Arthur Wellesley, the future Duke of Wellington.

Peninsular War

Pakenham, as adjutant-general, joined his well known in-law, the Duke of Wellington, in the Peninsular War. He commanded a regiment in the Battle of Bussaco in 1810 and in 1811 fought in the Battle of Fuentes de Onoro to defend the besieged fortress of Almeida, helping to secure a British victory. In 1812 he was praised for his performance at Salamanca in which he commanded the Third Division and hammered onto the flank of the extended French line. He also received the Army Gold Cross and clasps for the battles of Martinique, Busaco, Fuentes de Oñoro, Salamanca, Pyrenees, Nivelle, Nive, Orthez, and Toulouse.

War of 1812

Louisiana campaign

In September 1814, Pakenham, having been promoted to the rank of major general, accepted an offer to replace General Robert Ross as commander of the British North American army, after Ross was killed during the skirmishing prior to the Battle of North Point near Baltimore.

In August 1814, Vice Admiral Cochrane had finally convinced the Admiralty that a campaign against New Orleans would weaken American resolve against Canada, and hasten a successful end to the war. The Royal Navy had begun the Louisiana Campaign to capture New Orleans.

In the winter of 1814, the British had the objective of gaining control of the entrance of the Mississippi, and to challenge the legality of the Louisiana Purchase.Grodzinski (ed) (2011), p.1 To this end, an expeditionary force of about 8,000 troops under General Edward Pakenham had arrived in the Gulf Coast, to attack New Orleans.

A general ceasefire had already been declared by the Treaty of Ghent, signed on 24 December 1814, but as peace was not yet ratified in Washington as required by the treaty, the two nations were still formally at war. The news of the treaty did not reach the combatants until February, several weeks after the battle.

British reconnaissance-in-force

On Christmas Day, Pakenham arrived on the battlefield. He ordered a reconnaissance-in-force on 28 December against the earthworks. The reconnaissance-in-force was designed to test Line Jackson and see how well-defended it was, and if any section of the line was weak the British would take advantage of the situation, break through, and call for thousands of more soldiers to smash through the defences. Pakenham inexplicably decided to withdraw all the soldiers after seeing the left side of his reconnaissance-in-force collapsing and retreating in panic.

After the failure of this operation Pakenham met with General Keane and Admiral Cochrane that evening for an update on the situation. Pakenham wanted to use Chef Menteur Pass as the invasion route, but he was overruled by Admiral Cochrane, who insisted that his boats were providing everything needed. Admiral Cochrane believed that the veteran British soldiers would easily destroy Jackson's ramshackle army, and he allegedly said that if the army did not do it, his sailors would, and the meeting settled the method and place of the attack.

Artillery duel on New Year's Day 1815

The main British army arrived on New Year's Day 1815 and began an artillery bombardment of the American earthworks. The Americans recovered quickly and mobilized their own artillery to fire back at the British artillery. This began an exchange of artillery fire that continued for three hours. After yet another failure to breach Line Jackson Pakenham decided to wait for his entire force of 8,000 men to assemble before continuing his attack.

New Orleans

Pakenham developed a complex plan, dividing his forces into four brigades:
# Colonel Thornton would land soldiers on the Right Bank of the Mississippi, capture the artillery battery, so the guns could be turned against Jackson's lines.
# The main assault against the left-centre of the American line on the Left Bank would be undertaken by Major General Gibbs.
# Light troops would be deployed to breach the right, followed by a Brigade commanded by General Keane, to either exploit the success, or move against the centre.
# General Lambert and his brigade were in reserve.

In front of the American line on the Left Bank, there were 600 metres of open ground to be traversed by the British.

Thornton failed to disembark and capture the battery at the designated time. Pakenham summoned his Assistant Adjutant General (AAG), Major Harry Smith, and informed him Thornton's delayed troops would have no impact upon the main attack on the Left Bank. Smith tried to dissuade him from proceeding, but to no avail. Pakenham decided to continue with the attack, half an hour before daylight, at 6.20am.

The 44th Foot, commanded by Thomas Mullins, was assigned to lead the assault. They had to pick up the fascines and ladders needed, in order to cross the ditches and scale the earthworks respectively. Mullins was not pleased, viewing the regiment's role as that of a forlorn hope. Perhaps due to his bad temper, he failed to personally locate the ladders and fascines on the evening of the 7th, as Pakenham had ordered him to do. The officer he assigned, Lieutenant Colonel Johnston, inquired about their location from Captain Emmett, an engineer officer, and reported they were in the advance redoubt.

During the night, an ''advance battery'' was set up about forward of the ''advance redoubt''. Mullins, thinking this to be the location of the materiel, passed the advance redoubt and halted the regiment at the battery. Upon discovering his mistake, he sent about 300 of his 427 men back to the redoubt at the double-quick to pick up the fascines and ladders, but it was too late. The other regiments were already advancing behind the 44th, the party of 300 lost formation as they struggled to reach the redoubt, and as day dawned, the attack commenced before the supplies could be brought forward.

The British column had already been disordered by the passage of the 300 returning to the redoubt, and they advanced into a storm of American fire. Without the fascines and ladders, they were unable to scale and storm the American position. Mullins had compromised their attack.

As Pakenham rallied his troops near the enemy line, grapeshot from US artillery shattered his left knee and killed his horse. As he was helped to his feet by his senior '' aide-de-camp'', Major Duncan MacDougall, Pakenham was wounded a second time in his right arm. After he mounted MacDougall's horse, more grapeshot ripped through his spine, fatally wounding him, and he was carried off the battlefield on a stretcher. He was 36. His last words were reputed to be telling MacDougall to find General John Lambert to tell him to assume command and send forward the reserves.

The British attacks on the Left Bank failed in bloody confusion, with Pakenham and Gibbs among the casualties.

The battle ended in defeat for the British.

Wellington had held Pakenham in high regard and was deeply saddened by news of his death, commenting:

We have but one consolation, that he fell as he lived, in the honourable discharge of his duty and distinguished as a soldier and a man. I cannot but regret that he was ever employed on such a service or with such a colleague. The expedition to New Orleans originated with that colleague... The Americans were prepared with an army in a fortified position which still would have been carried, if the duties of others, that is of the Admiral ( Sir Alexander Cochrane), had been as well performed as that of he whom we now lament.

Patterson notes that the plan of attack was not Pakenham's own, yet he conceded to follow it, despite his reservations, and his death prevented him from reformulating a subsequent attack, following the initial failure.

Legacy

There is a statue in his memory at the south transept of St Paul's Cathedral in London. His body was returned in a cask of rum and buried in the Pakenham family vault in Killucan in County Westmeath, Ireland.

The village of Pakenham in Ontario, Canada, named in honour of his role in the War of 1812. The village is located on the Canadian Mississippi River which empties into the Ottawa River.

There is also a suburb of Melbourne, Australia, named after him.

In the alternative "British Version" of Johnny Horton's novelty hit "The Battle of New Orleans," Horton refers to the British being led into battle by Pakenham. As with other 'historic' details of the song, Horton haphazardly styles him as "Colonel Pakeningham" despite his actually being General Pakenham.

Two streets in Chalmette, Louisiana, the site of the Battle of New Orleans, are named for Pakenham, Packenham Avenue and Packenham Drive.

See also

* List of knights companion of the Order of the Bath
* List of knights and dames grand cross of the Order of the Bath

References

Notes

Citations

Bibliography

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Further reading

* "Edward Michael Pakenham," ''A Dictionary of Louisiana Biography'', Vol. 2 (1988), p. 627

External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Pakenham, Sir Edward Michael
1778 births
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18th-century Anglo-Irish people
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Knights Companion of the Order of the Bath
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