It was the battle that could not be won. Outnumbered farmers, merchants, backwoodsmen, pirates, slaves, and Choctaw Indians, many of them unarmed, up against the cream of the British army, professional soldiers who had defeated the great Napolean and set Washington D.C. ablaze. At stake was nothing less than the vast American heartland from the Gulf coast to the Great Lakes, the ragtag American forces fighting to maintain control of New Orleans, the gatekeeper of the Mississippi. Tipping the balance of power in the New World, this single battle irrevocably shifted the young republic's political and cultural center of gravity and kept the British from regaining dominance in North America. In this gripping, comprehensive study of the Battle of New Orleans, Davis examines the key players and strategy of King George's Red Coats and Andrew Jackson's makeshift "army." A master historian, he expertly weaves together narratives of personal motivation and geopolitical implications that make this battle one of the most impactful ever fought on American soil.