The Battle of New Orleans

The Battle of New Orleans
KENNETH E. HALL         JULY 31, 2018         HOUSTON


One Saturday night in the late '60's, a New Orleans TV station presented a movie called "The Buccaneer." The title got my attention, since what could be neater than a PIRATE movie for a 15-year-old kid, right? It got better: it was a Cecil B. deMille production, so I knew this was going to be a no-holds-barred, grandiose cinematographic masterpiece, with a "Cast of Thousands!" Turned out, the movie was about none other than the legendary "pirate" - Jean Lafitte!  This I HAD to see!

I got into the movie - and it transported me back into time - to 1815 - 150 years into the past! So there they were - Andrew Jackson's men, standing shoulder-to-shoulder with buccaneers, slaves, and New Orleans citizens - their backs toward their homes and city, facing the flanks of a mighty enemy that was far more powerful than they were. The hair stood up on the back of my neck as the skirl of bagpipes wafted in through the predawn fog of a Chalmette field, and the first Redcoats, armed to the teeth, suddenly came into view. 

Wasn't that a MIGHTY DAY!?!? I wish I had seen it on the big screen!

Decades later, I got interested in Genealogy, and began the painstaking process of linking one family member with another - like working on a giant 10,000 piece jigsaw puzzle with most of the pieces missing! One big break came when I learned the name of my fourth-Great-Grandmother - Charlotte MEILLEUR. Her maiden name, I discovered, was GOLDENBOW.  What a strange name, right? Odd - but beautiful at the same time.

Her father was named John, I learned, and at the main branch of the New Orleans Public Library, their Death Index showed me how to find the right microfilm. I loaded it into the machine, turned on the light and waited until the image came into focus. 

Imagine my surprise when this obit came into my view for the very first time!! I was sitting riveted to the microfilm viewer, and read: "Veteran of 1814-15" At first, I scratched my head, wondering what the heck happened in 1814-15. Then a popular tune I liked as a kid echoed through my brain, and I started humming "The Battle of New Orleans." "in Eighteen Fourteen took a little trip, along with Colonel Jackson down the Mighty Mississipp'!" Then it hit me! I jumped out of my seat, hollering "Oh My GOD!!" - I'm sure startling more than a few fellow library patrons, who looked up at me from their work with mildly perplexed expressions. Truth be told, I was a bit startled by that outburst myself!

This man, my ancestor, whom I just met, was a veteran of the BATTLE OF NEW ORLEANS!

Translation from the New Orleans French newspaper l'Abeille de la Nouvelle Orleans, 17 January, 1848: 

"DIED yesterday at 4pm at the age of 66 years, John GOLDENBOW, native of Germany, and resident of this city for the past 45 years. Veteran of 1814-15. His friends and acquaintances, as well as his son-in-law Michel Meilleur, are invited to attend the funeral, which will take place at 4pm. The funeral procession will leave from his former residence, 111 Chartres Street, between St. Louis and Conti.
☞ Veterans of 1814 & 15 are invited to attend."

This discovery happened the day before I visited the Chalmette Battlefield for the first time. This was where that battle took place! I had never been there before, though I had lived in New Orleans most of my life. Today I had a reason for being there. Today it was personal. I came to stand where my ancestors bravely stood so long ago. Across the highway at Rocky and Carlos Restaurant it was just another day, but for me, alone in that field, it was 1815, and I was standing on hallowed ground.

I closed my eyes and imagined Congreve rockets streaking brilliantly overhead and exploding. I heard the bagpipes and drums of the attacking Redcoats, I heard soldiers shouting, the roar of cannon, the whinny of horses, the rattle of sabers and the crackle of gunfire. I even smelled the horses and gunpowder, it was that vivid.

One can only imagine what thoughts went through those war-weary men who stood, waited, fought, and bled to protect their homes and families. One song touches on that idea that, even if one objects to war, sometimes there comes a moment when one must take a stand. After the muskets, cannon, and rockets fell silent, those left had to bury their dead, and journey all the way back to New Orleans:

"Oh, Harris, fetch thy mare, and take us out of here!
In my nine and fifty years I've never known - - -
That to call myself a man, for my loved one I must stand                                                                        Now Harris, fetch thy mare and take us home!"

                                                                       --- from HARRIS AND THE MARE byStan Rogers

Family History came alive for me that day, and I walked away from Chalmette Battlefield humbled and with a greater appreciation for the history of our country, our state, and our city - and most especially for those many and varied people from so many nations - including members of my own family - who came together to make up the wonderful gumbo that is NEW ORLEANS!

       ⚜

@Further research showed that my Fourth Great Grandfather was in the New Orleans Militia - a ragtag group of volunteers, free men who bravely took a stand between their beloved homes and the war's desolation. 

  I am proud to have not one, but several family members who took up arms to defend our city in its hour of need. All these brave people should be remembered:

"Oh! thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand
Between their loved home and the war’s desolation!
Blest with victory and peace, may the heav’n rescued land
Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation...." - Star-Spangled Banner

!John GOLDENBOW and his wife Augusta EHRICH were early German immigrants from Mecklenberg state in Germany. John was a café owner and dabbled in various businesses, including the shipping business.

♫"The Battle of New Orleans" is a song written by Jimmy Driftwood. It became a hit song for singer Johnny Horton in 1959, and was one of my favorite songs of the time.

!A brief word of thanks to ℱerncrest school in New Orleans, where I learned the French language, which allowed me to read so many French family genealogical documents in their entirety without once using a dictionary. 

[This story,"The Battle of New Orleans' was written on 31 July, 2018 and is based on a commentary written 8 January, 2016 in Houston, TX.]