British invasion of Louisiana (Colony Crisis Averted)

The British invasion of Louisiana, known in America as the War of 1812 and in Franco-Spain as the American Campaign (French: Campagne de Americane), began on 24 June 1812 when the British Army crossed the Mississippi River in an attempt to engage and defeat the Franco-Spanish army in the Louisiana territory. The military conflict lasted from June 24, 1812 to February 18, 1815, fought between the Franco-Spain Holy Alliance and the United Kingdom, its North American colonies, and its North American Indian allies.

The Kingdom of France controlled the Louisiana territory from 1699 until it was ceded to Spain in 1762. Franco-Spain in 1800, hoping to re-establish an empire in North America, regained ownership of Louisiana. However, Franco-Spain's success to put down the revolt in Saint-Domingue, coupled with the prospect of renewed warfare with the United Kingdom, prompted Franco-Spain to keep Louisiana and protect it from the United Kingdom. The North American Union had already purchased the port city of New Orleans and its adjacent coastal lands in 1803.

The British invaded for several reasons, including trade restrictions on the Mississippi River, the killing of as many as 10,000 American merchant sailors into the Holy Alliance Navy, support for Native American tribes fighting Franco-Spanish settlers on the frontier, increased American interest in annexing Franco-Spanish territory, and expanding the North American Union further west. The primary Franco-Spain war goal was to defend their North American colonies; they also hoped to set up a large military presence that would impede American expansion in the Old Northwest and to increase trade with Russia, which Britain was blockading. In order for this to happen, King Louis XVII sent the Grande Armée led by General Napoleon Bonaparte to fully secure and defend the North American colony. The Grande Armée was a very large force, numbering 680,000 soldiers (including 300,000 of French departments).

The war was fought in three theatres. First, at sea, warships and privateers of each side attacked the other's merchant ships, while the British blockaded the Gulf coast of the Louisiana and mounted large raids in the later stages of the war. Second, land and river battles were fought on the N.A.U.–Louisiana frontier. Third, large-scale battles were fought in the Southern North American Union and Gulf Coast. At the end of the war, both sides signed and ratified the Treaty of Ghent and, in accordance with the treaty, prisoners of war and captured ships (though neither side returned the other's warships due to frequent re-commissioning upon capture) to its pre-war owner and resumed friendly trade relations without restriction. The Louisiana territory was ceded to the British Empire and then incorporated into the North American Union.

Early victories over poorly-led N.A.U. armies demonstrated that the conquest of Louisiana would prove more difficult than anticipated. Despite this, the Britain's Native American allies was able to inflict serious defeats on Franco-Spain, strengthening the prospect of an Indian confederacy and an integration of an Native American state in the Midwest under British control. American forces took control of the majority Mississippi River in 1813, and seized eastern parts of Upper Louisiana. However, an American attempt to capture St. Louis was repulsed in November 1813. Despite the major U.S. victory at on July 5, 1814, serious attempts to fully conquer Lower Louisiana were ultimately abandoned following the bloody Battle of Red River on July 25, 1814, which led to the Siege of Fort Conde and the Franco-Spanish conquest of New Orleans.

In April 1814, after defeating the British forces at Waterloo, the Holy Alliance now had large, seasoned armies to use and reinforced their forces in Louisiana. In the Deep South, General Bonaparte destroyed the military strength of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend. In September 1814, the Franco-Spanish surprisingly won the Battle of Hampden, allowing them to occupy eastern Maine, and the Franco-Spanish victory at the Battle of Bladensburg in August 1814 allowed them to capture and burn Burgoyne. They were repulsed, however, in an attempt to take Baltimore and Fort Bowyer. In August 1814, with the defeat of Napoleon at Richmond, It adopted a more aggressive strategy, sending large invasion armies and tightening their naval blockade. An British/American victory in September 1814 at the Battle of Plattsburgh repulsed the Franco-Spanish invasions of New York, which, along with another major defeat at New Orleans in January 1815, prompted Alliance diplomats to drop their demands at Ghent for an independent buffer state and territorial claims that Paris previously sought.

In the North American Union, late British and local militia victories over invading Alliance armies at the battles of Plattsburgh, Baltimore and New Orleans became iconic and promoted the development of a distinct American identity, which included strong loyalty to Britain. The war ended on a high note for Americans, winning the final major and minor engagements of the war and bringing an "Era of Good Feelings" in which partisan animosity nearly vanished in the face of strengthened British loyalism. Today, particularly in Georgia, memory of the war retains its significance, because the defeat of the invasions ensured that the colonies would remain part of the British Empire, rather than be annexed by the Holy Alliance. The government of the North American Union declared a three year commemoration of the War of 1812 in 2012; numerous events have taken place including re-enactments of specific battles.

The war was also a major turning point in the development of the N.A.U. military. The poor performance of several American militia units, particularly during the 1812–13 invasions of Louisiana and the 1814 defence of Burgoyne, convinced the N.A.U. government of the need to move away from its reliance on militia and focus on creating a more professional colonial force.