Battle of New Orleans Video & Lyrics - Johnny Horton's version

Johnny Horton performs "The Battle of New Orleans," a song detailing the 1815 Battle of New Orleans written by Jimmie Driftwood history teacher and high school principal. This song is a mini history lesson from the viewpoint of an American, who is fighting alongside General Andrew Jackson against the British. The peace treaty was already signed for two weeks but the news about it did not reach New Orleans... (Treaty of Ghent)

The song is from the album Classic Country: 1950-1964.



Lyrics of Battle of New Orleans

In 1814 we took a little trip
Along with Colonel Jackson down the mighty Mississip.
We took a little bacon and we took a little beans
And we caught the bloody British in the town of New Orleans.

(Chorus)
We fired our guns and the British kept a'comin.
There wasn't nigh as many as there was a while ago.
We fired once more and they began to runnin' on
Down the Mississippi to the Gulf of Mexico.

We looked down the river and we see'd the British come.
And there must have been a hundred of'em beatin' on the drum.
They stepped so high and they made the bugles ring.
We stood by our cotton bales and didn't say a thing.

(Chorus)

Old Hickory said we could take 'em by surprise
If we didn't fire our muskets 'til we looked 'em in the eye
We held our fire 'til we see'd their faces well.
Then we opened up with squirrel guns and really gave 'em ... weeell

(Chorus)

Yeah, they ran through the briars and they ran through the brambles
And they ran through the bushes where a rabbit couldn't go.
They ran so fast that the hounds couldn't catch 'em
Down the Mississippi to the Gulf of Mexico.

We fired our cannon 'til the barrel melted down.
So we grabbed an alligator and we fought another round.
We filled his head with cannon balls, and powdered his behind
And when we touched the powder off, the gator lost his mind.

(Chorus)

Yeah, they ran through the briars and they ran through the brambles
And they ran through the bushes where a rabbit couldn't go.
They ran so fast that the hounds couldn't catch 'em
Down the Mississippi to the Gulf of Mexico.

And here's Theodore Roosevelt's account of the Battle of New Orleans from the Naval War of 1812.