<P> The British advance was made by way of Lake Borgne, and the troops landed at a fisherman's village on December 23, 1814, Major - General Sir Edward Pakenham taking command there two days later (Christmas). An immediate advance on the still insufficiently - prepared defenses of the Americans might have led to the capture of the city; but this was not attempted, and both sides limited themselves to relatively small skirmishes and a naval battle while awaiting reinforcements . At last in the early morning of January 8, 1815 (after the Treaty of Ghent had been signed but before the news had reached across the Atlantic), a direct attack was made on the now strongly - entrenched line of defenders at Chalmette, near the Mississippi River . It failed disastrously with a loss of 2,000 out of 9,000 British troops engaged, among the dead being Pakenham and Major - General Gibbs . The expedition was soon afterwards abandoned and the troops embarked, under the command of John Lambert . Another engagement followed: a ten - day artillery battle at Fort St. Philip on the lower Mississippi River . The British fleet set sail on January 18 and went on to capture Fort Bowyer at the entrance to Mobile Bay . </P> <P> General Jackson had arrived in New Orleans in early December 1814, having marched overland from Mobile in the Mississippi Territory . His final departure was not until mid-March 1815 . Martial law was maintained in the city throughout the period of three and a half months . </P> <P> The population of the city doubled in the 1830s with an influx of settlers . A few newcomers to the city were friends of the Marquis de Lafayette who had settled in the newly founded city of Tallahassee, Florida, but due to legalities had lost their deeds . One new settler who was not displaced but chose to move to New Orleans to practice law was Prince Achille Murat, nephew of Napoleon Bonaparte . According to historian Paul Lachance, "the addition of white immigrants to the white creole population enabled French - speakers to remain a majority of the white population until almost 1830 . If a substantial proportion of free persons of color and slaves had not also spoken French, however, the Gallic community would have become a minority of the total population as early as 1820 ." Large numbers of German and Irish immigrants began arriving at this time . The population of the city doubled in the 1830s and by 1840 New Orleans had become the wealthiest and third-most populous city in the nation . </P> <P> By 1840, the city's population was approximately 102,000 and it was now the third - largest in the U.S, the largest city away from the Atlantic seaboard as well as the largest in the South . </P>

New orleans founded by the french in north america