Patriotic Fire

by Winston Groom, Vintage Books, 292 Pages

Most of the scholarship on Andrew Jackson concentrates on his political life, so it's a great treat to dive into any book that focuses entirely on a pre-presidential Jackson, specifically his generalship during the War of 1812. For those who, like me, can't ever seem to get enough of Andrew Jackson, this is a great book that fits neatly on the shelf next to such titles as Robert V. Remini's exhaustive biography and Jon Meacham's American Lion (a single volume account of Jackson's White House years).



Patriotic Fire is vivid and mostly riveting account of a turning point in early Americana, both for Andrew Jackson and for the country itself. Winston Groom, perhaps best known as the author of Forrest Gump, combines his talents as a novelist and those of a researcher to give us an engaging narrative that takes us to New Orleans, circa 1814, a world filled with pirates, privateers, Creole aristocrats, native-Americans, disgruntled militiamen and other outcasts of society. It is these folk who Andrew Jackson whipped into a militia that beat the British at the Battle of New Orelans, a devastating battle that took place after peace had already been declared (news travelled slow in those days; nobody knew a treaty had been signed for almost two months).

Although an engaging account of the Battle of New Orleans, a caveat should be issued less anyone is fooled by the subtitle of the book.  "Andrew Jackson and Jean Laffite at the Battle of New Orleans" is a misleading description of Winstom Groom's historical musings: this book is definitely about Andrew Jackson and most certainly about the Battle of New Orleans, but not much is said about Jean Laffite. Indeed, once the battle starts, Laffite disappears entirely from the narrative/

Laffite does play a central role in the first part of it and Groom adeptly combs through the various accounts of Laffite's life to give us a probable picture of the man. Laffite was a privateer (or pirate, depending on who you talk to) who chose to ally himself with Jackson and provided Jackson's army with munitions, men and knowledge of the Louisiana frontier. That Jackson agreed to trust a known criminal makes for a fascinating relationship that does not get properly explored, although it's likely that Mr. Groom was unable to explore it, as history may have left such things unrecorded. Still, Mr. Groom does return to M. Laffite in the last chapter and puts forth a strong argument for the case that Jean Laffite's loyalty to America was instrumental to Jackson's victory.

Mr. Groom's a smart historical writer who tries to keep the narrative perpetually focused on the humanity of the past, rather then simply list dates and events. No doubt this is the novelist in him and Patriotic Fire makes a good case for the argument that the best people to write about history are fiction writers. Mr. Groom clearly understands how to craft a historical novel that makes us care about both our central characters and the minor figures whose only claim to fame is that they left a diary for us to read. Mr. Groom also is clear to report when his facts are in dispute, or why he chose one particular source over another - a sure sign of a history writer who both respects the reader and those historians who came before him.