Edited with an introduction and conclusion by Professor Gene A. Smith of Texas Christian University, A British Eyewitness at the Battle of New Orleans offers readers a glimpse of the bygone "Age of Sail." Rampant warfare raged across Europe and the Americas in the early 19th century—Napoleon schemed for world domination, colonized nations rose up in revolt, and Britain and the United States met, for the final time, as battlefield opponents. During this epoch hundreds of thousands lost their lives in the struggles to redraw the boundaries of the world map. Most left no personal imprint on history. Robert Aitchison—a young Scottish naval officer who dodged alligators, shipwreck, and musket shot, all before his twentieth birthday—could well have become another nameless casualty of war. But Aitchison survived to memorialize his youthful adventures in the Mediterranean, off the coast of New England, and on the plains of Chalmette. A British Eyewitness at the Battle of New Orleans invites readers to join Aitchison at sea.