Seven years into a vicious, expensive, politically unpopular and largely ignored war being fought thousands of miles from Paris, the French expeditionary force under General Henri Navarre was under pressure from its political masters at home to grasp the military initiative from the Chinese-backed forces of the Viet Minh.
When a large British force threatened New Orleans in 1815, he trounced them, helping to strengthen America's shaky grasp on the Louisiana territory and promote westward expansion.