The final battle of the War of 1812 was the Battle of New Orleans. This battle gave a clear
demonstration of the need for effective communication during wartime; it also showed the disastrous
results that can come to pass when communication is inadequate.
The War of 1812 was fought between Great Britain and the very young country of the United
States only a relatively few years after the United States had won its independence from Britain. The
United States had declared war against Britain in June of 1812, mostly because of interference with
U.S. shipping by the British and because of the shanghaiing of U.S. sailors for enforced service on
British vessels. The war lasted for a little more than two years, when a peace treaty was signed at
Ghent, in Belgium, on the 24th of December, 1814.
Unfortunately, the news that the Treaty of Ghent had been signed and that the war was officially
over was not communicated in a timely manner over the wide distance to where the war was being
contested. Negotiations for the treaty and the actual signing of the treaty took place in Europe, and
news of the treaty had to be carried across the Atlantic to the war front by ship. A totally unnecessary
loss of life was incurred as a result of the amount of time that it took to inform the combatants of the
treaty.
Early in January of 1815, some two weeks after the peace treaty had been signed, British
troops in the southern part of the United States were unaware that the war had officially ended.
Over 5,000 British troops attacked U.S. troops. During the ensuing battle, known as the Battle of
New Orleans, the British suffered a huge number of casualties, around 2,000, and the Americans lost
7 1 , all in a battle fought only because news of the peace treaty that had already been signed in Ghent
had not yet reached the battlefield.
1. The main idea of this passage is that .
2. The word 'it' in paragraph 1 represents .
3. Look at the expression come to pass in paragraph 1 . This expression could best be replaced by
7. It is NOT stated in the passage that Ghent was .
8. Look at the word 'contested' in paragraph 3. The word, ,in paragraph 4 is the closest in meaning to 'contested'
9. It can be determined from the passage that, of the following dates, the Battle of New Orleans was most probably fought
