PRESIDENT
Elizabeth Cheney Sewell

1st VICE PRESIDENT
Ellyn Orth Meier

2nd VICE PRESIDENT
Bonnie Pepper Cook

CHAPLAIN
Barbara Edmundson McManus

RECORDING SECRETARY
Peggy Brown Caraway

CORRESPONDING SECRETARY
Lynda Moreau

TREASURER
Julia French Wood

REGISTRAR
Bonnita Jo Slaughter

PARLIAMENTARIAN
Mary “Patricia” Curry Millan

Welcome to the Chalmatte Chapter
Louisiana State Society
National Society United States Daughters of 1812

For more than a century, the members of the National Society United States Daughters of 1812, have dedicated themselves to patriotism, preservation of documents and relics, and education.

General Jackson’s plans for defense of the city were thwarted by the British capture of five American gunboats in Lake Borgne in the first battle near New Orleans in December 1814. Despite the loss, American casualties numbered fewer than those of the British. In the next major battle during the night of December 23, United States and British forces fought on land on the Villeré and adjacent plantations below the city, ending in a stalemate that threw the British off balance and battered their morale. The cost of the engagement was high: 277 British casualties, including 46 killed, and 213 United States casualties, including 24 killed. Hardest hit was Beale’s rifle company, composed primarily of New Orleans lawyers and merchants.

Although United States and British commissioners met in Ghent, Belgium, on December 24 to sign a peace treaty to end the War of 1812, the battle raged on around New Orleans. A major American victory came on New Year’s Day, with British casualties outnumbering those on the United States side by more than two to one.