199 years ago today, February 26, 1815, deposed Emperor of the French Republic, Napoleon, escaped Elba to return to France. When the New Orleans Expedition was offered to the Duke of Wellington the previous October, he declined the assignment, citing Napoleon was exiled on the small island of Elba and just might not stay there. He was right. Wellington's brother-in-law Sir Edward Pakenham accepted the assignment as Commander-in-chief of the New Orleans expedition, leaving England on November 1, 1814. Pakenham was killed at New Orleans on January 8, 1815, depriving Wellington the service of his favorite field commander. Wellington bemoaned the fact he sorely missed Ned Pakenham as he prepared for his climactic battle with Napoleon at Waterloo in June, 1815.
