202 Chapter 7 National Growing Pains
Britain Assumes the Offensive
Until 1814 the British put relatively little effort
into the American war, being concerned primarily
with the struggle against Napoleon. However, in
1812 Napoleon had invaded Russia and been
thrown back; thereafter, one by one, his European
satellites rose against him. Gradually he relin-
quished his conquests; the Allies—his enemies—
marched into France, Paris fell, and in April 1814
Napoleon was driven from power. Then the British,
free to strike hard at the United States, dispatched
some 14,000 veterans to Canada.
By the spring of 1814 British strategists had
devised a master plan for crushing the United States.
One army, 11,000 strong, was to march from
Montréal, tracing the route that General Burgoyne
had followed to disaster in the Revolution. A smaller
amphibious force was to make a feint at the
Chesapeake Bay area, destroying coastal towns and
threatening Washington and Baltimore. A third army
was to assemble at Jamaica and sail to attack New
Orleans and bottle up the West.
It is necessary, in considering the War of 1812, to
remind oneself repeatedly that in the course of the
conflict many brave young men lost their lives.
Without this sobering reflection it would be easy to
dismiss the conflict as a great farce compounded of
stupidity, incompetence, and brag. The British,
despite their years of experience against Napoleon,
were scarcely more effective than the Americans when
they assumed the offensive. They achieved significant
success only in the diversionary attack in the
Chesapeake Bay area.
While the main British army was assembling in
Canada, some 4,000 veterans under General Robert
Ross sailed from Bermuda for the Chesapeake. After
making a rendezvous with a fleet commanded by Vice
Admiral Sir Alexander Cochrane and Rear Admiral Sir
George Cockburn, which had been terrorizing the
coast, they landed in Maryland at the mouth of the
Patuxent River, southeast of Washington. A squadron
of gunboats “protecting” the capital promptly with-
drew upstream; when the British pursued, their com-
mander ordered them blown up to keep them from
being captured.
The British troops marched rapidly toward
Washington. At Bladensburg, on the outskirts of the
city, they came upon an army twice their number,
commanded by General William H. Winder, a
Baltimore lawyer who had already been captured and
released by the British in the Canadian fighting.
While President Madison and other officials watched,
the British charged—and Winder’s army turned tail
almost without firing a shot. The British swarmed
into the capital and put most public buildings to the
torch. Before personally setting fire to the White
House, Admiral Cockburn took one of the presi-
dent’s hats and a cushion from Dolley Madison’s
chair as souvenirs, and, finding the table set for din-
ner, derisively drank a toast to “Jemmy’s health,”
adding, an observer coyly recalled, “pleasantries too
vulgar for me to repeat.”
This was the sum of the British success. When
they attempted to take Baltimore, they were stopped
by a formidable line of defenses devised by General
Samuel Smith, a militia officer. General Ross fell in
the attack. The fleet then moved up the Patapsco
River and pounded Fort McHenry with its cannon,
raining 1,800 shells upon it in a twenty-five-hour
bombardment on September 13 and 14.Dolley Payne Madison to Lucy Payne Todd
atmyhistorylab.com“The Star Spangled Banner”
While this attack was in progress, an American civil-
ian, Francis Scott Key, who had been temporarily
detained on one of the British ships, watched anx-
iously through the night. Key had boarded the vessel
before the attack in an effort to obtain the release of
an American doctor who had been taken into custody
in Washington. As twilight faded, Key had seen the
Stars and Stripes flying proudly over the battered fort.
During the night the glare of rockets and bursting of
bombs gave proof that the defenders were holding
out. Then, by the first light of the new day, Key saw
again the flag, still waving over Fort McHenry.
Drawing an old letter from his pocket, he dashed off
the words to “The Star Spangled Banner,” which,
when set to music, was to become the national
anthem of the United States.
To Key that dawn seemed a turning point in the
war. He was roughly correct, for in those last weeks of
the summer of 1814 the struggle began to move
toward resolution. Unable to crack the defenses of
Baltimore, the British withdrew to their ships; shortly
after, they sailed to Jamaica to join the forces prepar-
ing to attack New Orleans.
The destruction of Washington had been a pro-
found shock. Thousands came forward to enlist in
the army. The new determination and spirit were
strengthened by news from the northern front,
where General Sir George Prevost had been leading
the main British invasion force south from
Montréal. At Plattsburgh, on the western shore of
Lake Champlain, his 1,000 Redcoats came up
against a well-designed defense line manned by
3,300 Americans under General AlexanderReadtheDocument