The War of 1812

in june 1812 the young united states declared war  on the greatest power in the world great britain for two and a half years americans fought  against the british canadian colonists and   native nations in a small but bitter war yet  in the us today very little of the war of 1812   lives on in the public mind it's the forgotten  war it's the war that we don't know too much about why was it fought where was  it fought why is it important it's the war that americans have largely forgotten   but the british don't remember it either for the  british 1812 is when napoleon marched on moscow   they have no idea there was a war going on on the  other side of the world but if it's been forgotten   in britain in the united states there is a place  where people remember the war of 1812. canada in our minds the war of 1812 is where we defend  our version of freedom and liberty and democracy   the native nations that fought alongside the  british would remember it too but not as a victory there's this sense that we lost because what  we lost was the ability to govern ourselves   on our own land what lasted on every  side was a mythical version of history   stories grew up that really departed from  the truth these were enshrined in the   history books this was a time when legend and  myth often substituted for verifiable history   even real stories turned into legends  in canada both a frontier housewife   and an aristocratic british  general became national heroes   in the u.s a shawnee chief is still much admired  though he fought on the other side and a war   composed largely of american defeats is now  remembered for a victory at new orleans old   ironsides the credo don't give up the ship and  a star-spangled banner fluttering in the dawn 1812 is a tiny war by world standards both sides  are struggling to try and defend their own borders   and attack the enemy the total number of people  killed in the war is very small compared to the   major wars of the world and yet it forges the  destiny of a continent for 200 years to come   the war of 1812 was a paradox of scale its  armies were small and casualties very few   yet the battleground stretched across  much of north america and beyond but   in europe another war raged the decades-long  struggle between britain and napoleon's france   it was this titanic conflict  that touched off the war of 1812.   britain was in a death struggle with napoleon  bonaparte on the continent of europe and on the   seven seas at the time it was a world war that  was going on the only way that britain could   really curtail napoleon's empire building was to  cut off supplies from reaching napoleon's troops   so they were stopping ships on the high seas and  this upset the united states a great deal if you   carry goods for the french you're on the side of  the french you cannot be neutral the americans   are desperately trying not to take sides because  they can make a lot of money by being neutral and   what they're finding is that neutrality has a cost  that cost could be high in 1807 britain began to   issue a series of decrees to undermine american  trade all neutral ships trading with france had   to stop in britain first and pay a duty or else  the british would simply regard them as enemy   the enormously powerful royal navy seized hundreds  of american ships in fact the british took more   than ships and money they seized men as well by  1812 the royal navy had been at war for 19 years   they had over 120 000 men in service and they're  losing 10 15 000 men a year if they run out of   sailors they'll lose the war at sea and they'll  lose the war when they stopped an american ship   and discovered a sailor with a british accent if  he looked like he was a prime see hand he would be   impressed into the royal navy in the first years  of the 19th century britain impressed over 6 000   sailors from american merchant vessels then one  june afternoon in 1807 just off the virginia coast   the british ship leopard demanded to board  the u.s navy frigate chesapeake where four   british deserters were serving in the crew the  chesapeake refused the british simply opened fire they cannated the ship for 10  minutes killing three sailors   wounding 18 more the chesapeake surrendered the british came on board and took four men away the whole incident led to extremely difficult  feelings as you can imagine between great   britain and the united states it was an example  perhaps the most egregious example of this kind   of high-handedness on the part of great britain  that clearly the american public were not about to   tolerate the british in no way really threatened  our independence they did what great powers always   do when they were at war they ran roughshod  over the rights of a second-rate neutral power no war was declared in 1807  but british impressment   and american resentment went on without stop in 1810 a new breed was elected to congress  men like henry clay of kentucky and john c   calhoun of south carolina both of whom had been  born after the declaration of independence so what   was tolerable for older americans was insufferable  for the new generation war for them was the only   answer war is pushed by a republican party based  in the centre and south with the support of the   western war hawks their ambition is to seize land  the land of the native americans the land that is   now canada expansion into indian land to the west  had been a basic part of u.s policy for years   among the principal architects  of that plan was a learned   long-faced hot-tempered man named william henry  harrison governor of the indiana territory   william henry harrison has been slowly but  steadily acquiring lands from from native   americans throughout the ohio river valley  a number of tribes give him their lands make   treaties with him in these treaties tribes had  signed away more than 100 million acres of land   but one shawnee warchief refused tecumseh was  42 but he'd been through the fire long before as he grows up he sees much of his family his  father and his older brother die in battles he sees himself as kind of a person who has  to kind of take charge because there's really   no one else to take charge at his time in his  life tecumseh became a fierce warrior yet it   was his compassion that marked him he refused  to make war on women and children he envisioned   a confederation of tribes from the great lakes  to the gulf of mexico a union of indian nations   tecumseh the great shawnee leader was  really not so different in his thinking   from george washington as washington had seen  the states jealous and fighting with each other   takumsi saw the tribes doing the same and losing  ground to the united states tecumseh was way ahead   of his time because he realized that the united  states was picking tribes off just one by one   and a tribe 100 miles away or 500 miles  away thought that was not their problem   he was trying to resist the united states with  a united front the two protagonists met at   harrison's home in vincennes in august 1810 the  governor wanted to know why tecumseh refused to   accept treaties that others had signed harrison  had expected to meet with 30 native warriors   tecumseh brought more than twice as many the  confrontation soon took on mythic overtones   there were many examples of paintings of tecumseh  raising his hatchet at william henry harrison and   harrison has his sword out these may be apocryphal  but it's a perfect example of the relationship   that these two had tecumseh goes right at william  henry harrison delivers a very bitter speech in   denouncing harrison for it being there  and denouncing the white settlers   tecumseh the great spirit said he gave  this great island to his red children   he placed the whites on the other side of the big  water but they were not content with their own   and they came to take hours from us they  have driven us from the sea to the lakes   we can go no farther my brother i do not  see how we can remain at peace with you   the thing which tecumseh and harrison  had in common was their standing as   warriors they respected each other as  warriors beyond that they had almost   nothing in common harrison was a dedicated  expansionist he saw the united states destiny   as rolling westwards and he saw really no  place for the indians in in that future in the fall of 1811 tecumseh set out to  recruit indian nations in the south to   join his confederacy harrison seized  the chance he gathered an army and   marched toward prophetstown to [ __ ] his  home base in what is now western indiana   harrison led a thousand troops towards  prophet's town he was plainly going   there to attack it when he thought it was weak  when tecumseh was not there to lead the troops a group of native warriors at prophet's  town decided to strike first before dawn   on the morning of november 7th they moved  through an oak thicket toward harrison's army   camped on the banks of the tippecanoe river the  attack certainly initially goes extremely well the   american soldiers are thrown into complete  chaos the natives inflict significant casualties the americans organize themselves they start to  hit back so before light the natives withdraw in the real battle of tippecanoe the  natives inflicted a good deal of damage   but harrison's reports to washington described  a decisive victory a glorious victory a report   that became an american legend the day after the  battle harrison's troops burned prophetstown to   the ground his men dug up indian graves  and scalped and mutilated indian corpses   in the village they found british weapons a  discovery that outraged the frontier press   vengeance one newspaper demanded the news angered  the war hawks in washington as well and made life   difficult for president james madison madison  was pressured by the war hawks he was a brilliant   legislative mind as an executive he found her  to some degree he was a sensitive man very small   he could look one observer said like a withered  little apple john his enemies who called him a   pygmy acknowledged that he was very smart but  he probably wasn't cut out to be what was called   then the chief magistrate he lacked a certain  decisiveness he lacked an instinct for the jugular   where madison was an introvert his wife dolly  was quite the opposite she was 17 years younger   a fashion plate politically astute yet blazingly  social madison himself was more at home among his   books than in human company he's the architect  of the constitution he certainly understands   very well that the power to declare war the  war powers are in fact lodged with congress   madison sent a war message to congress in june  of 1812. what he does in that message is lay out   all our grievances against great britain and then  say congress may wish to consider what to do next on june 1st 1812 madison's war message  was read before both houses of congress   it listed the reasons for war the british were  impressing sailors interfering with trade and   stirring up indian warfare in the northwest  three days later the house voted 79 for war   49 opposed but in the senate debate lasted for  weeks and the margin was 19 to 13. it was the   closest formal war vote in american history it  was a foolish notion to think that the united   states could take on great britain the world's  most powerful naval power it was a nation able   to produce everything from muskets to cannon  to ships of all sizes shapes and description   but in britain the declaration of war was yet  another unwelcome piece of news napoleon and his   allies controlled most of europe king george  iii was insane in may the prime minister had   been shot and killed in the house of commons  the last thing britain needed was another war   in canada there was even less enthusiasm for  the war people there knew that the declaration   would soon be followed by an invasion there were  many americans living in canada madison felt that   canada would almost welcome the united states  as as a liberator the madison administration   was very confident that this uh the conquest  of canada would be as thomas jefferson said   a mere matter of marching i'm glad he said that  because british and canadian historians have   been dining out on that quote ever since but  there was a misplaced confidence and in that   the canadians would not fight hard that britain  would not fight hard to defend this territory   even in the united states  the war got a mixed reception   in the west the announcement was celebrated but  in new england the reaction was quite different   this was the bastion of the federalist party  the opposition to madison's republican party   here shops closed bells tolled  flags hung at half-staff   the new england states had a flourishing coastal  trade with great britain which they weren't   interested in losing the effort on the part of the  warhawks to paint great britain as the great enemy   that had to be opposed really didn't find much  support in new england the new englanders were   fairly happy with the way things were thank you  very much and the reliability depended upon it   there was quite a bit of opposition to the  war probably the most eloquent and forceful   of the opposition papers was published by a  baltimore lawyer by the name of alexander hansen   he was publishing an anti-war  newspaper in in baltimore which was   decidedly pro-war he denounced president  madison and congress for declaring war   because the country was not ready for it in  his newspaper he foresaw the ruin of america   as soon as war was declared hansen came out  against it many in baltimore were outraged violently outraged there was a huge mob of  people gathered outside the house hanson had   a group of his friends inside that  were barricaded and so at night time   they were taken these few people and hanson  himself were taken into protective custody in jail   and they were given the assurance that their lives  would be protected the mob broke into the jail   took the prisoners they were all beaten  really beaten hanson was beaten unconscious   nine men were clubbed and stabbed one was tired  and feathered then set a fire a general in the   maryland militia was stabbed to death alexander  hansen was left for dead but he survived   what happened in baltimore in  those early days of the war of 1812   is a lesson in how you should not  subdue dissent even during warfare   because a mob can get out of control and destroy  the very values which you are trying to uphold for   the united states this was an inauspicious start  to a war that would go on for two and a half years   the first chapters of the war were a story of  american disaster one blunder after another   one of the greatest mistakes that the  american government makes in declaring the war   is uh the way they go about informing  their own army that war has been declared   particularly in the northwest they they make the  mistake of sending word out by the common post   which could take weeks even months the british  commanders in the northwest know that war has   been declared before the american commanders do at  the western edge of the united states the american   fort on mackinac island commanded by lieutenant  porter hanks controlled the strategic narrows   between lakes michigan and huron one peaceful day  in july 1812 a british and indian force gathered   on the heights behind the fort and sent over a  messenger lieutenant porter hanks is completely   unaware that war has been declared until you know  this is oversimplifying to a point but he wakes   up one morning there's a cannon pointing down the  hill and a guy in a red coat knocking on the door   saying you know we'd like the keys lieutenant hank  surrendered to the british and minutes later the   union jack flew over the fort the fort of this  magnitude has simply fallen without a fight   this is a tremendous blow to american morale  to the strategic situation in the northwest in the summer of 1812 james madison approved  a plan that surprised no one the united states   would wage war on britain by invading canada the  americans would invade in three places one army   would plow into canada from detroit at the western  edge of lake erie another force would cross the   border at the niagara river just east of lake  erie and a third would head directly for montreal   the u.s plan at the beginning of the war it's that  they were planning to attack everywhere it seems   and it was all very disorganized the u.s plan  ignored some basic truths of the era there were   no real roads transportation moved well only  on water and the british held to saint lawrence   towns on the distant frontier were out of touch  with washington and communication between the   three american armies was non-existent at the  same time the british who had various much smaller   forces in canada the planning was very good the  defense planning they knew what they wanted to do   and they knew who they wanted to do it the fate  of the canadian colonies rested in the hands of   governor general sir george prevost a sensible  practical administrator his job was to hold on   to as much of canada as he could he faced a big  challenge large territory a sparse population   um and what in a territory that  wasn't all that well fortified but prevost had an asset in the brilliant  general isaac brock commander in upper canada   brock was prevost antithesis he was 42 strikingly  handsome a wine lover in gourmet a dazzling dancer   an omnivorous reader an aggressive  willful gambler an aristocrat to his bones   he was extremely energetic  he was extremely ambitious   he did not want to be in canada he knew the  real war was in europe and he felt that if he   distinguished himself here that they would send  them over to europe to where the real war was when he first joined the 49th regiment of  foot in the regiment was a famous duelist   this man insulted brock brock insulted him  right back so this man challenged brock to   a duel brock chose pistols to be fired over a  handkerchief not a distance of 30 paces but over   the width of a handkerchief the duelist backed  down and being disgraced had to leave the regiment   in north america brock and prevost realized  that upper canada the vast province in the   west bordering all five of the great lakes  might be lost to the invading americans   isaac brock my situation is most critical   most of the people have lost all confidence  i however speak loud and look big looking big might not be enough brock had a  massive area to defend and few men to do it with   beyond the canadian militia he had just  1200 regular soldiers from the british army   but it was an army of veterans it was an army made up basically of the poor the  soldiers were there out of economic desperation   by and large they joined the army for  the food the lodging and the clothes   on their back because it beat the devil out  of starving to death in the slums of glasgow   one british soldier was shadrack byfield a  young man from wilshire a weaver by trade shadrach byfield i entered the military  service at 18 in the year 1807. my mother   on hearing i was enlisting was so affected  she fell in a fit and never spoke after   i was obliged to march off the next morning the man who understood british soldiers  best the duke of wellington said that   they were the scum of the earth enlisted for drink   he also said that he put his life in their hands  so they were at one at the same time at the bottom   end of the socio-economic scale and they were  hugely important these guys are professionals   the us army by contrast had virtually no  professionals americans still distrusted   the entire idea of a standing army which might  become a threat to their liberty so the united   states would rely heavily on militia many of  the militia during this period regarded their   training on a monthly basis as an opportunity to  get together with friends discuss what's going on   and then adjourn to the local tavern to end up the  day with a few drinks american militia service was   an oddly informal arrangement they often had no  uniforms they often elected their own officers   their attachment to their home state was as  powerful as their feelings for the country   and few imagined that invading another  nation might be part of the job description   the american generals madison had to choose  from were hardly better in fact they were worse the generals he had to pick among were either very  young and untried or veterans who were 30 years   past their prime he went with the veterans and it  was disastrous one such veteran was william hull william hull had been a brave  soldier in the revolution   he was 58 he had eaten and drunk  a great deal too well for 30 years and when the war was looming madison called him  back to washington and offered him a general ship   in the fledgling american army they  needed him to go and invade canada   so he went off with many misgivings  and no possibility of success in july 1812 general hull assembled an  army for it looked to be an invincible   invasion sent from detroit general brock had  only one hope to stop the american invasion   help from the native warriors we are committed  to a war in which the enemy will always surpass   us in numbers equipment and resources it is  a primary importance that the confidence and   goodwill of the indians be preserved during  the american revolution most native americans   had allied themselves with the british  a decision that cost them lives and land   the british understood that without native  allies they would have a very difficult time   but because of our losses during the revolutionary  war our people were very hesitant to fight   when we put ourselves in the in the moccasins of  these fellows back then what what big decisions   they had what side to pick what fight to make and  where to make that fight they're big big decisions but after the burning of prophet's  town tecumseh had made his choice   late one august evening he entered brock's  quarters on the canadian side of the detroit river   the two men liked each other on site  amor sagacious and gallant warrior   does not i believe exist tecumseh has the  admiration of everyone who conversed with him   they've both been professional full-time  soldiers basically in their culture   since they've been teenagers isaac brock's older  brother been killed during the american revolution   as a british officer and tecumseh's older  brother had been killed and his father as well   fighting americans all of brock's officers urged  caution tecumseh pushed for an immediate attack   brock agreed this is a man to come to  set of brock on the morning of august 15   1812 they crossed the river and took up  positions around fort detroit the americans   sat safely behind walls 11 feet high but the  audacious brock sent general hall of demand   i require he wrote your immediate  surrender hull was tortured by doubt he had an inordinate fear of the indians   he was convinced that the indians were savages  beyond any recognition as human beings that if   they were unleashed on his family or his troops it  would be the worst kind of massacre brock dressed   canadian militiamen in surplus uniforms so they  looked like regulars tecumseh marched his same   men past the fourth three times so it looked as  if he had thousands of warriors then the british   primed the cannon the british gave notice that  they would commence a bombardment of detroit when it began lydia bacon who was the wife of an  american army officer was actually in the fort she   was in the hospital quarters with other women uh  preparing bandages for the wounded the british got   the range of the fort so well that a shell came  through the next door room and killed two officers outright lydia bacon the cannon began to roar a  24-pound shot cut two officers who were standing   in the entry directly in two the same ball passed  through the wall and took the legs off of one man   my feelings were brought up to a high  pitch but weep i could not complain i would not william hull did not have lydia bacon's  courage the american general disintegrated in   the fort there was hull slumped on the ground  drinking heavily smoking tobacco juice and   spittle running down the front of his uniform  his men are so angry they haven't fired a shot hull begged for time he sent a note to  brock asking for a three-day cease-fire   shadrach byfield i was with general brock  at that time and from what we could hear   the american general inside the fort wanted  three days cessation to which our general   replied that if they did not yield in three  hours he would blow up every one of them   hull didn't need three hours after a few minutes  he ordered a white tablecloth hung out a window it   was the only time in history that a white flag was  raised over an american city before a foreign army   brock comes he marches thousands of american  troops out some of them militia he sends home   a hull he takes to canada marches him through  the streets and ultimately sends him home i have done what my conscience directed hull wrote  i have saved detroit from the horrors of an indian   massacre but hull had lost an entire army and  had dealt a shocking blow to the morale of his   own country hold's men are pressed to have him  court-martialed and he is found guilty and he is   sentenced to be shot madison reviews hull's record  decides that he was a hero in the revolution   and he sustains the sentence but not the execution  and hull goes home in disgrace to massachusetts but detroit was only the first of  three parts to the american invasion   of canada in october a second american  army assembled in new york at lewiston   across the niagara river from the canadian village  of queenston the general that's in command of   the region for the american army is stephen van  rensseler she's one of the richest men in new york   steven was a flying fellow an effective  politician a statesman in new york state but   he had no military experience at all the british  army by contrast was led by isaac brock himself   brock had sailed quickly down lake erie to  take command of a small army of regulars   and irregulars at queenston heights isaac  brock's got black troops following him   he's got poor canadian farm kids and he's also  got a couple hundred grand river warriors this   mishmash of people who all come together and and  fight and defend our version of north america   brock's forces were assembled along the  heights at queenston yet van renssler decided   to send his army across the niagara river at  queenston directly into the british troops   the americans had thousands of militias hundreds  of regulars that could have crossed the river   but they only arranged for 13 boats  to carry them now the niagara river   is a difficult piece of water to get across  and especially in the middle of the night   and especially when it's rolled by men who  haven't been across the niagara river before at dawn on october 13 1812 the americans began to  cross as canon on both sides roared incessantly   a group of americans reached the  shore then found a fisherman's path   up the cliff and took the  heights overlooking the town brock knew that if the americans were able  to successfully get a toehold and capture   queenston heights there's a good chance  that the british would lose upper canada   he leads british soldiers up the hill  dismounted with a sword drawn in full   view of the american troops an american  soldier at about 20 paces away with a   double shot and musket fired at brock hit  him in the heart and killed him instantly the british raised the shout revenge the general  but the americans held the high ground a decisive   textbook advantage but the grand river iroquois  warriors did not engage in textbook warfare our style of warfare we like to stick close to  cover keep stealthy and gain the advantage on the   enemy queenston heights was a was basically  a flanking maneuver on on the native part the native warriors worked their way behind  the americans then burst out of the woods   screaming their war cries one american remembered  i thought hell had broken loose and led her dogs   of war upon us i expected every moment to be made  a cold yankee american militia that are still on   the american side of the river can hear the whoops  and hollers of the warriors as they're popping in   and out of the woods taking shots and so forth  once the militia on the american side heard the   war cries of our warriors they refused to fight  on canadian soil they refused to cross to the   canadian side and aid the regulars that were  being attacked up on the heights the americans   who had crossed the river were doomed john  beverly robinson a british men watched them go john beverly robinson they  had no place to retreat to   and were driven to the brink of the mountain which  overhangs the river many leaked down the side of   the mountain to avoid the horrors which pressed  on them and were dashed in pieces by the fall   many died the rest surrendered giving the british  almost a thousand prisoners and one of the most   momentous victories in the history of canada but  they had lost one very important man isaac brock   once called the savior of western canada was now  gone brock was one of those rare individuals who   has a tremendous amount of charisma a tremendous  amount of organizational talent this is a   tremendous blow to upper canada it's a tremendous  blow to the british military in that time period   yet the british canadian and native forces  had again beaten back an invasion two down   one to go there was a third  american army heading for montreal   this one was commanded by a general named henry  dearborn some of the young american officers   coined the phrase granny dearborn because he was  like their old granny aging sickly he needed his   hot water bottle at night for the rheumatism  he was slow to move conservative in his ideas   in november 1812 dearborn sent his force  of 4000 north toward montreal but in his   two columns confusion was so general  that the troops fired on each other at the border a full two-thirds of the militia  refused to cross into british territory dearborn's   troops never engaged the enemy he called  off the third american invasion of canada   it was an invasion that never happened at all  the first year the war ended in disaster for the   americans every offensive that was undertaken  into canada ended in failure abysmal failure   the americans had been hugely overconfident  about conquering the canadian colonies by land   on the other hand the u.s never  had the slightest illusion   about being able to defeat the british at sea   in 1812 the royal navy has over  100 ships of the line in commission   it has 200 frigates the united states navy  has eight frigates no ships of the line a   few brigs few sloops some gun boats uh  who's going to win this war it's obvious   but in this war of surprises it was on the waves  where the americans had their first success on   august 19 1812 the american frigate constitution  encountered the british garrier in the atlantic   during the battle with hms guerrilla british  gonorrhea of course was brisk and hot one sailor saw the round shot bounce  off thick bulwarks of constitution   and this sailor said huzzah her sides are made  of iron and in fact the simply was that the   planking was deliberately built thicker at the  end of the battle there were over 12 of these   round shot cannonballs you'd call them in  civilian language they were lodged in the hull of   constitution so she became known as old ironsides  which she still is today a few weeks after cutting   the garrier to pieces old ironsides met a  second british frigate the java the result   was the same surrender and a second frigate  the united states had defeated the macedonian   with more guns and more men the yankee frigates  simply overpowered their british counterparts   strategically those those victories weren't  terribly important but my goodness from a morale   sense they really fired up the american  nation the americans won three straight   that was absolutely unprecedented  the french hadn't won three straight   frigate actions against the british ever  so this caused some concern what was wrong   with english ships and english men that  they couldn't beat these upstart yankees the upstart yankee navy still had few ships but  the u.s government commissioned hundreds of ships   as privateers privateers were merchant vessels  built for speed authorized to carry arms and   cruise against the enemy's commerce in time  of war privateering is state licensed piracy   it's an age-old system it's a cheap kind of  militia system as opposed to a regular navy they   were never going to determine the outcome of a war  but they did put pressure on the enemy's commerce   in the autumn of 1812 the american victories at  sea gave people in the united states a sense of   hope the invasions of canada had not gone well  but the americans were willing to try again   in the west william henry harrison had recruited  a sizable army much of it crack kentucky   sharpshooters william atherton a 21 year old  farm boy was one of the recruits william atherton   we volunteers from kentucky left our homes on  the 12th of august 1812. we anticipated danger   and made arrangements to meet it in late fall 1812 atherton traveled with  harrison's army on a search and destroy   campaign west of lake erie harrison's plan  was to clear the natives from their lands   then head for fort detroit harrison was ruthless william atherton at fort wayne we were ordered  to march to two indian towns for the purpose of   burning their houses and destroying their corn we  accomplished this frontiersmen and natives were   accustomed to engaging in a very brutal form  of warfare they killed women and children they   took scalps and other body parts for souvenirs  took no prisoners of war that kind of warfare   was typical of what occurred on both sides on  the frontier but by december harrison's men were   suffering as they struggled toward detroit  william atherton the men became very sickly   the typhus fever raged among us we saw nothing  but hunger and cold staring us in the face   we scarcely had anything to eat many  times the dead march was heard in the camp there was worse to come in early 1813  a portion of harrison's army encamped   at frenchtown near the river raisin  in what is now southeastern michigan we were accommodated with  all the necessaries of life   we almost seemed to forget  we had an enemy in the world but on a quiet january night an attack force  of over 1100 british and native warriors   commanded by henry proctor silently made its way  through the snowy forest shadrach byfield the   private from wilshire was among them undercover of  a wood we approach near to the enemy unperceived william atherton i slept soundly until  awakened by the startling cry of two arms   to arms and the thundering of canon and  the more terrific yelling of savages   the first thing that presented itself to  my sight was the fiery tale of a bombshell   and these came in quick succession shadrach  byfield before daylight we had charged them   several times i was much affected by seeing a  lad about 11 or 12 years of age who was wounded   in one of his knees the little fellow's cries  from the pain of his wound his crying after his   dear mother and saying he should die were so  affecting that it was not soon forgotten by me then i received a musket  ball under my ear and fell   my comrade exclaimed byfield is dead  and i thought to myself is this death   but the british and native forces soon  overwhelmed the americans colonel proctor   who had no combat experience simply marched away  leaving 80 wounded prisoners to his indian allies   and the native warriors long enraged by  harrison's brutality were not in a merciful mood there's a number of american wounded that are  left behind in some of the cabins and there's   only a very small british guard on these  folks many of these prisoners are massacred   tecumseh's brother said whenever the indians  win a battle it's called a massacre whenever the   whites win a battle it's called a great triumph  so political spin was used here about who was   committing atrocities when um the holding shoney  would take a prisoner it really depends on what   happened just prior to that and what that person  did if that person had killed somebody on our side   then and likelihood they they would be executed  or if not you know pretty severely tortured   the indians had very logical reasons for  killing prisoners they had no jails to   put them in and they had no means of granting  them paroles and exchanges and they often said   well the reason we kill prisoners is that  we don't want to fight our enemies twice   but william atherton would not be  killed at the battle of river raisin   william atherton an indian took me to the back  of a house put a blanket around me and gave me   a hat he brought with him a pack horse and  gave me the bridle making signs to march on captives particularly young male captives  were very highly prized amongst the indians   they were often integrated into the indian  tribes in a remarkably close way william   atherton from kentucky would now learn to be a  potawatomi in the cold quiet forests of michigan   i have nothing to say against the indian character  they are a brave hospitable kind and honest people   but kentucky my home would rise up before  my mind i found among the indians a scrap   of newspaper printed at lexington this  i read over and over again and again for james madison and his nation 1812 was a year  of debacle and defeat the utter collapse of the   ambitious three-part invasion of canada 1813 had  begun with the massacre of american troops at   river raisin even worse the british navy had begun  a strangling blockade along the eastern seaboard   by the end of march the blockade  extended from the delaware bay to florida the american economic system just stops   trade dries up the british have  just closed down american shipping as the spring of 1813 arrived british general  henry proctor was marching his army into ohio   but william henry harrison after the disaster  at river raisin would be ready for him he moves   part of his army up to the rapids of the maumee  river near modern toledo ohio he builds what will   become fort meigs meigs is essentially a fortified  camp it's about 10 acres it's a picketed stockade   with seven two-story block houses five raised  batteries and sheltering embankments 12 feet high   fort migs was built to withstand  almost any attack soon it would have to   in early may of 1813 the british and natives under  procter and to come succumb to lay siege to the   fort up until now the british and the natives have  enjoyed an unbroken string of victories in in the   northwest and humiliations to boot well that's not  going to happen at fort megs harrison understands   frontier warfare and he's not going to be scared  into surrendering like his predecessors had been   harrison waded inside the  fort much to tecumseh's fury   it is hard to fight people who live  like groundhogs the shawnee said about four days through the siege  harrison receives word that there   is a party of reinforcements  kentuckians coming down the river the kentuckians storm the british batteries they're cut off and surrounded by the native force   once more defeated american soldiers  were in the hands of the native warriors   as they had been at the river  raisin once more a massacre begins it's not the british that put an end to this  massacre it's tecumseh tecumseh rides in waving   his tomahawk according to the stories and puts an  end to this massacre where the british had stood   by and literally done nothing he had a sense of  honor he was he was a humane compassionate man   he was a man who who didn't believe in gratuitous  violence he didn't believe in slaughtering people   out of any sense of triumph inside the  fort harrison and his army were still safe   for over four days the british blasted away  pounding the fort with cannonballs to no avail   proctor refused to make a direct assault on the  fort tecumseh was furious his warriors would not   make war by sitting and waiting he later said that  proctor was a fat animal that carries its tail on   its back but when a frighted drops it between its  legs and runs off this is a really good example   of the dynamic between tecumseh and proctor  versus the dynamic between tecumseh and brock   in one point supposedly he says to to proctor you  are on fit to command go and put on petticoats   in the end proctor simply departed  leaving the fort in harrison's hands   for a change as the british have been turned  back fort megs is the beginning of the end   for tecumseh and for the british in the northwest but the american success at fort miggs was not  repeated along the niagara border in the spring   of 1813 an american army again crossed the niagara  river as the americans camped near stoney creek   a small british force launched a raid at night  the british had the advantage of surprise   it's pitch black there's only ambient light  from the stars so when the british charged   into the camp the american units are  trying to figure out where is the enemy   two american generals got lost and wandered  into enemy lines a third american officer led   a valiant cavalry charge only to find out that  the army he was cutting to pieces was his own the battle of stoney creek is uh in many ways  representative of the war of 1812 in microcosm   the american commanders are captured the british  commander gets lost in the woods the americans   technically are defeated but they retain the  field the british are victorious but they retreat the term the fog of war was coined  at that time in the age of muskets   because every musket that was fired  gave off a cloud of black powder smoke muskets were dreadfully inaccurate  they're also slow to load you had to get within about 80 paces of an enemy  to shoot your musket at them and hope to hit them so the most effective way  of using the muskets was to   mass your men together in tight  formation and have the fire of oli what i have here is a war club is the indian  weapon in the war of 1812 even though they had   muskets and carbines we actually call it the skull  cracker it cracks your skull and that was what   it's intended to do hit a guy hard enough in the  head you're going to knock them out of commission   sometimes they would direct decorate them  with their totem animal or your dream animal   something of power something that would  come to you but you would use this thing   in battle you would go running up to a  guy crack him in the head with this thing   you're going to do some damage during the war 1812  they began to add sharp deer antler pieces or even   knives or blades on here because they became more  powerful they cut through the soldiers uniforms if the war club was the most basic weapon  the most powerful weapon was the cannon   it took a crew of up to 15 men to charge aim  and fire these hefty and often inaccurate guns   one british captain philip broke of the shannon   outfitted his ship with gun sights at his own  expense he drilled his crew constantly in gunnery   it paid off in short order in a memorable  duel with the american ship the chesapeake the british won the shannon chesapeake action  off boston the uss chesapeake and space of   11 minutes flat went from a fighting ship to a  complete wreck with a british crew on board this   was the shortest sharpest and bloodiest frigate  battle in the history of war at sea under sale   but in america the bloody battle would be  remembered for a slogan the dying words of the   american captain james lawrence before he died he  uttered the words don't give up the ship and that   became a watchword for the united states navy from  then on the irony is that not long after lawrence   urged his crewmen and his officers don't give up  the ship that's exactly what they did they had no   choice the british boarded the chesapeake and the  americans had to surrender the ship so in the end   it was given up james lawrence died in battle at  sea but the naval battles that would really matter   in this war were fought inland on the lakes  it was important for the british to maintain   naval power of some kind on lake erie and equally  important for the americans to obtain naval power   on they curie if you can control the lake you  can control the flow of supplies you can control   the logistics of the area that both armies are  operating at the end of a very tenuous supply line   the commander in charge of the small british  squadron on lake erie was robert harriet barkley   a 27 year old veteran who had  already lost an arm in battle   his opposite number was commander  oliver hazard perry of the u.s navy   both men were overseeing the feverish  construction of ships on lake erie   both countries have to build fleets out  of local timber with imported ship rights   imported materials it's competition who  can build the biggest ships the fastest the coming naval battle would decide the  fate of the entire great lakes region   on the morning of september 10th 1813 the  u.s fleet sailed toward the british perry   on his flagship to lawrence flying a flag that  paid homage to lawrence's last words not a word   was spoken an american semen remembered it seemed  like the awful silence that precedes an earthquake   this was the time to try the stoutest heart perry  sailed into the british squadron with his flagship   the lawrence and just started trading broadsides  with the two principal british ships on both sides the first cannonball tore through the lawrence the biggest risk to the sailors were  not direct hits by the balls themselves the biggest damage was caused by the splinters  when the cannonballs penetrated the oak hull it   sent huge splinters out that would be like flying  lances the scuppers would actually run with the   blood lawrence was soon reduced to a wreck  there were casualties strewn across the deck   it was customary if your vessel was incapable  of new ring you would strike your colors prairie   wasn't about to do that miraculously he had  survived the canon 80. he had the ship's longboat   brought alongside and he jumped down into the  longboat with shot whizzing around his ears the   famous painting shows him standing in the boat he  probably didn't stand in the boat but he certainly   was under fire the british realized what he was  doing and they tried to target him there were   cannonballs and round chop and great shot and  canister raining down but he made it safely to   the second ship to niagara he hoisted his colors  in the niagara and pressed on with the attack   after three hours the british gave up their ships  all of them an entire squadron of the world's most   powerful navy had been captured at the end of the  battle perry sits down and writes a very simple   note we have met the enemy and they are ours  two ships two briggs one schooner and one sloop barkley had been wounded in his other  arm and when the officers of both sides   who had died were being buried ashore it  was perry who held barkley to his side two young men and really one of  the most poignant scenes i think   from a war that many say  should never have happened   watched the burial take place there was gallantry  on both sides there was honor on both sides   the u.s controlled lake erie and the british  supply line was severed immediately general   proctor withdrew from his position on the detroit  river pulling his troops far back into canada the british retreated eastward along the thames  river it comes to urging proctor to stand and   fight tecumseh we are very much astonished  to see our father preparing to run away   the americans have not yet defeated us by land  we wish to remain here and fight our enemy   we are determined to defend our lands  we wish to leave our bones upon them finally at a place called  moraviantown harrison's advance guard   of mounted kentuckians came up with proctor's  retreating force proctor prepared to make a   stand in a swampy wooded ground along the river  thames he established two thin lines of defense harrison's kentucky horsemen cut right through  them shadrach myfield after exchanging a few shots   our men gave way i was retreating when one of our  sergeants exclaimed for god's sake help me stand   and fight i stood by him and fired one shot but  the line was broken and the men were retreating   crocker was riding away from the  battle tecumseh will not give ground   he's not going to retreat anymore and already  years had passed we had rebuilt his army   tecumseh and his warriors are really  kind of left to fight by themselves he's going to stay and fight even if it cost him  his life and it does he's wounded in the chest   mortally he dies in the pitch of the battle those kentucky men who rode him down and killed  him they were desperate to see the end of him   and everything he stood for the death of that  one iconic leader took one of america's really   dangerous enemies out of the war after that the  native americans were no longer forced in this   conflict imagine for a minute if we had rallied  with tecumseh if we had gotten the native nations   together if we drew this thin red line on the  border and say that's it enough is enough at that   time we would have had the balance of power  to change american history tecumseh's death   marked the end of an era never again would indian  nations help decide who had power in north america   soon 62 native chiefs signed an armistice  with william henry harrison himself immediately after the battle of thames william  henry harrison started building tecumseh up   into a larger figure referred to him as the  napoleon of the west america seems to love dead   indians not only is there a is that a historic  line the only good indians i saw are the dead ones   but in reality the killing of tecums is one of a  series of victories that fuel the american spirit if you go to annapolis at the naval  academy there's a statue of tecumseh apparently they paint them up every time they're  going to have final exams or heading off to war   that somehow he's this symbol this living symbol  for the military even though he was defeated   by that fall william atherton was no longer  a potawatomi after months in the michigan   forests he told his native family that  he wanted to go home william atherton   every eye was fixed upon me some seemed  astonished and others angry because i would   think of leaving after being adopted into the  family but they soon made signs that i could go but he was still not home free he had to be handed  over to the british and he became their prisoner   of war on both sides military prison  life was a matter of survival at best when i was delivered to the british i was  placed in the guard house and during our   confinement we suffered from hunger i had  the floor for a bed and a log for a pillow   in the fall of 1813 william atherton  would be marched from michigan to a   military prison in quebec but there were  other americans marching north as well   with lake erie secure the united  states was free to try again to conquer   the eastern heart of the canadian  colonies montreal and even quebec in the fall of 1813 canada faced the most serious  threat to its continued existence as a british   colony the americans sent one large army of seven  thousand men down the st lawrence towards montreal   and another army of five thousand men marching  up the champlain valley to then rendezvous with   them at montreal with a total of 12 000 soldiers  this was the largest american operation of the war   but once again the americans put an invasion  into the hands of incompetent officers   the larger army was commanded by james wilkinson  a somewhat strange corrupt revolutionary war   veteran commanding the other army coming up the  champlain valley was a carolina planter named   wade hampton of whom it could be said his most  salient feature was that he loathed wilkinson   neither men could stand each other the two forks  of america's 1813 invasion would never be in tune   wilkinson and hampton each carried out his  own private war on october 25th hampton led   his army to the chattagay river just inside the  canadian border there he engaged the enemy but   not the british there were no british troops there  there was a canadian force that was at shadowgate   and mostly french-canadian the french-canadian  population basically sided with the british   because as one british officer put it they  trusted the americans even less than the british   the french canadian regiment at chattagay the volt  azure was commanded by lieutenant charles michelle   de salaberry the americans hoped that he and his  volunteers wouldn't have their heart in the battle hampton sent an officer ford on horseback who  could speak french and asked him to uh to harangue   the canadians tell him to surrender so this  officer dutifully for it and said brave canadians   give yourselves up we have no argument with  you we come to bring you liberty and freedom   the saliburi took a musket from one of  his men and he fired a long-range shot   dropped the american officer in mid-speech  they formed they attacked the americans   rappelled on the west side of the river and on  the east side of the river they tried to surround   the canadian forest they were beaten  there too by an ambush in the woods the canadians were outnumbered five to one  still hampton had the american forces retreat   across the border half the invasion of 1813 was  finished the battle shadow gay loomed very large   in canadian mythology the battle was fought  primarily by canadians and their aboriginal   allies that uh and and so that one is rightfully  claimed as as a great canadian victory there were   principally french canadians there but there  were also scottish irish even german canadians   who took part all of whom used french as kind  of a a a common language at the time and who   fought well together in defense of their of their  farms it was perhaps one of the first times in   canadian history that the despair populations of  canada had ever fought together in a common cause hampton's wing of the invasion had been beaten  back but general james wilkinson was still sailing   his seven thousand man american army toward  montreal wilkinson is heading east along the   saint lawrence river it's estimated that a log  would float down the st lawrence river faster   than wilkinson's fleet went almost from the  day they set out general wilkinson began dosing   himself aladdin to fight off this entry wilkinson  appears from witnesses to miscalculated his dosage   and from time to time he was want to break  into song and tell funny stories about previous   experience when he should maybe have kept his  nose to the grindstone wilkinson had never   commanded even a regiment in battle and expected  the worst in case of misfortune he decided   the army must surrender when his forces  met up with the british at chrysler's farm   wilkinson stayed behind his army  outnumbers the british three to one   the vast numerical superiority he enjoys  is completely negated by the fact that   he doesn't even show up to conduct the battle  himself the americans attacked through the mud   of the fields at chrysler's farm and were driven  back by volley after volley of accurate gunfire   the americans were forced to retreat wilkinson  simply withdraws and abandons the entire attempt   his army hasn't been destroyed he just  doesn't have the stomach to continue   wade hampton resigned his commission  and returned to south carolina   james wilkinson faced a court  martial but was acquitted   in the united states the invasion of 1813 was  forgotten as quickly as possible in canada   the militia's role in the battles of chatta gay  and chrysler's farm would be remembered forever canadians weren't quite sure who they were  before the war of 1812 but after the war of   1812 the key populations knew who they weren't  and they weren't american in canada we have the   emergence following the war of something known as  the militia myth which would plague the canadian   military right up until the first world war and  this was the idea that uh the farmer uh the clerk   the ordinary individual could be called up given  a weapon sent to the field and defeat whomever   oppose because after all in the canadian mind  it was these people who had won the war of 1812.   laura secord was another ordinary canadian  who came to britain's aid in the war of 1812.   a 37 year old housewife from queenston  she became famous for struggling through   20 miles of wilderness alone to warn  the british about an impending attack   there has been debate about the usefulness  of her trek but over time she became a legend   on the 100th anniversary of her journey a  canadian chocolate company adopted her name   and image as its logo by 1992 she was put  on a postage stamp as a true national hero   modern historians look at her representing  the pioneer woman's experience   a lot of courage a lot of fortitude was necessary  for many pioneer women to survive in the canadas   in those days and i think in a sense she  has become representative of that collective   experience it's indicative also of the post-war  uh thinking process that both nations have coming   out of the war both canada and the united  states have this grasping for national heroes by late 1813 it was the american side that  was running short of heroes they'd secured the   great lakes only to launch another invasion that  crumbled in the face of smaller british forces   morale for the american army was at rock bottom  just as it was for young william atherton freezing   in quebec it was an uninterrupted scene  of suffering from beginning to end for a   company of cold ragged and starved kentucky boys  often people came to see us in the prison an idea   prevailed that we were wild men or an order  of beings that scarcely belonged to this earth   atherton would spend another year trying  to survive the horror of military prison   and on the niagara border it would be a winter of  horror on all sides warfare at the time between   christian nations there were certain  conventions that one followed at the time   and one of those conventions is that you did  not disturb the civilian populace if possible   so that you could capture an enemy village but  you would not plunder the houses in that village   you would not burn civilian property but earlier  in the year poorly disciplined american troops   had burned the public buildings in the capital of  upper canada york the tiny town that eventually   would become toronto the burning of york was  just a prologue the first in a string of actions   that would make this war a milestone in the  growing history of brutality on the 10th of   december 1813 the americans set fire to the  town of newark which is now niagara on the lake   it was a very cold snowy day and by  you know the middle of the afternoon   the town was virtually a smoking room and  people were homeless and left to try and   fend for themselves in the bitter winter  conditions there was one woman who was ill   in bed they moved her bed outside the house  and just left her in the snow while they set   fire to her house the british called for an  immediate retaliatory strike this kicks off   a rash of burning that really lay waste of the  entire niagara frontier by the end of the year in one day the british burned three towns to the  ground in lewiston one american said our neighbors   were seen lying dead in the fields and roads some  horribly cut and mangled others eaten by the hogs   then it was buffalo's turn shadrach byfield  was there we took possession of the place   orders were given so that no dwelling was to  be spared except one where the dead body of a   child lay who had been shot in the street this  was in compassion towards the sorrowful mother the people of buffalo gathered at  the river and watched the smoke rise   burning cinders from their  homes sailed toward them   born on the wind and the sound of wailing and  sobbing two rose on the wind fire had bred fire people are being not only put out of their  houses by the burnings but they're being killed   and maimed in some very atrocious ways people are  being scalped people are being uh tortured carried   off separated from the rest of their families  uh it's really a tragic scene of affairs on both   sides when the war broke out the officers from the  american garrison at fort niagara were at church   across the river with british officers  in saint mark's church in new york   they were friends and neighbors they traded  across the border they married across the border by the end of 1813 it was the scene of desolation   the canadian and american side of  that river were just desolation   by the end of 1813 president james madison  was hoping hard for peace on december 30th   word arrived that britain would negotiate and  madison sent representatives off to europe   but negotiations would not  begin for over seven months as the united states hoped for peace the country  finally began to become proficient at war   this is not the american army that  went to war in the fall of 1812   what you have is a new younger aggressive breed of  american officer men like jacob brown and winfield   scott have done a tremendous amount of drilling  and training of the troops under their command   this really represents the coming  of age of the american army   the improved american army would  show its medal in the summer of 1814.   in july jacob brown's troops battled british  regulars twice on the niagara peninsula   on july 5th in a field near the chippewa  river winfield scott led his brigade right   through a hail of artillery fire causing  the british to retreat three weeks later   by a canadian cemetery with an earshot of  niagara falls the two armies met again this   time in one of the bloodiest battles of the  war a desperate encounter at lundy's lane   it's the worst kind of battle you could want to uh  fight it's a an unplanned meeting engagement with   continuous reinforcement on both sides and highly  unusual for the time it goes on into the night   one american participant called it a  conflict obstinate beyond description they got stuck into each other  and they weren't going to let go the soldiers were firing their muskets at each  other at only a few feet away the flash from   the musket fire might scorch their clothes  as the musket ball went flying by shadrach   mayfield our bugle sounded for the company to drop  a volley was then fired upon us which killed two   corporals and wounded the sergeant and several of  the men the company then arose fired and charged   units to the american army performed very well and  in battles like chippewa and lundy's lane you know   the british are you know grudgingly respecting of  the american performance they stand on the field   of battle under gunfire and they don't flinch  and at this point the british say well you know   these guys have actually learned how to do this  by the end of five and a half hours of fighting   most do a third of both armies are dead or  wounded or run off in the night brown was   badly wounded during the battle scotland seriously  wounded on the british side general drummond was   wounded major general ryle was not  only badly wounded he was also captured it was a bad night for generals lundy saying  that's a fact it was a bad night for everybody   shadrach myfield the 49th suffered  severely in this engagement   in the morning we collected the wounded  and received orders to burn the dead shadrach byfield had escaped unscathed from what  had been one of the bloodiest battles in the war   two weeks later in a much smaller fight byfield  was hit by a musket ball below the elbow   there was no ability to repair that kind  of damage so on any limb that was hit the   typical treatment would be to amputate  this is done without anesthetic   the surgeons were quite good at what  they were doing and they were quick   you've got the the so-called loblollies that are  standing by with the surgeons who are ready to   hold you down as he takes off a limb with things  that we would normally find at a hardware store   our doctor informed me that my arm must  be taken off they had men to hold me but   i told them there was no need of that  the operation was painful and tedious   bifid had his forearm amputated and still had  enough presence of mind after the operation was   over the attendant was going to take it out  and throw in a pile of limbs he's no no no   bring that back i want to give  that arm a decent burial and he did a few balls were nailed together  for a coffin my hand was put into it   and buried on the ramparts the  stump of my arm soon healed   and three days after i was able to play  a game of cards for a quarter of rum   the niagara theater was the setting for much  of the bloodiest fighting of the war over   and over the americans tried to push into  canada but these battles ended in stalemate however the year 1814 did see one clear victory  the british and their allies defeated the french   marched into paris and captured napoleon a  world war that had lasted nearly 20 years   was apparently over president madison and his  cabinet realized that the troops that were now   fighting against napoleon upwards of 60 000 could  be redirected elsewhere if the world's largest   power turned all their forces against the united  states there could be serious territorial losses with the fall of napoleon the british could  expand their operations on the east coast   by now they were a familiar presence in the  chesapeake bay the year before the dashing   and aggressive admiral george coburn had  cruised relentlessly up and down the bay   burning homes and inflicting damage  wherever he could the very mention of   his name instilled fear into people's hearts  by this time his remit really was to harass   the the people of the area to gain intelligence  and to capture and destroy trade and shipping   the british actually launched raiding parties on  the western shore of the chesapeake bay they would   get off of their larger boats coming  on smaller boats on the land they would   raid plantations they would steal silverware  cattle burn the farms and take away the slaves over the course of the war the british  freed over 4 000 american slaves   a number of those slaves didn't just  run away they fought on the british side the colonial marines were ex-slaves who  enlisted in a special corps of marines   in british service from about april 1814 royal  navy captains were more than happy to help   slaves escape there was a long legacy of slaves  trying to find any means necessary to have freedom   and the british offered that the british really  wanted to show that america was really a hypocrite   we had a president of the united states  that was holding slaves at the time   the nation's capital washington dc was  a slave holding district george coburn   although he was initially very dismissive of  the notion of recruiting the the refugee slaves   after a few weeks he had nothing but praise for  them and he found that they were very determined   they were infinitely more dreaded  than any of the british troops   black men in redcoats really gives a powerful edge  to this war it's something that scares the living   daylights out of the american south the idea  of large numbers of disciplined armed black men   what's going to happen next in august 1814 4  500 british regulars sailed up the chesapeake   bay and landed in maryland the british were  just a day's march from the nation's capital   washington as a capital has really only been in  place for uh less than far less than 15 years   it's really just dirt streets mud a few government  buildings washington was a swampy mosquito   infested malarial town of just 8 000 people full  of tree stumps and refuse even john armstrong the   american secretary of war called washington a  sheep's meadow he insisted that it would not be   a target for the british but admiral coburn pushed  hard for the british to strike against the capital   within 48 hours he said the city of washington  might be possessed without difficulty and in fact   the capital was virtually undefended madison  had this obsession with the northern theater   this leads to the situation where  a british army moves on washington   and the best troops in the united  states army are a thousand miles away   the british first faced american  militia at bladensburg near the capitol   the americans had the advantage of numbers  but the well-trained british regulars advanced   steadily and the militia quickly broke and ran  we made a fine scamper of it one private said it was at that battle when we found out that  we couldn't keep on depending on militia when   they were routed so severely and opened  the path to the destruction of washington   from that time on the country  understood it needed a professional   army and navy but the american militia  were not the only ones running away the citizens of washington uh were hastily  gathering up all their movable possessions   and leaving the city in all safe directions  dolly had remained in the president's house   with instructions from her husband to be ready  to flee at a moment's notice dolly madison since   sunrise i have been turning my spyglass in every  direction hoping to discern the approach of my   dear husband but alas mr madison comes not two  messengers covered with dust come to bid me fly   dolly madison had been deserted by her honor  guard that were supposed to keep her safe   dolly was a quaker although not a fanatical one  she slept with a sword beneath her bed and said   that she believed in giving as good as you  got i was so unfeminine as to be free from   fear and willing to remain in the white house  if i could have had a cannon from every window   but alas those who should have  placed them there fled before me   two hours before the enemy entered the city i sent  out the silver the velvet curtains the cabinet   papers and general washington's picture one  thing she wouldn't give away on was the portrait   of george washington it was one of the standing  portraits mounted in the entrance hall she knew   that to the british who still considered  washington one of history's great traitors that   portrait would be the greatest trophy of the war  and she was determined that they wouldn't have it   it was actually screwed to the wall there wasn't  time to unscrew it so she gave the order to break   the frame and take the painting out which was then  given to as she put it two gentlemen of new york   for safe keeping dolly set off in her coach and  made for the country it was twilight on the 24th   of august 1814 when the red-coated troops were  at the city and marching up pennsylvania avenue   when they arrived in washington they burned  the capitol and then tramped more than a mile   down pennsylvania avenue before they got into  the white house they found a table laid for 40   because dolly madison the first lady had been  expecting the military in the cabinet for dinner so they feasted elegantly they toasted  the health of their prince regent they even drank to peace with  america and down with madison   and when one of the men found the  ceremonial hat belonging to the   president he raised it by the tip of his bayonet   and he said if they could not capture the little  president they would parade his hat in england they hacked the doors and window frames  they got all the furniture together   that night they burned the white house that  night people in washington could read by the   light of the fires from a distance the president  of the united states riding away kept stopping   to look at the flames coming from his city  washington was a city in the making before the   war it was still evolving a work in progress  if you like and that had all been destroyed the american press was outraged at the burning  and even london newspapers were shocked   the cossack spared paris but we  spared not the capital of america   is it certain that this is a  legitimate method of warfare   the americans had torched the public buildings  of york now toronto the capital of canada   and this was just straightforward payback  there was a feeling in britain in 1814 that   america deserved some punishment  america had stabbed britain in the back   while we were fighting napoleon and britain looked  on the fight against the french and napoleon   as everybody's battle not just britain's battle  we were trying to confront tyranny in europe   and while we were doing that here's the united  states stabbing is in the back and trying to   invade canada the british occupied washington for  just one day soon president madison rode back into   his charred scarred city this was the darkest hour  of his presidency the capital city was destroyed   and much worse seemed to be coming the government  simply did not have a way of financing the war   in the fall of 1814 and one of the byproducts of  that was that it defaulted on the national debt   public credit and collapsed and i think it's  fair to say the u.s government was on the   verge of bankruptcy we are bankrupt  wrote one massachusetts newspaper   our goods sitting in warehouses our ships  rotting at the wharves are commerce dead people didn't have hard cash in the united  states at that time and people preferred to   trade where they could get hard money the british  took advantage of this by paying american farmers   and hard money a tremendous amount of american  produce and provisions was flowing into canada   and actually feeding the british army and  prisoners of war as well william atherton locked   away in a quebec prison tasted new england's  opposition to the war william atherton in prison   the british tauntingly told us that we were eating  yankee beef most of their supplies came from the   states these things occur very frequently and  men who profess great patriotism are sometimes   found to be engaging in it such patriotism  as this would scarcely be found in kentucky   that autumn of 1814 james madison sent  two regiments to an unusual destination   hartford connecticut where there were in theory  no enemies but force might be needed to quash a   rebellion against the united states itself for  a group of new england leaders had announced a   convention to be held in hartford in the fall  and the new englanders were bitter about the   war many were openly defiant madison like most  republicans feared that the hartford convention   was part of a larger secessionist plot but the  union be severed wrote one massachusetts leader   the united states seemed to be on the eve  of destruction from within and without america's badly beaten capital city has been  torched the british won the war it's just a   question of what terms they'll they're prepared  to accept at the negotiations in ghent belgium   the british were prepared to accept large  areas of american territory for themselves   including parts of what would  become maine and minnesota   and they demanded that a massive indian state be  created around the great lakes in other words they   were determined to end american expansion into  the west and there was muscle behind these demands   in september 1814 the governor general of  canada george prevost led a british army   into northern new york it was the largest force  ever to invade the continental united states this is going to be a killing stroke  if it's carried out effectively   against relatively small american garrison   the english can win a decisive battle here  and force the americans to concede terms prevost planned to attack and occupy the  american forts at plattsburgh to keep his   troops supplied there he needed to control lake  champlain as well what stood in his way was a   small american squadron on the lake commanded  by a young officer named thomas mcdonough   mcdonough chooses to anchor the american  flagship saratoga and fight from an anchorage   in plattsburgh bay he was going to simply  turn his ships into floating gun platforms   the idea was that since there was  overwhelming force coming by land   and possibly an equal size forced to  have done his own fleet coming by sea   he was going to back himself into a corner and  fight like a badger and not come out until he won   on september 11th the british fleet sailed up  to engage mcdonough's ships the british have to   sail up the lake against the wind they struggle  into the to the bay begin to exchange some fire   these ships are relatively lightly built they  carry heavy guns in any kind of firefight they'll   be knocked to pieces and the guns on one side will  be taken out of battle mcdonough is ready for this when his ships are so badly battered they can't  fight he simply holds on the cables turns the   ship around and presents a fresh broadside  to an enemy who is already badly beaten up   the english commander cannot do this he's only  anchored one way he can't turn his ships around   so he's going to lose after almost three hours  of fighting the british struck their colors any   chance for their control of the lake was gone  with a single naval battle the largest invasion   of the continental united states had been  brought to an abrupt halt previous calls off   the attack and orders the division to move  back to canada to destroy the excess stores   and off they go and everybody from the soldiers  the ncos the junior officers senior officers   could not understand why he did that he had had  to operate a defensive campaign up till that time   and when the navy was defeated on lake champlain  in his opinion it was no point in risking   british lives by taking plattsburgh  which he could well have done   so he withdrew the army uh for protection of  canada in the future primos is a tragic figure   a sad figure the man is told to hold the line  hold the line and he does that he followed orders   that finished his military career when he got back  to montreal a cabal of disgruntled officers began   a letter writing campaign back to london basically  criticizing prevost for his command his conduct on   the plattsburgh campaign and that leads to  his being sent back to england in disgrace trevo's retreat meant the end of britain's  killing stroke invasion into new york state   but just two days after mcdonough's victory  british forces launched another bold attack   this time against baltimore the british went  through blatensburg they ransacked washington   d.c but the brick prize was baltimore it was  an international community it was a deep port   it was the center of commerce and it's the home  of a lot of the privateers that are causing them   problems baltimore big ship building town so  it would be really nice to get into downtown   baltimore and burn these shipyards destroy the  privateers the star-shaped fort called mchenry   at the top of the bay was the linchpin  destroy the fort and the city would fall   on the morning of september 13th the british navy  attacked the fort bombs began bursting in air the british herald 1400 cast iron exploding  shells at the fort within a 48-hour period   that's a total of about 133 tons of  exploding metal over baltimore harbor   that could be heard by the way 100 miles away  in downtown philadelphia for all the explosions   what americans would remember from that night was  the work of a lawyer francis scott key he watched   the bombardment from a ship just eight miles away  he had seen over fort mchenry this gigantic flag   flying before sunset and throughout  the night he paced the deck of his   ship in the darkness hoping the explosions  would continue because if there was silence   it might mean the thought it capitulated as the  morning mist clears as he says in his uh him   he saw the american flag and he had never looked  with such reverence upon the symbol of his country   he took a letter out of his pocket on the  back of it jotted down thoughts words phrases   anything that tumbled through his mind while  the intensity of the moment lasted that poem   was crafted and polished and it was set to an old  english drinking song called trenachrion in heaven within a week after the battle for  baltimore the song is published   it is four stanzas long within a month every  newspaper in the united states has published it the star-spangled banner didn't become america's  national anthem for 116 years but the battle of   fort mchenry had an immediate effect the  fort did not fall and the british withdrew   the results from plattsburgh and baltimore  changed the emotional and political climate   even in new england the hartford convention  did meet in three weeks of secret sessions   its report denounced the war but the word  secession was not used the two american   victories also changed the tone at another  meeting the peace negotiations in belgium   britain's demand for an indian state no  longer had the force of victory behind it   england tried to demand that america leave an  indian buffer zone between american settlements   and canada the united states rejected this  vigorously they said this is a property right   we possess the treaties that resolve both  the revolutionary war and the war of 1812   in many ways ignored us as primary participants  we're not nations in the final resolution of the   peace but they are still talking about  us they're the ones deciding our rights   and then when the war is  over they divide up our land no one at the ghett talks cared about impressment  anymore with napoleon and exile the british no   longer needed to impress sailors the key question  now was where should the borders be drawn   negotiations dragged on into december while a  massive british fleet headed for new orleans new orleans is the door to half a continent it  sits astride the mouth of the mississippi river   the british really want to capture new orleans  as the strategic location to control not only   the mouth of the mississippi river but all  of its drainage including louisiana territory   the battle of new orleans would occupy  an odd place in this war's history   the canadians were not involved in the  fighting the british quickly forgot it   but this battle or rather the legend of this  battle is still remembered in the united states   over the years a story was told a  story of a heroic tennessee general   of kentucky riflemen sitting behind  cotton bales of a slaughter that won a war   the story began on december 1st 1814 when andrew  jackson arrived to take command of the city's   defenses andrew jackson is probably as brave a  man as we've ever had in our american history   physically brave very rash um orphaned  early ill educated but filled with ambition   at 13 jackson carried messages for the  americans in the revolution his mother   and his two brothers died during that war he  was captured by the british and put in prison there an officer struck him with a sword  for refusing to clean the officer's boots   ever after he harbored a great hatred for the  british and he hated he had a real capacity   for hadron he was not a reflective man he  liked action jackson's most recent action   had been a brutal campaign a massacre of the  red stick creek indians in alabama and georgia   as he took command in new orleans the entire  city knew that the british were coming   they weren't well prepared in any way  for an invasion they knew it so when   jackson arrived with his militia and his  regular army troops he imposed martial law   the louisiana legislature discussed surrendering  to the british jackson talked about blowing up   the legislature instead and put one lawmaker in  jail he used threats and force to recruit soldiers   and entered into a highly unusual alliance  with the pirates from nearby bharataria bay   he even accepted black men into his  army although he himself owns slaves jackson's able to assemble an army there  to oppose the british that combines   all of these various factions and i think  that that's one of the reasons why that   battle really says so much about forging a new  american identity and a new american nation   in fact jackson had assembled an army so diverse  that orders had to be issued in english french   spanish and choctaw most of his 4 700 men were  militia lawyers privateers farmers shopkeepers   the british were just one thing  soldiers 5 300 professional soldiers the british had to advance up  the river they had to clear   andrew jackson's three defensive positions and  reach the city pretty straightforward task at   dawn on january 8 1815 the british general edward  packingham marched his troops across the field at   chalmette's plantation jackson has got his largely  under-trained troops behind strong positions so   they're not going to be quite so nervous  out in the open field they wouldn't have   lasted five minutes against british regulars the  british advanced in just the absolute best of uh   old world tactics in terms of rank and file and  and fife and drum and and on across the fog drape   field they came and smack into the american line  and volley after volley just just tore the british   troops to pieces from start to finish the attack  was a shambles the british were perfect targets on   the open field and jackson saw his chance give it  to them boys he called and his artillery thundered   the british paused to return the fire mistake  edward pacquiao tried to rally his troops he   was shot and killed for a time no one knew who  was in command so no one called off the attack   the battle was brief and stunningly one-sided  the americans had only 70 casualties   the british over 2000 all in less than 25 minutes most british people didn't  really remember this war at all   and in 1959 um there was a surprising ballad  the battle of new orleans which took most   british by surprise was by johnny horton a  country western style at least i think it was   it went something like this in 1814 we took a  little trip down by new orleans and the mighty   mississipp we took a little bacon and we took a  little beans and we fought the blooming british   at the battle of new orleans all hickory said we  could take them by surprise if we didn't borrow   them in the eye we held our fire till  we see their faces well then we opened the song was part of a general twisting  of the truth the new orleans legend   the british did not run through  the briars of the brambles   they simply died the ramparts weren't made of  cotton bales and it was the american artillery   not the kentucky riflemen that did the  damage but the details did not matter nearly a month later in early february the  news reached washington and the town went   wild glorious news in newspapers shouted nine  days after the news came from new orleans a ship   finally reached the western side of the  atlantic peace a treaty had been signed at   ghent on christmas eve 1814 two weeks before  the battle of new orleans but most people in   the united states heard about the victory at new  orleans before they heard about the end of the war   and so it seemed to americans that jackson's  resounding victory had somehow brought peace it's a great propaganda coup for the republican  party it helps to keep them in power for another   election or two so really very useful and  it will be told as the the core story of the   american victory in the war of 1812 that's  how you end the great war of 1812 story the terms of the treaty of  ghent were crystal clear   the war had been a stalemate the boundary  lines would be exactly as they had been at   the start people had died and the united states  had gained nothing but in the u.s euphoria reigned   the senate ratified the treaty unanimously and  james madison was suddenly a popular president   in canada too the piece was celebrated the  colonies were saved in part because canadians   had helped to fight off repeated invasions in time  canada would become a sovereign nation the seeds   of that sovereignty were sown in the war of 1812.  of course canadians will say they won because they   avoided invasion and in fact repelled the invaders  and that wasn't that used to be in the school   books americans can proudly say they won the the  war of 1812 and then they'll bump into a canadian   who will then remind them that no one canadians  won the war of 1812. but i think it's generally   agreed that it's the uh the first nations people  of north america who lose the war of 1812. in   july of 1815 the british left mackinac the fort  they had captured in the first battle of the war   their native allies watched in shock chief  sasa maui of the winnebago raged at the   british officers you promised us repeatedly  that this place would not be given up   it would be better that you had killed us at  once rather than expose us to a lingering death   we lost a land base we lost our culture they no  longer needed us to fight to fight their wars   anymore then they they our allies slowly try  to make us children under the supervision of   a parent our land was suddenly getting smaller  and smaller and smaller so that set in motion a   kind of social political cultural spiritual decay  people got depressed broken spirit broken heart   the warriors and the soldiers who survived  the war of 1812 went home grew old and died in the end what lived on was a story about history   how its glories are enshrined in the  heart of a nation how its failures are   forgotten how its inconvenient truths  are twisted to suit or ignored forever people ask me who won the war of 1812 i often say  the british army won the war of eighteen i don't   say britain i say the british army because uh the  british soldier always did what he was asked to do   shadrach byfield returned to england  in late 1814 he and his family lived   in poverty until he designed a tool that  would allow him to weave with just one arm i went to a blacksmith and he made an  instrument for me i am happy to say that   i have been able to labor for my family and  keep them comfortably for nearly 20 years both sides can claim obviously  clear areas of victory   both sides won certain battles  and lost certain battles   i think i shared the view of a young british  officer in the war of 1812 lieutenant john le   couter of the 104th foot who when he was writing  about the end of the war said how pleased he was   that this was over as far as he was concerned it  was a hot and unnatural war between kindred people young william atherton was finally released from  his quebec prison in may 1814 he started back to   his hometown in kentucky on foot we had been for  so long in prison and suffering that we seem to   have reached a new world almost i was barely able  to walk in more than one thousand miles from home   without money clothes or friends yet  my spirit did not quail for a moment   i have told a plain unvarnished tale yet it may  not be without its use to my young countrymen   to know what their fathers have suffered to find out more about the war of 1812  and other pbs programs visit pbs.org the war of 1812 is available on dvd the companion  book the war of 1812 guide to battlefields   and historic sites is also available to order  visit shoppbs.org or call us at 1 800 play pbs you

Channel: Buffalo Toronto Public Media

Views: 10,308,103

Keywords: WNED PBS, WNED, PBS, Buffalo Toronto Public Media, Buffalo, Toronto, Public Media, WNED PBS Productions, war, 1812, America, Canada, British, Native American, Donald Fixico, Dianne Graves, Donald Graves, Donald Hickey, Rick Hill, Jim Hill, Peter Twist, John Sugden, Tecumseh, William Henry Harrison, General Isaac Brock, James Madison, Washington, Shadrach Byfield, General William Hull, Indians, militiamen, ships, battlefields, General Henry Proctor, Fort Meigs, Treaty of Ghent, Crysler

Id: Tq0LLB-X4is

Length: 113min 17sec (6797 seconds)

Published: Wed Dec 01 2021