by Peter Snow
‘little confidence of our success’: Nicholson to Mrs Albert Gallatin, 4/9/1814, New York Historical Society, Albert Gallatin Manuscript 238
‘for a gallant defence’: Isaac Munroe, Yankee Newspaper, 30/9/1814, in Sheads, ‘Yankee Doodle Played’, p. 381
Chapter 18: 12 September – Many heads will be broken tonight
noted in his ship’s log: Cockburn ship’s log, COC 11, pp. 136–7, NMM
‘assistance within my power’: Cockburn to Cochrane, 15/9/1814, in NW, p. 279
‘without intermission’: Gleig, Sub, p. 107
‘was before us’: ibid., p. 108
‘moment might bring forth’: ibid., p. 114
‘and 12 by water’: Codrington, Memoir, abridged edn, p. 234
‘to the exhaustion’: Lovell, Personal Narrative, p. 162
‘across the channel’: Gleig, Sub, p. 108
‘ship off if necessary…’: Barrett, ‘Naval Recollections’, p. 462
‘the process’: ibid., p. 463
‘all the Yankees’: Codrington, Memoir, abridged edn, p. 234
‘expel the invader’: Madison, Writings, p. 305
‘invincibles shall be beaten’: Niles’ Weekly Register, 10/9/1814, p. 8
‘proper use of it’: George Douglass to Henry Wheaton, in Sheads, Guardian, p. 69
‘tonight – or hell’: Hawkins, p. 9
‘to be desirable’: Gleig, Sub, p. 117. There are a number of inconsistencies in Gleig’s different accounts of this and other episodes. His claims to have been present at some of these actions should be taken with some scepticism.
‘if it rains militia’: Marine, p. 150
‘in taking aim…’: ibid., p. 122
‘pierced his side’: ibid.
reload their weapons: see Jenkins, p. 362
‘fallen to the ground’: Gleig, Sub, p. 123
‘loudly for a surgeon’: Gleig, F and B, p. 123
‘dearer to him than life…’: Cockburn to Cochrane, 15/9/1814, in NW, p. 280
‘avail to no good purpose’: Skinner letter in Baltimore Patriot, 23/5/1849
in the Union Jack: Lovell, Personal Narrative, p. 163
‘wife and family…’: Crofton to Glascock, 7/8/1815, Ross Papers, PRONI
‘all her earthly bliss!’: Codrington to wife, 13/9/1814, in Codrington, Memoir, abridged edn, p. 234
‘concealed from the troops’: Evans, ‘Memorandum’, p. 21
‘by the army’: Scott, p. 336
‘Ross had obtained it’: Gleig, Sub, p. 123
‘man in the army’: Cpl Brown, 21st Fusiliers Diary, Museum of Royal Scots Fusiliers, Edinburgh
‘give vent to their tears’: Chesterton, vol. 1, p. 145
‘guide an army’: Gleig, F and B, p. 124
‘strongly posted’: Brooke, Diary
Chapter 19: 12 September – The Battle of North Point
‘about twelve thousand men’: Brooke, Diary
‘came within range’: Gleig, F and B, p. 125
‘in that quarter’: Stricker to Smith, in Marine, p. 163
‘intensely hot’: Piper, in ‘The Defense of Baltimore’, p. 106
‘gaps in the line’: Gleig, F and B, p. 127
‘took to his heels’: ibid., p. 129
‘you’ll have it directly’: Scott, p. 337
‘they could cram in…’: Gleig, F and B, p. 127
‘to receive them’: Gleig, Sub, p. 132
‘bayonet into play’: ibid., p. 133
‘intervened to save me’: Gleig, Diary, p. 169
‘way in all directions’: Cockburn to Cochrane, 15/9/1814, in NW, p. 280
‘fled in every direction’: Scott, p. 338
‘man best could…’: Gleig, Sub, p. 134
‘fled in every direction…’: Brooke to Bathurst, 17/9/1814, in NW, p. 283
‘to rally them, ineffective’: Stricker to Smith, in Marine, p. 163
‘and the 5th…’: ibid., p. 164
‘support on the left’: ibid.
‘the general’s order’: Piper, in ‘The Defense of Baltimore’, p. 106
‘movement back…’: Stricker, in Marine, p. 164
‘shooting in earnest…’: Piper, in ‘The Defense of Baltimore’, p. 106
‘to the ground in his rear’: Smith to Monroe, 10/9/1814, in NW, p. 296
‘defeated and routed’: MHM special edition, vol. 107, spring 2012, p. 106
‘had been dispossessed’: Brooke to Bathurst, 17/9/1814, in NW, p. 283
‘named Edmondson’: Scott, p. 339
wrote James Scott: ibid., p. 341
‘tolerable spirits’: ibid.
‘broken limb’: Gleig, Sub, p. 136
‘the deepest commiseration’: Chesterton, vol. 1, p. 148
‘of an ignoble deed’: ibid., pp. 149–50
Chapter 20: 13 September – The rockets’ red glare
‘valour of veterans’: Smith to Monroe, 19/9/1814, in NW, p. 294
powder from it: Webster, in Marine, p. 179
from where he was: Newcomb despatch to Commodore Rodgers, 18/9/1814, in NW, p. 292
‘formidable line of artillery’: Barrett, ‘Naval Recollections’, p. 463
‘precision and effect…’: Newcomb despatch to Commodore Rodgers, 18/9/1814, in NW, p. 292
‘the slightest injury’: Armistead to Monroe, 24/9/1814, in Marine, p. 168
‘a handspike [a crowbar]’: Webster, in ibid., p. 180
‘miles out would shake…’: Stevens to Pennell, 29/9/1814, MHM, vol. 51 (1956) p. 356
men were wounded: Isaac Munroe letter to Boston Yankee, 30/9/1814
‘conduct of Armistead’: Nicholson to Monroe, 17/9/1814, in Sheads, ‘Joseph Hopper Nicholson’, p. 148
‘struck up ‘Yankee Doodle’: Munroe letter to Boston Yankee, 30/9/1814
‘again ceased firing’: Armistead to Monroe, 24/9/1814, in NW, p. 303
‘means of resisting it…’: Munroe letter to Boston Yankee, 30/9/1814
‘warning for us to shift…’: Barrett, ‘Naval Recollections’, p. 463
‘rain fell in torrents’: ibid.
‘quiet until one o’clock’: Cochrane to Napier, 13/9/1814, NW, p. 279
‘for further orders’: ibid., p. 278
British screaming: Webster, in Marine, p. 179
Chapter 21: 13 September – You go on at your peril
‘may be turned’: Cochrane to Brooke, 12/9/1814, NW, p. 376
‘mutual success’: Brooke to Cochrane, 12.30 a.m., 13/9/1814, in NW, p. 277
‘bones and marrow’: Gleig, Sub, p. 142
‘death to surrender’: ibid., p. 145
father’s corpse: ibid., p. 146
‘strong redoubts…’: Brooke, Diary
‘prize our own’: Gleig, Sub, p. 147
be least effective: Brooke to Bathurst, 17/9/1814, in NW, p. 282
nine years earlier: Scott, p. 344
‘easily they could be beaten’: Gleig, Sub, pp. 149, 156
‘vaults with brick work’: ibid., p. 153
‘superior Bordeaux’: ibid., p. 154
‘of maximum enjoyment’: ibid
‘my saturated garments’: Chesterton, vol. 1, pp. 151–2
floor to sleep on: ibid., p. 152
‘on the waterside?’: Scott, p. 345
‘to General Brooke’: ibid.
‘cannot be equally felt’: Cochrane to Cockburn, 13/9/1814, in NW, p. 278
‘still for proceeding…’: Scott, p. 345
wrote in his diary: Brooke, Diary
‘was gone forever’: ibid
faintheartedness: Scott, p. 345
‘decided on retreat’: Evans, ‘Memorandum’, 13/9/1814
‘crowds of raw levies’: Gleig, Sub, pp. 158–9
‘success of the 12th’: Scott, p. 347
‘cost us dear’: Gleig, F and B, p. 136
‘was well defended’: Codrington to wife, 13/9/1814, in Codrington, Memoir, 1875 edn, vol. 1, p. 320
‘have taken the to
wn’: J. S. Skinner letter to editor of the Baltimore Patriot, 23/5/1849
‘entrance of the harbour’: Evans, ‘Memorandum’, p. 25
‘irretrievably been lost’: ibid., p. 26
‘great skill and judgment’: Smith to Monroe, 19/9/1814, in NW, p. 296
‘flag of the enemy’: Chief Justice Taney, in Marine, p. 187
‘was its question’: Scott Key speech in Frederick County in Rukert, p. 41, and in Sheads, Guardian, p. 105
American history: Taney, in Marine, p. 188
‘home of the brave?’: Key’s original MS is in the Maryland Historical Society in Baltimore
the US national anthem: Taney, in Marine, p. 188
‘gun of defiance’: Barrett, ‘Naval Recollections’, p. 464
‘upon our veteran chief…’: ibid., p. 465
back to the ships: Smith to Monroe, 10/9/1814, in NW, p. 297
Chapter 22: Aftermath – Unparalleled in history
‘which I reluctantly consented’: Cochrane to Melville, 17/9/1814, in NW, p. 289
‘before Baltimore’: Morning Post, 18/10/1814
America was ‘chequered’: Liverpool to Castlereagh, 21/10/1814, in WSD, vol. 9, p. 367
had changed all that: Goulburn to Bathurst, 21/10/1814, in ibid., p. 366
‘prodigious expense’: Liverpool to Castlereagh, 2/11/14, in ibid., pp. 401–2
‘prospects of peace’: Liverpool to Castlereagh, 4/11/14, in ibid., pp. 404–5
at the peace talks: Wellington to Liverpool, 9/11/14, in ibid., pp. 424–6
peace beckoned: see Taylor, pp. 435–6
‘millstone of the American war’: Castlereagh to Liverpool, 2/1/1814, in WSD, vol. 9, p. 523
‘beheld before or since’: Smith, Autobiography, pp. 246–7
‘from gloom to glory’: Ingersoll, vol. 2, p. 65
‘seen in Washington’: Jennings, pp. 13–14
‘during the action’: Madison letter to William Winder Jr, 15/9/1834, James Madison Papers, microfilm reel 24, series 1, LC
‘to leave his presence’: Mary Cutts memoir, Cutts Collection, LC, quoted in Memories of Montpelier online at http://www.nps.gov/nr/twhp/wwwlps/lessons/46montpelier/46facts3.htm
‘who ever lived’: Jennings, p. 15
‘for a half century’: Boller, p. 36
‘of the British people’: Fearon, p. 283
‘uncouth and disagreeable’: Morriss, p. 140
‘violent without dignity…’: O’Meara, vol. 1, p. 34
‘a totally inadequate reward’: Evans to Torrens, NA WO31/418 15/5/1815
‘in a soldier’s grave’: Smith, Autobiography, p. 217
‘unparalleled in history’: Jomini, pp. 385–6
Bibliography
Please note that some of the links referenced in this work are no longer active.
1) Books
Adams, Henry, History of the USA during the Administrations of Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, 9 vols, NY, Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1890–1
Adams, Henry, ed., The Writings of Albert Gallatin, 3 vols, Philadelphia, J. B. Lippincott, 1879
Allgor, Catharine, A Perfect Union: Dolley Madison and the Creation of the American Nation, New York, Henry Holt, 2006
Anthony, Katherine S., Dolley Madison: Her Life and Times, Garden City, NY, Doubleday, 1949
Armstrong, John, Exposition of Motives for Opposing the Nomination of Mr Monroe for the Office of President of the United States, Washington, DC, 1816; online at http://www.archive.org/stream/expositionofmoti00wash/expositionofmoti00wash_djvu.txt
Armstrong, John, Jr, Notices of the War of 1812, New York, Wiley & Putnam, 1840
Arnett, Ethel Stephens, Mrs James Madison: The Incomparable Dolley, Greensboro, NC, Piedmont Press, 1972
Arthur, B., How Britain Won the War of 1812, Woodbridge, Boydell & Brewer, 2011
Auchinleck, G., History of War between Britain and the US, Toronto, Pendragon House, 1972
Babcock, K. C., The Rise of American Nationality 1811–19, New York, Haskell Publishers, 1906
Ball, Charles, Slavery in the United States: A Narrative of the Life and Adventures of Charles Ball, a Black Man, Detroit, Mich., Negro History Press; reprint of 1837 edn
Barker, Jacob, Incidents in the Life of Jacob Barker of New Orleans, Washington, DC, n.p., 1855
Barney, Mary, A Biographical Memoir of the Late Commodore Joshua Barney, Boston, Gray & Bowen, 1832
Barrett, C. R. B., ed., The 85th King’s Light Infantry by One of Them (Lt Col. F. R. Gubbins), London, Spottiswoode, 1913
Boller, Paul, Presidential Wives, New York, Oxford University Press, 1988
Bowling, Kenneth, Recreating the Federal City: Potomac Fever, Washington, DC, American Institute of Architects Press, 1985
Brant, Irving, James Madison, 6 vols, New York, Bobbs-Merrill, 1961
Buchan, John, History of the Royal Scots Fusiliers, London, Thomas Newton, 1925
Burnett, T. A. J., The Rise and Fall of a Regency Dandy: The Life of Scrope Berdmore Davies, London, John Murray, 1981
Burrows, John W., The Essex Regiment – 1st Battalion (44th), 1741–1919, Southend-on-Sea, J. H. Burrows, 1923
Carter, Thomas, Historical Record of the Forty Fourth, or The East Essex Regiment of Foot, London, W. O. Mitchell, 1864
Chamier, Frederick, The Life of a Sailor, 3 vols, London, Richard Bentley, 1832
Chesterton, G. L., Peace, War and Adventure: An Autobiographical Memoir, 2 vols, Longman, Brown, Green, 1853
Clark, Allen C., Life and Letters of Dolly Madison, Washington, DC, W. F. Roberts, 1914
Cockburn, George, Buonaparte’s Voyage to St Helena, Comprising the Diary of Rear Admiral Sir George Cockburn, Boston, Lilly, Watt, Colman & Holden, 1833
Codrington, Edward, Memoir of the Life of Admiral Codrington, ed. Lady Bourchier, 2 vols, London, Longman Green, 1875; vol. 1 online at http://archive.org/stream/cu31924087998500/cu31924087998500_djvu.txt. There is an abridged version in one volume, published 1876, online at http://archive.org/stream/memoirlifeadmir04codrgoog/memoirlifeadmir04codrgoog_djvu.txt
Cote, Richard N., Strength and Honor: The Life of Dolley Madison, Mount Pleasant, SC, Corinthian Books, 2005
Cowper, L. I., The King’s Own: The Story of a Royal Regiment, vol. 2: 1814–1914, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 1939
Crawford M. J., ed., The Naval War of 1812: A Documentary History, 3 vols, Washington, DC, Naval Historical Centre, 2002
Cutts, Lucia Beverley, Memoirs and Letters of Dolly Madison, Wife of James Madison, President of the United States, Boston, Houghton Mifflin, 1886
Dangerfield, George, The Awakening of American Nationalism, 1815–28, New York, Harper & Row, 1965
Delaplaine, Edward S., Francis Scott Key, New York, Biography Press, 1937
Eshelman, Ralph and Kummerow, Burton, In Full Glory Reflected, Maryland Historical Society Press, Baltimore, 2012
Eshelman, Ralph, Sheads, Scott and Hickey, Donald, The War of 1812 in the Chesapeake, Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, 2010
Evans, George de Lacy, Facts Relating to the Capture of Washington, London, Henry Colburn, 1829
Ewell, James, Concise History of the Capture of Washington, Philadelphia, Jewell, 1817
Fearon, Henry Bradshaw, Sketches of America, London, Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme & Brown 1819; online at http://www.archive.org/stream/sketchesofamericoofear/sketchesofamericoofear_djvu.txt
Footner, H., A Sailor of Fortune: The Life and Adventures of Commodore Barney, New York and London, Harper & Brothers, 1940
Fortescue, Sir John, A History of the British Army, 20 vols, London, Macmillan, 1899–1930
Freidel, Frank and Pencak, William, eds, The White House: The First Two Hundred Years, Boston, Northeastern University Press, 1994
George, Christopher T., Terror on the Chesapeake, Shippensburg, Pa, White Mane Books, 2000
Gerry, Elbridge, The Diary of Elbridge Gerry, New York, Brentano’s, 1927
Gleig, George, Diary, carried in
full in C. R. B. Barrett, The 85th King’s Light Infantry by One of Them (Lt Col. F. R. Gubbins), London, Spottiswoode, 1913
Gleig, George, Fire and Blood, Milton Keynes, Leonaur, 2007; reprint of The Campaigns of the British Army at Washington and New Orleans, 1827
Gleig, George, A Subaltern in America, Philadelphia, Carey & Hart, 1833
Goodwin, Maude Wilde, Dolly Madison, London, John Murray, 1896
Hackett, F. W., Captain Thomas Tingey USN, reprinted from Proceedings of the US Naval Institute, 33, no. 1 (1907) pp. 119–23
Hawkins, Rev. William, Life of John H. W. Hawkins, Boston, Dutton, 1863
Historical Record of the Fourth, or the King’s Own, Regiment of Foot, London, Longman, Orme, 1839
Howard, Hugh, Mr and Mrs Madison’s War, New York, Bloomsbury Press, 2012
Hunt-Jones, Conover, Dolley and the ‘Great Little Madison’, Washington, DC, Institute of Architects Foundation, 1977
Ingersoll, Charles Jared, Historical Sketch of the Second War between the USA and GB, 2 vols, Philadelphia, Lea & Blanchard, 1849
Ingraham, Edward D., A Sketch of the Events which Preceded the Capture of Washington: by the British, on the twenty-fourth of August, 1814, Philadelphia, Carey & Hart, 1849; online at http://books.google.com/books?id=JvguAAAAYAAJ&pg=PP10&dq=Ingraham,+Edward+D.+A+sketch+of+the+events+which+preceded+the+capture+of+Washington+:+by+the+British,+on+the+twenty-fourth+of+August&ie=ISO-8859-1&output=html&cd=1
Irving, Pierre, Life and Letters of Washington Irving, 4 vols, New York, Putnam & Son, 1869
Irving, Washington, The Letters of Washington Irving to Henry Brevoort, ed. George S. Hellman, 2 vols, New York, Knickerbocker Press, 1915
James, William, Naval Occurrences of the War of 1812, London, Egerton, 1817
Jennings, Paul, A Coloured Man’s Reminiscences of James Madison, Brooklyn, Beadle, 1865
Jomini, Baron de, The Art of War, Philadelphia, Lippincott, 1862; online at http://www.gutenberg.org/files/13549/13549-h/13549-h.htm
Kent, Zachary, Dolley Madison, Berkeley Heights, NJ, Enslow, 2010
Ketcham, Ralph, James Madison, Charlottesville, University of Virginia Press, 1971
Kroll, Steven, By the Dawn’s Early Light: The Story of the Star-Spangled Banner, New York, Scholastic Press, 2000
Lewis, Ethel, The White House, New York, Dodd, Mead, 1937
Lloyd, Alan, The Scorching of Washington, New York, Luce, 1974
Longford, Elizabeth, Wellington: The Years of the Sword, London, Harper & Row, 1969