Through the Perilous Fight
Page 52
As Cockburn later CMS, 142.
Evans, however Evans, Facts, 12.
From the start, accounts Cochrane to Croker, Sept. 17, NW III, 286; Cochrane to Melville, Sept. 17, NW III, 289; Cockburn to Cochrane, Sept. 15, NW III, 279; Lord, Dawn’s Early Light, 363.
an army officer with Ross Davis, Defenders’ Dozen, 20.
Ross recognized this right London Evening Star, Oct. 18; Ross papers, misc. newspaper clippings, 1:15, GWU.
The Light Brigade Gleig, Narrative of the Campaigns, 173; Gleig diary, Sept. 12, 168.
Private Aquila Randall Sioussat, Old Baltimore, 188; Davis, Defenders’ Dozen, 6–7.
“The greater part of one” McHenry letter, MdHS.
The Americans “took to their heels” CMS, 142; McComas, The McComas Saga.
Ross lay underneath Lossing, Pictorial Field-book, 951; Scott, Recollections, 336; Robyns journal, Sept. 12, 150, RMM.
“All eyes were turned” Gleig, Narrative of the Campaigns, 175.
Cockburn stayed CMS, 142.
“He assured me” Cockburn to Cochrane, Sept. 15, NW III, 280.
“Give that to my dear” Skinner, “Incidents,” 344.
“the friendship and confidence” Cockburn to Rev. Ross, Sept. 17, D 2004/1A/4/7, PRONI.
Two miles back, Evans Brooke diary, 310.
When he arrived Beynon journal, Sept. 12, NHHC.
Recognizing his wound Ross papers, misc. newspaper clippings, 1:15, 1:19, GWU.
“He positively refused” Torrens to Vansittart, Nov. 11, Office of the Commander-in-Chief: Out-letters, WO 3/608, NAUK.
The columns of troops Scott, Recollections, 336.
“Genl. Ross was beloved” Beynon journal, Sept. 12, NHHC; Robert Lingel, ed., “The Manuscript Autobiography of Gordon Gallie Macdonald,” New York Public Library Bulletin, March 1930, 144.
The party transferred Ross Skinner, “Incidents,” 344; CRG, 161, 168; Ross papers, misc. newspaper clippings, 1:14, 1:19, GWU; C. H. Echols, Defenders’ Day Remembered: The Battle of North Point and the Defense of Baltimore, 10.
“Oh! My dear wife” London Evening Star, Oct. 18; Crofton letter, Aug. 7, 1815, D/2004/1A/4/16, PRONI.
GODLEY WOOD, 2 P.M., MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 12
Like Ross, he was Anglo-Irish George, “The Family Papers of Maj. Gen. Robert Ross, the Diary of. Col. Arthur Brooke, and the British Attacks on Washington and Baltimore of 1814,” 300, 313.
“perhaps, better calculated” Gleig, Narrative of the Campaigns, 175; George, Terror, 138; “Brooke, Arthur,” Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, vol. 7, 869; Colston, “The Battle of North Point,” 116; Chriest, Defenders Trail, addendum.
The Light Brigade, pursuing Brooke to Bathurst, Sept. 17, NW III, 283.
“In this situation” Brooke diary, 310.
Brooke ordered his rockets Mullaly, “The Battle of Baltimore,” 87.
“This advance seems” McHenry letter, MdHS; Gleig, Narrative of the Campaigns, 178.
Meanwhile the Light Brigade Ibid., 175–76; Barrett, 85th King’s Light Infantry, 180; Gleig diary, Sept. 12, 16.
Brooke quickly grasped Brooke diary, 310; Mullaly, “Battle of Baltimore,” 86; Brooke to Bathurst, Sept. 17, NW III, 283; Carter, Historical Record of the Forty-Fourth, 48; Gleig, Narrative of the Campaigns, 177.
At 2:45 p.m., Brooke Ibid., 179; Lord, Dawn’s Early Light, 266.
“Look out, my lads” Scott, Recollections, 337.
“cheering the army” Brown, Diary of a Soldier, 31.
Across the front, Stricker Stricker to Smith, Sept. 15, Brannan, Official Letters, 421; Colston, “The Battle of North Point,” 114.
The King’s Own Mullaly, “Battle of Baltimore,” 86; Cowper, The King’s Own, 11; Gleig, Narrative of the Campaigns, 177.
“As soon as everything” Barrett, 85th King’s Light Infantry, 178.
Lieutenant Evans London Evening Star, Oct. 18.
Across the front Robyns journal, Sept. 12, 151.
From the center George, Terror, 142.
“[I]t pounded the biscuit” Ibid., 140; Gleig, Narrative of the Campaigns, 179.
“The men took deliberate” “Attack Upon Baltimore,” NWR.
“fired one round” McHenry letter, MdHS; Cowper, The King’s Own, 11.
On the American right Gleig, Narrative of the Campaigns, 180; Buchan, History of the Royal Scots Fusiliers, 172; “Attack Upon Baltimore,” NWR.
The American fire “was so” Brooke diary, 311.
“[W]e returned a hearty” Gleig diary, Sept. 12, 169; Robyns journal, Sept. 12, 151.
Brooke ordered the men Gleig, Narrative of the Campaigns, 180.
“[T]he enemy kept CSM, 143.
“into great confusion” Barrett, 85th King’s Light Infantry, 181.
As the British swarmed Stricker to Smith, Sept. 15, Brannan, Official Letters, 422; Mullaly, “Battle of Baltimore,” 88.
Cavalry, infantry, and artillery Gleig diary, Sept. 12, 169.
“utterly broken” Brooke to Bathurst, Sept. 17, NW III, 283; Carter, Historical Record of the Forty-Fourth, 48.
The British gave no quarter Bowlby memoir, National Army Museum, 18.
The 5th Maryland brought McHenry letter, MdHS; Robert H. Goldsborough, “Report of the Battle of Baltimore,” MdHM, September 1945, 231.
The City Brigade remained George, Terror, 145; Stricker to Smith, Sept. 15, Brannan, Official Letters, 422; “Attack Upon Baltimore,” NWR.
PATAPSCO RIVER, AFTERNOON, MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 12
Admiral Cochrane anchored Lord, Dawn’s Early Light, 270; Scott S. Sheads, “HM Bomb Ship Terror and the Bombardment of Fort McHenry,” MdHM, Fall 2008; Codrington to Nourse, Sept. 12, Codrington papers, COD/6/4, NMM, copy at NHHC; Cochrane to Ross, Sept. 12, NW III, 273.
METHODIST MEETING HOUSE, EVENING, MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 12
Though the Americans Brooke to Bathurst, Sept. 17, NW III, 283; CSM, 143–44; Mullaly, “The Battle of Baltimore,” 91; Swanson, Perilous Fight, 428; George, Terror, 145.
“The temple of God” Scott, Recollections, 342; CRG, 162–63; James H. McCulloh report, NWR, Sept. 24, 1814.
As Cockburn watered Scott, Recollections, 340; Gleig, Narrative of the Campaigns, 182.
PATAPSCO RIVER, EVENING, MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 12
General Ross’s body William Stanhope Lovell, Personal Narrative of Events, From 1799 to 1815, 163; Beynon journal, Sept. 12; Marine, British Invasion, 126.
For Admiral Codrington Codrington, Sept. 13, in Bourchier, ed., Codrington, 320.
“The sad accounts” Cochrane to Brooke, Sept. 17, NW III, 276; Prevost to Cochrane, Aug. 3, Cockburn Papers, Reel 10, Manuscript Division, LOC.
COOK’S TAVERN, EVENING, MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 12
General Stricker Stricker to Smith, Sept. 15, Brannan, Official Letters, 422.
Samuel Smith Cassell, Merchant Congressman, 206.
John Moore John Moore to Elizabeth Moore, [Sept. 13], John Moore Papers, Manuscript Department, William R. Perkins Library, Duke University, 3742, copy at NHHC (hereafter John Moore Papers).
At Fort McHenry Sheads, Rockets’ Red Glare, 90.
“the sound of battle” Key Frederick speech, 196.
By midnight, the City Brigade Swanson, Perilous Fight, 429.
“Our guns were charged” Piper, “Defence of Baltimore, 1814.”
METHODIST MEETING HOUSE, 12:30 A.M., TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 13
Just after midnight, a torrential Gleig, Narrative of the Campaigns, 185; Chesterton, Peace, War, and Adventure, 147.
“[Y]our fire I should” Brooke to Cochrane, Sept. 13, NW III 277.
CHAPTER 15: The Rockets’ Red Glare
At dawn, the bomb ships Newcomb to Rodgers, Sept. 18, NW III, 292; Sheads, “Yankee Doodle,” 381.
The low and squat bomb Swanson, Perilous Fight, 460–64; author tour of Fort McHenry with Scott Sheads, Oct. 19, 2009.
Cockburn was convinced Cockburn to Cochrane, April 2, NW III, 45; Swanson, Perilous Fight, 464; Sheads, �
��HM Bomb Ship Terror,” 257; “Attack Upon Baltimore,” NWR.
Fort McHenry guarded Sheads, Fort McHenry, 5–8, 19, 23–24; Sidney Bradford, “Fort McHenry: The Outworks in 1814,” MdHM, June 1959, 199; Sheads, Rockets’ Red Glare, 13–14.
But by 1812 William P. Craighill, “Baltimore and Its Defences, Past and Present,” MdHM, 1906, 30.
A three-gun battery CRG, 67; Swanson, Perilous Fight, 480.
Armistead insisted on one Lord, Dawn’s Early Light, 274. The existence of this oft-quoted letter cannot be verified; National Park Service historian Scott Sheads has not been able to find documentation for the letter in Lord’s papers at Fort McHenry.
The popular but unfounded Lonn Taylor, Kathleen M. Kendrick, and Jeffrey L. Brodie, The Star-Spangled Banner: The Making of an American Icon, 63–64; Sheads, Guardian of the Star-Spangled Banner, 8–9. Barney and Stricker may have been involved; they were related by marriage to Pickersgill’s uncle, and Pickersgill’s daughter Caroline later said that “family connections” played a role in her mother’s selection.
Born in 1776 Author tour of Star-Spangled Banner Flag House, April 17, 2010.
Grace Wisher Ibid.; Molotsky, The Flag, the Poet, and the Song, 73.
The garrison flag’s size Hickey, Don’t Give Up the Ship!, 87; Taylor et al., The Star-Spangled Banner, 64.
The flag was to have fifteen Ibid., 65, 72–74; Molotsky, The Flag, the Poet, and the Song, 81–82.
The women worked Manakee, “Anthem Born in Battle,” 33.
“I remember seeing” Taylor et al., The Star-Spangled Banner, 66.
Pickersgill delivered Ibid.; Sheads, Guardian of the Star-Spangled Banner, 9, 41.
All along the shore Rodgers to Jones, Sept. 23, NW III, 300; Shomette, Flotilla, 339; CRG, 67; Marine, British Invasion, 178–79; Gamble to Rodgers, Sept. 10, Series 3B, vol. 8, Rodgers Family Papers, LOC, copy in NHHC.
A thousand troops Rodgers to Jones, Sept. 23, NW III, 300; Sheads, Rockets’ Red Glare, 80–82; author tour, Fort McHenry.
Among them was Frederick Hall CRG, 76; George, “Mirage of Freedom,” 442–43. Hall was from Benjamin Oden’s tobacco plantation in Prince George’s County, where General Winder and Monroe had watched the advance of the British army toward Washington.
A final boost Rodgers to Jones, Sept. 23, NW III; David Curtis Skaggs, Oliver Hazard Perry: Honor, Courage and Patriotism in the Early U.S. Navy, 161–62; Sheads, Rockets’ Red Glare, 82.
PATAPSCO RIVER, 6:30 A.M., TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 13
1. Volcano began Cochrane to Croker, Sept. 17, NW III, 287; Sheads, Fort McHenry, 37; Swanson, Perilous Fight, 462.
When the first shots Newcomb to Rodgers, Sept. 18, NW III, 292; Armistead to Monroe, Sept. 24, NW III, 302; Sheads, Rockets’ Red Glare, 92.
A broadside Whitehorne, Battle for Baltimore, 187.
“The firing at the fort” Moore, Sept. 13, John Moore Papers.
“an incessant” Armistead to Monroe, Sept. 24, NW III, 302.
“[F]rom such a rattling” Severn Teakle to Philip Wallis, Sept. 23, War of 1812 Collection, MdHS (hereafter Teakle letter).
“Then the whole fort” Sheads, “Yankee Doodle,” 381.
Cochrane ordered Lord, Dawn’s Early Light, 278.
The American guns Mullaly, “Battle of Baltimore,” 93–95. Finally one ten-inch mortar was sent, but it lacked a base or fuses. Among the ordnance captured by the British at the Washington arsenal were three unused 13-inch mortars.
To gain further distance Sheads, “Yankee Doodle”; Swanson, Perilous Fight, 440.
“[T]his was to me Armistead to Monroe, Sept. 24, NW III, 302; “Attack Upon Baltimore,” NWR.
Once the futility M. I. Cohen, “Reminiscences of the Bombardment of Fort McHenry,” War of 1812 Collection, MdHS; Mullaly, “Battle of Baltimore,” 94.
Hundreds of shells Sheads, Rockets’ Red Glare, 93; “Attack Upon Baltimore,” NWR.
Erebus fired Sheads, “Yankee Doodle,” 381.
One shell crashed Author tour, Fort McHenry; Cohen, “Reminiscences of the Bombardment of Fort McHenry”; Teakle letter, MdHS.
Private Williams George, “Mirage of Freedom,” 443; “Description of Battle,” War of 1812 Collection, MdHS.
“We were like pigeons” Sheads, “Joseph Hopper Nicholson,” 148.
The lack of fire Taney narrative, 24.
The exact location Scott Sheads, MdHS/National Park Service “Battle for Baltimore” tour, Oct. 3, 2009; Vince Vaise, “The Battle of Baltimore,” Baltimore City Star-Spangled 200 Conference, Nov. 10, 2010.
“[P]revious to the attack” Teakle letter, MdHS; Lieutenant Henry Fisher, “An Eyewitness Sketch of the Bombardment of Fort McHenry,” Baltimore City Life Museum Collection, MdHS; Eshelman and Kummerow, Full Glory Reflected, 141.
Key’s mood swung Key to Randolph, Oct. 5, Howard Papers, MdHS.
The thousands of troops Piper, “Defence of Baltimore, 1814,” 383–84; Schroeder, Commodore John Rodgers, 138–41.
Rodgers Bastion George, Terror, 128; Lossing, Pictorial Field-book, 949; Sheads, Rockets’ Red Glare, 72; CRG, 72.
“I believe we handled” Levi Hollingsworth to Ann Hollingsworth, [Sept. 13], War of 1812 Collection, MdHS.
KELL HOUSE, MORNING, TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 13
The British army moved Gleig, Narrative of the Campaigns, 185–87; Evans memorandum, NLS, 23; Brooke to Bathurst, Sept. 17, NW III, 283.
An hour later, Brooke and Cockburn Colston, “The Battle of North Point,” 119; Cockburn to Cochrane, Sept. 15, NW III, 281; Mullaly, “Battle of Baltimore,” 66; Gleig Narrative of the Campaigns, 187–88.
Cockburn could not CMS, 144.
“[I]n short saw” Brooke diary, 311.
But the commanders Ibid.; Barrett, 85th King’s Light Infantry, 180; Scott, Recollections, 344.
“were in a very” Brooke to Bathurst, Sept. 17, NW III, 283.
But Samuel Smith Smith to Monroe, Sept. 19, NW III, 296–97; Swanson, Perilous Fight, 448–52; Brown, Diary of a Soldier, 29.
Brooke had no choice Brooke to Bathurst, Sept. 17, NW III, 284; Brooke diary, 311; Lord, Dawn’s Early Light, 284–85; Gleig, Subaltern, 140; Evans memorandum, NLS, 25; Scott, Recollections, 344.
Settling down for the wait Gleig, Subaltern, 152–54; Lossing, Pictorial Field-book, 958, 964; note from Captains Brown, Wilcocks and McNamara, Sept. 13, War of 1812 Collection, MdHS.
FORT MCHENRY, 2 P.M., TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 13
By early afternoon, a nor’easter Newcomb to Rodgers, Sept. 18, NW III, 292; Fort McHenry tour.
The crew Sheads, “Joseph Hopper Nicholson.”
In the pouring rain Sheads, “Yankee Doodle,” 383.
The bustle of activity Armistead to Monroe, Sept. 24, NW III, 303.
Cochrane sent pennants Sheads, Rockets’ Red Glare, 95; James, Naval History of Great Britain, 190; Teakle letter, MdHS.
For thirty minutes, a furious Log of Surprize, Sept. 13, War of 1812 Collection, MdHS; “Attack Upon Baltimore,” NWR; Whitehorne, Battle for Baltimore, 188.
Cochrane signaled James, Naval History of Great Britain, 191; Swanson, Perilous Fight, 455.
“We gave three cheers” Armistead to Monroe, Sept. 24, NW III, 303; Newcomb to Rodgers, Sept. 18, NW III, 292.
The bombardment NW III, 291; Ed Seufert, “The British Perspective During the War of 1812,” North Point Star-Spangled 200 Conference, June 22, 2010.
Mercurial as always Pack, Man Who Burned the White House, 206.
The commanders of several James, Naval History of Great Britain, 192; Swanson, Perilous Fight, 466.
Cochrane had closely inspected Cochrane to Croker, Sept. 17, NW III, 287; George, Terror, 133.
He had learned that another 7,000 Whitehorne, Battle for Baltimore, 195.
“ulterior operations” Cochrane to Croker, Sept. 17, NW III, 287.
At 9:30 a.m. Cochrane to Cockburn, Sept. 13, NW III, 277.
But communication Swanson, Perilous Fight, 470.
Likewise
, it was not Brooke to Cochrane, Sept. 13, NW III 277; Scott, Recollections, 344.
“[T]here was not sufficient” Skinner, “Incidents,” 345.
But as an alternative James, Naval History of Great Britain, 191; Swanson, Perilous Fight, 470.
BRITISH ARMY HEADQUARTERS, EVENING, TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 13
Early in the evening Scott, Recollections, 344; CMS, 145; Swanson, Perilous Fight, 467; Evans memorandum, NLS, 25.
The 85th Light Infantry Gleig, Subaltern, 156.
“with a loss” Skinner, “Incidents,” 345.
Cockburn pointed Scott, Recollections, 345; CMS, 145.
“My dear Admiral” Cochrane to Cockburn, Sept. 13, NW III, 277.
“This was a blow” Brooke diary, 311.
PATAPSCO RIVER, 10 P.M., TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 13
“Black Charlie” Napier Lord, Dawn’s Early Light, 287; Chesterton, Peace, War, and Adventure, 144; James, Naval History of Great Britain, 191.
Cochrane ordered Napier Cochrane to Napier, NW III, 278. Parts of Cochrane’s instructions are crossed out but still legible.
Their assignment was daunting Swanson, Perilous Fight, 479; Armistead to Monroe, Sept. 24, NW III, 303.
The barges took off James, Naval History of Great Britain,191; Lord, Dawn’s Early Light, 287; Swanson, Perilous Fight, 481.
BRITISH ARMY HEADQUARTERS, MIDNIGHT, WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 14
At the Kell House Evans memorandum, NLS, 25.
Brooke’s confidence Brooke diary, 311; Skinner, “Incidents,” 346.
Cockburn’s initial impulse John Moore to Elizabeth Moore, Sept. 15, John Moore Papers.
The admiral reminded Sheads, Rockets’ Red Glare, 97; George, Terror, 150.
“[T]he onus” CMS, 146; Gleig, Subaltern, 156.
“[T]hough I had made” Brooke to Cochrane, Sept. 14, NW III, 279.
FERRY BRANCH, EARLY MORNING, WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 14