by Steve Vogel
Miserable in the cold John Webster account, July 1853, in Marine, British Invasion, 179.
Around that time, troops Piper, “Defence of Baltimore, 1814,” 383; Sheads, Rockets’ Red Glare, 99.
The young, powerfully Muller, Darkest Day, 201.
Webster was half asleep Webster account, Marine, British Invasion, 179–80; Piper, “Defence of Baltimore, 1814,” 384; Newcomb to Rodgers, Sept. 18, NW III, 292.
Napier’s raiders “Attack Upon Baltimore,” NWR; Swanson, Perilous Fight, 482; Newcomb to Rodgers, Sept. 14, Rodgers Family Papers, container 26, LOC, copy in NHHC.
“The hissing rockets” [Barrett], “Naval Recollections of the Late American War,” part 1, 463.
“the whole awful spectacle” Sheads, Rockets’ Red Glare, 101; Eleanor Callahan, “Ear-Witness to History: James McConkey and the Star Spangled Banner,” Journal of Erie Studies, 1980.
The ground was shaking Fells Point tour with Jack Trautwein.
“Such a terrible” Hawkins, The Life of John H. W. Hawkins, 13.
The night “will never” John Moore to Elizabeth Moore, Sept. 14, John Moore Papers.
PATAPSCO RIVER, EARLY MORNING, WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 14
From the deck Taney narrative, 24; Skinner, “Incidents,” 346–47; Thomas Forman to Martha Brown Forman, Sept. 14, War of 1812 Collection, MdHS. Beanes, also aboard the ship, apparently spent much of his time belowdecks. Key, Taney, and Skinner do not mention the doctor watching the bombardment.
Earlier, in the twilight Key, “The Star-Spangled Banner.”
In keeping with military Taylor et al., The Star-Spangled Banner, 70.
Once night fell Key Frederick speech, 197; Taney narrative, 24.
BRITISH ARMY HEADQUARTERS, EARLY MORNING, WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 14
The British troops Mullaly, “Battle of Baltimore,” 99.
“It was the most wonderful Brown, Diary of a Soldier, 29.
Brooke, like everyone Swanson, Perilous Fight, 484.
At 3 a.m., the men Gleig, Narrative of the Campaigns, 193; Brown, Diary of a Soldier, 29; “Old Sub,” part 2, 32; Lingel, ed., “The Manuscript Autobiography of Gordon Gallie Macdonald,” 145.
FERRY BRANCH, EARLY MORNING, WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 14
Black Charlie was still Armistead to Monroe, Sept. 24, NW III, 302; Swanson, Perilous Fight, 484; Lord, Dawn’s Early Light, 291.
The Fort McHenry crews James, Naval History of Great Britain, 191; Smith to Monroe, Sept. 19, NW III, 297; Teakle letter, MdHS.
“All was for sometime” “Attack Upon Baltimore,” NWR.
CHAPTER 16: Does That Star-Spangled Banner Yet Wave?
The quiet was terrible Taney narrative, 25.
In the predawn [Barrett], “Naval Recollections of the Late American War,” part 1, 463; Sheads, Fort McHenry, 41.
Key and Skinner paced Taney narrative, 25; Key, “The Star-Spangled Banner.”
As the morning lightened Log of Tonnant, Sept. 14, War of 1812 Collection, MdHS.
“Through the clouds” Key Frederick speech, 197.
“I hope I shall never” Key to Randolph, Oct. 5, Howard Papers, MdHS.
FORT MCHENRY, MORNING, WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 14
Soon after sunrise Armistead to Monroe, Sept. 24, NW III, 303; Beynon journal, Sept. 14.
Aboard Surprize Lord, Dawn’s Early Light, 292.
The bomb ships Sheads, “HM Bomb Ship Terror,” 257.
From Baltimore John Moore to Elizabeth Moore, Sept. 14, John Moore Papers.
Rev. Baxley Hawkins, The Life of John H. W. Hawkins, 14.
The bombardment had lasted Armistead to Monroe, Sept. 24, NW III, 303; Sheads, “HM Bomb Ship Terror,” 257.
The British had also fired Rodgers to Jones, Sept. 14, NW III, 293.
Yet the casualties Marine, British Invasion, 172–73; George, “Mirage of Freedom,” 443.
At 9 a.m., the Fort Sheads, Rockets’ Red Glare, 104; Fort McHenry tour.
“At this time” Sheads, “Yankee Doodle,” 382.
“In truth it was” [Barrett], “Naval Recollections of the Late American War,” part 1, 464.
HAMPSTEAD HILL, MORNING, WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 14
Only as morning Smith to Monroe, Sept. 19, NW III, 297; Goldsborough, “Report of the Battle of Baltimore”; Swanson, Perilous Fight, 486–88.
Captain Rodgers was confident Rodgers to Jones, Sept. 14, NW III, 293.
“The enemy” Smith order, Sept. 14, Winder Papers, MdHS.
MEETING HOUSE, MORNING, WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 14
Colonel Brooke Brooke diary, 311.
Cockburn candidly McCulloh, n.d., Winder Papers, MdHS.
AMERICAN TRUCE SHIP, PATAPSCO RIVER, MORNING, WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 14
Key and Skinner watched Taney narrative, 25, 28; Lord, Dawn’s Early Light, 293.
“[I]n that hour” Key Frederick speech, 198.
GODLEY WOOD, LATE MORNING, WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 14
After waiting in vain Brooke diary, 311.
Passing through Gleig, Narrative of the Campaigns, 194.
“bleached as white” Gleig diary, Sept. 14.
“Putting all together” Brown, Diary of a Soldier, 29–30.
The frustrated British Scott, Recollections, 346; Gleig diary, 171; Chesterton, Peace, War, and Adventure, 154.
Two straggling seamen Bluett diary, RMM, 36.
GODLEY WOOD, AFTERNOON, WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 14
As the British withdrew John Smith Hanna, ed., A History of the Life and Services of Captain Samuel Dewees, 345.
Sometime after midday McComas, The McComas Saga.
In 1851, their bodies CRG, 71.
“two imperishable heroes” Dora Jean Ashe, A Maryland Anthology, 1608–1986, 71.
WASHINGTON, AFTERNOON, WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 14
News from Baltimore “From Baltimore,” NI, Sept. 14; “Huzza For Baltimore!” NI, Sept. 14.
NORTH POINT, THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 15
There were no cheers Log of Surprize, Sept. 14, War of 1812 Collection, MdHS.
“Sad, sad” Peter Rowley, ed., “Captain Rowley Visits Maryland; Part II of a Series,” MdHM, Fall 1988, 249.
Cots were slung [Barrett], “Naval Recollections of the Late American War,” part 1, 465–66.
Still anchored Pulteney Malcolm to Clementina, Oct. 3, Pulteny Malcolm Papers, UM, transcript at NHHC.
“The failure of our attempt” Barrett, 85th King’s Light Infantry, 180–81.
Aboard Severn, Cockburn Cockburn to Cochrane, Sept. 15, NW III, 281; Pack, Man Who Burned the White House, 206.
As the fleet prepared Log of Tonnant, Sept. 16, War of 1812 Collection, MdHS; Tonnant Memo Book, Sept. 16, Codrington papers, 6/3, NMM; Rowley, ed., “Captain Rowley Visits Maryland; Part II,” 249.
PATAPSCO RIVER, FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 16
The American truce ship Taney narrative, 25.
Skinner sought Skinner to Mason, Oct. 7, Spratt Collection, Box 1, Part 1, MdHS; “Late from Baltimore,” Philadelphia Political and Commercial Register, Sept. 19, in Filby and Howard, Star-Spangled Books, 44.
Dispensing with Skinner, “Incidents,” 346–47. Skinner said he used the occasion to condemn the burning of the Capitol and the President’s House. By Skinner’s unconfirmed recollection, Cockburn did not defend the action. “He said not one word about any ‘flag of truce’ nor did he attempt to justify the act,” Skinner wrote in 1821.
Later, the myth Oscar George Theodore Sonneck, The Star Spangled Banner, 79–81.
Written in London William Lichtenwanger, “The Music of ‘The Star-Spangled Banner’: From Ludgate Hill to Capitol Hill,” Library of Congress Quarterly Journal, July 1977; Joseph Muller, The Star Spangled Banner: Words and Music Issued Between 1814–1864, 13–15; Weybright, Spangled Banner, 36, 145, 148.
There is no doubt Key Otto Ortmann, “Notes on ‘The Star Spangled Banner,’ ” Peabody Bulletin, May 1939.
Key viewed it Delaplaine, Francis Scott Key, 40; Taney to Howard, April 9, 1856, How
ard Papers, MdHS.
The song was printed Filby and Howard, Star-Spangled Books, 115; Ortmann, “Notes on the Star Spangled Banner”; Weybright, Spangled Banner, 148.
FELLS POINT, 9 P.M., FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 16
Darkness was approaching Filby and Howard, Star-Spangled Books, 46.
“A flag of truce” Ibid., 51.
Reporters gathered Ibid., 44, 47; Herrick, August 24, 1814, 194.
Once the excitement died Skinner, “Incidents,” 347; Robinson, “The Men with Key,” 58; Taney narrative, 26; Manakee, “Anthem Born in Battle,” 37.
“O say can you see through” Original manuscript of “The Star-Spangled Banner,” MdHS.
The verse, when completed Manakee, “Anthem Born in Battle,” 37.
“the poet is not” H. L. Mencken and George Jean Nathan, “The National Hymn,” 1924, Mencken Society, http://www.mencken.org/text/txt003/Mencken.H_L.1924.The_National_Hymn.html.
In the third verse Manakee, “Anthem Born in Battle,” 37; Francis Scott Key-Smith, “The Story of the Star-Spangled Banner,” Current History, May 1930.
Key took a more pious Meyer, “Religion, Patriotism and Poetry in the Life of Francis Scott Key,” 267; Sonneck, The Star Spangled Banner, 89.
Key had no way Manakee, “Anthem Born in Battle,” 37; Proclamation by the President of the United States of America, “50th Anniversary of Our National Motto, ‘In God We Trust,’ ” 2006, http://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2006/07/20060727–12.html.
BALTIMORE, MORNING, SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 17
When Skinner Skinner, “Incidents,” 347.
Major Armistead was Sheads, Guardian of the Star-Spangled Banner, 2, 17; Smith to Rodgers, Sept. 17, John Rodgers Papers, UM, copy at NHHC.
After arriving at the Nicholson Taney narrative, 26–27.
The emotional Nicholson Family letter to Rebecca Nicholson, Sept. 24, Shippen Family Papers, MSS 39859, container 21, reel 12, Manuscript Division, LOC; Sheads, “Joseph Hopper Nicholson,” 147.
“I … was obliged” Key to Randolph, Oct. 5, Howard Papers, MdHS.
Either Nicholson or Skinner Taney narrative, 26; Taylor et al., The Star-Spangled Banner, 42; Filby and Howard, Star-Spangled Books, 52, 55.
When Key’s composition Sonneck, The Star Spangled Banner, 82. “I always had the impression that Mr. John S. Skinner brought it,” Sands recalled in 1877. But Sands, with what Sonneck called “engaging naiveté,” concluded he must have been mistaken after reading Taney’s account, which asserted that Nicholson delivered the song.
The song carried the title Filby and Howard, Star-Spangled Books, 59; Shippen, “The Star-Spangled Banner,” 325; “Defence of Fort McHenry” broadside, MdHS.
“We have a song” Teakle letter, MdHS.
“all over town” Taney narrative, 28.
At least one printed Weybright, Spangled Banner, 150–53.
Once in Frederick Taney narrative, 19–20, 24–27.
FORT MCHENRY, SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 18
At noon Sunday Sheads, Rockets’ Red Glare, 108; Borneman, 1812, 213; John Pendleton Kennedy, Memoirs of the Life of William Wirt, Attorney General of the United States, 336.
“Some say the enemy” John Moore to Elizabeth Moore, Sept. 17, John Moore Papers.
In taking command Rodgers to Jones, Sept. 18, NHHC.
“I have now the pleasure” Sioussat, Old Baltimore, 194.
CHESAPEAKE BAY, SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 18
The British doubtless Sheads, Rockets’ Red Glare, 108; Cochrane to Croker, Sept. 17, NW III, 287; Cochrane to Melville, Sept. 17, NW III 289.
Aboard Albion Cockburn to Rev. Ross, Sept. 17, D 2004/1A/4/7, PRONI.
Late in the afternoon Gleig, Narrative of the Campaigns, 199; Shomette, Flotilla, 343; NW III, 329; Morriss, Cockburn and the British Navy, 114; Cockburn to Cochrane, Oct. 24, NW III, 333.
A final piece Cochrane to Melville, Sept. 17, NW III 290; [Barrett], “Naval Recollections of the Late American War,” part 1, 466; Tonnant Memo Book, Sept. 16 and 18, Codrington papers, 6/3, NMM; Shomette, Flotilla, 344.
WASHINGTON, MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 19
Congress reconvened William B. Bushong, “Ruin and Regeneration,” White House History, Fall 1998; J.Stith to Winder, Sept. 17, Winder Papers, MdHS; Pitch, Burning of Washington, 223.
Many of the arriving Ingersoll, Historical Sketch, vol. 2, 178; Goldsborough, “Report of the Battle of Baltimore,” 231.
The President’s House Seale, The President’s House, 134.
“The rooms which” Kennedy, Memoirs of the Life of William Wirt, 334.
The Capitol was “a most” “History of the U.S. Capitol Building,” AOC.
“Shall this harbor” Ingersoll, Historical Sketch, vol. 2, 185.
Congress was meeting Stagg, Mr. Madison’s War, 428; Ketcham, James Madison, 587; Reginald Horsman, The War of 1812; Weller, “Four Mayors of the City of Washington”; Pettengill, “The Octagon and the War of 1812.”
Several cities had offered Tucker, Poltroons, 592; Proctor, ed., Washington Past and Present, 91; Herrick, August 24, 1814, 201; Horsman, The War of 1812, 210; Ketcham, James Madison, 588; Jeremy Black, The War of 1812 in the Age of Napoleon, 188, 213; Brant, James Madison, 327; Stagg, Mr. Madison’s War, 422.
Another blow Ibid.; Brant, James Madison, 329; Jones to Madison, Sept. 11, William Jones Papers, HSP, copy at NHHC.
“Instead of a wreath” Jones to Eleanor, Sept. 20, Ibid.; Seth Pease letter, Sept. 12, Individual Manuscripts Collections, GWU.
“Every ignorant booby” McLane to Winder, Sept. 6, Winder Papers, MdHS; Ockerbloom, “The Discovery of a U.S. Marine Officer’s Account of Life, Honor, and the Battle of Bladensburg, Washington and Maryland, 1814,” 260. Monroe to Winder, Sept. 21, in Hildt, “Letters Relating to the Capture of Washington,” 63; CCW, 524; Brant, James Madison, 328.
On Tuesday, September Ketcham, James Madison, 587.
The enemy, the president Madison message to Congress, Sept. 15, in Brannan, Official Letters, 434–35.
BALTIMORE, EVENING, TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 20
The Baltimore Patriot Muller, Darkest Day, 208; Filby and Howard, Star-Spangled Books, 66.
John Skinner later Skinner, “Incidents,” 341.
The Baltimore American Filby and Howard, Star-Spangled Books, 65, 68, 119.
The Mercantile Advertiser Ibid., 119–20; George J. Svejda, History of the Star Spangled Banner from 1814 to the Present, 87–89.
The hometown Frederick-Town Filby and Howard, Star-Spangled Books, 50, 113.
“He is a Federalist” Pitch, Burning of Washington, 221.
CHAPTER 17: Our Glorious Peace
The Royal Navy frigate Smith, Autobiography, 214–15.
“We stop the press” “Capture of the City of Washington,” London Times, Sept. 27.
“The reign of Madison” Lord, Dawn’s Early Light, 301–302; CRG, 273.
The Times, which dubbed London Times, Sept. 28 and 29.
“Admiral COCKBURN” London Times, Oct. 10.
The prince regent sent Bathurst to Ross, Sept. 28 and two dispatches Sept. 29, Secretary of State for War and Secretary of State for War and the Colonies, Out-letters, America and West Indies, WO 6/2, 5156–5220, NAUK.
Keeping his promise Torrens to Ross, Sept. 30, Office of the Commander-in-Chief: Out-letters, WO 3/608, NAUK; Smith, Autobiography, 217.
A family friend Maguire, “Major General Ross and the Burning of Washington,” 125; Ross papers, misc. newspaper clippings, 1:14, GWU.
Unknown to anyone Robyns journal, Sept. 29, 153.
The latest American Engelman, The Peace of Christmas Eve, 206–207.
GHENT, SATURDAY, OCTOBER 1
John Quincy Adams Adams, ed., Memoirs of John Quincy Adams, vol. 3, 45; Engelman, “The Peace of Christmas Eve.”
Returning from his walk Engelman, The Peace of Christmas Eve, 197; Woehrmann, “National Response to the Sack of Washington,” 247–48.
Henry Clay, Jonathan Russell Ingersol
l, Historical Sketch, vol. 2, 215; Lord, Dawn’s Early Light, 304.
It was the insult Woehrmann, “National Response to the Sack of Washington,” 248.
On October 8, the British Engelman, The Peace of Christmas Eve, 200, 203, 206.
“May it please God” Ibid., 206.
TERRA RUBRA, MARYLAND, WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 5
After months of disruption Key to Randolph, Oct. 5, Howard Papers, MdHS.
“Thank God!” Weybright, Spangled Banner, 171.
WASHINGTON, SATURDAY, OCTOBER 8
No one used to turn Seale, The President’s House, 137.
The Washington City Gazette Allgor, A Perfect Union, 328.
“The administration are severely” Mason to Mary Mason, Oct. 6, DMDE.
“He looks miserably” Kennedy, Memoirs of the Life of William Wirt, 339.
George M. Dallas Madison to Jefferson, Oct. 10, Brant, James Madison, 334–35; Monroe to Willie Blount, Oct. 10, RG 107, Letters Sent by the Secretary of War, vol. 7, pp. 342–43, copy at NHHC.
Wirt found Madison’s Kennedy, Memoirs of the Life of William Wirt, 339; Wood, Empire of Liberty, 693; Troy Bickham, The Weight of Vengeance: The United States, the British Empire and the War of 1812, 201.
On October 6 Pitch, Burning of Washington, 221; Tucker, Poltroons, 593; Woehrmann, “National Response to the Sack of Washington,” 246.
Supporters were bolstered CCW, 596; Green, Washington: A History of the Capital, 65; Pitch, Burning of Washington, 224–25.
Dr. William Thornton took Brumbaugh, ed., “A Letter of Dr. William Thornton to Colonel William Thornton,” 68.