by Steve Vogel
Another ray of hope Jefferson to Samuel H. Smith, Sept. 21, in Ford, ed., The Writings of Thomas Jefferson, vol. 9, 485; “Thomas Jefferson’s Library,” LOC, http://myloc.gov/Exhibitions/jeffersonslibrary/Pages/Overview.aspx; Herrick, August 24, 1814, 203.
Madison sent Madison to Jefferson, Oct. 10, in Hunt, ed., Writings of James Madison, 314.
CHESAPEAKE BAY, EARLY OCTOBER
“No, I would sooner” Skinner to Monroe, Oct. 4, Misc. Letters of the Department of State, NARA RG 59, M179, Roll 30.
Malcolm had secret Malcolm to Clementina, Oct. 3, Poulteny Malcolm Papers, UM, transcript at NHHC.
The British were preparing Barney to Jones, Oct. 10, RG 45, Miscellaneous Letters Received by the Secretary of the Navy, Roll 66, vol. 7, NARA, copy at NHHC.
Barney found Malcolm’s Barney, Biographical Memoir, 271, 322; Mason to Brooke, Oct. 3, WO 1/141, NAUK; Barney to Mason, Oct. 10, RG 45; Barney to Jones, Oct. 26, NW III, 351.
“If a bullet” Calcott, ed., Mistress of Riverdale, 82.
“at about nine miles” Codrington, Dec. 3, in Bourchier, ed., Codrington, 328.
“I rejoice” Cockburn to Malcolm, Oct. 25, Cockburn Papers, reel 10, Manuscript Division, LOC.
With the departure Mullaly, “Battle of Baltimore,” 103.
BERMUDA, FRIDAY, OCTOBER 14
That same day Scott, Recollections, 349.
With the sad business Cockburn to Cochrane, Oct. 24, NW III, 332–34; Pack, Man Who Burned the White House, 208; Morriss, Cockburn and the British Navy, 114; author tour with Dimunation, LOC; Franklin Delano Roosevelt to Archibald MacLeish, Jan. 24, 1940, LOC, Rare Book and Special Collections Division.
Cockburn was philosophical Cockburn to Brooke, Oct. 25, Cockburn Papers, reel 10, Manuscript Division, LOC.
LONDON, MONDAY, OCTOBER 17
On October 17, Captain Duncan Bathurst to Brooke, Nov. 3, WO 6/2, 5156–5220, NAUK; Ross papers, misc. newspaper clippings, 1:15, GWU.
Concurrently, reports Whitehorne, Battle for Baltimore, 201.
Harry Smith, Smith, Autobiography, 221.
Further, the news The Annual Register; or a View of the History, Politics and Literature For the Year 1814, 1815; “French Papers,” London Times, Oct. 11.
“unworthy of civilized” Ingersoll, Historical Sketch, vol. 2, 215.
In Parliament Maguire, “Major General Ross and the Burning of Washington,” 126; John Barrow to Cochrane, Nov. 2, NHHC.
“Willingly, would we” Williams, History of the Invasion, 255.
BALTIMORE, EVENING, WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 19
The war years Callahan, “Ear-Witness to History,” 42; Filby and Howard, Star-Spangled Books, 58–59, 61.
The song’s popularity Elizabeth Lloyd to Mrs. Nicholson, Oct. 29, Rebecca Lloyd to Mrs. Nicholson, Sept. 28, and letter from Greenwich, Conn., Sept. 24 to Mrs. Nicholson, Shippen Family Papers, MSS 39859, container 21, reel 12, Manuscript Division, LOC.
GHENT, FRIDAY, OCTOBER 21
Henry Goulburn Lord, The Dawn’s Early Light, 309; Engelman The Peace of Christmas Eve, 233.
The British delegation Ibid., 231–34; Woehrmann, “National Response to the Sack of Washington,” 247.
The Americans did Engelman The Peace of Christmas Eve, 235; Wood, Empire of Liberty, 695.
The news from America Woehrmann, “National Response to the Sack of Washington,” 248.
“The Capture of” Bayard to Andrew Bayard, Oct. 26, in Elizabeth Domman, ed., “Papers of James A. Bayard, 1796–1815,” in Annual Report of the American Historical Association for the Year 1913, vol. 2.
ENGLAND, NOVEMBER 1814
Lord Liverpool Engelman The Peace of Christmas Eve, 236.
An extended war Langguth, Union 1812, 339.
“the millstone” Whitehorne, Battle for Baltimore, 201; Black, The War of 1812 in the Age of Napoleon, 207–209.
After a cabinet discussion Colston, “The Battle of North Point,” 121–22.
“The more we contemplate” Lord, Dawn’s Early Light, 313–14.
“Does it not occur” J. W. Fortescue, A History of the British Army, vol. 10, 136.
“I confess that” Lord, Dawn’s Early Light, 313–14.
Wellington’s views Black, The War of 1812 in the Age of Napoleon, 211.
Following its instructions Lord, Dawn’s Early Light, 316; Engelman, “The Peace of Christmas Eve.”
WASHINGTON, CHRISTMAS EVE, 1814
A gloomy holiday Key to Ann Key, Dec. 24, “Letters of Francis Scott Key,” MdHM, December 1949, 286.
“The prospect of peace” Hannah Gallatin to Dolley Madison, DMDE, Dec. 26; Donald R. Hickey, The War of 1812: A Forgotten Conflict, 259; Wood, Empire of Liberty, 693.
“The bond of Union” Ketcham, James Madison, 595; Borneman, 1812, 254.
“certainly is the greatest” Madison to William Cary Nicholas, Nov. 26; Writings of James Madison, 319.
“These Yankees” Key to Randolph, Nov. 3, Howard Papers, MdHS.
“I have thought” Key to Randolph, Nov. 17, ibid.
There was “no danger” Key to Ann Phoebe Key, Dec. 24, “Letters of Francis Scott Key.”
GHENT, CHRISTMAS EVE, 1814
At 4 p.m. Engelman The Peace of Christmas Eve, 285; Lord, Dawn’s Early Light, 316; Engelman, “The Peace of Christmas Eve,” American Heritage.
For two hours Ibid.; Chester G. Dunham, “Christopher Hughes, Jr. at Ghent, 1814,” MdHM, Fall 1971; Pitch, Burning of Washington, 225.
The problem now Hickey, Don’t Give Up the Ship! 295.
“Even if peace” Lord, Dawn’s Early Light, 317.
“hostilities should not” Bathurst to Pakenham, Oct. 24, WO 6/2, 5156–5220, NAUK.
One of three American copies Dunham, “Christopher Hughes, Jr. at Ghent, 1814”; Hickey, Don’t Give Up the Ship! 295.
John Quincy Adams thought Engelman, “The Peace of Christmas Eve,” American Heritage.
“I cannot close” Borneman, 1812, 270.
WASHINGTON, JANUARY AND FEBRUARY 1815
“The fate of N. Orleans” Dolley Madison to Hannah Gallatin, Jan. 14, 1815, DMDE.
But no word Eberlein and Hubbard, Historic Houses, 311.
Finally, on February 4 Ketcham, James Madison, 596; Jennings, A Colored Man’s Reminiscences, 16; Sheads, Rockets’ Red Glare, 110.
The celebration paled Clark, “Joseph Gales,”123–26; Dunham, “Christopher Hughes, Jr. at Ghent, 1814”; Jennings, A Colored Man’s Reminiscences, 14.
The next morning Pitch, Burning of Washington, 226; Engelman, The Peace of Christmas Eve, 287; Hickey, The War of 1812, 298.
On February 18, Madison Madison message to Congress, Feb. 18, 1815, Writings of James Madison, 324.
GULF OF MEXICO, FEBRUARY, 1815
Word of Ghent Codrington, Feb. 13, 1815, and Jan. 8, 1815, in Bourchier, ed., Codrington, 336, 340.
Navy Lieutenant George Pratt Lossing, Pictorial Field-book, 933.
The British army paid Gleig, Narrative of the Campaigns, 328–30.
Captain Harry Smith Smith, Autobiography, 237.
Colonel William Thornton nearly Borneman, 1812, 290–91.
“It is certainly a fault” Codrington, Jan. 9, in Bourchier, ed., Codrington, 335.
Following the British army’s defeat Borneman, 1812, 292.
Cochrane “seems most” Codrington, Feb. 14, 1815, in Bourchier, ed., Codrington, 340.
“I would give” Codrington, March 7, in ibid., 342.
CUMBERLAND ISLAND, GEORGIA, MARCH 1815
Rather than sulk Scott, Recollections, 356; Pack, Man Who Burned the White House, 207; Morriss, Cockburn and the British Navy, 114–17.
“I think the savage” Ibid., 117.
Cockburn fortified CMS, 152; Scott, Recollections, 361; James, Naval History of Great Britain, 236.
“That Jonathan should” Pack, Man Who Burned the White House, 211.
The Americans sent CMS, 153; Morriss, Cockburn and the British Navy, 119.
The Americans als
o demanded Bathurst, Oct. 19, 1817, WO 1/144, NAUK; Weiss, “The Corps of Colonial Marines”; Pack, Man Who Burned the White House, 212.
Cockburn evacuated Ibid., 213, NW III, 349; CMS, 153.
WASHINGTON, MARCH 1815
“The burning” Calcott, Mistress of Riverdale, 82.
Before word Allen, History of the United States Capitol, 100; Green, Washington: A History of the Capital, 65.
“We are under great” Brumbaugh, “A Letter of Dr. William Thornton to Colonel William Thornton,” 67.
James Hoban Seale, The President’s House, 139.
“The mischief” Allen, History of the United States Capitol, 102; Marolda, The Washington Navy Yard, 10.
Gilbert Stuart’s portrait A. K. Hadel, “A Review of the Battle of Bladensburg,” MdHM, September 1906, 209–10.
Ten wagonloads of books Herrick, August 24, 1814, 204.
With the arrival Dolley Madison to Hannah Gallatin, 5 March, 1815, DMDE.
EPILOGUE
At noon on August 7 Pack, Man Who Burned the White House, 218.
“Here I am” [George Cockburn], “Extract from a Diary of Rear-Admiral Sir George Cockburn, with Particular Reference to Gen. Napoleon Buonaparte, on Passage from England to St. Helena, in 1815,” 6 [hereafter Cockburn diary]; Morriss, Cockburn and the British Navy, 127.
“You may depend” Ibid., 127.
Meeting with Cockburn Cockburn diary, 4.
“It is clear” Ibid., 13.
Napoleon walked the deck Ibid., 11–12; Morris, Cockburn and the British Navy, 130.
“[O]n the score of talent” Williams, History of the Invasion, 125.
“I find General Bonaparte” Pack, Man Who Burned the White House, 219.
After seventy-two days Ibid., 223, 229.
Cockburn set up Morriss, Cockburn and the British Navy, 132.
“He is not a man” Williams, History of the Invasion, 125.
As first lord Morriss, Cockburn and the British Navy, 2; Chamier, Life, x; Sidney Hart and Rachael L. Penman, 1812: A Nation Emerges, 159. When Midshipman Frederick Chamier wrote a memoir in 1833 renouncing the burning and plundering of homes during the expedition, Cockburn considered his accuser “so unimportant” that he did not even bother reading the allegations.
Nearly two decades Morriss, Cockburn and the British Navy, 6, 220.
Cockburn served a second Ibid., 5; Pack, Man Who Burned the White House, 273.
Cockburn was “one” United Services Magazine, and Naval and Military Journal, 1853, part 3, 157; Nautical Standard, Aug. 27, 1853.
“No biography is needed” Gettysburg Star and Banner, September 1853.
Elizabeth Ross’s terrible “Capture of Washington by the British in 1814,” Genealogical Magazine, 1897, 178; Maguire, “Major General Ross and the Burning of Washington,” 128.
In Rostrevor, the local Ibid., 127; author visit to Rostrevor with John McCavitt, March 13, 2010.
Sir Alexander Cochrane Fortescue, A History of the British Army, vol. 10, 177; Richard Holmes, Wellington: The Iron Duke, 206.
As predicted Heidler, Encyclopedia of the War of 1812, 511; Brumbaugh, ed., “A Letter of Dr. William Thornton to Colonel William Thornton,” 69.
Two of Ross’s officers G. N. Wood, “Burning Washington: The Lighter Side of Warfare,” Army Quarterly Defense Journal, 1974, 352; Smith, Autobiography, xv.
Evans, though seriously Spiers, Radical General, 12; “Old Sub,” part 2, 35; Morriss, Cockburn and the British Navy, 2.
“only as a volunteer” Evans, Facts, 2.
Cockburn and Evans Author’s visit, Kensal Green Cemetery, Feb. 28, 2010.
Lieutenant George Gleig J. R. B. Moulsdale, The King’s Shropshire Light Infantry, 23; “Gleig, George Robert,” Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, vol. 7, 460.
The estimated 3,000 Cassell, “Slaves of the Chesapeake,” 153; George, “Mirage of Freedom,” 444–46.
The Colonial Marines Ibid.; Weiss, “The Corps of Colonial Marines”; John McNish Weiss, The Merikens: Free Black American Settlers in Trinidad, excerpt at http://www.mcnishandweiss.co.uk/history/merikensp2.html; Tina Dunkley email to author, July 16, 2010.
“The world was astonished” Antoine-Henri Jomini, The Art of War, 349.
Cockburn, for his part CMS, 137.
“We should have been saved” Ingersoll, Historical Sketch, vol. 2, 199–200.
WASHINGTON, JANUARY 1, 1818
New Year’s Day Bushong, “Ruin and Regeneration,” 31–32.
Though the building Seale, The President’s House, 149.
“It was gratifying” Ibid.
Monroe had been so eager Ibid., 148–50.
Monroe wanted to restore Seale, The White House, 63; Seale, The President’s House, 145, 152; author visit, Ash Lawn–Highland.
“It has been said” Ammon, James Monroe, 344.
“Not withstanding a thousand” Hunt-Jones, Dolley and the “Great Little Madison,” 57.
The year 1814 Harry L. Coles, “1814: A Dark Hour Before the Dawn,” MdHM, 1971, 220.
The invasions Stewart, ed., American Military History, 134.
Yet the circumstances Ketcham, James Madison, 598; Hickey, Don’t Give Up the Ship!
allowed the American delegation Hickey, Don’t Give Up the Ship!, 305.
The final triumph Wood, Empire of Liberty, 696.
Nonetheless, most Americans Coles, “1814: A Dark Hour Before the Dawn”; Lord, Dawn’s Early Light, 343.
The Constitution had survived Wood, Empire of Liberty, 698; Ketcham, James Madison, 598–99.
“The ultimate good” Allen C. Clark, “James Heighe Blake, The Third Mayor of the Corporation of Washington [1813–17],” RCHS, 1922, 157.
Ghent did not Black, The War of 1812 in the Age of Napoleon, 217; Wills, James Madison, 151.
Henry Clay considered Hickey, Don’t Give Up the Ship!, 305.
“Although the treaty” Wood, Empire of Liberty, 697–98.
This Second War Joseph Whitehorne, While Washington Burned: The Battle for Fort Erie 1814, preface; Taylor et al., The Star-Spangled Banner, 32.
“I think it will” Lord, Dawn’s Early Light, 342; Whitehorne, Battle for Baltimore, 202.
“The war has renewed” Gallatin to Matthew Lyon, May 7, 1816, in Henry Adams, ed., The Writings of Albert Gallatin, vol. 1.
Ghent called for an end Hickey, Don’t Give Up the Ship!, 304; Borneman, 1812, 269.
The war’s many failures Jenkins and Taylor, The War of 1812 and the Rise of the U.S. Navy, 242; National Park Service, “Star Spangled Banner National Historic Trail Feasibility Study and Environmental Impact Statement,” 2004, 14–15.
“[I]f our first struggle” Ketcham, James Madison, 598.
James Madison would never “Dolley Madison” and “James Madison,” James Madison’s Montpelier.
His manservant Paul Jennings Jennings, A Colored Man’s Reminiscences, 18–19.
After his death, Dolley Cutts, “Dolly Madison,” 67.
Her famous letter David B. Mattern, “Dolley Madison Has the Last Word: The Famous Letter,” White House History, Fall 1998.
“I acted thus” Barker, Incidents, 111.
In her later years “Dolley Madison,” James Madison’s Montpelier; Taylor, “Paul Jennings: Enamoured with Freedom.”
Jennings flourished Ibid.; David Montgomery, “Heritage’s House,” WP, Aug. 25, 2009.
Secretary of War John Armstrong Armstrong, Notices, 148.
A sympathetic military court Ingraham, Sketch of the Events, 38–39, 63–64.
Joshua Barney’s last battle Barney to Homans, Jan. 3, 1815, NW III, 354; Shomette, Flotilla, 348; Brodine et al., Against All Odds, 50–52.
In 1979 Shomette, Flotilla, 355.
Armistead, recovering Sheads, Guardian of the Star-Spangled Banner, 23, 25, 34.
“So you see” George Armistead to Louisa Armistead, War of 1812 Collection, MdHS.
Smith resigned Cassell, Merchant Congressman, 211; John C Fredriksen, �
�Smith, Samuel,” American National Biography Online, http://www.anb.org/articles/03/03–00455.html.
John Rodgers Schroeder, Commodore John Rodgers, 143; Linda M. Maloney, “Rodgers, John,” American National Biography Online, http://www.anb.org/articles/03/03–00428.html.
Oliver Hazard Perry Robert G. Baker, “Perry, Oliver Hazard,” American National Biography Online, http://www.anb.org/articles/03/03–00378.
David Porter Linda M. Maloney, “Porter David,” American National Biography Online, http://www.anb.org/articles/03/03–00394.
John Skinner Charles W. Turner, “Some Newly Discovered John Stuart Skinner Correspondence,” MdHM, Summer 1981; Parrish, ed., The Plough, the Loom, and the Anvil, vol. 7, 20; W. Farrell O’Gorman, “Skinner, John Stuart,” American National Biography Online, http://www.anb.org/articles/16/16–01516.html.
Joseph Nicholson Sheads, “Joseph Hopper Nicholson,” 148.
Within days Meyer, Paradoxes of Fame, 42; Magruder, Jr., “Dr. William Beanes,” 222; Dorsey, “Origin of the Star-Spangled Banner.”
Three thousand citizens Weybright, Spangled Banner, 261; Key Frederick speech, 195–203.
Key was capable of arguing Meyer, Paradoxes of Fame, 30–32; Rev. John Brooke, “Discourse on the Character of the late Francis Scott Key,” Jan. 29, 1843, copy in Spratt Collection, Book Manuscript Box 2, MdHS; Hansell, “Francis Scott Key.”
“a thrilling and even” Weybright, Spangled Banner, 194.
Fearing that mass emancipation Ibid., 181, 184–87, 202.
There were happy Delaplaine, Francis Scott Key, 219.
Edward, the heartbroken “Drowning of Edward Key,” excerpt from Francis Scott Key diary, 8 July 8, 1822, F. S. Key vertical file, HSF.
Key and Polly had two Delaplaine, Francis Scott Key, 244, 427; “Francis Scott Key Park,” http://www.nps.gov/olst/planyourvisit/keypark.htm; Douglas Zevely, “Old Houses on C Street and Those Who Lived There,” RCHS, 1902, 154; Mike High, The C&O Canal Companion, 107.