Bicentannial of War of 1812

[The Chronicler]

I honestly find it rather strange that there's been a lot of talk about these days being the 150th anniversary of the Civil War, but I've been hearing almost nothing about it also being the 200th anniversary of the War of 1812. I live in Vermont, close to where a major part of the war took place, which is why I've been very surprised by the lack of widespread news regarding this.

Only today have I finally come across an article regarding this Bicentennial. Specifically, a replica of the American flag that inspired Francis Scott Key to write what is now the national anthem will be flown at Fort McHenry on September 12th, the 200th anniversary of the successful defense of the fort.
http://news.yahoo.com/star-spangled-banner...-160543070.html

The Bicentennial of the War of 1812, the Sesquicentennial of the Civil War, and next year will begin the Centennial of WWI, this is turning out to be quite a significant decade for historic events.

[Kor]

That is interesting.  I guess part of it may be, at least to my knowledge, not a lot of folks talk about the war of 1812, but lots talk about the Civil War and WW2, less so about WW 1, but more, I think, then the War of 1812.

[Pterano]

It's also the tricentennial of the Treaty of Utrecht this year, which ended the War of the Spanish Succession. After battling for 12 long and bloody years, Europe was finally able to sit down and come to an agreement and compromise... something the US Congress seems currently incapable of doing over issues that are far less serious than those faced by the signatories of the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713. Just goes to show how petty politics have truly become in America in the 21st Century I suppose. I always found the Treaty of Utrecht interesting however, as it was known for some very bad backstabbing on the part of the British. Their Catalonian allies were sold out to suffer through a lengthy siege which only ended in 1714 with the destruction of Catalonian independence and the banning of the Catalan tongue by the Spanish court, a stain which still lingers today, in my opinion. Britain also abandoned its 12 year alliance with the Holy Roman Empire and Austria in favor of brokering a most unusual peace with France, though compensating Austria quite well for the about face (at Spain's expense). It also wrecked a marvelous working relationship that the Duke of Marlborough and Prince Eugene of Savoy shared throughout the war when Marlborough was disgraced and forced into retirement by the very sovereign he'd been fighting so hard for for the past 12 years.

Certainly a bizarre end to a bizarre war, but one I've always found it interesting and tragic all the same. The treaty of course did not end the fighting, as Austria wouldn't cease hostilities until the Treaty of Rastatt in 1714. Still... it's an important treaty all the same.

[Malte279]

The war of 1812 propably gets so much less attention because it is one of the "forgotten wars" of America most people haven't or have only vaguely heard about (in spite of it being the one whose events inspired the national anthem). It was a war most thoroughly blundered.
The official reason for the war (English abducting sailors from American ships) had been cleared by new laws in Europe by the time the war was declared (news about the changes hadn't arrived in the US), it saw the embarassing event of "civilized" white commanders offering money for the scalps of fallen enemies while native American ally of the British, Tecumseh, strictly prohibited his men from taking any scalps, it saw American troops surrendering Detroit at the pretense of a British commander that he could not much longer control his "vast" savage allies (in fact the Americans likely outnumbered the British and the allies there), it saw American troops razing York (nowadays called Toronto) and British being kept only from disfavorable weather conditions from razing Washington just as thoroughly (it sufficed for the first lady's spectacular saving of Washington's portrait from the white house before it was burned (prior to which it had contrary to popular legend already been white)) and the largest battle of this misnamed war (the war of 1812 officially lasted till 1814) took place in 1815 by which time peace had been made in Europe (but same as with the no longer existing cause for the war the news hadn't yet crossed the atlantic) and the American commander and president to be Andrew Jackson had accepted the help of pirate Jean Lafitte to win his stunning victory at New Orleans. And the outcome was mostly "pre war status quo" which I think is an extremely unpopular outcome to the American mind (not being defeated is not enough )
Hmm... my original point would have been that the war was in many ways just too embarassing to be as much comemmorated, but embarassing or not there is a lot about that war worth to be brought to public awareness.

By the way, can you tell us anything more about your recent trip to Gettysburg in the Civil War sesquicentenial thread Chronicler? Did you take any pictures or do you have any stories to tell? I am really very curious about your time there

[The Chronicler]

The reason why I've been so surprised by the lack of attention to the Bicentennial of the War of 1812 is because I live in a part of the country that saw some action during that war.

When I took a class on Vermont History in my final semester of college, one of the most important assignments of the class was to chose a topic and write an essay about it, and I had chosen to research the history of my hometown: the tiny city of Vergennes. As I researched, I quickly found out that Vergennes had played a significant role in the war. It was here, during the winter of 1813-1814, that Commodore Thomas Macdonough built the naval fleet that successfully defeated a British attempt to invade through Lake Champlain the following summer.

After all that research I had done for a college paper, I just can't see the War of 1812 as a "forgotten war" anymore. Maybe I'll start hearing more about it once we get closer to the actual Bicentennial of these events.

As for my recent trip to Gettysburg, I still intend to send you an email with a full description and some pictures. I only recently finished and had tried to send it to you today, but had some technical issues with actually sending it. Nothing has been lost,  but I'm struggling to figure out how to actually get it to you. (I'm not going to share it here on a public forum, before you ask.) Hopefully, I'll be able to figure something out over the next few days.

[The Chronicler]

Today, May 14th, marks the 200th anniversary of a small battle you may have never heard of, but it's significant to me because it took place rather close to my hometown of Vergennes.

The Battle of Fort Cassin was an attempt by a British squad under the command of Captain Pring to raid the shipyard in Vergennes, eight miles up Otter Creek. At the mouth of of that river was Fort Cassin, named after the Navy Lieutenant placed in command there.

The battle took place on the morning of May 14th, 1814, and consisted of one and a half hours of cannon fire between the fort and the ships, before Captain Pring decided to retreat. He had only 120 marines ready to land, but the Americans had 1500 troops (1000 Vermont militia and 500 regulars) defending all of the potential landings, so it was clear the British never had a chance of winning this battle.

There are two reasons why the Americans were so well prepared for the attempted raid. First, unfavorable winds had slowed down Captain Pring's ships to delay them by five days, allowing plenty of time for the Americans to be ready. The second was due to a false alarm just over a month earlier, on April 11th and 12th, which essentially helped the defending troops become better prepared for when the real attack actually came.

(I happened to be doing some volunteer work at the local library today, so I took the opportunity to refresh my memory and read some of the books they have that mention this battle. As far as I know, this particular battle happened closer to my hometown than any other battle in any other war in all of American history, which is why I really wanted to share this with everyone.)

[rhombus]

Sunday will mark the 200th anniversary of the burning of Washington by British forces.  The burning of the American capital was made possible by the decisive British victory in the Battle of Bladensburg.  In the battle the British suffered heavier losses than the Americans, but they succeeded in routing the defenders.  As William H. Winder, the commander of the defenses in Washington, had given no instructions to follow in the event of retreat, the American forces simply scattered, many of whom retreated through the streets of Washington itself.  In the resulting torching of the city, the capital building, the White House, and many other federal buildings were damaged.  There was actually some discussion of moving the capital after the war, perhaps to a city north of the Mason-Dixon Line, but these proposals were for naught.  A temporary capital building, the Old Brick Capitol, was constructed by Washington businessmen who were fearful of the pressure for a relocation of the capital and Congress met there until the original Capitol Building was reconstructed.  Likewise, the President Madison lived in The Octagon House for the remainder of the term and the White House (a name which a popular myth claims gained prominence because of the white paint used to cover up the scorch marks, even though the nickname 'White House' had been documented since 1811) was reconstructed in time for President James Monroe's inauguration in 1817.

The British Embassy decided to commemorate the occasion with this tweet:
https://twitter.com/UKinUSA/status/50366884...0056960/photo/1

Stay classy, British Embassy... Stay classy...  

[The Chronicler]

On that subject, I remember watching something on TV not long ago about how the weather had a significant impact on the immediate aftermath of the burning of Washington. Just hours after the British set fire to those buildings, a massive storm rolled in. Not only did it bring heavy rain that eventually put out all of the fires, but it also generated strong winds that, according to eyewitness accounts, tore roofs off of buildings like sheets of paper and even lifted a cannon. Many British soldiers were caught out in the open during this storm, causing some of them to actually get killed by flying debris. After the storm passed, the terrified British decided to quickly retreat as soon as possible.

Modern experts believe the only force of nature that could create such strong winds was a tornado. I find it interestingly ironic that something as destructive as a tornado, which is rarely seen in the area, actually kind of saved the city in a way.

[The Chronicler]

People these days remember September 11 for a certain event that happened just over a decade ago. But it was also right on this day, 200 years ago in the year 1814, that the Battle of Plattsburgh took place in upstate New York, which is regarded as one of the major turning points of the War of 1812.

Some time ago, I had heard on the local news that there was going to be some kind of reenactment going on for this, but I haven't been paying much attention recently to know for sure. Anyway, as I had mentioned earlier, my hometown of Vergennes is where the naval fleet on Lake Champlain was built, and it was in the Battle of Plattsburgh that those ships helped to defend America's northern border against an attempted British invasion from Canada. I just can't help but be very fascinated at the thought of living so close to the site of a major battle in American history.