time when the fbi do something right i say that. for example that is why we have not been attacked since 9/11. the fbi every two months roles of terrorist. is the myth of the fbi cannot function as an intelligence agency that develops clues and leads to future -- that is now the main. >> the most recent book by ronald kessler, "the secrets of the fbi." >> up next historian george daughan examines how the american navy, with the fleet of only 20 ships help maneuver their opponent and support of the ground forces. this is just over one hour. >> good evening.

my name is dan and i'm the owner porter street bookstore. thank you all for coming up tonight as we continue the celebration of our 20th anniversary with a reprieve of george daughan with his first book if i see. when he came here for his first book, it was a revelation to all of us to have someone of georgia's caliber talking about the birth of the american navy and now he has gone on to write a book called, "1812" the navy's war. basically continues the story of the small port tactics that may be used to fight off the great britain, the great readers may be, the royal navy. george is an eminent historian. he holds a ph.d. in american history and government from harvard university and is a recipient of the 2008 samuel

elliott morrison award for his previous book, if i see. don spends three years in the united states are forced into the samore and was an instructor at the air force academy and director of the emmy program of international affairs there. subsequently, he taught at the university of colorado, the university of new hampshire, wesleyan university in connecticut college. he resides in portland, maine. we are going to do a question and answer after his presentation and if none of you ask him what these tactics with the navy used have to do with today i am going to ask so let's get on it. please join me in welcoming george daughan. [applause] >> thank you very much, dan. is a great pleasure to be back at the water street bookstore, one of the great bookstores in this country run by one of the

great staffs and i've seen a lot of them, so it's a great pleasure to be here. my book is entitled, "1812" the navy's war but it is really a whole history of the war of 1812, not just the history of the navy. not only is it a whole history of the war, in all its dimensions but it's also a complete history of the navy as well so what is the navy within the war that this look is about and that is what makes it such a terrific book if you don't mind my -- [laughter] my saying so. so, let me tell you something about the war of as a whole. i am reminded, since we are in new hampshire, that this is a

presidential election year. when you drive in here you see all the signs for the candidates. well, 1812 was also an election year, and president madison, though he never said so, in those days people running for high public office pretended that they really weren't running. their acolytes, their assistants and so on and ran it but they kept quiet about it. matteson dearly wanted to be reelected. this was his second term and here he is in 1812 involved in a very serious contest. it's not going to be a cakewalk like his first election was in 1808. this is going to be a very tough go for him and here he is in the middle of this important year

declaring for against great britain. the war was declared in june of 1812 and there were a lot of problems with declaring war then. let me just mention a couple of them. number one, the country was politically divided. if you think our country is politically divided now, and he doesn't think so after recent events, it was much more so when we had two political parties. one called the federalist, the others were the republicans. madisons party where the republicans. the federalists were dead set against the war, dead set against declaring war against great britain. the republicans themselves were somewhat uneasy about it.

there are a number of republicans who did not want to declare war either. the boat did declare war was very close so in both houses, but very close in the senate, not a single federalists voted for the war. some matteson was taking a politically divided country into war and you know how dangerous that can be. but it was much worse than that. the navy, the american navy in 1812 had 20 ships. six of them were laid up and being repaired in june of 1812 so we were down to maybe 14 ships. the british had 1000 ships. and six to 700 of those were in the water at any one time and the rest of them were being

repaired or being built in their shipyards. so our navy was practically nonexistent. in addition, our army was also in very bad shape, very small, had very old leaders, and was less than 10,000 at that time. of course the british were, the army was much bigger. why did madison think that he could win the war against england? what was his strategy? he had a strategy. he was not a stupid man, as you know. this was his strategy. in 1812, there were three prongs to the strategy i should say.

in 1812, napoleon invaded russia. and the fact that napoleon was going to invade russia was known by everybody in the whole world for a very long time. the army he was building up on the russian border was enormous. it was the biggest army in the history of the world and so he it could not be hidden. and it looked for all the world that he was going to conquer russia in a very short period of time and it also look like he was going to invade russia in june of 1812 which is what he did. if iffy one in russia, he would then be master of your. he would then have only two countries left to subdue, actually three. two were in the iberian peninsula of portugal and spain.

he had already invaded them, portugal and 1807, spain in 1808. he had been fighting a guerrilla war in spain for all of those years. he had an army they're trying to fight him. it was led by the duke of wellington. but everybody figured, once you get done with russia that napoleon himself would come to spain and he would win the war. his lieutenants have been fighting in spain and portugal prior to this time and they might not have been doing so well that when the master himself came it look like you would conquer there as well and then you have the whole continent. and who was next? it was the british. so madison thought that in view of this, the british would not want to at the same time be carrying on a war with the

united states and therefore they would he you willing to negotiate with him about the things that were bothering he and the republican party which were the impressment of american seamen, the british rules on trade and interference, the wholesale interference with our trade and their incitement of the indians in the west. these three were the big complaints and he thought the british would up to this time, were not willing to negotiate with them given the problem with napoleon would be willing to negotiate and not have a war with the united states at the same time they were trying to fight napoleon. in addition to napoleon, he thought that canada was practically defenseless.

the english had -- were concentrating on defeating napoleon. they had a very weak defense of canada and even though our army was very weak, we could invade canada and conquer at least part of it and use that to negotiate with the english. the third thing that he had going for him were privateers. he was going to unleash he thought hundreds of american privateers to prey on english shipping as had happened in the revolution. the revolution, the kent had hundreds of privateers. some people think there were over 1000. some people think there were over 2000 of them. there were a lot of them and he thought, it had a big effect on english commerce and they had an effect on bringing about a victory for the united states.

he thought the same thing would happen in this war so at least three things, napoleon, canada and the privateers. this is what he wanted to rely on even though he had no navy and a very small army, or very little navy. madison thought that the american navy such as that was, wasn't going to contribute anything to the war because it was so small. he thought it would be quickly defeated or there would need -- it would be located. the revolution in the continental army, that is what happened to it. it was not a factor in the war. okay, now let me explain to you, let me briefly give you a capsule version of what actually happened in the war. you know how wars go.

they never go the way people think they are going to go in this war did not go at all in the way madison thought it was going to go. the war can be divided up into three parts. the first part goes from june of 1812 to the end of that year, those six or seven months. may be into january of the next year. the second part of the war goes from that point until april of 1814 and the third part of the war goes from april of 1814 to february of 1850 so there were three parts of the war and let me just run through those very quickly. the rest of 1812 from june to december went completely differently from what madison

did. napoleon, god loves him, got the. nobody in the world thought that this was possible. and i explain in the book how he got defeated. i going to quite a lot of detail of what happened to him, but the bottom line is that by december of 1812, napoleon was racing back, his army having been defeated, he himself all alone with one aide is racing across europe to paris, to get to paris to save his regime and to rebuild his army. think of it. just himself. he started out with an army of probably six, maybe 700,000. we don't know exactly how many there were, there was a lot and now here he is reduced to himself in one aide racing back to get to paris. the english were hoping like

crazy that the russians would be able to catch him and then someone else would catch him. he was all alone. it could have happened. it didn't happen. he reached paris and he reached it just in time just before the french really understood how badly he had been defeated. he takes up the reins of power and he starts to rebuild his army. now, in england, from june until december, the english are worried. they are worried that napoleon is going to win. they don't really believe that he is being defeated and then, in december they finally find out that my god, we almost caught him, just caught him and if they caught him that would have been the end of him but they didn't. he got to paris.

and so the english spelled exhilarated. they felt that they had been given a new life and they were mad. they were mad at the united states. the united states has stabbed them in the back in june. they had declared war on them when they were not endangered from napoleon so they were mad. that is where the english stood at that time. where did the american stand? the americans had done terrible on the ground. the whole invasion of canada had failed. and the privateers did go out but the privateers, takes a long time to get that all going. the privateers were going quite well, but it would take a very long time before that really came into play. what about the american navy? my word the american navy was

doing just great. the first defeat of the american army in canada was at detroit in august, august 15 of 1812. madison could not believe it. he was horrified. here it was an election-year. he had told everybody he was going to invade canada and do all of this stuff in here he is, he loses. this is going to kill him in the election. four days later, four days later the uss constitution, old ironsides, he had been down to see old ironsides and it was all refurbished now. it's in great shape. while it is in better shape than it was in 1812. the constitution wins a victory

over an english. not too far off the coast, about 800 miles directly east of here and it is just two ships, right? it is just two ships. what does that mean? the english were apoplectic. in a month that news reached london and london was far more concerned with that defeat then they were about the victory in detroit. fly? why would it matter to them something as small of this? it matter to them because they said it punctured the invincibility, the aura of invincibility of the royal navy. the royal navy was their defense. anything, anything that created the illusion that perhaps they were vulnerable here, they took

as a blow to their national security. so this seemingly small event was a huge event to the english and then, then after this, the american navy and ship to ship battles had a number of victories in those six months. it wasn't just this one victory. and madison, who thought the navy wasn't going to do anything for him all of a sudden becomes an enormous advantage to him politically because the united states is so proud that we beat the english. and so, he all of a sudden grapples onto the navy in order to help himself get reelected. his election was still closed. he really won and by december he is reelected, but he is in

trouble because napoleon has been defeated. the english now don't have to worry too much about napoleon. let me put it this way, his whole strategy has been undermined. he didn't succeed in canada. napoleon has collapsed and the privateers, they are going to take a while. now, let me go on to the second phase of this war. all through 1813 until april of 1814, napoleon is still a problem. remember he went back to paris? he raised an army, 300,000 men. he is back in business, and so the english have to contend with

him all through that year. and they spend a good part of their time trying -- trying to create an alliance of the european powers to stop napoleon from regaining all of his power in europe. that occupies them all throughout 1813 but they still want to get back at us and they are just biding their time. they have not forgotten what we did to them. and madison himself, because napoleon is not free, he continues on with trying to invade canada, hoping that the privateers will do something, hoping for this, hoping for that but he knows he is in trouble if and he wants to negotiate an end to the war with the english, except they are not interested

in negotiating. they want revenge. okay, this second period comes to an end when napoleon is finally defeated in abdicates and 1814 and he is sent off to the island of elder. he has done. once that happens, the english now are going to deal with the united states only having dealt with napoleon in april of 1814 they are feeling their oats. they are feeling that they are going to really deal with the united states permanently. they are going to dismember us. they are going to invade us and so madison now, who started the war to and impressment, to get the english to agree to free trade, to do something about the

indians, his problem now becomes to defend the kent against the major invasion that is coming. so the english, the english plan to invade the united states in april of 1814. it is the three prong strategy. they're going to invade from canada. they are going to invade from new orleans. and they are going to have major reeds along the east coast of the united states. they are going to off louisiana from the united states. they're going to unite louisiana with canada and they are going to extend their control of louisiana, canada to the west coast of the united states. at the same time, they are going to break off new england from the united states and they are going to take over also florida. so they are going to dismember the united states.

they sent the troops that were fighting napoleon in france in april, after april of 1814 were sent to bermuda and then to québec, to begin the invasion. madison had a feeling that was going to be coming and it looked like we were not going to be able to prevent this. and from april of 1814 until august of 1814, the english looked very formidable and on august 24, they burned our capital. this was not the major invasion. the major invasion was coming from canada and new orleans. this was simply a rig. they had 4500 troops alone. we were a country of 8 million people, almost a million people

and here we are, 4500 tired british soldiers who had been fighting in france. they land, they fight a battle at planes bergen disburse our troops in and they marched into washington and opposed -- unopposed and they burned. imagine how everybody felt. the only thing that stopped them from burning the whole town is that there was a hurricane on the next day. it helps put helped put out the fires. the hurricane killed more british troops than the americans so after the hurricane, the english troops left and their next place was going to be boston. two weeks later, two weeks latem

canada turns around and goes back because the american navy won a big victory on lake champlain at plattsburgh. the american navy. the invasion from canada was dependent on the control of lake champlain. the british had a fleet there. we knew for a long time that they were going to invade and we built of up our fleet there. we had a wonderful commander there named mcdonough but everybody thought the english were going to defeat mcdonough and take plattsburgh and how far they would go then was so dependent on the circumstances and the weather and so on, but they were going to have an easy time of it. madonna stopped it. he defeated the english fleet, only two weeks after they had burned washington and, that

invasion army, the general who was leading the invasion army, once he saw the naval battle was being lost he turned around and went back to canada. because he said without lake champlain we cannot move further south safely. at the very same time that was happening, the british attacked also more, the very same time and they were beaten at baltimore. the united states navy played a huge part in the battle of also more as well so the navy in both of these battles changes the whole complexion of the war because up to this time the english have been doing wonderfully well but don't forget this, england is tired. they're people are tired. they have been fighting the french since 1793. they had been fighting napoleon

since 1799, and okay, they thought the strategy in america was fine as long as they were winning. they liked it when they won wanted washington. that was wonderful but to lose, and then to think they were going to have to put more troops in and spend more money and more sacrifice in order to split up the united states and gain territory, that was too much. so when news of plattsburgh in baltimore got to london, the whole political climate in england changed and they had a prime minister then, i wonderful guide named liverpool, who was a politician who always moved with political opinion. the franchise was very thin in england. it didn't matter to liverpool. lyndon johnson said, liverpool

could smell it and he knew it was all over. the people in england were not going to support a longer war when they weren't absolutely certain of victory. so, he ended the war. he negotiated peace. we are to have their peace negotiators there. madison wanted to negotiate from way back. our negotiating team had been there since august of 1814 thinking that it was going to be murder. instead of that, liverpool just settled with them and there was a peace treaty and christmas eve, december 24, 1814, the war was over. it was an unbelievable change of the events and a peace treaty with simply an armistice practically. nothing was solved and people

just, what it amounted to us we were just going to start -- stop fighting folks. we were going to go back to the way things were before war was declared. this was in december. now, in january 8, new orleans was fought and that invasion was already and training. it just didn't get word in times of the battle of new orleans is fought and we of course want it. what you don't know is the united states navy played a huge part in winning the battle of new orleans and i outlined that in great detail, showing how the united states navy played an important role and andrew jackson himself said that the american navy played a huge role and i maintained a decisive role with the battle winning in new orleans.