began to tease the woman saying madame, we have come to sock with you. terrified woman. tried to steer across the road to the hotel, but cross wouldn't have it. he said that he preferred the view of the government buildings from her boarding house. and so the friegtsenned woman went to the backyard to slaughter chickens for them. now t british were exhausted. they fought an hour-long battle and a heat so intense that 18 of

the men dropped dead from heat exhaustion. then they marched 6 months southwest of the capital and then burned the capital and tramped almost a mile down pennsylvania avenue to where they were now. they were famished and thirsty. admiral george coburn was the driving force. his superior, major general robert ross had second thoughts and he wanted to return. and coburn forced him by the influence of his occupants, to proceed. he said we've only got militia men ahead of us. that's nothing. we've come so far, we have to continue. he had been recognized by nelson.

he acknowledged coburn ability and knowledge and zeal. he was naugt of so highly by the british admiralty, that he was chosen to take the great napoleon into exile on the island. and i got ahold of his diary. and he said this man, napoleon, sometimes, wants to play the sovereign. i won't allow it. that is the fiber of a man who grabbed an american who was innocent. he took him and grabbed him for the white house as a british ban dit. the man he selected was roger chu. he became a long-time mayor of the city of washington. he was in a free-willing mood. he taunted and mocked the

madisons. and then he tweaked the honor of whiteman. he said take a souvenir chltsds he said i'll take one for myself. he selected a hat belonging to the president. and the british drank, they bought wine from decanters into cut glass. that he told us at the hemt of their region and the success of his majesty's land and they drank for peace to american and down with madison. and when one of the men found a

ceremonial hat and raised it by the tip of the bayonet. he said if they could not capture the little president, they won't parade his hat in england. and that night, they burned 2 white house and the treasury. and that night, the state and war departments, the last of which because the content of rope and tar sent clouds of choking black smoke over the city. the ruins were a telting commentary on a scale of cities deg regags. that's the seen as they left the capital. now, they came on wednesday night. at thursday, 2:00 p.m., there was a two hour storm that may have been a hurricane. locals had never seen anything like it. but it's mythological to say that that storm extinguished the

flames. i have correspondence from a number of sources that says the flames burn for several days a 56 the storm. so now uch this terrible site. but that's not the end of america's humiliation. washingtonians, in the middle of this catastrophe, were the ones that tid most of the looting. many waiting for the military to be out of sight. now they were free to steal and run. no one was around to protect private property on forced law and order. paul jennings, madison's slave, had been told by dolly's brother-in-law to go to 48th street to get his carriage. and from that vantage points, the slave would later recollect

a rebel taking advantage of a confusion, ran all through the president's house. that's what they call the white house then. then. and stole lots of silver. the british limited their looting to souvenir hunting in iegslated cases of robbery for which the thooefings paid dear to their home. they assured that their property would be safe. they appointed a company to patrol pennsylvania avenue to protect private property. they would perform so honorably for years. so excuse me while i take one more sip.

that's what happened while washington was being occupied. it was only three weeks later that the british forces surrendered. this was a sitting bulging with surrounding counties from pennsylvania and virginia. history has a way of taking a humiliating moment like that and turning it into glory. and this is what happened. it was raining hard and they were slashed with trenches. but even though the men were wet, damp, tired and hungry,

they were itching for pay back for what had happened in washington. the general in charge of the british, major general robert ross rode far ahead of the bulk of his troops. he predicted tonight i will stop in baltimore or in hell. he never made it to baltimore. question don't know whether he made it to help or hell. but a sniper's bullet tore off his right arm and lodged in his chest. his body was taken in a cart over a bumpy road to the ships. but by the time he got there, demoralizing everybody along the route, he was dead. so they took his corpse, aboard h.m.s. royal oak. and immersed him in hog's head

rum where he would swish and sway at halifax, nova scotia. it took about an hour to overwhelm an inferior force of mostly militiamen. if they could bludgeon the mission, baltimore was theirs and philadelphia was probably next. but even though there was no cover and the pounding went on for a day and a night, nobody ran. nobody flimpled. the british planned an attack at night. they would later draw defenders away from the hef shrill fortified eastern hills so that the british infantry would then be able to charge through and

capture the city. but, towards midnight, the naval commando sent a message to his land commander that he would not be able to help. he said the force could you describe not penetrate the cattle behind which they waited with gun boats. and so the land commander if i failed my military character was gone forever. there was a man called phoebe morris. and she wrote to her father. she said papa, we may have to swear allegiance to the british crown in three months that. 's how high the stakes were. there was a hostage on board called francis scott key. he was a hostage from this way. they only remained 24 hours or 26 hours, somewhere around there. we were afraid of being cut off and attacked on their way back to the ships. it was still there.

this is what they did to deceive the americans. they, in turn, captured a friend of francis skothd key, his name was dr. william beings. they took him away as a hostage. key pleaed for his friend's release. at sunset, he had seen this gigantic flag. what so proudly we held at the twilight's last gleaming. it was 42 feet by 30 feet. it had been raised there by the fort's commander, major george armestead. he was in active defiance.

release. at sunset, he had seen this gigantic flag. what so proudly we held at the twilight's last gleaming. it was 42 feet by 30 feet. it had been raised there by the fort's commander, major george armestead. he was in active defiance. he was saying if you want baltimore, you first have to lower this flag. that's how key got to see what's happening. and it paced if deck of the ship and the doctors hoping the

explosions would continue. if there was silence, it might mean the fort had been capitulated. but in the dark hours before dawn, there was a lower in the firing. never before had he looked with such reverence upon the symbol of his country. never before had the flag had such a sheen to its glory. in his ecstasy, there was no other word. on the back of it, he jotted down thoughts, words, phrases, anything that would tumble through his mind while the intensity of the moment lasted. three days later, the british withdrew. his poem was now published and set to the tune of a popular song in those days called two cm are in help. now, five days later, congress met in the undamaged patent office in washington around 8:30 in the evening. and they put the congressman's

chairs and desks right up to the fireplace flfs one advantage. they didn't have to shout. they debated the motion that would move the capital to philadelphia or elsewhere to save the cost of rebuilding the ruined city. imagine, the north earners, stuck in their heel, they said no. if the original language establishing washington as the nation's capital described it as the permanent seat of government.

to do anything else would be to affront the dignity of george washington who, himself, had discovered the site. it was approved. when it was put in legislative form, it was long debated. it ended this costly war between two exhausted nations. john quincy adams, and later, going to bed that night, having pry prayed that this would be the last great war between if two great, english-speaking countries. but it took a long time for word to cross the atlantic in those days.

andrew jackson assembled an army of pie rats and miliitia men and put them behind a makeshift. facing this mighty british army, forced through centuries of warfare. later that year, it would include the downfall of napoleon.

the british were impatient. they should have waited until they took the flank across the mississippi river. instead, they had no cover. they were picked off one after the other. surprisingly, the american artillery was more accurate. as the day wore on, the ditch became a pool of british dead. when it was all the over, there were more than 2 million british casualties. britain had never suffered such

a lopsided defeat in its military history. i think, it didn't speculate in the book, but i will now. i think had that battle been fought in advance of the peace treaty, we might be running canada today. and so from that moment, you could say that america won its dignity and respect and admiration. the second war of independence was truly over. and so is my speech. [ applause ] >> i finished earlier than i thought. that means much more time for questions. but, please, i beg of you, limit them to the extent of my talk. my expertise has to do with

washington and baltimore and new orleans. the rest, it's a long war. i really am not at liberty to speak on the rest of the war. >> why did the u.s. troops withdraw their ammunition from the top of the hill there? >> that's a very good question. there was a poem fought at lunchtime at the same day that the british arrived at sunset in

washington. and the british rolled all over the americans. the poem made fun of the americans running. it was called the blatantburg's races. most of the people who ran and broke ranks, were not so well trained like regulars. the british army, it was the finalist. they were seasoned in the british war. the americans, who had been trained 114 marines.

they fought as well as they got. they fought so gallantly. they took 10% casualties. they were terrified at the beginning of these british who had just been trained so well that they crossed a narrow bridge and then they would go forward in lines. and the americans were later in baltimore, too. they were so impressed with this, they couldn't believe it. so it was inevitable that the british could succeed.

in fact, before the battle began, the secretary of war and the general commanding of american forces had pointed out the roots of escape for the americans. the british were so anxious, to engame the enemy that they rushed forward without the approval of the british commander. they said oh, if we only had this man, he would teach the value of patience. they were horrified to see this, but it was too late. the british were storming through. so it's very, very unfair to

blame the americans. that's why there is a myth going around that the commandant's home that the marine barracks were saved. i didn't find any documentary evidence of the bravery of the marines that they spared that house. i didn't find any documentary of the evidence to support that, that's a myth that's come up into the modern age, i don't know whether that's true or not. >> thank you for your presentation, anthony. i was wondering if you could give us some details about the burning of the washington naval yard. >> of the naval yard? yes. the question was can i give some

background to the burning of the navy yard. this is a terrible story. none of us would want to go through what commandant thomas tingy went through that night. he had been told by the secretary of the navy that if the british succeeded at the battle of braithersburg and proceeded within the boundaries of washington, then he was to take preemptive action and burn the shipping, the ordinances, supplies, everything else at the navy yard. this was a terrible decision to make. but they didn't want this to fall into the hands of the enemy. and, so, he waited until the last minute. he sent his scouts out and came back with the news that, yes, the british had succeeded and they were pouring into washington. so he had no alternative. now, they took the decision that

horrified them. they had laid gun powder and set it alight. like pyrotechnics. and people there couldn't believe what themp doing, but they had to carry out orders. this came from the very top of the secretary of the navy. preemptive action. and that's what they did. they watched these built by the finest labor. she had been built and gone to virginia and he was going to come back and take her. and she was amazed at the billowing flames coming over the navy yard. it felt like she was in the middle of it all. and she said, she wrote a letter to her sister, the letter survives in princeton. she said nobody slept that night because of the awful sight and awful sounds that people saw and heard. she was talking about the navy yard. it must have been a terrible

moment. >> thank you so much for your talk. fascinating. you eluded to in your talk, the taking of alex and dree ya, which was, as i have come to understand now, a second detachment of the british flaet that had some rather amazing, treacherous sailing up the potomac river and somehow treacherous sailing up the

potomac river and somehow managed to get away. could you comment on that a little bit if you would? >> the briltish had hoped that the moment, if they would have succeeded, that benedict coming up fa the east and a squadron coming up the potomac river and arrive at washington and

probably that would be it. the labor force coming up the potomac river had not been there before. they didn't realize that they were the kettle bolt toms. a lot of the ships got caught on the kettle bottoms. but they came up the potomac river. and they were at the white house, which was then in place on the shores. and they were about three miles from this fort. what was it called again? fort washington. he held a conference for some of his people. he said i think we better surrender. we better leave the fort. so without a shot being fired, they retreated the fort. they left it to the british. the british couldn't believe the good luck. they couldn't understand this. but as the fort was folding, it lit up on fire. dyson was convicted and kicked out of the mim tear. they drnt want anybody of that caliber. he said what's the point of flying a flag if we're going to be taken anyway. he was the worst kind of commander that you want at a time like that. so the british took a fort. and there was knock between them in alexandria and virginia. so they sailed upstream.

and they late-sieged alexandria. now, just about everybody from alexandria had been called up and gone to other places. and they were old and infirmed t >> just about everybody from alexandria had been called up and had gone to blatansburg and other places. they were old and infirmed and either too young or too old. they were in no position to defend the city. so a delegation of alexandria of

notables went to see coburn and he spoke to them as if they were underlings. he demeaned them. he told them that they would be attacked and ransacked if they took action against the forces. but he told them that they were going to raid the warehouses of agricultural produce. he also demanded that sunken american ships be raised by the americans. he did raid the warehouses. and they did terrible damage. terrible damage. the americans brought some people from baltimore.

they did a good job, but they ran out of ammunition. and they were castigated in the press for this folly. they took away this vast agricultural produce from ale kbrks andria. and dolly madison was terrified of this. she was horrified. she said that they should have blown up the city rather than to surrender it. she was one of those that said, in a situation like that, you don't fly the white flag. you defend the place, or you let it be destroyed. but you do not give it away to

the enemy. and that is exactly what happened. and the british sailed away, and they managed to get away. none of their ships were sunk. yes? >> did the british try to pursue president madison after he left the city? >> no. they did make that mocking remark that this little president, this 5'4" man, they would braid his hair in england, if they didn't capture him. yes? >> did the british try to pursue president madison after he left the city? >> no. they did make that mocking remark that this little president, this 5'4" man, they would braid his hair in england, if they didn't capture him. madison had escaped across the

potomac river into virginia. agreeing to meet his wife at wiley's tavern, which is 16 miles northwest of washington near great falls. and he was 63 years old. this little retiring man. brilliant. but he was described as like a school master, just finished whipping his school boys, and now he was crying over the fact -- it was very different from his outgoing wife, who was very outgoing and garilous. many americans didn't know where he was at. he probably stayed in an estate on route 23 south, probably at

raines' tavern, an inn recommended by thomas jefferson at falls church. and then he went up to wiley's tavern and finally he met his wife, dolly. and he crossed over into montgomery courthouse, which was now called rockville. they expected to find the americans' army there. but they had already gone off to baltimore to defend it. and so that was friday night. so he rode over east to brookville, a quaker village in montgomery county, out of the path of the advancing british. they couldn't capture him there. and there are interesting scenes. the american cavalry and infantry lit their flickering fires by the river and by the mill, and brookville residents, young and old, pressed their faces against the window panes trying to get a glance of the president who was in their little village. and he stayed at the home of caleb and henrietta bentley, quaker friends of dolly. it was also the postmaster.

that building still stands where he stayed. and by his presence, supreme executive authority resided in brookville at that moment. because washington was in captivity. and so that's why the residents of brookville described their village as the capital of america for one day. but they never caught him, they never caught his wife, dolly, who was also roaming around, unknown to a lot of americans. they did come back. the british arrived at sunset on wednesday. they retreated on thursday night. madison came back on saturday morning after he had been told that the british had left. and it took him five hours to ride from brookville to washington, about 25 miles, and then he didn't leave any written commentary of what he felt like. that distressed me, i wanted to

know what this person thought. there are descriptions of melancholy. that is a description that appears time and again. and shame and embarrassment and graffiti, and it went on and on. but not from madison. he kept his peace. dolly came back on sunday, the day after, and she was disguised in the clothing of another person. she had lost eight of her bodyguards, who decided to get drunk rather than to defend her, and she arrived with one bodyguard. and she even had to acknowledge her identity to a guard at the potomac river, which she didn't

want to do, but she had to, to be allowed to cross. and then she was described by people who saw her that day, and the next days, as a person who was totally broken in spirit. this woman who was normally ebullient, and very well liked, she was now distraught and very introverted. but she was fiery and feisty. and she said if only she had weapons to use, she would have used them at that stage against the enemy. and so the british really, they

had done what coburn had decided. they wanted to get washington, because he said, if you can strike at the heart of an enemy, which is the capital city, you will destroy their morale. that's exactly what he wanted to do. he knew -- didn't have anything to offer strategically, washington, but it did have the capital building in the president's house. and it was the nation's capital. and that's why they totaled it. but there was an occupation that did a lot of damage. nearly all the government buildings were destroyed, with the exception of the patent office, which was really saved because thomas -- dr. thornton was the superintendent of patents. and he learned that the british were going to destroy it. and he said to them, this is not private property -- this is not public property, this is private property. these are private inventions. and the british bought it, and

they saved that building. but they never caught the madisons. yes? >> do we know how long it took to rebuild the white house and the capital after it burned? >> yes, the white house, because it didn't have any major additions, took three years. they invited hoghogan, who won the medal for designing it, to redesign it, and latrobe to redesign the capitol, which took five years. now, the capitol was, at that time, many people think it was destroyed. that's not true. the flames which were set by the british, they unremittingly came back towards the british, and the vaulted ceilings which were pioneered by latrobe, as an architectural feature, they managed to act as fire breaks, so that the vaulted ceilings and a lot of it was saved. if you want to see the parts that were saved, go into the vestibule near the old supreme court where the senate used to meet. that was destroyed. but you will see in the vestibule columns there that are

beautifully topped with corn cob capitals designed by -- carved by giovani andre. and instead of having the normal cantel sleeves showing husks of corn, the corn cob capitals. and those are in the vestibules. and then you'll see in the rotunda, you will see the places that survived. and there's a room now occupied by the house majority leader, which is doubled at that time as a committee in the district of columbia, and an office for the president when he went to the u.s. capitol. and coburn wanted a souvenir. so he went into this office. it still stands. and he found a boring book, a book on the table belonging to madison, and it was written there in gold type, president's copy. it was an expenditures of the u.s. government for 1810. a very boring book. but he wrote on the inside

cover, probably at a later date, taken by admiral coburn on the destruction of the capitol during the occupation of washington august 24th, 1814, and given to him by his brother. in philadelphia in 1940, a rare book dealer authenticated the writing and gave the book to the library of congress. when brian lamb interviewed for book tv, it was in the main reading room of the library of congress. he said to me before we aired, would you like any props? and i said, please, bring it down from the red book division. and he brought it down. they gave me the white gloves to handle it. and i was trembling. because this is the visible proof of the past. the tangible evidence of its happenings. and if you didn't react with a heightened sensation, you needed a heart transplant. when brian lamb interviewed for

book tv, it was in the main reading room of the library of congress. he said to me before we aired, would you like any props? and i said, please, bring it down from the red book division. and he brought it down. they gave me the white gloves to handle it. and i was trembling. because this is the visible proof of the past. the tangible evidence of its happenings. and if you didn't react with a heightened sensation, you needed a heart transplant. so, you know, some marvelous -- there was so much. i didn't think there would be so much extent at the time when i decided to write the story. and i was amazed that if you dig

deep, really deep, and you go for the original documents, not other people's books. i really dislike doing that. go for the original documents, the affidavits, depositions, reports back to the british, which i found in the national archives in queue, you will find so much that makes this a living testimony of what happened at the time. it was not a forgotten war as it's called today. it was a war that should be remembered by everybody. i give a speech at ft. mchenry, well, i did before my stroke two years ago, but every year, on the anniversary of francis scott key writing the national anthem in september, i would go to ft. mchenry and give a speech on why and when and how he wrote the national anthem. at the end of it the people would come up to me afterwards and say, thank you, i didn't realize the story. i couldn't believe it. because this is one of the fundamental beliefs of this

country. is that, this is such a momentous occasion writing the national anthem, the words to the national anthem. and they didn't know the story. i think it's a thrilling moment. i really -- when i go to ft. mchenry, i feel this every time. when you hear the anthem next and you now know the story, i'm sure you'll listen to it with a different kind of feeling. because it's not archaic words, it's something that resonates down the centuries. and it's very meaningful. >> thank you for being here. >> thank you very much.

>> this is what's known as the anacostia river. it's a tributary of the potomac. and this plays a key part in everything that happens at blatansburg. this used to be a deep-water river. in fact, when blatansburg was founded in 1749, this was a deep water port with ships coming from around the globe to take away tobacco that was grown around here. but by 1812, it still really filled in a lot of the eastern branch. so blatansburg was no longer any kind of a major port, but it was

still important by virtue of all of the roads around there. and the river up there was quite shallow and easily affordable, where as the eastern branch, down river from here, is a pretty major river still to cross it. this first bridge that we see right in front of us was the location of the -- what was then known as the eastern branch bridge. it was not that far from the washington navy yard. in order to get into washington from a more drektsd approach, the british would have to cross the river at this bridge. american commanders would set up

forces and explosives underneed the bridge ready to blow it when the briltish approached. so ross had opted to cross the river up at blatansburg, still a couple miles up river from where we are now. and august 24th. at noon, after he sends his forces across the river, the first ones cross on the bring at blatansburg, which americans had neglected to blow, just in the chaos and confusion of the moment, and led by colonel william thorn ton, one of ross's brigade commanders, they hit the maryland militia head on, took some initial casualties, but, pretty quickly, were able to envelop the americans, get around them and force the militia to start retreating pretty quickly.

the militia retreated to a second line of defense and the british kept oncoming. they also had concrete rockets. this was a relatively new weapon at the time. coburn used them with quite a bit of effectiveness. most of the american militia troupes haven't seen them before. these rockets were notoriously difficult to aim. but they were really weapons of terror. they were almost like, you know, huge sky rock ets that would flare up in the sky. but because they were so difficult to aim, they were, you know, difficult -- they weren't a very reliable weapon for the british. but they were good at frightening the american troops. and the british were able to use them with great effectiveness at blatansburg for that reason.

they started firing these -- many of them were going over the heads of the militia troops. but that was enough to cause some of them to start you were turning and running. in fact, president presiden ridden up from washington. his headquarters was down here near the navy yard where the general winder had convened on the morning of august 24th. madison and most of the cabinet had come there as well. mad dissouthern had ridden by horse out to bladensburg there to -- mostly to observe and to make sure his secretary of war, john armstrong, would give general winder the sport he needed. madison when he gets to the -- to bladensburg before the fighting had started almost runs directly into british lines. the british are just arriving as madison gets there. madison actually rides across

the bridge into bladensburg before being told by a scout who was up front that, mr. madison, the british are in bladensburg. madison and his attorney general richard rush turn around and head back to american lines where they're observing the battle. once the fight starts out madison is initially encouraged by the first resistance that the militia is showing. the british when they start firing rockets actually fire one that goes right over the head of madison and the rest of his cabinet officers. it was -- sailed high harmlessly but madison becomes the first american president to come under fire on a battlefield. madison moved back at that point to a somewhat safer distance. in the meantime, the american lines are starting to collapse

as the british start crossing the river in force. some are using the bridge, others arewadeing across the river and pretty soon they have enough of a force that the second line of militia defense is collapsing. one of the problems that the americans are encountering here was command interference. you had james monroe who was secretary of state. he had come to scout out the lines. he had basically been serving as a scout for several days for madison even though he was secretary of state he was pretty much throwing himself into danger's way. but he directs some of the militia troops to move further back to the front line and this leads them out of support for one another. monroe didn't really do the american troops at bladensburg much of a favor by his attempts

to reorganize them. so you have two lines now of militia that are collapsing. they're all starting to retreat but with no fixed point in mind. general winder hadn't saved or hadn't -- hadn't designated any kind of rally point. winder already had a lot of experience at retreating now just as the british had advanced on washington. he had ordered his troops back a number of times, but he really botches this retreat. as the militia are falling back a lot start heading north towards baltimore, others north towards georgetown and none towards the third line of defense which has been formed by joshua barny and his navy platoon men and the district militia which had raced up from washington during the course of the morning in the terrible heat.

in fact, the maryland militia commanders hadn't even been informed that there was a third line. no one had told them that joshua barney and the district militia had formed behind them. so they're retreating in a chaotic fashion. winder is losing his nerve and he ends up ordering a general retreat. this even as the british are starting to approach the third line of defense, which is made up of barney and the district of militia. now the british at blade denseberg have to move uphill to attack this third line. barney is positioned on a strong position on the district/maryland line. he has big guns, 18 pound weapons that he brought with him. he also had some of the u.s. marines, the marine corps barracks here in washington which had come up to support the platoon men serving as

infantrymen for them. the british as they're trying to move into the face of these guns take quite a significant amount of casualties. the front line troops from the 85th light infantry were taking 1/4 casualties. so very significant bloodshed. it appeared to barney and to some of the district militia commanders that they were on the verge of maybe turning the tide here. winder with the maryland militia retreat has ordered a general retreat. barney doesn't get this word. he and his men keep on fighting and then he sees that the district militia has pulled back under orders from winder. ross manages to get high ground over barney and his flotilla men. they are able to take down a number of the flotilla men

including some of the gun crews. barney himself is hit in the hip, severely wounded, and tries to disguise his wound from the british but -- and from his own men because he doesn't want them to lose faith. but very quickly barney is also running out of ammunition. all of the crews that were bringing his ammunition, civilian crews, they had joined in the general retreat so barney was running out of ammunition. it was pretty clear he was surrounded or close to it at this point so barney then orders his men to surrender and retreat. and he orders them to leave him on the battle field. one of his officers stays with him. most of the flotilla men are able to ee skbang to washington. barney is left on the battlefield. pretty soon he's found by the british soldiers who run and get

admiral coburn. barney over the course of the previous several months had been really the one american officer who had really offered strong resistance to the british and both coburn and ross were quite impressed with him. and ross comes up as well and they agree to pardon barney on the spot, meaning that he wouldn't be officially held in british custody but he was out of the war at this point until he could be traded for another prisoner. the americans are now in full retreat back towards washington. the british own the field at bladensburg after several hours of combat. you know, this is sometimes called the bladensburg races because of the way the militia retreated so chaotically. in a sense it's an act of a term but it does discredit the brave

fighting that did happen here, particularly from barney's flotilla men and the marines who fought bravely took heavy casualties and at one point seemed like they might be able to turn the tide of the battle. the british fought bravely fighting uphill against those guns and that type of thing. but these guys were known as wellingtons for a reason. they caught the french in europe and the forces they met here at bladensburg just were not a match for them ultimately. here are some highlights for this coming weekend. friday, live at 10:00 a.m. on cspan, the nebraska supreme court will hear oral arguments on the keystone xl pipeline. saturday at 6:30 p.m. on the communicators, michael cox and robert mcdowell. with campaign 2014 gearing up, watch the latest debates on cspan. sunday at noon, kate haggan and

republican opponent tom till let and from the california governor's race, jerry brown and republican nominee neil koshkurry. friday night at 8:00 on cspan 2, author john yu shares his thoughts on international law. saturday on book tv's afterwards, mike gonzalez and how he thinks republicans can make gains for the hispanic vote at 10:00 p.m. eastern and sunday at noon on in depth, our three hour conversation and your phone calls with the former chair on the u.s. commission on rights, marion francis wright. they talk about the burning of washington during the war of 1812. saturday on real america, the building of the hoover dam and sunday night at 8:00, the anniversary of president gerald ford's pardon of richard nixon. find our television schedule at cspan.org. call us at 202-626-3400. accepted us a tweet at #c123 or

you can e-mail us at comments@cspan.org. like us on facebook, follow us on twitter. coming up tonight on american history tv in primetime, day one of a symposium marking the 200th anniversary of the burning of washington d.c. and the war of 1812. first andrew lambert on the naval aspects of the war. then catherine al ger, author of the perfect union, dolly madison and the creation of a perfect nation. that's followed by alan taylor talking about his book the civil war of 1812 and later remarks by john stagg, editor of the james madison papers at the university of virginia. coming up, day one of a symposium of the burning of washin a