to coburn finding in him, quohe served as a senior captain in nelson's squadron. trusts him with command in his absence telling him that, quote, we're so -- we think so exactly alike on points of service that if your mind tells you it is right, there can hardly be a doubt, but i must approve. so in 1812, at the relatively young age of 40, cockburn reaches flag rank, and the admirality in london looking for a new assignment for him with things calming down in the mediterranean decides to send him across the ocean to north america. now, the first months of the war had not been exactly stellar for the royal navy. you know, as we heard from previous speakers, whether and how significant the battles were

is certainly in question. but in any event, they were a bit of an embarrassment for the royal navy, and the commander, the north american station, sir admiral john warren was conducting a pretty lackluster campaign. there was some thought he needed the boost of a subordinate who could be a bit more aggressive. there was a british naval historian who was actually detained in philadelphia when war broke out. and he would later write, his name was william james, and he would later write, until cockburn's arrival in the chesapeake, people in this region would, quote, scarcely have known except by hear say that war existed. and that was about to change. cockburn arrives in the spring of 1813 and finds the chesapeake just custom made for an expeditionary force such as he

had, 200 mile length of the bay with all the rivers serving as tributaries, really provided access to what was then the real economic as well as political heartland of america. and this chesapeake bay quickly turns into a lake. quite quickly in the spring of 1813, we start seeing attacks on the upper shores of the bay of many towns includie ining hale e havre de grace and towns along the eastern shore. brigadier general zebulon pike leads an american landing force on the shores of ontario near york. and they defeat the british and canadian defenders, but there is an explosion which kills pike

and many other americans. and in the confusion that follows, it is apparently some american troops that set fire to the parliament building in new york. these soldiers were not operating with any instructions, but nonetheless are more than likely the ones responsible. so this was an act that wasn't sanctioned by american commanders and it -- it doesn't spark much reaction at all from great britain. it is not reported in the dispatches sent back to london. it is seen as a relatively little consequence and the british were not terribly upset by it.

cockburn is doing a number of things that is infuriating others, including the burning of havre de grace and the attack on hampton, virginia, several months later. and these were acts that truly tare fide americans. and infuriated them. cockburn at the time was probably not only the most hated man in america, but also the most feared. and what cockburn is doing really is to -- to practice a form of total warfare, 50 years before william tecumseh sherman was doing in the south. cockburn wanted to inflict so much damage on this rich country around the capital that the government would find it impossible politically or militarily to continue the war,

to continue its invasions in canada. so this british invasion of the chesapeake was really intended to divert troops from canada. but cockburn sees the possibility for more. he's so unimpressed with the quality of the defenses around -- in the region, that he begins to think of -- that the capture of the capital would be certainly possible. and he sees this as a possibility to persuade americans of this high cost of this war and to so humiliate the government of james madison that they would be forced to make peace on british terms. in the summer of 1814, john stewart skinner, who was an american prisoner of war agent, who incidentally would later be francis scott key's companion watching the bombardment of ft. mchenry, skinner travels out, sales into the potomac to meet

with cockburn to exchange some letters and gossip. and cockburn mentioned to skinner as they're walking along the deck of albeon, the flagship, that he doesn't see much way out for the president. he says, quote, mr. madison will have to put on his armor and fight it out. i see nothing else left. there is nothing subtle about this, and cockburn was aware that this word would get back to washington and madison pretty quickly. but cockburn was so unimpressed with the american defenses that he didn't mind sending this word. he knew that there was nothing really the americans could do about it. in its third year, the war had taken a very ugly turn for the united states. driven primarily by events overseas, in particular in april

1814 prosecution the application of napoleon, which appears to have ended two decades of war in europe, and the british who had been able to really devote relatively scant resources to this annoying war on -- across the ocean were now in a position to put an end to this conflict. and relatively small number of troops, some of them from the force that had just defeated napoleon, some of them who had been under the command of the duke of wellington are put on transports in france and sent across, including some 4,000 that are sent to the east coast. and the other thing that happens is the replacement of warren with admiral alexander cochran as the new commander of the north american station. and cochran was a real hater of

americans, his brother had been killed at york town, beheaded by a cannonball and he was quite eager to give the americans a good drubbing. and upon his arrival in bermuda, in taking command in april of 1814, cochran issued cockburn a cart blanche. quote, you are perfect liberty as soon as you can muster a sufficient force to act with utmost hostility against the shores of the united states. their seaports laid in ashes and the country wasted will be some sort of retaliation for their savage conduct in canada. a couple of points here. cochran was talking not about york, but newark, which was on the niagara frontier in which where american troops had truly done a heinous thing and burned homes and left civilians out in the dead of winter. there had been other actions along lake erie that had also caused quite a bit of concern. the other point, of course, is

that cockburn had been laying seaports and ashes and wasting the country for quite some time now. for over a year. towns such as hampton in virginia had been burned. now he has sufficient sanction and the british would claim their actions in the chesapeake were in retaliation for american actions in canada. now, with troops on the way to the chesapeake on july 17th of 1814, cockburn submits a secret plan to cochran to capture the capital. all he needed were the troops that he could bring up the patuxent river, one of the tributaries that would provide a back route to washington. and he says, within 48 hours after arrival in the patuxent, such a force, the city of washington might be possessed without difficulty or opposition of any kind. and cockburn spends the summer

preparing for this, this invasion that he has in mind. he's got his base at tangier. and we heard from alan taylor about how the colonial marines were trained at this island. tangier was a perfect base for the british because it provides easy access to both potomac and the patuxent there in the middle of the bay, deep water, except for mosquitos and the fact that a lot of the british came down with various illnesses, it was a well situated. and all this time, cockburn is doing sound, taking soundings along the potomac and patuxent, looking for the best route to washington. he's getting all kinds of intelligence from escaped slaves, from sympathizers and british in southern maryland and also from the newspapers, which are very hopefully printing all kinds of information about troop strengths and movements and all

of which cockburn takes careful note of. there was really only one man offering any real opposition to cockburn at this point. and that's commodore joshua barney, who was a hero from the revolutionary war and had sprung to action when war was declared and commanded a privateer very successfully and then the -- as cockburn is going ravaging the chesapeake bay, he proposes the construction of a -- a more or less a mosquito fleet of shallow draft barges that could attack the british in the chesapeake, which much of the waters in the chesapeake being quite shallow. he sails from baltimore in may of 1814 and pretty soon comes into contact with the british, who chases him into the patuxent

river, and he's soon trapped in st. leonard creek. this is now june of 1814. now, barney manages to escape up the river, blasts his way out through a combination of incompetence by the british and barney's aggressive actions and he manages to continue up the patuxent. cockburn is not too happy about this at first. he quickly sees an opportunity here. true, he would have to take care of barney and the flotilla before he can mount an attack on washington, but he sees the flotilla as an opportunity to disguise his designs on washington. he can use barney being in the patuxent as a reason for going up the river in force and to keep the americans confused, which turns out to be not very hard to do.

in mid-august of 1814, the british reinforcement troops arrive under the command of major general robert ross, who was one of welli ining ton's ve capable lieutenants in the peninsula war. ross was -- his instructions were to create a diversion along the east coast, and he was very specifically told not to do anything with this force that would risk it. british have designs eventually on attacking new orleans. this is a pretty small force. 4,000 men compared to these armies that had been raging across europe, 100,000 and more. this is a small force and ross knows it. and he's finding -- he's a bit skeptical at cockburn's claims that they can capture washington with this force. but cockburn goes to work

persuading them otherwise. he emphasizes that the weak american defenses and talks about how much he's been able to accomplish just with his royal marines. and he elaborates on this plan they have in mind, he would -- the main force would go up the patuxent river, with the army landing here at benedict, which is how far up river they can sail with large ships. and then another force would go up the potomac river, which, of course, is the more obvious route to washington. but it is protected by the kettle bomb shoals and the expectation is that large ships carrying large guns are not going to be able to sail past the shoals. cockburn has done some scouting and he's found a route through the shoals. and some more ships would sail up the bay under captain peter parker to disrupt communications

and further confuse the americans. and he's able -- he's able to persuade ross and admiral cochran to go along with this. ross, he takes them ashore, in st. mary's county and ross sees how poor the defenses are. and ross is, you know, an aggressive commander himself. he certainly has proven himself in the european wars, and he's eager to get home. he's got a wife who is not at all happy he's been sent across the ocean to fight in this new war. so what they agree to is they don't commit to an attack on washington, but they agree that they'll land the forces at benedict, and go try to trap barney and based on the resistance they meet, they can make a decision as to whether or not to continue on to washington. cockburn's plans are zealously endorsed by one of ross'

officers. this is lieutenant george de lacy evans. this was taken during the crimean war where he commanded a division. i love this photo because it kind of shows you -- we don't see too many photos of participants in this war. and this gives you an idea of what the american militia was up against, you know. a very serious, tough minded soldier was evans, and he is at ross' side and he's certainly encouraging the general to do this attack. quick aside, when i was doing research for this book, i flew to london, to look at the archives there, the day i arrived, i was staying at the flat of my former high school roommate and said, let's go look for cockburn's grave, it is in pencil green cemetery. we were wandering around in the cold and fog. and instead of finding

cockburn's grave, we did find george de lacy evans and he's a stone's throw from cockburn. two of the figures most responsible for this attack in washington are within a stone's throw of each other. is with ama was amazed. i don't know about my friend, but i couldn't get over it. he wanted to get back to watch some soccer. but so the landing takes place on august 19th, and it works beautifully, just as cockburn has said it will. the americans are completely flumoxed. they can't figure out what's going on. they do trap the flotilla, august 22nd. barney blows it up rather than have the boats fall into british hands. he escapes with his flotilla

men. but by this point there has been so little resistance offered ross that he is persuaded that it is worth continuing on to washington. and in washington there is some hope that, well, now the british are going to turn back. they have finished off barney's employ flotilla, they have done their business and they're going to go sail away. this is an example of wishful thinking we see in the defense of washington. there is several more brilliant faints as they move to upper marlboro, and it becomes more apparent that washington is going to be a target. even then, general winder, the american commander who is getting no support from the secretary of war john armstrong is very confused as to where he should position his forces. in retrospect, it should have been quite obvious they were going to have to come through blainsburg to get to washington because in order to cross the

eastern branch of the potomac, as it was then known, they were going to -- they would have to cross that river and it was going to be too difficult down here where the river is quite wide. and the river -- one can anticipate the bridges would be blown. but at brightonsburg, the water was shallow enough that they could forge if the river there was blown. after a final faint, and very belated realization by the americans that brighteonsburg ws the site, on august 24th, there is a battle at brightonsburg. speaking of marines, this shows some of the marines fighting at brightonsburg. a couple of points, i don't want to talk too much, but we always talk about the blainsburg races and how the militia just scattered and the british cut through them. all that is true to a point. i think the first place we have to remember that the militia that shows up, these are

civilians who have not been well trained. not well equipped, very poorly led by winder and very poorly supported by armstrong, the federal government. and yet they showed up. they -- these are citizen soldiers showing up to fight a very formidable force, maybe not in numbers, but certainly in terms of experience. and had they been better led or had they been used earlier to show any resistance, i think ross would have turned around. and there is also very strong showing by the marines, who are serving as infantry to barney and his flotilla men who form a third line of defense. after the first two lines of maryland militia are scattered, the british have to charge uphill into barney's guns and there is some very heavy fighting, and i would say that this battle was not -- was not a

done deal that barney comes close to turning it around. runs out of ammunition. and the british proved to be too much. he's desperately wounded. the british after a few hours of fighting then are left with an open road into washington. winder retreats all the way through town to georgetown and decides that's not far enough. he goes to tenley town where the heights there. you seat burning sta insee the begin. he decides he's too close. he goes all the way to the courthouse, not his finest moment. we can see the path that madison would take. we hear more about that later today. i won't go into much detail about that either. the british, once they enter

town, i think it is quite clear that ross had come to the conclusion, even as their entering town, that the federal buildings in washington would be burned. if they couldn't receive a healthy r yy ransom for it. and, in fact, after one incident at the belmont home where they come under sniper fire, they get to work and the capital is soon in flames, the americans themselves burn the washington navy yard, which is just stocked full of timber and tar and all sorts of naval supplies. and this is really what makes some of the largest fires. and you have -- we're speaking earlier of conflagrations. this is what you see, the sight of the navy yard burning from very far away and the sheets of flame winding up from the capital can be -- are visible as far away as fredericksburg,

frederick, maryland, and ominously in baltimore they can see the glow in the sky. this was an enormous fire that was burning in washington and then soon the white house itself goes up in flames. we saw this portrait yesterday and you can see that cockburn doesn't feel a huge measure of regret here. ross had come to share cockburn's view that the burping of washington was -- could be a way of forcing an end to the war. so in the report that he sends to london, very soon after this, ross calls the destruction of washington's building, quote, the opposite of the expedition and makes no mention of retaliation. but instead describes it as a humiliation for the americans that would soon end the war.

he wants -- he believes it is going to get the u.s. government's attention and they'll be forced to make peace. he writes, quote, they feel strongly the disgrace of having had their capital taken by a handful of men and blame very generally a government which went to war without the means or the abilities to carry it on. the injury sustained by the city of washington in the destruction of the public buildings has been immense and must discuss the country with a government that has left them capital unprotected. nonetheless, i think it is fair to say that ross likely would not have consented to burning the federal buildings in washington, had he not thought it justified in response to what the american actions in canada. this isn't what drives him to burn it, but he does feel that they do have some justification here. it is not york that is the justification that is on british minds, it is really newark,

which i mentioned earlier, and similar episode at dover on the north shores of lake erie that were really on british minds. now, one point i wanted to make about this moment is that the news quickly arrives within three weeks in great britain that, you know, the capital has been capture and the building is burned and there is great joy in london, celebrations at hyde park, guns being fired, and a real belief that the war is going to end very quickly and that great britain after two decades is finally going to be able to have a time of peace. but in the weeks that ensue, there is some criticism that surfaces in the european press that notes that napoleon

conquered europe without burning the capitals of europe and how come the british weren't able to do the same. and the french particularly liked this line of argument and one of the french papers actually writes that this action in washington is, quote, unworthy of civilized nations. and it is only then that by november, when there is -- the issue is brought up in parliament, that you hear any mention of york. don graves, a great canadian scholar on the war of 1812 has pointed out that the first mention in parliament of york comes november 8th. so this -- york becomes a justification after the fact for the british actions. and it soon is pretty well accepted and 200 years later, we see some of the results of that. now, three weeks after the attack on washington, the

british launch an attack on baltimore and this -- this is an attack that had the british launched immediately after washington, had they gone directly over land as in fact ross considers the outcome could have been very different. but in the three weeks since washington, the militia commander in baltimore, the baltimoreans had the sense to more or less stage a coup and not let winder take over as he should have, and major general samuel smith is in charge. and unlike winder, he has a scheme of defense and, you know, a real tactical sense and by building a large force of some 15,000 militia that have descended on baltimore from virginia, western maryland, from pennsylvania, and then putting his best men from baltimore city

brigade out at a thin point on north point where the british are advancing by land, he's able to in fact delay the british attack and in fact kill general ross in the skirmish that proceeds that battle. and then you have following up on that the attack on ft. mchenry, which, of course, is what francis scott key accompanied by john skinner and some other americans witness and we and we won't go into that story. safe to say that i think it is always important to remember that there is a question mark at the end of that first verse that key writes. when he's witnessing this attack, he's not just wondering whether the flag is going to be flying over the ft. mchenry, he's wondering whether the united states is going to survive, you know, three weeks after the destruction of federal washington, it certainly seemed possible that the country was on the brink of collapse.

and baltimore and also as don mentioned, lake champlain and more important victory that turns back to the british attack from quebec really, when this news arrives in london, this changes the atmosphere quite a bit. so after the heady rush from washington's collapse, reality begins setting in. it is worth noting that at gent, on august 24th, the very day that washington is burned, the american delegation was meeting with british commissioners and they were rejecting demands that the british just made, which included creating a 250,000 square mile buffer zone for native americans in the old northwest. would have given great britain military control of the great lakes and navigation down the mississippi. so by the time that the news

from baltimore and lake champlain arrives and there is a real realization certainly encouraged by welling ton who is asked for his opinion on the matter and he tells liverpool that you don't really have much of a basis to be making extreme demands here. he advises making peace. this is what happens at the treaty that is signed december 24th. i think it is worth noting that, you know, i think ross and cockburn came pretty close, really, to realizing their vision. the -- in the end, the capture of washington doesn't really give the british the advantage they hope and they find themselves later on the defensive because of criticism and then you have the results

from baltimore and lake champlain, but if washington had been followed up by different results in baltimore, and lake champlain, i think the outcome could have been quite different and the burning of washington, the federal buildings, would be seen in a different light today. but anyway, with that, i want to stop and take questions. thank you very much. [ applause ] >> i think we would all love to hear that paragraph in your book, that wonderful paragraph about libraries and ladies. okay. >> right. >> secondly, i have a second question, which -- i'm going to sit down. before i can give up the retaliation story, i need a little more clarification. you say it was after -- it was an after the fact justification.

and in your talk today, you said that the british chesapeake campaign was retaliation for the american campaign in canada, not specifically york. but in general. but don't you say in your book, that robert ross, in washington, said it was retaliation for york or am i wrong? >> you're right on that. and in the sense that this is something that is written by dr. yule many years later by an american witness in an account that while very useful has some, you know, leaves some doubts as to the details of certain incidents and recollections of what was said, so this is the only reference to york, only reference to york attributed to

ross. and it is not ross himself in his own words and the letters he writes home, he doesn't say anything about new yoyork. he doesn't say anything about newark or delaware or anywhere else. he talks about humiliating the americans. i think you also mention the not making war against libraries and ladies, i think in -- that comes from the same account. and i think there is a germ of truth in all of this. i think ross felt quite embarrassed when he learns that the books of library of congress were actually in the capital building. and he -- he allegedly says, had i known that, we would have taken the books out. and ross, i think, felt a bit uncomfortable about the whole thing of burning these buildings. he had come to the conclusion, though, best way to end this war quickly. and, you know, to the extent that retaliation is motivating him, i really think if he said anything at the time, almost

certainly would have been about newark, because this was the issue that had been raised with cochran. this was the issue that was really -- had really infuriated the british. so i think that -- and the ladies too. i think he was certainly -- i think the idea they wanted to capture dolly madison is pretty ridiculous, the british were interested in capturing james madison. [ inaudible ] >> and maybe he wouldn't have. i think it is possible. or at least he would have made sure she left. yes, sir. >> earlier mrs. taylor asked don hickey to discuss some of the personalities. could you comment on dewitt clinton and daniel tompkins who were both governor of new york

state. and also the landing of money by tompkins to fund new york state's role in the war of 1812, which when he died, he was very -- he was broke. and tompkins went on to serve as monroe's vice president for eight years. could you comment on the role of dewitt clinton and daniel tompkins. >> i probably couldn't say more than what you have. certainly not an area of expertise for me. but what i would say is that the -- at this time there is sort of a movement towards secession that has been going on in new england. and i think the -- the burning of washington is one of the things that pulls the rug out from that movement because there is quite a bit of outrage that spreads, including up to new

england and to new york over the burning of washington. i don't know if anybody else has something to add about it, but -- >> are there any other personalities you want to discuss that had a role in the war of 1812? >> oh, sure, i mean -- you know, i'm always fascinated actually by the role of francis scott key because to me he epitomizes the divisions in the country at this time. francis scott key, who we see as, you know, the guy who writes the most patriotic of all songs, was a huge opponent of the war. he in particular is appalled at the u.s. actions towards canada, the fact that we're attacking canada, which he views as an innocent third party, and he actually writes a letter to john randolph of virginia, who was the congressman leading the a%

nottingham. and he also forgets to bring along a spyglass, by the way. so his scouting reports aren't particularly useful. and then at blainsburg, he inserts himself in the chain of command and moves some of the forces around, so that they're not in support of each other. fascinating story, but he and madison, i think, really redeem themselves after the british depart washington. they -- madison spends the last

night in refuge in brookville, maryland, and gets the word that the british have withdrawn after 24 hours. and he and monroe immediately ride back to washington. this is a moment when a lot of people were urging complete capitulation, still has that second british force coming up the potomac river. and just as madison enters washington, there is a big boom coming from down the river. and that's where the british are starting to attack ft. washington, which soon blows itself up, so you have a continued assault on the capital, and at this point, madison and monroe, i think, show their finest moments in their roles and monroe effectively takes over defense of the city. and becomes more or less the acting secretary of war. and one of the good things they have the sense to do is to keep -- not interfere with the defenses of baltimore. and they keep winder out of --

from being inserted back in control there. and i think monroe's actions also in trying to trap the british forces, they're leaving alexandria were noteworthy. so, yeah, a lot of characters that we haven't been able to speak about that i think deserve more mention. >> could you elaborate a little bit more about the conduct of cockburn and ross in regard to barney as the battle ended. i think that is sort of an interesting story, and i wanted to hear how you felt about it. >> it is very interesting. because when barney is wounded, and he falls into british hands very quickly, a soldier goes to get first its captain wainwright, one of the british naval ship captains and then cockburn arrives as well and

ross. and, you know, they are very impressed by the performance of barney and the flotilla men. in fact, ross himself had to take command after colonel william thorton, one of the british brigade commanders led the way had fallen. and they had -- i think they recognized they were on the cusp of maybe losing this battle because barney had initially been able to drive the british back. he actually even, you know, orders a charge at one point that really throws the british off guard. so they do immediately upon finding him, ross says, well, we're going to issue you a parole, which essentially means that he's not going to be held captive. he can't fight in the war further until he's officially exchanged. but it is a gesture of honor, of respect for barney. and i also would add that as alluded to earlier, the marines

were fighting with barney and they fought very well, they suffered 25% casualties, but that's not why the british left the marine commandant's home. you -- it comes down to evans writes in a memo that, well, we were going to burn that house, but the neighbors pleaded that it was going to -- it would spread to other homes, the area around the navy yard and marine barracks was very heavily populated at the time. there is a big wind blowing. so they may have respected the marines, but that's not why they saved that building. >> you think that part of the battle was overlooked pretty much by history. it seems like it hasn't been mentioned at all. >> which part? >> barney's -- >> i don't know if it has been overlooked. i think there is -- there is a general recognition that, you know, barney was a real hero. there was a great event in

blainsburg, just two weeks ago, ten days ago, where a memorial sculpture to barney and to -- includes a marine and a flotillaman was unveiled. and i think that's a -- was a fitting gesture. so i think, you know, at least among people who paid some attention to this fight, there is a recognition that barney and the flotilla men really were a high point in what was otherwise a pretty dismal day. yes, ma'am. >> i'll stand up. i object to the idea that washington was burned because of what americans did in york. and canada. and so i spent a good deal of time researching what did happen in york, now toronto.

the americans, yes, i think did burn the parliament building. but it wasn't american troops. it was american settlers who were fed up with being british subjects, when they were used to being citizens. and they were just plain fed up with the british administration and with the local administration and so one way they had been fighting in parliament, actually, against certain laws that the governor was trying to pass, that they thought were oppressive. and so i think that when the americans attack that the local settlers just said to themselves, okay, here, we'll get even. and they burned the parliament buildings. if anybody did, it might have been the people that were

released from the jail, they were jail birds, then they might have been in there because the british jailed traitors. and so they may have had a good reason to burn the parliament buildings. but so they may have joined some of the american settlers and burned the parliament buildings, but it wasn't the american troops. >> well, there is still a great bit of mystery and uncertainty about exactly what happened. nobody can say with certainty who burned the parliament, certainly americans of some sort, more than likely deserved some of the responsibility. but, again, this was not something that was sanctioned by the american government. any other questions? >> yes -- the york issue. i do agree with you. your book was great and i encourage anyone to read it, everyone to read it, i should say. the point that i find fascinating with york is that the u.s. navy has some items,

still has some items that were taken from the parliament at york. they're at the naval academy museum. the guilded lion, at one time, they had the parliamentary mace which was returned by franklin roosevelt to canada sometime in the '30s and then there is some standards that were taken from there. which suggests that there was some official involvement or else they took them away from the guys who burnt it. there also was a wig or they said it was a scalp initially, but it turns out it was the speaker's perry wig. it was not a human scalp, it was the -- so, any reaction? >> well, yeah, there is a lot of items that if the rightful owners knew were being held by the u.s. government, either at the naval academy or other places, probably will be mobs

demanding their return. i don't know the provenance of those items. but i wouldn't be surprised at all if some items were taken as souvenirs by the troops who had fought there at york, if they were brought back by the troops and ended up somehow at places like the naval academy. it wouldn't surprise me at all. >> anybody else? yes, ma'am. >> general ross issued an order that there would be no burning of private buildings, yet admiral cockburn burned the natural intelligencer office. i was wondering because you said that cockburn was interested in laying waste to the -- why that didn't happen to the rest of washington? >> ross was certainly in charge of the forces going into

washington, so i think cockburn was chomping at the bit at times, there were several buildings he wanted to burn. now, including a bank building. now, he was going to burn the national intelligencer and was getting ready to do that, when, again, these neighbors that keep on showing up at different points appeal to him saying if you like that, that building on fire, the fire is going to spread. it is going to ignite other buildings. and this is actually -- this actually happens on several occasions, the fires from the capital, for example, are responsible for igniting the -- that home that george washington had once owned that was basically collateral damage from the capital fire. so cockburn doesn't actually burn that building, but cockburn, you know, ross keeps cockburn largely in check, but there was no way that cockburn was going to be denied the pleasure of doing something to the national intelligencer, which, you know, had compared him to attila the hundred and

many other barbarians. and, i think the americans were quite lucky that ross was in charge of that attack. in fact, you know, he's nearly shot at the belmont home at the start of the british arrival in washington. and some of the british troops told civilians that, you know, if ross had been killed, you know, this town would have been absolutely decimated. and i don't really doubt that. okay, well, thank you very much. >> we have a brief ten-minute break. we'll be starting promptly at 10:3 10:50, so please be in your seats by 10:50. thank you.

>> and so we heard a ten-minute break here as we continue our live coverage this conference today, commemorating the war of 1812 and the battle of plattsburgh in particular. if you missed some of that, don't worry about it. we're going to show the whole thing to you later on tonight at 8:00, will reair here on c-span3 beginning at 8:00. we thought we would do during this break is give you a couple of highlights from today's event. >> each week american history tv's american artifacts visits museums and historic places. 200 years ago on september 11th, 1814, british and american naval forces clashed for 2 1/2 hours in cumberland bay near plattsburgh, new york. the battle was the culmination of six days of army and navy conflict. up next, we travel to plattsburgh where retired army colonel david fitzends, author of the final invasion

plattsburgh, the war of 1812's most decisive battle, takes us on a tour of key locations to tell the story. >> pilot, joseph baron, ship, saratoga, september 11th, 1814, battle of plattsburgh in cumberland bay. this is a battle that is lost to american history. it is the first 100th anniversary, it was known by everyone. this was a huge celebration. people knew how important the battle of plattsburgh was. but in the meantime, things have changed. that poem became the national anthem. baltimore is in the center of a populated area. and people have been taught what took place there and what took place there was very important. but it was a diversion. the real battle was up here. you see, ifh