>> the battle was the culmination of six days of army and navy conflict. up next we travel to plattsburgh where david fitz-enz, author of the final invasion: mratsburg the war of 1812 most decisive battle. >> ship saratoga, bat of plattsburgh and cumberland bay. >> this is a battle that's lost to american history. this was a huge celebration. people knew how important the battle at 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 was very important, but it was a diversion, the real battle was up here. you see if the british can take plattsburgh, there's no troops between here and washington, d.c., there's no american -- the calvary is not coming and with plattsburgh gone, they can go on to lake george and the hudson and split the united states half. in the meantime, the treaty is on, and this is a bargaining chip, if you can take plattsburgh and redraw the northern border of the united states. what they had in mind, they didn't plan to take the united states again, this is not another revolution, what they planned was, they wanted a new

northern border for the united states, not the 45th parallel, but the 43rd. they wanted the northern border of massachusetts to be the bored of the northern united states. and if you take that line and you run it across the country, you end up in buffalo. that means that the united states would have lost maine, vermont and new hampshire and all of british new york. the british would have had control of the southern shore of the great lakes and that's what they wanted. the british army is back in canada. so when the treaty was incident isn't on christmas eve 1814, the status quo is what we see today. >> we're five miles north of plattsburgh new york, looking up the road at the american

canadian border. it was here that this whole battle of plattsburgh began. but let me give you background first. when the war with napoleon ended in the spring of 1814, the british had a problem, wellington wanted to keep this army intact because he thought he would need it again. when the army returned to england, it would probably be disbanded, they would just simply go away and there was no need to fund the expensive army. he went to the secretary of war and he said i've got this other problem, i've got this american war of 1812, and i would like to put it to an end.

we need to trade with these people, let's put it a stop to it all and see what we can get out of it when it is over. give me your troops, wellington gave him 30,000 in total of his army who was sitting in france drinking all the wine they could fine. they put them on ships and a special order was written, they had been fighting the war in 1812, for the past two years, he had been defending all of that time, and now he had a chance to go on the offensive, because this new order said, we're going to do two things to end this war in england's favor, we're going to use a part of wellington's forces to raid along the east seaboard and down into the gulf of mexico to keep the americans and the government and the military's attention focused to

the south. in the north, we're going to make you the main attack to bring this whole conflict to an end. >> the order said he would be given 15,000 troops and he could add to the 4,000 that he already had that had been fighting for the last two years. it was made up of canadian citizens who agreed to fight along side the british regulars but only in canada, that's why they were called fenceables. in addition to that, the french canadians played a major role. so they added to this force, and now provo had an army that he took on the offensive instead of the defense. his plan simply was that he was

going to go straight down lake champaign to new york. that's a water line, because there were no road to speak of in these days, and going down past saratoga. split the united states for the industrial north and the egrarian south. plattsburgh has 6,000 american soldiers here, most of them are regulars. so he sets up a diversion of his own and he send some of these troops west for a little while and gets the attention of the american government. they are not going to go down lake champaign, they are going to continue to fight in northern new york along lake erie and then niagara, and so armstrong shifts the american army and he

pulls of the 6,000 troops that are here, he pulls 4500 out of plattsburgh and he pulls them up and up the valley and then go by ship to the niagara, all that leads here in plattsburgh are these regulars that couldn't make the march. these are the prisoners in the stockade. this is the band that's here. that's what is left behind. and that's what is going to be defending on this road. when provo finds out that the american army has left, he starts his attack, he moves those soldiers, fewer than 15,000 to the canadian border right on the edge of lake champaign. they begin to march south headed for plattsburgh.

the column actually is ten miles long. the artillery doesn't cross the border until the 4th of september. it took four days before they could even move south at all and down this road they come, here the few new york state militia are standing by at this little bridge. and when they see them coming, they start to fire their muskets in their direction. but the british just sweep them aside. they don't even drop their packs. the american militia retire quickly about a thousand miles up the road to culver hill. this memorial commemorates that event. here several thousand british soldiers the first of the regimens, in fact it was the third regimen afoot, the buff

from canterbury. the major had brought 200 of his troops here and attempted to stop the british advance, also gaining information as to what in the world we were facing at this point. the battle broke out here and quite a bit of fighting took place. they just charged the americans here at the top of the rise at culver hill and the americans had to withdraw, and withdraw. they would withdraw steadily back into the city. the farmers here along the road were surprise to see at the end of the column at the end of the day, the women and children of the british infantry regimen.

before british regimen left to go to combat, the night before, there was a lottery held and all of the wives put their names in a hat and one out of ten was selected to travel with the regimen, no matter where it went in the world and they brought their children with them and they embarked on board the ship and they travelled across the ocean and they came to canada and they walked down this road. you know what their job was, they were the support troops. they were the ones at night that set up the tents, built the fire, cooked the food, took care of the children. cleaned the uniforms with brushes and of course, they were the medical core. there were british doctors and a few corps men. it was the families of the

soldiers of the regiment that tended to them. >> they had a little ceremony and the lady who lived in that white farmhouse was very interested in the story. she put it in her will that when she died this parcel of land would be given to plattsburgh. and the town built this so we could all see what happened here on that momentous day at culver hill. >> we're in a period home where the british officer stayed during the five days at the battle of plattsburgh. after they run the american troops, they will continue down this edge of the lake. here they will have to split

their force in two, because the road will not sustain the traffic. this brigade will travel along the edge of the bay and into plattsburgh. we're here on the edge of cumberland bay, on the far side, over there, where you see those tree assistance a road, and that road is what enabled the british to bring all of these troops into town. one of the three brigades. the american navy was out here in the bay, waiting for them, as they saw the column marching around in their red coats, they began to bombard them. and the british column was broken up and stopped, but then the british royal artillery came up behind them and they set up their guns. they decimated the fleet and the fleet was forced to withdraw and go deeper in the lake. now they are going to be too far

away from the shoreline. once the american navy was moved off, then the british could freely enter here at the town of plattsburgh, they came down this road and around the corner and ended up putting a battery of artillery here. the officers will take over the kent lord house. the british army relentlessly drove the americans down the road and into the city. some of the british troops came along this line here. they were swiss missionaries working for the british government. along with the canadians, and right along the edge of the

saranac river to the stone bridge, they picked it up so they couldn't follow them and set them up on the far side behind the barricade and there the americans will sit with their infantry from the 6th until the 11th waiting for the british main attack. >> i'm at the battle of plattsburgh museum. it is on the old army post. here at the there's a depiction of what the land looked like and this is very important to understand. because the battle is both army and navy, it occurred simultaneously without an amphibious assault, very unusual. here is what the city of plattsburgh looked like. the enemy and the british were spread out from the point through the bridge and all of this looked like world war i in

that along here the soldiers were entrenched because the american soldiers were the remnants of a larger force that had been left behind and they couldn't fight in the field so they thought from trenches and they used the river in order to defend themselves and it worked for some five days. as the trenches flowed further to the south, along the wild river, we come to the second bridge here at katherine street today and that's where they stopped. the americans defended the bridge for some five days. in the middle is fort brown. fort brown was the artillery position that was heavily cannon and able to keep the british away by firing into the city. out of the bay, is where the

american navy ships will be waiting for the british to come in to attack the army's flank. their mission is to keep them away and here you see them all like sitting ducks, waiting for the royal navy to attack. this is the rotunda of the city hall of the town of plattsburgh. to get back to the history, wellington said that if he were in command here and he was offered command here, and he turned it down. he said the only chance for victory in north america was to control the waterways. everything is key to the navy here. even though the troops are here waiting and the british troops have fought their way into the city and are waiting. there's only two bridges across,

they are waiting for the navy. now this is a bit of a long story, but that's how we get here. you see, the royal navy was everything to the british, and they used it throughout the caribbean and united states and canada. here on the lake, commerce had been disrupted, nothing was going up and down the lake to benefit canada or anywhere else and the people here who lived on the lake had created a new industry because of the embargoes that had been put in place. this now was the smuggler's haven. they knew they had to take lake champaign, but they had no ships, the lake does end in canada and up there on the river, they built a boat yard. and that boat yard then created a largest ship that has ever

been on lake champaign. she was called the confiance. they converted them to british use and they had built one other. but now they needed the confiance because it would be stronger than the entire american fleet on the lake. there was an american fleet here and it was demanded by lieutenant then master commander, then commodore thomas mcdonough. he had to built his fleet here as well. they put together the americans. the american navy would then try to control the lake and keep the british north. that meant that there was a clash coming. they are really sitting ducks, just waiting for the british to come. they wanted to come south even

earlier, they couldn't because the south winds coming up the lake kept them from sailing south. you got to wait until the wind are right. that's what the army and the navy are waying for. mcdonough doesn't have that problem, because he's waiting. things are getting anxious. the night of the 10th, they are able to come down the lake, come south toward plattsburgh, from canada, the entire royal navy fleet. four ships, and a dozen gun boats that are road -- if the

british royal navy is kept away, if they can sail outside the 500 yards, they can reduce the american fleet to splinters in the matter of one path. this is what mcdonough is faced with. he's 31 years old and he's the commodore the commander of the american fleet. as confiance comes into the bay the wind shifts. in the bay, the winds are fitful, and that confiance and the others need a strong wind to carry them out beyond the american guns. this is confiance outer anchor, and it is shot off the front and sinks into the bay. we found it in 40 feet of silt. there she is, 10 feet long and

10 feet wide, if you look real close, you can see the gold paint on the side that says quebec. when that anchor is shot off and commodoredown downey tries to s away and he can't. the wind will not allow it, and he's drawn directly into the american fire, and finally he has to anchor at 300 yard, well within the lines of american fire. 90 cannons firing constantly, never stopping, four major ships of the americans, four british royal navy.

12 gun boats on either side and they will slug it out. >> here on the bluff at clinton community college, you can look out at lake champaign and directly in front of you is cumberland head where the british royal navy attacked on the september 11th. they attacked the american fleet at anchor which would have been right between those two small trees. there were women on board, officers' wives, one of which catches the cannon ball in her chest and is thrown overboard. mcdonough is sighting his own cannon. and one of the lieutenants is

hit by the cannon ball, strikes mcdonough in the face and knocks him cold on the deck. these are the kind of things that happen when you are fig fighting a navy battle. this keeps up for hours. blood everywhere. the men keep fighting, and then finally, the only american ship really fit to fight is saratoga, that's the flagship of mcdonough. the only ship that's really fit to fight anymore is the british ship. even though commodoredown downes in, the muzzle was hit by the cannon ball so hard that it drove the 2,000 barrel out of

the trunions and downy caught it in his arms. the british lost their commander. mcdonough, his ship is badly wounded and about to sink. he pulse off the trick of the day. he puts anchors. they were taken out on row boats and dropped, they wound backwards around the ship. at the right moment, mcdonough cuts one cable and pulls in the other, winding it, with the only few crew members that are left. as the spring line is pulled in, the ship rotates in place on its

own axis, of course it exposes the far side of the ship where there are 12 loaded cannons ready. an officer with a pistol goes down the line and fires into the touch hole and firing each gun one at a time into confiance, confiance receives over 105 holes when the count is looked at the end. the royal navy has been beaten. sir george provol looking over the lake sees the colors come down and when he does, he knows the battle is lost. he knows that he no longer has control of the water, he knows that he doesn't have the american ships he had planned to capture to take the fleet down the lake.

and there's no point going on with the battle, even though the infantry can overwhelm, there's no point to it at all, and he's going to save his troops to fight another day, and as a result, sir george withdraws from plattsburgh. pulling his troops out, his three brigades, his artillery, and they start heading north to canada. the battle is over and the americans have won. winston churchill said that it was the most important battle. it was the most decisive battle of the war of 1812 here. two days later the british will fight the americans at baltimore. when the naval battle was over and the british withdrew, all that was left were the dead and the wounded and the american

forces. out on the navy ships, the wounded were taken off and brought into town. the dead were then put in a cretage and brought to the shore in plattsburgh and in a funeral parade they slowly came here to riverside cemetery, just outside of the downtown area. to muffled drums, they marched slowly and deliberately here to the ground. the lead cortage carried the body of royal captain george downy, and he's buried here at

riverside cemetery. but in the courtage were not just royal navy sailors, they were british army dead american sailors who had died in the conflict, as well as british sailors who had died. 200 of them were taken to crab island because it was close to where the ships were being refurbished and kept afloat. another 200 or more were brought here to riverside cemetery and buried. lieutenant peter gamble united states navy, he's the officer whose head was severed and flew across and struck mcdonough knocking him out cold.

lieutenant johns stansbury, battle of plattsburgh, he was an officer on board of the eagle and was killed in action. there's captain burgess, he's britished. 76th regiment. in my career studying history, i never heard of the battle of plattsburgh, i was really intrigued and the more i read, the more it drew me in and understood what part it played in international history. if plattsburgh had been lost, god knows what would have happened to this country. >> this is american history tv on c-span 3. we're live in baltimore for a ceremony commemorating the 200

anniversary of the "star-spangled banner." a special flag today. underway now with some introductory remarks. >> in the distance he heard the morning gun. a single echo coming from the direction of fort mchenry that told him the flag was still there. he wrote the poem in four verses. which in 1931 became the official national anthem of the united states of america. today at this moment, exactly 200 years later we will raise that flag again, and we will celebrate again, not victory, but the