that's all the british wanted. 1813 shannon action got the british quite excited. contemporary cartoon by crookshank summed up british vie of the war. this was annoying and rather wished it would go away. 1813 was not about america, it was about napoleon. there was another great battle in september 1813. napoleon lost 73,000 men from an army of a quarter of a million. german empire collapsed, retreated into france, the writing was on the wall for his empire. the british poured many and munitions into europe to defeat napoleon. they did not send men or money to north america. british would have taken status quo any time. they defended canada but didn't have resources to do anything else. in 1813, raid in chesapeake bay closed down bases, damaging property for those that voted for war. end of 1813, economic blockade stretched to maine, new england block aided, too. this ld promote sectional conflict. but british options were very limited. 1813, they had a chance to do something they wanted to do for 20 years to capture estuary, one place to invade england from. they

, he respected british law and british culture. at ver, he was also angered the degradations that the in the were doing chesapeake bay region. like any marylander, between 18 he had to s of age, go to the maryland militia and if called up, he had to go. georgetown of a militia. i have cannon here, a field gun. his is the type of field artillery that frances scott key would have been familiar with as part of the georgetown artillery. a field cannon as opposed to some of the red guns ehind us here who are naval guns. a field gun like this is meant mobile.ighly frances scott key would see a little bit of combat in the war of 1812. and to talk about that combat, to going to walk around here the outer side of that. coming around to the front of coming to theery, shade here, i want to talk a ittle bit about frances scott key's brief military career and the events that led up to the chenry and of ft. m the use of this water battery. frances scott key was part of artillery, wn militia unit, citizen soldiers. he would have had a uniform. su

that's all the british wanted. in 1813 the action got the british excited. here is a contemporary cartoon by george crook shank. it summed up the british view of the war. this was annoying and they rather wished it would go away. 1813 was not about america, it was about napoleon. there was another great battle. september 1813 napoleon lost 73,000 men from an army core of 1 million. his german empire collapsed. he retreated in france. the writing was on the wall of his empire. the british poured money and munitions into england. they did not send money or men to north miracle america. they defended canada but they didn't have any resource toss do anything else. america. they defended canada but they didn't have any resource toss do anything else. america. they defended canada but they didn't have any resource toss do anything else. america. they defended canada but they didn't have any resource toss do anything else. america. they defended canada but they didn't have any resource toss do anything else. america. they defended canada but they didn't have any re

there is captain purchase -- he's british. 76 regiment. british army.in my 30-year career in studying history, i had never heard of the battle of plattsburgh. so i was intrigued. the more i read, it more it drew me in. i understood how important it was and what it played in international history. if plattsburgh had been lost, god knows what would've happened to this country. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2014] [captioning performed by national captioning institute] >> british soldiers invaded washington, d.c. and said fire to the white house. president james madison and first lady dolly madison fled the city. next on american history tv, catherine our gore, author of a perfect union, dolly madison and the creation of the american nation. she

there is captain purchase -- he's british. 76 regiment. british army.in my 30-year career in studying history, i had never heard of the battle of plattsburgh. so i was intrigued. the more i read, it more it drew me in. i understood how important it was and what it played in international history. if plattsburgh had been lost, god knows what would've happened to this country. you're watching american history tv. all weekend, every weekend on c-span 3. to join the conversation, like us on facebook @cspanhistory. commissionin released its report into the assassination of president john f. kennedy 40 years ago this month. lyndon b. johnson called his friend and warring commission senator russell of georgia. he had two questions. what did the emission conclude? and were the findings unanimous? now an excerpt from the call. >> mr. senator? >> yes. >> just a moment. hello? hello? >> yes, sir. >> well, you are always leaving town. you must not like it up here. >> i figure you can get along a whole lot better without me than it could you. >> i don't know. this w

the british navy. it was deeper than just making up the manpower shortage in the british navy. there was a question of citizenship. in the united states, we believe that if you come from a foreign country, say great britain, and come here to live for five years and then you become a naturalized citizen. over in great britain, they believe once a subject, always a subject. so a lot of our statement at the time were saying, the british are trying to define what an american citizen is. if we allow that, then we are no better than we were as a colony. a lot of americans at that time thought that had something to live up to. they saw that previous generation, like the revolutionary war generation, the founding fathers, the spirit of 1776, as something to live up to. a lot of americans, this war of 1812 is our second war of independence. those who were the war hawks use that language to invoke that spirit of the revolution. they saw the native american issues on the frontier as a powerful reason. "hey, the b

the strategy was to exclude british trade from europe and to try to bankrupt the british. napoleon understood the bade of their power was trade and money. in napoleon could break the british economy, britain would surrender. his continental system would harness the european consist innocent in a war against britain. they could exclude all british trade from europe on penalty the seizure and destruction. the famous orders in council did the exact reverse. so they had to, coffee is one of the things they missed. the british counter-blockade cut out of, and threatened america's economic development. from 1803 to 1812, american shippers, merchants and traders made a lot of money being the last neutral carrier, the last country that could carry good from the french west indies through europe through the british blockade. they were also trading with the british, and neither the british nor the french treated the americans particularly kindly. the british would arrest their ships and send them before a court, and napoleon simply burned them, but the american court thought napoleo

british navy yard.nstructions from jones to not let it fall in british hands. as theaú9 british are coming i branch bridge blows up, and he starts to make preparations to blow up the washington navy y d yard. some of the residents in the area that lived around the navy yard and implored them not the burn it. the big wind was that the big fear was the navy yard and surrounding it would go up in flames as well. so tingy agrees to at least wait for more scouting are reports until he knows what the british are up to. tingy's, on of the navy clerks at the navy yard mordchai booth agrees to go -\áing, and (ph; @% accompanied by captain creighton, one of the senior officers at the navy yard and they ride through town and they encounter and find the british on capitol hill, and they come can under fire from british centuries near the capitol and they ride back with the orders from tingy to blow it. the navy yard is stocked with timber and powder and tar, and ti tingy has materials laid out, and they start to p

this was not symbolic gesture by the british, they wanted this war to end on british terms.f madison's government, burning the white house and the capital, they could for the americans to sign a treaty that would bring an end to the war on british terms, which at times during this conflict -- in fact, the same day that we fight the battle here in bladensburg, the british delegates in kent what today is belgium is presenting the american delegation what are really demands. they include british control of the great lakes, navigation rights on the mississippi, and at that point they are making demand for a 250,000 square mile swath of territory in the old northwest, much of ohio, illinois, indiana that would become a permanent indian buffer state. these were terms that, frankly, so the british in coming to washington were trying to establish a weaker united states on the north american continent possibly force its disallusion. >> mr. george, while we give the last word on the fact that the british did not come here, the burning of the capital was not revenge on york, i'll say

, a british republican. his cartoon is very much the republican view of the alexan dreeens which was very unpliz unpleasant, and he then used the baltimore cartoon of showing the british could be beaten. they weren't beaten at bloor baltimore. they just decided they didn't want to -- if you want to start baltimore, we can do it. there are 20000 americans dug in in a very strong position at baltimore. the british have less than 4,000 ground troops. how are they going to get into baltimore? the british didn't have another army, so if they burned their army up attacking baltimore they had no more troops back. >> i'm more curious about alexandria. >> with alexandria, the picture is quite clear. a mythic beast has got the citizens of alexandria on their knees with their hand standing up on end as your hair would if you saw a real miniature, but the sailors are saying we have to get out of there before the american naval heroes turn up. john rogers and david porter and oliver hazard perry. they did turn up and tri

there is captain purchase -- he's british. 76 regiment. british army.in my 30-year career in studying history, i had never heard of the battle of plattsburgh. so i was intrigued. the more i read, it more it drew me in. i understood how important it was and what it played in international history. if plattsburgh had been lost, god knows what would've happened to this country. >> each week american history tv sits in on a lecture with one of college professors. you can watch the classes every saturday evening at 8 p.m. admin i used them. next oregon state university professor marisa chappell talked about anti-poverty and entitlement programs that were part of president johnson's "war on poverty." she also detailed the societal attitudes toward impoverished minorities at the

could have turned the british back. ross was rightfully quite nervous of advancing with this pretty small british force with very little artillery away from his ships. he was under strict instructions from london not to do anything that would risk his force. certainly there was some risk involved in coming to washington. even as late as really the 24th when very belatedly the american commanders, including general wi winder, realized that the british attack would be coming through bladensburg, even though as ralph mentioned, really ultimately it was pretty clear the british were going to have to come through bladensburg to get to washington because the more southern approaches, certainly they couldn't have been able to cross the river down there because the bridges had been blown, if, they wouldn't be able to get across the river. it is much wider here than at bladensburg. so if our forces had been placed a little bit earlier, a little bit more wisely and without so much chaos at the last minute, i think that british fo

this was not symbolic gesture by the british, they wanted this war to end on british terms.houghtxjÑ9l by essent forcing the collapse of madison's government, burning the white house and the capital, they could for the americans to sign a treaty that would bring an end to the war on british terms, which at times during this conflict -- in fact, the same day that we fight the battle here in bladensburg, the british delegates in kent what today is belgium is presenting the american delegation what are really demands. they include british control of the great lakes, navigation rights on the mississippi, and at that point they are making demand for a 250,000 square mile swath of territory in the old northwest, much of ohio, illinois, indiana that would become a permanent indian buffer state. these were terms that, frankly, so the british in coming to washington were trying to establish a weaker united states on the north american continent possibly force its disallusion. >> mr. george, while we give the last word on the fact that the british did not come here, the burning of th

that's all the british wanted. 1813 shannon action got the british quite excited. the contemporary cartoon by crookshank summed up british vie of the war. this was annoying and rather wished it would go away. 1813 was not about america, it was about napoleon. there was another great battle in september 1813. napoleon lost 73,000 men from an army of a quarter of a million. german empire collapsed, retreated into france, the writing was on the wall for his empire. the british poured many and munitions into europe to defeat napoleon. they did not send men or money to north america. british would have taken status quo any time. they defended canada but didn't have resources to do anything else. in 1813, raid in chesapeake bay closed down bases, damaging property for those that voted for war. end of 1813, economic blockade stretched to maine, new england block aided, too. this ld promote sectional conflict. but british options were very limited. 1813, they had a chance to do something they wanted to do for 20 years to capture estuary, one place to invade england from. t

few british merchants. i think it's impossible to put a figure on that. but if we say human damage is necessary, the greatest damage that any war inflicts, that's what it looks like, i think, on the american side. i don't think we can do much better than that given our current state of knowledge. yes? >> i have sort of a counterfactual speculation. if the british prevail at shamet, does the treaty of gent get rewritten? >> the answer to that is no, emphatically. this is a myth that is perpetuated by books, particularly books about andrew jackson. i want to say jackson saved the nation at the battle of new orleans. the answer why it is no, the chronology is quite straightforward. the treaty of gent was signed on the 24th of december, 1814. it was ratified -- according to the law of nations, a treaty cannot come into effect until both governments, the principals of the diplomats that have been doing the negotiation, have ratified it. the british government ratified the treaty of gent on the 28th of september

that's all the british wanted. in 1813 the action got the british excited. here is a contemporary cartoon by george crook shank. it summed up the british view of the war. this was annoying and they rather wished it would go away. 1813 was not about america, it was about napoleon. there was another great battle. september 1813 napoleon lost 73,000 men from an army core of 1 million. his german empire collapsed. he retreated in france. the writing was on the wall of his empire. the british poured money and munitions into england. they did not send money or men to north miracle america. they defended canada but they didn't have any resource toss do anything else. america. they defended canada but they didn't have any resource toss do anything else. america. they defended canada but they didn't have any resource toss do anything else. america. they defended canada but they didn't have any resource toss do anything else. america. they defended canada but they didn't have any resource toss do anything else. america. they defended canada but they didn't have any re

>> well, the british do. the british forces in the chesapeake include two regiments of -- from the west indies. so the british are in the forefront in employing people of color in their military. they do so in india and they so two-thirds of the british force in the west indies were actually black people, when the war of 1812 begins. the united states is extremely reluctant to employ even free blacks in its military. it does so in the navy and the privateers so free black americans make a major contribution to the u.s. war effort in the navy and the privateers but are not allowed in the u.s. army until the very end of the war when policy suddenly changes because the united states is basically on the ropes militarily and is desperate for men. the only place where a significant number of black men are employed in the united states army is at new orleans by andrew jackson. there are two battalions of free blacks were employed and enslaved people, who were promised their freedom by andrew jackson. this employment

the british managed to fend it off. and then as the british continued to make their way town river past ft. washington, they run into captain quarters battery at the shore. porter set up there at bellvoir on high ground and for five days exchanged fire. this is a pretty serious back and forth, and there are casualties on both sides. eventually the win changes and allows gordon to blast his way past the gordon position and blast his way past perry as well, who runs out of ammunition pretty quickly. but the net result is the -- this squadron is delayed getting down river. and this will ultimately delay the attack on baltimore, which has some consequences for the british. so when madison, after three days as a refugee, comes back to washingt washington, he immediately realizes the importance of not surrendering the city again and he fights off efforts to move the capita way. he directs that congress -- he insists that congress reconvene in the city and that the news of this, he realized, needed to get on the same ships car

there is captain -- he's british . 76 regiment. british army.career in studying history, i had never heard of the battle of plattsburgh. so i was intrigued. the more i read, it more it drew me in. and what it played in international history. if plattsburgh had been lost, god knows what would've happened to this country. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2014] [captioning performed by national captioning institute] years ago this summer, during the war of 1812, british shoulders invaded washington, d.c. on august 24 1814 and set fire to the white house and the u.s. capitol building. president james madison and first lady dolly madison fled the city. next, highlights from a symposium looking back and what was known as

>> well, the british do.so the british forces in the chesapeake include two regiments of -- from the west indies. the black west indian regiments. so the british are really in the forefront of employing people of color in their military. they do so in india and they also do so in the west indies. so two-thirds of the british force in the west indis were actually black people when the war of 1812 begins. the united states is extremely reluctant to employ even free blacks in its military. it does so in the navy and the privateers, so free black americans make a major contribution to the u.s. war effort in the navy and the privateers, but they are not allowed in the u.s. army until the very end of the war when policy suddenly changes because the united states is basically on the ropes militarily and is desperate for men. the only place where a significant number of black men are employed in the united states army is at new orleans by andrew jackson. there are two battalions of free blacks were employed and proba

>> well, the british do. the british forces in the chesapeake include two regiments of -- from the west indies. so the british are in the forefront in employing people of color in their military. they do so in india and they so two-thirds of the british force in the west indies were actually black people, when the war of 1812 begins. the united states is extremely reluctant to employ even free blacks in its military. it does so in the navy and the privateers so free black americans make a major contribution to the u.s. war effort in the navy and the privateers but are not allowed in the u.s. army until the very end of the war when policy suddenly changes because the united states is basically on the ropes militarily and is desperate for men. the only place where a significant number of black men are employed in the united states army is at new orleans by andrew jackson. there are two battalions of free blacks were employed and enslaved people, who were promised their freedom by andrew jackson. this employment

the british were to blame.se to the charge that was put to him that his administration failed to address the nation, he said well, was congress ees fault. if they'd given me the lawi izs the shape and:cqx time, he said think we would have seen a very different picture. on top of that madison said, perhaps he shouldn't have said canada if you look at it along a historical perspective is a very difficult and hazardous enterprise. experiences he had during the seven years war and what the americans had vi during the opening years of the revolutionary war when two american armies had failed to take and hold quÉbec in the opening months of the american revolution. madison summed up this in the following way. i quote, the difficulties were explained quote by the forests we penetrated, the savages to be encountered and the likes and other waters to be passed in order to reach a distant theater where the adversary was at home in the midst of all of his resources for defense, closed quote. madison also listed two other

they left it to the british. the british couldn't believe the good luck.y just couldn't understand this. they thought it was a trick, but they destroyed the fort. naturally, and at a moment when the flag should have been flying, it was fold up in the darkness as the judge advocate general later said in a court marshal. dyson was convicted, kicked out of the military, and they didn't want anybody of that caliber. he said, what's the point of flying a flag if we're going to be overtaken anyway? it was the worst kind of commander that you wanted to turn out, and so the british took the fort and there was nothing between them and alexandria in virginia. so they sailed upstream, and they laid siege to alexandria. now, just about everybody from alexandria had been called up and gone to bladensburg and other places. and they were old and infirm and they were either too young or too old. they were in a new position to defend the city. so a delegation from alexandria of notables went to see copan, and he spoke to them as if they were underlings. he demeaned them, a

the british beat the french, and we beat the british, at least at new orleans.that turned out to be the real significance of the battle of new orleans. it didn't have any impact on the outcome of the war or the peace treaty, but it did help in a if% profound and lasting way, shape the american memory of the war, so in the way of that, republicans claimed and you have victories in the war and blamed all failures and all the worked pretty effectively. federalist party pretty quickly disappeared after the war of 1812. i think they lan their last candidate for the presidency in 1816. he got swamped. this was a party that was out of tune with the dominant ethos of the american people anyway. it was a party too aristocratic, too pro-british, too hostile to expansion to survive. what revived it was the restrictive system. and you look at how federalists did during the war of 1812. at election time they actually did pretty well. the number of states they controlled in the course of the war, increased out of the 18 from 3 to 7. and there was an up tick in their support -

there is captain purchase -- he's british. 76 regiment. british army. in my 30-year career in studying history, i had never heard of the battle of plattsburgh. so i was intrigued. the more i read, it more it drew me in. i understood how important it was and what it played in international history.

this was not symbolic gesture by the british, they wanted this war to end on british terms.ollapse of madison's government, burning the white house and the capital, they could for the americans to sign a treaty that would bring an end to the war on british terms, which at times during this conflict -- in fact, the same day that we fight the battle here in bladensburg, the british delegates in kent what today is belgium is presenting the american delegation what are really demands. they include british control of the great lakes, navigation rights on the mississippi, and at that point they are making demand for a 250,000 square mile swath of territory in the old northwest, much of ohio, illinois, indiana that would become a permanent indian buffer state. these were terms that, frankly, so the british in coming to washington were trying to establish a weaker united states on the north american continent possibly force its disallusion. >> mr. george, while we give the last word on the fact that the british did not come here, the burning of the capital was not revenge on york,

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

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 britis

the british beat the french, and we beat the british, at least at new orleans. that turned out to be the real significance of the battle of new orleans. it didn't have any impact on the outcome of the war or the peace treaty. but it really did help in a profound and lasting way, shape the american memory of the war. so in the wake of that, republicans claimed all the victories in the war and blamed all the failures and all the setbacks on federalists. and it worked pretty effectively. federalist party pretty quickly disappeared after the war of 1812. i think they ran their last candidate for the presidency in 1816. and he got swamped. now, this was a party that was out of tune with the dominant ethos of the american people anyw anyway. too hostile, too territorial expansion to survive in this era anyway. in fact the federalist party had been in decline since 1800. what revived it was the restrictive system, most notably the embargo and the war of 1812. you look at how federalists did during the war of 1812. at election time they actually did pretty well. the num

the british army is not in the united states, the british army is back in canada. and so when the treaty is signed on christmas eve, 1814, the status quo is what we see today. >>> next, day two of a symposium marking the 200th anniversary of the burning of washington, d.c., during the war of 1812. first, donald hickey, author of "the war of 1812: a forgotten conflict." then, steve vogel, author of "through the perilous fight: the weeks that saved the nation." that's followed by holly shulman, at the university of virginia. and later, remarks

the british army is back in canada. o the treaty is signed on christmas eve, 1814, the status quo is what we see today. miles north of plattsburgh, new york looking up the road at border.rican-canadian it was here that the whole battle of plattsburgh began. of me give you a little bit background first. when the war of napoleon ended of 1814, the british had a problem. ellington wanted to keep the victorious army intact because he thought he needed it again and he will need it again in 1815, he was right. but no one saw his vision. and if he let it alone, when the to england, it would probably be disbanded, you know? away, there'sgoes no need for a democratic society to fund a very expensive army they would simply go away. them, he r to keep went to lord bathhurst, the secretary of war, and the i've got of war said this other problem. american war of 1812 and i'd like to put it to an end. those to trade with people. we need to have it to our advantage. get out of the war when it's over. he said give me your troops. gave

the british were to blame.e that was put to him that his administration failed to address the nation, he said well, was congress ees fault. if they'd given me the lawi izs the shape and:cqx time, he said think we would have seen a very different picture. on top of that madison said, perhaps he shouldn't have said canada if you look at it along a historical perspective is a very difficult and hazardous enterprise. experiences he had during the seven years war and what the americans had vi during the opening years of the revolutionary war when two american armies had failed to take and hold quÉbec in the opening months of the american revolution. madison summed up this in the following way. i quote, the difficulties were explained quote by the forests we penetrated, the savages to be encountered and the likes and other waters to be passed in order to reach a distant theater where the adversary was at home in the midst of all of his resources for defense, closed quote. madison also listed two other factors that h

and to british diplomat called the hole.hen the same diplomat saw the president in stockings greeting foreign diplomats he wrote down to his mother, dearest ma, luckily for me i have been in turkey and write at home in this simplicity of manners. that was the best quote i '6jxg. so why would they want to target this village that had no strategic value at all? they wanted to humiliate and demoralize the americans. and if they could seize the capital during wartime it might even lead to them to the break-up of the united states. the commander of the british commander of forces in north america wanted to give the americans what he called a complete dropping. and this was in part payback for american excesses in canada. where they burned and planted some of the public and private buildings most recently in york and now called toronto and in the villages on the niagara frontier. the countries have been at war for years because britain and france had been at war for years with each side targeting the other trade with neutral ameri

revenge hungry british set d.c. afire. the story tells us after americans set fire to new york, now toronto in canada, the british decided to do the same thing to washington. i know from experience if you don't make that claim in your stories or book or whatever, you'll hear from a load the readers or viewers who think otherwise. in fact there was something on cbs sunday morning the other day about the burning of washington, or at least the burning of the white house and the capitol. there was a viewer who commented, why not disclose the reason the british burned the white house to your viewers? i'm surprised that you failed that mention that york was burned in 1812 and that the burning of washington was retaliation for that act. perhaps then the american viewers could hear the whole story. i suspect this guy is canadian, but -- and canadians have a right to be miffed about a lot of ways that americans remember this war, including perhaps who won the war, canadians likely have a better claim to that. and certainly many ame

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 ve

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 sh

they were not burnt by the british. so we're talking about the stoddard bridge, the upper bridge, that's the bridge that would be essentially where east capitol street is located today. and then this lower bridge would be essentially the bridge that would be referred to as pennsylvania avenue today or the sousa bridge, whatever you prefer. and if i have one qualm with this particular image that they've done is that bridge should actually be much closer to the navy yard. because of those of you who are familiar with that bridge, you know that essentially it exits right next to where the naval station is. just in case you were wondering, according to "the u.s. navy observatory," sunset on august the 24th, 1814, was at 6:52 p.m. before daylight savings time. the stoddard bridge was set on fire by the americans somewhere between 2:00 and 4:00 in the afternoon. i don't know that it would still have been burning to the extent that you see in this illustration. the pennsylvania avenue bridge was set on fire at about 8:20 p.m.

in the british press. that the americans are taking much better care of our guys than we have been with them, and that again, went a long way towards getting the war to an end. any other questions? thank you all very much for coming. have a good evening. [applause] >> you are watching american history tv. 48 hours of programming on american history every weekend on c-span3. follow us on twitter at c-span history for information on our schedule, upcoming programs, and keep up with the latest history news. a this haunting likeness of partly dressed man, likened by some to a sold the parting the body, is the product of the women's titanic memorial association. over 1500 lives were lost when hms titanic went to the bottom after north atlantic striking an iceberg on the night of april 14, 1912. ship's female passengers perished, a number that would have been even higher but for numbers of men who yielded seats on the doomed liner possible fully inadequate lifeboats. that's why the women's titanic memorial is ex

they were not burnt by the british.o we're talking about the stoddard bridge, the upper bridge that would be essentially where east capitol street is located today and then this lower bridge is essentially the bridge that is referred to as pennsylvania avenue today or the susa bridge, whatever you prefer édyeáju have done, that bridge should be actually much closer to the navy yard. because of those of you who are familiar with that bridge, you know that it essentially exits right next to where the naval station is. just in case you wereñr wonderi, according to the u.s. navy observatory, sunset on august the 24th, 1814, was at 6:52 p.m. before daylight savings time. the stoddard bridge was set on fire by the americans somewhere between 2:00 and 4:00 in the afternoon. i don't know that it still would have been burning to the extent that you would see in this illustration. the pennsylvania avenue bridge was set on fire at about 8:20 p.m. so we're well an hour after sunset. and the navy yard was set on fire approximately 8