here is what the city of plattsburgh looked like. the british were spread out from the point through the bridge all of this looked like world war i, in that they were ahn entrenched. the american soldiering couldn't fight in the field, they fought from trenches. they used the require in order to defend themselves. it worked for some five days. as the trenches flowed to the south along this wild river. we come to the second bridge here at catherine street today, that's where the british line stopped and the americans defended the bridge for some five days. in the middle is ft. brown. ft. brown is the artillery position that was heavily cannoned, and was able to keep the british away by firing into the city. on the in the bay on the right flank is where the american navy ships will be moored, waiting for the british to come into attack the army's flank. their mission is to keep them away, and here you see them all like sitting ducks, moored waiting for the royal navy to attack. >> this is the rotunda of the city hall of the town of pla

as a result, sir george withdraws from plattsburgh, pulling his troops out, his three brigades, artillery, his families. they start heading north to canada. the battle is over, the americans have won. winston churchill said that it was the most important battle of the war, 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 an brought into town, to kent-delord and other homes and treated. the dead were put in a cure taj and brought to the shores, and in a funeral parade led by general mccom and commodore mcdonough, 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 cure taj led the body of commodore dowdy. he's buried here at riverside cemetery. but they were not just royal navy sailors. there were british army dead, american sailors

up next, we travel to plattsburgh where retired author david fitz-enz, 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. >> i have something to show you that is very rare. to fight the british when across the border. only several hundred showed up. the son of a lieutenant colonel in the militia decided he had all these weapons and know when to use them. was in thersenal basement of st. john's academy, he went upstairs to see the to see thed asked class that consisted of boys and girls and teenagers. he said to the boys, your fathers have all gone forward to fight the british. .ou are here you could help out. i have plenty of weapons downstairs. if you come with me, if you volunteer to come with me and come downstairs and get these weapons, i will show you how to shoot them. i will show you how to do the military drill. this afternoon, we will join the militia and defend these girls and other members of the city right here in plattsburgh. of course with that, the boys looked around at all the girl

up next, we travel to plattsburgh where the author of "the final invasion: plattsburgh" takes us on a two are of key locations to tell the story. i am at the battle of plattsburgh museum. it is on the old army post. there has been an army post here ever since the war of 1812. in this museum, the most important item is this painting. it shows the culmination of the battle, when the royal navy had finally closed with the americans, and they fought it out only 300 yards apart for an hour and a half. there were some 90 guns firing at the same time, and the noise disorienting that the sailors were unable to figure out what was going on. they began to load the canons one ball after the other after the other until they had so many cannonballs that the balls rolled out at -- the end of the barrel. cloud of was a huge smoke out on the battlefield, and at the very end of the naval battle, the british struck their colors. that was seen by the general who was sitting up on the hill, and when he saw that happen there was no point in going on any longer. he recalled the army and the next day, they