the royal navy has been beaten. ir george -- sitting up there looking over the lake sees the colors come down. and when he does he knows the , battle is lost. he knows he no longer has control of the water. he knows he does not have the american ships to take the fleet down the lake. there is no point going on with the battle. even though the infantry can overwhelm the american infantry at this there's no point to it point, at all. he is going to save his troops to fight another day. as a result, sir george withdraws from plattsburgh. pulling his troops out, his brigades his , artillery, his families, and 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, british will fight the americans at baltimore. when the naval battle is over and the british withdrew, all that was left were the dead and the wounded and the american forces. out on the navy ships,

it is no accident that headquarters of the royal navy in london is "hms president." if you stop before you get to the bath, you will see four engravings of this battle. this is the one the british remember. this is the war of 1812. this is what 1812 is all about, not interfering in the settlement of europe. the congress of vienna created a system open for business and unlikely to lead for another major conflict. that was brittain's war aim. in the whole course of 22 years fighting the french the british took from the rest of europe two very small islands, one in the mediterranean called malta. the other one called heligoland. that is the entire access of european territory in this war. they gave it all up for peace and stability. then, of course, napoleon came back but not for long. he was rapidly arrested for the man who ran the blockade of new york for the previous two years. when the war was over the republican party did when you've presided over a failure, they've declared it a great success. republican party's speech writers, newspaper men and everybody else decl

and it shorthanded because the royal navy's very large and as andrew lambert pointed out, england, or should say the british isles are not particularly large in populous places and maintaining a global navy was a major challenge. and to do so at an unprecedented scale, the royal navy is larger 1814 because of their war against napoleon on a global scale. and so the ships that are sent over into the chesapeake are shorthanded. and then they suffer the loss of further seamen. now a few of them are combat desks, but and a few more of them are deaths from disease, but there's also a significant loss by desertion because sailors decide that wages are higher and alcohol is cheaper in the united states, and the working conditions are a whole lot better off in baltimore than they were on the british royal navy warship. now i'm not saying here that most sailors deserted or that most sailors wanted to desert, but any desertion is a problem for the crews that are already short handled and british officers have the perception that their men are prone to desert along the coast of the united states

and it shorthanded because the royal navy's very large and as andrew lambert pointed out, england, or i should say the british isles, are not particularly large and populous places. and maintaining a global navy was a major challenge. and to do so at an unprecedented scale, the royal navy is larger than it's ever been before in its history in 1813 and 1814. because of their war against napoleon on a global scale. and so the ships that are sent over into the chesapeake are shorthanded. and then they suffer the loss of further seamen. now a few of them are combat desks, but and a few more of them are deaths from disease, but there's also a significant loss by desertion because sailors decide that wages are higher and alcohol is cheaper in the united states, and the working conditions are a whole lot better off in baltimore than they were on the british royal navy warship. now i'm not saying here that most sailors deserted or that most sailors wanted to desert, but any desertion is a problem for these crews that are already shorthanded, and british officers have the perception that their

and it shorthanded because the royal navy's very large and as andrew lambert pointed out, england, ori should say the british isles are not particularly large in populous places and maintaining a global navy was a major challenge. and to do so at an unprecedented scale, the royal navy is larger 1814 because of their war against napoleon on a global scale. and so the ships that are sent over into the chesapeake are shorthanded. and then they suffer the loss of further seamen. now a few of them are combat desks, but and a few more of them are deaths from disease, but there's also a significant loss by desertion because sailors decide that wages are higher and alcohol is cheaper in the united states, and the working conditions are a whole lot better off in baltimore than they were on the british royal navy warship. now i'm not saying here that most sailors deserted or that most sailors wanted to desert, but any desertion is a problem for the crews that are already short handled and british officers have the perception that their men are prone to desert along the coast of the united state

the royal navy was protecting global trade. the british simply had no spare ships, men or money to fight a war with anybody else. indeed during the war of 1812, the british military effort was rarely more than 7% of the land and sea forces. they simply didn't have any more to spare. it wasn't a case of choice. that's all there was. in 1812 and 1813, the british strategy is largely reactive. the americans had the initiative, they chose where to fight and how to fight. as we know the united states opened the conflict with what should have a three-pronged offensive into what is now canada. and a surge of warships and private tiers to cut britain's economic lifelines. the canadians frontier became the main military theater. for three years heavily outnumbered british -- defended the border. to meet these attacks, the british shifted some troops, but they came from the west indies, not from europe. the british moved no soldiers in the european theater until after the napoleonic conflict. as long as napoleon remained in power, british

the real killing came up to delaware. returned to was sea without properly being refitted. american navy is down the street in congress outside for officer royal navy whose gang was adding their names to the king's muster oles, adams had no maritime experience at all. he had been out to sea once in his life, 15-mile fishing trip cahasset off of maa. he left his wife and children in a brain tree farm outside of could see the ey bombardment and attack and he was receiving regular reports of around boston. not from the boston papers but the mother of his children. town asoccurred in this abigail adams put it and we were all night. from may to october of 1775, he argued for such a force. the first battle was fought in the room of what is now hall.ndence feet wide, one friggot. length of a the most imposing marylander, case, a lawyer with a vicious tongue and relished it.g the american navy for him was the maddest idea in the world. listed allies among their colleagues, the enemy by ed out the cause just being the enemy. shelling h navy began used the e the ousted exile and declared freedom of all virginia slaves owners while they oined the emancip

and 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 was so disoriented that the sailors were unable to figure out what was going on, and they began to load the cannons one ball after the other after the other after the other until they had so many cannon balls they rolled out of the end of the barrel. another case they put too much powder in and a cannon exploded when they set it off. so there was a huge cloud of smoke on the battlefield and at the end of the naval battle the british struck their colors there on the right, and that was seen by general provo who was sitting up on the hill, and when he saw that happen, he knew he had lost the battle. without the navy, without the ships to take his army south, there was no point in going on any longer. and so he recallied the army an the next day they left and they went back to canada and the battle was over. he planned to come and fight again in spring but, o

or in the case of alexander cochran as a ship captain in the royal navy. ries of the last war were still very strong. they were quite raw for most people. >> you mentioned burning of government buildings. we've heard it often said no private buildings were burned. pamela scott showed me a drawing i noticed before but hadn't thought about in this context. a drawing by latrobe in december 1815 that shows george washington's buildings burned, ruins of them, and a large tavern nearby near the capital also in ruins. this is a year after the british were there. it seems as though they must have done the burning. >> thank you for that. did the british destroy any other buildings in washington other than public buildings. the one private building they destroyed was a building from which a sniper shot general ross's horse, missing general ross i think was the target. they didn't burn the building, part avatar i have, so they pulled it down. they destroyed offices of national intelligence but any sound a general and admiral would like to see the press suppressed. geo

if i was the royal navy, i would not want to get that close to that. which meant that to win the battle, they had to conduct a long-range bombardment. if you think this 36 pound shot is big, wait until i show you the bridge bombs that burst in air. let's see those. one more thing before we go into the fort is how strong these defenses were and why the british chose a long-range bombardment instead of trying to take the fort straight on. if you look behind me, you will see a lighthouse. that was not there at the time. at that neck of the channel, the american strong up the chain-link boon. imagine telephone poles chain together. the channel.d behind that, americans had a rowboat with canon. behind that, the americans sunk ships. for the british to win the battle and get their vessels into the port of baltimore to destroy the city, they would have had to have knocked out that chain, saw through it, fight off the american boats, raise the sunken ship, and knock out all of the cannons of fort mchenry. it was tough. so the british decided on a long-range bom

on november 14th, the captain of the royal navy noted their potential. "the slaves continue to come off by every opportunity and i have now upwards of 120 men, women and children on board and if their assertions be true, there is no doubt but the blacks of virginia and maryland would cheer fully take up arms and join us against the americans." although many masters have come out to the truths of the british warship and asked for permission to speak to their slaves. january 1814, the british government comes around and endorses warren's proposal to enlist black troops among the runaways. and, indeed, it also authorizes the naval commanders to take in women and children as well, for it was well understood that the men would not come if they could not also bring women and children with them. implementation of the new policy fell to vice admiral sir alex cochran who sur planted war on april 1st of 1814. and he issued his famous proclamation, which is extremely clever in its word. it never uses the word slaves. but instead his address is to, quote, all those w

in the continent in europe in recent years, so 4,000 troops did not sound like much to some of the royal navyders here, but c on per sues with the attack on make use of several waterways under attack on washington. if the british force sailed up the potamic, everybody would know that washington was the ultimate target. coburn decides or=0bxç recommen that the vd(ñ be split up, that one squadron sail up the river and threaten the capital and city of alexandria. the main force is going to go up the river into southern fh+3÷ maryland, and the advantage of the river was that it would intention because a move up the river means many things. it might mean an attack on washington, but it could mean an overland attack on baltimore or attack on annapolis, or it could mean the british were simply chasing after commodore joshua barny, the american commander of the shallow draft barges suited for navigating shallow waters of the bay and rivers feeding into it. barney by the summer of 1814 haÑ been trapped in the river. he was further up river(0ú thane british, and the british could use barney's presence

if the army came under í÷÷ñ counterattack, then having the royal navy squadron coming up the potomac,uld carry out some of the army forces down the potomac if they were to get trapped at washington. beyond that there were some important targets still up river from where they stood. it was part of the land making up the district in the district of columbia. it was a very wealthy port in the potomac. threat to hadn't been taken by the british army though they don't know this at this point. there's an important foundry that makes weapons for the u.s. navy that is still sitting untouched. in any event they're proceeding up river, when they're hit by the huge storm, the remarkable storm that comes through washington on august 25th, sweeps down river and severely gordon's squadron. and they have to stop to make repairs and they almost consider turning back at that point. they keep coming up river, sail past mt. vernon which is just down river from here. finally on august 27th, thy come in sight of ft. washington, which is the last fortress guarding the potomac river as they -- on the approa

it shows the culmination of the --tle between the royal navy when the royal navy had finally closed withthe americans, and they audit out. , for an yards apart hour and a half. there were some 90 guns firing at the same time. the noise was so disoriented that the sailors were unable to figure out what was going on, and they began to load cannons one ball after the other after the other until they had so many cannonballs that the ball rolled out the end of the barrel, and another case where they put too much power in and the cannon exploded when they set it off. there is a huge cloud of smoke out on the battlefield, and at the very end of the naval battle, the british struck their colors there on the right, and that was seen by the general who was sitting up on the hill. when he saw that happen, he knew he had lost the battle. without the navy, without the ships to take his army south, there was no point in going on any longer, and so he recalled the army, and the next day they left. canada, andback to the battle was over. he planned to come and fight again in the spring, but of course, t

in impressing american sailors on american ships to right in the royal navy against france. at was outrageous! and understand, made american tempers rise. so america declared war on britain and invade canada, a they invaded -- >> you can watch the rest of this recorded program on our website, c-span.org. we're going to leave it now to continue our live coverage of a two-day forum with historians and authors marking the anniversary of the british burning of washington and the war of 1812. the next speaker is katherine algore, who's written a book about dolly madison called "a perfect union, dolly madison and the creation of the american nation." that should get under way in just a few moments live here on c-span3's american history tv. >>> welcome back, everybody. america under fire, mr. madison's war and the burning of washington city. for those of you who may be just joining us, if have you one of these little devices, make sure it is turned off or in the silent mode, that would be fantastic. so i have the pleasure now of introducing dr. katherine algore. she is going to tac

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

now all this time as the attack on washington has unfolded, you've had the royal navy squadron under n gordon moving up the potomac. this turns out to be quite an epic attack in its own right. many in washington thought it was going to be impossible for british war ships to make it up the potomac. they're further down river from where we are now. area known as the kettle bottoms, notorious shoals that no one had ever been able to sail through. by hook and crook, by enormous labor, gordon is able to use anchors to pull themselves through the mud. all these ships end up going aground but they manage to pull themselves through with great seamanship and a lot of muscle. but this does slow them down. so they've gotten -- by the time they get through the kettle bottoms and they're 20 miles or so from washington on the night of august 24th, they see a red glow in the sky. and it's washingtonñyd burning. and it's just a stunning sight, even from that distance. theñr flames were such that the night was being lit up. now, in some ways, this was a disappointment, because gordon and the sailors w

again, if i was the royal navy, wouldn't want to get close to that, neither did they. had to he battle, they conduct a long range bombardment. you think the 36-pound shot is i show you the british bombs that burst in air. fort. going to the one more thing about before we strong the fort is how the defenses were and why the british chose a long-range of trying tonstead take the fort straight on. if you look behind me here, you'll see a small lighthouse, not there at the time. you also see a cement factory. that narrow neck of the channel, the americans strung up a chain link boom. chained elephone poles together, laying long ways. that's blocking the channel. had d that, the americans gun boats, like a big row boat with a cannon in the bow. nd behind that, the americans sunk ships for the british to in the battle, and get their vessels into the port of baltimore to destroy the city, have had to have knocked out the thick iron through it, fight off he gun boats, raise the sunken ships, knock out the cannons of ft. mchenry. downriver.imed it was tough to do. so the british

the royal air force is getting new fleets of joint strike fighter and voyageur refueling aircraft as well as 22 new a 400 m transport aircraft, the first of which has just arrived. the royal navy is receiving new astute killersu sub march ease, the type 45 destroyers including duncan here in cardiff bay. and frigates. all of these decisions have been made possible by taking the difficult, long-term approach that i have spoken about. of course we have our brand-new aircraft-carrier, hms queen elizabeth that has left the dry doc and is being fitted with the combat systems. she will be the mightiest ship the royal navy has ever put to sea, able to protect and project our interests across the globe for decades to come. today, i can announce that the second carrier, hms prince of wales will also be brought into service. this will ensure that we always have one carrier available 100% of the time. they are an investment in british security, in british prosperity and our place in the world, transforming our ability to project power globally whether independently or with our allies. third, we were clear at this nato conference about the new threat that we face, principalbly islamist ex

if i was the royal navy, i would not want to get that close to that. e more thing before we go into the fort is how strong these defenses were and why the british chose a long-range bombardment instead of trying to take the fort straight on. if you look behind me, you will see a lighthouse. that was not there at the time. at that neck of the channel, the american strong up the chain-link boon. imagine telephone poles chain together. that's blocked the channel. behind that, americans had a rowboat with canon. behind that, the americans sunk ships. for the british to win the battle and get their vessels into the port of baltimore to destroy the city, they would have had to have knocked out that chain, saw through it, fight off the american boats, raise the sunken ship, and knock out all of the cannons of fort mchenry. it was tough. so the british decided on a long-range bombardment, hoping they can knock out the guns of the fort, maybe scare the americans. that is why they chose to rely on the five ships that could fire a 200-pound shell two miles. everyo

or in the case of alexander cochran as a ship captain in the royal navy. memories of the last war were still very strong. they were quite raw for most people. >> you mentioned burning of government buildings. we've heard it often said no private buildings were burned. pamela scott showed me a drawing i noticed before but hadn't thought about in this context. a drawing by latrobe in december 1815 that shows george washington's buildings burned, ruins of them, and a large tavern nearby near the capital also in ruins. this is a year after the british were there. it seems as though they must have done the burning. >> thank you for that. did the british destroy any other buildings in washington other than public buildings. the one private building they destroyed was a building from which a sniper shot general ross's horse, missing general ross i think was the target. they didn't burn the building, part avatar i have, so they pulled it down. they destroyed offices of national intelligence but any sound a general and admiral would like to see the press suppressed.

they woke up when the united states navy won three shattering victories over the royal navy.rnment pay attention. here we see constitution taking it to garrier in the wonderful picture which manages to disguise the key fact of the battle. the garrier was only 2gs 3 the sides of the constitution and it had rather less than 2/3 of the crew. the american captain had lost the battle he would have made a very poor showing, indeed, but that's not the story that appeared in the "republican" newspapers. the second battle of macedonia was rather embarrassing. the british captain was blind and a fool. the third frigget captured put up a credible fight against a far bigger american ship. the two defeats of the garrier were neither dishonorable nor disadvantageous. the british quickly got their crew back. the one thing they were short of was their sailors. when the american ships had won the battles, they had to go home for repairs so the cost of winning some glory the americans had ruined their mission. as alfred mahan said, these were strategically irrelevant victories but did provide

he has the royal navy squadron approaching him. and he thinks that perhaps he's going to be attacked by land at the same time by british army troops. and he has decided to abandon the fort without a shot being fired. and he would soon be court-martialed for that decision. and with the destruction of ft. washington, the british now have an open path to alexandria as well as again to washington. >> we're right off alexandria, virginia, about where captain gordon positioned his royal navy squadron on august 29th, 1814, ft. washington is destroyed. everybody in alexandria knew that there was really no way to defend the city now. they had been left completely defenseless really by the federal government. alexandria's militia had been taken by the general and squandered, positioned off near ft. washington for a while and now that washington had been burned, they had been marched away. so the city fathers essentially had no defenses. all the weapons in town. most of the canons, save for a couple, had been taken away as well. and, you know,

reporter: over two days of intense conversations inside the walls of cardiff castle and aboard the royal navy's fearsome new destroyer, a ten-country coalition was formed to destroy isis. >> you can't contain an organization that is running roughshod through that much territory, causing that much havoc, displacing that many people, killing that many innocents. >> reporter: a final plan could come within weeks. but allies are expected to focus on areas of expertise. britain with its special forces, jordan's intelligence operations and turkey helping with border control. the major challenge though is still to come getting arab nations to provide the boots on the ground that the west won't. >> we can support them from the air, but ultimately we're going to need a strong ground game. >> reporter: with more american bombs dropping in iraq today, there's also a political advantage. the president can more convincingly say he isn't going it alone. also announced today an agreement for a conditional cease-fire between russia and ukraine. >> i really hope that now -- will be launched. >> reporter: and if

the idea of an american navy was the brainchild of john adams, down the street in congress. outside of successfully defending several yankee sailors for slaying a royal navy officer whose crime was attempted to add their names to the kings muster rolls, adams had no maritime experience at all. he had only been out to see once in his life, a 15-mile fishing trip off the coast of massachusetts. but he had left his wife and children at their farm outside of boston, where they could see at bombardment and attack bunker and brood cells, and he was receiving regular reports of boston, notaround from the boston papers, but from the mother of his children. when a british man-of-war anchored nearby occurred in town, as abigail adams put it, and they were all up on night. hem may to october of 1775, argued for such a force. the first battle of the continental navy was fought in a room of what is now independence hall, 40 feet long, 38 feet wide , about 1/3 the link of a forget and slightly wider than her beam. adams' most christopher's foe was opposing memo litter, samuel chase, a lawyer with a vicious ferous -- adams' most voci foe. to him, a navy was the mad

the british log books from the royal navy vessels. those are meticulously kept log books. the weather for the 13th of september 18, '14 was inter mintent showers. intermittent rain. the large flag 200 years ago was made in baltimore city by mary pickersville. she, an african american dentured servant and nieces handstitched that flag. putting in 12, 14 hour days for a month. and a smaller one measuring 17 x 25 feet. we are currently flying that on the pole right now. this is why that moment is so important. going back to the weather, the 13th was rainy, the evening hours it had continued to rain. clearing up slightly. clearing up slightly. showers up until approximately 3:00 in the morning on the 14th of september. then gradual clearing. by dawn's early light, the cloud had dissipated. the rain was gone, so as you stand here on this original parade ground, you can look on to the gravel path and see the moisture that yesterday's day ain brought forth. that's exactly as it would have een. the sun is out exactly as it would have been. we can't control the weather, we all know

it shows the culmination of the battle between the royal navy when it had final closed with the americansthey fought it out for only 300 yards apart for an hour and a half. there were 90 guns firing at the same time. disorienting so that the sailors were unable to figure out what was going on. they began to load the can nons one ball after the other until they had so many cannonballs that the ball rolled out of the barrel. in another case, we put too much powder in and the cannon exploded when they set it off. there was a huge cloud of smoke on the battlefield. at the end of the naval battle, the british struck their colors on the right. that was seen by the general sitting on the hill. when he saw that happen, he knew he had lost the battle. without the navy and ships to take his army south, there was no point going on in the longer. he recalled the army. the next day, they left. they went back to canada. the battle was the battle was over. he plan to come and fight again in spring but the treaty of ghent happened in between in the red coated soldiers were never seen in the united states

now, the first months of the war had not been exactly stellar for the royal navy. ou 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

she will be the mightiest ship the royal navy has ever put to sea, able to protect and project our interestscross the globe for decades to come. and today i can announce that the second carrier - hms prince of wales - will also be brought into service. this will ensure that will always have one carrier available, 100% of the time. they are an investment in british security, in british prosperity and our place in the world, transforming our ability to project power globally whether independently or with our allies. now third, we were clear about the new threats we face, principally islamist extremism. everyone remembers the divisions around the world over the iraq war ten years ago.there were no real divisions here. the nato alliance is clear about the threat that we face. the scale of that threat and the fact that we must use all the instruments at our disposal - humanitarian, diplomatic and military. we have agreed to offer a nato training mission for iraq as soon as the new iraqi government is in place. the fight against isil must be led by the iraqis themselves. but we will continue to en

they woke up when the united states navy won three shattering victories over the royal navy. these successes in the war of 1812 made the british government pay attention. here we see constitution in the wonderful picture which manages to show the key size of the battle. guerriere had two-thirds the crew. if the americans had lost the battle, he would have made a poor story indeed. but that's not the story that appeared in the newspapers. the british captain was both a blind and a fool. but the third ship captured put up a very credible fight against a far bigger american ship. the two defeats of the guerriere and the java were not exactly advantageous. the british got their crew back, and one thing they were short of was sailors as we all know from the pre-war oppressment. so at the cost of winning some glory, the americans had ruined their mission. as alfred mahan said, these were strategically relevant histories, but they did provide the united states government, who had a lot to explain, with some very useful propaganda. the fact the republican administration made it all t

. >> sir john of the royal navy, his ships were trapped in pack ice, and he and his 128 men tried to walk to safety, there was even talk of cannibalism. this is the first glimpse of the ship that they left behind. the wreckage is well preserved in the water. and the researchers used remote-controlled vehicles, giving credit to the breakthrough. they got a allow where to search from their colleagues on land who found them at an island nearby. government has been funding expeditions to search for the missing ships since 2008 and the mystery has gripped many canadians, and the expensive searches has helped them claim canada's icy waters. >> the technologies that were utilized can be utilized elsewhere, and in fact, as we speak, we have two ice breakers using similar technologies up in the high arctic, and mapping out our shelf. >> for that, the exact site of the wreck is being kept vague to discourage treasure hunters, but there are more mysteries to solve. and canada's explorers will head north once again next summer. >> coming up next, it's not a movie, it's not a tv show. but it could