War+of+1812

=﻿Zackary McMullen War of 1812=
 * From the end of the American Revolution in 1783, the United States had been irritated by the failure of the British to withdraw from American territory along the Great Lakes.
 * The British appeared near success in the late summer of 1814. American resistance to the diversionary attack in Chesapeake Bay was so weak that the British, after winning the Battle of Bladensburg (August 24), marched into Washington, D.C., and burned most of the public buildings. President Madison had to flee into the countryside. The British then turned to attack Baltimore but met stiffer resistance and were forced to retire after the American defense of Fort McHenry, which inspired Francis Scott Key to write the words of the "Star-Spangled Banner."
 * Located just 100 miles upstream from the mouth of the Mississippi River, the Crescent City offered a tempting prize to a British military still buoyant over the burning of Washington, D.C. To capture the city, Admiral Sir Alexander Cochrane fitted out a naval flotilla of more than 50 ships to transport 10,000 veteran troops from Jamaica. They were led by Sir Edward Pakenham, the 37-year-old brother-in-law of the Duke of Wellington and a much-decorated general officer.
 * The most famous episode was a series of British raids on the shores of Chesapeake Bay, including an attack on Washington that resulted in the British burning of the White House, the Capitol, the Navy Yard, and other public buildings, in the "Burning of Washington".
 * British General Prevost launched a major invasion of New York State with these veteran soldiers, but the American navy gained control of Lake Champlain and the British lost the Battle of Plattsburgh in September 1814.


 * In 1807, after the British ship Leopard fired on the American frigate Chesapeke, the captain was fatally wounded but spoke the quote "Don't give up the ship, fight to the last man". After that he died, and the American ship wa captured.