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WASHINGTON D.C. -- The Americans needed a victory after the
humiliation at Bladensburg, Maryland, and the burning of the
Capitol. They didn't have to wait long.
The British left a
smoldering Washington, D.C., at the end of August 1814, and returned
to their transports. They sailed up Chesapeake Bay toward Baltimore,
the real prize of the Chesapeake Campaign. The campaign itself was a
ploy to divert troops from the Canadian border, known as British
North America at the time, according to historian Glenn Williams,
U.S. Army Center of Military History.
Baltimore was a prize, because it had a massive seaport and
shipbuilding industry and was home port to many privateers that
preyed on British merchant shipping. Baltimore was also the
third-largest city in the U.S., and it's capture would have damaged
the U.S. economy. Some of the U.S. troops stationed along the
northern border would likely return to defend nearby Philadelphia
and recapture Baltimore, just as the British were launching their
own counter-invasion in the north, Williams said.
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Image of the Don Troiani's painting, "Battle of North Point in Baltimore
During the War of 1812"
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Treaty
talks were already underway in Ghent, Belgium. The more American
territory the British could occupy, the more favorable the treaty
would be for them, Williams added.
In the grand scheme of
things, the North American campaign for the British was originally
an irritating sideshow to the war with Napoleon. The French army had
just been defeated at the Battle of Leipzig, and Napoleon had been
exiled to the isle of Elba.
The British were war-weary after
20 years of fighting, and wanted to end the war in North America,
Williams said. The British admiralty also feared that Napoleon could
somehow make a comeback and wanted to prevent a total demobilization
of forces, he said.
While the main British fleet waited in
the Chesapeake for the return of a squadron that had sailed up the
Potomac to Alexandria, Virginia, a small force headed to Maryland's
Eastern Shore to prevent militia from reinforcing Baltimore. The
British attempted a landing at Caulk's Field, Aug. 31, but were
repulsed by the local militia.
Meanwhile in Baltimore, U.S.
militia, Soldiers, Sailors and Marines were not sitting idle, and
with the burning of Washington fresh in their memories, they
undoubtedly felt it was payback time, Williams said.
Maj.
Gen. Sam Smith foresaw an attack on Baltimore a year earlier and
immediately initiated defensive preparations. By the time the
British attacked, the Americans were waiting and ready, Williams
said.
Militia from surrounding states, including Pennsylvania
and Virginia, joined forces with the regular Army. Many of these
were the better trained militia, he noted. Every Soldier was
drilling, patrolling digging defensive works. Every able-bodied
civilian -- free and slave, white and black -- also helped to dig
trenches.
Smith was beloved by the troops and their officers,
Williams said. Smith commanded the Third Division of the Maryland
militia, while Brig. Gen. William Winder was the commander of Tenth
Military District, which included Maryland, the District of
Columbia, and Virginia north of the Rappahannock River. Winder had
commanded the failed defenses of Bladensburg.
Although Smith
outranked Winder, Smith had no authority over federal troops, as he
held a commission only in the state of Maryland's militia, granted
by the governor, Williams said.
Winder thought he was in
charge due to his federal rank, Williams said. But Smith was much
more dynamic, and the officers of the regular Army as well as the
Navy officers who came to help in the defense, said they'd rather
serve under him.
This didn't sit well with Winder, who first
appealed to his uncle, Maryland Governor Levin Winder, who said that
since Smith and the militia he commanded were in federal service,
Smith held rank equivalent to a regular major general. Winder then
fired off a letter to Secretary of War James Monroe.
Monroe
was secretary of state when he was present at the Battle of
Bladensburg just a week earlier (described in Part II of this
series). But on Sept. 4, 1814, Secretary of War John Armstrong Jr.
resigned and Monroe became the new secretary of war. He also
convinced President Madison that he should retain his secretary of
state title, according to Williams, so Monroe now wore two hats.
Monroe ended up siding with Smith by not replying to the letter,
and Winder ended up serving under Smith, much to his credit,
Williams said. Besides being an excellent general, Smith was a U.S.
senator, veteran of the Revolutionary War and a successful merchant.
TWO-FRONT WAR
On Sept. 11, 1814, the British invaded the
U.S. by land and sea at Plattsburg, N.Y.
The following day,
the British landed their forces at North Point in Baltimore, with
the aim of capturing the city. North Point would be the biggest
battle of the Chesapeake Campaign, but today, Americans mainly
recall the bombardment of nearby Fort McHenry, also in Baltimore,
because it is where Francis Scott Key wrote the "Star-Spangled
Banner," while held on a British ship, Williams said.
At
North Point, Maj. Gen. Robert Ross, the British commander at
Bladensburg and during the burning of Washington, led some 4,000 men
into battle against about 3,200 American militia.
The
Americans fought a successful delaying action at North Point. Among
the British killed was Admiral Ross. When the Americans finally fell
back, the British thought they had fought and defeated the principal
American force, until they saw the extensive fortifications outside
of the city, full of defenders, waiting for them.
On the
following day, Sept. 13, the British fleet began their bombardment
of Fort McHenry, which lasted over a day. When their ships could not
subdue Fort McHenry and support their main attack on Hampstead Hill,
they called off the land attack and retreated to the fleet.
Had the British succeeded in advancing their fleet past the fort and
into the inner harbor, they would have been able to outflank the
main American defense along Hampstead Hill, Williams said. They
would have made that defensive line untenable with an enfilade and
the Americans would have had to fall back.
But the Royal Navy
never got past the fort; Key wrote his poem, which later became the
Star Spangled Banner, and the Chesapeake Campaign was pretty much
over.
The strategy of pulling Americans away from the
northern border was a failure. The Battle of Plattsburg was also an
American victory, arguably of greater military significance.
Meanwhile, the British weighed anchor in the Chesapeake, debating
whether to attack Newport, Rhode Island, or go south to New Orleans,
Williams said. They chose the latter and the U.S. Army would add
more accolades to its illustrious history.
By David Vergun
Army News Service
Copyright 2014
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