3/1/2024 0 Comments 1812; the navy's war![]() ![]() Although the British initially struggled with adversarial tides and winds in the Patuxent, they soon began making reasonable progress. At the same time, diversionary forces headed for the Potomac River, a more direct route to Washington, and for the northern Chesapeake above Baltimore. While the Americans dawdled, the British got moving, with their main fleet setting sail for the Patuxent River on August 17. ![]() Not even an anonymous letter detailing Cockburn’s invasion plans spurred the administration to action, nor did a plea from Washington’s mayor, who called the city “defenseless.” Yet only a fraction of this force was ever rounded up, in part because Secretary of War John Armstrong insisted until the last possible moment that the British would not attack the capital. Army regulars, plus 10,000 to 12,000 militiamen ready in reserve. area for which he wanted at least 2,000 U.S. About 4,000 arrived in the Chesapeake in mid-August, along with numerous frigates, schooners, sloops and other warships, whereas an even bigger force went to Canada.īy that time, President Madison had established a new military district for the D.C. Meanwhile, in April 1814, Napoleon abdicated the French throne, freeing up boatloads of battle-hardened British troops to cross the Atlantic Ocean. In order to further along his scheme, Cockburn built a base on Tangier Island in the middle of the Chesapeake and distributed a proclamation inviting all slaves to join with the British. ![]() After spending the winter in Bermuda with his troops, the brash-talking Cockburn returned in February 1814 with his eyes set on Washington, D.C., telling a superior that the city “might be possessed without difficulty or opposition of any kind.” Before long, however, other fronts had opened up, including the Chesapeake Bay, where a British squadron led by Rear Admiral George Cockburn spent much of 1813 terrorizing coastal communities. When the War of 1812 first broke out, the fighting centered on the border between the United States and Canada, then a British colony. ![]()
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