The War Nobody Won...1812 (Part Two)

One of the British allies was the Indian Chief, Tecumseh. Tecumseh had a dream that all the Indian tribes would unite into one nation and drive all the Americans away. He agreed to fight with the British to get rid of the Americans. General Harrison, an American Commander, fought against Tecumseh with four thousand five hundred troops. The British saw the overwhelming number of troops and tried to retreat into Canada. When Tecumseh heard this, he was furious and compared the British leader to "a fat animal that carries its tail on its back but when frightened, drops it between its legs and runs." (p. 98) The British then decided to retreat only a few miles. The Indian force numbered one thousand two hundred men. In the middle of the battle, Tecumseh died (October 5, 1813). All the Indians grew terrified, dropped their weapons, and ran.

The British then attacked Washington, D.C. Distracting the Americans by attacking Bladensburg Bridge, the British used Congreve Rockets and caused some of the Americans to flee. Having never seen rockets before, the Americans thought that the British were shooting comets at them. The British were able to burn Washington D.C. Dolly Madison grabbed a portrait of George Washington and a copy of the Declaration of Independence as she fled the White House. The Americans became so angry about the burning of Washington D. C. that any one who didn’t want the war before, wanted it now.

Later, lookouts from Baltimore saw warships coming into Chesapeake Bay—this did not surprise the citizens of Baltimore; they had been expecting them for a long time. Fortifications were built. "Over ten thousand men and one hundred cannon stood ready to repel an invasion." (p. 129) Bomb ships fired at Baltimore. During this battle, Francis Scott Key wrote The Star Spangled Banner. The British eventually gave up because the Americans never surrendered.

"The British might have won the war if it wasn’t for Andrew Jackson." (p.137) Men called him ‘Old Hickory’ because he was very tough. During the war, Jackson was given the assignment to attack New Orleans, which then belonged to the Spanish. Although the Spanish claimed to be neutral in this war, they allowed British ships to rest in their harbor. Jackson saw that he would have to cut off the means for British reinforcements so he had his soldiers cut down trees and make dams over the rivers, which led to the harbor. The British discovered one river that wasn’t blocked and sent eighteen hundred men as an advance force down it. After setting up camp near the home of Major Villeré, they laid in wait to attack Andrew Jackson’s force. Major Villeré warned Andrew Jackson of the redcoat presence, enabling the Americans to squash the British force. Even though the British were defeated, that battle was a horrible mistake. Only a few days before, the British and Americans had made peace. Countless soldiers died needlessly.
This war of 1812 was called The War No One Won because nobody gained or lost territory. Only death resulted.

Napoleon was defeated during the War of 1812, but that’s another story.

Facts for this essay were gathered from the book 1812: THE WAR NOBODY WON by Albert Marrin, McClelland & Stewart, Ltd., 1985

The War Nobody Won...1812 (Part One)

I'm researching the War of 1812 and will be doing a series of posts about it.

Pre-War:

Napoleon Bonaparte became dictator of France after the French Revolution of 1789. The French were angry with King Louis XVI. When everyone started rebelling, Napoleon saw his chance. He appointed himself General and helped them kill the king and all of the king’s family. Napoleon was then appointed ruler. Some French, instead of fighting in Napoleon’s army, fled to America.

When the French dictator, Napoleon Bonaparte, came to power, of all of Europe, only England did not fall. The Americans saw this as an opportunity to convince the British that America was a country, not a group of rebels. While the British tried to stop Napoleon, the Americans sent out ships to attack the British. Another reason for the Americans to enter the European war was that the British captured and forced Americans to work on their ships, calling them deserters even if they had been in America for 15 years. They said, "Once an Englishman, always an Englishman." (p. 11)

Wartime:

"Americans were soon to learn that it is easier to declare war than to win victories. For war has a way of sending high hopes running head-on into reality. War is a dice gave for the highest stakes, only more unpredictable and harder to control than some ivory cubes flung across the table." (p. 20)div>

Much of the war of 1812 was fought on the water. The entire United States Navy was only sixteen ships (like David against the Royal Navy’s Goliath). The Royal Navy had one thousand and forty-eight warships but the American ships, like David, were more cunning as well as stronger than they seemed. Three of its ships were Super-Frigates; meaning that they were faster as well as more heavily armored and armed than normal Frigates. The heart of the U. S. Navy were the ships Constitution, United States, and President.

A great struggle on land was fought for the Great Lakes. In a cold and harsh winter, the American leader, Officer Oliver Hazard Perry, built a fleet of ships from scratch to try to hold the Great Lakes. His workers were tired and hungry and new supplies didn’t arrive until spring. All the ships were made of green wood, meaning that they wouldn’t last long.

The British had a small but powerful fleet stationed on the Detroit River. Many times their commander challenged Perry to fight but Perry decided the time of the battle. On July 31st, American sentries looked and found the lake empty. The British had disappeared! Apparently the British Commander, Barclay, went to a party thrown by Canadians. Perry quickly swept in and took battle stations outside the harbor. Perry’s capitol ship, Lawrence, got caught in mud. Perry dismounted her guns and had them taken ashore. The water was pumped out of Lawrence but the two ships that came to Lawrence’s aid sank. As the Americans tried to row Lawrence out of the mud, the British returned. Perry bluffed and sent his smaller craft to attack. Barclay retreated to Fort Malden to wait for his flagship to be finished. While waiting for Barclay’s return, Perry went to gather special squirrel whisker shooting marines from Kentucky.

When Perry went back to the Great Lakes, Barclay was almost out of food supplies. Ready or not, Barclay had to fight. On September 10, 1813, the great battle took place. Perry was victorious because he had tricks. One of his ships had stayed behind. When Lawrence was dying, Perry switched ships. The entire British Squadron was destroyed that day.

Facts gathered from the book 1812: THE WAR NOBODY WON by Albert Marrin, McClelland & Stewart, Ltd., 1985

Mom Tagged Me

Five Weird Things About Me.

1. I’m in forth grade and I have a twelfth grade reading level.

2. My dog, Deojie, (get it? D-O-G?) is part Shih Tsu and (we think) part Jack Russell.

3. My brother looks like my twin but we are five years apart.

4. I play strategy games on the computer (like Age of Empires II and Civilization II Gold Edition).

5. I beat my mom at Mancala every time…but I ‘let’ her win once because she wouldn’t quit until she did.

A Field Trip to Linville

On the ninth of November my family and I went to Linville Caverns and Linville Falls. After thirty minutes of reading (Gregor The Overlander) in the car, we were at the caves.

First, we went into the gift store and I saw lots of neat things. My favorite was a geode that had purple crystals inside of it. While we waited, we noticed that a creek was running out of the wall near the entrance to the caverns. After a few minutes of waiting, the tour started.

When we entered, we first noticed the trout in the water. Our tour guide told us the trout were either partly or completely blind because the caves were one of the two places on earth where you could find complete and total darkness. (The other place is at the bottom of the ocean called ‘the abyss’.)

The temperature in the cave is fifty-four degrees Fahrenheit and the water temperature is forty-four degrees Fahrenheit. Bats, spiders, and daddy-longlegs go there to hibernate. The bats that hibernate in the cave are smaller than your hand. Pictured to your left is one of the cute little bats.

The first rock formation we saw was called the bat and it looked like one to! We went up some stairs into the cathedral room with a rock formation that looked like two people getting married. The cathedral is the tallest room in Linville Caverns.

Next they had a real fireplace that soldiers in the Civil War used when they wanted to get away from the battle and recuperate. Eventually they were discovered because there were holes in the top of the mountain and smoke escaped.

Further on we went into a narrow passageway that led to a bottomless pit. It was filled with water and was over 150 feet deep. No one knows how deep it is. We saw it as we walked on a metal bridge hanging over it.

My brother hit his head on a very low stalactite. A stalactite is a rock that hangs ‘tight’ to the ceiling. But watch out! You ‘might’ trip over the stalagmites that grow from the ground.

The guide turned off the lights so we could experience total darkness. It was so dark that I couldn’t even see my hand almost touching my nose.



We left Linville Caverns, hiked up to Linville Falls, had a picnic and went back home.



It was a GREAT field trip!