When Britain Burned the White House

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When Britain Burned the White House Page 30

by Peter Snow

‘little confidence of our success’: Nicholson to Mrs Albert Gallatin, 4/9/1814, New York Historical Society, Albert Gallatin Manuscript 238

  ‘for a gallant defence’: Isaac Munroe, Yankee Newspaper, 30/9/1814, in Sheads, ‘Yankee Doodle Played’, p. 381

  Chapter 18: 12 September – Many heads will be broken tonight

  noted in his ship’s log: Cockburn ship’s log, COC 11, pp. 136–7, NMM

  ‘assistance within my power’: Cockburn to Cochrane, 15/9/1814, in NW, p. 279

  ‘without intermission’: Gleig, Sub, p. 107

  ‘was before us’: ibid., p. 108

  ‘moment might bring forth’: ibid., p. 114

  ‘and 12 by water’: Codrington, Memoir, abridged edn, p. 234

  ‘to the exhaustion’: Lovell, Personal Narrative, p. 162

  ‘across the channel’: Gleig, Sub, p. 108

  ‘ship off if necessary…’: Barrett, ‘Naval Recollections’, p. 462

  ‘the process’: ibid., p. 463

  ‘all the Yankees’: Codrington, Memoir, abridged edn, p. 234

  ‘expel the invader’: Madison, Writings, p. 305

  ‘invincibles shall be beaten’: Niles’ Weekly Register, 10/9/1814, p. 8

  ‘proper use of it’: George Douglass to Henry Wheaton, in Sheads, Guardian, p. 69

  ‘tonight – or hell’: Hawkins, p. 9

  ‘to be desirable’: Gleig, Sub, p. 117. There are a number of inconsistencies in Gleig’s different accounts of this and other episodes. His claims to have been present at some of these actions should be taken with some scepticism.

  ‘if it rains militia’: Marine, p. 150

  ‘in taking aim…’: ibid., p. 122

  ‘pierced his side’: ibid.

  reload their weapons: see Jenkins, p. 362

  ‘fallen to the ground’: Gleig, Sub, p. 123

  ‘loudly for a surgeon’: Gleig, F and B, p. 123

  ‘dearer to him than life…’: Cockburn to Cochrane, 15/9/1814, in NW, p. 280

  ‘avail to no good purpose’: Skinner letter in Baltimore Patriot, 23/5/1849

  in the Union Jack: Lovell, Personal Narrative, p. 163

  ‘wife and family…’: Crofton to Glascock, 7/8/1815, Ross Papers, PRONI

  ‘all her earthly bliss!’: Codrington to wife, 13/9/1814, in Codrington, Memoir, abridged edn, p. 234

  ‘concealed from the troops’: Evans, ‘Memorandum’, p. 21

  ‘by the army’: Scott, p. 336

  ‘Ross had obtained it’: Gleig, Sub, p. 123

  ‘man in the army’: Cpl Brown, 21st Fusiliers Diary, Museum of Royal Scots Fusiliers, Edinburgh

  ‘give vent to their tears’: Chesterton, vol. 1, p. 145

  ‘guide an army’: Gleig, F and B, p. 124

  ‘strongly posted’: Brooke, Diary

  Chapter 19: 12 September – The Battle of North Point

  ‘about twelve thousand men’: Brooke, Diary

  ‘came within range’: Gleig, F and B, p. 125

  ‘in that quarter’: Stricker to Smith, in Marine, p. 163

  ‘intensely hot’: Piper, in ‘The Defense of Baltimore’, p. 106

  ‘gaps in the line’: Gleig, F and B, p. 127

  ‘took to his heels’: ibid., p. 129

  ‘you’ll have it directly’: Scott, p. 337

  ‘they could cram in…’: Gleig, F and B, p. 127

  ‘to receive them’: Gleig, Sub, p. 132

  ‘bayonet into play’: ibid., p. 133

  ‘intervened to save me’: Gleig, Diary, p. 169

  ‘way in all directions’: Cockburn to Cochrane, 15/9/1814, in NW, p. 280

  ‘fled in every direction’: Scott, p. 338

  ‘man best could…’: Gleig, Sub, p. 134

  ‘fled in every direction…’: Brooke to Bathurst, 17/9/1814, in NW, p. 283

  ‘to rally them, ineffective’: Stricker to Smith, in Marine, p. 163

  ‘and the 5th…’: ibid., p. 164

  ‘support on the left’: ibid.

  ‘the general’s order’: Piper, in ‘The Defense of Baltimore’, p. 106

  ‘movement back…’: Stricker, in Marine, p. 164

  ‘shooting in earnest…’: Piper, in ‘The Defense of Baltimore’, p. 106

  ‘to the ground in his rear’: Smith to Monroe, 10/9/1814, in NW, p. 296

  ‘defeated and routed’: MHM special edition, vol. 107, spring 2012, p. 106

  ‘had been dispossessed’: Brooke to Bathurst, 17/9/1814, in NW, p. 283

  ‘named Edmondson’: Scott, p. 339

  wrote James Scott: ibid., p. 341

  ‘tolerable spirits’: ibid.

  ‘broken limb’: Gleig, Sub, p. 136

  ‘the deepest commiseration’: Chesterton, vol. 1, p. 148

  ‘of an ignoble deed’: ibid., pp. 149–50

  Chapter 20: 13 September – The rockets’ red glare

  ‘valour of veterans’: Smith to Monroe, 19/9/1814, in NW, p. 294

  powder from it: Webster, in Marine, p. 179

  from where he was: Newcomb despatch to Commodore Rodgers, 18/9/1814, in NW, p. 292

  ‘formidable line of artillery’: Barrett, ‘Naval Recollections’, p. 463

  ‘precision and effect…’: Newcomb despatch to Commodore Rodgers, 18/9/1814, in NW, p. 292

  ‘the slightest injury’: Armistead to Monroe, 24/9/1814, in Marine, p. 168

  ‘a handspike [a crowbar]’: Webster, in ibid., p. 180

  ‘miles out would shake…’: Stevens to Pennell, 29/9/1814, MHM, vol. 51 (1956) p. 356

  men were wounded: Isaac Munroe letter to Boston Yankee, 30/9/1814

  ‘conduct of Armistead’: Nicholson to Monroe, 17/9/1814, in Sheads, ‘Joseph Hopper Nicholson’, p. 148

  ‘struck up ‘Yankee Doodle’: Munroe letter to Boston Yankee, 30/9/1814

  ‘again ceased firing’: Armistead to Monroe, 24/9/1814, in NW, p. 303

  ‘means of resisting it…’: Munroe letter to Boston Yankee, 30/9/1814

  ‘warning for us to shift…’: Barrett, ‘Naval Recollections’, p. 463

  ‘rain fell in torrents’: ibid.

  ‘quiet until one o’clock’: Cochrane to Napier, 13/9/1814, NW, p. 279

  ‘for further orders’: ibid., p. 278

  British screaming: Webster, in Marine, p. 179

  Chapter 21: 13 September – You go on at your peril

  ‘may be turned’: Cochrane to Brooke, 12/9/1814, NW, p. 376

  ‘mutual success’: Brooke to Cochrane, 12.30 a.m., 13/9/1814, in NW, p. 277

  ‘bones and marrow’: Gleig, Sub, p. 142

  ‘death to surrender’: ibid., p. 145

  father’s corpse: ibid., p. 146

  ‘strong redoubts…’: Brooke, Diary

  ‘prize our own’: Gleig, Sub, p. 147

  be least effective: Brooke to Bathurst, 17/9/1814, in NW, p. 282

  nine years earlier: Scott, p. 344

  ‘easily they could be beaten’: Gleig, Sub, pp. 149, 156

  ‘vaults with brick work’: ibid., p. 153

  ‘superior Bordeaux’: ibid., p. 154

  ‘of maximum enjoyment’: ibid

  ‘my saturated garments’: Chesterton, vol. 1, pp. 151–2

  floor to sleep on: ibid., p. 152

  ‘on the waterside?’: Scott, p. 345

  ‘to General Brooke’: ibid.

  ‘cannot be equally felt’: Cochrane to Cockburn, 13/9/1814, in NW, p. 278

  ‘still for proceeding…’: Scott, p. 345

  wrote in his diary: Brooke, Diary

  ‘was gone forever’: ibid

  faintheartedness: Scott, p. 345

  ‘decided on retreat’: Evans, ‘Memorandum’, 13/9/1814

  ‘crowds of raw levies’: Gleig, Sub, pp. 158–9

  ‘success of the 12th’: Scott, p. 347

  ‘cost us dear’: Gleig, F and B, p. 136

  ‘was well defended’: Codrington to wife, 13/9/1814, in Codrington, Memoir, 1875 edn, vol. 1, p. 320

  ‘have taken the to
wn’: J. S. Skinner letter to editor of the Baltimore Patriot, 23/5/1849

  ‘entrance of the harbour’: Evans, ‘Memorandum’, p. 25

  ‘irretrievably been lost’: ibid., p. 26

  ‘great skill and judgment’: Smith to Monroe, 19/9/1814, in NW, p. 296

  ‘flag of the enemy’: Chief Justice Taney, in Marine, p. 187

  ‘was its question’: Scott Key speech in Frederick County in Rukert, p. 41, and in Sheads, Guardian, p. 105

  American history: Taney, in Marine, p. 188

  ‘home of the brave?’: Key’s original MS is in the Maryland Historical Society in Baltimore

  the US national anthem: Taney, in Marine, p. 188

  ‘gun of defiance’: Barrett, ‘Naval Recollections’, p. 464

  ‘upon our veteran chief…’: ibid., p. 465

  back to the ships: Smith to Monroe, 10/9/1814, in NW, p. 297

  Chapter 22: Aftermath – Unparalleled in history

  ‘which I reluctantly consented’: Cochrane to Melville, 17/9/1814, in NW, p. 289

  ‘before Baltimore’: Morning Post, 18/10/1814

  America was ‘chequered’: Liverpool to Castlereagh, 21/10/1814, in WSD, vol. 9, p. 367

  had changed all that: Goulburn to Bathurst, 21/10/1814, in ibid., p. 366

  ‘prodigious expense’: Liverpool to Castlereagh, 2/11/14, in ibid., pp. 401–2

  ‘prospects of peace’: Liverpool to Castlereagh, 4/11/14, in ibid., pp. 404–5

  at the peace talks: Wellington to Liverpool, 9/11/14, in ibid., pp. 424–6

  peace beckoned: see Taylor, pp. 435–6

  ‘millstone of the American war’: Castlereagh to Liverpool, 2/1/1814, in WSD, vol. 9, p. 523

  ‘beheld before or since’: Smith, Autobiography, pp. 246–7

  ‘from gloom to glory’: Ingersoll, vol. 2, p. 65

  ‘seen in Washington’: Jennings, pp. 13–14

  ‘during the action’: Madison letter to William Winder Jr, 15/9/1834, James Madison Papers, microfilm reel 24, series 1, LC

  ‘to leave his presence’: Mary Cutts memoir, Cutts Collection, LC, quoted in Memories of Montpelier online at http://www.nps.gov/nr/twhp/wwwlps/lessons/46montpelier/46facts3.htm

  ‘who ever lived’: Jennings, p. 15

  ‘for a half century’: Boller, p. 36

  ‘of the British people’: Fearon, p. 283

  ‘uncouth and disagreeable’: Morriss, p. 140

  ‘violent without dignity…’: O’Meara, vol. 1, p. 34

  ‘a totally inadequate reward’: Evans to Torrens, NA WO31/418 15/5/1815

  ‘in a soldier’s grave’: Smith, Autobiography, p. 217

  ‘unparalleled in history’: Jomini, pp. 385–6

  Bibliography

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