The British planned a combined operation

The British planned a combined operation, with Ross launching a land attack at North Point, and Vice-Admiral Sir Alexander Cochrane laying siege to Fort McHenry, which was the point defensive installation in Baltimore Harbor.The British landed a force of 5,000 troops who marched toward Baltimore and first met heavy resistance at the Battle of North Point which was fought about 5 miles (8 km) from the city. ACER Aspire 4736ZG Laptop CPU Cooling Fan The city’s defense was under the overall command of Major General Samuel Smith, an officer of the Maryland Militia. He dispatched roughly 3,000 men under the command of General John Stricker to meet the British in a forward engagement. General Stricker was to stall the British invasion force in order to delay the British advance long enough for Major General Smith to complete the defenses in Baltimore.  HP Pavilion dv4-1133tx Laptop CPU Cooling Fan The land invasion force for the British was led by Ross, and would be killed in the second shift of the American defense by an American sharpshooter whose name has been lost to history. However, Daniel Wells, age 19, and Henry McComas, age 18, of Captain Aisquith's rifle company of the 5th Maryland Militia regiment have been attributed by Baltimore legend to have been responsible for his death,  HP Pavilion dv6-3043ee Laptop CPU Cooling Fan which was immediately followed by their own. With Ross's death the British army came under the command of the less competent Colonel Arthur Brooke. However, the British succeeded in driving the American militia back. Rodgers Bastion, also known as Sheppard's Bastion, located on Hampstead Hill (now part of Patterson Park),  Compaq Presario CQ61-421SG Laptop CPU Cooling Fan was the centerpiece of a 3-mile-wide earthworks from the outer harbor in Canton, north to Belair Road, dug to defend the eastern approach to Baltimore against the British. The redoubt was assembled and commanded by U.S. Navy Commodore John Rodgers, with General Smith in command of the overall line.  HP Pavilion dv6-1101au Laptop CPU Cooling Fan At dawn on September 13, 1814, the day after the Battle of North Point, some 4,300 British troops advanced north on North Point Road, then west along the Philadelphia Road (now Maryland Route 7) toward Baltimore, forcing the U.S. troops to retreat to the main defensive line around the city. British commander Col. HP Pavilion dv6-3125er Laptop CPU Cooling Fan Arthur Brooke established his new headquarters at the Sterret House on Surrey Farm (today called Armistead Gardens), about two miles east-northeast of Hampstead Hill. When the British began probing actions on Baltimore's inner defenses, the American line was defended by 100 cannon and more than 10,000 regular troops, HP 606575-001 Laptop CPU Cooling Fan including two shadowing infantry regiments commanded by general officers Stricker and Winder as well as a few thousand local militia and irregulars. The defenses were far stronger than the British anticipated. The U.S. defenders at Fort McHenry successfully stopped British naval forces but a few ships were still able to provide artillery support.  HP Pavilion dv7-6185us Laptop CPU Cooling Fan Once the British had taken the outer defences, the inner defences became the priority. The British infantry had not anticipated how well defended they would be so the first attack was a failure; however, Brooke's forces did manage to outflank and overrun American positions to the right. DELL DFS491105MH0T Laptop CPU Cooling Fan After a discussion with lower ranking officers, Brooke decided that the British should bombard the fort instead of risk a frontal assault and, at 3 AM on September 14, 1814, ordered the British troops to return to the ships. At Fort McHenry, some 1,000 soldiers under the command of Major George Armistead awaited the British naval bombardment. HP 532613-001 Laptop CPU Cooling Fan Their defense was augmented by the sinking of a line of American merchant ships at the adjacent entrance to Baltimore Harbor in order to further thwart the passage of British ships. The attack began on September 13, as the British fleet of some nineteen ships began pounding the fort with Congreve rockets (from rocket vessel HMS Erebus) Compaq Presario CQ60-417DX Laptop CPU Cooling Fan andmortar shells (from bomb vessels Terror, Volcano, Meteor, Devastation, and Aetna). After an initial exchange of fire, the British fleet withdrew to just beyond the range of Fort McHenry’s cannons and continued to bombard the American redoubts for the next 27 hours. HP Pavilion dv7-3060us Laptop CPU Cooling Fan Although 1,500 to 1,800 cannonballs were launched at the fort, damage was light due to recent fortification that had been completed prior to the battle. After nightfall, Cochrane ordered a landing to be made by small boats to the shore just west of the fort, away from the harbor opening on which the fort’s defense was concentrated.  HP KSB06105HA Laptop CPU Cooling Fan He hoped that the landing party might slip past Fort McHenry and draw Smith’s army away from the main British land assault on the city’s eastern border. This gave the British a good diversion for half an hour, allowing them to fire again and again. On the morning of September 14, the 30 ft × 42 ft (9.1 m × 12.8 m) oversized American flag, Dell Latitude E6510 Laptop CPU Cooling Fan which had been made a few months before by local flagmaker Mary Pickersgill and her 13-year-old daughter, was raised over Fort McHenry (replacing the tattered storm flag which had flown during battle). It was responded to by a small encampment of British rifleman on the right flank, who fired a round each at the sky and taunted the Americans just before they too returned to the shore line. HP Pavilion dv6-2019er Laptop CPU Cooling Fan Originally, historians said the oversized Star Spangled Banner Flag was raised to taunt the British. However, that is not the case. The oversized flag was used every morning for reveille, as was the case on the morning of September 14. Brooke had been instructed not to attack the American positions around Baltimore unless he was certain that there were less than 2000 men in the fort. HP Pavilion dv6-3126ea Laptop CPU Cooling Fan Because of his orders, Brooke had to withdraw from his positions and returned to the fleet which would set sail for New Orleans. An American lawyer and poet, Francis Scott Key, was on a mercy mission for the release of Dr. William Beanes, a prisoner of the British. Key showed the British letters from wounded British officers praising the care they received from Dr. Beanes. HP 532613-001 Laptop CPU Cooling Fan The British agreed to release Beanes, but Key and Beanes were forced to stay with the British until the attack on Baltimore was over. Key watched the proceedings from a truce ship in the Patapsco River. On the morning of the 14th, Key saw the American flag waving above Fort McHenry. Inspired, he began jotting down verses on the back of a letter he was carrying. HP Pavilion dv6-3300ss Laptop CPU Cooling Fan He composed the words to the tune of an old British drinking song, "To Anacreon in Heaven". When Key reached Baltimore, his poem was printed on pamphlets by the Baltimore American. His poem was originally called "Defence of Fort M'Henry". The song eventually became known as "The Star-Spangled Banner". Congress made it the national anthem in 1931. IBM Lenovo Thinkpad W500 Series Laptop CPU Cooling Fan Colonel Brooke’s troops withdrew, and Admiral Cochrane’s fleet sailed off to regroup before his next assault on the United States, the Battle of New Orleans. Armistead was soon promoted to lieutenant colonel. Much weakened by the arduous preparations for the battle, he died at age 38, only three years after the battle. HP 646578-001 Laptop CPU Cooling Fan Three active battalions of the Regular Army (1-4 Inf, 2-4 Inf and 3-4 Inf) perpetuate the lineages of the old 36th and 38th Infantry Regiments, both of which were at Fort McHenry during the bombardment. The lineage of the 5th Maryland Infantry Regiment, which played a major role in the Battle of North Point, is perpetuated by the Maryland National Guard's 175th Infantry Regiment. HP Pavilion dv5-1020et Laptop CPU Cooling Fan The Battle of New Orleans took place on January 8, 1815 and was the final major battle of the War of 1812.^[5][6] American forces, commanded by Major General Andrew Jackson, defeated an invading British Army, under General Edward Pakenham, intent on seizing New Orleans and the vast territory the United States had acquired with the Louisiana Purchase.^[ HP Pavilion dv5030 Laptop CPU Cooling Fan The Treaty of Ghent, having been signed on December 24, 1814, was ratified by thePrince Regent on December 30, 1814, and the United States Senate on February 16, 1815. Hostilities continued until late February when official dispatches announcing the peace reached the combatants in Louisiana, finally putting an end to the war.^[10][11] Compaq Presario CQ61-416EG Laptop CPU Cooling Fan The Battle of New Orleans is widely regarded as the greatest American land victory of the war. By December 12, 1814, a large British fleet under the command of Sir Alexander Cochrane with more than 8,000 soldiers and sailors aboard, had anchored in theGulf of Mexico to the east of Lake Pontchartrain and Lake Borgne.^[13] HP 532614-001 Laptop CPU Cooling Fan Preventing access to the lakes was an American flotilla, commanded by Lieutenant Thomas ap Catesby Jones, consisting of five gunboats. On December 14, around 1,200 British sailors and Royal Marines under Captain Nicholas Lockyer^[14] set out to attack Catesby's force. Lockyer's men sailed in 42 longboats, each armed with a smallcarronade. HP Pavilion dv5-1020et Laptop CPU Cooling Fan Lockyer captured Catesby's vessels in a brief engagement known as theBattle of Lake Borgne. Seventeen British sailors were killed and 77 wounded,^[15]while 6 Americans were killed, 35 wounded, and 86 captured.^[15] The wounded included both Catesby and Lockyer. Now free to navigate Lake Borgne, thousands ofBritish soldiers, under the command of General John Keane,  HP 646578-001 Laptop CPU Cooling Fan were rowed to Pea Island, about 30 miles (48 km) east of New Orleans, where they established a garrison. On the morning of December 23, Keane and a vanguard of 1,800 British soldiers reached the east bank of theMississippi River, 9 miles (14 km) south of New Orleans.^[16] HP Pavilion dv5-1020et Laptop CPU Cooling Fan Keane could have attacked the city by advancing for a few hours up the river road, which was undefended all the way to New Orleans, but he made the fateful decision to encamp at Lacoste's Plantation^[17] and wait for the arrival of reinforcements.^[18] During the afternoon of December 23, after he had learned of the position of the British encampment, HP Pavilion dv5030 Laptop CPU Cooling Fan Andrew Jackson reportedly said, "By the Eternal they shall not sleep on our soil."^[19] This intelligence had been provided by Colonel Thomas Hinds' Squadron of Light Dragoons, a militia unit from the Mississippi Territory.^[20][21] That evening, attacking from the north, Jackson led 2,131^[22] men in a brief three-pronged assault on the unsuspecting British troops, Compaq Presario CQ61-416EG Laptop CPU Cooling Fan who were resting in their camp. Then Jackson pulled his forces back to the Rodriguez Canal, about 4 miles (6.4 km) south of the city. The Americans suffered 24 killed, 115 wounded, and 74 missing,^[23] while the British reported their losses as 46 killed, 167 wounded, and 64 missing.^[24] HP 532614-001 Laptop CPU Cooling Fan Historian Robert Quimby says, "the British certainly did win a tactical victory, which enabled them to maintain their position".^[25] However, Quimby goes on to say, "It is not too much to say that it was the battle of December 23 that saved New Orleans. The British were disabused of their expectation of an easy conquest. HP MCF-W13BM05 Laptop CPU Cooling Fan The unexpected and severe attack made Keane even more cautious...he made no effort to advance on the twenty-fourth or twenty-fifth".^[26] As a consequence, the Americans were given time to begin the transformation of the canal into a heavily fortified earthwork.^[27] On Christmas Day, HP Pavilion dv5-1174ca Laptop CPU Cooling Fan General Edward Pakenham arrived on the battlefield and ordered a reconnaissance-in-force on December 28 against the American earthworks protecting the advance to New Orleans. That evening, General Pakenham met with General Keane and Admiral Cochrane for an update on the situation, angry with the position that the army had been placed in. HP Pavilion dv7-3050ec Laptop CPU Cooling Fan General Pakenham wanted to use Chef Menteur Road as the invasion route but was overruled by Admiral Cochrane who insisted that his boats were providing everything that could be needed.^[28] Admiral Cochrane believed that the British Army would destroy a ramshackle American army and allegedly said that if the Army would not do so his sailors would. HP KSB06105HA Laptop CPU Cooling Fan Whatever Pakenham's thoughts on the matter, the meeting settled the method and place of the attack.^[29] On December 28, groups of British troops made probing attacks against the American earthworks. When the British troops withdrew, the Americans began construction of artillery batteries to protect the earthworks, which were then christened Line Jackson. HP 646578-001 Laptop CPU Cooling Fan The Americans installed eight batteries, which included one 32-pound gun, three 24-pounders, one 18-pounder, three 12-pounders, three 6-pounders, and a 6-inch (150 mm) howitzer. Jackson also sent a detachment of men to the west bank of the Mississippi to man two 24-pounders and two 12-pounders from the grounded warship USS Louisiana. HP 489126-001 Laptop CPU Cooling Fan Jackson's force was outnumbered by the attacking British forces. Jackson's army of 4,732 men comprised 968 US Army regulars,^[30] 58 US Marines, 106 seamen of the US Naval battalion, 1,060 Louisiana Militia and volunteers (including 462 free people of color), 1,352 Tennessee Militia, 986 Kentucky Militia, 150 Mississippi Militia and 52 Choctaw warriors. DELL Inspiron E1405 Laptop CPU Cooling Fan Additionally, Jackson had the support of warships in the Mississippi River, including the USSLouisiana, the USS Carolina and the Enterprise, along with the pirate Jean Lafitte and his Baratarians. The main British army arrived on New Year's Day, and attacked the earthworks using their artillery. An exchange of artillery fire began that lasted for three hours. DELL DFS541305MH0T Laptop CPU Cooling Fan Several of the American guns were destroyed or knocked out, including the 32-pounder, a 24-pounder, and a 12-pounder, and some damage was done to the earthworks. The British guns ran out of ammunition, which led Pakenham to cancel the attack. Unknown at the moment to Pakenham, HP G62-341NR Laptop CPU Cooling Fan the Americans on the left of Line Jackson near the swamp had broken and run from the position. Pakenham decided to wait for his entire force of over 8,000 men to assemble before launching his attack. In the early morning of January 8, Pakenham ordered a two-pronged assault against Jackson's position. HP Pavilion dv6648el Laptop CPU Cooling Fan Colonel William Thornton (of the 85th Regiment) was to cross the Mississippi during the night with his 780-strong brigade, move rapidly upriver and storm the batteries commanded by Commodore Daniel Patterson on the flank of the main American entrenchments and then open an enfilading fire on Jackson's line with howitzers and rockets.^[32] HP Pavilion dv7-6151ed Laptop CPU Cooling Fan Then, the main attack, directly against the earthworks manned by the vast majority of American troops,^[33] would be launched in two columns (along the river led by Keane and along the swamp line led by Major General Samuel Gibbs). The brigade commanded by Major General John Lambert was held in reserve. Toshiba Satellite P100-386 Laptop CPU Cooling Fan Preparations for the attack had floundered early, as a canal being dug by Cochrane's sailors collapsed and the dam made to divert the flow of the river into the canal failed, leaving the sailors to drag the boats of Col. Thornton's west bank assault force through deep mud and left the force starting off just before daybreak 12 hours late.  HP G42-380LA Laptop CPU Cooling Fan The attack began under darkness and a heavy fog, but as the British neared the main enemy line the fog lifted, exposing them to withering artillery fire. Lt-Col. Thomas Mullins, the British commander of the 44th (East Essex) Regiment of Foot, had forgotten the laddersand fascines needed to cross a canal and scale the earthworks, and confusion evolved in the dark and fog as the British tried to close the gap.  HP G60-230us Laptop CPU Cooling Fan Most of the senior officers were killed or wounded, including General Gibbs, killed leading the main attack column on the right comprising the 4th, 21st, 44th and 5th West India Regiments, and Colonel Rennie leading a detachment of light companies of the 7th, 43rd, and 93rd on the left by the river. HP KSB06105HA Laptop CPU Cooling Fan Possibly because of Thornton's delay in crossing the river and the withering artillery fire that might hit them from across the river, the 93rd Highlanders were ordered to leave Keane's assault column advancing along the river and move across the open field to join the main force on the right of the field. SONY Vaio VPC-EB1E0E Laptop CPU Cooling Fan Keane fell wounded as he crossed the field with the 93rd. Rennie's men managed to attack and overrun an American advance redoubt next to the river, but without reinforcements they could neither hold the position nor successfully storm the main American line behind. Within minutes, the American 7th Infantry arrived,  Compaq Presario CQ70-220EO Laptop CPU Cooling Fan moved forward, and fired upon the British in the captured redoubt: within half an hour, Rennie and most of his men were dead. In the main attack on the right, the British infantrymen either flung themselves to the ground, huddled in the canal, or were mowed down by a combination of musket fire and grapeshot from the Americans. HP Pavilion dv7-3060sb Laptop CPU Cooling Fan A handful made it to the top of the parapet on the right but were either killed or captured. The 95th Rifles had advanced in open skirmish order ahead of the main assault force and were concealed in the ditch below the parapet, unable to advance further without support. The two large main assaults on the American position were repulsed. ACER Aspire 7720 Series Laptop CPU Cooling Fan Pakenham and his second-in-command, General Gibbs, were fatally wounded, while on horseback, by grapeshot fired from the earthworks. With most of their senior officers dead or wounded, the British soldiers, having no orders to advance further or retreat, stood out in the open and were shot apart with grapeshot from Line Jackson. SONY UDQF2PH52CF0 Laptop CPU Cooling Fan After about 20 more minutes of bloodletting, General Lambert assumed command and eventually ordered a withdrawal. The only British success was on the west bank of the Mississippi River, where Thornton's brigade, comprising the 85th Regiment and detachments from the Royal Navy and Royal Marines, attacked and overwhelmed the American line. Compaq Presario CQ61-216TU Laptop CPU Cooling Fan Though both Jackson and Commodore Patterson reported that the retreating forces had spiked their cannon, leaving no guns to turn on the Americans' main defense line, this is contradicted by Major Mitchell's diary which makes it clear this was not so, as he states he had "Commenced cleaning enemy's guns to form a battery to enfilade their lines on the left bank".^[42Toshiba Satellite A215-S5802 Laptop CPU Cooling Fan ^] General Lambert ordered his Chief of Artillery, Colonel Alexander Dickson, to assess the position. Dickson reported back that no fewer than 2,000 men would be needed to hold the position. General Lambert issued orders to withdraw after the defeat of their main army on the east bank and retreated, taking a few American prisoners and cannon with them. Toshiba Satellite A210-1BC Laptop CPU Cooling Fan At the end of the day, the British had 2,042 casualties: 291 killed (including Generals Pakenham and Gibbs), 1,267 wounded (including General Keane) and 484 captured or missing.The Americans had 71 casualties: 13 dead; 39 wounded, and 19 missing. On January 9, British naval forces attacked Fort St. Philip which protected New Orleans from an amphibious assault from the Gulf of Mexico via the Mississippi River. DELL Inspiron 630m Laptop CPU Cooling Fan American forces within the fort withstood ten days of bombardment by cannon before the British ships withdrew on January 18, 1815. Three days after the battle, General Lambert held a council of war where he concluded that despite his request for reinforcements as well as a siege train, ACER Travelmate 4152nlci Laptop CPU Cooling Fan capturing New Orleans and continuing the Louisiana campaign would be too costly and thus agreed with his officers to withdraw. On February 4, 1815, the fleet, with all of the British troops aboard, set sail toward Mobile Bay, Alabama. The British army then attacked and captured Fort Bowyer at the mouth of Mobile Bay on February 12. HP Pavilion dv6-3034tx Laptop CPU Cooling Fan The following day, the British army was making preparations to attack Mobile when news arrived of the peace treaty. The treaty had been ratified by the British Parliament but would not be ratified by Congress and the President until mid-February. It did, however, resolve that hostilities should cease, HP G62-107SA Laptop CPU Cooling Fan and the British abandoned Fort Bowyer and sailed home to their base in the West Indies.Although the Battle of New Orleans had no influence on the terms of the Treaty of Ghent, the defeat at New Orleans did compel Britain to abide by the treaty.However, it would have been problematic for the British to continue the war in North America,  HP G62-455TX Laptop CPU Cooling Fan due to Napoleon's escape from Elba on February 26, 1815, which ensured their forces were needed in Europe. Also, since the Treaty of Ghent did not specifically mention the vast territory America had acquired with the Louisiana Purchase, it only required both sides to give back those lands that had been taken from the other during the war. HP 532617-001 Laptop CPU Cooling Fan From December 25, 1814, to January 26, 1815, British casualties during the Louisiana Campaign, apart from the assault on January 8, were 49 killed, 87 wounded and 4 missing.^[52] These losses, together with those incurred on December 23 and January 8, added up to 386 killed, 1,521 wounded and 552 missing for the whole campaign. HP Pavilion dv6-1101au CPU Fan