(military marching music)
(explosion)
(marching)
Inhabitants of Canada,
the army under my command has invaded your country.
(explosion)
United States offers you peace, liberty and security.
Your choice lies between these and war,
slavery and destruction.
We are engaged in an awful and eventful contest.
We may teach the enemy this lesson.
(guns firing)
That a country defended by freemen,
enthusiastic and devoted to the course of their king
and constitution can never be conquered.
(men shouting)
(guns firing)
Freedom!
The Americans, we know them
to have always been the enemy of the Aboriginal nations.
We shall participate in the shout of victory
or in the grave.
(dramatic music)
(military marching music)
(foreboding music)
In United States, the War of 1812
brings an anti-war movement
that shakes the republic to its foundations.
In the Congress, there is powerful opposition
from the beginning.
The republican declaration of war
was strongly resisted in the House of Representatives
and even more so in the Senate passing only 19 to 13.
The war's opponents declared that by invading Canada,
America moved in one generation
from a just war of revolution
to an unjust war of expansion even conquest.
(dramatic music)
In August 1812 in New York City,
an anti-war movement is born
with a massive demonstration in the streets.
Speakers warning the war is not only wrong,
but will lead to higher taxes
and compulsory military service.
(dramatic music)
President James Madison has to constantly reassure Congress
that there's no other way to make Great Britain
respect the American sovereignty.
The situation of our country, fellow citizens,
is not without its difficulties.
Though we have the inestimable consolation of knowing
that the war in which we are actually engaged
is a war neither of ambition nor of vain glory.
That is waged not in violation of the rights of others,
but in the maintenance of our own.
(military marching music)
In Canada's capital at Quebec City,
the war is seen as nothing but an active aggression
by the United States.
Canada's Commander-in-Chief, Sir George Prevost,
harbors the suspicion that the United States
would never have attacked if most of England's army
wasn't tied down in Europe fighting Napoleon.
Those sentiments are clearly shared by his daughter Anne,
who kept a remarkable journal through the war.
This war is a base deed on the part of the Yankees.
England is struggling for her independence
against a host of foes.
And the United States chooses this moment
to add their vile kicks and cuffs, hoping the Noble Lion
will sink in the fray, overwhelmed by numbers.
The principle object of the government of the United States
must be the conquest of Canada.
(explosion)
(dramatic music)
Through a combination of skillful
military operations and good luck,
Canada's defenders resist repeated American attempts
to conquer Upper Canada.
(powerful music)
In early 1813,
the Americans build up a force at Sackets Harbor,
preparing for an attack
against the British naval base at Kingston.
Due to the shortage of British and Canadian
regular troops in the area,
the only soldiers available to defend Kingston
are almost 1,000 miles to the east
in Fredericton, New Brunswick.
(military marching music)
In the panorama of war, the outcome often depends
on how single battalions
and individual officers respond to a crisis.
In the winter of 1813, the battalion that will be tested
is the New Brunswick Regiment, almost all Canadians.
The officer is Britain's John Le Couteur.
From an old military family, Le Couteur is a fresh graduate
of England's New Military Academy.
He is fluent in French and English,
ideal for service in Canada.
The early pages of his wartime journal
betray a touch of homesickness and a sense of awe
at an odyssey beginning.
The war between Great Britain
and the United States of America
affected small people as well as rulers.
I received orders to join my regiment in New Brunswick.
With a heavy heart,
I took leave for the first time in my life,
my beloved parents, my dear brother,
to be thrown into the wide world on my own resources.
(calm music)
(wind howling)
The New Brunswick Regiment
receives orders to prepare to go overland to Upper Canada,
to cross hundreds of miles of bush in the dead of winter.
There are no roads, no trails,
and it has never been done before.
A garrison order announced the intended march.
It was hailed by men and officers with enthusiasm,
as an effort yet unknown in British warfare,
and therefore, well worthy of British soldiers
to accomplish.
There is a characteristic cheerfulness
in the Canadian soldier inherited from his French ancestry,
which being a lively and good-tempered,
tended much towards lightening the labors of a heavy march,
for the hardships of the campaign, and accorded perfectly
with the dogged and varied characters
of the English, Irish, and Scots
which completed the regiment.
(men singing)
The company presented a most unmilitary appearance
as it marched without arms or knapsacks
in Indian file divided into squads so many to each Tobogin,
the rear of it being nearly half a mile from the front.
(men singing)
The men followed the frozen Madawaska River.
(wind howling)
I may well say if possible,
as those who have not experienced it
cannot figure to themselves the extreme frigidity
of a temperature from 18 to 27 degrees below zero.
(dramatic music)
When we got to the end of our day's march,
it was dark before we could commence cooking,
if sticking a bit of salt pork on the end of a twig
and holding it in the fire could be so termed.
(calm music)
It generally happened that we were as completely
enveloped in smoke as an Esquimaux family.
But, like them, we found it much more agreeable
than having no smoke at all as it warmed the hut.
Moreover, I imagine that sleep without fire in such cold
would have proved the sleep of death.
(wind howling)
On the 24th day of the Bitter March
through one of the continent's fiercest winters,
the regiment reaches the shores of the St. Lawrence
near Quebec City.
Just as they think they've made it,
the regiment is ordered to keep going up river to Montreal.
And there, so desperate is the need,
they are commanded to keep marching
without a break to Lake Ontario,
where the American assault was soon expected.
(calm music)
After a march of close to 1,000 miles,
The New Brunswick Regiment reaches its destination.
(wind howling)
On the 12th of April,
we were marching up a gentle ascent.
When suddenly, there lay before our astonished
and delighted view the Town of Kingston,
the magnificent Lake Ontario.
And what was far more surprising still,
a squadron of ships of war frozen on its bosom.
It produced a striking and indescribable sensation,
as none of us Europeans appeared to have reflected
on the circumstance of being sure to find
a fleet of men-of-war on a freshwater lake.
(calm music)
The triumphant arrival
of the New Brunswick Reinforcements
ends the immediate threat of an American attack on Kingston.
But across the lake at US headquarters at Sackets Harbor,
a new threat.
Work on warships has intensified.
A frigate called the General Pike
is to be the American pride.
The fulfillment of presidential orders
to win naval control of the Great Lakes.
In Canada, consternation.
Anne Prevost, the governor's daughter.
The Americans will soon have another frigate
ready for the lake
which will render them greatly our superiors.
But the battle is not always to the strong.
In God grant, it may not be so now.
The governor general immediately
device his plans with the Royal Navy
to take an expedition to Sackets Harbor
to destroy the New American ship before it can be launched.
(dramatic music)
The British expedition departs Kingston
to sail across Lake Ontario on May 26, 1813.
Arriving at Sackets Harbor on the morning of the 27th,
it appears that the Americans have been taken by surprise,
but the British commanders dither.
About 8 AM, our fire eater, Major Drummond
had got us into the bateaux to practice pulling, as he said.
And was pulling toward the landing place
when Sir George Prevost sent an officer
to order him to re-embark his men instantly.
Sir George gave the Americans all that day
and the next night ample time for a fair stand-up fight.
(powerful music)
Finally, the British land
then soon put to flight the American militias
and to try and stop them.
(powerful music)
(explosions)
(men screaming)
(guns fire)
The British attack is pressed home hard,
and the Americans panicked.
To keep the tall ship at naval construction yard
from falling into British hands, they are set a flame.
The Americans retreat to the Fort,
but refused to surrender.
The American marksmanship begins
to take a terrible toll on the British line.
(frenetic music)
Suffering tremendous casualties,
the British finally sound the retreat.
(frenetic music)
(calm music)
When attack has been made on the Sackets Harbor,
my father was there.
And as much exposed to danger as any common soldier,
thanks be to the Almighty he is safe.
My father says he is convinced to the necessity of
destroying Sackets Harbor,
but laments the inefficiency of his force.
While Sir George Prevost
is blaming his own troops
for the failure to capture Sackets Harbor,
there is considerable grumbling among the rank and file
against his leadership.
It was a scandalously managed affair.
We gained a surprise and threw it away
to allow the enemy to gain time.
The murmurs against Sir George were deep, not loud.
Our sweet little band would sadly cut up.
(powerful music)
For a US administration
desperate for good news of any sort.
The close call at Sackets is proclaimed a famous victory.
The ceremonial fence that had surrounded the White House
is sent to Sackets to encircle the war dead
in a solemn tribute.
(victorious music)
In the aftermath, there was little mention
of the strategic result.
Prevost attack has destroyed the naval yard
and burned the General Pike,
crippling the American plan
to seize control of Lake Ontario.
In 1813 in New England, opposition to the war
has grown ominously.
New England's prosperity depends on trade
with Great Britain and Canada.
But now, normal trade is at a stand still
forbidden by Washington.
In response to the war, New England's governors
have refused to call out the militia
calling invasions of Canada unconstitutional.
New England's ruling families denounced Mr. Madison's War.
Whatever he attempted to vindicate my arms, they write,
by arms he has lost.
In Washington, the president is haunted by military failure
and beset by the anti-war movement.
I have not been unaware of the disappointment
and discontent gaining ground
with respect to the war on Canada.
I have not been less aware that success alone
would put an end to discontent.
This is the test by which public opinion
decides military events.
In the dying days of 1812,
Lower Canada is now threatened.
The Americans are determined to strike at the heart
by attacking Montreal.
If the American forces seize Montreal,
they cut off the St. Lawrence River,
the lifeline of supplies to the rest of Canada.
(ominous music)
There are not many British troops stationed around Montreal.
So, it is clear that lower Canada will stand or fall
depending on the French Canadians who've formed
the majority of the population.
The Americans calculate that the Canadian
will be eager to turn against their British rulers
once the shooting starts.
In fact, the governor general
has already seen warning signs.
We traveled 90 miles this day.
My father being anxious to get on
in consequence of hearing about some disturbance
which had occurred beyond Montreal
in raising a battalion of militia,
the Canadians having refused to enroll.
(men screaming)
The disturbance is really a riot
triggered by an attempt to conscript French Canadians
into the British Army against their will.
British soldiers are called in to quell the insurrection
and make arrests.
Governor General Prevost takes immediate action
to court French-Canadian opinion.
He stops conscription and introduces new measures
to guarantee linguistic and religious freedom
for the French-Canadians who are overwhelmingly Catholic.
Victor halt!
Halt!
Prevost also sanctioned
the formation of French speaking units
such as the Canadian Voltigeur.
Halt.
(foreign language)
The regiment is commanded and paid for
by Colonel Charles de Salaberry,
who sees the British crown as French Canada's
best hope of survival.
But despite the reforms, there is no guarantee
the rank and file will risk their life to stop the Americans
and a test is imminent.
(foreign language)
(calm music)
To restore American military honor and conquer Canada,
Madison turns to one of the army's most infamous officers,
General James Wilkinson.
In the army, he is known neither for leadership nor courage.
He is famous for intrigue and hard drinking.
But he is a revolutionary war veteran
with powerful friends in Washington, so the job is his.
His appointment appals the fighting men
like Winfield Scott.
If a booby be at once made a commissioned officer,
the odds are great that he will live and die a booby.
How infinitely unwise, then, in a republic
to trust its honor and safety in battle
in a critical war to imbeciles and ignoramuses.
This is Wilkinson's plan.
One army of 7,000 troops will depart Sackets Harbor
and approach Montreal down the St. Lawrence River.
While another of 5,000 men forming at Plattsburgh
on Lake Champlain will come north
through the Chateauguay River Valley.
The armies will converge and assault Montreal
before the snow flies.
(military marching music)
The defenders of Canada begin to mobilize their hundreds
to meet the American thousands.
From the St. Lawrence Valley comes a regiment
of Catholic Scots, the Glengarry Light Infantry.
They're on their own to a forest near Chateauguay
where the US invasion force is expected.
(military marching music)
(foreign language)
Here, Colonel Charles de Salaberry
and the Voltigeur Regiment
are methodically preparing defenses
to stop the American thrust toward Montreal.
(foreign language)
2 PM, the 22nd of October 1813,
the American Colombo close to 5,000 soldiers
advances through the wood under De Salaberry's position.
(military marching music)
The Americans dispatched an officer with a demand
for the Canadians to surrender.
(foreign language)
Colonel De Salaberry is outnumbered 71,
but has no intention of surrendering.
(foreign language)
(gunshot)
(horse whinnying)
Prepare to receive the Americans!
(man shouting)
Ready arms!
Present!
Fire!
(guns fire)
(men screaming)
(guns fire)
With intense firing,
exuberant shouting and incessant war cries,
some 700 Voltigeurs, Glengarries
and a handful of Mohawk Warriors give the Americans
the impression they are much larger force.
(explosions)
(guns fire)
The US officer commanding loses his nerve
and orders the invasion force to retreat back
over the border.
(explosion)
While the US army invading from Lake Champlain
is being turned back at Chateauguay,
the second American invasion called and led
by General Wilkinson has left Sackets Harbor,
moved down the St. Lawrence River,
and come ashore on the Canadian side near Prescott, Ontario.
The St. Lawrence River, November the 10th, 1813,
Wilkinson's army of the north
has landed on the Canadian shore
for the main thrust against Montreal.
A battle is imminent.
But the general declines to leave his bunk aboard ship.
General Wilkinson's staff reports
that he is drinking heavily,
and has dosed himself with opium.
(explosions)
The next morning, the 11th of November, 11 AM.
Starting on the banks of the St. Lawrence River,
the British and Canadian Regulars, Voltigeurs
and Indian Warriors have formed a line across a field
belonging to a St. Lawrence River Valley farmer,
named as John Chrysler.
They are vastly outnumbered, but stubbornly holding.
(dramatic music)
(men shouting)
The United States army is pressing hard.
But their general is missing,
and the attacks are disorganized.
Instead of throwing their overwhelming numbers
against the Canadian line,
the Americans burst into action piecemeal
slowed down by rain-soaked fields.
Desperate cavalry charges are met with withering fire.
(gunshots and explosions)
(man shouting)
And then, it's over.
The United States Army has suffered
another humiliating defeat.
The last threat to Montreal and Lower Canada in 1813
has been decisively beaten back.
Winfield Scott was there.
Wilkinson's famous campaign began in boastings
and ended in deep humiliation.
Montreal was still within easy grasp,
but the fatuity of the general-in-chief
made success almost impossible.
In disgust, the army retreated out of Canada.
(triumphant music)
General James Wilkinson
is relieved of command and called to account
for his handling of the army of the north.
Friends in Washington do not deserve him.
He escaped censure.
But now across the United States, sedition is in the air.
(triumphant music)
By early 1814, the war is going so badly
for the United States, that it not only threatens
the administration of James Madison,
it threatens to break up the American federation.
But president hears that the New England States
are planning to withdraw from the union
if the war is not stopped.
The seditious opposition in Massachusetts and Connecticut,
with intrigues elsewhere cooperating with it
have so clogged the wheels of war
that I fear the campaign will not accomplish its ends.
(triumphant music)
A deep gloom, approaching to despair,
oppressed the whole American people,
especially the supporters of the war.
The disasters on land have been enumerated.
And now, the New England States were preparing
to hold a convention at Hartford
perhaps to succeed from the union
possibly to take up arms against it.
The American government needs victories.
And quickly, there is a house cleaning
in the US Army Command Structure.
A new generation of military leaders
finally moves into the field to take command.
A leading brigade of the army of the north
comes under Winfield Scott.
(lively military marching music)
(foreign language)
Frankenstein march!
At Buffalo, New York,
Scott's officers begin rigorous training, 10 hours a day,
employing real regulations
drawn up for the Napoleonic army.
(foreign language)
The evolutions of the line, or the harmonious movement
of many battalions in one or more lines,
were next daily exhibited for the first time
by an American army.
Confidence, the dawn of victory, inspired the whole line.
US forces crossed from Buffalo
to Fort Erie in Upper Canada,
where the Fort quickly surrenders.
Without pausing, the US invasion moves up to Niagara River,
confident that upper Canada is theirs for the taking.
The Chippewa, the British intend to make a stand
in a farmer's field within side of the Niagara River.
(heavy footsteps)
As Scott's 1,300 regulars come forward,
their British commander is expecting battalions
of untrained Buffalo militia.
He is confident, 1,500 British guns will make them run.
(men screaming)
(guns fire)
When he see Scott's brigade advancing in line,
taking casualties without breaking,
the astonished British general declares,
"Those are regulars, by God."
(men screaming)
(dramatic music)
(explosion)
The battle is fierce and short,
waged for less than half an hour.
It is not in human nature
that a conflict like this should last many seconds.
(soldiers shouting)
The enemy's whole force broke in quick succession and fled
leaving the field thickly strewn with his dead and wounded.
(men screaming)
(guns fire)
The defenders of Canada retreat
leaving behind 456 killed, wounded and missing.
The US forces suffered 295 casualties, but win the day.
For the first time, US Regulars have beaten British Regulars
in a stand-up fight.
For American war hoax, it is a desperately needed victory.
History has recorded many victories on a much larger scale
than that of Chippewa.
But only a few that have wrought a greater change
in the feelings of the nation.
Everywhere bonfires blazed,
bells rang out peals of joy,
the big guns responded,
and the pulse of Americans recovered a healthy beat.
(lively marching music)
In the summer of 1814
on the Niagara River, the Unites States now believe
the momentum of war is finally on their side.
They've won an important victory at Chippewa.
Now, they are looking for a decisive battle
in their campaign to overwhelm Canada.
(victorious music)
Within sound of the Great Cataract at Niagara,
such a battle is shaping up in that late days of July 1814.
Led by Scott's brigade, the American force
has been moving methodically north
down the Niagara River towards the falls.
On a piece of high ground at a place called Lundy's Lane,
the defenders of Canada decided to make their stand
against America's best army.
(foreboding music)
At Lundy's Lane, the heart of the Canadian defense position
is a cemetery.
(foreboding music)
Here, Royal Artillery officers
chose the most advantageous positions
for the most feared weapon, the cannon.
Every Red Coat on the Niagara is summoned to battle.
Almost 3,000 British and Canadian troops
and a band of Indian Warriors
are converging on Lundy's Lane.
(foreboding music)
Leading a company of the New Brunswick Regiment
is John Le Couteur.
I made my usual prayers to God
to grant me His protection and my life.
Ready though, I was to lay that down
for my country at His pleasure.
But hoping that no worse than a wound might befall me.
July 25th, 1814, 9 PM.
In the high summer heat,
the bloodiest battle of the war is about to commence.
(foreboding music)
As darkness falls, nearly 2,000 Americans
moved towards the battlefield.
It is a critical night for Winfield Scott.
All eyes are on his brigade
expecting no less than another brilliant victory.
In the dusky light, Scott makes out the British cannon
so close he hears their whispered preparations.
His men are in harm's way, but there is no going back.
By degrees the low commands,
halt, dress, forward!
Often repeated.
Became more and more audible
in the awful stillness of the moment.
The British cannon are loaded with grapeshot,
deadly clusters of steel balls.
(explosions)
(men screaming)
(explosions)
Scott's brigade of 1,300 Regulars is being shattered.
Their commander makes a fateful decision.
Instead of ordering a retreat, Scott,
desperate to preserve the position and his reputation,
orders his men to hold fast.
(explosion)
An extravagant opinion prevailed throughout the army
at this time with regard to the prowers, nay
invincibility of Scott's brigade.
By standing fast, the salutary impression
would be made upon the enemy
that the whole American reserve was close at hand
and ready to assault his flanks.
(explosion)
(horse whinnying)
One British officer watching the slaughter
of Scott's brigade observed,
dread seem to forbid his advance,
shame to restrain his flight.
Elsewhere on the battlefield,
a US officer is ordered to attack
and seize the British cannon at all costs.
(explosions)
The Americans moved through an orchard
to attack from the flank.
Fire!
At the British line,
Mohawk War Chief John Norton
saw them first.
He observed the moon glimmer lightly
on the plates of their caps,
the form of which denounced them as our enemies.
Before I could speak, they fired.
(guns fire)
What ensues is a Herculean struggle
in the cemetery at Lundy's lane.
(gunshots and explosions)
British soldiers who had fought in the bloodiest battles
against Napoleon would later gasp that nothing compared
to the fight for their guns at Lundy's.
(explosions)
10 PM, the Americans seized the cannon.
Affairs began to look very gloomy on our side.
(men screaming)
The British and American force
now makes three bloody attempts to take back the guns.
Each party seemed resolved to rest
the hope of victory on its fire,
a blaze with shells and rockets.
Though both armies suffered greatly,
the enemy suffered more.
(explosions)
The British and Canadians
have suffered terrible casualties.
But as midnight approaches, the fate of the US Army
is symbolized by what is happening to Scott and his brigade.
Scott leads what is left of his regiments through the night,
intent on a coup de grace against the British line.
An American columnist takes Scott's tubes for British
and opens fire.
(guns fire)
At the same time,
the British open fire on Scott and his men.
(guns fire)
For their second time in the battle,
Scott's brigade is devastated
brought down by the hubris of its commander.
In the middle of the action, the general has fallen,
grievously wounded by a British musket ball.
For Winfield Scott, the War of 1812 is over.
(calm music)
I assure you, I never passed so awful a night
as that of that of the action.
The stillness of the evening when the firing had ceased.
The groans of the dying and wounded.
Soldier’s life is very horrid sometimes.
(calm music)
The United States still held the guns
but exhausted and fearing another British attack.
What's left of the American army
slowly withdraws from the battlefield.
The last American invasion of Canada has been defeated.
For both sides, the cost is high.
William Dunlop was there, a surgeon with the British Army.
There is hardly on the face of the earth
a less enviable situation
than that of an army surgeon after a battle.
Worn out and fatigued in body and mind.
Surrounded by suffering, pain and misery.
Much of which he knows,
it is not in his power to heal or even to assuage.
While the battle lasts all these pass unnoticed.
But they come before the medical man afterwards
in all their sorrow and horror,
stripped of all the excitement of the heady fight.
These are the drawings
done by a British battlefield surgeon from 1815.
(dramatic music)
They show that by far, the greatest number of injuries
come from artillery fire.
(dramatic music)
The drawings carefully document the condition of men
whose arms are blown off by cannon blasts.
Along with men whose skulls are shattered by saber cuts.
Or perforated by gunshots.
(dramatic music)
In the morning light of the 26th of July 1814,
at the killing ground of the cemetery at Lundy's Lane,
when the casualties are finally counted,
the British and Canadians have suffered 878 dead,
wounded and missing.
The American army, 860.
The Americans have suffered a strategic defeat.
Soon, their army of invasion
will be pulled back to the United States.
The battle has been decisive,
but not in the way Winfield Scott had hoped.
(dramatic music)
Within site of the capital building in Washington,
is an American army tribute to Winfield Scott.
Scott recovered from his wounds at Lundy's Lane.
And after the War of 1812, became general-in-chief
of the United States Army,
and remained so until the Civil War.
At the US Military Academy at West Point,
Scott is recognized as a Founding Father
of America's Professional Army.
Here he passed away in 1866 at the age of 80.
And was buried with full military honors.
(calm music)
On the British side,
John Le Couteur survived the War of 1812.
And his fighting journal remains
one of the best documents of the conflict.
He became a British Army Colonel
with a large family and a good life.
(calm music)
At his ancestral home
on the British Channel Island of Jersey,
Le Couteur died peacefully on Christmas Eve 1875
at the age of 82.
(calm music)
(military marching music)
In Canada, the battlefield of Lundy's Lane
is still a cemetery.
(military marching music)
After the battle was over,
America's best army abandoned the plan to conquer Canada.
In the autumn of 1814, they will be needed at home.
England had won the struggle with Napoleon.
And now a British Armada was sailing for America
with orders to bring war to the United States.
(imperious music)