(militaristic fanfare music)
Inhabitants of Canada,
the army, under my command, has invaded your country.
The 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,
that a country defended by free men,
enthusiastically devoted to the cause of their king
and constitution can never be conquered.
(gunfire)
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.
(majestic music)
(serious music)
By 1814, the defenders of Canada
have repelled five separate invasions
from the United States.
They are running low on reinforcements and supplies
to withstand the American assault.
In Quebec City, the British Governor-General of Canada,
Sir George Prevost, believed that he cannot
hold out much longer without far more help
from Great Britain.
He writes desperate appeals to London.
The period is fast approaching when a suspension
of active operations must take place.
Unless the support from the mother country
is equal to the magnitude of the stake.
In the summer of 1814,
Sir George Prevost gets his wish.
The defeat of France and Napoleon in Europe
frees up tens of thousands of British troops
to fight in North America.
Most of the British forces are shipped over
to Quebec City and Montreal, and put at the disposal
of Governor-General Prevost.
Prevost has acquired the reputation
of being a hesitant commander.
But his daughter Anne is convinced that this new turn
of events would change everything.
She confide as much to her journal.
My father has never yet engaged in any bright affair,
he has considered it necessary to conduct his defenses
of the Canadas with much caution, defense
not conquest being necessarily his object.
But now, all murmurs will be silenced.
Prevost devises plans for his
first full-scale invasion of the United States.
He will personally lead the main invasion forth
south from Montreal, down the Richelieu River
and into Lake Champlain.
If he can destroy the American naval facilities there,
he will turn his attention to control of the Great Lakes
and the Michigan Territory,
which the British have promised to the Indian people
as a future country.
The key to controlling the Great Lakes
is the American naval base as Sacketts Harbor.
And that is where US President James Madison
feels most vulnerable.
The situation at Sacketts Harbor is critical.
I hope for the best, but have serious apprehensions.
While the US government is concentrating
on its defenses hundreds of miles away
on its northern border, it neglects matters closer to home.
In the late summer of 1814, a British fleet
is sent into Chesapeake Bay to make a diversionary attack
against Washington and Baltimore.
When the lead British ships appear in Chesapeake Bay
in August 1814, the Americans had no idea
where they are headed or what their intentions are.
The British sail up the Patuxent River,
and move ashore a force of nearly 5,000 crack troops
fresh from the battlefields of Europe.
Among them, a young officer excited and confident
about the bold British strategy, George Gleig.
The capture of Washington was now the avowed object
of our invasion, but the general was keeping the enemy
in the dark as to his plan of operations.
(tense music)
In the capital, there is a curious
lack of alarm when word arrives
that a British invasion force has come ashore.
At the new Congress building, there is no serious worry
that the capital of the United States might be in peril.
At the big white house that's called the President's Palace,
the castle, there is little concern.
The reason the leaders of the United States
are so sanguine is that they have been assured
by the Secretary of War that there is no peril.
General John Armstrong assures the president
that the British might attack Baltimore,
but that the young capital is in no danger.
(serious music)
Dolly Madison, the president's wife, is hearing differently.
The fears and alarms circulate around me.
For the last week, all the city and Georgetown
have expected a visit from the enemy.
And we're not lacking in expressions of terror and reproach.
(dark music)
Mrs. Madison knows what is afoot
better than her husband.
The British move relentlessly on Washington,
understanding the symbolic significance
of attacking a nation's capital.
The British soon get word that the only troops
barring the way to Washington are volunteer militia units.
In America, every man is a marksman from his boyhood
and every man serves in the militia.
But to bring an army of raw militiamen,
however excellent they be as marksmen,
into a field against regular troops could end
in nothing but defeat.
The British invasion force is now clearly
closing in on the capital.
The president is tracking down the Secretary of War,
wondering what new steps are in the works
to meet the final British assault.
He is exasperated to find that there is no plan.
General Armstrong was asked whether he had any arrangement
or advice to offer in the emergency.
He said that he had not.
Adding, that as the battle was between militia
and regular troops, our militia would be beaten.
The 25th of August 1814,
the British approach the heart of Washington
down Constitution Avenue, bearing a flag of truce
and a demand for surrender.
Suddenly, from this house, a block
from the Capitol Building, the truce party is fired upon.
(gunfire)
Every thought of accommodation was instantly laid aside.
The troops advanced forthwith into the town,
and having first put to the sword all who were found
in the house from which the shots were fired
and reduced it to ashes,
they proceeded without a moment's delay
to burn and destroy everything in the most distant degree
connected with the government.
While Washington burns,
the president and his cabinet become fugitives,
fleeing across the Potomac deep into the hills of Virginia.
Dolly Madison reflects the deep sense of humiliation
and anger enveloping the city.
I was willing to remain in the castle
if I could've had a cannon through every window.
But alas, those who should've placed them there
fled before me.
In my whole heart, mourned for my country.
The Madisons returned
and to take up residence here at Octagon House,
the home of the French ambassador.
One of the president's first acts is to summon
the Secretary of War.
Mr. Madison has finally lost faith in General Armstrong.
He said he was aware of the excitement against him,
and that it was founded on the most palpable falsehoods.
I added that it would not be easy to satisfy the nation
that the event was without blame somewhere.
And I could not, in candor, say that all that
ought to have been done had been done and in proper time.
The next morning, he transmitted his resignation.
The firing of the Secretary of War
does not end the crisis.
The British army is now marching overland
on the strategic port of Baltimore.
The British soldiers who burnt the White House
and routed the American militia around Washington
find Baltimore much more strongly defended.
There are thousands of American regular troops
and Fort McHenry is bristling with cannon.
It would be absurd to suppose that the sight
of preparation so warlike did not, in some degree,
damp the ardor of our leader.
The British naval bombardment
of Fort McHenry begins at 5am on the morning
of September 13, 1814.
A young American lawyer named Francis Scott Key
watches the red glare of the British congreve rockets.
And the bombs bursting in air over Fort McHenry.
And writes a poem about the star-spangled banner
that is still flying over the fort after a siege
of three days and nights.
("Star-Spangled Banner")
The British give up the siege and retreat.
The Americans have a bracing victory,
and an account of it that would become
their national anthem.
Despite the US defense of Baltimore,
the British are satisfied with their diversionary raids,
especially the burning of Washington.
In Canada, Governor-General Prevost proclaims
the burning of Washington as a just retribution
for the similar treatment given many Canadian cities,
including York, by American troops earlier in the war.
Prevost has now assembled a massive British strike force
near Montreal.
And is prepared to march south in an even bigger
military invasion of the United States.
The army is well-provisioned and ready to depart.
30th August, I made breakfast for my father
in his suite at half past six.
Previous to their departure, I am delighted to think
my father is commanding some thousands
of Wellington soldiers.
Oh, how high the pulse of hope beats at this moment.
(bagpipe music)
On September 3, 1814, Wellington's invicibles,
a force of at least 10,000 soldiers,
commanded by Sir George Prevost marches across
the American border ignoring ragged fire
from American militia.
While the British army moves down Lake Champlain,
the American troops fall back to Plattsburg,
and prepare to make a stand.
At the same time, the ships of the British navy
sail down the lake, hoping to find the American fleet
and destroy it.
But the Royal Navy is slow to sail.
Inside the flagship, the Confiance,
carpenters and other shipbuilders are still hard at work
to ready the new vessel.
Even as she sailed, the work went on.
Prevost sends curt orders to the Royal Navy Commander.
I only wait your arrival to proceed.
Your share in the operation will be to destroy or capture
the enemy's squadron.
I need not dwell on the evils resulting
to both the army and navy from delay.
Commanding the American squadron
was Captain Thomas Macdonough,
a bright and energetic fundamentalist,
who believes that God helps those to help themselves.
Realizing that the British have bigger ships
and longer range guns, Macdonough anchors his squadron
at Plattsburg Bay and waits.
He has powerful short-range weapons.
He confidently predicts the British Navy will come to him,
and he is right.
Under tremendous pressure from General Prevost,
the British fleet sails into battle before it is ready.
(dramatic music)
In the first exchange of broadsides, 40 seaman are killed
or wounded on the American flagship,
one-fifth of the whole crew.
But 15 minutes into the fateful battle,
the British Commander, George Downey is killed
by an American cannonball.
For two hours, the ships pound each other with equal fury.
At a critical moment, the Americans spring a surprise.
MacDonough is able to winch around his flagship
to bring a fresh broadside against the British fleet.
It is decisive.
The British realize they are beaten, and surrender.
The mortifying news has arrived that our squadron
is defeated.
Captured and Captain Downey killed.
After the defeat of his naval force at Plattsburg,
the ever-cautious British Governor-General of Canada,
Sir George Prevost, decides to pack up and go home.
There is much anger and resentment among the troops
under his command.
And even his daughter senses the decision
could prove politically disastrous.
I feel certain that no matter how necessary
this determination might be,
it will bring the greatest odium on my father.
It will not be tolerated.
Especially when our troops have been
so perpetually victorious.
The American President James Madison
is astounded by the British retreat,
which probably saves his political career.
He sends a triumphant message
to the House of Representatives.
In an attack by a powerful force
on our troops at Plattsburg,
the enemy after a perseverance for many hours,
was finally compelled to seek safety in a hasty retreat
with our gallant bands pressing upon him.
My father's idea on the subject seems to be simply this,
"Here are 9,000 men, all the defense I have
"for Lower Canada, the squadron is lost.
"The principle object of the expedition cannot be affected,
"I shall therefore retire within our own territory,
"and there awaits the enemy."
The weather was very rainy.
And the difficulty of moving artillery
and stores, et cetera increased with every hour.
But it is useless to dwell on such a painful subject.
Military fame cannot be rescued by argument.
Like women's honor, it is sullied
even by the breath of calamity.
The Plattsburg battle is the decisive
engagement of the war.
Prevost's failure ruined Britain's plans
to seize control of American territory
and negotiate a country for its Indian allies.
The battle has a dramatic effect on peace negotiations
now underway across the ocean in the European city of Ghent.
By December 1814, both sides in Ghent are finally ready
to make real concessions.
The British are exhausted from their long war with France
and have lost enthusiasm to keep fighting the Americans.
The United States government is almost bankrupt
and paralyzed by a growing antiwar movement at home.
The Americans realize they are just not strong enough
to seize Canada.
A peace treaty between them is finally signed
on Christmas Eve 1814.
Tragically, the war will continue for another six weeks
until the news reaches the combatants in North America.
In early December 1814, a British fleet has been dispatched
on a punitive expedition against the territories
of the southern United States.
Their secret objective is to seize the city of New Orleans
at the mouth of the Mississippi River.
The die is cast for the final battle of the war.
(tense music)
The defense of New Orleans is commanded
by the steely Tennessee lawyer turned US Army General,
Andrew Jackson.
His letters to Washington show a determination
not to be undermined by the hapless planning
of the American military command structure.
I must apprise you that the arms
I have been long expecting have not arrived.
All we hear is that the man who has been entrusted
with the transportation has halted on the way
for purpose of private speculation.
Depend on it, this supineness, this negligence,
this criminality, let me call it,
of which we witness so many instances on the agents
of government must finally lead to the defeat of our armies
and the disgrace of those who superintend them.
New Orleans is a difficult city to defend,
because it lies open to invasion from all directions.
Jackson suspects the British will come from the south
up the the Mississippi River or even from the north shore
closest to the city.
As it was, the British came from the east,
across Lake Borgne.
The British arrive in early December,
and in the shallows of Lake Borgne, disembark into
a flotilla of small boats, 6,000 redcoats and marines.
The same British force that already burned Washington.
When the wind dies, the British force rows relentlessly
towards the American ships guarding the eastern approach
to New Orleans.
The Americans are overwhelmed.
Then comes a much more formidable obstacle,
the reptile-infested bayou surrounding New Orleans.
There is a sudden cold snap that December
which proves especially hard on the black regiments
from the Caribbean serving in the British army.
Captain George Gleig was there.
As night closed, it is scarcely possible to imagine
a place more completely wretched.
The rain generally ceased and severe frost set in.
The consequence was that many of the wretched Negros
to whom frost and cold were altogether new
fell fast asleep and perished before morning.
The British force advances from Lake Borgne
up the Bayou Bienvenue.
Marching along the north bank of the Mississippi
until they stop at the Chalmette Plantation
only five miles from New Orleans.
Two nights before Christmas 1814 with all the men
and weapons he could muster, Jackson leads a surprise attack
on the British encampment.
He is hoping to buy time to get his defense
of New Orleans ready.
It works, the skirmish slows the British down,
and Jackson gets his badly needed supplies.
Now both sides settle in for the main event.
Both armies have remained near the battleground
making arrangements for something more decisive.
In a few days, we shall measure strength against strength
when I hope to sustain the honor of our arms,
and to secure the safety of this country.
At the Chalmette cotton plantation,
the American defense is carefully prepared
by military engineers.
Artillery is positioned behind earthen defense works.
In front of the earth works, an old canal
is deepened by black slaves.
It is called the Line Jackson,
stretching from the Mississippi 1,000 yards
to an impassable bayou at its farthest edge.
Now, in January 1815, on a swampy plain
beside the Mississippi River,
the British prepare for their final assault.
As the British generals assemble the troops
and make last-minute preparations,
there is a sudden burst of optimism in the ranks.
From the general right down to the youngest drummer boy,
the confident anticipation of success
seemed to pervade all ranks.
Dawn, January 8, 1815, the British plan
is to advance under the cover of a mist,
but an unexpected delay leaves the advancing lines
in plain sight.
The troops are ordered to carry on regardless.
At the American line, there is now a force of 3,500 men,
Kentucky frontiersmen, Cajun pirates, Spanish riflemen.
With Jackson on horseback directing fire
into the British lines.
The Americans watched the majestic procession
of nearly 5,000 redcoats,
the British battalion's march against Jackson's line,
confident the Americans will break and run.
Soon American cannonballs begin to shake British confidence.
Scarce a ball passed over or fell short of its mark,
but all striking full into the midst of our ranks
occasion to terrible havoc.
If the columns of the enemy
continue to advance with a firmness
that reflects upon them the greatest credit.
The British column attacking on the left flank
carries ladders to cross the canal,
and they meet with some success.
Up the line at the main attack point,
in the fog of war the ladders are left behind,
and the attacking redcoats are left stranded
in the middle of a terrible crossfire from the Americans.
Twice their column was repulsed,
and twice they formed again and renewed the assault.
(dramatic music)
The British begin to die, first in bunches,
then in platoons.
Then entire companies perished.
At length, however, cut to pieces they fled the field
in confusion, leaving their dead and wounded.
When silence finally settles
over the battlefield, there echoes the ancient question,
how went the day?
For Great Britain, there is scarce anyone standing
who could utter the word, "Catastrophe."
I mounted my horse and rode to the front.
Of all the sights I have seen, that which met me there
was beyond comparison.
Most shocking and humiliating.
1,000 bodies, all of them arrayed in British uniforms,
not a single American was among them.
An American officer stood by smoking a cigar,
counting the slain with a look of savage exultation.
By every measure, it is an astonishing
victory for the United States.
The final count is 2,036 British killed and wounded
while for the Americans, just seven men killed
and six men wounded.
If ever there was an occasion on which Providence
interfered immediately in the affairs of men,
it seems to have been on this.
What but such an interposition could've saved this country.
Let us mingle our joys and our thanks givings together.
News of the American victory at New Orleans
arrives in Washington at the same time as word
of the peace treaty signed in Europe.
In the treaty, both sides merely agree to return
to what was called status quo antebellum.
They will go back to the borders that existed
before the war began.
While some in the United States point out
that the entire war has been fought for nothing,
that America achieved none of the aims outlined
by its government at the outset.
Most are relieved to see the war come to an end
on almost any terms.
I lay before Congress copies of the
Treaty of Peace and Amity between the United States
and His Britannic Majesty which was signed
by the commissioners of both parties at Ghent
on the 24th of December 1814.
I congratulate you and our constituents upon an event
which is highly honorable to the nation,
and terminates with peculiar felicity a campaign
signalized by the most brilliant successes.
In the United States, the war leaders
are celebrated as great heroes.
After New Orleans, Andrew Jackson is widely credited
with saving the American Republic from disaster
in the War of 1812.
He will be twice elected president of the United States.
There is a very different treatment for the leader
of the British and Canadian war effort.
Governor-General Sir George Prevost forged an alliance
between French and English Canadians and the First Nations,
and ultimately stopped United States from seizing Canada.
At war's end, he is summoned back to England
to face a trial in the House of Lords,
because of his conduct at the Battle of Plattsburg.
His health fails and he dies suddenly in January 1816
before he can answer the charges.
In the end, Anne Prevost, like many who lived
through the War of 1812, felt crushed by it.
God forgive me,
but I know I felt anything but sorrow,
and hearing of this war which has led
to so much bloodshed
and misery
which was the source for all the calamities
which have overwhelmed my family.
Anne Prevost was only 20 when
the War of 1812 ended.
She was haunted by the events for the rest of her life.
Her remarkable journal did not come to light until 1998.
Today, in the Niagara region where most
of the War of 1812 was fought,
the only visible remnants of the conflict
are the carefully manicured memorials.
The forts and cannon that were instrumental
in deciding the battles.
Occasionally, however, some more graphic artifacts
are discovered.
In 1986, a steam shovel operator working
on a new housing development on the Canadian side
of the Niagara River noticed a flash of white
at the tip of his shovel.
Work stopped and an investigation was started.
Before long, police and forensic anthropologists
were called in.
Bones had been discovered, human bones.
Canadian anthropologist, Ron Williamson.
Well, it's a slightly surreal experience
to tell you the truth, because when you usually find
a portion of a body first, you're doing an excavation
of a unit.
And what you find is a bit of bone that is articulated
to another piece of bone and at that point it becomes,
"Well, is the entire body here and what position
"is the body in?"
It quickly became clear
that there were many skeletons.
And so Ron Williamson and his team carefully
cordoned off the area and planned a systematic dig.
Long before the area became suburbia,
it was known as Snake Hill, a gathering place
of First Nations.
When we found the Snake Hill cemetery,
at the time we were operating we were of the opinion
that we were dealing with an aboriginal cemetery
until we discovered that these guys were kind of supine
on their back with their hands folded over
their pelvic region in a traditional Christian location.
The next clue indicated that at least
some of those buried were relatively well off
dressed in some sort of a tailored jacket.
This piece of evidence would trigger a call
to the American Department of Defense.
And then little metal disks with the US
of the eagle was kind of a give away
as to what we were dealing with.
Clearly, these were the remains
of American soldiers.
One of the first Americans on the scene
was Defense Department historian Joe Whitehorn.
I can clearly remember when the anthropologist
was disinterring one of them,
and she was able to tell me virtually everything
but his name and eye color based on the bones
that she saw and so on.
And his age, the back problems he had, the rickets
he had as a kid, the condition of his teeth,
the fact that he smoked a pipe.
I just was amazed.
Let's face it, we all read history, you can read
these historical battles, you can read these
eyewitness accounts of what was happening.
It's quite different to read about someone writing
about the fact that their comrade fell beside them.
He took a musket shot in the head and he fell.
Well, when you then find an individual, literally,
with musket balls in their cranial vault
with the whole front of their skull smashed through
as we did at Snake Hill it is quite a different thing
when you think about that eyewitness account.
That same individual actually had
had his right arm blown away as well.
You feel the pain and what starts off
as a scientific specimen becomes a person.
And when those bodies, when the decision was made,
when we looked at all the evidence and decided
that they were indeed American soldiers,
and when the US Army moved in to do their thing,
that kind of moved it yet to another level
when the symbolism came into play.
28 hearses, 28 flag draped coffins,
ceremonially transferred to the presidential guard.
(majestic music)
It is our policy that dead or alive,
they are our soldiers
and that we will do all that is necessary
to give them a dignified final resting place.
They have lost it all and so something
must be done for them.
There are still hundreds of unaccounted for
American soldiers from the War of 1812 at rest
under the ground in Canada.
There are probably thousands of unknown British
and Canadian soldiers and native warriors lying near them.
Some of the battlefields are well marked,
others not at all.
Some people feel a powerful connection to these places.
Seeing them as sacred.
Here on the Canadian side of Niagara Falls is a woman
who has used her meager savings to buy up properties
adjacent to a battlefield for a memorial
to remember 2,000 young men killed on a terrible
July night in 1814.
She's known as the guardian angel of Lundy's Lane,
95 year old Ruth Redman.
When we won this battle, we won Canada, we kept Canada.
It was such a big battle, they fought so hard.
Flanders' Field where the poppies grow,
and the crosses are all in a row that mark their place
that died then.
But there's nothing to mark the place
where the thousands of young fellas died here, nothing.
(somber music)
In the War of 1812,
Canada fought off military conquest, setting the stage
for its birth as a nation.
The war cost the lives of an estimated 6,000 British
and Canadian soldiers.
United States lost almost 8,000.
The First Nation suffered most of all,
over 15,000 Indian people perished.
Almost 20 percent of the native population
caught up in the war.
Their power was broken, their land lost,
their tragedy deepened in the United States and Canada.
Canada, the United States, and Great Britain
drew one profound lesson from the War of 1812,
they would never fight each other again.
(majestic music)