History of the United States

by John Clark Ridpath

7. Five days afterwards a portion of the British fleet reached Alexandria. The inhabitants purchased the forbearance of the enemy by the surrender of twenty-one ships, sixteen thousand barrels of flour, and a thousand hogsheads of tobacco. After the capture of Washington, General Ross proceeded with his army and fleet to lay siege to the city of Baltimore. The militia, to the number of ten thousand, gathered under command of General Samuel Smith. On the 12th of September the British were landed at the mouth of the Patapsco, and the fleet began the ascent of the river. The land-forces were met by the Americans under General Stricker. A skirmish ensued, in which General Ross was killed; but Colonel Brooks assumed command, and the march was continued. Near the city the British came upon the American lines and were brought to a halt.

8. Meanwhile the British squadron had ascended the Patapsco and begun the bombardment of Fort McHenry. From sunrise of the 13th until after midnight, the guns of the fleet poured a tempest of shells upon the fortress.[A] At the end of that time the works were as strong as at the beginning. The British had undertaken more than they could accomplish. Disheartened and baffled, they ceased to fire. The land-forces retired, and the siege of Baltimore was at an end.

[A] During the night of this bombardment, Francis S. Key, who was detained on board a British ship in the bay, composed The Star Spangled Banner.

9. On the 9th and 10th of August the village of Stonington, Connecticut, was bombarded by Commodore Hardy; but the British, attempting to land, were driven back. The fisheries of New England were broken up. The salt-works at Cape Cod escaped by the payment of heavy ransoms. All the harbors from Maine to Delaware were blockaded. The foreign commerce of the Eastern States was totally destroyed.

The Hartford Convention.

10. From the beginning, many of the people of New England had opposed the war. The members of the Federal party cried out against it. The legislature of Massachusetts advised the calling of a convention. The other Eastern States responded to the call; and on the 14th of December the delegates assembled at Hartford. The leaders of the Democratic party did not hesitate to say that the purposes of the assembly were disloyal and treasonable. After remaining in session, with closed doors, for nearly three weeks, the delegates published an address, and then adjourned. The political prospects of those who participated in the convention were ruined.

Affairs in the South.

11. During the progress of the war the Spanish authorities of Florida sympathized with the British. In August of 1814 a British fleet was allowed by the commandant of Pensacola to use that post for the purpose of fitting out an expedition against Fort Bowyer, on the bay of Mobile. General Jackson, who commanded in the South, remonstrated with the Spaniards, but received no satisfaction. He thereupon marched a force against Pensacola, stormed the town, and drove the British out of Florida.

12. General Jackson next learned that the British were making preparations for the conquest of Louisiana. Repairing to New Orleans, he declared martial law, mustered the militia, and adopted measures for repelling the invasion. The British army, numbering twelve thousand, came from Jamaica, under Sir Edward Pakenham. On the 10th of December the squadron entered Lake Borgne, sixty miles northeast of New Orleans.