Posted on 08/24/2005 4:08:39 AM PDT by mainepatsfan
They can have California if they want it.
Interesting point. Thanks...
The White House was originally, I believe, green. They painted it white to cover the burn marks after the Brits torched it.
Ross was killed in the attack on Baltimore. While most of the attention is paid to the naval bombardment of Fort McHenry, the British also launched a ground attack against militia units in good defensive positions that didn't run. Kind of like a foretaste of New Orleans.
Maybe we could invite them back to do the northern section of town ... but they would likely get shot at by all the drug dealers with the Uzis and TEK-9s.
Can some of the Canadian Freepers please make sure that their liberal breatheren read this. It seems that it has somehow become part of Canadian mythology that it was they that burned the White House. In some instances, I've found that they believe that they pushed the US back all the way from the border to DC before burning the White House. I know not all Canadians believe this. It usually seems to be the liberal types that spout this as part of their new found Canadian pride.
I think your quoting revisionist history. Look up impressment of US sailors. I just "forgave" Britain after they stood with us in Iraq :)
"Ross was killed in the attack on Baltimore. While most of the attention is paid to the naval bombardment of Fort McHenry, the British also launched a ground attack against militia units in good defensive positions that didn't run. Kind of like a foretaste of New Orleans."
The Battle of North Point was one of those episodes in history where a single small event conceivably changed the outcome of a major historical episode.
The British Infantry actually were successfully pushing back American forces on North Point when Ross was shot and killed. His death threw the British into disarray and destroyed their morale to the extent that they abandoned their land attack and instead tried to bombard Fort McHenry into submission. Fort McHenry held, Baltimore was saved, the British attempt to cut the eastern United States in two failed, the rest is history.
And we got a great song out of it ...
Maybe if we asked reeeeeal nice they'd burn the place down for us again. Think of the money the country would save with Congress out of session!
Two excellent books: "The Burning of Washington" by Anthony S. Pitch, and "1812: The War that Forged a Nation" by Walter R. Borneman.
I'm sorry, but this is the bogus version that Canadians and left-wingers love to peddle.
While it's indisputable that the American "War Hawks" had delusions of taking over Canada, it's also indisputably true that the attempt would never have been considered in the first place if the British hadn't attempted to totally restrict our ability to conduct trade and navigate the seas near our own territory. In extreme cases, like the Chesapeake, they would even capture and enslave innocent American sailors. Jefferson was desperate to try and avoid another war, but an independent nation simply can't tolerate another country seizing its ships with total impunity.
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