It's a never-ending battle to enlighten uninformed persons like the poster above. He spouts what he claims is "history", yet he is wrong virtually all the time. He speaks of the "White House" (the British burned it). He speaks of "Washington", and I assume he means thc city, not the President. With the exception of having a leftwing bigot in the White House, the White House is doing fine. With the exception of having a Democrat mayor and council that taxes everything in sight, the city of Washington is doing fine too. Washington DC has some great restaurants.
The poster tells us that if it were not for Napoleon, the USA would belong to Canada. Those who take what this uninformed bigot says as 'the truth", should reconsider their decision. Allow a well-informed historian to educate the poster. The poster failed to mention that the British came to the US and burned the White House in August, 1814, AFTER Napoleon had been defeated and captured! If the poster needs us to say something great about the Brits, I suppose we should admit that they did do a nice job of burning and destroying things in Washington.
He asks if the Battle of Baltimore was an American victory. He asks if we think the British Navy simply left Baltimore to pick up stranded soldiers down river. It's time to hand this poster his butt once again!
The intent of the British in September, 1814, was to attack and capture Baltimore. To suceed in their attack, the British had to establish military dominace on both land and sea. Fort McHenry in Baltimore harbor had to be captured, destroyed, or US troops had to be drawn away from other defensive positions to further defend the fort. To achieve a victory, a British fleet sailed into the harbor and began shelling Fort McHenry. At the same time, the British had sent more ships and troops to North Point, and more than 5,000 British troops eventually disembarked there. Those British troops marched north and west to attack Baltimore in conjunction with the naval assault on Fort McHenry. The British land troops included the 4th, 21st, 44th, and 85th Regiments. Three of those regiments were among those that fought Napoleon in the Peninsular War in Spain, and under Wellington, had defeated Napoleon at Waterloo. Those troops were met on land by American militiamen, most of whom had never seen battle. The Americans killed the British General Ross, and literally fought experienced British troops to a military tie on land. Because of America's valiant defense of Fort McHenry, and Americans' valiant defense on land, British land troops had no choice but to retreat.
The poor, "stranded soldiers" described by the poster, were stranded trying to retreat after failing to win their objective! Like the British land forces, the British ships left Baltimore harbor after failing to defeat the USA!
END OF LESSON!
