Read e-book online Lion in the Bay: The British Invasion of the Chesapeake, PDF

This is the tale of the warfare of 1812 like no different, delivered to lifestyles in narrative shape with pinpoint ancient details.

As the battle of 1812 raged at the excessive seas and alongside the Canadian border, the British determined to strike on the middle of the U.S., the rather undefended sector of the Chesapeake Bay. The Chesapeake used to be a fertile farm zone, a popular position of shipbuilding and a space divided alongside political strains over the battle. Admiral George Cockburn led the British into the bay in March 1813. After a failed try and take Norfolk, Cockburn led the British up and down the Chesapeake. initially a crusade to alleviate strain from different fronts, the Chesapeake theater quickly grew to become a crusade of retribution for the British, turning what were an monetary engine for the USA right into a zone of terrorized voters, destroyed farms and fears of slave rebel. The blockade choked American trade and avoided privateers from taking the warfare to the English. Cockburn back in 1814 and once again terrorized the citizens on either shorelines of the Chesapeake whereas stoking the political divisions that still lease the country.

In August, 1814, the British capitalized at the refusal of President James Madison to reinforce the defenses of the waterway that resulted in the nation’s capital. Cockburn back led a naval strength into the bay, yet this time he bumped into competition from Commodore Joshua Barney and his polyglot flotilla of warships. Barney publish an heroic although doomed struggle sooner than the British landed at Benedict, Md., in August, 1814 and marched on Washington, D.C. After defeating the americans at Bladensburg, the British burned Washington sooner than returning to their boats and taking off for Baltimore. There, the British armada bumped into castle McHenry and a stalwart staff of defenders. regardless of a tremendous bombardment, the British couldn't silence the citadel or the city’s different defenses, forcing them to retreat and quit their crusade to totally close the Chesapeake. The victory at Baltimore, coupled with victories at the nice Lakes, helped flip the battle in America’s favor.