Andrew Jackson and the Battle of New Orleans. William Henry Harrison. “Tippecanoe and Tyler Too.” The burning of Washington, D.C. “The National Anthem.”
The War of 1812 made and broke political careers and shaped both America’s history and geography, but most citizens have only a dim understanding of the war and its causes. Filmmaker Lawrence B. Hott counts himself among them.
“We were complete neophytes,” Hott said of himself and Diane Garey, his wife and colleague in Florentine Films. The Williamsburg-based company has made 27 films over its 33-year history, most of them on historical subjects. Along the way they have garnered numerous awards, including an Emmy, a Peabody and two Academy Award nominations.
Their latest production, “The War of 1812,” explores a conflict that, if not forgotten, is the neglected child of American history. Hott calls it “the last PBS war.” It is scheduled to be broadcast on PBS on Oct. 10.
Hott and Garey were working on a film about Niagara Falls when WNED-TV, the Buffalo PBS affiliate, approached them about making a documentary on the War of 1812, which had a dramatic affect on that area, both in the U.S. and Canada.
“We jumped at the chance because we knew nothing about it,” Hott said.
It turned out there was a lot to learn. Breaking out when America was still in its infancy, the war pitted the young country against England, its recent oppressor. France, Canada and the Indian nations were all affected by the war to some degree as well.
The seeds for the conflict were sown when British ships began impressing sailors from American vessels into the Royal Navy to bolster England’s war with Napoleon. America had recently bought a vast chunk of the continent, “The Louisiana Purchase,” from France and was starting to spread westward. As England tried to impose its will on America, the states were divided about how to respond. Meanwhile, the Indian nations, lead by the Shawnee chief Tecumsah, saw an opportunity to push back against the young country that was steadily usurping their land.
The war played out over a battlefield that stretched from Michigan to Louisiana, the Great Lakes to Alabama, Canada to the high seas the Atlantic. Before it was over, Gen. Andrew Jackson had made his name by defeating the British in New Orleans, the British had burned Washington, D.C., and Harrison had catapulted himself towards the U.S. presidency by dint of a battle at Tippecanoe in Indiana. The Battle of Fort Henry in Baltimore inspired Francis Scott Keyes to write “The National Anthem.” Canada, which entered the fray when America invaded its territory, emerged with a sense of national identity.
“The big result of the war was that the Indians lost,” Hott said. “They learned they didn’t have the strength to repulse the juggernaut of white settlement.”
Tecumsah, in fact, was killed in battle and the subjugation of the Indian tribes became an inevitability.
Because the war preceded the invention of the photograph, Florentine Films was hard-pressed for graphics in its quest for historical authenticity.
“Most of the paintings were done much later, and they were frequently wrong,” Hott said.
In addition, each of the parties to the war had different interpretations of events. Hott and Garey ended up interviewing American, British, Canadian and Indian historians for the film. To capture the drama, Florentine Films relied more heavily than it even had on recreations.
“It was much more Hollywood style (than usual),” Hott said. “We had hundreds of people, explosions, burning... It was complicated stuff.”
The three-year war produced two presidents, Jackson and Harrison, called into question the leadership of the sitting president, James Madison, and tested the bonds of the young nation. “The War of 1812” is a rich, two-hour lesson in this history. In addition to its Oct. 10, 9 p.m. PBS broadcast, the film will premier at The Academy of Music in Northampton on Sept. 17 at 7 p.m. Hott will also present the film at Springfield Technical Community College on Sept. 23 as part of a lecture series.