1811 an American ship called the
attacked and defeated a small British warship called the
Many Americans were happy about this. Americans wanted to show the
British they would not back down.
been 37 years since the Revolutionary War, so most of the soldiers who
had fought in the Revolutionary War were too old to fight in a new
war. The American army had only six thousand trained men. Most of
these were spread out fighting the Native Americans.
large army was sent to capture Canada, but they were beaten
easily by the British army. Some American ships had early
victories. Oliver Perry won a big battle on Lake Erie. The
won a victory over a large British warship in the Atlantic. The
Constitution earned the name
because the British cannonballs seemed to bounce off the wooden
sides of the ship.
British landed in Maryland and marched to Washington. The
President and the Congress had to run from the city. The British
burned the Capitol, the President's home, and other government
British sailed up the Chesapeake Bay to Baltimore, Maryland. The
British bombed Fort McHenry. The British bombed it all night. A young
lawyer named Francis Scott Key was on board one of the ships. He was
trying to get the British to free an American who they held prisoner.
He watched the battle all night long. In the morning he wrote the
Star-Spangled Banner about what he saw.
Neither side wanted the war. An agreement was made to end the
war in 1814. Nobody won the war and no one lost. The question of
the border between the United States and Canada was settled.
Many felt the war earned America a new respect in the world.
slow to reach the port of New Orleans. General Andrew Jackson beat a
large British army there after the war had ended. On January 8, 1815
Andrew Jackson had his men dig trenches and wait for the British. The
Americans waited for the British to march up. Many were armed with
long squirrel rifles. In half an hour, the battle was over. Over 2000
British were killed. The Americans lost only eight men.
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