The Roanoke Slant

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Junior, we had a war in 1812. Apparently most students missed history class the day that was covered! Who did we fight? Was that important? Why yes Junior, a number of important events transpired.
http://www.pbs.org/wned/war-of-1812/
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http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/history/1812-war/bs-md-1812-war-20120609,0,2686775.story
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Our Congressman John Randolph of Roanoke was a major force against going to war and opposed a declaration of war against England.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Randolph_of_Roanoke
However, the war hawks persevered and President James Madison presented the case for war to the Congress and then signed a Declaration of War.
http://www.presidentialrhetoric.com/historicspeeches/madison/warmessage.html
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Col. Andrew Jackson became a hero in the battle of New Orleans against the British invaders. I thought that happened during the Revolutionary War in 1776. Yes Junior that was the first time we fought the British, 1812 was the second time.  Apparently they didn't like us back then.
By the way, Col. Jackson became the 7th President of the U.S. (2 terms)
http://americanhistory.about.com/od/andrewjackson/a/ff_a_jackson.htm
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Google: (YouTube War 1812 New Orleans) for lots of good historical videos.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c7Hh8W69cos&feature=results_main&playnext=1&list=PL3412C17BFCA26283
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Here in Virginia the British sailed up the Chesapeake and camped, regrouped and staged their attack upon Washington at Tangier Island. Not sure how that impacted the soft-shelled crab business at that time.
http://www.tangierisland-va.com/
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The British then sailed all the way up the Chesapeake to Bladensburg, Md.  No Junior the Bridge-Tunnel was not there yet.   At the mouth of Patuxent River they defeated a small fleet of U.S. boats and established a base to launch their attack upon Washington.
http://www.historyofwar.org/articles/battles_bladensburg.html
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President James Madison and his Sec. of Defense were unable to mount a significant defense of Washington. Not clear why? Lot’s of finger pointing. Seems like it should have been possible given that the British had no significant artillery or cavalry, they were primarily sea-sick infantry that literally walked into Washington and burned down the Capital.  Something about cutting way back on the Defense Budgets and too preoccupied to ask neighboring states for their National Guard.
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As the British marched into Washington, all the big-wigs (play on words) bugged out leaving Dolly Madison to collect and pack-up and haul-out in horse-drawn wagons all the vital and historic documents, artifacts, paintings and official materials of the White House and U.S. government. It certainly isn’t clear why JMU isn’t called DolleyU – after all – she was the hero!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dolley_Madison
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The British also sailed into Baltimore Harbor and laid siege (fired big cannons) upon Fort McHenry. Francis Scott Key was there and became so overwhelmed with the massive 4th of July type display that he wrote the poem that became our National Anthem. Yes Junior, that’s the song that Obama doesn’t like because it’s too militaristic. He only listens to it when he’s raining drone missiles upon unsuspecting folks on his “kill list”.
http://www.nps.gov/fomr/photosmultimedia/index.htm
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So that’s it Junior! The War of 1812 in cliffs notes brevity. Too bad Americans know so little about our history. Apparently this stuff is too Politically Incorrect to be in the public domain so don’t expect to see it in the Roanoke Times.
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Johnny Horton: The Battle of New Orleans
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=50_iRIcxsz0
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The War of 1812 and the fight for Canada:
http://www.wonderfulwaterloo.com/showthread.php?t=1261
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http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/story/2012/05/28/ns-video-memorial-1812.html?cmp=rss
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http://www.mpt.org/1812
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