The War of 1812, Conflict and Deception by Ronald J. Drez

Author:Ronald J. Drez
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: LSU Press
Published: 2014-04-11T04:00:00+00:00

The very same month that Prevost received his offensive orders, Admiral Alexander Cochrane arrived in Bermuda to replace Admiral John Warren, and he carried with him his own offensive orders—dating from January 25, 1814. Upon taking command, the admiral made perfectly clear his profound disdain for the Americans; he compared them to dogs needing discipline. “They are a whining canting race much like the spaniel and require the same treatment—[they] must be drubbed into good manners.”27

Cochrane began by actively attempting to recruit 2,000 Indians to supplement his force that he said would “give to Gt. Britain the Command of that Country—and New Orleans.” Again, the whole focus was New Orleans. He looked forward to fighting the Americans and giving “them a complete drubbing before peace is made—when I trust their Northern limit will be circumscribed and the Command of the Mississippi wrested from them.”28 What could be clearer concerning the British intentions?

But despite common knowledge of the constant British presence in the Chesapeake area, there was little alarm among members of the Madison government that the enemy would ever attempt to land and make a move on Washington. The entire Washington defense consisted of a company of marines in their barracks in the city, and one company of artillery at Fort Washington along the Potomac. Adding to this political and intellectual lethargy was the attitude of Secretary Armstrong himself, who could not be convinced that the Capital was a lucrative and strategic target, even if only for its propaganda value and the paralyzing of the American government. That it should be regarded as an obviously tempting target did not impress Armstrong, and the argument fell on his deaf ears. He believed that Baltimore was the target and was heard to ask, concerning Washington, “What the devil would they do here?”29

On August 16, the British arrived in the Chesapeake in force. The usually small blockade squadron was suddenly joined by Admiral Cochrane’s fleet of twenty-one ships, and that number swelled to many more when yet another squadron under Commodore Charles Malcolm also sailed in. Cochrane’s force carried several thousand landing troops, commanded by General Robert Ross, and suddenly the Chesapeake seemed like the home port for the British fleet.

Two task forces immediately formed within the confines of those waters. One sailed up the Potomac River toward Washington, while the other went up the Chesapeake toward Baltimore.30

On August 18, a third force of 5,000 men, under the command of Admiral Cockburn and General Ross, made a third penetration up the Patuxent River and two days later landed at the town of Benedict—forty-five miles below Washington. Its announced objective was to find and destroy a small flotilla of American boats that had been the only American defense in the Chesapeake Bay and had been an enormous annoyance to the British blockading fleet.

Commanded by Commodore Joshua Barney, this small American flotilla of twenty open rowboats, each with a long gun in the bow and a shorter-ranged carronade in the stern, was mostly powered by oars pulled by up to sixty men.

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