instead of writing them down, just cut them in half by taking an ownership position in the house. so that when the house was ultimately sold, the people who issued the mortgage were on the mortgage will share in the profit and you get the same practical result. you no longer have a bad debt on the books. .. from archives to recount the world 1812 that put the united states against britain. several accounts of the war andt aflame and battles on lake champlain and dandridge jackson's command of american forces of the final major battle of the war the battle of new orleans, which took place on >> o generally, 1815 petraeus to mckeithen and hinchey for coming to the tattered cover. tonight we welcome walterntroduh borneman to introduce his bookt 1812 the war that forge a nation. lit the audacious little hot usa in brish emclear its last war against our current trend of the anned h empire. and often overlook the war that spanned half a continent from o mackinac island rlto new orleans and lake champlain to horseshoes bend. now it's presented a historical sweeping narrative of the war and its importance to america's early development. he is the author of "saga -- alasa, saga of a bold land" and practices law here in colorado. will you please welcome walter borneman. [applause] >> thank you, sally, very much. i appreciate that gracious introduction and i appreciate all of you being here this evening. coming to the tattered cover is always like coming home for me and it's nice to be here. you know, those of you who were here for my history of alaska a couple of years ago might ask the question, how did walter borneman get from a history of alaska to the war of 1812? it's really not that surprising. my academic training has been in american history and this is a period of time that i've always found really fascinating. it's a period of time that's kind of lost between the american revolution and the civil war. you don't really hear much about it. but if you start to peel away the layers of this particular era, i think there are a lot of things that kind of stand out, two in particular. this is really a period of time when the american nation really starts to solidify itself. and it's also a period of time when the united states really kind of sets itself up for what's going to be another half century of westward expansion. let me suggest to you that in the early years of the 19th century, the american union was still very tenuous, still untested and still far more confederation than it was union. i don't think that any single incident emphasizes this better than the story with which i begin my book, that of erin burr and his infamous conspiracy. he had teamed up with general wilkinson, the man who by the way had given zebulon pike his orders to come to colorado and explore the louisiana territory. he teamed up with burr and in may of 1804, aaron burr, the sitting vice president of the united states and who by the way had not been renominated for that office, received a late night caller and it was none other than general wilkinson. never mind the fact that they were old friends. with burr's political power apparently destroyed, what could he and general wilkinson, commander of american forces at new orleans, possibly have to talk about? well, no record remains of their conversation, but subsequent events suggest that the man who was in fact himself a paid spanish agent was now on burr's doorstep suggesting to the disgruntsled political man, a way to steal an empire aware from both american and spanish influences. the long and the short of it is burr was arrested and arraigned before a grand jury in kentucky on charges of raising troops for illegal purposes. burr's lawyer was a young up and comer, henry clay. the grand jury dismissed the charges but no sooner had he left town with two boats he had purchased from andrew jackson than a presidential proclamation reached jacksonville. jefferson called for the arrest of all of those involved in the conspiracy. burr was arrested and take on the richmond to stand trial. he was acquitted only because chief justice john marshal chose to define treason has narrowly requiring an act of overt war. meanwhile, andrew jackson, who had come unconfidentably close to burr's web, wrote a friend, i am more convinced than ever that treason was never intended by burr, but if ever it was, you know my wishes that he may be hung. old hickory was never one to mince words. so louisiana and the mississippi valley still belonged to the united states. the fledgling american union remained in tact. but i suggest to you that the plotting of a disgruntsled politician and an unscrupulous general had shown how tenuous it was. within a short time, growing pains along its entire border from british canada to spanish florida, as well as on the high seas, would push the country into war. when that war came, aaron burr faded in the shadows but many others who had played a role in the match nations of what came to be called the burr conspiracy would be center stage, including andrew jackson, henry clay and general wilkinson. let's talk about the reasons for this war. i think there were probably threefold. one was this issue of impressment. the royal navy at this point is really engaged in a battle for the high seas with napolean's france and all of europe is really tied up in this huge struggle. what the royal navy is doing, they need sailors for their ships. so what they're doing is stopping american ships and seizing basically kidnapping the terms impressment, kidnapping american sailors who have just the faintest degree of british blood in their vains off of those american ships and forcing them to serve in the royal navy. at the same time the united states is trying to trade with france was is gray britain going to allow that? no. they are seizing american ships and are trying to trade with france. at the same time, france is saying, well, wait, we don't want the americans trading with great britain, we'll seize the ships as well. so this young american nation is caught in the crossfire between great britain and france and the seizure of ships is another reason that the united states starts to call for war. in fact, at one point the american congress, and we'll talk in a second about howdy individualed they were on the whole subject of war, but at one point the american congress debates issuing letters of mark and repiesal, outfitting privateers to go out on the high seas to attack british and french ships. so you can see there's a lot going on on the oceans. the third reason that the united states finally, and reluctantly declares war is a lot of people, particularly in the western part of the united states still have a hankering for canada. you may recall your revolutionary war history that there were invasions led by benedict around who marched on canada in 1775. this lust for canada really is not abated and in 1812, henry clay and his war hawks out in kentucky and tennessee really also want canada for themselves. henry clay boasts hey, the militia of kentucky alone can enough to invade canada and reduce it to american interests. well, as we'll see in a moment, that never happened. so all of these reasons really combined together and finally president james madison, in the spring of 1812, is sort of very reluck tamentsly pushed into issuing a declaration of war. i think he's pushed into that in part by political pressure from henry clay and senators in the western states whose electoral votes in the back of his mind he's thinking that he may need in the fall election of 1812. so madison reluctantly sends a declaration of war to congress. congress debates it at some length and it becomes the closest vote on a declaration of war in united states history. never mind what we've skeen in the post world war ii period where really the president almost without congressional involvement takes the lead in terms of executive actions in korea, vietnam and now in iraq. in 1812, congress really took its war powers under the constitution seriously and debated it at great extremes. of course, finally, the senate vote by the way was 19-13, a very close vote in those days. again, it was the narrowest vote for war in u.s. history. ok, in june of 1812, the united states has indeed declared war on great britain. what happens then? the united states, for this war is poorly prepared, very poorly prepared militarily. the military is underfunded. we have about 12 capital ships against the might of the british navy. i mean, at some levels how dare the united states have the audacity to declare this war. but i think one person in virginia sort of summed it up best and said after all of these grievances, impress sent, seizure of ships and kind of this lust on the side for canada, after all of those things, it had become a matter of national honor that the united states should declare war and move forward with that. so however unprepared the united states was, that's in fact what they did. of course, the first thing they do in the summer of 1812 is say, ok, even if we're sort of reluctant getting into this war, and even if we're not too militarily prepared, maybe by just going ahead and declaring war great britain will back off on some of these issues on the high seas and maybe we can go ahead and seize part of canada. well, of course what happens is that three invasion attempts in the summer of 1812 to invade canada from detroit, from niagara falls and north into lake sham plain all fail. now, that brings us back to zebulon pike in the summer of 1813. all of us here 234 colorado and many across the country associate pike with the high mountain in colorado that bears his name. well, as paul harvey would say, here's the rest of the story. pike, after his travels out in the west, remained in the army and remained a regular in the army and by 1812 and 1813, he's a brigadier general leading an invasion of canada from sacramentos harbor on lake ontario toward york. york in those days, today it's called toronto, but york was the capital of upper canada. today we call it ontario. pike is leading this expedition, his troops land and there's only a few british regulars. again, the context of this war is that great britain is heavily engaged in europe with napolean. for the first couple of years of the war, the only troops that it can spare over here are second-class regiments and not the cream of the crop, because they're engaged fighting in polian in europe. so a few troops of british regulars flee before the americans at york and a few militia are left to defind the town. pike's troops advance and let me read you a couple of paragraphs of what happens. so pike's troops, with the aid of broadsides from chancey's fleet, captured two aging artillery batteries and advanced to the ramparts of york's western garrison. as the mesh formed to make an assault, pike sat down to question a captured militia sergeant. what is your whole strength and where are the regulars? sir, the prisoner replied, i am a british soldier. in that instant, a terrible roar came from the ramparts above. the retreating canadians had detonated the underground powder magazine that held barrels on barrels of gun powder. the result was an explosion of volcanic proportions that shook the earth. pike's prisoner was killed instantly. pike turned slightly to shield himself from the blast but was struck in the head by a huge boulder. there was no question that the injury was mortal. pike the explorer, who had tried to climb the colorado peek that now bears his name, was killed by rockfall on the shores of lake ontario. somewhat ironic. with him seems to have died any semblance of american discipline. of course, what happens is that pike's troops, without his leadership, went on either by accident or on some lower orders, to burn the government buildings at york. we think about the war of 1812 and talk about the burning of the white house and the advance on washington and all that happened in 1814 and we ask ourselves, how could the british march into our capitol and set it aflames? it was really retaliation for a series of tit for tat that began in fork ontario when the government buildings were burned there by pike's troops. after that, the canadians burned buffalo. americans retaliated by burning a place called long point in ontario. this went on back and forth across the border until by the time the british fleet arrived in chesapeake bay in 1814, they're out for blood and retaliation. and that's one of the reasons, the main reason that when the british troops marched on washington they set fire to the capitol building and the white house. well, the issues and campaigns that go on in terms of the invasion of canada kind of have a lot of missteps, if you will. and general wilkinson, the guy that was plotting with aaron burr to steal an empire, is given command of american troops along the st. lawrence river. and in 1813, their plan is to march down the river and attack montreal. just to give you a little bit of flavor for what it was like in those days on the battlefield, let me read you a couple of other paragraphs that come from my description of what's the battle of chrysler's farm. what's happening is the americans are advancing down the river, down the st. lawrence river to montreal, and the canadians are sort of mounting an action on their rear guard, trying -- it's a little more than guerrilla tactics, but they're trying to create as much confusion in the american's rear as possible. wilkinson says i've had enough and orders a commander named boyd to turn around with about half of the troops and attack the canadians behind him. at daub the next day, boyd, the american commander, should have had second thoughts. perhaps he did. two years before at tippecanoe, he helped harrison establish a strong defensive position and wait to be attacked. but now on the st. lawrence, his commanding general was no harrison. and was ordering him to attack. so under gray skies that momentarily held their reign, boyd's troops moved back upriver to engage morrison's forcen't about 2:00 p.m. on the afternoon of november 11, the american units massed in a line of trees on the eastern edge of the farm. here was one last chance to postpone the encounter, but boyd pushed onward. the center of his line, the 11th and 14th infantry regiments stepped clear of the trees and strode forward across the field. the americans, one british observer noted, came on in very gallant style. initially there was much cheering on the american side. reports suggested that they faced only local militia. a few rounds might sweep them from the field. but the opposing ranks stood silent and still. these were not raw militia or even canadian troops. but rather seasoned british regulars of the 89th and 49th foot regiments. calm was the order of the day. even in the face of erratic fire from the americans. the british troops remained silent and stock still, firing not a shot, until the americans had closed between 100 and 150 yards. then came the chilling commands from their officers. make ready, a short pause. present. two heart beats now. fire! the result was a withering shower of bullets that hit the american lines with a devastating effect. one american officer reported that the british line was the most admireable i had ever seen and its fire was in regular volleys. well, the americans suffered a major defeat and general wilkinson's biographer went on to say never have so many americans been beaten by such inferior numbers on foreign soil. that kind of military battle and that kind of back and forth along the canadian border is really what epitomizes this war on land for most of its three years on the high seas we have a different story. many of you associate with war with the u.s.s. constitution, old ironsides gets its name in this war. and there's the story of james lawrence and the chesapeake. been out and heard the expression, don't give up the ship. well, that comes from this war. james lawrence is dying on the quarter deck of the chesapeake and he says to his crew, don't give up the ship. of course, what makes that slogan famous is that a few months later, a young lieutenant named oliver perry makes a battle flag out of those words, flies them from the mast of his brig on lake erie and chases the british off lake erie. on the high seas, because great britain has this huge fleet and the americans are outnumbered, there's not a lot that the americans can do. in fact, by 1814, the british really have a strangle hold all along the east coast of the united states. a blo al qaeda that's really shutting -- blockade shutting down american commerce. there are two battles that occur, one on lake erie, the other on lake champagne that have strapiegic importance to the lar. lake erie makes for american control of lake erie and allows the americans to recapture detroit. lake champagne, fort mchenry, the writing of the national anthem, all of that is part and parcel to a major british invasion force that's moving up lake champagne south into upper new york state and only the victory of the american navy on the lake defeats the british and makes the british general turnarounds because he doesn't have control of his supply lines and control of the adjacent waters of the lake. so those two things as far as naval victories are relatively important to the war. and then, of course, what finally happens, we've all sung that johnny horton sung about the bat of of new orleans. andrew jackson, by the fall of 1814, is down in the gulf coast of the united states, he's fought his way through a native american civil war, the battle of horse shoe bend in alabama. wouldn't up in mobile and after the british evacuate and leave washington and baltimore, having been repulsed in september of 1814 from fort mchenry, where are they going to strike next? jackson's not sure. he thinks it might be mobile. there's other people who think it might be new orleans. and through that fall he tries to get intelligence and finally learns that the british fleet is sailing for new orleans. there's one thing very different now. remember that war in europe, france versus great britain? well, napolean has been defeated the first time. he's going to come back and have a second round atwater loo, but defeated in present-day germany and after that with napolean at bay, what does great britain do? they say, wait a minute, for two years the united states has been kind of pulling our tail over there in north america. what have those upstart americans been up to? and by 1814, with napolean at bay, great britain can transfer a lot of regular troops, the best of the best, duke of wellington's brian rosser in law, sir edward packingham is put in charge of an expedition to capture new orleans. new orleans, this is less than 10 years after the louisiana purchase, and new orleans and louisiana is really just sort of a sliver of american territory stuck down there between the spanish owning the floridas, and i say that plurally because it's west and east florida at that point. and texas and all of that area to the west. so the spanish, whose ally are they? british allies. duke of wellington has been fighting in spain trying to help defeat napolean's troops there. so they are allies and great britain basically attacks new orleans to control that great mouth of the mississippi river and some would argue, we'll talk about that in a second, try to recapture the louisiana territory for spain, which has sort of been coerced to sell it to france and you'll remember that napolean sold it to the united states. but great britain never recognized that. so in the fall of 1814, great britain is attacking new orleans, trying to capture it. what does jackson do? he has a few regulars, some bayou pirates, jean lafeet. there's militia, local troops. they all come together outside of n