and newspaper reports of the early republic has been regarded by historians as a form of capitol dmen tear and not the least because they're quite colorful. men and women reported back home on what dolly wore, served, how she moved, and how she treated people. but, we have to look at these descriptions not just as mere celebrity mentions. the people who regarded dolly so minutely, whether members of the ruling elite or ordinary americans and europeans invested in the republican experiment, what they were looking for and how she looked and how she behaved, they were looking for signs and clues about the madison's themselves, maybe a specific political event, especially the declaration of war. and even for the fate of the republic. some there's a lot at stake in these descriptions. after the american revolution at a time of flux and change with very few real political structures in place. these new americans focussed on the persons of their leaders and the number one person they subjected their attention was george washington. in the early republic, people transferred this capacity to dolly. to them, dolly symbolized the heart of the madison administration, but also its true character. in political theory, the charismatic figure is a person who can convey abstract psychological and emotional messages to large groups of people. although the psychological aspect is important to any political people, indeed there are some who say that all politics are psychological, it was especially important in the infant early republic. it influenced the way americans felt about how they were ruled. and that was key to the survival of the nation. recent scholarship especially from historians of women's lives and gender has revealed that the early u.s. government and the political culture that it spawned was much more dependent on royal forms of rule than we ever previously thought. the newly liberated columnist turned citizens it seemed not only had an appetite for it, they craved the legitimacy and authority conveyed by it only vocabulary of power they knew. so the founding men, even as they were putting together a new nation along the line of what they call pure republicism, that they found they might actually need the droppings of in order to command the widespread respect and reassure the people that the right kind of people were ruling them. now this is a tricky balance to achieve, how much was too much in the quest to repurpose the old vocabulary to convey the legitimacy of the national experiment? and perhaps federalists such as washington and john adams would freely brought back the aristocratic practices, we have evidence of that. a number of americans however, the ones who would be republican followers of thomas jefferson wanted nothing to do with the old world and kept a sharp eye out for, as they would have called it, encroaching air stock si. so as it turned out, this republic balance came down on one side of the other in a lot of different ways. one of the ways this tension played out is issues of power often do was on the field of gender. so in the end, the women of the ruling elite were given the task of conveying the aristocratic message to the masses. and ironically because they were considered private, they had a lot+6nt more latitude than men to do that. the genius of this persona that i'm talk abouting with the republic can -- talking about with the republic queen, on both sides for max mall effect. so dolly combined with a regal visual persona with a personality that seemed down right democratic. and put it to use at her social events. report after report mostly favorable, described her regal bearing and fantastic call cost assumes as she presided over her drawing room. over and over her guests cautioned her demeanor is so far removed from the generally attended on royalty that your fancy can carry the resemblance no further than the head dress. she was a queen, many proclaimed her that, but as samuel mitchell, the new york congressman said, she was a queen of hearts. james had employed dolly personifying gifts during the difficult decision to declare. it allowed him to hold the war hawks at bay while he weighed options for peace. it's during this time that dol lit and henry clay -- dolly and henry clay maybe several notable appearances signaling to political watchers that though james could not officially embrace the agenda, he was not discounting for it. not discounting it altogether. now there seems to be have no hint of sexual impropriety in the stories that surfaced, unless one counts the symbol of sharing a snuff box. see now we went a different way here, kent, there we go. all right. so both dolly and henry clay shared their addiction to the substance and dolly's possible sharing of her snuff box with clay was read by all as a sign of henry clay's favor within the madison administration. like many, sarah gill seton, sister of one editor and wife of the other thought taking snuff a bad habit. she admitted in dolly's hands the snuff box quote, seems only a gracious implement within which to charm. political commentator and writer margaret smith saw it as quote a most magical influence in suing savage political breasts. for who could partake of its contents offered them in a manner so cordial and gracious and retain a feeling to the interests of the bestower. in this way, dolly had henry clay on a kind of political string as it were while james decided what to do. dolly's persona was firmly in place in washington city when the u.s. congress declared war on great britain in june 1812. shortly after the declaration, the president was in what we moderns would call a public relations nightmare. though the people at the time did not have the vocabulary, they recognized his dilemma as such. virginia representative burwell worried to his wife that quote, the difficulties of his situation have increased in a great dez agree. as far as burwell was concerned, madison's only hope lay an influencing public sentiment by some brilliant achievement. that's not at bad thought, but unfortunately for james madison, the war went badly from the beginning, so the madison's chance for a brilliant achievement lay with dolly who took her symbolizing capacity to a new level. her brilliant achievements were not the dramatic stuff of military victories and battles at sea, their execution and effects were subtler, if as significant. while fulfilling the goal of unity. in the first congressional season after the declaration, dolly began her social campaign early, returning to the capitol after only one week at montpeli montpelier, according to her in the midst of business and anxiety, anxious for the fate of the war only. throughout the war, she gave more parties than ever before, and it's interesting as you read her letter, she uses a phrase telling about the parties, she calls them the routine of gaiety, which i think hints at what it took to produce these brilliant scenes as people called them. as kat said, before the war, he drawing rooms became known as squeezes because there were two to 300 guests crammed into the oval room, but housed up to 500. that first month of the congressional season after the declaration, dolly's butler left her for france, and she told her cousin and james's personal secretary edward coles, i am acting in his department and the city is more than ever crowded with strangers, my head is dizzy. no one was more visible at her parties than queen dolly. though personally she was as partisan as any man in congress because she was a woman. dolly could be seen as politically neutral. men of parties had interests dictated by their political needs, but women could be disinterested, simply patriotic for their own sakes. her work transcended, her political affiliation. since men were associated with one party or the other, no male, not even the president could represent the united states because of course in theory, as a woman she was above politics, dolly could appear to the american publics as larger than life embodiment of disinterested patriotism and nation. during the war of 1812, dolly became not just the charismatic figure for james madison, but for america. now her famed deabilities to draw people to her had an urgets, larger purpose. her mission was to convey to the capitol and to the country that the government was working and that the war was being conducted well. she presented a picture of calm optimism and unquestioning support. military troops had begun honoring her by parading past her house when she was the wife of the secretary of state, now they march by the white house to be reviewed by her and she did so as a general wood. dolly then invited the soldier's in and served them refreshments, quote, giving liberally of the best of the house. she made a lot, perhaps too much of the few military victories that came to the united states as way, and of the men responsible. and as i think is dr. lambert said earlier, the biggest surprise of the war was how well the navy performed and now that we know how little it really got them, it's really amazing what dolly made of it. to dolly in very public ceremonies. as the present secretary edward coles arranged the presentations, in a culture where intelligence traveled slowly, such displays war welcomed source of good news both informing the public of what had happened and heartening them. and dolly was very conscious of this honor paid to her and the country during the presentation of the mass done yan's colors, seton noted the flush of pride and patriotism that sufficient fused dolly's face. she's standing in the crowd and said i saw her color come and go. as always, dolly's visibility cut both ways and her position as a disinterested patriot did not go unquestioned. political enemies tried to turn events against her, in particularly a federalist congressman taggard spread stories of dolly defiantly stamping on the colors laid before her, thus tarnishing the united states world reputation. so he said, in englishmen in the city hearing this report, basically observed that charlotte, meaning the queen of great britain would not have done so with the american colors. discussing this incident later in life, dolly denied making such a gesture and indeed the story seems unlikely. such a public display seems out of character for a woman of such control and consciousness. and also the fact that it was the federalists spreading the story around, the story seemed suspicious. according to dolly, when the men have been carrying the flag to her by the corner, and this is according to her niece, commodore student let his end fall either by accident or designed. the motive has been much questioned. according to dolly, it was another lady eyeing out -- crying out trample on it, trample on it, and dolly said oh no not so while the lady advanced and put her foot on it. as the war advanced, fears of invasion grew. it did not help with those began to hear tales of civilian intimidation brought by the commander of naval operations, sir george coburn. dolly's job as the face of the war became more crucial. she might write privately to her cousin edward coles about the atmosphere of fears and alarms. she was afraid. but the pop lists looked to her and they found reassurance. our friend william burrwell, right before invasion, wrote to his wife again saying, i assure you, i do not believe there's the smallest cause for alarm. and what was his prove? it was his proof of how the ladies were reacting led by dolly. i do not rereceive the least alarm among the women. they receive the ample needs and are well aware of their safety. so in her role as a stand in for her husband, dolly madison attracted both positive and negative attention. during the summer of 8:13, coburn fed the rumors of invasion by threatening her. while relating to edward the detiles of the plot where in british roves were to land under cover the darkness and set fire to the white house. dolly confessed, i do not tremble at this, but feel affronted that the admiral should send me notice that he would make his bow at my drawing room soon. surely it was a bit of a pose. she could be forgiving dreading a man with what she called a savage style of warfare. the panic in washington city abated somewhat when coburn did not as i tack in the summer of 1813, but the panic returned stronger than ever the next year, and it turns out they were absolutely right to panic. the invasion began in the early mornings of august 19th, 1814 as a british force landed at benedict maryland and the main port of the river. couriers brought the news dolly remained the focus as he quote sent word to mrs. madison that unless she left the house would be burned over her head. and notice he doesn't mention james in this, nor does he include james in the other threat as to capture her and parade her through the streets. on august 23rd, james left the white house in order to review the troops in the field and the national reported the rumor that five or 6,000 british troops joined already in maryland. and this really panicked washington. signaling a mass exodus. alone in the white house, accept for her servants and slaifzs, dolly was poised to make her name in history. now the story that we know of dolly's most famous day, and the subsequent crafting of her historical legacy would be examined tomorrow by holly shulman in this program. but i will conclude then just by saying, that dolly's ability to achieve historical and popular fame after the war though, was a direct result of the experiment and identity making that rendered her the queen of washington city, long before the first shots were fired in the war of 1812. if at the end of the war, and the doctor talked about this, most americans understood that the victory was psychological. then dolly's symbolizing work made that sense of victory possible. thank you very much. do you want to come -- here. thanks so much. now's my favorite time, questions and answers. we have a microphone there and i think maybe somebody traveling around with a mike. but does anyone have questions? yes. and let's see if we can get you a mike. i'll tell you what, why don't you ask a question, i'll repeat it. >> okay. how much of dolly's performance was dictated by her husband's inability to say yes or no, and -- [ inaudible ] >> this is a question about contrasting dolly's performance with james's performance or non-performance if you will. you know, a lot has been made of the contrast between dolly madison and james madison. she is the sort of tall, shapely, vivacious woman, never forgets a name, a face, or a family pedigree, proving her true southerner, warm and lovely and all that, and of course everybody likes to make fun of james madison, washington irving calls him a withered little apple john. he is seen as, you know, there's all kinds of quotes about him. i don't want to the load up on james madison with the president here. but there's, there's two things, so easy to make that contrast, and of course, they're a great team, but there's two things i think that we have to remember, he is an intellectual. james madison is a pure intel chul. and like many of the founders, he constructed a lovely theory on which to run a government. i'm going tell you that theory is not going to work. it's going to become a democracy in 30 years and it's going to be two parties and their vision of the republic is going to fade away, they don't know this at this time, and what dolly madison did along with her other female colleagues is taking this lovely theory, machine of government and put it into action. and by putting into action, discovering its strengths and weaknesses, for instance, in the lovely theory that james madison has. there's no place for anything, you know, ma narc call or aristocratic or anything like that, there's no patronage which is just the hallmark, of course. well, you can't really run a government that way. and it's dolly and her colleagues that begin to build a first patronage machines in washington, d.c. borrowing from the courts in order to try to make this theory work. so i think that's something. so underthat when everybody's describing dol lit and how fabulous she is and she's like a queen. they're also describing james in a positive way. that is by saying, look at this guy, there is no way he is going to be the charismatic male figure that we fear in a republic. that was the big fear. that somebody like george washington with his sword and over 6'0", he was going to become an emperor. na poll yan, he was a charismatic figure. so there are great contrasts for the people of the time, here's little quiet little james madison in his republic broadcloth. he's not a threat to anybody, whereas dolly, not a threat because she's a woman, appears, you know, and gives everybody this kind of authority that will, and legitimacy that royalty imparts. the other thing i want to say about the them and they are two different people, intellectual, they are both in conflict. they are both striving for his goal and his goal was national unity. and in everything she does publicly, you can see her enacting his goal. so for all that they looked so different, they have values in common. sometimes that worked out well for them, and sometimes it didn't. but it was something profound that they nñshared. yes. helen. >> hi there. when i hear descriptions of madisons that are demeaning to him, i think one of the reasons might have been is because the men who said it were jealous of him, and i think that when you think that she was probably the most well known and admired woman of her generation, that he was as unattractive and assuming and quiet and his tummy hurt, how did he win the most popular and beautiful woman in this age? >> so we're talking about -- >> and in her 80s, and she was still in love with him. what man in here can say something like that? >> oh my lord. i do not want to see a show of hands. well, now this is very interesting. you've got right to it. which is of course terrible descriptions of james and they're awful, of course they're all political and people are jealous because he was the smartest guy in the room, but the question is why did, at 26 years old, dolly payne todd, a widow with a son and a little bit of money choose james madison to marry? in fact she child abuses him so -- choose z him so quickly that it's a shame. people are shocked she gets married within a year of her husband dying in the epidemic. and actually we have good evidence that he was pretty swept away by her, but who wouldn't be, she was beautiful, but very little evidence that this was all love's young dream. in fact the one thing we sort of have is a letter written on her wedding day which basically justifies her marriage to james has been good for her son, and she signs the letter to her friend, dolly todd, her maiden name, and when she's married, she writes dolly madison alas. we do know that they have fall in love at some point, that happens after marriage, people. and they become, you know, fabulous, but the question is why? she certainly could have had her pick of anyone. and my theory that this is where we wish our sources would write at a convenient time and place for historians is that she had grown up in the world of slave holding. and she might have had very golden memories of her child ishood. no doubt enhanced bithe fact that her father freed his about nine slaving and because of conscious, quaker conscious, and when she's 15 moves the family to philadelphia which is very cold compared to anything down. does he want to be the center of the quaker world? so by the time she's 26 and considering marriage to james madison, she's been up north for ten years and terrible things have happened. there's a yellow fever epidemic, loses her husband, child, father's out of quaker meeting, he dies of a depression. all of her brothers, i think all of them are dead by that point. it was terrible in philadelphia. terrible time. so i think that there's a part of her that looked at this quite likely man and thought, i could go back to that place. of my childhood. and in fact go back at a higher sort of station because she'd be the mistress of montpelier. the part i can't believe she didn't think about about, did the slave holding state mean to her? she was just a virginia miss, well, she didn't think about it. but she, her parents were quakers. there was a lot of discussion about slavery and abolition, sort of ahead of its time. her father gaves slaves freedom because of this and that was the reason she ended up in philadelphia. so i don't know if she had qualms about returning to a slave holding society, or whether she went without a backward glance, but some day somebody's going to find a trunk of letters and tell me what i need to know. >> thomas jefferson said he was the most brilliant speaker along with pendleton that he had ever heard, not a quiet little man -- >> james madison was a formidable intellect, twoef take the many descriptions of madison for what they are which is politics. ral ralph. >> i'm going to see the great little madison? >> right. so i have to say -- yes, of course madison is famous, so dolly madison, when she meets james madison, she's in the capitol of the yielts at that point, in philadelphia, and congress is there. and she has heard of what she called the great little madison. i have to say that, i just have to acknowledge you as the buyinger in of madison but the savior of many of dolly's perps. when he was doing his buying if i, he would note where he saw it and people keep women's parms differently than mens. so it was wonderful to have. some one of the papers that came up, that exists now only in microfilm, thanks to you, is a version of the memoir written by dolly's niece mary cuts, and i use the memoir this way because most of the stuff in the memoir happens before she's born. so we think it as the closest autoboy graphical voice to dolly that we have. and that's the source of the great little madison. yes. so he's definitely famous, yes. sir, you're standing there, good for you. >> i'm by the mike. >> you are. >> dolly is first lady for eight years during madison's administration. >> yes. >> jefferson is a widower in the previous eight years, and jane monroe who serves the next eight years after madison, his wife is somewhat limited in her abilitying to in the public eye. so could you talk about how dolly, does her role as first lady expand in the either one of those administrations? >> yes. so this is the question about dolly and her role as first lady. first, i have to tell you, i would pity anybody who followed dolly madison. she was an act to follow. and sadly for elizabeth monroe, people noted it. it was noted by people. katherine adams who would follow mrs. monroe said she's not just dear dolly. mrs. monroe brought, once underthat there's this tension between republicism or dmom sick, you can see the united states wrestling with it. so when elizabeth monroe comes with her polish from the continent, she tries to set things on a more formal set of footing, ceremony and footing as they would say with not great success. she didn't have that touch where dolly could really blend those two absolutely. and i also have to say, and i owe this to holly shulman who will talk to you tomorrow. absolutely right, too much has been made of the fact that thomas jefferson was a widower, and that people said that dolly madison servinged as a stand in for him, and it is true that when they were ladies at table, he would ask dolly and sometimes her sisters to come in, though he had an official hostess which was his daughter, martha jefferson randolph. concentrating or thinking about dolly is waiting in the wings for that invitation from the president's mansion, obscures the fact of what she was really doing during the years. thomas jefferson feared it, he cut out the new year's day and the, he kept new years and fourth of july, but that was it. no parties and where women and all kinds of unofficial characters as he called women were going to appear. and he had those famous dinner parties with men of one party or the other because he was trying to control power. what was happening however on s street in the house of the sec state of state during those eight years is that dolly is building a little mini empire there. that's the place in washington. i would say came to washington on an evening you'd see the white house all dark up there, but the house on s street was full of life and color and that's where federalists met republicans and where the ambassadors, this is, she was building a political is a lom there. and that becomes most apparent when he disappoints them that the diplomacy between great britain and the united states screeches to a halt, but the marys eat at the madison's house. it's important to look at this thomas jefferson years not as a stand in for his lady, but building a power base. and it's no wonder when james madison is elected the people of the town said they're very happy to have mrs. madison as presidentess. okay, i think we have one more question so we can stay on time. does anyone, yes, sir. >> wasn't it simply be unfortunate circumstance of succeeding thomas jefferson who was certainly more colorful and more authoritative. like truman succeeding fdr. people looked that the, like say truman because he seemed colorless in relation to his predecessor. >> right, so the question is about poor james madison suffering comparison to the thomas jefferson. i really actually think, i'm sure there's always something that. this view could have been anybody who would have gotten it. . republican party was suffering what, suffering the disease of the victors. which is in fight bpg thomas jefferson, sort of sweeping into town with this new party, the federalists were really on their way out and they were going to let go without a fight, but they were on their way out, and so, instead of holding together and katherine mitchell who is the wife of mitchell from new york said why do they keep fighting? they're just trying to pull in splinter with him because i have to tell you james madison's greatest enemies were his fellow republicans. so thank you very much. [ applause ] the symposium on the war of 1812 and the burning of washington, d.c. continues thursday. all historians discussed the war, the role of dolly madison, and the star spangled national historic tour. we'll be live from the house in washington, d.c. starting at 8:30 a.m. eastern here on cpsan 3. here at 8:00 p.m., we'll see the discussions and remarks. that's also here on cspan 3. >> here are some highlights for this weekend. today, live at 10:00 a.m. eastern on cspan. the nebraska supreme court will hear argument on the pipeline. saturday at 6:30 p.m. on the communicators, former fcc commissioners michael cops and robert mcdowell. with campaign 2014 gearing up, watch the latest debates on cspan. sunday at noon, debates between kay hagan and republican opponent tom tillis. and from the california governor's race, democratic incumbent jerry brown and republican nominee neel kashkari. tonight, at 8:00, on cspan 2, author john yu shares international law and the behavior of powerful nations. saturday, on book tvs afterwards. mike gonzalez, and how he thinks republicans can make gains for the hispanic vote at 10:00 p.m. eastern, and sunday at noon on in depth, three hour conversation and your phone calls with the former chair of the u.s. commission ore civil rights, mary francis barry. tonight at 8:00 eastern on american history tv on cspan 3. authors and historians talk about the burning of washington during the war of 1812. saturday on real america, the building of the hoover dam and sunday night at 8:00, the anniversary of president jared ford's pardon of richard nixon. find the schedule at cspan.org and let us know what you think about the programs you're watching. call us, send us a tweet a at #c123, e-mail us, join the conversation, lying us on facebook, follow us on twitter. >> thursday on cspan. senate agriculture hearing on improving meals in schools. we hear from the new york senator on the subject. here's a look. >> of course kids like non-whole grains, yes, that's what they prefer. they like sugar even more. you give a child a choice would you like to have sugar for lunch or have fruit and vegetablings, they're going to pick sugar. it's what they like. we have to be the adults in the room. you just don't give kids the foods they want whereby you have to give them and teach them how to eat well for their whole lives. and that takes leadership. it takes determination. it takes creativity. and i love the fact that you told your school district pick three colors every day. my children, when i was teaching them about nutrition when they're four, five, and six, that's how we did it. how many colors can you put on your plate. and they loved that. because i fed my children steamed vegetables as children, they only like steamed vegables, they don't want butter, cream, they want steamed vegetables. they've been eating fruit at every meal since babies. so my kids as a consequence because they're given and introduced healthy foods at every meal, they prefer healthy foods. so for a lot of these kids, they're not getting healthy foods at home. they're getting refined carbohydrates at every meal. a typical meal will be a burger and fries. of course they prefer burger and fries, that's what they've been fed since they're little. i just, i feel that yes, to the senator, it is easy to have flexibility, people like the grits, they like the grits they've had since they were a kid, but let's not serve refined foods at lunch. let's actually push them to eat something healthy that makes them healthy and reach their full potential. when a kid's obese, he doesn't reach his full potential. he can't concentrate in class. he's often made fun of. he has low self-esteem, he doesn't reach his full potential. she doesn't reach her full potential. so i am grateful that all of you have thought outside the box, figuring out how to solve these problems, meet nutrition standards. so i do not to want back off these standards, let's figure it out. we can figure it out. >> thursday, senate agriculture committee hearing on empts to improve nutrition in school meals. you can see it at 8:00 p.m. eastern on cspan. our coverage of the symposium marking the 200th anniversary of the burning of washington and the war of 1812 continues with allan taylor, author of the civil war of 1812. this is 55 minutes. >> so i now have the great pleasure of introducing dr. allan taylor. he joins us as the thomas jefferson, just talking about that gentleman, thomas jefferson chair in american history at the university of virginia. this is a new role for dr. taylor. his previous two decades were at the university of california at davis. he is as probably all of you know, a very distinguished scholar, the war of 1812 and wrote the book the civil war of 1812, which really looks at that engagement in great detail, but recently and very exciting for us, who live in virginia, he published the national book award and prize winning, "internal war" and it really looked at the war the 1812 with such a different lens. all allan's ground breaking war the scholarship which highlights this very understudied story of the war of 1812, particularly the runaway slaves who sought their freedom we joining with british forces. it's just something i think is very intriguing and allan, we want to learn so much more, so please come forward and let's hear about this new story of the war. [ applause ] >> thank you, kat, for that very kind introduction, and i'm grateful if to you and leslie for your hard work to the white house historical association and the u.s. capitol historical association. and to james madison's montpelier for bringing all of us together today. i want to introduce some characters who tend to be bit players in the usual story of the war of 1812. and to try to make a case that they were much more than bit players. and i want to begin with one of them, a man named willis. we don't know his last name. because enslaved people were denied in the public record last names in virginia in this period of time. he was 14 years old when he first escaped from his masters plantation in virginia. and he escaped from princess ann county which is down in the vicinity of where you would find virginia beach today. it's july of 1807, he was 14 years old, and he stole a boat and he rode out to the a british warship. anchored in nearby lynnhaven bay. now he expected a warm welcome from the british because war then seemed eminent. this was in the immediate wake of the british attack on the american forget the uss chesapeake which came very close to igniting war five years before the war of 1812. . initially they did feed and welcome and clothe willis and four other refugees who also stole boats to get away to the british. but a month later, the british captain forcibly sent all of them back to their masters. in a bid to defuse tensions with the americans. but remarkably, instead of dwelling on that betrayal, willis later recalled that he quote had been to the british once and that they treated him well and he wished his master let him remain, end quote. and in 1814, after war did break out in earnest, willis had much better luck fleeing again to a british warship along with quote many other negros in the neighborhood, end quote. and this time, he remained free. now willis's persistence demonstrated the persistent allure of the british as potential liberators among the rested slaves of the tide water region of virginia and maryland. for example, in july 1814 in cal vert county, maryland. a farmer sought water by visiting a spring. he noted a group of slaves already there. and so the farmer hid behind a tree, and he overheard, quote, the negros belonging to the said john j. brook for the british admirals, end quote. two days later, three of those cheering slaves fled to the warships. now the argument i want to make today is that by their enthusiasm for the british as potential liberators, the enslaved people of the chesapeake made it so. flocking to them in unanticipated numbers that would be early 1814 compel a major rethinking of british strategy in the chesapeake. at the start of their first chesapeake campaign in 1813, the british officers were under orders to take on no more than a few black men and only men who could be useful as pilots and guides. but a year later in 1814, they would seek and entice hundreds of runaways including women and children, and including willis. so like willis, the other runaways would not take no for an answer. now, professor lambert gave a very nice introduction of the reluctance of the british to engage in this war, and they were slow to wage the war with great vigor because they hoped that it would end pretty quickly in its first year. and so it's only in the second year of the war in 1813 that they send a major expedition into chesapeake bay with the purple of punishing the states of virginia and maryland. from a perception that those two states were the heartland of american resources and also the political home prince bli in virginia of the governing republican party which the british quite rightly blamed for making this war. so the british purpose in coming into chesapeake bay in 1813 is initially not to free any slaves of any significant numbers. the job is to punish the americans who lived along the shores of the chesapeake. to do so primarily by rating shipping that was vulnerable to this british naval supremacy which was overwhelming in chesapeake bay. and secondarily to raid exposed and vulnerable villages along the major waterways. what the british are very reluctant to do is to go into the interior. they were fearful of the very dense forests that surrounded the chesapeake. they feared being ambushed, they feared american riflemen, adidn't know where an attack might be coming from and they didn't nose in what numbers and they simply did not know the lay of the land. and that's very inhibiting on the british. and when you read the letters of their captains and their admirals during 1813, they are full of mystery and fear about the interior. just a mile or two beyond where they could make their landings. so they're very skiddish, and they're not all that effective. so despite the miseries that they do inflict on a fair number of americans during the campaign of 1813, that campaign closes with a sense of frustration by british naval commanders in the chesapeake. they have not achieved their principle goal which was to make life so miserable for the people of virginia and maryland that their government would call their their invasion of canada. far from it. the united states is planning yet again to pursue an invasion of canada in 1814, despite the failures of their invasion attempts in 1812, in 1813. now another problem that the british had, that had inhibited them from being aggress ifz in going ashore is that they were fearful that their own men would desert. the royal navy had a major problem which was it was shorthanded. and it shorthanded because the royal navy's very large and as andrew lambert pointed out, england, or i should say the british isles are not particularly large in populous places and maintaining a global navy was a major challenge. and to do so at an unprecedented scale, the royal navy is larger 1814 because of their war against napoleon on a global scale. and so the ships that are sent over into the chesapeake are shorthanded. and then they suffer the loss of further seamen. now a few of them are combat desks, but and a few more of them are deaths from disease, but there's also a significant loss by desertion because sailors decide that wages are higher and alcohol is cheaper in the united states, and the working conditions are a whole lot better off in baltimore than they were on the british royal navy warship. now i'm not saying here that most sailors deserted or that most sailors wanted to desert, but any desertion is a problem for the crews that are already short handled and british officers have the perception that their men are prone to desert along the coast of the united states to a much greater degree than they ever would desert anywhere else in the world. so the british, this adds to a certain skiddishness when the british do go ashore because their commanders have the unenviable task of fighting an enemy while also closely guarding their own men. so the chesapeake have a couple of problems that are revealed in 1813 in their operation. one is they need abled bodied men who would resolutely fight the enemy rather than desert to it. a potential solution lay in the hundreds of runaway slaves who were eager to be on british naval warships. and they were fleeing in stoling boats and canoes to seek refuge during 1813. unlike the british deserter who anticipated a better life in the republic, the former slave didn't want to go back to the republic. and so they did not desert. indeed as marines, they could be deployed to watch the white sailors and to pursue deserters. admiral coburn sought to replace many of his white marines with black recruits, they are stronger men and more trust worthy. for we assure they will not desert, whereas i am sorry so to say we have instances of our marines walking over to the enemy. end quote. and promoting slave's cams seemed the perfect turn about to punish the americans who were so zealous about entizing britains to desert from their duty. and so it is the desertion problem that is one of those things that nudges these naval officers to embrace blacks as essential allies in the chesapeake war. to perform more effectively, the british needed more men. now they have a second problem, they need better knowledge of the landscape. and here too, the solution to their problem lies with runaway slaves who are pressing themselves on the british in growing now, they are under pretty strict orders not to take in a significant number of refugees. these orders were renewed in march of 1813 by the british secretary of state forewarned the colonies. but despite these orders, black men, women, and children are stealing boats and they are rowing out to these warships and they are essentially calling the bluff of the british naval commanders. and they are forcing those naval officers to make some hard decisions. will they take in these men, women, and children in violation of their orders or send them back to suffer severe punishment by their masters? and naval officers are coming to perceive african-americans as a potential military resource that could be invaluable. and they know that if they start systematically sending these people back to severe punishment, that they will lose that potential resource. also, frankly, they like feeling holier than thou compared to americans and they are just sick of americans going on about how liberty loving they are. and here's the great opportunity for the british naval officers to say, who is the world's most sincere and true champions of liberty in the world, the people taking on napoleon bonaparte and the slave trade and willing to emancipate the slaves held by these allegedly freedom-loving republicans of the united states. well, this is just too delicious for british naval officers to resist. and they really don't want to resist and so they have to write to their home government to try to get that home government to shift its policy. in late may, admiral warren reported that his warships had received about 70 refugees, quote, to whom it was impossible to refuse an asylum, end quote. and in these reports to his superiors, warren is walking a fine line. he's making clear that he's following official policy and doing his best to discourage these runaways but can't really turn them all away. although they are including entire families of women and children as well as men. by the end of 1813, the best evidence is that at least 600 enslaved people from the chesapeake had escaped to the british. on november 14th, the captain of the royal navy noted their potential. "the slaves continue to come off by every opportunity and i have now upwards of 120 men, women and children on board and if their assertions be true, there is no doubt but the blacks of virginia and maryland would cheerfully take up arms and join us against the americans." although many masters have come out under flags of truce to the british warship and had received permission to speak to their former slaves. not a single black would return to his former owner, end quote. january 1814, the british government comes around and endorses warren's proposal to enlist black troops among the runaways. and, indeed, it also authorizes the naval commanders to take in women and children as well, for it was well understood that the men would not come if they could not also bring women and children with them. implementation of the new policy fell to vice admiral sir alex cochrane who supplanted war on april 1st of 1814. and he issued his famous proclamation, which is extremely clever in its word. it never uses the word slaves. but instead is addressed to all those who may be disposed to emigrate from the united states with their families. now, it turns out there's only one white family that takes them up on this and that was in georgia at the end of the war and the british were completely flumoxed by this and had to explain to this poor white family, that it really wasn't meant for them. [ laughter ] but also in his proclamation, in the topography of this, because he had a thousand copies of this printed, the word free is in capitals compared to everything else around, and it's giving these emgrants, quote, their choice of either entering into his majesty sea or land forces, or being sent as free settlers to the british possessions in north america, or the west indies, where they will meet with all due encouragement, end quote. now, i mentioned that cochrane had a thousand copies of this printed up. he had his subordinate admiral coburn and his subordinates distribute this, they nailed it up on trees, they are trying to get the word out. incredibly, the americans helped in the process, unwittingly, by reprinting the proclamation in their newspapers. now, they do this because they can't wait to denounce it because they just think this is the most horrible thing on earth and it's really an invitation to slave revolt and they want to assure slaves that they are really being lulled away and the british are going to sell them away into slavery in the west indies. so by anything that appears in the american newspapers, people talk about. that's the culture of the day. and this is world in which black people and white people live right intermixed amongst each other. and so anything that white folk talk about, black folk learn about and they interpret it in their own way. so the national intelligence doesn't mean to be promoting slave escapes but it unwittingly does so. and the orders now are different. sir cochrane instructs coburn, quote, let the landings you make be more for the protection of the desertion of the black population than with a view to any other advantage. the great point to be obtained is the cordial support of the black population, with them properly armed and back with 20,000 british troops, mr. madison will be hurled from his throne. so this is now job one. this isn't some byproduct. this is what you've got to do first and foremost because it is the essential means to the end. the defeat of the madison administration. now, these are the types of boats that the british used. this is a drawing done by one of the subordinate admirals who is active in the operation, sir malcolm. the actual drawing was done along the coast -- along the shores of louisiana later in the war. but it's the same type of coastal craft used in the chesapeake. now, the british establish a refugee camp on tangier island and it's ideal because it's sufficiently removed from the shores of virginia, the mainland shores of virginia. it's pretty secure from attack. but it's close enough and it's right in the center of the black population of virginia, which is in the tide water, both on the eastern shore and to the west on the western shore. and coburn's words, the island was surrounded by the districts from which the negros always come, end quote. this is a modern artist's attempt to imagine the drilling of colonial marines. colonial marines was the special unit formed for american blacks, former slaves, to augment british forces in the chesapeake. we have no images from that time of colonial marines so it requires an artist informed by knowing what the uniforms of regular marines looked like and knowing something about the structures that would be built in virginia at that time. so this is showing the refugee camp at tangier island and it's showing the drilling by a white officer who is the man gesturing with his hand of three new recruits of the colonial marines. initially, admiral coburn has a pretty low expectation of these troops. and the colonial marines is a unit that resembles on a much smaller scale the union color regiments of the civil war in that the officer is a white man and the enlisted men and ncos are african-americans and they are being attracted into the service because they are not being compelled to do it and indeed as far as we can tell most of the runaways, indeed, including most of the men, don't choose to be colonial marines. some may end up as sailors or others work as guides, many women worked as lawn dresses and nurses. some of them are serving as paid servants for british officers and others go to work for the naval dockyard in bermuda. it's a subset of the men serving in the colonial marines and they are not compelled to do this, though there is a great deal of persuasion applied to encourage them to serve and they are attracted by the fact they will be paid, they will receive decent clothing for the first time in their lives, they will receive a daily meat ration for the first time in their lives, they will receive a daily alcohol ration for the first time in their lives. they will receive some respect and they will have the