He worked in washington, d. C. , lives in annapolis with his two dogs, and is known for his wellreceived book, intrepid sailors. That was named a notable book in 2012 by Naval Institute proceedings magazine. Lets welcome chip reid. [applause] mr. Reid thank you everybody. It is a pleasure to be back here again. Its a real honor to be here as part of the marine corps. I am both an army and marine corps veteran. I saw the light in 1982 and decided to become a man. [laughter] lion and the bay is a joint work. They approached me two years ago about taking on the manuscript which was incomplete. He had passed away prior to getting to what i call the meat of the 1814 campaign, the British Landing at benedict, maryland, the battle for fort mchenry and so on. It had incomplete accounts of joshua barneys flotilla. We will talk about that in a little bit. Most of all, what he did have, which folks in england have suddenly recognized is one of the most detailed accounts of royal Marine Operations on the north american continent. Stans research, ships logs, he got somebody in england to go to the National Maritime museum and photocopy this is back in the 1980s. They were doing photocopies of every ships log in the bay. In those logs a detailed when they had landing parties, how many marines were on board, and he was able to detail these operations with such minutia that it was just amazing. It is something that even the royal marine History Society had not seen. I am very proud to say they have asked me to join them. So now im now among the rights of the royal Marine Historical Society and it will be presenting a paper next year on the subject. One thing that stan did not quite get, and it was simply because he was working on this book and suffering from what eventually caused his death, was the role of United States marine in this campaign. The Royal Marines learn their small boat tactics in Chesapeake Bay and a campaign to go after washington and baltimore. Prior to that it was a campaign of terror against the people of the chesapeake to really pressure on the canadian border. The war of 1812 had a number of causes that often get oversimplified. It was about impressment, free trade, a lot of things. The british never adhered to the treaty of 1783 they guaranteed our independence and they held the line of forts in the west, territory that was supposedly ours. We bought louisiana. They were not happy about that. They would use the forts to incite indians to attack american settlers pushing into the territories. Members of congress, the war hawk party, they really wanted canada. They saw canada as an adjunct of the United States. They sell it for a couple of reasons. A lot of french people. The french ruled canada or a good portion of it up until the end of the seven years war when england defeated france and took over all of canada. At that time it was called upper canada, montreal, quebec city. The thought was the french will rally to us because we are good friends. If we can spark a war with the bricks, we will go after canada and that exactly what happened. James madison declared war, the regular army deployed. A couple of horrific losses in the west to start the war. Everyone else can of massed up on the canadian border. We called out the militia. The new york militia showed up in beautiful blue hunting frocks which had frills along the shoulders and sleeves. They were trimmed in red. Every militiamen had his musket and bayonet. Many had rifles. There were two full battalions of new york rifleman. They got to the st. Lawrence river and said no thanks. [laughter] they would not cross. New england refused to fight because of the trade the carried on with england. It was so important to them financially than monday called on the massachusetts, new hampshire, vermont, connecticut, rhode island militias, they all said we have to sorry. Be that the regular army throughout 1812 and 1813. At the beginning of 1813, winfield scott, pike and read hampton were able to lead a small American Army across the river into what is today toronto. Back then it was called it it was called york was a , provincial capital. The problem was they get into town and there were a lot of pubs. They decided lets have a drink or seven. They got drunk and they burned down the parliamentary building. They burned down the archives in york in towards a few other buildings because it kept the m warm at night. The british never forgot it. Soon after that, a large squadron showed up at the mouth of the chesapeake. His mission was to pressure the canadian frontier. Virginia, maryland, parts of pennsylvania and parts of jersey in delaware were prime recruiting grounds for the regular army to send new regiments of to the canadian border. New england was not feeding american troops. It was sending it beef and vegetables to the british and canada. They paid more. This area was a breadbasket to the american cause. At the same time, there were many people from this area ever pushing west. They became an ad hoc militia as they pushed west and it would join up with kentucky militias and tennessee militias to help guard routes against indians. This was an important region to the war. The british new it. New it. British new ikenw James Madison did not. James madison believed it was at the chesapeake, who wants it . Its a bunch of fishermen. He did not count of the british looking at the city is a nest of pirates. Baltimore has set up more than 170 privateers, private vessels given legal permission by the government to raid merchant vessels and selloff the trade , with a cargo. They get a percentage of money and they have to pay a bond to the government and the government gets its cut. Baltimore was sending out fleets of the baltimore clippers, ships of the british could not catch. The british had to stop it and knows the second objective. Stop the privateering, put pressure on the americans to get them off the canadian border. Warrens second in command, cockburn. He was a fascinating guy. He was a modern admiral in the early 19th century. He somehow innately understood how to use amphibious troops. How to begin to pioneer small boat warfare as both a tactical, meaning to attack the enemy from several Different Directions at one time, to conducting amphibious raids. Also on a strategic level, to sew terror, confusion and create political upheaval in the areas he is attacking. He was aided by the political geography of the time. The war was not popular. It was not just new england that was against the war. There were two parties, the federalist and republican democrats. Madison was the head of them as president. The federalists were dead set against the war. Mostly because the democrats were for it. They were some federalists that did support it, but when you get to maryland and virginia you had to go town by town, county by county. One was republican democrat. The federalist would be against the war and they would not even think about pulling out their militia if they saw british vessel. Meanwhile, the democrats would arm chickens if they can to stand up against the redcoats. You had a dynamic and cockburn took advantage of the dynamic. The frigate constellation was in norfolk at the time. The british decided to try to take norfolk. It was the first instance where the Royal Marines and United States marines actually fought. The battle of Craney Island, the first major conflict of the 1813 campaign. The british wanted to get in norfolk and the americans at that time, Craney Island was a sandy island that was not part of the mainland. Today it has been incorporated into the city of norfolk. Then you have two bridges that connected the island. It protected the entrance to the elizabeth river. You could put guns there and train them on new york. It was a strategic position. To defend it, the commander of the garrison turned to a couple of people. One was a militia commander from virginia whose lifelong dream was to command an artillery unit. He got his wish. The second was the naval officers stationed at the navy yard. They turned up with 300 sailors, four 18pound guns, and 37 marines. The British Force they came into attack was a set force. It had not become yet this seaborne, small boat adept force. British infantry, the Royal Marines, and an interesting unit. They were french p. O. W. s that were languishing in british jails. The british went to them and said if you fight in america, when you are done we will let you go and we will pay you. They figured the french, maybe they will fight the americans. Maybe not. Several of them landed and scampered off into the woods. [laughter] but at the battle of Craney Island, the british did not think very much of american militia. They were not aware of the presence of u. S. Navy sailors and they were not aware of the u. S. Marines in the fortifications. They attempted to use their ships to land on the island. The 18 pounders, 12 pounders, some six pound cannon all open fire on the british, creating havoc, confusion and large numbers of casualties. The french troops accused the americans of they in adding them when they tried to surrender at the waters edge. Charges that turned out to be false. Here is the first instance of u. S. Marines and Royal Marines coming headtohead. It is significant for a couple of reasons. The u. S. Marines at that time were very much a duel entity force. They were trained as infantry, and as artillery. They were trained on land as well is on ships. They were not trained to act like a battalion as we might think of it, the way the british were. You have the u. S. Marines, very much a small unit entity. The Royal Marines were equally adept at acting in larger numbers and large units. It was this difference between the two that really highlighted the 1813 campaign. The british fleet, nobody can challenge the british fleet. We had a frigate available to challenge the british fleet. They showed up with six ships of the line, ships that now anywhere from 74 to 90 guns. They had numerous frigates, ships that would not anywhere from 28 to 50 guns. The best we had in the chesapeake was a 36 gun forget. The odds were not there. The commander, charles stewart, he would become very famous in the war of 1812 for his handling of the constitution against the cyan and the labonte, he realized we dont have a prayer. Thats why he decided to concentrate on a land defense rather than trying to get the constellation and watch it captured. The british left several ships to keep norfolk blockaded. You look at a picture or a map of the chesapeake, its just a great big estuary. The susquehanna at the top, the potomac, and the rivers coming from virginia, new york and the elizabeth, all flowing in there. The mouth of the chesapeake is not that big. We have a bridge across it right now. It is not that big. Several ships can easily blockade it. Thats what the british did. They left their biggest ships at the mouth. Their frigates and another ship of the line begin to move up. The chesapeake, and here is rather Royal Marines in the mecca marines prove their major differences Royal Marines prove their differences. Knowing the climate and having order strictly from the admiralty not to engage in any major land battle that might cause a yorktownlike defeat for the british, he was told to go in, do what you want to do and get off and get back on your boats. He convinced warren to allow them to basically sail up the Eastern Shore of the chesapeake, he planned on turning south and coming down and sailing down the western shore of the chesapeake, all along the way absolutely wreaking havoc. If they needed supplies, they would land troops and take with they wanted. The Political Climate at the time was such that when the british landed, if you are a federalist and you were a democrat, they would first come to your farm and they would say, what do you think of the war . As a federalist you would say i think its horrible, we never shouldve started it. The british would say, you have any chicken . You would say i have a few. We will give you a few crown sovereign. Hard cash for your chicken. Mind if we buy them from you . Why not . They would back up their offer with 80 to 100 Royal Marines with bayonets fixed. It was a good incentive. But then they go to your farm and they say, what do you think of the war . I think we ought to kick you brits back to england where you belong. Really . They would take all your chickens, burn your house, destroy everything you had at your farm house if they could possibly find, and then they would walk away laughing. They would make sure you knew it because you would tell somebody else. Little by little, word spread. If you did not offer resistance and you gave them what they wanted, they will leave you alone and usually pay you something. If you show any kind of resistance, they will burn you to the ground. That was the way it went along the Eastern Shore. Two towns, frenchtown and georgetown, which used to exist on the Eastern Shore itrying to picture the map in my head. A little bit north of where st. Michaels is on the Eastern Shore. They did exist at one time. They no longer exist. The british burned them to the ground and ran all the residents out. They did so because when they showed up, they asked the residents where is the militia . Where is the military arms . Where are the muskets, the gunpowder . The residents said i dont know. Im just a farmer. Im just a merchant. There were a couple of militiamen in the woods and they fire their muskets. Admiral cockborn ordered a lieutenant and the Royal Marines to burn it. They burned both towns to the ground. Wiped them out. It was the first instance of what we might think of as an atrocity. They took every bit of livestock, every fresh fruit, fresh vegetables, everything they could get their hands on. That is how the british resupplied themselves. Raiding. They destroyed one of the few foundries in the United States at the time which was capable of casting large caliber cannon. 18 and 32 pounders. Then they worked their way back down. This is one of the more famous incidents of the 1813 campaign. Once again, word was sent out by the british, if you dont offer resistance and you give us what we want, we will leave you alone. We will take what we need and pay for them, but we will not destroy anything. The local militia decided they were going to stand up to the brits and mounted some sort of four pounder, really hard to believe. Most sources say it was a six pounder. For those unsure, it refers to the weight of the ball. Youre talking about a canonball a little bigger than a softball made out of cast iron and solid and it weighs six pounds. If you are in front of it up to about 300 yards, it is not a good place to be. At 301 yards it will fall to the ground. Its a very small caliber ball. If youre on a frigate and somebody shoots a six pounder at you, it is more of a practical joke than an act of aggression. That is what the militia did. They shot off a couple of rounds from a little six pound cannon. It gave cockburn all the impetus he needed to burn the town to the ground. It marked one of the first times they used rockets in combat. That was a royal marine endeavor. The Royal Marines had large ships in which they put these ramps about 10 foot long. They would place the rocket and it would go off. They had no idea where it was going. You could probably fall out of the boat and hit water easily than you would hit a target. Yet they were terror weapons. They made this hideous shrieking sound when they fired. They had a red trail like a comet in the atmosphere. The americans had never seen these things in here comes rockets. What are these things . What made them really nasty, when used in an urban or built up area, it had a real bad habit of flashing in the fire on impact. They are firing rockets at big wooden buildings. The big wooden buildings quickly became ashes. Little by little, havre dgrace burned to the ground. When the people went to complain to try to save their buildings, many of the residents were in fact federalists. They were against the war. They did not want to put up opposition against the british. Those militiamen over there they tried to point them out to the british. He did not care. He was going to make an example and he did. The one building that he was unable to burn down was the home of a widow who stood in front of her house with a broom. She went to admiral cockburn and said please dont burn me out. Im a widow and this is all i have. He apologized and said, our policy is if we are fired on, we destroy the enemy stronghold. Period. She pleaded and pleaded. Meanwhile, there are british soldiers from the 102nd. She stood there. Every time a marine tried to get near her house with a torch, she would whack him with a broom. The few times they managed to get flames going, not only did she use her broom to put out the flames, but according to at least one newspaper report even some Royal Marines helped her put out the flames because they were so impressed by her stand. It went on like this throughout 1813. The british, as they came down, they approached annapolis. The state capital of maryland. Panic ensued. Somehow word got out there were 5,000 welltrained, wellequipped militia holding the forts at annapolis. If anyone has been to annapolis, the u. S. Naval Academy Today at one time was fort severn, a large masonry fort. There were 26 guns were so in the fort. I dont want to say they were mounted because only the barrels were in the fort. There were no gun platforms. There were no parapets. There was no magazine, no ammunition, no one to man the guns, but they did have no carriages either. They at least had the gun barrels. Across the severn where you have the three radio towers, that is where fort madison stood. Both of which commanded that area of the chesapeake and also the severn river. Fort madison was in even wor