Dense forests that surrounded the chesapeake. They feared being ambushed, they feared american riflemen, they didnt know where an attack might be coming from and they didnt know in what numbers and they simply did not know the lay of the land. And thats very inhibiting on the british and when you read the letters of their captains and 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 are very skittish and they are 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 off their envisiinappropriate i. 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 and 1813. Now, another problem that the british had that had inhibited them from being aggressive in going ashore is that they were fearful that their own men would dessert. The royal navy had a major problem, which was that it was shorthanded and it was shorthanded because the royal navy is very large and 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 than its ever been before in its history in 1813 and 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. A few of them are combat desks and a few more of them have disease. But there is also a significant la loss by desertion because alcohol is cheaper in the United States and the working conditions are a whole lot better off in baltimore than they are on the British Royal navy warship. Now, im not saying here that most sailors deserted or that most sailors wanted to dessert but any desertion is a problem because they are already shorthanded and they are a perception that their men are prone to dessert along the coast of the United States to a much greater degree than they would ever dessert anywhere else in the world. So the british this adds to a certain skittishness when the british go ashore because their commanders have the unenvy yabl 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 able bodied men who would resolutely fight the enemy rather than dessert. A potential solution lays in the run away slaves who were eager to be on British Naval warships. And they were fleeing in stolen boats and canoes to seek refuge during 1813. Unlike the british deserter who anticipated a better life in the republic, the former slave didnt want to go back to the republic. And so they did not dessert. 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 trustworthy, for we are sure they will not dessert whereas i am sorry to say that we have many instances of our marines walking over to the enemy. And promoting slave escape