The Ghosts of September 11ths past
Sep. 11th, 2006 03:40 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
meapetX-posted to Tallship geeks (so feel free to crosspost/linkback/etc)
Taken from Wikipedia.com and other sources....
"By the middle of 1814, American generals, including Major Generals Jacob Brown and Winfield Scott, had drastically improved the fighting abilities and discipline of the army. Their renewed attack on the Niagara peninsula quickly captured Fort Erie. Winfield Scott then gained a decisive victory over an equal British force at the Battle of Chippewa on July 5. An attempt to advance further ended with a hard-fought drawn battle at Lundy's Lane on July 25. The Americans withdrew but withstood a prolonged Siege of Fort Erie. The British raised the siege but lack of provisions eventually forced the Americans to retreat across the Niagara.
Meanwhile, following the abdication of Napoleon, British troops began arriving in North America. Less than half were veterans of the Peninsula and the remainder came from garrisons. Along with the troops came instructions for a number of offensives against the United States. British strategy was changing and like the Americans, the British were seeking advantages for the peace negotiations in Ghent. Governor-General Sir George Prevost was instructed to launch an offensive into the United States. However, his invasion was repulsed by the naval Battle of Lake Champlain in Plattsburgh Bay on September 11, 1814 which gave the Americans control of Lake Champlain. Theodore Roosevelt later termed it the greatest naval battle of the war."
During the same time, hundreds of miles away in a major coastal city called Baltimore, Francis Scott Key was bargaining for the release of a captured friend. He successfully negotiated the release, but was held aboard the ship he was discussing the terms of release on because he had been in earshot of the British plan to attack Fort McHenry and then Baltimore. While on board this ship, he scrawled a poem onto a piece of paper, which we now, as Americans, join together in singing: "The Star Spangled Banner," our National Anthem.
A lot of people are remembering where they were that day 5 years ago. I took a moment this morning as I was driving into work for remembering that day- the fear and the events that happend around that, but I also look at another period in our history, and how while we should remember and never forget the events of September 11, 2001, we should also remember September 11, 1814. While it may seem insignificant to many, this was another period in our history when we could have lost much, but we gained even more when all was said and done.
So I'll take a moment of silence for those lost, and for what I lost on Sept 11, 2001, but I'll also look at what I, as an American, gained in the war of 1812-15.
Maybe I'm just becoming more and more of a history geek.
Taken from Wikipedia.com and other sources....
"By the middle of 1814, American generals, including Major Generals Jacob Brown and Winfield Scott, had drastically improved the fighting abilities and discipline of the army. Their renewed attack on the Niagara peninsula quickly captured Fort Erie. Winfield Scott then gained a decisive victory over an equal British force at the Battle of Chippewa on July 5. An attempt to advance further ended with a hard-fought drawn battle at Lundy's Lane on July 25. The Americans withdrew but withstood a prolonged Siege of Fort Erie. The British raised the siege but lack of provisions eventually forced the Americans to retreat across the Niagara.
Meanwhile, following the abdication of Napoleon, British troops began arriving in North America. Less than half were veterans of the Peninsula and the remainder came from garrisons. Along with the troops came instructions for a number of offensives against the United States. British strategy was changing and like the Americans, the British were seeking advantages for the peace negotiations in Ghent. Governor-General Sir George Prevost was instructed to launch an offensive into the United States. However, his invasion was repulsed by the naval Battle of Lake Champlain in Plattsburgh Bay on September 11, 1814 which gave the Americans control of Lake Champlain. Theodore Roosevelt later termed it the greatest naval battle of the war."
During the same time, hundreds of miles away in a major coastal city called Baltimore, Francis Scott Key was bargaining for the release of a captured friend. He successfully negotiated the release, but was held aboard the ship he was discussing the terms of release on because he had been in earshot of the British plan to attack Fort McHenry and then Baltimore. While on board this ship, he scrawled a poem onto a piece of paper, which we now, as Americans, join together in singing: "The Star Spangled Banner," our National Anthem.
A lot of people are remembering where they were that day 5 years ago. I took a moment this morning as I was driving into work for remembering that day- the fear and the events that happend around that, but I also look at another period in our history, and how while we should remember and never forget the events of September 11, 2001, we should also remember September 11, 1814. While it may seem insignificant to many, this was another period in our history when we could have lost much, but we gained even more when all was said and done.
So I'll take a moment of silence for those lost, and for what I lost on Sept 11, 2001, but I'll also look at what I, as an American, gained in the war of 1812-15.
Maybe I'm just becoming more and more of a history geek.
