Two hundred years ago today, the British burned down Washington DC.

Not an anniversary that will be really commemorated by the government, and who can blame them?  It… was not one of the country’s better days, and that is simply the way of it.  I can’t even muster up enough indignation to get a proper head of steam towards the British for burning the place down, which is one hell of a concession from somebody as reflexively pro-American as myself. It was kind of a messed-up war.

Besides, Andy Jackson kicked the Brits’ asses a little bit later at New Orleans, which pretty much guaranteed that we’d pick up Florida in due time, so it more or less worked out all right in the end.

14 thoughts on “Two hundred years ago today, the British burned down Washington DC.”

  1. “…which pretty much guaranteed that we’d pick up Florida in due time, so it more or less worked out all right in the end.”
    .
    Says the man who doesn’t live in Florida.

  2. The end of the War of 1812 and the terms of settlement were decided before Jackson’s victory. Andrew Jackson picked up Florida by his unauthorized invasion of the territory four years late and came close to starting a 3rd war with a Britain no longer distracted by Napoleon. Do we really want generals with their private armies setting our foreign policy?

      1. Individual initiatives by local Japanese army officers got them control of Northern China in the 1930s… for awhile.
        Except for New Orleans, the British kicked our butts on land in the war. Jackson’s execution of British subjects in Florida made us Blanche DuBois: we were dependent on the kindness of the British. They were kind and we got Florida and the Trail of Tears.

          1. Moe, I made it a point to say on LAND. The battle of Lake Champlain? Really?

            We started the war in part to annex Canada. The closest we came was when they captured Winfield Scott after the NY militia refused to leave the state. If the Canadians had not returned Scott, he would have eaten them into submission.

        1. The Trail of Tears started in Tennessee, not Florida.
          .
          I’ve walked that ground.
          I’m a bit disgusted with the Cherokee, that they didn’t choose to fight. The area is danged-near perfect for guerrilla warfare. They could have made a go of it.
          But they didn’t even try.
          They lost everything, and experienced a brutal slow-motion massacre. Willingly.

        2. We won the Battle of Thames ( in Modern Day Ontario) which killed Tecumseh, thus ending the Shawnee threat to the Ohio River Valley ( effectively turning allowing the Lower Midwest to be settled, with the exception of parts of Illinois threatened by Black Hawk’s tribe)

          Tecumseh was the last true threat to American settlement in the Ohio River Valley, and the Last chief east of the Mississippi that was capable of crafting large and dangerous Native Confederations.

          We also burnt York ( Toronto)

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