(THEME)

VOICE ONE:

THE MAKING OF A NATION -- a program in SpecialEnglish.

(THEME)

As we reported last week, the United Statesdeclared war on Britain in Eighteen-Twelve. It did so becauseBritain refused to stop seizing American ships that traded withFrance -- Britain's enemy in Europe. At last, after a change ingovernment, Britain suspended the orders against such neutral trade.But it acted too late. The United States had declared war. TheUnited States navy was not ready for war. It had only a few realwarships and a small number of gunboats. It could not hope to defeatthe British navy, the most powerful in the world. What the UnitedStates planned to do was seize Canada, the British territory to thenorth. Twenty-five-hundred British soldiers guarded the border. AndAmerican generals believed they could win an easy victory. They werewrong.

VOICE TWO:

An American general named William Hull ledtwo-thousand men across the Canadian border. British soldiers wereprepared, and they forced the Americans back. The British fought sowell that General Hull surrendered all his men and the city ofDetroit. The next American attack was made from Fort Niagara, amilitary center in New York on the shore of Lake Ontario. A smallgroup of American soldiers crossed the Niagara River and attackedthe British. Other Americans -- state soldiers of New York --refused to cross the border to help against the British. They calmlywatched as British soldiers shot down the attacking Americans. Thethird campaign was made by General Henry Dearborn. He led an army ofstate soldiers from Plattsburgh, New York, to the Canadian border.He was to cross the border and attack Montreal. But the statesoldiers again refused to cross the border. Dearborn could donothing but march them back to Plattsburgh.

VOICE ONE:

Britishforces at this time were winning victories. They captured anAmerican fort in northern Michigan. And Indians -- fighting for theBritish -- captured a fort at the place now known as Chicago.Instead of marching through Canada without difficulty, the Americansfound themselves trying hard to keep the British out of the state ofOhio.

VOICE TWO:

For a while, the weak little American navy wasdoing better than the army. Just two months after the war started,the United States warship "Constitution" forced a British ship tosurrender. Several months later another American ship, the "Wasp",captured the British ship, "Frolic". Then the frigate, the "UnitedStates" defeated one of Britain's most famous fighting ships, the"Macedonian". The British ship was captured and brought to theUnited States. There were other victories at sea. At the end of sixmonths, the United States navy had captured six British ships andlost only one of its own vessels. Private American trade ships hadbeen armed with guns when the war started. They, too, weresuccessful against the British. They captured more thanthree-hundred British trade ships. The American successes forcedBritain to bring more of its fighting ships into the war with theUnited States. By the middle of Eighteen-Thirteen, a year after thewar started, British ships controlled the United States coast. Notan American ship could enter or leave any port south of New England.

VOICE ONE:

The military situation was improving in the West. WilliamHenry Harrison, governor of the Indiana territory, formed a largeforce to try to capture Detroit from the British. At the same time,Captain Oliver Perry built five warships on Lake Erie. With theseand four he already had, Perry met and completely defeated anEnglish naval force. Perry reported his victory to Harrison: "Wehave met the enemy, and they are ours." Perry's victory andHarrison's large force caused the British to withdraw from Detroit,and from a British fort at Malden, in Canada. Harrison's mencontinued to chase the enemy. They caught them and defeated them inthe battle of the Thames. Killed in this battle was the great Indianchief, Tecumseh, who had been fighting for the British. UnitedStates forces made new attempts to win control of Lake Ontario andinvade Canada across the Niagara River. But none of these succeeded.Late in Eighteen-Thirteen, British soldiers crossed the river andcaptured Fort Niagara. They also burned the town of Buffalo.

VOICETWO:

By April, Eighteen-Fourteen, Napoleon was forced from power inEurope. And the war between France and Britain was over. Thispermitted Britain to send many of its soldiers in Europe to fightagainst the United States. Fourteen-thousand troops were sent toCanada. A smaller force was put on ships that sailed along theAmerican coast. Another group of British soldiers was sent toJamaica to prepare for an attack on New Orleans. The British plannedto send an army of eleven-thousand men down from Canada into NewYork. But before this, the soldiers aboard ships along the Americancoast were to attack the Chesapeake Bay area and threaten Washingtonand Baltimore. About four-thousand British soldiers landed on theChesapeake coast, southeast of Washington. They marched quicklytoward the capital. An American general, William Winder, commanded aforce two times the size of the British group. Winder was not a goodgeneral, and his troops did not defend well.

VOICE ONE:

The twosides met at Bladensburg, a town ten kilometers from Washington. TheBritish attacked and at first the American defenders held theirground. But then, British soldiers broke through the American lines,and the Americans began to run away. General Winder ordered his menback to Washington. A group of sailors refused to retreat with theirartillery. Commanded by Joshua Barney, the four-hundred sailorschose to stand and fight. The struggle did not last long against thefour-thousand British soldiers. Barney held his position for a halfhour before enemy soldiers got behind his men and silenced the guns.Barney was wounded seriously. The British thought so much of hiscourage that they carried him to a hospital for their own soldiersat Bladensburg. Barney himself said the British officers treated himas a brother. Once the British force had smashed through Barney'snavy men, nothing stood between it and Washington.

VOICE TWO:

Theenemy spent the night about half a kilometer from the Capitolbuilding. The commanders of the British force, General Robert Rossand Admiral Sir George Cockburn, took a group of men to the Capitoland set fire to it. Then the two commanders went to the White Houseto burn it. Before setting fire to the president's home, Cockburntook one of President Madison's hats and the seat from one of DolleyMadison's chairs. The admiral found the president's table ready fordinner. As a joke, he took a glass of wine and toasted the health of"President Jemmy". President Madison had fled the White Houseearlier. He crossed the Potomac River and started toward his home inVirginia. He joined his wife on the road the second day. And theydecided to wait with others about twenty-five kilometers fromWashington. The president returned to the capital three days afterhe left it. The British, after burning most public buildings, hadwithdrawn.

VOICE ONE:

The British coastal force next attacked thecity of Baltimore. But this time, the defenses were strong, and theattack failed. Baltimore port was guarded by Fort McHenry. Britishwarships sailed close to the fort and tried to destroy it with theirguns. But the attack did little real damage to the fort. A youngAmerican civilian, Francis Scott Key, was aboard one of the Britishwarships during the twenty-five-hour shelling of Fort McHenry. Heand a group of others had gone to the ship with a message fromPresident Madison. The message asked the British to release anAmerican doctor they were holding. All through the night, the youngman watched the shells bursting and the rockets exploding over thefort. In the first light of morning, he saw that the American flagstill flew. On the back of an old letter from his pocket, FrancisScott Key wrote the words of "The Star-Spangled Banner", thenational anthem of the United States. That will be our story next onTHE MAKING OF A NATION.

(THEME)

VOICE TWO:

You have been listeningto the Special English program, THE MAKING OF A NATION. Yournarrators were Larry West and Frank Oliver. Our program was writtenby Frank Beardsley. THE MAKING OF A NATION can be heard Thursdays.