The Day God Saved America
The Omega Letter Intelligence Digest Vol: 146 Issue: 30 - Saturday, November 30, 2013 The Day God Saved America On August 19, 1814 British warships sailed into Chesapeake Bay and up the Patuxent River headed toward Washington. The British mission was to capture Washington DC and take revenge for the burning of the British capital of Upper Canada at Newark, (now Niagara-on-the-Lake.) Forty-five hundred British soldiers landed at Benedict, Maryland and headed towards Washington, where a force of 7,000 colonial troops waited nervously. The two armies met on August 24 along the banks of the Potomac during 100 degree heat. The British Army quickly routed the less disciplined American volunteers, mostly due to a series of American blunders and a new British rocket that did little damage, but unnerved the raw American troops with a very loud, shrill noise. President Madison and Secretary of State Monroe, who had led a group of officials to watch the battle, were almost...