Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/433760
buildings, including the White House, he did not burn the American capital. is is an important distinction. As a review of the circumstances which led to the burning of the Capi- tol demonstrates, had a different British commander been in charge we could well be commemorating not just the destruc- tion of the entire U.S. capital (some 900 buildings in total) but perhaps a massacre of many of its people as well. 3 e backdrop to Ross's brief occupation of Washington, D.C. on August 24–25, 1814, is provided by the War of 1812, America's first formally declared war. Longstanding American grievances included British restrictions on American trade, the infamous "Orders in Council," which prohibited neutral ships from trading with France. With the British desperate for manpower in the war against Napoleon, the Royal Navy's impressment of American seamen into British service also rankled. Mean - while, "War Hawks" in Congress railed against British inter- ference with Indian affairs on the frontier and eyed a land grab in British North America. Britain's difficulty with France was America's opportunity. With the focus on the grand stage in Europe, the conflict with America was a sideshow for the British. at all changed when Napoleon abdicated in April 1814 and substantial numbers of British soldiers became available for service elsewhere, including the Duke of Wellington's famous veterans. Viewing the American declaration of war as a stab in the back when Britain was engaged in a costly war with France, there was a score to settle. 4 Rumors soon circulated in Britain that 25,000 men would be sent to North America. 5 A major amphibious operation was planned that was to be led by Lord Hill, with Ross as one of his brigade commanders. In the war to date, tit for tat burnings on the U.S.–Cana- dian border included American forces destroying the parlia- ment buildings in Little York (modern-day Toronto) as well as the razing of civilian homes in Newark (modern-day Niagara- on-the-Lake). British revenge attacks included the destruction of the villages of Black Rock and Buffalo, New York. 6 British forces under the command of Rear Admiral George Cockburn were also responsible for a series of conflagrations on the shores of the Chesapeake Bay. 7 In terms of the immediate background to the burnings in Washington, the destruction of villages in the Long Point area of Upper Canada by American forces in mid-May 1814 proved to be critically important. 8 e British Governor General of "e Canadas," Lieutenant-General Sir George Prevost, issued an appeal for assistance in taking retaliatory measures to Vice Admiral Alexander Cochrane, the senior British naval com- mander on the American station. 9 Expecting the arrival of THE CAPITOL DOME Fig. 2. General Ross Monument, Rostrevor, County Down, North- ern Ireland, after renovation in 2008. Fig. 3. General Ross Monument before it was renovated in 2008. Fig. 4. Betsy Ross flag atop scaffolding on General Ross monument, during renovation in 2008. AU T H O R AU T H O R AU T H O R 4