ABSTRACT
The Chesapeake Bay proved to be a significant arena of the war, particularly in 1814, the last full year of the conflict. The British conducted raids around the bay starting in the spring of 1813. Part of the reason for the raids, along with hurting the local economy was to try to force the Americans to move U.S. forces from the U.S.-Canadian border for the protection of the Federal capital. The Canadian provinces remained Britain’s major possession in North America. However, Secretary of War John Armstrong consistently refused to move troops to protect Washington during his entire tenure in office. He continued to deploy the better trained and more experienced American regulars up north even up to the British capture of Washington, D.C., in August 1814. Indeed, the capture of the nation’s capital by a foreign power remains an object lesson in military preparedness.
