THE SECOND ROUND Ch: 12

THE SECOND ROUND Ch: 12

Chapter 12

THE SECOND ROUND

The war of 1812 between Britain and America is generally regarded by Americans as the Second War of Independence. The first struggle had left quite a lot of ill-will between the peoples of the two countries, and this ‘chip on the shoulder’ attitude showed itself in several ways. The Americans would not accept the declared British “right to search” on the high seas in furtherance of her blockade of Napoleonic France, and the frontiersmen in the West could find evidence of British stirring-up of the Red Indians against them. The outbreak of hostilities in 1812 would seem to have been inevitable. In the ensuing fighting in the Canada – American border area and around Chesapeake Bay, men of Ulster stock gave distinguished service on both sides. The British Expeditionary Brigade of three regiments was under the command of a prominent member of a notable County Down family. He was Major General Robert Ross from Rostrevor. His 44th Regiment was commanded by Colonel Arthur Brooke and the 4th Regiment by his brother Colonel Francis Brooke.

Major General Ross

These members of the famous Brooke family of County Fermanagh were ancestors of Lord Brookeborough, the former Prime Minister of Northern Ireland, and Lord Alanbrooke one of the extraordinary number of outstanding military leaders from Ulster during the Second World War. There must be a moral somewhere in two historical facts that have followed those years of conflict between English speaking peoples. Lord Brookeborough, the Ulster Premier, descendant of “the fighting Brookes” of the early 19th century, had the pleasant task in the early 1940′s of welcoming to the British soil of Northern Ireland the first American troops to come over to aid Britain against the Axis power.

That was the same soil that the ancestors of many of those troops had left two hundred years previously. The other fact is that the second famous descendant, Lord Alanbrooke, as Chief of the Imperial General Staff, played a large part in furthering military co-operation between the British and American generals in different theatres in that worldwide conflict – the Second World War. The 1812 war in the Northern parts of America, especially in the Canadian border areas, deteriorated at times into tit-for-tat burnings of esteemed buildings in both countries. Following the destruction of the Canadian Lieutenant Governor’s House of Parliament buildings at York (now Toronto) by American troops, Ross and Arthur Brooke led the troops who burned down the President’s home, the Treasury, and the War Office at Washington. In order to cover some of the scars on one of the most famous buildings in America, it was re painted white and ever after became even more famous as the White House.

The British forces went on to attack Baltimore and the Chesapeake Bay area. There, General Ross was killed and the command was taken over by Colonel Arthur Brooke. Two other men of Ulster stock gave most distinguished service in those Northern ‘areas on the American side. They were General James Millar and General George Groghan. The former was born in New Hampshire, and Nathaniel Hawthorne has written that he was that state’s most distinguished soldier in the 1812 conflict. For his military exploits the state of New York presented him with a sword of honour, and at the end of the war. the U.S. Congress gave him a gold medal. He became Governor of Arkansas. Similar honour was accorded to General George Groghan by a thankful Congress.

There was also erected to his memory a state monument in Ohio. Groghan’s mother was the sister of George Rogers Clark. In the far more decisive fighting in the South at New Orleans emerged an Ulster Scottish leader, who was to become one of America’s greatest sons – not only on the battlefield, but as a political leader who attained the Presidency for two terms. He was the redoubtable Andrew Jackson. When asked the place of his birth, he jokingly replied. “Somewhere between Carrickfergus and the United States. More accurately he was born at Mecklenburg in North Carolina,shortly after the arrival in America of his parents from Boneybefore at Carrickfergus. His experiences during the early years of his life ensured that with him there would be no love lost towards the British. His father had died just before Andrew was born and, he, at the age of 13, with his two brothers enlisted in the Continental army to serve in the Revolutionary War. One of his brothers was killed, and he with the other was taken prisoner.

They were harshly treated when transferred to a P.O.W. camp. When smallpox broke out there, his mother succeeded in arranging for their release under an exchange of prisoners arrangement. Unfortunately, Robert, his brother, died shortly after they reached home. Later his mother went off to nurse some sick American prisoners on board prison ships at Charleston, as there were some of her relatives among them. Tragically, she contacted cholera and died. Thus the teenage survivor had lost both his brothers and his mother. Some relatives cared for him and arranged for him to study law. In this he achieved much success to become Public Prosecutor in the Western district of North Carolina. later he was to enter politics. Those were no settled times for the young Republic. Indian raids were frequent and Andrew became an officer in the militia. In this he established a reputation for unusual concern for the men under his command, but efficient ruthlessness towards his enemy.

When war broke out in 1 812, he offered the help of some 2,500 experienced fighters of the same racial background as himself. under his command. Owing to the ill.feeling, held by some men in high places towards him, which fellow Ulster Scot, John Armstrong, Junior, had striven in vain to eradicate, the acceptance of Jackson’s offer was delayed. When it was known that a British landing along the Louisiana coast was to be made within a short time, Jackson was ordered first of all to muster his men and march South to serve under General Wilkinson. This he did, but it soon became apparent to him that the commander wanted his troops, but not him. As his unit was then some 500 miles away from their base area, it seemed as if he would have to accept the humiliation, probably planned, and return to Tennessee alone. But Wilkinson and those who supported him had not taken into account the spirit of the man they were dealing with in this matter. He replied to the military authorities that his men had volunteered to serve with him, and he would march them home again. This he did, in spite of the fact that there were many of his troops sick, and he had only limited transport. He ordered his officers to give up their horses to the unfit soldiers. Then Jackson, himself, on foot, took the lead of those who began the long march home. In spite of the trials of the joumey, they at last reached Nashville, where a very warm welcome was accorded to them.

The long thin figure of this indomitable frontiersman, with his most unorthodox military dress of an old leather cap, a short Spanish cloak of well-wom blue cloth, with great unpolished boots coming almost thigh high, and with his trusty sword at his side, was greeted with special enthusiasm and delight by his own folk of Tennessee. After this display of rugged, practical loyalty to his men and his defiance of unreasonable orders so callously given, he gained the nickname of “Old Hickory.” This title was to inspire confidence among thousands of his fellow countrymen, and was soon to bring about a change of mind among those in the Capital’s offices of power. In a few weeks he was appointed as Commander of the Seventh Military District, which took in all the areas threatened by invasion in the region of the Mississippi delta. Owing to the vast territory involved, he had to organize the quick movements of troops from place to place, but even more, he had to rely on his own military judgment, as to where finally the invading forces would strike.

However, he did guess right and had his forces in a strong position when the British commander, Pakenham, brother-in-law to Wellington, and with many Peninsular veterans under his command, landed at New Orleans. The result has been recalled fairly recently in a ‘pop’ song which became a hit’ in the mid 1970′ s. It was titled” Mexico” or “The Battle of New Orleans,” and tells what Jackson’s men did to the invaders, after “they took a little bacon and took a little beans.”‘ It certainly was an incredible victory. The tactics employed by the British commander have been described as most foolhardy. The Americans had taken up a strong, protected position on firm ground between the man-made bank along the side of the often swollen Mississippi and a large area of swampy ground. They had heavy guns and expert riflemen. Against these the British were ordered to attack in close formation.

There could have been no other result. General Pakenham, two of his senior generals, and over 2000 men of all ranks fell fatally wounded. It is recorded that only 13 Americans were killed. It was a crushing defeat and had far-reaching consequences. America gained a new confidence in itself, especially the thousands in the Westem frontier regions, and abroad, a higher regard for the young nation was evident among the European powers. Andrew Jackson, himself, was feted all over America as a national hero. In the years that followed, he proved that not only in military, but also in political matters, he could be victorious. A later occupant of the White House, Harry S. Truman, who claimed that his own father was a descendant of Old Andy, as he called him, held him in exceptionally high esteem. He was deeply offended by the Jackson statue in Lafayette Square, opposite the White House, on the grounds that it was not that of a real man on a real horse. So incensed was he by it, that he arranged for a sculptor called Charles Keck, who had made an equestrian statue of Stonewall Jackson in Charlottesville, Virginia, to do a suitable one of “Old Hickory” in Kansas City. He also went to Andy Jackson’s old home, “The Hermitage,” near Nashville, and measured the old campaigner’s uniforms, so that he could furnish the sculptor with the exact details.

One must point out that around the time of the New Orleans battle, the Royal Enniskilling Fusiliers were attaining their most prized battle honour at Waterloo, although at a heavy cost in casualties. They had the task of holding a strategically vital cross-roads, and did so throughout the whole day, in spite of continuous murderous fire, incessant cavalry charges by the elite mounted Napoleonic troops against their square, and lack of support when the soldiers on their right fell back. They lost so many officers during the fighting that there were not sufficient remaining to command the companies. In response to an offer by the Commander of the 40th Regiment to lend them some, the Officer commanding the InniskilIings, said that

“the sergeants liked to command the companies and he would be loathe to deprive them of that honour.”