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 * Cover:** In the Eyes of Catty The War of 1812


 * pg1:** Hi I'm Catty and I will tell you about a war you might never had heard of. It is the war of 1812. This was a war that we fought against Britain, while they were fighting France. Before I get to ahead of myself let me tell you how it happened.


 * pg2:** Britian and France were having their fight until Britian decided to stop us from bringing goods to France. Then Napoleon ( in charge of France) quickly did the same thing by not letting us bring anything to Britian.


 * pg3:** One day as my father and I were sailing, a British ship came up to ours and took us prisoner. Luckily, when we landed my dad and I ran away safely. This action the British was doing was called Impressment.


 * pg4:** Later I heard about two ships: The Chesapeake, and Leopard that were captured by Britian. My dad knew someone on that ship and wished that person the best of luck to get off.


 * Pg5:** Then came the Embargo Act. This was a law that said our businesses couldn't sell goods to any other countries. This made everyone very angry and hurt our country. People were breaking this rule. As a result our goverment decided to change the law so we could trade with other countries except Britian and France.


 * pg6:** Days and months went on and to me it seemed nobody was winning this war. Then something came up! We found out that the British were giving goods to the Indian nations to prevent us from continuing west across the country. This made some people very angry.


 * pg7:** I was reading the news and there was an article about an indian called Tecumseh. Tecumseh was an indian learder who wanted all the Indian Nations to get together to from one Indian Nation. William Henry Harrison was the governor of the Indian Territory and did not want this to happen.


 * pg8:** Then the article said that Harrison attacked the Indian Nation in Tippiecaone. Tecumseh tried to stop Harrison, but Tecumseh was killed during the battle and his dream was killed with him.


 * pg9:** Now their was a big problem appearing. The War-Hawks wanted to go to war with Britian. Our congresss, the people in charge, didn't think it was good to battle Britian. Somehow the War-Hawks convinced them to go to war.


 * pg10:** The president at the time was James Madison. The War- Hawks tried to convince him that war was good by telling James that they were tired of Britian using impressment to get more people to work on their ships. They were also tired of Britian's order council crippling the American economy. The final vote in congress was to go to war with Britian. To me I think that was a silly thing to do at that time.


 * pg11:** The day came. The day we started war with Britian. It might not have meant much to me if my dad didn't go to fight with his friend. Now my friend and I are huddled in the corner weeping. Our mothers are also weeping in the corner too.


 * pg12:** Our country wasn't prepared to go to war compared to Britian. Thay had more men available to fight us then we did, and that wasn't all of their troops. The rest were still batling France. This made my friend and I discouaraged because once they were done in France they would come and probably crush us under them.


 * pg13:** Now their was something exciting coming out of the war. Our president said privateers could attack a British ship and keep the goods on the ship. This means anyone who owned a ship could become a privateer. WOW!! This was exciting because I knew someone who had a boat! I always wanted to fight someone who destroyed our peace.


 * pg14:** At the beginning of the war we had many problems. We didn't know what we were doing. When Congress started the war they had plans to have 36,700 men to fight but they only had less than 10,000. During the war some of our leaders thought that we could win the war easily. We were supposed to attack Canada at 3 places, because Canada belonged to Britian. We didn't do that, so we ended up losing the battle.


 * pg15:** We tried to use State Militias for the war, which are men who fight within their own state. Unfortunately these men were untrained and unreliable. Congress wanted to pay for the war using loans but all our loans were with Britain and they obviously weren't going to help us fight them.


 * pg16:** While we were battling Britian we left Washington vunerable because it didn't have any money or trade. The government thought Britian wouldn't bother with it. Since my family lived where there was trade, my mom sent my friend and I to my grandma's that was located in Washington. Then one day as the three of us were on the roof the British came in and started burning everything. The only reason they burned our city was because we had burned theirs. We kept praying that they wouldn't touch my grandma's house. If they did I wouldn't be able to tell you this story.


 * pg17:** As this was happening a powerful rain storm came. This was a miracle. Our prayers were answered. By now my grandma wanted us to go inside so we didn't get hurt. The next morning all the fires were put out and the only buildings burned were the White House and Capitol.


 * pg18:** The next target was Baltimore. The people of the city decided to defend it by themselves. Every man was to help with the guarding. If they weren't strong enough then they had to wield shovels. The people guessed that Britian would march overland from North Point. While this battle was going on a sniper killed Britian's commander. This made a big impact on Britian. Britian lost the battle of Baltimore and we drove them out.


 * pg19:** Then Britian decided to attack Ft. Mc.Henry. Britian attacked by the sea. This battle was called the Bombardment. There was a bomb going off every second! I couldn't believe how many bombs there were. Francis Scott Key saw the whole thing from his ship. He was very lucky it wasn't bombed.


 * pg20:** Since I mentoioned him I should tell you who Francis Scott Key is. He was a man who tried to save his friend who was forced to fight for Britian. As he tried to save him with the aid of President Madison he got caught in the middle of the bombardment on Ft. Mc.Henry. He watched the bombs burst in the air. When it all ended he wrote a song about the bombardment.


 * pg21:** In the morning the British ships stopped attacking and sailed off. This ment we won the war! Francis Scott Key wrote a poem which became The Star Spangled Banner.


 * pg22:** Well, that is the War of 1812. I hope you willl remember what had happened in this war and not let this war get lost in history.


 * pg23:** Here are the lyrics to Star Spangled Banner that Francis Scott Key wrote that terrible day:

//O say, can you see, by the dawn's early light,// //What so proudly we hail'd at the twilight's last gleaming?// //Whose broad stripes and bright stars, thro' the perilous fight,// //O'er the ramparts we watch'd, were so gallantly streaming?// //And the rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting in air,// //Gave proof thro' the night that our flag was still there.// //O say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave// //O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?//

//On the shore dimly seen thro' the mists of the deep,// //Where the foe's haughty host in dread silence reposes,// //What is that which the breeze, o'er the towering steep,// //As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses?// //Now it catches the gleam of the morning's first beam,// //In full glory reflected, now shines on the stream:// //'Tis the star-spangled banner: O, long may it wave// //O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!//


 * pg24:** I've rewritten the lyrics to The Star Spangle Banner. Here is what i think they mean:

Can you see in the morning what we welcomed at sunset our flag during the battle over the barrier we watched the flag and as the bombs burst in the air showede that the flag was still there can you see the flag still waving over th land of the free and the brave

On the shore I can barely see throught the mist of the bay where the enemy's proud host laid dead what is blowing in the breeze over the hill as it proudly blows half closed half open now caught in the morning's light in full glory reflecting in the bay the flag will wave forever over the land of the free and the brave