The Man Who Captured Washington

The Man Who Captured Washington
Author :
Publisher : University of Oklahoma Press
Total Pages : 368
Release :
ISBN-10 : 9780806155302
ISBN-13 : 0806155302
Rating : 4/5 (302 Downloads)

Book Synopsis The Man Who Captured Washington by : John McCavitt

Download or read book The Man Who Captured Washington written by John McCavitt and published by University of Oklahoma Press. This book was released on 2016-02-29 with total page 368 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An Irish officer in the British Army, Major General Robert Ross (1766–1814) was a charismatic leader widely admired for his bravery in battle. Despite a military career that included distinguished service in Europe and North Africa, Ross is better known for his actions than his name: his 1814 campaign in the Chesapeake Bay resulted in the burning of the White House and Capitol and the unsuccessful assault on Baltimore, immortalized in “The Star Spangled Banner.” The Man Who Captured Washington is the first in-depth biography of this important but largely forgotten historical figure. Drawing from a broad range of sources, both British and American, military historians John McCavitt and Christopher T. George provide new insight into Ross’s career prior to his famous exploits at Washington, D.C. Educated in Dublin, Ross joined the British Army in 1789, earning steady promotion as he gained combat experience. The authors portray him as an ambitious but humane commanding officer who fought bravely against Napoleon’s forces on battlefields in Holland, southern Italy, Egypt, and the Iberian Peninsula. Following the end of the war in Europe, while still recovering from a near-fatal wound, Ross was designated to lead an “enterprise” to America, and in August 1814 he led a small army to victory in the Battle of Bladensburg. From there his forces moved to the city of Washington, where they burned public buildings. In detailing this campaign, McCavitt and George clear up a number of misconceptions, including the claim that the British burned the entire city of Washington. Finally, the authors shed new light on the long-debated circumstances surrounding Ross’s death on the eve of the Battle of North Point at Baltimore. Ross’s campaign on the shores of the Chesapeake lasted less than a month, but its military and political impact was enormous. Considered an officer and a gentleman by many on both sides of the Atlantic, the general who captured Washington would in time fade in public memory. Yet, as McCavitt and George show, Ross’s strategies and achievements during the final days of his career would shape American defense policy for decades to come.


The Man Who Captured Washington Related Books

The Man Who Captured Washington
Language: en
Pages: 368
Authors: John McCavitt
Categories: History
Type: BOOK - Published: 2016-02-29 - Publisher: University of Oklahoma Press

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

An Irish officer in the British Army, Major General Robert Ross (1766–1814) was a charismatic leader widely admired for his bravery in battle. Despite a milit
The Man Who Captured Washington
Language: en
Pages: 313
Authors: John McCavitt
Categories: History
Type: BOOK - Published: 2016-02-29 - Publisher: University of Oklahoma Press

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

An Irish officer in the British Army, Major General Robert Ross (1766–1814) was a charismatic leader widely admired for his bravery in battle. Despite a milit
Washington's Crossing
Language: en
Pages: 578
Authors: David Hackett Fischer
Categories: History
Type: BOOK - Published: 2006-02-01 - Publisher: Oxford University Press

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Six months after the Declaration of Independence, the American Revolution was all but lost. A powerful British force had routed the Americans at New York, occup
The Man Who Ran Washington
Language: en
Pages: 720
Authors: Peter Baker
Categories: Biography & Autobiography
Type: BOOK - Published: 2020-09-29 - Publisher: Anchor

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: The New York Times • The Washington Post • Fortune • Bloomberg From two of America's most revered political journalists comes the d
The Journal of Major George Washington
Language: en
Pages: 41
Authors: George Washington
Categories: Washington's Expedition to the Ohio, 1st, 1753-1754
Type: BOOK - Published: 1963 - Publisher: University of Virginia Press

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

An account of his first official mission, made as emissary from the Governor of Virginia to the commandant of the French forces on the Ohio, October, 1753-Janua