Tells the story of how President James Madison's young slave Paul Jennings stayed behind when Washington, D.C., was threatened by the British during the War of 1812, and helped the president's wife Dolley save official papers and other valuable items from the White House before it was burned by the advancing British Army.
Shares the story behind the writing of "The Star-Spangled Banner," in 1814, telling how Francis Scott Key, having witnessed a critical battle between British and U.S. troops from a truce ship, was inspired to write the song after seeing the garrison flag still flying over Fort Henry in Baltimore, Maryland; discusses the Smithsonian Institute's efforts to preserve the actual flag; and considers how the song and the flag have come to symbolize American patriotism and pride.
The story of the creation of the U.S. Navy that chronicles the late eighteenth and early nineteenth-century process that would launch the nation into becoming a powerful naval force.
Traces the history of the War of 1812, examining the maritime and boundary issues that caused it and highlighting the roles of famous personalities, including Oliver Hazard Perry, Andrew Jackson, and Dolley Madison.
In 1814, as the War of 1812 rages, twelve-year-old Lemuel Brooks tries to save the sleepy fishing village of Sandy Bay, Massachussetts, where he, himself, is an outsider, from bumbling British invaders. Includes historical notes.