About this change. Good afternoon. I am very excited to introduce the next speaker. Im going to share a personal to exemplify his passion for Theodore Roosevelt. I entered jerrys orbit when we serve together as instructors in jacksonville, florida. Career i was in my negotiating orders for a followon to her. For background, this tour is unique for officers. Areandbased aviators, we sent to seek to learn real knowledge in the navy. For example, officer on the deck in the airconditioned bridge sounds good. Sunny san diego or florida or the deployment schedule. A nice med cruise would suffice. As a lieutenant commander, jerry had already completed his tour. For teddyere his zeal roosevelt became apparent. When asked about his carrier assignment he said, Theodore Roosevelt, no question. I wouldve taken any job to deploy on tr. If you needed a working party to scrape barnacles, you could count jerry in. Not understanding his rationale, i requested further explanation. Jerry went on to descr
civil war of 1812. the u.s. capital historical iety and james madison this is about 45 minutes. that was wonderful. thank you. it s good to hear the other part of the story. wb recently, and very exciting for us who live in virginia, he published the national book, the slavery inemy, or i virginia. it looks at the war of 1812 through a different lens. his groundbreaking work in scholarship which highlights of 1812,rstudied story the runaway slaves who sought their freedom by joining with the british forces it s something that is very intriguing. learn so much more, so please come forward and let s hear about this new story of war. [applause] i want to introduce some characters who tend to be players and the story of 1812 and try to make a case that they were much more than bit players. i want to begin with one of them, a man named willis. we do not know his last name. denied lastple were names and the public record. he was 14 years old when he first escaped from his
that was wonderful. thank you. it s good to hear the other part of the story. wb farmer visited a spring. he noticed a group of slaves already there. and so the farmer hid behind a tree and he overheard, quote, the negros belonging to the different british admiral two days later, those slaves fled to the warships. now, the argument that i want to make today is that by their enthusiasm for the british as potential liberators, the enslaved people of the chesapeake made it so. flocking to them in unanticipated numbers that would, by early 1814, compelling major rethinking of british strategy in the chesapeake. at the start of the first chesapeake campaign in 1813, the british officers were under orders to take on no more than a few black men and only men who could be used as pilots and guides and a year later they would entice hundreds of runaways, including women and children, and including willis. so like willis, the other runaways would not take no for an answer. now, pr
then part of the land making up the district of columbia. this was a very wealthy port on the potomac. and they also could pose a threat to other targets in washington that hadn t been taken by the british army. though they don t know this at this point. georgetown had been left alone by the british and there s an important foundry that makes weapons for the u.s. navy that is still sitting untouched. in any event, they were proceeding up river when they re hit by the huge storm. the remarkable storm that comes through washington on august 25th sweeps down river and severely damages several of the ships in gordon s squadron. and they have to stop to make repairs. they almost considered turning back at that point. but they keep coming up river. they sailed past mt. vernon, which was just down river from here. and finally on august 27th, they come in sight of ft. washington, which is the last fortress guarding the potomac river as they on the approach to alexandria in washingt
united states historical society. we thank two wonderful partners for being with us today and cricks they have made to make this a successful event. we would also like to extend a special word of thanks to the company that generously overrode this. if you re with us for dinner you ll receive a special gift made from kim art for this symposi symposium. we re grateful for the relationship we ve had 34 years in the production of our white house christmas ornament. this began in 1981 and a very significant part of what we do given proceeds of the sale of this ornament go to support our work with the white house. take a moment to visit our shop, right across the courtyard behind you today as well as online at www.white house history.org to obtain 2014 christmas ornament. finally to white house association in washington and those watching on c-span from across america, 14 prestigious supporters guide us through one of our most significant periods in history. to begin our full progr