Through the Perilous Fight: Six Weeks That Saved the Nation
From the War of 1812, Vogel selects the British invasion of the Chesapeake Bay in the summer of 1814 for this tight-focus treatment. Few details escape his attention, from the appearances and characters of commanders to specifications of weaponry, ships, and forts, which he integrates into an active narrative of military events. Showing the British initiative conferred by their naval supremacy, Vogel depicts American leaders guessing where their opponents would land in the deeply incised coastline of the bay. One such was James Monroe, who suspended his duties as secretary of state to scout the enemy on horseback. Also in the saddle, President James Madison personally inspected defense lines, fleeing their collapse in the Battle of Bladensburg and ensuing incineration of Washington. After inflicting this humiliation, British admiral Cockburn and general Ross decided to visit a conflagration on Baltimore, whose defiance of this fate an eyewitness expressed in a militant composition. Vogel, a Washington Post reporter, superbly dramatizes a campaign whose legacy is “The Star-Spangled Banner,” both the anthem and the flag for which it stands, today displayed in Washington. --Gilbert Taylor