Thanks for letting us know. Hope you have a fun outing with your niece. I will be gone to a birthday party most of day.

Thanks, Nancy, for letting us know. Glad Cynthia is okay and hope for the best for her family.

Well, in the end, I don't think I fooled anyone! On 13 January 1813, John Armstrong, Jr. was appointed United States Secretary of War. Having been a serving soldier, he quickly appreciated the situation on Lake Ontario, and devised a plan by which a force of 7,000 regular soldiers would be concentrated at Sackett's Harbor on 1 April. Working together with Chauncey's squadron, this force would capture Kingston before the Saint Lawrence River thawed and substantial British reinforcements could arrive in Upper Canada. The capture of Kingston and the destruction of the Kingston Royal Naval Dockyard together with most of the vessels of the Provincial Marine, would make almost every British post west of Kingston vulnerable if not untenable. After Kingston was captured, the Americans would then capture the British positions at York and Fort George, at the mouth of the Niagara River. That month, Lieutenant General Sir George Prevost, the British Governor General of Canada, travelled up the frozen Saint Lawrence to visit Upper Canada. This visit was made necessary because Major General Roger Hale Sheaffe, who had succeeded Sir Isaac Brock(killed at the Battle of Queenston Heights) as Lieutenant Governor of Upper Canada, was ill and unable to perform his various duties. Prevost was accompanied only by a few small detachments of reinforcements, which participated in the Battle of Ogdensburg en route. Nevertheless, both Chauncey and Dearborn believed that Prevost's arrival indicated an imminent attack on Sackett's Harbor, and reported that Kingston now had a garrison of 6,000 or more British regulars. Even after two brigades of troops under Brigadier General Zebulon Pike reinforced the troops at Sackett's Harbor after a gruelling winter march from Plattsburgh, the number of effective troops available to Dearborn fell far short of the 7,000 planned, mainly as a result of sickness and exposure. During March, Chauncey and Dearborn recommended to Armstrong that when the ice on the lake thawed, they should attack the less well-defended town of York instead of Kingston. After capturing York, they would then attack Fort George. Although York was the Provincial capital of Upper Canada, it was far less important than Kingston as a military objective. Armstrong, by now back in Washington, nevertheless acquiesced in this change of plan as Dearborn might well have better local information. By committing the bulk of the American forces at the western end of Lake Ontario, it would leave Sackett's Harbor vulnerable to an attack by British reinforcements arriving from Lower Canada. The defences of York consisted of a fort a short distance west of the town, with the nearby "Government House Battery" mounting two 12-pounder guns. A mile west was the crude "Western Battery", with two obsolete 18-pounder guns. (These weapons were veterans of earlier wars and had been disabled by having their trunnions removed, but they were fixed to crude log carriages and could still be fired.) Further west were the ruins of Fort Rouille and another disused fortification, the "Half Moon Battery", neither of which was in use. Major General Sheaffe, the Lieutenant Governor of Upper Canada, was present at York to transact public business. He had under his command only four companies of regulars. The Militia was ordered to assemble, but only 300 of the 1st and 3rd York Regiments could be mustered at short notice. There were also about 40 to 50 natives (Mississaugas and Ojibwa) in the area. Early on 27 April, the first American wave of boats, carrying Major Benjamin Forsyth's company of the U.S. 1st Rifle Regiment, landed about 4 miles west of the town, supported by some of Chauncey's schooners firing grapeshot. Because Sheaffe could not know where the Americans would land, Forsyth's riflemen were opposed only by some of the Indians led by Indian Agent James Givins, who were outflanked and retreated into the woods after a stiff resistance. Sheaffe had ordered a company of the Glengarry Light Infantry to support the Natives, but they became lost in the outskirts of the town, having been misdirected by Major-General Aeneas Shaw, the Adjutant General of the Canadian Militia, who took some of the militia north onto Dundas Street to prevent any wide American outflanking move. Suffice to say, chaos ensued. Pike ordered an advance by platoons, supported by two 6-pounder field guns, which steadily drove back the other two companies of Sheaffe's redcoats (another company of the 8th regiment, and one from the Royal Newfoundland). Sheaffe decided that the battle was lost and ordered the regulars to retreat, setting fire to the wooden bridge over the River Don east of the town to thwart pursuit. The militia and several prominent citizens were left "standing in the street like a parcel of sheep". Sheaffe instructed the militia to make the best terms they could with the Americans, but without informing the senior militia officers or any official of the legislature, he also dispatched Captain Tito LeLivre of the Royal Newfoundland to set fire to the sloop of war (HMS Isaac Brock) under construction in the dockyard and to blow up the fort's magazine. When the magazine exploded, Pike and the leading American troops were only 200 yards away. The flag had been left flying over the fort as a ruse, and Pike was questioning a prisoner as to how many troops were defending it. Pike was mortally injured by flying stones and debris. The explosion killed 38 American soldiers and wounded 222. Between 28 April and 30 April, American troops carried out many acts of plunder. Some of them set fire to the buildings of the Legislative Assembly. It was alleged that the American troops had found a scalp there, though folklore had it that the "scalp" was actually the Speaker's wig. The Printing Office, used for publishing official documents as well as newspapers, was vandalised and the printing press was smashed. Other Americans looted empty houses on the pretext that their absent owners were militia who had not given their parole as required by the articles of capitulation. The homes of Canadians connected with the Indians, including that of James Givins, were also looted regardless of their owners' status. The Burning of Washington: Historians assert that the attack was in retaliation for the American burning and looting of York (now Toronto) during the Battle of York in 1813, and the burning down of the buildings of the Legislative Assembly there. The British Army commanders said they chose to attack Washington "on account of the greater political effect likely to result". Governor-General Sir George Prevost of Canada wrote to the Admirals in Bermuda calling for a retaliation for the American sacking of York and requested their permission and support in the form of provision of naval resources. At the time, it was considered against the civilized laws of war to burn a non-military facility and the Americans had not only burned the Parliament but also looted and burned the Governor's mansion, private homes and warehouses. On August 24, 1814, a British force occupied Washington, D.C. and set fire to many public buildings following the American defeat at the Battle of Bladensburg. The facilities of the U.S. government, including the White House and U.S. Capitol, were largely destroyed, though strict discipline and the British commander's orders to burn only public buildings are credited with preserving the city's private buildings. This has been the only time since the Revolutionary War that a foreign power has captured and occupied the United States capital. The buildings housing the Senate and House of Representatives construction on the central rotunda of the Capitol had not yet begun were set ablaze not long after. The interiors of both buildings, including the Library of Congress, were destroyed, although the thick walls and a torrential rainfall preserved their exteriors. (Thomas Jefferson later sold his library to the government to restock the Library of Congress.) The next day Admiral Cockburn entered the building of the D.C. newspaper, National Intelligencer, intending to burn it down; however, a group of neighborhood women persuaded him not to because they were afraid the fire would spread to their neighboring houses. Cockburn wanted to destroy the newspaper because they had written so many negative items about him, branding him as "The Ruffian." Instead he ordered his troops to tear the building down brick by brick making sure that they destroyed all the "C" type so that no more pieces mentioning his name could be printed. The troops then turned northwest up Pennsylvania Avenue toward the White House. After the government officials fled, Dolley Madison remained behind with the White House slaves to save valuables from the British. One of Madison's slaves, Paul Jennings was an eyewitness who wrote: "It has often been stated in print, that when Mrs. Madison escaped from the White House, she cut out from the frame the large portrait of Washington (now in one of the parlors there), and carried it off. This is totally false. She had no time for doing it. It would have required a ladder to get it down. All she carried off was the silver in her reticule, as the British were thought to be but a few squares off, and were expected every moment." Jennings said that the people who saved the painting and removed the objects were: "John Suse (a Frenchman, then door-keeper) and Magraw, the President's gardener, took it down and sent it off on a wagon, with some large silver urns and such other valuables as could be hastily got hold of. After this he said, "When the British did arrive, they ate up the very dinner, and drank the wines, &c., that I had prepared for the President's party." Scars from the 1814 fire at the White House appeared 176 years later, in 1990, when white paint was removed from the walls in the course of restoration. Whew - long answer - sorry, but what a story!!! It has always fascinated me!! So, for everyone, Cyn's DH, Annette, mnswgal, and I suppose Cyn, for marrying such a smart guy, your stars are in the link below. Happy and Safe 4th to All. Nancy. Here is a link that might be useful: Your Stars

Orangutan, thanks for the spelling Lorna, yep that was my guess after seeing Nell's little ditty, then I thought it might be a Baboon but I think they have red rumps not red hair. Oh heck, I'll stick with Orangutan. I'm still puzzling over what pygmaeus means, does this refer to a smaller then usual Orangutan or that it's different in some other way? Thanks for another fun weekend TM. Annette who lurks looking for clues when she doesn't know the answer and has to guess.