Will Kürlich Kerl
Banned
What happens if Fort McHenry falls on September 13th, 1814 during the Battle of Baltimore?
MG Ross, the commanding officer of the expeditionary force had been shot dead at North Point; his sucessor, Brooke, was outnumbered three to one by the Americans under Smith and Stricker - who were on the defensive and well-entrenched - the attempted end run by the second British amphibious force up the Middle Branch had been turned back with something like 30 percent casualties, and Baltimore was protected by forts McHenry, Covington, and Babcock, and the Lazaretto Battery.
Cochrane's and Cockburn's squadron fired at McHenry for 25 hours straight and managed to inflict four KIA and 24 WIA on Armistead's garrison of 1,000 men and 24 guns.
There is a reason the British withdrew, after all - they'd lost.
Best,
A shell fired by the British landed on the powder magazine in the fort, but failed to ignite. Had that shell ignited, then the Americans would have lost the fort.
>So the British "win" a damaged fortification and 20 guns? They still have to get past the other three fortifications, and then presumably fight their way into the city with a landing force of 900 or so, while Brooke's brigade is facing Smith's 12,000.
Don't really see that as a war winner for the British.
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America had no critical nerve point, nothing that wasn't expendable. The Brits had taken and burned the capitol city and it just didn't really matter as far as affecting the war.
The odds were only longer in 1815.
Based on the historical record since (arguably) 1783, or (definitely) 1807, no European power could overcome the political, economic, military, and logistical challenges of trying to project and sustain power into the Western Hemisphere from the Eastern.
Best,
>... the War of 1812 was not exactly fought with all Britain's might.
Except that Fulton got the idea for his steamboats from the British Charlotte Dundas. First sea-going steamboat, British; first iron steamship, British; first screw steamship, British; first all-steam fleet, Indian Navy. However, paddleboats don't make effective warships because their machinery is above the waterline and they can only carry a few guns. Wooden screw steamships are effective while they last, but tend to have short lives because of the strain that engines put them under, and unarmoured iron warships suffer too much from spalling. Only with the armoured iron warship does steam power really reach its true potential, and even the most generous funding couldn't have put all those inventions together in a package capable of the global reach the Royal Navy needed in time for 1812.the steamboat, which would later enable the projection of Northern power over the South and British power over much of India and China--had just been invented--in the United States with what few existed in the hands of Cousin Jonathan! No wonder the British gave up in disgust!