Raid On Alexandria (Virginia)
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Raid On Alexandria (Virginia)
The Raid on Alexandria was a British victory during the War of 1812, which gained much plunder at little cost but may have contributed to the later British repulse at Baltimore by delaying their main forces. Background As part of the British expedition to the Chesapeake Bay in the middle of 1814, a naval force under Commodore James Alexander Gordon was ordered to sail up the Potomac River and attack Fort Washington. The raid was supposed to be a demonstration, to distract American troops from the main British attack on Washington under General Robert Ross. Fort Washington was located on the Maryland shore, about below Washington. It was the only fortification on the Potomac River. Although it mounted twelve or fifteen guns (later increased) which commanded the river below its position, the American Brigadier General William H. Winder, commanding the military district around Washington, feared that a determined naval force could nevertheless blast its way past the fort. It ...
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War Of 1812
The War of 1812 (18 June 1812 – 17 February 1815) was fought by the United States of America and its indigenous allies against the United Kingdom and its allies in British North America, with limited participation by Spain in Florida. It began when the United States declared war on 18 June 1812 and, although peace terms were agreed upon in the December 1814 Treaty of Ghent, did not officially end until the peace treaty was ratified by Congress on 17 February 1815. Tensions originated in long-standing differences over territorial expansion in North America and British support for Native American tribes who opposed US colonial settlement in the Northwest Territory. These escalated in 1807 after the Royal Navy began enforcing tighter restrictions on American trade with France and press-ganged men they claimed as British subjects, even those with American citizenship certificates. Opinion in the US was split on how to respond, and although majorities in both the House and ...
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12th Infantry Regiment (United States)
The 12th Infantry Regiment is a unit of the United States Army. The 12th Infantry has fought in seven wars from the Civil War to the Global War on Terrorism and has been awarded 19 Presidential Unit Citations, five Valorous Unit Awards, a Joint Meritorious Unit Award, two citations in the Order of the Day of the Belgian Army, Nine Republic of Vietnam Crosses of Gallantry, the Republic of Vietnam Civil Action Honor Medal Third Class, a Meritorious Unit Commendation, and the Belgian Fourragere. History Civil War Less than a month after the first shots of the Civil War were fired at Fort Sumter in South Carolina, the 12th Infantry Regiment was constituted 3 May 1861 in the Regular Army as the 1st Battalion, 12th Infantry. It was organized 20 October 1861 at Fort Hamilton in New York. The battalion saw extensive combat during the Civil War, participating in twelve campaigns with the Army of the Potomac. During the Peninsula Campaign, the 12th Infantry distinguished itself in ...
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Alexander Cochrane
Admiral of the Blue Sir Alexander Inglis Cochrane (born Alexander Forrester Cochrane; 23 April 1758 – 26 January 1832) was a senior Royal Navy commander during the Napoleonic Wars and achieved the rank of admiral. He had previously captained HMS ''Ajax'' in Alexandria, Egypt during the Egyptian operation of 1801. Cochrane was knighted into the Order of the Bath for his services in 1806. In 1814 he became vice admiral and commander-in-chief of the North American Station, led the naval forces during the attacks on Washington and New Orleans, and was promoted to admiral in 1819 and became commander-in-chief of the Plymouth naval base. Naval career Alexander Inglis Cochrane was a younger son of the Scottish peer Thomas Cochrane, the eighth Earl of Dundonald, and his second wife, Jane Stuart. He joined the Royal Navy as a boy and served with British naval forces in North America. He served during the American War of Independence. Cochrane also participated in the Egyptian ...
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Washington Navy Yard
The Washington Navy Yard (WNY) is the former shipyard and ordnance plant of the United States Navy in Southeast Washington, D.C. It is the oldest shore establishment of the U.S. Navy. The Yard currently serves as a ceremonial and administrative center for the U.S. Navy, home to the Chief of Naval Operations, and is headquarters for the Naval Sea Systems Command, Naval Reactors, Naval Facilities Engineering Systems Command, Naval History and Heritage Command, the National Museum of the United States Navy, the U.S. Navy Judge Advocate General's Corps, Marine Corps Institute, the United States Navy Band, and other more classified facilities. In 1998, the yard was listed as a Superfund site due to environmental contamination. History The history of the yard can be divided into its military history and cultural and scientific history. Military The land was purchased under an Act of Congress on July 23, 1799. The Washington Navy Yard was established on October 2, 1799, ...
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Sir George Cockburn, 10th Baronet
Admiral of the Fleet (Royal Navy), Admiral of the Fleet Sir George Cockburn, 10th Baronet, (22 April 1772 – 19 August 1853) was a British Royal Navy officer. As a captain (Royal Navy), captain he was present at the Battle of Cape St Vincent (1797), Battle of Cape St Vincent in February 1797 during the French Revolutionary Wars and commanded the naval support at the Invasion of Martinique (1809), reduction of Martinique in February 1809 during the Napoleonic Wars. He also directed the capture and Burning of Washington on 24 August 1814 as an advisor to Major General Robert Ross (British Army officer), Robert Ross during the War of 1812. He went on to be First Sea Lord, First Naval Lord and in that capacity sought to improve the standards of gunnery in the fleet, forming a HMS Excellent (shore establishment), gunnery school at Portsmouth; later he ensured that the Navy had the latest steam and screw technology and put emphasis on the ability to manage seamen without the need to r ...
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Court Martial
A court-martial or court martial (plural ''courts-martial'' or ''courts martial'', as "martial" is a postpositive adjective) is a military court or a trial conducted in such a court. A court-martial is empowered to determine the guilt of members of the armed forces subject to military law, and, if the defendant is found guilty, to decide upon punishment. In addition, courts-martial may be used to try prisoners of war for war crimes. The Geneva Conventions require that POWs who are on trial for war crimes be subject to the same procedures as would be the holding military's own forces. Finally, courts-martial can be convened for other purposes, such as dealing with violations of martial law, and can involve civilian defendants. Most navies have a standard court-martial which convenes whenever a ship is lost; this does not presume that the captain is suspected of wrongdoing, but merely that the circumstances surrounding the loss of the ship be made part of the official record. ...
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House Arrest
In justice and law, house arrest (also called home confinement, home detention, or, in modern times, electronic monitoring) is a measure by which a person is confined by the authorities to their residence. Travel is usually restricted, if allowed at all. House arrest is an alternative to being in a prison while awaiting trial or after sentencing. While house arrest can be applied to criminal cases when prison does not seem an appropriate measure, the term is often applied to the use of house confinement as a measure of repression by authoritarian governments against political dissidents. In these cases, the person under house arrest often does not have access to any means of communication with people outside of the home; if electronic communication is allowed, conversations may be monitored. History Judges have imposed sentences of home confinement, as an alternative to prison, as far back as the 17th century. Galileo was confined to his home following his infamous trial ...
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Kettle Bottom Shoals
A kettle, sometimes called a tea kettle or teakettle, is a type of pot specialized for boiling water, commonly with a ''lid'', ''spout'', and ''handle'', or a small electric kitchen appliance of similar shape that functions in a self-contained manner. Kettles can be heated either by placing on a stove, or by their own internal electric heating element in the appliance versions. As indicated by its name, the kettle was and is often used as teaware to brew tea or prepare a tisane. Some very modern versions do more than just boil water, and also make the tea and keep it warm. Etymology The word ''kettle'' originates from Old Norse ''ketill'' "cauldron". The Old English spelling was ''cetel'' with initial ''che-'' ʃlike 'cherry', Middle English (and dialectal) was ''chetel'', both come (together with German ''Kessel'' "cauldron") ultimately from Germanic ''*katilaz'', that was borrowed from Latin ''catillus'', diminutive form of ''catinus'' "deep vessel for serving or cooking f ...
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HMS Erebus (1807)
HMS ''Erebus'' was originally built as a Royal Navy fireship, but served as a sloop and was re-rated as such in March 1808. She served in the Baltic during the Gunboat and Anglo-Russian Wars, where in 1809 she was briefly converted to a fireship, and then served in the War of 1812. In 1814 she was converted to a rocket vessel to fire Congreve rockets. While serving off America, ''Erebus'' participated in the sack of Alexandria, Virginia, and launched the rockets that bombarded Fort McHenry in Baltimore on 13 September 1814. In March 1815, off Georgia, she fired the second-to-the-last-shot of the war. She was laid up in 1816 and sold for breaking up in 1819. Baltic Commander William Autridge commissioned ''Erebus'' in January 1808, and she sailed for the Baltic in April. In July, Vice-Admiral Sir James Saumarez and his British fleet were blockading Rager Vik (Ragerswik or Rogerswick or Russian: Baltiyskiy) where the Russian fleet was sheltering after the British 74-gun thir ...
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HMS Starr (1805)
HMS ''Starr'' was a 16-gun ''Merlin''-class ship sloop of the Royal Navy. She was built by Tanner, of Dartmouth, to plans by Sir William Rule, and launched in July 1805. As a sloop she served on convoy duty, though she also participated in the invasion of Martinique in early 1809. She was rebuilt as a bomb vessel in May 1812 and renamed ''Meteor''. As ''Meteor'' she served in the Baltic and then off the United States, participating in attacks on up the Potomac and on Baltimore and New Orleans. She was sold in October 1816. Napoleonic Wars She was commissioned in October 1805 under Commander John Simpson. On 3 January 1806 she recaptured the ships ''Argo'' and ''Adventure'', and shared in the recapture of the ''Good Intent''. ''Starr'' was off Villa de Conde, Portugal, when she intercepted the vessels, which had been taken from a convoy that had been escorting from Newfoundland to Portugal, and both of which had been carrying cargoes of fish. ''Starr'' sighted ''Good Inten ...
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HMS Aetna (1803)
HMS ''Aetna'' (or HMS ''Etna'') was the mercantile ''Success'' launched in 1803 at Littlehampton. The Admiralty purchased here in 1803 to convert her to a Royal Navy bomb vessel. ''Aetna'' participated in the second Battle of Copenhagen in 1807 and the Battle of the Basque Roads in 1809. Later, she participated in the attack on Fort McHenry in the Battle of Baltimore and the bombardment of Fort Washington, Maryland in 1814, during the War of 1812. The Navy sold her in 1816 and she returned to mercantile service under her original name. She sailed to Calcutta, to Rio de Janeiro, and more locally until she was wrecked in 1823. Mercantile origins ''Aetna'' was the merchant vessel ''Success'', launched at Arundel, equally Littlehampton, at the mouth of the River Arun. She appeared in the ''Register of Shipping'' (''RS'') in the volume for 1804 with W.Birch, master, J. Coney, owner, and trade London. The Admiralty purchased ''Success'' in 1803. Naval career ''Aetna'' was commissi ...
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