With the success of the book Thomas Jefferson and the Tripoli Pirates, author Brian Kilmeade recently shared with Long Island Weekly his love of military history and events, and the shaping of the nation.
“I love forgotten stories and unknown stories about famous characters,” said Kilmeade. “In addition to the historical events surrounding the topics of my current book and George Washington’s Secret Six [2014], I would have to say two of my favorite historical events would be the War of 1812’s battles of Baltimore and New Orleans.
“The third historical event that I find interesting would be more current: the surge in Iraq and the way we were able to use the Sunnis’ awakening to fight for their own freedom. I think that’s America at its best, that we leave Iraq and do not take the oil shows we were there for the right reasons.”
Check out History Repeats Itself for more about Brian Kilmeade and his latest book.
War of 1812: Battle of Baltimore, 1814
With 1,000 dedicated American defenders manning the guns of Fort McHenry, and knowing that it would be folly to approach closer before the fort was reduced, the British fleet halts just out of range of Fort McHenry’s cannons. Then their bomb ketches and rocket ships began to barrage the fort with rockets, bombs and incendiaries. It was the sight of the American flag still flying at the end of this unsuccessful attack that prompted Francis Scott Key to write the words to The Star Spangled Banner. (Painting by Chris White; photo by Mike Fitzpatrick)
War of 1812: Battle of New Orleans, 1815
The Battle of New Orleans was the final battle of the War of 1812 (Jan. 8-18, 1815). American combatants, commanded by Major General Andrew Jackson, prevented the British Army, Royal Marines and a large Royal Navy fleet from seizing New Orleans as a strategic tool to end the war by using it as a starting point for an occupation of the vast territory the United States had acquired from the Louisiana Purchase.
Pictured: General Andrew Jackson stands on the parapet of his makeshift defenses as his troops repulse attacking Highlanders, as imagined by painter Edward Percy Moran in 1910.
Iraq War: Surge of 2007
In January 2007, President George W. Bush called for the increase of American troops in Iraq, in order to provide security to Baghdad and Al Anbar Province. Bush ordered the deployment of more than 20,000 soldiers into Iraq and sent the majority of them into Baghdad. He also extended the tours of most of the Army troops and some of the Marines who were in the Anbar Province area. The president described the overall objective as establishing a “…unified, democratic federal Iraq that can govern itself, defend itself, and sustain itself, and is an ally in the War on Terror.”
