Today the word “crisis” is so overused by the U.S. media that it has lost most of its impact. But for several days in mid-September 1814, the crisis was real, and the nation itself was on the brink. A British army was marching south down the Hudson Valley from Canada to cut off New England from the rest of the country while antiwar protesters were planning a meeting to secede from the union and join Canada. At the same time a British force was operating in the Chesapeake Bay.

A Maryland paper summed up the situation: “Horror! Horror! Horror!