Journal Entry #1

June 18, 1812

There have been many other colonists spreading the word that we arent really free and
that Great Britain is trying to prevent our western expansion. People arent too happy to hear
about that and now people are saying that we should officially break free from Great Britain and
declare war upon them. I dont think that is a good idea because we are already in the middle of a
war with France and it would not help if we added Great Britain to the cause of all this. Thats
not even the beginning of it. We also have Native American problems like the Shawnee tribe. If
we do declare war on Great Britain, then cant we just wait until we are finished with France and
the Native Americans. I am a soldier and it doesnt take a George Washington to figure out that
we cannot win a war against the British. The major problem that we have is that Great Britain
has the worlds best navy. Now that looks better than a half developed country trying to fight the
worlds greatest superpowers. But apparently I have no say in this and all the pressure everyone
has been giving James Madison. Well looks like he finally cracked under pressure because he
declared war on Great Britain. Looks like we are going to be under the British rule again. As a
soldier I can say that since we got are selfs into this war we may not stand a chance against the
greatest navy ever but we well put up a fight and we will not go down easy. The positive side to
all this is the few people that we rely on to win this war are pretty darn good at what they do.
Andrew Jackson, James Madison, Jacob Brown and a few other people will also agree with my
statement that we will not go down easy and we will put up a heck of a fight. I just hope James
Madison knows what he just got us into and I have faith in him that he made the right choice. I
do not know where I will be assigned, but I pray its with a very good leader and soldiers that

actually know how to fight, because we are going to need a lot of people that can do that. I mean
after all we are going against France, Great Britain, and Native Americans.

Journal Entry #2
September 18, 1814
I havent been able to write in my journal for a while because of all the conflict we are
going through. I thought that by now we would be back under British rule, but we are doing quite
well against the British. One major thing that has happened and has really devastated us was
when we heard the news that the White House had been burned to the ground by British forces.
They didnt just burn down the White House but also Washingtons capital too which is Olympia.
When the rest of my group heard about this news we all got furious. We heard that the British
where moving forward into our position. Fort McHenry was the Britishs next target and thats
where we are moving to ask I speak. If we can defeat the British here, then we can push them
back and turn the table to help us. I never thought we would get this far, especially against a
country like Great Britain. Another thing that came out of the burning of the capital and the
White House is that the battle before that happened the war chief of the Shawnee tribe,
Tecumseh, died in the Battle of Thames River. So now all that we have to worry about is the
British because since Tecumseh died the Native Americans have stopped and Tecumsehs
Confederacy has been destroyed, it does seem like the odds are now in our favor but this battle at
Fort McHenry will definitely tell us whether we will succeed lose like we are expected to.
Hopefully I will be able to write again in this journal, but if I am not able to then whoever is
reading this just know that I died a proud man because I died fighting for my country and there is
no better way to go than that. This war has yet to be won but lets see if my men and I can
change that. We are almost at Fort McHenry and this will be a tough battle, but I have a feeling
that we will win. I dont know how many British troops will be there but Im sure it is a lot

because it should take a lot to take down our capital and the White House. Its been 2 years since
this battle has started and it need to end now. This battle will change the fate of America.

Journal Entry #3
January 10th, 1815
Good news!!! We won the battle at Fort McHenry, but the British have not yet surrender
that I know of. They seem to be as stubborn as us. They dont want to give up and they
definitely arent going down without a fight. But I definitely expect more from the country with
the worlds best navy. But a couple days ago Pirate Jean Lafitte warned us about a big British
attack in New Orleans. He said that the whole point of this invasion by the British was to
separate Louisiana from the United States. When the British arrived all the British could see was
all the militiamen that had been placed there. You should have seen the look on those lobsterbacks faces, they thought it was going to be an easy fight but it turns out it wasnt. The best part
was that we had Andrew Jackson as our major general. The odds of the battle being won was
very small. It was 7,500 British troops under Sir Edward Pakenhams control against 4,500
militiamen under Andrew Jacksons control. But those 4,500 militiamen went just ordinary
troops. They were expert marksmen from Kentucky and Tennessee. And Ill tell you what those
marksmen know how to destroy the front lines. The poor lobster-backs didnt even stand a
chance. The British werent able to get past our defense. And here is the crazy part! In under
thirty minutes the British started to retreat! When the British had fully retreated we had found out
that General Pakenham was dead along with 2,000 British casualties. Meanwhile we only had
eight dead and 13 wounded. But the battle was somewhat pointless because we found out later
that day that the British had already signed the Treaty of Ghent. This may have had no effect on
the war but Andrew Jackson was recognized for his actions. Im just glad we didnt have a lot of
casualties because the battle didnt add an effect on the war. Hopefully this battle at New

Orleans will be the last battle between the United States and Great Britain. I was one of the lucky
men the survived the war of 1812 and Im proud I served my country.