The war of 1812 was called the "Second War for American Independence" when it went well, and "Mr Madison's War" when it wasn't. Most of the time, it wasn't. In one particular black chapter of the war, the entire northwest (Ohio down to somewhere in Kentucky) was being held by one General William Henry Harrison and a fringe of frontier riflemen. Fighting Indians on his left and the British on his right, his situation looked pretty hopeless. To top it off, the general in charge of the north central United States turned over key forts and sold out his troops to the enemy! Fleets of British ships controlled Lakes Erie and Ontario, and the scene was set for our country to be rolled up like a rug.
The navy had no ships on the lakes, and there were no roads, but somehow sailors packed cannon, powder, anchors, fittings, and other ship building essentials and lugged them through the forests to the lakes. They built ships right under the noses of the British, and beat them! On Lake Erie, Captain Perry reported the famous line: "WE HAVE MET THE ENEMY AND THEY ARE OURS". And on Lake Ontario, or rather next to it, something even more peculiar happened.
While Captain Chauncey and his fleet were out beating the British, some of His Majesties professional soldiers managed to sneak across the lake and surprise the American port. The Americans were routed and all was lost until a nearby farmer stepped up and took command of the militia. Bellowing "thee's" and "thou's", he rallied the 400 retreating troops and repelled the British attack. You see, Jacob Brown was no ordinary man. He was a Quaker!
These people could have sat back and thrown up their hands and given up, but they didn't. Some were in life and death struggles, some were trained, some were specialists in other things. But they came together and got the job done. If they could do it in such a time of despair, surely we can work together in this time of good!
Randy