The Great Portsmouth Christmas Fires is available for $2.99 at Amazon.com, Apple iStore, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Smashwords, and other online retailers.The coastal city of Portsmouth, New Hampshire suffered three devastating urban fires in the early 1800s. Collectively, they are known as the Great Portsmouth Christmas Fires because each one flared during the Yuletide season.
The Great Parade Fire demolished the center of town on Christmas Night, December 26, 1802. The Great Bow Street Fire torched riverside warehouses and an historic chapel on Christmas Eve, December 24, 1806. The third and most catastrophic, known simply as The Great Portsmouth Fire, destroyed fifteen acres of the commercial center on the night of December 22-23, 1813.
'The Great Portsmouth Christmas Fires' identifies the sources of the three fires, describes the devastation they caused, and explains how civic measures to prevent future tragedies shaped modern Portsmouth. A map of the fires' destruction and a walking tour through the heart of the rebuilt areas are included.
Two hundred years later, the War of 1812 has been mostly forgotten. When the United States declared war on England, both sides were unprepared for battle. American troops outnumbered British forces by two-to-one; however, they were led by inexperienced politicians and aging Revolutionary War heroes. Two years later, young and bold U.S. commanders faced hardened veterans of the Napoleonic Wars in Europe.
War of 1812 Land Battles is a bicentennial review that summarizes the most significant battles and atrocities that occurred during the ground war:
War of 1812 Land Battles is a bicentennial review that summarizes the most significant battles and atrocities that occurred during the ground war:
- Canada invaded repeatedly by American armies
- Women and children butchered during the Fort Dearborn Massacre
- Three American forts captured without a fight
- Britain’s most talented general killed in the first significant battle
- Wounded prisoners slaughtered at the River Raisin Massacre
- York (Toronto) looted by American soldiers
- Fort Meigs defended by a hastily-built earthen wall
- Towns burned to the ground near Niagara River
- A young officer deemed a hero after the Battle of Fort Stephenson
- The great Shawnee Chief Tecumseh killed at the Battle of the Thames
- Soldiers clashed desperately for a hill overlooking Niagara Falls
- Washington torched by British troops
- Fort McHenry denied the Royal Navy’s attempt to capture Baltimore
- New Orleans saved by a surprise attack
- The Duke of Wellington’s brother-in-law killed by an American sharpshooter
- British veterans of the Napoleonic Wars defeated by a civilian army
As the last armed combat between the United States and England, the war is important to the history of America. Three future U. S. Presidents led men into combat; Francis Scott Key wrote a poem that became the American National Anthem while observing the British bombardment of Fort McHenry in Baltimore harbor; and for decades afterward, Americans celebrated their unlikely win at the Battle of New Orleans almost as joyously as the Fourth of July.
Portsmouth, New Hampshire is one of the oldest communities in the United States. Commercial fishermen established a base on the shores of the Piscataqua River only three years after the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock. The area soon became a center for shipbuilding and foreign trade, playing a prominent role in colonial America and the American Revolution.
The Historic Portsmouth, NH Walking Tour meanders down shady streets lined by stately mansions that reflect the wealth and influence of Portsmouth’s most successful forefathers. It passes rows of brick commercial buildings that mark the paths of three catastrophic infernos the city suffered during the early 1800s. With nine route maps and detailed directions, this tour navigates walkers past four buildings on the National Register of Historic Places, five National Historic Landmarks, and one American Treasure.
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