17 Sep 2004 History Channel

I’m blogging while watching the History Channel’s documentary “First Invasion: The War of 1812.”

I thought I knew a good bit about that war but it turns out I missed learning about some good stuff, including more than one event helpful to Americans that was attributed to divine intervention (here’s one blogger’s take on a weather-related miracle, and a more disspassionate view of that same event), and some extremely impressive sacrifices by ordinary Americans to save the then-infant republic.

Although it isn’t one of the miracles, in the Battle of New Orleans, 2,000 British troops out of a force of 10,000 veterans were killed or wounded by a ragtag American force that suffered 8 dead and 13 wounded. That sounds pretty close to a miracle to me — at least, for our side.

I’ll never listen to the Star Spanged Banner the same way again.