excerpt from the book..THE MENTOR . DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY MARCH 15, 1916Our defeat of Great Britain in the Revolutionary War was conclusive;though "we" in that case included France, without whose aid the patriotsmust have been defeated. It is not so easy to discover a fund ofmilitary glory in the War of 1812.That was a great war year. Within a few days of the declaration of warby the United States against Great Britain, Napoleon's Grand Army ofover 400,000 men crossed the Niemen into Russia. Six months later 4,000of that host recrossed, pursued by the Russians; and probably not morethan 100,000 of the whole number ever saw their homes again. In 1813,while the Americans were fighting on the ocean and on Lake Erie,Napoleon was driven out of Germany. A few weeks before the Battle ofLundy's Lane, Napoleon was compelled to abdicate. Soon after the news ofthe Peace of Ghent with Great Britain was received in the United States,in 1815, Napoleon broke loose from Elba; and a few months later he wasagain a prisoner and sent to St. Helena.