The Dawn's Early Light

In the foreword, Lord writes of the event's significance in the nation's history as his reason for writing the book: "... the summer of 1814 found America threatened by national extinction, her people torn by dissension, her treasury empty, her economy in ruins, her coasts blockaded and defenseless ... Yet within eight months all had changed. America was again at peace, her people unified, her economy mending ... her position safe in the family of nations".^[1] He begins by examining British attitudes toward its erstwhile colony. Having just vanquished Napoleon, Britain was not disposed to suffer what it viewed as impertinence by the uncouth Americans. He quotes the London newspapers' contemptuous dismissal of U.S. President James Madison as "an ambitious madman", "liar", and "serpent".^[4] On the American side, he characterizes the complacency and dissension by the Federal government even as the looming presence of the British fleet in the Chesapeake Bay threatened the young nation's capital.

The book's narrative of the dramatic battlefield death of Maj. Gen. Robert Ross while leading the invaders at the Battle of North Point, and the effect on his soldiers in seeing their mortally wounded commander prostrate on the ground, has been cited by others writing about the battle and the significance of his loss to the British campaign.^[5] Earlier that day, Ross had boasted he would seize Baltimore by nightfall, saying, "I'll eat in Baltimore tonight — or in hell".^[6]

Time magazine cited the book's vivid account of the violent nighttime arrest of William Beanes, the hostage for whom Francis Scott Key was sent by President Madison to negotiate with his British captors:^[7] “a party of British horsemen rode up to Beanes’ front door, crashed into the house, and pulled the doctor out of bed".^[8] The Baltimore Sun cited Lord's book research in an article discussing the debate by historians about the flag Key saw waving over Fort McHenry's ramparts, or whether a flag could even be seen from his distance.^[9]

The Los Angeles Times called it "the definitive book about the burning of Washington during the War of 1812".^[10] In selecting the book for re-printing, the Johns Hopkins university press said, "Lord wrote with great force and feeling of the subsequent defense of Fort McHenry, the circumstances of Francis Scott Key's writing of 'The Star-Spangled Banner,' and the rebirth of a young country. Students consider this book to be one of the best short narratives of the Chesapeake campaign."^[11]

Another reviewer summarized the book by saying, "Lord gives readers a dramatic account of how a new sense of national identity emerged from the smoky haze of what Francis Scott Key so lyrically called 'the dawn's early light.'"^[12]