DOSSIN GREAT LAKES MUSEUM TO HOST SPECIAL WAR OF 1812 DISPLAY
DETROIT – The National Museum of the United States Navy is pleased to present its latest travelling mini-exhibit, War of 1812: A Nation Forged by War. The display commemorates the 200-year anniversary of the War of 1812, and will be featured at nearly 200 locations across the United States and Canada – including the Dossin Great Lakes Museum on Belle Isle, where it will open on Saturday, June 16. For visitors with smart phones, additional content is available by scanning the QR code on each panel.
Timed to open with the nationwide bicentennial celebrations, War of 1812: A Nation Forged by War, highlights the prominent role of the U.S. Navy, U.S. Marine Corps, and the U.S. Revenue Cutter Service in bringing Great Britain to the negotiating table and forcing European recognition of a truly independent United States. The display tells the stories of heroic U.S. Navy crews in battles on the oceans and Great Lakes, as well as the contributions of sailors in celebrated land battles from Canada to Louisiana.
The War of 1812 was fought between the United States and Great Britain from June 18, 1812 to February 18, 1815 and was sparked by conflicting maritime policies and competing western expansion along the United States-Canadian frontier. After two and a half years, the young American republic and the world's leading superpower found themselves in a stalemate and concluded a fair and equitable peace.
According to Dr. Edward Furgol, curator of the National Museum of the United States Navy, "The Navy played an essential role in preserving the strategic status quo that led to an unconditional peace with Britain in December 1814." The favorable outcome greatly elevated the international standing of the United States and boosted the self-confidence of the American people at a critical time in their history.
To learn more about the Navy's contributions to American history, visit the National Museum of the United States Navy located in the Washington Navy Yard, Washington, D.C. or visit them online at www.history.navy.mil/nmusn.
The Dossin Great Lakes Museum, located at 100 Strand Drive on Belle Isle, is open Saturdays and Sundays from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Admission is free at the Museum, however, donations are welcome. During the week, the Museum is open for group tours by advance reservation. Permanent exhibits include the Miss Pepsi 1950s championship hydroplane, a bow anchor from the S.S. Edmund Fitzgerald, the pilothouse from the Great Lakes freighter S.S. William Clay Ford, and one of the largest known collections of scale model ships in the world. New exhibits include Bells and Whistles, Flags and Flashes: Lost Languages of the Lakes and To Scale: Great Lakes Model Ship Builders.
For more information, call (313) 833-5538 or visit www.detroithistorical.org.
