War of 1812
The
War of 1812 (in Britain, the
American War of 1812 to 1815), was fought between the
United States and the
British Empire from 1812 to 1815, on land in
North America and at sea. The United States, which declared war and attacked British colonies and shipping first, ended the war without gaining any territory, its invasion of British North America having been defeated by British,
Canadian and
aboriginal forces; however, the British ceased the sovereignty violations, to which the United States had objected, two days prior to the start of the war.
Some histories refer to this war as the "War of 1812â€"14", using the date of the peace treaty as the ending date of the war.
The war formally began on
June 18 1812, with the U.S.
declaration of war. Both sides launched invasions. The British captured
Detroit after turning back an American invasion of
Upper Canada in the summer of 1812. The United States defeated combined British and Indian armies with victories at the
Battle of the Thames, in October 1813, and the
Battle of Horseshoe Bend, in March 1814, but, by this time, Britain had successfully concluded the
Napoleonic wars and the British were finally able to divert more resources to North America. British invasions of American territory resulted in the
burning of Washington, D.C. and the capture of part of the
District of Maine, but the British counteroffensive was turned back at
Lake Champlain,
Baltimore, and
New Orleans. The
Treaty of Ghent (ratified in 1815) restored the
status quo ante bellum between the combatants.
On the Great Lakes border, more than half of the British forces were made up of
Canadian militia. Additionally, many
North American Indian peoples (today most often called
Native Americans in the United States and
First Nations or
Aboriginals in Canada) had their own reasons for fighting alongside either the British or the Americans. In the
Northwest Territory, the War was, in a sense, a continuation of
Tecumseh's War after his defeat in the
Battle of Tippecanoe in 1811.
The United States had grievances against Great Britain for sovereignty violations in three areas:
# Britain's refusal to surrender western forts promised to the United States in the 1783
Treaty of Paris, which ended the
American War of Independence, together with allegations that Britain was arming North American Indians fighting against Americans on the western frontier;# The boarding of American ships by the
Royal Navy on the high seas to search for alleged
deserters, and the forced
impressment of American and naturalized American citizens as British
seamen; and # The
trade embargos by
France and
Britain during the
Napoleonic Wars, which resulted in the seizure of hundreds of American merchant ships.
In 1795, the
Jay Treaty with Britain and the
Treaty of Greenville with the North American Indians temporarily resolved the conflict on the Northwestern frontier. The
Monroe-Pinkney Treaty of 1806 dealt only with trade, not impressment, and was not ratified by the
United States Congress. Continuing embargoes and the
Chesapeake-Leopard Affair of 1807 (which resulted in the deaths of three American seamen under attack by a British ship) further aggravated tensions between the two countries. However, in this incident, the British captain far exceeded his orders and, as a result, the Royal Navy was much more careful about impressing Americans afterwards. Before war was declared, the Royal Navy had effectively ceased this practice.
In 1811, in the
United States House of Representatives, a loose political faction called the
War Hawks, under the leadership of speaker
Henry Clay, began agitating for a declaration of war against Britain, both as a response to real grievances and as an opportunity to acquire the British colonies. After a speech by President
James Madison to Congress, on June 18, 1812, Congress voted to declare war. By that time, Great Britain had already revoked the restrictions on American commerce, but the news of this arrived in the U.S. only after war was declared.
Some historians, such as Robin Reilly, have argued that the declaration of war on Great Britain by the United States was a victory for French diplomacy, forcing Britain to divert its attention and some resources from continental matters. From a British perspective, there was certainly no reason to commence a war with the United States. Britain had been engaged in a desperate war with
France since 1793 and depended on American supplies to maintain
Wellington's army in
Spain. Any combat in North America would merely be a distraction from the main effort to contain and defeat the French in Europe.
Although the outbreak of the war had been preceded by years of angry diplomatic dispute, neither side was ready for war when it came. The
United Kingdom was still hard pressed by the
Napoleonic Wars, and was compelled to retain the greater part of its forces and its best crews in European waters. The British
Commander-in-Chief in North America was instructed to limit offensive action in order to limit the expansion of any conflict that would require the movement of forces from Britain, Europe or from other British colonies. The total number of British regular troops present in
Canada in July 1812 was officially stated to be 5,004, supported by some Canadian militia. During the war, successes against Napoleon left the United Kingdom free to send an overwhelming force of ships to American waters.
The
United States was also unready to prosecute a war. In 1812, the regular army consisted of fewer than 12,000 men. Congress authorized the expansion of the army to 35,000 men, but the service was voluntary and unpopular, and there was an almost total lack of trained and experienced officers. The
militia, called in to aid the regulars, objected to serving outside their home states, were not amenable to discipline and, as a rule, performed poorly in the presence of the enemy when outside of their home state.
American prosecution of the War also suffered from its unpopularity, especially in those states bordering Canada, most of which had a pro-British stance, and all of which worried about the invasion of Canada being reversed across their own territories. As the U.S. Government required the assistance of the state governments in providing militia, its military efforts were hindered by the failure of New England states to do so. The War followed a threat of secession by New England; Britain immediately exploited these divisions, blockading only southern ports for much of the War.
The war was conducted in four theatres of operations:#The Atlantic Ocean#The Great Lakes and the Canadian frontier#The coast of the United States#The Southern States
Operations on the oceans
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USS Constitution defeats HMS Guerriere; a significant event during the war |
Britain had long been the world's pre-eminent naval power, confirmed by its victory over the French and the Spanish at the
Battle of Trafalgar in 1805. In 1812, the Royal Navy had ninety-seven vessels in American waters. Of these, eleven were
ships of the line and thirty-four were
frigates. By contrast, the
United States Navy, which was not yet twenty years old, had only twenty-two commissioned vessels, the largest of which were frigates, though a number of the American ships were 44-gun frigates and very heavily built compared to the usual British 38-gun frigates.
The strategy of the British was to protect their own merchant shipping to and from Canada, and enforce a
blockade of major American ports to restrict American trade. Due to their numerical inferiority, the Americans aimed to cause disruption through
hit-and-run tactics, such as the capture of
prizes and only engaging Royal Navy vessels under favourable circumstances.
The Americans experienced much early success. On
June 21 1812, three days after the formal declaration of war, two small squadrons left
New York. The ships included the frigate
USS President and the
sloop USS Hornet under Commodore
John Rodgers (who had general command), and the frigates
USS United States and
USS Congress, with the
brig USS Argus under Captain
Stephen Decatur. Two days later,
President and
Hornet gave chase to the British frigate
HMS Belvidera.
Belvidera eventually escaped to
Halifax, after discarding all unnecessary cargo overboard.
President and
Hornet returned to
Boston, Massachusetts by
August 31.
Meanwhile,
USS Constitution, commanded by Captain
Isaac Hull, sailed from the
Chesapeake, on
July 12. On
July 17, a British squadron gave chase.
Constitution evaded her pursuers after two days. After briefly calling at
Boston to replenish water, on
August 19 Constitution engaged the British frigate
HMS Guerriere. After a thirty five-minute battle,
Guerriere had been dismasted and captured, and was later burned. Hull returned to Boston with news of this significant victory.
On
October 25, the USS
United States, commanded by Captain Decatur, captured the British frigate
HMS Macedonian, which he carried back to port. At the close of the month,
Constitution sailed south under the command of Captain
William Bainbridge. On
December 29, off
Bahia,
Brazil, she met the British frigate
HMS Java, which was carrying General Hislop, the governor of
Bombay, to
India. After a battle lasting three hours,
Java struck her colours and was burned after being judged unsalvageable.
In January 1813, the American frigate
USS Essex, under the command of Captain
David Porter, sailed into the Pacific in an attempt to harass British shipping. Many British whaling ships carried
letters of marque allowing them to prey on American whalers, nearly destroying the industry.
Essex challenged this practice. She inflicted an estimated $3,000,000 damage on British interests before she was captured off
Valparaiso,
Chile, by the British frigate
HMS Phoebe and the sloop
HMS Cherub on
March 28 1814.
In all of these actions, except the one in which
Essex was taken, the Americans had the advantage of greater size and heavier guns. However, the United States Navy's sloops and brigs won several decisive victories over Royal Navy vessels of approximately equal strength. In most of these, the British officers and crews fought with great courage but their gunnery and ship-handling was inferior to that of the Americans. The most probable cause was that the American ships had experienced and well-drilled crews, while the over-stretched Royal Navy had to accept a lower standard for its crews, and economies and constant sea duties interfered with their training and exercises.
The capture of three British frigates was a blow to the British and stimulated them to greater exertions. More vessels were deployed on the American seaboard and the blockade tightened. On
June 1 1813 off
Boston Harbor, the frigate
USS Chesapeake, commanded by Captain
James Lawrence, was captured by the British frigate
HMS Shannon under Captain Sir
Philip Broke. During the action, Lawrence was mortally wounded and as he was carried below, he famously cried, "Don't give up the ship!". This action somewhat offset the blows to the
Royal Navy's morale caused by earlier disasters.
The blockade of American ports had tightened to the extent that the United States ships found it increasingly difficult to sail without meeting forces of superior strength. In addition to the blockade, the British Admiralty had instituted a new policy in which Royal Navy ships could only engage their American counterparts if in squadron strength or by ship-of-the-line. An example of this was the engagement between USS
President and a heavy British squadron in January 1815. The British engaged with four ships versus one: HMS
Endymion (40), HMS
Majestic (56), HMS
Pomone (38), and HMS
Tenedos (18). After a desperate battle, the
President was captured. Because of the utilization of heavy squadrons and the blockade, the Royal Navy was able to transport British Army troops to American shores, paving the way for their attack on Washington D.C. which became known as the
burning of Washington, D.C. in 1814.
The operations of American
privateers were extensive. They continued until the close of the war and were only partially affected by the strict enforcement of
convoy by the Royal Navy. An example of the audacity of the American cruisers was the capture of the American sloop
USS Argus at
St David's Head in
Wales by the more heavily armed British sloop
HMS Pelican, on
August 14 1813.
The War was probably the last gasp of British privateering, as the practice was coming to be seen as politically inexpedient, and of diminishing value in maintaining its naval supremacy. By the middle of the century, the legality of the practice under international law was being rapidly dismantled (Britain would not authorise privateers during the
Crimean War, and signed the
Declaration of Paris in April, 1856). Before the War, the U.S. had successfully pressed claims for damages in British courts against British citizens who had been involved in privateering against American vessels. Despite this, British privateers were also very active against American shipping during the War, although the Royal Navy's successful blockade of American harbours limited their opportunities by keeping much of the US merchant fleet in port.
Operations on the Great Lakes and Canadian border
Invasions of Upper and Lower Canada, 1812
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Major General Sir Isaac Brock skillfully repulsed an American invasion of Upper Canada, but his death was a severe loss for the British cause. |
While they had expected little from their tiny navy, the American people had assumed that Canada could be easily overrun. Former U.S. President
Thomas Jefferson dismissively referred to the conquest of Canada as "a matter of marching." However, in the opening stages of the conflict, British military experience (coupled with hardened Canadian militia) prevailed over inexperienced American commanders.
Geography dictated that operations would take place in the West principally around Lake Erie, near the Niagara River between Lake Erie and Lake Ontario, and near Saint Lawrence River area and Lake Champlain. This would be the focus of the three pronged attacks by the Americans in 1812.
Although cutting the St. Lawrence River through the capture of Montreal and Quebec would make Britain's hold in North America unsustainable, the U.S. began operations first in the Western frontier due to the general popularity there of a war with the British.
The British scored an important early success, when their detachment at Saint Joseph Island on
Lake Huron learned of the declaration of war before the nearby American garrison at the important trading post at
Mackinac Island in
Michigan did. A scratch force landed on the island on
July 17 1812, and mounted a gun overlooking the
fort. The Americans, taken by surprise, surrendered. This early victory encouraged the Indians, and large numbers of them moved to help the British at
Amherstburg.
The American Brigadier General
William Hull invaded Canada on
July 12 1812 from
Detroit, with an army mainly composed of militiamen, but turned back after his supply lines were threatened in the Battles of
Brownstown and
Monguagon. British Major General
Isaac Brock sent false correspondence and allowed it to be captured by the Americans, saying they required only 5,000 Native warriors to capture Detroit. Hull was deathly afraid of North American Indians and some tribes' practice of
scalping. Hull
surrendered at Detroit on
August 16.
Brock promptly transferred himself to the eastern end of
Lake Erie, where the American General
Stephen Van Rensselaer was attempting a second invasion. Brock fell in action on
October 13 at the
Battle of Queenston Heights, where the Americans suffered a crushing defeat. While the professionalism of the American forces would improve by the war's end, British leadership suffered after Brock's death.
A final attempt in 1812 by the American General
Henry Dearborn to advance north from
Lake Champlain failed ingloriously when his militia refused to advance beyond American territory. In contrast to the American militia, the Canadian militia performed well.
French-Canadians, who found the anti-Catholic stance of most of the United States troublesome, and
United Empire Loyalists, who had fought for the Crown during the
American Revolutionary War strongly opposed the American invasion. However, a large segment of Upper Canada's population were recent settlers from the United States who had no obvious loyalties to the Crown. Nevertheless, American forces found, to their dismay, that most of the colony took up arms against them.
American Northwest, 1813
After Hull's surrender, General
William Henry Harrison was given command of the American Army of the Northwest. He set out to retake Detroit, which was now defended by Colonel
Henry Procter in conjunction with
Tecumseh. A detachment of Harrison's army was defeated at
Frenchtown along the
River Raisin on
January 22 1813. Procter left the prisoners in custody of a few North American Indians, who then proceeded to execute perhaps as many as sixty American prisoners, an event which became known as the "River Raisin Massacre." The defeat ended Harrison's campaign against Detroit, and the phrase "Remember the River Raisin!" became a rallying cry for the Americans.
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Oliver Hazard Perry's message to William Henry Harrison after the Battle of Lake Erie began with what would become one of the most famous sentences in American military history: "We have met the enemy and they are ours." This 1865 painting by William H. Powell shows Perry transferring to a different ship during the battle. |
In May 1813, Procter and Tecumseh set
siege to Fort Meigs in northern
Ohio. American reinforcements arriving during the siege were defeated by the Indians, but the fort held out. The Indians eventually began to disperse, forcing Procter and Tecumseh to return to Canada. A second offensive against Fort Meigs also failed in July. In an attempt to improve Indian morale, Procter and Tecumseh attempted to
storm Fort Stephenson, a small American post on the Sandusky River, only to be repulsed with serious losses, marking the end of the Ohio campaign.
On
Lake Erie, the American commander Captain
Oliver Hazard Perry fought the
Battle of Lake Erie on
September 10 1813. His decisive victory ensured American control of the lake, improved American morale after a series of defeats, and compelled the British to fall back from Detroit. This paved the way for General Harrison to launch another invasion of Upper Canada, which culminated in the U.S. victory at the
Battle of the Thames on
October 5 1813, in which Tecumseh was killed. Tecumseh's death effectively ended the North American Indian alliance with the British in the Detroit region. The Americans would control Detroit and Amherstburg for the duration of the war.
The Niagara Frontier, 1813
Because of the difficulties of land communications, control of the
Great Lakes and the
Saint Lawrence River corridor was crucial, and so both sides spent the winter of 1812-13 building ships. The Americans, who had far greater shipbuilding facilities than the British, nevertheless had not taken advantage of this before the war and had fallen behind. By September 1814, the British would launch the largest ship built during the war,
HMS St. Lawrence.
On
April 27 1813, American forces
attacked and burned York (now called
Toronto), the capital of Upper Canada, including the Parliament Buildings. However,
Kingston was strategically more valuable, and vital to British supply and communications along the St Lawrence. Without control of Kingston, the American navy could not effectively control
Lake Ontario or sever the British supply line from
Lower Canada.
On
May 27 1813, an American amphibious force from Lake Ontario assaulted
Fort George on the northern end of the
River Niagara and captured it without serious losses. The retreating British forces were not pursued, however, until they had largely escaped and organized a counter-offensive against the advancing Americans at the
Battle of Stoney Creek on
June 5. On
June 24, with the help of advance warning by
Loyalist Laura Secord, another American force was forced to surrender by a much smaller British and Indian force at the
Battle of Beaver Dams, marking the end of the American offensive into Upper Canada.
The burning by the American General McClure, on
December 10 1813, of Newark (now
Niagara-on-the-Lake), led to British retaliation and similar destruction at
Buffalo, on
December 30 1813.
On Lake Ontario, Sir
James Lucas Yeo took command on
May 15 1813 and created a more mobile though less powerful force than the Americans under
Isaac Chauncey. An early attack on
Sackett's Harbour by Yeo and Governor General Sir
George Prevost was repulsed. Three naval engagements in August and September led to no decisive result.
By 1814, Yeo had constructed the HMS
St Lawrence, a
first-rate ship of the line of 112 guns which gave him superiority, and the British became masters of Lake Ontario.
The St. Lawrence and Lower Canada
The Americans made little attempt to bar the Saint Lawrence to British traffic at the point where it was also the frontier between Canada and the United States. British supplies and reinforcements were able to move to Upper Canada with little difficulty.
Early in 1813, there was a series of raids and counter-raids between
Prescott in Upper Canada and
Ogdensburg on the American side of the river. On
February 21, Sir George Prevost passed through Prescott with reinforcements for Upper Canada. When he left the next day, the reinforcements
attacked and looted Ogdensburg. For the rest of the year, Ogdensburg had no American garrison and the British freely obtained goods there, while many residents of Ogdensburg commenced visits and trade with Prescott. More importantly, the British victory removed the last American regular troops from the Upper St Lawrence frontier and helped secure British communications with Montreal.
Late in 1813, after much argument, the Americans made two thrusts against
Montreal. The plan eventually agreed upon was for Major-General
Wade Hampton to march north from
Lake Champlain and join with a force under General
James Wilkinson which would sail from
Sacket's Harbour on Lake Ontario and descend the Saint Lawrence.
Hampton was delayed by bad roads and supply problems and an intense dislike of Wilkinson, which limited his desire to support his plan. On
October 25, his 4,000-strong force was defeated at the
Chateauguay River by
Charles de Salaberry's force of less than 500 French-Canadian
Voltigeurs and
Mohawks.
Wilkinson's force of 8,000 sailed on
October 17 but was also held up by bad weather. After learning that Hampton had been checked, Wilkinson heard that a British force under Captain
William Mulcaster and Lieutenant-Colonel
Joseph Morrison was pursuing him and by
November 10 he was forced to land near
Morrisburg, about 150 kilometers from Montreal. On
November 11, Wilkinson's rearguard, numbering 2,500, attacked Morrison's force of 800 at
Crysler's Farm and was repulsed with heavy losses. After learning that Hampton was unable to renew his advance, Wilkinson retreated to the U.S. and settled into winter quarters. He resigned his command after a failed attack on a British outpost at
Lacolle Mills.
Niagara Campaign, Battle of Lake Champlain, 1814
By the middle of 1814, American generals, including Major Generals
Jacob Brown and
Winfield Scott, had drastically improved the fighting abilities and discipline of the army. Their renewed attack on the Niagara peninsula quickly captured
Fort Erie. Winfield Scott then gained a decisive victory over an equal British force at the
Battle of Chippewa on
July 5. An attempt to advance further ended with a hard-fought drawn battle at
Lundy's Lane on
July 25. The Americans withdrew but withstood a prolonged
Siege of Fort Erie. The British raised the siege but lack of provisions forced the Americans to retreat across the Niagara.
Meanwhile, following the abdication of Napoleon, British troops began arriving in North America. Less than half were veterans of the Peninsula and the remainder came from garrisons. Along with the troops came instructions for a number of offensives against the United States. British strategy was changing and like the Americans, the British were seeking advantages for the peace negotiations in
Ghent. Governor-General Sir
George Prevost was instructed to launch an offensive into the United States. However, his invasion was repulsed by the naval
Battle of Lake Champlain in Plattsburgh Bay on
September 11 1814 which gave the Americans control of
Lake Champlain.
Theodore Roosevelt later termed it the greatest naval battle of the war.
The West, 1814
Little of note took place on
Lake Huron in 1813, but the American victory on Lake Erie isolated the British there. During the winter, a Canadian party under Lieutenant Colonel
Robert McDouall established a new supply line from York to
Nottawasaga Bay on
Georgian Bay. When he arrived at
Fort Mackinac with supplies and reinforcements, he sent an expedition to recapture the trading post of
Prairie du Chien in the far West.
In 1814, the Americans sent a force of five vessels from
Detroit to recapture Mackinac. A mixed force of regulars and volunteers from the militia landed on the island on
July 4. They did not attempt to achieve surprise and at the brief
Battle of Mackinac Island, they were ambushed by Indians and forced to re-embark.
The Americans discovered the new base at Nottawasaga Bay and on
August 13, destroyed its fortifications and a schooner found there. They then returned to Detroit, leaving two gunboats to blockade Michilimackinac. On
September 4, these gunboats were taken unawares and captured by enemy boarding parties from canoes and small boats. This
Engagement on Lake Huron left Mackinac under British control.
The British garrison at Prairie du Chien also fought off an attack by Major
Zachary Taylor. In this distant theatre, the British retained the upper hand till the end of the war, due mainly to the allegiance of several Indian tribes they supplied with arms and gifts.
The American coast
When the war began, the British naval forces had some difficulty in blockading the entire U.S. coast, and they were also preoccupied in their pursuit of American privateers. The British government, having need of American foodstuffs for its army in
Spain, benefitted from the willingness of the New Englanders to trade with them so no blockade of
New England was at first attempted. The
Delaware River and
Chesapeake Bay were declared in a state of blockade on
December 26 1812. This was extended to the coast south of
Narragansett by November 1813 and to all the American coast on
May 31 1814. In the meantime, much illicit trade was carried on by collusive captures arranged between American traders and British officers. American ships were fraudulently transferred to neutral flags. Eventually the United States government was driven to issue orders to stop illicit trading. This only helped to further ruin the commerce of the country. The overpowering strength of the British fleet enabled it to occupy the Chesapeake and to attack and destroy numerous docks and harbors.
One of the most forgotten battles on the American coast was the occupation of the
District of Maine. From the probing of the British Colony of
New Brunswick, Maine was an important conquest by the British. The border between New Brunswick and the United States had never been adequately settled after the American Revolution. A military victory in Maine by the British could represent a large gain in territory for New Brunswick, but more immediately assured communication with
Lower Canada via the
St John River and the
Halifax Road. The war would not settle this border dispute and when Maine became a state in 1820, would lead to a border crisis, called the
Aroostook War. The border between Maine and New Brunswick would not be settled until 1842 and the "
Webster-Ashburton Treaty".
In September 1814, Sir
John Coape Sherbrooke led a British Army into eastern Maine and was successful in capturing Castine, Hamden, Bangor, and Machias. The Americans were given the option of swearing alegiance to the King or quitting the country. The vast majority swore allegiance and were even permitted to keep their firearms. This is the only large tract of territory held by either side at the conclusion of the war and was given back to the United States by the
Treaty of Ghent. The British did not leave Maine until April 1815, at which time they took large sums of money retained from duties in occupied Maine, back to
Nova Scotia. This money, called the "Castine Fund", was used in the establishment of
Dalhousie University, in
Halifax, Nova Scotia, and is a lasting reminder of the War of 1812.
The Chesapeake campaign and "The Star-Spangled Banner"
The strategic location of the
Chesapeake Bay near the nation's capital made it a prime target for the British. Starting in March 1813, a squadron under Rear Admiral
George Cockburn started a blockade of the bay and raided towns along the bay from
Norfolk to
Havre de Grace. On
July 4 1813 Joshua Barney, an
American Revolutionary War naval hero, convinced the Navy Department to build the
Chesapeake Bay Flotilla, a squadron of twenty barges to defend the Chesapeake Bay. Launched in April 1814, the squadron was quickly cornered in the
Patuxent River and while successful in harassing the
Royal Navy they were powerless to stop the British campaign that ultimately lead to the "
Burning of Washington".
This expedition, led by Admiral Sir
George Cockburn and General
Robert Ross, was carried out between
August 19 and
August 29 1814. On the 24th, the inexperienced American militia, who had collected at
Bladensburg,
Maryland to protect the capital, were thrashed, opening the route to Washington. While
Dolley Madison saved valuables from the White House, President
James Madison was forced to flee to Virginia; American morale was reduced to an all-time low. The British viewed their actions as retaliation for the Americans'
burning of York (later renamed
Toronto) in 1813, although there are suggestions that the burning was in retaliation of destructive American raids into other parts of
Upper Canada.
Having destroyed Washington's public buildings, including the
White House and the Treasury, the British army next moved to capture
Baltimore, a busy port and a key base for American privateers. The subsequent
Battle of Baltimore began with a British landing at North Point, but the attack was repulsed and General Ross was killed. The British also attempted to attack Baltimore by sea on
September 13 but were unable to reduce
Fort McHenry, at the entrance to Baltimore Harbor. The defense of the fort inspired the American lawyer
Francis Scott Key to write a poem that would eventually supply the lyrics to "
The Star-Spangled Banner", the national anthem of the United States.
The Creek War
In March of 1814, General
Andrew Jackson led a force of Tennessee militia,
Cherokee warriors, and U.S. regulars southward to attack the
Creek tribes, led by Chief
Menawa. While some of the Creeks had been British allies in the past, the fighting was related to control of Creek land in
Alabama rather than the British-American conflict. On
March 26, Jackson and General
John Coffee fought the Creeks at
Horseshoe Bend, killing 800 of 1,000 Creeks at a cost of 49 killed and 154 wounded of approximately 2,000 American and Cherokee forces. Jackson pursued the surviving Creeks to
Wetumpka, near present-day
Montgomery, Alabama, where they surrendered.
As one historian wrote:
We speak of the War of 1812, but in truth there were two wars. The war between the Americans and the British ended with the treaty of Ghent. The war between the Big Knives [American frontiersmen] and the Indians began at Tippecanoe, and arguably did not run its course until the last Red Sticks were defeated in the Florida swamps in 1818.The Treaty of Ghent and the Battle of New Orleans
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"New Orleans" 1815 by Herbert Morton Stoops |
Jackson's forces moved to
New Orleans,
Louisiana in November 1814. Between December 1814 and January 1815, he defended the city against a force led by Major-General
Sir Edward Pakenham, who was killed in an assault on
January 8 1815. The
Battle of New Orleans was hailed as a great victory in the United States, making Andrew Jackson a national hero, eventually propelling him to the
presidency.
Meanwhile, diplomats in
Ghent,
Belgium signed the
Treaty of Ghent on
December 24 1814, ending the war. News of the treaty had not reached New Orleans. On
February 17 1815, President Madison signed the American ratification of the Treaty of Ghent and the treaty was proclaimed the following day.
By the terms of the treaty, all land captured by either side was returned to the previous owner, the Americans received fishing rights in the Gulf of St. Lawrence and all outstanding debts and property taken was to be returned or paid for. Later that year,
John Quincy Adams complained that British naval commanders had violated the terms of the treaty by not returning American slaves captured during the war, since the British did not recognize slaves as property [
1].
During the blockade of the Chesapeake, in fact, Rear Admiral Cockburn had been instructed to encourage American slaves to defect to the Crown. Royal Marine units were raised from these escaped slaves on occupied Chesapeake islands, and fought for the Crown. Some men, and dependents were taken to the
naval base in Bermuda, from which the blockade was orchestrated, where they were employed about the dockyard, and where a further Marine unit was raised from their numbers as a dockyard guard. Orders were eventually given to send these Marines to the British Army to be re-enlisted into West Indian Regiments. Many resisted this change of service and were given land to settle in the West Indies. Many of those who agreed to transfer to the Army found themselves back in the USA, taking part in the Louisiana campaign.
The Treaty of Ghent established the
status quo ante bellum; there were no territorial concessions made by either side. Relations between the United States and Great Britain remained peaceful, if not entirely tranquil, throughout the nineteenth century, and the two countries became close allies in the twentieth century. Border adjustments between the United States and British North America were made in the
Treaty of 1818. (A border dispute between the state of
Maine and the province of
New Brunswick was settled in the bloodless
Aroostook War in the 1830s.) The issue of impressing American seamen (who had been born British subjects) was made moot when the Royal Navy stopped impressment after the defeat of Napoleon.
This war was also the first and only time since the American Revolution that the US capital was invaded and occupied, although a Confederate raid reached the District of Columbia in 1864.
Effects on the United States
The United States did gain a measure of international respect for managing to battle the British Empire to a standstill. The morale of the citizens was high because they had fought one of the great military powers of the world and managed to survive, which increased feelings of nationalism; the war has often been called the "Second War of Independence." The war also contributed to the demise of the
Federalist Party, which had opposed the war.
A significant military development was the increased emphasis by General
Winfield Scott on professionalism in the U.S. Army officer corps and in particular, the training of officers at the
United States Military Academy ("West Point"). This new professionalism would become apparent during the
Mexican-American War (1846–1848). After the
Texas Annexation by the U.S., the term
Manifest Destiny became a widely used political term for those who propagated American expansionism and military pride and despite not having taken any territory during the war, this fact kept political debate alive in the decades to follow about expansion into
British North America.
In a related development, the
Army Corps of Engineers (which at that time controlled West Point), began building fortifications around
New Orleans, as a response to the British attack on the city during the war. This effort then grew into numerous civil river works, especially in the 1840s and 1850s under General
Pierre Beauregard. The Corps remains the authority over Mississippi (and other) river works.
The War of 1812 had a dramatic effect on the manufacturing capabilities of the United States. The British blockade of the American coast created a shortage of
cotton cloth in the United States, leading to the creation of a cotton-manufacturing industry, beginning at
Waltham, Massachusetts by
Francis Cabot Lowell. The war also spurred on construction of the
Erie Canal project, which was built to promote commercial links yet was also perceived as having military uses should the need ever arise.
The Southwestern campaign led to increasing contact and conflict with the
Seminole tribes in
Florida. The subsequent
Seminole Wars eventually led to American
annexation of
Florida in 1819.
Effects on British North America
While the War of 1812 had little direct effect on Great Britain, it was highly significant in Britain's North American colonies, where it had been a matter of national survival. The war united the French-speaking and English-speaking colonies against a common enemy and in some pride of being largely successful in repulsing the more numerous invaders, giving many inhabitants a sense of nationhood as well as a sense of loyalty to Britain. It is estimated that, at the war's beginning, perhaps one third of the inhabitants of Upper Canada were American-born. Some were
United Empire Loyalists, but others had simply come for cheap land and had little or no loyalty to the British Crown. However, many felt the common threat of invasion. For instance,
Laura Secord was an American immigrant to Upper Canada, but she did not hesitate to make her arduous trek to warn the British forces of a pending attack by her former country.
It is also important to point out that, when the United States attacked British North America, most of the British forces were engaged in the Napoleonic Wars. This meant that British North America had minimal troops to defend against the United States, who had a much larger (though poorly trained) military force. For most of the war, British North America stood alone against a much stronger American force. Reinforcements from Britain did not arrive until 1814, the final year of the war. The repelling of the stronger American force helped to build unity in British North America. This was most notable between the French and English divisions in Upper and Lower Canada.
This nationalistic sentiment also caused a great deal of suspicion of such American ideas as
democracy and
republicanism, which would frustrate political reform in Upper and Lower Canada until the
Rebellions of 1837. However, the War of 1812 also started the process that ultimately led to
Canadian Confederation in 1867. Canadian historian
Pierre Berton has written that, although later events, such as the rebellions and the
Fenian raids of the 1860s, were more important, Canada would have become part of the United States if the War of 1812 had not taken place, because more and more American settlers would have arrived and Canadian nationalism would not have developed.
A related (and historically suspect) idea from the war was that Canadian militiamen had performed admirably while the British officers were largely ineffective.
Jack Granatstein has termed this the "Militia Myth", and he feels it has had a deep effect on Canadian military thinking, which placed more stress on a citizens' militia than on a professional standing army. (The U.S. suffered from a similar Frontiersman Myth at the start of the war, believing falsely that individual initiative and marksmanship could be effective against a well disciplined British battle line). Granatstein argues that the militia was not particularly effective in the war and that any British military success was the work of British regular forces and the result of British dominion over the sea. (
Isaac Brock, for example, was reluctant to trust the militia with muskets.) The U.S. army won most of its land victories late in the war, only after it trained its troops to fight in a disciplined manner, like that of the British and other European armies.
During the war, British officers constantly worried that the Americans would block the
St. Lawrence River, which is narrow and formed a large part of the Canadian border with the U.S. If the U.S. military had done so, there would have been no British supply route for
Upper Canada, where most of the land battles took place, and British forces would likely have had to withdraw or surrender all western British territory within a few months. British officers' dispatches after the war exhibit astonishment that the Americans never took such a simple step, but the British were not willing to count on the enemy repeating the mistake; as a result, Britain commissioned the
Rideau Canal, an expensive project connecting
Kingston, on
Lake Ontario, to the
Ottawa River, providing an alternate supply route that bypassed the part of the St. Lawrence River along the U.S. border. The settlement at the northeastern end of the canal, where it joins the Ottawa River, later became the city of
Ottawa, Canada's fourth-largest city and its capital (placed inland to protect it from U.S. invasionâ€"known then as the 'defensible backcountry'). Because population away from the St. Lawrence shores was negligible, the British, in the years following the war, took great lengths to ensure that backcountry settlement was increased. They settled soldiers and initiated assisted-immigration schemes, offering free land to farmers, mostly tenants of estates in the south of Ireland. The canal project was not completed until 1832 and was never used for its intended purpose.
The Americans had drafted a
plan of campaign in late 1814 for severing the Upper St. Lawrence River during 1815; but American towns along the river depended heavily on British trade for their livelihood and might have attempted to impede any such plan.
Effects on Great Britain
In contrast to Canada, the War is scarcely remembered in Britain. Chiefly, this is because it was overshadowed by the dramatic events of the contemporary Napoleonic wars —
1815, the year of the Treaty of Ghent, was also the year of the
Battle of Waterloo — and because Britain neither gained nor lost by the peace settlement.
The Royal Navy, however, was acutely conscious that the United States Navy had won a majority of the single-ship duels during the War. Also, American privateers and commerce raiders had captured large numbers of British merchant ships, sending insurance rates up and embarrassing the
Admiralty. On the other hand, the Royal Navy had been able to deploy overwhelming strength to American waters, annihilating rather than denting American maritime trade. The Royal Navy made some changes to its practices in construction and gunnery, but did not change its methods of manning.
The British Army also regarded the conflict in Canada and America as a sideshow, with a relatively minuscule commitment of the army's strength. Only one regiment, the 41st (later the
Welch Regiment, subsequently part of the
Royal Regiment of Wales and now the
Royal Welsh) was awarded a battle honour (Detroit) from the war. The army was content with the lessons of the
Peninsular War. Over all, the British army had performed well even when significantly outnumbered, and the few reverses in Canada and at New Orleans could be conveniently attributed to poor leadership or insuperable physical obstacles. Due to the success and preeminence of the
Duke of Wellington, the British army was to make no change to its systems of recruitment, discipline and awards of commissions for more than half a century.
*
Chronology of the War of 1812*
War of 1812 Campaigns*
Opposition to the War of 1812*
Creek War*
Tecumseh's War*
Sixty Years' War*
Royal Naval Dockyard, BermudaOverviews
* Benn, Carl;
The War of 1812 (2003)
* Berton, Pierre;
Flames Across the Border: 1813-1814 (1981). ISBN 0771012357 (hardcover)
* Berton, Pierre;
The Invasion of Canada: 1812-1813 (1980). ISBN 0771012446 (hardcover)
* Borneman, Walter R.
1812: The War That Forged a Nation (2004), popular
* Heidler, Donald & J, (eds)
Encyclopedia of the War of 1812 (1997)
* Hickey, Donald.
The War of 1812: A Forgotten Conflict. ISBN 0252016130 (hardcover); ISBN 0252060598 (1990 paperback).
Causes and diplomacy
* Brown, Roger H.
The Republic in Peril: 1812 1964.
* Goodman, Warren H. "The Origins of the War of 1812: A Survey of Changing Interpretations,"
Mississippi Valley Historical Review, 28 (September, 1941), 171-86. in JSTOR
* Hacker, Louis M. "Western Land Hunger and the War of 1812,"
Mississippi Valley Historical Review, X (March, 1924), 365-95. in JSTOR
* Donald R. Hickey, "The War of 1812" in Julian E. Zelizer, ed. The American Congress (2004), pp 93-111
* Horsman, Reginald.
The Causes of the War of 1812. 1962. ISBN 0374939608 (1972 printing); ISBN 0498040879 (2000 printing).
* Perkins, Bradford.
Prologue to War: England and the United States, 1805-1812. 1961.
* Pratt, Julius W.
Expansionists of 1812. (1925)
* Pratt, Julius W. "Western War Aims in the War of 1812,"
Mississippi Valley Historical Review, 12 (June, 1925), 36-50. in JSTOR
* Risjord, Norman K. "1812: Conservatives, War Hawks, and the Nation's Honor,"
William and Mary Quarterly, 3d ser., 18 (April, 1961), 196-210. in JSTOR
* Marshall Smelser.
The Democratic Republic 1801-1815 (1968).
* Rutland, Robert A.
The Presidency of James Madison (1990)
* Stagg, John C. A.
Mr. Madison's War: Politics, Diplomacy, and Warfare in the Early American republic, 1783-1830. (1983).
**
Stagg, J. C. A. "James Madison and the 'Malcontents': The Political Origins of the War of 1812," William and Mary Quarterly (Oct., 1976) **
J.C.A. Stagg, "James Madison and the Coercion of Great Britain: Canada, the West Indies, and the War of 1812," in The William and Mary Quarterly(Jan., 1981) in JSTOR
* Taylor, George Rogers, ed.
The War of 1812: Past Justifications and Present Interpretations (1963), selections from historians and primary sources
Military and naval
* Berube, Claude G. and Rodgaard, John R.,
A Call to the Sea: Captain Charles Stewart of the USS Constitution. (2005)
* Elting, John R.
Amateurs, To Arms! A Military History of the War of 1812. 1991. ISBN 0945575084 (hardcover); ISBN 0306806533 (1995 Da Capo Press paperback).
* Hickey, Donald.
The War of 1812: A Forgotten Conflict. 1989. ISBN 0252016130 (hardcover); ISBN 0252060598 (1990 paperback).
* Mahan, Alfred Thayer.
The influence of sea power upon the War of 1812 2 vols (1905)
* Owsley, Frank.
Struggle for the Gulf borderlands: the Creek War and the battle of New Orleans 1812-1815 (1981)
* Quimby, R.,
The US Army in the War of 1812: an operational and command study 2 vols (1997)
* Remini, Robert V.
The Battle of New Orleans: Andrew Jackson and America's First Military Victory (1999)
*
Roosevelt, Theodore.
eText at
Project Gutenberg.
The Naval War of 1812 (1882). Da Capo Press, 1999. ISBN 0306809109 (paperback)
* Skelton, William. 'High army leadership in the era of the War of 1812: the making and remaking of the officer corps,'
William and Mary Quarterly 51 (1994) in JSTOR
* Stagg, J., 'Enlisted men in the United States Army 1812-1815,' William and Mary Quarterly 43 (1986) in JSTOR
* Stagg, J., 'Between Black Rock and a hard place: Peter B. Porter's plan for an American invasion of Canada in 1812,' Journal of the Early Republic 19 (1999) in JSTOR
* Stagg, J., 'Soldiers in peace and war: comparative perspectives on the recruitment of the United States Army, 1802â€"1815,' William and Mary Quarterly 57 (2000) in JSTOR
Canadian-US-Indian
* Allen, Robert S. "His Majesty's Indian Allies: Native Peoples, the British Crown, and the War of 1812" in
The Michigan Historical Review, 14:2 (Fall 1988), pp 1-24.
* Benn, Carl.
The Iroquois in the War of 1812. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1998. ISBN 0802043216 (hardcover); ISBN 0802081452 (paperback).
*
Berton, Pierre.
The Invasion of Canada. Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 1980. ISBN 0316092169.
*———.
Flames Across the Border. Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 1981. ISBN 0316092177
* Burt, Alfred L.
The United States, Great Britain, and British North America from the Revolution to the Establishment of Peace after the War of 1812. (1940)
* Calloway, C.
Crown and calumet: British-Indian relations, 1783-1815 (1987)
* Carter-Edwards, Dennis. "The War of 1812 Along the Detroit Frontier: A Canadian Perspective", in
The Michigan Historical Review, 13:2 (Fall 1987), pp. 25-50.
*———. "On to Canada: Manifest Destiny and United States Strategy in the War of 1812" in
The Michigan Historical Review, 13:2 (Fall 1987), pp. 1-24.
* Collins, G.
Guidebook to the historic sites of the War of 1812 (1998)
* Sugden, John.
Tecumseh: A Life. New York: Holt, 1997. ISBN 0805041389 (hardcover); ISBN 0805061215 (1999 paperback).
* Turner, W.
British generals in the War of 1812: high command in the Canadas (1999)
* Zaslow, Morris (ed),
The Defended Border. (1964). ISBN 0770512429
Primary sources
* Dudley, W., (ed.)
The Naval War of 1812: a Documentary History , 4 vols (1985-)
* Gellner, J. (ed),
Recollections of the War of 1812: Three Eyewitnesses'Accounts (1964)
* Graves, D. (ed),
Merry hearts make light days: the War of 1812 journal of Lieutenant John Le Couteur, 104th Foot (1993)
* Graves, D. (ed),
Soldiers of 1814: American Enlisted Men's Memoirs of the Niagara Campaign (1996)
* Klinck, C. & Talman, J. (eds),
The Journal of Major John Norton, 1816 (1970)
* Wood, W. (ed),
Select British Documents of the Canadian War of 1812, 4 vols (1920-28)
*New York State Military Museum:
Black Americans in the US Military from the American Revolution to the Korean War: The War of 1812*
Galafilm.com article about similarities between the War of 1812 and the Vietnam War*
The War of 1812 Website*
Casebook: The War of 1812*
Treaty of Ghent and related resources on the War of 1812 at the Library of Congress*
Galafilm's War of 1812 website*
Key Events of the War of 1812*
%230050138&linkText=1*
War of 1812 from the James Madison Center of the James Madison University
*
militaryheritage.com Large collection of articles*
Historycentral.com War of 1812*
CdnMilitary.ca's Origins of the Militia Myth*
Ontario Plaques â€" The War of 1812*
War of 1812 â€" online exhibit at the Archives of Ontario*
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