041 - The War of 1812 PDF

Essential Histories
The War of 1812
Carl Benn
Essential Histories
The War of 1812

Essential Histories
The War of 1812
Carl Benn
This hardback edition is published by Routledge. an impnnt of
the Taylor & Francis Group, by arrangement with Osprey
Publishing Ltd.. Oxford. England.
For information, please address the publisher

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First published 2002 under the title Essential Histones 41:

The War of 1812 by Osprey Publishing Ltd-
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© 2003 Osprey Publishing Ltd.
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Cataloging-in-Publication data is available from the

Library of Congress
ISBN 0-415-96839-9
Pnnted and bound in China on acid-free paper
03 04 05 06 07 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 l
Contents
Introduction 7
Chronology 8
Background to war
A small war with complex causes 11
Warring sides
Soldiers, sailors, and warriors 20
Outbreak
America sets its sights on Canada 26
The fighting
The war on land and at sea 30
Portrait of a soldier
Black Hawk's war 66
The world around war

Propaganda and protest 72
Portrait of a civilian
John Strachan's war 77
How the war ended

The peace of Christmas Eve 81
Conclusion and consequences
The world's longest undefended border? 86
Further reading 91
Index 94
James Madison. President of the United States 1809-17,
depicted in a period print. (Library of Congress)
Introduction
Off the coast of Virginia In 1807, during As relations degenerated towards war from
Great Britain's long war with France, the 1807 to 1812, many Americans argued that
captain of His Majesty's Ship Leopard ordered the United States ought to seize the British
the United States frigate Chesapeake to stop provinces that lay to the north of the
so he could search it for deserters from the republic in order to get even with Britain,
Royal Navy. The Americans refused. The to realize America's destiny, or even to profit
British let loose a broadside that killed or personally through territorial expansion.
wounded 21 men. After replying with a Others, such as President James Madison,
single artillery shot to assert the dignity of desired conquest because these colonies were
the flag, the Chesapeake surrendered, emerging as a competitor to the United
whereupon a boarding party seized four States in the export of North American
deserters on board the US vessel. This attack products. Annexation would benefit US
on a neutral warship outraged Americans, expansion elsewhere too: in the west against
insulted their sovereignty, and served as a the aboriginal tribes, who would be deprived
symbol of a wider crisis unfolding between of help from British officials and Canadian
Great Britain and the United States over free fur traders; and in the south, where
trade and sailors' rights. filibusters and expansionists hoped that the
Meanwhile, in the upper Mississippi subjugation of Canada would help them in
Valley and western Great Lakes region, a realizing their goal of taking the Floridas
Shawnee leader, Tecumseh, and his from Britain's new European ally, Spain.
prophet brother, Tenskwatawa, spoke words All these issues, along with a political crisis
of enraged bitterness and revitalization to that threatened Madison's hold on power,
the aboriginal peoples. Natives had lived came together in June 1812, when the United
through three decades of profound States declared war on Great Britain. A month
dislocation brought on by an expanding later, US soldiers invaded Canada, heralding
America that seemed to hold their rights the onslaught of three years of war that would
in contempt if they conflicted with those engulf the United States, Great Britain, its
of the land-hungry white population. colonies, and many of the aboriginal nations
Peaceful attempts to protect their interests of eastern North America.
had failed, and many tribal leaders now In the following pages we will examine
thought they had to go to war, as they the War of 1812 on land and sea, study the
had done in earlier times, to beat back still-debated causes and outcomes of the
the 'long knives' and secure a homeland for conflict, and explore some of the many
their children. interesting tales associated with the war.
Chronology
1793-1815 Anglo-French war, except briefly 15 August Engagement at Fort

in 1802-03, 1814-15 Dearborn
16 August Capture of Detroit
1806 November French Berlin Decree 19 August USS Constitution vs HMS
Guerriere
1807 January/November British Orders- 3-16 September Siege of Fort
in-Council Harrison
June HMS Leopard attacks 5-9 September Action at Fort
USS Chesapeake Madison
December French Milan Decree 5-12 September Siege of Fort Wayne
December US Embargo Act October RN begins blockading US
Atlantic coast
1809 March US Non-Intercourse Act 9 October Capture of HMS Caledonia,
HMS Detroit burned
1810 May US Macon's Bill Number Two 12-13 October Battle of Queenston
November French outwardly appear Heights
to repeal their decrees 18 October USS Wasp vs HMS Frolic
November US imposes non- 18 October Capture of USS Wasp and
intercourse with Britain Frolic by HMS Poictiers
25 October USS United States vs HMS
1811 May USS President vs HMS Little Belt Macedonian
September British Order-in-Council 19-20 November Action at Lacolle
restricts US-West Indian trade 22 November HMS Southampton vs
November Battle of Tippecanoe USS Vixen
November US Congress begins to 28 November Action at Red
debate war House/Frenchman's Creek
17-18 December Engagement at
1812 16 June British repeal Orders-in- Mississenewa
Council 29 December USS Constitution vs
18 June US declares war HMS Java
23 June First naval encounter: escape
of HMS Belvidera from a US squadron 1813 January RN blockades Chesapeake
12 July American army invades and Delaware rivers
Canada from Detroit 17 January Capture of USS Viper by
16 July Skirmish at the Canard HMS Narcissus
Bridge 22 January Battle of Frenchtown
17 July Capture of Fort Mackinac (Raisin River)
17 July Capture of USS Nautilus by a February RN blockade extended
Royal Navy (RN) squadron between the Delaware and
5 August Engagement at Brownstown Chesapeake
9 August Engagement at Maguaga February British begin raiding US
13 August Capture of HMS Alert by Atlantic coast
USS Essex 22 February Attack on Ogdensburg
Chronology 9
24 February USS Hornet vs HMS 10-11 December Americans evacuate

Peacock Fort George, burn Niagara and
March RN blockade extended north Queenston
to New York, south to Georgia 19 December Capture of Fort
27 April Amphibious assault at York Niagara
28 April-9 May First siege of Fort 25 December Capture of USS Vixen II
Meigs by HMS Belvidera
3 May Attack on Havre de Grace 29-30 December Capture of
25-27 May Amphibious assault at Lewiston, Tuscarora, Fort Schlosser,
Fort George Black Rock, Buffalo
29 May Amphibious assault at
Sackett's Harbour 1814 16-24 January Raids on Franklin
1 June HMS Shannon vs USS County, NY
Chesapeake 14 February Capture of HMS Pictou
3 June Capture of USS Growler and by USS Constitution
Eagle 5 March Engagement at Longwoods
6 June Battle of Stoney Creek 28 March HMS Phoebe and Cherub vs
7 June Action at Forty Mile Creek USS Essex and Essex Junior
June-October Blockade of US-held 30 March Action at Lacolle
Fort George 20 April Capture of USS Frolic by
22 June Attack on Craney Island HMS Orpheus
24 June Attack on Hampton 29 April USS Peacock vs HMS Epervier
24 June Battle of Beaver Dams May Napoleon abdicates; British
11 July Raid on Black Rock resources freed for the American war
21-28 July Second siege of Fort May RN blockade extended to New
Meigs England
29 July Raid at Burlington Beach 5-6 May Amphibious assault on
31 July Raid at Pittsburgh Oswego
31 July Raid on York 14-15 May Raid on Port Dover and
2 August Engagement at Fort other villages
Stephenson 30 May Engagement at Sandy Creek
6 August Occupation of Kent Island 2 June Occupation of Prairie du
7-10 August Engagement on Lake Chien
Ontario (Burlington Races) 22 June Capture of USS Rattlesnake
14 August HMS Pelican vs USS Argus by HMS Leander
3 September Americans burn and 28 June USS Wasp vs HMS Reindeer
abandon Fort Madison 3 July Capture of Fort Erie
5 September USS Enterprise vs HMS 5 July Battle of Chippawa
Boxer 11-12 July Occupation of Eastport
10 September Naval Battle of Put-in- 12 July Capture of USS Syren by
Bay (Lake Erie) HMS Medway
5 October Battle of Moraviantown 17-20 July Siege of Fort
(Thames) Shelby/Prairie du Chien
6 October Battle of Chateauguay 21 July Engagement at Campbell
November RN blockade extended Island (Rock Island)
from New York to Narragansett Bay 25 July Battle of Lundy's Lane
1-2 November Action at French Creek August Peace negotiations begin
6 November Bombardment at in Ghent
Prescott August-September Blockade of
11 November Battle of Crysler's Farm Fort Erie
10 Essential Histories • The War of 1812
2-3 August Battle of Conjocta Creek October-November Raids on the

4 August Battle of Mackinac Island Lake Erie region of Upper Canada
8 August Capture of USS Somers and 5 November Americans evacuate and
Ohio blow up Fort Erie, retire to Buffalo
14 August HMS Nancy destroyed December-January Hartford
14 August Assault on Fort Erie Convention
22 August Skirmish at Pig Point 13-14 December Engagement on
24 August Battle of Bladensburg; Lake Borgne
Washington occupied; navy yard 23-28 December Actions outside
burned New Orleans and battle of Villere
27-28 August Destruction of Fort Plantation
Washington; occupation of 24 December Treaty negotiations
Alexandria conclude in Ghent
August-September Actions against 27 December Prince Regent ratifies
British squadron on the Potomac Treaty of Ghent
1 September Occupation of Castine
and Belfast 1815 1 January Action outside New
3 September Battle of Hampden Orleans
3-6 September Capture of USS 8 January Battle of New Orleans
Tigress and Scorpion 9-12 January Siege of Fort St Philip
5 September Occupation of Bangor 14 January RN squadron vs USS
5-6 September Battle of Rock Island President
Rapids (Credit Island) 11 February Capture of Fort Bowyer
7 September USS Wasp vs HMS Avon 17 February US ratifies Treaty of
10-11 September Occupation of Ghent
Machias 20 February USS Constitution vs HMS
11 September Battle of Pittsburgh Levant and Cyane
12 September Battle of North Point 11 March Recapture of HMS Levant
13-14 September Bombardment of by an RN squadron
Fort McHenry 23 March USS Hornet vs HMS Penguin
15 September Engagement at Fort 24 May Skirmish at the Sink Hole
Bowyer 30 June USS Peacock vs East India
15 September Sortie from Fort Erie Company Ship Nautilus
19 October Engagement at
Cook's Mill 1815-16 Aboriginal tribes negotiate peace
Background to war
A small war with complex

causes
Sailors' rights a half-crown fee. Conversely, the British
released illegally impressed people when
The Chesapeake affair symbolized how grave their cases came to the attention of the
an issue 'impressment' was between Great authorities. Thus the issue was more
Britain and the United States. The Royal complex than is commonly believed, but
Navy (RN) ratio of seamen per ton of ship even with these ambiguities it nevertheless
was the smallest of the major maritime represented an affront to national
powers, and in its desperation to fill ships' sovereignty, and there can be no doubt that
companies in the war with France, it large numbers of Americans found
impressed men, a practice that amounted to themselves wrongly impressed.
little more than legalized kidnappings in When the Leopard fired on the Chesapeake
port towns and from merchant vessels. and removed sailors (whom the US
Naturally, many victims deserted; as did acknowledged were RN deserters), the
other sailors who had volunteered for the RN tensions that had been brewing over
but who later lamented their decision. Large impressment came to a head. Many
numbers of these men fled to foreign ships, Americans demanded a recourse to arms,
including American ones, for asylum and asserting that it was one thing to take people
employment. At the same time, American from merchantmen, but quite another to
and other foreign seamen, finding attack a man-of-war. The British, desperate to
themselves down on their luck in some port prevent hostilities, repudiated the action,
far from home, joined the Royal Navy; often punished the officers responsible, and
they also deserted. offered compensation. For his part, the
All of these individuals, as well as Britons American president, Thomas Jefferson,
who had emigrated to the United States, hoped to avoid a conflict, so the crisis
were liable under British law to being seized passed, although passions continued to run
for service in the navy. Consequently, the RN high because impressment from merchant
stopped merchant vessels to remove vessels did not stop.
deserters, and they often also took US At the same time, the United States Navy
citizens and other individuals who had no protected the country's neutrality whenever
history of prior service in the navy. it could. On one occasion, in May 1811, the
The number impressed is uncertain, but frigate USS President opened fire upon the
the United States issued a report stating that smaller RN sloop Little Belt, which had been
6,057 men had been taken from American mistaken for a larger warship that had
ships between 1803 and 1811. However, the impressed some Americans. The sloop lost
list was full of duplications, and did not 32 killed and wounded, to only one person
identify British-born sailors or individuals injured on the President. The US government
who had deserted from the RN after apologized but exonerated the captain of the
volunteering to serve. President. Nevertheless, the British did not
Some officials also undermined the pursue the matter because their attentions
credibility of American claims of injustice were focused on protecting themselves
by selling false citizenship documents, as against Napoleon Bonaparte's dream of
happened in London, where one US turning their island kingdom into a
diplomat provided certificates to deserters for French vassal state.
This 1818 print shows Castle Williams in New York, built restrictions, had fought the 'Quasi-War' of
immediately after the Chesapeake affair of 1807. Coastal 1797-1801 with the French, and had
forts often had less artillery than the attacking
seen hundreds of American ships seized by
squadrons, but shipboard guns were not as accurate
because of the movement of the vessels The earth or
both European powers. Nevertheless, Britain
masonry walls of shore batteries could absorb shot essentially turned a blind eye to American
better than wooden ships, and forts could return ships that violated a British policy denying
(ire with heated shot to set vessels on fire. neutral vessels the right to replace belligerent
(National Maritime Museum) ones in carrying goods between a
belligerent's ports, so long as the Americans
Free trade 'broke' the voyage by stopping in the US.
(This then turned their cargo into 'American'
In addition to 'sailors' rights,' problems exports.) In 1805, however, a British court
surrounding the issue of 'free trade' decided that this was illegal, yet the British
contributed to the American decision to go government decided not to enforce the
to war. As a neutral nation, the United States decision, choosing instead to blockade part
faced serious challenges in expanding its of the English Channel and North Sea but
trade and gaining access to the world's allow Americans to continue trading at
markets while France and Britain made non-blockaded ports.
war against each other. Despite all this, Napoleon responded to the British actions
US international trade actually grew with a series of decrees (beginning with the
dramatically before 1812, largely through Berlin Decree of 1806). They were designed
opportunities created by these very wars. to destroy the economy of the United
However, a watershed in the crisis occurred Kingdom by putting Britain under blockade
around 1805-07. Until that time, there had and ordering the seizure of merchantmen -
been problems enough: the United States including American ones - carrying goods
had suffered from existing British and French from the UK or its colonies. Bonaparte's
Background to war 13
blockade was a sham because he could not authority of the decrees and the orders,
enforce it, but the French did take large arguing that blockades only could be lawful
numbers of vessels entering their own ports if fully enforced, which not even the Royal
and those of other European countries under Navy could aspire to do. The Americans,
French control. Britain retaliated with a however, did not want war, so they passed
series of Orders-in-Council, beginning in various laws themselves to restrict or halt
1807. They declared all French and trade with Britain, France, and, at one point,
French-allied ports to be under blockade with the whole world. The thinking behind
(which the RN only partially enforced) and them was that European belligerents not
ordered neutral ships apprehended unless only needed North American products to
(and as a concession) they put into British fight their wars, supply their manufacturers,
ports to pay duties on their cargoes. The and feed their people at home and in the
objective was not so much to cut trade with West Indian colonies, but they also
France as to levy a tribute on merchants who depended upon US merchant ships to move
traded with Britain's enemies. Napoleon these goods - and European and colonial
responded with his Milan Decree in 1807, products - across the world's oceans. By
authorizing the confiscation of vessels that restricting or denying access to these goods
complied with the orders, and he later issued and services, the US would force the British
additional decrees to seize American ships and French to make the concessions America
that he claimed had violated either his own wanted, including further opening up the
or US trade regulations. world's markets.
Theoretically, both countries' policies The most famous of the US laws was the
were equally offensive to Americans, but Embargo of 1807, which fundamentally
Britain had the naval might to enforce them forbade trade with the entire world. It did
more effectively and hence became the focus not change London's views, but proved to
of outrage. The US government rejected the be devastating to the US economy and
Eastern North America June 1812
generated widespread opposition among Non-Intercourse Act. It prohibited trade with

Americans, who evaded its restrictions by France and Britain, reopened commerce with
smuggling goods across the porous border other countries, and promised to resume
with British North America and through relations with whichever belligerent changed
clandestine shipments from their its hurtful policies. This legislation also
own shores. proved to be ineffective, and in 1810, it was
In 1809, James Madison succeeded replaced by Macon's Bill Number Two, which
Thomas Jefferson in the White House and re-established trade with everyone but
replaced the Embargo with the milder allowed the president to impose non-
intercourse on one of the European powers if Expansionism

the other repealed its restrictions. Without
any serious ability to blockade Britain, In 1810-11, the British did not think they
Napoleon offered to repeal his decrees if could comply with American demands on
either the UK revoked the Orders-in-Council impressment or trade, believing that the
or the US imposed non-intercourse on Royal Navy was their best weapon in the
Britain. At the same time, however, he issued struggle against France and so had to be used
a new decree that saw France actually seize as effectively as possible. This required the
more American vessels in 1810 than the British to maintain its manpower levels.
Royal Navy did. Somehow the normally Furthermore, the impact of American
astute Madison either fell for the ploy or restrictions, although injurious, was not
went along with it, and in November, he sufficient to force concessions, and the
imposed non-intercourse on Britain. This British were strong enough that they could
delighted Bonaparte, who hoped for an look beyond the immediate wartime crisis to
Anglo-American confrontation to relieve the possibility that coercive measures might
some of the pressure the British were translate into an expansion of their own
exerting against him, but he continued to maritime economy, at the expense of their
take American vessels despite his promises. competitors, once peace had returned.
Furthermore, when faced with the Embargo
The USS President vs HMS Little Belt in a contemporary and similar actions, they sought out
print. (National Maritime Museum) alternative sources of goods, and naturally
of the United States, the British government

issued an Order-in-Council in 1811
excluding American salted fish from the
West Indian colonies and imposing heavy
duties on other US imports. This was a blow
to President Madison, who had assumed that
the West Indies simply could not be fed
without American fish, and thus it
demonstrated the weakness of his trade
policies as vehicles of coercion. At the same
time, it underscored how much of a rival the
British colonies had become, both in their
own right and as a conduit for American
smugglers seeking to avoid his restrictions.
Looking to the future, Madison worried
that the Great Lakes-St Lawrence system
through British territory even might turn out
to be the main route that American goods
from the northern interior would use to
travel to Europe. The president therefore
decided that those provinces had to be
conquered. This would deny Britain access to
North American produce entirely, except
under conditions dictated by the United
States (to say nothing of the impact
annexation would have on the overall
prosperity of the nation).
Many Americans supported expansion; for
some, the expulsion of Britain from the
continent represented a natural step in
achieving the republic's destiny.
US Dragoon officer, painted in 1816. The British and Congressman John Harper articulated this
Americans only had small numbers of cavalry during the idea in 1812, when he proclaimed that no
War of 1812, which they used mainly for scouting,
less an authority than 'the Author of Nature'
patrolling, and delivenng dispatches, with mounted
charges being rare. Cavalry normally wore more himself had 'marked our limits in the south,
elaborate uniforms than the other branches of the by the Gulf of Mexico [in what then was
military. (Houghton Library, Harvard University) Spanish territory]; and on the north, by the
regions of eternal frost.' For others, seizing
found that the British American colonies Canada would be a fitting punishment to
offered enormous potential to meet the avenge their problems on the high seas.
needs of the Empire. Through preferential Some leading expansionists wanted to
trade and other measures, London fostered profit personally from changing America's
that potential at a time when those colonies borders. Such were the aims of the
had developed to the point where they could entrepreneur and 'War Hawk' Peter B. Porter
produce valuable surpluses (spurred on in (who would command a brigade in the 1814
part by the vacuum created by American invasion of Canada). His views differed
trade restrictions). Between 1807 and 1811, somewhat from Madison's because he
for instance, Canadian exports of pine and thought both Upper and Lower Canada
fir timber rose 556 percent. To strengthen should be conquered but that only the upper
the British provinces further at the expense province should be absorbed into the
American union while the lower, largely American infantry. 1816, dressed in fundamental conformity
francophone, colony should be turned into to the tailoring requirement of the 1813 regulations, with
minor variations that were typical of the era. Not all
an independent state. This vision fitted with
infantry wore the officially approved blue uniform; when
his business interests: on the one hand, he scarcities of the correct cloth occurred, foot soldiers might
ran a carrying trade around Niagara Falls on find themselves sporting black, brown, or gray coats instead.
the New York side of the border, and (Houghton Library, Harvard University)
assumed that the conquest of Upper Canada
would allow him to knock out or replace his he was a promoter of a canal system - the
competitors on the British side of the river; future Erie Canal - to move goods from the
on the other hand, he did not want inland Great Lakes to the Hudson River and on to
trade to move down the St Lawrence because New York City. Having Lower Canada
become a separate country would discourage brothers, the prophet Tenskwatawa and the
the development of the St Lawrence route in political and military leader Tecumseh,
order to keep the transportation system began forming a pan-tribal confederacy.
within the United States. It also would (Not all natives in the Great Likes region
constrain entrepreneurs in Montreal and were hostile to the US; some embraced
Quebec (who might compete against his neutrality, and small numbers of others
interests) by ensuring their foreign status. allied themselves to the Americans.)
The British were implicated in the frontier
crisis because the Crown had formed an
The Old Northwest alliance with the majority of tribespeople
during the revolution and had supplied
As debates over impressment, trade, and the weapons and other assistance to them
destiny of British North America unfolded, through the war years of the 1780s and
other troubles on the western and southern 1790s. The British had hoped that native
frontiers helped to propel the United States successes would allow them to help the
to war. After the end of the American tribes renegotiate the Anglo-American border
Revolution, in 1783, the aboriginal peoples of 1783 to create an aboriginal homeland on
in the Old Northwest (modern Ohio, Upper Canada's south-western border, which,
Michigan, Indiana, and adjoining regions) aside from the benefits it would provide to
saw a flood of hostile settlers stream into the tribes, would make the province more
their territories. The newcomers not only defensible. At the same time, Canadian fur
wanted to take land, but the agricultural traders moved freely through the region,
economy they brought with them changed conducting their business and helping
the environment, as they cut down the maintain the British alliance.
forests, chased away the game, and rendered As the clouds of war formed in the years
existing native, subsistence patterns non before 1812, the British continued to
viable. The mainly Algonkian-speaking cultivate native anger, recognizing that they
peoples of the region (such as the Shawnees, would need aboriginal support to defend
Potawatomis, and Ottawas) responded to this Canada. Yet they also tried to defuse frontier
challenge by forming a confederacy to fight tensions in the hope of ultimately avoiding
for their homelands in the latter part of the hostilities altogether. Naturally, their
1780s; and at the battle of the Wabash in activities offended Americans, who were
1791, they inflicted the greatest defeat the convinced that the British were plotting
US ever suffered at the hands of the natives. against them. These fears were only
In 1794, however, the tribes lost the decisive compounded by the first of the new round
battle of Fallen Timbers, and in 1795, of battles for the frontier, when American
surrendered most of Ohio and other tracts of forces clashed with the warriors of the
land in return for a new boundary between western tribal confederacy at Tippecanoe in
themselves and the settlers. They hoped that November 1811, some seven months before
an established border would allow them to the outbreak of the Anglo-American war.
evolve independently of unwanted This new crisis quickly amplified the cries for
intrusions in their remaining territories, but the conquest of Canada, to isolate the tribes
the lines proved to be temporary. from foreign aid and ensure that their
Immediately after their creation, American opposition to American expansion could be
authorities began to acquire more land more easily suppressed.
through heavy-handed tactics, forcing the Far to the south, other expansionists
natives to continue moving west. In their thought that war against the natives and the
desperation, the tribespeople again thought conquest of Canada would help them
about uniting to defend their homes in tin- achieve their own regional territorial
Old Northwest. In 1805, two Shawnee ambitions. One of these 'prizes' was the land
of the Creek nation, mainly within the own party, Madison would not admit to
Mississippi Territory, where tensions between having made a mistake in accepting
natives and newcomers were similar to those Bonaparte's offer because this would have
in the Old Northwest. The Americans also confirmed the incompetence claimed by his
wanted to annex the Spanish territories of political adversaries. He found himself in a
East and West Florida. As it was, they had corner in which the nation's interests and
occupied much of West Florida before the his own may have come into some conflict.
outbreak of the War of 1812, but they With the realization that many leading
assumed that hostilities with Spain's ally, supporters within his party opposed the
Britain, would facilitate their designs on the continuation of ineffective trade policies, and
remainder of these colonies. in keeping with his developing annexationist
views, Madison called Congress into an early
session for November 1811 to prepare for war.
Madison's political problems His objectives were to unite his supporters and
his critics and increase the pressure on the
The American declaration of war was also British to relent. If they did not, he would
fuelled by James Madison's fears that he might provide the country with the resources it
lose the presidency in the election of late would need to fight.
1812. His perceived weakness in his handling In the end, Madison embarked on a
of government in general, and of international dubious war against Great Britain but skirted
affairs in particular, had generated widespread the challenges to his presidency, receiving
criticism and he faced the possibility of a his party's nomination in May 1812 and
challenger from within his own Democratic- being reelected the following November.
Republican party, as well as Federalist Party 'Free trade and sailor's rights' was not the
opponents. (The Federalists advocated better simple cry of justice that popular history
relations with Britain over France.) The would have us believe. It was fraught with its
president thought he needed to take a stronger own ambiguities and, perhaps more
stand against the British in order to regain his importantly, it was a cry co-opted to
party's confidence, which he assumed meant promote belligerency by annexationists who
he had to either negotiate a settlement on drove much of the government's thinking.
American terms or go to war. Combined with the native crisis on the
The negotiations that did take place were western border, and Madison's struggles to
somewhat confused. Essentially, the British preserve his presidency, this led, in June
argued that revoking the Orders-in-Council 1812, to war. It was a small war when
would be wrong because Napoleon's actions compared with the great conflict being
had been fraudulent and therefore the US fought over the European continent at the
decision to invoke non-intercourse against the time, but nevertheless it was an important
British made no sense, and even invited one in the histories of both North America
retaliation. Faced with factionalism within his and the British Empire.
Warring sides
Soldiers, sailors, and warriors
For a country contemplating war against the Naval forces

world's greatest naval power and against the
tribes of the Old Northwest, the United Between the two branches of fighting
States did not prepare well. In part, service, the army and the navy, the United
Americans were confident enough in their States Navy (USN) entered the conflict in
local superiority in North America to think better shape. With 7,250 sailors and marines
that they did not need to invest heavily in in 1812, it was composed mainly of
their military, especially since Britain was professional officers and experienced
not expected to be able to reinforce its volunteer seamen, many of whom had
colonies adequately because of the war in seen action against the Barbary pirates of
Europe. Many Americans also distrusted North Africa beginning in 1794 and in the
standing military forces, believing that a Quasi-War with France of 1797-1801. Yet the
powerful army and navy might pose a threat navy suffered from inadequate funding and
to their own liberty; and they also possessed woolly political thinking in the prewar years,
an unreasonable faith in the capabilities of and thus was not as strong as it might have
the citizen militia. President Madison was been by 1812. At the outbreak, the saltwater
typical of many in his discomfort with a fleet had 13 operational vessels. Three of
professional military and of his embrace of them were the famous 'super frigates,' United
the militia. Toward the end of the war, States, Constitution, and President; three were
however, he realized his mistake first-hand regular frigates; and, in descending order of
when he witnessed the defeat of a force size, there were five sloops and two brigs.
comprised largely of militia at the hands of There also were 165 coastal gunboats, 62 of
British regular soldiers outside of
Washington. 'I could never have believed
This plan from 1817 compares a British 38-gun frigate
that so great a difference existed between
(top), armed principally with 18-pounder guns (firing
regular troops and a militia force, if I had 8kg balls) to an American 44-gun 'super frigate,'
not witnessed the scenes of this day,' he equipped primarily with 24-pounders (firing 11 kg
remarked. shot). (National Maritime Museum)
Warring sides 21
which were in commission. Of the vessels in enough draft to sail up the Detroit River to
reserve, the Americans repaired two frigates the upper tireat Lakes. On Lake Champlain,
and cut down a third into a corvette in however, a single derelict schooner protected
1812-13. During the conflict, some captured British interests. At the outbreak of war, the
British ships entered USN service and other Americans only had two gunboats on Lake
vessels were built. Champlain, plus a brig on each of lakes
The Royal Navy was the world's most Ontario and Erie. During the conflict, the
powerful maritime force, following Horatio two powers augmented their freshwater
Nelson's victory at Trafalgar in 1805. forces by taking merchant schooners into
However, its size and successes masked naval service, capturing enemy craft, and
serious problems. Most notably, France building new vessels at such a ferocious pace
continued to pose a real threat at sea, which that historians have dubbed it 'The
would prevent the RN from deploying Shipbuilders' War.' For example, by August
significant resources to the western Atlantic 1813, the British had increased their strength
unless and until the European situation on Lake Ontario to six vessels carrying
improved (which the Americans did not 97 guns and carronades, while the American
expect to happen until they had conquered squadron boasted 13 ships and schooners
Canada, if indeed it happened at all). For mounting 112 pieces of artillery.
instance, Napoleon only had 34 ships-of-the-
line (main battleships) in 1807, having lost
30 in 1805-06, but he had increased that Land forces
number to 80 by 1813 and had another
35 under construction. Meanwhile, Britain's The land forces of the British and Americans
ability to maintain equivalent vessels in the war were fundamentally similar,
dropped from 113 to 98 between 1807 and although the Americans usually had a
1814 as the years of war with France took numerical advantage while the British had
their toll on the island kingdom of stronger leadership and better training. (The
12 million. In addition, the Royal Navy's Americans did not begin to match these
global commitments forced it to send skills until the last year of hostilities.) Like
under-strength, ill-trained, and partially other western armies, both the British and
impressed crews to sea, often in badly built the Americans had a mix of line infantry,
vessels. Yet in 1812, the sheer weight of the light infantry, artillery, and cavalry, along
fleet promised to give the RN dominance in with various specialized troops, such as
the western Atlantic, should Britain triumph engineers. Both powers also relied heavily on
over France. part-time militiamen drawn from the civilian
Both sides also developed their freshwater population. Indeed, the Americans would
capabilities on the Great Lakes and on Lake call out over 450,000 militia during the war,
Champlain. The British entered the conflict a number not much smaller than that of the
with the advantage of their Provincial total population of British North America.
Marine, a transport service maintained by Additionally, both sides included elements
the army to move men and supplies in a which fell somewhere between the
region without adequate roads. It had two professionalism of the regulars and the
small ships and two schooners to serve Lake amateurism of the militia, such as
Ontario and the St Lawrence River as far American volunteer corps and Canadian
down as Prescott, where the rapids shut off fencible regiments.
access to the rest of the river and the The land war was primarily an infantry
Atlantic beyond. To the west, on the other struggle, fought by men organized into
side of the great barrier at Niagara Falls, the regimental or battalion formations that
Provincial Marine operated four vessels on typically numbered 500-800 soldiers. The
Lake Erie, one of which had a shallow principal infantry firearm for both sides was
the smoothbore, muzzle-loaded, single-shot, main force to escape. In an advance, they

flintlock musket. Using paper cartridges might rush ahead to prevent the enemy
containing a ball and powder (and recovering from a setback or to capture
sometimes extra buckshot, especially in bridges and strong points.
American service), a soldier could load and Most light troops carried muskets, but
fire his weapon two or three times each some used rifles, which differed from
minute. In action, the musket could be muskets primarily in that their barrel
reasonably accurate at 60 paces, and deadly
at 175.' After that, its potency declined
rapidly, to the point where there was little
reason to fire at an enemy beyond 250 paces.
The most effective way of using muskets
was to stand troops in tightly packed lines
and fire massed volleys into the enemy at
close range. Ideally, these volleys would
shatter the enemy line so that the winning
side could use its secondary weapon, the
bayonet, to drive its adversaries from the
field. There was some adaptation to the
rough North American environment, such as
thinning out the lines somewhat, but the
fundamental principle of volley fire
dominated the deployment and combat
operations of both the United States and
British armies.
As effective as these dense formations of
infantry were - and it was these soldiers who
would decide the big battles - they could not
be used in all of the situations in which foot
soldiers had to be engaged. Therefore, armies
also needed light infantry soldiers if
conditions called for skirmish and ambush
skills and for guarding the line infantry's
front, flanks, and rear. Normally, light
infantry deployed in a very thin line, or
chain, to allow their small numbers to cover
a larger frontage than the formation they
protected. This meant that they could not
produce the volume of fire of line troops,
which was their fundamental weakness. In
battle, light infantry tried to preserve the
main body from harassment by covering it
so that it could approach the enemy in as
fresh a state as possible. They might also try
to harass the enemy line to blunt its fighting
edge before the arrival of their own line. In
retreat, light infantry might deploy to hold
off pursuing troops long enough to allow the
1
A pace is about 30 inches (75cm).
Warring sides 23
interiors were not smooth but had spiral The three men in this 1807 engraving would be
grooves cut into them; they were also expected to serve as warriors in native society. For
intended to hold a tighter-fitting bullet. This battle, men often stripped down from the clothes seen
here to their moccasins, leggings, breechcloths, and
meant that rifles could be more accurate
equipment. They also painted their bodies and prepared
than muskets and were dangerous at their hair in 'scalp locks.' which were often painted red
350 paces or more. However, they took and decorated with such spiritual objects as feathers and
longer to load, fouled from gunpowder wampum. (National Archives of Canada)
Lieutenant's uniform of the rifle company of the Leeds Militia in

Upper Canada, 1812. Although most uniforms were flamboyant,
some light infantry uniforms were designed to make soldiers less
conspicuous because of the distinctive nature of their warfare.
(City of Toronto Museums and Heritage Services)
Warring sides 25
residue more quickly, and were limited by movements to reduce casualties, upset their
other problems. This prevented them from enemy's equilibrium, and thereby prevent
becoming the dominant infantry weapon the enemy from responding effectively. Tor
until technological advances solved these example, a war party might conceal itself
issues in the middle of the 19th century. near a road until an enemy had passed,
In the confusion of popular history, a then attack from a position that blocked
commonly held view is that the British the line of retreat to demoralize its
fought, fundamentally, in tightly packed lines adversaries and thereby increase the odds of
and the Americans deployed in a more victory. Once engaged, natives often used
individualistic manner and used cover, war cries to try to unnerve their opponents
because of their experience on the North further, and they kept up pressure by
American continent. The reality was that it advancing in relays to prevent their foes
was the British who had proportionately more from establishing a solid firing line. In a
light infantry in their regular force in the War fixed firefight, warriors typically moved to a
of 1812, and all armies in the western new position after each shot, so that an
tradition had long recognized the need for a enemy would fire at a vacant spot (at least in
good balance of line and light troops. theory) rather than one that was occupied.
This was also designed to confuse their
opponents about the size of the warrior
Aboriginal forces force. If their enemies broke, the warriors
gave chase, in the hope of killing and
The populations of the aboriginal nations capturing as many of them as possible. If a
were too small and the life of each war party had to retreat, it tried to minimize
individual within a community of too great losses through a careful fighting withdrawal
a value to allow for large numbers of until it was out of harm's way.
casualties. Therefore, a fundamental Formidable as natives were in combat,
principle of native warfare was to avoid they were not without their weaknesses. The
losses, even to the point of giving up larger threat of a high number of casualties could
objectives to preserve lives in a war party. In force them off a battlefield or even stop them
addition, the personal freedoms enjoyed by from engaging in the first place. Their tactics
members of native societies, combined with also tended to work better in offensive rather
their conceptualizations of masculinity, than defensive engagements. Beyond these
meant that a warrior's participation in issues, natives took to the field not as pawns
hostilities was voluntary. It depended upon of the whites, but as allies, with their own
his assessment of the opportunities available goals, so their participation on campaign was
to him to win glory and prestige, and was conditional. Often British and American
sensitive to omens and signs that might lead commanders failed to recognize this most
him to withdraw from a campaign. These basic of facts when they tried to have natives
factors contributed to a style of native achieve some objective that did not meet
warfare distinct from white modes of aboriginal interests, and thus ended up
fighting, resembling, at best, a kind of light complaining about the 'unreliability' of
infantry combat. native war parties as they watched them
The main weapons carried by warriors withdraw from the field. For the Americans,
were muskets, rifles, tomahawks, and knives, however, especially in 1813 and 1814, their
although spears, swords, and pistols were native allies provided them with their most
popular, and traditional clubs and bows still effective light troops on the northern front,
saw some use in 1812-15. Warriors preferred and for the British, aboriginals comprised a
to ambush their adversaries or utilize other significant proportion of their forces in a
tactics that mimicked ambush in order to conflict where the numerical odds were
strike from an advantage, mask their stacked against them.
Outbreak
America sets its sights

on Canada
The declaration of war to keep a lid on frontier tensions so long as
the United States restrained from hostilities.
On 5 November 1811, President James On the oceans, the Royal Navy's desperate
Madison delivered a message to Congress manpower problems precluded relenting on
asking it to prepare for hostilities. Much of impressment. What they could offer was the
the ensuing debate was led by the War revocation of the Orders-in-Council, which
Hawks - mainly younger men from frontier they did on 16 June 1812. Nevertheless,
regions who saw expansion, and the word of this concession did not cross the
destruction of native resistance, as Atlantic until after the United States had
fundamental objectives for war, and who declared war, and it was not enough to
demanded a more aggressive approach to inspire Madison to stop fighting.
dealing with Great Britain than had been
followed in previous years. In contrast,
politicians who represented seaboard areas The strategic situation
and shipping interests tended to oppose the
slide toward belligerency. On 1 June 1812, Americans confidently predicted that the
Madison asked Congress to declare war, conquest of Canada would occur quickly, if
listing impressment, interference with trade, not painlessly. In August 1812, Thomas
and British intrigue in the Old Northwest Jefferson wrote: '... the acquisition of Canada
as causes, but remaining silent on the this year as far as the neighbourhood of
conquest of Canada because the point of Quebec, will be a mere matter of marching
the message was not to articulate objectives, and will give us experience for the attack on
but to blame Britain for hostilities. On Halifax the next, and the final expulsion of
18 June, with votes of 79 to 49 in the House England from the American continent.' The
of Representatives and 19 to 13 in the National Intelligencer published an article in
Senate, the United States declared war on December 1811 expressing the Madison
Great Britain. administration's view that the whole of
In the final months of peace, the British Canada west of Quebec was 'in the power
had hoped to avoid a conflict that would see of the U. States because it consists of a long
them trying to defend their colonies against and slender chain of settlers unable to
heavy odds while they had their hands full succour or protect each other, and separated
in Europe. Furthermore, American trade only by a narrow water from a populous and
restrictions, while not meeting Madison's powerful part of the Union,' while the
objectives of bringing Britain to its knees, fortified city of Quebec itself could be
had hurt commercial interests in the United reduced through siege. All that would be
Kingdom and had generated calls for relief needed, according to the newspaper, was an
from its manufacturers and merchants. The army of 20,000, only one-third of which
problem lay in what concessions could be needed to be regulars.
made. There was no reason to offer up There were good reasons for the
territory, and British officials did not believe Americans to feel confident. All of British
their activities among the tribes were so North America had only a half-million
wrong because they considered them to be people, compared to 7.5 million for the
defensive in focus and because they worked United States, while the front-line province
Outbreak 27
of Upper Canada was particularly vulnerable, occurred to buy peace with them. This
with a population of 70-80,000. Many of would discourage militiamen from leaving
these people were loyalists who had moved their families unguarded to meet broader
north as refugees from the American strategic objectives and might pose an
Revolution or their children, who might be insurmountable challenge to the small force
expected to stand firm. However, many more of regulars in the colony.
settlers were recent American immigrants In contrast to the natives of the lower
who had been attracted to the province Great Lakes, however, those within the
because they could acquire their own land British areas of the upper lakes had closer
more easily than they could on the American ties to the fur trade community, and officials
frontier but who might not be hostile to assumed that at worst they would adopt a
annexation. This possibility was not lost on position of neutrality, but that there was a
the British commander in Upper Canada, good possibility of encouraging them to
Isaac Brock, who thought it might be unwise oppose the Americans.
to arm more than 4,000 of the 11,000 men Another major reason why American
of the militia. In Lower Canada, the majority leaders expected to conquer the British
were French-Canadians, whose ancestors provinces easily was that the garrison in
had been conquered by the British in 1763 Upper and Lower Canada numbered only
and who had shown only limited support 7,000 soldiers in 1812 and could not be
for the Crown during the American reinforced significantly while Napoleon
Revolution. While their language, religious, menaced Britain. Furthermore, these troops
and other rights were protected under needed to be concentrated to guard
British law, officials doubted that they Montreal and Quebec. Montreal had to be
would rally with enthusiasm to repel an maintained in order to keep the St Lawrence
invasion. The Atlantic provinces were more River open so that troops and supplies could
homogeneously British and were more be moved to the upper province; otherwise,
isolated from attack, so the odds of their that colony would be doomed. However, if
surviving seemed greater than in the Montreal could not be held, the troops
Canadas. deployed around it had to be able to
Another card that seemed to play into retreat to Quebec, the strongest position in
the hands of the Americans was the state British North America. This had to be held,
of the aboriginal population of the in the hope that a relief force, if available,
Canadas. Unlike those on the American could cross the Atlantic and rescue it before
frontier who followed Tecumseh and trying to recover lost territory up the
Tenskwatawa, these natives were undecided St Lawrence River and into the Great Lakes
about what to do. Many assumed that the region. This strategy, logical as it was, meant
Americans would overwhelm the provinces that Upper Canada, the more vulnerable
and thus did not want to be punished for colony, entered the war defended by only
fighting on the losing side. Others were 1,600 regulars.
unhappy about how they had been treated Yet the US army was not as formidable as
by the Crown in the years leading up to was commonly believed. At the outbreak, it
1812 over such issues as the alienation of had an authorized strength of 35,600, but
land and the amount of independence they only 13,000 soldiers actually had been
could exercise within the colony, so they enlisted, and many of them were untrained
had reasons to hold back when government recruits. Nevertheless, a concentrated blow
officials tried to obtain their assistance. The against the upper province could be
internal aboriginal situation was so decisive, and as the conflict wore on, the
uncertain that the British were afraid that Americans appeared to possess the capacity
the tribes near the border might actually to increase the disparities in numbers
join the Americans once an invasion dramatically and quickly.
Opening moves inflicted casualties, but the Belvidera escaped

to Halifax, saving the British commercial
On 4 April 1812, the United States fleet in the process by diverting the
implemented an embargo on international Americans, and heralded the coming of war.
trade in order to get its merchant ships into The commodore at Halifax took his ships to
American ports and prevent them from sea in pursuit of the US squadron.
falling into British hands. At the outbreak of At about the same time, the American
hostilities in mid-June, a squadron of five privateer Dash spotted a small Royal Navy
warships sailed from New York in schooner, the Whiting, lying at anchor in
anticipation of capturing an important Hampton Roads, and quickly overwhelmed
merchant convoy, but became diverted on her crew, who were unaware that war had
23 June when it sighted the British frigate been declared, and were in fact on a mission
Belvidera. Her captain was suspicious enough to deliver diplomatic dispatches. The US
not to let his guard down, and fled north as government released the Whiting, but she
soon as the Americans opened fire. The did not make it back to England, being
Americans gave chase, and both sides captured on the way by a French privateer,
Outbreak 29
symbolizing how Britain now had to fight the odds against them, and with the taking
two distinct but overlapping wars. (Rarely, of Montreal, guarantee the fall of Upper
however, would the Americans and French Canada. However, the US army, led
cooperate against their common enemy. largely by over-the-hill political appointees
One exception occurred in 1814, when the and without a proper staff or adequate
British frigate HMS Majestic beat off two supply system, could not pull off the plan.
French frigates, an American privateer, and Instead, the invasions came piecemeal over
other craft, capturing an enemy frigate in several months, the first occurring in July,
the process.) when Brigadier-General William Hull led his
On the northern front, the Americans put force across the Detroit River into Upper
their armies in motion to make a Canada.
simultaneous three- or four-pronged invasion
of Canada across the Detroit, Niagara, and
Halifax was the main Royal Navy station in British North
St Lawrence rivers, as well as against
America. The guns in this 1801 image are mounted on
Montreal. The plan promised to divide the traversing carriages to maximize their field of fire.
outnumbered defenders, thereby increasing (National Archives of Canada)
The fighting
The war on land and at sea
The Great Lakes 1812

-St Lawrence front When William Hull's army crossed into
Canada on 12 July, the senior officer in
Most of the fighting in the War of 1812 Upper Canada, Major-General Isaac Brock,
occurred along the upper St Lawrence River sought to strike back at the invaders with
and through the Great Lakes region because energy. He believed he had to take bold
the conquest of British territory was the action to reassure the settler population
primary military objective of the United and demonstrate British strength to the
States. aboriginal people, whose help he would
America's other main territorial ambition need if the upper province were to have
in the war - the elimination of the western any chance of survival.
tribes as a roadblock to expansion - assumed Fortunately for Brock, Hull's invasion
that the fall of Canada would deprive natives began to falter almost as soon as it had
of the trade, diplomatic, and military begun. Instead of marching on the fort at
alliances that they needed to protect their Amherstburg to knock the British out of the
interests. Detroit region and intimidate the natives
As a result, American forces crossed into and settlers into submission, a nervous Hull
Canada in each of 1812, 1813, and 1814, dithered, engaged in some minor
bent on conquest, and won a number of skirmishing, and worried that his army
important, even legendary, victories. Yet in might be too weak to achieve its objectives.
only one of the eight invasion attempts did (Only one of his four regiments consisted of
they achieve their objective of occupying regulars; the others were militiamen.) In
British territory for more than a short (and addition, on Lake Erie, the British captured a
contested) period; and that land, in south- vessel carrying Hull's baggage, medical
western Upper Canada, was later handed supplies, and important papers, which made
back in the peace treaty. him feel more vulnerable since his overland
Britain countered with land and sea supply line ran through dismal swamplands
offensives, directed from Canada and along threatened by Tecumseh's followers.
the Atlantic and Gulf coasts of the United Meanwhile, to the north, on Brock's
States. These efforts were designed, orders, soldiers, fur traders, and native
fundamentally, to cripple the ability of warriors captured the American fort on
America to threaten the British colonies Mackinac Island on 17 July without a fight,
and to force an end to the conflict, as well after quietly mounting an artillery piece
as to avenge the suffering experienced by overlooking the unsuspecting post and then
the Canadian population. If the British demanding its surrender.
also managed to occupy some American This bloodless victory was significant
territory in the process, then they thought because it secured the important British fur
the international border might be redrawn trade operations in the north from a local
to make Canada more defensible, especially American threat and helped to preserve
if a native homeland could be carved out southward connections through Lake
of the Old Northwest. Nonetheless, their Michigan to the tribes of the Mississippi
primary objective was to retain Canada, region. It also inspired a good portion of the
and the war for the British was essentially natives of the upper lakes to take up arms
defensive. against the United States.
The fighting 31
The Canadian front 1812-14

The fighting 33
and had beaten off a force sent to meet it. subjecting them to a barrage along those
He dispatched 600 men south to reopen parts of the road that ran past the shoreline.
communications, but British and native Now thoroughly demoralized, on
forces ambushed it at Maguaga on 9 August. 11 August, Hull pulled his remaining troops
The Americans did repulse the attack, but out of Canada, and a few days later, a
they failed to achieve their objective and
suffered heavy casualties. As they retired to
Mackinac, from an 1813 print, with the fur trade
Detroit, the British Provincial Marine community in the foreground and the garrison behind.
demonstrated its mastery on Lake Erie by (William L. Clements Library)
When Hull learned about the loss of Fort Dearborn (now Chicago) to withdraw,
Mackinac, he assumed that the tribes along in anticipation of widespread aboriginal
the Detroit border would rise against him hostilities. At the same time, he learned that
and perhaps fall upon the settlers on the the campaign against Montreal, designed in
American frontier. Therefore, on 8 August, part to divide British forces and assist his
he withdrew most of his men from Canada efforts, had been postponed. Closer to home,
to secure his army inside Detroit, sent a plea Hull received further frightening news that
for reinforcements so he could resume the the western tribes had attacked a supply
offensive, and also ordered the garrison at column on its way to Detroit at Brownstown
Potawatomi force destroyed the garrison at

Fort Dearborn as it complied with Hull's
orders to evacuate that post.
Isaac Brock arrived on the Detroit River
from Niagara on 13 August. Two days later,
he demanded William Hull's surrender and
tried to unnerve him by threatening
massacre: 'It is far from my intention to join
in a war of extermination,' he wrote, 'but
you must be aware, that the numerous body
of Indians who have attached themselves to
my troops will be beyond control the
moment the contest commences.' Hull still
had enough nerve to reject the summons,
and perhaps was wise enough to realize that
the threat probably was an empty one, but
after a cross-river artillery bombardment on
the night of 15/16 August, followed by a
British advance against the settlement, his
resolve disappeared. Before Brock's men
could get within range of the town, Hull
lowered the Stars and Stripes over Detroit. To
a mixed force of 1,300 regulars, militia, and
natives, Hull surrendered 2,200 men, large
quantities of weapons and supplies, the Mohawk chief John Norton (depicted in an 1805
USN brig on Lake Erie, and the whole of the miniature) commanded the Six Nations Iroquois at
Michigan Territory. Queenston Heights. During the early stages of the battle,
when his warriors kept the Americans from consolidating
This was a critical victory for Brock. He their position, his men 'returned the Fire of the Enemy
had secured his western flank, acquired with coolness & Spirit, - and altho' their fire certainly
desperately needed equipment for his poorly made the greatest noise, from the Number of Musquets,
armed militia, and sent a powerful signal to yet I believe ours did the most Execution.' Across the
battlefield, volunteer rifleman Jared Willson thought 'hell
bolster the faithful, encourage the wavering,
had broken loose and let her dogs of war upon us. In
and subdue the disloyal in both the white short, I expected every moment to be made a "cold
and native populations of Upper Canada. Yanky" as the soldier says.' (National Archives of Canada)
Most of the Iroquois of the Six Nations Tract
along the Grand River, for instance, who had
largely stood aloof before the capture of tension between the senior officers -
Detroit, swung behind the British, adding Brigadier-General Alexander Smyth of the
400 valuable warriors to augment the Upper army and Major-General Stephen Van
Canadian garrison. Rensselaer of the New York Militia.
With the approach of autumn, the Consequently, when Van Rensselaer's men
Americans next mustered several thousand crossed the border, most of Smyth's troops
regulars, volunteers, and militia along the sat out the confrontation.
Niagara River for a second invasion of Upper The thrust came on the night of
Canada. Their plan was to cut the province 12/13 October 1812. Batteries along the
in half, seize superior winter quarters, length of the Niagara River opened fire on
demoralize the population, and wipe away British positions while Van Rensselaer's
the disgrace of Hull's surrender. However, troops rowed across the waterway from
they suffered from poor training, bad Lewiston to Queenston. As they got out
equipment, inadequate supplies, and a deep into the current, they came under fire and
The fighting 35
suffered heavily. Yet they persevered, reached Within 15 minutes it was over. The
the Canadian shore, secured their landing, Americans had suffered another humiliation,
and found a way to the top of Queenston losing as many as 500 killed and wounded
Heights, a natural ridge that dominated the and 960 prisoners-of-war. On the British side,
village of Queenston and the surrounding there were only 104 killed and wounded.
countryside. General Brock counterattacked, Within a week, another 1,000 dismayed
leading an outnumbered British and American fighting men had deserted their
Canadian force up the steep heights in a camps on the New York side of the border
frontal charge. The American line opened and headed for home.
fire, Brock fell mortally wounded, and the In November, Alexander Smyth led
charge faltered shortly afterward. another US thrust across the Niagara River,
Brock's successor, Major-General Roger near Fort Erie, at Red House and
Sheaffe, ordered more troops and Iroquois Frenchman's Creek, but cancelled the
warriors to converge on Queenston from Fort invasion shortly after encountering stiff
George in the north and from posts to the British and native opposition. To the east,
south. At the same time, small detachments American forces made two half-hearted
of British soldiers at the landing kept the attempts against Montreal from Pittsburgh,
Americans out of the village of Queenston but withdrew when they encountered
and continued to harass the boats ferrying resistance from defending forces.
men and supplies across the border. The The outcome of the 1812 Detroit, Niagara,
Iroquois were the first reinforcements to and Montreal campaigns was not the one
arrive on the scene. They ascended the Americans had expected. The United States
heights inland, out of range and sight of the had lost every engagement of significance
Americans, then attacked from behind the and had suffered huge losses in prestige,
cover of the forest and scrub. Although badly supplies, land, and men in proportion to
outnumbered, the warriors managed to keep the resources their opponents had applied
their ill-trained enemy pinned down in open in defending their territory. The British had
ground close to the riverside cliff of the even occupied sufficient American territory
heights. One key factor in their success was to allow many in the western tribal
the absence of sufficient numbers of confederacy, as well as their British and
competent American light infantry to drive Canadian friends, to think that the dream
the tribesmen away from the US line of an independent indigenous homeland
standing exposed in the open. Thus the might be achieved.
Americans fired heavy but ineffectual volleys
at the warriors in the brush to their front, 1813
while the Six Nations returned fire with far Creat Britain and the United States both
fewer shots, but with more effect. took measures to increase their forces along
Iroquois efforts enabled Sheaffe to the Canadian-American border over the
assemble 900 regulars, militia, volunteers, winter of 1812/13, in anticipation of the
and additional warriors on top of the heights second season's fighting. Despite their
out of range of his enemy. He then led them European commitments, the British managed
across flat ground against American soldiers to spare five additional infantry battalions,
who had been badly shaken by the natives, part of a cavalry regiment, and other
had expended much of their ammunition, reinforcements for the American war. Within
and who felt trapped because their the Canadian colonies, some militiamen
compatriots - frightened by the aboriginal were incorporated for full-time service and a
presence and British fire - refused to row few special units, such as the Provincial
back across the river, either to reinforce or Dragoons, were raised. The Royal Navy took
to rescue them. Sheaffe's force marched command of the Provincial Marine and
forward, fired one volley, and charged. added 470 officers and ratings to the
The first battle of 1813 occurred in the

Detroit region, following several months of
minor hostilities in which Americans and
natives attacked each other's strong points
and villages south and west of Lake Erie. The
US sent an army to assert control in this
contested area and to retake the territory
that had been lost in 1812, but its advanced
guard suffered defeat at Frenchtown (now
Monroe) in the January snows at the hands
of Brigadier-General Henry Procter. To the
east, on 22 February, the British captured
Ogdensburg in an effort to weaken the
American threats to the St Lawrence lifeline
that connected Upper Canada to the rest of
the British Empire.
Meanwhile, in Washington, Secretary of
War John Armstrong spent the winter
planning a new strategy for the invasion of
British territory. He thought the first target
should be Kingston, and the naval squadron
anchored there, because the British would
not be able to hold Upper Canada if they
lost their warships on Lake Ontario.
However, the American commanders on the
northern front - Major-General Henry
Dearborn of the army and Commodore Isaac
Chauncey of the navy - did not want to
Some Americans thought the army should equip attack Kingston because they overestimated
one-third of each infantry regiment with pikes (and the strength of its fortifications. Instead,
shortened muskets slung over the pikemen's backs) they thought that the more weakly defended
because in close combat the extra reach of the pike York (now Toronto) should be seized. They
would give the Americans a decided advantage over
enemies using bayonets on the end of their muskets.
argued that the capture of two warships in
However the idea was not popular, and the only the town would swing the balance of power
regiment that may have adopted the idea was the on Lake Ontario to the United States and
15th Infantry during the advance against Montreal in facilitate the second and third phases of their
1812 and in the battle of York in 1813. Both navies, proposed plan - the capture of the Niagara
however, used pikes. For example. 200 British sailors at
the amphibious attack on Oswego in 1814 earned them.
Peninsula, followed by offensive operations
This print is from The American military library, published against either Kingston or Montreal late in
in 1809. (Library of Congress) the year. At first, Washington rejected the
scheme, realizing that Armstrong's was the
better strategy, but the federal government
freshwater ships, along with carpenters to
eventually accepted it for political reasons.
build up the Great Lakes squadrons. In the
The pro-war governor of New York, Daniel
United States, Congress authorized 20 new
Tompkins, was seeking reelection in April
infantry regiments, approved an expansion
1813 but feared defeat through voter
of the navy, and sent hundreds of sailors to
disenchantment with the lack of progress of
the Great Lakes from the Atlantic, where a
the war. Thus a victory on the Canadian
developing British blockade of the eastern
front was needed to help swing voters over
seaboard prevented much of the saltwater
to Tompkins. York was a good target because
fleet from setting sail.
The fighting 37
of its vulnerability and because its capture one had left shortly before the attack, and
would have good propaganda value since it the British had burned the other before
was the capital of Canada. retreating. Through delays brought on by
The Americans sailed from Sackett's bad weather, the battle actually took place
Harbour, at the south-east corner of Lake too late to have a legitimate influence on the
Ontario, and on 27 April, launched an election; however, Tompkins' supporters
amphibious assault against the town of York. simply circulated victory proclamations to an
They drove General Sheaffe out of the capital unsuspecting electorate before the assault
and seized a large quantity of supplies. occurred and Dearborn kept the New York
However, they did not get the British ships: troops in his army at home to vote for the
governor, with the result that he squeaked
The battle of York ended when the British retreated back into power by 3,606 votes. The
from their fortifications and blew up a magazine full of Americans occupied York for a week, and
gunpowder, inflicting 250 casualties upon the Americans then returned to Sackett's Harbour, before
in the explosion. Among those mortally wounded was
implementing the second phase of the
US Brigadier-General Zebulon Pike, depicted in this
c. 1815 print. One witness to the blast said that he 'felt a Dearborn-Chauncey plan.
tremulous motion in the earth resembling the shock of On 25 May, the guns of Fort Niagara
an earthquake, and looking toward the spot ... saw an
and the US Lake Ontario squadron began a
immense cloud ascend into the air ... At first it was a
great confused mass of smoke, timber men. earth, &c. two-day bombardment of Fort George at the
but as it rose in a most majestic manner it assumed the mouth of the Niagara River. On 27 May,
shape of a vast balloon.' (National Archives of Canada) the American army landed near the
This early 19th century print shows a corner of the American

Fort Niagara at the mouth of the Niagara River in the right
foreground. In the left background is British Fort George
with its naval station by the waterfront. In reality they
were further apart than depicted here, but were well within
range of each other's artillery. (National Archives of Canada)
The fighting 39
now-destroyed fort. About 1.000 soldiers, have anything to do with the redcoats when
militiamen, and warriors met the Crown officials tried to secure their help. On
4-5,000 Americans, but were repulsed 5 June, the Americans camped at Stoney
after losing one-third of their force in the Creek for the night to rest before the assault.
fighting. Defeated, they abandoned not only Recognizing the combined American and
Fort George but also Fort Erie and the other aboriginal threats and worrying about the
posts along the Niagara River to retreat to fate of the Canadian population, the British
Burlington Heights (now Hamilton). So far, made a desperate decision. Rather than await
the plan seemed to be working as US forces the Americans, they would launch a surprise
occupied the former British posts and rebuilt attack against their enemy with 700 men at
Fort George to secure their Upper Canadian 2.00 a.m. on 6 June. The ensuing battle of
toehold. At that point, the province was on Stoney Creek was a violent and confused
the brink of being cut in half, with Printer's affair: friend shot at friend, and the two
and Tecumseh's forces to the west facing the American brigadier-generals walked into the
possibility of their already poor supply lines hands of British troops because they could
being severed completely. As it was, the not distinguish blue from red uniforms in
retreat from Fort Erie had allowed the the dark. After sharp fighting, the British
Americans to sail naval vessels, previously withdrew, but they had achieved their
trapped by British artillery on the Niagara objective becausc their enemies cancelled
River, west to join the squadron being built their plans and retired to a camp on the Lake
on Lake Erie that would challenge the Royal Ontario shoreline at forty Mile Creek. The
Navy later that year. In addition, an attempt Grand River people, although still nervous,
by the British to destroy Sackett's Harbour cautiously decided to maintain their alliance
while the USN squadron was away at the with the British, which quickly solidified as
western end of Lake Ontario failed on events unfolded over the following weeks.
29 May, further demoralizing Upper
Canada's defenders.
On the Niagara Peninsula, General
Dearborn followed up his success at Fort
George by sending an expedition to knock
the British out of Burlington Heights and
force them to retreat to Kingston. Dearborn's
thinking was influenced in part by
information that the Grand River Iroquois
were worried that the Americans might make
a punitive attack against their settlements
since there was now nothing to prevent them
from such a strike. Concerned to preserve
their territory, the Six Nations considered
abandoning the British and buying American
forgiveness by falling upon the redcoats if
they retreated eastward. Thus, as Dearborn
dispatched 3,700 infantry, artillery, and
Cavalry toward Burlington, Iroquois warriors
assembled near the British camp but, with
the exception of a handful of men, refused to
Sackett's Harbour (as represented in an 1815 print)

was the main American naval base on Lake Ontario.
(US Naval Historical Center)
The fighting 41
A short time later, a small party of Dearborn responded to the developing

pro-British Iroquois ambushed an American challenge by organizing a secret expedition
patrol and chased it into the camp at Forty to destroy an important forward British
Mile Creek. At about the same time, the Royal position near Beaver Dams. About
Navy squadron, which had sailed west from 600 infantry, cavalry, and artillery moved
Kingston to support the army, bombarded the from Fort George south toward Queenston
site. Although both acts were fundamentally before swinging inland against the target,
ineffective, the Americans abandoned much of in an effort to confuse his opponents as
their equipment and fled to Fort George, with to the destination. However, a Canadian,
native warriors and Canadian militia pursuing Laura Secord, overheard American officers
them to capture stragglers and supplies. discussing their plan and rushed off to
General Dearborn assumed that the British warn the British, who detached men to
were about to launch a counteroffensive, so he watch the various routes along which their
evacuated all of the newly won positions enemy might come. As the column
except Fort George. The British, under the continued its march, aboriginal scouts
command of Major-General John Vincent, spotted it and alerted a native force of
reoccupied the vacant posts and began to put 465 that had been deployed along one of
pressure on Fort George. At the same time, the roads. The tribesmen ambushed the
additional aboriginal reinforcements from soldiers on 24 June. As at Queenston, the
Iroquois and Algonkian communities in Lower Americans suffered from inadequate light
Canada arrived, followed by more warriors infantry, and despite holding their own
from the west and the north, until Vincent for three hours in the fierce battle,
had over 800 tribesmen in his lines. they surrendered, having suffered
Combined with his own troops, he was well 100 casualties, compared to 50 on the
equipped to annoy the Americans. native side.
42
1. The British repulsed US forces at Queenston Heights and

Frenchman's Creek/Red House in 1812.
2. In 1813 the Americans captured Ft George; but suffered
defeat when they tried to advance inland: then were
blockaded at Ft George.
3. Late that year the Americans evacuated Ft George; the
British captured Ft Niagara and destroyed US towns in
retaliation for the burning of Niagara and Queenston.
4. In 1814 the Americans captured Ft Erie, won the battle of
Chippawa. but fell back on Ft Erie after the battle of Lundy's
Lane to endure a siege before evacuating Canada.
Essential Histories • The War of 1812
The Niagara front 1812-14

The fighting 43
ABOVE Oliver Perry's victory on Lake Erie captured the imagination of BELOW A contemporary print of the
Americans, with the result that artists and engravers created many images 1813 battle of Moraviantown. (National
of the battle. This particular post-war print is typical of the battle scenes Archives of Canada)
created in the 19th century. (National Archives of Canada)
British infantry. 1813. On active service, the grenadier Americans inside the fort until cold weather
on the left normally wore a shako, like the soldier brought the campaigning season to an end.
beside him, and both probably wore grey overalls
(The size of the forces fluctuated during the
instead of white breeches. Note the belt around the
waist of one man, to keep his equipment from moving blockade, but generally the British were
around - a non-regulation feature representative of outnumbered, at roughly 2-3,000 against
the alterations soldiers made for comfort and 4-5,000 Americans.) De Rottenburg's task
efficiency. (National Army Museum) was made easier by orders sent from
Washington, in light of the recent defeats,
Following this victory, a new telling General Dearborn to avoid action
commanding officer in Upper Canada, unless necessary and to work on much-
Major-General Francis de Rottenburg, needed training. At the same time, in one of
advanced closer to Fort George to constrict his last acts before leaving the Canadian
the American foothold in the province front in disgrace, Dearborn recruited Iroquois
further. He did not have enough men to warriors from reservations in New York to
retake the post, so he intended to blockade the help address his light infantry deficiency,
The fighting 45
and what success the Americans did enjoy daring night-run past the British batteries at
afterward in pushing back British and native Prescott). While the British had concentrated
pickets in front of Port George was largely a a significant portion of their Canadian
result of their efforts. Through the summer garrison to protect Montreal, the city lacked
that followed, fairly large sorties and raids good fortifications, and because of its
occurred from time to time, in addition to location at the junction of the Ottawa and
the almost daily low-level harassment of the St Lawrence rivers, its capture would isolate
American position. Upper Canada completely. This offensive -
During part of the blockade, the RN's Lake the largest American operation of the war,
Ontario squadron cruised the mouth of the with over 11,000 soldiers - represented a
Niagara River and the south shore of Lake most dangerous threat to the survival of
Ontario to intercept supplies and destroy Upper Canada.
American depots. In general, the naval war One of the American forces, commanded
on Lake Ontario was a kind of see-saw affair, by Major-General Wade Hampton, crossed
in which both sides took advantage of small the border south of Montreal, but on
opportunities but avoided a major battle 16 October, at Chateauguay, 3,564 of his
because the consequences of defeat would be soldiers suffered defeat at the hands of a
devastating for whichever side lost control of mere 339 well-positioned defenders,
the lake. However, there were some consisting mainly of Canadians and natives
encounters. A more important one occurred under Lieutenant-Colonel Charles de
in early August, when the squadrons tried to Salaberry. Then, on 11 November, the other
catch each other at a disadvantage as part of American thrust, led by Major-General James
the operations focused on Fort George. Wilkinson, came to an inglorious end when
However, the Americans backed off when the 1,169 men under Lieutenant-Colonel Joseph
British captured two schooners and two Morrison defeated 3,050 invaders in the
others sank in a sudden squall in an open fields of Chrysler's Farm, along the
engagement known as the Burlington Races. banks of the St Lawrence. Hampton and
As the summer wore on, the British found Wilkinson lost all their fighting spirit in the
it increasingly difficult to maintain their aftermath of these disasters and ordered their
blockade because of supply problems and armies into winter quarters. Thus ended the
widespread sickness in the hot, humid gravest threat to Canada posed by the
weather. By early October, with General Americans in the war.
Vincent back in command, they withdrew to Despite their failures in the York-Niagara
comfortable quarters at Burlington Heights, and Montreal campaigns of 1813, the
thinking that it was too late in the year for Americans did enjoy military success in
the Americans to pose much of a threat. Yet south-western Upper Canada. After the
the invaders showed some energy by making Frenchtown disaster in January, they built
a demonstration toward Burlington, only Fort Meigs, south of Lake Erie, as a depot and
pulling back when they realized how well jumping off point to recapture Michigan and
entrenched the British were; instead they invade Upper Canada. Henry Procter and
contented themselves with burning barrack Tecumseh besieged the fort in late April and
buildings closer to Fort George. early May, but could not take it (although
Later, the Americans were no longer in a losses among the US defenders were very
position to take an aggressive stance on the high compared with those on the British
Niagara Peninsula because they withdrew side). The British and natives were also
the majority of troops to participate in a repulsed at another post in the region,
two-pronged offensive against Montreal. One Fort Stephenson, in one of the small number
army marched north from Lake Champlain, of instances during the war when they
while the other journeyed down the outnumbered their adversaries; and a second
St Lawrence in 300 small boats (and made a attempt to capture Fort Meigs in late July
also failed. The result was that the British, With their triumph at Moraviantown, the
and the western trihesmen who followed road lay open to strike the Six Nations of the
Tecumseh, retired to Canada and the Grand River. These people, hearing stories of
initiative passed to the Americans. atrocities committed by Americans against
On 10 Septemher, the American and natives, fled to join the many white settlers
British squadrons on Lake trie met for their and aboriginal refugees from the west in
long-anticipated duel at Put-in-Bay. The camps behind the British post on Burlington
British had six vessels, while the Americans Heights. Even there they did not feel safe,
had nine better prepared craft, a testimony worrying that their redcoated allies would
to their ability to move men and material retreat to York, or even to Kingston, because
more efficiently than the British. (American General Harrison stood poised to use the
communications routes were much shorter Grand River to get behind Burlington
and lay behind the front lines, unlike those Heights and cut them off.
of their opponents, which extended all the The British did not leave, partly because
way through the contested Great Lakes and they worried that this might cause the
across the ocean.) Despite the disparities natives to go over to the Americans and turn
between the squadrons, the battle was a upon the settlers. Fortunately for them,
close-fought and bloody affair, but in the Harrison was satisfied with his achievements
end, as the American commander Oliver on the Thames and chose not to consolidate
Hazard Perry famously recorded: 'We have with a strike eastward. Instead, he retired to
met the enemy and they are ours: two ships, Amherstburg, dismissed most of his
two brigs, one schooner, and one sloop.' volunteers, and sent the bulk of his regular
With this defeat, Procter's already tenuous force to join the army being formed for the
link to the east was cut. Therefore, he ill-fated Montreal campaign.
destroyed the military works at Detroit and There was one more outbreak of fighting
Amherstburg and retreated east toward along the Canadian border before the close
Burlington, despite outraged protests from of 1813. With the movement of US troops
Tecumseh and other native leaders who east to attack Montreal, and the expiration
wanted to stand and fight. Meanwhile, of many militiamen's terms of service, the
Perry ferried an American army across American garrison at Fort George dropped
the lake and, with 3,500 men, including to less than 600 men by early December.
250 American-allied warriors from the At that point, and with the passing of
Ohio country, under the command of Harrison's threat to Burlington, the British
Major-General William Henry Harrison, the resolved to recapture the post; their
Americans pursued Procter. They caught the opponents, suffering steady harassment,
British and their allies at Moraviantown and decided to consolidate their forces on their
defeated some 1,000 men on 5 October. own side of the border. Before withdrawing,
Among those slain was Tecumseh, and with the American commander, Brigadier-General
his death and the recent defeats, the native John McClure, turned the people of the
dream of an independent homeland town of Niagara out of their houses on a
effectively ended. In the weeks that followed, frigid December day and burned down their
the majority of aboriginal survivors either homes, ostensibly to prevent the British
went home and made peace with the from quartering their troops there over the
Americans or limped east to seek shelter winter and to improve Fort Niagara's
behind the British lines in Burlington. defensibility. The next day, American
The western victories were significant for artillery at Lewiston destroyed part of the
the Americans and brought their only village of Queenston by firing red-hot shot
campaign success on the northern front (heated canon balls) to set its buildings on
during the conflict, giving them control of fire. The new British commander in Upper
part of Upper Canada and all of Lake Erie. Canada, Lieutenant-General Gordon
The fighting 47
Prummond, arrived on the peninsula soon possibility that far more resources could be
afterward, determined to avenge the applied to the American war in 1814 than
destruction of these settlements. had previously been available. In 1812,
Drummond's men crossed the Niagara Napoleon invaded Russia, but rather than
River and made a surprise night assault on conquering the country, endured a disastrous
the sleeping garrison of Fort Niagara on rout in the brutal northern winter. The
19 December. After a short, sharp fight, the French emperor suffered additional defeats in
fort fell. The British seized vast quantities of 1813 and 1814; then, in March 1814, British
supplies, and killed, wounded, or captured and allied armies marched into Paris.
over 400 Americans, losing only 11 of their Bonaparte abdicated in April, whereupon
own. Drummond then cleared the Americans Britain dispatched significant numbers of
out of the region completely: over the next reinforcements across the Atlantic.
few days, the settlements along the New York As the 1814 campaigning season
side of the river fell to the torch and the approached with the end of the cold
Americans and their native allies suffered a weather, the Americans knew they had to
series of small defeats. Once he had captured take advantage of the few months that lay
Buffalo (and destroyed four vessels of the ahead before fresh British troops reached
US Lake Erie squadron wintering there), Canada. They recognized that the conquest
Diummond thought he might continue of all the British provinces was no longer
westward, make a surprise attack on the rest viable, but they hoped to secure a good
of the American Lake Erie squadron, destroy bargaining position in peace negotiations
it, and perhaps even retake Detroit. However, and, if possible, annex Upper Canada.
a January thaw melted the ice on the rivers Logically, their 1814 strategy should
he needed for a quick strike, so Drummond have concentrated on the early capture of
abandoned the idea and retired to the Kingston or Montreal, with the aim of
Canadian side of the river, maintaining a cutting off the upper province; yet once
garrison on American territory only at Fort again they chose to direct their efforts in
Niagara, which the British retained until the the west, in part because the battles of
return of peace, in 1815. Lake Frie and Moraviantown had given
The United States emerged from the second them dominance there, a position they
year of the war in a better position than they enhanced by reoccupying Buffalo after
had had in 1812. With a number of victories Gordon Drummond abandoned it during
behind them, they had also regained most of the winter.
the lost territory in the west, occupied a small At the same time, the US government
part of south-western Upper Canada, and decided not to concentrate its strength on
seemed to have killed off the possibility of an the northern border against one target, but
aboriginal homeland being created at their chose to divide it and make two thrusts. One
expense in the Old Northwest. However, their army was to cross the Niagara River from
main objective - the conquest of at least all of Buffalo, to roll up the Niagara Peninsula, and
Upper Canada - had not been accomplished. continue as far east as possible, ideally
The British, Canadians, and natives had seizing all of Upper Canada. Hopefully,
performed well, despite the odds against them. Britain would relinquish the province in a
This had bought the colony another year's treaty; at the very least, this would give the
grace, but the question now was what would Americans something to bargain with if the
happen with the coming of spring. British were to occupy New England or other
parts of the Atlantic region. The second
1814 thrust was to sail north from Detroit to
Across the Atlantic, the military events of retake Mackinac, which had been lost in
1812 and 1813 had improved Britain's 1812. The number of men involved in the
position in Europe and presented the latter expedition was small, but it was
enough to deprive the commanding officer fur trade operations in the north. The
on the Niagara front of a force that might objectives were to regain their lost fort,
very well have tipped the balance toward the knock the northern tribes out of the war,
Americans. and cut the flow of supplies to the native
Before these plans could be put into peoples on the Mississippi, who had been
effect, there were a number of fighting the United States despite the defeat
confrontations along the Canadian border of their aboriginal compatriots in Tecumseh's
as the opposing sides tried to achieve alliance. (See Black Hawk's War, page 66.)
advantages in preparation for the upcoming Earlier, the Americans had expected that
campaigns. In February, the British raided their successes in south-western Upper
American communities along the Canada would have cut the supply line to
St Lawrence River to take supplies. In the west. However, the British had overcome
March, an American army marched against the loss of Lake Erie by sending goods to
Montreal, but withdrew when it could not Mackinac from Montreal, both via the
dislodge a small force at Lacolle. In May, traditional fur trade route that extended up
the British captured Oswego, but another the Ottawa River and along other waterways
attempt that month to seize naval supplies to Lake Huron, and by moving material west
at Sandy Creek resulted in defeat, and a through Kingston to York, then north along
planned attack on the US Navy base at a road and water route to Georgian Bay and
Sackett's Harbour had to be cancelled for points to the west.
lack of men. About 1,000 regulars, militia, and sailors
The American expedition against on five vessels of the US Lake Erie squadron,
Mackinac called for the recapture of the post under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel
and the destruction of enemy military and George Croghan of the army and Captain
The fighting 49
in two bateaux and a canoe, accompanied by

some natives and fur traders, slipped past the
blockade, and obtained permission to try to
seize the US schooners. Reinforced with four
boats and 50 soldiers, they surprised and
captured the Tigress in fierce hand-to-hand
fighting on 3 September. Three days later,
they sailed their prize up to the unsuspecting
Scorpion, opened fire, then boarded and
captured the second vessel. Thus in
small-scale fighting, the British kept control
over the crucial northern regions as the first
snows of the winter of 1814/15 began to
blow, and retained the ability to supply
their allies in the Mississippi country.
The main American offensive into Canada
in 1814 came from Buffalo, with a force that
was far better trained and led than any the
United States had deployed in the war up to
that point. Two years of frustration had led
to the replacement of poor quality and
incompetent senior officers with better men,
and the army as a whole had benefited
tremendously from weeks of rigorous
training in anticipation of the campaign.
On the morning of 3 July, Major-General
The amphibious assault on Oswego in 1814, from an Jacob Brown led 5,000 soldiers and
1817 print. (National Maritime Museum) 600 warriors across the Niagara River against
Fort Erie. The 170-man garrison only put up
Arthur Sinclair of the navy, sailed north in token resistance and then capitulated. When
July 1814. On their way, they captured two the British commander on the Niagara front,
small commercial vessels and burned British Major-General Phineas Riall, heard about the
fur trade posts. They landed on Mackinac invasion - but not about the fall of the fort -
Island on 4 August, planning to advance he rushed south to Chippawa to repel
against the fort. Its commandant, Brown. He also sent some of his native allies
Lieutenant-Colonel Robert McDouall, and light troops further south to watch
marched out with 140 soldiers and perhaps American movements and harass any
as many as 300 militiamen and native attempt to move north.
warriors and drove the Americans off the On 4 July, one of Brown's brigades,
island. Defeated, the American commanders commanded by Brigadier-General Winfield
sent two vessels south with their casualties Scott, advanced north with the objective of
and took the other three to Georgian Bay, seizing the bridge across the Chippawa River;
where they destroyed a fur trade schooner, Riall's skirmishers harassed their enemy,
the Nancy, which a small Royal Navy destroyed the bridge and some nearby
detachment had been operating (although buildings that might have provided cover for
the crew of the Nancy got away). Then, one the Americans, then retired to the north
of the three American vessels sailed back to bank of the Chippawa. Scott, faced with the
Lake Erie, while the schooners Tigress and loss of the bridge and a British battery
Scorpion headed west to blockade Mackinac. opposite, pulled back and camped for the
The crew of the Nancy set out for Mackinac night along the south bank of Street's Creek.
The blockade of Fort Erie, 1814, from a contemporary There the American right flank anchored on
map. The Americans captured the post in July, and then the Niagara River, while their left rested
extended it to accommodate their forces with a long 1,400 paces across a field on the edge of a
earth wall between the original post and the hill at the
forest. During the night and the next day,
top of the map. in time to withstand the British
blockade of August-September. The earth 'traverses' in
the other two hrigades in the army arrived in
the fort were designed to reduce the devastation of a the camp. Riall underestimated the size of
bombardment. The British lines can be see south of the force opposing him, in part because he
the fort in the forest. (National Archives of Canada) did not realize that Fort Erie had capitulated,
The fighting 51
so he assumed that part of Brown's army was Fort Mississauga, then under construction.
investing the place, and in part because Brown marched to Queenston, where he
some of the American troops arrived in their established a camp, probed the British works
camp after his patrols had performed their to the north, and awaited the arrival of the
reconnaissance. On 5 July, with about US Lake Ontario squadron to push his
2,000 men, he decided to attack a force he adversaries out of the peninsula completely.
believed to be a similar size, when in fact Afterward, he hoped to use the ships to
the Americans numbered 3,500. move his army against York and Kingston.
Riall sent his light infantry, Canadian However, while he waited, he had to be
militia, and native allies through the woods cautious because the British not only had
to attack the American left; he organized the troops in his front at the three forts, but also
rest of his regulars to advance across the had men at Burlington Heights and the
open plain beside the Niagara River, but mouth of Forty Mile Creek who might try to
without the Americans realizing what he swing behind his rear.
planned to do because the topography hid Despite pre-arranged plans, Commodore
his crossing of the Chippawa. General Isaac Chauncey did not sail his squadron to
Brown, unaware of Riall's movements, Brown's assistance, but instead sent a variety
already had decided to put an end to some of excuses to account for his inaction, even
minor harassment he had been suffering declaring that the navy had a higher calling
from bands of warriors in the forest, and he than that of merely supporting the army!
sent one of his brigades, consisting of Without Chauncey, and facing losses in men
regulars, volunteers, and native allies, into because of sickness, while the British began
the bush to clear out the skirmishers. In the to receive reinforcements from Europe,
ensuing melee, the brigade inflicted heavy Brown decided to retire south to Chippawa.
casualties upon the warriors but was repelled The British marched against the Americans,
when it came up against the light force that and the two armies met at dusk on 25 July
had been deployed as part of the larger at Lundy's Lane, not far from Niagara Falls.
attack. From the sound of the heavy fire in There 2,800 Americans fought 3,500 men
the forest, Brown assumed that he was opposite them to a bloody standstill in the
probably about to be attacked in force, and confusion of the dark, with the opposing
he deployed to meet the soon-to-become- lines pouring devastating volleys into each
visible British troops advancing across the other from as little as 15 paces apart. The
plain. Jacob Brown and Phineas Riall clashed next day, the Americans pulled back, not
in a classic linear battle. The combined fire stopping until they reached Fort Erie. The
of the American artillery and musketry British, badly bloodied, could not pursue
halted the British. A stationary, close-range them, which gave Brown time to enlarge and
firefight ensued for the next 20 minutes, strengthen Fort Erie to house his entire force.
then Riall acknowledged defeat, and ordered At the same time, the US squadron finally
a retreat. The total number of killed, arrived, which prevented the British from
wounded, captured, and missing may have advancing south because of the threat it
been as high as 600 on the British side and posed in their rear and because it stopped
350 on the American. supplies being sent from Kingston.
After the battle, both armies returned to Lieutenant-General Gordon Drummond,
their former positions: the British on the who had resumed command on the Niagara
north side of the Chippawa River, the Peninsula, moved against Fort Erie early in
Americans on the south side of Street's August and put it under blockade. Unlike
Creek. Riall then fell back to the mouth of Francis de Rottenburg before Fort George in
the Niagara River on 8 July, where the British 1813, he intended to retake the post rather
were well entrenched, occupying Forts than just keep the Americans holed up
George and Niagara, as well as a new work, inside. This proved to be a poor decision
because Brown's force was still strong by predictions in 1812, with the exception of
comparison and because the Americans were the small portion of south-western Upper
able to ferry supplies and reinforcements to Canada lost in 1813, Canada had survived
the fort from Buffalo with little difficulty the third year of the war.
(because a British attempt against the town,
initiated from Fort Niagara, had been
repulsed). Drummond launched an ill-fated The saltwater war 1812-15
assault against Fort Erie on the night of
14 August. It was meant to be a surprise, but Shortly before declaring war, the American
the Americans were waiting, and the attack government had deployed warships on the
cost Drummond 905 killed, wounded, Atlantic Ocean to guard merchantmen on
prisoners, and missing, to only 84 on the their return home, seize British commercial
American side. The British, frustrated and vessels, and hunt down Royal Navy warships.
facing supply problems, sickness, and bad It was at that early point that the Americans
weather, decided to abandon the blockade. had chased the Belvidera to Halifax and this
While they were preparing to leave, the had led the British squadron to sail forth in
Americans sortied from the fort on response. On 16 July, the British sighted and
17 September, spiked three of Drummond's captured the American brig Nautilus without
six siege guns, and destroyed ammunition, a fight. Two days later, they came into
at a cost of 511 killed and wounded to contact with the USS Constitution and set off
606 British killed, wounded, and captured. in pursuit, but the frigate escaped after a
Drummond retired toward the end of dramatic three-day chase. On 13 August, the
September. American frigate Essex overwhelmed the
Meanwhile, an American raid along the smaller Royal Navy sloop Alert in a short
Lake Erie shoreline by 1,500 men under engagement off the Grand Banks of
Duncan McArthur, designed to help Brown Newfoundland. These first encounters
in Fort Erie, faltered when it came up against defined the fundamental character of high
British and Iroquois resistance at the seas confrontations between the two navies
Grand River. Nevertheless, the raiders for the rest of the war: in most situations,
destroyed mills, farms, and supplies that larger and better-armed ships defeated
Drummond had hoped would meet some of opponents in combat, captured them without
his army's needs over the coming winter. a fight, or lost them in a chase.
In October, the Americans marched north Occasionally the two navies met on
from Fort Erie in one final attempt to essentially equal terms. The most famous of
achieve a significant territorial gain. these incidents occurred in June 1813, when
However, after British troops bloodied their the USS Chesapeake sailed out of Boston to
advanced detachments at Cook's Mill, word meet HMS Shannon. The Shannon had a
reached the Americans that control of lake smaller crew, but her captain had devoted
Ontario had fallen decisively to the British, years to developing his men's gunnery skills.
not in a dramatic battle, but by the The Chesapeake was a better-built frigate, but
launch in September of the enormous the crew included a large number of
104-gun warship HMS St Lawrence. newcomers, some experienced, some not.
The now powerful RN squadron put the In 15 minutes of horror, culminating in
USN under blockade at Sackett's Harbour hand-to-hand fighting as a boarding party
shortly afterward. With the loss of the descended on the Chesapeake, 146 Americans
lake, the Americans returned to Fort Erie. and 83 Britons fell dead or wounded. The
On 5 November, they blew it up and US ship surrendered, to spend the rest of her
retired to Buffalo. The 1814 American days in the Royal Navy.
Mackinac and Niagara campaigns had came The most famous warship in the conflict
to a failed end. Despite most people's was the USS Constitution. After she had made
The fighting 53
The USS Constitution, or 'Old Ironsides.' from a c. 1813-15 sloop Levant, defeating both in a single
print. In 1831. Commodore William Bambridge, who was action, and managed to get the Cyane back
wounded twice during the frigate's battle with HMS Java.
to the United States after being chased by a
reflected on his service on this famous American vessel:
The ship! Never has she failed us! Never has her crew
squadron of Royal Navy warships.
failed in showing their allegiance and belief in the country An important aspect of the naval conflict
they served, or the honor they felt, in belonging to the was the effort made by the British and
ship that sheltered them, and on whose decks they American governments to use their warships
fought where many gave their lives. To have
against merchantmen. The British, in
commanded the Constitution is a signal honor; to
have been one of her crew, in no matter how humbte
particular, also organized convoys to
a capacity, is an equal one. Her name is an inspiration.' diminish threats to their commercial vessels.
(National Maritime Museum) One well-known instance of commerce
raiding occurred in the summer of 1813,
the dramatic escape from a British squadron when the USN brig Argus ventured into the
mentioned above, she defeated the frigates home waters of the United Kingdom, where
Guerriere and Java in August and December merchant vessels were vulnerable because
1812 respectively, and inflicted so much convoys typically broke up near the end of
damage that both British ships had to be their journeys and made for their various
sunk - an unusual event in naval warfare of ports of call, and because the RN's strength
the time. Although blockaded in port for was deployed to blockade enemies rather
most of 1813 and 1814, the Constitution than guard the British Isles. Thus the Argus
managed to escape for one cruise in early took 19 merchantmen in three weeks, until
1814 and captured a schooner, HMS Pictou; she was captured by HMS Pelican in an
then, in February 1815, she met two smaller engagement on 14 August. In another,
British warships, the corvette Cyane and the similar, incident, the USS Essex wreaked
The ocean war between the USN and the RN 1812-15
Note: US ships are named first

1812 1814
1. Noutilus captured by a RN squadron 15. Constitution captured Pictou
2. Essex vs Alert 16. Essex and Essex Junior vs Phoebe and Cherub
3. Constitution vs Cuerniere 17. Frolic captured by Orpheus
4. Wasp vs Frolic 18. Peacock vs Epervier
5 Wasp and Frolic captured by Poictieurs 19 Rattlesnake captured by Leander
6. United States vs Macedonian 20 Wasp vs Reindeer
7 Vixen captured by Southampton 2 1 . Syren captured by Medway
8 Constitution vs Java 22 Wasp vs Avon
1813 1815
9. Viper captured by Narcissus 23 President vs RN squadron
10. Hornet vs Peacock 24. Constitution vs Levant and Cyone
11 Chesapeake vs Shonnon 25 Levant recaptured by RN squadron
12. Argus vs Pelican 26. Hornet vs Penguin
13. Enterprise vs Boxer
IA Vixen II captured by Belvidera
Map docs not include warships that escaped from larger forces, coastal and freshwater
operations, actions involving prrvateers, or the seizure of merchantmen.
The fighting 55
havoc on the British South Pacific whaling

industry when she captured about half of
the ships engaged in the business. In this war
against commercial shipping, the USN seized
165 British vessels (and a few troop
transports), while the Royal Navy captured
1,400 American merchant vessels and
privateers. The RN took some of the
privateers into its own service, although it
also lost a handful of small schooners and
tiny dispatch vessels to larger enemy
privateers.
Both Great Britain and the United States
licensed privateers to seize enemy ships for
profit in a kind of legalized piracy. Some
of these privately owned vessels were
fast-sailing, heavily crewed craft that preyed
upon slow, lightly manned merchantmen.
Others were regular ships that would attempt Both navies used guns (top) and carronades (below),
to pick up enemy vessels if opportunities arose shown here in a period print on expenmental carriages.
during their normal round of business. Guns had more range than carronades of the same caliber,
but carronades needed less space, smaller crews, and less
Privateering was a perilous business: of gunpowder (Ann Ronan Picture Library)
526 known American privateers, 148 were
captured and others were lost to British action, the RN cut off more and more ports from the
but only 207 ever took a prize. British outside world. In February 1813, the
privateers, mainly from the maritime provinces blockade covered the Atlantic coast between
of North America, scooped up several hundred the Delaware and Chesapeake bays (where
prizes, especially among coastal trading craft. public sentiment had supported the war
At the same time, privateers from the United more than in other coastal regions).
States captured 1,344 merchantmen from the However, New England was exempted,
richer pickings of the British Empire. However, because the British hoped to increase
of the vessels taken by American privateers and
dissension between the north-eastern states
warships, at least 750 were either recaptured by
that opposed hostilities and the rest of
the British, handed back by neutral powers, or
America, and because the British army
lost at sea, often being burned by their captors
fighting Napoleon in Spain and Portugal
once valuable goods had been removed
needed American grain to survive, which
because there was little chance of getting the
New Englanders happily supplied in
ships home in the face of RN patrols. Other
American ships licensed and protected by
captured ships had to be used as 'cartels' to
the British. In March 1813, the Royal Navy
return prisoners, and many vessels captured by
expanded the blockade to include
American privateers were ransomed back to
Savannah, Port Royal, Charleston, and
their owners.
New York, then extended it again by
The event that had the greatest impact on mid-November to the entire coast south
the ocean war was the Royal Navy's blockade of Narragansett Bay. In May 1814, with
of the American coast, which Napoleon defeated in Europe and the end
began informally in 1812 with the modest of the British army's Iberian supply
resources available in the western Atlantic problems, the RN blockaded New England.
at that time. As more warships took up One consequence of the blockade was
station off American ports - from roughly that the USN could not get its warships out
20 in 1812 to 135 at the end of the conflict - to sea with ease. For example, the super
The Grand Turk of Salem, Massachusetts (right), a in Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, Bermuda,
purpose-built. 14-gun privateer took about 30 prizes, and the West Indies (and often replenished
yet the heavily outgunned British packet Hinchinbrook
by profit-seeking American civilians in
(left) beat off an attack in May 1814, as represented
in this print from 1819. (National Maritime Museum)
coastal waters), the blockading ships not
only locked up much of the US saltwater
navy in port, but also dissuaded many
frigates United States and Macedonian, privateers from leaving home. Despite the
accompanied by a smaller warship, set sail to tightening noose, some vessels did manage
prey upon British West Indian shipping in to escape the blockade to fight the RN or
1813 but had to flee back to port when a raid British commerce.
Royal Navy squadron intercepted them. Both Most importantly, the blockade devastated
frigates then sat out the rest of the war, as America's international trade. Between 1811,
did the largest and most dangerous ships the the last full year of peace, and 1814, the
USN built during the conflict - six new super value of American exports and imports fell
frigates and four even larger ships-of-the- from $114 million to $20 million and the
line. Provisioned and maintained from bases customs revenues needed to finance the war
The fighting 57
Attacking the United States

1813-15
Beginning in February 1813, British naval
and army commanders used modest
reinforcements from Europe to launch
destructive raids against the Chesapeake
region, close to Washington, for the most
part, they met only ineffectual resistance as
they destroyed military, naval, maritime, and
industrial targets and captured a large
number of sailing vessels. They also burned
or took property when the locals opened fire
or otherwise resisted them or did not offer
the British ransoms against the seizure or
destruction of their possessions (although
those who remained quietly at home
generally were left in peace and were paid for
supplies requisitioned to support these
British operations). Raids took place
elsewhere along the Atlantic coast too,
particularly in areas where the population
undertook hostile acts against the
blockaders. Among the several dozen
operations, most of which were successful,
six boats from a blockading naval force
rowed up the Connecticut River in April
1814 to torch seven privateers, 12 large
merchantmen, and 10 coastal vessels, while
Stonington, Connecticut, endured the
miseries of a naval bombardment a month
later because the British thought the town
was sheltering men who planned to sail
booby-trapped vessels up to Royal Navy
fell from $13 million to $6 million (despite a warships in order to blow them up.
doubling of the rates). At the same time, the With the fall of Napoleon in 1814, the
cost of trade within the United States British expanded their operations against the
increased dramatically as people abandoned American Atlantic coast, undertaking larger
the efficient coastal lanes for slow overland initiatives as well as raids. In August, they
routes. By 1814, only one out of every landed 4,000 men near Washington and on
12 merchant ships in the United States 22 August, Royal Marines and sailors struck
even dared to leave port, dramatically at the American gunboat flotilla on the
exemplifying the economic impact of the Patuxent River; over the following day the
war on the republic's economy. For the Americans lost a privateer, 17 gunboats, and
British, in contrast, international trade grew 13 merchant schooners, either captured, or
in the same period, from £91 million in destroyed by retreating US forces. On
1811 to £.152 million in 1814, despite 24 August, part of the British force,
American actions that brought death, numbering 2,600, easily defeated
destruction, and heartache to ship owners, 6,000 militia, sailors, and regulars at
seamen, and their families. Bladensburg in a very short battle, leaving
British Atlantic counterattack 1812-14
RN BLOCKADE
A Jan 1813: Delaware and Chesapeake bays
B Feb 1813: extended between Delaware and
Chesapeake
C Mar 1813: extended to New York and points
south of the Chesapeake
D Nov 1813: extended to enure coast south of
Narragansett Bay
E May 1814: extended to entire Atlantic coast
Note: before 1813. blockading occurred, but was
limited, based on available ships.
1. As ships became available.the RN extended

its blockade to cripple US international trade
and reduce the capability of the USN and
privateers to get their ships out of port.
2. In 1813-14. the British made dozens of largely
successful raids to help draw the war away
from the Great Lakes, retaliate for US actions
in Canada, and speed the peace process.
3. The end of the war in Europe in 1814 allowed
the British to undertake more ambitious
operations against modern Maine and the
Chesapeake region.
The fighting 59
This contemporary print presents a fanciful composite of They also took large quantities of munitions
the 1814 attack on Washington. The destruction of the and weapons before starting back to their
US gunboat flotilla is in the lower foreground, the battle
ships the next day. Meanwhile, other British
of Bladensburg is in the upper right, and the burning of
the public buildings and navy yard are on the left. soldiers and sailors were moving upriver
(Library of Congress) against Fort Washington. Expecting a fight,
they were surprised when the Americans
an American officer, Joseph Sterett, to blew up the fort and retreated. The British
remark: 'We were outflanked and defeated in then took Alexandria on 27/28 August and
as short a time as such an operation could seized 21 prize vessels as well as other goods.
well be performed.' Among those in retreat As the squadron withdrew, the Americans set
was James Madison. up shore batteries to destroy the British
Meanwhile the president's wife, Dolley (or ships, but the raiders experienced little
Dolly), saved as much as she could from the trouble taking them on and making it back
presidential mansion, including one of the to sea by early September.
nation's iconographic artifacts, a portrait of The British then moved against
George Washington attributed to Gilbert Baltimore, home of much of the privateering
Stuart. As the British continued their march fleet and hence a city that deserved, in the
on the capital, the commandant of the minds of many officers, to be either
Washington navy yard burned its extensive destroyed or compelled to pay an enormous
facilities as well as a frigate and a sloop, tribute in order to be spared. The navy sailed
while other people blew up a nearby fort at to the mouth of the Patapsco River on
Greenleaf's Point. The victorious redcoats 11 September to land troops, before
entered the capital unopposed and set fire to continuing on to attack Fort McHenry. The
the White House, Capitol, Treasury, and War army came ashore the next day and marched
Office, as well as various military facilities. against the city. On the way, an advanced
ABOVE The White House, after being burned by British occasion, when the town of York, the capital of Upper
forces, from a contemporary print. When opposition Canada, was occupied by the Americans they burnt the
politicians in London condemned the torching of public public buildings, and took possession of the property of
buildings in Washington. Prime Minister Lord Liverpool the governor as such. It was a retaliation for this excess
offered the justification that American forces on the that the public buildings at Washington were destroyed.'
Canadian front had 'displayed a ferocity which would (Library of Congress)
have disgraced the most barbarous nations. In one
instance, a town [Niagara] was, in the middle of
December, committed by them to the flames, and the
inhabitants then driven ... into the open country amidst BELOW The 1814 battle of Plattsburg, from a
all the severities of a Canadian winter. On another contemporary print. (National Maritime Museum)
The fighting 61
guard fell into an ambush, and although it fleet commander, Vice-Admiral Sir Alexander
drove the Americans away, the commanding Cochrane, decided to pull back, and he sent
officer, Major-General Robert Ross, the victor word to those on shore that a withdrawal
of Bladensburg, was mortally wounded in the probably would be wise because the odds
action. The redcoats continued, ran into a were too great. The officers on the scene
large force blocking the way to the city, but called off the planned landward assault and
pushed it aside at the battle of North Point. marched back to the ships on 14 September.
On 13 September, the British advanced Despite losing the actions outside of the city,
further, but halted when they came up the Americans had good reason to be
against the well entrenched Americans, who jubilant, fort McHenry had held out and
outnumbered them by three to one. Believing Baltimore had been saved.
that their only hope lay in a surprise night On the northern frontier, the governor of
attack, the British decided to wait until British North America, Sir George Prevost,
midnight before striking. On the American invaded New York with reinforcements from
side, some pessimists burned the ropewalks Europe. He marched south late in the
that supplied the city's ships and schooners summer of 1814 with 10,000 men, intending
along with a new USN frigate. The Royal to capture the border community of
Navy began a 25-hour bombardment of Fort Pittsburgh on Lake Champlain and secure
McHenry and another battery with artillery Lower Canada's vulnerable underbelly.
and rockets on 13 September from such However, the United States Navy had built
evocatively named bomb and rocket vessels up a formidable squadron on the lake.
as Volcano, Aetna, Meteor, and Devastation. Prevost knew this would have to be
However, the fleet could not get close enough destroyed before he could move since he did
to its targets, in large part because the people not think it would be safe to operate with
of Baltimore had sunk 24 merchant vessels to such a force in his rear. He ordered the
block the way. At the same time, a squadron British squadron on the lake into action on
of American gunboats threatened its rear. The 11 September, although its commanding
officer did not think it ready but hoped that
support from Prevost directed against
American shore batteries would give him
victory. The British naval force - a frigate, a
brig, two sloops, and 15 gunboats with
90 guns - met the US squadron carrying
88 guns spread between two sloops, a brig, a
schooner, and 10 gunboats and galleys (with
additional support from the shore batteries).
About an hour after the lake battle began,
Prevost ordered his army to advance on
Plattsburgh itself, but he left the batteries
alone. About half an hour later, the British
squadron was defeated, and its commander,
George Downie, lay dead under an
overturned 24-pounder. Prevost, unwilling to
move with the American squadron
threatening his back, cancelled the attack
and withdrew to Canada, to the outrage of
the officers under his command and the
delight of the Americans, who rewarded their
commander, Thomas Macdonough, with
praise and a promotion.
Two regiments of black troops, including the 5th West

India Regiment pictured in this 1815 image, served in the
New Orleans campaign. Other blacks, such as in Upper
Canada, fought in regular volunteer and militia units.
Many free blacks within the US helped to defend their
country, but some slaves, such as several hundred from
the Chesapeake region, joined the British. Most blacks,
with little reason to trust either side, avoided
participation in the war (National Army Museum)
The British, however, enjoyed success

elsewhere in the north, when troops from
Nova Scotia occupied the Maine district of
Massachusetts. They first took Moose Island,
on 11 July 1814, then Castine, on
1 September. Two days later, they attacked
Hampden and dispersed a militia and naval
force. During that action, the Americans
burned a corvette to prevent her capture. On
5 September the British marched into Bangor
and took a large number of merchant vessels.
They then seized Machias. The occupiers
treated the local population, which
capitulated on 13 September, with respect,
and reopened trade with the outside world.
Toward the end of the war, far to the
south, the British attacked the American
Gulf coast. Until that time, the south had
been a backwater in the Anglo-American
crisis, but the United States had been
engaged in two parallel conflicts in the
region. In 1812, Spain, a country recently
allied to Britain, ruled East and West Florida
but was unable to pay much attention to
these colonies because it was busy trying to
expel the French army from its own
motherland. In October 1810, President
Madison proclaimed the annexation of West
Florida and sent troops to occupy much of
the colony; then, in 1813, he took more
land. In 1812, filibusters from Georgia settlers. The conflict devastated the Creek
invaded East Florida but enjoyed only population and ended with survivors either
minimal success. (Later, in 1819, the United fleeing to Spanish territory or signing away
States purchased Florida from Spain.) North half their territory to the United States.
of Florida, the aboriginal people who made During the American conflicts with the
up the Creek nation tore themselves apart in Spanish and Creeks, the British made
a civil war in 1813-14. The conflict stemmed half-hearted efforts to intervene to support
from deep internal tensions over whether or their own objectives, but at best they played
not to sell land and adapt to white ways; it marginal roles.
brought American intervention when In the final year of the fighting, the
traditionalists began to attack the white British hoped to seize the lower portions of
The fighting 63
The Gulf front 1812-15
I. Independent of the war with Britain. Americans

occupied some Spanish territory and fought the
Creek War to extend US sovereignty in the region.
2 The British did not blockade the south coast, but
the RN cruised the region while Baratarian pirates,
acting on their own, also preyed on US ships. These
efforts destroyed commercial shipping, but the USN
was not prevented from operating against the Spanish
and pirates.
3. In 1814-15. the British failed to capture New Orleans,
which they wanted to use as a bargaining point in
peace negotiations and perhaps use to check
American territorial ambitions.
the Mississippi River to use as a bargaining had to wait until the blistering summer and
chip in peace negotiations - or even to hurricane seasons were over. After
affirm Florida's independence from the assembling troops in Bermuda and the West
United States and perhaps create a separate Indies, the British sailed to New Orleans,
state in the lower Mississippi because the arriving near their target in December with a
ethnic diversity of the region and the force of 7,500 men.
American government's tenuous authority Anticipating the attack, Major-General
there suggested that the map could be Andrew Jackson dispatched a flotilla of
redrawn. The first major British act was to gunboats to Lake Borgne to guard one of the
send an inadequately small force on a failed approaches to New Orleans. Royal Marines
expedition to capture Fort Bowyer at Mobile in small ships' boats attacked them on
Point in September 1814, in preparation for 14 December and captured all of the USN
a larger assault against New Orleans. The vessels. This helped the British land near the
expedition against this main target, however, city, with assistance from Spanish and
Portuguese fishermen, who held little regard Jackson then fortified the approach to New
for the American government. However, Orleans at the Rodriguez Canal, which he
unusually cold weather, combined with the equipped, in part, with artillery, powder, and
deep swamps and difficult terrain, made the shot supplied by the local Baratarian pirates
advance on the city very difficult, created who had allied themselves to their erstwhile
serious supply problems, and contributed to enemies in the face of the British invasion.
a large number of deaths through illness and Meanwhile, the commander of the British
exposure. Then, on 23 December, Jackson led expedition, Major-General Sir Edward
a combined naval and land attack against Pakenham, ordered the destruction of a
the British in their camp at the Villere gunboat, the Carolina, which had participated
Plantation outside of the city. The redcoats in the attack on Villere plantation, with red-
held their own in the confused night action hot shot. On 28 December, he performed a
and the Americans pulled back. reconnaissance in force against Jackson's line,
but was forced to withdraw, despite coming
This painting, probably from the 1820s, shows small close to breaking one of the American flanks.
British boats rowing to capture American gunboats on Then, on 1 January 1815, he bombarded the
Lake Borgne. Gunboats typically were 40-60 feet
(12-18m) long and were armed with one or two
Americans, hoping to silence their guns, but
18-, 24-, or 32-pounder guns, firing respectively 8, 11, with little effect because the British did not
and 15kg shot. (National Maritime Museum) have enough ammunition and because their
The fighting 65
An 1815 British map showing their operations

against New Orleans that ended in disaster.
(National Maritime Museum)
guns became bogged down in the soggy ground.

American artillery fire did considerable damage
in return. A week later, on 8 January, the British
made their famous but notoriously ill-executed
frontal assault against Jackson. They carried one
of Jackson's batteries at bayonet point, but the
main assault collapsed into disaster, and
Pakenham fell in the action. The British
withdrew, having suffered their worst defeat in
the war, and, like the Americans, having fought
the battle in ignorance of news that diplomats
had agreed to terms of peace on 24 December.
In the short New Orleans campaign, the
British suffered 2,450 killed, wounded, missing,
and captured, to only 350 losses on the US side.
They nevertheless maintained their fighting
spirit and later made two more attacks against
American posts - one that failed, against
Fort St Philip near New Orleans, and one that
succeeded, against Fort Bowyer, which
capitulated on 11 February and which the
British took in preparation for a move against
Mobile. The next day, however, word of the
peace treaty arrived, and the soldiers and
sailors shifted their attention to the task of
preparing to go home.
Portrait of a soldier
Black Hawk's war
In 1833, the Sauk war chief, Black Hawk, him that I was not an unworthy son, and
looked back over his life and dictated his that I had courage and bravery.' Excited with
memoirs, which were translated into English 'valor and ambition,' Black Hawk 'rushed
for publication. There are a few problems furiously upon another, smote him to the
with them, such as some obvious earth' with his tomahawk, ran his lance
interventions by the translator or publisher, through his body, and took his scalp, while
along with numerous chronological lapses, his father watched, said nothing, but 'looked
but they provide a fascinating first-hand pleased.' Upon returning home, he joined the
account of one warrior's life around the time other warriors in his first triumphal scalp
of the War of 1812. dance, then continued fighting to protect his
Black Hawk was born in 1767 at tribe's access to hunting lands from other
Saukenuk, the principal tribal town, on the aboriginal challengers and to avenge the
east bank of the Mississippi River. At the age killing or capture of members of his nation.
of 15, he took up the ways of the warrior A new period of challenge began in 1804,
and wounded his first enemy. Shortly when American officials assumed control of
afterward, he joined his father in a campaign the fur trade community of St Louis
against the Osages, a tribe that lived to the following the 1803 Louisiana Purchase in
south-west of his own people, and was which the United States acquired sovereignty
'proud to have an opportunity to prove to over the vast territories on the west side of
the Mississippi River from France. Although
Sauk territory had fallen within the
boundaries of the United States previous to
that time, American influence had been
minimal. However, in 1804, the newcomers
invited four Sauk leaders to St Louis, where
they used alcohol to befuddle them into
signing a fraudulent treaty, alienating an
enormous amount of Sauk (and Fox) land as
a condition for restoring peace with the
settler population following an outbreak of
low-level hostility between natives and the
Black Hawk (from a print done in the wake of the Black

Hawk War). He found American and British modes of
combat to be deficient, noting in disgust: 'Instead of
stealing upon each other and taking every advantage to
kill the enemy and save their own people, as we do (which
with us is considered good policy in a war chief), they
march out in open daylight and fight, regardless of the
number of warriors they may lose! After the battle is
over they retire to feast and drink wine as if nothing had
happened; after which, they make a statement in writing
of what they have done - each party claiming the victory1.
and neither giving an account of half the number that
have been killed on their own side.' (Peter Newark)
Portrait of a soldier 67
The Upper Mississippi front 181 1-15
1. Low-grade hostilities occurred between whites and

natives before the war. which escalated with the US
attack on Tippecanoe in 1811, but the scale of
violence in 1812-IS remained small compared to
other fronts.
2. The Americans tried to assert control over the
region north of St Louis, using the Mississippi as
their main communications line: however, the natives
and British dominated the upper Mississippi.
newcomers. The Sauks were allowed to its members did not believe they could
remain in the ceded territory until the US oppose the United States successfully.
sold it to settlers. This treaty, combined with Black Hawk then learned about the
tensions arising from increasing settlement, efforts by Tecumseh and Tenskwatawa to
led Black Hawk and many in his nation to form their pan-tribal confederacy,
maintain friendly relations with the British remembering ruefully how 'runners came
in Canada in the hope that the British might to our village from the Shawnee Prophet...
help the Sauks to overturn the treaty and with invitations for us to meet him on the
secure the independence of their homeland. Wabash. Accordingly a party went from
However, another Sauk group, the peace each village. All of our party returned,
band, chose the path of neutrality and among whom came a Prophet, who explained
accommodation, partly because the growing to us the bad treatment the different nations
American presence was changing their trade of Indians had received from the Americans
and other relationships, and partly because by giving them a few presents and taking
their land from them. I remember well his The Americans sent troops up the Mississippi
saying, "If you do not join your friends on in fortified gunboats to intimidate the tribes,
the Wabash, the Americans will take this and, in June, they entered Prairie du Chien
very village from you!" I little thought then without resistance because the small garrison
that his words would come true! Supposing had abandoned the village in the face of
that he used these arguments merely to their advance. They then built Fort Shelby
encourage us to join him, we agreed that we but surrendered it after a short British siege
would not.' in July. (The victors renamed the post
Despite his coolness to the Shawnee Fort McKay.)
brothers, Black Hawk remained hostile to the Black Hawk fought in the 1814
Americans and rejected the legitimacy of the Mississippi campaign, including an
1804 treaty. Naturally, he participated in the engagement at Campbell's Island in July
slowly escalating opposition to the United and the battle of the Rock Island Rapids in
States, which exploded into war in 1811 at September. At the latter, he defeated Major
Tippecanoe. Once the Anglo-American war Zachary Taylor, the future president, who
had broken out in 1812, Black Hawk led a retreated downriver after the fighting. At
war party in an attempt to take Fort Madison the former, high winds drove one of the
near his village, but it failed. In early 1813, American vessels aground. Black Hawk
he responded to a call by British officials to declared: 'This boat the Great Spirit gave us!'
lead 200 men away from his homeland to and led an assault against it. He
the Detroit frontier, where he saw action at remembered: 'We approached it cautiously
Frenchtown and at forts Meigs and and fired upon the men' who had come
Stephenson. When he returned to the ashore from the stricken vessel. Faced with
Mississippi early in 1814, he learned how the the attack, the Americans 'hurried aboard,
conflict had transpired there during his but they were unable to push off, being fast
absence. In many ways, this was a classic aground.' Black Hawk continued: 'We
frontier struggle with both the natives and advanced to the river's bank, under cover
settlers organizing small-scale raids against and commenced firing at the boat. Our balls
each other and attacking non-combatants. passed through the plank and did
Perhaps the best news from Black Hawk's execution, as I could hear them screaming in
perspective was the burning and evacuation the boat! I encouraged my braves to
of Fort Madison by its American garrison in continue firing. Several guns were fired from
September 1813 following a summer of the boat, without effect.' Then he prepared a
aboriginal harassment. This 'pleased' him bow and arrows 'to throw fire to the sail,
because 'the white people had retired from which was lying on the boat; and after two
our country.' or three attempts succeeded in setting the
As the 1814 campaigning season opened sail on fire. The boat was soon in flames!'
in the spring, the locus of American strength Then one of the other vessels in the
in the west was St Louis. To the north, the flotilla attempted to rescue the stranded
British occupied the fur trade village of soldiers. Black Hawk recalled that it swung
Prairie du Chien and used it to encourage in close to the boat on fire, and took off all
and supply native allies along the Mississippi the people except those killed and badly
who continued to oppose the Americans wounded. We could distinctly see them
(unlike many of the tribesmen of Tecumseh's passing from one boat to the other, and fired
alliance, who had been knocked out of the on them with good aim. We wounded the war
war after the battle of Moraviantown). The chief in this way!'
fighting that ensued repeated the patterns of At this point, another American vessel
raids and harassment set earlier, and also saw came by and dropped anchor to assist the
a more energetic American response to try beleaguered boat, but the anchor did not
and subdue the tribes and evict the British. take hold and the gunboat drifted ashore
while the first rescue boat abandoned the planted his corn; it came up well - but the
fight. With another vulnerable target, Black white man saw it! - he wanted the island,
Hawk's band 'commenced an attack' and and took his team over, ploughed up the
'fired several rounds' but the crew did not corn, and re-planted it for himself. The old
shoot back. Thinking his enemy was afraid man shed tears; not for himself, but the
or had only a few men on board, he ordered distress his family would be in if they raised
his men to rush the stricken craft. 'When we no corn.' In 1831, with Black Hawk's band
got near, they fired, and killed two of our continuing to oppose removal, troops
people, being all that we lost in the surrounded Saukenuk, opened fire with
engagement.' Then: 'Some of their men artillery, and then moved in. The village,
jumped out and pushed off the boat, and however, was empty; its people had fled
thus got away without losing a man!' This across the Mississippi during the previous
show of bravado impressed Black Hawk, who night. The Americans torched their homes
declared: 'I had a good opinion' of the boat and desecrated their graves, perhaps
commander because he 'managed so much knowing how important sites associated with
better than the other,' and in fact Black the spiritual world were to the Sauks.
Hawk noted that it 'would give me pleasure A cowed Black Hawk agreed to live in the
to shake him by the hand.' west, but when the Americans failed to live
Word of the war's end reached the upper up to promises to provide food in
Mississippi in May 1815, when an American compensation for the loss of crops at
vessel from St Louis carried the news up to Saukenuk, he and other leaders brought
Prairie du Chien. The British invited their 1,000 or more Sauks, Foxes, and other native
aboriginal allies to a council and told them men, women, and children home again in
that they had to end their hostilities. An April 1832. The so-called 'Black Hawk War'
angry and defiant Black Hawk held up a ensued, but it amounted to little more than
black wampum belt that had been given to a brutal series of tragedies for a short time
him early in the conflict and declared: 'I and culminated in the butchering of the
have fought the Big Knives, and will majority of Black Hawk's followers when
continue to fight them till they are off our they tried to swim back across the
lands. Till then my father, your Red Children Mississippi River under fire. Black Hawk gave
can not be happy.' He then led his followers himself up to the Americans, who toured
against the Americans, with the most him through the eastern United States to
notable action of 1815 being a skirmish demonstrate their power and thereby
known as the 'battle' of the Sink Hole. Other prevent further troubles. It was upon his
Sauks, however, signed a treaty with the return to the Mississippi that he dictated
United States in 1815. A year later, Black his memoirs.
Hawk acknowledged the wider peace and he Black Hawk lived out his remaining days
too agreed to stop fighting. quietly in the shadow of the sadness of all
After the war, whites pressured the Sauks that his people had lost, passing away in
to move to the west side of the Mississippi. 1838. Shortly afterward, a white man broke
Black Hawk told the story of one friend that into his grave and stole his remains. They
symbolized the tensions of the era, recalling were put on display in a museum, and then
how, on an island in the Rock River, he were lost in a fire.
Mississippi region natives in 1814. Note the military-style 'chief's coat' on

one man. presented by British authorities to aboriginal leaders. He also
wears 'chief's medals' around his neck as tokens of alliance. Note as well
the black man beside him. Tribes in 1812 often adopted outsiders - native,
white, and black - into their ranks. (National Archives of Canada)
The world around war
Propaganda and protest
Propaganda killing prisoners after the battle of

Frenchtown on the Raisin River, which
Both sides used propaganda to advance their generated the war cry, 'Remember the
cause, boost morale among their people, and Raisin!' to motivate their troops in the Old
win approval on the international stage. One Northwest. However, their newspapers (and
example of this was the reluctance of the subsequent historians) remained silent about
United States to speak openly about American acts of brutality, such as the
expansion as a reason for war, preferring murder, scalping, and disfigurement of a
instead to condemn Britain and the tribes for captured British soldier and Canadian
affronting American rights on the Atlantic militiaman a few months later, in which the
and in the Old Northwest. Likewise, the militiaman had not been killed before being
British played down maritime tensions and butchered. For their part, the tribespeople
concentrated on issues related to defending expressed bewilderment at the dissonance
their colonies and assisting the natives in between words and deeds, such as occurred
protecting their homelands. Troops from in 1813, when British officers reprimanded
both armies committed crimes against some warriors for mutilating an American
civilians (although on a comparatively small corpse. An Ottawa chief, Black Bird, replied
scale), but each side made a point of with the complaint that their enemy had
expressing indignity when their enemy was disinterred aboriginal dead and chopped up
the perpetrator, even to the point of gross the bodies, then declared: 'If the Big Knives
exaggeration. Bald-faced lies were another when they kill people of our color leave
element of this propaganda war. After the them without hacking them to pieces, we
battle of York in 1813, for example, will follow their example.'
Americans read broadsides proclaiming that
their soldiers had dispersed 1,000 warriors in
the action, when in fact native combatants Protest
opposing them numbered only 40-60 men.
Much of the propaganda war focused on Many people opposed their leaders' decisions
the natives. US newspapers regularly in the War of 1812. Among natives,
condemned such 'Indian atrocities' as individuals generally were free to stand aside
scalping and the desecration of the dead; from a community decision to engage in
yet the reality was that both the natives and hostilities or at least determine the extent
the Americans scalped and committed to which they would support the general
indignities upon the other. In 1812, for consensus, even to the point of being able
instance, US Brigadier-General Alexander to desert in the face ot enemy fire without
Smyth offered $40 bounties for native scalps,
while a year later, another American officer,
RIGHT Scalp, c. 1812. consisting of skin and hair
George McFeeley, saw a Kentuckian who stretched to a wooden hoop with sinew. Many natives
'had two Indian scalps that he had taken at believed that spiritual power was concentrated in the
Frenchtown' and who 'fleshed them with his scalp and that enemy scalps could be adopted' into a
knife, salted them, and set them in hoops in family grieving the loss of a loved one in order to
strengthen its spiritual power and to serve as proof that
true Indian style.' American propaganda also
the lost person had been avenged. (City of Toronto
roundly condemned native enemies for Museums and Heritage Services)
The world around war 73
Cartoonists on both sides produced crude propaganda wishes of officialdom or speak in opposition
to sell to patriotic consumers. This 1812 Amencan image to their government. Thus, for example, in
denounces the Brrtish for purchasing scalps, something
that the British did not do. In fact, they offered bounties
1812, the legislative assembly of Upper
to their native allies for prisoners to discourage the killing Canada could reject Isaac Brock's request to
of captured enemies. (Library of Congress) suspend some civil liberties in order to allow
the army to defend the province more
serious repercussions. Within the white effectively. In New England, the Revd
world, militia service was not voluntary: Elijah Parish could comfortably denounce
men were obliged to turn out when called, James Madison for going to war against
although the regular armies on both sides Britain, which he saw as the bulwark
were composed of volunteers. Yet American, against Napoleonic absolutism, with the
British, and Canadian society allowed words: 'If we engage in this war, then we
people considerable freedom to frustrate the take the side with the despot; we enlist
The world around war 75
on Washington in 1814 and people sold

livestock, offered to guide the way to the
capital, and provided intelligence to the
redcoats. Afterward, however, individuals
might find themselves ostracized by their
friends and acquaintances.
On the British side, the most dramatic
event that involved cases of aiding the
enemy was the 'Bloody Assize' of May and
June 1814. Held in Ancaster, on the Niagara
Peninsula, a court tried 19 residents of Upper
Canada who had been captured while
serving with the Americans. Charged with
high treason, four were acquitted, one
admitted his guilt, and 14 were found guilty
on the evidence brought against them.
Before imposing the death sentence, the
judges held back the executions for a month
to give the men the opportunity to
supplicate royal mercy. After the time had
passed, eight died at the end of a hangman's
noose. The other seven were reprieved
pending further consideration (three based
on the recommendations of the judges
involved and four as a result of petitions
from the condemned men's friends and
families). Two of these seven escaped custody
and fled to the United States, three died
during an outbreak of disease in jail, and the
remaining three received pardons on
condition that they leave the British Empire
for the rest of their lives.
For Americans, the most memorable story
of potentially traitorous activity was that of
the Hartford Convention of December and
January 1814/15. Held in the Connecticut
state capital, it arose from New England's
under his fatal banner ... and must share in frustrations with the war. Washington's
his approaching destruction.' defensive efforts in the region were
The ability of the state to exert its inadequate, and the states felt they needed
authority was also limited enough that many to keep control of their own militia forces
who violated laws, such as militiamen who despite federal government attempts to
went home when they became dissatisfied, direct their operations. Madison's tax
usually suffered no serious repercussions. increases were proving worrisome, and the
Treason - helping the enemy - of course, British blockade and raids, as well as the
could bring the death penalty, but even then occupation of part of the region itself,
there were far fewer prosecutions than there created enormous consternation. As the
were incidents. Often, assisting the enemy convention met, some New England
was overlooked when territory was occupied, newspapers called for secession from the
as happened when the British army marched American Union and the signing of a
separate peace with Britain. The federal memory, it was not a seditious enterprise.
government was so worried about the Its final report did not pose a challenge to
convention that it sent troops to Hartford in the republic, being instead a plea for change
case there was an attempt to take New to restore New England's declining powers
England out of the republic. However, within the Union. As one politician, Josiah
most of the delegates were far more Quincy, noted when asked what he thought
moderate than the press, and, despite the its outcome would be, the worst
misunderstandings of the Madison consequence he could come up with was
administration and subsequent popular 'A great pamphlet!'
Portrait of a civilian
John Strachan's war
John Strachan, born to a modest Scottish

family in 1778, crossed the Atlantic in 1799 to
find work as a tutor in Upper Canada. Toward
the end of his contract, he sought holy orders
in the Church of England and was ordained
deacon in 1803 and priest in 1804. He served
the church at Cornwall on the St Lawrence
River, married a wealthy young widow, Ann
Wood McGill, and established the best school
in the backwoods colony, for which he
received an honorary doctorate of divinity
from the University of Aberdeen. In 1812, he
moved to the provincial capital of York to
take up duties as rector of the parish,
headmaster of the York District Grammar
School, and chaplain to both the garrison and
the provincial parliament.
His own sense of loyalty was both
conservative and steadfast, so the content of
his first major war sermon to the colony's
parliament was no surprise. In a long and
impressive address, he tried to resolve the
problems of being both a soldier and a
Christian, largely by affirming that the
Christian was a moral and restrained Silhouettes of John Strachan and his wife, Ann. in 1807.
combatant when fighting for a just cause. He (Toronto Reference Library)
entered political controversy by supporting
the suspension of some civil liberties because wrote, 'recently from the States and by no
of the crisis, which most of the politicians in means acquainted with the obligations which
his congregation did not want to do, and he they contract when they come to live under
addressed other issues that troubled the this government' and so 'a signal advantage
people of Upper Canada as they faced the gained over the enemy was therefore
imminent prospect of foreign invasion. necessary to keep them to their duty.'
Shortly afterward, Strachan was overjoyed Strachan's war efforts were not confined
to learn about the surrender of Detroit and to pulpit pronouncements. He encouraged
the capture of the Northwestern American the young women of York's leading families
army, leading him to declare: 'The brilliant to embroider flags for the local militia
victory ... has been of infinite service in regiment and he organized a subscription to
confirming the wavering & adding spirit to provide shoes and clothing for militiamen
the loyal.' This was a real concern to him serving on the Niagara Peninsula. He even
because the British cause had seemed to be helped to alleviate problems created by a
almost hopeless at the outbreak and because wartime shortage of coinage and small-
so many people in the province were, as he denomination paper money by organizing
78 Essential Histories • The War of 181 2
the York Association, where merchants could as a hospital. Faced with ministering to large
deposit bullion and army bills (the de facto numbers of patients, a great many of whom
currency of the province) in return for small Strachan wrote were 'sadly mangled' from
denomination notes to facilitate commerce, their battlefield injuries, and having to bury
and then used the interest the association as many as six or eight souls a day during
earned for poor relief. Then, inspired by a particularly grim periods, he lamented: 'I
suggestion from a young woman in his wish that those who are so ready stirring up
congregation, Elizabeth Selby, he founded wars would traverse the field of battle after
the Loyal and Patriotic Society of Upper an engagement or visit the hospitals next
Canada at the end of 1812. It raised a day and they would receive a lesson that
substantial £21,500 in British North America, might be very beneficial to them in future.'
the West Indies, and the United Kingdom to Strachan's most dramatic contributions
relieve distressed militiamen and their during the war occurred at the time of the
families, subsidize the cost of bread because battle and occupation of York, in late April
wartime inflation caused hardships for the and early May 1813. During the fighting, he
poor, and engage in other charitable acts evacuated wounded men from one of the
during the conflict. After the war, the society
used its surplus to establish a general
hospital in York.
As garrison chaplain, Strachan not only
welcomed soldiers and their families to his
church, but he held additional services for
them (such as occurred when there were too
many people to fit into his small clapboard
house of worship), and carried out marriages,
churchings, baptisms, and burials. During
the conflict, the army established military
hospitals in York, and Strachan visited the
sick and wounded twice each week. During
weekday visits he usually spoke privately to
the patients, asked after their health, and
'dropped something concerning their
spiritual welfare.' He also gave out religious
tracts, Bibles, and prayer books, but never
had enough to keep up with the demand for
these publications (which says something
about the views and literacy of common
British soldiers that clash with the general
image of them as 'the scum of the earth).
On Sunday visits he also read prayers and
delivered 15-20 minute homilies. Since
ambulatory patients followed him through
the hospitals to hear his sermons, he felt
that he had to preach something different in
each ward, with the result that he sometimes
gave five distinct addresses during a single
visit, which he found fatiguing. As casualties
mounted and as space to care for them
became scarce, Strachan agreed to turn his
church over to the army in 1814 to be used
Portrait of a civilian 79
batteries until it fell to the Americans and the pillaged Strachan's church. They also locked
British regulars retreated from the capital. up the British and Canadian wounded to
Once the battle was over, he joined senior languish without food, water, or medical
militia officers to negotiate a capitulation attention for two days. On the day after the
with the Americans. They surrendered those battle, an outraged Strachan stormed up to
soldiers remaining in the community, the enemy leaders, Major-General Henry
consisting mainly of wounded men and Dearborn and Commodore Isaac Chauncey,
the militia, and turned over government to demand that they abide by the conditions
supplies to the invaders. In return, the of the capitulation. At first these officers
US commanders agreed to respect private tried to brush the priest aside, but he stood
property, allow the civil government to his ground and eventually they agreed to
function without hindrance, and let surgeons post sentries in the town, release the
and others attend to the British wounded.
Despite these terms, American troops,
The barracks at York, where John Strachan served
including some officers, broke into homes,
as garrison chaplain, as depicted in 1804.
molested and robbed the townspeople, and (National Archives of Canada)
wounded into his care, and feed the In looking back over the war with
prisoners. Over the next two days he moved America, as well as Britain's larger conflict
the injured to private homes, procured food, with France, Strachan searched for divine
clothing, medicines, and dressings for them, purpose in the conflicts that had engulfed
and even provided what treatments he his world and which he said had resulted in
could. Looting continued, however, and at Britain's triumph over its enemies,
one point, Strachan rescued one of his something that few had expected in 1812,
parishioners from a gang of Americans who when the United States 'with horrid joy'
were about to shoot her while robbing her grasped at expansion at the very moment
home. With these ongoing violations of the when Britain was mired in the European
terms of surrender, Strachan called a meeting crisis. Despite Britain's own failings, he
of the town magistrates to produce a list of believed that King George's subjects at
grievances to give to the American home and in the colonies had 'abundant
commanders. Dearborn 'promised cause to give thanks to Almighty God for
everything,' as Strachan recorded, and the successful issue of the contest; that
increased the town guard, but robberies we are a free and happy people; have
continued and in another violation of the never bowed to a foreign yoke; and
agreement, US forces torched the governor's have preserved in all its vigour our most
home and the parliament buildings before excellent constitution.'
leaving after their short occupation. Strachan's wartime service brought him
The war years proved to be profoundly public recognition that led him into the
traumatic for the Strachan family. In 1812, corridors of power in the backwoods
one of Ann and John's children died, plunging province, where he tried to impose a High
them into a deep grief. A few months later, Tory ideology that had been shaped by his
John received a letter telling him that his wartime experiences. His objective was to
mother had passed away in Scotland. After the create an ordered and deferential society on
battle of York, he sent Ann and their children the frontier, based on the twin pillars of an
to Cornwall because he thought they would be established Church of England and the
safer there, but the decision brought personal British constitution. However, the colony
horror when American soldiers moved was too diverse for this in religious terms to
through the town and a gang of them robbed, be acceptable, and the times were too liberal
assaulted, and probably raped Ann, who was and democratic for his old-fashioned notions
pregnant at the time, and who was left in such of civil society to develop. Gradually, even
a state of emotional and physical collapse that officials in York and London turned their
her family and friends despaired of her life. backs on him, and by the 1830s he had
Thankfully, she recovered and gave birth to a become a political anachronism.
baby girl in early 1814, but then, just after the Fortunately for Strachan, his church
return of peace, the Strachans' home in York began to be reinvigorated by ideas that
was gutted by fire. emanated from the Oxford Movement,
Word of the end of hostilities and the which suggested a new and independent role
survival of Upper Canada within the British for Anglicanism, less tied to the state but
Empire reached York in February 1815. In more attached to its older traditions and
early April, the people of the town attended roles. After his consecration as bishop of
a special service of thanksgiving at which the newly created diocese of Toronto in
John Strachan preached the sermon. He 1839, he worked tirelessly for his church
looked to the postwar period with hope: until his death in 1867 - the same year
'Since the return of Peace, a great change is that some of the British North American
observable among our inhabitants, many are colonies came together to form a new
desirous of religious instruction who used to nation within the British Empire, the
be cold and indifferent.' Dominion of Canada.
How the war ended
The peace of Christmas Eve
The Treaty of Ghent enable the United States government to

reconsider its plans. However, the
During the winter of 1814/15, both sides administration of James Madison decided to
assumed that fighting would resume in the continue the war, having set its sights on the
spring. They strengthened their forts and conquest of Canada. In March 1813, Russia
fleets and otherwise made their plans. offered to mediate a peace, but the British
However, these efforts became pointless as government rejected the opportunity
word arrived that the war had ended. Much because it might compromise British
of eastern North America had heard the interests in Europe. However, in January
news by February 1815, although some 1814, both powers agreed to negotiate
isolated posts, such as Prairie du Chien, had with each other directly and settled on the
to wait until the spring to learn of the return then-Dutch city of Ghent as the meeting
of peace. After three years of hostility, people place, having rejected their initial choice,
moved quickly to return their lives to Gothenburg in Sweden, as too isolated.
normal. For example, the RN commander at Diplomats from the two nations first met in
Kingston, Sir James Lucas Yeo, accepted an August 1814.
invitation from his old rival, Commodore Both sides used the changing see-saw in
Isaac Chauncey, to visit Sackett's Harbour fortunes across the Atlantic to push for as
with his fellow officers, who, in their hurry many concessions as possible, although the
to get back to England, took the fastest route fundamental difference between the two
home, via New York City. Sadly, the good powers was that the primary British objective
news took longer to reach some of the more was to maintain the 1812 status quo by
distant parts of the world, with the result retaining Canada and asserting Britain's
that far away in the Indian Ocean on
maritime rights, except, if possible, to force
30 June 1815, the USS Peacock fired upon the
the United States to accept the creation of a
small East India Company brig Nautilus,
native homeland in the Old Northwest. The
killing and wounding 14 people, despite the
Madison administration essentially wanted
fact that officers from the British vessel had
to alter the status quo dramatically, by
come aboard the Peacock with news that the
annexing Canada, changing Britain's naval
war was over.
policies and practices, and eliminating
Efforts to end the conflict had begun aboriginal resistance in the west. At times,
almost as soon as it had broken out, when such as when the news of the fall of
the American charge d'affairs in London Washington reached Ghent but not the
suggested an armistice in return for a withdrawal of British forces from Baltimore,
renunciation of impressment (the Orders-in- British diplomats naturally tried to get more
Council having been revoked before the from the Americans - such as land cessions
outbreak), but the British were unwilling to and a demilitarization of the Great Lakes - to
concede on that issue. Shortly afterward, improve Canada's security. The Americans
when the British captured Detroit and news made forlorn attempts to win Upper Canada
of the repeal of the Orders reached North through diplomacy while their army was
America, Sir George Prevost arranged an failing to do so militarily.
armistice with the American commander on Both sides wanted the war to end if
the northern front, Henry Dearborn, to national dignity could be maintained. The
main British objective of keeping Canada exact boundary line, were left to be settled in
had been met as of 1814, and they feared it the future. The Americans also agreed to
might be endangered if the war were to assist the British in suppressing the slave
continue; at the same time, the fragile peace trade. On 24 December 1814, the diplomats
established in Europe showed enough signs signed the peace treaty, with most of its
of disintegration that the troops recently articles being based on the principle of status
sent to North America were needed back on quo ante bellum, and then joined together to
the Continent. Furthermore, British celebrate the coming of Christmas in
taxpayers cried out for relief, having borne Ghent cathedral.
the costs of fighting wars and subsidizing On 26 December, London business
allies for 20 years. The Americans realized interests had learned enough to shift their
that their own objectives in going to war investments in anticipation of renewed trade
could not be achieved, and thought the best with the United States, and on 27 December
they could probably get was the preservation the Prince Regent (the future George IV)
of the status quo that they had been fighting ratified the document. Across the Atlantic,
so hard to upset. Conquest was proving the US Senate unanimously ratified the
impossible, and in fact the British controlled treaty on 17 February 1815, and at
more US territory than the Americans 11.00 p.m. that night the war officially
occupied in Canada. The Orders-in-Council ended with an exchange of ratifications. In
had been revoked before the outbreak of Britain, the government learned about the
hostilities, and while the British would not events in Washington on 13 March, and
relent on impressment and other policies, with the coming of spring, both sides
the end of the European war promised to withdrew their forces from the territories of
render concern for at least some of these their former enemy and began to send
issues academic. At the same time, the prisoners-of-war home. Within the aboriginal
United States faced bankruptcy, recruitment world, negotiations took place through 1815
for the army had fallen below the rate at and 1816 to end the fighting between the
which men were being lost, and federal tribes and the respective white powers they
officials did not appreciate just how weak had fought against, also to bring hostilities
was the secessionist movement in New to a close among the tribes that had fought
England. Thus, American diplomats against each other.
dropped their demands for a resolution of
Anglo-American maritime problems and for
restitution for damages done during the Perceptions of victory
blockade and coastal raids, along with their
claim for compensation for, or the return of, As word filtered across the Atlantic that
slaves who had sought freedom with the peace had returned, most Americans, like
British, and for the cession of Canada. Both their British counterparts who had heard the
parties also agreed to make peace with the news earlier, sighed with relief as the
native peoples and restore to them the rights associated burdens and uncertainties lifted
they had enjoyed in 1811 - a move that had and they could look to a future with greater
far more impact on the United States than it promise. Most Americans seemed to forget
did on Great Britain because of the why their country had gone to war, the
aboriginal situation in the Old Northwest. failure of their soldiers, sailors, and
All captured territory, except for some islands diplomats to achieve their objectives, and
in Passamaquoddy Bay, off Maine, that the instead embraced the memories of successes
British had seized, were to be returned to at Pittsburgh, Baltimore, and especially New
their 1812 owners, and other issues, such as Orleans to bolster an interpretation of the
conducting a scientific survey of the peace that affirmed the independence and
Canadian-American border to determine an dignity of their country, going so far as to
How the war ended 83
proclaim that they had won a 'second war that their prewar policies risked conflict with
of independence.' Some pronounced their the United States, but they believed that
enthusiasm for the outcome with a they could not abandon these policies
surprising degree of hyperbole: Congressman because of the imperative to defeat
George Troup declared the Treaty of Ghent Napoleon. Yet, as the possibility of
'the glorious termination of the most hostilities loomed larger, they rescinded the
glorious war ever waged by any people.' Orders-in-Council to avoid a confrontation
For his part, President James Madison told before the US declaration, and so the
Congress, on 18 February 1815, that the revocation of the Orders had nothing to do
war had been a success. with the war itself.
As time passed, the legends of American Britain would not, however, negotiate a
victory grew. The famous Democratic- compromise on impressment or other
Republican party newspaper Niles Register, on maritime policies, such as excluding
14 September 1816, crowed: '... we did American ships from trade routes it wanted
virtually dictate the treaty of Ghent to the to keep for exclusive British use, and thus the
British,' ignoring completely that it had been peace treaty was silent on these points and
a scramble just to get the status quo of 1812, did not challenge British policies or practices.
let alone achieve any war aims, while vague That impressment evaporated as a problem
affirmations that Britain had come out of the between the two powers was due entirely to
war with a new-found respect for the United Britain's triumph over France and had
States helped to solidify such views. This nothing to do with American actions, and
attitude has remained dominant in the the United Kingdom came out of the war
American public consciousness, as can be fully prepared to implement any restrictions
seen in today's brochures and web it wished if future tensions required them.
presentations from 1812 historic sites as well More importantly, Britain defended its North
as in textbooks and the popular media, and American colonies successfully, and thus
even in much academic writing. Other the Canadian experiment in building a
Americans in 1815 saw things differently. distinct society was not brought to a violent
While some thought of the war and premature close through American
fundamentally as a draw, many Federalist conquest, but continued, as it does today.
party supporters who had opposed the This was the most significant outcome of the
Madison administration noted how the War of 1812. For Britain, the retention of
government had failed to achieve its goals. these colonies (and their subsequent identity
These views, less helpful in building national as a nation within the Empire) gave it access
identity and patriotism, have been embraced to North American products outside of the
by far fewer Americans, both then and in control of the United States, and also
subsequent decades. contributed to the overall strength of the
An assessment of objectives set in 1812 Umpire; it also provided the mother country
and realized in 1814 points to a British with absolutely critical support in both 1914
victory, although perhaps one that is not and 1939 when Canada went to war (while
clear in the modern mind, partly because the the United States stayed out of the great
war occurred in an age when diplomatic conflicts of the 20th century until 1917 and
negotiations, the preservation of dignity, and 1941 respectively).
compromise marked treaties, rather than the While the case for a fundamental British
images of unconditional surrender that have victory over the United States is the most
come to dominate our consciousness. logical one that can be made, there were
Furthermore, a successful defensive war has other participants in the conflict whose
less impact on the popular imagination than stories muddy the waters. Although their
a conflict that changes national boundaries. fights had only the most peripheral links to
On maritime issues, the British understood the war, the contemporary struggles of
How the war ended 85
The best-known patriotic legacy of the war is The Star on the Canadian front was on the Detroit
Spangled Banner. This is the first known printing of the frontier. This made it difficult to argue for a
lyrics, probably made right after the bombardment of
homeland without a corresponding
Fort McHenry. The words are by Francis Scott Key, who
set them to the music of a British song. To Anacreon in willingness on the part of the British to
Heaven. In 1889 the USN began using The Star Spangled continue waging war to achieve that goal.
Banner at flag-raising ceremonies, a practice copied by Such a course of action was simply not in
the army. In 1931, Congress made it the US national the interests of either Britain or Canada, and
anthem. (Maryland Historical Society)
the natives, as the junior partner in the
alliance, like junior partners throughout
Spanish Florida and the Creek nation in history, had their interests sacrificed to those
resisting US expansion failed. Much more of the dominant party. Nevertheless, the
closely related to the war between Great article was not insubstantial.
Britain and the United States were the The problem with the treaty, however,
ordeals of natives in the north and west, was that it did not preclude the United States
who divided roughly into Canadian-resident from working to alienate native lands and
natives, who largely (if conditionally) reduce aboriginal rights after having restored
supported the British, American-resident them to their 1811 status. Ironically, those
natives, who allied with the Americans, and natives who had fought as allies of the US,
those who lived within the borders of the such as the Iroquois in New York, received
United States but fought against the no better treatment from the Americans after
Americans. This last group was the largest 1815 than those who had opposed the
and potentially the most vulnerable. The United States.
Treaty of Ghent included an article that Native people in Canada also suffered, as
stated that all these peoples were to have settlement pressures accelerated the
their territorial and other rights of the alienation of their lands, although this
prewar period returned. This was far less occurred at a slower pace and without the
than the native homeland that the majority degree of violence and dislocation that
of natives of the Old Northwest wanted, but marked the experience of the tribes south of
the one campaign the Americans had won the Canada-US border.
Conclusion and consequences
The world's longest undefended

border?
The end of the War of 1812 brought 1815 did not know that peace would last, so
permanent peace between Great Britain and they prepared for another conflict, and
the United States, and politicians at cross- both sides agreed that the reason the
boundary events today like to speak of the Americans had failed to conquer Upper
world's longest undefended border, claiming Canada was that they had not severed the
that it has existed since 1815. The reality is St Lawrence supply line by capturing either
somewhat different. Military planners in Kingston or Montreal. Thus, both sides
Conclusion and consequences 87
strengthened fortifications, focusing the tribes of the Old Northwest, mainly

particular attention on the St Lawrence. through removing the natives farther west.
The British, for example, built a massive In part, these efforts were little more than
citadel in Kingston in the 1830s and added prudent planning by the British and
several Martello towers to the town in the American governments, rather than serious
1840s. Most ambitious of all, they built the preparations for conflict, but both powers
Rideau Canal to create an alternative water thought of the other as a potential enemy in
route to the vulnerable St Lawrence, hoping the decades that followed.
that in a future war it would allow them to
keep supply lines open to the upper The British built the Rideau Canal in the 1820s-30s
province. The Americans improved their to bypass the St Lawrence River above Montreal in case
the Americans should seize control of the waterway in
forts and built roads to facilitate future
another war This 1839 image shows the locks and
invasion attempts. They also worked to cut defensive blockhouse on the canal at Merrickville.
the ties between the British in Canada and (National Archives of Canada)
Nevertheless, neither power wanted war, Sir Charles Bagot, and the acting US secretary
and in general their diplomats tried to ease of state, Richard Rush, negotiated a naval
tensions whenever prohlems arose. Both disarmament for the northern border.
countries also wanted to avoid unnecessary Accepted in 1817, the Rush-Bagot Agreement
expenditure on military preparedness; thus in limited each power to maintaining a small
1816-17, the British minister to Washington, number of armed vessels across the Great
Lakes and on Lake Champlain. Most of the
After the end of hostilities, both sides secured their 1812-era warships were put into 'ordinary' for
warships for future use, as can been seen in this 1815 future use or were sunk, broken up, or sold to
image of Kingston, Upper Canada. Note the roof over civilians. Yet, in spite of that agreement and
one of the ships and how others have had their masts general aspirations to avoid hostilities, both
removed for storage. From left to right note: Fort Henry,
sides still eyed each other suspiciously from
the top of a blockhouse (behind the workers). Navy Bay
and its naval dockyard, the town waterfront, and the time to time and, in fact, both violated Rush-
civilian community. (National Archives of Canada) Bagot during periods of tension. However, a
Conclusion and consequences 89
breach never occurred, and in 1917, over a that the British largely have forgotten the
century after the end of the War of 1812, the conflict. In the United States, memories
United States joined France, Britain, Canada, survived, but to a large degree were subsumed
and the other colonies of the Empire on the by those of a more congenial war, the one
Western Front in the great struggle against with Mexico in 1846-48, in which the
Germany and its allies. United States expanded into Texas, California,
and other regions due to a military
establishment that had been improved
Legasies dramatically in light of the experiences of
1812-15. Afterward, the great national crisis
The War of 1812 was a small conflict of the Civil War shook Americans and
compared with the great Napoleonic wars eclipsed the conflicts with Britain and Mexico
that were its contemporaries and that in the public consciousness. In Canada, the
contributed to its genesis. This has meant War of 1812 was the most acute crisis of the
19th century, and it dominated the popular The Stoney Creek Monument was buitt by the 'people of
imagination, resulting in a series of Canada' through the efforts of the Women's Wentworth
impressive centennial celebrations in Historical Society and was 'unveiled by electricity' by
1912-14. Even today, with Britain, Canada, Queen Mary from Buckingham Palace in 1913 on the
centennial of the battle. Part of the monument's text
and the United States being firm friends, and
reads: 'Here the tide of invasion was met and turned by
with their shared experiences of the wars of the pioneer patriots and soldiers of the King of one
the 20th century, Canadians still hold the hundred years ago. More dearly than their lives they held
War of 1812 to be one of the great moments those principles and traditions of British liberty of which
in their country's history. Canada is the inheritor' (Battlefield House Museum)
Further reading
Primary Sources Wood, W. (ed), Select British documents of the

Canadian War of 1812, 4 vols (Toronto,
Benn, C. (ed) Warriors: native memoirs from 1920-28)
the War of 1812 (Toronto: forthcoming)
Black Hawk, A. LeClair (trans), J. Patterson &
D. Jackson (eds) Life of Black Hawk [1833] Secondary Sources
(Urbana, 1990)
Brannan, J. (ed) Official letters of the military and Allen, R., His Majesty's Indian allies: British
naval officers of the United States during the Indian policy and the defence of Canada,
war with Great Britain (Washington, 1823) I774-1815 (Toronto, 1992)
Congreve, W., An elementary treatise on the Altoff, G., Amongst my best men: African-
mounting of naval ordnance (London, 1811) Americans and the War of 1812 (Put-In-Bay,
Cruikshank, E (ed.), The documentary history 1996)
of the campaigns on the Niagara Frontier, Barbuto, R., Niagara 1814: America invades
1812-14, 9 vols (Lundy's Lane, 1902-08) Canada (Lawrence, 2000)
Duane, W., American military library Benn, C., Historic Fort York (Toronto, 1993)
(Philadelphia, 1809) Benn, C., The Iroquois in the War of 1812
Dudley, W., (ed.) The naval War of 1812: a (Toronto, 1998)
documentary history, 4 vols (Washington, Benn, C., 'A Georgian parish' in W. Cook
1985-) (ed), The parish and cathedral of St James'
Gellner, J. (ed), Recollections of the War of (Toronto, 1998)
1812: three eyewitnesses' accounts (Toronto, Bowler, R. (ed), War along the Niagara: essays
1964) on the War of 1812 and its legacy
Graves, D. (ed), Merry hearts make light days: (Youngstown, 1991)
the War of 1812 journal of Lieutenant John Burt, A., The United States, Great Britain, and
LeCouteur, 104th Foot (Ottawa, 1993) British North America from the Revolution to
Graves, D. (ed), Soldiers of 1814: American the establishment of peace after the War of
enlisted men's memoirs of the Niagara 1812 (New Haven, 1940)
campaign (Youngstown, 1996) Calloway, C, Crown and calumet: British-
Klinck, C. & Talman, J. (eds), The journal of Indian relations, 1783-1815 (Norman,
Major John Norton, 1816 (Toronto, 1970) 1987)
Latour, A. G. Smith (ed), Historical memoir of Chartrand, R., Uniforms and equipment of the
the war in West Florida and Louisiana in United States forces in the War of 1812
1814-15, with an atlas [1816] (Gainesville, (Youngstown, 1992)
1999) Chartrand, R. & G. Embleton, British forces in
Malcomson, R. (ed), Sailors of 1812: memoirs North America 1793-1815 (London, 1998)
and letters of naval officers on Lake Ontario Collins, G., Guidebook to the historic sites of
(Youngstown, 1997) the War of 1812 (Toronto, 1998)
Myers, M., Reminiscences 1780 to 1814: Cruikshank, E., 'Blockade of Fort George,'
including incidents in the War of 1812-14 Niagara Historical Society Transactions 3
(Washington 1900) (1898)
Wilson, J., 'A rifleman at Queenston,' Buffalo Everest, A., The War of 1812 in the Champlain
Historical Society Publications 9 (1906) Valley (Syracuse, 1981)
Fredriksen, J., (comp) Free trade and sailors' Malcomson, R., Warships of the Great Lakes,
rights: a bibliography of the War of 1812 1754-1834 (London, 2001)
(Westport, 1985) Martin, T. A., most fortunate ship: a narrative
Fredriksen, J., (comp) War of 1812 eyewitness history of Old Ironsides, revised edition
accounts: an annotated bibliography (Annapolis, 1997)
(Westport, 1997) Morris, J., Sword of the border: Major General
Gardiner, R. (ed), The Naval War of 1812 Jacob Brown 1775-1828 (Kent, 2000)
(London, 1998) Owsley, R, Struggle for the Gulf borderlands: the
George, C. (ed), Journal of the War of 1812 Creek War and the battle of New Orleans
(1995-) 1812-1815 (Gainesville, 1981)
Glover, R., Britain at Ray: defence against Gwsley, R, Filibusters and expansionists:
Bonaparte 1803-14 (London, 1973) Jeffersonian Manifest Destiny, 1800-1821
Graves, D., Red coats and gray jackets: the (Tuscaloosa, 1997)
battle of Chippawa (Toronto, 1994) Petrie, D., The prize game: lawful looting on the
Graves, D., Where right and glory lead! The high seas in the days of fighting sail
battle of Lundy's Lane, 1814 revised edition (Annapolis, 1999)
(Toronto, 1997) Pfeiffer, S & Williamson R (eds) Snake Hill: an
Graves, D., Field of glory: the battle of Crysler's investigation of a military cemetery from the
Farm 1813 (Toronto, 1999) War of 1812 (Toronto, 1991)
Gray, W., Soldiers of the king: the Upper Pratt, J., Expansionists of 1812 (Gloucester,
Canadian militia 1812-1815 (Erin, 1995) Mass, 1957)
Heidler, D. & J. Old Hickory's war: Andrew Quimby, R., The US Army in the War of 1812:
Jackson and the quest for empire an operational and command study, 2 vols
(Mechanicsburg, 1996) (East Lansing, 1997)
Heidler, D. & J, (eds) Encyclopedia of the War Roosevelt, T, Naval War of 1812 (New York,
of 1812 (Santa Barbara, 1997) 1882)
Mickey, D.( 'The Monroe-Pinkney treaty of Skaggs, D. & G. A. Altoff, A signal victory: the
1806: A Reappraisal,' William and Mary Lake Erie campaign 1812-1813 (Annapolis,
Quarterly 44 (1987) 1997)
Hickey, D., The War of 1812: a forgotten Skelton, W., 'High army leadership in the era
conflict (Urbana, 1989) of the War of 1812: the making and
Hickey, D., 'The War of 1812: still a forgotten remaking of the officer corps,' William
conflict?' Journal of Military History 65 and Mary Quarterly 51 (1994)
(2001) Stagg, J., Mr Madison's war: politics, diplomacy
Hitsman, J., Safeguarding Canada, 1763-1871 and warfare in the early American republic
(Toronto, 1968) 1783-1830 (Princeton, 1983)
Hitsman, J., (revised D. Graves) The incredible Stagg, J., 'Enlisted men in the United States
War of 1812 (Toronto, 1999) Army, 1812-1815,' William and Man'
Horsman, R., Expansion and American Indian Quarterly 43 (1986)
policy 1783-1812 (Norman, 1992) Stagg, J., 'Between Black Rock and a hard
Kert, F., Prize and prejudice: privateering and place: Peter B. Porter's plan for an
naval prize in Atlantic Canada in the War of American invasion of Canada in 1812,'
1812 (St Johns, 1997) Journal of the Early Republic 19 (1999)
Lord, Walter The dawn's early light (New York, Stagg, J., 'Soldiers in peace and war:
1972) comparative perspectives on the
Mahan, A., The influence of sea power upon the recruitment of the United States Army,
War of 1812, 2 vols (Boston, 1905) 1802-1815,' William and Mary Quarterly
Malcomson, R., Lords of the lakes: the naval 57 (2000)
war on Lake Ontario 1812-1814 Stanley, G The War of 1812: land operations
(Annapolis, 1998) (Ottawa, 1983)
Further reading 93
Sugclen, J., Tecumseh: a life (New York, 1997) Updike, F The diplomacy of the War of 1812
Sutherland, S., His Majesty's gentlemen: a (Baltimore, 1915)
directory of British regular army officers of Whitehorn, J While Washington burned: the
the War of 1812 (Toronto, 2000) battle for Fort Erie (Baltimore, 1992)
Tucker, S., Arming the fleet: US Navy ordnance Whitehorn, J The battle of Baltimore
in the muzzle-loading era (Annapolis, 1989) (Baltimore, 1997)
Tucker, S., The Jeffersonian gunboat navy Wilder, P The battle of Sackett's Harbour
(Columbia, 1993) (Annapolis, 1994)
Turner, W., British generals in the War of 1812: Zaslow, M (ed) The defended border: Upper
high command in the Canadas (Montreal, Canada and the War of 1812 (Toronto,
1999) 1964)
Index
Figures in bold refer to illustrations Eagle, USS 9

Eastport 9
aboriginals 7, 10, 18-19, 22-23, 25, 27, 30, 32-33, 34, 34, Embargo Act, US 8, 13-14, 28
35, 40-41, 44-45, 47, 62, 66, 66-69, 70-71, 72, 82, 85 Enterprise, USS 9
Alert, HMS 8, 52 Epervier, HMS 9
Alexandria 10, 59 Erie, Lake 10, 30, 33, 34, 47, 48
Amherstburg 46 Essex, USS 8, 9, 52, 53-55
Argus, USS 9, 53 Essex Junior, USS 9
Armstrong, John 36 expansionism, US 15-19, 30
Avon, HMS 10
Fort Bowyer 10, 63
Bagot, Sir Charles 88-89 Fort Dearborn 8, 32
Baltimore 59, 61, 82 Fort Erie 9, 10, 40, 49-52, 50
Bangor 10, 62 Fort George 9, 35, 37-40, 38-39, 41, 44-45, 46, 51
Beaver Dams, battle of 9, 41 Fort Harrison 8
Belfast 10 Fort Henry 88-89
Belvidera, HMS 8, 9, 28 Fort Mackinac 8, 30, 32-33
Black Hawk 66-69, 66 Fort Madison 8, 9, 68
Black Rock 9 Fort McHenrv 10, 59, 61
Bladensburg, battle of 10, 57-59, 59 Fort Meigs 9, 45-46, 68
blockades 8, 9, 12, 13, 15, 44-45, 50, 51-52, 53-56, 58 Fort Mississauga 51
'Bloody Assize' 75 Fort Niagara 9, 37, 38-39, 46, 47, 51
Borgne, Lake 10, 63-64 Fort Schlosser 9
Boxer, HMS 9 Fort Shelby 9, 68
Britain Fort St Philip, siege of 10
military forces 21, 24, 25, 27, 35, 44, 44, 62 Fort Stephenson 9, 45, 68
naval forces see Royal Navy (RN) Fort Washington 10, 59
Orders-in-Council 8, 13, 15, 16, 19, 26, 81, 83 Fort Wayne 8
Brock, Isaac, Major-General 30, 34, 35, 74 Forty Mile Creek 9, 40-41, 51
Brown, Jacob, Major-General 49, 51, 52 France 12-13, 21, 28-29
Brownstown 8, 32-33 decrees 8, 12, 15, 19
Buffalo 9, 10, 47 Franklin County, NY 9
Burlington Beach 9 French Creek 9'
Burlington Heights 40, 45, 46, 51 Frenchman's Creek 8, 35
Burlington Races 9, 45 Frenchtown 8, 36, 72
Frolic, HMS 8
Caledonia, HMS 8 Frolic, USS 9
Campbell Island (Rock Island) 9, 68
Canada 7, 8, 10, 16-17, 18, 26-27, 29, 86-90 Georgia 9
Canadian front (1812-14) 30-52, 31 Ghent, Treaty of 9, 10, 81-85
Eastern 14 Grand River 40
Canard Bridge 8 Grand Turk, USS 56-57
Carolina, USS 64 Great Lakes-St Lawrence front 30-52, 31
Castine 10, 62 Growler, USS 9
Castle Williams 12-13 Guerriere, HMS 8, 53
Chateauguay, battle of 9, 45 Gulf (of Mexico) front (1812-15) 63
Chauncey, Isaac, Commodore 36, 37, 51, 79, 81
Cherub, HMS 9 Halifax 28, 28-29
Chesapeake River 8 Hampden, battle of 10, 62
Chesapeake, USS 7, 8, 9, 11, 52 Hampton 9
Chippawa, battle of 9, 49 Hampton, Wade, Major-General 45
Cochrane, Sir Alexander, Vice-Admiral 61 Harper, John 16
Conjocta Creek, battle of 10 Harrison, Henry, Major-General 46
Constitution, USS 8, 9, 10, 20, 52-53, 53 Hartford Convention 10, 75-76
Cook's Mill 10, 52 Havre de Grace 9
Craney Island 9 Hinchinbrook, HMS 56-57
Creek War (1813-14) 62, 63 Hornet, USS 9, 10
Croghan, George, Lieutenant-Colonel 48-49 Hull, William, Brigadier-General 29, 30, 32, 33-34
Crysler's Farm, battle of 9, 45
Cyme, HMS 10,53 impressment 11, 15, 26
infantrv 21-25, 62
Dash, USS 28 British 24, 44, 44
Dearborn, Henry, Major-General 36, 37, 40, 41, 44-45, US 16, 36, 36, 44-45
79, 80, 81
Delaware River 8 Jackson, Andrew, Major-General 63-64
Detroit 8, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36 Java, HMS 8, 53
Detroit, HMS 8 Jefferson, Thomas 11, 14, 26
Downie, Sir George 61
Drummond, Gordon, Lieutenant-General 47, 51-52 Kent Island 9
Index 95
Kingston 36, 40, 87, 88-89 propaganda 72, 74-75

Put-in-Bay, naval battle of 9, 46
Lacolle 8, 48
Leandr, HMS 9 Queenston 9, 34, 35, 46, 51
Leopard, HMS 7, 8, 11 Queenston Heights 8, 35
Levant, HMS 10, 53 Quincy, Josiah 76
Lewiston 9, 34
Little Belt, HMS 11, 15 Rattlesnake, USS 9
Longwoods 9 Red House/Frenchman's Creek 8, 35
Losses 25, 33, 34, 35, 37, 40, 41, 46, 47, 51, 52, 57, 61, 65 Reindeer, HMS 9
Lundy's Lane, battle of 9, 51 Riall, Phineas, Major-General 49-51
Rideau Canal 86-87, 87
Macedonian, HMS 8 Rock Island Rapids (Credit Island), battle of 10, 68
Machias 10, 62 Ross, Robert, Major-General 61
Mackinac Island 30, 32-33, 48 Rottenburg, Francis de, Major-General 44
battle of 10, 49 Royal Navy (RN) 7, 10, 15, 20, 21, 26, 28-29, 35-16 41,
Macon's Bill Number Two (US) 8, 14-15 52-56, 57, 58, 59, 61, 62, 63-64, 64-65
Madison, James 6, 7, 14, 15, 16, 19, 20, 26, 59, 62, deserters 7, 11
74-75, 81, 83 Rush-Bagot Agreement 88-89
Maguaga 8, 33
Majestic, HMS 29 Sackett's Harbour 9, 37, 40, 40-41, 48, 52
McArthur, Duncan 52 Salaberry, Charles de, Lieutenant-Colonel 45
McClure, John, Brigadier-General 46 Sandy Creek 9, 48
McDouall, Robert, Lieutenant-Colonel 49 scalps 73, 74-75
Medway, HMS 9 Scorpion, USS 10, 49
Mississenewa 8 Scott, Winfield, Brigadier-General 49
Mississippi River 62-63, 66-69 Secord, Laura 41
Upper Mississippi front (1811-15) 67 Shannon, HMS 9, 52
Montreal campaign 29, 32, 35, 36, 45, 46, 48 Sheaffe, Roger, Major-General 35, 37
Moose Island 62 Sinclair, Arthur, Captain 49
Moraviantown, battle of 9, 43, 46 Sink Hole 10, 69
Morrison, Joseph, Lieutenant-Colonel 45 Smyth, Alexander, Brigadier-General 34, 35, 72
Somen, USS 10
Nancy, HMS 10, 49 Southampton, HMS 8
Napoleon 9, 12-13, 15, 19, 47, 57 Spain 7, 19
Napoleonic wars 7, 11, 12-13 The Star Spangled Banner 84
Narcissus, HMS 8 St Lawrence River 45, 86-87
Narragansett Bay 9 St Lawrence, HMS 52
National Intelligencer 26 Stoney Creek
Nautilus, USS 10, 52, 81 battle of 9, 40
naval battles 43, 54 Monument 90
see also Royal Navy (RN); United States Navy (USN) Strachan, John 77, 77-80
New England 9 Syren, USS 9
New Orleans campaign 10, 64-65, 65, 82
New York 9, 28 Tavlor, Zachary, Major 68
Niagara 9, 46 Tecumseh 7, 18, 45, 46, 67
Niagara River 34-35, 38-39, 40 Tenskwatawa 7, 18, 67-68
Niagara River front (1812-14) 42 Tigress, USS 10, 49
Non-Intercourse Act, US 8, 14, 15, 19 Tippecanoe, battle of 8, 18
North Point, battle of 10, 61 Tompkins, Daniel 36
Norton, John 34 trade 12-16, 18, 19, 56-57
treason 75
Ogdensburg 8, 36 T r o u p , George 83
Ohio, USS 10 Tuscarora 9
Ontario, l,ake 9, 36, 37, 40, 40-41, 45
Orpheus, HMS 9 uniforms, infantrv 24, 34, 44
Oswego, amphibious assault 9, 48, 48-49 United States Navy (USN) 11, 20, 20-21, 36, 52-56, 59,
61, 63
Pakenham, Sir Edward, Major-General 64, 65 United States, USS 8, 20, 56
Parish, Elijah 74-75 United States
Peacock, HMS/USS 9, 10, 81 Eastern 14
Pelican, HMS 9, 53 military' forces 16, 17, 21, 25, 27, 36, 36, 44-45, 46, 49
Penguin, HMS 10 naval forces see United States Navy (USN)
Perry', Oliver Hazard 46 trade restrictions 13-16,19
Phoebe, HMS 9
Pictou, HMS 9, 53 Van Rensselaer, Stephen, Major-General 34
Pig Point 10 Villere Plantation, battle of 10, 64
Pike, Zebulon, Brigadier-General 37 Vincent, John, Major-General 41, 45
Pittsburgh 9, 82 Viper, USS 8
battle of 10, 60-61 Vixen, USS 8
Poictiers, HMS 8 Vixen II, USS 9
Port Dover 9
Porter, Peter B, 16 Washington 10, 59, 59, 60, 75
Potomac River 10 Wasp USS 8, 9, 10
Prairie du Chien 9, 68 weapons 22-25, 28-29, 36, 55; 61
Prescott 9 Whiting, HMS 28
President, USS 10, 11, 15, 20 Wilkinson, James, Major-General 45
Provost, Sir George 61, 81
privateering 55 Yeo, Sir James Lucas 81
Procter, Henry, Brigadier-General 36, 45, 46 York, battle of 9, 36-37, 37, 77-80, 78-79
The War of 1812-1815 was a
bloody confrontation that tore
Gulf of Mexico. The conflict

saw British, American and First
Nations forces clash, and in
the process, shape the future
of North American history. This
exciting volume explains what
led to America's decision
to take up arms against Great
Britain and assesses the three
terrible years of fighting that
followed on land and sea, where
battles such as Lake Erie and
Lake Champlain launched
American naval traditions.
Front and back cover image: The Battle of Queenstown Heights.
(Riverbrink, The Weir Foundation, Queenstown, Ontario, Canada)
Essential Histories
A multi-volume history of war seen from political,
strategic, tactical, cultural and individual perspectives
'Read them and gain a deeper understanding of war

and a stronger basis tor thinking about peace
Professor Robert O'Neill, Series Editor
Essential Histories are created and produced by Osprey Publishing

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What events led to tensions between the US and Britain?

What events led to tensions between the US and Britain?

What were the major battles of the war?

What were the major battles of the war?

Essential Histories

The War of 1812

The War of 1812

The War of 1812

For information, please address the publisher

First published 2002 under the title Essential Histones 41:

All nghts reserved No part of this book may be reprinted or

Cataloging-in-Publication data is available from the

Pnnted and bound in China on acid-free paper

The world around war

How the war ended

Conclusion and consequences

The world's longest undefended border? 86

1793-1815 Anglo-French war, except briefly 15 August Engagement at Fort

24 February USS Hornet vs HMS 10-11 December Americans evacuate

2-3 August Battle of Conjocta Creek October-November Raids on the

A small war with complex

Eastern North America June 1812

generated widespread opposition among Non-Intercourse Act. It prohibited trade with

intercourse on one of the European powers if Expansionism

of the United States, the British government

Soldiers, sailors, and warriors

For a country contemplating war against the Naval forces

the smoothbore, muzzle-loaded, single-shot, main force to escape. In an advance, they

Lieutenant's uniform of the rifle company of the Leeds Militia in

America sets its sights

Opening moves inflicted casualties, but the Belvidera escaped

The war on land and at sea

The Great Lakes 1812

The Canadian front 1812-14

Potawatomi force destroyed the garrison at

The first battle of 1813 occurred in the

This early 19th century print shows a corner of the American

Sackett's Harbour (as represented in an 1815 print)

A short time later, a small party of Dearborn responded to the developing

1. The British repulsed US forces at Queenston Heights and

The Niagara front 1812-14

in two bateaux and a canoe, accompanied by

The ocean war between the USN and the RN 1812-15

Note: US ships are named first

havoc on the British South Pacific whaling

Attacking the United States

British Atlantic counterattack 1812-14

1. As ships became available.the RN extended

Two regiments of black troops, including the 5th West

The British, however, enjoyed success

The Gulf front 1812-15

I. Independent of the war with Britain. Americans

An 1815 British map showing their operations

guns became bogged down in the soggy ground.

Black Hawk's war

Black Hawk (from a print done in the wake of the Black

The Upper Mississippi front 181 1-15

1. Low-grade hostilities occurred between whites and

Mississippi region natives in 1814. Note the military-style 'chief's coat' on