Relations between the Untied States and Britain following the Revolution were bound to be uneasy, but the Royal Navy’s huge manpower needs during the Napoleonic Wars meant that its irritating habit of pressing any British citizen anywhere in the world for service on a warship aggravated an already problematic situation. Thousands of men had been pressed from American merchantmen but when the HMS Leopard fired on the frigate USS Chesapeake in the spring of 1807 to force it to hand over several sailors who had recently deserted from a British warship, it seemed to be an act of war. Since Britain and France were each trying to prevent neutral America from trading with the other, President Thomas Jefferson declared the Embargo Act of 1807, which forbade exports to any foreign port. However, the economy took a heavy blow and Jefferson introduced a weaker version in his last week of office that allowed trade with any country other than Britain or France. Tensions soon calmed down except for the frontier, where settlers believed that the British were encouraging Indians to resist western expansion.

James Madison, Jefferson’s handpicked successor, became president in 1809 as part of a Republican landslide. Key positions in Congress were filled by a group of Republicans called the War Hawks, who were too young to remember the horrors of war and thirsted for expansion. Realizing that the fall elections would go badly without the support of the war hawks, Madison reluctantly sought Congress’ permission to go to war, but the vote in favor was not overwhelming. Although the Madison administration hoped the threat would pressure Britain to change its policies, victory was taken for granted, since America’s population of 7.5 million dwarfed the 500,000 people in Canada.
1812
Jefferson’s desire to avoid a standing army meant that America was not ready for war. The regular army consisted of 7,000 men, so state militias were expected to make up the difference. Since Quebec was considered a hard nut to crack, it was decided to attack in three directions: Kingston and Montreal, across the Niagara River and across the Detroit River in Upper Canada. This three pronged attack was intended to prevent the scattered British garrisons from forming up to oppose an invasion. Unfortunately, the lack of a general staff meant that the attacks were not coordinated and did not proceed on schedule.

There were only 5,600 British regulars in Canada but the desperate nature of the war against Napoleon meant that more men could not be spared. However, British ships dominated the Great Lakes, which were indispensable for any invasion, while an alliance with Indian tribes was expected to make up for the numerical inferiority.

William Hull, the Governor of Michigan, led two thousand Ohio militia and regulars across the Detroit River on July 12. His goal was the naval dockyard at Amherstburg, but he delayed action until heavy artillery was brought over on August 7. However, Fort Mackinac, which guarded the area between Lake Huron and Lake Michigan, had already fallen to the British, so when two separate forces sent to escort a supply train were badly mauled by Indian allies of the British, Hull withdrew to Fort Detroit. The enemy bombardment began on August 15 and when a cannon ball killed several officers in the officers’ mess, he surrendered on the 17th.

Six thousand regulars and militia were assigned to gain control of the Niagara River, and Queenston Heights, six miles south of Fort George, on the Canadian side of the river was selected as the beachhead. The attack on October 13 started badly when the main American force was pinned down on the river’s edge but a unit of American troops found a steep path up to the heights and seized the guns that dominated the river. Although the commander of Upper Canada, Major General Isaac Brock, died leading the counterattack, his second-in-command, Major-General Roger Sheaffe, maneuvered his men so that the Americans were surrounded with their backs to the river and were forced to surrender.

Major-General Henry Dearborn, the senior officer in the army, was responsible for organizing the assault on Montreal but he was nearing retirement and the refusal of the militia to cross the border gave him an excuse to call off the invasion in late November. General William Henry Harrison replaced Hull as commander of the army of the Northwest and ordered three separate columns of regulars and militia to make their way through the wilderness to the Maumee Rapids by early October. Although progress was so slow that the first column under Brigadier General James Winchester only reached the area in early January, Harrison was confident that his 7,000 men could cross the frozen Detroit River and overwhelm the British garrison. However, Winchester’s entire force was either killed or captured during an ambush by British and Indians at Frenchtown, near Detroit, on January 22, which drove Harrison to abandon the invasion.

While the Royal Navy dwarfed the American Navy, it was struggling to contain Napoleon, so it was unable to prevent American merchant ships from returning safely to their home ports. Those merchantmen would provide ships and crews for the privateers that would soon plague British shipping.
Captain Caution (1940)
Directed by Richard Wallace, starring Victor Mature and Louise Platt
When the captain of an American merchant ship is killed by the British at the start of the War of 1812, his daughter transforms the ship into a privateer in order to prey on British shipping.
Mutiny (1952)
Directed by Edward Dmytyrk, starring Mark Stevens and Angela Lansbury
An American captain tries to smuggle gold through a British blockade during the War of 1812 while preventing his crew from mutinying and taking the gold for themselves.

The Royal Navy received a shock when the frigate USS Constitution forced the frigate HMS Guerriere to surrender on August 19. Given its global responsibilities, the defeat of a single frigate was a minor matter for the British navy, but it was a key factor in Madison’s re-election that November.
1813
The three land campaigns had been a complete disaster and although the American government refused to give up its plan to conquer Canada, all efforts would be focused on the Niagara region. Since whoever dominated the Great Lakes had a vital advantage, Captain Isaac Chauncey was assigned to gain control of Lakes Erie and Ontario, and he embarked on a massive ship building program.

At the same time, Dearborn was ordered to take Kingston and Forts George and Erie to ensure that the Americans dominated both entrances to Lake Ontario. Believing that Kingston was too strongly defended, Chauncey and Dearborn decided to attack York (modern-day Toronto), the capital of Upper Canada. It fell easily on April 27, but Dearborn was not the most active commander and as a by-product of looting, the Parliament buildings were burned. The heavily outnumbered garrison of Fort George withdrew to Queenston after a sharp fight on May 27 and Fort Erie was abandoned but the invasion was suddenly derailed when the two brigadier generals leading the pursuit were captured during a night battle at Stoney Creek on June 6. Worse, Chauncey’s fleet had left to protect his shipyard, so when British warships appeared, Dearborn felt that his lines of communication were exposed, so he burned Fort Erie on June 9 and retreated after leaving a garrison at Fort George. Fed up with raids by Canadian militia, 600 men were sent to eliminate one of the militia’s outposts at Beaver Dams but an attack by Caughnawaga and Mohawk Indians filled them with such terror that they eagerly surrendered to the militia commander on June 24. Following this defeat, the garrison refused to leave the immediate vicinity of Fort George.

Meanwhile, the situation at sea changed as a reinforced British fleet in North American waters began to take a toll of American privateers, while the majority of American warships were kept bottled up and American export trade essentially came to a halt.

When the Red Sticks faction of the Creek Indians massacred hundreds of settlers at Fort Mims, Alabama, on August 30, a minor civil war became a serious concern. With the regular army preoccupied fighting the British, four separate militia armies were sent to punish the Creeks but the lengthy nature of the campaign meant that enlistments of most of the militia had expired before a lasting blow could be dealt.

After a bloody fight on September 10, the entire British squadron on Lake Erie was captured, which enabled Harrison to lead an army against Detroit in late September. Major-General Henry Proctor, the British commander in the region, was all too aware of the danger and abandoned both Detroit and the shipyard at Amherstburg. However, the Americans caught up with his army before proper defensive lines could be prepared, and his thin line was easily shattered by a cavalry charge near the Thames River on October 5. The defeat of the main British force in the area secured American control of the frontier.

Major-General James Wilkinson was sent to replace the worn-out Dearborn and decided to move up the St. Lawrence to link up with Brigadier General Wade Hampton for an attack on Montreal. However, Hampton had little interest in cooperating with him because of his rumored involvement in Aaron Burr’s conspiracy to form an empire in Louisiana. Hampton’s supplies were limited and the militia refused to follow him across the border, so when he encountered an unknown number of enemy troops blocking his route on October 13, he decided to call off the campaign rather than risk defeat.

Although Wilkinson was leading seven thousand men towards Montreal, his rearguard was badly mauled by a British force half its size on November 11. Soon after, he learned that Hampton would not be linking up with him, so he settled in for winter quarters, and then preoccupied himself with writing reports that criticized Hampton.

Meanwhile, the commander of Fort George, Brigadier-General George McClure, was left with only 60 regulars when the militia’s period of enlistment expired, so he retreated to Fort Niagara on December 10 after burning the neighboring village. Revenge was not long coming. Fort Niagara was taken completely by surprise by British troops eight days later and the towns of Black Rock and Buffalo were torched, which showed that Harrison’s victory had done little to make the frontier more secure.

In fact, as 1813 came to an end, the British still controlled almost all of their side of the frontier and had taken Fort Niagara as well. By this time, the British government was determined to teach its former colonies a lesson.
1814
Harrison was succeeded as commander of the army of the Northwest by Major General Jacob Brown. Realizing the need for a professional army, Brigadier General Winfield Scott was assigned to train the recruits. Fort Erie, at the southern end of the Niagara River, quickly capitulated on July 3, and Scott’s training had clearly paid off since his troops were able to force British regulars to retreat at the Chippawa River on July 5.

The momentum was suddenly with the Americans but it stalled when they encountered a British army under Lieutenant General Gordon Drummond at Lundy’s Lane, opposite Niagara Falls, on the evening of July 22. The British artillery was quickly captured and a series of counterattacks failed to retake the guns, although the fighting was so fierce that both Scott and Brown were put out of action. Brown’s third in command, Brigadier-General Eleazer Ripley, misinterpreted his orders and retreated, leaving the captured artillery behind. The battle had been especially bloody with the British suffering casualties of thirty percent and the Americans forty-five percent.

Fort Erie was the Americans’ sole remaining fort on the Canadian side of the Niagara River but Drummond had delayed pursuing the Americans in order to reorganize his supply line, which gave them time to strengthen the fort. Drummond lacked the artillery to batter it into submission and an overly complex attack ended in disaster when the accidental explosion of a magazine destroyed a large part of the British army on August 15. He returned to shelling the fort but abandoned the siege on September 17 and returned to Fort George.

Major-General George Izard assumed command but he lacked the stomach for the siege of a well-defended fort. After several attempts to lure Drummond out of Fort George failed, Izard blew up Fort Erie on November 5 and retreated across the river.

Unlike the other militia commanders, Andrew Jackson proved to have the necessary charisma to keep the inexperienced recruits who replaced his original army together during two inconclusive battles. Fortunately, reinforcements of volunteers and regular troops enabled him to destroy the main Creek army at Horseshoe Bend on March 27, thus ending the war.

The British had suffered from a deficiency of soldiers throughout the conflict but when Napoleon abdicated on March 31, ten thousand veteran soldiers were sent to Canada. They enabled General Sir George Prevost, governor-general of Canada and commander-in-chief of the British military in Canada, to lead an invasion into American territory, reaching Plattsburgh, where the American fleet was sheltering, on September 4. The land assault was intended to start at the same time as the naval attack but it was delayed because the British columns became lost. Two hours later, the American fleet was victorious but the British troops were driving the Americans back when the attack was cancelled. Prevost had been so shocked by the naval defeat that he took the army back to Canada to the disgust of his senior officers. Prevost’s extremely cautious nature had been an asset in the early stages of the war, when troop numbers were limited but he was completely unsuitable for offensive operations.

Since the war with France had started in 1793, the British public was fed up with the high taxes needed to pay for the war, so the British government agreed to start peace negotiations with the United States, although progress was slow at first.

While the land invasion had been unsuccessful, poor leadership enabled a much larger force of militia to be swept aside by four thousand soldiers under Major General Robert Ross to capture Washington on August 24. The President’s House, the Treasury Building, State and War Department buildings were torched, and the British left the next evening.

While Washington was officially the capital of the United States, it was far from its greatest city. As the nation’s third largest city and a commercial hub, nearby Baltimore was a juicy target, but nine thousand militiamen had prepared strong defensive lines. Ross was killed by a sniper while supervising the advance on September 12. The militia was either better led or more experienced, because they made the enemy pay for every foot and the British were still outside Baltimore by the end of the day. Without support from the navy, Ross’s successor, Colonel Arthur Brooke, decided that it would be too risky to attack the main American positions, so the army retreated during the night.

Although negotiations between Britain and America began in August in Ghent, Belgium, the British dragged their heels in the hope that a military victory would enable them to demand better terms. Since the capital had just been burnt a few months earlier, the American delegation was more motivated to end the war and it seemed unlikely that they would win their primary objective, namely an end to impressment. Fortunately, Wellington advised the British government to simply accept an end to the war at the original borders. Peace was agreed on December 24, 1814, although news arrived too late to prevent the British invasion of New Orleans.

Despite the on-going peace negotiations, the British attempted to capture New Orleans as a bargaining chip. Since most invasion routes crossed a complex mix of swamps and bayous, the British tried and failed to persuade the most successful local smuggler, Jean Lafitte, to join them.

Andrew Jackson was tasked with the defense of New Orleans, and although he was taken by surprise by the British, an aggressive attack convinced the commander of the advance force, Major-General John Keane, to leave the Americans alone long enough for the construction of defensive fortifications. When the overall commander, Sir Edward Pakenham, arrived, he thought that the position was ill-chosen but having come from fighting Napoleon’s best troops, he had little respect for the Americans. Most important, Jackson had set up a battery on the other side of the river, so attacking troops would be placed in a murderous crossfire. Pakenham wisely decided to send troops to eliminate the battery but rashly continued with his frontal assault even though the troops left late and had not yet captured the battery. As a result, the battle on January 7 was a slaughter, and both Pakenham and his second-in-command, Major-General Samuel Gibbs, lost their lives. When the navy failed to force its way up the Mississippi, the surviving senior officer, Major-General John Lambert, concluded that a withdrawal was the best option.
The Buccaneer (1938)
Directed by Cecil B. DeMille, starring Frederic March and Franciska Gaal
Powerful pirate Jean Lafitte debates whether to join the greatly outnumbered American army and defend New Orleans or play it safe by working with the invading British during the War of 1812.
The Buccaneer (1958)
Directed by Anthony Quinn, starring Yul Brynner and Claire Bloom
Powerful pirate Jean Lafitte debates whether to join the greatly outnumbered American army and defend New Orleans or play it safe by working with the invading British during the War of 1812.

While the war was not universally popular throughout the individual states, it had helped strengthen the idea of a national identity.

Further Reading:

1812: The War That Forged a Nation-Walter R. Borneman, New York: Harper Collins, 2004.

Although it is told from the American point of view, it is a good single volume account of the war that is both readable and well-researched. He provides a perceptive background to the simmering tensions that were building up before war was declared. For those confused by terms such as the weather gauge, Borneman provides brief but effective explanations of the complexities of naval battles. My sole frustration is that the maps are fine for individual campaigns but there no decent maps of the overall strategy.

1812: War with America-Jon Latimer, Cambridge: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2007.

While it is written from the British perspective, the book is a fair and surprisingly in-depth presentation of the war with very good maps. Latimer rightly points out that the desire to conquer Canada was a primary motivation for the Americans and the failure of the invasion guaranteed Canada’s independence. He explains the nuts and bolts of the British military well, including how much food and alcohol the sailors and soldiers were guaranteed respectively. The effect of privateers and the blockade on both American and British trade, and the illegal but widespread trade between Canada and New England are examined, so it is a good choice for those more interested in the economic aspect of the war. His concluding chapter summarizes how the war affected Anglo-American relations for the next generation and how the war has been viewed by American and British historians over the years.

The Incredible War of 1812: A Military History-J. Mackay Hitsman (updated by Donald E. Graves), Toronto: Robin Brass Studio, 1999.

The introduction by Graves shows that previous writing on the War of 1812 had entrenched the myth that the militia of Upper Canada with only token assistance from British regulars had repeatedly thrown back the American invaders and preserved the independence of Canada, ignoring political, diplomatic or economic aspects of the war. Therefore, the book was pretty much the first even-handed approach to the war that appeared in Canada. At the time, his respectful treatment of Prevost was considered controversial since he had previously been viewed as a dangerous incompetent. The original version did not include his references for all of the quotations and since he passed away from cancer shortly after it was published, four historians collaborated to produce references for the new edition. Hitsman provides a good explanation of the organization of the British military, the system for purchasing officer ranks and the type of people who were recruited into the army. As the title states, it is a military history and people might be put off the large amount of detail devoted to movements of troops and huge variety of units’ names, so it is best suited for the student of the era, rather than the general reader.


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