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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1812 WAR of 1812 1815 Following the American Revolution in 1783, relations between the United States and Britain remained strained. Britain did not evacuate its soldiers from forts south of the Great Lakes until 1796 and British agents continued to provide guns to their former Indian allies to discourage additional American wilderness selements. At the same time, Britain conducted a desperate war with Napoleonic France. Aggravating relations with the United States, aer 1793 British navy ships oen stopped American privately-owned cargo ships and impressed hundreds of civilian sailors into the Royal Navy. Americans protested to no avail. In 1807, a British ship, the Leopard, red on a U.S. Navy ship, the Chesapeake, and impressed American navy sailors into the King’s service. War almost erupted. Furthermore, some Americans believed that the British colony of Canada should be added to the United States. ese issues converged in 1812, when the United States insisted that Britain stop impressing merchant seamen and stop arming Native-Americans. On 1 June 1812, the U.S. Congress declared war on Britain. Voting against the war were many members of Congress from the northeastern states, where numerous ocean shipping companies were located. Despite the embarrassment of impressment and losses incurred by British seizures, the companies still earned prots from overseas trade. But a war could produce positive results for America because France occupied the aention of Britain’s navy, the world’s largest, and its army, one of Europe’s best. Some Americans calculated that they could raise armies, break the Indian tribes in the Northwest, and invade and capture Canada. It was a high-risk policy. If Britain defeated France, it could turn its military power on America. CAMPAIGNS There were six campaigns in the War of 1812. e streamer is scarlet with two white stripes. Scarlet is again used to symbolize the former mother country and the two white stripes symbolize America’s second successful defense of our homeland against the same enemy in the preceding conict. 􀃕􀀃CANADA 1812-1815 􀃕􀀃CHIPPEWA 1814 􀃕􀀃LUNDY’S LANE 1814 􀃕􀀃BLADENSBURG 1814 􀃕􀀃FORT MCHENRY 1814 􀃕􀀃NEW ORLEANS 1814 BELLIGERENTS 􀃕 United States 􀃕􀀃Choctaw, Cherokee, Creek allies VERSUS 􀃕􀀃United Kingdom 􀃕􀀃Canadian Provinces 􀃕􀀃Shawnee, Creek Red Sticks, Ojibway, Chickamauga, Fox, Miami, Mingo, Poawa, Kickapoo, Delaware (Lenape), Mascouten, Potawatomi, Sauk, Wyandot STATISTICS Wilkinson, turned back aer the Bale of Chrysler’s Farm on the St. Lawrence River. Signicant exceptions oset some American disappointments in 1813. At Put-in-Bay on Lake Erie, a U.S. Navy squadron led by Commodore Oliver H. Perry blocked British eorts to control the lake. Perry’s ships decisively won the day and he proclaimed, “We have met the enemy and he is ours!” At the Bale of the ames (pronounced “Tims”), General William Henry Harrison trounced a British army supplemented by Indian warriors. Killed in action was the great Shawnee chief Tecumseh, Britain’s most important Native-American ally and leader of the Northwest tribes. Events seemed more promising for Americans in 1814. In the South, an aggressive general, Andrew Jackson, won a signal victory at Horseshoe Bend, Alabama, over Britain’s Indian allies, the Creeks. In the North, Americans crossed into Canada to engage the British in multiple bales. At Chippewa, another young general, Wineld Sco, led well-trained regular army soldiers in a remarkable victory over the British. Nearby, the bloody Bale of Lundy’s Lane ended in a draw. At the same time, the British opened multiple oensives. Landing troops on the East Coast, they threatened Baltimore and Washington, D.C. British soldiers advanced on Bladensburg, Maryland, sending American defenders eeing in panic. In retaliation for York, the British set re to government buildings in Washington, including the White House. Watching British ships bombard Fort McHenry, protecting Baltimore, an American lawyer, Francis ScoKey, wrote a song entitled “e Star Spangled Banner.” Fort McHenry survived the bombardment and and the British withdrew. To the north, British forces invaded upstate New York. Commodore omas MacDonough commanded a U.S. Navy squadron that defeated Royal Navy ships on Lake Champlain and the British retreated to Canada. Meanwhile, a third invasion threatened New Orleans, Louisiana, part of a state just admied to the Union in 1812. Leading some regular U.S. Army soldiers, General Andrew Jackson designed the defense of the city and called for Americans to rally to him. Volunteers from Tennessee and Kentucky served next to Mississippi militia. In Louisiana, Jackson welcomed free African-Americans to man his lines and pardoned Jean Lae’s pirates, needed for their artillery skills. e diverse American defenders opposed an experienced British general, Edward Pakenham, with a strong army of veterans of the war against France. Aer a series of engagements, Pakenham decided on a direct assault against Jackson’s defense works at Chalmee, near New Orleans. e assault was a disaster, leaving hundreds of British soldiers killed and wounded and spoiling the invasion. Jackson’s victory made him a national hero but it was controversial. Although it was fought aer diplomats had negotiated and signed the Treaty of Ghent, the bale came before the treaty was ratied. News of New Orleans reached Washington, D.C., before the terms of the treaty arrived and thankful Americans asserted the war had a victorious conclusion. Congress ratied the treaty. e War of 1812 produced notable results. Britain never acknowledged impressment, but stopped the practice. e costs of the war almost bankrupted America. Depending on the state militia system for U.S. national defense proved to be impractical and state militias went into decline. Some politicians from northeastern states had opposed the war and held a convention at Hartford, Connecticut. Convention delegates issued a report expressing various grievances and complaints from the New England states, but across the country American nationalism surged. Native-American tribes allied with the British had been defeated, opening the way for expansion into the West. During the war’s rst year, combat stretched from Canada to Spanish Florida, and almost everything seemed to go wrong for America— except on the ocean. Having only a few ships, the U.S. Navy was not strong enough to engage the British eet. Instead, American warships aacked English cargo vessels and sought combat with individual British warships, winning more oen than they lost. e U.S. Army was small, about 7,000 soldiers. Congress voted to increase the army but recruiting went slowly. President James Madison and his commanders relied on state militia while new army units trained. Several of America’s senior generals were elderly veterans of the War for Independence and were unt for eld campaigns. Launched from three directions, the American invasions of Canada ended in failure. Other embarrassments accumulated. General William Hull surrendered Detroit to a small British force supported by Indian warriors. Near Queenston Heights, south of Lake Lake Ontario, American soldiers refused to leave U.S. territory, asserting they had signed up to defend America, not invade Canada. In 1813, major campaigns again went badly for Americans. e British Navy blockaded the Atlantic coast, boling up some of America’s best warships. British and Canadian forces repulsed multiple American invasions, notably at the Bale of York (modern Toronto), where retreating American soldiers burned Canadian government buildings. e British vowed revenge. A controversial American general, James 􀃕 United States 15-star ag General Jackson at the Bale of New Orleans on 9 January 1815. Painting by E. Percy Moran. President James Madison 1809 -1817 Portrait by Gilbert Stuart. 􀃕 Shawnee Chief Tecumseh by Pierre Le Dru. British and United States naval bale by Derek Gardner. Flintlock musket Joseph G. Dawson III, PhD, Texas A&M University U.S. military uniforms typical of the War of 1812, by H. Charles McBarron. Commodore Oliver H. Perry at Lake Erie, 9 September 1813 by William H. Powell. “en conquer we must, when our cause it is just, And this be our moo, ‘In God is our trust’.” e Star-Spangled Banner, Francis ScoKey, 14 September 1814. General Andrew Jackson, Lithograph om the National Archives. Flag own by Commodore Perry on his agship Lawrence at the Bale of Lake Erie, 1813. 􀃕 􀃕 1812􀃕WAR OF 1812 􀃕1815 © e Memorial for all Veterans of the Brazos Valley, Inc. Le-Write Ink 􀃕 Liberty half-dollar, 1812. By R. L. Pendleton. 􀃕􀀃Total Service Members 286,730 􀃕 Bale Deaths 2,260 􀃕􀀃Non-mortal Woundings 4,505􀀃 􀃕􀀃Deaths from disease 17,000