War of 1812

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This article is about the conflict in North America from 1812 to 1815. For the
Franco–Russian conflict, see French invasion of Russia. For other uses of this
term, see War of 1812 (disambiguation).
War of 1812
Part of the Sixty Years' War
War of 1812 Montage.jpg
Clockwise from top:
Damage to the United States Capitol after the burning of WashingtonMortally wounded
Isaac Brock spurs on the York Volunteers at the battle of Queenston HeightsUSS
Constitution vs HMS GuerriereThe death of Tecumseh in 1813Andrew Jackson defeats
the British assault on New Orleans in 1815
Date 18 June 1812 – 17 February 1815
(2 years, 7 months, 4 weeks and 2 days)
Location
North AmericaAtlantic OceanPacific Ocean
Result
Inconclusive, Military Draw

Treaty of Ghent
Abandonment of support for US military operations of Canada
British/allied victory of halting America's invasion of Canada
American victory against Tecumseh's confederacy
American victory against the Red Stick Creeks and the Treaty of Fort Jackson
American victory against British forces in Florida. British forces are driven out
of Florida.
American victory against Spain. Spain's influence is severely weakened and
diminished in Florida.
For its aftermath, see Historiography of the War of 1812 and Results of the War of
1812
Territorial
changes Anglo–American status quo ante bellum; Spain loses West Florida to the
United States; indigenous nations are mostly displaced from their land

Belligerents
United States
Allies
Choctaw
Cherokee
Creek
Seneca
United Kingdom
The Canadas
Allies
Tecumseh's Confederacy
Shawnee
Creek Red Sticks
Ojibwe
Fox
Miami
Ottawa
Kickapoo
Lenape
Potawatomi
Sauk
Wyandot
Six Nations
 Spain (1814)
Commanders and leaders
United States United States
James Madison
Paul Hamilton[a]
Henry Dearborn
John Rodgers
Stephen Decatur
Jacob Brown
James Monroe
Winfield Scott
Andrew Jackson
William Henry Harrison
Wade Hampton I
William Hull

United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland United Kingdom

Robert Jenkinson, Lord Liverpool
Philip Broke
George Prévost
Isaac Brock †
Robert Ross †
Edward Pakenham †
Edward Codrington
Cecil Bisshopp †
Peter Parker †
John Macdonell †
George Downie †
Lower/Upper Canada
Charles de Salaberry
Gordon Drummond
Six Nations
Tecumseh's confederacy
Tecumseh †
Roundhead †
Black Hawk
Spain
Mateo González Manrique
Strength
United States
United States Army:
7,000 (at war's start)
35,800 (at war's end)
United States Rangers: 3,049
Militia: 458,463*
United States Marines
United States Navy and United States Revenue Cutter Service (at war's start)
Ships of the line: none
Frigates: 12
Other vessels: 14
Privateers: 515 ships[1]
Allies
125 Choctaw
Unknown number of other tribes and nations[2]
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland British Empire
British Army:
5,200 (at war's start)
48,160 (at war's end)
Militia: 4,000
Royal Marines
Royal Navy
Ships of the line: 11
Frigates: 34
Other vessels: 52
Provincial Marine ‡
(at war's start):
Ships: 9
Allies
Indigenous allies: 10,000–15,000[3][1]
Casualties and losses
United States:
2,200 killed in action [4]
5,200 died of disease [5]
Up to 15,000 deaths from all causes [6] [5]
4,505 wounded [7]
20,000 captured[8][9]
8 frigates captured or burned
1,400 merchant ships captured
278 privateers captured
4,000 slaves escaped or freed[10]
[dead link]
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland British Empire:
2,700 died in combat or disease [5]
10,000 died from all causes [1] [b]
15,500 captured
4 frigates captured
~1,344 merchant ships captured (373 recaptured)[4]
Allies
Indigenous allies:
10,000 dead from all causes (warriors and civilians)[1][c]
Unknown captured
Spain:
<20 casualties
* Some militias operated only in their own regions
† Killed in action
‡ A locally raised coastal protection and semi-naval force on the Great Lakes
vte
St. Lawrence/Lake Ontario frontier
vte
Niagara Frontier
vte
Old Northwest
vte
Gulf Theater 1813–1815
vte
Naval battles of the War of 1812
The War of 1812 (18 June 1812 – 17 February 1815) was a conflict fought by the
United States of America and its indigenous allies against Great Britain and its
allies in British North America, with limited participation by Spain in Florida. It
began when the US declared war on 18 June 1812 and although peace terms were agreed
in the December 1814 Treaty of Ghent, did not officially end until ratified by
Congress on 17 February 1815.[11][12]

Tensions originated in long-standing differences over territorial expansion in

North America and British support for Native American tribes who opposed US
colonial settlement in the Northwest Territory. These escalated in 1807 after the
Royal Navy began enforcing tighter restrictions on American trade with France,
exacerbated by the impressment of men claimed as British subjects, even those with
American citizenship certificates.[13] Opinion was split on how to respond and
although majorities in both House and Senate voted for war, they divided along
strict party lines, with the Democratic-Republican Party in favour and the
Federalist Party against.[d][14] News of British concessions made in an attempt to
avoid war did not reach the US until late July, by which time the conflict was
already underway.

At sea, the far larger Royal Navy imposed an effective blockade on US maritime
trade, while between 1812 to 1814 British regulars and colonial militia defeated a
series of American attacks on Upper Canada.[15] This was balanced by the US winning
control of the Northwest Territory with victories at Lake Erie and the Thames in
1813. The abdication of Napoleon in early 1814 allowed the British to send
additional troops to North America and the Royal Navy to reinforce their blockade,
crippling the American economy.[16] In August 1814, negotiations began in Ghent,
with both sides wanting peace; the British economy had been severely impacted by
the trade embargo, while in December Federalists convened the Hartford Convention
to formalise their opposition to the war.

In August 1814, British troops burned Washington, before American victories at

Baltimore and Plattsburgh in September ended fighting in the north. It continued in
the Southeastern United States, where in late 1813 a civil war had broken out
between a Creek faction supported by Spanish and British traders and those backed
by the US. Supported by American militia under General Andrew Jackson, they won a
series of victories, culminating in the capture of Pensacola in November 1814.[17]
In early 1815, Jackson defeated a British attack on New Orleans, catapulting him to
national celebrity and later victory in the 1828 United States presidential
election.[18] News of this success arrived in Washington at the same time as that
of the signing of the Treaty of Ghent, which essentially restored the position to
that prevailing before the war. While Britain insisted this included lands
belonging to their Native American allies prior to 1811, Congress did not recognize
them as independent nations and neither side sought to enforce this requirement.

Contents
1 Origin
1.1 Honour and the "second war of independence"
1.2 Impressment, trade, and naval actions
1.3 Canada and the US
1.4 US policy in the Northwest Territory
1.5 Internal American political conflict
2 Forces
2.1 American
2.2 British
2.3 Indigenous peoples
3 Declaration of war
4 Course of war
4.1 Unpreparedness
4.2 Great Lakes and Western Territories
4.2.1 Invasions of Upper and Lower Canada, 1812
4.2.2 American Northwest, 1813
4.2.3 Niagara frontier, 1813
4.2.4 St. Lawrence and Lower Canada, 1813
4.2.5 Niagara and Plattsburgh campaigns, 1814
4.2.6 American West, 1813–1815
4.3 Atlantic theatre
4.3.1 Opening strategies
4.3.2 Single-ship actions
4.3.3 Privateering
4.3.4 Blockade
4.3.5 Freeing and recruiting slaves
4.3.6 Occupation of Maine
4.3.7 Chesapeake campaign
4.4 Southern theatre
4.4.1 Creek War
4.4.2 Gulf Coast
5 Treaty of Ghent
5.1 Factors leading to the peace negotiations
5.2 Negotiations and peace
6 Losses and compensation
7 Long-term consequences
7.1 Bermuda
7.2 Canadas
7.3 Indigenous nations
7.4 Great Britain
7.5 United States
8 Historiography
9 See also
10 Notes
11 References
12 Bibliography
13 Further reading
14 External links
Origin
Main article: Origins of the War of 1812
Origins of the War of 1812
Chesapeake–Leopard affair
Orders in Council (1807)
Embargo Act of 1807
Non-Intercourse Act (1809)
Macon's Bill Number 2
Tecumseh's War
Henry letters
War hawks
Rule of 1756
Monroe–Pinkney Treaty
Little Belt affair
Assassination of Spencer Perceval
vte
Since the conclusion of the War of 1812, historians have long debated the relative
weight of the multiple reasons underlying its origins.[19]

During the nineteenth century, historians generally concluded that war was declared
largely over national honour, neutral maritime rights and the British seizure of
neutral ships and their cargoes on the high seas. This theme was the basis of James
Madison's war message to Congress on June 1, 1812. At the turn of the 20th century,
much of the contemporary scholarship re-evaluated this explanation and began to
focus more on non-maritime factors as significant contributing causes as well.
However, historian Warren H. Goodman warns that too much focus on these ideas can
be equally misleading.[20]

In disagreeing with those interpretations that have simply stressed expansionism

and minimized maritime causation, historians have ignored deep-seated American
fears for national security, dreams of a continent completely controlled by the
republican United States, and the evidence that many Americans believed that the
War of 1812 would be the occasion for the United States to achieve the long-desired
annexation of Canada. [...] Thomas Jefferson well summarized American majority
opinion about the war [...] to say "that the cession of Canada [...] must be a sine
qua non at a treaty of peace." - Horsman[21]
Historian Richard Maass argues that the expansionist theme is a myth that goes
against the "relative consensus among experts that the primary U.S. objective was
the repeal of British maritime restrictions". He says that scholars agree that the
United States went to war "because six years of economic sanctions had failed to
bring Britain to the negotiating table, and threatening the Royal Navy's Canadian
supply base was their last hope". Maass agrees that expansionism might have tempted
Americans on a theoretical level, but he finds that "leaders feared the domestic
political consequences of doing so", particularly because such expansion "focused
on sparsely populated western lands rather than the more populous eastern
settlements".[22] To what extent that U.S. leaders considered the question of
pursuing territory in Canada, those questions "arose as a result of the war rather
than as a driving cause."[23] However, Maass accepts that many historians continue
to believe that expansionism was a cause.[22]

Reginald Horsman sees expansionism as a secondary cause after maritime issues,

noting that many historians have mistakenly rejected expansionism as a cause for
the war. He notes that it was considered key to maintaining sectional balance
between free and slave states thrown off by American settlement of the Louisiana
Territory and widely supported by dozens of War Hawk congressmen such as Henry
Clay, Felix Grundy, John Adams Harper and Richard Mentor Johnson, who voted for war
with expansion as a key aim. However, Horsman states that in his view "the desire
for Canada did not cause the War of 1812" and that "The United States did not
declare war because it wanted to obtain Canada, but the acquisition of Canada was
viewed as a major collateral benefit of the conflict".[24]

However, other historians believe that a desire to permanently annex Canada was a
direct cause of the war.[25][26][full citation needed] Carl Benn notes that the War
Hawks' desire to annex the Canadas was similar to the enthusiasm for the annexation
of Spanish Florida by inhabitants of the American South as both expected war to
facilitate expansion into long-desired lands and end support for hostile tribes
(Tecumseh's Confederacy in the North and the Creek in the South).[27]

Alan Taylor says that many Democratic-Republican congressmen such as John Adams
Harper, Richard Mentor Johnson and Peter Buell Porter "longed to oust the British
from the continent and to annex Canada". A few Southerners opposed this, fearing an
imbalance of free and slave states if Canada was annexed. Anti-Catholicism also
caused many to oppose annexing the mainly Catholic Lower Canada, believing its
French-speaking inhabitants unfit "for republican citizenship".[28] Even major
figures such as Henry Clay and James Monroe expected to keep at least Upper Canada
in an easy conquest. Notable American generals such as William Hull issued
proclamations to Canadians during the war promising republican liberation through
incorporation into the United States. General Alexander Smyth similarly declared to
his troops when they invaded Canada that "you will enter a country that is to
become one of the United States. You will arrive among a people who are to become
your fellow-citizens".[28] However, a lack of clarity about American intentions
undercut these appeals.[28]

David and Jeanne Heidler argue that "most historians agree that the War of 1812 was
not caused by expansionism but instead reflected a real concern of American
patriots to defend United States' neutral rights from the overbearing tyranny of
the British Navy. That is not to say that expansionist aims would not potentially
result from the war".[29] However, they also argue otherwise, saying that
"acquiring Canada would satisfy America's expansionist desires", also describing it
as a key goal of western expansionists who, they argue, believed that "eliminating
the British presence in Canada would best accomplish" their goal of halting British
support for tribal raids. They argue that the "enduring debate" is over the
relative importance of expansionism as a factor, and whether "expansionism played a
greater role in causing the War of 1812 than American concern about protecting
neutral maritime rights".[25]

In the 1960s, the work of Norman K. Risjord, Reginald Horsman, Bradford Perkins and
Roger Brown established a new eastern maritime consensus. While these authors
approached the origins of the war from many perspectives, they all conceded that
British maritime policy was the principle cause of the war.[30]

Honour and the "second war of independence"

As historian Norman K. Risjord notes, a powerful motivation for the Americans was
their threatened sense of independence and the desire to uphold national honour in
the face of what they considered British aggression and insults such as the
Chesapeake–Leopard affair.[31] H. W. Brands writes: "The other war hawks spoke of
the struggle with Britain as a second war of independence; [Andrew] Jackson, who
still bore scars from the first war of independence, held that view with special
conviction. The approaching conflict was about violations of American rights, but
it was also about vindication of American identity".[32] Some Americans at the time
and some historians since have called it a "Second War of Independence" for the
United States.[33][34]

The young republic had been involved in several struggles to uphold what it
regarded as their rights, and honour, as an independent nation. The First Barbary
War had resulted in an apparent victory but with the continued payment of ransoms.
The Quasi-War against the French had involved single ship naval clashes over trade
rights similar to the ones about to occur with Britain. Upholding national honour
and being able to protect American rights was part of the background to the US
political and diplomatic attitudes towards Britain in the early 1800s.

At the same time, the British public were offended by what they considered insults,
such as the Little Belt affair. This gave them a particular interest in capturing
the American flagship President, an act that they successfully realized in 1815.
[35] They were also keen to maintain what they saw as their rights to stop and
search neutral vessels as part of their war with France, and further ensure that
their own commercial interests were protected.

Impressment, trade, and naval actions

Britain was the largest trading partner of the United States, receiving 80 percent
of American cotton and 50 percent of all other American exports. The British public
and press resented the growing mercantile and commercial competition.[36] Historian
Reginald Horsman states that "a large section of influential British opinion [...]
thought that the United States presented a threat to British maritime supremacy".
[37]

During the Seven Years' War, Britain introduced rules governing trade with their
enemies. The Rule of 1756, which the US had temporarily agreed to when signing the
Jay Treaty, stated that a neutral nation could not conduct trade with an enemy, if
that trade was closed to them before hostilities had commenced.[38] Since the
beginning of Britain's war with France in 1793, the US merchant marine had been
making a fortune continuing trading with both nations,[39] America's share of
trans-Atlantic trade growing from 250 thousand tons in 1790 to 981 thousand tons in
1810, in the process.[40] Of particular concern to the British was the transport of
goods from the French West Indies to France, something the US would have been
unable to do, due to French rules, during times of peace.[41] The United States'
view was that the treaty they had signed violated its right to trade with others,
and in order to circumvent the Rule of 1756, American ships would stop at a neutral
port to unload and reload their cargo before continuing to France. These actions
were challenged in the Essex case of 1805.[42] In 1806, with parts of the Jay
Treaty due to expire, a new agreement was sought. The Monroe–Pinkney Treaty offered
the US preferential trading rights, and would have settled most its issues with
Britain but did not moderate the Rule of 1756 and only offered to exercise "extreme
caution" and "immediate and prompt redress" with regard to impressment of
Americans. Jefferson, who had specifically asked for these two points to be
extirpated, refused to put the treaty before the senate.[43] Later, in 1806,
Napoleon's Berlin Decree declared a blockade of the British Isles, forbade neutral
vessels harbour in British ports and declared all British made goods carried on
neutral ships lawful prizes of war. The British responded in 1807 with Orders in
Council which similarly forbade any shipping to France.[44] By 1807, when Napoleon
introduced his Milan Decree, declaring all ships touching at British ports to be
legitimate prizes of war, it had become almost impossible for the US to remain
neutral.[45] Between 1804 and 1807, 731 American ships were seized by Britain or
France for violation of one of the blockades, roughly two thirds by Britain.
[citation needed] Since the Jay Treaty, France had also adopted an aggressive
attitude to American neutrality.[46] Whereas Britain, through a process known as
pre-emption, compensated American ship owners for their losses, France did not.[47]
French frigates burned American grain ships heading for Britain and treated
American sailors as prisoners of war. US–French relations had soured so much, that
by 1812, Madison was also considering war with France.[46]

As a result of these increasing trade volumes during the Napoleonic Wars the United
States Merchant Marine became the world's largest neutral shipping fleet.[48]
Between 1802 and 1810,[48] it nearly doubled, which meant that there were
insufficient experienced sailors in the United States to man it. To overcome this
shortfall, British seamen were recruited, who were attracted by the better pay and
conditions. It was estimated that 30% (23,000) of the 70,000 men employed on
American ships were British.[49] During the Napoleonic Wars, the British Royal Navy
expanded to 600 ships, requiring 140,000 sailors.[50] The Royal Navy could man its
ships with volunteers in peacetime, but in wartime, competing with merchant
shipping and privateers for the pool of experienced sailors, it turned to
impressment from ashore and at sea. Since 1795 the Quota System had been in use to
feed men to the navy but it was not alone sufficient. Though most saw it as
necessary, the practice of impressment was detested by most Britons. It was illegal
under British law to impress foreign sailors; but it was the accepted practice of
the era for nations to retrieve seamen of their own nationality from foreign navies
during times of war.[51] However, in the nineteen years Britain was at war with
France prior to the war of 1812 some ten thousand American citizens were impressed
into the British navy.[52][e]

The American ambassador in London, James Monroe, under President Thomas Jefferson,
protested to the British Foreign Office that more than fifteen thousand Americans
had been impressed into the Royal Navy since March 1803.[54] When asked for a list
however, the Madison administration was only able to produce one based on hearsay,
with 6,257 names, many of which were duplicated, and included those that had
legitimately volunteered to serve.[55] By 1804 the incidents of impressment of
Americans had sharply increased. Underlying the dispute was the issue that Britain
and the United States viewed nationality differently.[56] The United States
believed that British seamen, including naval deserters, had a right to become
American citizens. In reality few actually went through the formal process.[57]
Regardless Britain did not recognize a right for a British subject to relinquish
his citizenship and become a citizen of another country. The Royal Navy therefore
considered any American citizen subject to impressment if he was born British.
American reluctance to issue formal naturalization papers and the widespread use of
unofficial or forged identity or protection papers among sailors[58] made it
difficult for the Royal Navy to tell native born-Americans from naturalized-
Americans and even non-Americans, and led it to impress some American sailors who
had never been British. Though Britain was willing to release from service anyone
who could establish their American citizenship, the process often took years while
the men in question remained impressed in the British Navy.[59] However, from 1793
to 1812 up to 15,000 Americans had been impressed[60] while many appeals for
release were simply ignored or dismissed for other reasons.[61] There were also
cases when the United States Navy also impressed British sailors.[62] Once
impressed, any seaman, regardless of citizenship, could accept a recruitment bounty
and was then no longer considered impressed but a "volunteer", further complicating
matters.[52]

American anger with Britain grew when Royal Navy frigates were stationed just
outside American harbours in view of American shores to search ships for goods
bound to France and impress men within the United States territorial waters.[63]
Well-publicized events outraged the American public such as the Leander affair and
the Chesapeake–Leopard affair.[64]

The British public were outraged in their turn by the Little Belt affair in which
the larger USS President in search of HMS Guerriere instead clashed with a small
British sloop, resulting in the deaths of 11 British sailors. While both sides
claimed that the other fired first, the British public particularly blamed the
United States for attacking a smaller vessel, with calls in some newspapers for
revenge.[65] President had sighted and chased HMS Little Belt trying to determine
her identity throughout the afternoon.[66] The first shot took place after an
exchange of hails had still failed to identify either ship to the other in the
growing dusk.[67] After 45 minutes of battle, taking place in darkness, Little Belt
had received much damage, with several holes to her hull near the water-line and
her rigging "cut to pieces".[68] President's Captain Rodgers claimed Little Belt
had fired first; but he did not ascertain her size or country of origin until dawn.
After sending over a boat, Rodgers expressed regret and apologized for the
'unfortunate affair'.[69] Little Belt's Captain Bingham claimed the opposite:
President had fired first and had been manoeuvring in such a way as to make him
think she was planning an attack.[70] Historian Jonathon Hooks echoes the view of
Alfred T. Mahan and several other historians, that it is impossible to determine
who fired the first shot.[71] Both sides held inquiries which upheld their
captain's actions and version of events.[72] Meanwhile, the American public
regarded the incident as just retribution for the Chesapeake–Leopard affair and
were encouraged by their victory over the Royal Navy, while the British regarded it
as unprovoked aggression.[73]

Canada and the US

Upper and Lower Canada, circa 1812

Whether the annexation of Canada was a primary American war objective has been
debated by historians. Some argue it was an outcome of the failure to change
British policy through economic coercion or negotiation, leaving invasion as the
only way for the US to place pressure on Britain.[74] This view was summarised by
Secretary of State James Monroe, who said "[i]t might be necessary to invade
Canada, not as an object of the war but as a means to bring it to a satisfactory
conclusion".[75] Occupation would also disrupt supplies to colonies in the British
West Indies and Royal Navy, and prevent the British arming their allies among the
Indian nations of the Northwest Territory.[76][77]

Nevertheless, even though President Madison claimed permanent annexation was not an
objective, he recognised once acquired it would be "difficult to relinquish".[78] A
large faction in Congress actively advocated this policy, including Richard Mentor
Johnson, who stated "I shall never die content until I see England's expulsion from
North America and her territories incorporated into the United States".[79] John
Adams Harper claimed "the Author of Nature Himself had marked our limits in the
south, by the Gulf of Mexico, and on the north, by the regions of eternal frost".
[80] Both saw the war as part of a divine plan to unify the two countries, Johnson
being its leading exponent.[81]

Others considered annexation a matter of domestic economic and political necessity.

Tennessee Congressman Felix Grundy was one of many who saw it as essential to
preserve the balance between Slave states and free states that might be disrupted
by the incorporation of territories in the Southeast acquired in the 1803 Louisiana
Purchase.[82] Control of the St. Lawrence River, the major outlet for trade between
Europe and the Great Lakes region, was a long-standing American ambition, going
back to the early years of the Revolutionary War, and supported by powerful
economic interests in the North-West.[83] Madison also viewed it as a way to
prevent American smugglers using the river as a conduit for undercutting his trade
policies.[80]

All these groups assumed American troops would be greeted as liberators,

guaranteeing an easy conquest. Thomas Jefferson believed taking "...Canada this
year, as far as...Quebec, will be a mere matter of marching, and will give us the
experience for the attack on Halifax, the next and final expulsion of England from
the American continent".[84] In 1812, Canada had around 525,000 inhabitants, two
thirds of whom were French-speakers living in Quebec. Upper Canada, now southern
Ontario, had a population of less than 75,000, primarily Loyalist exiles and recent
immigrants from the Northeastern United States. The former were implacably hostile
to the US, the latter largely uninterested in politics and their loyalties unknown;
unlike the Texas annexation in 1845, they were too few to provide a critical mass
of pro-American support, while many followed their Loyalist neighbours and joined
Canadian militia.[85] Absence of local backing prevented American forces from
establishing a foothold in the area, [86] and of ten attempts to invade Upper
Canada between 1812 and 1814, the vast majority ended in bloody failure.[87]

US policy in the Northwest Territory

General distribution of Native American tribes in the Northwest Territory circa

1792.
The Northwest Territory, a region between the Great Lakes, the Ohio River,
Appalachians, and Mississippi, was a long-standing source of conflict in 18th and
early 19th-century North America. This arose when settlers from the Thirteen
Colonies moved onto lands owned by the indigenous inhabitants, a collection of
Algonquian and Iroquoian-speaking peoples, chiefly the Shawnee, Wyandot, Lenape,
Miami, Potawatomi, Kickapoo, Menominee and Odawa.[88] When Pontiac's Rebellion was
defeated in 1766, they generally accepted British sovereignty but retained
ownership of their lands, while the Proclamation of 1763 prohibited colonial
settlement west of the Appalachians, a grievance that contributed to the outbreak
of the American Revolutionary War.[89]

The territory was ceded in 1783 to the new American government, who encouraged its
citizens to settle in the region and ignored the rights of local inhabitants.[90]
In response, the tribes formed the Northwestern Confederacy which from 1786 to 1795
fought against the US in the Northwest Indian War, with military support provided
by British forts along the Maumee River. After the 1794 Jay Treaty, the British
handed over these strongpoints to the US, most notably Fort Detroit, and abandoned
their indigenous allies, who signed the 1795 Treaty of Greenville with the American
government.[91] Under the treaty, they ceded most of what is now the state of Ohio
but granted title to the rest of their lands in perpetuity, a commitment the US
government had already secretly agreed to ignore.[92]

A key factor in this policy was the acquisition by France of the Louisiana
Territory in 1800, which meant the US faced an expansionist power on its
northwestern border, rather than a weak Spain. To ensure control of the Upper
Mississippi River, President Thomas Jefferson incorporated the region into the
Indiana Territory, which originally contained the modern states of Indiana,
Illinois, Michigan and Wisconsin.[93] He appointed William Henry Harrison as
governor, ordering him to acquire as much land as possible beyond the Greenville
line, using deception if needed.[94] In doing so, Harrison was helped by vague and
competing claims, since tribes whose title to the lands was either limited or
disputed were happy to sign them away in return for bribes.[95] Although the
December 1803 Louisiana Purchase ended the French threat, between 1803 and 1805 he
obtained extensive territorial cessions in the treaties of Fort Wayne (1803), St
Louis, Vincennes and Grouseland.[96]

American expansion in the Indiana Territory

The policies adopted by Harrison meant low-level conflict between local tribes and
American settlers quickly escalated post-1803.[97] In 1805, a Shawnee leader named
Tenskwatawa launched a nativist religious movement that rejected American culture
and values, while his elder brother Tecumseh organized a new confederacy to defend
their territory against settler encroachment.[98] [99] They established a community
at Prophetstown in 1808, gaining support from young warriors and traditional chiefs
including the Wyandot leader Roundhead and Main Poc from the Potawatomi.[100] The
Sioux, Sauk, Meskwaki and Ojibwe peoples, who lived along the Upper Mississippi and
Western Great Lakes, initially rejected Tenskwatawa's message because of their
dependence on the fur trade, but continued settler incursions into their lands
meant they too became hostile to the U.S.[101]

Britain traditionally maintained good relations with the local people by handing
out gifts, including arms and ammunition; after 1795, they ended this policy and
advised the tribes to live peacefully with the American government.[102] Their
position changed following the 1808 Chesapeake-Leopard Affair, when the Northwest
came to be seen as a buffer against an American attack on Upper Canada. They re-
started the distribution of gifts and offered the tribes a defensive alliance if
war broke out with the US, while urging them to refrain from aggressive action in
the meantime.[103] The situation worsened after the 1809 Treaty of Fort Wayne;
negotiated primarily with the Lenape, it included lands claimed by the Shawnee and
Tecumseh insisted it was invalid without the consent of all the tribes.[100]

Alarmed at the threat posed by Tecumseh and Tenskwatawa, in 1811 Harrison secured
permission to attack them.[104] Taking advantage of Tecumseh's absence, he marched
on Prophetstown with an army of nearly 1,000 men; in the ensuing Battle of
Tippecanoe, the Americans first repulsed an attack by forces under Tenskwatawa,
then destroyed Prophetstown. Fighting along the frontier escalated, while Tecumseh
reconstituted his confederacy and allied with the British.[105] This action
strengthened American hostility against Britain in the run up to the War of 1812,
with many blaming them for unrest on the frontier, rather than government policy.
in the ensuing conflict, most of the Northwest nations supported the British,
including the previously neutral tribes of the Upper Mississippi.[106]

Internal American political conflict

Main articles: Federalist Party and Opposition to the War of 1812 in the United
States

James Madison, the fourth President of the United States (1809–1817). Madison was
the leader of the Democratic-Republican Party, whose power base came from southern
and western states.
The United States was in a period of significant political conflict between the
Federalist Party (based mainly in the Northeast) and the Democratic-Republican
Party (with its greatest power base in the South and West). The Federalists, who
sympathized with Britain and their struggle with Napoleonic France, were criticized
by the Democratic-Republicans for being too close to Britain, while the Federalists
countered that the Democratic-Republicans were allied to France, a country headed
by Napoleon, who was seen as a dictator. The Federalist Party favoured a strong
central government and closer ties to Britain while the Democratic-Republican Party
favoured a smaller central government, preservation of states' rights (including
slavery), westward expansion and a stronger break with Britain. By 1812, the
Republicans believed that the Federalists in New England were conspiring with the
British who were forming alliances with the various Indian tribes while recruiting
"late Loyalists" in Canada, to break up the union. Instead, the war served to
alienate the Federalists who were ready to trade and even smuggle with the British
rather than to fight them. By 1812, the Federalist Party had weakened considerably
and the Republicans were in a strong position, with James Madison completing his
first term of office and control of Congress.[107]

Support for the American cause was weak in Federalist areas of the Northeast
throughout the war as fewer men volunteered to serve and the banks avoided
financing the war. The negativism of the Federalists ruined the party's reputation
post-war, as exemplified by the Hartford Convention of 1814–1815, and the party
survived only in scattered areas. By 1815, after the victory at the Battle of New
Orleans, there was broad support for the war from all parts of the country. This
allowed the triumphant Democratic-Republicans to adopt some Federalist policies,
such as the national bank, which Madison re-established in 1816.[108]

Forces
American
During the years 1810–1812, American naval ships were divided into two major
squadrons, with the "northern division", based at New York, commanded by Commodore
John Rodgers, and the "southern division,", based at Norfolk, commanded by
Commodore Stephen Decatur.[109] Although not much of a threat to Canada in 1812,
the United States Navy was a well-trained and professional force comprising over
5,000 sailors and marines.[110] It had 14 ocean-going warships with three of its
five "super-frigates" non-operational at the onset of the war.[110] Its principal
problem was lack of funding, as many in Congress did not see the need for a strong
navy.[111] The biggest ships in the American navy were frigates and there were no
ships-of-the-line capable of engaging in a fleet action with the Royal Navy.[112]
On the high seas, the Americans pursued a strategy of commerce raiding, capturing
or sinking British merchantmen with their frigates and privateers.[113] The Navy
was largely concentrated on the Atlantic coast before the war as it had only two
gunboats on Lake Champlain, one brig on Lake Ontario and another brig in Lake Erie
when the war began.[114]

The United States Army was initially much larger than the British Army in North
America. Many men carried their own long rifles while the British were issued
muskets, except for one unit of 500 riflemen. Leadership was inconsistent in the
American officer corps as some officers proved themselves to be outstanding, but
many others were inept, owing their positions to political favours. Congress was
hostile to a standing army and the government called out 450,000 men from the state
militias during the war.[114] The state militias were poorly trained, armed, and
led. The failed invasion of Lake Champlain led by General Dearborn illustrates
this.[115] The British Army soundly defeated the Maryland and Virginia militias at
the Battle of Bladensburg in 1814 and President Madison commented "I could never
have believed so great a difference existed between regular troops and a militia
force, if I had not witnessed the scenes of this day".[111]

British
See also: Canadian units of the War of 1812

Depiction of a British private soldier (left) and officer (right) of the period
The United States was only a secondary concern to Britain, so long as the war
continued with France.[114] In 1813, France had 80 ships-of-the-line and was
building another 35 and containing the French fleet was the main British naval
concern,[114] leaving only the ships on the North American and Jamaica Stations
immediately available. In Upper Canada, the British had the Provincial Marine.
While largely unarmed,[116] they were essential for keeping the army supplied since
the roads were abysmal in Upper Canada.[114] At the onset of war the Provincial
Marine had four small armed vessels on Lake Ontario, three on Lake Erie and one on
Lake Champlain. The Provincial Marine greatly outnumbered anything the Americans
could bring to bear on the Great Lakes.[117]

When the war broke out, the British Army in North America numbered 9,777 men[118]
in regular units and fencibles.[f] While the British Army was engaged in the
Peninsular War, few reinforcements were available. Although the British were
outnumbered,[114] the long-serving regulars and fencibles were better trained and
more professional than the hastily expanded United States Army.[119] The militias
of Upper Canada and Lower Canada were initially far less effective,[114] but
substantial numbers of full-time militia were raised during the war and played
pivotal roles in several engagements, including the Battle of the Chateauguay which
caused the Americans to abandon the Saint Lawrence River theatre.[120]

Indigenous peoples
The highly decentralized bands and tribes considered themselves allies of, and not
subordinates to, the British or the Americans. Various Indian tribes fighting with
United States forces provided them with their "most effective light troops"[121]
while the British needed indigenous allies to compensate for their numerical
inferiority. The indigenous allies of the British, Tecumseh's confederacy in the
west and Iroquois in the east avoided pitched battles and relied on irregular
warfare, including raids and ambushes that took advantage of their knowledge of
terrain. In addition, they were highly mobile, able to march 30–50 miles a day.
[122] Their leaders sought to fight only under favourable conditions and would
avoid any battle that promised heavy losses, doing what they thought best for their
tribes, much to the annoyance of both American and British generals.[123] The
indigenous fighters saw no issue with withdrawing if needed to save casualties.
They always sought to surround an enemy, where possible, to avoid being surrounded
and make effective use of the terrain.[122] Their main weapons were a mixture of
muskets, rifles, bows, tomahawks, knives and swords as well as clubs, bows and
melee weapons, which sometimes had the advantage of being quieter than guns.[124]

Declaration of war

The United States Declaration of War (left) and Isaac Brock's Proclamation in
response to it (right)
Wikisource has original text related to this article:
US Declaration of War against the United Kingdom
On 1 June 1812, President James Madison sent a message to Congress recounting
American grievances against Great Britain, though not specifically calling for a
declaration of war. The House of Representatives then deliberated for four days
behind closed doors before voting 79 to 49 (61%) in favour of the first declaration
of war. The Senate concurred in the declaration by a 19 to 13 (59%) vote in favour.
The declaration focused mostly on maritime issues, especially involving British
blockades, with two thirds of the indictment devoted to such impositions, initiated
by Britain's Orders in Council.[g] The conflict began formally on 18 June 1812,
when Madison signed the measure into law. He proclaimed it the next day,[125] while
it was not a formal declaration of war. This was the first time that the United
States had declared war on another nation and the Congressional vote was the
closest vote in American history to formally declare war.[126][127] None of the 39
Federalists in Congress voted in favour of the war, while other critics referred to
it as "Mr. Madison's War".[128] Just days after war had been declared, a small
number of Federalists in Baltimore were attacked for printing anti-war views in a
newspaper, which eventually led to over a month of deadly rioting in the city.[129]

Prime Minister Spencer Perceval was assassinated in London on 11 May and Lord
Liverpool came to power. He wanted a more practical relationship with the United
States. On June 23, he issued a repeal of the Orders in Council, but the United
States was unaware of this, as it took three weeks for the news to cross the
Atlantic.[130] On 28 June 1812, HMS Colibri was despatched from Halifax to New York
under a flag of truce. She anchored off Sandy Hook on July 9 and left three days
later carrying a copy of the declaration of war, British ambassador to the United
States Augustus Foster and consul Colonel Thomas Henry Barclay. She arrived in
Halifax, Nova Scotia eight days later. The news of the declaration took even longer
to reach London.[131]

British commander Isaac Brock in Upper Canada received the news much faster. He
issued a proclamation alerting citizens to the state of war and urging all military
personnel "to be vigilant in the discharge of their duty", so as to prevent
communication with the enemy and to arrest anyone suspected of helping the
Americans.[132][133] He also issued orders to the commander of the British post at
Fort St. Joseph to initiate offensive operations against American forces in
northern Michigan who were not yet aware of their own government's declaration of
war. The resulting Siege of Fort Mackinac on 17 July was the first major land
engagement of the war and ended in an easy British victory.[134]

Course of war
See also: Timeline of the War of 1812
The war was conducted in three theatres:

The Great Lakes and the Canadian frontier.

At sea, principally the Atlantic Ocean and the American east coast.
The Southern states and southwestern territories.
Unpreparedness

Governor General George Prévost was urged to maintain a defensive strategy as

British forces were already preoccupied with the Napoleonic Wars.
The war had been preceded by years of diplomatic dispute, yet neither side was
ready for war when it came. Britain was heavily engaged in the Napoleonic Wars,
most of the British Army was deployed in the Peninsular War in Portugal and Spain,
and the Royal Navy was blockading most of the coast of Europe.[135] The number of
British regular troops present in Canada in July 1812 was officially 6,034,
supported by additional Canadian militia.[136] Throughout the war, the British War
Secretary was Earl Bathurst, who had few troops to spare for reinforcing North
America defences during the first two years of the war. He urged Lieutenant General
George Prévost to maintain a defensive strategy. Prévost, who had the trust of the
Canadians, followed these instructions and concentrated on defending Lower Canada
at the expense of Upper Canada, which was more vulnerable to American attacks and
allowed few offensive actions. Unlike campaigns along the east coast, Prevost had
to operate with no support from the Royal Navy.[137]

The United States was also not prepared for war. Madison had assumed that the state
militias would easily seize Canada and that negotiations would follow. In 1812, the
regular army consisted of fewer than 12,000 men. Congress authorized the expansion
of the army to 35,000 men, but the service was voluntary and unpopular; it paid
poorly and there were initially few trained and experienced officers.[138] The
militia objected to serving outside their home states, they were undisciplined and
performed poorly against British forces when called upon to fight in unfamiliar
territory.[135] Multiple militia refused orders to cross the border and fight on
Canadian soil.[139]

American prosecution of the war suffered from its unpopularity, especially in New
England where anti-war speakers were vocal. Massachusetts Congressmen Ebenezer
Seaver and William Widgery were "publicly insulted and hissed" in Boston while a
mob seized Plymouth's Chief Justice Charles Turner on 3 August 1812 "and kicked
[him] through the town".[140] The United States had great difficulty financing its
war. It had disbanded its national bank, and private bankers in the Northeast were
opposed to the war, but it obtained financing from London-based Barings Bank to
cover overseas bond obligations.[9] New England failed to provide militia units or
financial support, which was a serious blow,[141] and New England states made loud
threats to secede as evidenced by the Hartford Convention. Britain exploited these
divisions, blockading only southern ports for much of the war and encouraging
smuggling.[142]

Great Lakes and Western Territories

Invasions of Upper and Lower Canada, 1812

Northern theatre, War of 1812

An American army commanded by William Hull invaded Upper Canada on July 12,
arriving at Sandwich (Windsor, Ontario) after crossing the Detroit River.[143] His
forces were chiefly composed of untrained and ill-disciplined militiamen.[144]
[failed verification] Hull issued a proclamation ordering all British subjects to
surrender, or "the horrors, and calamities of war will stalk before you".[145] The
proclamation said that Hull wanted to free them from the "tyranny" of Great
Britain, giving them the liberty, security, and wealth that his own country enjoyed
—unless they preferred "war, slavery and destruction".[146] He also threatened to
kill any British soldier caught fighting alongside indigenous fighters.[145] Hull's
proclamation only helped to stiffen resistance to the American attacks as he lacked
artillery and supplies. Hull also had to fight just to maintain his own lines of
communication.[147][148]

Hull withdrew to the American side of the river on 7 August 1812 after receiving
news of a Shawnee ambush on Major Thomas Van Horne's 200 men, who had been sent to
support the American supply convoy. Half of Horne's troops had been killed. Hull
had also faced a lack of support from his officers and fear among his troops of a
possible massacre by unfriendly indigenous forces. A group of 600 troops led by
Lieutenant Colonel James Miller remained in Canada, attempting to supply the
American position in the Sandwich area, with little success.[149]

American surrender of Detroit, August 1812

Major General Isaac Brock believed that he should take bold measures to calm the
settler population in Canada and to convince the tribes that Britain was strong.
[144] He moved to Amherstburg near the western end of Lake Erie with reinforcements
and attacked Detroit, using Fort Malden as his stronghold. Hull feared that the
British possessed superior numbers; also Fort Detroit lacked adequate gunpowder and
cannonballs to withstand a long siege.[150] He agreed to surrender on 16 August,
saving his 2,500 soldiers and 700 civilians from "the horrors of an Indian
massacre", as he wrote.[151][152] Hull also ordered the evacuation of Fort Dearborn
(Chicago) to Fort Wayne, but Potawatomi warriors ambushed them, escorted them back
to the fort where they were massacred on 15 August after they had travelled only 2
miles (3.2 km). The fort was subsequently burned.[153][h]

Brock moved to the eastern end of Lake Erie, where American General Stephen Van
Rensselaer was attempting a second invasion.[155] The Americans attempted an attack
across the Niagara River on 13 October, but they were defeated at Queenston
Heights. Brock was killed during the battle and British leadership suffered after
his death. American General Henry Dearborn made a final attempt to advance north
from Lake Champlain, but his militia refused to go beyond American territory.[156]

American Northwest, 1813

Main articles: Ohio in the War of 1812 and Siege of Detroit

Oliver Hazard Perry's message to William Henry Harrison after the Battle of Lake
Erie began as such: "We have met the enemy and they are ours".[157]
After Hull surrendered Detroit, General William Henry Harrison took command of the
American Army of the Northwest. He set out to retake the city, which was now
defended by Colonel Henry Procter and Tecumseh. A detachment of Harrison's army was
defeated at Frenchtown along the River Raisin on 22 January 1813. Procter left the
prisoners with an inadequate guard and his Potowatomie allies killed and scalped 60
captive Americans.[158] The defeat ended Harrison's campaign against Detroit, but
"Remember the River Raisin!" became a rallying cry for the Americans.[159]

In May 1813, Procter and Tecumseh set siege to Fort Meigs in northwestern Ohio.
Tecumseh's fighters ambushed American reinforcements who arrived during the siege,
but the fort held out. The fighters eventually began to disperse, forcing Procter
and Tecumseh to return to Canada.[160] Along the way they attempted to storm Fort
Stephenson, a small American post on the Sandusky River near Lake Erie. They were
repulsed with serious losses, marking the end of the Ohio campaign.[161]

Captain Oliver Hazard Perry fought the Battle of Lake Erie on 10 September 1813.
His decisive victory at Put-in-Bay ensured American military control of the lake,
improved American morale after a series of defeats and compelled the British to
fall back from Detroit. This enabled General Harrison to launch another invasion of
Upper Canada, which culminated in the American victory at the Battle of the Thames
on 5 October 1813, where Tecumseh was killed.[162]

Niagara frontier, 1813

Niagara Peninsula, War of 1812 map

depicting locations of forts, battles, etc.
Both sides placed great importance on gaining control of the Great Lakes and the
St. Lawrence River because of the difficulties of land-based communication. The
British already had a small squadron of warships on Lake Ontario when the war began
and had the initial advantage. The Americans established a Navy yard at Sackett's
Harbor, New York, a port on Lake Ontario. Commodore Isaac Chauncey took charge of
the thousands of sailors and shipwrights assigned there and recruited more from New
York. They completed a warship (the corvette USS Madison) in 45 days. Ultimately,
almost 3,000 men at the shipyard built 11 warships and many smaller boats and
transports. Army forces were also stationed at Sackett's Harbor, where they camped
out through the town, far surpassing the small population of 900. Officers were
housed with families. Madison Barracks was later built at Sackett's Harbor.[163]

Having regained the advantage by their rapid building program, on 27 April 1813
Chauncey and Dearborn attacked York, the capital of Upper Canada. At the Battle of
York, the outnumbered British regulars destroyed the fort and dockyard and
retreated, leaving the militia to surrender the town. American soldiers set fire to
the Legislature building, and looted and vandalized several government buildings
and citizens' homes.[164]

On 25 May 1813, Fort Niagara and the American Lake Ontario squadron began
bombarding Fort George.[165] An American amphibious force assaulted Fort George on
the northern end of the Niagara River on 27 May and captured it without serious
losses.[166] The British abandoned Fort Erie and headed towards Burlington Heights.
[166] The British position was close to collapsing in Upper Canada; the Iroquois
considered changing sides and ignored a British appeal to come to their aid.[166]
However, the Americans did not pursue the retreating British forces until they had
largely escaped and organized a counter-offensive at the Battle of Stoney Creek on
5 June. The British launched a surprise attack at 2 a.m., leading to confused
fighting[166] and a strategic British victory.[167]

The Americans pulled back to Forty Mile Creek rather than continue their advance
into Upper Canada.[166] At this point, the Six Nations of the Grand River began to
come out to fight for the British as an American victory no longer seemed
inevitable.[166] The Iroquois ambushed an American patrol at Forty Mile Creek while
the Royal Navy squadron based in Kingston sailed in and bombarded the American
camp. General Dearborn retreated to Fort George, mistakenly believing that he was
outnumbered and outgunned.[168] British Brigadier General John Vincent was
encouraged when about 800 Iroquois arrived to assist him.[168]

Laura Secord providing advance warning to James FitzGibbon, which led to a British-
Iroquois victory at the Battle of Beaver Dams, June 1813
An American force surrendered on 24 June to a smaller British force due to advance
warning by Laura Secord at the Battle of Beaver Dams, marking the end of the
American offensive into Upper Canada.[168] British Major General Francis de
Rottenburg did not have the strength to retake Fort George, so he instituted a
blockade, hoping to starve the Americans into surrender.[169] Meanwhile, Commodore
James Lucas Yeo had taken charge of the British ships on the lake and mounted a
counterattack, which the Americans repulsed at the Battle of Sackett's Harbor.
Thereafter, Chauncey and Yeo's squadrons fought two indecisive actions, off the
Niagara on 7 August and at Burlington Bay on 28 September. Neither commander was
prepared to take major risks to gain a complete victory.[170]

Late in 1813, the Americans abandoned the Canadian territory that they occupied
around Fort George. They set fire to the village of Newark (now Niagara-on-the-
Lake) on 10 December 1813, incensing the Canadians. Many of the inhabitants were
left without shelter, freezing to death in the snow. The British retaliated
following their Capture of Fort Niagara on 18 December 1813. The British and their
Indian allies stormed the neighbouring town of Lewiston, New York on 19 December,
torching homes and killing about a dozen civilians. The British were pursuing the
surviving residents when a small force of Tuscarora warriors intervened, buying
enough time for the civilians to escape to safer ground.[171][172] The British
attacked and burned Buffalo on Lake Erie on 30 December 1813 in revenge for the
attack on Fort George and Newark in May.[173]

St. Lawrence and Lower Canada, 1813

The British were vulnerable along the stretch of the St. Lawrence that was between
Upper Canada and the United States. In the winter of 1812–1813, the Americans
launched a series of raids from Ogdensburg, New York that hampered British supply
traffic up the river. On 21 February, George Prévost passed through Prescott,
Ontario on the opposite bank of the river with reinforcements for Upper Canada.
When he left the next day, the reinforcements and local militia attacked in the
Battle of Ogdensburg and the Americans were forced to retreat.[174]

Fencibles, militia, and Mohawks repel an American attack on Montreal, Battle of the
Chateauguay, October 1813
The Americans made two more thrusts against Montreal in 1813.[175] Major General
Wade Hampton was to march north from Lake Champlain and join a force under General
James Wilkinson that would sail from Sackett's Harbor on Lake Ontario and descend
the St. Lawrence. Hampton was delayed by road and supply problems and his intense
dislike of Wilkinson limited his desire to support his plan.[176] Charles de
Salaberry defeated Hampton's force of 4,000 at the Chateauguay River on 25 October
with a smaller force of Canadian Voltigeurs and Mohawks. Salaberry's force numbered
only 339, but it had a strong defensive position.[175] Wilkinson's force of 8,000
set out on 17 October, but it was delayed by weather. Wilkinson heard that a
British force was pursuing him under Captain William Mulcaster and Lieutenant
Colonel Joseph Wanton Morrison and landed near Morrisburg, Ontario by 10 November,
about 150 kilometres (90 mi) from Montreal. On 11 November, his rear guard of 2,500
attacked Morrison's force of 800 at Crysler's Farm and was repulsed with heavy
losses.[175] He learned that Hampton could not renew his advance, retreated to the
United States and settled into winter quarters. He resigned his command after a
failed attack on a British outpost at Lacolle Mills.[177]
Niagara and Plattsburgh campaigns, 1814

American infantry prepare to attack during the Battle of Lundy's Lane

The Americans again invaded the Niagara frontier. They had occupied southwestern
Upper Canada after they defeated Colonel Henry Procter at Moraviantown in October
and believed that taking the rest of the province would force the British to cede
it to them.[178] The end of the war with Napoleon in Europe in April 1814 meant
that the British could deploy their army to North America, so the Americans wanted
to secure Upper Canada to negotiate from a position of strength. They planned to
invade via the Niagara frontier while sending another force to recapture Mackinac.
[179] They captured Fort Erie on 3 July 1814.[180] Unaware of Fort Erie's fall or
of the size of the American force, the British general Phineas Riall engaged with
Winfield Scott, who won against a British force at the Battle of Chippawa on 5
July. The American forces had been through a hard training under Winfield Scott and
proved to the professionals under fire. They would deploy in a shallow U formation
bringing flanking fire and well-aimed volleys against Riall's men. Riall's men were
chased off the battlefield.[181]

An attempt to advance further ended with the hard-fought but inconclusive Battle of
Lundy's Lane on July 25. The battle was fought several miles north of Chippewa
River near Niagara Falls and is considered the bloodiest and costliest battle of
the war.[182][183] Both sides stood their ground as American General Jacob Brown
pulled back to Fort George after the battle and the British did not pursue.[184]
Commanders Riall, Scott, Brown and Drummond were all wounded; Scott's wounds ended
his commission for the rest of the war.[185]

The Americans withdrew but withstood a prolonged siege of Fort Erie. The British
tried to storm Fort Erie on 14 August 1814, but they suffered heavy losses, losing
950 killed, wounded and captured compared to only 84 dead and wounded on the
American side. The British were further weakened by exposure and shortage of
supplies. Eventually, they raised the siege, but American Major General George
Izard took over command on the Niagara front and followed up only halfheartedly. An
American raid along the Grand River destroyed many farms and weakened British
logistics. In October 1814, the Americans advanced into Upper Canada and engaged in
skirmishes at Cook's Mill, but they pulled back when they heard that the new
British warship HMS St Lawrence, launched in Kingston that September, was on its
way, armed with 104 guns. The Americans lacked provisions and retreated across the
Niagara after destroying Fort Erie.[186]

Unsuccessful British assault on Fort Erie, 14 August 1814

Meanwhile, 15,000 British troops were sent to North America under four of
Wellington's ablest brigade commanders after Napoleon abdicated. Fewer than half
were veterans of the Peninsula and the rest came from garrisons. Prévost was
ordered to neutralize American power on the lakes by burning Sackett's Harbor to
gain naval control of Lake Erie, Lake Ontario, and the Upper Lakes as well as to
defend Lower Canada from attack. He did defend Lower Canada but otherwise failed to
achieve his objectives,[187] so he decided to invade New York State. His army
outnumbered the American defenders of Plattsburgh, but he was worried about his
flanks and decided that he needed naval control of Lake Champlain. Upon reaching
Plattsburgh, Prévost delayed the assault until Downie arrived in the hastily
completed 36-gun frigate HMS Confiance. Despite the Confiance not being fully
completed, she had a raw crew that had never worked together. Prévost forced Downie
into a premature attack when there was no reason for the rush.[188]

The British squadron on the lake under Captain George Downie was more evenly
matched by the Americans under Master Commandant Thomas Macdonough. At the Battle
of Plattsburgh on 11 September 1814, the British had the advantage of larger
vessels and guns; the American gunboats were more suited to engagements on Lake
Champlain, while MacDonough was able to manoeuvre his ships using pulley lines
attached to anchors. Early in the battle each side lost a ship; Downie was killed
by the recoil of a loose gun carriage while MacDonough was twice knocked down and
dazed. After two and a half hours HMS Confiance suffered heavy casualties and
struck her colours and the rest of the British fleet retreated. Prevost, already
alienated from his veteran officers by insisting on proper dress codes, now lost
their confidence, while MacDonough emerged as a national hero.[189]

Defeat at Plattsburgh led Prévost to call off the invasion of New York.
The Americans now had control of Lake Champlain; Theodore Roosevelt later termed it
"the greatest naval battle of the war".[190] General Alexander Macomb led the
successful land defence. Prévost then turned back, to the astonishment of his
senior officers, saying that it was too hazardous to remain on enemy territory
after the loss of naval supremacy. He was recalled to London, where a naval court-
martial decided that defeat had been caused principally by Prévost urging the
squadron into premature action and then failing to afford the promised support from
the land forces. He died suddenly, just before his court-martial was to convene.
His reputation sank to a new low as Canadians claimed that their militia under
Brock did the job but Prévost failed. However, recent historians have been kinder.
Peter Burroughs argues that his preparations were energetic, well-conceived, and
comprehensive for defending the Canadas with limited means and that he achieved the
primary objective of preventing an American conquest.[191]

American West, 1813–1815

The Mississippi River valley was the western frontier of the United States in 1812.
The territory acquired in the Louisiana Purchase of 1803 contained almost no
American settlements west of the Mississippi except around St. Louis and a few
forts and trading posts in the Boonslick. Fort Belle Fontaine was an old trading
post converted to an Army post in 1804 and this served as regional headquarters.
Fort Osage, built in 1808 along the Missouri River, was the westernmost American
outpost, but it was abandoned at the start of the war.[192] Fort Madison was built
along the Mississippi in Iowa in 1808 and had been repeatedly attacked by British-
allied Sauk since its construction. The United States Army abandoned Fort Madison
in September 1813 after the indigenous fighters attacked it and besieged it—with
support from the British. This was one of the few battles fought west of the
Mississippi. Black Hawk played a leadership role.[193]

The Upper Mississippi River during the War of 1812:

Fort Belle Fontaine, American headquarters
Fort Osage, abandoned in 1813
Fort Madison, defeated in 1813
Fort Shelby, defeated in 1814
Battle of Rock Island Rapids, July 1814; and the Battle of Credit Island, September
1814
Fort Johnson, abandoned in 1814
Fort Cap au Gris and the Battle of the Sink Hole, May 1815
The American victory on Lake Erie and the recapture of Detroit isolated the British
on Lake Huron. In the winter a Canadian party under Lieutenant Colonel Robert
McDouall established a new supply line from York to Nottawasaga Bay on Georgian
Bay. He arrived at Fort Mackinac on 18 May with supplies and more than 400 militia
and Indians, then sent an expedition which successfully besieged and recaptured the
key trading post of Prairie du Chien, on the Upper Mississippi.[194] The Americans
dispatched a substantial expedition to relieve the fort, but Sauk, Fox, and
Kickapoo warriors under Black Hawk ambushed it and forced it to withdraw with heavy
losses in the Battle of Rock Island Rapids In September 1814, the Sauk, Fox, and
Kickapoo, supported by part of Prairie du Chien's British garrison, repulsed a
second American force led by Major Zachary Taylor in the Battle of Credit Island.
[195] These victories enabled the Sauk, Fox, and Kickapoo to harass American
garrisons further to the south, which led the Americans to abandon Fort Johnson, in
central Illinois Territory.[196] Consequently, the Americans lost control of almost
all of Illinois Territory, although they held onto the St. Louis area and eastern
Missouri. However, the Sauk raided even into these territories, clashing with
American forces at the Battle of Cote Sans Dessein in April 1815 at the mouth of
the Osage River in the Missouri Territory and the Battle of the Sink Hole in May
1815 near Fort Cap au Gris.[197] This left the British and their Indian allies in
control of most of modern Illinois and all of modern Wisconsin.[198]

Meanwhile, the British were supplying the Indians in the Old Northwest from
Montreal via Mackinac.[199] On 3 July, the Americans sent a force of five vessels
from Detroit to recapture Mackinac. A mixed force of regulars and volunteers from
the militia landed on the island on 4 August. They did not attempt to achieve
surprise, and Indians ambushed them in the brief Battle of Mackinac Island and
forced them to re-embark. The Americans discovered the new base at Nottawasaga Bay
and on 13 August they destroyed its fortifications and the schooner Nancy that they
found there. They then returned to Detroit, leaving two gunboats to blockade
Mackinac. On 4 September, the gunboats were taken unawares and captured by British
boarding parties from canoes and small boats. These engagements on Lake Huron left
Mackinac under British control.[200]

The British returned Mackinac and other captured territory to the United States
after the war. Some British officers and Canadians objected to handing back Prairie
du Chien and especially Mackinac under the terms of the Treaty of Ghent. However,
the Americans retained the captured post at Fort Malden near Amherstburg until the
British complied with the treaty.[201] Fighting between Americans, the Sauk and
other indigenous tribes continued through 1817, well after the war ended in the
east.[202]

Atlantic theatre
Opening strategies
In 1812, Britain's Royal Navy was the world's largest and most powerful navy, with
over 600 vessels in commission, following the defeat of the French Navy at the
Battle of Trafalgar in 1805.[114] Most of these ships were employed blockading the
French navy and protecting British trade against French privateers, but the Royal
Navy still had 85 vessels in American waters, counting all North American and
Caribbean waters.[i] However, the Royal Navy's North American squadron was the most
immediately available force, based in Halifax, Nova Scotia and Bermuda, and
numbered one small ship of the line and seven frigates as well as nine smaller
sloops and brigs and five schooners.[204] By contrast, the entire United States
Navy was composed of 8 frigates, 14 smaller sloops and brigs, with no ships of the
line. The United States had embarked on a major shipbuilding program before the war
at Sackett's Harbor, New York to provide ships for use on the Great Lakes, and
continued to produce new ships.

The Royal Navy's North American squadron was based in Halifax, Nova Scotia and
Bermuda. At the start of the war, the squadron had one ship of the line, seven
frigates, nine sloops as well as brigs and schooners.[204]
The British strategy was to protect their own merchant shipping between Halifax and
the West Indies, with the order given on 13 October 1812 to enforce a blockade of
major American ports to restrict American trade.[205]
Because of their numerical inferiority, the American strategy was to cause
disruption through hit-and-run tactics such as the capturing prizes and engaging
Royal Navy vessels only under favourable circumstances.

Days after the formal declaration of war, the United States put out two small
squadrons, including the frigate President and the sloop Hornet under Commodore
John Rodgers and the frigates United States and Congress, with the brig Argus under
Captain Stephen Decatur. These were initially concentrated as one unit under
Rodgers, who intended to force the Royal Navy to concentrate its own ships to
prevent isolated units being captured by his powerful force.[citation needed] Large
numbers of American merchant ships were returning to the United States with the
outbreak of war and the Royal Navy could not watch all the ports on the American
seaboard if they were concentrated together. Rodgers' strategy worked in that the
Royal Navy concentrated most of its frigates off New York Harbor under Captain
Philip Broke, allowing many American ships to reach home. However, Rodgers' own
cruise captured only five small merchant ships, and the Americans never
subsequently concentrated more than two or three ships together as a unit.[206]

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Single-ship actions
The more recently built frigates of the US Navy were intended to overmatch their
opponents. The United States of America did not believe that it could build a large
enough navy to contest with the Royal Navy in fleet actions. As such where it could
be done, individual ships were built to be tougher, larger, and carry more
firepower, than the equivalent in European navies.[j]With this in mind the newest
three 44-gun ships were designed with a 24-pounder main battery. These frigates
were intended to demolish the 36 to 38 gun (18-pounder) armed frigates that were by
far the majority of the world's navies, while being able to evade larger ships.
[208] Similarly the Wasp class ship-sloops were an over-match to the Cruizer class
brigs being employed by the British. The Royal Navy maintaining more than 600
ships, in fleets and stations worldwide, was overstretched and undermanned. Its
crews were also with a few exceptions, less practiced and drilled with their guns
than the crews of the smaller US Navy.[209][210][211][212][k] This meant that in
single-ship actions the Royal Navy ships often found themselves against larger
ships with larger crews, who were better drilled, as intended by the US planners.
[l]

However naval ships do not fight as individuals by the code of the duel, they are
national instruments of war, and are used as such. The Royal Navy counted on its
numbers, experience, and traditions to overcome the individually superior vessels.
As the US Navy found itself mostly blockaded by the end of the war, the Royal Navy
was correct.[214] For all the fame that these actions received, they in no way
affected the outcome of the results of Atlantic theatre of War. The final count of
frigates lost was three on each side, with most of the US Navy blockaded in port.
[m] During the war, the United States Navy captured 165 British merchantmen
(although privateers captured many more) while the Royal Navy captured 1,400
American merchantmen.[215] More significantly, the British blockade of the Atlantic
coast caused the majority of warships to be unable to put to sea and shut down both
American imports and exports.[216][n]

USS Constitution defeats HMS Guerriere in a single-ship engagement. The battle was
an important victory for American morale.
USS Constitution vs HMS Guerriere 19 August 1812, 2pm 750 miles east of Boston the
USS Constitution sighted HMS Guerriere. After manoeuvring for advantage both ships
were at broadsides at a range of 75 yards at 6:00pm. The first exchange of
broadsides was delivered at 6:05pm. The result was very one-sided. Guerriere had
lost her mizzenmast, mainyard, and many of her gun crews.[o] With Guerriere's
mizzenmast in the water the ship was hard to manoeuvre. The return fire from
Guerriere was far less successful. Two royal halyards fell and Constitution's heavy
scantlings and planking shrugged off the Guerriere's fire.[219] A failed boarding
attempt was made by Guerriere[p] and she swung helplessly into the wind as
Constitution luffed by her bow raining down musket fire on her quarterdeck then
raking her with a port broadside.[221] Completely de-masted by Constitution's fire
the Guerriere surrendered.[q]

USS United States vs HMS Macedonian On 25 October, the USS United States commanded
by Commodore Decatur captured the British frigate HMS Macedonian. Macedonian was
faster, and the USS United States was a notoriously slow vessel[222] and
Macedonian's captain John S. Carden used this to keep the weather gage. Decatur
hove round to two points off the wind, forcing Macedonian into a stern chase on a
parallel course to maintain contact. This was a deliberate tactic, as it allowed
for the superior range of United States' 24-pounder guns.[223] Macedonian closed
the distance slowly. At 0900 hours both ships fired long-range broadsides to no
effect. At 0920 United States opened fire again. This time Macedonian lost several
carronades, her mizzen topmast, and her driver gaff. With this damage Macedonian
had lost her sailing advantage.[224] Decatur used this fact to take up a raking
fire from Macedonian's quarter. The results were horrific; cannonballs were flying
through both sides of Macedonian, and the crew was slaughtered.[225][r] Captain
Carden felt that he had to surrender.[s]

USS Constitution vs HMS Java (1811) On 29 December at 9:00 a.m., at sea off Bahia,
Brazil.[155] in search of prizes, Constitution sighted unknown sails on the distant
horizon.[228] Captain Bainbridge was initially unsure of the type and nationality
of the ships, but hours later as they drew closer he was able to discern that the
approaching vessels were large, and now assumed them to be British. Constitution
hoisted the US private signal[t] at 11:30 a.m., while the presumed British vessel,
the frigate HMS Java, also hoisted its signals, but neither ship made the correct
counter-signal.[229] Constitution, tacking the wind, made her way from the neutral
Portuguese territorial waters with Java giving chase.[230] The following day at
12:30 p.m. Java hoisted her colours and ensign with Constitution hoisting her
colours in reply. With the affiliations of each ship now confirmed, Java, with the
weather gauge to her advantage, came about to position herself to rake
Constitution. Being French-built, she was comparatively light for a frigate and was
consequently faster and more manoeuvrable.[231] In reply Constitution fired a shot
across Java's bow with Java returning fire with a full broadside.[229] The opening
phase of the action comprised both ships turning to and fro, attempting to get the
better position for which to fire upon and rake the other, but with little success.
Bainbridge now wore Constitution to a matching course and opened fire with a
broadside at half a mile. This broadside accomplished nothing and forced Bainbridge
to risk being raked in order to get closer to Java.[232]As the battle progressed a
broadside from Java carried away Constitution's helm, disabling her rudder and
leaving Bainbridge severely wounded; however he retained command, refusing to sit
out the battle. Both ships continued firing broadsides but by now Java had a mast
and sail falling over her starboard side that prevented most of her guns on that
side from firing, which also prevented her from laying alongside Constitution to
board. The guns that attempted to fire only managed to set the fallen sail and
rigging ablaze.[233][234] After a battle lasting three hours, Java finally struck
her colours and was burned after being judged unsalvageable. Constitution sustained
considerable damage to both her hull and rigging. Java had fought hard and had the
butcher's bill to show for it.[235]

In single ship battles, superior force was the most significant factor. In response
to the majority of the American ships being of greater force than the British ships
of the same class, Britain constructed five 40-gun, 24-pounder heavy frigates[236]
and two "spar-decked" frigates (the 60-gun HMS Leander and HMS Newcastle) and
others.[237] To counter the American sloops of war, the British constructed the
Cyrus-class ship-sloop of 22 guns. The British Admiralty also instituted a new
policy that the three American heavy frigates should not be engaged except by a
ship of the line or frigates in squadron strength.[u]
Captain Broke leads the boarding party to USS Chesapeake. The British capture of
Chesapeake was one of the bloodiest contests in the age of sail.
HMS Shannon vs USS Chesapeake. Despite her unlucky reputation Captain James
Lawrence took the command of the USS Chesapeake in Boston Harbor in May 1813.[239]
Up to 25% of Chesapeake's crew was new, and 50% of her officers. Those men had not
practiced either gunnery or small arms.[240] HMS Shannon under Captain Philip Broke
was on patrol off of the harbour. In a fleet that largely maintained blockades
against the French Navy, most Royal Navy ships rarely practiced their guns. HMS
Shannon was an exception. Shannon's gunnery practice drills were noted from a
Boston hill. However both captains were eager to engage, and both captains were
disobeying orders not to engage enemy warships – one on one in duels in Shannon's
case. Not at all in Lawrence's case.[241] Captain Broke issued a challenge to
Lawrence, who had however sailed to battle before receiving it. Initially Lawrence
held the weather gauge but refused to use it, coming up on Shannon's weather
quarter. From the onset of the battle, Shannon's superior small arms musketry told.
Of interest, Chesapeake was holding her own with the great guns.[242] Chesapeake
lost her forward head-sails and her helmsman, lost way, and tangled rigging with
Shannon. By this stage most of her quarterdeck crew were wounded or dead. A
boarding action captured Chesapeake at further cost to both crews. Captain Lawrence
was mortally wounded and famously cried out to Lieutenant Augustus Ludlow, "Tell
the men to fire faster! Don't give up the ship!" Lawrence would die from wounds,
Broke would barely survive the boarding action. This would prove to the bloodiest
action of the war.[243]

The Battle of Valparaíso ended the American naval threat to British interests in
the south Pacific Ocean.
HMS Phoebe vs USS Essex In January 1813, the American frigate Essex, commanded by
Captain David Porter, sailed into the Pacific to harass British shipping.[244] Many
British whaling ships carried letters of marque allowing them to prey on American
whalers, and they had nearly destroyed the American industry. Essex challenged this
practice and in turn inflicted considerable damage on British interests. The
British dispatched HMS Phoebe and a collection of smaller vessels to hunt down the
Essex. Eventually Essex and her consort USS Essex Junior were captured off
Valparaíso, Chile by Phoebe and the sloop HMS Cherub on 28 March 1814 in what
statistically appears as battle of equal force as Essex and Phoebe were of similar
tonnage, scantling and broadside weight. Cherub and Essex Junior were similarly
matched.[245][v] Once again the Americans had more men. Nevertheless, Phoebe was
armed with long 18-pounder guns, where as Essex carried heavy but short ranged
carronades. This gave the British a decisive long range advantage.[246]

The capture of USS President was the last naval duel to take place during the
conflict, with its combatants unaware of the signing of the Treaty of Ghent several
weeks prior.
HMS Endymion vs USS President To conclude the cycle of duels caused by the Little
Belt affair, USS President was finally captured in January 1815. In her efforts to
escape the blockade of New York President grounded on a sandbar but, after
incurring damage, managed to break free into the Atlantic. Following the Royal
Navy's standing orders, President was pursued by a squadron consisting of four
frigates, one being a 56-gun razee. President was an extremely fast ship and
successfully out-sailed the British squadron with the exception of HMS Endymion,
which has been regarded as the fastest ship in the age of fighting sail.[247]
Captain Henry Hope of Endymion had fitted his ship with Philip Broke's gunnery
technology as used on Shannon. This gave him the slight advantage at range and he
was able to slow President with rigging hits. Commodore Decatur commanding
President had the advantage in scantling strength, firepower crew, and tonnage, but
not in manoeuvrability. Despite having fewer guns, Endymion was armed with the
larger 24-pounders just like President. Using her speed Endymion was able to
position herself to rake President and following Broke's philosophy of "Kill the
man and the ship is yours", fired into the hull severely damaging her. President
was left shot holes below the waterline, ten to fifteen starboard guns disabled,
water in the hold and shot from Endymion were later found inside the magazine.[248]
Decatur knew his only hope was to damage or disable the Endymion's rigging and then
outrun the rest of the squadron. However the cumulative damage told and he struck
his colours. Both ships then paused to conduct repairs and Decatur took advantage
of the fact Endymion had no boats intact to send over a prize crew with and
attempted to escape under the cover of night. After the crew of the Endymion had
quickly repaired her rigging, she, along with HMS Pomone and HMS Tenedos finally
overtook and captured the damaged President.[249] Later Decatur was to give
unreliable accounts of the battle stating that President was already "severely
damaged" by the grounding before the engagement, but was undamaged after the
engagement with Endymion. He stated Pomone caused "significant" losses aboard
President, although President's crew claim they were below deck gathering their
belongings as they had already surrendered. Despite saying "I surrender my ship to
the captain of the black frigate", Decatur also writes that he said, "I surrender
to the squadron". Nevertheless, many historians such as Ian Toll, Theodore
Roosevelt and William James quote Decatur's remarks to either enforce that Endymion
alone took President or that President surrendered to the whole squadron, when
actually it was something in-between.[250][251][252][212]

Marines aboard USS Wasp engage HMS Reindeer, June 1814. During the war, sloops of
the United States Navy scored several victories against British sloops.
The United States Navy's smaller ship-sloops had also won several victories over
Royal Navy sloops-of-war of approximately equal armament. The American sloops
Hornet, Wasp (1807), Peacock, Wasp (1813) and Frolic were all ship-rigged while the
British Cruizer-class sloops that they encountered were brig-rigged, which gave the
Americans a significant advantage. Ship rigged vessels are more manoeuvrable in
battle because they have a wider variety of sails and thus being more resistant to
damage. Ship-rigged vessels can back sail, literally backing up or heave to (stop).
[253][252][254][w]

In the only engagement between two brig-sloops the Cruizer-class brig HMS Pelican
overwhelmed the USS Argus as she had greater firepower and tonnage, despite having
less crew.

USS Enterprise, a schooner that had been converted to a brig, took HMS Boxer a
Bold-class gun-brig. These ships were of a comparable size with similar crews. USS
Enterprise led a chasing Boxer out on run then turned and let fly at 10 yards. The
Boxer replied at the same time. The Boxer's captain was killed instantly while
Enterprise's captain received a mortal wound. The quality of gunnery was better on
the Enterprise, demasting Boxer. Unable to reply when Enterprise took up a raking
position, Boxer surrendered.[255]

Privateering

Baltimore Clippers were a series of schooners used by American privateers during

the war.
The operations of American privateers proved a more significant threat to British
trade than the United States Navy. They operated throughout the Atlantic until the
close of the war, most notably from Baltimore. American privateers reported taking
1300 British merchant vessels, compared to 254 taken by the United States Navy,
[256][257][258] although the insurer Lloyd's of London reported that only 1,175
British ships were taken, 373 of which were recaptured, for a total loss of 802.
[259] The Canadian historian Carl Benn wrote that American privateers took 1,344
British ships, of which 750 were retaken by the British.[215] The British tried to
limit privateering losses by the strict enforcement of convoy by the Royal
Navy[260] and directly by capturing 278 American privateers. Due to the massive
size of the British merchant fleet, American captures only affected 7.5% of the
fleet, resulting in no supply shortages or lack of reinforcements for British
forces in North America.[261] Of 526 American privateers, 148 were captured by the
Royal Navy and only 207 ever took a prize.[215]

Due to the large size of their navy, the British did not rely as much on
privateering. The majority of the 1,407 captured American merchant ships were taken
by the Royal Navy. The war was the last time the British allowed privateering,
since the practice was coming to be seen as politically inexpedient and of
diminishing value in maintaining its naval supremacy. However, privateering
remained popular in British colonies. It was the last hurrah for privateers in
Bermuda who vigorously returned to the practice with experience gained in previous
wars.[262] The nimble Bermuda sloops captured 298 American ships. Privateer
schooners based in British North America, especially from Nova Scotia took 250
American ships and proved especially effective in crippling American coastal trade
and capturing American ships closer to shore than the Royal Navy's cruisers.[263]

Blockade

A map of the American coastline. British naval strategy was to protect their
shipping in North America and enforce a naval blockade on the United States.
The naval blockade of the United States began informally in the late fall of 1812.
Under the command of British Admiral John Borlase Warren, it extended from South
Carolina to Florida.[205] It expanded to cut off more ports as the war progressed.
Twenty ships were on station in 1812 and 135 were in place by the end of the
conflict. In March 1813, the Royal Navy punished the Southern states, who were most
vocal about annexing British North America, by blockading Charleston, Port Royal,
Savannah and New York City as well. Additional ships were sent to North America in
1813 and the Royal Navy tightened and extended the blockade, first to the coast
south of Narragansett by November 1813 and to the entire American coast on 31 May
1814.[215][264] In May 1814, following the abdication of Napoleon and the end of
the supply problems with Wellington's army, New England was blockaded.[265]

The British needed American foodstuffs for their army in Spain and benefited from
trade with New England, so they did not at first blockade New England.[215] The
Delaware River and Chesapeake Bay were declared in a state of blockade on 26
December 1812. Illicit trade was carried on by collusive captures arranged between
American traders and British officers. American ships were fraudulently transferred
to neutral flags. Eventually, the United States government was driven to issue
orders to stop illicit trading. This put only a further strain on the commerce of
the country. The British fleet occupied the Chesapeake Bay and attacked and
destroyed numerous docks and harbours.[266] The effect was that no foreign goods
could enter the United States on ships and only smaller fast boats could attempt to
get out. The cost of shipping became very expensive as a result.[267][x]

The blockade of American ports later tightened to the extent that most American
merchant ships and naval vessels were confined to port. The American frigates USS
United States and USS Macedonian ended the war blockaded and hulked in New London,
Connecticut.[268] USS United States and USS Macedonian attempted to set sail to
raid British shipping in the Caribbean, but were forced to turn back when
confronted with a British squadron, and by the end of the war, the United States
had six frigates and four ships-of-the-line sitting in port.[269] Some merchant
ships were based in Europe or Asia and continued operations. Others, mainly from
New England, were issued licences to trade by Admiral Warren, commander in chief on
the American station in 1813. This allowed Wellington's army in Spain to receive
American goods and to maintain the New Englanders' opposition to the war. The
blockade nevertheless decreased American exports from $130 million in 1807 to $7
million in 1814. Most exports were goods that ironically went to supply their
enemies in Britain or the British colonies.[270] The blockade had a devastating
effect on the American economy with the value of American exports and imports
falling from $114 million in 1811 down to $20 million by 1814 while the United
States Customs took in $13 million in 1811 and $6 million in 1814, even though the
Congress had voted to double the rates.[16] The British blockade further damaged
the American economy by forcing merchants to abandon the cheap and fast coastal
trade to the slow and more expensive inland roads.[271] In 1814, only 1 out of 14
American merchantmen risked leaving port as it was likely that any ship leaving
port would be seized.[272]

As the Royal Navy base that supervised the blockade, Halifax profited greatly
during the war. From there, British privateers seized and sold many French and
American ships. More than a hundred prize vessels were anchored in St. George's
Harbour awaiting condemnation by the Admiralty Court when a hurricane struck in
1815, sinking roughly sixty of the vessels.[273]

Freeing and recruiting slaves

The only known photograph of a Black Refugee, c. 1890. During the war, a number of
African Americans slaves escaped aboard British ships, settling in Canada (mainly
in Nova Scotia)[274] or Trinidad.
The British Royal Navy's blockades and raids allowed about 4,000 African Americans
to escape slavery by fleeing American plantations aboard British ships. American
slaves near to the British military rebelled against their masters and made their
way to British encampments. The migrants who settled in Canada were known as the
Black Refugees. The blockading British fleet in the Chesapeake Bay received
increasing numbers of freed slaves during 1813. By British government order, they
were considered free persons when they reached British hands.[10][dead link][275]
Alexander Cochrane's proclamation of 2 April 1814 invited Americans who wished to
emigrate to join the British. Although it did not explicitly mention slaves, it was
taken by all as addressed to them. About 2,400 escaped slaves and their families
were transported by the Royal Navy to the Royal Naval Dockyard at Bermuda (where
they were employed on works about the yard and organized as a militia to aid in the
defence of the yard), Nova Scotia and New Brunswick during and after the war.
Starting in May 1814, younger male volunteers were recruited into a new Corps of
Colonial Marines. They fought for Britain throughout the Atlantic campaign,
including the Battle of Bladensburg and the attacks on Washington, D.C., and Battle
of Baltimore, before withdrawing to Bermuda with the rest of the British forces.
They were later settled in Trinidad after having rejected orders for transfer to
the West India Regiments, forming the community of the Merikins (none of the freed
slaves remained in Bermuda after the war). These escaped slaves represented the
largest emancipation of African Americans prior to the American Civil War.[276]
[277][278] Britain paid the United States for the financial loss of the slaves at
the end of the war.[279]

Occupation of Maine
Maine, then part of Massachusetts, was a base for smuggling and illegal trade
between the United States and the British. Until 1813, the region was generally
quiet except for privateer actions near the coast. In September 1813, the United
States Navy's brig Enterprise fought and captured the Royal Navy brig Boxer off
Pemaquid Point.[280]

On 11 July 1814, Thomas Masterman Hardy took Moose Island (Eastport, Maine) without
a shot and the entire American garrison, 65 men[281] of Fort Sullivan peacefully
surrendered.[282] The British temporarily renamed the captured fort "Fort
Sherbrooke". In September 1814, John Coape Sherbrooke led 3,000 British troops from
his base in Halifax, Nova Scotia in the "Penobscot Expedition". In 26 days, he
raided and looted Hampden, Bangor and Machias, destroying or capturing 17 American
ships. He won the Battle of Hampden, with two killed while the Americans had one
killed. Retreating American forces were forced to destroy the frigate Adams.
[citation needed]

The British occupied the town of Castine and most of eastern Maine for the rest of
the war, governing it under martial law[283] and re-establishing the colony of New
Ireland. The Treaty of Ghent returned this territory to the United States. When the
British left in April 1815, they took £10,750 in tariff duties from Castine. This
money, called the "Castine Fund", was used to establish Dalhousie University in
Halifax.[284] Decisions about the islands in Passamaquoddy Bay were decided by
joint commission in 1817.[285] However, Machias Seal Island had been seized by the
British as part of the occupation and was unaddressed by the commission. While kept
by Britain/Canada, it remains in dispute to this day.[286][287]

Chesapeake campaign

Map of the Chesapeake Campaign

Admiralty House, at Mount Wyndham, Bermuda, where the Chesapeake campaign was
planned
The strategic location of the Chesapeake Bay near the Potomac River made it a prime
target for the British. Rear Admiral George Cockburn arrived there in March 1813
and was joined by Admiral Warren who took command of operations ten days later.
[288] Starting in March a squadron under Rear Admiral George Cockburn started a
blockade of the mouth of the Bay at Hampton Roads harbour and raided towns along
the Bay from Norfolk, Virginia to Havre de Grace, Maryland. In late April Cockburn
landed at and set fire to Frenchtown, Maryland and destroyed ships that were docked
there. In the following weeks he routed the local militias and looted and burned
three other towns. Thereafter he marched to iron foundry at Principio and destroyed
it along with sixty-eight cannons.[289]

On 4 July 1813, Commodore Joshua Barney, an American Revolutionary War naval

officer, convinced the Navy Department to build the Chesapeake Bay Flotilla, a
squadron of twenty barges powered by small sails or oars (sweeps) to defend the
Chesapeake Bay. Launched in April 1814, the squadron was quickly cornered on the
Patuxent River. While successful in harassing the Royal Navy, they could not stop
subsequent British operations in the area.

In August 1814, a force of 2,500 soldiers under General Ross had just arrived in
Bermuda aboard HMS Royal Oak, three frigates, three sloops and ten other vessels.
Released from the Peninsular War by victory, the British intended to use them for
diversionary raids along the coasts of Maryland and Virginia. In response to
Prévost's request,[specify] they decided to employ this force, together with the
naval and military units already on the station, to strike at the national capital.
Anticipating the attack, valuable documents, including the original Constitution,
were removed to Leesburg, Virginia.[290]

United States Secretary of War John Armstrong Jr. insisted that the British were
going to attack Baltimore rather than Washington, even as British army and naval
units were on their way to Washington. Brigadier General William H. Winder, who had
burned several bridges in the area, assumed the British would attack Annapolis and
was reluctant to engage because he mistakenly thought the British army was twice
its size.[291] The inexperienced state militia was easily routed in the Battle of
Bladensburg, opening the route to Washington. British troops led by Major General
Robert Ross, accompanied by Rear Admiral George Cockburn, the 3rd Brigade attacked
and captured Washington with a force of 4,500.[292] On 24 August, after the British
had finished looting the interiors, Ross directed his troops to set fire to number
of public buildings, including the White House and the United States Capitol.[y]
Extensive damage to the interiors and the contents of both were subsequently
reported.[293] US government and military officials fled to Virginia, while
Secretary of the United States Navy William Jones ordered the Washington Navy Yard
and a nearby fort to be razed in order to prevent its capture.[294][295] Public
buildings in Washington were destroyed by the British though private residences
ordered spared.[296]

An artist's rendering of the bombardment at Fort McHenry during the Battle of

Baltimore. Watching the bombardment from a truce ship, Francis Scott Key was
inspired to write the four-stanza poem that later became "The Star-Spangled
Banner".
After taking some munitions from the Washington Munitions depot, the British,
boarded their ships[295] and moved on to their major target, the heavily fortified
major city of Baltimore. Because some of their ships were held up in the Raid on
Alexandria, they delayed their movement allowing Baltimore an opportunity to
strengthen the fortifications and bring in new federal troops and state militia
units. The "Battle for Baltimore" began with the British landing on 12 September
1814 at North Point, where they were met by American militia further up the
Patapsco Neck peninsula. An exchange of fire began, with casualties on both sides.
The British Army commander Major Gen. Robert Ross was killed by snipers. The
British paused, then continued to march northwestward to face the stationed
Maryland and Baltimore City militia units at Godly Wood. The Battle of North Point
was fought for several afternoon hours in a musketry and artillery duel. The
British also planned to simultaneously attack Baltimore by water on the following
day, although the Royal Navy was unable to reduce Fort McHenry at the entrance to
Baltimore Harbor in support of an attack from the northeast by the British Army.
[citation needed]

The British eventually realized that they could not force the passage to attack
Baltimore in coordination with the land force. A last ditch night feint and barge
attack during a heavy rain storm was led by Captain Charles Napier around the fort
up the Middle Branch of the river to the west. Split and misdirected partly in the
storm, it turned back after suffering heavy casualties from the alert gunners of
Fort Covington and Battery Babcock. The British called off the attack and sailed
downriver to pick up their army, which had retreated from the east side of
Baltimore. All the lights were extinguished in Baltimore the night of the attack,
and the fort was bombarded for 25 hours. The only light was given off by the
exploding shells over Fort McHenry, illuminating the flag that was still flying
over the fort. The defence of the fort inspired the American lawyer Francis Scott
Key to write "Defence of Fort M'Henry", a poem that was later set to music as "The
Star-Spangled Banner".[297]

Southern theatre
Because of the region's polyglot population, both the British and the Americans
perceived the war in the Gulf South as a fundamentally different conflict from the
one occurring in the Lowcountry and Chesapeake.[298]

Creek War
Main article: Creek War

In 1813, Creek warriors attacked Fort Mims and killed 400 to 500 people. The
massacre became a rallying point for Americans.
Before 1813, the war between the Creeks, or Muscogee, had been largely an internal
affair sparked by the ideas of Tecumseh farther north in the Mississippi Valley. A
faction known as the Red Sticks, so named for the colour of their war sticks, had
broken away from the rest of the Creek Confederacy, which wanted peace with the
United States. The Red Sticks were allied with Tecumseh, who had visited the Creeks
about a year before 1813 and encouraged greater resistance to the Americans.[299]
The Creek Nation was a trading partner of the United States, actively involved with
British and Spanish trade as well. The Red Sticks as well as many southern Muscogee
people like the Seminole had a long history of alliance with the British and
Spanish empires.[300] This alliance helped the North American and European powers
protect each other's claims to territory in the south.[301]

On 27 July the Red Sticks were returning from Pensacola with a pack train filled
with trade goods and arms when they were attacked by Americans who made off with
their goods. On 30 August 1813, in retaliation for the raid, the Red Sticks, led by
chiefs of the Creeks Red Eagle and Peter McQueen, attacked Fort Mims north of
Mobile, the only American-held port in the territory of West Florida. The attack on
Fort Mims resulted in the horrific death of 400 refugee settlers, all butchered and
scalped, including women and children, and became an ideological rallying point for
the Americans.[302] It prompted the state of Georgia and the Mississippi militia to
immediately take major action against Creek offensives. The Red Sticks chiefs
gained power in the east along the Alabama River, Coosa River and Tallapoosa River
in the Upper Creek territory. By contrast, the Lower Creek, who lived along the
Chattahoochee River, generally opposed the Red Sticks and wanted to remain allied
to the U.S. Indian agent Benjamin Hawkins recruited Lower Creek to aid the 6th
Military District under General Thomas Pinckney and the state militias against the
Red Sticks. The United States combined forces were 5,000 troops from East and West
Tennessee, with about 200 indigenous allies.[303] At its peak, the Red Stick
faction had 4,000 warriors, only a quarter of whom had muskets.[304]

The Indian frontier of western Georgia was the most vulnerable but was partially
fortified already. From November 1813 to January 1814, Georgia's
militia[clarification needed] and auxiliary Federal troops from the Creek and
Cherokee indigenous nations and the states of North Carolina and South Carolina
organized the fortification of defences along the Chattahoochee River and
expeditions into Upper Creek territory in present-day Alabama. The army, led by
General John Floyd, went to the heart of the Creek Holy Grounds and won a major
offensive against one of the largest Creek towns at the Battle of Autossee, killing
an estimated two hundred people. In November, the militia of Mississippi with a
combined 1,200 troops attacked the Econachca encampment in the Battle of Holy
Ground on the Alabama River.[305] Tennessee raised a militia of 5,000 under Major
General Andrew Jackson and Brigadier General John Coffee and won the battles of
Tallushatchee and Talladega in November 1813.[306]

Jackson suffered enlistment problems in the winter. He decided to combine his

force, composed of Tennessee militia and pro-American Creek, with the Georgia
militia. In January, however, the Red Sticks attacked his army at the Battles of
Emuckfaw and Enotachopo Creek. Jackson's troops repelled the attackers, but they
were outnumbered and forced to withdraw to his base at Fort Strother.[307]

In January, Floyd's force of 1,300 state militia and 400 Creek moved to join the
United States forces in Tennessee, but they were attacked in camp on the Calibee
Creek by Tukabatchee Muscogees on 27 January.[citation needed]

Creek forces were defeated at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend, bringing an end to the
Creek War.
Jackson's force increased in numbers with the arrival of United States Army
soldiers and a second draft of Tennessee state militia, Cherokee, and pro-American
Creek swelled his army to around 5,000. In March 1814, they moved south to attack
the Red Sticks.[308] On 27 March, Jackson decisively defeated a force of about a
thousand Red Sticks at Horseshoe Bend, killing 800 of them at a cost of 49 killed
and 154 wounded. [309]

Jackson then moved his army to Fort Jackson on the Alabama River. He promptly
turned on the pro-American Creek who had fought with him and compelled their
chieftains, along with a single Red Stick chieftain, to sign the Treaty of Fort
Jackson, which forced the Creek tribe as a whole to cede most of western Georgia
and part of Alabama to the U.S. Both Hawkins and the pro-American Creek strongly
opposed the treaty, which they regarded as deeply unjust.[310] The treaty also
demanded that the Creek cease communicating with the British and Spanish and trade
only with United States-approved agents.[311]

British aid to the Red Sticks arrived after the end of the Napoleonic Wars in April
1814 and after Admiral Alexander Cochrane assumed command from Admiral Warren in
March. Captain Huge Pigot arrived with two ships to arm the Red Sticks. He thought
that some 6,600 warriors could be armed and recruited. It was overly optimistic at
best. The Red Sticks were in the process of being destroyed as a military force.
[312] In April 1814, the British established an outpost on the Apalachicola River
(Prospect Bluff Historic Sites). Cochrane sent a company of Royal Marines commanded
by Edward Nicolls,[313] the vessels HMS Hermes and HMS Carron and further supplies
to meet the Indians in the region.[314] In addition to training them, Nicolls was
tasked to raise a force from escaped slaves as part of the Corps of Colonial
Marines.[314]

In July 1814, General Jackson complained to the governor of Pensacola, Mateo

González Manrique that combatants from the Creek War were being harboured in
Spanish territory and made reference to the British presence on Spanish soil.
Although he gave an angry reply to Jackson, Manrique was alarmed at the weak
position he found himself in and appealed to the British for help. Woodbine arrived
on 28 July and Nicolls on 24 August.[315]

The first engagement of the British and their Creek allies against the Americans on
the Gulf Coast was the 14 September 1814 attack on Fort Bowyer. Captain William
Percy tried to take the United States fort, hoping to then move on Mobile and block
United States trade and encroachment on the Mississippi. After the Americans
repulsed Percy's forces, the British established a military presence of up to 200
Marines at Pensacola. In November, Jackson's force of 4,000 men took the town.[316]
This underlined the superiority of numbers of Jackson's force in the region.[317]
The United States force moved to New Orleans in late 1814. Jackson's army of 1,000
regulars and 3,000 to 4,000 militia, pirates and other fighters as well as
civilians and slaves built fortifications south of the city.[318]

Gulf Coast
American forces under General James Wilkinson, himself a paid Spanish secret agent,
[319] took the Mobile area from the Spanish in March 1813. This region was the rump
of Spanish West Florida, the western portion of which had been annexed to the
United States in 1810. The Americans built Fort Bowyer, a log and earthen-work fort
with 14 guns, on Mobile Point to defend it.[320] Major Latour opined that none of
the three forts in the area were capable of resisting a siege.[321]

At the end of 1814, the British launched a double offensive in the South weeks
before the Treaty of Ghent was signed. On the Atlantic coast, Admiral George
Cockburn was to close the Intracoastal Waterway trade and land Royal Marine
battalions to advance through Georgia to the western territories. While on the Gulf
coast, Admiral Alexander Cochrane moved on the new state of Louisiana and the
Mississippi Territory. Admiral Cochrane's ships reached the Louisiana coast on 9
December and Cockburn arrived in Georgia on 14 December.[322]

American forces repelled a British assault on New Orleans in January 1815. The
battle occurred before news of a peace treaty reached the United States.
The British had the objective of gaining control of the entrance of the
Mississippi, and to challenge the legality of the Louisiana Purchase.[323] To this
end, an expeditionary force of 8,000 troops under General Edward Pakenham attacked
Jackson's prepared defences in New Orleans on 8 January 1815. The Battle of New
Orleans was an American victory, as the British failed to take the fortifications
on the East Bank. The British attack force suffered high casualties, including 291
dead, 1,262 wounded and 484 captured or missing[324][325] whereas American
casualties were light with 13 dead, 39 wounded and 19 missing,[326] according to
the respective official casualty returns. This battle was hailed as a great victory
across the United States, making Jackson a national hero and eventually propelling
him to the presidency.[327][328] In January 1815 Fort St. Philip endured ten days
of bombardment from two bomb vessels of the Royal Navy. Remini believes this was
preventing the British moving their fleet up the Mississippi in support of the land
attack.[329] Roosevelt does not share Remini's theory. He observes that the British
disengaged once the fort's mortar was resupplied and was able to return fire on 17
January 1815, the engagement being described as 'unsuccessfully bombarding' the
fort by the British.[330]

After deciding further attacks would be too costly and unlikely to succeed;[331]
the British fleet withdrew from the Mississippi River on 18 January. However, it
was not until 27 January 1815 that the land forces rejoined the fleet, allowing for
its final departure.[332] After New Orleans, the British moved to take Mobile as a
base for further operations.[333] In preparation, General John Lambert laid siege
to Fort Bowyer taking it on 12 February 1815. However HMS Brazen brought news of
the Treaty of Ghent the next day and the British abandoned the Gulf Coast.[334]
This ending of the war prevented the capture of Mobile, and any renewed attacks on
New Orleans.[333]

Meanwhile, in January 1815, Admiral Cockburn succeeded in blockading the

southeastern coast of Georgia by occupying Camden County. The British quickly took
Cumberland Island, Fort Point Peter and Fort St. Tammany in a decisive victory.
Under the orders of his commanding officers, Cockburn's forces relocated many
refugee slaves, capturing St. Simons Island as well to do so. He had orders to
recruit as many runaway slaves into the Corps of Colonial Marines as possible and
use them to conduct raids in Georgia and the Carolinas.[335] Cockburn also provided
thousands of muskets and carbines and a huge quantity of ammunition to the Creeks
and Seminole Indians for the same purpose.[336] During the invasion of the Georgia
coast, an estimated 1,485 people chose to relocate to British territories or join
the British military. However, by mid-March, several days after being informed of
the Treaty of Ghent, British ships left the area.[337]

The British did not recognize the West Florida territory as being legally American,
as it had been seized from the Spanish during the war. The British also did not
recognize the Louisiana Purchase because they and Spain voided all land deals and
treaties made by Napoleon, especially the 1800–1804 transfer of Louisiana from
Spain to France to the United States.[18] Owsley is of the opinion this appeared to
be compelling evidence that Britain had no intention of returning the region, had
it completed capture of the territory, without new American concessions,
referencing a letter from Thomas Shields to Daniel Patterson, dated January 25,
1815.[338] This is contradicted by the content of Bathurst's correspondence,[323]
[339] and disputed by Latimer,[340] with specific reference to correspondence from
the Prime Minister to the Foreign Secretary dated 23 December 1814.[341] West
Florida was the only territory permanently gained by the United States during the
war.[342]

Treaty of Ghent
Main article: Treaty of Ghent
Factors leading to the peace negotiations

A political caricature of delegates from the Hartford Convention deciding whether

to leap into the hands of the British, December 1814. The convention led to
widespread fears that the New England states might attempt to secede from the
United States.
By 1814, both Britain and the United States either achieved their main war goals or
were weary of the costly stalemate. They both sent delegations to Ghent, a neutral
site. The negotiations began in early August and concluded on December 24, when a
final agreement was signed as both sides had to ratify it before it could take
effect. Meanwhile, both sides planned new invasions.[343]

Negotiations and peace

In August 1814, peace discussions began. Both sides approached negotiations warily.
[z] British diplomats stated their case first, demanding the creation of an Indian
barrier state in the American Northwest Territory (the area from Ohio to
Wisconsin). It was understood the British would sponsor this state. The British
strategy for decades had been to create a buffer state to block American expansion.
Britain also demanded naval control of the Great Lakes and access to the
Mississippi River. [344] On the American side, Monroe instructed the American
diplomats sent to Europe to try to convince the British to cede the Canadas, or at
least Upper Canada, to the U.S.[345] At a later stage, the Americans also demanded
damages for the burning of Washington and for the seizure of ships before the war
began.[346]

Depiction of the signing of the Treaty of Ghent, which formally ended the war
between the British Empire and the United States
American public opinion was outraged when Madison published the demands as even the
Federalists were now willing to fight on. The British had planned three invasions.
One force burned Washington, but it failed to capture Baltimore and sailed away
when its commander was killed. In northern New York State, 10,000 British veterans
were marching south until a decisive defeat at the Battle of Plattsburgh forced
them back to Canada.[aa] Nothing was known of the fate of the third large invasion
force aimed at capturing New Orleans and southwest. The prime minister wanted the
Duke of Wellington to command in Canada and take control of the Great Lakes.
Wellington said that he would go to the United States, but he believed he was
needed in Europe.[347] Wellington emphasized that the war was a draw and the peace
negotiations should not make territorial demands:

I think you have no right, from the state of war, to demand any concession of
territory from America. [...] You have not been able to carry it into the enemy's
territory, notwithstanding your military success and now undoubted military
superiority, and have not even cleared your own territory on the point of attack.
You cannot on any principle of equality in negotiation claim a cessation of
territory except in exchange for other advantages which you have in your power.
[...] Then if this reasoning be true, why stipulate for the uti possidetis? You can
get no territory: indeed, the state of your military operations, however
creditable, does not entitle you to demand any.[348]

Prime Minister Robert Jenkinson, 2nd Earl of Liverpool, aware of growing opposition
to wartime taxation and the demands of Liverpool and Bristol merchants for reopened
trade with America, realized Britain also had little to gain and much to lose from
prolonged warfare especially given growing concern about the situation in Europe.
[349]

After months of negotiations, against a background of changing military victories,

defeats and losses, Britain and the United States finally realized that both their
nations wanted peace and there was no real reason to continue the war. The main
focus of British foreign policy was the Congress of Vienna, at which British
diplomats had clashed with Russian and Prussian diplomats over the terms of the
peace with France and there were fears that Britain might have to go to war with
Russia and Prussia. Each side was now tired of the war. Export trade was all but
paralyzed and France was no longer an enemy of Britain after Napoleon fell in 1814,
so the Royal Navy no longer needed to stop American shipments to France and it no
longer needed to impress more seamen. It had ended the practices that so angered
the Americans in 1812. The British were preoccupied in rebuilding Europe after the
apparent final defeat of Napoleon.[350]

Consequently, Lord Liverpool urged the British negotiators to offer a peace based
on the restoration of the pre-war status quo. The British negotiators duly dropped
their demands for the creation of an Indian neutral zone, which allowed
negotiations to resume at the end of October. The American negotiators accepted the
British proposals for a peace based on the pre-war status quo. Prisoners were to be
exchanged and escaped slaves returned to the United States or paid for by Britain.
At this point, the number of slaves was approximately 6,000. Britain eventually
refused the demand, allowing many to either emigrate to Canada or Trinidad.
[citation needed]

On 24 December 1814, the diplomats had finished and signed the Treaty of Ghent. The
treaty was ratified by the British Prince Regent three days later on 27 December.
[351][352][353][354] On 17 February, it arrived in Washington, where it was quickly
ratified and went into effect, ending the war. The terms called for all occupied
territory to be returned, the prewar boundary between Canada and the United States
to be restored, and the Americans were to gain fishing rights in the Gulf of Saint
Lawrence.[citation needed] The British insisted on the inclusion of provisions in
Article IX of the treaty which called on both signatories to restore to the Indians
"all possessions, rights and privileges which they may have enjoyed, or been
entitled to in 1811".[355] The inherent flaw in the British demand was the
assumption that the Indian tribes were independent, however, they were only
considered dwellers in the United States who had recently made war upon her in co-
operation with Great Britain.[356] Subsequently, the Americans did not comply with
these provisions and the British made no effort to compel them to do so.[355]

Much like the Congress of Vienna, the Treaty of Ghent completely maintained
Britain's maritime belligerent rights, a key goal for the British, without
acknowledging American maritime rights or the end of impressment. While American
maritime rights were not seriously violated in the century of peace until World War
I, the defeat of Napoleon made the need for impressment irrelevant and the
grievances of the United States no longer an issue. In this sense, the United
States achieved its goals indirectly and felt its honour had been upheld.[357][358]

Losses and compensation

Casualties in the War of 1812[359]
Type of casualties United States United Kingdom
and Canada Indigenous fighters
Killed in action and died of wounds 2,260 ~2,000 ~1,500
Died of disease or accident ~13,000 ~8,000 ~8,500
Wounded in action 4,505 ~3,500 Unknown
Missing in action 695 ~1,000 Unknown
Losses figures do not include deaths among Canadian militia forces or losses among
Indian tribes. British losses in the war were about 1,160 killed in action and
3,679 wounded,[360] with 3,321 British who died from disease. American losses were
2,260 killed in action and 4,505 wounded. While the number of Americans who died
from disease is not known, it is estimated that about 15,000 died from all causes
directly related to the war.[6]

There have been no estimates of the cost of the American war to Britain, but it did
add some £25 million to its national debt.[361] In the United States, the cost was
$105 million, about the same as the cost to Britain.[citation needed] The national
debt rose from $45 million in 1812 to $127 million by the end of 1815, although by
selling bonds and treasury notes at deep discounts—and often for irredeemable paper
money due to the suspension of specie payment in 1814—the government received only
$34 million worth of specie.[362][363] Stephen Girard, the richest man in the
United States at the time, was one of those who funded the United States
government's involvement in the war.[364][365] The British national debt rose from
£451 million in 1812 to £841 million in 1814, although this was at a time when
Britain was fighting a war against Napoleon. The war was bad for both economies.
[366]

United States per capita GDP 1810–1815 in constant 2009 dollars[367]

In addition, at least 3,000 American slaves escaped to British lines. Many other
slaves simply escaped in the chaos of war and achieved freedom on their own. The
British settled some of the newly freed slaves in Nova Scotia.[368][369] Four
hundred freedmen were settled in New Brunswick.[370] The Americans protested that
Britain's failure to return the slaves violated the Treaty of Ghent. After
arbitration by the Tsar of Russia the British paid $1,204,960 in damages to
Washington, to reimburse the slave owners.[279]

In the United States, the economy grew every year from 1812 to 1815, despite a
large loss of business by East Coast shipping interests. Prices were 15% higher—
inflated—in 1815 compared to 1812, an annual rate of 4.8%.[371] The national
economy grew 1812–1815 at 3.7% a year, after accounting for inflation. Per capita
GDP grew at 2.2% a year, after accounting for inflation.[367] Hundreds of new banks
were opened; they largely handled the loans that financed the war since tax
revenues were down. Money that would have been spent on foreign trade was diverted
to opening new factories, which were profitable since British factory-made products
were not for sale.[372] This gave a major boost to the Industrial Revolution in the
United States as typified by the Boston Associates. The Boston Manufacturing
Company, built the first integrated spinning and weaving factory in the world at
Waltham, Massachusetts in 1813.[373][374]

Long-term consequences
Main article: Results of the War of 1812
The border between the United States and Canada remained essentially unchanged by
the war[ab] and the treaty that ended it addressed the original points of
contention—and yet it changed much between the United States and Britain. The
Treaty of Ghent established the status quo ante bellum. The issue of impressment
became irrelevant when the Royal Navy no longer needed sailors and stopped
impressing them.[citation needed]

The long-term results of the war were generally satisfactory to the United States
and Britain. Except for occasional border disputes and some tensions during and
after the American Civil War, relations between the United States and Britain
remained peaceful for the rest of the 19th century and the two countries became
close allies in the 20th century. Historian Troy Bickham argues that each
participant defined success in a different way. The new American republic could
claim victory in that its independence from London was assured, and the Indian
nation opposition to westward expansion was removed. The memory of the conflict
played a major role in helping to consolidate a Canadian national identity after
1867. The British retained Canada, but their attention was overwhelmingly devoted
to celebrating the defeat of Napoleon. The consensus is that the tribes were the
big losers.[375]

The Rush–Bagot Treaty between the United States and Britain was enacted in 1817. It
demilitarized the Great Lakes and Lake Champlain, where many British naval
arrangements and forts still remained. The treaty laid the basis for a
demilitarized boundary. It remains in effect to this day.[376]

Britain defeated the American invasions of Canada and its own invasion of the
United States was defeated in Maryland, New York and New Orleans. After two decades
of intense warfare against France, Britain was in no mood for more conflicts with
the United States and focused on expanding the British Empire into India. Border
adjustments between the United States and British North America were made in the
Treaty of 1818.[377]

Bermuda

The Royal Naval Dockyard, Bermuda

Bermuda had been largely left to the defences of its own militia and privateers
before American independence, but the Royal Navy had begun buying up land and
operating from there beginning in 1795. As construction work progressed through the
first half of the 19th century, Bermuda became the permanent naval headquarters in
Western waters, housing the Admiralty and serving as a base and dockyard. Defence
infrastructure remained the central leg of Bermuda's economy until after World War
II.[273][378][379]

Canadas

Fort Henry at Kingston in 1836. Built from 1832 to 1836, the fort was one of
several works undertaken to improve the colonies' defences.
After the war, pro-British leaders in Upper Canada demonstrated a strong hostility
to American influences, including republicanism, which shaped its policies.[380]
Immigration from the United States was discouraged and favour was shown to the
Anglican Church as opposed to the more Americanized Methodist Church.[381]

The Battle of York showed the vulnerability of Upper and Lower Canada. In the
decades following the war, several projects were undertaken to improve the defence
of the colonies against the United States. They included work on La Citadelle at
Quebec City, Fort Henry at Kingston, and rebuilding Fort York at York.
Additionally, work began on the Halifax Citadel to defend the port against foreign
navies.[382] Akin to the American view that it was "Second War of Independence" for
the United States, the war was also somewhat of a war of independence for Canada.
[383] Before the war Canada was a mix of French Canadians, native-born British
subjects, loyalists and Americans who migrated there. Historian Donal
Hickey[verification needed] maintains that the war that threatened Canada greatly
helped to cement these disparate groups into a unified nation.[384][incomplete
short citation]

Indigenous nations

Map showing the general distribution of Indian tribes in the Northwest Territory in
the early 1790s
The Indian tribes allied to the British lost their cause. The Americans rejected
the British proposal to create an "Indian barrier state" in the American West at
the Ghent peace conference and it never resurfaced.[385] Donald Fixico argues that
"[a]fter the War of 1812, the U.S. negotiated over two hundred Indian treaties that
involved the ceding of Indian lands and 99 of these agreements resulted in the
creation of reservations west of the Mississippi River".[386]

The indigenous nations lost most of their fur-trapping territory.[387] Indigenous

nations were displaced in Alabama, Georgia, New York and Oklahoma, losing most of
what is now Indiana, Michigan, Ohio and Wisconsin within the Northwest Territory as
well as in New York and the South. They came to be seen as an undesirable burden by
British policymakers, who now looked to the United States for markets and raw
materials.[388] Everyone, including British fur traders were prohibited from
entering in the United States for purposes of trade.[387]

British Indian agents however continued to meet regularly with their former allies
among the tribes of the Old Northwest, but refused to supply them with arms or help
them resist American attempts to displace them. The American government rapidly
built a network of forts throughout the Old Northwest, thus establishing firm
military control. It also sponsored American fur traders, who outcompeted the
British fur traders.[388] Meanwhile, Euro-American settlers rapidly migrated into
the Old Northwest, into the lands occupied by the tribes who were previously allied
with the British. of the region, many of whom fought with the British during the
war.[389]

After the decisive defeat of the Creek Indians at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend in
1814, some Creek warriors escaped to join the Seminole in Florida.[citation needed]
The remaining Creek chiefs signed away about half their lands, comprising
23,000,000 acres, covering much of southern Georgia and two-thirds of modern
Alabama. The Creek were separated from any future help from the Spanish in Florida
and from the Choctaw and Chickasaw to the west.[390]

After much confrontation between settlers and tribes, and failed attempts to
assimilate Indians to a life of farming and ranching, they were ultimately sent to
various reservations.[391][392][393] The War of 1812 marked a turning point in the
history of the Old Northwest because it established United States authority over
the British and Indians of that border region.[394]

Great Britain
The war is seldom remembered in Great Britain. The massive ongoing conflict in
Europe against the French Empire under Napoleon ensured that the British did not
consider the War of 1812 against the United States as more than a sideshow.[395]
Britain's blockade of French trade had been entirely successful, and the Royal Navy
was the world's dominant nautical power (and remained so for another century).
While the land campaigns had contributed to saving Canada, the Royal Navy had shut
down American commerce, bottled up the United States Navy in port and widely
suppressed privateering. British businesses, some affected by rising insurance
costs, were demanding peace so that trade could resume with the United States.[396]
The peace was generally welcomed by the British, although there was disquiet about
the rapid growth of the United States. However, the two nations quickly resumed
trade after the end of the war and a growing friendship over time.[397]

Historian Donald R. Hickey maintains that for Britain, "the best way to defend
Canada was to accommodate the United States. This was the principal rationale for
Britain's long-term policy of rapprochement with the United States in the
nineteenth century and explains why they were so often willing to sacrifice other
imperial interests to keep the republic happy".[398]

United States

Independence Day celebrations in 1819. In the United States, the war was followed
by the Era of Good Feelings, a period that saw nationalism and a desire for
national unity rise throughout the country.
The nation gained a strong sense of complete independence as people celebrated
their "second war of independence".[399] Nationalism soared after the victory at
the Battle of New Orleans. The opposition Federalist Party collapsed and the Era of
Good Feelings ensued.[400]

No longer questioning the need for a strong Navy, the United States built three new
74-gun ships of the line and two new 44-gun frigates shortly after the end of the
war.[401] Another frigate had been destroyed to prevent its capture on the stocks
when Washington had been burned.[402][403] In 1816, the United States Congress
passed into law an "Act for the gradual increase of the Navy" at a cost of
$1,000,000 a year for eight years, authorizing nine ships of the line and 12 heavy
frigates.[404] The captains and commodores of the Navy became the heroes of their
generation in the United States. Decorated plates and pitchers of Decatur, Hull,
Bainbridge, Lawrence, Perry, and Macdonough were made in Staffordshire, England,
and found a ready market in the United States. Several war heroes used their fame
to win elections to national office. Andrew Jackson and William Henry Harrison both
benefited from their military successes to win the presidency, while representative
Richard Mentor Johnson's role during the war helped him attain the vice presidency.
[405]

During the war, New England states became increasingly frustrated over how the war
was being conducted and how the conflict affected them. They complained that the
United States government was not investing enough militarily and financially in the
states' defences and that the states should have more control over their militias.
Increased taxes, the British blockade, and the occupation of some of New England by
enemy forces also agitated public opinion in the states.[406] At the Hartford
Convention held between December 1814 and January 1815, Federalist delegates
deprecated the war effort and sought more autonomy for the New England states. They
did not call for secession but word of the angry anti-war resolutions appeared as
peace was announced and the victory at New Orleans was known. The upshot was that
the Federalists were permanently discredited and quickly disappeared as a major
political force.[407]

This war enabled thousands of slaves to escape to freedom, despite the

difficulties.[408] The British helped numerous Black Refugees resettle in New
Brunswick and Nova Scotia, where Black Loyalists had also been granted land after
the American Revolutionary War.[408]

Jackson invaded Florida in 1818, demonstrating to Spain that it could no longer

control that territory with a small force. Spain sold Florida to the United States
in 1819 under the Adams–Onís Treaty following the First Seminole War. Pratt
concludes that "[t]hus indirectly the War of 1812 brought about the acquisition of
Florida. [...] To both the Northwest and the South, therefore, the War of 1812
brought substantial benefits. It broke the power of the Creek Confederacy and
opened to settlement a great province of the future Cotton Kingdom".[409]