The first battle of the War of 1812, the Battle of Tippecanoe, took place in 1811.
The War of 1812
The War of 1812 started badly for the
United States. The month after war was
declared, U.S. forces launched the first of
three failed invasions of Canada. In
August, the United States lost Detroit to
the British and their Native American
allies. By the end of the year, the British
controlled half of the Great Lakes region.
Battles at Sea
The following year, U.S. forces won
several victories. Captain Oliver Hazard
Perry and his naval force defeated the
British in the Battle of Put-In-Bay on Lake
Erie. American privateers harried British
ships blockading the Atlantic Coast while
U.S. forces secured the Great Lakes region.
Amid the fighting, Madison was re-
elected to a second term as president.
Tecumseh’s War
During the War of 1812, most Native
Americans fought alongside the British.
This helped the British win early victories
at Detroit and other locations. Then, at the
Battle of the Thames in Ontario, the
United States defeated the British and
their Native American allies. Among the
counted dead was Tecumseh.
Native American resistance in the Great
Lakes region ebbed, opening the Indiana
and Michigan territories to white
settlement. The Creek Native Americans
continued to wage war across the
Southeast.
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 north, a sizable British force was ready to
attack when U.S. Captain Thomas
Macdonough won the naval battle of
Lake Champlain. The British lost their
fleet at Lake Champlain, causing the
army to pull back into Canada.
Both sides had suffered significant
losses and were ready to make peace.
British and U.S. diplomats met in Belgium
to negotiate and sign the Treaty of Ghent,
On August 24, 1812, the White House burned.
which confirmed the existing borders of
Madison and his wife had already left.
the United States and British Canada, in
December 1814.

The Burning of
the Capitol War’s End
At the end of the war, in 1815,
In March 1814, Britain defeated Secretary of State James Monroe
France in the Napoleonic Wars in Europe. wrote in a letter:
Several months later, about 4,500
“It is highly honorable to our
hardened British soldiers sailed up the
country to have maintained its
Chesapeake Bay. They stormed and
ground, singly, against G. Britain, &
burned Washington, D.C., forcing
to have forced her to such a peace.
Madison and his wife to flee.
This contest has been glorious to
That summer, the British shelled
the U States, by sea and land, & its
Baltimore, hoping for another victory.
triumph at New Orleans, give it
However, they failed to take the city. The
even a splendour which will make
bombardment of Fort McHenry during
the epoch memorable in our
this time inspired Francis Scott Key to
history.”
write "The Star Spangled Banner.” To the

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Peace and Treaty Making
The Last Battle After defeating the Creek, Jackson
forced Native Americans to give up large
It took a while for word of the Treaty of
amounts of land. He then took over the
Ghent to reach everyone in the United
defense of New Orleans. A large force of
States. The last battle of the war
British attacked on January 8, 1815.
happened after the treaty was signed.
Jackson’s army soundly defeated the
U.S. General Andrew Jackson had
British in the Battle of New Orleans,
successfully defended the Southeast
securing the Mississippi River valley and
against the British and their Native
earning him a reputation as a war hero.
American allies.

Jackson’s forces cobbled together 4,500 soldiers, militia,

and others against a British force of 8,000 regulars.

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 Image Attributions
Page 1: Kurz & Allison / Library of Congress / https://www.loc.gov/item/2003656861/
Page 2: Richard Miller Devens / Library of Congress /
https://www.loc.gov/item/96519729/
Page 3: E. Percy Moran / Library of Congress / https://www.loc.gov/item/92510337/

Text Attributions
Text adapted from OpenStax U.S. History under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0
License

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