The War of 1812
The United States was
woefully unprepared for war. The army consisted of fewer than 7000 soldiers,
few trained officers, and a navy with just 6 warships. In contrast, Britain had nearly 400
warships.
The American strategy
called for a three‑pronged invasion of Canada and heavy harassment of
British shipping. The attack on Canada, however, was a disastrous failure. At
Detroit, 2000 American troops surrendered to a much smaller British and Indian
force. An attack across the Niagara River, near Buffalo, resulted in 900
American prisoners of war. Along Lake Champlain, a third army retreated into
American territory after failing to cut undefended British supply lines.
In 1813 America suffered
new failures, including the defeat and capture of an American in the swamps
west of Lake Erie. Only a series of unexpected victories at the end of the year
raised American spirits. On September 10, 1813, America won a major naval
victory at the Battle of Lake Erie near Put‑in‑Bay at the western
end of Lake Erie. There, Master‑Commandant Oliver Hazard Perry, who had
built a fleet at Presque Isle (Erie, Pennsylvania) successfully engaged six
British ships. Though Perry's flagship, the Lawrence, was disabled in
the fighting, he went on to capture the British fleet. He reported his victory
with the stirring words, ``We have met the enemy and they are ours.''
The Battle of Lake Erie
was America's first major victory of the war. It forced the British to abandon
Detroit and retreat toward Niagara. On October 5, 1813, Major General William
Henry Harrison overtook the retreating British army and their Indian allies at
the Thames River. He won a decisive victory in which the Indian leader Tecumseh
was killed, thereby ending the fighting strength of the northwestern Indians.
In the Spring of 1814,
Britain defeated Napoleon in Europe, freeing 18,000 veteran British troops to
participate in an invasion of the United States. The British planned to invade
the United States at three points: upstate New York across the Niagara River
and Lake Champlain, the Chesapeake Bay, and New Orleans. The London Times
expressed the confident English mood:
Oh,
may no false liberality, no mistaken lenity, no weak and cowardly policy
interpose to save the United States from the blow! Strike! Chastise the
savages, for such they are.... Our demands may be couched in a single word‑‑Submission!'
At Niagara, however,
American forces, outnumbered more than three to one, halted Britain's invasion
from the north.
Britain then landed 4000
soldiers on the Chesapeake Bay coast and marched on Washington, D.C., where
untrained soldiers lacking uniforms and standard equipment were protecting the
capital. The result was chaos. President Madison narrowly escaped capture by
British forces. On August 24, 1814, the British humiliated the nation by capturing
and burning Washington, D.C. President Madison and his wife Dolley were forced
to flee the capital‑‑carrying with them many of the nation's
treasures, including the Declaration of Independence and Gilbert Stuart's
portrait of George Washington. The British arrived so soon after the president
fled that the officers dined on a White House meal that had been prepared for
the Madisons and 40 invited guests.
Britain's next objective
was Baltimore. To reach the city, British warships had to pass the guns of Fort
McHenry, manned by 1000 American soldiers. Waving atop the fort was the largest
garrison flag ever designed‑‑30 feet by 42 feet. On September 13,
1814, British warships began a 25‑hour bombardment of Fort McHenry.
British vessels anchored two miles off shore‑‑close enough so that
their guns could hit the fort, but too far for American shells to reach them.
All through the night
British cannons bombarded Fort McHenry, firing between 1500 and 1800 cannon
balls at the fort. In the light of the ``rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting
in air,'' Francis Scott Key, a young lawyer detained on a British ship, saw the
American flag waving over the fort. At dawn on September 14, he saw the flag
still waving. The Americans had repulsed the British attack, with only 4
soldiers killed and 24 wounded.
Key was so moved by the
American victory that he wrote a poem entitled ``The Star‑Spangled
Banner'' on the back of an old envelope.
The song was destined to become the young nation's national anthem.
The country still faced
grave threats in the South. On January 8, 1815, the British fleet and a battle‑tested
10,000‑man army finally attacked New Orleans. To defend the city, Jackson
assembled a ragtag army, including French pirates, Choctaw Indians, western
militia, and freed slaves. Although British forces outnumbered Americans by
more than 2 to 1, American artillery and sharpshooters stopped the invasion.
American losses totaled only 8 dead and 13 wounded, while British casualties
were 2036.
Ironically, American and
British negotiators in Ghent, Belgium, had signed the peace treaty ending the
War of 1812 two weeks earlier. Britain, convinced that the American war was so
difficult and costly that nothing would be gained from further fighting, agreed
to return to the conditions that existed before the war. Left unmentioned n the
peace treaty were the issues over which Americans had fought the
war—impressment and British interference with American trade.