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The War of 1812 between the United States and the United Kingdom is one of several wars associated with that year. It is more normally known in British texts as the British-American War to distinguish it from Napoleon's war against Russia that also began in that year and from the continuing British war with Napoleon. (These wars may perhaps be linked by a common connection with furthering Napoleon's Continental policy[?] of economic attrition against British war-making capacity.)
This particular war began by the American declaration of war on June 18 of that year, and lasted till the beginning of 1815. The treaty of peace signed at Ghent on December 24, 1814 was ratified by President James Madison on February 17, 1815.
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During the long Napoleonic Wars the American merchant ships became home to a number of deserters from the British Navy. British warships frequently stopped American ships capturing any believed to be deserters, but also impressed a large number of Americans. The British had probably impressed between six to eight thousand Americans into their navy. The most offensive incident of impressment was when the British warship Leopard[?] opened fire on the American Chesapeake, which had refused to stop. A number of seamen were killed and wounded aboard the Chesapeake.
Britain also attempted to restrict American trade with France. They imposed tariffs and stopped any ships containing military supplies. France attempted to do the same, but its weaker navy made it less of a problem for the U.S. In 1807, President Thomas Jefferson signed a bill which banned all trade with the warring parties, hoping this would so damage them that they would be forced to negotiate. This failed to work, and the bill was repealed in 1808. Britain continued its impressment and restrictions, however and President Madison declared war in 1812. Ironically before war had been declared the British parliament had already decided to end impressment[?] and remove the trade restrictions, but the message was still in transit when Madison declared war.
Other Americans had different reasons for wanting war. Many thought it was finally time for the US to annex Canada to complete its manifest destiny. Others believed native unrest in the west was funded and encouraged by the British. Another important cause of the war was that 1812 was a presidential election year in which Madison was vulnerable.
Although the outbreak of war had been preceded by years of angry diplomatic dispute, the United States was absolutely unready, while Great Britain was still hard pressed in the Napoleonic Wars, and was compelled to retain the greater part of her forces and her best crews in European waters, till the ruin of the Grande Armee[?] in Russia and the rising of Germany left her free to send an overwhelming force of ships to American waters.
The forces actually available on the American side when the war began consisted of a small squadron of frigates and sloops in an efficient state. Twenty-two was the limit of the naval force the States were able to commission. The paper strength of the army was 35,000, but the service was voluntary and unpopular, while there was an almost total want of trained and experienced officers. The available strength was a bare third of the nominal. The militia, called in to aid the regulars, proved untrustworthy. They objected to serve beyond the limits of their states, were not amenable to discipline, and behaved as a rule very ill in the presence of the enemy. On the British side, the naval force in American waters under Sir John Borlase Warren[?], who took up the general command on September 26, 1812, consisted of ninety-seven vessels in all, of which eleven were of the line and thirty-four were frigates, a power much greater than the national navy of America, but inadequate to the blockade of the long coast from New Brunswick to Florida. The total number of British troops present in Canada in July 1812 was officially stated to be 5004, consisting in part of Canadians.
The scene of operations naturally divided into three sections:
The operations of American privateers were too numerous and far-ranging to be told in detail. They continued active till the close of the war, and were only partially baffled by the strict enforcement of convoy by the British authorities. A signal instance of the audacity of the American cruisers was the capture of the U.S. sloop Argus (20) by the British sloop Pelican[?] (18) so far from home as St David's Head in Wales on August 14, 1813. Pelican's[?] guns were heavier than those of the Argus[?].
The impracticable character of the communications by land made it absolutely necessary for both parties to obtain control of the water. Neither had made any preparations, and the war largely resolved itself into a race of shipbuilding. The Americans, who had far greater facilities for building than the British, allowed themselves to be forestalled. In the second half of 1812 the British general, Sir Isaac Brock, lieutenant-governor of Upper Canada, adopted measures for opposing the Americans on the frontier line, between Huron and Erie. The American brigadier-general William Hull[?] invaded Canada on July 12 from Detroit, just below the small Lake of St Clair between Huron and Erie. His army was mainly composed of militiamen, who behaved very badly, and his papers having been captured in a boat, his plans were revealed. General Brock drove him back and forced him to surrender at Detroit on August 16. Brock now promptly transferred himself to the western end of Erie, where the American general Henry Dearborn was attempting another invasion. Brock fell in action on October 13 at Queenston, while repulsing Dearborn's subordinate Stephen van Rensselaer[?], a politician named to command by favour, and ignorant of a soldier's business. The Americans were driven back. In this field also their militia behaved detestably. The Canadians on the other hand, both the French who were traditionally amenable to authority and those of English descent, who being largely sons of loyalists of the War of Independence had a bitter hatred of the Americans, did excellent service. The discontent of New England with the war both hampered the American generals and also aided the British, who drew their supplies to a great extent from United States territory. On January 22, 1813, at Frenchtown, the American troops under Winchester surrendered to a British and Indian force under Procter.
During the winter both sides were busy in building ships. On Ontario the Americans pushed on their preparations at Sackett's Harbour under Isaac Chauncey[?]; the English were similarly engaged at Kingston. Sir James Lucas Yeo[?] took command on the 15th of May 1813. On Erie the American headquarters were at Presqu' Isle, now the city of Erie; the English at Fort Malden. The American commander was Captain Oliver Perry, the British commander, Captain Robert Barclay. On Lake Ontario Yeo formed a more mobile though less powerful force than Chauncey's, and therefore manoeuvred to avoid being brought to close action. Three engagements, on the 10th of August, 11th of September September 28, led to no decisive result. By the close of the war Yeo had constructed a ship of 102 guns which gave him the superiority, and the British became masters of Lake Ontario. On Lake Erie the energy of Captain Perry, aided by what appears to have been the misjudgment of Barclay, enabled him to get a superior force by the 4th of August, and on the 10th of September he fought a successful action which left the Americans masters of Lake Erie. The military operations were subordinate to the naval. On April 27, 1813 the Americans took York (now Toronto), and in May moved on Fort George; but a counter-attack by Yeo and Prevost on Sackett's Harbour, on May 29, having made the Americans anxious about the safety of their base, naval support failed the American generals, and they were paralysed. A success was gained by them (October 5) at the Thames, where the Indian chief Tecumseh fell, but they made no serious progress. The Americans turned to the east of Ontario, intending to assail Montreal by the St Lawrence in combination with their forces at the Battle of Lake Champlain[?]. But the combination failed; they were severely harassed on the St Lawrence, and the invasion was given up.
The operations of 1814 bear a close resemblance to those of 1813, with, however, one important difference. The American generals, having by this time brought their troops to order, were able to fight with much better effect. Their attack on the Niagara peninsula led to hot fighting at Chippewa (July 5) and Lundy's Lane (July 25), the first a success for the Americans, the second a drawn battle. The fall of Napoleon having now freed the British government from the obligation to retain its army in Europe, troops from Spain began to pour in. But on the Canadian frontier they made little difference. In August 1814 Sir George Prevost[?] attacked the American forces at Champlain. But his naval support, ill prepared, was hurried into action by him at Plattsburg on the 11th of September, and defeated. Prevost then retired. His management of the war, more especially on Lake Champlain, was severely criticized, and he was threatened with a court-martial, but died before the trial came on. A British occupation of part of the coast of Maine proved to be mere demonstration.
No territorial gains were acquired by either sides and impressment and Indian issues were put on delay. The United States however did gain a large amount of worldwide respect for managing to withhold Britain. A growth in manufacturing was caused since the British amassed a formidable blockade on the East coast. The death of the Federalist Party also preceded. The Great Lakes were no longer disputed but shared property of Canada and Britain. Indian threat was at a minimal since Tecumseh had fallen and the Prophet has become ridiculed and resorted to become a drunkard.
There were several significant economic developments after the War of 1812, including:
Famous Canadian historian Pierre Berton stated his belief that if the War of 1812 had never happened Canada would be part of the United States today, as more as more and more American settlers would have arrived, and Canadian nationalism would never have developed.
According to data from the United States Department of Veterans Affairs, the last surviving U.S. veteran of the conflict, Hiram Cronk, died on May 13, 1905 at the age of 105.
see also: Battle of New Orleans
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