War of 1812

(Originally posted in two parts on my old blog.)

Part One

The War of 1812 was one of America's worst-fought wars, due in large part to widespread disunity. War hawks in Congress were a zealous minority, and the country was dangerously unprepared for a military campaign.
The regular army was poorly trained, undisciplined, and widely scattered. The militias used to supplement the army were even more poorly trained. They were sometimes distinguished by how fast they fled the battlefield. Some of the generals were heirlooms from the Revolutionary War, lacking in vigor and vision.

The offensive strategy in Canada was ill-conceived. Had the Americans focused on Montreal, the population and transportation center of Canada, they could have controlled the bulk of Canada. Instead, the Americans opted for a three-pronged invasion from Detroit, Niagara, and Lake Champlain. The forces were beaten back shortly after crossing the Canadian border.

By contrast, British general Isaac Brock masterminded brilliant defensive operations. Early in the war, the British and Canadians captured the American fort of Mackinac, which commanded the upper Great Lakes.

When several American invasions of Canada were once more hurled back in 1812, the Americans looked for success on water. Control of the Great Lakes was vital, so an energetic American naval officer named Oliver Hazard Perry built a fleet of green-timbered ships on the shores of Lake Erie. He captured a British fleet and reported that, "We have met the enemy and they are ours."

Perry's victory and slogan gave new life to the drooping American cause. Forced to withdraw from Detroit and Fort Malden, the retreating redcoats were overtaken by General Harrison's army and beaten at the Battle of the Thames in October 1813.

Despite these successes, the Americans were far from invading Canada in late 1814. Instead they were defending their own soil against the British. In Europe, Napoleon had been exiled and was no longer a diversion for the Brits. Thousands of red-coated veterans began to pour into Canada.

Some ten thousand well-trained British troops were assembled to march into New York. In the absence of roads, the invaders were forced to bring supplies over the Lake Champlain waterway.

A weaker American fleet, commanded by thirty-year-old Thomas Macdonough, challenged the British. A desperate battle took place on September 11, 1814, near Plattsburgh. At one point the American flagship was in grave danger, but Macdonough unexpectedly confronted the enemy with a fresh broadside and pulled a victory from almost certain defeat.

The invading British army was forced to retreat. Macdonough saved at least upper New York from conquest and profoundly affected the concurrent negotiations of the Anglo-American peace treaty in Europe.

Part Two

While ten thousand British troops were assembling to invade New York, a second formidable force of red-coats landed in the Chesapeake Bay area. Approximately 4,000 British troops advanced rapidly and easily dispersed a panicky militia at Bladensburg. The invaders then entered Washington, DC and set fire to most of the public buildings, including the Capitol and the White House. President Madison and his aides, chased into the surrounding hills, witnessed the billowing smoke from afar. Madison spent the next four days on horseback rallying the troops.
The British fleet appeared before Maryland but was beaten off by the defenders at Fort McHenry, despite the “bombs bursting in air.” The American troops on land, beaten back at first, now forced the British to retreat.

A third British offensive maneuver was aimed at New Orleans. Andrew Jackson, fresh from crushing Indians at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend, was placed in command. His rather motley force of seven thousand consisted of sailors, regulars, pirates, Frenchmen, militiamen, and four hundred free black volunteers.

The overconfident British, with eight thousand battle-seasoned veterans, blundered badly. On January 8, 1815 they launched a frontal assault on the entrenched American riflemen and cannoneers. The British suffered their most devastating defeat of the entire war. Over two thousand were killed and wounded compared to about seventy casualties on the American side.

Unfortunately for the British, their attack had been pointless. The peace treaty had been signed in Ghent, Belgium, two weeks earlier. It was essentially an armistice that ended the fighting and restored all conquered territory. No mention was made of the grievances for which America had supposedly fought, such as impressment of sailors by the British navy, the Indian menace, or search and seizure. These omissions can be construed as proof that the Americans did not defeat the British decisively. The war was a draw.

Many Americans had expected to lose land to the British, and the slogan of the day became “Not One Inch of Territory Ceded or Lost.” This phrase strongly contrasted with the war cry “On to Canada” that had preceded the war. The return of land to America combined with the New Orleans victory caused the American mood to skyrocket. Many citizens concluded Andrew Jackson had beaten the British to their knees and forced them to come to terms. He was a national hero.

Posted by Jennifer at June 28, 2005 08:32 AM | TrackBack