War of 1812

War of 1812, conflict between the United States and Britain that began in 1812 and lasted until early 1815. President James Madison requested a declaration of war to protect American ships on the high seas and to stop the British from impressing or seizing U.S. sailors. U.S. ships were being stopped and searched by both Great Britain and France, who were fighting each other in Europe. President Madison also wanted to prevent Britain from forming alliances with Native Americans on the American frontier. His decision was influenced by Americans in the West and South, who hoped to expand the United States by seizing control of both Canada and Florida. Critics called the War of 1812 “Mr. Madison’s War,” but others saw it as a “second war of independence,” an opportunity for Americans to defend their freedom and honor in the face of European disrespect. Neither Britain nor the United States was particularly well prepared to fight this war, and the conflict eventually ended in a stalemate.

CAUSES OF THE WAR

France and Britain, Europe’s two most powerful nations, had battled almost continuously since 1793, and their warfare directly affected American trade. Hostilities began during the French Revolution (1789-1799) when England joined other European nations in an unsuccessful attempt to restore the French monarchy, and then continued as Britain led the efforts to stop French expansion under Napoleon I. American presidents from Washington to Madison tried to keep the United States impartial during these conflicts, but both France and Britain flagrantly disregarded the rights of neutral countries.

For the Americans, the greatest irritant was Britain’s practice of impressment, or the seizure of American seamen for service in the British navy. The British government claimed that it only seized subjects of the Crown who sailed under the American flag to avoid wartime service in their own navy. In fact, the British seized not only their own deserters, but also impressed a sizeable number of United States citizens—estimates suggest 6000 or more.

Public outrage over the issue of impressment grew increasingly vocal after an incident between the American naval frigate Chesapeake and a British vessel, the Leopard. In June 1807 the Leopard approached the Chesapeake only a few miles off the American coast and demanded to search the ship for British deserters. The Chesapeake’s commander, James Barron, refused, and the Leopard opened fire. A number of American sailors were killed or wounded during the attack, and the Chesapeake surrendered. The British then sent a party aboard and dragged four crewmen from the vessel. After the incident, Jefferson ordered British warships to leave American waters and demanded an end to the practice of impressment. The British did make some apologies and restitution for the Chesapeake-Leopard incident, but continued to claim the right to seize American ships and inspect them for deserters.

Economic Losses

Although impressment aroused the most resentment, the United States also suffered serious financial losses during these years of European warfare. The United States had to continue commercial relations with both France and Britain in order to remain prosperous, yet an American ship trading with either one of the two nations could be seized by the other. To hurt England’s economy, Napoleon had initiated the Continental System, a series of blockades in which the French confiscated vessels and cargoes in European ports if they had first stopped in Britain. The British government retaliated by issuing orders to blockade the coastlines of Napoleon’s empire and seize vessels bound for Europe that did not first call at a British port. Neither power had sufficient naval forces to close every major harbor, so the blockades were mainly used to capture ships belonging to neutrals like the United States that were rather weak militarily. Together, these warring nations seized nearly 1500 American vessels between 1803 and 1812. Because the British dominated the seas after they defeated the French at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805, they stopped more ships than the French.

President Thomas Jefferson initially attempted to win respect for American neutrality by an economic boycott, a policy that banned trade with Europe. At Jefferson’s urging the Congress of the United States passed the Embargo Act of 1807, prohibiting virtually all U.S. commerce with European nations. Additional measures in 1808 and 1809 also restricted overland trade with British and Spanish possessions in Canada and Florida. This legislation failed to stop the aggressive actions of either France or Britain, but it did seriously harm the American economy. Consequently, Congress replaced it in 1809 with the Non-Intercourse Act, which forbade trade only with France and Britain. This measure was also overturned in 1810 by Macon's Bill No. 2, which reopened American commerce with all nations.

These trade restrictions were unpopular in the United States. Despite the repeated loss of both ships and seamen, Americans differed widely in their views on how to stop British harassment. British and French aggression hurt New England more directly than any other section of the country, but its merchants did not want to go to war with the British. Britain was the region's most important trading partner, and the profits from one successful commercial venture far offset the financial hardships resulting from the seizure of a cargo-laden ship or members of its crew.

The War Hawks

The strongest agitation for war came from the frontier regions of the United States. Western and southern representatives in Congress, most notably Henry Clay of Kentucky and John Caldwell Calhoun of South Carolina, led a pro-war faction that became known as the War Hawks. They believed that British officers from Canada were encouraging Native American peoples to rebel against the United States, a charge that may have had some foundation. For 20 years, frontiersmen had fought interior tribes with little help from the federal government. The War Hawks now felt they could enlist federal aid against Native Americans and their British allies by supporting a war to stop British interference with American trade on the seas.

In addition, the War Hawks welcomed the prospect of acquiring more land. Americans had always wanted Canada, for possession of this vast area would increase the number of potential western states in the Union and give the West greater power in Congress. Southerners, too, wanted more territory and looked longingly at Spanish-held Florida. Because Florida depended on British protection, the United States could seize this desirable territory in a war with Great Britain.

THE OPPOSING FORCES

American Strengths

The United States government had few military resources with which to fight a major war. Its British opponent ranked as the world’s greatest maritime power, but the U.S. Navy did not possess a single ship of the line, as battleships of the day were called. In fact, the Americans had only eight frigates and eight smaller seagoing warships. In addition, the government had made no naval preparations along the most strategically important of the waterways bordering Canada—Lakes Champlain, Ontario, and Erie.

The U.S. Navy did have the advantage of a competent officer corps, experienced in command at sea. Its best leaders were veterans of the successful wars of 1801 to 1805 against the Barbary Coast pirates, North African raiders who had preyed on U.S. merchant ships in the Mediterranean. American seamen were of high caliber, and the thorough training they received in handling guns was far ahead of contemporary British standards.

As hostilities loomed, Congress authorized a regular army of 35,000 men, but when the United States officially declared war in June 1812, the actual land force was less than 10,000 and nearly half of these soldiers were raw recruits. The existing troops were also widely scattered in small garrisons. The government planned to supplement this regular force with 50,000 volunteers and 100,000 militiamen, the latter to be provided by the states. However, opposition to the war was so strong in New England that the governors of Massachusetts and Connecticut refused to call up their militia in response to President Madison's request for troops.

A number of competent officers served in the army, including 71 graduates of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, established just ten years earlier. However, the majority of the officers on duty were newly commissioned and lacked experience. Early in 1812, in anticipation of hostilities, President Madison hastily appointed two major generals and three brigadier generals to lead the preparations for war. All were veterans of the American Revolution (1775-1783), but most had compiled only mediocre combat records and had long since left military service. The senior brigadier general on the staff, James Wilkinson, had faced accusations of treason along with former vice president Aaron Burr in 1807, but was later acquitted. Wade Hampton of South Carolina, the most competent of the new generals, had developed a contempt for Wilkinson that eventually overshadowed his own military abilities. The three generals who most distinguished themselves in high command during the war, Andrew Jackson, Jacob Brown, and William Henry Harrison, all held state militia commissions in 1812.

British Strength

In June 1812 British naval forces were considerably superior to the forces of the U.S. Navy, but the British were focused on a variety of missions elsewhere, most notably the Napoleonic Wars in Europe. As a result, American warships enjoyed comparative freedom of action during the rest of that year. On Lakes Erie and Ontario the British quickly outfitted available merchant vessels with guns and gained initial command of the waters. The British land force in Canada numbered about 7000 men, with about 1500 of these soldiers stationed in Upper Canada in the region of the Great Lakes. The remainder of the British forces patrolled the Maritime Provinces and the St. Lawrence Valley.

FIRST PHASE OF THE WAR

The first phase of the fighting began with the declaration of war on June 18, 1812, and continued through the winter of 1812 and 1813. During this time, Britain was preoccupied with its engagements in Europe and tried to end the American war by diplomacy, sending few reinforcements to North America. As a result, the United States decided to invade Canada, and U.S. naval vessels operated effectively to stop British commerce to North America.

Attempts to Invade Canada

Soon after the war began, American leaders began to worry about the exposed Western fort of Detroit, a strategic settlement in the Michigan Territory. The U.S. hastily dispatched Brigadier General William Hull with reinforcements to the fort. In July General Hull decided to cross the Detroit River into Upper Canada. Hull's men, many of whom came from the Ohio militia, were poorly equipped, and, except for one small regiment, proved insubordinate and unreliable.

When Hull learned of an approaching force made up of British troops, Canadian militia, and Native Americans, he quickly withdrew to Detroit without fighting a battle. Major General Isaac Brock, an able and energetic officer, led the British unit. He followed the retreating American army with close to 1300 men, nearly half of whom were Native Americans. Brock boldly ordered Hull to surrender Detroit, and on August 16 the American general gave up, never firing a shot. The United States thus lost control of the entire Great Lakes region, and British troops soon invaded northern Ohio.

In October the Americans made a second attempt to invade Canada, this time on the Niagara frontier at the eastern end of Upper Canada. A small force crossed the Niagara River and with great gallantry stormed the key British position on the heights above the city of Queenston (see Queenston Heights, Battle of). The British promptly sent in more troops to counterattack, but the Americans received no additional support. A New York militia officer named Stephen Van Rensselaer, who commanded the reinforcements, could not induce his regiments to cross into Canada to assist the advance unit. The militia, stubbornly maintaining that they could not legally be sent out of the United States, stood on the riverbank and watched the defeat and final surrender of their comrades. In the same engagement British general Brock, who had used his naval command of Lake Erie to transfer troops by water from the Detroit area to the Niagara River, lost his life.

Major General Henry Dearborn led a third American effort to invade Canada. This expedition also ended ingloriously in November north of Plattsburgh, New York. Once again the militia refused to cross into Canada in support of a small advance force, and instead marched back to winter quarters at Plattsburgh.

Victories at Sea

Despite initial problems, the U.S. Navy soon won some victories at sea, offsetting the embarrassing defeats on land. A relatively strong American squadron under Commodore John Rodgers made a wide sweep through the Atlantic shortly after the declaration of war. It encountered only one enemy ship, which managed to escape, but later in the year three forays by individual U.S. warships proved far more successful.

On August 19, 1812, the Constitution, commanded by Captain Isaac Hull, captured the British frigate Guerrière. The Constitution disabled the enemy ship in less than thirty minutes. In the exchange of fire, an American sailor noticed that a British shot actually bounced off the sturdy oak sides of the Constitution, prompting the nickname Old Ironsides. In a late December skirmish the Constitution, this time under the command of Captain William Bainbridge, took the British frigate Java off the coast of Brazil. A third American victory had come in October when the United States, under Captain Stephen Decatur, seized the British frigate Macedonian.

Both the Constitution and the United States were heavy frigates carrying at least 44 guns, considerably superior in firepower to the 38-gun British vessels they fought. Furthermore, in all three actions, the American ships had a decisive advantage in the accuracy and rate of fire of their guns. The success of the Constitution and the United States, along with two other American victories over smaller British warships, did much to lift the spirits of the American people.

American privateering was also successful in the early days of the war. Privateers were privately owned American vessels that the U.S. government commissioned to attack British commercial ships. The privateers were usually small, fast, and maneuverable, making them very effective against larger boats. The owners and crew members of the privateers could split the proceeds from the sale of any captured vessel and its cargo, so this type of authorized piracy was quite lucrative and led to the seizure of hundreds of British merchant ships.

SECOND PHASE OF THE WAR

During the spring of 1813 and through the following winter, the war entered a new phase. British naval reinforcements began to arrive and established an effective blockade of U.S. ports along the Atlantic seaboard. Naval control of Lake Erie passed to the United States, however, as the British could spare only a limited number of ships from Europe for this theater of the war. America’s naval dominance on Lake Erie helped U.S. land forces to regain ground after additional losses following the fall of Detroit. British supply lines were broken, and the Americans could more easily move their own men and equipment to mount new ground attacks.

Operations in the Northwest

As soon as news reached Kentucky about the surrender of Detroit, Major General William Henry Harrison, commander of the state's militia, began preparations for the recapture of the fort. He had the enthusiastic support of Kentucky's population of settlers, who feared raids by Britain’s Native American allies. During the winter of 1813, Harrison, who became a brigadier general in the American army, pushed north into Ohio. In January enemy forces led by British general Henry A. Proctor devastated one wing of Harrison’s command on the Raisin River below Detroit. Harrison rested the remainder of his force at Fort Meigs, a post on the Maumee River in northwestern Ohio. In the spring he defended the fort against a siege by British troops and Native Americans commanded by Proctor. Considerable fighting and maneuvering took place throughout the summer in the area around the Great Lakes known as the Northwest Territory.

During the winter of 1812 and 1813, the U.S. Department of the Navy had started building warships on Lakes Ontario and Erie, recognizing that all land operations in the Northwest Territory depended on use of these waterways for transportation. On Lake Erie a small fleet was under construction at Presque Isle (now Erie), Pennsylvania. Commander Oliver Hazard Perry arrived in the spring of 1813 and vigorously pushed construction forward. On September 10 a British squadron based at Amherstburg, near the mouth of the Detroit River, met Perry’s newly completed fleet near the island of Put-in-Bay. The two fleets were fairly matched in numbers of vessels and men, but the Americans had more concentrated gunfire. The fiercely fought battle, in which Perry had to abandon his damaged flagship, resulted in a complete American victory and the capture of the entire British squadron.

The British had always considered control of the lake strategically important, and when Britain’s General Proctor received the news that the Americans had cut his line of supply by water, he immediately retreated to the Niagara frontier. William Henry Harrison then seized the advantage and ferried his army across the lake under Perry's escort. On October 5 he overtook Proctor at the Thames River. The American troops defeated the British largely because of an impetuous charge of the mounted Kentucky volunteers under Colonel Richard M. Johnson. The Native American leader Tecumseh died while fighting in the British ranks, bringing an end to most Native American resistance in the region. Johnson later claimed to have killed the great warrior.

In the Ontario region, General Dearborn raided York (now Toronto), Ontario, and during the skirmish Brigadier General Zebulon Pike, one of the army's most promising officers, was killed. The ill-disciplined Americans went on a rampage after Pike’s death and burned several government buildings at York. General Dearborn later secured possession of all the forts on the Niagara frontier.

Neither the British nor the American fleets were able to establish command of Lake Ontario, but in May the British launched a naval attack on Sackets Harbor, New York. The assault nearly defeated the Americans, and only the success of Brigadier General Jacob Jennings Brown of the New York militia staved off disaster.

Expedition Against Montréal

As the next step in the American war strategy, Secretary of War John Armstrong proposed an advance from both Sackets Harbor and Plattsburgh, converging on the St. Lawrence River and Montréal. From Sackets Harbor, Major General James Wilkinson was to move down the St. Lawrence with a force of about 7000. Major General Wade Hampton had orders to march from Plattsburgh with 4000 men by a route that would enable him to join forces with Wilkinson for a combined advance on Montréal.

Wilkinson set out on October 17, made little progress, and inspired so little confidence among his troops that on November 11 a smaller British force routed his advance guard at the Battle of Crysler’s Farm. Hampton had suffered his own defeat at the Battle of Châteauguay on October 26, and had retreated back to New York. He marched back to Plattsburgh, leaving Wilkinson without support. When Wilkinson learned of Hampton's retreat, he also hastily withdrew from Canada. Each general seemed more anxious to saddle the other with blame for failure than to defeat the enemy.

The British, no longer threatened by the Americans on the St. Lawrence, set out to improve their situation on the Niagara frontier. On the night of December 18, 1813, a British column crossed the Niagara River and made a surprise attack on the Americans at Fort Niagara, capturing the garrison with the loss of only eight men. Later that month, the British and their Native American allies crossed the river again. They successfully drove back the American militia and burned the towns of Black Rock and Buffalo, New York.

Action in the South

American forces also engaged in hostilities with the Creek, a Native American people who lived in Mississippi Territory (now the state of Alabama). On August 30, 1813, the Creek, encouraged by the British, killed nearly 250 settlers at Fort Mims on the Alabama River (see Fort Mims, Massacre of). This violence greatly alarmed residents of nearby Tennessee and Georgia. The Tennessee militia, under the energetic command of Major General Andrew Jackson, moved south against the Creek, but shortages of food and the difficult terrain greatly hampered the march. When reinforcements from a regular army regiment arrived at the end of March 1814, Jackson finally cornered a large body of Native Americans in the Horseshoe Bend of the Tallapoosa River. He destroyed them with a ferocity that shocked many people.

Naval Reverses

American success at sea declined during 1813. The British navy tightened its blockade of the eastern seaboard. The British stationed a strong squadron in Chesapeake Bay that included several battleships, and they also covered New York, Long Island Sound, Boston, and other ports with smaller blockading squadrons. Each of these squadrons generally included a ship of the line, testimony that America’s 44-gun frigates had impressed the Royal Navy in battles during the previous year. The British blockade inflicted severe economic losses on the United States, and the suffering felt by all citizens helped to make 'Mr. Madison's War' increasingly unpopular, especially in New England. Nevertheless, more and more American privateers helped the navy at sea, and the number of British merchant vessels captured rose to approximately 400 for the year.

Perhaps the worst blow to American morale came on June 1, 1813, through the overconfidence of Captain James Lawrence. He commanded the Chesapeake, the 38-gun frigate whose engagement with the British vessel Leopard had been an early cause of the war. Lawrence took the Chesapeake out of Boston with a poorly trained crew to attack the British frigate Shannon, but fell victim to the superior gunnery and the remarkable ship handling abilities of the Shannon’s captain, Sir Philip Broke. Lawrence was mortally wounded during the battle, and as he lay dying on the deck, he uttered the despairing cry, 'Don't give up the ship!'

THIRD PHASE OF THE WAR

With the downfall of Napoleon in the early spring of 1814, a third stage of the war began. The British, now freed from war in Europe, began to move substantial troop reinforcements westward across the Atlantic. They planned a three-pronged offensive: vigorous land operations from Canada against the northern U.S. frontier, attacks by sea in Chesapeake Bay, and naval attacks along the southern coast, focusing on New Orleans. The United States was able to respond effectively to these new challenges. More aggressive, war-tested generals had taken command of American armies, and the timely establishment of U.S. naval control of Lake Champlain offset British strengths.

New Leaders

Secretary of War Armstrong had taken steps to prepare for the spring campaign of 1814. The military particularly needed good leadership, and Armstrong removed some of the aging generals and replaced them with men of drive and proven competence. The new major generals included Andrew Jackson in the South, Jacob Brown on the Niagara frontier, and George Izard at Plattsburgh near the upper end of Lake Champlain. The first two came from careers as hard-fighting militiamen, while Izard, an army officer, had served with credit under Hampton. Other new officers had earned their positions by merit and formed the core of a new and more competent American military.

Chippewa and Lundy's Lane

The United States had already thrown away its opportunity for a successful invasion of Canada. As Napoleon’s empire collapsed in Europe, Britain made plans to send veteran regiments that had fought in Spain to America. On the Niagara frontier the United States countered with a new, more competent army. Brigadier General Winfield Scott had begun training nearly 3500 men at the first signs of good weather. Across the river 2800 British troops prepared for battle under Major General Sir Phineas Riall.

Major General Brown arrived from Sackets Harbor and took command of the American army. He crossed the Niagara River on July 3, captured Fort Erie, and marched north against Riall. The British general, serenely confident from previous experience with American troops, collided with Scott's brigade near Niagara Falls at Chippewa and was soundly beaten. Riall's astonished exclamation, 'These are regulars, by God!' reflects the improved quality of both the American troops and their leadership. 'Small as the affair was, and unimportant in military results, it gave to the United States Army a character and pride it had never before possessed,' historian Henry Adams later wrote of the Battle of Chippewa.

Meanwhile, British reinforcements arrived. On July 25 a second encounter, at slightly north of Chippewa, ended in a draw with severe losses on each side. American generals Brown and Scott both received serious wounds. The remnants of the American forces withdrew to Fort Erie, followed with extreme caution by British forces under Lieutenant General Gordon Drummond. The Americans immediately worked to strengthen their fortifications and early in the morning of August 14 repulsed an enemy assault that again resulted in heavy British losses. In September an American offensive mangled Drummond's army so badly that he withdrew.

Battle of Lake Champlain

On the northern front the British gathered their forces for a decisive effort. A British army of about 15,000 men was based near Montréal. The force included 11,000 British veterans, commanded by the general Sir George Prevost. The British proposed to advance toward Albany and the Hudson Valley by the same wilderness route that Major General John Burgoyne had attempted in 1777 during the American Revolution (see Saratoga, Battles of). That disastrous experience had demonstrated the need for waterborne supply, and the British built a squadron of warships in the Richelieu River for the purpose of gaining naval superiority on Lake Champlain.

The American forces on Lake Champlain were commanded by Captain Thomas Macdonough. He knew that his ships were considerably inferior in gun power to the British squadron, and that the superior British ships would have the greatest advantage in open water. To offset this advantage, he decided to moor his ships across the entrance to Plattsburgh Bay, compelling the enemy to attack him at anchor.

On the morning of September 11 the British naval squadron, commanded by Captain George Downie, sailed to Plattsburgh Bay and immediately attacked Macdonough's anchored ships. After two hours of furious cannonading, the heavier fire of Downie's 36-gun Confiance had silenced all the guns on the exposed side of Macdonough's flagship, the 26-gun Saratoga. The battle seemed to be going against the Americans until Macdonough turned his ship around using lines that he had attached to his anchor cables. He thus brought his untouched guns on the port side into action. The result was decisive. British Captain Downie was killed, and the Confiance lifted anchor and departed. The smaller British ships surrendered.

When the naval battle began, the British forces under Sir George Prevost made a halfhearted attack on American forces deployed on the heights overlooking the bay. Prevost broke off the operation the moment he realized that the American forces had defeated Downie, and the next day he began a quick retreat into Canada. Prevost refused to engage in a wilderness march without a waterborne supply line. Macdonough's courage and tenacity averted the most serious British threat to the United States during the war; the Battle of Lake Champlain was the decisive naval engagement of the War of 1812.

March on Washington

During 1814 British naval strength in American waters grew, enabling the British to undertake additional offensive operations. On August 18 the British landed 3500 troops in Maryland, and these units set out to raid Washington, D.C. The British forces encountered little resistance. On August 24, on the outskirts of Washington at Bladensburg, Maryland, an American force of about 5400 men, chiefly militia, broke ranks and fled. The only serious resistance was offered by a force of 600 sailors and Marines under the command of Joshua Barney of the navy. They stood fast as long as they could and inflicted the only losses the enemy suffered.

The British marched on to Washington and burned the Capitol, the White House, and the navy yard, including all the ships anchored there. President Madison and other high officials fled into the countryside. On September 13 the Americans mounted strong resistance to an attack on Baltimore. The unsuccessful British bombardment of Fort McHenry in Baltimore harbor inspired Francis Scott Key to write the words of the 'Star-Spangled Banner,' which became the national anthem of the United States. See also Fort McHenry National Monument and Historic Shrine.

Privateering

American privateers greatly expanded their operations in 1814, despite the stronger British blockade. Their operations, which extended to the home waters of the British Isles, had the effect of a counterblockade. By August, according to a contemporary commentator, the Americans had seized 825 vessels, and the value of these captures seemed to be increasing.

THE WAR COMES TO A CLOSE

The effects of America’s privateering were magnified because the British had wearied after their mighty 22-year struggle with France. They hoped for peace. The American people had also tired of war. In New England popular sentiment against the war grew and turned into political activity, especially after the British captured Castine, on the coast of Maine, in late August and marched unopposed into Bangor. This action caused much alarm, but the exhausted state of U.S. finances and the economic decay caused by the British blockade offered little hope that hostilities could end successfully for America.

General Brown at the Niagara frontier and Captain Macdonough at Lake Champlain had brought a respite from immediate danger of invasion, but British reinforcements continued to arrive in Canada. More than 20,000 British troops under Sir George Murray stood ready for a spring campaign in 1815. Peace seemed the only hope of avoiding discord within the United States, as well as defeat at the hands of the British.

Treaty of Ghent

England and America had tried to start peace discussions as early as 1813, but without much success. In August 1814, when British government officials expected decisive results from their powerful concentration of forces in Canada, they appointed commissioners to meet with the American negotiators at Ghent (Gent) (now in Belgium).

At the outset, the main feature of the British proposals was the creation of a neutral territory for Native Americans as a buffer between British and American possessions in the area around the Great Lakes. The British hoped to designate the Ohio River as the southern boundary of this territory. The British also wanted access to navigation on the Mississippi River and the permanent ownership of Sackets Harbor and Fort Niagara. They demanded that the United States give up fortifications and naval forces on the Great Lakes as well as fishing rights along the coasts of Newfoundland and Labrador.

The Americans would not agree to any of these points. They demanded that the British end impressment, pay compensation for the ships they had seized, and follow international rules on the use of blockades. As negotiations proceeded, the British government gradually reduced its demands, eventually eliminating its proposals concerning neutral territory and armaments on the lakes. The Americans eventually dropped the subjects of impressment and blockades.

While the British Cabinet considered the remaining issues, news reached Europe of the Battle of Lake Champlain and of the British failures at Baltimore and at Fort Erie. The attitude of the American commissioners stiffened. Negotiations lagged once more, and eventually the British agreed to leave all unsettled points for future negotiations. Both countries signed the peace agreement, known as the Treaty of Ghent, on December 24, 1814. The settlement merely ended hostilities and restored pre-war conditions, but under the circumstances American negotiators believed they had triumphed.

Battle of New Orleans

News of the treaty did not reach the United States for nearly two months, and in the meantime, the outlook from the American perspective appeared gloomy. The British fleet, after withdrawing from Chesapeake Bay, had proceeded to the West Indies. There it joined transports carrying a British army of 12,000 men, all veterans of the Napoleonic Wars, under the command of Sir Edward Pakenham. The objective of this expedition was to capture the American port of New Orleans, at the mouth of the Mississippi River. As soon as British intentions became clear, the U.S. government ordered Major General Andrew Jackson to defend the threatened city.

The British arrived off the coast, made their way through the bayous undetected, and landed an advance party. On the morning of January 8, 1815, Pakenham launched an attack against a strongly fortified position held by Jackson's troops south of the city. Pakenham's attacking force consisted of more than 8000 men and included some of the best regiments in the British army. Jackson had 5000 soldiers, mostly Tennessee and Kentucky militiamen. In 25 minutes the British, advancing over open ground, suffered 2000 casualties, chiefly from American artillery fire. The British command broke off the attack and never resumed it. On the night of January 18 the British force withdrew (see New Orleans, Battle of).

Hartford Convention

On the East Coast, several weeks passed without word from the South. The month of February 1815 began with the darkest period of apprehension that the American people had known since the terrible winter of 1776 and 1777 during the American Revolution. Many expected to hear news of the fall of New Orleans at any moment. Rumors circulated that the peace negotiations at Ghent had finally broken up with no progress. Delegates from the New England states, dissatisfied with the handling of the war, had met at the Hartford Convention in Connecticut. This group, which was dominated by disgruntled members of the Federalist political party, was reported to have formulated demands that amounted to a dissolution of the Union.

On February 4 the first break in the pessimism came with the news of Jackson's victory at New Orleans. On February 11 the British sloop of war Favorite entered New York City harbor under a flag of truce, and the American messengers from the Ghent negotiations disembarked. Two days later they handed a copy of the Treaty of Ghent to the secretary of state. These two events ended the influence of the Hartford Convention and the Federalists who had bitterly denounced the war.

THE RESULTS OF WAR

Almost overnight the War of 1812 became a glorious triumph. On February 20 President Madison sent a message to Congress transmitting the treaty of peace. He congratulated the nation on the close of a war 'waged with the success which is the natural result of the wisdom of the legislative councils, of the patriotism of the people, of the public spirit of the militia, and of the valor of the military and naval forces of the country.'

More realistically, the fledgling nation had the extraordinary good fortune to escape the consequences of a war that it had badly mismanaged from the outset. The Battle of New Orleans, fought after the two sides had already signed the peace treaty, ironically became the war’s most famous event. The navy enjoyed well-deserved popularity for many years after the conflict, but the decisive results of the Battle of Lake Champlain did not receive full recognition for another generation.

The principal gain for the United States was a renewed self-confidence and faith in the ability of its military to defend the nation’s freedom and honor. Although neither side came away from the war with a clear-cut victory, the American people saw the War of 1812 as evidence of the success of the democratic experiment. The war ushered in a period of American history that has frequently been called “the era of good feeling,” a time when, at least on the surface, most Americans felt unified behind a common purpose. The War of 1812 convinced the country that it could now fend off any foreign threats and that its focus should be on expansion at home.