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The War of 1812 Two hundred years ago Britain and the United States went to war. The conflict was a relatively minor affair, but its consequences were great, says Jeremy Black. The War of 1812 A nglo-American relations, though extolled since the 1940s, have often been difficult and never more so than when the two powers went to war in 1812. Sometimes referred to as a forgotten conflict, the War of 1812 played a major role in defining relations between the two states. Episodes ofthe conflict are celebrated in American public myth, notably the defence of Fort McHenry in 1814, the origin of 'The Star-Spangled Banner', and Andrew Jackson's victory outside New Orleans in 1815. The Americans went to war in 1812 in order to end Britain's blockade of trade with Napoleon's France and in the hope of conquering Canada, ending real or potential British backing for Native Americans. In the event Canada heldfirm,whue the US was unable to force Britain to accept its interpretation of maritime rights. The American challenge was held off by the superior strength ofthe Royal Navy, combined with skilful defence ofthe Canadian border. Some episodes were to be celebrated in Canada as key moments in securing its identity as a loyal but autonomous territory under the Crown. On October 13th, 1812 the American invaders who crossed the River Niagara were driven back. With echoes of James Wolfe outside Quebec in 1759, Isaac Brock, the British commander. George Munger's drawing of the unfinished Capitol building in ruins after the British set fire to it in retaliation for destruction at York (now Toronto) the previous year. was killed attacking the Americans (see 'The Saviour of Canada', p. 13). American hopes were also disappointed in the distant, snowy wastes of Russia. America had chosen to go to war with Britain in June 1812 at a moment when Britain appeared vulnerable. Napoleon's invasion of Russia, which followed a week later, represented, in its constituent army, an alliance of most of Europe. Anticipating French success. President Madison hoped that Britain would be forced to concede the loss of Canada. Yetfi^omlate 1812 Britain's position strengthened dramatically. Napoleon's failure in Russia put France's unwilling ally Prussia in thefi'ontline. In January 1813 Napoleon rejected Prussian terms for continued support and, Ü1 March, Prussia declared war on Napoleon. Any hope that the US would benefitfi-omsome sort of balance in Europe collapsed. In 1813 Austria, an ally of which the British Government was correctly dubious, offered Napoleon terms that would have enabled France to concentrate on Britain, thereby greatly affecting the war with the US. Napoleon, however, failed to accept or offer terms that would divide his assailants. This left Britain able both to decide what military effort to make in America and also to insist that any negotiations with the US government should be direct. www.historytoday.com The War of 1812 The economic burden of the war was rising in America, similar to the situation during the War of Independence. This time, however, France could not act as an opponent or even diversion to the Royal Navy and so the British blockade was more effective: US exports fell from $45 million in 1811 to $7 million in 1814, with grain exports hit especially hard, falling from 972,000 barrels in 1813 to a little over 41,000 barrels in 1814. MAINE T his dimension of the war tends to be disguised in American public memory as a result of the emphasis on American success in ship-to-ship clashes. The latter were impressive and had consequences, but the key naval outcomes at the strategic level reflected British naval strength and matched the situation in the European world in the 1810s, where France could not effectively challenge Britain at sea. 7\inerican warships were unable to make any material difference to trade, let alone security, in British home waters, nor to prevent British projection into US waters. Nor could American ships break the blockade. By late 1814 the severe economic problems faced by the Americans limited their ability to deploy ships. When warships did go to sea, the British were more effective at engaging them. A small American force of twofrigatesand two sloops that did set sail in winter 1814 could not compensate for the extent to which the remainder of the navy remained blockaded, some to the point that they were not even manned for active operations. Napoleon's unconditional abdication on April 11th, 1814 enabled the British to send more warships and far more troops to North America than in 1812 and 1813. Whereas earlier British initiatives had been relatively limited and had in part depended on the co-operation of Native Americans (as in the advance in early 1813 into the Ohio country), in 1814 the British were able to launch a wide-ranging campaign. It included operations in the Chesapeake, as well as a focus on the conquest of American territory, especially in the Lake Champlain corridor and in Maine. The Chesapeake campaign was a diversion intended to reduce pressure on Canada, both by diverting American forces and by making the Americans aware of the dangers of fighting on. Furthermore, American territory was to be conquered in order to improve Britain's negotiating position in the eventual peace talks. The Americans still attacked Canada in 1814, but they fañed to make gains. The US did have some success that year against the Creek, or Muskogee, in the American south-east, but this did not affect British policy. In the Chesapeake campaign they took the offensive; on August 24th at Bladensburg, Maryland they easily defeated the American force protecting Washington, which was occupied without resistance. Public buildings were destroyed by British troops in retaliation for American destructiveness at York (now Toronto) in 1813, an attempt at equivalence not often mentioned in US public history. Private property was respected, with the exception of the few buildings from which resistance was offered. Some buildings were destroyed by the Americans themselves, determined in particular to prevent the navy yard and its stores from being seized by the British. www.historytoday.com TERRITORY OF ILLANOIS The War of 1812. TERRITORY OF INDIANA In the crisis caused by this defeat, American leadership was poor and marked by division. John Armstrong, the secretary of war, a convenient scapegoat who had insisted there was no threat to Washington, was dismissed. Having re-embarked, the British struck frirther up the Chesapeake at Baltimore, one of America's leading ports and the commercial centre of the region. However its fortifications had been enhanced since the summer of 1813, a refiection of the wealth and determination of the city, as the federal government was not up to the task of ensuring adequate defences. Moreover the British force was seriously outnumbered. Having landed ten miles away, it advanced on Baltimore, but was blocked by the American defences. Supporting warships moved up the Patapsco River and, with Congreve rockets and mortar Ijombs, bombarded Fort McHenry, which blocked the access to Baltimore harbour. British forces failed to destroy the fort, in part because they fired from beyond the range of the defending guns. An attempt by night to capture the fort through an amphibious attack failed when the boats lost their way in the fog and so the expedition was abandoned. The troops sailed to Jamaica from where they would be available for operations in the Gulf of Mexico. The advance on New Orleans in the winter of 1814-15 was less successful than the operations in the Chesapeake. New Orleans' distance from the sea was an important factor, but so also were the poor tactics adopted when the American lines were attacked on January 8th, 1815. Failure at New Orleans denied the British a base but scarcely stopped their operations in the Gulf of Mexico, for there was no powerful American fieet that could be based at New Orleans, or anywhere else in the Gulf. Indeed the British moved on to Mobile and were conducting operations against Georgia at the end of the war and considering action against South Carolina. What if the war had continued? With Napoleon's return to power in France in 1815 there was a need for October 2012 | HistoryToíítiy 11 The War of 1812 JlIEROGLYPlnCS of Jclm Bults oixrihxm : m View of the Northern Expedition in Miniature. DOLL, Split-Foot. Bonapait. John Bull. ames War.. Tom PatrioL John Adams. John Rogers; Er: ON GOVERNMENTS. ' •ñ^íM £^£?£Í ^ 2 ^ J I British warships to blockade France and support action against ports there and in the French West Indies. Even though British naval forces were deployed globally in early 1815, they had enough strength in European waters to deal with Napoleon's threat. The key weakness was a shortage of British ships ofthe line, but it was quicker to re-commission warships than to withdraw others on active service from America. In any event, the global crisis was brought to a close at Waterloo, after which the British moved rapidly on the French possessions of Martinique and Guadeloupe. The latter surrendered two days after the British had landed. n p h e War of 1812 had proved an unexpectedly arduous ±. conflict, difficult, divisive and expensive for all involved. Fortunately for the US, Britain was war-weary and sought a peace dividend at the end ofthe Napoleonic Wars. Moreover, none ofthe British commanders in North America enjoyed much political clout and Wellington was doubtful that the Americans could be attacked in a way that would compel them to capitulate. The political and governmental system ofthe US did not match its military ambitions. There was strong opposition to the war from the New England Federalists, which led to an emphasis in the region on states' rights as well as to some wüd talk of autonomy. The opposition to the war expressed by the secret meetings of New England delegates in the Hartford Convention, which met from December 15th, 1814 to January 5th, 1815, encouraged British hopes about American divisions and war-weariness and undermined American operations against Montreal. The Federalists had been delighted by Napoleon's fall, which they hoped would lead to an end to war in North America. American finances were in an increasingly parlous state. In September 1814 Alexander Dallas, the newly appointed secretary ofthe treasury, was unable to meet the interest payments on the national debt. Contractors rejected treasury notes. The following month, the Senate was told by James Monroe, secretary of war as 12 History Today I October 2012 Hieroglyphics of John Bull's overthrow, a broadside of 1812, includes the battie of Queenston Heights. well as for state, that New York City was at risk. He pressed for an expansion ofthe regular army to 100,000 men, though there were just 49,000 at the close ofthe war. Also in 1814, there was an attempt to address the growing problem of desertion; most ofthe 205 US soldiers executed during the war were killed that year. As in the War of Independence, high rates of desertion were overlooked in the public myth. The impression of success left by a selective account ofthe campaigning in 1814-15 played a major role in the creation of a sense of national identity, when the reality of war, as so often, had been very different. Richard Rush, the comptroller ofthe treasury, observed ofthe peace: 'It comes indeed, at a most happy point of time for our interests and our fame', while Madison informed Congress that the war had been 'signalised by the most brilliant successes' and also declared that God had 'reared' the USA 'into the strength and endowed them with the resources which have enabled them to assert their national rights and to enhance their national character'. There was emphasis on the need for unity and a degree of optimism about the fliture: France had fallen but not America. The war, however, was also followed by anxiety about another potential conflict, most likely with Britain. The peacetime size of America's army and navy rose, while the war led to the launching of a systematic programme of coastal fortification, which long remained the centrepiece of American defence policy. The territorial expansion following the war was obtained at the expense not of Canada but ofthe Native Americans and of Spain in Florida. Under the Peace of Ghent, ending the War of 1812, Britain had obliged the US to restore Native Americans to their pre-war situation and to negotiate treaties with the tribes, but there was no British guarantee that their position would be maintained and they did nothing to support the Native Americans. The War of 1812 was followed by American operations in Florida, culminating with Andrew Jackson's invasion of 1818. The following year, in the Transcontinental Treaty, Spain relinquished claims to Florida. Ratified in 1820, the American coastline now ran uninterrupted from Maine to Louisiana. Thus, although unsuccessful, the War of 1812 helped affirm US gains under the Treaty of Versailles of 1783 and the Louisiana Purchase of 1803 and looked forward to significant further expansion. It was a minor conflict of mixed success for the US, but was of major long-term consequence. Jeremy Blacic, Professor of Modern History at Exeter, is autinor of 7he War of1812 (Okiahoma, 2009). Further Reading Brian Arthur, How ßr/ro/n Won the War of T 812: The Royal Navy's BlockadesoftheUnitedState5,1812-1815{Boyde\\,20•l^). Troy Bickham, TheWeightofVengeance:The United States, the British Empire, and the War of 1812 (Oxford, 2012). John Latimer, 1812: War with America (Harvard University Press, 2007). Kevin McCranie, Utmost Gallantry:The US and Royal Navies at Sea in the War of 1812 (Naval Institute Press, 2011). ixFor more articles on this subject visit www.historytoday.com www.historytoday.com Copyright of History Today is the property of History Today Ltd. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use.