US History
Fort Burrows
10.5 -- The War of 1812
Main Idea:
Although neither Great Britain not the United States won the War of 1812,
Americans proved that their republic would remain independent.
Vocabulary:
Battle of Lake Erie - an American victory, in War of 1812, led by Oliver Perry against
the British
Battle of New Orleans - at the end of the War of 1812, a battle between British and
American forces that ended in an American victory
Hartford Convention - gathering of New England delegates during the War of 1812
to protest the war by threatening to secede from the Union
Treaty of Ghent - peace treaty signed by Britain and the US at the end of
the War of 1812
Setting the Scene:
Many Americans welcomed the news of war with Britain. In some cities, they
fired cannons and guns and danced in the street. A Republican newspaper published
this poem:
“Since war is the word, let us strain every nerve
To save our America, her glory increase;
So shoulder your firelock, your county preserve,
For the hotter the war, boys, the quicker the peace.”
War poem, quoted in The Oxford History of the American People, (Morison)
Other Americans were less enthusiastic. New Englanders, especially, talked scornfully
of ‘Mr. Madison’s War.’ In fact, before the war ended, some New Englanders would
threaten to leave the Union.
¿¿ Which group in Congress would agree with this quote ?
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Early Days of the War
 The Americans declaration of war took the British by surprise
 Britain was locked in a battle with Napoleon and could not spare troops to fight
the US – the US faced difficulties of its own
 Unprepared for War
 The US was not ready for war!
 Jefferson had reduced spending on defense
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- navy had only 16 ships against the powerful British fleet
- army was small and ill equipped
- many officers knew little about warfare
 There were few regular troops so the gov’t relied on volunteers
 Congress voted to give them a bounty of land and cash equal to about a year’s
salary for most workers
 Attracted by high pay and a chance to own their own farms, young men
eagerly enlisted
 They were poorly trained and had little experience so many deserted
 Fighting at Sea
 British navy blockaded American ports to stop American trade
 US sea captain were unable to break the blockade but won some victories
One famous battle took place early in the war, August 1812. As he was sailing
near New Foundland, Isaac Hull, captain of the USS Constitution, spotted the British
ship, HMS Guerriere. For nearly an hour, the two ships jockeyed for position. At last,
the guns of the Constitution roared into action. They tore holes in the sides of the
Guerriere and shot off both masts. Stunned the British captain had not choice but to
surrender. American sea captains won other victories at sea which cheered Americans
but did little to win the war.
War in the West
 One goal of the War Hawks was to conquer Canada because they were convinced
that Canadians would welcome the chance to throw off British rule and join US
 Invasion of Canada
 General William Hull moved US troops into Canada from Detroit
 The Canadians only had a few untrained troops to ward off the invasion but
were led by a clever British general, Isaac Brock
 Brock paraded his soldiers in red coats to make it appear that experienced
British troops and a large number of Indians were helping the Canadians
 Brock’s scare tactics worked – Hull retreated from Canada and future
attempts to invade also failed
 Battle of Lake Erie
 In 1813, Americans set out to win control of Lake Erie
 Captain Oliver Hazard Perry had no fleet, so he designed and built
his own ships
 In September 1813, Perry sailed his tiny fleet against the British
 In the Battle of Lake Erie, the British battered Perry’s own ship, Lawrence
 Perry rowed over to another US ship, Niagara, and continued to fight
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 Americans won the Battle of Lake Erie and Perry wrote his message of victory
on an envelope: “We have met the enemy and they are ours”
 Native American Losses
 After losing control of Lake Erie, the British and ally Tecumseh retreated
from Detroit to Canada
 General William Henry Harrison pursued them
 Americans won a decisive victory at the Battle of Thames
 Tecumseh died in the fighting and his Indian confederation fell apart
 The Creeks continued their fight against settlers in the South
 Andrew Jackson took command of American troops in the Creek War
 In 1814, with the help of the Cherokees, Jackson won a crushing victory at the
Battle of Horseshoe Bend
 The leader of the Creeks surrendered to Jackson saying,
“Your people have destroyed my nation”
Final Battles
 In 1814, Britain and its allies defeated France so Britain could now send more
troops and ships to the US
 The British Burn Washington
 In August 1814, British ships sailed into Chesapeake Bay and landed an
invasion force about 30 miles from Washington, D. C.
 American troops met the British at Bladensburg, Maryland
 The battle-hardened British quickly scattered the untrained Americans
 The British met little resistance as they marched towards the capital
 First Lady Dolley Madison waited at the White House for her husband to
return and wrote this letter to her sister:
“Will you believe it, my sister? We have had a battle or skirmish near Bladensburg
and here I am still within sound of the cannon! Mr. Madison comes not.
May GOD protect us. Two messengers covered with dust come bid me fly. But here I
mean to wait for him.”
Dolley Madison, Memoirs and Letters of Dolley Madison
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Dolley Madison gathered up important papers and a portrait of GW and fled
The British set fire to the White House and other buildings
They marched north toward Fort McHenry in Baltimore
The British rockets bombarded the harbor all night
When the morning fog lifted, the American flag still waved over Fort McHenry
The British withdrew at the Battle of Baltimore
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 Francis Scott Key wrote a poem about the battle called the ‘Star Spangled Banner’
 Battle of New Orleans
 In late 1814, the British prepared to attack New Orleans and sail up the
Mississippi River
 Andrew Jackson was waiting with a strong army of his frontier fighters
 Jackson’ s forces included thousands of frontiersmen and Choctaw Indians
 Citizens of New Orleans volunteered to join Jackson’s troops including
hundreds of African Americans
 American soldiers used trench warfare to defend themselves
 On January 8, 1815, the British attacked New Orleans
 More than 2,000 British fell under the deadly fire of sharpshooters and
American cannons – only 7 Americans died
 Americans cheered the victory at the Battle of New Orleans
 Andrew Jackson became a national hero overnight
 His fame did not dim when Americans learned the battle had taken place two
weeks AFTER the war ended!
 US and Britain had already signed a treaty in Europe!
¿ ¿ What victories did the American forces win in the South ?
turn to page 323 and use the Map/Chart to answer this question.
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 African Americans in the War
 The Battle of New Orleans was not the only place where black and white
soldiers fought side by side
 After British attacks on Washington, D.C. and Baltimore, African Americans
volunteered to help defend Philadelphia
 The State of NY organized two regiments of black volunteers to serve in army
 African Americans also served with distinction in the US Navy
 They helped win the Battle of Lake Erie and other naval battles
 Commander Shaler praised one particular black sailor killed in battle:
“He fell near me, and several times requested to be thrown
overboard, saying he was only in the way of others. When
America has such sailors, she has little to fear from the tyrants of the ocean.”
Nathaniel Shaler, letter to his agent, January 1, 1813
Protest and Peace
 In the early 1800s, news took weeks to cross the Atlantic Ocean
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 By late 1814, Americans knew peace talks had begun but didn’t know if they
would succeed or last
 As Jackson prepared to fight the Battle of New Orleans, New Englanders were
meeting to protest “Mr. Madison’s War”
 New Englanders Protest
 The British blockade had hurt New England’s sea trade
 New England also feared that the US might win Florida and Canada
 If new states were carved out of these lands, the South and West would
become more influential than New England
 In December 1814, delegates around New England met in Hartford,
Connecticut
 Most were Federalists and they disliked the Republican President and war
 The delegates to the Hartford Convention threatened to leave the Union if the
war continued
 While debating secession, news of the peace treaty arrived and the
Convention ended quickly
 The threat of secession further weakened the dying Federalist party
 Nothing Was Settled
 A peace treaty was signed in Ghent, Belgium on December 24, 1814
 John Quincy Adams summed up the Treaty of Ghent in one sentence:
“Nothing was adjusted, nothing was settled”
 Britain and the US agreed to restore prewar conditions
 The treaty said nothing about impressments or neutrality as these issues
faded due to the end of the wars in Europe
 Other issues were settled later – dispute over a border between Canada and
the US was settled in 1818
 Looking back, many Americans felt the War of 1812 had been a mistake
 Others argued that Europe would now treat the young republic with more
respect
 Heroes, like Oliver Hazard Perry, William Henry Harrison and Andrew
Jackson gave Americans pride in their country
 “The people are now more American. They feel and act more as a nation”
¿ ¿ What were the results of the War of 1812 ?
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1. How was the United States unprepared early in the war ?
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2. What successes did Americans have in the West ?
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3. How did the final battles of the war progress ?
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4. Why did New Englanders protest against the war ?
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b.________________________________________________________________________
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