The Surrender of Fort
Detroit
August 15-16, 1812
Detroit, Michigan
At the onset of the war, the Americans hoped that their outpost at
Fort Detroit in the Michigan Territory would serve as a base for an
invasion of Canada. In the summer of 1812, British General Isaac
Brock marched on Fort Detroit, demanding an American
surrender. Brock was outnumbered by the American forces but
was able to bluff the Americans into believing he had far more
Indian allies than he had and that Brock would not be able to
control the natives should the heat of battle turn them
bloodthirsty.
The American commander, General William Hull, fell for Brock's
bluff and surrendered the fort. The victory allowed the British to
control Lake Huron for the next year. It also inspired Native
Americans along the frontier to join the British war effort — giving
the British a huge advantage in their efforts to safeguard Canada.
Attacks along the frontier became more common.
The War at Sea
August 19, 1812
Sea off of Halifax, Canada
Although the American Navy was considerably smaller than the
Royal Navy, most of the British fleet was committed to blockading
France. In addition, the few frigates the U.S. possessed were
especially strong, being made of live oak and possessing heavier
armament than British ships of the same class.
The most famous American frigate of the War of 1812 was the
USS Constitution. On August 19, 1812, the Constitution clashed
with the HMS Guerriere off the coast of Halifax. A fierce battle
erupted. During the engagement, British cannonballs glanced off
the Constitution’s hull, earning the ship the nickname "Old
Ironsides." Old Ironsides defeated the Guerriere that day and four
other Royal Navy warships over the next few years, remaining
undefeated throughout the War of 1812. Although the British
dominated the sea lanes during the war, the respectable showing
of American frigates proved an important morale boost to the
flagging American war effort.
The Battle of Queenston
Heights
October 13, 1812
Queenston Heights, Canada
In October 1812, American forces planned to invade Canada below
Niagara Falls at Queenston Heights. The attack on October 13,
which was the first major battle of the war, was initially successful,
with the Americans driving the British from the heights.
But the victory would not last long. Militia troops from New York,
who saw the battle’s destruction, refused to participate in the
invasion by crossing into Canada. This left the U.S. Army exposed
and outnumbered. British General Isaac Brock led reinforcements
and a contingent of Native Americans in a counterattack up the
hill. Though Brock lost his life in the attack, his troops succeeded
in taking Queenston Heights back from the Americans. Brock was
memorialized and romanticized as a hero in British history, and
the victory helped provide unity and identity to what would later
be Canada. The American forces would have to wait longer to win
their first major battle of the war.
The Battle of Lake Erie
September 10, 1813
Lake Erie off the coast of Ohio
Control of the waterways and Great Lakes was vital to both sides
during the War of 1812. The balance of power shifted as both
Britain and the United States raced to build more and more ships
along the Great Lakes.
Eventually, a confrontation occurred on Lake Erie when
Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry engaged a British force. A fleet of
six British ships waited for him. Over three hours of fierce fighting
forced Perry to abandon his fleet's flagship using an open rowboat.
Perry then boarded the American ship Niagara, where he
continued to lead the fight. Eventually, the British surrendered,
making the Battle of Lake Erie the first U.S. defeat of an entire
British squadron. Perry famously summed up the victory by
writing in his victorious report, "We have met the enemy and they
are ours."
The Battle of the
Thames
October 5, 1813
Thamesville, Ontario
The American victory at Lake Erie cut off the British supply ships
in the Northwest. Unable to feed his army, British General Henry
Procter decided to abandon Forts Detroit and Malden. He began
an eastward retreat. The Shawnee warrior-leader Tecumseh, who
had been fighting alongside Proctor, objected to the retreat but
had no alternative except to go along with the plan. The poor
morale in Proctor’s army was made worse by bad weather.
American General William Henry Harrison cut the enemy retreat
short. Harrison attacked the British and Native American forces at
Thamesville in Ontario, Canada, about 50 miles east of Detroit. A
rash cavalry charge by the Kentucky militia forced the British
infantry to scatter quickly. Tecumseh refused to retreat and
instead stood his ground. Earlier he had told Procter, "Our lives
are in the hands of the Great Spirit. We are determined to defend
our lands, and if it is his will, we wish to leave our bones upon
them." Tecumseh was killed at Thamesville, ending any hope for a
confederacy among the Native American tribes of the Northwest
Territory. As a result, the Americans retook Fort Detroit.
The Battle of Horseshoe
Bend
March 27, 1814
Daviston, Mississippi Territory
In the South, the Creek Indians of Georgia and Alabama disagreed
about which side to take during the war. Southern tribe members
favoring assimilation with white culture, siding with the
Americans, while the northern group, known as the Upper Creeks,
wanted to remain faithful to traditional ways, preferring the
British and Spanish. A civil war within the Creek nation,
exacerbated by the Americans and British, erupted into the “Creek
War” in 1813, when Creek warriors sacked Fort Mims in what is
now Alabama, killing 250 militia and settlers.
For much of that year and into 1814, U.S. forces under Andrew
Jackson waged a bloody campaign in the South. Few prisoners
were taken on either side. Finally, on March 27, 1814, American
General Andrew Jackson and his Tennessee militia met the Upper
Creeks along the Tallapoosa River at Horseshoe Bend. The Creeks
had mistakenly positioned themselves on a peninsula that jutted
into the river, where Jackson’s men and his Cherokee allies
trapped them. More than 800 Upper Creeks were killed, while the
U.S. lost only 26 militiamen. The Creek force in the South was
broken and forced by the U.S. government to cede millions of acres
of land to the United States.
The Burning of
Washington, D.C.
August 24, 1814
Washington, D.C.
The Battle of Lake
Champlain
September 11, 1814
Plattsburgh Bay
On August 24, 1814, British troops defeated a group of
inexperienced American militiamen at the battle of
Bladensburg, Maryland. The British then marched on to
Washington, D.C., just seven miles away, which had been
deserted as most of its residents had fled. Before the
night was out, both the White House and the Capitol
building had been torched. While President James
Madison had left the city earlier to witness the battle at
Bladensburg, his young wife, Dolley Madison, had stayed
behind. As the British forces advanced on the capital, the
first lady rushed to save her husband's official
documents. She also instructed her butler “French John”
to save the portrait of George Washington painted by
Gilbert Stuart.
The Napoleonic Wars were over by April 1814. The British were
suddenly free to concentrate their forces on the war in America. In
the northern border theater, British General George Prevost set off
for the American garrison at Plattsburgh. Prevost commanded an
army of 11,000 men. The American forces at Plattsburgh
numbered only 1,500.
Had Prevost struck immediately, he would have taken the fort
easily. But instead, the general decided to wait for British naval
forces to defeat the American flotilla on the lake. Without securing
the lake first, Prevost would have no way to provision his army.
The American naval forces held a good defensive position in
Plattsburgh Bay and defeated the British attackers. Without the
fleet, Prevost ordered the land forces to disengage and withdraw to
Canada, a decision for which he was criticized since he could have
effortlessly captured the fort. The win at Lake Champlain secured
America's northern border. It also strengthened the Americans’
position when it came time to negotiate for the war's end.
The Bombing of Fort
McHenry
September 13, 1814
Baltimore, Maryland
After taking Washington, D.C., British commanders set their sights
on Baltimore, a valuable port city 45 miles to the northeast.
Baltimore was renowned for its hatred of the British and was
significantly more prepared than Washington, D.C. for the attack,
having fortified the city and brought in extra manpower. On
September 13, 1814, the British fleet began bombarding Fort
McHenry, which was nestled in the city's inner harbor. The British
bombed the fort for 25 hours. Meanwhile, the people of Baltimore
waited to see if the fort – and its flag — would stand.
Among those watching was Francis Scott Key, a lawyer and
amateur poet. As the smoke cleared on the morning of September
14, Key saw that the fort had held and the flag was still there. He
began writing the words that would later become America's
National Anthem: "O say can you see, by the dawn's early light,
what so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming." The
successful defense of Baltimore proved an important morale
victory and redeemed the loss of the U.S. Capital only two weeks
earlier.
The Battle of New
Orleans
January 8, 1815
New Orleans, Louisiana
The Treaty of Ghent, signed in what is now Belgium, set the terms
for ending the war on December 24, 1814. But according to the
treaty, the war would not end until it had been ratified by the U.S.
government.
In the southern theater, where news of the treaty had not yet
reached, war raged on into January 1815. In December, British
forces had arrived in the Gulf Coast and met General Andrew
Jackson's American army near New Orleans. After a series of
battles, the British attacked Jackson’s line on January 8, 1815.
Well protected behind a canal, Jackson’s men inflicted over 2,000
casualties upon the British in 30 minutes while losing only 13 men.
The British leader, Sir Edward Michael Pakenham, was killed. The
U.S. forces secured New Orleans in one of the most lopsided
victories in the War of 1812.
The war ended on February 16, 1815. News traveled slowly and
most Americans heard about the success at New Orleans at the
same time, leading many to believe that the United States had won
the War of 1812. Jackson became a war hero — and later the
president of the United States.