The War of 1812

1807 – The Chesapeake Incident

1811 – Battle of Tippecanoe

1812 – U.S. declares war.

1813 – Battle of Lake Erie

1813 – Battle of the Thames

1814 – March on Washington, D.C.

1814 – Battle of Baltimore (Fort McHenry)

1814 – Treaty of Ghent

1815 – Battle of New Orleans

1807

Main facts:

Britain and France at war

Both sides forbid neutral trade w/enemy.

British begin impressment of sailors (even Americans).

H.M.S. Leopard stops the U.S. Chesapeake, demands to search for four British deserters.

Chesapeake refuses; British open fire.

3 U.S. sailors killed, 18 wounded.

3 U.S. citizens were impressed into British navy. A fourth was hung as a British deserter.

Results:

President Jefferson calls for embargo against Britain.

U.S. angry with U.K.

The Leopard fooled the Chesapeake into stopping by claiming they had mail they wanted delivered to Europe.

The Chesapeake had left in such a hurry they had buried their gunpowder and lighting fuses under other supplies. When the fighting started, they only managed to return one shot, when a sailor lit the powder by picking up a live coal from the cooking fire with his bare hands.

1811

Main facts:

Shawnee leader Tecumseh forms an alliance of Indian nations against the U.S.

British supply them with weapons.

U.S. army under Harrison defeats the Indians

Tecumseh was 12 years old, playing whites vs. Indians in the woods, when a party of whites wiped out his village & killed his father. He was adopted by the Shawnee chief.

Tecumseh met with Harrison before the battle to discuss a land treaty. T. pushed Harrison off the bench they were sharing. He said: "That’s what you’re doing to us!"

Tecumseh told his brothers:"Sell a country? Why not sell the air, the clouds, and the sea, as well as the earth?"

He was the last real hope for a Native American alliance against the whites.

Tecumseh’s brother & second-in-command, convinced everyone he had magic powers.

Tecumseh went south to make new allies, and told the Prophet to avoid any battle until he got back.

The prophet disobeyed orders. He told the braves his powers could make the American bullets as soft as raindrops.

Tecumseh’s army was gathering at a new town called Prophet’s Town on the banks of the Tippecanoe River.

Harrison’s U.S. army made camp nearby.

The Indians were not ready, but the Prophet ordered them to attack anyway.

The Indian forces were crushed.

Results:

Tecumseh’s dream of an Indian alliance was shattered.

The U.S. found British weapons on the dead Indians, realized the Brits were helping the enemy.

U.S. "warhawks" in Congress called for war against Britain.

Harrison died his first year in office.

Since then, a president has died about every twenty years – Lincoln, Garfield, McKinley, Harding, Franklin Roosevelt, Kennedy. Reagan was shot, but did not die.

The Prophet’s Curse: "Harrison may win to be Great Chief, but he will not finish his term. I tell you Harrison will die. And after him, every Great Chief chosen every 20 years will die. And when each one dies, let everyone remember the death of our people."

"War Hawks" in the U.S. Congress see the British helping the Indians as the last straw. People in the South and the West are especially mad.

Congress calls for war, and President Madison agrees.

The British realize they’ve gone too far, and send a peace commission with an offer to pay for damages, but the ambassadors arrive too late. The U.S. has just declared war.

The North (which relies on foreign trade) accuses Madison of starting the war for no good reason. The war is nicknamed "Mr. Madison’s War."

Above is a cartoon about the kind of men who volunteered to be American privateers and militia. Do you think this was printed in an American or a British newspaper?

1813

Main facts:

Americans needed to control Great Lakes to invade Canada.

Perry defeated a British Squadron on Lake Erie.

Cleared way for land battle in Canada.

Perry’s fleet was built in six months – nine ships, headed by the Lawrence and the Niagara.

British had longer shot cannons, and tore the Lawrence to pieces.

Perry transferred command to the Niagara, and went on to win the battle.

He loaded his short-range "smashers" with two cannonballs each and drove through the middle of the British fleet.

Results:

Perry was the first person in history to take out an entire British squadron.

British naval power on the Great Lakes was crushed.

Gave the U.S. a much-needed victory for morale.

Perry coined a famous term: "We have met the enemy, and they are ours."

Perry stowed his "spaniel dog" in the china cabinet in the wardroom of LAWRENCE during the battle. The cabinet at some point was struck by a cannon ball that broke the crockery. The dog was unhurt, but howled throughout the battle, barking at the enemy.

Perry had a long history of good luck which was dubbed "Perry Luck." On his flagship, LAWRENCE, every officer on the brig was either killed or wounded, except Perry and his 13-year-old brother

One fourth of Perry’s men were African-American, an extremely high percentage.

Weirdest injury: Lt. Yarnell got a splinter through his nose, which caused it to swell to the size of a large pickle.

 

1813

Main facts:

Harrison invades Canada, defeats a force of Indians and British under Tecumseh and Proctor.

Proctor wanted to retreat, but Tecumseh insulted him in front of his men – "We must compare your conduct to a fat animal that carries its tail on its back, but, when frightened, drops it between its legs and runs."

The Americans outnumbered the British/Indians more than two to one.

As soon as the fighting started, Proctor hopped into a chariot and rode off. His men followed. P. was later court-martialed.

Tecumseh was killed in the fighting.

According to legend, Tecumseh was standing over a wounded American, Col. Richard Johnson, with his tomahawk raised.

Johnson raised his pistol and shot Tecumseh in the chest.

Indians took Tecumseh’s body away and buried it in a secret location. To this day, no one knows his burial site.

During an earlier raid on York (Toronto), Americans found scalps in the parliament building, and proceeded to burn Parliament down.

1814

Main facts:

British navy sails up Potomac, easily captures and burns U.S. capital.

President Madison and wife Dolley barely escape.

British sea power made it easy to sail a whole army within 60 miles of D.C.

British naval commander, George Cockburn, (Coburn) enjoyed burning things – destroyed three Maryland towns on the road to D.C.

His soldiers were vets from the war against Napoleon – easily overcame the local militia and marched into the capital.

Dolley Madison refused to leave until she rescued a portrait of George Washington and a copy of the Declaration of Independence.

British burned every government building.

Cockburn led his men into the House of Representatives and held a mock vote about whether to burn the Congress. The men approved.

British used "Congreve rockets" in battle to scare the enemy. The rockets never hit anything, but they streaked overhead with a loud noise and looked very impressive.

Results:

Americans demoralized, but also angry. This becomes the last major battle the U.S. will lose to the British.

1814

Main facts:

British try to capture Baltimore.

They fail to take Fort McHenry, which guards the harbor, and call off the attack.

The fight inspires the "Star-Spangled Banner."

The British sailed their fleet up to Fort McHenry and bombed it all night from a dozen special "bomb ships."

The fort sported the largest U.S. flag in the nation – 42’ by 30’.

Francis Scott Key was being held in "protective custody" on a British ship and watched the bombing. When the U.S. flag was still flying at dawn, he was so impressed he jotted down a poem on the back of a letter.

The words later became the "Star-Spangled Banner."

Results: stirs U.S. patriotism, leads to more favorable peace treaty, Baltimore saved.

The music for the "Star-Spangled Banner" is actually "To Anacreon in Heaven," an old English beer-drinking song.

British bomb ships hurled hollow iron balls full of gunpowder up to two and a half miles. One landed in the gunpowder room of the fort, but a soldier doused it with water before it could explode.

When General Ross died, the Brits preserved his body by cramming it in a barrel of rum so they could take it back to England.

1814 – The Treaty of Ghent officially ended the war. The U.S. got nothing they’d originally wanted – neutral rights, reparations, etc. But since the war with Napoleon was over anyway, it didn’t matter. The whole war probably could’ve been avoided.

Unfortunately, news of the peace deal traveled slowly . . .

1815

Main facts:

British fleet under Sir Packenham tries to capture New Orleans.

The attack is stopped cold by Andrew Jackson.

Stunning U.S. victory, even though it happened after the peace treaty.

British ships smashed through a line of American gunboats so quickly no American escaped to warn the city.

The British then disembarked and made their way through the swamps.

Americans had blocked all paths to New Orleans, but he forgot one, and the British found it.

When Jackson learned about the attack, he had only a few hours to prepare a defense.

Jackson’s defenders were a mix of Creoles, French, U.S. army, Jean Lafitte’s pirates, and ‘Kaintuck’ wild men who fired ‘buck and ball,’ drank heavily, and smelled so bad they weren’t allowed into the city.

The defenders made earthen ramparts in a swampy field south of the city, blocking the only path. The British tried to smash through with cannons, then charged.

Jackson’s line held, the British panicked.

2036 British were killed or wounded, 500 taken prisoner – half their army.

Americans had seven men killed, six wounded.

Results: Made Jackson a national hero overnight.

Jackson was a slave owner but thought highly of his free black soldiers. He wanted them paid the same wages as everybody else, which was unheard of in 1815.

The British were so sure of victory that the officers brought their wives along on the ships, with their best silk dresses, for the victory ball in New Orleans.

As a boy in the Revolution, Jackson had been captured by the British. When he refused to shine a British officer’s boots, the officer tried to behead Jackson with his sword, but Jackson pushed the sword away. It cut Jackson’s hand to the bone and left a permanent gash in his forehead. Jackson vowed to someday get revenge on the British. At the Battle of New Orleans, he got it.