The Bicentennial of the War of 1812 A Comparison of the American and Canadian Perspectives

When the bicentennial of the War of 1812 arrived in 2012, it became clear enough that the historical memories of the American and Canadian peoples diverge sharply when it comes to the question of the historical significance of this particular war. If a random sampling of Americans were to be asked which war from American history was of the greatest significance, the War of 1812 would quite likely be near the bottom of the list. To the degree that Americans are familiar with the events of the War of 1812, or have heard of that particular war at all, its historical significance no doubt pales in comparison to the Revolutionary War, Civil War, the two world wars, the wars in Korea and Vietnam, and the more recent wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. However, the War of 1812 plays a much more significant role in the historical memories and cultural history of Canadians. For this reason, the Canadian approach to commemorating the bicentennial of the War of 1812 diverged sharply from that of the Americans.

The Bicentennial of the War of 1812: A Tale of Two Nations

A favorite pastime of those who are fascinated with the history of a particular war is to re-enact its major battles while attired in the accoutrements of the respective armies involved. The American newspaper USA Today reported that when re-enactors of one of the first major battles of the War of 1812 came together on Canada’s Niagara River those representing the American side were all Canadians, over two hundred in number. Not enough actual Americans expressed an interest in re-enacting the historic battle to make their inclusion in the exhibition viable. The War of 1812 is of very little significance to Americans and plays almost no role in the cultural life of their nation. To the degree that most Americans, know anything about the war at all, they are familiar with stories such as the wife of President James Madison, Dolly Madison, abandoning a burning White House carrying a picture of the nation’s first President, George Washington. The war was also commemorated in a popular song from the 1950s, “The Battle of New Orleans.

However, very few Americans have any idea what nation the U.S.A. was fighting in the war or that the enemy was in fact the same enemy from the Revolutionary War era, Great Britain. Nor do they have any idea that the war was primarily fought over issues of international trade, British attacks on American ships at sea, and British objections to America’s efforts to continue to expand across the North American continent under the guise of “Manifest Destiny.” Nor do many Americans know who actually won the War of 1812 (even historians are in disagreement about that question). The lack of interest on the part of Americans in the War of 1812 was clearly demonstrated by their national response to the bicentennial of the war. The U.S. Congress failed to endorse or fund any particular commemoration of the war’s anniversary. Likewise, the American state for whom the war is most historically significant and where many of the worst battles took place, New York, has similarly declined to show any interest in recognizing its bicentennial by providing funds for commemorative efforts. Even the town of Lewiston, New York, where the historic Battle of Queenston Heights occurred, had trouble securing funds from the state in order to recognize the anniversary of the historic battle.

This is not to say that the bicentennial of the War of 1812 went completely unrecognized by Americans. For instance, the state of Maryland made the token gesture of issuing automobile license plates which commemorated the war. More significantly, the state allocated twenty-five million dollars towards the funding of commemorative events. The United States Navy, which played an incalculably significant role in the actual War of 1812, has engaged in its own commemorative efforts.

This relegation of the War of 1812 to insignificant status by the Americans contrasts sharply with the attitude of the Canadians. Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s Conservative Party government allocated twenty-eight million dollars alone to bicentennial recognition of the War of 1812, and in addition to funding provided by Canadian provincial governments, local communities, non-profit foundations, and the private sector. Prime Minister Harper stated that the War of 1812 is an essential component part of Canada’s historic national identity, an issue that becomes ever more important in the face of an increasingly diverse and multicultural Canadian society. A poll cited by USA Today indicated that while seventeen percent of Canadians view the War of 1812 as the most important war in the nation’s history, only three percent of Americans regard the War as the most important in their own national history.

The actual events of the War of 1812 remain somewhat confusing even in the present time. The historian Gordon Wood of Brown University described the war as the most unusual in the history of the United States. For instance, the Americans declared war on England even after the British crown had conceded to some of their grievances and pledged redress, simply because the message was necessarily being delivered by trans-Atlantic shipping and did not reach the United States in time to prevent the declaration of war. The final battle of the War of 1812 took place after the war had officially ended, because the participants were not aware that peace had been declared. At the time the Americans declared war on England, they were woefully unprepared militarily, and possessed a navy that was only three percent the size of the British Navy.

Much of the United States was opposed to the war, particularly the northeastern states. Even more strangely, the U.S. armed forces of the time period actually performed rather well against the much superior English forces during the early phases of the war. The war resulted in spectacular water battles on Lake Erie. The capital cities of both Canada and the United States were subjected to burning by the opposition. Dissension was frequent within the ranks of the U.S. officer corps. The armed forces raised by the United States during the course of the war were also much more multicultural than what would have been expected at the time. The ranks of the U.S. military during the War of 1812 included a wide cross-section of North American society as it was at the time. For instance, the legendary Battle of New Orleans was fought under the leadership of General Andrew Jackson, a future President of the United States. General Jackson’s forces included rich and poor whites, free blacks and black slaves, American Indians, and even pirates.

Historians disagree concerning the causes of the war’s insignificance to contemporary Americans. For one thing, the causes of the War of 1812 are themselves disputed. The actual reasons for America’s declaration of war on the English are subject to disagreement even by trained historians. It is perhaps most frequently argued that the central cause of the war was “impressments,” the British practice of attacking American sea vessels and forcing the ship’s crews into compulsory military service on behalf of England. Another potential cause of the war suggested by historians includes the desire of the Americans to open international sea lanes for trade routes without fear of British naval blockades. The British government of the era pursued a highly mercantilist policy with regards to international trade and used its naval power to enforce protectionism on its own behalf.

It has also been suspected by historians that a primary ambition of the Americans was the seizure of the British colonies in Canada, and the annexation of these into America’s growing expansionist policy in North America. Even the great Thomas Jefferson, author of America’s Declaration of Independence and an eloquent proponent of the natural rights of mankind, suggested that the United States could easily acquire the Canadian colonies with little in the way of military costs. Jefferson was a staunch proponent of American expansionism, advocating an “empire of liberty” that would extend to the Pacific Ocean. It was he who had overseen the acquisition of the Louisiana Purchase during his term as President. Indeed, some historians have argued that the principal impetus behind America’s desire for war with England was the desire by the Americans to eliminate obstacles posed by the British to America’s ongoing efforts at expanding westward towards the Pacific. It was in this westward region that the American Indian nations were still primarily located, and the American Indians would often form alliances with England for the purpose of preventing further westward expansion by the Americans into their own territory.

The War of 1812 is no doubt an obscure war in the minds of Americans due to a number of rather embarrassing episodes that transpired during the war. President James Madison, one of the most revered of America’s “founding fathers,” was not a particularly capable commander-in-chief during the prosecution of the war, and he was the only American president to ever have to flee the capital city of Washington, D.C. during a time of war. American troops would sometimes refuse to fight or even march when ordered to do so by their superior officers. A general consensus exists among historians of the war that the outcome was largely a tie between the United States and England.

Yet however dubious the causes of the war may have been, and however inglorious the outcome of the war, the War of 1812 remains a significant and under rated episode in American history for a variety of reasons. It was during this war that the American national anthem, “The Star-Spangled Banner,” was written by Francis Scott Key during the British naval assault on the city of Baltimore. The war also helped to establish the United States as a genuine world power and sovereign nation. After the revolution of 1776, when the original thirteen American colonies had successfully broken away from England, many of the European powers had regarded America simply as a collection of renegade colonies that had “gotten lucky” in obtaining their independence from the much stronger British empire. That comparatively much weaker America took on the still mighty Great Britain with its world class Royal Navy a second time indicated the viability of the new American nation. That America had fought the world’s greatest power to victory once, and to a draw a second time, helped to demonstrate the revolutionary character of the new American society, and its radical republican form of government which was then unique in the world. Also, the fact that the war had begun at least in part over the issue of impressments indicated the seriousness with which the Americans took their libertarian ideals as the foundation of their new society.

The War of 1812 contributed to the future development of America in a variety of ways. As the premiere philosopher and theoretician of America’s founding, and as one of its earliest presidents, Thomas Jefferson had outlined a specific vision for the new nation. Jefferson wished to maintain an agrarian society. He was suspicious of the advent of the Industrial Revolution which was then beginning in Europe. He deplored the dehumanizing effect of the British factory system which was then in its nascent stages. Jefferson had wished for the United States to stay out of the affairs of Europe altogether, even to the point of opposing extensive involvement of the United States in European trade. But the experience of the War of 1812 motivated the American political leadership to achieve a greater understanding of the importance of the nation’s becoming an economic power and achieving the process of industrialization that was then being experienced by England.

It became clear after the war that economic power was translated into military power. Many American leaders also came to realize the need for a more contemporary and efficient military. The future course of American expansionism was in part charted by the events of the War of 1812 as well. It was determined by the outcome of the war that the expansion of the United States would involve moving westward toward the Pacific rather than to the north towards Canada. Another fact of the war that is not widely known is that the defeat of England’s American Indian allies in the “Deep South” region of the North American continent allowed for the expansion of white-owned cotton plantations in these regions and, by extension, much more extensive importation of black slaves in the southern regions of the continent.

There were a variety of other political consequences for the United States as a result of the War of 1812. The success of the Battle of New Orleans insured the future viability of the political career of General Andrew Jackson. The military and later political success of General Jackson also contributed to the escalation of class conflict and class-based politics in the United States. In its earliest years, the American republic was ruled almost exclusively by what in England would have been called the “gentry,” or the “middling” class. This was the class of wealthy landowners that lacked aristocratic titles. The British aristocracy never had much of a presence in the colonies, and American politics in the beginning was consequently dominated by the gentry. Hence, the beginnings of America’s identity as a profoundly middle-class society. The later rise of Jackson as a political figure helped to secure a place in the American political class for those white males who lacked the land wealth of the ruling gentry and helped to expand American democracy.

The War of 1812 also constituted a major defeat for the American Indians. Indeed, the defeat of the native people of North America during this war would be the beginning of their eventual full military conquest by the white American descendents of the early European settlers. The outcome of the war also helped to secure the national identities of both the Americans and the Canadians in radically different ways. The Americans achieved an identity for themselves that strongly differentiated them from their English forebears. It became increasingly apparent after the War of 1812 that the Americans were a nation uniquely their own. However, this was not the case with the Canadians. The relationship of the Canadian identity with that of the English was affirmed by the outcome of the war. Yet the war also set in motion the process that would lead to eventual Canadian independence decades later. Because of the war, Canada achieved its own set of national icons, such as General Isaac Brock, the commander of the Canadian forces at Queenston Heights; Tecumseh, the chief of the Shawnee Indians; and Laura Secord, who helped to warn the Canadian military leadership of an imminent attack by the Americans. These figures in many ways became the Paul Revere, Lafayette, and Betsy Ross of the Canadians.

Given the lack of interest on the part of Americans in commemorating the bicentennial of the War of 1812, the question remains of why the war is of so much greater significance to the Canadians. An incident which transpired during course of the war helps to provide an illustration of the war’s greater importance to America’s northern neighbors. The Niagara region of Canada’s Ontario province was part of what was then called Upper Canada. A small town in the region was occupied by the American troops for seven months during 1813. When the U.S. forces finally exited the town, they set it on fire, and the entire town was burned to the ground. The fire began on December 10, 1813. The town, called simply “Newark” at the time and now known as “Niagara-On-The-Lake,” had been considered a “loyalist town,” that is, one that remained loyal to England, by the Americans.

The entire town was destroyed. Not only were buildings, shops, churches, and homes demolished by fire, but so were the personal possessions and even the extra clothing of the inhabitants. Indeed, this particular incident inspired the British to deal more harshly with the Americans as the war carried on. The burning of Newark was one of the earliest atrocities committed during the war and set the pattern for the later burning of Buffalo, and even Washington, D.C., by the British. Very few Americans have ever heard of this incident. Yet the town that is now Ontario-On-The-Lake held a commemorative ceremony marking the destruction of the original town of Newark in 2012, during the course of Canada’s wider bicentennial commemoration of the War of 1812.

To develop a thorough understanding of the differences found within the respective historical memories of the American and Canadian peoples concerning the War of 1812, it is necessary to begin with an examination of an earlier war between the two countries. That war was the war of the American Revolution, which began when the thirteen original colonies declared their independence in 1776. Public opinion within the American colonies was highly divided at the time between proponents of independence from England, and so-called “Loyalists,” those who remained loyal to the British crown. Once independence was declared and war broke out, those who remained loyal to England immediately fell under the suspicion of the new revolutionary governments that took over the former colonies, and the rebel armies which emerged for the purpose of repelling the British forces of King George III. Thousands of families who remained loyal to England were forced to flee the colonies for the sake of their own safety. Over one hundred thousand refugees exited the colonies in order to find safe haven in Canada.

The demographics of the refugees varied greatly. Their ranks included rich, poor, white, black, and Indian. Some of these refugees would later join the British army and fight on behalf of England. Others were arrested by the rebel forces and subject to imprisonment under deplorable and often life-threatening conditions. Some loyalists established bases in Canada from which they launched a campaign of guerrilla warfare against the American rebels. These guerrillas would prove themselves to be the most effective of any of the fighting forces on the British side of the conflict. Loyalty to Britain was declared to be a severe crime in the former colonies. Those who expressed loyalty to England were subject to public floggings and even hanging. Others were incarcerated on prison ships or shackled in dungeons. The homes of loyalists were looted and burned.

An important military and political figure that emerged during this time was Joseph Brant. He was a leader of the Mohawk people in the region that is now the American state of New York. Brant was highly educated and literate, and he spoke English fluently. He was probably the most well-known American Indian of his time, and certainly the most well-known to white Englishmen and Americans. At various points in his life, Brant personally met many leading statesmen from both countries, including George Washington and King George III. As leader of the Mohawk people, which were part of the wider Iroquois federation, Brant offered the services of his people to England against the Americans when the war began. In the period leading up to the beginning of the war, Brant traveled to England in 1775 where an agreement was made with the British. England agreed to uphold and defend Iroquois land interests in exchange for their military assistance in the war with the Americans. Brant became a popular figure in London during the time of his visit there. However, when to returned to Canada after securing the agreement from the British, he found that the Iroquois were divided over the question of the war. The Iroquois governing counsel declared neutrality, and some factions within the federation actually supported the American rebels. Further weakening his position was the fact that Brant’s own people, the Mohawks, were less powerful members of the wider federation.

The War of 1812: Its Outbreak

As previously mentioned, historians are in disagreement concerning the reasons for the outbreak of the War of 1812. Some of these possible reasons have already been discussed. They included impressments, insults to America’s national honor, the desire of the America’s to remove trade restrictions imposed by the British, and British support for the American Indian nations with which the Americans were constantly in conflict. Beginning in 1807, England has imposed a series of restrictions on American trade with France, a nation with which England was at war at the time. The Americans claimed the English wished to eliminate their American competitors in the cotton industry as the American trade in cotton had begun to significantly expand. The Napoleonic Wars were raging in Europe at the time, and Britain began to significantly expand its armed forces, including its navy. The size of the British navy nearly quadrupled during this time. This required an ever-greater number of personnel. England had never recognized the independence of its former American colonies, and still legally considered Americans to be British subjects. Britain began intercepting American ships on the high seas, under the pretenses of looking for deserters from the British Navy, or British citizens who had unlawfully transferred their loyalty to the American nation. Entire ships and their crews, such as the Leander and the Chesapeake-Leopard were impressed by the British. Many Americans considered this to be a national insult.

During this same period, many conflicts were raging in the so-called “Northwest Territory,” which included what are now the states of Wisconsin, Indiana, Michigan, Illinois, and Ohio. The Americans had acquired this territory from England through the Treaty of Paris that formed part of the settlement originating from the British surrender at Yorktown following the conclusion of the Revolutionary War. However, the region was already heavily populated by various American Indian communities. These nations included the Wyandot, Shawnee, Sauk, Fox, Winnebago, Miami, Kickapoo, and Delaware. The leaders of these various nations had formed an alliance for the sake of preventing further American expansion. The British would then cultivate the American Indian nations as allies of its own. England viewed the Indians as a means of not only countering American expansion, but also as a means of safeguarding its Canadian colonies. As the Americans continually attempted to expand by establishing settlements on the Western frontier, the Indian nations would respond with violence. Indian attacks on the settlements became more frequent and more extensive in the years leading up to the War of 1812.

The British also accused the Americans of wanting to annex Canada, and statements made in the years prior to the War of 1812 lend support to that claim. In the years following the Revolutionary War, Canada had remained a haven for British loyalists. It is clear enough that it would have been in American interests to annex Canada, thereby eradicating the last remnants of the British Empire from North America. Canada was also a source of British support for the American Indian nations and contained much in the way of valued natural resources. The internal politics of the United States were also in turmoil in the years leading up to the War of 1812. American politics during the era was divided between two parties, the Federalists and the Democratic-Republicans. The former was based in the northeastern states located in New England, while the latter was based in the Southern and Western states.

The two parties had fundamentally different visions of America’s future. The Federalists were more sympathetic to the rising industrial society associated with the Industrial Revolution and preferred to have a less hostile relationship with England than their opponents. The Democratic-Republicans were more earnest about continued American expansion westward and wished to preserve a mostly agricultural society. They also strongly resisted calls for the abolition of slavery. The Federalist Party was in a state of decline during the pre-war period and would eventually disappear from national politics altogether. At the time of the outbreak of the War of 1812, the Democratic-Republicans were clearly the dominant party in U.S. national politics, and one of its own, James Madison, held the office of the presidency.

In the middle part of 1812, President Madison began communicating the grievances of the United States against England to the U.S. Congress. While Madison did not specifically request a declaration of war against Britain, both houses of Congress issued such a declaration after receiving Madison’s communication. Madison signed the declaration of war on England on June 18, 1812. It would be the first of only five such declarations issued by the United States as of 2013, over two centuries later. It would also be the closest vote with which the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives would declare war in American history. Not a single member of the Federalist Party sitting in Congress at the time voted in favor of the war, and the Federalists would refer to the war as “Mr. Madison’s War” from there on. In the weeks leading up to America’s declaration of war, the Prime Minister of England had been assassinated, and the new Prime Minister, Lord Liverpool, desired to resolve the conflict with the Americans peacefully. However, due to the time necessary for a message to be delivered by ship across the Atlantic Ocean, the Americans did not receive Lord Liverpool’s offer of peace until after war had been declared. At that point, there was no turning back for any party involved.

When the War of 1812 actually began, the Napoleonic Wars were still raging in Europe, and fighting its war with France consumed most of England’s foreign policy attention and military resources. Britain did not have an excess of troops to send to fight the Americans, and at the time only had about six thousand troops and reserve militiamen in Canada. Because its military resources were spread so thin, the British Foreign Ministry ordered the military leadership of its Canadian forces to maintain a defensive position, and to prevent American penetration of its own territory. Meanwhile, the United States under Madison’s leadership developed the strategy of having the militias of the individual states conquer Canada, with England’s Canadian colonies then being used as a bargaining tool in subsequent negotiations with England. The United States had only twelve thousand soldiers in its national army at the time the war started, although this number soon tripled. American soldiers proved to be poorly trained, and not very easily subjected to discipline. They were also poorly paid, and their enthusiasm for fighting the war was minimal. The war was also unpopular within the United States right from the beginning. Some of the New England states threatened secession over the war, and northeastern banks refused to provide funds for the war.

The Battle of Detroit

The first important battle of the war began on July 12, 1812. The Canadian town of Sandwich, Ontario was attacked after General William Hull led a force of one thousand men across the Detroit River as an invading army. The principal purpose of the invasion was to solidify American control over the Northwest Territory, and to repel the incursions of American Indian fighters. The attacks by the Indians had become more frequent and aggressive as the War of 1812 commenced. The Indian nations were encouraged to escalate their attacks by their British allies. At Detroit, the American forces would encounter British and Indian forces led by Isaac Brock and Tecumseh, both of whom would become legendary figures in Canadian history.

General William Hull was at the time Governor of the Michigan Territory, and a respected veteran of the earlier American Revolution. His troops were primarily drawn from the ranks of the Ohio militia, and Hull was placed in charge of this army by President Madison and Secretary of War William Eustis. The forces which he commanded were lacking in discipline, poorly trained, and not properly equipped. Hull sought to procure necessary supplies from other sources. In order to relieve stress imposed on his army’s horses, Hull place much of his army’s resources on a ship to be sent across Lake Erie. However, the ship was captured by Canadian forces. Though lacking supplies, Hull’s forces were supplemented by additional troops from Michigan, and attacked the British outpost at Amherstburg. The British fort was successfully defended by a combined force of British troops and American Indian fighters. Multiple battles along the Canard River followed the attack at Amherstburg. These battles were largely a draw and not decisive.

An army of British troops, Canadian militiamen, and American Indians proceeded to take an important American trading post at Mackinac. A much larger force of Native American fighters began to appear. These American Indian troops were drawn from the Six Nations Confederacy, which had become increasingly resentful of American incursions, and were seeking to push the Americans southward. Hull began to retreat as the Native American forces began to advance. It is at this point that the legendary figures Isaac Brock and Tecumseh enter the picture. Brock was a highly skilled Canadian military officer who knew of the weaknesses of the American invaders including their lack of supplies, the vulnerability of their supply lines, their lack of morale, their poor training, and their fractious leadership. Brock’s forces were drawn from the ranks of the regular British army and the Canadian militia. These forces would soon be combined with those of Tecumseh, who commanded a sizeable army of Native Americans. Brock’s and Tecumseh’s military partnership would become legendary in Canadian history, though the two men met only one time, and their respective armies joined forces with one another. The two legendary figures came away from their meeting with a strong mutual respect for each other.

Isaac Brock proved to be a brilliant military strategist. Among his earliest actions were efforts to enhance the vulnerability of the Americans through a series of bluffs. Brock sent out a letter that was allowed to be seized by the Americans which indicated that Brock had five thousand Native American fighters under his command, a much larger contingent than what he actually had. Likewise, Brock sent an order of surrender to the Americans where he attempted to intimidate his opponents by implying that his Native American fighters would be merciless in their treatment of the Americans. Fear of American Indians and their supposedly “savage” nature was highly prevalent among Americans during that time, and Brock hoped to capitalize on these fears in order to bait the Americans into surrendering. Brock also provided members of the Canadian militia with British military uniforms for the purpose of making it appear that the number of ordinary British soldiers under his command was much larger than it actually was. In a tactically brilliant move, Brock also ordered his troops to light campfires on an individual rather than group basis, which in turn also had the effect of greater exaggerating the apparent size of his forces.

The siege of Detroit began on August 15, 1812 when British artillery began to attack the fort at Detroit with bombardments. The artillery assault was done by both land and on the ground. Two large artillery ships were positioned in the Detroit River. Following the bombardment of Fort Detroit with British artillery, the Native American troops led by Tecumseh crossed the river, followed by Brock’s forces. Brock’s initial plan was to cut off the supply lines of the Americans, and eventually force them to either surrender or face starvation from the lack of a sustainable food supply. However, Brock received word that reinforcements were on their way to assist the Americans, so he had to shift his troops’ position in order to avoid being trapped between two separate American army forces.

Meanwhile, Tecumseh’s men would attempt to make their war cries as loud and persistent as possible in order to give an exaggerated appearance of their numbers. The American Indian troops would also parade in such a way as to make the size of their forces seem much larger than it actually was. As British artillery assaulted Fort Detroit, General Hull came to believe he was facing impossible odds. The bluffs utilized by the British, Canadian, and Native American forces were effective. Hull believed he was facing down thousands of enemy soldiers and feared a savage Indian massacre of the people under his command, including civilians and members of his own family. Hull eventually surrendered unconditionally to Brock. Amazingly, the surrender of the Americans and the capture of Fort Detroit occurred with very few actual casualties. Seven soldiers were killed on the American side, and only two British troops were even wounded. All of the Americans’ weapons and ammunition were seized. American militiamen were deported back to American territory, and over fiver hundred members of the American army were taken as prisoners of war.

The defeat of the Americans at Fort Detroit galvanized the Native American people of Canada, and Indian attacks on American outposts escalated. Canada’s civilian militia forces also grew in size after the battle at Detroit, and Canadian militiamen became more eager to fight. The weapons confiscated from the Americans following their surrender at Detroit were subsequently used to equip the Canadian militia. The defeat at Detroit was major loss for the Americans, and the British established a base there for some time afterward. The British were able to seize substantial parts of the Michigan territory from the Americans. General Hull was accused of having been under the influence of alcohol during the surrender at Detroit, and he was subjected to court martial proceedings. Though initially sentenced to death, Hull’s punishment was reduced by President Madison to mere expulsion from the army in recognition of his previously exemplary conduct during America’s war of independence in the late eighteenth century.

The events at Detroit during the War of 1812 are commemorated in various ways by contemporary English, Canadian, and American people. The flags captured during the surrender from the Americans have been preserved and are located in the Welsh Regiment Museum in Cardiff Castle, Wales. The United States Army now has multiple battalions which trace their historical legacy to the battle at Detroit during the War of 1812. Canada also issued a coin commemorating the memory of Tecumseh in 2012 as part of the bicentennial recognition of the War of 1812.

The Battle of Queenston Heights and the Death of Sir Isaac Brock

Following victory at Detroit, Sir Isaac Brock devoted much of his energy to strengthening the defense forces of Upper Canada. He had initially wanted to expand his military campaign in the United States. However, these plans were cancelled when a temporary armistice was declared. Meanwhile, on October 13, 1812 the Americans crossed the Niagara River in an attempt to invade Canada. They were commanded by Stephen Van Rensselaer, an inexperienced military leader who had been appointed to his position for political reasons. Because of his lack of experience and his status as a politically appointed commander, he was not particularly popular with the soldiers under his command. However, the military expedition of Van Rensselaer’s troops marked the beginning of the Battle of Queenston Heights.

The initial plan of the Americans was to attack the Canadian border from four separate directions simultaneously. General Hull’s effort to attack the British outpost at Amherstburg while stationed at Detroit was one of the four parts of the Americans’ attack plans. Van Rensselaer’s invasion of Canada by means of the Niagara River was another part. Yet another American force was to invade by crossing the Saint Lawrence River and moving against Kingston. Finally, the head of the American army, General Henry Dearborn, was intent on invading Quebec for the purpose of capturing Montreal. However, each of these four sets of plans became serious failures. Not only did Hull surrender at Detroit, but Dearborn’s forces became stalled at Albany, New York when it became apparent the morale of his soldiers was low and their eagerness to fight was minimal. Van Rensselaer’s forces proved to be too small in number to carry out the invasion plans and were also poorly equipped.

Isaac Brock was the commander of the British military forces in what was then called Upper Canada. He also held the political position of colonial administrator in Upper Canada on behalf of the British. Because of his astounding success at Detroit, he was given knighthood. After victory at Detroit, Brock also fell into a dispute with General George Provost, the military commander for Quebec. Provost considered Brock’s tactics to be overly aggressive and ordered him to be more restrained in his methods. Provost was also hoping to initiate peace talks with the Americans and feared that Brock’s aggressive actions might become an obstacle that would serve as a deterrent to peace. However, the Americans were not receptive to peace initiatives and subsequently ordered General Dearborn to escalate his attacks in Upper Canada.

While the performances on the battlefield of General Hull and General Dearborn were poor, the forces of Van Rensselaer appeared to be gaining strength as the Battle of Queenston Heights loomed. The military inexperience of General Van Rensselaer was balanced by his reliance on his cousin, Colonel Solomon Van Rensselaer, a man of considerable military experience. The size of Van Rensselaer’s force grew dramatically from just over six hundred to nearly six thousand in a matter of months. The level of training and experience of his new troops increased dramatically as well. The troops under Van Rensselaer’s command were a mixture of regular members of the American army, volunteers, and state militiamen. Initially, Van Rensselaer’s forces were to be bolstered by the seventeen hundred men under the command of General Alexander Smyth. However, Smyth distrusted Van Rensselaer’s skills as a commander, and soon detached his own forces from those of Van Rensselaer. Further, Smyth refused to appear when summoned to a war council meeting with Van Rensselaer. On October 9, 1812 two British ships were captured at Fort Erie. The American troops set out to initiate further attacks but were persistently undermined by terrible weather conditions. Because of the weather situation, additional American attacks were postponed.

Queenston was a small village near the Niagara River. A British force-maintained headquarters in Queenston, and several more bands of British soldiers were located in surrounding communities outside of Queenston. The efforts of the Americans to cross the Niagara River towards Queenston were hampered by the river’s heavy currents. However, the Americans landed at Queenston in the early morning hours of October 13 and were met by artillery fire from the fort. A fire fight between the two sides continued throughout the morning. The intensity of the attacks from both sides escalated. The British shooters became more accurate as the battle progressed, and reinforcements began to join the American forces. An American ship was hit by cannon fire and began to sink. The crew attempted to escape, and several crew members were captured.

Isaac Brock was first alerted that the battle at Queenston had begun when he heard the initial artillery fire. He arrived at the scene of the battle as the American ships were being hit by British artillery. The Americans succeeded in capturing a British battery not long after his arrival. The battery included a heavy cannon and a howitzer. Brock called for additional troops but set out with a smaller band of soldiers to recapture the battery before they arrived. During the course of his charge he was shot by an American soldier’s bullet Brock was hit from a short distance and died instantly. His body was retrieved and placed in a nearby private home.

A second charge led by other officers was made for the purpose of retaking the battery and the captured artillery equipment. However, the Americans were able to stand their ground. The British then retreated away from Queenston to another location about a mile away. The Americans occupied Queenston and engaged in looting and pillaging. British reinforcements began to arrive, and this increased the artillery power of those fighting to repel the Americans. The British moved to retake Queenston, and once again began an artillery assault on American boats on the Niagara River. A large band of Mohawk fighters were also brought in to reinforce the British troops. The Americans were particularly afraid of Indian fighters and the appearance of the Mohawks had the effect of undermining their morale.

By the afternoon of October 13, the British were starting to receive an even greater number of reinforcements. Meanwhile, the American troops under the command of General Van Rensselaer continued to lose their will to fight, and by this time were openly ignoring orders. As the final battle of the day began around 4 p.m. the American troops began to fear they were surrounded and outnumbered. They initiated their own retreat. The American generals feared massive retaliation by the Mohawks and decided that it would instead be better to surrender to the British. Hundreds of American soldiers surrendered under the leadership of General Scott. Upon this initial surrender, hundreds more American troops also came out of hiding for the purpose of surrendering.

At the conclusion of the battle, the number of casualties included twenty-one deaths among the British and Mohawks, and sixty killed in battle on the American side. Dozens more were wounded on both sides. Nearly a thousand American soldiers were captured during the surrender. Among these were over thirty severely wounded soldiers who later died, bringing the American death count for the battle to somewhere between ninety and a hundred. Responsibility for the American defeat at Queenston was largely attributed to the divisions among the leadership of the American troops, and their failure to coordinate their efforts more effectively. However, other than Hull, the surviving officers who led the American forces at Queenston suffered little in the way of personal consequences for their actions. Smyth retired to his home in the state of Virginia, and Van Rensselaer eventually spent time as a Congressman in the House of Representatives.

The Legacy of Sir Isaac Brock

General Isaac Brock had been an enormously popular military figure. None of his successors proved to be nearly as popular, and the morale of British and Canadian troops was undermined in the process. His adventurous tactics as a military commander certainly enhanced his status as a legendary figure, but probably hastened his death as well. The funeral arrangements for Brock were organized by Captain John Glegg, one of his longstanding subordinate officers. The funeral took place on October 16, 1812 and included a procession by British, Canadian, and Native American troops. Five thousand civilians were present at the funeral. A twenty-one-gun salute was given in Brock’s honor. A small monument was built in Brock’s honor at the spot where he died. This monument suffered considerable damage in ensuing years, including a terrorist bombing at one point. A new monument was constructed in the 1850s and remains in place in 2013.

As mentioned, the death of Sir Isaac Brock was detrimental to the British military forces of the time. None of his successors were nearly as illustrious in their subsequent military careers as Brock. Even during the present time, Isaac Brock remains one of the most important figures in Canadian military history, even though most Americans have never heard of him. Though Brock remains a Canadian national hero even to the present time, he always thought of himself as British rather than Canadian. He actually distrusted many Canadians and considered them to be sympathizers with the United States rather than England. A number of legends of a dubious nature have arisen concerning the life of Isaac Brock. These include his supposed engagement to Sophia Shaw, and the supposed killing of his horse in battle. A number of public buildings, streets, and highways are now named after Brock in Canada. A coin was also issued in his honor to commemorate the bicentennial of the War of 1812 in 2012. Brock is memorialized in England as well, and there is a monument in his honor at St. Paul’s Cathedral in London. An English navy ship has also been naming after Sir Isaac Brock.

The Legacy of Tecumseh

Tecumseh, the Native American fighter and comrade of Sir Isaac Brock, is one of the most important and iconic figures in Native American history, and in the relationship between North American whites of European ancestry and the native people of North America. He was born circa March of 1868 and was of Creek and Shawnee ancestry. Tecumseh’s father was killed by white settlers while he was still a child. Early in his career as a Shawnee warrior, Tecumseh participated in Indian attacks on the boats of white settlers on the Ohio River. For a time, this deterred further expansion of white settlements in the region. At that point, Tecumseh became a leader of a band of Shawnee warriors.

The Shawnee had been allied with the British against the American colonists during the American Revolution. Tecumseh himself became a Shawnee warrior not long after the revolution began, when he was approximately fifteen years old. Tecumseh’s first major exposure to battle with the American settlers came after the Revolution when the Northwest Indian War developed. At this point a large military confederation of American Indian tribes in the Illinois and Ohio area had emerged for the purpose of repelling the American incursions into Indian land. The confederation was known as the Wabash Confederacy and included Tecumseh’s own Shawnee people. In the ensuing years, Tecumseh would participate in numerous battles with the Americans, and eventually become the leader of his own small band of Shawnee warriors. His younger brother was a prominent religious leader among the Shawnee in the Ohio area, and attracted a large following. His brother taught that Native Americans should remain true to their traditional ways of life, and not adopt the customs of the American settlers with whom they were increasingly coming into contact. Instead, they should resist any further encroachments by the white people, whether of a cultural, economic, or territorial nature.

Tecumseh is believed to have first come into contact with Americans around the year 1807, when the Americans were investigating the killing of a white settler. While assuring the Americans that the intentions of his people were peaceful, the difficulties between the settlers and the Native Americans began to increase. Tecumseh’s brother’s teachings were somewhat militant in nature, and he predicted the apocalyptic downfall of the Americans. The group retreated further into Indian territories while gaining a larger and more diverse following from among various Native American tribes. Tecumseh began to consider the possibility of organizing a large confederation of Indian tribes of his own for the purpose of resisting ongoing American encroachments. As this confederation began to emerge, Tecumseh’s own Shawnee people remained a minority within its ranks.

Prior to the incidents which would bring him fame during the War of 1812, Tecumseh was involved in a conflict with the Americans that came to be known as “Tecumseh’s War.” The Northwest Indian War had ended with the Battle of Fallen Timbers in 1794. The war concluded with the Treaty of Greenville which allowed substantial portions of Ohio, which had previously been the homeland of Tecumseh’s Shawnee people, to fall into the hands of the Americans. This was the beginning of a period of limited resistance to American incursion on the part of the Native Americans. This silent period in the ongoing conflict would last about a decade. Additional treaties ceded Indian land in what is now Indiana to the settlers in exchange for financial compensation. The tensions between the two forces would temporarily fade during this time.

Hostilities between the two forces began to reemerge in 1809. The governor of the Indiana territory of the time was William Henry Harrison, a future United States president who would die shortly after assuming office. During his tenure as governor, Harrison would negotiate the Treat of Fort Wayne. This treaty would put into place an agreement whereby the Americans would gain three million acres of Indian land. This treaty was controversial for a variety of reasons. First, it had not been formally authorized by the U.S. Congress or the American president. Further, it was widely believed that the land in question was acquired through the bribery of unscrupulous tribal chiefs.

Tecumseh became an outspoken opponent of this treaty, and his position as an opposition leader secured his place as a prominent spokesman for Native American interests. Tecumseh’s position was that American Indian land was the collective property of all the indigenous tribes of North America, and that no single group of tribal leaders possessed the legitimate authority to cede any portion of Indian land to outsiders, particularly hostile outsiders such as the Americans. Tecumseh denounced those tribal leaders who had ceded the land in question to the Americans as corrupt and exceeding their authority. He asked that other Indian leaders join him in his quest to overturn the Treaty of Fort Wayne. Tecumseh subsequently met with Governor William Henry Harrison and requested that he abrogate the Treaty of Fort Wayne on the grounds that the treaty was illegal. Harrison rejected Tecumseh’s request.

In response to Harrison’s dismissal of his concerns, Tecumseh organized a group of four hundred armed Native Americans who appeared at Governor Harrison’s home in the summer of 1810. Harrison’s position was that particular tribes within the wider Native American population were legitimate in establishing their own tribal relations with the government of the United States. Therefore, the tribal chiefs which had ceded land to the U.S. through the Treaty of Fort Wayne had been legitimate in doing so and did not need the permission of their fellow tribes. Tecumseh became incensed by Harrison’s refusal and claimed he was violating the natural rights of Indian people to their historic lands. The argument became heated and Tecumseh and his fellow Indian leaders at one point threatened to kill Harrison, who then pulled a sword in response to the threat. American troops protecting the community where Harrison resided intervened to protect the Governor, and a leader of the Potawatomi tribe helped to defuse the situation. However, Tecumseh informed Harrison that if the Treaty of Fort Wayne was not abrogated by the American government that Tecumseh’s allies among the American Indians would move to form an anti-American alliance with England. A calmer meeting occurred between Harrison and Tecumseh at Harrison’s residence the following year but still no resolution to the dispute was made.

After the repeated refusal of Harrison to accommodate his concerns, Tecumseh began seeking to form a new confederacy of allied Indian tribes against the Americans. These efforts were only modestly successful. Some Indian chiefs, particularly those in the Southern part of North America, preferred to retain their peace treaties with the Americans, and feared the consequences of an all-out war with the United States. Harrison responded to Tecumseh’s threats by organizing an army of a thousand American soldiers and marching towards Tippecanoe, which would become the scene of a famous battle. While encamped outside the town which headquartered Tecumseh’s brother, Harrison and his men experienced a surprise attack from Tecumseh’s newly formed confederation. Tecumseh himself was traveling and not available to participate in the attack. Harrison had known this and wished to attack at Tippecanoe during a time when Tecumseh was not available to lead the confederation. The result of the battle was a defeat for the Native Americans and the subsequent burning of their town.

The War of 1812 began the following year. After the Battle of Detroit, in which Tecumseh’s warriors played a significant role, Tecumseh wished to invade the American controlled territories in the northwest for the purpose of reclaiming Indian lands. The British-Canadian military leadership at the time was opposed to this idea. The Battle of the Thames took place on October 5, 1813. The Americans proved to be the victorious party over their British, Canadian, and American Indian opponents. Harrison led the American forces, and Tecumseh was killed during the conflict. Much of the tribal confederation that he led then surrendered to Harrison. The legacy of Tecumseh is one of the most prominent in Native American history, and his story also maintains a place in both American and Canadian history. Some of his inspiring sayings are quoted by historians. There is a park named in his honor in Chatham, Ontario which includes a memorial plaque commemorating his legacy.

A bust of Tecumseh can also be found in a courtyard at the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland. A number of American and Canadian naval ships have been named in his honor. He is considered one of the greatest figures in Canadian history, and a pivotal figure in the obtainment of independent nationhood for Canada. Multiple towns in both Canada and the United States have been named after Tecumseh as have numerous schools. A memorial to both Tecumseh and Harrison exists at the site of the Battle of Tippecanoe. Canada has also issued a memorial coin honoring Tecumseh’s legacy as a figure in Canadian history. As with the coin honoring the memory of Sir Isaac Brock, the coin depicting Tecumseh was released in recognition of the bicentennial of the War of 1812.

The Unfolding of the War of 1812

The war had begun poorly for the Americans after their initial losses at Detroit and Queenston Heights. By the end of 1812, the American forces had become scattered and were retreating. One of the primary difficulties the Americans faced during the early phase of the war was a lack of competent and prepared leadership. The American Secretary of War William Eustis was dismissed and replaced with the more capable John Armstrong. The new Secretary of War attempted to raise a much larger army and hoped to successfully capture Montreal using a force of ten thousand men. However, numerous difficulties arose during the course of these efforts. There was an extraordinary amount of disunity among the officer corps of the American army at the time. Many troops remained poorly trained and cultivating effective supply lines also proved to be an obstacle. Throughout 1813, the American forces continued to perform poorly.

A major turning point for the Americans came when victory was secured at the Battle of the Thanes when Harrison’s army forced the British and Native Americans to retreat. The United States also began to build up its navy, and eventually won control of Lake Erie after an intense battle there. After Tecumseh’s death, the Indian forces disintegrated and no longer conducted raids into American territory. The Americans were subsequently able to gain control of western Ontario. The United States coastline was subject to a blockade by the British Royal Navy. However, the New England states which had opposed the war even to the point of threatening secession continued to engage in trade with England and Canada in defiance of American war policy. The blockade forced the Americans to increase their own domestic industrial production and the expansion of factories.

The Americans attempted to repel the British navy with small gunboats along the Atlantic coast, but these efforts were profoundly unsuccessful. The British launched an invasion from the sea onto American land in the mid-Atlantic region of the United States. The invasion resulted in the large scale burning of the American capitol in Washington, D.C. The White House, Capitol building, and other important government buildings were destroyed in the attack. The British Navy also extorted protection money from local towns along the Atlantic coast and threatened to destroy these towns as they had done Washington, D.C. if they were not paid. The Americans retaliated by commissioning private ships to hijack British commercial ships on the high seas. Hundreds of commercial ships were captured, and the British economy suffered as a result. During the early phase of the war, England was also fighting the Napoleonic Wars in Europe. However, after Napoleon’s defeat in the spring of 1814, the British were able to divert their armies to the war with the Americans.

American military prowess was improving by this time, and the American forces were successful at taking Lake Champlain. However, the intensity of the British attacks on the United States escalated. Not only was there the burning of Washington, but a comparable attack was successfully launched against Alexandria. Yet another attack of this kind was initiated by the British against Baltimore, though that effort proved to be less successful. Because of his lack of success at preventing the burning of Washington, John Armstrong was removed from his position as Secretary of War. British troops then launched an invasion of Louisiana but were defeated by troops led by Andrew Jackson at the Battle of New Orleans. The war ended soon afterward with the Treaty of Ghent which was ratified in 1815. By the end of the war, the fortunes of the American forces were improving. Jackson became a famous public figure because of his performance at New Orleans. He would eventually become the President of the United States. President Madison had been planning new offensives and initiatives in the war with the British but cancelled these plans when the peace treaty was signed.

Major Events of the War

The War of 1812 was fought in three primary theaters. One of these was the Atlantic Coast region of the United States. The other two were the Great Lakes area along the Canadian border, and in the southern part of the United States. From the beginning, the United States faced a formidable opponent in Great Britain. England was then the most powerful nation on Earth, and the Royal Navy alone possessed over six hundred battle ships. Nearly one hundred of these ships were deployed to the United States’ coastline during the course of the war, even as the rest of the British ships were engaged in the war with Napoleon. The British objective in the Atlantic theater during the war with the Americans was to protect its own shipping and commercial interests on the high seas, while attempting to blockade American trade and exports. The United States’ battle strategy at sea was to engage the British in a naval form of guerrilla warfare while building up its own naval forces. The Americans had been cultivating efforts to radically expand their own naval power before the war began, and these plans were accelerated upon the war’s commencement. Eventually, American battle ships would eventually win decisive victories on the seas on several different occasions.

The Americans also employed the use of “privateers” during the course of the war. The “privateers” were essentially privately owned and operated ships that were hired by the Americans to hunt down and capture British trade ships for the purpose of disrupting British trade. The privateers were able to seize at least a thousand British merchant ships, and these seizures managed to undermine British trade in the West Indies colonies. However, it is estimated that only seven percent of all British trade ships were seized. Yet the privateers proved to be much more successful at the seizure of ships than even the U.S. Navy, as the former seized five times the number of ships as the latter. England also seized many American trade ships on the Atlantic. However, the British did not rely as much on privateers because of their superior naval power. Yet hundreds of American ships were also seized by privateers during the war, whether on behalf of the British or on their own initiative.

The British also imposed an extensive blockade on the Americans. This blockade had been extended to the entire coast of the United States by 1814. It was difficult to enforce the blockade, particularly since the British wished to continue to trade with the New England states. Illicit trade and outright piracy grew dramatically during the course of the blockade, and much of the Atlantic trade was relocated to the Halifax region of Canada. The British also encountered a great many African-American slaves during the course of the blockade and the war on the Atlantic coast’s theater. This occurred for two reasons. First, ships transporting slaves would be seized. Also, slaves made into refugees by the fighting would escape the plantations where they were held captive and make their way to British territory. Many British naval officers were strongly anti-slavery in their personal beliefs. The British government initiated a policy of granting freedom to any slave that was able to reach either a British ship or territory controlled by the British. Many of these escaped or freed slaves were recruited into the British armed forces. The British even maintained militias or regiments made up entirely of former slaves.

Many of the war’s most important and decisive battles were fought in the Ontario and Great Lakes areas, such as the previously discussed battles at Detroit, Queenston Heights, and the Thames. This theater of the war proved to be surprisingly difficult for the Americans. The American leadership believed that American immigrants to Canada, of which there were many, would be supportive of America’s war effort against England. However, this proved not to be the case, and many Canadian-Americans were in fact English loyalists. Opposition to the United States in Canada proved to be much more pervasive that what the American political leadership had expected. There were multiple reasons for this. The elites among Canada’s British population of course retained their own loyalties to their homeland. More interesting was the opposition of the Canadian elites to the Americans. There were profound differences between the Canadians and the Americans. The Canadian elite were much more conservative than the American elite in their worldview. They were generally opposed to the things that the American elite championed such as the Protestant faith, the liberal secular values of the Enlightenment, a democratic republican form of government, and hostility to both Catholicism and the monarchy.

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