Page 229 - American Stories, A History of the United States

Lawrence R.
seem to understand that a weak, decentralized gov-
8.1 BRITISH NORTH AMERICA haunted the Republicans in Congress. They did not
(CANADA) Lawrence R. ernment—the one that Jeffersonians championed—
Châteaugay St. MAINE was incapable of waging an expensive war against
York (Toronto) Oct. 25, 1813 (part of the world’s greatest sea power. (see Map 8.2).
8.2 burned Chrysler's Farm Mass.)
Apr. 27, 1813 Nov. 11, 1813 Lake Champlain
(Plattsburg)
Michilimackinac Sept. 11, 1814 Fighting the British
captured N.H.
8.3 July 17, 1812 VT. American military operations focused initially on
MICH. N.Y. MASS.
TERR. Thames River the western forts. The results were discouraging. On
Oct. 5, 1813
Detroit R.I. August 16, 1812, General William Hull surrendered
8.4 ILL. Aug. 16, 1812 Lake Erie Niagaraara N.J. CONN.
surrendered
Niag
R.
TERR. R. an army to a smaller British force at Detroit. Mich-
PA. Ft. McHenry ilimackinac was also lost. Marches against Niagara
Ft. Put-in-Bay (Baltimore)
Dearborn Sept. 10, 1813 Sept. 13–14, 1814 and Montreal achieved nothing. The militia, led by
8.5 DEL. aging officers with little military aptitude, no mat-
Tippecanoe IND. OHIO VA.
Nov. 7, 1811 TERR. Washington, D.C. MD. ter how enthusiastic, was no match for well-trained
burned
Aug. 24, 1814 European veterans. On the sea, the United States
Ohio R. KY. N.C. ATLANTIC did better. In August, Captain Isaac Hull’s Consti-
Ohio R.
tution defeated the Guerrière in a fierce battle, and
Mississippi R. TENN. OCEAN American privateers destroyed or captured British
Mississippi R.
merchant ships. These successes were deceptive,
Horseshoe Bend S.C. however. As long as Napoleon threatened the Con-
tinent, Britain could spare few warships for service
Mar. 27, 1814 GA.
MISS. TERR. in America. But when peace returned to Europe in
Ft. Mims massacre 1814, Britain redeployed its fleet and easily block-
Aug. 30, 1813
aded the tiny U.S. Navy.
New Orleans American offensives,
Jan. 8, 1815 The campaigns of 1813 revealed that conquer-
1812–1813
LA. SPANISH FLORIDA American victories ing Canada would be more difficult than the War
Gulf of Hawks ever imagined. Both sides recognized that
Mexico British offensives, whoever controlled the Great Lakes controlled the
1814
West. On Lake Erie, the Americans won the race
British victories
for naval superiority. On September 10, 1813, Oli-
British naval ver Hazard Perry destroyed a British fleet at Put-in-
0 200 miles blockade
Bay. In a much-quoted letter written after the battle,
0 200 kilometers Indian battles
Perry exclaimed, “We have met the enemy; and they
are ours.” On October 5, General Harrison overran
MAP 8.2 the WAr of 1812 The British troops and Indian warriors at the Battle of Thames River. During this engage-
major battles of the War of 1812 brought
few lasting gains to either the British or ment, Tecumseh was killed. On the other fronts, however, the war went badly for the
the Americans. Americans. General Wilkinson suffered an embarrassing defeat near Montreal (Battle
of Chrysler’s Farm, November 11), and the British navy held its own on Lake Ontario.
Throughout 1814, British warships harassed the Chesapeake coast. To their sur-
prise, the British found the region almost totally undefended. On August 24, 1814,
in retaliation for the Americans’ destruction of the capital of Upper Canada (York,
Ontario), a small British force burned the American capital, a victory more symbolic
than strategic. Encouraged by their easy success and contemptuous of America’s rag-
tag soldiers, the British launched a full-scale attack on Baltimore (September 13–14).
To everyone’s surprise, the fort guarding the harbor held out against a heavy naval
bombardment, and the British gave up the operation. The survival of Fort McHenry
inspired Francis Scott Key to write “The Star-Spangled Banner.”
Battle of new orleans Battle The Battle of New Orleans should never have occurred. The British landed a large
that occurred in 1815 at the end of assault force under General Edward Pakenham just when diplomats in Europe were
the War of 1812 when U.S. forces preparing the final drafts of a peace treaty. The combatants, of course, knew nothing
defeated a British attempt to seize
New Orleans. of these distant developments. On January 8, 1815, Pakenham ordered a frontal attack
against General Andrew Jackson’s well-defended positions. Pakenham was killed, and
the British lost over 2000 killed and wounded. The Americans suffered only light casu-
alties. The victory not only made Jackson a national folk hero, but it also gave the
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