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Welcome
To Marion County
Alabama
Genealogy and
History |
WAR OF
1812
MILITARY
HOME
.
Jackson's
Military Road
Tomb of Unknown Soldier of War of
1812
- Located southeast of Hamilton,
toward Pikeville on the old Military Road.
- GPS Cordinates:
34.11284 Degrees North, 87.98861 Degrees
West
The War of 1812 was a military conflict
fought between the forces of the United States of America and those of the
British Empire. The Americans declared war in 1812 for several reasons,
including a desire for expansion into the Northwest Territory, trade
restrictions because of Britain's ongoing war with France, impressment of
American merchant sailors into the Royal Navy, British support of American
Indian tribes against American expansion, and the humiliation of American
honor. Until 1814, the British Empire adopted a defensive strategy,
repelling multiple American invasions of the provinces of Upper and Lower
Canada. However, the Americans gained control over Lake Erie in 1813,
seized parts of western Ontario, and destroyed the dream of an Indian
confederacy and an independent Indian state in the Midwest under British
sponsorship. In the Southwest General Andrew Jackson destroyed the
military strength of the Creek nation at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend.
With the defeat of Napoleon in 1814, the British adopted a more aggressive
strategy, sending in three large invasion armies. British victory at the
Battle of Bladensburg in August 1814 allowed the British to capture and
burn Washington, D.C. American victories in September 1814 and January
1815 repulsed all three British invasions in New York, Baltimore and New
Orleans.
The war was fought in three theaters: At sea,
warships and privateers of both sides attacked each other's merchant
ships. The British blockaded the Atlantic coast of the U.S. and mounted
large-scale raids in the later stages of the war. American successes at
sea were characterized by single ship duels against British frigates, and
combat against British provincial vessels on the Great Lakes, such as at
the action on Lake Erie. Both land and naval battles were fought on the
frontier, which ran along the Great Lakes and Saint Lawrence River. The
South and the Gulf coast saw major land battles in which the American
forces destroyed Britain's Indian allies and repulsed the main British
invasion force at New Orleans. Both sides invaded each other's territory,
but these invasions were unsuccessful or temporary. At the end of the war,
both sides occupied parts of the other's territory, but these areas were
restored by the Treaty of Ghent.
In the U.S., battles such as the Battle of New
Orleans and the earlier successful defense of Baltimore (which inspired
the lyrics of the U.S. national anthem, "The Star-Spangled Banner")
produced a sense of euphoria over a "second war of independence" against
Britain. It ushered in an "Era of Good Feelings" in which the partisan
animosity that had once verged on treason nearly vanished. Canada also
emerged from the war with a heightened sense of national feeling and
solidarity, having repelled multiple American invasions. Battles such as
the Battle of Queenston Heights were used as such examples by Canadians.
The war is scarcely remembered in Britain today, as it regarded the war as
a sideshow to the much larger war against Napoleon raging in Europe; as
such it welcomed an era of peaceful relations and trade with the United
States.
| Date |
June 18, 1812 – February 18,
1815 |
| Location |
Eastern and Central
North America, Atlantic and Pacific |
| Result |
Treaty of Ghent
Status quo ante
bellum |
| Belligerents |
United States
Choctaw
Cherokee
Creek
allies |
- British Empire
- United Kingdom
- the Canadas
- Shawnee
Creek Red
Sticks
Ojibway
Chickamauga
Fox
Iroquois
Miami
Mingo
Ottawa
Kickapoo
Delaware
(Lenape)
Mascouten
Potawatomi
Sauk
Wyandot |
| Strength |
United States
•Regular
Army:
— 7,000 (at start of war);
— 35,800 (at
war's end)
•Rangers: 3,049
•Militia: 458,463
*
•United States Navy,
U.S.
Marines, and
Revenue Cutter
Service
(at start of war):
— Frigates:
6
— Other vessels: 14
Native allies:
— 125
Choctaw,
— (unknown others) |
British Empire
•British
Army:
— 5,200 (at start of war);
— 48,160 (at
war's end)
•Prov. regulars: 10,000
•Provincial
Militia: 4,000
•Royal Navy and
Royal Marines:
— Ships of the line: 11
— Frigates:
34
— Other vessels: 52
•Provincial Marine ‡ :
—
Ships: 9 (at start of war)
Native allies:
— 10,000
|
| Casualties and losses |
2,260 killed in
action.
4,505 wounded.
15,000
(est.)
died from all causes. |
1,600 killed in action.
3,679 wounded.
3,321
died from disease. |
* Some militias operated in
only their own regions.
† Killed in action
‡ A locally raised coastal
protection and seminaval force on the Great
Lakes. |
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