The American Military - A Narrative History

by Brad D. Lookingbill

  Throughout the winter months, Jackson's army remained near Fort Strother. Reinforced by fresh recruits as well as by Cherokee, Choctaw, and Creek allies, the audacious commander advanced southward that spring with close to 4,000 effectives. The Red Sticks fortified a loop on the Tallapoosa River that they called Tohopeka, where 1,000 warriors protected about 300 women and children. On the morning of March 27, 1814, Jackson ordered his artillery to open fire on the breastworks. During the Battle of Horseshoe Bend, they charged amid a hail of bullets and arrows. Lieutenant Sam Houston of the 39th Infantry Regiment led the way over one barricade of logs but received multiple wounds in the ferocious fighting. The next morning, Jackson counted 557 Creek corpses on the ground and estimated that another 300 floated down the river. Among all of his forces, the casualties amounted to 70 dead and 206 wounded. At the junction of the Tallapoosa and Coosa Rivers, he erected Fort Jackson and threatened further action unless the Creek capitulated. Consequently, the Treaty of Fort Jackson stripped the Creek of half their homeland.

  Trumpeting the victories over the Creek, the War Department rewarded Jackson with a commission as a major general in the U.S. Army. He assumed command of the 7th Military District, which included Tennessee, Louisiana, and the Mississippi Territory. At Pensacola and Apalachicola, a British force began to reorganize, to resupply, and to regroup the anti-American Indians in the Gulf. Alarmed by the gathering threats west of the Appalachians, the Missouri Gazette announced: “The general cry is let the north as well as the south be JACKSONIZED!!!”

  Border Battles

  While Great Britain regarded the war in North America as a sideshow, joint operations by U.S. forces on the Great Lakes opened a broad front during 1813. However, the lack of military action east of Lake Erie left American outposts along the northern border on the defensive. British forces raided along Lake Champlain, where they hit Plattsburgh and unsettled New Yorkers. Congress approved 20 additional regiments for one year of service in the Army, but the War Department found few recruits ready to march into battle.

  With Lake Erie in American hands, Commodore Perry paved the way for U.S. commanders to restart the offensive into Canada. Over the summer of 1813, Harrison organized 5,500 regulars and militia into the Army of the Northwest. Major George Croghan successfully defended Fort Stephenson from an assault by Procter's troops, although Tecumseh and his warriors continued raiding in the woodlands. Procter decided to withdraw to the Thames River, which allowed Harrison to take Fort Malden unopposed. Consequently, a regiment of mounted Kentucky riflemen under Colonel Richard Mentor Johnson secured Fort Detroit. With the British abandoning their “red brothers” around Lake Erie, Harrison led the Army northward.

  On the morning of October 5, Harrison made contact with Procter on the banks of the Thames River, just over a mile west of Moraviantown. British forces numbered about 2,900, though only a third were regulars. Tecumseh positioned his warriors on the right, forming a line slanting forward. Instead of advancing with infantry in the traditional line against line fashion, Harrison ordered a mounted attack. “The American backwoodsmen,” he opined, “ride better in the woods than any other people.” In fact, Johnson's Kentuckians rushed the Indians while shouting “Remember the River Raisin!” Unable to withstand the fast and furious assaults, the British surrendered in droves. Procter fled from another field of battle, while the Americans routed his remaining forces in less than an hour. In the Battle of the Thames, American losses amounted to 15 killed and 30 wounded. They mauled their enemies in the swamp, where Tecumseh fell among the dead.

  The decisive victory not only shattered Tecumseh's confederacy but also elevated Harrison's reputation. His bridgehead extended some 50 miles into Canada, but he made no effort to pursue Procter any further. The autumn weather made the Canadian roads difficult for the transportation of supplies overland, while many of the Kentuckians went home to prepare for the coming winter. With the Indians chastened and the British humiliated, Harrison returned to Fort Detroit.

  Leaving Harrison in command of the northwestern outposts, Secretary Armstrong sent most of his troops to Sackets Harbor. To command operations along the St. Lawrence from Lake Ontario, he tapped Wilkinson because of his seniority. He also appointed General Wade Hampton, a wealthy South Carolina planter and Revolutionary War veteran, to command along Lake Champlain. The former decided to bypass Kingston and to join with the latter in a two-pronged attack on Montreal. Unfortunately, the two commanders despised each other and refused to coordinate their campaigns.

  Hampton's campaign turned into a farce, because of the incongruence between the objective of capturing Montreal and the capabilities of his troops. Once again, the New York militia refused to cross the border into Canada. Given a multitude of logistical problems, Hampton left Plattsburgh with no more than 4,000 soldiers. On October 26, a smaller British force repulsed them during the Battle of the Châteauguay. American casualties numbered around 50, while the Canadians lost no more than 25. Afterward, Hampton ordered a retreat to his base of operations and resigned from military service.

  While Hampton floundered near the St. Lawrence, Wilkinson's 6,000 troops moved downriver in no condition to fight. Suffering from several ailments, the commander consumed large quantities of laudanum – essentially opium – that left him with “a giddy head.” On November 11, Wilkinson sent General John P. Boyd on an attack against smaller British and Canadian units to his rear. After absorbing several volleys, Boyd's larger force faltered in the Battle of Chrysler's Farm. The Americans suffered 102 killed in action and another 237 wounded. Nevertheless, they pressed onward to the mouth of the Salmon River before establishing a winter camp at French Mills. With supplies nearly exhausted, they suffered for months from disease, hunger, and cold. The only attacks Wilkinson launched thereafter appeared in correspondence, which heaped blame on Hampton for their border fiascos.

  By the end of the year, American troops had abandoned the outposts along the border. Upon evacuating Fort George, they burned the Canadian village of Newark and parts of Queenston. Seeking revenge, British forces captured Fort Niagara on the U.S. side of the river. After dispersing the local militia, red-clad soldiers and Indian auxiliaries burned Lewiston, Black Rock, and Buffalo to the ground. The viciousness of the fighting prompted the London Times to denounce the Americans as “savages” in early 1814, “for such they are, in a much truer sense, than the followers of Tecumseh or the Prophet.”

  Jefferson continued urging the Madison administration to “stop Indian barbarities” from the Great Lakes to the Mississippi River, but political opposition to the war spread. With the nation essentially bankrupt, Congress authorized the Treasury Department to finance military campaigns through increased borrowing and internal taxes. At the State Department, Monroe insisted that all future strategic initiatives required approval by the entire cabinet. However, the War Department lacked a staff capable of planning, organizing, and coordinating an offensive operation on a large scale. Armstrong began to purge the senior leadership of the Army while elevating junior officers to command.

  Among the brigade commanders of Brown's Left Division, Scott – now a brigadier general – organized a “camp of instruction” near Buffalo. He trained the regiments more than 10 hours a day for three months, drilling them on tactics and formations. Frequent parades nurtured their sense of pride and proficiency. With an emphasis on what he called “police,” he intended to keep the Army strong through strict sanitation and proper rations. “The men are healthy, sober, cheerful, and docile,” he boasted. The regulars exhibited better morale, while the surgeons noted that discipline seemed to exorcise “the demon diarrhea.” Because the standard blue uniform was unavailable, the commissary issued short gray jackets to them. According to tradition, the cadets at West Point later adopted the uniform color to honor Scott's “Grays.”

  In the summer of 1814, Scott led his brigade across the Niagara River to begin another campaign. Joining other brigades on the Canadian shore, U.S. forces sw
iftly captured Fort Erie. General Phineas Riall, the British commander at Fort George, organized a defensive line along the Chippawa River. As Scott hurried his troops across a bridge on Street Creek, British artillery pounded them. The Americans continued to advance with precision, which prompted Riall to utter: “Those are regulars, by God!” With over 1,000 soldiers massing on each side, the lines came together on July 5. During the Battle of Chippawa, the British retreated while taking heavy losses. The Americans suffered 44 killed in action in addition to 224 wounded. At Chippawa, U.S. regiments demonstrated newfound capabilities to maneuver under fire without breaking ranks.

  Brown sent regiments from Chippawa to Queenston Heights, but Riall formed a new defensive line on Lundy's Lane running west from Portage Road. Because Commodore Chauncey refused to assist with the transportation of troops, Scott's brigade marched directly into another battle. While the British amassed over 3,000 in the field, the Americans reinforced their advance with a total of 2,000 men. On July 25, the Battle of Lundy's Lane raged into the night. Lieutenant Colonel James Miller of the 21st Infantry Regiment received an order from Brown to storm a British artillery battery in a churchyard, to which he replied courageously: “I'll try, sir!” Though successful, he called it “one of the most desperately fought actions” of the war. Both Scott and Brown received wounds, as did Riall. American losses reached 173 dead, 571 wounded, 38 missing, and 79 captured. With the British still commanding the field, U.S forces grudgingly withdrew to Fort Erie.

  At Fort Erie, a long siege by the British eventually ended with an American evacuation. During a driving rainstorm that August, the opposing sides fought hand-to-hand and toe-to-toe. Sparks from a cannon muzzle ignited a stockpile of gunpowder, which sent bodies flying from the outpost. Whatever the moral victories, Brown's thrust to the falls of Niagara accomplished little more than the previous operations across the northern front.

  With only minor engagements by the standards of the Napoleonic Wars, the Niagara campaign constituted America's most complex operation of the period. Unfortunately, U.S. ships did not prevent the British from using Lake Ontario for supply and reinforcements on the shores. U.S. forces found few good roads for wagons and packhorses, which compounded the logistical problems of the border battles. Though unable to achieve any strategic objectives, a new generation of American soldiers began to evolve into an effective combat force.

  The British Invasion

  With the defeat of Napoleon in 1814, Great Britain began to plan major offensives against the U.S. The new Royal Navy commander in North America, Vice Admiral Sir Alexander Cochrane, predicted “a complete drubbing” of their foes. With impunity, naval squadrons conducted hit-and-run raids along the Atlantic seaboard. Hearing the roar of the British lion, the Madison administration scrambled to defend the nation from attack.

  That summer, Madison sent negotiators to meet with British diplomats in the Flemish city of Ghent. John Quincy Adams, the son of the former president, chaired the American delegation, which included Speaker of the House Clay and former Treasury Secretary Albert Gallatin. From the outset, the British demanded that the Americans cede parts of the northern borderlands, abandon fishing rights near Labrador and Newfoundland, remove U.S. ships from the Great Lakes, accept an Indian buffer state west of the Appalachian Mountains, and give up command of the Mississippi River. The negotiations in Ghent stalled, while the British deployed battle-tested regiments to North America.

  To gain chips for the bargaining table, the British dispatched 4,000 troops under General Robert Ross to the Chesapeake Bay. In mid-August, the redcoats landed along the Patuxent River and marched toward Washington D.C. Relying mostly upon 5,000 militiamen to defend the capital on August 24, U.S. forces under General William H. Winder met the enemy on a road in Bladensburg, Maryland. Madison watched from a safe distance, because he preferred “leaving the military movement to military men.” Nevertheless, he ordered Commodore Joshua Barney and hundreds of sailors to trundle their heavy guns from the naval yard. Secretary of State Monroe volunteered as a cavalry scout, although he changed the disposition of the defenses without proper authority. Outflanked by the attackers, American losses amounted to 26 killed in action and 51 wounded. Because Ross easily dispersed their lines, observers dubbed the Battle of Bladensburg with a more descriptive name – the “Bladensburg Races.”

  With the road from Bladensburg cleared, British troops marched into Washington D.C. that evening. Seeking revenge for the sacking of York, Rear Admiral George Cockburn urged Ross to torch everything. They looted and burned the executive mansion, which some called the White House. Dolly Madison snatched George Washington's portrait as she fled, thereby saving a national treasure from pilferage by the redcoats. As pandemonium spread, officials evacuated the Treasury, State, and War Department as well as Capitol Hill. Public buildings and the naval yard erupted in flames. British officers searched for someone to discuss terms of surrender, but no cabinet member remained in the city. A severe thunderstorm extinguished most of the fires and produced a tornado that forced the British to return to their ships.

  Troops on board British frigates plundered supplies from towns along the Potomac River, while Madison remained on the move in the Virginia countryside for nearly four days and nights. He and his wife returned to Washington D.C., although they never again resided in the fire-damaged White House. After the resignation of Armstrong for his failure to defend the capital, Monroe agreed to serve as both the Secretary of State and the Secretary of War.

  Meanwhile, Prévost steered 15,000 British veterans and Canadian militiamen southward into New York. General George Izard, the U.S. commander along the Niagara, recognized the nation's exposed defenses and forewarned the War Department to no avail. Moving slowly along the Richelieu River, the redcoats arrived at Plattsburgh in early September. However, they tarried in the field while searching for a ford across the Saranac River. Though overmatched, General Alexander Macomb held the high ground opposite Plattsburgh with a force of about 3,400 Americans. Led by Captain George Downie, a British flotilla on Lake Champlain guarded Prévost's flank and supplied the lines.

  The British commanders underestimated Commodore Thomas Macdonough, who constructed a small American fleet on the lake. His 14 vessels included a corvette named the U.S.S. Saratoga in addition to a brig called the U.S.S. Eagle. He anchored them in the deep waters of Plattsburgh Bay, where they waited beyond the range of British guns but in position to protect the American line. The 15 ships of the Royal Navy surpassed the weight of the U.S. vessels, although the latter held an advantage at close range with carronades. The opposing lines battled broadside by broadside on September 11, when the Americans won a decisive victory. Macdonough masterfully exposed his foes to heavy raking and executed anchored maneuvers with his ships to swing and to fire. Downie perished in the Battle of Plattsburgh, while the entire British flotilla was destroyed or captured in a matter of hours. In respect to personnel, the Americans lost 52 killed in action and 58 wounded. Worried about logistics, Prévost ordered a hasty retreat to Canada the next day.

  Still expecting Prévost to score a knockout blow in the north, British forces in the Chesapeake sailed toward the port of Baltimore. Landing at North Point, the redcoats faced serious resistance a few miles from the city. Forming an American line largely with militia, General Samuel Smith awaited their advance with 10,000 troops behind earthworks. While fighting the Battle of North Point, Ross suffered a mortal wound on September 12. The British won control of the battlefield outside Baltimore, but both sides suffered hundreds of casualties.

  British warships soon bombarded Fort McHenry, which guarded the Baltimore harbor. Major George Armistead, the post commander, lacked the arsenal to match the firepower of the bomb ketches and H.M.S. Erebus. They sailed close enough to fire Congreve rockets and mortar shells at the fortifications, but Armistead refused to capitulate. Four Americans died in the massive bombardment, while another 24 suffered wounds. On the morning of September 14, the Bri
tish ceased firing and began withdrawing.

  Francis Scott Key, a Georgetown lawyer seeking to negotiate the release of a civilian prisoner of war, watched that morning through a telescope from a nearby truce ship. When Key saw the U.S. flag waving, he began to compose a poem of commemoration. Called the “Defence of Fort McHenry,” his words seemed to salvage the pride of a nation on the verge of doom. The final verse proclaimed “conquer we must” in a rhyme with the motto: “In God is our trust.” Long after the British invasion, the lyric became known as “The Star-Spangled Banner.”

  The British invasion of the Chesapeake ended that fall, even though the war remained far from over. British forces continued to occupy parts of a Massachusetts exclave known as Maine while strangling the commercial interests of the Atlantic seaboard. The sacking of Washington D.C. left the U.S. demoralized, although American leaders quickly recovered and rebuilt the capital. The War Department submitted a plan for military conscription to Congress, but both Republicans and Federalists chafed at the unpopular request. As winter came, the federal government lacked the means to fund the construction of additional warships. Without measures to shore up the defenses, the nation remained vulnerable to more attacks.

  New Orleans

  London remained optimistic about the next operation of the war, which targeted the Gulf Coast of North America. The Secretary of State for War and the Colonies, Henry Bathurst, urged British commanders to arm the Creek and Seminole Indians in Spanish Florida. Furthermore, they offered freedom to runaway slaves in exchange for enlisting in His Majesty's service. According to Cochrane's southern strategy in 1814, Great Britain intended to wrest territory between the Georgia frontier and the Mississippi River from the U.S.