The British struck U.S. forces at Sackets Harbor on May 28, when General Jacob J. Brown of the New York militia took command of the American garrison. Once the enemy landed on Horse Island, the Albany Volunteers began to falter. They engaged in a fighting retreat to Fort Tompkins the next day. From the palisades and the barracks, they delivered several volleys upon the advancing British troops of Sir George Prévost, the Governor General of Canada. Brown successfully rallied his men, holding the position for nearly two hours. With heavy losses, Prévost ordered a hasty withdrawal. Claiming victory, Brown reported 21 dead and 85 wounded in the Battle of Sackets Harbor. For his stalwart leadership in combat, he received a regular commission as a brigadier general in the Army.
Even though the cries of “On to Canada” continued to resound in the U.S., the Army achieved almost nothing with the first campaigns on foreign soil. The operations moved slowly and the militia performed poorly, while the inertia of commanders made the modest strategic and tactical gains on the ground meaningless. To be sure, inexperienced officers began to learn lessons from the battlefield that they intended to apply to military actions going forward. Nevertheless, the incompetence of the American offensives reinforced the view across the Atlantic Ocean that they lacked the prowess of a worthy opponent in war.
Naval Duels
Though outgunned and outclassed by the Royal Navy overall, the U.S. Navy heralded the achievements of durable warships. While a few provided harbor defense along the Atlantic seaboard, others dispersed and sailed alone in search of battle with more than 1,000 vessels flying the British flag. The Navy Department concentrated maritime efforts upon building a squadron to operate on the Great Lakes, because control of the interior waters supported offensives against Canada. To the astonishment of the world, American victories in several engagements defied the dominance of the Royal Navy.
Eager to confront the Royal Navy, Commodore John Rodgers departed New York with a small squadron led by the U.S.S. President. On June 23, 1812, he encountered H.M.S. Belvidera en route to Halifax. He directed his flagship to pursue the British frigate, while exchanging a number of rounds in the first naval duel of the war. However, the Belvidera lightened its load and escaped capture. The crew on board the President sustained 22 casualties, including a wounded Rodgers. He endeavored to pursue a British convoy for weeks but eventually decided to turn south toward the Canary Islands. Departing from Halifax, British warships sailed to New York in a futile attempt to intercept Rodgers upon his return.
The British captured a U.S. brig off the shores of New Jersey, but they soon faced the U.S.S. Constitution – a wooden-hulled, three-masted heavy frigate carrying more than 44 guns. Adorned with 72 different sails, the masterful design blended speed, firepower, and durability into a warship that proved nearly unbeatable. She famously escaped from a British squadron after a 57-hour chase and defeated British warships in spectacular clashes, including two on one day. With an oak hull measuring 2 feet in thickness, the Constitution carried a large complement of heavy 24-pounder guns as well as a seasoned crew of 400 men.
On August 19, 1812, the Constitution's commanding officer, Captain Isaac Hull, spied H.M.S. Guerriere off the coast of Nova Scotia. He pressed sail to get his vessel alongside the smaller British frigate. Holding his guns in check, he closed to 25 yards before ordering a full broadside that included cannonballs and grapeshot canisters. During repeated collisions, the Guerriere's bowsprit became entangled with the Constitution's rigging. When they pulled apart, the force of extraction damaged the Guerriere's rigging. Her foremast collapsed, taking the mainmast down in a crash. In less than a half-hour, the British Commander James Dacres surrendered his wreck. The Americans sustained seven deaths in the battle, while the number of British dead reached 15. Hull freed 10 impressed Americans on board the remains of His Majesty's ship. Moses Smith, an American seaman on board the Constitution, claimed that the British shots in the duel hit the hard plank of the wooden hull but “fell out and sank in the waters.” As a result, he shouted with his seafaring compatriots: “Huzzah! Her sides are made of iron!” The victory earned the Constitution the nickname, “Old Ironsides.”
Afterward, U.S. warships formed three squadrons to harass British convoys. Rodgers operated in the North Atlantic, while Commodore William Bainbridge and Captain Stephen Decatur commanded the other squadrons in the South Atlantic and the Azores, respectively. The operational capabilities of American-built frigates such as the Constitution and the United States surprised the experienced officers of the Royal Navy, which held a nearly flawless record in naval warfare against the French over the previous 20 years. On October 25, 1812, Decatur captured the light British frigate named H.M.S. Macedonian. Two months later, Bainbridge hammered H.M.S. Java before returning to Boston. Though encountering only a handful of ships, Americans on the high seas dared their British rivals to fight them.
After a string of stunning defeats, Great Britain finally won a duel with an American frigate on June 1, 1813. While commanding the U.S.S. Chesapeake, Captain James Lawrence met H.M.S. Shannon commanded by Captain Sir Philip Broke in full daylight. As the two vessels sailed broadside to broadside only 40 yards apart, the British gunners swept the American quarterdeck with a deadly shelling. With Lawrence mortally wounded, the Chesapeake drifted without direction into the Shannon. In the chaos of battle, the fluke of the latter's anchor caught the former. Broke quickly boarded to claim his prize, but Lieutenant George Budd rallied the Americans below deck for a counterattack. Though fighting desperately under the banner “Free Trade and Sailors' Rights,” their spirited resistance collapsed in only 15 minutes. The Americans reported 62 dead, while the British lost 43. In sum, the casualties on board the two ships totaled 228 men. As the victors added the Chesapeake to the Royal Navy, the forlorn Lawrence uttered his last command before expiring: “Don't give up the ship.”
With the establishment of the North American Naval Station, the Royal Navy pressed the blockade and effectively controlled the Atlantic Coast. Nevertheless, Captain David Porter sailed the U.S.S. Essex around Cape Horn during 1813 and seized British whalers in the Pacific Ocean. Outbursts by American privateers occasionally struck British vessels, but the “militia of the sea” preferred to avoid battle while engaging in what amounted to legalized piracy. Accordingly, the commissioned sloops claimed 1,300 prizes by privateering during the war. Large numbers of volunteer seamen flocked to privateer service, which confounded naval officers attempting to man the U.S. warships.
Across the Great Lakes of North America, naval officers waged a battle in the shipyards as well as on the waves. During 1813, Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry supervised the construction of an American squadron at Presque Isle on Lake Erie. He honored his fallen friend by naming one of the brigs the U.S.S. Lawrence, which flew a blue ensign with his last command in bold white letters: “Don't give up the ship.” The brig weighed about 500 tons and carried two masts, while the 20 guns proved effective at close range. In addition to completing construction on another brig, the U.S.S. Niagara, he hastily built three schooner-rigged gunboats. By summer, he had welcomed the timely arrival of a captured brig, three schooners, and a sloop to Presque Isle Bay. Moreover, he assembled a makeshift crew from the castoffs and misfits that trickled inland from the eastern seaports. Employing an innovative system of lifts devised by Noah Brown, a shipwright, Perry and his recruits pushed the untested vessels over the sandy bar and into the lake waters that August.
On September 10, Perry's squadron of nine sailed near Put-in-Bay to challenge a British squadron of six under Commander Robert H. Barclay. The duel on Lake Erie involved ship-to-ship broadsides, but the shifting winds gave credence to a sailor's legend about “Perry's luck.” Two British ships, H.M.S. Detroit and H.M.S. Queen Charlotte, raked Perry's flagship for an hour. Under the command of Lieutenant Jesse Duncan Elliott, the Niagara remained strangely aloof. When the last gun on the Lawrence became unusable, Perry draped the blue ensign over his arm and steered a rowboat a hal
f-mile through intense gunfire to the Niagara. Once aboard, he renewed his attack with courage and decisiveness. After Barclay's lead vessels became entangled during a clumsy maneuver, America's “Wilderness Commodore” poured grape, round, canister, and chain shot upon them. Hence, the entire squadron of the Royal Navy surrendered that day. The British counted 40 killed in action, while the Americans suffered 27 deaths – almost all of them aboard the Lawrence. Perry noted the outcome in a brief dispatch to U.S. forces gathered at the Sandusky, which read: “We have met the enemy, and they are ours.”
The Battle of Lake Erie marked a turning point in the war, because it gave U.S. forces control over the waterway. The heartening news about the naval duels cheered the nation, although the prize of Canada remained in British hands. Even if the Royal Navy still ruled the high seas, Perry's ensign with Lawrence's motto inspired generations of American midshipmen.
Tough as Hickory
At the age of 45, General Andrew Jackson of the Tennessee militia wanted to command an army in 1812. Previously, he had served terms in the House of Representatives and in the Senate. He had acquired land, practiced law, and fought duels, but knew little about military campaigning. Outraged by British tyranny, he issued a public call for the young men of Tennessee to accompany him on “a march across the continent.”
After Congress declared war on Great Britain, the War Department asked Tennessee Governor Willie Blount to defend the southern coastline. He raised a force of 2,000 volunteers and placed them under Jackson's command. Promising to reach “the ramparts of Mobile, Pensacola, and Fort St. Augustine,” the commander set out with the infantry on January 7, 1813. Leading the cavalry, General John R. Coffee joined him at Natchez on the Mississippi River. If British forces took military action along the Gulf of Mexico, then Jackson's army stood ready to block any operations from Florida to Louisiana. With congressional approval, General James Wilkinson at New Orleans moved his troops into West Florida that spring. Given Wilkinson's prompt maneuvering to occupy Mobile, Jackson received orders to disband his force and to return to Nashville.
Despite the aborted campaign, the arduous march through the wilderness established Jackson's reputation as a military leader. He drew from his personal funds to acquire provisions for the volunteers during their journey home. Soldiers under his command said that he was “tough as hickory,” which inspired Jackson's nickname for the rest of his life.
While contemplating his next move in Nashville, Jackson received a challenge to a duel from Jessie Benton and Lieutenant Colonel Thomas Hart Benton. The latter Benton served as Jackson's aide-de-camp but chose to risk insubordination by seconding his brother's challenge. Seconded by Coffee, Jackson eventually exchanged shots with the Bentons at the City Hotel. After receiving a terrible wound, the general refused to allow the surgeons to remove his shattered arm. Jackson kept the arm and the bullet, but the Bentons left Tennessee for the Missouri Territory afterward.
As Jackson convalesced, he received word that a faction of the Muskogee Creek threatened American settlements along the Tombigbee River north of Mobile. Influenced by Tecumseh's plans for a pan-Indian confederacy, the Red Sticks among the Upper Creek derived their names from carrying crimson-colored war clubs. They aggressively promoted traditional views while fighting a civil war against the Lower Creek. William Weatherford, also known as Red Eagle, was one of their ablest leaders. Peter McQueen, another Red Stick leader, received arms and ammunition from Spanish officials in Pensacola. American settlers skirmished with them in the Battle of Burnt Corn on July 27, 1813. A month later, the Red Sticks attacked Fort Mims on the Alabama River and massacred 553 men, women, and children.
After the Fort Mims massacre, Jackson marched an army of 2,000 volunteers southward into the Mississippi Territory. They attempted to construct Fort Strother along the Coosa River while awaiting the arrival of regulars under General John Floyd. As they tarried, Jackson ordered Coffee to organize a concerted strike on the nearby Creek village of Tallushatchee.
On November 3, Coffee led about 1,000 men to Tallushatchee. Pleased that the village people refused to flee, he divided his force into two columns. They quickly encircled the main compound. Two companies advanced into the center of the circle to draw out the poorly armed warriors, who tried to protect their families. The trap worked, because the Red Sticks broke cover in a desperate charge. Coffee closed the circle on them like an anaconda strangling its prey. Davy Crockett, who served in the Tennessee militia at the time, recalled: “We shot them like dogs.” Before the fighting ended that day, they killed at least 186 Creek and seized another 84 as prisoners. By comparison, Coffee lost only five dead and 41 wounded in the Battle of Tallushatchee.
Less than a week later, Jackson rode to the rescue of a pro-American Creek village at Talladega, 30 miles farther south. American troops encircled the Red Sticks, but Weatherford and 700 warriors escaped. In the Battle of Talladega, the better-armed soldiers left hundreds of Red Sticks dead while absorbing 15 killed in action and 85 wounded. During the frightful campaign of 1813, Jackson's army slaughtered more than 1,000 Creek.
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.
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