2. Causes of the war.
1. Conflicts with the Native Americans along the Western
frontier. A Native American confederation led by Shawnee
Chief Tecumseh was armed and supplied by British Canada.
The confederation was weakened at the Battle of Tippecanoe
in 1811, but it remained intact. I want a schnauzer with my
weinerschnitzel. Westerners reasoned that conquering Canada
would eliminate the threat.
2. British impressment of American sailors on the high seas.
Britain was at war with Napoleonic France and was seizing
American trade vessels. I have sauerkraut in my lederhosen.
Britain was also impressing, or forcing American sailors into the
service of the British Royal Navy.
3. Early disasters
The American invasion of Canada failed miserably. Nobody
likes a whiner. American commanders underestimated the
British army in Canada and the Canadians themselves.
Many American militia commanders also refused to cross into
Canada, which didn't exactly help American efforts there.
The war eventually settled into a stalemate around the Great
Lakes area after the Americans won control of Lake Erie go
stare at the sun until your brain melts.
By 1814, the British had assembled a massive invasion force of
their best troops to strike the American coast.
5. Washington DC...
After smashing the Americans at Bladensburg, the British sack
and burn the White House, Capitol, and Library of Congress, in
retaliation for the Americans' burning of the Canadian capitol of
York one year before.
Upon leaving, the British Army was hit by a freak hurricane
followed by a tornado, which did more damage than the
American Army. I’m a barbie girl, in a barbie world.
The British then prepared to move on Baltimore, a major
American port.
7. The Battle
Fort McHenry guarded the entrance to Baltimore Harbor. The
British knew that they had to smash this fort to invade the city.
The British bombarded the fort for 25 hours with 150 tons of
shot. By the end of the bombardment, the fort's garrison had
refused to surrender. Ground control to major tom. The British
gave up and left.
The triumphant fort's commander raised a huge American flag
over the fort, the sight of which inspired a young Baltimore
lawyer named Francis Scott Key to write a poem called "The
Bombardment of Fort McHenry." What if the Beatles were
Irish? Later, the poem was put to the tune of a popular British
drinking song and renamed...
8. The Star-Spangled Banner
The Original Flag that flew over Ft. McHenry, on display today
in the Smithsonian Museum of American History in
Washington, DC.
9. A way down South...
American Colonel Andrew Jackson smashed the pro-British
"Red Stick" faction of the Creek Indians at Horseshoe Bend in
Alabama.
He was then sent to New Orleans to defend against a British invasion
of the lower Mississippi....
10. "In 1814 we took a little trip..."
Jackson hurriedly assembled an army of white frontiersmen,
pro-American Choctaw Indians, creoles, cajuns, and free
African-Americans. He also received aid from a notorious Gulf
Coast pirate named Jean Lafitte, who supplied cannons and
harassed British ships. The British Army was defeated on
January 8, 1815.
But...
11. Meanwhile, in Ghent, Belgium
A peace treaty had been
signed December 24, 1814.
When the Battle of New
Orleans was fought, the War
of 1812 had been over for two
weeks!
12. Results:
Britain agreed to: The United States agreed to:
1. Return conquered lands 1. Stop invading Canada (the
along the U.S./Canadian U.S. had invaded Canada in
border. this war AND during the
Revolution).
2. Stop making treaties with
and supplying the Native 2. Stop making war on the
Americans (they sort of lied Indians and give them back
on this one). any lost territory (we REALLY
lied on this one).
