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About The War: Testing A New Nation’s Resolve
2018-06-13 08:28:35
THE WAR OF 1812 AND THE CHESAPEAKE CAMPAIGN
Beginning in the spring of 1813, the world’s greatest military power brought war to the peaceful and pristine Chesapeake Bay region. Britain’s Royal Navy conducted numerous raids, fought fierce battles and turned the beautiful Bay landscape into a scene of terror and destruction.
By the war’s conclusion in early 1815, people throughout the region had mustered the courage to stand up for their homes, their towns and their freedom. A fledgling nation, still forging its identity, found solidarity in its defense.
THE BEGINNING
Americans had won their hard-fought independence from British rule a mere three decades earlier. Now, amid raging debates regarding issues of free trade and westward expansion, the young United States once more declared war against Great Britain.
Britain, intending to strike a blow against Napoleonic France, had imposed restrictions against American trade with the European continent. The Royal Navy also intercepted U.S. merchant ships in order to seize seamen and conscript them into service. At the same time, the British united with American Indians to obstruct U.S. expansion into disputed territories along the Great Lakes and Northern Frontier.
Even as the fighting began, America remained divided on the exact course to take. The odds were stacked against the United States, which had only 17 warships compared to more than 500 in the Royal Navy. Violent riots broke out in Baltimore in 1812 as pro-war factions vandalized the office of an anti-war newspaper.
The British first used a defensive strategy, blockading the Atlantic coast and thwarting U.S. invasions of Britishcontrolled Canada. But when England’s war with France concluded and Napoleon was temporarily exiled, the conflict heated up.
THE CHESAPEAKE CAMPAIGN
Beginning in February 1813, the British blockaded the 200-mile-long Chesapeake Bay, disrupting trade and devastating the region’s economy. Troops wreaked havoc all the way from Norfolk, Va., to the mouth of the Susquehanna River near Pennsylvania.
For present-day visitors to the area, the Chesapeake Campaign can be divided into four distinct regions:
■ Throughout Southern Maryland, threats of invasion were ever-present. More British raids were conducted here than anywhere else on the Chesapeake Bay.
Pages 12-17
■ In the Washington, D.C., region, the British captured the young nation’s capital and burned the White House, striking a major blow to American morale.
Pages 18-29
■ Along Maryland’s Eastern Shore, the constantly threatened residents of vulnerable waterfront communities fought to protect their homes.
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■ In Baltimore and vicinity, a stubborn stand at Fort McHenry gave the nation hope for ultimate victory.
Pages 38-49
From region to region, the story of the War of 1812 in the Chesapeake is one that inspires pride and patriotism in all who hear it.
THE WAR’S CONCLUSION
The Treaty of Ghent was signed on December 24, 1814. Major fighting ended a few weeks later.
The U.S. gained no new territory, as terms of the peace treaty restored relations to status quo ante bellum — “the state existing before the war.” But the War of 1812 did propel America into greater maturity as a nation. The states had been tested against a world superpower and were now more truly “united.” Americans felt a stronger sense of collective identity and confirmed their entry on the international stage.
The end of nearly three years of fighting also ushered in an “Era of Good Feelings” between England and the United States that remains to this day.
Lastly, the War of 1812 gave birth to an enduring symbol of American honor — “The Star-Spangled Banner.”
War of 1812 TIMELINE
RED TEXT represents action that is part of the War of 1812 Chesapeake Campaign.
1812
June 18: At President James Madison’s urging, America declares war against the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.
June 23: The U.S. frigate President, commanded by Commodore John Rodgers (a Havre de Grace, Md. native), fires the first shots of the war while sparring with the frigate HMS Belvidera below Nantucket Island.
July 12: General William Hull sets off on an invasion of Canada. One month later, Hull surrenders Fort Detroit (Michigan) to the British and is court-martialed.
1813
January 18–23: British and Indian allies repel American troops at the Battle of Frenchtown (Michigan). Dozens of American survivors are massacred the next day.
May 3: British raiders destroy most of Havre de Grace despite Lieutenant John O’Neill’s heroism attempting to defend his hometown. O’Neill is captured.
June 1: Mortally wounded in a naval battle off Boston Harbor, Captain James Lawrence of the USS Chesapeake delivers one last order to his crew: “Don’t give up the ship!” But the frigate, which had also been involved in an 1807 incident that was a precipitating factor in the war, is captured by the British vessel HMS Shannon and taken into service by the Royal Navy as the HMS Chesapeake.
August 10: St. Michaels remains mostly unscathed despite a British bombardment, giving birth to the legend of “The Town That Fooled the British.”
September 10: Nine U.S. Navy vessels, including the USS Lawrence flagship that flies a banner containing the words “Don’t Give Up the Ship,” capture six ships of the Royal Navy during the Battle of Lake Erie, giving control of the lake to the U.S. for the remainder of the war.
1814
June 26: After being pinned down for more than two weeks following the First Battle of St. Leonard Creek, Commodore Joshua Barney’s U.S. Chesapeake Flotilla thwarts a British blockade and escapes up the Patuxent River.
August 24–25: The British sweep through Bladensburg, march into Washington, D.C., and destroy the White House and government buildings in retaliation for the burning of York (Toronto) in April 1813.
August 30: A lopsided victory at the Battle of Caulks Field near Chestertown boosts American morale prior to a much larger confrontation to come in Baltimore.
September 6–11: The U.S. secures its northern border by defeating a larger British force at the Battle of Plattsburgh (New York) on Lake Champlain.
RED TEXT represents action that is part of the War of 1812 Chesapeake Campaign.
September 12: British Major General Robert Ross, “the Man who captured Washington, D.C.,” is killed during the Battle of North Point. Though the battle is a tactical defeat for the Americans, they delay the enemy long enough for Baltimore’s defenses to be strengthened.
September 14: A huge American flag is raised triumphantly over Baltimore’s Fort McHenry following a 25-hour British naval bombardment.
September 17: Francis Scott Key’s composition, “Defence of Fort M’Henry,” begins circulating. Within weeks, “The Star-Spangled Banner” (as it has been renamed) resonates with Americans all across the nation.
December 24: American and British diplomats agree to release all prisoners, return captured ships and restore pre-war land boundaries as outlined in the Treaty of Ghent.
1815
January 8: Troops under future U.S. President Andrew Jackson score complete success at the Battle of New Orleans, with most accounts listing British casualties at nearly 2,000 compared to U.S. losses of eight killed and 13 wounded.
February 7: American militiamen capture an icebound British sloop during the Battle of the Ice Mound, fought near Taylors Island. It is the last engagement of the war in Maryland.
February 16–18: The U.S. Senate unanimously ratifies the Treaty of Ghent; President Madison declares the war over.
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