The War of 1812

by Donald R Hickey

  The Battle of Horseshoe Bend quickly turned into a slaughter. Most of the hostile Creeks preferred death to surrender, and those who tried to escape were shot down. Even Jackson admitted that the “carnage was dreadfull.”147 Close to 800 hostile Indians perished, while Jackson’s own force sustained only 200 casualties.148 “The fiends of the Tallapoosa,” Jackson triumphantly intoned, “will no longer murder our Women and Children, or disturb the quiet of our borders.”149

  William Weatherford, who had taken part in the Fort Mims massacre and emerged as a conspicuous Red Stick leader, later marched into Jackson’s camp to surrender. “My people are no more!!” he reportedly said. “Their bones are bleaching on the plains of Tallushatches, Talladega, and Emuckfau.”150 Impressed by his bravery, Jackson spared Weatherford, who took a message of peace to other Red Sticks still in the region. Weatherford lived out his days as an affluent and respected Alabama planter, but the other Creeks did not fare so well. “They . . . [have] forfeighted all right to the Territory we have conquered,” Jackson wrote.151

  Even though many of the Creeks had sided with the United States, on August 9, 1814, Jackson forced all the tribal leaders—friend and foe alike—to sign the Treaty of Fort Jackson, which stripped the Indians of some 36,000 square miles of land—over half of their territory. Such a massive land grab pleased Jackson’s western supporters but left official Washington aghast, and the Senate did not approve the treaty until after news of Jackson’s victory at New Orleans had arrived six months later.152

  Jackson’s victories in the Southwest, coupled with those of Perry and Harrison in the Northwest, greatly increased American security on the western frontier. The only problem with these victories was that they had occurred in regions too remote to affect the outcome of the war with Great Britain. On the more important fronts—along the Niagara and St. Lawrence rivers—the United States had made no headway in its efforts to dislodge the British. After two years of campaigning, Canada remained in British hands, and victory for the United States seemed as remote as ever.

  The War at Sea

  If the war on land went better for the United States in 1813, the war at sea went worse. This was to be expected because the ocean was Britain’s element. The British had been slow to exploit their naval superiority in the first six months of the war, which had led to considerable domestic criticism.153 In response, the government in early 1813 increased its naval force in American waters to ten ships-of-the-line, thirty-eight frigates, and fifty-two smaller vessels. In the months that followed, the buildup continued so that total British naval strength in the Western Hemisphere rose by more than 50 percent, from 83 vessels in June 1812 to 129 vessels in July 1813.154

  The government also lectured Admiral Sir John Borlase Warren, who was put in charge of all British naval forces in the North Atlantic and Caribbean, on what was expected of him in the ensuing campaign. “It is of the highest importance to the character and interests of the country,” wrote the Admiralty, “that the naval force of the enemy should be quickly and completely disposed of.” Warren was “to bring the naval war to a termination, either by the capture of the American national vessels, or by strictly blockading them in their own waters.”155

  The British Blockade the Atlantic Coast

  Warren had already established a blockade from Charleston, South Carolina, to Spanish Florida in the fall of 1812.156 With his enlarged fleet, he extended this blockade in early 1813 to the Chesapeake and Delaware bays and then to other ports and harbors in the middle and southern states. Thus by November 1813, the entire coast south of New England was under blockade. Warren exempted New England, both to reward her for opposing the war and to keep up the flow of provisions to Canada and the British West Indies. (By this time, British troops in the Spanish Peninsula no longer needed American grain.)157

  The War on the Atlantic Coast

  The War in the Chesapeake

  The British blockade had a crushing effect on American foreign trade. “Commerce is becoming very slack,” reported a resident of Baltimore in the spring of 1813; “no arrivals from abroad, & nothing going to sea but sharp [that is, fast] vessels.”158 By the end of the year, the sea lanes had become so dangerous that merchants wishing to insure oceangoing voyages had to shell out 50 percent of the value of the ship and cargo.159

  With British warships hovering nearby, the coasting trade had become perilous, too, forcing American merchants to resort to overland transportation. But there were few good roads, and even the best broke down under heavy use and the ongoing assault of the elements. “The roads [in Virginia] . . . are worse than usual,” Nathaniel Macon reported in March 1813; “it takes 38 hours to travel from Fredericksburg to Alexandria the distance 50 miles.” “The road is literally cut hub deep,” wrote a New Jersey traveler in May; “wagons innumerable [are] passing and repassing from Trenton to New York with goods.”160

  The stoppage of trade created gluts and shortages everywhere. Sugar that sold for $9 a hundredweight in August 1813 in New Orleans commanded $21.50 in New York and $26.50 in Baltimore. Rice selling for $3 a hundredweight in Charleston or Savannah brought $9 in New York and $12 in Philadelphia. Flour, which was $4.50 a barrel in Richmond, fetched $8.50 in New York and almost $12 in Boston.161 With New York contractors bidding up the price of flour to feed U.S. troops operating to the north, one traveler reported seeing 2,000 barrels en route to the city. “Every hut, blacksmith’s shop, house, shed and hovel is filled with flour,” he said; “10, 20, 60, 100 Barrels in a place, and piled on the sides of the road, and many loads thrown down in the mire.”162

  Because the blockade curtailed imports from abroad, a panic set in at the end of 1813 that drove up prices. “A rage for speculation,” reported a Philadelphia merchant, “has seized our traders.”163 Coffee, tea, sugar, salt, cotton, molasses, and spices suddenly doubled, tripled, or even quadrupled in price. The “mania for commercial speculations and monopolies,” said the New York Columbian, is “extensive and increasing.”164 One Republican paper called the speculation “criminal,” and another urged people to boycott overpriced goods.165 The press insisted that there were ample stocks of most commodities on hand, but not until early 1814, after the arrival of a truce ship raised hopes of peace, did the bubble burst and prices tumble.166

  The U.S. government felt the impact of the blockade because the Treasury was so dependent on taxes on foreign trade. Although the customs duties were doubled at the beginning of the war, government income, which stood at $14 million in 1811, declined to $10 million in 1812 and rose only back to $14 million in 1813. With the cost of the war driving up government expenditures, from $8 million in 1811 to $20 million in 1812 and $32 million in 1813, the administration had to rely ever more on public loans.167 Albert Gallatin did not anticipate how much the British blockade would undermine his balance sheet and disrupt his plan for financing the war.

  British Raids in the Chesapeake

  The British used their naval power not only to put economic and financial pressure on the United States but also to bring the war home to the American people, especially in the Chesapeake Bay. Warren, who had no stomach for raiding and plundering, assigned the command in these waters to Rear Admiral Sir George Cockburn (pronounced Co-burn). Cockburn was a bold and able officer in the prime of a long and distinguished naval career.168 Guided through the countryside by runaway slaves, he devoted the spring of 1813 to plundering the Chesapeake. His immediate aim was to destroy American warships, burn government supplies, and ruin the coastal trade. His larger purpose was to show Americans the perils of making war on the Mistress of the Seas.169

  Rear Admiral Sir George Cockburn (1772–1853) perfected the fine art of amphibious warfare in the Chesapeake in 1813–14 and was largely responsible for the decision to attack the nation’s capital. Although he followed the laws of war as he understood them, he was long remembered as “the despoiler of the Chesapeake.” (Portrait by W. Greatbatch. Library and Archives of Canada)

  In late Apr
il Cockburn sailed into the Upper Chesapeake, attacked and burned Frenchtown, Maryland, and destroyed the ships that were docked there. Several days later he marched to Principio, where a cannon foundry and forty-five cannons were destroyed. In early May Cockburn’s forces swept aside the local militia and looted and burned three other towns in Maryland: Havre de Grace, Georgetown, and Fredericktown. At Havre de Grace the militia fled after one of the defenders was killed by a Congreve rocket. To drive home the purpose of the campaign, a British naval officer told people in Havre de Grace: “you shall now feel the effects of war.”170 The only time that the British were rebuffed was at Fort Defiance, which spared the town of Elkton. Otherwise, they moved freely on American soil for two weeks without meeting effective resistance.171 This caused considerable consternation. “On my way from Philadelphia to Washington,” recalled a Republican congressman, “I found the whole country excited by these depredations. Cockburn’s name was on every tongue, with various particulars of his incredibly coarse and blackguard misconduct.”172

  In mid-June Warren returned to the Chesapeake with reinforcements, determined to attack Norfolk, Virginia, a regional commercial center that harbored the frigate Constellation. Brigadier General Robert B. Taylor of the Virginia militia, who was in charge of the local defenses, prepared for the attack by assembling 750 men and fortifying Craney Island, which commanded the approaches to Norfolk. A flotilla of gunboats under the command of Captain John Cassin protected the channel behind the island. Some 2,400 men took part in the assault. Part of the force, led by Colonel Thomas Sidney Beckwith, who had earned a reputation fighting for Wellington in the Peninsular War, landed on the mainland west of the island, while the rest approached in barges commanded by Captain Samuel J. Pechell of the Royal Navy. Both assault forces sustained heavy artillery fire and were stalled by natural obstacles. Beckwith’s land force could not ford the deep water that separated the island from mainland, and Pechell’s barges ran aground in mud when they were still far from the shore. The entire British force had no choice but to retreat. In the Battle of Craney Island, the British sustained about eighty killed, wounded, or missing, while the Americans had no losses at all.173

  The British next attacked Hampton, Virginia, with a force of 2,000 men. The 450 militia commanded by Major Stapleton Crutchfield who were charged with defending the town offered surprisingly stout resistance before being overwhelmed and forced to retreat. Once the fighting ended, the civilian population was subjected to all kinds of abuse. According to Lieutenant Colonel Charles Napier, a young British officer who later gained fame in India, “every horror was committed with impunity, rape, murder, pillage: and not a man was punished!”174 The guilty were French deserters and prisoners-of-war who had enlisted in two independent companies of foreigners. Unruly in the best of circumstances, these troops became thoroughly unmanageable when they realized that their French officers were stealing their pay. The British sent the two companies to Halifax, where they continued to terrorize civilians. “The Inhabitants of Halifax are in the greatest alarm about these fellows,” said a British official.175 The trouble ended only when the offending units were shipped to Europe and disbanded.176

  The British occupied Kent Island in early August and renewed their raids on the Eastern Shore. Colonel Beckwith led a joint operation against Queenstown on August 13. Although local militiamen were overwhelmed, they inflicted a number of casualties before retreating. Moreover, because the British could not tell where the enemy fire was coming from, they panicked and fired in all directions, producing some casualties from friendly fire. The British also targeted St. Michaels, first on August 10 and then again on August 26, but unaccountably withdrew without destroying the town’s shipyard. A story surfaced in the late nineteenth century that residents induced the British to overshoot the mark with their artillery in the first attack by hanging lanterns in trees and two-story houses, but there is no contemporary evidence to support this tale.177

  The British depredations caused a great deal of bitterness in the Chesapeake. Niles’ Register attacked Warren and dubbed his troops “water-Winnebagoes”—an allusion to the most militant Indians in the Old Northwest. Cockburn drew even greater fire. “The wantonness of his barbarities,” said Niles, “have gibbetted him on infamy.”178 Some Americans, however, benefited from the British presence. When they met with no resistance, the British usually paid for the provisions they needed. Those willing to do business with the invaders—and there were many—profited handsomely. In addition, a growing number of runaway slaves found sanctuary with the British and were given a choice of either enlisting in the service or settling in the West Indies.179 This was a matter of grave concern to southerners, who, fearing a slave rebellion, stepped up their militia patrols. “All accounts agree,” a northern congressman reported, “that [the British] are recruiting rapidly from the Plantations; . . . there begins to be loud howling on this subject.”180

  Naval Engagements

  There were fewer naval engagements in 1813 than in 1812 because most American warships were bottled up in port. Even those that managed to escape often returned empty-handed because British warships now sailed in squadrons and British merchantmen in convoys. The Navy Department ordered American warships to cruise separately and to avoid battle except under the most favorable circumstances. Their mission was “to destroy the commerce of the enemy, from the cape of good Hope [off the tip of South Africa], to cape clear [off the Irish coast].”181 There were only four naval duels on the high seas in this campaign, and three of these ended in defeat for the United States.

  In May 1813 thirty-one-year-old James Lawrence, who had earlier commanded the U.S.Sloop Hornet (20 guns) in its victory over the British sloop Peacock (20 guns), was given command of the Chesapeake (50 guns) when the captain assigned to this vessel asked to be relieved because an old war wound had flared up.182 The Chesapeake was fitted out in Boston. Although there was some grumbling among Chesapeake’s crew over prize money, Lawrence’s biggest problem was an inexperienced set of officers and the lack of an opportunity to train with his crew. The Chesapeake badly needed a shakedown cruise, but in his eagerness to do battle, Lawrence ignored this.183

  Hovering off the coast of Boston were two British frigates, the Shannon (52 guns), commanded by thirty-five-year-old Captain Philip Broke (pronounced Brook), and the Tenedos (47 guns?). Broke was a superb officer who had been cruising in the Shannon since 1806. Using his own money, he outfitted his ship with special aiming devices, and, unlike other British naval commanders after Trafalgar, he drilled his crew incessantly in gunnery using live ammunition. According to a British officer who was assigned to the American station, “The Shannon’s men were better trained, and understood gunnery better, than any men I ever saw.”184 As the Chesapeake was preparing to sail, Broke sent the Tenedos away and dispatched a challenge to Lawrence for a meeting “Ship to Ship, to try the fortunes of our respective Flags.”185 Lawrence sailed before this challenge arrived, but he needed no invitation.

  On June 1 the Chesapeake emerged from port flying a banner that read “Free Trade and Sailors Rights.” Lawrence made for the Shannon, but for reasons that are unclear, he passed up a chance to cut across the British ship’s stern and rake her. Instead, the two ships lined up parallel to each other and exchanged broadsides at close range. Very quickly superior gunnery carried the day for the Shannon, taking a terrific toll on the American officers, men, and ship. The Chesapeake lost control, was subjected to a murderous raking fire, and then boarded. Lawrence was wounded but repeatedly urged his men to fight on, uttering “Don’t give up the ship” and similar expressions. His men, however, suffered heavy casualties and had no choice but to surrender. Lawrence’s wounds were mortal, but he lingered on for three days after the battle and thus knew the fate of his ship. The British took control of the Chesapeake and sailed her into Halifax as a prize of war. The vessel was later taken to England, broken up, and her timbers used in the construction of a flour mill.186

&
nbsp; The Shannon’s victory, which was accomplished in only fifteen minutes, provided a great boost to British morale. It was the first defeat of an American frigate in the war and ended a long string of American naval victories. The British people were ecstatic. “Captain Broke and his crew,” said the London Morning Chronicle, “have vindicated the character of the British Navy.”187 The Naval Chronicle called the British triumph “the most brilliant act of heroism ever performed,” and the news was greeted in Parliament with the “loudest and most cordial acclamations from every part of the House.”188 Broke never fully recovered from a head wound received in the battle, but he was made a baronet, given the key to London, and showered with gifts from an appreciative nation.189

  Captain James Lawrence (1781–1813) of the U.S. Frigate Chesapeake was mortally wounded when his ship was defeated by the British frigate Shannon. In this idealized picture, Lawrence looks to heaven as his men carry him away from the battle. (J. A. Spencer, History of the United States)

  Lawrence, on the other hand, was given a hero’s funeral in New York City that was reportedly attended by 50,000 people.190 He was honored in a poem by Philip Freneau and eulogized in newspapers across the nation.191 “The brave, the noble Lawrence is no more,” said the Maryland Republican. “He who added the last brilliant trophy to our triumphal diadem [with his victory over the Peacock], the bed of glory has received.”192 Acting on orders from the secretary of the navy, Perry paid tribute to Lawrence by naming his flagship on Lake Erie after him. He also flew a banner emblazoned with Lawrence’s words—“Don’t give up the ship.”193 After Perry’s celebrated victory on the lake, this slogan became the motto of the young navy and replaced “free trade and sailors’ rights” as the rallying cry of the war.