There is no good study of the war from the British perspective in London. Jon Latimer professed to present this side of the story in 1812: War with America (2007), but he was seduced by the plentitude of American sources, and his account is marred by plagiarism and by far too many factual errors. Jeremy Black does a better job in The War of 1812 in the Age of Napoleon (2009), but his work also suffers from too many errors as well as a superficial treatment of the battles.
In the last twenty years, the best work on the war has focused on the battles and campaigns. Of special note are the studies of Donald E. Graves, particularly Where Right and Glory Lead! The Battle of Lundy’s Lane, 1814, rev. ed. (1997), and Field of Glory: The Battle of Crysler’s Farm, 1813 (1999). The master of the battlefield narrative, Graves is unsurpassed in his ability to understand and explain battles. He has also written a number of valuable articles and pamphlets on the technical side of war in this era—tactics, weapons, training, and the like. The late Robert Malcomson, a grade school teacher who became an accomplished naval historian, also produced two fine studies of land battles, A Very Brilliant Affair: The Battle of Queenston Heights, 1812 (2003), and Capital in Flames: The American Attack on York, 1813 (2008).
Two regional studies written by participants in the war stand out: Robert B. McAfee, History of the Late War in the Western Country (1816), and Arsène Lacarrière Latour, Historical Memoir of the War in West Florida and Louisiana in 1814–15 (1816). Readers interested in Latour’s memoir should use the new edition that was edited and expanded by Gene A. Smith (1999). More recent regional studies of note include these: Alec R. Gilpin, The War of 1812 in the Old Northwest (1958); Sandy Antal, A Wampum Denied: Procter’s War 1812 (1997); Allan S. Everest, The War of 1812 in the Champlain Valley (1981); Christopher T. George, Terror on the Chesapeake: The War of 1812 on the Bay (2000); and an anthology edited by R. Arthur Bowler, War along the Niagara: Essays on the War of 1812 and Its Legacy (1991). Another regional study of note is Alan Taylor, The Civil War of 1812: American Citizens, British Subjects, Irish Rebels, & Indian Allies (2010), which stresses how porous the northern border was and how mutable loyalties were.
The pioneering work on the war at sea was done by British attorney William James, who was annoyed by the boasting and puffery of the early American accounts of the naval war. Determined to uphold the reputation of the Royal Navy, James published two works, A Full and Correct Account of the Chief Naval Occurrences of the Late War (1817) and The Naval History of Great Britain, rev. ed., 6 vols. (1878). Although he sometimes twisted his evidence to make the Royal Navy look good, James was arguably the first modern naval historian because he sought to use primary sources to determine the weight of broadsides of opposing ships in a battle. In response to James, Theodore Roosevelt wrote The Naval History of the War of 1812, 3rd ed., 2 vols. (1900), which is available in several modern one-volume editions. Roosevelt ran out of gas in his second volume, but his work is generally judicious and is still the best treatment of a difficult subject. Another valuable work is Alfred T. Mahan, Sea Power and its Relations to the War of 1812, 2 vols. (1905). Although Mahan saw the war as proof of the need of a large blue-water fleet, his masterly analysis of the larger strategic issues has given his work a timeless quality. Wade G. Dudley presents an illuminating account of the British blockade in Splintering the Wooden Wall: The British Blockade of the United States, 1812–1815 (2003), although he has surprisingly little on the impact of the blockade on the American economy and public finance. There are several fine studies of ships, most notably Tyrone G. Martin, A Most Fortunate Ship: A Narrative History of Old Ironsides, rev. ed. (1997), and Stephen W. H. Duffy, Captain Blakeley and the “Wasp”: The Cruise of 1814 (2001).
For the war on the northern lakes, the best place to start is Robert Malcomson’s superb Lords of the Lake: The Naval War on Lake Ontario, 1812–1814 (1998). For the contest on Lake Erie, David Curtis Skaggs and Gerard T. Altoff have written a fine study, A Signal Victory: The Lake Erie Campaign, 1812–1813 (1997). There are also two useful anthologies devoted to this battle: the collection of essays in Journal of Erie Studies 17 (Fall, 1988); and William Jeffrey Welsh and David Curtis Skaggs, eds., War on the Great Lakes: Essays Commemorating the 175th Anniversary of the Battle of Lake Erie (1991).
The War of 1812 was the last major war in which privateering played a significant role. Two older works are still indispensable: George Coggeshall (who was a privateer captain in the war), History of American Privateers, and Letters-of-Marque, during Our War with England in the Years 1812, ’13 and ’14 (1856); and Edgar S. Maclay, A History of American Privateers (1899). Although both works contain some dubious claims, they are still essential for understanding the privately financed war at sea. Jerome R. Garitee, The Republic’s Private Navy: The American Privateering Business as Practiced by Baltimore during the War of 1812 (1977), is a superb study of the in-port side of privateering, and Faye Kert has written a fine account of Canadian privateers, Prize and Prejudice: Privateering and Naval Prize in Atlantic Canada in the War of 1812 (1997).
For the role of Indians in the war, there is no comprehensive study, but several works are useful. In His Majesty’s Indian Allies: British Indian Policy in the Defence of Canada, 1774–1815 (1993), Robert S. Allen traces Britain’s alliance with natives. Carl Benn has written a superb account of the role of Iroquois on both sides of the border in The Iroquois in the War of 1812 (1999), and John Sugden has a good account of the great Shawnee leader’s last days in Tecumseh’s Last Stand (1985). For the Creeks, I found most useful Claudio Saunt, A New Order of Things: Property, Power, and the Transformation of the Creek Indians, 1733–1816 (1999), and Frank L. Owsley, Jr., Struggle for the Gulf Borderlands: The Creek War and the Battle of New Orleans, 1812–1815 (1981).
Several unpublished theses shaped my understanding of the war and its causes, most notably, John R. Grodzinski, “The Constraints of Strategy: Lieutenant-General Sir George Prevost as Commander-in-Chief of British North America during the War of 1812” (PhD dissertation, Royal Military College of Canada, 2010), and “The Vigilant Superintendence of the Whole District: The War of 1812 on the Upper St. Lawrence” (MA, Royal Military College of Canada, 2002); Anthony Dietz, “The Prisoner of War in the United States during the War of 1812” (PhD, American University, 1964); Scott Thomas Jackson, “Impressment and Anglo-American Discord, 1787–1818” (PhD, University of Michigan, 1976); and Donald E. Graves, “Joseph Willcocks and the Canadian Volunteers: An Account of Political Disaffection in Upper Canada during the War of 1812” (MA, Carleton University, 1982).
For the domestic history of the war, Henry Adams, History of the United States during the Administrations of Jefferson and Madison, 9 vols. (1889–91), is essential. Although scholars have long used this edition, readers should seek out the modern two-volume edition edited by Earl N. Harbert (1986), which reproduces the revised edition that Adams published in 1901–4 and corrects some typographical errors that appeared in that edition. Adams sought to make almost everyone look bad except his ancestors, John and John Quincy Adams. Characteristically, he criticized Republicans for declaring war and Federalists for opposing the war and came very close to suggesting that both United States and Great Britain had lost the war. Scholars have long since discarded his assessment of the Republicans, although most still accept his view of the Federalists. Adams’s history is still invaluable, but his judgments (many of which are cleverly disguised as facts) must be treated with caution.
The best antidote to Henry Adams is Irving Brant, James Madison, 6 vols. (1941–61). Brant went over much of the same ground as Adams and frequently shows where Adams distorted or misread the evidence. But like so many biographers, Brant fell in love with his subject. He was reluctant to acknowledge Madison’s mistakes, and he labored mightily (though in vain) to prove that Madison was a strong president.
Charles J. Ingersoll, a bright and knowledgeable Republican who sat in the Thirteenth Congress, wrote two valuable treatises that further il
luminate the domestic history of the war. These are Historical Sketch of the Second War between the United States of America, and Great Britain, 2 vols. (1845–49), and History of the Second War between the United States of America and Great Britain, 2 vols. (1853). J. C. A. Stagg’s modern work, Mr. Madison’s War: Politics, Diplomacy, and Warfare in the Early American Republic, 1783–1830 (1983), is a first-class study that traces the inner history of the Republican party during the war and explores the impact of politics on the prosecution of the war.
Future Work
In spite of all that has been written about the war and its causes, there is still work to be done. We could use a comprehensive treatment of the pre-war restrictive system and its impact at home and abroad. We also need an account of the war from the British perspective and a comprehensive history of the Indians in the war. We need to know a lot more about the domestic history of Canada during the conflict. We could use modern studies of the naval war on the high seas and of the role played by privateers. We also need to know more about the contributions of the militia and the system of supply on both sides, the history of disease and medicine in the war, the economic and financial history of the conflict in Canada and the United States, the British treatment of American prisoners of war, and the treatment of enemy aliens on both sides. We could also use a comprehensive study of trade with the enemy and of the role of Republican dissidents, particularly De Witt Clinton and the Clintonians. In short, for scholars seeking new topics to investigate or old ones to revisit, the War of 1812 offers a fertile field for study.
Notes
Abbreviations
U.S. OFFICIALS
JM:
James Madison (president)
SN:
Secretary of the navy (Paul Hamilton, William Jones, Benjamin W. Crowninshield)
ST:
Secretary of the treasury (Albert Gallatin, William Jones [acting], George W. Campbell, Alexander J. Dallas)
SS:
Secretary of state (James Monroe) SW: Secretary of war (William Eustis, John Armstrong, James Monroe)
BRITISH OFFICIALS
LL:
Lord Liverpool (prime minister)
CG:
Captain-general and governor-in-chief of Canada (Sir George Prevost)
FS:
Foreign secretary (Lord Castlereagh)
FSA:
First secretary of the Admiralty (John W. Croker)
SSWC:
Secretary of state for war and the colonies (Lord Bathurst)
LOCATIONS AND PUBLISHERS:
AAS:
American Antiquarian Society, Worcester, MA
BEHS:
Buffalo and Erie County Historical Society, Buffalo, NY
BU:
Brown University, Providence, RI
ChHS:
Chicago Historical Society, Chicago, IL
CHS:
Connecticut Historical Society, Hartford, CT
DU:
Duke University, Durham, NC
EI:
Essex Institute, Salem, MA
HL:
Huntington Library and Art Gallery, San Marino, CA
HSP:
Historical Society of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA
HSW:
State Historical Society of Wisconsin, Madison, WI
HU:
Harvard University, Cambridge, MA
JHU:
Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD
LC:
Library of Congress, Washington, DC
MCNY:
Museum of the City of New York, New York, NY
MdHS:
Maryland Historical Society, Baltimore, MD
MeHS:
Maine Historical Society, Portland, ME
MHS:
Massachusetts Historical Society, Boston, MA
NHHS:
New Hampshire Historical Society, Concord, NH
NYPL:
New York Public Library, New York, NY
PRO:
Public Record Office, London, England.
SR:
Scholarly Resources, Wilmington, DE.
UM:
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI
UNC:
University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC
UVA:
University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA
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