The War of 1812

by Donald R Hickey

  78. ST to Abraham Bessent, March 17, 1812, in TD (M175), reel 2. See also Hugh Campbell to SN, January 4, 1812, in ND (M125), reel 23; Edward Channing, A History of the United States, 6 vols. (New York, 1905–25), 4:540–41.

  79. William J. McIntosh to William H. Crawford, April 18, 1813, TD (M178), reel 38.

  80. See Jane Lucas de Grummond, The Baratarians and the Battle of New Orleans (Baton Rouge, 1961), passim.

  81. John Shaw to Paul Hamilton, October 27, 1812, in ND (M125), reel 25.

  82. [John Windship] to William Plumer, April 2, 1814, in Plumer Papers (NHHS), reel 2.

  83. Daniel Patterson to SN, November 22, 1813, in ND (M147), reel 5.

  84. Undated newspaper clipping, in WD (M221), reel 54; Wilburt S. Brown, The Amphibious Campaign for West Florida and Louisiana, 1814–1815: A Critical Review of Strategy and Tactics at New Orleans (University, AL, 1969), 40.

  85. T.H. Williams to James Wilkinson, March 14, 1813, in WD (M222), reel 9.

  86. John Shaw to SN, January 18, 1813, in ND (M125), reel 26.

  87. ST to P.T. Du Bourg, September 27, 1813, in TD (M178), reel 16. See also ST to Du Bourg, August 24, 1813, ibid.

  88. Hart Massey to ST, March, 1812, in TD (M178), reel 31.

  89. Cornelius Van Ness, quoted in Muller, “Commerce of the Champlain-Richelieu Corridor,” 86. See also John Chandler to SW, March 3, 1813, in WD (M222), reel 7; Keene Newhampshire Sentinel, November 6, 1813; Chilton Williamson, Vermont in Quandary: 1763–1825 (Montpelier, 1949), 275.

  90. Pike to SW, February 15, 1813, in WD (M221), reel 55.

  91. George Ulmer to SW, March 29, 1813, ibid., reel 58.

  92. “Marcellus” to SW, [early 1814], in WD (M222), reel 10.

  93. Henry A. S. Dearborn to ST, December 16, 1813, in TD (M178), reel 12.

  94. Lexington Reporter, August 7, 1813.

  95. Thomas Coles to ST, January 27, 1814, in TD (M178), reel 29; John Smith to JM, January 24, 1814, and Cushing Eells to JM, May 17, 1813, in Madison Papers (LC), reel 15; Caesar Rodney to ST, March 20, 1813 (with enclosure), in Gallatin Papers (SR), reel 26; William Hawkins to James Iredell, October 8, 1813, in Iredell Papers (DU); Boston Independent Chronicle, July 5, 1813; James Pack, The Man Who Burned the White House: Admiral Sir George Cockburn, 1772–1853 (Annapolis, 1987), 151, 159.

  96. Henry A.S. Dearborn to ST, December 16, 1813, in TD (M178), reel 12.

  97. H. Crittenden to Lewis Cass, November 5, 1814, in WD (M222), reel 10; Muller, “Commerce of the Champlain-Richelieu Corridor,” 83, 87.

  98. Quoted in John P. Cranwell and William B. Crane, Men of Marque: A History of Private Armed Vessels out of Baltimore during the War of 1812 (New York, 1940), 72. See also Alan S. Taylor, “The Smuggling Career of William King,” Maine Historical Society Quarterly 17 (Summer, 1977), 19–38.

  99. Georgetown Federal Republican, May 3 and 31, 1813. Quotation from May 3 issue.

  100. Charles Goldsborough to Harmanus Bleecker, April 27, 1813, in Rice, Harmanus Bleecker, 31–34.

  101. JM to Congress, December 9, 1813, in AC, 13–2, 2031–32.

  102. Washington National Intelligencer, December 28, 1813. See also Georgetown Federal Republican, December 1, 1813; Jeremiah Mason to Jesse Appleton, December 21, 1813, in Hillard, Jeremiah Mason, 69–70; Resolutions of Tennessee Legislature [late 1813], in Lexington Reporter, January 1, 1814. The three men were William Branch Giles of Virginia, David Stone of North Carolina, and Joseph Anderson of Tennessee.

  103. AC, 13–2, 551–61, 2032–53.

  104. Speech of Zebulon R. Shipherd, February 9, 1814, in AC, 13–2, 1266; Memorial of Maryland House of Delegates, [January, 1814], in AC, 13–2, 1208.

  105. Washington National Intelligencer, December 28, 1813.

  106. AC, 13–2, 554, 2053, 2781–88.

  107. Speech of Jeremiah Mason, December 16, 1813, in AC, 13–2, 555.

  108. AC, 13–2, 2781–88.

  109. ST to Customs Collectors, December 24, 1813, in Niles’ Register 5 (January 29, 1814), 353–54.

  110. AC, 13–2, 594, 639, 1121–22, 1269, 2788–89, 2793–95. See also speeches of Cyrus King, January 18, 1814, and John Reed, January 22, 1814, in AC, 13–2, 1048, 1117–21; Gideon Granger to JM, January 4, 1814, in Madison Papers (LC), reel 15.

  111. Henry A.S. Dearborn to ST, January 4, 1814, in TD (M178), reel 12.

  112. Petition of Boston Fishermen, [January, 1814], printed in Boston Columbian Centinel, February 2, 1814.

  113. Speech of Richard Stockton, December 11, 1813, in AC, 13–2, 2037.

  114. Adams, History 2:875.

  115. See AC, 13–2, 613, 678–79, 773–74, 1134–35, 1144, 1229.

  116. AC, 13–2, 682, 1867–68. See also speech of John C. Calhoun, April 4, 1814, in AC, 13–2, 1946–47; circular letters of Thomas K. Harris, April 15, 1814, Israel Pickens, April 16, 1814, and John Sevier, April 20, 1814, in Noble E. Cunningham, Jr., ed., Circular Letters of Congressmen to Their Constituents, 1789–1829, 3 vols. (Chapel Hill, 1978), 2:878–81, 889, 901.

  117. Speech of Robert Wright, March 2, 1814, in AC, 13–2, 1772.

  118. JM to Congress, March 31, 1814, in AC, 13–2, 694.

  119. Salem Essex Register, April 16, 1814. For similar sentiments, see Washington National Intelligencer, April 7, 1814; Lexington Reporter, April 15, 1814; Edward Gray to William Jones, April 4, 1814, in Jones Papers (HSP).

  120. Circular letter of William Gaston, April 19, 1814, in Cunningham, Circular Letters, 2:896; Nathaniel Macon to Joseph H. Nicholson, March 3, 1814, in Nicholson Papers (LC).

  121. Nicholas Gilman to Pierre Van Cortlandt, Jr., April 3, 1814, in Jacob Judd, ed., Van Cortlandt Family Papers, 4 vols. (Tarrytown, 1976–81), 3:696.

  122. Niles’ Register 6 (April 9, 1814), 100.

  123. Macon to Joseph H. Nicholson, April 6, 1814, in Nicholson Papers (LC).

  124. AC, 13–2, 741, 2001–2, 2830.

  125. AC, 13–2, 773, 2017–18.

  126. Speeches of John C. Calhoun and Elisha R. Potter, April 12, 1814, in AC, 13–2, 2012–13.

  127. There is a good discussion of America’s treatment of enemy aliens in Dwight F. Henderson, Congress, Courts, and Criminals: The Development of Federal Criminal Law, 1801–1829 (Westport, 1985), ch. 5.

  128. See returns of marshals, in SD (M588), reels 2–3. The returns indicate that around 4,000 enemy aliens lived in New York and about 2,000 in Pennsylvania. Another 4,000 were probably scattered through the rest of the country. Although these returns are far from complete, they contain considerable data on each alien and thus offer excellent material for a quantitative study.

  129. See AC, 5–1, 3753–54. This law should not be confused with the more infamous alien act, which authorized the deportation of aliens in time of peace and expired in 1802.

  130. The grace period was established by a provision in the enemy trade act. See AC, 12–1, 2356.

  131. State Department Notice, July 7, 1812, in Richard Bache, ed., The Case of Alien Enemies, Considered and Decided upon a Writ of Habeas Corpus, Allowed on the Petition of Charles Lockington, an Enemy Alien, by the Hon. William Tilghman . . . The 22nd Day of November, 1813 (Philadelphia, 1813), iii–iv. Most of the government’s regulations on enemy aliens are printed in this pamphlet, which can be found in SD (M588), reel 3.

  132. SS to Anthony Baker, December 30, 1812, in Foreign Office Papers 5/88 (PRO); SS to American commissioners, January 30, 1814, in Gallatin Papers (SR), reel 26; John Graham to John Mason, October 12, 1814, in SD (M588), reel 4.

  133. State Department Notice, February 23, 1813, and SS to U.S. marshals, March 12, 1813, in Bache, Case of Alien Enemies, v, vii.

  134. SS to Thomas Barclay, May 13, 1813, in SD (M588), reel 1.

  135. State Department Notice, February 6, 1813, and SS to U.S. marshals, February 6, 1813, in Bache, Case of Alien Enemies, v, vii.

  136. SS to William Johnson, February 16, 1814, in SD (M588), reel 5.

  137. Mason to U.S. marshals, November 12, 1
813, in Bache, Case of Alien Enemies, viii.

  138. The best study on prisoners in this war is Anthony G. Dietz, “The Prisoner of War in the United States during the War of 1812” (PhD dissertation, American University, 1964), which is practically definitive for the American side of the story. For the British side, see Ira Dye, “American Maritime Prisoners of War, 1812–1815,” Proceedings of the North American Society of Oceanic History, March 19–20, 1977, at Peabody Museum of Salem, Massachusetts, ed. Clark G. Reynolds (n.p., n.d.); Reginald Horsman, “The Paradox of Dartmoor Prison,” American Heritage 26 (February, 1975), 13–17, 85; and Robin F. A. Fabel, “Self-Help in Dartmoor: Black and White Prisoners in the War of 1812,” Journal of the Early Republic 9 (Summer, 1989), 165–90. For a short but excellent overview that treats both sides, see Taylor, Civil War, ch. 13.

  139. See, for example, Isaac Baker to James Winchester, February 26, 1813, in WD (M221), reel 50; statement of Abraham Walter, November 22, 1813, in Worcester National Aegis, December 22, 1813; “Thomas King’s Narrative,” in Salem Essex Register, November 6, 1813; statement of W. L. Churchill et al., [Fall, 1814], in Niles’ Register 8 (April 22, 1815), 129; statement of John Stewart and Charles Lyford, October 3, 1813, William M. Scott to C. K. Gardner, October 8, 1813, and Thomas Barclay to John Mason, December 21, 1813, in Wood, British Documents, 3:814–17, 834–35. For additional details, see Taylor, Civil War, ch. 13.

  140. Dietz, “Prisoner of War,” passim; Dye, “Maritime Prisoners,” passim.

  141. Reuben Beasley to Jonathan Russell, October 23, 1812, in Russell Papers (BU); British Transport Office to [Beasley], May 26, 1813, and Beasley to SS, June 10, 1813, in NASP: NA, 8:24–25, 40; Dye, “Maritime Prisoners,” 8; Roosevelt, Naval War, 1:77n.

  142. Isaac Hull to SN, June 20, 1812, in ND (M125), reel 24; SN to Hull, July 1, 1812, in ND (M149), reel 10; Christopher Gadsden to [SN], July 4, 1812, in ND (M147), reel 4.

  143. David Porter to SN, June 28, 1812, in ND (M147), reel 3; SN to Porter, June 30, 1812, in ND (M149), reel 10.

  144. Dietz, “Prisoner of War,” 17, 41–42, 348–52, 378; Dye, “Maritime Prisoners,” 2, 8–9.

  145. Provisional Agreement for Exchange of Prisoners, November 28, 1812, in NASP: NA, 8:14–16; Dietz, “Prisoner of War,” 28–34.

  146. Cartel for Exchange of Prisoners, May 12, 1813, in NASP: NA, 8:19–22; Dietz, “Prisoner of War,” 35–47. Quotation from p. 19.

  147. Dietz, “Prisoner of War,” 47–50; Dye, “Maritime Prisoners,” 10, 15.

  148. Thomas Barclay to CG, December 20, 1813, in Wood, British Documents, 3:830–31; Dietz, “Prisoner of War,” 22.

  149. Robert Goodloe Harper, Speech . . . Delivered at Annapolis, January 20, 1814 (Boston, 1814), 77; Ralph Robinson, “Retaliation for the Treatment of Prisoners in the War of 1812,” American Historical Review 49 (October, 1943), 65; Dietz, “Prisoner of War,” 258–59.

  150. Scott to SW, January 30, 1813, in ASP: FR, 3:634.

  151. AC, 12–2, 90, 1145–46, 1362–63; SW to Henry Dearborn, May 15, 1813, ASP: FR, 3:635; Robinson, “Retaliation,” 65–67.

  152. CG to James Wilkinson, October 17, 1813, in ASP: FR, 3:635.

  153. James Wilkinson to CG, December 3, 1813, and CG to Wilkinson, December 11, 1813, in ASP: FR, 3:637–38; Dietz, “Prisoner of War,” 277.

  154. London Courier, quoted in Adams, History, 2:869; London Times, January 27, 1814. See also London Times, December 25, 1813.

  155. Memorial of Maryland House of Delegates [January, 1814], in AC, 13–2, 1205; Gouverneur Morris to Rufus King [Spring, 1814], in Anne C. Morris, ed., The Diary and Letters of Gouverneur Morris, 2 vols. (New York, 1888), 2:565. For similar sentiments, see Timothy Pickering to James Pindall, January 27, 1814, in Pickering Papers (MHS), reel 15; Sermon of Rev. Latrop, printed in Boston New-England Palladium, February 25, 1814; speech of William Gaston, February 18, 1814, in AC, 13–2, 1560.

  156. Worcester National Aegis, December 8, 1813.

  157. Ibid., January 19, 1814; statements of Francis Blake and James Prince, in Boston Columbian Centinel, January 19, 26, 29, and February 5, 1814; Boston New-England Palladium, February 11, 1814; Niles’ Register 5 (January 29, 1814), 359–61; ibid. 6 (March 12, 1814), 38–39; Thomas Walter Ward to James Prince, January 17, 1814, in Ward Papers (AAS); broadside, [January, 1814], in Miscellaneous Broadside Collection (AAS); J. Snelling to SW, January 13, 1814, in WD (M221), reel 57; Dietz, “Prisoner of War,” 170.

  158. Speech of Langdon Cheves, February 24, 1814, in AC, 13–2, 1649.

  159. William Winder to JM, February 1 and 8, 1814, and SS to Winder, May 7, 1814, in Madison Papers (LC), reels 15 and 26; CG to SS, May 31, 1814, in Wood, British Documents, 3:842–44; Robinson, “Retaliation,” 68–69; Dietz, “Prisoner of War,” 292–96.

  160. John Mason to SW, July 25, 1814, in WD (M222), reel 12; Reuben Beasley to Mason, March 18, 1814, in ASP: FR, 3:727; Convention with Supplementary Article, July 16, 1814, and CG to Barclay, July 31, 1814, in Wood, British Documents, 3:844–48; Robinson, “Retaliation,” 69–70; Dietz, “Prisoner of War,” 296–99, 336–37.

  161. See documents in ASP: FR, 3:632–34; Dietz, “Prisoner of War,” 224–68.

  162. AC, 13–2, 979, 1113, 1797–98.

  163. JM to Congress, December 7, 1813, in AC, 13–2, 542.

  164. AC, 13–2, 545, 785; Adams, History, 2:891–92.

  165. JM to Congress, March 31, 1814, in AC, 13–2, 694.

  166. Speech of Daniel Webster, April 6, 1814, in AC, 13–2, 1972.

  167. Ibid., 1969.

  Chapter 8. The British Counteroffensive

  1. Leo Gershoy, The French Revolution and Napoleon, 2nd ed. (New York, 1964), 513–21; Paul W. Schroeder, The Transformation of European Politics, 1763–1848 (New York, 1994), 485–516; Charles Esdaile, Napoleon’s Wars: An International History, 1803–1815 (London, 2007), 513–31; Alan Schom, Napoleon Bonarparte (New York, 1997), 668–705.

  2. See Guillaume de Bertier de Sauvigny, “The American Press and the Fall of Napoleon in 1814,” Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society 98 (October, 1954), 337–76. See also Hartford Connecticut Courant, June 14, 1814; and William H. Channing, Memoir of William Ellery Channing, 3 vols. (London, 1848), 2:98–99.

  3. Jefferson to Samuel Brown, April 28, 1814 in Jefferson Papers (LC), reel 47. See also Albert Gallatin to Marquis de Lafayette, April 21, 1814, in Gallatin Papers, Supplement (SR), reel 3; speech of William Gaston, February 18, 1814, in AC, 13–2, 1557.

  4. William Wirt to Dabney Carr, February 15, 1814, in Wirt Papers (MdHS), reel 2; Philip Nicholas to Wilson Cary Nicholas, July 13, 1814, in Nicholas Papers (LC); Rutland (VT) Herald, June 1, 1814.

  5. Nicholson to William Jones, May 20, 1814, in Jones Papers (HSP). See also Hartford American Mercury, June 7, 1814; Philadelphia Aurora, June 8, 1814; speech of George M. Troup, February 8, 1814, in AC, 13–2, 1256; [SW] to state governors, July 4, 1814, in ASP: MA, 1:549.

  6. Niles’ Register 7 (September 10, 1814), 2, 11; Boston Yankee, October 28, 1814; Trenton True American, November 28, 1814; Philadelphia United States’ Gazette, reprinted in Georgetown Federal Republican, November 19, 1814.

  7. Mahon, War of 1812, 317; Donald E. Graves, “The Redcoats Are Coming! British Troops Movements to North America in 1814,” Journal of the War of 1812 6 (Summer, 2001), 16.

  8. Cochrane to SSWC, July 14, 1814, in Dudley and Crawford, Naval War, 3:131; London Times, May 24, 1814.

  9. Letter from a congressman, January 8, 1815, in Lexington Reporter, February 8, 1815. See also Jacob Brown to SW, May 8, 1814, in Brown Papers (LC).

  10. See SW to William Branch Giles, November 10, 1814, in ASP: MA, 1:519; Hartford American Mercury, March 22, 1814.

  11. Estimates based on figures in J. C. A. Stagg, “Enlisted Men in the United States Army, 1812–1815: A Preliminary Survey,” William and Mary Quarterly, 3rd ser. 43 (October, 1986), 621.

  12. George F. G. Stanley, The War of 1812: Land Operations ([Toronto], 1983)
, 274–75; Taylor, Civil War, 263.

  13. John K. Mahon, “British Command Decisions Relative to the Battle of New Orleans,” Louisiana History 6 (Winter, 1965), 55–56; Quimby, U.S. Army, 2: 593, 599–600.

  14. Cabinet notes, June 7, 1814, in Madison Papers (LC), reel 16; SW to Jacob Brown, March 20 and June 10, 1814, and to George Izard, June 10, 1814, in WD (M6), reel 7; SW to George Izard, May 14, 1814, in Izard, Official Correspondence, 15–16; SW to Jacob Brown, June 19, 1814, in E. A. Cruikshank, Documents Relating to the Invasion of the Niagara Peninsula by the United States Army, Commanded by General Jacob Brown, in July and August, 1814 (Niagara-on-the-Lake, [1920?]), 35–37.

  15. Robert McDouall to Gordon Drummond, July 16, 1814, and William McKay to McDouall, July 27, 1814 (with enclosure), in Wood, British Documents, 3: 253–65; Stanley, War of 1812, 288–90; Quimby, U.S. Army, 2:733–37.

  16. Arthur Sinclair to SN, June 22, and July 3 and 22, 1814, in ND (M125), reels 37 and 38; A. H. Holmes to George Croghan, July 27, 1814, and Croghan to SW, August 9, 1814, in WD (M221), reel 60; Sinclair to Edmund P. Kennedy, July 12, 1814, in Dudley and Crawford, Naval War, 3:557–58.

  17. Sinclair to SN, August 9, 1814, in ND (M125), reel 38.

  18. Ibid.; Croghan to SW, August 9, 1814, in WD (M221), reel 60; Robert McDouall to CG, August 14, 1814, in Wood, British Documents, 3:273–77; Gilpin, War of 1812 in the Northwest, 242–45.

  19. [Miles W. Smith], ed., “Journal of William K. Beall, July–August, 1812,” American Historical Review, 17 (July, 1912), 793.

  20. Arthur Sinclair to SN, September 3, 1814, in Dudley and Crawford, Naval War, 3:572–74; ; Barry Gough, Fighting Sail on Lake Huron and Georgian Bay: The War of 1812 and Its Aftermath (Annapolis, 2002), 103–7.