WAR OF 1812 



6142 



WAR OF 1812 



French town 



I/O- 



nd PENNSYLVANIA 



FIELDS OF OPERATIONS IN THE NORTHWEST 



An outline of the leading events of the war 

 follows : 



< umpalgn of 1812. After the declaration of 

 war General Hull, governor of Michigan terri- 

 tory, was ordered to invade Canada. His 1,800 

 men were defeated, driven back home, and re- 

 duced to 800 men ; his army surrendered Detroit 

 and Michigan to General Brock on August 16. 

 Another invasion of Canada from Niagara failed, 

 although no more territory was lost. 



On the sea the navy, on which little reliance 

 had been placed, achieved a series of unexpected 

 victories. The frigate Constitution defeated the 

 British Guerriere and was thereafter known as 

 "Old Ironsides ;" the sloop Wasp captured the 

 brig Frolic; the frigate United States captured 

 the frigate Macedonian, and the Constitution was 

 again successful, this time taking the frigate 

 Java. A swarm of privateers, commissioned by 

 Congress, preyed upon British commerce so per- 

 ntly that their captures in 1812 alone to- 

 taled over 300 vessels. 



1813 Was Indecisive. Alternate successes and 

 reverses marked the year, the chief glory going 

 to the navy, as in the preceding year. In Janu- 

 ary a small army of 900 men was defeated at 

 River Raisin, south of Detroit, and many of the 

 prisoners were massacred by the Indians, whom 

 the English could not restrain. York, Canada. 

 now Toronto, was captured In May by 1,600 

 Americans. The most important battle of the 

 year was won by General Harrison, who defeated 

 the British and Indians at the River Thames, in 

 Canada. The Indian Tecumseh was killed in the 

 fight. Michigan territory was thus fully restored 

 to the United States, for the Battle of Lake Erie, 

 a month earlier, had cleared the Great Lakes of 

 the foe. 



Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry built on Lake 

 Erie a fleet of five vessels, bought three schoon- 

 ers and joined these to one small boat he had 

 captured from the British ; with this fleet of nine 

 boats he defeated six British ships on September 

 10 ; this was one of the most brilliant victories 

 of the war. Perry sent to General Harrison the 



message, which has become famous. "Wr have 

 met the enemy, and they are ours." On the 

 ocean the Hornet captured the Peacock, and the 

 Enterprise captured the Boxer. A loss to the 

 republic occurred when the Chesapeake, under 

 Captain Lawrence, was defeated by the British 

 frigate Shannon. Lawrence, dying from wounds, 

 admonished his men, "Don't give up the ship :" 

 but the adversary won the battle. 



The Third Year of War. In 1814 the conflict 

 took on a sterner aspect. Both sides fought 

 moro stubbornly, and the English, with the close 

 of the Napoleonic wars, were able to dispatch 



SOUTHWESTERN BATTLE REGION 



additional veteran troops across the Atlantic. 

 The Niagara frontier was again a center of op- 

 erations ; on July 5 the British were defeated at 

 Chippewa by General Brown, and twenty days 

 later at Lundy's Lane, by Brown and Winfleld 

 Scott. 



