Part II, Chapter I: The War of 1812

The War of 1812 began on June 18th, 1812, as American diplomats in London delivered the official declaration with consent from the American legislature and the President of the United States, James Madison, to Great Britain. Multiple factors, most stemming from the Napoleonic Wars in Europe, contributed to the eventual outbreak of hostilities, most importantly the impressment of American sailors into the Royal Navy and the restriction of trade to France, whom America supported, through active British intervention in the Atlantic and the Bay of Biscay. The growth of America's territory throughout the early years of the 19th century had also swayed the balance of power in the continent dramatically, and as a result were a significant threat to the British colony of Canada, and to the British monopolization of the Great Lakes and the Saint Lawrence River. The international situation in Europe also allowed the United States a unique opportunity to cement its supported desire to expand in the continent unmolested, as Great Britain was also busy devoting assets to fight Napoleon in both Spain (in the Peninsular War) and in other nations of mainland Europe, which remained a much larger threat to British national security than the United States.



The United States military had already designed plans to invade Canada and to seize the important key cities of Montreal, Quebec and York by summer, which President Madison regarded as a challenging but practical endeavor if the standing regulars could be supplemented by state militias. By July, however, only a few thousand could be mustered by the proposed timeline to invade Canada, and this matter was made worse by many New England states who refused to lend their state militias to the overarching offensive war effort, since many of the states in the northeast had been generally opposed to the war. Nonetheless, by the second week of July, General William Hull, also the governor of the Michigan Territory, led his force of only 1,000 poorly equipped and untrained militiamen across the Detroit River into Canada, marking the first major campaign of the war. Early success marked by the capture of the Canadian town of Sandwich and victories in small skirmishes were soon after discarded, however, and Hull found himself soon retreating back to Detroit due to logistics difficulties and regular harassment from Canadian and British regulars. By August, Hull and his forces were surrounded, and he was forced to surrender to the British counteroffensive, sacrificing the vast majority of the Michigan Territory as a result. In October, a renewed American offensive into Niagara also failed despite the loss of Canada's most esteemed general, Isaac Brock, and the course of the war had devolved into a poorly conducted stalemate.



As the winter of 1812 subsided, however, a renewed American offensive in the spring of 1813 along the shores of Lake Ontario produced better results. Zebulon Pike, now a brigadier general, had lead his regiment and taken York in April, burning its parliamentary buildings and looting its library. The rapid Canadian retreat had also spared its magazine from being properly dismantled, and the capture of it allowed the Americans to consolidate their gains in Ontario and regroup to eventually push onward to Kingston, which was regarded as much more strategically valuable. Pike's success at York and natural command ability also saw his promotion to commander of a division under General Dearborn in the Ontario theater, and his ability to provide the United States with its first major victory in the war was held in high regard. In May, these gains were also capitalized by the seizure of Fort George on the northern end of the Niagara River. Pike's aggressive leadership lead to the capture of nearly 700 British and Canadian regulars following the Fort's capture when his much older superior, Dearborn, who was in command of the entire theater, failed to take advantage of the British retreat. Pike, without orders, instead chose to pursue the hastily retreating enemy in direct violation of Dearborn's orders, who was in ill health and remarkably overweight. Dearborn's inefficiency during the Ontario Campaign ultimately lead to his removal and eventual retirement from military duty, and Pike was instead nominated to command the entire theater upon his superior's removal, which he graciously accepted. In June, Pike again went on the offensive, seizing Queenston and Thorold, Ontario simultaneously.



By August, the combined Ontario and Niagara campaigns had proved to be a remarkable success, in great credit to the leadership of Pike. The Americans were within striking distance of Kingston after crossing the Napanee River in late July, and the decisive American victory and resulting occupation of Kingston in September had completely cut the line of supply from Lower Canada to Upper Canada, and the entirety of the Great Lakes rested firmly in American hands. In the Michigan campaign, General Zachary Taylor had also reclaimed Detroit and as a result the Michigan territory, freeing William Hull and his forces (whom had previously surrendered) from a nearby prisoner of war camp (as shipping the prisoners and Hull overland to the erected prisoner of war camps in Montreal and Quebec had proved impractical due to Pike's successful land campaign) and effectively trapping the remaining and steadily dwindling British forces due to the severance of the Saint Lawrence and thus their supply line that resulted from Kingston's capture. Pike and his Army then moved east with Taylor in order to support an American attempt at capturing Montreal under General Winfield Scott, who had been given overall command of the Canadian Front, and proved to be a competent and aggressive leader. With great difficulty, the campaign eventually succeeded, and Montreal laid in firm American control by October of 1813. By the onset of the winter of 1813, the only strategic key position left unconquered by the Americans in Canada was Quebec, and with both Ontario and Montreal in firm control, its resistance to eventual capture seemed unlikely. As the summer of 1814 emerged, Quebec too had fallen under Scott by June, and the American position on the continent appeared overwhelmingly strong. A final British last ditch offensive into Louisiana was also thwarted by General Andrew Jackson at New Orleans, and it was now clear that the Americans could no longer be removed of their gains. The standing armies of Britain, its Canadian militia and its Native American allies had been largely defeated, and it was clear to London by September of 1814 that the situation on the continent was a lost cause. As the American consolidation of the occupied Canadian territories took place throughout the winter of 1814, so too did the end of major hostilities, and by the end of the year both the United States and Great Britain had begun negotiations to formally end the war.



The Treaty of Ghent, signed on December 24th, 1814, had established a clear American victory. Throughout the course of the war, the defeat of Napoleon in France had largely ended the impressment of American sailors into the Royal Navy and restrictive trade as a result of active British intervention, but the utter defeat and capture of Canada through the United States' decisive military victories in Ontario and Quebec could not go ignored. Great Britain, both unable and unwilling to make further attempts to dislodge a now well-experienced and well-trained American military from its former North American colony, had lost a vast amount of settled territory through mandated cessions. By the end of negotiations in Ghent, it had ceded Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec, Newfoundland, Labrador, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward's Island in their entirety to the United States. Its western provinces, however, remained largely in tact, although they were unsettled and unexplored, and were of little interest to the victorious Americans in comparison to their gigantic gains. The United States voluntarily had essentially withdrew their claims to the Canadian west in exchange for total sovereignty over Upper and Lower Canada. Regardless, Madison's war had paid off in huge unprecedented gains, and the United States now thoroughly enjoyed complete control over the Great Lakes, the Saint Lawrence River, and the Hudson Bay, and their ability to advance westward could now continue unimpeded and unmolested.



The Treaty would have lasting affects on the demographics of the North American continent, however, as it was amended in 1815 to provide a special provision for the now generally unruly Canadian populace, which the United States had trouble controlling. The United States and Great Britain offered subsidized overland relocation of all willing Canadian settlers westward to the newly founded province of British Columbia, which remained in British control as a result of the Treaty, and also established the 49th parallel north circle of latitude as the southern border between this province and the border of the United States, and also clearly defined the eastern and northeastern border of the western states in order to appease general unrest and to avoid future conflict over national border disputes, which Britain was now in a distinct disadvantage to most certainly lose. By 1819, the amended 1815 Treaty proved to be popular, as up to 80% of all English-speaking Canadians had voluntarily relocated to British Columbia, and had been properly subsidized and repaid for their relocation by 1821.