The War of 1812: Part 2 - War Declared

We left off with emotions running high, and shortly after the president declared war on the British, claiming they were taking their men from their very ships, and inciting the natives to go to attack. This they were mostly correct on, and justifiably upset about it. However, they weren't right about everything; Thomas Jefferson believed that taking Canada would be a "mere matter of marching". They were thinking they would bring their ideals to the oppressed citizens of a British colony and tell them how lovely life is in America, and the inhabitants would throw out their tea sets, grab a beer, and settle into being American for the rest of their lives. It's to be noted that it wasn't called "Operation Enduring Freedom", but at times eerily familiar.

Meanwhile, Canada was preparing to defend itself under the watchful eyes of Isaac Brock (our aggressive, 6'2" hero) and governor general and military commander George Prevost. Their army consisted of well-trained British regulars serving as the backbone of the army, a number of militiamen, and a large number of native warriors. They didn't really want to fight this war, but the Americans didn't really want to either; the States only passed the decision to go to war with a win of 19-13 votes, making it the least popular war in American history. Even as far as wars go, people barely wanted to fight.

Prevost was a little dumpier than I expected.

Leading the advance into Canada was 59 year old William Hull, striking out from Fort Detroit. He walked into Sandwich - yes, the town of Sandwich - and asked for the British subjects to join. To be fair, many of them did. It seemed like the Americans might just be the winning side, and it would be wise to be on the right side of history. However, once the American soldiers started taking provisions from the town, many of them no longer saw them in a positive light. At best, they were poor quality guests; at worst, they were considered thieves.

Once Tecumseh arrived to really bring the fight to them (at this point resistance was pretty much nothing thus far, at least in this segment of land) Hull began to worry. Fighting small skirmishes with hit-and-run tactics, the native force showed that the inevitable takeover of Canada just might not be so. With a number of advantages in the field (a fast, mobile force allowing them to skirt around the larger American army and take shots at their supply lines and stymie their advance with skirmishes and other such tactics that don't involve a large scale assault) Hull stopped moving quickly and adopted a much more cautious approach. Not only was he frightened about his supply lines being hit, but he was worried about what the natives would do if they captured his forces. They had a reputation of scalping and torturing their prisoners, and his fears of being overcome by them played heavily in the events to come.

The fast moving native army meant that open terrain and ambushes weighed heavily in their favour, and they used them to great effect. One such ambush carried out by Tecumseh's men found a note written by Hull detailing his fears of a large scale native attack. Not only was this of critical importance to supporting the morale of the warriors, but it would play into the strategy of the British in the weeks to come. However, lacking artillery meant that approaching a fort would be certain death. If they were to truly break defensive fortifications, that would require a combined effort of British and native armies, rather than simply one or the other. A critical part of the War of 1812 is the degree in which the two sides utilized their native allies - the British particularly well, and the Americans not so much.

Brock arrived a short time later to bring the British into the fight for the land around Niagara. His first meeting with Tecumseh seems like something out of an action movie; two very different soldiers, both leaders, meet and unite against a common foe, sizing each other up and developing a mutual level of respect. Tecumseh saw him as a brave, respectable man, and Brock saw his counterpart as both critical to his success and a wise leader. Brock would say this about Tecumseh:
"A more sagacious or a more gallant warrior does not, I believe, exist. He was the admiration of everyone who conversed with him. From a life of dissipation he is not only become in every aspect abstemious but likewise prevailed on all his Nation, and many other Tribes, to follow his example." After some dictionary searching, I was pleased to see it was very complimentary.   I assume it went something like when Arnold and Carl Weathers met in Predator - you can watch the scene here.

Both believed that an aggressive assault on the American fort would be necessary, in spite of their inferior numbers. They had just above half the forces of the enemy, and they were also playing with the defender's advantage of sitting in a fort. What won the battle for Tecumseh and Brock was nothing short of brilliant military deception. Playing on the fears of Hull, he sent warning of a native force coming to the fort and advising them to surrender or prepare for war. Upon arrival, he moved his native warriors just within eyesight of the fort, and having them double back through the trees and pass the same stretch of land time and time again to make them appear like there was a much larger force than there actually was. He also gave old British regular uniforms to his militiamen to, again, deceive the enemy into thinking they were a more daunting fighting force than they actually were. Had they attacked they would have been slaughtered, but fearing for the lives of not only the men of Fort Detroit, but the nearby village of Detroit itself, 2,500 Americans under Hull surrendered. The surrender was so shameful Hull was  forced to attend a court martial and was nearly convicted of treason. A newspaper hilariously titled the National Intelligencer described the event as such: "The nation had been deceived by a gasconding booby."

Portrait of William Hull. Not pictured:
white flags of surrender.

America, filled with anger over the surrender of Fort Detroit, sought to quickly retaliate in the Battle of Queenston Heights at the foot of Niagara. Large forces came to battle on both sides: 2,300 regulars and 4,000 militia for the U.S., and 1,200 regulars, 800 militia and 600 native warriors for the British North Americans. The Americans took the offensive but poor coordination and a lack of respect between the first and second in command resulted in the forces not attacking in conjunction with each other. The British held, and nearly a thousand U.S. soldiers deserted, resulting in a victory for the defenders. However, the British lost a key component of their military force - the man of the hour, the inspiring, tactically strong Isaac Brock was shot in the chest and killed during the battle. Brock was knighted before he died, but the word didn't reach him in time.

After licking their wounds the Americans attacked again, and this time took the capital (albeit the lowly populated and not-of-critical-strategic-importance capital) of York. The British, in retreat, set off an explosion of their gunpowder that killed a few of the invaders, including their beautifully named commander Zebulon Pike. That same commander had been the one demanding his forces refrain from pillaging and looting the town, so upon his death, that order seemed to pass by the wayside. Government buildings and parliament were burned, and the government's ceremonial mace wasn't returned until 1934. It does make me wonder what the Americans were doing with that mace for so long. Did they have it in a museum? Did they crack walnuts with it? Perhaps they returned it thinking that we might need a weapon for the war in a few years time.

Meanwhile, one of Canada's great women, Laura Secord (now lovingly associated with being chocolatastic) overheard discussions of a surprise attack by some American soldiers and warned of the coming assault. The news allowed for a rout of the attacking American force, making her one of Canada's first heroines. She's Canada's Paul Revere!

"Blimey! The Yankees want a scuffle? We'll give them
the what for, we will!" the British soldiers said to Laura Secord.

In spite of a number of battles, for the next while the fighting seemed to reach a stalemate. Land was taken, then returned, taken again, and pressed further elsewhere. However, an event oversees that could very well change the tide. Napoleon had, as the French say, screwed le pooch, attacking Russia and losing pretty darn close to his whole army. This meant that the British no longer had to worry about the French as much as they had, freeing up their forces for overseas interests. That means you, North America! Bring a sweater, British soldiers. You'll be moving to Canada.