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New Orleans 1815: Andrew Jackson Crushes the British

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New Orleans 1815: Andrew Jackson Crushes the British THE CHESAPEAKE CAMPAIGNS 1813–15 .JEEMFHSPVOEPGUIF8BSPG SCOTT S. SHEADS ILLUSTRATED BY GRAHAM TURNER © Osprey Publishing • www.ospreypublishing.com CAMPAIGN 259 THE CHESAPEAKE CAMPAIGNS 1813–15 Middle ground of the War of 1812 SCOTT SHEADS ILLUSTRATED BY GRAHAM TURNER Series editor Marcus Cowper © Osprey Publishing • www.ospreypublishing.com CONTENTS ORIGINS OF THE CAMPAIGN 5 CHRONOLOGY 8 OPPOSING COMMANDERS 10 "NFSJDBODPNNBOEFSTt#SJUJTIDPNNBOEFST OPPOSING FORCES 16 "NFSJDBOGPSDFTt#SJUJTIGPSDFTt"GSJDBO"NFSJDBOTJOUIF8BSPGt0SEFSTPG#BUUMF OPPOSING PLANS 27 #SJUJTIQMBOTt"NFSJDBOQMBOT 1812: THE OPENING OF HOSTILITIES 30 1SJWBUFFSTBOEMFUUFSTPGNBSRVFti0OXBSEUP$BOBEBw 1813: YEAR OF DEPREDATIONS 34 )BWSFEF(SBDF .BZ t5IF#BUUMFPG$SBOFZ*TMBOE 7B +VOF t5IF#BUUMFPG )BNQUPO 7B +VOF t,FOU*TMBOE .E "VHVTUo t'JSTU#BUUMFPG4U.JDIBFMT "VHVTU t5IF#BUUMFPG2VFFOTUPXO "VHVTU t4FDPOE#BUUMFPG4U.JDIBFMT "VHVTU THE LAST CAMPAIGN: 1814–15 52 6T$IFTBQFBLF'MPUJMMB ot*OWBTJPO "VHVTUt5IFGJFMEPG#MBEFOTCVSHt .JEEMFQBTTBHF1PUPNBDUP"MFYBOESJB "VHVTUUP4FQUFNCFS t$BVMLT'JFME "VHVTU t5IF#BUUMFPG/PSUI1PJOU 4FQUFNCFS t#PNCBSENFOUPG'PSU.D)FOSZ 4FQUFNCFSo t4PVUIFSO.BSZMBOEBOE/PSUIFSO7JSHJOJB 0DUPCFSo'FCSVBSZ AFTERMATH 90 "NJUZBOE*MMVNJOBUJPOTPG1FBDF THE BATTLEFIELDS TODAY 92 .BSZMBOEt7JSHJOJB BIBLIOGRAPHY 94 INDEX 95 © Osprey Publishing • www.ospreypublishing.com The Chesapeake Bay, 1812–15 PENNSYLVANIA Susquehanna River Wilmington Principio Elkton Red Lion NEW JERSEY Furnace Havre-de-Grace Frenchtown MARYLAND Spesutie Is. Fredericktown Baltimore Georgetown Chestertown Caulk’s Field Church Hill Rock Hall DELAWARE Pa tu Centreville xe BAY n t R iv Annapolis Kent Is. e Queenstown DC Bladensburg r Georgetown C DELAWARE Upper Marlboro H St. Michaels Alexandria Easton Fort Washington E S A Lower Marlboro P E Madison East New Market A Cambridge Benedict K E Patuxent River B A Y Whitehaven MARYLAND Potomac River Snow Hill Point Lookout Kinsale VIRGINIA Tappahannock Tangier Is. VIRGINIA ATLANTIC N 0 20 miles OCEAN 0 20km © Osprey Publishing • www.ospreypublishing.com ORIGINS OF THE CAMPAIGN The Chesapeake, the grandest and safest estuary belonging to this or to any other nation including its numerous and extensive rivers, affords, perhaps, a greater extent of inland navigation, and facilities intercourse ever a finer territory than any other bay of the whole world. The American Farmer, October 27, 1826 “A very Goodly Bay,” were the journal words of Captain John Smith when he sailed up the Chesapeake in 1607. Along the shores he found Native Americans who inhabited the bay and named it “Chesepiooc,” which has various meanings including: “the great river in which fish with hard shell covering abound;” “Big River;” or “Great Shell Bay.” It would be this estuary, the largest in North America, which would be the middle ground in the struggle between the Canadian frontier and the southern coasts during the War of 1812. Beginning at the Susquehanna River to the north the bay stretches for 200 miles to the Atlantic with a width varying from 3 to 30 miles and an average depth 46ft with a maximum of 208ft. More than 150 rivers and streams feed into the bay, and these resources fed the region and supplied timber, fresh water and bountiful game for both Maryland and Virginia as well as the Royal Navy who would occupy the bay from 1813 to 1815. These many rivers also allowed passage for the barges of Royal Marines, sailors and soldiers during lengthy Chesapeake campaigns. The War of 1812 was the culmination of the struggle for the North American continent that had begun during the French and Indian War (1754–63), continued in the American Revolution (1775–83) and now the War of 1812, a vast regional struggle to preserve the sovereignty of the young nation on the Great Lakes, the Chesapeake and the southern coasts to New Orleans. Europe’s Napoleonic Wars had brought conflict to the seas, and America’s maritime interests began to suffer. The trade restrictions of 1807–11 were a series of acts of both the Jefferson and then Madison administrations that restricted US trade to foreign ports. The acts were enacted in response to the British Orders Council and French decrees restricting neutral trade with Europe. Both administrations hoped the acts would force the European belligerents to reduce or end their restrictions on US trade. They failed to achieve this end. Although intended to punish England for her violations of American maritime rights, the US restrictions also caused extensive protests in New England and the Chesapeake region. 5 © Osprey Publishing • www.ospreypublishing.com Adding further insult to injury was the threat to national sovereignty caused by the Royal Navy’s policy of impressments of sailors to man her ships, stopping American ships and seizing sailors on the high seas – often British citizens and deserters, but by no means exclusively. This issue came to the fore on June 22, 1807 in the attack upon the USS Chesapeake (38) by HMS Leopard (38) when the latter was attempting to search the former for British deserters. This breach of neutrality against a US warship nearly brought America to open war with Great Britain before 1812. Maryland and Virginia both summoned volunteers while the federal government authorized new coastal fortifications at Norfolk (forts Nelson and Norfolk), Annapolis (forts Madison and Severn), the Potomac River (Fort Washington) and Baltimore (Fort McHenry). On June 16, 1812 Great Britain finally suspended the controversial “Orders”, with the understanding that the US would repeal its Non- Importation Act of 1811. It was too late, with the fledgling United States declaring war two days later unaware of the change in British stance. War preparations were already well underway and the Madison administration was looking “onward to Canada.” The early American campaigns of the War of 1812 had ended in failure, notably the invasion of Canada in 1812. The American strategy during this campaign consisted of a three-pronged invasion. The first assault in the east was led by General Henry Dearborn; the second in the center at the Niagara i"'SPOU7JFXPGUIF4UBUF in New York by General Stephen Van Rensselaer; and the third to the west House. Etc., at Annapolis the at Detroit by General William Hull. The campaigns ended in disaster, caused $BQJUBMPG.BSZMBOE wGSPNUIF primarily by poor leadership, compounded in the east by the refusal of the Columbian Magazine, February 1789. From here Governor Massachusetts and Connecticut militia to cross the border – a considerable Winder’s Military Council frustration for the Madison administration. directed the war effort. However, despite these setbacks a series of naval victories over the mighty (Maryland State Archives, Royal Navy both gave the fledgling US Navy its first heroes and bolstered Special Collections (Thomas the Madison administration politically. On October 18 the sloop of war USS Bon Collection) Charles Willson 1FBMF o .4"4$ Wasp defeated HMS Frolic (22 guns), though the Wasp was captured the 194-01-0003) same day by the ship of the line HMS Poictiers. This unfortunate affair was recovered by the frigate USS United States’ defeat of HMS Macedonian on October 25 and that of the frigate USS Constitution over the frigate HMS Java on December 29. These victories enabled Madison to win a second term of office and prepare him for the coming invasions of 1813–14. 6 © Osprey Publishing • www.ospreypublishing.com The Chesapeake region avoided any severe impact from the war in 1812, but the naval blockade imposed by the Royal Navy, coupled with the arrival of increasing numbers of reinforcements in 1813 and especially following the fall of Napoleon in 1814, the bay provided the setting for an escalating number of battles, skirmishes, raids and naval engagements. For two years the Chesapeake, then the political and geographic heartland of America, was held hostage by overwhelming British naval and military superiority. Like the rest of the nation, Maryland and Virginia were politically and militarily unprepared for the war. They had no means of effectively meeting a powerful foe – no adequate defense policy and an inexperienced militia, while the internal politics reflected both the federal lack of readiness to face a foreign invasion and the internal conflict over the very decision to go to war itself. Nowhere was this more obvious than in the region’s principal centre, the city of Baltimore. Already in the 1790s Baltimore was a thriving seaport with European trade exports and imports rivaling those of New England and the south. It was incorporated in 1797 and by 1810 had a population of 45,000. In June 1812 the political wrangling over the conflict exploded into a popular outburst in the city, aimed squarely at Alexander C. Hanson (1786–1819), publisher of the Federal Republican. The newspaper was a federalist paper that voiced distain for the Madison administration and Hanson’s editorials soon incurred the wrath of Madison’s Democratic-Republicans. On June 22, an angry mob smashed Hanson’s presses and razed his building, forcing him to flee to Georgetown outside Washington. When Hanson returned to Baltimore and printed a further diatribe against the war on June 27 the mob returned and tried to break into the new premises. The militia that attended i$POTQJSBDZ"HBJOTU#BMUJNPSF to the scene refused to enforce order and, instead, the besieged printer and o5IF8BS%BODFBU .POUHPNFSZ$PVSUIPVTFw" his friends were taken to the Baltimore City Jail in protective custody. satirical political cartoon However, the mob broke
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