In Left for Dead, Eric Jay Dolin--one of today's finest writers about ships and the sea (American Heritage)--tells the true story of a wild and fateful encounter between an American sealing vessel, a shipwrecked British brig, and a British warship in the Falkland archipelago during the War of 1812.

Fraught with misunderstandings and mistrust, the incident left three British sailors and two Americans, including the captain of the sealer, Charles H. Barnard, abandoned in the barren, windswept, and inhospitable Falklands for a year and a half. With deft narrative skill and unequaled knowledge of the very pith of the seafaring life, Dolin describes in vivid and harrowing detail the increasingly desperate existence of the castaways during their eighteen-month ordeal--an all-too-common fate in the Great Age of Sail.

A tale of intriguing complexity, with surprising twists and turns throughout--involving greed, lying, bullying, a hostile takeover, stellar leadership, ingenuity, severe privation, endurance, banishment, the great value of a dog, the birth of a baby, a perilous thousand-mile open-ocean journey in a seventeen-foot boat, an improbable rescue mission, and legal battles over a dubious and disgraceful wartime prize--Left for Dead shows individuals in wartime under great duress acting both nobly and atrociously, and offers a unique perspective on a pivotal era in American maritime history.

A Comprehensive History of the Most Important Native American Resistance Movement
The Shawnee leader Tecumseh came to prominence in a war against the United States waged from 1811 to 1815. In 1805, Tecumseh's younger brother Lalawethika (soon to be known as the Prophet) had a vision for an Indian revitalization movement that would restore Native culture and resist American expansion. Tecumseh organized the growing support for this movement, which came from Indigenous peoples across the Old Northwest and parts of the Great Plains, into a loose but powerful military alliance.
In late 1811, while Tecumseh was away on a recruiting mission in the South, General William Henry Harrison led an army to the center of Native resistance at Prophetstown in present-day Indiana. In the early morning hours of November 7, in what came to be known as the Battle of Tippecanoe, Harrison's men fought off an Indian attack, which marked the beginning of Tecumseh's War. Seven months later, when the United States declared war on Britain, thus initiating the War of 1812, the British and Tecumseh forged an alliance against the United States. Initially, the Anglo-Indian alliance enjoyed considerable success at Detroit, Chicago, Mackinac, and elsewhere, exposing much of the Old Northwest to border warfare, but the tide turned in 1813 when Harrison invaded Canada. On October 5 the American army defeated a much smaller Anglo-Indian force in the climactic Battle of the Thames. Tecumseh was killed in this battle, and although his confederacy disintegrated, British support ensured that the Indian war would continue for another two years with the Sauk chief Black Hawk now providing the inspiration and leadership. Tecumseh's War ended only in late 1815 after the British made peace with the United States and abandoned their native allies.
Tecumseh's War: The Epic Conflict for the Heart of America is the first complete story of this major conflict. Distinguished historian Donald R. Hickey detaches it from the War of 1812, moving Tecumseh's confederation to center stage to tell the sweeping and engrossing story of this last great Indian War--the last time that Indigenous Peoples had a powerful European ally to oppose United States expansion and thus the lastchance they had of shaping the future of the continent.

Tells the story of the thousands of enslaved African Americans who fled to British forces during the war in what became the largest emancipation of enslaved Americans until the abolition of slavery in the United States.

During the Anglo-American War of 1812, British forces launched hundreds of amphibious raids on the United States. The richest parts of the United States were slave-states, and thousands of enslaved African Americans fled to British forces in what was to be the largest emancipation of enslaved Americans until the abolition of slavery in the USA. From these refugees from slavery, the British built a force - the Corps of Colonial Marines. Black redcoats, they were a fusion of two great American fears, the return of the British King and an uprising by their own oppressed slaves. The Corps of Colonial Marines turned Britain's campaign on America's coasts from one of harassment to one of existential threat to the new nation. Although small in number, the Colonial Marines - fighting to liberate their own families as much as for Great Britain - exerted a massive psychological impact on the United States which paralysed American resistance with fear of a widespread slave uprising, and allowed British forces in the Chesapeake to burn down Washington DC.

As well as examining this little-remembered part of British military and African-American history, this book will also look to the post-war history of the Colonial Marines, their continued survival as a unique ethnic group in the Caribbean today, and their involvement in the largest act of armed African-American resistance to slavery. The Battle of Negro Fort in 1816 was the only time American forces left American territory to destroy a fugitive slave community - a community led by former Colonial Marines who, when faced with American attack, raised the British flag.

This book brings black history to the fore of the War of 1812, and gives voice those enslaved people who - amidst great power competition between a slave-holding Republic and a slave-holding Empire - demonstrated exceptional bravery and initiative to gain precious freedom for themselves and their descendants.

In Left for Dead, Eric Jay Dolin--one of today's finest writers about ships and the sea (American Heritage)--tells the true story of a wild and fateful encounter between an American sealing vessel, a shipwrecked British brig, and a British warship in the Falkland archipelago during the War of 1812.

Fraught with misunderstandings and mistrust, the incident left three British sailors and two Americans, including the captain of the sealer, Charles H. Barnard, abandoned in the barren, windswept, and inhospitable Falklands for a year and a half. With deft narrative skill and unequaled knowledge of the very pith of the seafaring life, Dolin describes in vivid and harrowing detail the increasingly desperate existence of the castaways during their eighteen-month ordeal--an all-too-common fate in the Great Age of Sail.

A tale of intriguing complexity, with surprising twists and turns throughout--involving greed, lying, bullying, a hostile takeover, stellar leadership, ingenuity, severe privation, endurance, banishment, the great value of a dog, the birth of a baby, a perilous thousand-mile open-ocean journey in a seventeen-foot boat, an improbable rescue mission, and legal battles over a dubious and disgraceful wartime prize--Left for Dead shows individuals in wartime under great duress acting both nobly and atrociously, and offers a unique perspective on a pivotal era in American maritime history.

In the tradition of Margaret MacMillan's Paris 1919 comes a new consideration of Canada's most famous war and the Treaty of Ghent that unsatisfactorily concluded it, from one of this country's premier military historians.

In the Canadian imagination, the War of 1812 looms large. It was a war in which British and Indian troops prevailed in almost all of the battles, in which the Americans were unable to hold any of the land they fought for, in which a young woman named Laura Secord raced over the Niagara peninsula to warn of American plans for attack (though how she knew has never been discovered), and in which Canadian troops burned down the White House. Competing American claims insist to this day that, in fact, it was they who were triumphant.

But where does the truth lie? Somewhere in the middle, as is revealed in this major new reconsideration from one of Canada's master historians. Drawing on never-before-seen archival material, Zuehlke paints a vibrant picture of the war's major battles, vividly re-creating life in the trenches, the horrifying day-to-day manoeuvring on land and sea, and the dramatic negotiations in the Flemish city of Ghent that brought the war to an unsatisfactory end for both sides. By focusing on the fraught dispute in which British and American diplomats quarrelled as much amongst themselves as with their adversaries, Zuehlke conjures the compromises and backroom deals that yielded conventions resonating in relations between the United States and Canada to this very day.

The War of 1812 is etched into American memory with the burning of the Capitol and the White House by British forces, The Star-Spangled Banner, and the decisive naval battle of New Orleans. Now a respected British military historian offers an international perspective on the conflict to better gauge its significance.

In The War of 1812 in the Age of Napoleon, Jeremy Black provides a dramatic account of the war framed within a wider political and economic context than most American historians have previously considered. In his examination of events both diplomatic and military, Black especially focuses on the actions of the British, for whom the conflict was, he argues, a mere distraction from the Napoleonic War in Europe.

Black describes parallels and contrasts to other military operations throughout the world. He stresses the domestic and international links between politics and military conflict; in particular, he describes how American political unease about a powerful executive and strong army undermined U.S. military efforts. He also offers new insights into the war in the West, amphibious operations, the effects of the British blockade, and how the conflict fit into British global strategy.

For those who think the War of 1812 is a closed book, this volume brims with observations and insights that better situate this American war on the international stage.

Armies of the War of 1812 is a complete guide to the armies, weapons and uniforms of the conflicy, written by Gabriele Esposito and covering the US, British and Canadian forces that fought in the conflict, which is also known as the Second War for Independence.

With several hundred illustrations of uniforms worn by the combatants, it is a great addition to the collection of historians, wargamers and researchers of this period

In the summer of 1814 a squadron of Royal Navy ships attacked the tiny Connecticut seaport of Stonington, and declared its intention of destroying the town. Over the next four days the British barraged the nearly defenseless civilian population with some fifty tons of explosives, before mysteriously upping anchor and sailing away, leaving Stonington largely intact. Though a mere footnote in America's early naval history, the Battle of Stonington has remained a source of curiosity for two hundred years. Why did the British single out Stonington and then fail so miserably at their goal? To solve the mystery of this curious battle, and explain Britain's failure to level the town, the author takes the reader back some forty years to the Revolution to unfold a surprisingly complex set of circumstances involving people on both sides of the Atlantic and across America. Drawing on contemporary news accounts, secret Royal Navy correspondence, and other primary sources, he investigates events leading up to the puzzling attack and then recounts the exciting details of the battle itself. It is a memorable, masterly told story of brave and honorable people, divided loyalties, and new ideas fighting traditional, old-world values. As the book develops, James Tertius de Kay introduces a fascinating cast of characters that ranks with the best of fiction: Thomas Hardy, the hero of Trafalgar who led the British attack; Jeremiah Holmes, an American merchant captain who led the defense of Stonington; Stephen Decatur and Robert Fulton, two well-known American patriots; and a number of enterprising smugglers and spies. At the same time de Kay pays tribute to the significant roles played by new naval weapons--American submarine vessels and torpedoes, British rockets and bombs--that revolutionized the art of war.The Battle of Stonington brings all these elements into brilliant focus to provide a lively narrative history not just of the events at Stonington but of the entire period. It is a compelling, often humorous story.

The War of 1812 is regarded by many historians as a second war for independence. The History of the Late War Between the United States and Great Britain gives historical context and explanation for this view, as well as an explanation for how the nations arrived at that point.

Written in the style of the King James Bible by Gilbert Hunt, The History of the Late War was intended to give those who lived through the conflict an understanding of its nature and causes. The style of writing was also intended to inspire the youth of the day to take up their own historical and religious studies. With a unique style of presentation that brings the book's text to biblical proportions, The History of the Late War provides modern readers a window through which to see the early 19th century. For history buffs, the appendices at the end of the text provide real documentation of the period - in the form of treaties and agreements - and give further context to the events.

It remains only that, faithful to ourselves, entangled in no connections with the views of other powers, and ever ready to accept peace from the hand of justice, we prosecute the war with united counsels and with the ample faculties of the nation until peace be so obtained.

President James Madison speaking on the War of 1812

The untold chapter of reluctant enemies caught up in a continental war

When the US declared war on Great Britain in 1812, the Canadian colonies found themselves committed to armed conflict with their American neighbours. While Upper and Lower Canada became the main battlegrounds, Nova Scotia was reluctant to disrupt its lucrative trade with New England and immediately established a truce so that commerce could continue to flow freely.

In this book author John Boileau explores many aspects of the involvement of Nova Scotia in the War of 1812. He recounts many of the famous privateering and naval escapades up and down the coast, including the most famous prize, USS Chesapeake, which was captured by the Royal Navy and brought into Halifax Harbour. Halifax was also the site of the military prison where, over the course of the war, 10,000 men endured overcrowded and unhealthy living conditions. In May 2005 a ceremony will take place in Halifax to memorialize the 200 American prisoners who died in Melville Island prison.

During the war many escaped slaves found passage to Nova Scotia. This book reveals that instead of peace and prosperity the refugees found prejudice, hardship and smallpox.

This book sets out the history of a war whose spoils helped to establish Dalhousie College (now Dalhousie University) and the Cambridge Military Library (Halifax).

The narratives portrayed in this book represent the life stories of various pioneers from eighteenth-century Virginia. Their struggles and achievements are not well known; nevertheless, they played a crucial role. From poor immigrants, religious dissenters, and the landed gentry, they all changed Virginia history.

Pioneer accounts include: Charles Chriswell, Michael Kelly, Nicholas Meriwether, The Queen of Pamunkey, Thomas Joyce, Thomas Stanley, William Witcher, and Sir Francis Wyatt. All of these pioneers, in their own way, contributed to the culture of colonial Virginia. For better or for worse, they either inspired hope or planted fear. In some cases, it was both. The history of Virginia was forever shaped by these pioneers and their decisions.

An index to full-names, places and subjects adds to the value of this work.

In the early nineteenth century, Britons and Americans renewed their struggle over the legacy of the American Revolution, leading to a second confrontation that redefined North America. Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Alan Taylor's vivid narrative tells the riveting story of the soldiers, immigrants, settlers, and Indians who fought to determine the fate of a continent. Would revolutionary republicanism sweep the British from Canada? Or would the British contain, divide, and ruin the shaky republic?

In a world of double identities, slippery allegiances, and porous boundaries, the leaders of the republic and of the empire struggled to control their own diverse peoples. The border divided Americans--former Loyalists and Patriots--who fought on both sides in the new war, as did native peoples defending their homelands. And dissident Americans flirted with secession while aiding the British as smugglers and spies.

During the war, both sides struggled to sustain armies in a northern land of immense forests, vast lakes, and stark seasonal swings in the weather. After fighting each other to a standstill, the Americans and the British concluded that they could safely share the continent along a border that favored the United States at the expense of Canadians and Indians.

Moving beyond national histories to examine the lives of common men and women, The Civil War of 1812 reveals an often brutal (sometimes comic) war and illuminates the tangled origins of the United States and Canada.

Moving beyond national histories to examine the lives of common men and women, The Civil War of 1812 reveals an often brutal (sometimes comic) war and illuminates the tangled origins of the United States and Canada.

The third and final volume of the War of 1812 trilogy from Michael Aye. Following the tips from Colonel Richard Mentor Johnson's network of spies, Jonah Lee and his adopted brother Moses travel to the southern states to search for Anastasia. The bugles then ring, and Jonah once again answers President Madison's call to find himself on General Andrew Jackson's staff. Ole Hickory's assignment...to defend the city of New Orleans at all costs. Follow as Jackson enlist the help of the notorious pirate, Jean LaFitte and together they defeat the bloody British in a town called New Orleans.

Michael Aye's plots are fast moving and his characters are sharply drawn. In Battle of New Orleans he turns his considerable story-telling skills to the Final battle of America's forgotten war, the War of 1812. Entertaining and well researched, this volume shines a well-deserved light on an pivotal moment in American history. -James L. Nelson, author of Fin Gall and Benedict Arnold's Navy

War of 1812In 1812, Americans held two distinctly different visions of their country. Some saw growing production, manufactures, trade, and merchant ships traversing the globe bringing a vast array of staple and luxury goods to commercial centers and riches to American captains living in cities like the capitals of Europe. Others saw a vast agrarian paradise spreading from the eastern coast into the western wilderness where innumerable American farmers and their families could be independent and equal, free of government impediments and corruption. These incompatible visions of America were held by two opposing political parties. The two halves of America also had incompatible views on the necessity of war that year. Only the Democratic-Republicans were anxious to march into Canada, seize Florida, and take all the western lands they could win or negotiate. Canada survived, but the indigenous peoples, despite their prodigious efforts to get a voice at the peace treaty table, failed to preserve their cultures, as they foresaw would happen.

Inside you will read about...- War Hawks and Neutrality
- Declaration and Reaction
- The Campaign of 1812 and 1813
- 1814: War in the Balance
- Final Conflict and Peace
And much more

Discover how shifting political ideologies shaped the path forward to 1812 and beyond.

A gripping narrative of an unpopular and badly fought war--a century and a half before Vietnam--that will shock the uninformed reader.--Military History

Begun in ignorance of the military reality, the War of 1812 was fought catch-as-catch-can with raw troops, incompetent officers, and appallingly inadequate logistics. The odds against the American fighting forces-woefully unrealistic preparations and expectations, British military might, a feckless Congress and administration, the treason of many citizens who fed and praised the enemy-were overwhelming. American soil was invaded along three frontiers, the national capital was occupied and burned, and the secession of the New England states loomed as a definite possibility.

Amateurs, to Arms! examines in succession the campaigns of Mr. Madison's War the U.S. invasion of Canada; the key naval battles on Lakes Erie and Champlain; the British invasion via the Chesapeake Bay and its repulse at Baltimore; and the campaign leading to the American victory at New Orleans, fought and won after the war was over. Elting describes the planning and preparations (or lack of them) for the campaigns, tells how they were fought, and analyzes the battlefield performance of both sides. Specially prepared maps and numerous illustrations complement Elting's vivid, penetrating account of how the young republic fought and nearly lost its Second War for Independence.

The War of 1812 gets little attention in American history; however, this two and a half year conflict had serious consequences, which left regional memories and legends that have endured to the present day. The major actions of the war occurred along the Canadian border but also included the Gulf, Atlantic Coast, and the Chesapeake Bay. Three major events in the Chesapeake Bay (the battles for Hampton, Washington, and Baltimore) have overshadowed other incidents in the bay to the point of obscuring them. These battles reveal a great deal about the attitudes of the populations on both sides. This is especially the case of the City of Baltimore. Its maritime and mercantile reputation made it a major target and served as a magnet for British bay operations. Its privateers and sailors exacerbated British impulses to teach it and all bay residents a lesson, perhaps to the point that the British lost their strategic focus. Many of the little towns around the bay and along its tributaries retain relics and memories of the conflict. The author acknowledges the role these towns played and shows how they contributed to the better known incidents. This book is a helpful reference, which will make visiting the bay area more meaningful and interesting. Virtually every cove, creek, and village has a story to tell from the War of 1812.
Chapters include: Origins of a Forgotten War, Neither United nor Ready, Britain Tightens the Noose, The First Raid: 1813, Aggression Repelled: 1813, The Second Raid: 1813, British Return: 1814, The British Threaten Washington: 1814, Bladensburg, The Distracting Raids: 1814, Baltimore Prepares, The Attack on Baltimore, and Epilog. Three appendices include: Chesapeake Chronology, 1812-15; Chesapeake Operations, 1812-15, U.S. Organizations; and Chesapeake Operations, 1812-15, British Organizations. A bibliography and an index to full-names, places, and subjects enhance this work.

What did it take--logistically and operationally--for the small and underfunded US Navy to face the battle-hardened Royal Navy in the War of 1812? Find out in this book, the magnum opus of one of the deans of American naval history.

When the War of 1812 broke out, the newly formed and cash-strapped United States faced Great Britain, the world's foremost sea power, with a navy that had largely fallen into disrepair and neglect. In this riveting book, William S. Dudley presents the most complete history of the inner workings of the US Navy Department during the conflict, which lasted until 1815. What did it take, he asks, for the US Navy to build, fit-out, man, provision, and send fighting ships to sea for extended periods of time during the War of 1812?

When the British blockade of 1813-14 severely constrained American sea trade, reducing the government's income and closing down access to American seaports, the navy was forced to innovate: to make improvements through reforms, to redeploy personnel, and to strengthen its industrial capacity. Highlighting matters of supply, construction, recruitment, discipline, medical care, shipbuilding, and innovation, Dudley helps readers understand the navy's successes and failures in the war and beyond. He also presents the logistics of the war in relation to fleet actions on the lakes and selected ship actions on the oceans, stresses the importance of administration in warfighting, and shows how reforms and innovations in those areas led to a stronger, more efficient navy.

Refuting the idea that the United States won the war, Dudley argues that the conflict was at best a stalemate. Drawing on twenty-five years of archival research around the world, Inside the US Navy of 1812-1815 will leave readers with a better appreciation of how the navy contributed strategic value to the nation's survival in the conflict and assisted in bringing the war to an honorable end. This book will appeal to scholars and students of naval and military history, veterans, current officers, and maritime-oriented history buffs.

Sam Smith fought heroically in the American Revolution and was personally close with George Washington. He was one of the most successful businessmen in Baltimore. As a politician, he worked closely with Thomas Jefferson and served for 40 years in Congress, with 18 years in the House and 22 in the Senate.

After the British burned Washington, D.C., in the War of 1812, he rallied the people of Baltimore to defend the city. Under his inspired leadership, Baltimore withstood British attacks from both land and sea. This is the story of how he inspired citizens from all walks of life to work and fight together, and is a tale of extraordinary leadership and heroism--not just of Smith himself, but those he led, too.

Popular memory of the War of 1812 caroms from the beleaguered Fort McHenry to the burning White House to an embattled New Orleans. But the critical action was elsewhere, as Richard V. Barbuto tells us in this clarifying work that puts the state of New York squarely at the center of America's first foreign war.

British demands to move the northern border as far south as the Ohio River put New York on the first line of defense. But it was the leadership of Governor Daniel D. Tompkins that distinguished the state's contribution to the war effort, effectively mobilizing the considerable human and material resources that proved crucial to maintaining the nation's sovereignty. New York's War of 1812 shows how, despite a widespread antiwar movement and fierce partisan politics, Tompkins managed to corral and maintain support--until 1814, when Britain agreed to peace.

Retrieving New York's War of 1812 from the fog of military history, Barbuto describes the disproportionate cost paid by the state in loss of life and livelihood. The author draws on in-depth research of the state's legislative, financial, and militia records, as well as on the governor's extensive correspondence, to plot the conduct of the war regionally and chronologically and to tell the stories of numerous raids, skirmishes, and battles that touched civilians in their homes and communities.

Whether offering a clearer picture of the performance of the state militia, providing a more accurate account of the conflict's impact on the state's diverse population, or newly detailing New York's decisive contribution, this deeply researched, closely observed work revises our view of the nation's perhaps least understood war.

War of 1812 Battle of Bladensburg Monument

The last battlefield monument on American soil?

In 1814, British forces defeated the Americans in Bladensburg, Maryland, marched into Washington, I)C, and burned the US Capitol, White House, and other buildings.

For nearly years, the battlefield where Americans fought and died attempting to defend their capital was ignored and lost to history.

Finally, a local volunteer group led by a former Marine Captain and history enthusiast whose family business was near the site stepped up to the plate. They meticulously planned the design, raised funds, and built die Battle Monument in time for the 200th anniversary in 2014.

This book tells the dramatic, step-by-step story of planning and creating the Battle of Bladensburg Monument, the pitfalls and crises, and the people involved.

The first battlefield monument on American soil was built in 1799 for the 1775 Revolutionary War Battle of Lexington, Massachusetts.

The last battlefield monument on American soil was built in 2014 for the 1814 Battle of Bladensburg. Unlike other monuments, it uniquely contains narrative wording that explains the battle and vivid col(Y images of the and actions.

These two monuments are bookends, with many monuments from the Revolutionary War, Civil War, and other battles between them.