War of 1812
- Period
- June 1812 – February 1815
- Sides
- United States vs United Kingdom
- Battles
- 48
The War of 1812 was a conflict initiated by the United States against the United Kingdom and its allies fought mainly in North America and at sea during the wider Napoleonic Wars. The United States declared war on Britain on 18 June 1812. Although peace terms were agreed upon in the December 1814 Treaty of Ghent, the war did not officially end until the peace treaty was ratified by the United States Senate on 17 February 1815.
Sources: Wikipedia — War of 1812 · CC BY-SA 4.0
Battles 48
July 1812
Siege of Fort Mackinac
The Capture of Fort Mackinac was one of the first engagements of the War of 1812. A British and Native American force captured the island soon after the outbreak of war between Britain and the United States. Encouraged by the easy British victory, more Native Americans rallied to their support. Their cooperation was an important factor in several British victories during the remainder of the war.
August 1812
Siege of Detroit
The siege of Detroit, also known as the surrender of Detroit or the Battle of Fort Detroit, was an early engagement in the War of 1812. A British force under Major General Isaac Brock in cooperation with Indigenous warriors under Shawnee leader Tecumseh used bluff and deception to intimidate American Brigadier General William Hull into surrendering the fort and town of Detroit, the Michigan Territory, and his army which actually outnumbered the victorious British and Indigenous warriors.
August 1812
Battle of Fort Dearborn
The Battle of Fort Dearborn was an engagement between United States troops, militia and Miami native auxiliaries, against Potawatomi Native Americans that took place on August 15, 1812, near Fort Dearborn, then part of Illinois Territory in the Chicago area. The battle, part of the War of 1812, followed the evacuation of the fort ordered by the commander of the United States Army of the Northwest, William Hull. The battle lasted about 15 minutes and resulted in a complete victory for the Potawatomi. After the battle, Fort Dearborn was burned down. Some of the soldiers and settlers who had been taken captive were later ransomed.
August 1812
Battle of Brownstown
The Battle of Brownstown was an early skirmish in the War of 1812. Although the United States military outnumbered the forces of Tecumseh's Confederacy 8 to 1, they lost the engagement and suffered substantial losses while Tecumseh's forces were almost completely untouched.
August 1812
Battle of Maguaga
The Battle of Maguaga was a small battle between British troops, Canadian militia and Tecumseh's natives and a larger force of American troops near the Wyandot village of Maguaga in what is now the city of Riverview, Michigan.
September 1812
Siege of Fort Harrison
In September 1812 several hundred Native American warriors allied with Tecumseh attacked Fort Harrison on the Wabash River in Indiana Territory. Captain Zachary Taylor's garrison, many of them sick, fought off the attack, put out a fire set to the blockhouse and held the fort until a relief column arrived. It is often called the first American land victory of the war.
September 1812
Siege of Fort Wayne
The siege of Fort Wayne took place from September 5–12, 1812, during the War of 1812. The stand-off occurred in the modern city of Fort Wayne, Indiana, between the U.S. military garrison at Fort Wayne and a combined force of Potawatomi and Miami forces. The conflict began when warriors under the Potawatomi chiefs Winamac and Five Medals killed two members of the U.S. garrison. Over the next several days, the Potawatomi burned the buildings and crops of the fort's adjacent village and launched assaults from outside the fort. Winamac withdrew on September 12 ahead of reinforcements led by Major General William Henry Harrison.
October 1812
Battle of Queenston Heights
The Battle of Queenston Heights was the first major engagement of the War of 1812. The battle took place on 13 October 1812, at Queenston in Upper Canada and was a decisive British victory. United States regulars and New York militia led by Major General Stephen Van Rensselaer crossed the Niagara River from Lewiston and engaged British regulars and Canadian militia led by Major General Isaac Brock. Major General Roger Hale Sheaffe took command of British forces after Brock was killed. Mohawk warriors led by John Norton supported the British during the battle.
November 1812
Battle of Frenchman's Creek
The Battle of Frenchman's Creek took place during the War of 1812 between Great Britain and the United States in the early hours of November 28, 1812, in the Crown Colony of Upper Canada, near the Niagara River. The action was part of Brigadier General Alexander Smyth's attempt to renew the American offensive on the Niagara Frontier after the defeat at the Battle of Queenston Heights.
November 1812
Battle of Lacolle Mills (1812)
The Battle of Lacolle Mills was fought on November 20, 1812, during the War of 1812. In this relatively light skirmish, a very small garrison of Canadian militia, with the assistance of Kahnawake Mohawk warriors, defended the Lacolle Mills Blockhouse on the Montreal road bridge over the Lacolle River at the village of Lacolle, Quebec against a disorganized American attack.
January 1813
Battle of Frenchtown
The Battle of Frenchtown, also known as the Battle of the River Raisin and the River Raisin Massacre, refers to two consecutive engagements during the War of 1812. Fighting between American forces commanded by Brigadier General James Winchester and British and allied forces under Colonel Henry Procter took place on January 18 and 22, 1813, at Frenchtown, Michigan Territory on the River Raisin roughly 35 miles (56 km) southwest of Detroit.
February 1813
Battle of Ogdensburg
The Battle of Ogdensburg was a battle of the War of 1812. The British gained a victory over the Americans and captured the village of Ogdensburg, New York. Although small in scale, it removed the American threat to British supply lines for the remainder of the war.
April 1813
Battle of York
The Battle of York was a War of 1812 battle fought in York, Upper Canada on April 27, 1813. An American force, supported by a naval flotilla, landed on the western lakeshore and captured the provincial capital after defeating an outnumbered force of regulars, militia and Ojibwe natives under the command of Major General Roger Hale Sheaffe, the Lieutenant Governor of Upper Canada.
April 1813 – May 1813
Siege of Fort Meigs
The siege of Fort Meigs was a significant War of 1812 military engagement in northwestern Ohio during the spring of 1813. British regulars and militia led by Brigadier General Henry Procter, supported by Indigenous forces led by Tecumseh, attempted to capture the recently constructed fort in order to forestall Major General William Henry Harrison's campaign to retake Detroit and invade Upper Canada. An American attempt to relieve the fort on May 5 resulted in heavy casualties, however, Procter was unable to breech Harrison's defences and withdrew after a 11-day siege.
May 1813
Battle of Fort George
The Battle of Fort George was fought during the War of 1812, in which the Americans defeated a British force and captured Fort George in Upper Canada. The troops of the United States Army and vessels of the United States Navy cooperated in a very successful amphibious assault, although most of the opposing British force escaped encirclement.
May 1813
Second Battle of Sacket's Harbor
The Second Battle of Sacket's Harbor, or simply the Battle of Sacket's Harbor, took place on 29 May 1813, during the War of 1812. A British force was transported across Lake Ontario and attempted to capture the town, which was the principal dockyard and base for the American naval squadron on the lake. Twelve warships were built here. The British were repulsed by American regulars, militia, marines and sailors, although the attack resulted in the destruction of naval stores and self-inflicted damage to American warships.
June 1813
Battle of Beaver Dams
The Battle of Beaver Dams took place on 24 June 1813, during the War of 1812. A column of troops from the United States Army marched from Fort George and attempted to surprise a British outpost at Beaver Dams, billeting themselves overnight in the village of Queenston, Ontario. Laura Secord, a resident of Queenston, had earlier learned of the American plans from several Americans billeted at her house and had struck out on a long and difficult trek to warn the British at Decou's stone house near present-day Brock University. When the Americans resumed their march, they were ambushed by Kahnawake and other native warriors and eventually surrendered to a small British detachment led by Lieutenant James FitzGibbon. About 500 U.S. troops, including their wounded commander, were taken prisoner.
June 1813
Battle of Stoney Creek
The Battle of Stoney Creek was fought on 6 June 1813, during the War of 1812 near what is now Stoney Creek, Ontario, Canada. British units made a night attack on the American encampment, and due in large part to the capture of the two senior officers of the American force and an overestimation of British strength by the Americans, the outcome of the battle was a victory for the British, and a turning point in the defence of Upper Canada.
June 1813
Capture of USS Chesapeake
The capture of USS Chesapeake, also known as the Battle of Boston Harbor, was fought on 1 June 1813, between the Royal Navy frigate HMS Shannon and the United States Navy frigate USS Chesapeake, as part of the War of 1812 between the United States and the United Kingdom. HMS Shannon, commanded by Captain Philip Broke, captured USS Chesapeake, commanded by Captain James Lawrence, in one of the Royal Navy's clearest single-ship victories of the war. The action lasted only about ten to fifteen minutes, but ended with Chesapeake disabled, boarded, captured, and taken into British service.
June 1813
Battle of Craney Island
The Battle of Craney Island was fought on June 22, 1813 during the War of 1812. British forces under George Cockburn and John Borlase Warren attempted an amphibious landing on Craney Island, Virginia but were repulsed by defending American troops under Robert B. Taylor. The battle prevented Norfolk and Portsmouth, two major hubs of American commerce, from coming under British attack.
July 1813
Battle of Burnt Corn
The Battle of Burnt Corn, also known as the Battle of Burnt Corn Creek, was fought on July 27, 1813, in what is now Escambia County, Alabama, United States. The battle was the first conflict of the Creek War to be fought between American forces and a faction of the Muscogee known as the Red Sticks. The Creek War began as an intratribal conflict between two factions of Muscogee, one that supported a centralized tribal government and cooperation with the United States government and the other that opposed the encroachment of American settlers and championed a return to the traditional Muscogee lifestyle. A group of Red Sticks traveled to Pensacola to obtain weapons and supplies from the Spanish to further their fight.
August 1813
Fort Mims massacre
The Fort Mims massacre occurred on August 30, 1813, at a fortified homestead site 35–40 miles north of Mobile, Alabama, during the Creek War. A large force of Creek Indians belonging to the Red Sticks faction, under the command of Peter McQueen and William Weatherford, stormed the fort and defeated the militia garrison.
August 1813
Battle of St. Michaels
The First Battle of St. Michaels was an engagement contested on August 10, 1813, during the War of 1812. British soldiers attacked Maryland militia at St. Michaels, which is located on Eastern Shore of Maryland with access to the Chesapeake Bay. At the time, this small town was on the main shipping route to important cities such as Baltimore and Washington, D.C.
August 1813
Battle of Fort Stephenson
The Battle of Fort Stephenson was a decisive American victory in Ohio during the War of 1812. American forces led by Major George Croghan successfully defended the fort during a two-day siege by British and Indigenous forces in August 1813.
September 1813
Battle of Lake Erie
The Battle of Lake Erie, also known as the Battle of Put-in-Bay, was fought on 10 September 1813, on Lake Erie off the shores of Ohio during the War of 1812. Nine vessels of the United States Navy defeated and captured six vessels of the British Royal Navy. This ensured American control of the lake for the rest of the war, which in turn allowed the Americans to recover Detroit, Michigan and win the Battle of the Thames to break the Indian confederation of Tecumseh. It was one of the largest naval battles of the War of 1812.
October 1813
Battle of the Thames
The Battle of the Thames, also known as the Battle of Moraviantown, was an American victory over British forces and Tecumseh's Confederacy during the War of 1812. The battle took place on October 5, 1813, in Upper Canada near what is now Thamesville, Ontario. The British lost control of the Western District of Upper Canada as a result of the battle. Tecumseh was killed, and his confederacy collapsed.
October 1813
Battle of the Chateauguay
The Battle of the Chateauguay was an engagement of the War of 1812. On 26 October 1813, a Canadian and Native force consisting of 1,530 militia and Mohawk warriors from Lower Canada, commanded by Charles de Salaberry, repelled an American force of about 2,600 regulars which was attempting to invade Lower Canada and ultimately attack Montreal. The battle was one of the two battles which caused the Americans to abandon the Saint Lawrence campaign, their major strategic effort in the autumn of 1813.
November 1813
Battle of Crysler's Farm
The Battle of Crysler's Farm, also known as the Battle of Crysler's Field, or the Battle of Williamsburg, was fought on 11 November 1813, during the War of 1812, in the British province of Upper Canada. A British and Upper Canadian force defeated a much larger American invasion force, prompting the US to abandon the Saint Lawrence campaign, its plan to capture Montreal in the autumn of 1813.
November 1813
Battle of Talladega
The Battle of Talladega was fought between the Tennessee Militia and the Red Stick Creek Native Americans during the Creek War, in the vicinity of the present-day county and city of Talladega, Alabama, in the United States.
November 1813
Battle of Tallushatchee
The Battle of Tallushatchee was fought on November 3, 1813, in northeastern Mississippi Territory during the Creek War. United States dragoons, commanded by Brigadier General John Coffee, defeated the Red Sticks.
November 1813
Battle of Autossee
The Battle of Autossee took place on November 29, 1813, during the Creek War, at the Creek towns of Autossee and Tallassee near present-day Shorter, Alabama. General John Floyd, with 900 to 950 militiamen and 450 allied Creek, attacked and burned down both villages, killing 200 Red Sticks in the process.
January 1814
Battle of Calebee Creek
The Battle of Calebee Creek took place on January 27, 1814, during the Creek War, in Macon County, Alabama, 50 miles (80 km) west of Fort Mitchell. General Floyd, with 1,200 Georgia volunteers, a company of cavalry and 400 friendly Yuchi, repulsed a night attack of the Red Sticks on his camp. Floyd lost so many in this hostile country that he immediately withdrew to the Chattahoochee River. Also referred to as the Battle for Camp Defiance.
March 1814
Battle of Horseshoe Bend
The Battle of Horseshoe Bend was fought in the Mississippi Territory, now central Alabama. On March 27, 1814, United States forces and Native American allies under Major General Andrew Jackson defeated the Red Sticks, a part of the Creek Indian tribe who opposed American expansion, effectively ending the Creek War.
March 1814
Battle of Lacolle Mills (1814)
The Battle of Lacolle Mills was fought on 30 March 1814 during the War of 1812. The small garrison of a British outpost position, aided by Canadian reinforcements, fought off a large American attack.
May 1814
Battle of Fort Oswego (1814)
The Battle of Fort Oswego was a partially successful British raid on Fort Ontario and the village of Oswego, New York on 6 May 1814 during the War of 1812.
July 1814
Battle of Chippawa
The Battle of Chippawa was a War of 1812 battle fought on July 5, 1814, in which the United States Army defeated British forces during the American invasion of Upper Canada along the Niagara River. This battle and the subsequent Battle of Lundy's Lane demonstrated that trained American troops could hold their own against British regulars. The battlefield is preserved as a National Historic Site of Canada.
July 1814
Battle of Lundy's Lane
The Battle of Lundy's Lane, also known as the Battle of Niagara or contemporarily as the Battle of Bridgewater, was fought on 25 July 1814, during the War of 1812, between an invading American army and a British and Canadian army near present-day Niagara Falls, Ontario. It was one of the bloodiest battles of the war, and one of the deadliest battles fought in Canada, with approximately 1,720 casualties including 258 killed.
July 1814 – August 1814
Battle of Mackinac Island (1814)
The Battle of Mackinac Island was a British victory in the War of 1812. Before the war, Fort Mackinac had been an important American trading post in the straits between Lake Michigan and Lake Huron. It was important for its influence and control over the Native American tribes in the area, which was sometimes referred to in historical documents as "Michilimackinac".
August 1814
Burning of Washington
The burning of Washington, also known as the capture of Washington, was a successful British amphibious attack conducted by Rear Admiral George Cockburn as part of the Chesapeake campaign planned by Admiral John Warren. It was the only time since the American Revolutionary War that a foreign power had captured and occupied a United States capital. Following the defeat of American forces at the Battle of Bladensburg on August 24, 1814, a British force led by Major-General Robert Ross marched on Washington, D.C. That evening, British soldiers and sailors set fire to multiple public buildings, including the presidential mansion, United States Capitol, and Washington Navy Yard.
August 1814
Battle of Bladensburg
The Battle of Bladensburg, also known as the Bladensburg Races, took place on August 24, 1814, during the Chesapeake campaign of the War of 1812 at Bladensburg, Maryland. It has been described as "the greatest disgrace ever dealt to American arms". A British force of army regulars and Royal Marines routed a combined U.S. force of Regular Army and state militia troops. The American defeat resulted in the British capture and burning of the national capital of Washington, the only time that the city has fallen to a foreign invader.
August 1814 – September 1814
Siege of Fort Erie
The siege of Fort Erie, also known as the Battle of Erie, from 4 August to 21 September 1814, was one of the last engagements of the War of 1812, between British and American forces. It took place during the Niagara campaign, and the Americans successfully defended Fort Erie against a British army under Gordon Drummond. During the siege, Drummond's troops suffered high casualties in a failed storming attempt; they also suffered casualties from sickness and exposure in their rough encampments. Unaware that the British were about to abandon the siege, the American garrison launched a sortie to destroy the British siege batteries, during which both sides again suffered high losses.
September 1814
Battle of Baltimore
The Battle of Baltimore took place between British and American forces on September 12–14, 1814, during the War of 1812. Defending American forces repulsed sea and land invasions off the busy major port city of Baltimore, Maryland, by British forces preventing the United States' third largest city at the time from falling to British forces and ending the British Chesapeake campaign.
September 1814
Battle of Plattsburgh
The Battle of Plattsburgh, also known as the Battle of Lake Champlain, ended the final British invasion of the northern states of the United States during the War of 1812. Two British forces, an army under Lieutenant General Sir George Prevost and a naval squadron under Captain George Downie converged on the lakeside town of Plattsburgh, New York. Plattsburgh was defended by New York and Vermont militia and detachments of regular troops of the United States Army, all under the command of Brigadier General Alexander Macomb, and ships commanded by Master Commandant Thomas Macdonough.
September 1814
Battle of North Point
The Battle of North Point was fought on September 12, 1814, between General John Stricker's Maryland Militia and a British force led by Major-general Robert Ross. Although the Americans were driven from the field, they were able to do so in good order having inflicted significant casualties on the British, killing Ross and demoralizing the troops under his command. Some of Ross's units became lost among woods and swampy creeks during the battle, with others in similar states of confusion.
October 1814
Battle of Cook's Mills
The Battle of Cook's Mills was the last engagement between U.S. and British armies in the Niagara, and the penultimate engagement on Canadian soil during the War of 1812. After a battle lasting less than an hour, American forces out-maneuvered the British column, and later destroyed all grain found in the mill.
December 1814
Battle of Lake Borgne
The Battle of Lake Borgne was a coastal engagement between the Royal Navy and the United States Navy in the American South theatre of the War of 1812. It occurred on December 14, 1814 on Lake Borgne. The British victory allowed them to disembark their troops unhindered nine days later and to launch an offensive upon New Orleans on land.
January 1815
Battle of New Orleans
The Battle of New Orleans was fought on January 8, 1815, between the British Army under Major General Sir Edward Pakenham and the United States Army under Brevet Major General Andrew Jackson, roughly 5 miles (8 km) southeast of the French Quarter of New Orleans, in the current suburb of Chalmette, Louisiana.
January 1815
Bombardment of Fort St. Philip (1815)
The bombardment of Fort St. Philip was a ten day long distance bombardment of exploding bomb shells - by two Royal Navy bomb vessels, mounting a total of four mortars - against the American garrison of Fort St. Philip. The fort was unable to retaliate at the start, as the bomb vessels were out of the range of its solid shot cannon, and its mortar did not have ammunition. This was remedied by supply boats, whereby the fort counter-attacked the bomb vessels with its mortar on January 17, and the British duly withdrew. This riverine engagement took place during the concluding hostilities of the War of 1812.
Earlier and later events nearby
- c. 1050Rise of Cahokia
- 1803Louisiana Purchase
- June 1812 – February 1815War of 1812This page
- 1861–1865American Civil War
- 1969Apollo 11 Moon landing
Who ruled this land
States that held this place in the historical borders data (Cliopatria). Years are approximate, as fine as the data's snapshots (every few years to a century). Tap to open the map for that year.