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The War of 1812 is a largely forgotten conflict. This is a shame, for the war played an important role in the history of the United States. While there is not an abundance of national-level studies, there is a positive lack of state-level studies. The state of Virginia saw significant action, from the Chesapeake-Leopard Affair on the road to war, to the defense of Norfolk against British invaders. Many Virginians supported war with Great Britain, while others vehemently opposed “Mr. Madison’s Wa...

When land treaties threatened Native American dominance in the Old Northwest, a coalition of tribes launched Tecumseh's War, named after the Shawnee war chief who was its guiding force. Hickey provides a new perspective on this historical turning point, showing that at stake was nothing short than the future of Native Americans in North America.

On 26 October 1812, during the war between Britain and the United States, the frigate USS Essex set sail on the most remarkable voyage in the early history of the US navy. After rounding Cape Horn, she proceeded to systematically destroy the British South Seas whaling fleet. When news reached the Royal Navy's South American station at Rio de Janeiro, HMS Phoebe was sent off in pursuit. So began one of the most extraordinary chases in naval history. In Pursuit of the Essex follows the adventures...

Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919) lived an extraordinary life: war hero, twenty-sixth president, reformer, historian, conservationist recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize, author, and explorer. But it was the navy that most fascinated him throughout his long and varied career, and it was in The Naval War of 1812 (published in 1882 when he was only twenty-three) that he first declared his interest.Praised for its scholarship, assurance, and originality, this classic naval history offers stirring and...

After the Revolutionary War ended, the new American nation grappled with a question about its identity: Were the states sovereign entities or subordinates to a powerful federal government? The War of 1812 brought this vexing issue into sharp relief, as a national government intent on waging an unpopular war confronted a populace in Massachusetts that was vigorously opposed to it. Maine, which at the time was part of Massachusetts, served as the battleground in this political struggle.Joshua M. S...

From the roots of the conflict, through a profile of the two armies, to descriptions of the great battles and events of the war this work captures in one lavishly illustrated volume one of America's first great crises. Scarcely three decades after the United States won its independence, the massive strength of Mother country returned, seeking to enforce its will on its wayward offspring. The combats were various in scale and ferocity, stretching from the wilds of the Canadian border to the swam...

‘Beguiling’ The Times ‘Compelling’ Wall Street Journal ‘A vivid portrait’ Daily Mail Buried in the history of our most famous jail, a unique story of captivity, violence and race. British redcoats torch the White House and six thousand American sailors languish in the world’s largest prisoner-of-war camp, Dartmoor. A myriad of races and backgrounds, with some prisoners as young as thirteen. Known as the ‘hated cage’, Dartmoor wasn’t a place you’d expect to be full of life and invention. Yet...

One of the most important public figures in antebellum America, Winfield Scott is known today more for his swagger than his sword. Old Fuss-and-Feathers was a brilliant military commander whose tactics and strategy were innovative adaptations from European military theory; yet he was often under appreciated by his contemporaries and until recently overlooked by historians. While John Eisenhower's recent Agent of Destiny provides a solid summary of Scott's remarkable life, Timothy D. Johnson's mu...

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 h...

This engagingly told and richly illustrated history invites readers to travel back in time and imagine what it would have been like to live through the War of 1812, America's forgotten conflict. Offering readers an impressive array of images-some rarely before seen-and a crisp narrative, the book recounts the war's main battles and campaigns, from William Hull's ignominious surrender at Detroit in 1812 to Andrew Jackson's spectacular victory at New Orleans in 1815. Learn about Oliver H. Perry's...

The Battle of New Orleans proved a critical victory for the United States, a young nation defending its nascent borders, but over the past two hundred years, myths have obscured the facts about the conflict. In The Battle of New Orleans in History and Memory, distinguished experts in military, social, art, and music history sift the real from the remembered, illuminating the battle's lasting significance across multiple disciplines. Laura Lyons McLemore sets the stage by reviewing the origins o...

For a half century, John Ellis Wool (1784-1869) was one of America's most illustrious figures - most notably as an officer in the United States Army during the War of 1812, the Mexican-American War, and the Civil War. At the onset of the Civil War, when he assumed command of the Department of the East, Wool had been a brigadier general for twenty years and, at age seventy-seven, was the oldest general on either side of the conflict. Courage Above All Things marks the first full biography of Wool...