The War of 1812 was fought from 1812 (or in reality, 1811) to 1815 by the United States on one side and on the other the British Empire and a confederacy of indigenous nations (then-called "Indians").

United States historical travel topics: Indigenous nations → Pre-Civil War → Civil War → Old West → Industrialization → Postwar African-American history • Mexican American history • Presidents

Understand

The war was the continuation of a number of preexisting conflicts: it took place less than twenty-five years after the American Revolution and in the context of both an American population boom and westward expansion, and the Napoleonic Wars happening in Europe at the same time. The bulk of the fighting took place along the present-day border between Canada and the U.S.A. near the Great Lakes, particularly in the Niagara Peninsula. But battles occurred as far afield as Chalmette, Louisiana in the south. As so often with wars, the people making the decisions, like U.S. President James Madison, the so-called "hawks" in Congress, or the Governor General of British North America, George Prévost, did not suffer the burdens of the war - mostly borne by rank-and-file soldiers, civilians in the affected regions, and most especially, the indigenous peoples. After years of bloody back-and-forth raids that included the burning of the White House in Washington, D.C., the war ended without any change in borders between British Canada and the U.S.A., but the indigenous peoples of the Ohio valley and Great Lakes were left devastated by the fighting. Britain and America went on to patch up their differences and the Americans continued to extend into indigenous land. Because of the inconclusive and wasteful nature of this war, Britons and Americans tend not to think of the war as particularly important or noble part of their histories, but in Canada (especially Ontario) it is looked at as something like a "war of independence" against American invasion, and there are many historic sites and museums dedicated to it, and for indigenous nations around the Great Lakes, it is remembered as a calamitous tragedy.

Routes

• Star-Spangled Banner National Historic Trail. Itinerary exploring War of 1812 sites in the Maryland, Washington DC, and Virginia region. (updated Feb 2023)

Sites

• 1 Tippecanoe Battlefield Park, near Lafayette, Indiana. The location of the battle in 1811 between the United States and the Shawnee that forced the Shawnee to flee to Canada seeking British support — one of the principal causes of the U.S.-British war one year later. (updated Feb 2023)

• 2 Battle of the Châteauguay National Historic Site, pc.chateauguay.pc@canada.ca. (updated Feb 2023)

• 3 Carleton Martello Tower National Historic Site, Saint John. (updated Feb 2023)
• 4 Coteau-du-Lac National Historic Site, near Salaberry-de-Valleyfield. (updated Feb 2023)
• 5 Fort George National Historic Site, Niagara-on-the-Lake. (updated Feb 2023)
• 6 Fort Henry, Kingston (Ontario). One of multiple fortifications which, along with the Rideau Canal to Ottawa, form Kingston's only UNESCO-listed World Heritage Site. The current Fort Henry (built 1832-37) replaces an earlier fortification of the same name constructed during the War of 1812. The four Martello towers were also built after the war had ended. Because of its strategic location controlling access between the eastern Great Lakes and the Saint Lawrence River, Kingston has a long military history dating from la Nouvelle France and les coureurs du bois in 1673 to CFB Kingston's NATO presence in the modern era. Its principal adversaries circa-1812 were US fortifications at Sackets Harbor and Oswego, directly across Lake Ontario. (updated Jan 2024)
• 7 Fort St. Joseph National Historic Site, St. Joseph Island. (updated Feb 2023)
• 8 Fort Lennox National Historic Site, near Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu. (updated Feb 2023)
• 9 Fort Malden National Historic Site, Amherstburg. (updated Feb 2023)
• 10 Fort McHenry, Federal Hill, Baltimore, ☏ +1 410 962-4290 x250. Defensive installation for the city of Baltimore, famous for defending Baltimore Harbor against a British attack on September 13–14, 1814. Francis Scott Key wrote the U.S. national anthem, The Star Spangled Banner, describing the battle in music. (updated Feb 2023)
• 11 Fort Wellington National Historic Site, Prescott. (updated Feb 2023)
• 12 Fort York National Historic Site, 250 Fort York Blvd, Toronto/Harbourfront. The current Fort York replaces fortifications destroyed by a US attack in the Battle of York in 1813, in which 2700 men with 85 cannons defeated 750 British-Canadians and natives. Infamously, retreating British Commander Major General Sir Roger Sheaffe ignited the fort’s gunpowder magazine, killing or wounding 250 Americans in a devastating explosion. Over the next six days, American forces occupied York, looting and burning public buildings. In retaliation the British attacked Washington, DC and burned the White House,  
• 13 St. Andrews Blockhouse National Historic Site, Saint Andrews. (updated Feb 2023)
• 14 Rideau Canal World Heritage Site. A canal from Kingston through Smiths Falls and Merrickville to Ottawa allowed boats to bypass a vulnerable section of the St. Lawrence River on which what is now Brockville-Prescott were directly exposed to US attack on a narrows opposite Ogdensburg. From Ottawa, shipping could use the Ottawa River to rejoin the St. Lawrence at Montreal. Constructed soon after the end of hostilities, neither the canal nor the fortifications at Kingston saw active battle. (updated Feb 2023)
• 15 Queenston Heights National Historic Site, Niagara-on-the-Lake. (updated Feb 2023)

Guidebooks

• Gilbert Collins, Guidebook to the Historic Sites of the War of 1812
• John Grant and Ray Jones, The War of 1812: A Guide to Battlefields and Historic Sites