American Forces Capture York, Burning the Provincial Assembly Buildings: April 27, 1813

This text comes from our book, The American Venture.

Despite the fervor of the “War Hawks” (as those who had pushed for war with Great Britain were called), the American army and navy were not prepared for war. Great Britain’s navy had more than 100 ships; the United States, only five frigates. Great Britain’s army was also much larger than America’s and better trained. In America’s favor, however, Great Britain’s army and navy were both engaged in war with Napoleon in Europe and thus did not have sufficient numbers to spare for America.

Many Americans both inside and out of Congress entered the war with high hopes. They would teach their old enemy, Great Britain, to respect American sovereignty by sea and on land. What’s more, it was hoped that through war, the United States could fulfill the long-cherished dream of annexing Canada. But early battles disappointed this hope. An American invasion of Canada from Detroit failed, as did attempts to invade Canada from New York. Then, in August 1812, the British with Indian allies forced the Americans to surrender Detroit. From this British foothold in the United States, the Shawnee chieftain Tecumseh directed a series of raids that terrorized American frontier settlements. The British then pushed south from Detroit and on January 22, 1813, captured a division of the American army at Frenchtown on the Raisin River in Michigan Territory. But in an invasion of Ohio, the British and their Indian allies could not capture two American forts—Fort Meigs and Fort Stephenson—and so withdrew into Michigan.

In the early spring of 1813, the British used their superior navy to establish a blockade of the Atlantic coast of America. The blockade especially hurt the shipping interests of New York and New England. Public opinion in these states had never been strong for the war, but the blockade turned opinion fiercely against it. In protest, the governors of the New England states refused to contribute their state militias to the war effort.

Oliver Hazard Perry

The early spring of 1813 saw another British attempt to invade Ohio. The invasion relied on British control of Lake Erie where, under Captain Robert Heriot Barclay, the British outnumbered and outgunned the American fleet. But on September 10, 1813, the American commodore, Oliver Hazard Perry, forced Barclay to surrender his fleet. The defeat of the British fleet meant that the British army had to withdraw from Ohio. Nor could the British remain in Detroit, for American troops had crossed Lake Erie and begun an invasion of Ontario.

General William Henry Harrison, the “Hero of Tippecanoe,” directed the American invasion of Canada. On October 5, 1813, Harrison joined battle with the British on the north bank of the Thames River and forced them to retreat. Tecumseh, who guarded the British retreat, was cut down. In April 1813, American forces captured York (today called Toronto), the capital of Ontario, burning the provincial assembly buildings along with a number of civilian homes. Another American expedition captured British Fort Niagara.

Thus, the years 1813 and 1814 witnessed some important American victories in the North. Yet the British were not defeated. Indeed, they still held a very powerful weapon: the blockade, which grew ever tighter and tighter—so tight, in fact, that it kept American warships from leaving American ports.