American Wars Categories

1803 - 1812

The War of 1812 timeline started when a total of nearly 10,000 American sailors were forcibly made by the British navy to work in their ships.  This enforcement was made under the British Impressment that was authorized   under the Orders-in-Council of the British Monarchy.

• Our first war of 1812 fact is that the HMS Leopard of the British Navy signals the US ship Chesapeake to stop for inspection if there are British deserters working in the ship.  Chesapeake refused to obey and was then fired upon by the British war ship that resulted to the death of 3 US sailors and the wounding of others.     .

Overview of the war of 1812 started on June 18, 1812 between the United States and Great Britain when the United States of America officially declared War against Great Britain.  This declaration of war by the United States against Great Britain was said to have been caused by factors such as the Impressment issue and the need of the Americans to take ownership of the remaining part of the North American continent which during that time was still owned by the Monarchy government of England.

There were actually several reasons why did the war of 1812 started.  The official reason as made clear in the declaration of war by the United States of America to Great Britain was the Impression Issue that was made by the British Government under their Orders-in-Council.  This Impression Issue is an act whereby men are forced by the government for induction into military service.

When you think of great navel battles from U.S. history, we mostly think of phenomenal battles of the Revolutionary War or World War II.  But it was a naval battle for control of the mouth of the Mississippi river during the Civil War that changed the course of that war.  The strategies that lead to the fall of New Orleans is one of the storied naval encounters of this era of U.S. history.

During those formative decades of U.S. history, each time the infant nation was able to show itself capable, that only continued to reinforce that we had not only declared ourselves an independent nation, we were prepared to act like one.  Part of acting like a nation meant building and deploying an army and navy to secure the nation against attack.  And in those days when attack was a very real possibility from the British navy, the importance of a strong navy was significant.