Wellington in America

It is the twenty-second month of the war between the United States and Great Britain, the second war between the two nations in thirty-seven years. This second conflict, known in America as the War of 1812 is a footnote to the titanic struggle being waged on the European continent, between Great Britain, Napoleonic France, and their respective allies. However, for President James Madison and the United States, the war is far more than a trivial sideshow. It is clear to Madison, by the...
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It is the twenty-second month of the war between the United States and Great Britain, the second war between the two nations in thirty-seven years. This second conflict, known in America as the War of 1812 is a footnote to the titanic struggle being waged on the European continent, between Great Britain, Napoleonic France, and their respective allies. However, for President James Madison and the United States, the war is far more than a trivial sideshow. It is clear to Madison, by the summer of 1814, that the war against Britain is going very badly. Every American offensive into Canada has been a disaster. The British, and their Canadian and Indian allies, have won significant victories. The American Navy is virtually rotting at anchor, bottled up in Atlantic ports. The Royal Navy has blockaded the American coastline from Castine to New Orleans. The only bright spots have been the performance of the Regular Army, significant naval victories on the Great Lakes, ship-to-ship actions on the high seas, and the success of privateers in harassing British commerce and seizing cargoes. Now, with Napoleon's defeated in Europe, Madison fears Britain, for the first time since the American declaration of war in June 1812, will shift its focus, marshaling its land and sea forces in a major military escalation to defeat the United States. It is in the shadow of those fears and these the darkest days of the war that critical decisions are made in London that will change the course of American history.