The American War of 1812 Trivia Quiz

Answer: All of these.

The US declared war on Britain for a number of reasons including:

1. Britain had set up trade restrictions against France. The French under Napoleon were at war with Britain. At the same time Britain was trying to blockade France,

2. In order to defeat the French, Britain were pressing into Naval service ex British seamen and deserters who were now serving in US vessels. The impressment sometimes extended to non-British citizens.

3. The British were offering protection to native American tribes who were defending their tribal lands against American settlers.

When war was imminent, but before any declaration had been made, Britain wished to avoid conflict and offered to withdraw trade restrictions. This was the condition demanded by US President Madison and the Republican party to avoid war. However, the US government decided to pursue the War in order to achieve the aims of destroying the power of the native American tribes and aggressive territorial expansion in Canada and Florida. Former President Jefferson stated the conquest of Canada would simply be, "a matter of marching."

Answer: US declared war on Britain and then invaded Canada.

The USA declared war on Britain on 18 June 1812. They invaded Canada (British North America) in July from Detroit and ordered the British to surrender, threatening to execute any Briton found fighting alongside an Indian. This threat stiffened the resolve of the defenders and following British victories at Mackinac, Brownstown and Monguagon the invasion quickly turned into a general American retreat.

In retaliation the British attacked Detroit with a force of only 1,200 men and the garrison surrendered without a fight.

Britain proposed an armistice in the hope of leading to a peacful settlement. The signing of the armistice prevented a further British invasion of US territory, however, the US broke the armistace and again attempted an invasion of Canada in October. They suffered a crushing defeat at Queenston Heights.

Answer: A British and Indian victory ended the American conquest of Upper Canada.

In mid 1813 American forces were advancing into Upper Canada (now Ontario) and had captured Fort George. On 6 June 1813 a small British force of 700 troops, militia and indians made a night counter attack on the 3,400 strong American positions at Stoney Creek.

The British forces had been ordered to remove flints from their muskets and in some cases muskets were unloaded. A bayonet attack captured American guns and also the 2 American Generals present, John Chandler and William Winder.

The loss of their two generals shook the American forces who although superior in numbers, burned their stores and retreated to Fort George.

A short time later a force of 575 regular American troops were defeated and captured by a detachment of 50 British soldiers and 400 indians. The British commander stated in dispatches, "... not a shot was fired on our side by any but the indians. They beat the American detachment into a state of terror."

By December the demoralised Americans abandoned Fort George, retreating back across the Niagara River. This returned the Niagara peninsula to British control and effectively ended the US attempt to conquer Upper Canada.

Answer: True

The British blockade of American ports confined most US ships to port for the duration of the War, and warships such as USS United States and USS Macedonian ended the war docked in Connecticut. However, a few merchant ships based in Europe and Asia avoided the blockade and some naval vessels and privateers continued to operate.

Some merchant ships, mainly from New England, were issued licenses to trade by the British. This demonstrated New England's opposition to the War and allowed Britain's army in Europe to receive vital supplies.

Answer: HMS Shannon's defeat of USS Chesapeake.

The quotation in the question is taken from the official US Navy website, http://www.history.navy.mil/index.html.

Up to this point in the War, the heavier American frigates had fared well against the smaller, less well armed British ships. The battles between USS Constitution vs HMS Guerriere, USS United States vs HMS Macedonian and USS Constitution vs HMS Java were all good examples and there was much debate about the potential outcome of any equal match.

HMS Shannon and USS Chesapeake were almost identical in terms of size, speed, manoeuvrability and firepower, although Chesapeake's crew was considerably larger. A duel between the two ships was perhaps inevitable and in fact Captain Broke of HMS Shannon issued a formal challenge to Captain Lawrence of USS Chesapeake, although it arrived after the ship had sailed.

HMS Shannon stood off Boston Harbour awaiting the emergence of USS Chesapeake. A few miles off shore the ships closed to engage and after exchanging some 620 rounds in close quarter broadsides the British boarded the Chesapeake who surrendered after fierce hand to hand fighting. The entire engagement lasted only 13 minutes but both crews suffered heavy losses, Broke was seriously wounded and Lawrence killed.

The victory bolstered British navy morale and for much of the War the American Atlantic fleet remained blockaded close to shore.

Chesapeake was taken into service by the British navy and broken up in 1820. The timbers were used to build Chesapeake Mill near Portsmouth and are still there.

Answer: Eastern Maine by the British.

In 1814 the British attacked and captured large areas of Eastern Maine including Castine, Hampden, Bangor, and Machias. The American citizens were given the option of swearing allegiance to Britain. The vast majority took the oath to the British Crown and were permitted to keep their property and retain their weapons.

When the British withdrew from Maine after the War they imposed large duties which were used to fund Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

The final border between Britain and America in Maine was not agreed until 1842.

Answer: True

Although having a numerically superior force and holding well defended positions the Americans were quickly routed at the Battle of Bladensburg, leaving Washington open to the British.

The British advanced through heavy artillery and as no instructions had been given concerning retreat, US troops fled the field in disarray. The disorganized retreat was so great that the battle became known as the 'Bladensburg Races'. The US President and his government fled with the troops although the First Lady remained long enough to save paintings and artifacts.

The British advanced under a flag of truce but were attacked by US forces which infuriated the British commander, General Ross. The British flag was soon raised above Washington and in retaliation for the looting and burning of York by American troops the order was given to burn public buildings, however, strict discipline ensured preserving most residential and private buildings.

The Treasury, Library of Congress and buildings housing the Senate and House of Representatives were fired. British officers ate a meal laid out on the table for the President before burning the White House.

British naval commander, Admiral Cockburn planned to burn the newspaper headquarters of the 'National Intelligencer' because they printed he was a "ruffian". Rather than risk the fire spreading to local residences he had the building dismantled brick by brick and destroyed all the 'c' type so that no articles mentioning him could be printed.

Answer: False

Francis Scott Key, an American prisoner exchange agent, watched the bombardment of Fort McHenry whilst being temporarily held on a British warship. Seeing the outsized US flag still flying the following morning he was inspired to write a poem on the back of a letter he was carrying. He entitled the poem, 'Defense of Fort McHenry' and his brother-in-law suggested it fitted the melody of an old British drinking song, 'To Anacreon in Heaven'.

Originally the poem was published in broadsheets and later the 'Baltimore Patriot' and 'The American' printed the poem, noting the 'Anacreon in Heaven' tune. A Baltimore music store then published the words and music as 'The Star Spangled Banner'.

It was not until 1889 that 'The Star Spangled Banner' became the official tune to be played at the raising of the US flag. In 1929 'Ripley's Believe it or Not!' noted that America actually had no national anthem and two years later Congress passed a law adopting 'The Star Spangled Banner' as the national anthem of the USA.

Answer: The British victory at the Battle of Fort Bowyer.

Unaware that the peace Treaty of Ghent had been signed in Belgium, the British attacked New Orleans which was successfully defended by future US president, Andrew Jackson.

The British then attacked the town of Mobile and with only 1,000 troops captured the entire garrison of Fort Bowyer. It was claimed this fort could defend against an army of 10,000 yet it surrendered inflicting only 25 British casualties.

Shortly after the battle the British received news of the peace treaty and stopped their advance on Mobile, effectively ending the conflict.

The Battle of Fort Bowyer was the last time the US was attacked by another country until the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941.

Answer: Both sides returned to the pre-war status quo.

During the War Britain deployed some 48,000 regular and 7,000 native and militia troops to counter the 39,000 strong US army and some 460,000 militia. By the end of the war Britain had suffered over 4,000 casualties and had 1,554 ships captured to America's 24,500 casualties and 1,593 ships captured. The US army burned the towns of Newark and York (now known respectively as Niagara by the Lake and Toronto) and in retaliation the British burned Buffalo and much of Washington DC including the razing of many of the public buildings.

Certain war hawks in the US government wanted to continue the conquest of Canada and Florida but the resounding failure of the Canadian invasion and the sacking of their capital city made the war unpopular with most of the government and the population.

The treaty of Ghent signed in Belgium on 24 December 1814 ended the War by returning the protagonists to the pre-war status quo. Both sides returned all captured land and prisoners. Britain, however, did not return the many slaves freed during the conflict but offered cash settlement to allow the slaves to retain their freedom.

The British viewed the War as a successful defence against the US attempt to conquer Canada and of their right to impose trade restrictions against nations with who they were at war. The conflict also served to unite Canada as a nation independent of the US.

Although the US began hostilities, incurred huge losses and failed in the key war aim of a Canadian conquest, they bizarrly claimed the War of 1812 as a victory in a 'second war of independence'.

Certainly the War propelled Andrew Jackson to the Presidency and did remove the power of the native American tribes.

The war aims of lifting the British trade restrictions with France and stopping the impress of seamen had become moot points as Britain and the European coallition had defeated France in April 1814.

All wars are pointless but the War of 1812 particularly so in that:

1. The American government declared war even after the British conceeded to their main demand of lifting trade restrictions.

2. The main American victory at New Orleans was achieved after the peace treaty was signed.

There are quite a few websites relating to the War of 1812 and some have contradictory information, particularly concerning statistics. Most of the information for this quiz has come from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1812_War and official US army and navy history websites: http://www.army.mil & http://www.history.navy.mil.