THIS WEEK in the War of 1812 (February 2-February 8

Small War

Map courtesy of U.S. Army Office of Chief of Military History

While Andrew Jackson, major general of the Tennessee volunteers, drills his green troops constantly in preparation for an all-out assault on the Creek Indian stronghold at Horsehoe Bend in what is now Alabama, the British and Americans trade raids back and forth across the Canadian border. The military activity takes place on the Niagara Frontier and along the St. Lawrence River and Lake Ontario between Ogdensburg and Oswego, New York. Most raids aim to destroy or capture the enemy’s supplies.

One raid, this week by a small group of Royal Marines and Canadian militia strikes at Madrid, New York just south of the Saint Lawrence River in far northern New York.

Also in February, President James Madision officially appoints five commissioners to negotiate directly with the British in Gothenburg, Sweden. Among the commissioners are Speaker of the House of Representatives Henry Clay, leader of the “Warhawks” faction in Congress that pressed for war with Britain, and John Quincy Adams, U.S. minister to Russia and future 6th U.S. president. The others are former Treasury Secretary Albert Gallatin, former Delaware Sen. James Bayard and Jonathan Russell, U.S. minister to Sweden. Later in the year, the talks will be transferred to Ghent, Belgium.

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