War has played a key role in the history of the United States, from the nation's

founding right down to the present. War made the U.S. independent, kept it together, increased

its size, and established it as a global superpower. Understanding America's wars is essential for understanding American history.

Welcome to Key Battles of American History,

a podcast in which we discuss American history through the lens of the most important battles of America's wars.

Here is your host, James Early.

Thank you. your host, James Early. Welcome back to another episode of Key Battles of the War of 1812.

This is your host, James Early, as always.

And once again, I am joined by my good buddy, Steve Guara. How are you doing this morning,

Steve? I'm great. Thanks for having me on again. I can't wait to talk about this one.

Yes, this episode is going to show just how determined the Americans are. We saw two episodes

ago how the U.S. Army launched a three-pronged invasion of Canada, and they were 0 for three,

basically. Strike one, strike two, strike three. They were out. Try it again a little bit later,

and that one didn't really go anywhere either. Now we're going into the year 1813, and the Americans

are going to kind of clean house a little

bit and give it the old college try again. So, Steve, what do you, what do you think?

Where should we go? How should we start? I guess maybe talk about because some of our leaders,

and the last time we left General Hall is sitting in a corner with tobacco juice dribbling out of his mouth.

Who are some of the people who come along and step up after some of our other generals fall?

All right. Well, compared to 1812 by 1813, the American military situation was much better for several reasons.

Changes were made. Starting at the top,

President Madison got rid of the Secretary of War, William Eustis, and Navy Secretary Hamilton.

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