Any way you slice it, 1812 was a bad year for the United States of America.

The drive towards war with Great Britain had split the country down regional and partisan

lines.

The New England region, the spiritual heartland of the Federalist Party, was so deeply opposed

to the war that many were talking openly about New England seceding from the Union.

What's more, the orders in council, Britain's controversial policy to restrict neutral

trade with Europe, was actually rescinded five days after the American Declaration of

War.

Now given the speed of transatlantic communication at the time, the Americans had no way of knowing

that Britain was considering this concilatory action during the final congressional debates

on the war.

And similarly, the British had no idea that the Americans had declared that war until

weeks later.

But basically, this meant that America's primary grievance with Britain had been resolved

before an American soldier ever set foot in Canada.

It might be an exaggeration to say that this was a war over nothing, but it wasn't over

a heck of a lot.

Then the American invasion of Canada had proved disastrous.

The British and their indigenous allies were able to gain the initiative early on.

William Hull's attempted invasion led to a national embarrassment after he surrendered

Detroit without a fight, and the whole Michigan territory fell into British hands.

However, this was just one prong of what was supposed to be a three pronged attack on

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