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United States and Canada: Sample chronology
Anglo-American War of 1812
March 1812 In preparation for war with Britain, the US Congress authorizes $11 million in war bonds, the first of their kind.
11 June 1812 The US Congress passes resolutions of war against Britain (beginning the War of 1812) after suffering years of perceived mercantile humiliation as a result of Britain's war with France.
16 June 1812 The British revoke their decision of 26 April 1809 to restrict trade with the USA, but too late to affect the US decision of 11 June to declare war on Britain.
July 1812 In a sermon about the War of 1812, the pacifist Boston Congregational minister William Ellery Channing asserts the compatibility of patriotism and dissent.
July 1812 The US Congress doubles import tariffs to help defray the cost of war with Britain.
August 1812 American Indian peoples allied with Britain in the War of 1812 attack and kill US traders and their families fleeing Fort Dearborn, the site of present-day Chicago, Illinois.
August 1812 In a naval engagement off Nova Scotia, the US warship Constitution defeats its British counterpart Guerrière.
August 1812 The US brigadier general William Hull surrenders Detroit to a British force without firing a shot, an act that will earn him a court martial two years later. The loss of the fortress forces the postponement of US plans for an invasion of Canada.
October 1812 In a naval battle on Lake Erie, US forces commanded by Lieutenant Jesse Duncan Elliott capture two British warships, HMS Detroit and HMS Caledonia.
13 October 1812 British troops under Isaac Brock defeat a US force at Queenstown Heights in Lower Canada, preventing further US attempts to invade Canada.
December 1812 The US warship Constitution sinks the British warship Java off the coast of Brazil.
February 1813 The US warship Hornet captures the British ship Peacock, in a naval engagement.
April 1813 US forces led by army lieutenant Zebulon Montgomery Pike capture York (present-day Toronto), Canada, from the British. Pike perishes in the battle.
June 1813 The British warship Shannon captures its US counterpart Chesapeake off the Massachusetts coast.
August 1813 The British warship Pelican defeats its US opponent Argus off the coast of England.
September 1813 The US warship Enterprise defeats the British ship Boxer off the Maine coast.
September 1813 The US wins the Battle of Lake Erie against the British in the War of 1812, consolidating its hold on the Great Lakes of North America.
October 1813 US troops defeat a British force at the Battle of the Thames River in Upper Canada (modern Ontario). The Shawnee chief Tecumseh, allied with the British, perishes in the battle, causing his four-year-old Indian Confederacy to disintegrate.
1814 British troops set fire to the US Library of Congress, destroying all but a few of the most valuable books.
January 1814 The administration of US president James Madison receives a British proposal to begin peace negotiations to end the War of 1812.
August 1814 British forces sack and burn Washington, DC, in apparent retaliation for the US destruction of York (present-day Toronto), Canada.
September 1814 US naval forces defeat their British counterparts at the Battle of Lake Champlain.
December 1814 The USA and Britain sign the Treaty of Ghent, ending the War of 1812. The most contested issues – Britain's impressment of US sailors, US commercial rights, and the Northwest boundary dispute – remain unresolved.
December 1814–January 1815 Federalist delegates from five New England states opposed to the War of 1812 attend a secret convention in Hartford, Connecticut, where they contemplate secession and float diverse proposals designed to safeguard sectional interests. The Treaty of Ghent to end the war, signed midway through the convention, takes the air out of these renegades' sails, effectively destroying the Federalist party.
January 1815 Ironically, the USA wins its most decisive victory in the War of 1812 two weeks after the signing of the Treaty of Ghent bringing the war to an end. The victory occurs in New Orleans, Louisiana, where an outnumbered US force under the command of Andrew Jackson repels a British force led by Edward Pakenham, taking 2,036 British prisoners.
February 1815 New York, New York, receives news of the Treaty of Ghent ending the War of 1812, signed in December 1814.
February 1815 The US Senate ratifies the Treaty of Ghent, formally ending the War of 1812.
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