A cloud of smoke billows as members of the 14th Regiment and the Baltimore United Volunteers show off their musket skills during a reenactment of scenes from the War of 1812. Photo by Rochelle Karina

By James R. Morrison

James (Jim) Morrison, Founder of the Hancock’s Resolution Foundation, Inc., is the Chairman of the Anne Arundel County War of 1812 Bicentennial Commission. In honor of the bicentennial landmark, The Pasadena Voice is excited to announce that Mr. Morrison will be writing a series of exclusive monthly articles on the War of 1812 and how it significantly affected parts of Anne Arundel County and the Chesapeake Bay.

In the past, Morrison has served as President of the Gibson Island Historical Society, and has won awards such as the Preservation Project Award from the Maryland Historical Trust for his role in restoring Hancock’s Resolution, the Preservation Award from the Historic Annapolis Foundation, and the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) National Award for “Outstanding Achievement in Historic Preservation.” He has his Master’s Degree in International Affairs from Columbia University, and currently resides on Gibson Island with his wife, Susan.

In 1812, 200 years ago, the 15 States in the USA were 29 years old.  As a brand new country, the largest republic in the history of the world, with a weak central government (it was planned that way) and minimal armed forces, we enjoyed little-to-no international respect.

In 1812, Great Britain was in a life and death war with Napoleonic France. Britain needed every possible able-bodied man they could get to serve in their stressed army and navy. They considered everyone born in Britain to be a British citizen whether or not that person had moved away and become, for example, an American citizen.  Therefore, they considered it within their rights to stop any American vessel on the high seas and conscript any man they thought might have been British-born. America, as a sovereign state, was outraged by this practice. It was one of the principal reasons why we declared war on Britain in June 1812.

Understand this; the militarily puny USA declared war on one of the most powerful nations in the world. This was one reason why many in the U.S. opposed the war as being foolhardy. The president at the time was James Madison, a Republican (old-style, not new-style), and the opposing Federalists (the Governor of Maryland, Levin Winder, was one) thought of this as being “Jamie Madison’s war.” But then, in early 1814, the war with France ended and the British could bring the full weight of their navy and army against these United States.  (This situation brings to mind the story of David vs. Goliath in the Bible.) In the end, we did not lose the war and won from the resulting peace that there would be no geographical boundary changes. The clear winner was Canada which, with British and Indian help, successfully resisted American attempts to conquer them (meaning that Britain also won that part of the war.)  And the clear losers were the American Indians.

There were four different theaters of operations during the war: the Great Lakes and Canada, the Chesapeake Bay, New Orleans and the North Atlantic Ocean where American privateers, primarily from Maryland, created havoc with British merchant shipping.

Stay tuned, as next month we will go into what happened when the Chesapeake Bay collided with the British’s merchant shipping route.