The documents beneath the narrative
Documentary
Edition
Nineteen source packets, one for every movement of the story. Read period wording beside a modernized text, then inspect the editorial decisions, provenance, counter-evidence, and citation record.
- 19
- chapter packets
- 2
- text states
- 4
- citation formats
Editorial principles
Evidence is not self-explanatory.
Every packet identifies what kind of record survives, who produced it, how it reached the present, and what the transcription changes. A modernized reading improves access; it never silently replaces the historical text.
Where accounts conflict, the disagreement remains visible. Official reports, partisan pamphlets, private letters, treaty language, administrative returns, and remembered speech answer different questions and conceal different things.
Register of packets
Open the archive
- 01
A World Already at War
The Embargo Act
Tenth Congress of the United States · 22 December 1807Federal statuteRead in chapter → - 02
Why War?
Special Message to Congress
James Madison · 1 June 1812Presidential messageRead in chapter → - 03
Baltimore I: A City at War With Itself
An Exact and Authentic Narrative
Sufferers and eyewitnesses of the Baltimore riots · 1 September 1812Partisan pamphlet and collected testimonyRead in chapter → - 04
The Easy Conquest That Wasn't
Proclamation to the Inhabitants of Canada
William Hull · 12 July 1812Military proclamationRead in chapter → - 05
“Old Ironsides” and the War at Sea
Report of the capture of Chesapeake
George Budd · 15 June 1813Official naval reportRead in chapter → - 06
The War for the Interior
Dispatch from Lake Erie
Oliver Hazard Perry · 10 September 1813Naval victory dispatchRead in chapter → - 07
Lakes, Shipyards, and a Continental Naval Arms Race
Report on the defense of Sackets Harbor
Jacob Brown · 29 May 1813Official military reportRead in chapter → - 08
The War Goes Around Cape Horn
Porter's claim to Madison's Island
David Porter · 19 November 1813Naval proclamation and journal narrativeRead in chapter → - 09
The War Reaches Towns and Homes
Report on the destruction of Newark
George McClure · December 1813Military reportRead in chapter → - 10
Blockade
Proclamation offering reception and resettlement
Alexander Cochrane · 2 April 1814British military proclamationRead in chapter → - 11
The Southern Borderlands
Treaty of Fort Jackson
United States commissioners and Muscogee signatories · 9 August 1814Imposed treaty and land cessionRead in chapter → - 12
Everything Changes
American commissioners report Britain's opening terms
John Quincy Adams, James A. Bayard, Henry Clay, Jonathan Russell, and Albert Gallatin · 12 August 1814Diplomatic dispatchRead in chapter → - 13
Niagara, Again
Report after Chippawa
Jacob Brown · 7 July 1814After-action reportRead in chapter → - 14
Plattsburgh: The Invasion That Turned Back
Report of victory on Lake Champlain
Thomas Macdonough · 11 September 1814Naval dispatchRead in chapter → - 15
Washington Burns
Letter written during the evacuation of Washington
Dolley Madison · 23–24 August 1814Private letterRead in chapter → - 16
Baltimore II: A City at War With an Empire
Defence of Fort M'Henry
Francis Scott Key · September 1814Broadside lyricRead in chapter → - 17
Peace at Ghent
Treaty of Ghent, Article I
British and American plenipotentiaries · 24 December 1814Bilateral peace treatyRead in chapter → - 18
New Orleans: The Battle After Peace Was Signed
Appeal to the free men of color
Andrew Jackson · 21 September 1814Military recruitment addressRead in chapter → - 19
What Did the War Change?
Rush–Bagot exchange of notes
Richard Rush and Charles Bagot · 28–29 April 1817Diplomatic exchangeRead in chapter →