Chesapeake–Leopard affair
off Norfolk, Virginia · Atlantic
HMS Leopard fires on USS Chesapeake after a refused search, intensifying the dispute over impressment and sovereignty.
Reference collection
Events
58 moments that move the war, from political rupture and raids to naval actions, occupations, battles, and peace.
58 records
Battle of Tippecanoe
Prophetstown, Indiana Territory · Old Northwest
Harrison's force fights Tenskwatawa's followers; Americans increasingly connect Indigenous resistance to British power.
United States declares war
Washington, D.C. · Politics
Madison signs the declaration after divided votes in the House and Senate.
Federal Republican press destroyed
Baltimore, Maryland · Chesapeake
A pro-war crowd destroys the office and press of an antiwar newspaper.
Baltimore jail massacre
Baltimore, Maryland · Chesapeake
A mob breaks into the jail, murders James M. Lingan, and brutally attacks Hanson, Lee, and other Federalists.
Surrender of Detroit
Detroit, Michigan Territory · Great Lakes
Hull surrenders to Brock's smaller British, Canadian, and Indigenous force without an assault.
Constitution defeats Guerriere
North Atlantic · Atlantic
The first spectacular American frigate victory creates the legend of “Old Ironsides.”
Battle of Queenston Heights
Niagara River, Upper Canada · Great Lakes
British, Canadian, and Indigenous forces defeat an American crossing; Isaac Brock is killed.
United States captures Macedonian
mid-Atlantic · Atlantic
Stephen Decatur's frigate captures a valuable British warship and brings the prize into port.
Battles of the River Raisin
Frenchtown, Michigan Territory · Old Northwest
British regulars and Indigenous allies defeat an American force; the killing and capture of wounded prisoners drives retaliation rhetoric.
Capture and burning at York
York, Upper Canada · Great Lakes
American forces capture the colonial capital; looting and burning feed a later retaliation narrative.
First siege of Fort Meigs
Maumee River, Ohio · Old Northwest
British and Indigenous forces besiege Harrison's base but withdraw after a failed effort to destroy the American position.
Second Battle of Sackets Harbor
Sackets Harbor, New York · Great Lakes
A British attack fails to destroy the principal American Lake Ontario naval base.
Capture of Fort George
Niagara River, Upper Canada · Niagara
An American amphibious assault takes Fort George and forces British and allied defenders to retreat toward Burlington Heights.
Battle of Stoney Creek
Stoney Creek, Upper Canada · Niagara
A British night attack disrupts the American advance from Fort George and helps force it back toward the Niagara River.
Battle of Beaver Dams
near Thorold, Upper Canada · Niagara
Kahnawake and Grand River warriors surround and wear down an American column before its surrender to British authority.
Shannon captures Chesapeake
off Boston, Massachusetts · Atlantic
A British frigate wins a close action; James Lawrence's last command becomes an American motto.
Raid on Havre de Grace
Havre de Grace, Maryland · Chesapeake
British forces burn and plunder much of the town during the widening Chesapeake campaign.
Fort Mims attack
Mississippi Territory · Gulf
Red Stick warriors overrun Fort Mims; mass death drives American mobilization in the Creek War.
Battle of Lake Erie
Lake Erie · Great Lakes
Perry's squadron captures its British opponent, forcing the evacuation of Detroit.
Battle of the Thames
Upper Canada · Old Northwest
Harrison defeats a retreating British and Indigenous force; Tecumseh is killed and his coalition gravely weakened.
Battle of the Châteauguay
Lower Canada · St. Lawrence
Charles-Michel de Salaberry's Canadian force blocks Wade Hampton's advance toward Montreal from the south.
Battle of Crysler's Farm
near Morrisburg, Upper Canada · St. Lawrence
A smaller British and Canadian force checks James Wilkinson's column as the failed American movement on Montreal unravels.
Burning of Newark
Newark, Upper Canada · Niagara
Retreating American forces burn the town, leaving civilians exposed and intensifying retaliation.
Essex enters the Pacific
Pacific Ocean · Pacific
David Porter attacks British whaling and assembles prizes into an improvised squadron.
Essex at Nuku Hiva
Marquesas Islands · Pacific
Porter refits, intervenes in local conflicts, and makes an ineffective American territorial claim.
Battle of Horseshoe Bend
Muscogee homelands · Gulf
Jackson's American, Cherokee, and allied Muscogee force breaks Red Stick resistance.
Defeat of USS Essex
Valparaíso, Chile · Pacific
HMS Phoebe and Cherub defeat Porter's damaged frigate near the neutral port.
Napoleon's first abdication
Fontainebleau, France · Europe
The end of the European campaign releases British attention and veteran troops for North America.
Capture of Prairie du Chien
upper Mississippi · Western theater
A British and Indigenous force captures the new American post at Prairie du Chien and preserves the upper Mississippi alliance network.
Battle of Chippawa
Upper Canada · Niagara
Haudenosaunee forces aligned with opposing states fight in the woods before Scott's regulars defeat Riall's force on the plain.
Battle of Lundy's Lane
Upper Canada · Niagara
A close, confused night battle involving regular, militia, and Grand River forces causes severe casualties and no clean strategic result.
Battle of Mackinac Island
Mackinac Island, Michigan Territory · Western theater
British regulars, local militia, and Indigenous allies defeat an American attempt to recover the island and its strategic post.
Treaty of Fort Jackson
Mississippi Territory · Gulf
Jackson imposes a vast Muscogee land cession, including land of U.S. allies.
First attack on Fort Bowyer
Mobile Point, Mississippi Territory · Gulf
The fort repels a British naval and land attack, delaying operations on the Gulf coast before the New Orleans campaign.
Battle of Bladensburg
Maryland · Chesapeake
British forces rout a poorly coordinated American defense and open the road to Washington.
Burning of Washington
Washington, D.C. · Chesapeake
British troops burn public buildings; Americans destroy the Navy Yard to deny it to the enemy.
Battle of Lake Champlain
Plattsburgh, New York · Lake Champlain
Macdonough defeats the British squadron, making Prévost's invasion unsustainable.
Battle of North Point
Baltimore County, Maryland · Chesapeake
Stricker's militia delays the British advance; Ross is mortally wounded.
Bombardment of Fort McHenry
Baltimore, Maryland · Chesapeake
The fort and harbor defenses withstand British bombs, rockets, and a nighttime boat movement.
Jackson takes Pensacola
Spanish West Florida · Gulf
American forces expel a British presence from the Spanish port before moving to defend New Orleans.
Battle of Lake Borgne
Louisiana · Gulf
British boats defeat an American gunboat flotilla and clear the approach to New Orleans.
Treaty of Ghent signed
Ghent · Diplomacy
British and American commissioners sign a treaty restoring conquered territory but leaving maritime disputes unsettled.
Night battle below New Orleans
Louisiana · Gulf
Jackson attacks the British camp, disrupting its advance and buying time for stronger defenses.
Battle of New Orleans
Chalmette, Louisiana · Gulf
A diverse American force defeats the main British assault with devastating losses.
Peace becomes effective
Washington, D.C. · Diplomacy
Ratifications are exchanged and the United States proclaims peace.
Rush–Bagot arrangement
Great Lakes · Diplomacy
The United States and Britain limit naval armaments on the Great Lakes.
Defense of St. Michaels
St. Michaels, Maryland · Chesapeake
Local defenders resist a British attack on the shipbuilding town during the bay campaign.
Blockade tightens in the Chesapeake
Chesapeake Bay · Chesapeake
British squadrons restrict commerce, gather intelligence, and strike vulnerable shoreline communities.
Cochrane issues his proclamation
Bermuda · Chesapeake
Britain formally offers reception, service, or resettlement to people willing to leave the United States.
Britain expands the Chesapeake campaign
Chesapeake region · Chesapeake
A strengthened expedition turns recurring raids into coordinated operations against Washington and Baltimore.
Siege of Fort Erie
Upper Canada · Niagara
American troops hold a bridgehead against British, Canadian, and Grand River forces before evacuating at the end of the campaign.
Prévost abandons the invasion
Plattsburgh, New York · Lake Champlain
The British army retreats after the supporting squadron is defeated in Plattsburgh Bay.
Americans burn the Washington Navy Yard
Washington, D.C. · Chesapeake
Navy Yard personnel destroy ships and stores to deny them to the advancing British.
British withdraw from Baltimore
Baltimore, Maryland · Chesapeake
With the harbor closed and the land defenses intact, the expedition returns to its transports.
Peace commissioners negotiate at Ghent
Ghent · Diplomacy
American and British delegates revise their positions as military and European news arrives.
Black Refugees build postwar communities
Nova Scotia and Trinidad · Atlantic
Formerly enslaved people who reached British lines begin new lives in several Atlantic colonies.
Convention of 1818
Anglo-American borderlands · Diplomacy
Britain and the United States settle portions of the border and agree to joint occupation in the northwest.