The War of 1812 (17 page)

The American forces at Detroit were frequently short of rations, money, and accommodation. They occupied private homes and in September, the local commander, Colonel John Miller, proclaimed martial law in the occupied district. He ordered all its citizens to deliver the “Flour, Wheat, & Oats” not needed for their own use and threatened punishment for failure to comply.
⁹
Although payment for the seizures was promised, residents received no compensation. The situation would have been worse if some of the American commanders had had their way, for they proposed a scorched earth policy and one even intended to try “to depopulate the territory.”
¹⁰

There are no reports that anyone starved to death, but certainly times were hard for ordinary people. Homes and barns, livestock and crops, mills, businesses of various kinds, and even furniture and clothing were lost. Jacob Wood of Oxford County, for example, had his house, furniture, barn, hay, grain, and carpentry shop and tools destroyed. He was given two hundred dollars by the Loyal and Patriotic Society. Henry Lestor “lost his grain, fences, and potatoes”; he was given fifty dollars.
¹¹

Military rites: the reburial of American soldiers from Fort Erie.

[Courtesy of Richard W. Roeller.]

The government continued its efforts to catch and punish traitors. The assembly agreed, at Drummond's request, to strengthen the laws against treason, including, among other changes, the authority to seize the property of traitors. At least seventy people from the western and Niagara areas were charged with treason but most had fled to the United States. Still, several treason trials were held, the largest being at Ancaster in May and June, 1814. Here nineteen men were tried in Rousseau's Union Hotel because it was the largest building in town. Among the men found guilty were Aaron Stevens, who had been employed by the government in the Indian Department but who confessed that he had spied for the Americans; Samuel and Stephen Hartwell who had joined Hull when he invaded in 1812 and who had tried to capture loyal citizens; Isaiah (or Jonah) Brink who had joined American raiding parties, as had Benjamin Simmons (or Simmonds).
¹²
Although fifteen defendants were convicted and sentenced to hang, only eight were actually executed. The others were reprieved but given prison sentences. One later escaped, three died in prison of disease, and the rest were pardoned on condition they leave Upper Canada and never return.

Clearly, 1814 was the most difficult year for both government and people. The trials and executions of traitors showed that the government was determined to act firmly against any threat from within the province.

The assembly approved stronger measures to defend Upper Canada. It voted more money to improve roads for military use and
amended the militia law so that the government could organize battalions of incorporated militia and keep them in service up to a year. This meant a heavier demand on the manpower of the province and more money for their training. All these developments indicated a hardening of the people's will to continue to fight. This is one way in which a sense of nationalism begins: resistance to an external enemy.

The problems of treason and invasion did not trouble Lower Canada or the Maritime colonies. The main changes people there saw were increased numbers of soldiers and sailors and more government spending. For a time, merchants of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick were not allowed to trade with their American neighbours. Their businesses suffered, but when the British occupied eastern Maine they were able to renew their trade with the Americans. The New Brunswick assembly asked for a change in the boundary with Maine, but a final decision on that — as on other matters — depended upon the peace negotiations in Europe.

As with the start of the War of 1812, so with its ending, much depended upon decisions and events in Europe. While Napoleon was being defeated, both the Americans and the British had to consider how much Britain could increase her forces in North America. To Madison and his cabinet, stronger British forces meant invasion and possible defeat of United States armies. To the British prime minister, Lord Liverpool, stronger forces meant security for Canada plus the possibility of a peace settlement favourable mainly to Britain.

But Liverpool could not simply send all his troops and ships to North America. Many countries were involved in the negotiations that followed Napoleon's defeat. It took a long time for them to agree on a peace settlement. For a while, late in 1814 and early in 1815, there was even a possibility of fighting among the allies, and some British troops had to be kept available. Thus Wellington had to stay in Europe with part of his army, and the British government had to devote a good deal of attention to problems there. As well, some warships had to be kept in home waters to defend British merchant vessels from venturesome American privateers.

The government also had to consider the mood of the British people. For over twenty years they had endured the burdens of fighting against France. Continued war against the United States could soon become very unpopular.

The situation in Europe had a major bearing on British-American peace negotiations.

During the negotiations each side had to recognize what was vital to the other and, therefore, what could be demanded. Both sides wanted not only to end the war, but to make a peace that would last. This further complicated negotiations, and many issues were left unsettled when the peace treaty was finally signed.

As conditions changed in Europe and North America, the delegates of each side had to consult their governments. The American representatives were required to send messages to Madison and wait for replies, a very slow process in the days of sailing vessels. It is easy to see why the negotiations took up most of 1814. At first, the American government made severe demands on Britain in return for peace. This may be seen in the government's instructions to its delegates in January 1814. Harking back to the reasons that the President had stated in 1812 for going to war, the delegates were to insist that the British end impressment from American ships and the blockade of the Atlantic coast. They were to press Britain to accept United States naval dominance of the lakes, to pay for American losses resulting from the blockade as well as from raids along the coast and, even, to hand over Canada to the United States. These instructions remained their guide until June. It then became clear that Britain would not agree to such harsh terms, and Madison's government began to soften its demands. For example, by the time formal talks began in August, the United States had dropped any reference to the causes of the war.

Initially, the British made tough demands also. One was for the creation of an Indian nation south and west of Lake Erie, a domain that would cover most of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, and Michigan. The British proposed that the boundaries of such a nation be permanent, meaning that American settlers could not cross them. But there were already about a hundred thousand Americans pioneering beyond the suggested boundary line. The American delegates rejected this demand.

The other main British proposals were equally unacceptable to the Americans. They included a change in the boundary line between the United States and British North America, an end to
American rights to fish off the east coast of British North America and to dry fish on the shores, and the removal of American naval forces and fortifications on the Great Lakes.

The British hoped to hear of victories against the United States and were encouraged by the news of the capture of Washington and the thrust against Baltimore. On their part, the Americans were unwilling to give up huge amounts of territory or to accept an independent aboriginal state. The fall of Washington did not shake their resolve and they soon learned of the British rebuff at Baltimore and Macdonough's victory on Lake Champlain. Eventually both sides recognized that the only way they would reach agreement would be by moderating their demands. By September, the British had dropped the insistence on an Indian nation but still asked that the Indian position be restored to what it had been before the war. The Americans took until October to agree.

The British continued to insist on their proposed boundary changes, which would have given Canada part of Maine, a strip along the east side of the Niagara River, and Michilimackinac Island. In fact, the British already held eastern Maine and Fort Niagara, and with the help of their Indian allies they controlled the vast territory west and south of Michilimackinac. The American government and its delegates were nonetheless unanimous in their refusal to give up any American land. The deadlock on this issue was ended by the British because of the sudden danger of war in Europe and the advice given by the Duke of Wellington.

Wellington was asked by the government to take over command in North America. He refused, explaining that without superiority on the Great Lakes, changing the commander or sending more troops would make no difference. As long as the Americans controlled lakes Champlain and Erie and had a fleet on Lake Ontario, they could invade Canada and threaten any British army invading the United States. Wellington went on in his letter, “. . . it is my opinion that the war has been a most successful one and highly honourable to the British arms; but from particular circumstances, such as the want of naval superiority on the Lakes, you have not been able to carry it into the enemy's territory . . . .”
¹
After pointing out that the Americans still held parts of Canada, he argued that the British could not insist on the United States giving up territory unless they were prepared to surrender Canadian territory. The government, he suggested, might as well make peace “now.”

Downie's defeat on Lake Champlain and Prevost's retreat were events that supported the Duke's argument. But for the British to gain total control of lakes Champlain, Ontario, and Erie would have required a tremendous expenditure of money and effort — without any guarantee of success. The British failure at Plattsburgh was thus an important reason why Liverpool softened British demands.

The British delegates stopped insisting that the Americans give up territory. With that obstacle removed, the two sides soon agreed on a treaty. The Treaty of Ghent was signed on December 24, 1814. When the news reached the United States in February, people rejoiced. In contrast to the vote for war, which had divided the Senate, not a single senator voted against the peace treaty. The people of British North America, however, were not as happy with the terms that had been agreed upon.

The Treaty of Ghent ended the war and obliged each side to return what it had conquered. That was about all it actually settled. There was to be no independent Indian nation and nothing was said about impressment, blockade, or neutral rights — issues stated in Madison's war message. Commissions were set up to decide the boundary question.

Yet the treaty was very important. It began a new kind of relationship between the United States and Britain, one in which they settled their disagreements by negotiation rather than by war. Never again did the United States make war on Canada. Later, after Canada became independent, it negotiated for itself with the United States. The two countries have had their differences and still have, including disagreements over fisheries, but ever since the Treaty of Ghent they have managed to settle problems peacefully.

The people who had the most to gain or lose were the Indians south and west of the Great Lakes. The British had proposed that they be a party to the peace treaty, but the Americans refused. Thus the Indians had no one to speak for them at Ghent.

After the signing of the treaty, the Americans were eager for the British to get their troops out of Prairie du Chien and Michilimackinac so that the Indians would not hope for outside support against the United States government. The British withdrew first from Prairie du
Chien and finally, in July, from Michilimackinac. The Americans then pulled out of Malden.