When war broke out in 1812, neither the United States Navy nor the Royal Navy had more than a token force on the Great Lakes. However, once the shooting started, it sparked a ship-building arms race that continued throughout the war. This book examines the design and development of the warships built upon the lakes during the war, emphasising their differences from their salt-water contemporaries. It then goes onto cover their operational use as they were pitted against each other in a number of clashes on the lakes that often saw ships captured, re-crewed, and thrown back against their pervious owners. Released in 2012 to coincide with the 200th anniversary of the outbreak of the war, this is a timely look at a small, freshwater naval war.

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The book demonstrates the effectiveness of British maritime blockades, both naval blockade, which handicapped the American Navy, and commercial blockade, which restricted US overseas trade. The commercial blockade severely reduced US government income, which was heavily dependent on customs duties, forcing it to borrow, eventually without success. Actually insolvent, the US government abandoned its war aims.

With humans moving easily from water to land, the archaeology of the shore should likewise be seamless. This principle of the “seamlessness” of human interaction with the maritime environment undergirds author Ben Ford’s sweeping survey. In The Shore Is a Bridge: The Maritime Cultural Landscape of Lake Ontario, Ford explores human interaction with the waters of the lake, spanning the international border, from 5,000 years ago to the early twentieth century. He interprets written and archaeological sources using a maritime cultural landscape approach to investigate how the perception of place influences the interaction between humans and the physical environment. Ford focuses on the lake shore, which served as a link between the maritime and terrestrial worlds of the people who lived around it. Lake Ontario was the first of the Great Lakes to be developed by Europeans, and it was part of the home ranges of the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois), the Huron-Wendat, and the Mississauga, as well as other Native American groups known only from their archaeological remains. Consequently, Lake Ontario was at the heart of early Great Lakes maritime culture. Using terrestrial and submerged archaeological methods, history, and ethnography, the author meticulously weaves together previously disparate data to construct a cohesive and holistic understanding of this important region from ancient to modern times. The Shore Is a Bridge presents a new way to interpret the maritime archaeological record and maritime culture by synthesizing archaeological data, historical documents, and oral histories into an all-inclusive view of the lakeshore.

What did it take—logistically and operationally—for the small and underfunded US Navy to face the battle-hardened Royal Navy in the War of 1812? Find out in this book, the magnum opus of one of the deans of American naval history. When the War of 1812 broke out, the newly formed and cash-strapped United States faced Great Britain, the world's foremost sea power, with a navy that had largely fallen into disrepair and neglect. In this riveting book, William S. Dudley presents the most complete history of the inner workings of the US Navy Department during the conflict, which lasted until 1815. What did it take, he asks, for the US Navy to build, fit-out, man, provision, and send fighting ships to sea for extended periods of time during the War of 1812? When the British blockade of 1813–14 severely constrained American sea trade, reducing the government's income and closing down access to American seaports, the navy was forced to innovate: to make improvements through reforms, to redeploy personnel, and to strengthen its industrial capacity. Highlighting matters of supply, construction, recruitment, discipline, medical care, shipbuilding, and innovation, Dudley helps readers understand the navy's successes and failures in the war and beyond. He also presents the logistics of the war in relation to fleet actions on the lakes and selected ship actions on the oceans, stresses the importance of administration in warfighting, and shows how reforms and innovations in those areas led to a stronger, more efficient navy. Refuting the idea that the United States "won" the war, Dudley argues that the conflict was at best a stalemate. Drawing on twenty-five years of archival research around the world, Inside the US Navy of 1812–1815 will leave readers with a better appreciation of how the navy contributed strategic value to the nation's survival in the conflict and assisted in bringing the war to an honorable end. This book will appeal to scholars and students of naval and military history, veterans, current officers, and maritime-oriented history buffs.

“Filled with statistical information on the guns, ammunition, and carriages, used by the armies . . . places the reader on the ground with the gunners.”—The Napoleon Series Napoleon was an artilleryman before he was an emperor. He understood the power and effectiveness of cannon and their ability to pulverize defenses, reduce fortresses and destroy attacks. In return, the guns won Napoleon battles. This impressive study chronicles the story of the guns and men during the twenty-three years of almost continuous warfare from 1792–1815: from the battlefields of continental Europe to the almost primitive terrain of North America and of the seas, lakes and rivers that connected them. Detailed technical information is accompanied by vivid descriptions which allow the reader to imagine what it must have been liked to maneuver and man the guns in a variety of situations—whether on the march or on the battlefield. Based on years of research into regulations of the period, eyewitness accounts of artillerymen and material culled from official reports, the scope and depth of material will satisfy the serious researcher, while the lively narrative will appeal to the casual reader. “Kiley’s research is impeccable and deserves the highest praise. Moreover, he writes in so entertaining a manner that he informs and educates without effort . . . For the enthusiastic student of the attack and defense of fortified places this is an essential book of reference.”—Fortress Study Group

Presenting the first five installments of Richard Feltoe's series on the War of 1812, gathered together in an ebook bundle. Each book in this battlefield-based chronicle combines the best of modern historical research with extensive quotations from original official documents and personal letters to bring to life this crucial period of Canada's early history. Throughout, historical images are counterpointed with modern pictures from the same perspective to give a true then-and-now effect. Strategic maps trace the course of campaigns, while never-before-published battlefield maps reveal the shifting formations of troops across a geographically accurate terrain. "If you're looking for only one book or set to read, Feltoe is so far an excellent choice." — Niagara Life Includes The Call to Arms The Pendulum of War The Flames of War The Tide of War A Crucible of Fire