Philadelphians had key roles in War of 1812

Tim McGrath

is the author of John Barry: An American Hero in the Age of Sail

In 1958, Walt Disney aired a mini-series of Esther Forbes' classic story Johnny Tremain, introducing baby boomers to the adventurous boy who participated in the American Revolution. Weeks later, I bought a 10-cent Disney comic titled "Old Ironsides," a fictionalized account of the USS Constitution's battle with the British frigate Guerriere in 1812. The hero of the tale was the cabin boy - Johnny Tremain. Being 7 years old, I was captivated. However, my father pointed out that by 1812, Revolutionary War hero Johnny was well over 50 - a tad old for his job.

Perhaps Disney thought Johnny's name would sell more comic books. After all, the War of 1812 never captured our national interest as the Revolution did. High school history teachers barely mention it in class. Even now, at its bicentennial, it receives little attention.

And that's a shame. 9/11 will always be with us; for one day, our shores were invaded with devastating results. During the War of 1812, our country was under invasion for nearly three years. And, just as today, the loved ones of the soldiers and sailors wrote to them, worried about them, prayed for them.

Here's the War of 1812 in a nutshell: America declared war on Great Britain after years of U.S. sailors' being seized and pressed into the Royal Navy; British meddling in American trade with France while encouraging Native American raids along the frontier; and the emergence of the Democratic-Republican "war hawks" in Congress, led by House Speaker Henry Clay. No Federalist voted for war, and New England was so opposed to it that secession was openly discussed.

During the war, battles were fought on land from Canada to New Orleans, and on both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. The British blockaded our coastline, thwarted American offensives in Canada, abetted Native American uprisings, and burnt Washington. Americans won their share of naval victories, withstood the bombardment of Fort McHenry, annihilated the Creek and Shawnee nations, and won the Battle of New Orleans - fought three weeks after the Treaty of Ghent officially ended hostilities.

Lack of knowledge about the war deprives us of knowing its impact on our country, its heroes and heroines, even how it shaped future presidents and presidential candidates.

Most of us know that "Old Hickory," Andrew Jackson, won the Battle of New Orleans. Some are aware that "Tippecanoe," William Henry Harrison, was the victor over Tecumseh's Indian forces at the Battle of the Thames. But few know that Zachary Taylor, "Old Rough and Ready," first made headlines with his wartime deeds, or that "Old Fuss and Feathers," Winfield Scott, was wounded and captured during the war. (And why was Harrison, the oldest of this lot, spared the word old in his nickname?)

Davy Crockett's notoriety first surfaced after the Battle of Horseshoe Bend. And, if Dolley Madison didn't personally rescue Gilbert Stuart's portrait of George Washington from a burning President's Mansion, she at least ordered it removed. One of her slaves later recollected that her servants got it to safety.

As with the Revolution, Philadelphia-area names abound in the annals of this conflict, especially at sea. The victorious frigates that compelled the British Admiralty to forbid single-action combat were the brainchild of Haverford Quaker Joshua Humphreys, whose innovative warship designs got him disowned by the Society of Friends. Luckless William Bainbridge was best known for losing one ship to the French in 1799 and another, the frigate Philadelphia, to Algerian gunboats in 1803. But in 1812 he was given command of the Constitution, and led his crew to victory over HMS Java.

Years before the war, other local heroes "learned the ropes" aboard America's first naval academy, the frigate United States, commanded by Commodore John Barry.

In 1812, Stephen Decatur, already renowned for his Barbary War exploits, successfully took the USS United States into action against the frigate Macedonian. His Episcopal Academy classmate, Charles Stewart, once got into a shouting match with Barry while a young lieutenant. Rather than court-martial him, Barry nurtured his career. His hunch paid off: Stewart was the Constitution's captain in its last victory of the war, taking two British warships in 1814.

But it wasn't all victory at sea. Princeton's James Lawrence was no sooner given command of the frigate Chesapeake when he sailed from Boston to do battle with HMS Shannon. In less than 15 minutes, Shannon was victorious, while a dying Lawrence implored, "Don't give up the ship."

And, while Oliver Hazard Perry's triumph over a British task force on Lake Erie was the stuff of legend, Delaware-born Thomas Macdonough's smashing victory against a British fleet on Lake Champlain later prompted Theodore Roosevelt to consider him the greatest naval officer of his time.

It was not a war fought by white men alone. American women served as laundresses and cooks; their journals are invaluable records of the events and emotions of the war. One, who accompanied her husband to the frontier, recalled how the women slept with loaded pistols, in case the Indians the men were pursuing showed up at their camp.

At least 15 percent of naval muster rolls were free African Americans, whose courage was praised in their captains' reports. Black battalions fought at New Orleans. Afterward, Andrew Jackson wrote that "the American nation shall applaud your valor." Many slaves had fled Southern plantations after the British offered them freedom. In Virginia, some fought against their former masters.

The war ended in a stalemate. The real losers were African American slaves - as far removed from equality as ever - and Native Americans, who lost their British ally, their lands, and countless lives.

The story of Americans in 1812 deserves to be rekindled and remembered. The best of them dealt with challenges that were very, very, real: triumphs and tragedies, both shared and personal, in battle and at home.

Just like 2012.