ultimatehistoryproject.com/commemorating-1812.html"...COMMEMORATING
THE WAR OF 1812
COLLEEN AMMERMAN
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Pres.James Madison occupied the White House in 1812.
The War of 1812 is often called forgotten. While Francis Scott Key's The Star-Spangled Banner has certainly endured, the import of the war which inspired it has not always been well understood. Not only is the War of 1812 eclipsed in American memory by the nation-defining conflicts on either side of it, the war's complex causes and ambiguous outcome have made it perhaps one of the more challenging historical episodes to grasp and may have contributed to its neglect.
Was the war anything more than a strange interlude between the Revolutionary and Civil Wars? It may seem that way at first glance: the 1814 Treaty of Ghent, which brought the war to an end, returned relations between the United States and Great Britain to status quo antebellum, with neither side gaining territory.
But the War of 1812 played a pivotal role in confirming American identity in the nation's early years.
Christine Arato, National Coordinator of the War of 1812 Bicentennial for the National Park Service, explains that the war established the United States as "a force to be reckoned with" on the global stage. The became particularly evident when the United States Navy prevailed in key battles on the Atlantic and Great Lakes, despite the much larger size of the Royal Navy. Beth Wilson of the National Society-United States Daughters of 1812 calls the United States Navy "the mouse that roared," noting its key victories over the much larger British Royal Navy. . Indeed, the Star Spangled Banner,inspired by the successful American defense of Fort McHenry on the Chesapeake Bay, captures this spirit of triumph.
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The USS Constitution is the oldest US naval vessel still afloat.
The 2012 bicentennial offers an opportunity to look more deeply at the war, which not only affirmed United States sovereignty but also helped set the stage for 19th century Indian removal policies and established the U.S.-Canadian border.
With the conflict fought on both land and sea, simply parsing the combatants can be confusing. Fighting for the United States were regular and militia forces, while Britain's army and navy were supported by Canadian forces and Tecumseh's Indian Confederacy.
In October, a bicentennial reenactment of the Battle of Queenston Heights was held in present-day Ontario, Canada.
In this first major battle of the War of 1812, British forces repelled the Americans as they attempted to invade the Niagara Peninsula. Re--enactor Walt Raisner emphasizes that the typical soldier fighting this and other battles endured deprivation and illness in addition to the risks of battle. Raisner notes that most re--enactors do extensive research with primary sources in order to learn about this human side of the war. Such re--enactments, in turn, bring the human reality of the war to life for observers and participants.
THE RIVER RAISIN MASSACRE
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Frenchtown was strategically located on Lake Erie.
In the 1813 Battle of Frenchtown (also known as the River Raisin Massacre), area residents found themselves opposing their neighbors and longtime trading partners, according to Professor Michael Pratt of Miami University. The citizens of the town were diverse, including an ethnic French population, Canadians, Indians, and American citizens living in and around present-day Monroe, Michigan.
Scott Bentley, superintendent of the River Raisin Battlefield, notes that many Canadian militiamen fighting on behalf of the British Crown had marriage and other family ties to the American citizens living in the area. Indeed, Bentley says, the River Raisin battle can be thought of as a kind of civil war, involving as it did area residents with deeply intertwined lives but conflicting allegiances.
In the River Raisin battle, Frenchtown was destroyed and hundreds of Americans were killed, both in the initial battle anda subsequent attack by Native Americans on wounded and imprisoned soldiers. The battle inspired the rallying cry "Remember the Raisin!", a cry which was taken up during later battles with Tecumseh's forces.
In 2010, after a decades-long effort by Pratt and others to preserve and promote the site, the River Raisin Battlefield became part of the National Park System. Ted J. Ligibel, Director of the Historic Preservation Program at Eastern Michigan University, calls the inclusion of River Raisin on the NPS list of national parks a major boon."Once it's on the [NPS] list, people start coming,"Ligibel said. "And it's important that people understand the significance of the site."
Although the battle at River Raisin/Frenchtown did not prove pivotal to the course of the war, the area was crucial to the boundary between the United States and Canada. United States forces struggled to regain strength in the contest for the Great Lakes region after the River Raisin massacre. These battles also marked the loss of a vibrant French-Indian metis society in the Frenchtown area, according to Bentley.
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Remnants of the original corduroy section of Hull's Road. A. Jameson
Throughout the twentieth century, the River Raisin area was largely industrial, occupied by the River Raisin Paper Company, which closed in the 1990s. According to Pratt, the challenge now is in sifting through the site to determine what remains from the War of 1812.
"River Raisin is fortunate to have survived to become a national park. Envision a slice of Swiss cheese," Pratt says. "The holes are archaeological remains, randomly distributed." Already some intriguing discoveries have been made, including portions of farm fence lines that were used by United States forces as defense lines.
A cultural landscape study of the site is currently underway and will provide recommendations for preservation and restoration. In the midst of these efforts, the River Raisin Battlefield National Park is commemorating the bicentennial with a range of events.
In June, the declaration of war was commemorated with a flag-raising ceremony and the reconstruction of Hull’s Road, built by General William Hull, Governor of what was then Michigan Territory, as he led U.S. militia forces to Detroit. A series of live performances at fifteen points along the trail system began in September. These vignettes take visitors from the earliest days of Native American habitation through the destruction of Frenchtown.
The park hopes that these live narratives will help visitors contextualize the events of 1813 in the longer history of the battlefield. With attention to sites like River Raisin, we can see the War of 1812 not just as the genesis of our national anthem but as a period which influenced the shape and standing of the United States at a key moment in its early history.
For more on how the National Park Services is commemorating the bicentennial, go here.
Colleen Ammerman is a Research Associate at Harvard Business School, where she works on the W50 initiative, a project commemorating the 50th anniversary of women's admission to the MBA program at HBS..."
