The Incredible War of 1812: A Military History Book

OK, I can't prove it, but I believe myself to be the world's foremost expert on the War of 1812. I have now read 5 books on the subject. What sane person has read more?

This bizare little war intersects my life in a bunch of ways. First there is personal geography. Naturally, two of the more memorable events of the war, the burning of Washington and the defense of Baltimore, are sights well known to me. I've driven by Bladensburg (where the US Army was routed before the burning of Washington) many times and wondered if there is a marker somewhere. Also, outside of the building in which I work there is an old federalist style brick mansion called the Sewall-Belmont House. On the outside of the entrance there is a little plaque commemorating that from this house, the only resistance to the burning of Washington was offered. Of course, the British responded by trying to burn down the house.

This work is the War of 1812 told from the Brittish/Canadian perspective. While we Americans consider the War of 1812 to be our "second war of independence," Canadians seem to consider the war the furnace by which they were forged into a nation.

The book is well illustrated and richly detailed from a military history point of view (full Brit orders of battle). The prose is sufficiently engaging. But, the author had a major axe to grind. Appearantly, J. Mackay Hitsman was an archivist for the Canadian Military during the war, and then as a civilian after the war. He seems to have become convinced that British Commander and Governor General Sir George Prevost was getting the short end of the stick. Prevost's lethargy in the offensive was really only a reaction to the directions he received from London. Furthermore, the Hitsman feels the need to go out of his way to correct the record about the role of the Canadian militia. He feels that subsequent popular belief has elevated the role of the militia, when it was, in fact, British regulars that bore the brunt of the fighting.

On both subjects, I think Hitsman is convincing. But still, it leaves an American reader a little bewildered. Both controversies seem a little silly. Of course, US histories often emphasize that had Prevost been more aggressive, the whole enterprise might have come crashing down around our ears. But, its not as if the Americans covered themselves in glory at Prevost's expense.

Additionally, the book is really only concerned with the conduct of the war on the Canadian frontier. Even Cockburn and Cochrane's exploits get short shrift. Needless to say, American naval success stories are all but ignored.

It also does not give much context to the political and diplomatic workings on the English side. Britain's diplomatic circumstances were complicated. The Russians want to mediate, they can't ever quite turn their backs on Nappy, the English maritime community is up in arms. But all of this is little discussed in The Incredible War of 1812. We essentially get a Canadian colonial impression of the diplomatic undertakings -- results are handed down to the reader, but we get no insight into how those results were reached.

Anyway, this was an OK read, but pales in comparison to Henry Adams or Elting's work. I'd say the great English history of the war has yet to be written, but maybe the Canadians have theirs.