#warof1812

Winfield Scott: The General Who Mapped the Union Victory

Winfield Scott (1786-1866) was an American military leader famous for his brilliant tactics in battle, for his insistence on the value of a highly trained, disciplined army, and for being the general who proposed what came to be known as the "Anaconda Plan" to win the American Civil War and preserve the Union. Although Scott's plan was initially rejected and mocked, the essential elements of his proposal were implemented between 1861 and 1865, winning the war.

He was referred to as "Old Fuss and Feathers" because of the value he placed on proper discipline and behavior of those in the military. Following the American Revolutionary War, the Continental Army was largely disbanded and the small standing army of the federal government – as well as local militias – were manned by soldiers who had little or no formal military training. Beginning in May 1814, Scott changed that by establishing his 10-week Camp of Instruction, during which soldiers would drill up to ten hours a day. Scott's efforts led directly to the American victory over the British at the Battle of Chippawa on 5 July 1814 during the War of 1812.

He authored General Regulations for the Army (1821) and Infantry Tactics, Or, Rules for the Exercise and Maneuver of the United States Infantry (1835), standard reading for servicemen up through the 1850s. Scott could, in fact, be credited with creating the force that became the United States Army of the 1840s, and his tactics and concepts informed those of many of the most significant commanders on both sides during the American Civil War.

Early Life & Education

Scott was born in Dinwiddie County, Virginia, on 13 June 1786, the fifth child of William Scott and Ann Scott (neé Mason). William Scott was a veteran of the American Revolutionary War, and his father, James Scott, was a veteran of the Battle of Culloden in 1746 in Scotland, coming to North America soon after. The Scotts were, therefore, a military family.

Winfield Scott grew to the imposing height of six feet and five inches, and as his family was well-off, he was sent to school rather than working as a planter in the fields like his father (who died when Scott was six years old). Scott began studies at the College of William & Mary in 1805, reading the works of John Milton, William Shakespeare, and others, but he was drawn to the campaigns of Julius Caesar and Scipio Africanus. He remained there two years before leaving to study law under the attorney David Robinson, who had been brought to North America by Scott's grandfather as a tutor for his family.

While working for Robinson as a legal clerk, the trial of Aaron Burr for high treason was held at the courthouse in Richmond, and Robinson, as a well-known court reporter, was chosen to record the proceedings; he took Scott and his two other clerks with him. At the trial, Scott met a young reporter covering the event for the New York Gazette, Washington Irving, who would later become one of America's most famous authors.

Burr's trial, at which he was acquitted (although Scott believed he was guilty), solidified in Scott a belief his Christian upbringing and earlier studies had encouraged: that there was an objective standard of right and wrong and one had a moral duty to adhere to the right, the just, the proper. Throughout the rest of his life, Scott was known for his quick temper and intolerance of "wrong behavior" – which would cause him problems more than once.

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On July 3, 1814, during the War of 1812, American troops successfully captured Fort Erie from British forces in Upper Canada. The assault was part of the United States’ effort to gain control along the Niagara frontier, a strategically important region that saw repeated clashes between American and British-Canadian forces.

Sam Houston: Man of Two Worlds

Sam Houston (1793-1863) was an American soldier in the War of 1812, a statesman, a general in the Texas Revolution, the first president of the Republic of Texas, and a citizen of the Cherokee Nation. He was a White man who lived among Native Americans, a farmer who hated farming, a slave owner who opposed the spread of slavery, a Southerner who supported Northern policies, and a politician who disliked politics.

He could be considered a man of two worlds at any given time in his life, moving between different spheres, not completely at home in any of them. Charismatic and a natural leader, Houston drew people to him while often simultaneously pushing them away. He remains one of the most fascinating and controversial figures in American history.

Early Life & Cherokee

Sam Houston was born on 2 March 1793 to Samuel Houston and Elizabeth Paxton Houston of Rockbridge County, Virginia. He had five brothers and three sisters, all born on the Timber Ridge Plantation that was worked by slaves. Samuel Houston died in 1807, and his wife moved the family to Maryville, Tennessee.

Sam Houston attended school as a boy for perhaps half a year and later may have attended an academy near Maryville, but he was largely self-taught, spending time in his father's library reading classical literature and history.

Although he was born into a farming family, he had no taste for it, preferring to spend time reading or exploring the woods around his home. His older brothers did not take kindly to what they saw as his 'idle disposition' and tried to force him to take on more responsibility. In response, Houston ran away from home when he was 16 and went to live with the Cherokee.

He was taken under care by their chief, Ahuludegi (also known as John Jolly) on Hiwassee Island, learned their language, observed their traditions, and was given the name, "Raven." He remained with the Cherokee for three years, returning to the world of the White Man in 1812 and taking a position as schoolmaster in Maryville at the one-room schoolhouse.

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14 Key Battles of the War of 1812

The War of 1812 remains one of the most obscure major conflicts in US history, often overshadowed by the monumentous events that came before and after. Indeed, when it is remembered at all, it is often as a minor spat between the United States and the United Kingdom that ended with the burning of the White House and the victory of Andrew Jackson at New Orleans.

The war, however, was much more than that. It marked a new milestone for the US as an independent nation, proving that it could still hold its own against the military might of Britain. It was also a pivotal moment for Canada, whose staunch opposition to multiple US invasions led to the formation of a Canadian national identity for the first time. And, of course, it was a watershed moment for the many Native American nations of the northwest, who rose up in resistance to US encroachment only to be abandoned by their British allies and crushed under the weight of US imperialism. As one historian said, it is difficult to say who won the War of 1812, but it is only too clear that the Native Americans lost it.

This collection explores 14 of the key battles that made up the War of 1812. Together, they create a narrative detailing one of the formative events in the young history of the United States, one that, despite all odds, continues to resonate today.

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John C. Calhoun: Champion of the Antebellum South

John C. Calhoun (1782-1850) was an American lawyer and statesman, one of the key political figures of the Antebellum Era. Initially a nationalist, Calhoun spent his early career trying to strengthen and modernize the federal government, but by the 1830s, he had become a strong advocate for states' rights and slavery, leading South Carolina into the Nullification Crisis (1832-33). Calhoun served as vice president under two different presidents and spent decades in Congress, where he became recognized as part of the 'Great Triumvirate' of influential US congressmen alongside Henry Clay (1777-1852) and Daniel Webster (1782-1852). He played a major role in uniting the American South behind the institution of slavery – which he referred to as the 'peculiar institution' – in the decades prior to the American Civil War (1861-1865).

Early Life

John Caldwell Calhoun was born in the Abbeville District of South Carolina on 18 March 1782. He was the fourth of five children born to Patrick Calhoun, a Scotch-Irish immigrant, and his second wife, Martha Caldwell. He was named after his maternal uncle, Major John Caldwell, who had been murdered by Tories (Americans loyal to Britain) a few months earlier. There were no schools in the South Carolina backcountry where Calhoun grew up, leaving him isolated and practically illiterate for most of his childhood. Then, in 1795, the 13-year-old Calhoun was sent to an academy in Georgia run by his brother-in-law, Moses Waddel; though the academy was discontinued shortly thereafter, Calhoun gained access to Waddel's vast library and spent much of his time reading. After his father's death, Calhoun returned home to help manage the family farm. He often plowed the fields himself, working alongside the family's slaves, and spent his free time reading, hunting, and fishing. In the autumn of 1802, Calhoun went to New Haven, Connecticut, to study at Yale College, financed by his older brothers. He was a diligent student who made friends easily, and, in September 1804, he graduated with distinction.

The following year, he began reading law in Litchfield, Connecticut, and was admitted to the South Carolina bar in 1807. He returned to his home district of Abbeville, where he opened a lucrative law practice and rode the circuit of county courts. Unlike other frontier lawyers like his future colleague Henry Clay, Calhoun took no joy in riding the court circuit; solemn and disciplined, Calhoun "rarely, if ever, swore, smoked, drank, or jested" (Peterson, 24). He was respected in his community and was elected to the state legislature in 1808. During his brief stint, he began courting his first cousin, Floride Bonneau Colhoun (1792-1866), from afar. Having first met Floride during his time in New England, Calhoun began periodically sending her letters and communicating through her mother, who was anxious to make the best match for her daughter. They were married outside Charleston in January 1811 and would ultimately have ten children. That same year, he was elected to the US House of Representatives and left South Carolina for the national capital of Washington, D.C., to take his seat in the fateful Twelfth Congress.

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William Henry Harrison: The One-Month US President

William Henry Harrison (1773-1841) was an American statesman and military general who served as the ninth president of the United States. A member of the distinguished Harrison family of Virginia, he built his reputation as a war hero after defeating Tecumseh's Confederacy at the Battle of Tippecanoe (7 November 1811) – hence his nickname 'Old Tippecanoe'. In the US presidential election of 1840, the Whig Party nominated him as their candidate, and he defeated incumbent President Martin Van Buren (1782-1862) in the general election. Only three weeks after his inauguration, however, Harrison fell ill and died, becoming the first US president to die in office, as well as the president with the shortest tenure in American history. His grandson, Benjamin Harrison (1833-1901), would go on to serve as the 23rd president.

Early Life

William Henry Harrison was born on 9 February 1773 at Berkeley Plantation, the Harrison family tobacco plantation on the James River in Virginia which was worked by enslaved African Americans. He was the seventh and youngest child of Benjamin Harrison V (1726-1791) and Elizabeth Bassett Harrison. His father was a prominent planter and an ardent supporter of the Patriot cause during the American Revolution (1765-1789); indeed, the elder Harrison served as a delegate to the Second Continental Congress, was a signer of the Declaration of Independence, and was elected Governor of Virginia in the waning years of the American Revolutionary War. William Henry Harrison, therefore, would later claim to have been a 'child of the revolution', who had grown up with the birth of the United States taking place practically before his eyes (Harrison would, in fact, be the last US president to have been born a British subject before the Revolution).

He was tutored at home until the age of 14, when he was sent to receive a classical education at Hampden-Sydney College in Prince Edward County, Virginia. He studied there for three years, developing an interest in history, particularly ancient Roman warfare. In 1790, he travelled to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to study medicine under the supervision of Dr. Benjamin Rush (1746-1813), a leading American physician who, like Harrison's father, had signed the Declaration of Independence. William Henry Harrison was still in Philadelphia on 24 April 1791 when his father died; Berkeley Plantation was taken over by his eldest brother, Benjamin Harrison VI, who abruptly cut off funds for William's schooling. Finding himself suddenly without prospects, he appealed for help from a family friend, Virginia Governor Henry Lee III (1756-1818). Lee was able to procure Harrison an appointment as an ensign in the First Infantry of the newly formed US Army. Now 18 years old, Harrison was sent to Fort Washington, an outpost near Cincinnati (in present-day Ohio).

In 1792, Harrison was promoted to the rank of lieutenant and became aide-de-camp to General 'Mad' Anthony Wayne (1745-1796), the fort's commander and a hero of the Revolution. Wayne was in command of the US military forces engaged in the Northwest Indian War (1785-1795), a struggle for control of the expansive Northwest Territory between the United States and a loose coalition of Native American nations known today as the Northwestern Confederacy. On 20 August 1794, Wayne's soldiers decisively defeated the Native American forces at the Battle of Fallen Timbers. Though only an hour long, the battle decided the war in favor of the United States. Harrison distinguished himself in the fighting and was later commended by Wayne, who said that "Lieutenant Harrison…rendered the most essential service by communicating my orders in every direction…conduct and bravery exciting the troops to press for victory" (quoted in Freehling). Shortly thereafter, the Northwestern Indians were forced to sign the Treaty of Greenville (1795), which displaced them from Ohio and opened the Northwest Territory (present-day Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, and parts of Minnesota) to US colonization. For his role in this conquest, Harrison was promoted to captain and given command of Fort Washington in 1796.

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