tood, and Forgotte they gave up little, and they mo re or less lost a source of manpower for their warships as they had abandoned the Orders in Council allowing impress ment from American ships just prior to the declaration of wa r. During much of the War of 1812, England was busy with France and thought of the problem to the wes t m ainly as a n uisance and distraction. Ir is barely acknowledged today in Bri tain. Thar leaves o nly th e Canadians-they must have been the winners. Wro ng again. W hile they did defeat no fewe r than thirteen incursio ns to their coun try (at the tim e, a colony of Grear Britain), they were no r really combatants per se, bur rather instruments of the Crown. Relatively few of the ci ti zens in Canada had any interest at all in the war and certainly we re, for the most parr, unwill ing partici pants. Like the U ni ted Scates, they m ustered citizen militias to fight with the
Captain f ames Lawrence, USN, (above) and Commodore Stephen D ecatur, USN, (left) were two of the Wtir of 1812 's notable naval heroes. It was Lawrence who uttered the famous phrase, "Don't Give Up the Ship" after being mortally wounded in the battle between USS C hesapeake and HMS Shanno n in June 18 13.
Ular of 1812 map by Thomas Kensett, dated 4 November 1812. This contemporary map covers the area ofconflict along the US and Canadian border, showingforts on the US side and details on Canadian townships.
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