Gunnery Innovations of the War of 1812
Wars provide huge incentives for combatants to develop new weapons, new tactics, and new strategies. During the 18th century a new type of cannon had been developed — the carronade. A six-pound carronade would look resemble a traditional six-pound cannon on a carriage, except that the cannon barrel had been dramatically shortened, and the carriage…
What did sailors eat and drink in 1812?
For long voyages, food needed to be preserved somehow, and that meant salted, pickled, smoked, or dried. Many foods cannot be preserved with these methods, which meant that the sailors’ diet was pretty monotonous. Within a week of leaving port, the fresh provisions were gone, and meals consisted of the same items over and over….
What did the schooner HANNAH do?
Beverly, across the river from Salem, was used by George Washington during the early days of the Revolution as a base for schooners which were leased by the Continental Army, manned by local militia, and sent out to try to capture the ships bringing firewood, food, and other supplies to the British forces in Boston….
What was impressment?
One of the major American complaints leading up to the War of 1812 was that the British, desperate for sailors to man their ships, were kidnapping American citizens on the high seas and forcing them to serve in the Royal Navy. While this was certainly happening, it is more complicated than that. At the time,…
Who Won the War of 1812?
Britain could claim they had never wanted to fight the US, and had successfully defended Canada. The US could boast they had managed to stave off the much more powerful British. The people who never recovered were the Native Americans, who mostly had sided with the British. Indian lands in the Midwest and Southeast were…
What was the War of 1812 about?
What Americans and Canadians call the “War of 1812” had really started in Europe 20 years earlier with the French Revolution. Two decades of war ensued, pitting Revolutionary and later Napoleonic France and her allies against a series of coalitions that variously included Great Britain, Prussia, Austria, and Russia. Eventually, the other European countries were…
What is a privateer?
What is a privateer? A ‘privateer’ was just a privately-owned vessel — sometimes built expressly for privateering, but more often converted from fishing or trading — which received a government license in wartime to go out and capture enemy merchant ships. This practice had begun during the Middle Ages, when countries did not have large…