On September 10, 1813, American Naval forces under General Oliver Hazard Perry won a major victory over British forces at Lake Erie on Pennsylvania's coastline. Because the American victory closed off British navigation of Lake Erie, British forces evacuated Detroit. The retreating British and Indian forces were subsequently engaged at the Battle of Tippecanoe along the Thames River in Indiana. General William Henry Harrison and American forces routed the enemy on October 5, 1813.

Despite the mounting American victories, English forces had defeated France in Europe. The British victory made available large numbers of troops and supplies which were sent to America in 1814. Nevertheless, setbacks continued to plague the British. Their southern campaign was thwarted by Andrew Jackson's bloody victory over Creek Indians at Horseshoe Bend, Alabama and set the stage for a massive battle at New Orleans. In August of 1814, however, substantial British forces sailed through the Chesapeake Bay and landed in Maryland. British forces routed American resistance at Bladensburg, Maryland and quickly took the American capital - Washington. On August 24-25, British forces burned Washington to the ground. Despite the bombardment of Baltimore, Maryland, which resulted in Francis Scott Key authoring the Star Spangled Banner, American forces resisted. On September 11, 1814, American forces defeated the British at Lake Champlain and thwarted a large-scale British invasion from Canada. After the defeat at Lake Champlain, and because American trade with a defeated France was no longer an issue, Royal authorities decided to abandon the war in America. On December 14, 1814, America and England signed the Treaty of Ghent which ended the war and called for the abandonment of British forts along its northwestern frontier.

Despite the Treaty of Ghent, word of the war's end failed to reach all areas. General Andrew Jackson, a band of pirates, and several armies of free black men, Kentucky militia, and Louisiana militia defeated the much larger British forces at the Battle of New Orleans. At the end of the battle, American casualties numbered 71, while British casualties exceeded 2,000. Despite the fact that the war was over, if New Orleans had not have fallen into America's hands, England would not have honored the Treaty of Ghent, and would not have surrendered New Orleans.

The War of 1812 did not solve all issues between Great Britain and America, but did stimulate economic growth, ended talk of secession in New England, created political agreement (known as "the era of good feeling") and brought the country closer together.

Page 1