August 19, 1812 · Atlantic Ocean Theater

In one of the most celebrated naval engagements of the war, USS Constitution encountered HMS Guerrière in the North Atlantic and reduced her to a floating wreck in under thirty minutes. British cannon shot was observed to bounce off Constitution's thick oak hull, earning the ship her legendary nickname 'Old Ironsides.' Guerrière was so badly damaged she could not be taken as a prize and was burned. The victory electrified the young American republic, which had feared that its small navy could not stand against the Royal Navy.

October 13, 1812 · Niagara Frontier Theater

American forces crossed the Niagara River at dawn and initially seized the high ground at Queenston, but New York militia refused to cross into Canada under the Constitution's restrictions on service outside U.S. territory, leaving the regulars stranded. Major General Isaac Brock, the heroic defender of Upper Canada, led a counterattack and was shot and killed charging up the Heights. Though the British ultimately recaptured the position and forced the American surrender, Brock's death was a devastating blow. He remains one of Canada's greatest heroes — a general who arguably held the colony together through force of will in the desperate first months of the war.

April 27, 1813 · Upper Canada Theater

American forces crossed Lake Ontario and landed near York (modern-day Toronto), the capital of Upper Canada. After fierce fighting, the British garrison detonated the Grand Magazine as they retreated, killing Brigadier General Zebulon Pike and dozens of American soldiers in a massive explosion. The Americans captured and occupied the town for several days, burning the Parliament buildings and government stores. This burning of York would later be cited by the British as justification for their burning of Washington, D.C. the following year.

September 10, 1813 · Great Lakes Theater

Master Commandant Oliver Hazard Perry met the British squadron near Put-in-Bay, Ohio, in a brutal fight for control of Lake Erie. Perry's flagship USS Lawrence was shot to pieces and he famously transferred his flag to USS Niagara under heavy fire, rowing through a hail of shot in an open boat. From Niagara he broke through the British line and forced the entire British squadron to surrender — the first time in Royal Navy history that an entire squadron had been captured. Perry's dispatch to General Harrison became immortal: 'We have met the enemy and they are ours.'

October 5, 1813 · Upper Canada Theater

Following the American victory on Lake Erie, General Harrison led an invasion force into Upper Canada and pursued the retreating British and their Shawnee allies under the great chief Tecumseh. The British line collapsed almost immediately under the charge of Kentucky cavalry, but Tecumseh's warriors fought fiercely in the swampy woods on the British right. Tecumseh was killed in the fighting, though his exact killer remains disputed — Richard Mentor Johnson, later Vice President, claimed the credit. With Tecumseh's death, the dream of a unified Native American confederacy perished.

November 11, 1813 · St. Lawrence River Theater

As part of the American plan to capture Montreal by advancing down the St. Lawrence River, a force of some 8,000 soldiers under General James Wilkinson was harassed by a much smaller British force under Lieutenant Colonel Joseph Morrison. When the Americans turned to fight on a riverside farm owned by John Crysler, Morrison's disciplined regulars delivered a devastating defeat to troops twice their number. The American attack was poorly coordinated, and Morrison's veterans repulsed every charge with steady musket fire. The defeat, combined with reverses further south, doomed the Montreal campaign entirely.

March 27, 1814 · Creek Nation (Alabama) Theater

In the culminating battle of the Creek War — a conflict intertwined with the War of 1812 — Andrew Jackson led a combined force of U.S. regulars, militia, Cherokee, and Lower Creek warriors against the Red Stick Creek fortification at Horseshoe Bend on the Tallapoosa River. The Red Sticks had constructed a formidable barricade of logs across the neck of a horseshoe-shaped river bend. Jackson's artillery breached the walls while his Cherokee allies swam the river and attacked from behind. The result was a slaughter: over 800 Red Stick warriors were killed in the most decisive defeat ever inflicted on a Native American nation on the continent.

August 24–25, 1814 · Chesapeake Theater

After routing the American militia at the Battle of Bladensburg, British forces under General Robert Ross marched virtually unopposed into the American capital. President Madison and most of the government fled in panic. The British burned the Capitol, the White House (then called the President's House), and most federal buildings in deliberate retaliation for the American burning of York. First Lady Dolley Madison famously rescued a portrait of George Washington before fleeing. A freak tornado the following day, along with the threat of disease, caused the British to withdraw after only 26 hours of occupation.

September 11, 1814 · Lake Champlain Theater

The most strategically significant American victory of the war came on Lake Champlain, where Master Commandant Thomas Macdonough's squadron defeated the British fleet in a brilliantly managed battle. Macdonough had prepared for the fight by rigging his flagship Saratoga so it could be winched around to bring fresh guns to bear — a tactic that proved decisive. When the British flagship Confiance was disabled, the entire British squadron struck its colors. Without naval support, Governor-General Prevost's 10,000-man invasion force — the largest British army to enter the United States during the war — retreated to Canada.

September 13–14, 1814 · Chesapeake Theater

Following their triumph at Washington, the British turned their attention to Baltimore, a wealthy port city and privateering hub. The fleet bombarded Fort McHenry continuously for 25 hours, firing some 1,800 shells and rockets. The fort's garrison under Major George Armistead held firm throughout the night. An American lawyer named Francis Scott Key, held aboard a British truce ship while negotiating a prisoner release, watched the bombardment through the night. At dawn, he saw the American flag — a massive 30 by 42 foot garrison flag — still flying over the fort. The sight moved him to write the poem that became 'The Star-Spangled Banner.'

January 8, 1815 · Gulf Coast Theater

In one of history's great historical ironies, the Battle of New Orleans was fought two weeks after the Treaty of Ghent had already ended the war on December 24, 1814 — but news traveled by ship and had not yet reached Louisiana. General Andrew Jackson had assembled a remarkable polyglot army of U.S. regulars, Kentucky and Tennessee militia, free Black soldiers, Choctaw warriors, and even Jean Lafitte's pirates. Behind earthwork defenses on the Rodriguez Canal, Jackson's men repulsed a frontal assault by Wellington's veterans with devastating fire. General Pakenham was killed leading the charge. The British suffered over 2,000 casualties in less than 30 minutes; American losses were negligible. Though the battle had no effect on the war's outcome, it made Andrew Jackson a national legend.