North Carolina Books

Abstract

Sandwiched between the American Revolution and the Civil War,the War of 1812 seldom merits our attention. Except for the burning of Washington and Jackson’s after-the-fact victory at New Orleans, few people know or remember much about it. To be honest, American military forces were not very successful during the conflict save for the warships of the tiny U. S. Navy. In singleship battles during the war, the Americans beat the British, the world’s greatest naval power, in six of seven encounters. The U.S.S. Wasp, a sloop-of-war under the command of North Carolinian Johnston Blakeley, won one of the most famous of those victories.