War of 1812 (Alternity)

The War of 1812 was an armed conflict fought between the fledgling United States and Great Britain from June 1812 to February 1815. The main reasons for declaration of war by the United States were trade restrictions, impressment of Americans into the British Royal Navy, British support of Indians against US expansion in the west, and lastly, national honor of America. The war is noted for multiple famous battles and skirmishes, including the Battle of Baltimore (and the subsequent siege of Ft. McHenry) in 1814, the burning of Washington, D.C. by Robert Ross that same year, the Battle of Horseshoe Bend against unfriendly Creek Indians led by General (later President) Andrew Jackson, and the Battle of New Orleans (also commanded by Jackson), in which the US won an overwhelming victory against British troops attempting to take New Orleans from American control. The end of the war technically came in December 1814 with the Treaty of Ghent, but the actual fighting continued into February 1815, at which point British troops fully withdrew from American territory, and American troops withdrew from most of Upper Canada with the exception of the southwestern peninsula (modern-day state of Erie). Despite the transferrence of control of southwestern Upper Canada to the United States, the war essentially and officially ended status quo ante bellum.