Military Order of Foreign Wars
The Medal The War of 1812 Commemorative Medal was licensed by the Military Order of Foreign Wars to recognize the contribution of America’s military and naval forces in securing freedom from interference in international commerce.
Period of Service
This medal recognizes military and naval actions against Great Britain between June 18, 1812 and December 24, 1815.
Designer
The War of 1812 Commemorative Medal was designed by Nadine Russell, Chief of Creative Heraldry at the Army’s Institute of Heraldry and the designer of many of this Nation’s campaign and service medals. This medal was privately commissioned by the Military Order of Foreign Wars.
Symbolism
Obverse
In the center of a bronze medallion, the head of a hawk is shown face-forward but turned slightly to the right. Behind the eagle are 18 stars between 19 rising rays of sunlight. Below the eagle, and following the contour of the bottom of the medal, the inscription WAR OF 1812 appears in raised letters. The hawk alludes to the political advocates of the war, known as the “War Hawks.” The hawk also symbolizes the courageous actions and victories of the as yet small and young United States Navy, pitted against the much larger and more powerful Royal Navy, the established ruler of the seas at the time the war started. The rising sun represents the dawn of a new era for the expanding American nation. The eighteen stars represent the number of States in the Union at the time of the War of 1812.
Reverse
The reverse bears the seal of the Military Order of Foreign Wars: In the center of a bronze medallion, a shield bearing four swords pointing downward, two at an angle from the left, and two at an angle from the right. Above the swords is an American eagle with its wings spread, shown behind a battlement. Behind the shield is a field of thirteen stars amid a cloud formation, and above the shield is a mural circlet from which arises an arm in armor holding four thunderbolts. Beneath the shield is a banner bearing the motto, DEUS ET LIBERTAS, and beneath the banner appears the date 1894 (the date being separated, right and left). Surrounding the entire central theme is another banner, this one bearing the inscription, MILITARY ORDER OF FOREIGN WARS OF THE UNITED STATES, and surrounding this banner is a circle of bullets.
Ribbon
The ribbon is adapted from the Army and Navy streamers for the War of 1812. It consists of a field of scarlet with two white stripes. The scarlet represents sacrifice, and the white stands for the idealism of the young Republic. The two white stripes also allude to the fact that the War of 1812 was the second war the United States fought against Great Britain.
Background
At the height of the Napoleonic Wars the French controlled the Continent, but Great Britain controlled the seas. Neither could attack the other directly, so each resorted to commercial warfare to disrupt the other’s economy. Napoleon decreed that all commerce with Great Britain was illegal, and Great Britain retaliated with a series of Orders in Council barring foreign ships from entering Continental ports unless they first stopped in England and paid customs duties on their cargoes. Napoleon retaliated by declaring that any ships submitting to British rules were English vessels and therefore subject to seizure by France. These acts clearly exploited foreign merchants and had a significant impact on American merchant vessels. In addition, the British had introduced the practice of “impressment,” by which they involuntarily forced British subjects to serve in the Royal Navy. The Royal Navy stopped American ships on the high seas and searched them for British citizens. Unfortunately, many Englishmen had emigrated to the United States and had been naturalized. However, the British did not recognize their naturalization and considered them fair game for impressment. Between 1803 and 1812, at least 5000 merchant sailors were taken from American ships, and as many as three quarters of them were American citizens. As both the British and the French disregarded American neutrality, the “War Hawks” in Congress pushed for war although many American (especially in the eastern maritime states) were against a war with Great Britain. The War Hawks prevailed, and on June 18, 1812, the Untied States declared war on Great Britain. Although the United States was woefully unprepared for war with Great Britain, it pressed forward anyway.
Campaigns
Army
Great Britain’s greatest weakness in North America was Canada, which had a population of only half a million against an American population of seven and a half million. Great Britain had relatively few soldiers stationed in Canada. However, American military action against Canada was poorly led and suffered from an unwillingness of American militiamen to cross into Canada to fight. However, thanks to Oliver Hazard Perry’s brilliant defeat of the British vessels at Pin-in-Bay on Lake Erie, Americans were able to take Detroit. In 1814, after the abdication of Napoleon, the British assumed the offensive and sent over 14,000 veterans of the Napoleonic Wars to the United States. Perhaps the most humiliating defeat suffered by the United States took place when the British landed at the mouth of the Patuxent River, just southeast of Washington. After defeating the American at Bladensburg, the British entered Washington, where they put most of the public buildings to the torch. However, when the British attempted to take Baltimore, they were stopped cold by the American defenders. The British fleet sailed up the Patapsco River and attacked Fort McHenry in a ferocious day-long bombardment on September 13/14, 1814. One of the witnesses to this attack was an American civilian by the name of Francis Scott Key, who had been held by the British. He watched the shelling during the night and when, by the first light of dawn, he saw the American flag still flying over the fort, he wrote “The Star Spangled Banner,” which subsequently became the National anthem. The War of 1812 was unpopular on both sides, but in spite of many problems, many Americans fought with great stamina and gallantry. The Army recognizes six campaigns on its battle streamer for the War of 1812:
Chippewa 1814
Lundy’s Lane 1814
Bladensburg 1814
McHenry 1814
New Orleans 1814-1815
Navy
The United States enjoyed far greater success in its single-ship naval engagements than it did in the ground war. Shortly after the war began, the USS Constitution successfully engaged the HMS Guerrière in the Atlantic. In October of 1812, Stephen Decatur, commanding the USS United States defeated HMS Macedonian off Madeiras, and in December the USS Constitution defeated the British frigate Java off the coast of Brazil. However, much of the naval action was actually carried out by privateers, who captured more than 3,000 British ship during the war.
Commodore Olive Hazard Perry’s brilliant success in the Battle of Lake Erie placed the Northwest Territory firmly under American control and sent the Nation’s morale spiraling. Another victory by Commodore Thomas MacDonough on Lake Champlain turned back a British invasion force from Canada. Commodore Joshua Barney and his men made a heroic stand in the land fighting at the Battle of Bladensburg. Commodore Daniel Patterson correctly predicted that the British would attack at New Orleans rather than Mobile, and his small naval squadron so delayed and harassed the advancing British with ship gunfire that General Andrew Jackson was able to prepare his defenses and gain the historic victory at New Orleans.
The Revenue Cutter Service likewise participated in the war, with all nine of its cutters (the Active, Eagle, Gallatin, Jefferson, James Madison, Mercury Surveyor, vigilant and Commodore Barry) being assigned to the Navy. In fact, the Revenue Cutter Jefferson was the first to capture a British merchantman, the brig Patriot, in June of 1812. The Navy recognizes fourteen actions on its battle streamer for the War of 1812:
United States-Macedonian (October 28, 1812)
Constitution-Java (December 29, 1812)
Chesapeake-Shannon (June 1, 1813)
Essex-Phoebe andCherub (March 28, 1814)
Constitution-Cyane and Levant (February 20, 1815)
Sloop-of-War and Brig Single Ship Actions
Commerce Raiding in the Atlantic
Operations Against Whaling Fleets in the Pacific
Battle of Lake Erie (September 10, 1813)
Battle of Lake Champlain (September 11, 1814)
Defense of Washington (July-August 1814)
Defense of Baltimore (September 1814)
Battle of New Orleans (December 1814 – January 1815)