War of 1812 in Pensacola

      The War of 1812 spanned from June 18, 1812 until February 18, 1815. For almost 3 years, battles ensued over a great divide. Often referred to as America’s Second War for Independence, the war pitted the fledgling United States of America against a more experienced Great Britain. The war began in the Atlantic, and moved throughout the United States, from the Canadian frontier to the Gulf Coast. One of the battles that occurred was the “Battle of Pensacola”. Many issues lead to the war: trade restrictions from both France and England; impressment of U.S. sailors into the British Navy; British occupation of military forts on the American western frontier; and finally, British encouragement of Native American tribes to continue hostilities against the newly formed country. The war was brought to an end by the Treaty of Ghent, but the final battle of New Orleans saw the true end of the war.

The War of 1812 actually began as a sea squabble between Britain and France and the U.S. was sucked into the middle. President Thomas Jefferson enacted an embargo, due to American ships being sunk by the French, and conditions only got worse. A new Congress, which came to be known as the War Hawks, was elected in 1811. They decided that they did not want to dock their ships, but fight instead. They named Henry Clay the Speaker of the House, and with him in office resolutions were passed that caused a swell in the army and navy, and provided more firepower to the militia. The American defense system was drastically altered after the War of 1812.

France and Britain began their conflicts in 1796. The United States, however, sided with neither France nor Britain, but continued to trade with both countries. This response, by the United States, left both France and Britain very unsatisfied. The United States was torn between which side to form an alliance with. Some Americans wanted to side with the French, but many others, including Alexander Hamilton, wanted to annul the alliance the United States had previously made with France in order to side with Great Britain. George Washington had a different plan in mind; he believed that it was in the best interest of the United States to remain neutral. This prompted the Proclamation of Neutrality to be established on April 22, 1793. During the same year the proclamation was established, the French sent Edmund Genet to attempt to sway the Americans towards the French. Although he was previously adored by many Americans, Genet became disliked because of his attempts to convince American ships to hunt British shipping.

In June of 1812, President Madison sent a message to Congress listing the British’s despicable behaviors towards America and the movements towards war. Impressment of sailors, harassment of American ships, and blockades of U.S merchant shipping were many of the influential reasons for war. Upon receiving the message from President Madison, Congress voted on whether or not to declare war. On June 4, 1812, the House of Representatives voted 79 to 49 to go to war. On June 17, 1812, the Senate voted 19 to 13 in favor of war. Afterwards, on June 18, 1812, President Madison signed the official Declaration of War.

      During this time, the city of Pensacola was more of a settlement than a town, having only about 1,000 inhabitants. The town had two forts located near it for protection: one inside the city and one on Santa Rosa Island. Fort San Miguel was positioned within the city and Fort San Carlos de Barrancas was located on Santa Rose Island facing the gulf. In November of 1814, the war made its way down to Spanish Florida. In August of 1814, a group of Royal Marines and their commander occupied Pensacola, possibly trying to gain an advantage throughout the Gulf of Mexico. Major Edward Nicolls and his Royal Marines did not have the full cooperation of the Spanish inhabitants. The British threatened to destroy the Spaniards if they aided the Americans in any way.  On November 7, 1814, Andrew Jackson led approximately 4,000 troops into Pensacola where they fought the British and Spanish forces that were there. This fight came to be known as the Battle of Pensacola, although it was not much of a battle. The same day that Jackson attacked, the governor, Don Mateo Gonzalez Manrique, came out with a white flag. His only condition to surrender was that Jackson and his army spare the town. Very few men were injured or killed in this squabble between the Americans and the British and Spanish. Seven Americans were killed and eleven were wounded, whereas the Spanish only had fifteen causalities. After this battle, the British abandoned the fort and sailed towards New Orleans where the next and final battle of the war would take place in January of 1815.

     The war of 1812 ended with the Treaty of Ghent. This treaty declared that the United States and Great Britain were at peace with each other. The negotiations transpired in Ghent, Belgium, where the treaty was signed on December 24, 1814.  Congress ratified the peace treaty on February 16, 1815, thus ending the war of 1812. The Americans lost no territory and benefited from the increased patriotism and optimism. Since the U.S. held off a numerically superior army, optimism and hope surged, encouraging America to grow and survive. America gained Europe’s respect even though there were no clear winners of the war. The political ramifications ended the Federalist Party and left only one political party: the Democratic Republicans. This now gave the United States the right to choose war or peace, whichever was in their best interest.