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Richard V. Barbuto New York’s War of 1812: Politics, Society and Combat (Volume 71, Campaigns & Commanders Series) University of Oklahoma Press, 2021 364 pages, hardcover, 10 illustrations, 6 maps
merican historian Richard V. Barbuto, how state and local officials harnessed state A an emeritus professor of military resources and influenced federal strategic history at the U.S. Army Command & plans. Separating the contributions of the General Staff College and author of three federal government and New York state works on the War of 1812 introduces New governments, which “underwent parallel York’s War of 1812, as not a “conventional mobilizations,” is a complex task that history of the war, with balanced coverage Barbuto handles deftly. His emphasis that of all participants.” Instead, his attention combat at sea and on land was “the ultimate rests with New Yorkers and the “Native test of policy and strategy,” however, limits Americans residing in the state.” His book the discussion to military topics at the cost promises “balance in its coverage of the of other themes. tensions between civilian and military; The result is undeveloped discussions various ethnic groups, Federalist and of Native Americans, African Americans, Republican; army, navy and privateer; there was a thriving culture of federal and state forces, federal and state governments; and urban and smuggling on the state frontier rural residents.” While contemporary historians state demography, urban and rural acknowledge how central New York State differences, and economic matters. We was to the American effort in the Northern learn, for example, that when the federal theatre of war, few have examined how government “ran out of money,” the that was accomplished. Unlike the New New York Common Council provided England states that obstructed the war “some emergency funding.” The role and effort, and Tennessee, Ohio, and Kentucky, membership of the Council is unclear, and which actively supported military the amount of funding and where it was operations – but were distant from the spent are not given. Citizens of Irish origin, heaviest fighting – New York had “an several Indigenous peoples and Blacks are active front along hundreds of miles of mentioned, but en passant. border.” That frontier demanded a unique The condition of the militia, its leadership, approach to this “first major test of war as funding, pay, and arming appear throughout a joint venture between the federal and the narrative, as do the interactions among state governments.” several state and federal officials. There is The results of that venture were mixed, much on state funds for the construction as are the results of this book. Beginning of fortifications, equipping the militia, and with an overview of the origins of the the acquisition of weaponry. There was Anglo-American War of 1812, subsequent a thriving culture of smuggling on the chapters examine the war chronologically. state frontier with the Canadas that proved They are interspersed with chapters unstoppable, but Barbuto is silent on the describing events in New York City and
merican historian Richard V. Barbuto, how state and local officials harnessed state A an emeritus professor of military resources and influenced federal strategic history at the U.S. Army Command & plans. Separating the contributions of the General Staff College and author of three federal government and New York state works on the War of 1812 introduces New governments, which “underwent parallel York’s War of 1812, as not a “conventional mobilizations,” is a complex task that history of the war, with balanced coverage Barbuto handles deftly. His emphasis that of all participants.” Instead, his attention combat at sea and on land was “the ultimate rests with New Yorkers and the “Native test of policy and strategy,” however, limits Americans residing in the state.” His book the discussion to military topics at the cost promises “balance in its coverage of the of other themes. tensions between civilian and military; The result is undeveloped discussions various ethnic groups, Federalist and of Native Americans, African Americans, Republican; army, navy and privateer; there was a thriving culture of federal and state forces, federal and state governments; and urban and smuggling on the state frontier rural residents.” While contemporary historians state demography, urban and rural acknowledge how central New York State differences, and economic matters. We was to the American effort in the Northern learn, for example, that when the federal theatre of war, few have examined how government “ran out of money,” the that was accomplished. Unlike the New New York Common Council provided England states that obstructed the war “some emergency funding.” The role and effort, and Tennessee, Ohio, and Kentucky, membership of the Council is unclear, and which actively supported military the amount of funding and where it was operations – but were distant from the spent are not given. Citizens of Irish origin, heaviest fighting – New York had “an several Indigenous peoples and Blacks are active front along hundreds of miles of mentioned, but en passant. border.” That frontier demanded a unique The condition of the militia, its leadership, approach to this “first major test of war as funding, pay, and arming appear throughout a joint venture between the federal and the narrative, as do the interactions among state governments.” several state and federal officials. There is The results of that venture were mixed, much on state funds for the construction as are the results of this book. Beginning of fortifications, equipping the militia, and with an overview of the origins of the the acquisition of weaponry. There was Anglo-American War of 1812, subsequent a thriving culture of smuggling on the chapters examine the war chronologically. state frontier with the Canadas that proved They are interspersed with chapters unstoppable, but Barbuto is silent on the describing events in New York City and
effects this had on state revenue and the overall war effort. There is only passing mention given to the disruption the war caused to the state’s economy and its effect on the livelihood and living conditions of thousands of its residents and farmers. I wanted more from a book with ‘society’ in its subtitle. In 1810, New York State alone had nearly one million residents, a total that outnumbered the entire population of British North America by about 400,000. Some ten percent of the state’s population lived in New York City, another 10,000 lived in the capital at Albany, and the rest lived in smaller towns or in the countryside. Free Blacks or slaves and Indigenous peoples made up a small percentage of the population. The ethnic composition of the Caucasian population is unexplored. The anti-war and divisive sentiments held by some residents and the “intensely partisan condition” of state politics are mentioned several times, but how these divisions were overcome is not revealed. The constitution did not artfully arrange the authority granted to the federal and state governments. Control of the regulars, the navy and privateers, and most importantly, strategic direction, resided with Washington. As Barbuto explains, “[Governor] Tompkins, the state government, and legislature had done a credible job in acquiring muskets and positioning them along routes leading to the frontiers,” but the federal government “was entirely unable to provide for the thousands of
“we condemn the administration for their weakness and folly”
18 The Fife and Drum April 2021
detached militia brought into service,” the fortifications, could also command line units of the garrison. leaving them unpaid and poorly equipped. Barbuto credits Tompkins and state Washington was “unprepared to wage war” civilian and military officials with and that led to “major shortcomings in overcoming many of the difficulties faced manpower, money, warships, weaponry, by their federal counterparts. The state skilled leadership, training, equipment, militia offered a vast pool of recruits for and transportation.” As Captain William volunteer and regular units, and while Hawley of the militia of New York dared their combat performance may have been to write in an order: “we condemn the mixed, it provided a large contribution to administration for their weakness and the national war effort. Of the 410,603 folly in plunging us unprepared into this ‘periods of service,’ a term approximating Quixotic war.” (Hawley was cashiered after a superior officer overturned his acquittal I wish the author had by a court martial.) With so comprehensive a list of shortfalls, consulted an one wonders how the federal leadership Indigenous historian could seriously wage war, especially against an opponent who had been doing exactly that for 20 years. man-days – with the qualification that a I enjoyed learning about New York period of service could last several days and City during the war. Britain had no plans that an individual could fill more than one to attack it, but Tompkins and the local period – New York militiamen accounted leadership thought it would and they for 19% of the total, or 76,668 periods of worked diligently to improve the city’s service. defences. They proved less capable of This impressive number is surpassed interfering with the British blockade, only by Virginia, whose militiamen served which once established resulted in a rapid 88,584 periods, or 22% of the total. The diminishing of the supply of foodstuffs. distinguished service of several officers from Nonetheless, patriotic banquets and New York State is summarized, although parades honouring military heroes, along a lengthy list of brevets (spanning three with a score of privateers operating from pages) is more suitable for an appendix, as the harbour, kept morale high. This boosted are the ten pages devoted to the post-war activities of selected wartime figures. recruitment for the militia defending the The book concludes with a summary city. The squabbling between federal and of the contribution by New York State to militia officers is not surprising, nor is the the national war effort. Barbuto credits tempest that arose over whether an officer the safety of New York City, the retention of the corps of engineers, responsible for
of the state’s borders with British North America, and the cooperative spirit of state officials as its greatest achievements. But the claim that the “immense contributions of the local residents of all races, ethnicities, and genders had created a fortress of America’s largest city” is unsubstantiated, and they are barely mentioned. We are told that 370 Blacks served in the regular army, and “thousands more” with the navy or on privateers. Barbuto argues that the absence of records makes it “impossible to say how many … come from New York,” yet a quick online search reveals that there were, in 1810, 1.3 million Blacks and slaves in America, of which 186,000 were considered free men. As Lauren McCormack found in her paper on Black sailors, British records reveal that of the 6,000 American prisoners at Dartmoor, 1,000 were from privateers, warships, and letters of marque. Surely more could have been said about these men. Similarly, the prominence given to the story of the Indigenous peoples of New York State in the introduction is not found in the text. It hardly matters that the Tammany Society, a New York political club named after an Indigenous leader, dropped its use of Native-inspired symbols of office and dress after learning that warriors allied to the British had killed wounded American soldiers following the Battle of the River Raisin. More useful would have been a chapter devoted to the Iroquois pledge of an alliance with the United States in 1813; the arrangements regarding the supply of
money, provisions, clothing and weaponry occupying French army. to Indigenous groups; the workings of the British fortunes there were aided by transfer of prisoners of the Six Nations of Napoleon’s siphoning of troops from Canada to the New York Iroquois; and Iberia during the assembly of his Grande their embargo of liquor. Armée for the campaign against Russia. The I wish the author had consulted an French withdrawal from Russia – nearly Indigenous historian as readily as he did coinciding with the American defeat an authority on naval matters. There are at Queenston Heights – rekindled the summaries of warrior involvement in European war as the allies pursued the specific actions, and another of the work French across Germany. During 1813, the of Seneca Chief Red Jacket after 1815, but British effort in Europe expanded as it sent the conclusion that Native Americans “lost 100,000 muskets and aid worth £4 million the war” falls flat, it having been repeated to Russia, even as it sent reinforcements in so many works. to British North America. Several general statements throughout Despite its shortfalls, New York’s War the book do not stand up to scrutiny. For of 1812 is a welcome book. It contributes example, it’s simply inaccurate to claim to our understanding of the important that when Congress declared war in wartime interactions among federal and 1812, “British resources were focussed on state governments. Barbuto also offers a defeating France.” During 1810 and 1811, valuable examination of state-related naval France had imposed a peace in Europe. In and military topics and the defence of New Iberia, a British field army, supported by York City. Unfortunately, the promise of its the Royal Navy, campaigned alongside sub-title – Politics, Society and Combat – is Spanish and Portuguese allies against the only partially kept.
Dr. Tanya Grodzinski is Emerita Associate Professor of History at the Royal Military College of Canada in Kingston and author of several books on the War of 1812 as well as a forthcoming history of The Royal Canadian Regiment. She is a former editor of the War of 1812 Magazine, hosted on the Napoleon Series Website. Barbuto’s definitive account of the artillery regiment that fought at York was published in 2010. As a senior U.S. Army officer, he has written extensively about enemy operations in the War of 1812. His “Staff Ride Handbook” for the Niagara campaigns belongs in every Canadian militiaman’s library (Combat Studies Institute Press 2014).
Sackett’s Harbour, Lake Ontario was painted by Lt. Emeric Vidal of the Royal Navy on Sept. 20, 1815. This was Vidal’s detailed work was valuable intelligence. It notes every ship in the harbour and their guns, the town’s layout (extreme right) “of the largest dimensions ever seen.” Watercolour approx. 36” x 9” Courtesy Massey Library, Royal
Sackett’s Harbour, Lake Ontario was painted by Lt. Emeric Vidal of the Royal Navy on Sept. 20, 1815. This was Vidal’s detailed work was valuable intelligence. It notes every ship in the harbour and their guns, the town’s layout (extreme right) “of the largest dimensions ever seen.” Watercolour approx. 36” x 9” Courtesy Massey Library, Royal
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