| The U.S. Army in the War of 1812 : An Operational and Command Study (2 Vol Set) |  | Author: Robert S. Quimby
Publisher: Michigan State Univ Pr
Category: Book
List Price: $95.00
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Avg. Customer Rating:  1 reviews
Sales Rank: 2014576
Media: Hardcover
Edition: 2 Volumes
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 1028
Shipping Weight (lbs): 3.9
Dimensions (in): 9.5 x 6.4 x 2.6
ISBN: 0870134418
Dewey Decimal Number: 973.524
EAN: 9780870134418
ASIN: 0870134418
Publication Date: August 1, 1998
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Product Description
This two-volume work by historian Robert Quimby presents a comprehensive and detailed analysis of military strategy, operations, and management during one of America s most neglected and least understood military campaigns, the War of 1812. With causes that can be traced to the epic contest against Napoleon in Europe beginning in 1803, the war itself was the first conducted by the young Constitutional government of the United States. Quimby demonstrates that failed American initiatives at the beginning of hostilities shattered the unrealistic optimism of the war s staunchest advocates; and while initial failures were followed by military success in 1813, whatever advantage might have been gained was soon lost to incompetent leadership. Major exceptions occurred in the Old Northwest, and in what was then the Southwest, where U.S. forces finally broke the strength of the long-successful Indian-British alliance.
In retrospect, what occurred during the War of 1812 demonstrated the necessity for gaining citizen support before committing the nation to armed conflict; it also provided a series of object lessons on how not to conduct a military campaign. Finally Quimby argues that, notwithstanding several victories at war s end, including the fabled Battle of New Orleans, American perceptions that the United States won the war are erroneous; at best the struggle ended in a draw. The United States Army in the War of 1812 is an up-to-date and long overdue reassessment of military actions conducted during a pivotal conflict in American history, one that shaped U.S. military doctrine for a half century.
Notes, maps, bibliography, index
2 volumes, issued without dustjackets
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| Customer Reviews:
The best study of the US Army in the War of 1812 June 3, 1999
13 out of 13 found this review helpful
Quimby's study of the U.S. Army in the War of 1812 is a masterful anaylsis of the organization and campaigns of the Regular forces and militia between 1812 and 1815. He deals with the border conflicts in the north, the defenses of the Chesapeake and New Orleans, and the Indian campaigns in the south. Much of the material has been gathered from original manuscripts and his bibliography alone is quite valuable. He is less inclusive of British and Canadian sources, but he does offer much information about America's enemies. Quimby is not a Shelby Foote, so the text doesn't read like a novel, but he is more versed in the sources of the War of 1812 than Foote is versed in Civil War sources. Quimby died just as the book went to press, so he was not able to affect the look of the text. The most serious shortcoming is the lack of suitable maps. This is a book that cries for good maps and has very, very few. The price is steep, but the book is not designed for the casual reader, but rather for the military student. Quimby seems most interested in the campaigns of Andrew Jackson, sometimes at the expense of Brown's campaign along the Niagara in 1814 which was the bloodiest fighting of the war and should have received more attention. In any case, Quimby's achievement was to produce a readable and useful study of the Army in transition from a poorly-led body of amateurs to a professional force of educated officers and disciplined enlisted men. The shortcomings of the Army in the War of 1812 led directly to the Army that conquered Mexico thirty years later. Quimby's book is necessary for all students of the War of 1812.
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