By David and Jeanne T. Heidler
The American regular army was too small for its task, a victim of the country’s fear of large standing forces. Last-minute efforts to increase the army yielded fewer than 12,000 men by the time Congress declared war in June 1812, and these paltry numbers were about as incompetently trained as they were incompetently led. They were also widely deployed, compelling the government to rely on state militias.
Militia service was the source of some of the war’s most talented generals, men like Harrison, Andrew Jackson, and Jacob Brown, who emerged as resolute and vigorous leaders for whom men would stand and fight.
Last updated: March 10, 2015