Conversations on the War of 1812

Conversations on the War of 1812

by History Symposium

Season 2

Andrew Lambert - Frigate Duels of the War of 1812

Dr. Andrew Lambert joins us to discuss the ship to ship actions on the Atlantic Ocean during the War of 1812 that we are calling the frigate duels! USS Constitution vs. HMS Guerriere USS Constitution vs. HMS Java USS Chesapeake vs. HMS Shannon USS President vs. HMS Endymion Andrew Lambert is Laughton Professor of Naval History in the Department of War Studies at King’s College, London, and Director of the Laughton Naval History Unit. His work focuses on the naval, strategic and cultural history of the British Empire between the Napoleonic Wars and the First World War, the evolution of naval historical writing and the history of technology. He has lectured on aspects of his work around the world, and made several television documentaries. His books include: The Crimean War: British Grand Strategy against Russia 1853-1856. Manchester 1990 & 2011,’The Foundations of Naval History’: Sir John Laughton, the Royal Navy and the Historical Profession. 1997, Nelson: Britannia’s God of War. 2004, Admirals. 2008, Franklin: Tragic Hero of Polar Navigation. 2009, The Challenge: the Naval War of 1812, 2012, winner of Anderson Medal of the Society for Nautical Research, Crusoe’s Island: A rich and curious history of pirates, castaways and madness, 2016, Seapower States: Maritime Culture, Continental Empires and the conflict that has shaped the modern world, Yale 2018 won the Gilder Lehrman Prize for Military History, and The British Way of War: Julian Corbett and the battle for national strategy, Yale 2021. He is a Fellow of Kings College London. This episode was recorded on May 18, 2026

Tim Abel - Second Battle of Sackets Harbor, May 29, 1813

We welcome back Tim Abel! In this episode we are at the end of May 1813. With the American fleet away supporting amphibious assaults on York and and Fort George, the British decided to mount an assault. For a map of the area around Sackets Harbor, please go to: https://quod.lib.umich.edu/w/wcl1ic/x-947/wcl001041 You can also look at our poster! Tim is from Carthage, New York (near Sackets Harbor). Tim has a PhD in Anthropology. - 33 years experience in archaeological field methods. - 30 years experience in laboratory methods. - 30 years supervising work crews on surveys and excavations. - 27 years as project director on surveys and excavations. - 17 years as principal investigator - 10 years as an instructor of anthropology. Author or coauthor of 34 professional articles, 2 theses, 4 book reviews and a monograph. - Author or coauthor of more than 50 conference presentations. - Author or coauthor of more than 160 cultural resource management reports. Specialties and Interests Ceramics, Great Lakes Prehistory and Ethnohistory, Late Archaic/ Early Woodland political economy, the St. Lawrence Iroquoians, War of 1812. Recording date: May 28. 2026

Alex Watt - Battle of Fort George, May 27, 1813

Alex Watt is a member of the 41st Corp of Drums at Fort George National Historic Site in Niagara-On-The-Lake. He joined us to discuss the May 1813 American attack on the town of Newark, Upper Canada and the capture of Fort George. This episode was recorded on May 6, 2026 https://parks.canada.ca/lhn-nhs/on/fortgeorge

Tom Taylor - Battle of York. April 27, 1813

Author Tom Taylor who has written a number of War of 1812 themed books joins us to discuss the Battle of York. Tom's website: https://www.tomtaylor.ca/books On April 27, 1813 a major American flotilla arrives off the town and garrison of York (modern day Toronto) and conducted an amphibious assault. Learn more in this episode!

Don Hickey & John Thompson - Battle of Fort Meigs

Prominent American Historian and War of 1812 expert, Don Hickey and Program Manager at Fort Meigs, John Thompson join us once again to discuss the construction of Fort Meigs in Ohio during the winter/early spring of 1813 and its immediate siege by the British. This episode will also cover the May 1813 Battle of Fort Meigs. Fort Meigs: https://fortmeigs.org/ Don Hickey: https://hickeyhistory.com/ Recorded on April 19, 2026

Don Hickey & John Thompson - Battle of the River Raisin

Prominent American Historian and War of 1812 expert, Don Hickey and Program Manager at Fort Meigs, John Thompson join us to discuss the actions on the River Raisin in the Michigan Territory on January 1813. Battle of Frenchtown Battle of the River Raisin Fort Meigs: https://fortmeigs.org/ Don Hickey: https://hickeyhistory.com/ Recorded on April 19, 2026

Season 1

Don Hickey - Wrapping Up the Year 1812

As discussed at the opening of the episode, here is a link to the Chronology of the War of 1812: https://www.napoleon-series.org/military-info/Warof1812/2016/Issue26/Warof1812Chronology.pdf Always happy to have Don join us and to share his knowledge! Don talked about the key events from the first year of the conflict, the year 1812. You can learn more about Don and his books at: https://hickeyhistory.com/ This episode was recorded on March 30, 2026

Thomas Malcomson - Navies in the Year 1812

Thomas has previously supported us with a presentation at our 2025 conference in Mississauga, ON where he talked about the British capture, defense and ultimate loss of Mackinac. That video can be seen here: https://www.youtube.com/live/7lAH7o4Y... Thomas Malcomson, PhD, was as a professor in the School of Liberal Arts and Sciences, at George Brown College, Toronto, for 32 years. He taught courses in psychology, dying, death and bereavement, and in the history of labour, genocide, and eugenics. He has written and presented extensively on the British Navy at the end of the long 18th century, with a focus on the War of 1812, and the following decades on the Great Lakes. He is the current president of the Canadian Nautical Research Society, which publishes the journal The Northern Mariner/Le marin du nord. Thomas discussed the activities of the respective navies during the year 1812. Ship to ship frigate activities on the Atlantic and the beginning of the building of naval forces on the Great Lakes. This episode was recorded on March 13, 2026

Faye Kert - Privateers During the War of 1812

A conversation with Faye Kert around the presence and impact of Privateers during the War of 1812. This topic rarely gets much discussion but was in fact a significant part of the naval activity during the war! Her book can be found at: https://www.press.jhu.edu/books/authors/faye-m-kert?srsltid=AfmBOorrVerU9xt4QNqe__JFv6Wr1Zo_0rXZH_l2vfJTs-zfp3ffzC0H Faye Kert graduated from Queen’s with a BA in History. She has worked in communications for the Canadian Museum of Civilization (now the Canadian Museum of History) and the Canadian War Museum. She also spent three summers working for Parks Canada as an underwater archaeologist on a 16th –century Basque whaling ship in Red Bay, Labrador. Other archaeological work included excavating Hollandia, an 18th-century Dutch East India Company ship in the Scilly Islands (1977) and the Mary Rose, a 16th- century warship owned by Henry VIII, sunk off Portsmouth in the UK (1981). Her Master’s work was completed at Carleton University and examined Canada’s Atlantic privateers and their little-known contribution to the War of 1812. This was followed by a Ph.D. from the University of Leiden in the Netherlands in 1997. She has published a number of articles, book chapters and books. Her latest book was published in 2015 by Johns Hopkins University Press. Privateering: Patriots and Profits in the War of 1812 is an analysis of the little-known world of Canadian and American privateering and looks at the war from the privateers’ perspective. Recorded on March 9 ,2026

Luc Lepine - Lower Canada in 1812

Historian, archivist and author Luc Lepine joined us to discuss Lower Canada and its local militias. The militias in Lower Canada (Quebec) were both English speaking regiments and French speaking regiments. They took the form of: Sedentary Militia Select Embodied Militia Volunteer Full Time Militia (Voltigeurs) Join us to learn about the historic origins of Lower Canada militia, how that changed after the British conquest and then its evolution for the War of 1812. Biographies for the significant people mentioned are: Charles-Michel Dirumberry de Salaberry: https://thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/charles-michel-dirumberry-de-salaberry Francois Vassal de Monviel: https://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/vassal_de_monviel_francois_7E.html Recorded on February 25, 2026

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