It is unfortunate that the War of 1812 is understudied, for it furnishes us modernly with a great many lessons on the consequences of unpreparedness and military ineptitude in defense of one’s homeland.  While the Americans scored some notable naval victories during the war, the land campaign remains a dreary record of defeat and flight, relieved only by Andrew Jackson’s impressive, but strategically inconsequential, victory at New Orleans two weeks after the treaty concluding the conflict had been signed at Ghent.