Reply To: The War of 1812 at sea

[J. D. H]

One book not mentioned in the recommended reading on the War of 1812 is the scholarly, balanced and successful The Naval War of 1812 by Theodore Roosevelt, published in 1882 [London 1883], but started whilst he was at Harvard.
Roosevelt was flattered when William Laird Clowes, who was preparing his monumental history of the Royal Navy, asked him to write the section on the War of 1812. An important feature of Roosevelt’s book was that it was the first American operational naval history to be written from original sources. In 1897, Roosevelt became Under Secretary for the Navy being largely responsible for the development of the modern US steam navy and in 1901, at the age of 42, was elected the 26th President of the United States.
It is a significant reminder of Roosevelt’s contribution to the US Navy that his birthday is commemorated as Navy Day.