1812 - War of 1812

    Just eight years after the ratification of the treaty with France which tranfered governing powers over Louisiana to the United States, Napoleon's rationale for making the deal secures his reward - giving France's arch rival, England, a new rival in the Americas to challenge her dominance of the seas, and commerce.

  During the War of 1812, the loyalties of Indian tribes in the south and northwest (Ohio Valley) were split between the Americans and the British.

    France aside, the War of 1812 with the British was a seminal moment in the history of the southern Indian tribes.  In many respects, it was their last stand east of the Mississippi.  Even at this time, Indian tribes residing within the boundaries of the United States were free to form alliances with foreign nations, namely, the British, and this proved to be their undoing.  Their support for the British led to fierce recriminations by Americans for their treasonable associations.  Punishment meant losing their homelands and, ultimately, removal to the West for all of the southern tribes, including those who had fought alongside the Americans, whose general, Andrew Jackson, rewarded their loyalty with forced removal to distant lands.