Don't Give Up the Ship!: Myths of the War of 1812 (review)

Reviewed by: Don't Give Up the Ship!: Myths of the War of 1812 Gene Allen Smith (bio) Don't Give Up the Ship!: Myths of the War of 1812. By Donald R. Hickey. (Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press, 2006. Pp. 376. Cloth, $34.95.) The War of 1812 does not play a central role in the national creation story, nor does it currently garner much attention in the collective American memory. In fact, the conflict has been greatly overshadowed by the War for Independence, the American Civil War, and most recently by World War II. While students of the American past might remember that George Washington's army crossed the Delaware River on Christmas night 1776, or that Confederate commander Robert E. Lee's home sat just south of the Potomac River overlooking the capital city, they most likely remember little about the War of 1812. Some may acknowledge that the national anthem and the iconic Fort McHenry Flag (the Star-Spangled Banner) both relate to the September 1814 British attack against Baltimore. Others may recognize that also in that year British forces burned public buildings in Washington, including the capitol and the president's house. But few realize that the nation's oldest active warship, the USS Constitution, secured its nickname, "Old Ironsides," during the war. Fewer still know that the motto of the U.S. Navy, "Don't give up the ship!," supposedly came from Captain James Lawrence's dying words when the British captured his frigate the Chesapeake in June 1813. In fact, most of what people think they understand about the war are myths perpetuated in the years after the conflict. Moreover, other important episodes of this war have failed to be cemented in the American memory, despite their obvious importance. [End Page 355] Most of what we believe we know about the War of 1812 has been generated by the post-War of 1812 selective memory. In the aftermath of the conflict Americans carefully chose to embellish the positives of the war while discounting the negatives. A new pantheon of American heroes—including Andrew Jackson, William Henry Harrison, Richard M. Johnson, Oliver Hazard Perry, Stephen Decatur, and Thomas McDonough—emerged and focused attentions on the postwar era and future rather than on the past. As a country, the United States had stood up to Great Britain once again and had not suffered defeat as had Napoleon and the French. In fact, the Treaty of Ghent did not declare a winner, prompting Americans to believe that since they had not lost the war, they had won. Thereafter the selective memory melded with an emergent nationalism to give Americans the psychological and cultural independence that had eluded them since 1783. Finally, since the United States was no longer a de facto British colony, nationalistic American accounts of the conflict held sway, perpetuating a host of myths that have lasted until the present. Donald R. Hickey's unique study Don't Give Up the Ship!: Myths of the War of 1812 addresses the myths, half truths, and realities of the forgotten last Anglo-American conflict. Organized into six broad sections—(1) The Causes of the War; (2) Battles and Campaigns; (3) The Maritime War; (4) Soldiers, Sailors, and Civilians; (5) The Mechanics of Waging War; (6) The End of War—along with a prologue that features a summary and overview of the war and an epilogue that assesses the war's legacy, this book successfully combines history, memory, and myth. Focusing on the mythology of the war, Hickey analyzes and dissects the stories about individuals and events, causes and consequences, and demonstrates that the myths about this conflict permitted the country to "construct a history that we are comfortable with and that meets certain deep-seated needs" (xvii). The postwar misconceptions and myths permitted Americans to construct their patriotic identity, while also bolstering both local and regional pride. Canadians likewise used the mythology of the war to cement their imperial connections with Britain. In fact, history of the conflict became a way for Britain, Canada, and the United States all to serve broader national purposes. There is no similar book on the War of 1812, nor...

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