How different nations and groups viewed the war.
During the War of 1812, thousands of enslaved African Americans fled to British lines, becoming the war’s largest refugee group. They served in the British military, especially the Colonial Marines, and resettled in Bermuda, Trinidad, and Nova Scotia, shaping a diplomatic crisis after the Treaty of Ghent.
The British negotiators at Ghent—Admiral Lord Gambier, Henry Goulburn, and William Adams—represented Great Britain in the peace talks that ended the War of 1812 with the signing of the Treaty of Ghent on December 24, 1814.
Indigenous peoples played a crucial role in the War of 1812, most allying with Britain against American expansion, while some supported the United States. Their alliances shaped key battles and the war’s outcome, yet they were ultimately marginalized by the peace and subsequent U.S. policies.
Free men of color, or gens de couleur libres, formed two militia battalions that fought for the United States under Andrew Jackson at the Battle of New Orleans in January 1815. Their service helped defend the city and became a contested symbol in the fight for citizenship and recognition.
