<P> Others argue that, in fact, the Canadian militia played important roles in several key engagements, including at the Battle of Chateauguay where they were central to defeating the American advance on Montreal in the fall of 1813 . Historian Robert Henderson has referred to this as "The myth of the Militia myth". See: Canadian Units of the War of 1812 </P> <P> During the war, British officers constantly worried that the Americans would block the St. Lawrence River, which forms part of the Canada--U.S. border . If the U.S. military had done so, there would have been no British supply route for Upper Canada, where most of the land battles took place, and British forces would likely have had to withdraw or surrender all western British territory within a few months . British officers' dispatches after the war exhibited astonishment that the Americans never took such a simple step, but the British were not willing to count on the enemy repeating the mistake: as a result, Britain commissioned the Rideau Canal, an expensive project connecting Kingston, on Lake Ontario, to the Ottawa River, providing an alternative supply route that bypassed the part of the St. Lawrence River along the U.S. border . The settlement at the northeastern end of the canal, where it joins the Ottawa River, later became the city of Ottawa, Canada's fourth - largest city and its capital (placed inland to protect it from U.S. invasion--known then as the' defensible back - country'). Because population away from the St. Lawrence shores was negligible, the British, in the years following the war, took great lengths to ensure that back - country settlement was increased . They settled soldiers and initiated assisted - immigration schemes, offering free land to farmers, mostly tenants of estates in the south of Ireland . The canal project was not completed until 1832 and was never used for its intended purpose . </P> <P> In contrast to Canada, the War of 1812 is seldom remembered in Britain today, as the conflict was quickly forgotten by the British public . Chiefly, this is because it was overshadowed by the dramatic events of the contemporary Napoleonic wars, and because Britain herself neither gained nor lost anything by the peace settlement, except for the fact that it kept control of Canada . </P> <P> The Royal Navy was acutely conscious that the United States Navy had won single - ship duels during the war, even though they had no strategic effect . Particular attention was given these battles because American propaganda had projected them as battles of equal force, when actually the only single ship duel where the forces were equal was the Battle of Boston Harbor which the British won . Furthermore, Britain had effectively won the war on the ocean as almost the entire US Navy was blockaded and unable to fight . British honor was restored when the USS President was captured and taken to Britain for all to see that the American ships that participated in battles of so - called equal force where actually much larger than the British ships they were engaged with . </P>

How did the war of 1812 affect the standing of the united states in world affairs