<P> Fighting between Americans, the Sauk, and other indigenous tribes continued through 1817, well after the war ended in the east . </P> <P> In 1812, Britain's Royal Navy was the world's largest, with over 600 cruisers in commission and some smaller vessels . Although most of these were involved in blockading the French navy and protecting British trade against (usually French) privateers, the Royal Navy still had 85 vessels in American waters, counting all British Navy vessels in North American and the Caribbean waters . However, the Royal Navy's North American squadron based in Halifax, Nova Scotia (which bore the brunt of the war), numbered one small ship of the line, seven frigates, nine smaller sloops and brigs along with five schooners . By contrast, the United States Navy comprised 8 frigates, 14 smaller sloops and brigs, and no ships of the line . The U.S. had embarked on a major shipbuilding program before the war at Sackets Harbor, New York and continued to produce new ships . Three of the existing American frigates were exceptionally large and powerful for their class, larger than any British frigate in North America . Whereas the standard British frigate of the time was rated as a 38 gun ship, usually carrying up to 50 guns, with its main battery consisting of 18 - pounder guns; USS Constitution, President, and United States, in comparison, were rated as 44 - gun ships, carrying 56--60 guns with a main battery of 24 - pounders . </P> <P> The British strategy was to protect their own merchant shipping to and from Halifax, Nova Scotia, and the West Indies, and to enforce a blockade of major American ports to restrict American trade . Because of their numerical inferiority, the American strategy was to cause disruption through hit - and - run tactics, such as the capture of prizes and engaging Royal Navy vessels only under favourable circumstances . Days after the formal declaration of war, however, it put out two small squadrons, including the frigate President and the sloop Hornet under Commodore John Rodgers, and the frigates United States and Congress, with the brig Argus under Captain Stephen Decatur . These were initially concentrated as one unit under Rodgers, who intended to force the Royal Navy to concentrate its own ships to prevent isolated units being captured by his powerful force . </P> <P> Large numbers of American merchant ships were returning to the United States with the outbreak of war, and if the Royal Navy was concentrated, it could not watch all the ports on the American seaboard . Rodgers' strategy worked, in that the Royal Navy concentrated most of its frigates off New York Harbor under Captain Philip Broke, allowing many American ships to reach home . But, Rodgers' own cruise captured only five small merchant ships, and the Americans never subsequently concentrated more than two or three ships together as a unit . </P>

Who fought in the war of 1812 and why