Ms. Seeger recommends "The War of 1812 -- A Forgotten Conflict", and I'd like to add "Amateurs, To Arms! -- A Military History of the War of 1812" by John R. Elting, Da Capo Press, 1995 (© 1991 by John R. Elting), available at bargain book places country-wide. As a retired Colonel of today's professional army, Elting provides an unflinching appraisal of our country's founder's notion of a "citizen militia" in its first real test. He does this not by editorializing, but simply by recounting the facts of most all the campaigns and battles from a professional's point of view. While my anscestor's unit was a poorly documented muster of militia in the Northwest Territories, I have found Elting's chronicle useful in focusing secondary research into my anscestor's probable activities, not to mention the weather, mud and terrain, the social, political and "social ethos" surrounding his service.