The ten dollar gold eagle was the largest United States coin denomination mandated by the 1792 Mint Act. More than 130,000 eagles were struck from 1795 to 1804, but most of them eventually perished in the melting pot. None were produced again until 1838. It is a safe assumption that even had gold eagles existed in abundant quantities, few combatants in the War of 1812 would have carried any of the coins, for ten dollars represented a princely sum in early 19th century America and was not typical pocket change for a battlefield soldier or midshipman. When gold eagle production restarted in 1838, it was characterized by a lighter coin of less gold purity, a move designed to frustrate bullion profiteers.

As wartime costs mounted, much of what little coinage there was nearly disappeared from view as specie (i.e. silver and gold coins) became tightly held. Banks suspended specie payments in 1814, because the supply of bank notes being issued to finance the war increased faster than the volume of specie reserves. Confidence in banks and the economy were shaken badly, but the situation improved when Congress chartered the Second Bank of the United States in 1816. The Second Bank helped stabilize the nation’s financial system, and by early 1817, banks resumed specie redemption of their paper notes.

** (3) The Americans Fight the British Again
The United States was not ready to take on the British Empire in 1812. As mentioned already, the country was badly divided. What’s worse, army and state militias numbered only about 7000 men at the outset of the war, most of them poorly equipped and trained. The navy’s dozen ships seemed no match to the 800 warships of the British Royal Navy. In retrospect, the U.S. faced dim prospects of fighting a successful war.

-- The Canadian Front: The first major fighting of the War of 1812 was the American attempt to invade British Canada in the summer of 1812. The incursion was not only repelled, but the U.S. actually ceded ground, loosing Detroit to a combined force of Redcoats and Native American warriors. The following year, the Americans reclaimed the lost territory when Captain Oliver H. Perry surprised the British on Lake Erie. “We have met the enemy and they are ours”, wrote Perry, remembered to this very day as one of the proudest moments in all of U.S. naval tradition. The loss forced the British to abandon Detroit, and the Americans pursued them into Canada. At the Thames River, the U.S. defeated the British and their Indian allies. In the battle, Tecumseh was killed, and with his death, his confederation of Native American tribes disintegrated. Throughout the remainder of the war, the Canadian front was fought to a stalemate.