The United States Navy (USN) had 7,250 sailors and Marines in 1812. The American Navy was well trained and a professional force that fought well against the Barbary pirates and France in the Quasi-War. The USN had 13 ocean-going warships, three of them "super-frigates". Its principal problem was a lack of funding as many in Congress did not see the need for a strong navy. The American warships were all well-built ships that were equal, if not superior, to British ships of a similar class (British shipbuilding emphasized quantity over quality). However, the biggest ships in the USN were frigates, and the Americans had no ships-of-the-line capable of engaging in a fleet action with the Royal Navy at sea.
On the high seas, the Americans could only pursue a strategy of commerce raiding, taking British merchantmen with their frigates and privateers.[67] Before the war, the USN was largely concentrated on the Atlantic coast and at the war's outbreak had only two gunboats on Lake Champlain, one brig on Lake Ontario and another brig in Lake Erie.
The United States Army was much larger than the British Army in North America, and the soldiers well-trained and brave. However, leadership in the American officer corps was inconsistent; some officers proved themselves to be outstanding but many others inept, owing their positions to political favors. Congress was hostile to a standing army and, during the war, the U.S. government called out 450,000 men from the state militias, a number that was slightly smaller than the entire population of British North America. However, the state militias were poorly trained, armed, and led. After the Battle of Bladensburg in 1814, in which the Maryland and Virginia militias were soundly defeated by the British Army, President Madison commented, "I could never have believed so great a difference existed between regular troops and a militia force, if I not witnessed the scenes of this day."
