In 1812, the US had an aged officer corps of Revolutionary War veterans and primarily a part-time force of state militias of limited experience and training. They were also fearful of native attacks, as Americans and natives regularly skirmished on the frontier (Ohio Valley, Michigan territory) in the leadup to America's declaration of war on Britain.

The nature of war on the frontier was more like guerrilla battles, with raids, burning of settlements, scalpings etc. Both natives and American settlers engaged in such atrocities. Tecumseh, the leader of the native alliance, had been fighting the US for 20 years, aware that joining the British side could be his last gambit in securing a native homeland. The level of mistrust and bitterness between the natives and frontier Americans was high when the war broke out.

Britain, in a titanic struggle against Napoleon, could muster few reinforcements but the regulars they had in Canada were professionals with previous experience in Europe and elsewhere in the Empire. With limited resources, they relied on native alliances to bolster their ranks and would exploit the Americans' fears of native attack to great effect during the war, notably in the capture of Detroit.

The ordinary citizens on the frontier suffered as both sides engaged in retaliatory burnings of each other's settlements. Americans were also troubled by the presence of black units on the British side in Canada -- free blacks and ex-slaves who joined to ensure their freedom and fought tenaciously.

By 1814, Winfield Scott's reforms of the US Army (based on French drill manuals) had turned an amateur force into well-trained professional regulars. With Napoleon's abdication, Britain was now free to send waves of reinforcements from Europe, fresh from campaigns against Napoleon. So, many of the battles by 1814 involved clashes of two equally-matched armies of regular soldiers.

The battles on the Niagara frontier (where a majority of the battles occurred) were often inconclusive, as forts changed hands only to be later abandoned. The periods between battles were often weeks of tedious marches and counter-marches.

Lundy's Lane, the bloodiest battle, involved 6,000 troops which, on the surface, pales in comparison to the size of the grand European battles of the Napoleonic era -- Napoleon's defeat in the Battle of Leipzig involved 500,000 troops, for example. But, the nature of warfare at Lundy's Lane was in a small area at night, with savage hand-to-hand fighting with bayonets and musket fire at point-blank range. Confusion and terror also reigned, with many cases of friendly fire as British and US troops fired into their own ranks in pitch black conditions. British veterans of the Peninsular War found this battle in particular to be harrowing.