March on Washington
Just as the US forces were encountering setbacks both at sea and on land, good news finally came from the sea. After searching for more than half a month, the cruisers Free Trade and HMS Common Market finally located Britain squadron and engaged it in battle. They inflicted considerable damage on the Britain —two of the British Army old battleships were sunk. However, under their cover, several other ships managed to escape, but they were all damaged to varying degrees and were estimated to be out of combat capability for some time.
This battle also demonstrated that steam-powered warships converted from old wooden vessels were utterly ineffective against true steel warships. During the battle, the high-explosive shells fired from the 120mm naval guns of the French Army —or rather, the Americans—easily tore apart the hulls of the wooden warships, inflicting deaths with astonishing efficiency.
Conversely, although the Britain also replaced their warships with steel rifled cannons, they were limited by the ships themselves (these old wooden ships were not worth the expense of upgrading). They simply replaced the old iron cannons with steel ones, which were generally small and had limited power, and were simply unable to penetrate the armor of the Free Trade and HMS Common Market.
Adding to the speed difference, the entire battle was practically two France warships punching an old folks' home; in terms of combat itself, it was utterly meaningless.
Of course, the France sailors on the "Free Trade" and "Common Market" didn't see it that way. They were quite pleased with themselves because, according to their contracts with the United States, they would receive a combat allowance for every ton of Britain warship or Britain they sank or captured, and the allowance was quite high, at least ten times that of their United States counterparts. More importantly, the United States promised to pay their wages in gold coins. Although theoretically a dollar bill and a gold coin were completely equivalent in value, given the continuous defeats of the American forces, the golden dollar was still better than the green dollar.
Unfortunately, after a long search for enemy ships, the Free Trade and HMS Common Market had almost exhausted their supplies, so they could no longer intercept the fleeing Britain warships, even though they knew the Britain ships were damaged and had to return to Halifax immediately. If the Free Trade and Common Market had enough fresh water and coal, they could have used their speed advantage to reach Halifax first and intercept them. But now, they had no choice but to give up this prize and go back to refuel and collect their reward.
However, the France naval victory was not enough to turn the tide of the war. On land, they were still thoroughly outmatched by the British, who were tactically more advanced than any other British Army. After burning Detroit, the British Army continued south. Near Cleveland, a hastily assembled force of over 10,000 American troops clashed with over 7,000 British Army (mainly Canada militia) led by General Isaac Bullock in a decisive battle. The British Army gave the United States a thorough lesson in tactics, showing them for the first time what skirmishing and combined arms warfare were. The British Army routed the American forces at minimal cost and advanced towards Cleveland.
Fearing the same fate as Detroit, the American forces simply did not resist in Cleveland and withdrew directly from the Cleveland. After the British Army entered Cleveland, they captured several river gunboats that the United States had built at the Cleveland shipyard—the American retreat was so hasty that they did not have time to destroy these vessels.
The British Army remained in Cleveland for some time because British Army had consumed a large amount of supplies in the previous battles and now needed to stop and rest while waiting for supplies to be sent from the rear via Lake Erie, as well as more reinforcements.
The United States quickly mobilized troops from other regions to drive the British Army out of Cleveland.
During this period, the United States and the Saint-Domingue Republic reached a lease agreement, leasing two cruisers from Saint-Domingue. These cruisers, along with the Free Trade and HMS Common Market, returned to Halifax. However, this fleet, flying the United States flag but with almost entirely France crew, did not find any British Army ships in Halifax —it seems the Britain also knew Halifax was dangerous and thus withdrew directly into the Gulf of St. Lawrence.
The Gulf of St. Lawrence is full of shallows and reefs, so the France dared not enter this unfamiliar waters. As a result, they resealed the Cabot Strait and Strait of Belle Isle to prevent Britain ships from entering Canada.
However, by this time, the Britain had already received news of the United States declaring war on them, so without escorts, far fewer Britain ships foolishly boarded the ships. This greatly disappointed the French Navy officers and men who were dreaming of making a fortune.
On the other hand, while General Isaac Block was awaiting supplies in Cleveland, the United States began concentrating more troops in Pittsburgh, about 200 kilometers from Cleveland. Meanwhile, smuggling ships, openly flying the France flag, were continuously sailing from New Orleans into New York, where they unloaded various smuggled civilian weapons and ammunition. These were quickly loaded onto railroads and sent to Pittsburgh in preparation for countering British Army that might leave Cleveland at any time and continue their southward advance towards Washington.
Meanwhile, a group of "France advisors" who were temporarily hired at high prices appeared in the US military. Of course, the France government did not acknowledge that there were France advisors in the US military; those people were just "volunteers" willing to help the United States.
The arrival of France "volunteers" and the information they provided broadened the horizons of United States officers. However, it also increased their anxiety about the prospects of the war. They discovered that the gap between the US military and the forces on the Europe continent was enormous, and they did not have the time to train soldiers and even officers in new tactics.
General Isaac Brock quickly received the reinforcements he had been waiting for. His army had now grown to 25,000 men, with reinforcements to his artillery and cavalry. He was expected to advance on Washington, forcing the Americans into a decisive battle. For the time being, due to France interference, Canada was unable to mobilize large numbers of troops for support, meaning that if the war dragged on, Canada, with its smaller population and weaker industry, would certainly be the first to succumb. Therefore, the higher-ups hoped that General Isaac Brock could swiftly defeat the United States forces and force them to concede defeat and sue for peace.