List four reasons the United States was unprepared for war with Britain.

The American strategy called for a three-pronged invasion of Canada and heavy harassment of British shipping. The attack on Canada, however, was a disastrous failure. At Detroit, 2000 American soldiers surrendered to a much smaller British and Indian force. An attacked across the Niagara River, near Buffalo, New York, resulted in 900 American prisoners of war when the New York State militia refused to provide support. Along Lake Champlain, a third army retreated into U. S. territory after failing to cut undefended British supply lines. By the end of 1812, British forces controlled key forts in the Old Northwest, including Detroit and Fort Dearborn, the future site of Chicago.

In this excerpt, Benjamin Tallmadge (1754-1835), who had served as a colonel during the Revolution and as an agent for the Ohio Company, a land acquisition company, comments on the U. S. army's deplorable condition.