I say "misnamed" because the name is misleading.

The general impression that the designation "The War of 1812" creates, is that the war happened in 1812--It is true that the war, which was recommended by James Madison in November 1811,was declared in June 1812. However, though Congress debated it for seven months, it seems that no one actually prepared for the war during that time. This would have been fatal had the British forces been otherwise engaged. Due to the slow start-up, most of the interesting stuff happened in 1813, 1814, saving the most decisive battle til after the war was ended, as mentioned above, in 1815.