History buffs with muskets, sabers and colorful uniforms are restaging battles and ceremonies from "America's second war for independence," as the War of 1812 is called. Events marking the bicentennial (200th anniversary) began in mid-June in the Northeast and Upper Midwest. Observances will spread to southern states, will last more than two years and are receiving $28 million in federal support. The conflict between the U.S. and British-ruled Canada involved maritime policies and expansion along each side's borders. Eight Native American tribes fought on Canada's side. Hostilities lasted from June 18, 1812 to Feb. 18, 1815.

Battles took place on land, at sea and on the Great Lakes. Dozens of tall ships and naval warships gathered last month in Baltimore Harbor for a Fort McHenry ceremony marking the declaration of war. Navy Secretary Ray Mabus represented our country, while Britain and Canada each sent an ambassador. In Detroit this August, re-enactors at Historic Fort Wayne will portray the 1812 surrender of Michigan's largest city (then and now) to British Gen. Isaac Brock. He led 730 soldiers, accompanied by 600 Native American warriors, across the narrow Detroit River from Ontario, Canada. British forces occupied Michigan for 13 months. Other troops reached Washington, D.C., in 1814 and burned the White House and Capitol. It was the only time since the Revolutionary War that a foreign power occupied the capital.

"We attacked Canada, believing they would want to be liberated from Great Britain. We were sorely mistaken," U.S. Park Service historian Dan Downing, dressed as a militiaman, said during a June ceremony at the River Raisin National Battlefield Park in Monroe, Mich. Commemorations also are taking place in Canada, including a big parade and re-enactment recently in Fort Erie, Ont., across the Niagara River from Buffalo. Tall ships sail back to Baltimore in 2014 to mark the 200-year-old Battle of Fort McHenry after the burning of Washington, which inspired a poem and later a song by a young lawyer who saw British Royal Navy ships bombard the fort from Chesapeake Bay. His name was Francis Scott Key and you know his poem as the Star Spangled Banner.

Historian says: "The War of 1812 helped to form the United States into the nation it is today." -- James M. Banner Jr., co-founder of the National History Center in Washington, D.C.

Educator says: "It's pretty much America's unknown war, but it's very different in Canada, which saw it as a war of national identity." -- Dan Downing, chief of education interpretation, River Raisin National Battlefield Park in Monroe, Mich.

Anthem says: "And the rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting in air, Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there." -- Star Spangled Banner, 1814