[watcher1]

and they lost no territory

Or it could be said that WE lost no territory.
We took on the most powerful army in the world and fought to a draw.
That's a big win

[Poohbah]

That would be something--if it were (a) against the most powerful army in the world (the Russians might disagree with you) and (b) it was really a draw (any war with England is going to be a test of seapower--and that test was most assuredly a failure on the American side).

I measure our performance in the War of 1812 against our accomplishment of our objectives vis-a-vis English accomplishment of THEIR objectives. We had certain goals in mind when declared war in the first place. We achieved exactly ZERO of those goals. The British accomplished all of their objectives.

That's a pretty solid win in my book.