Excerpts from Books and Wikipedia
"To say that Jackson's victory [in New Orleans] came as an enormous relief to Madison would be an understatement. The previous six months had been probably the most harrowing that any president has ever been called upon to endure. In August the British had landed an expeditionary force in Chesapeake Bay and advanced upon Washington. . . . In the public mind, Andrew Jackson had won the war; the incompetence, confusion, cowardice, and humiliation of the fall of Washington were forgotten. . . . But as a wartime president, James Madison did not display dynamic leadership. Andrew Jackson acknowledged Madison 'a great civilian,' but declared 'the mind of a philosopher could not dwell on blood and carnage with any composure,' and judged his talents 'not fitted for a stormy sea.'" [Howe: What Hath God Wrought, p. 63-79]