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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/25912-0.txt b/25912-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..659ce32 --- /dev/null +++ b/25912-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,17050 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 25912 *** + * * * * * + + +-----------------------------------------------------------+ + | Transcriber's Note: | + | | + | Inconsistent hyphenation and spelling in the original | + | document have been preserved. | + | | + | Subscripts are respresented with _{} e.g.: Q_{2}. | + | | + | Obvious typographical errors have been corrected. For | + | a complete list, please see the end of this document. | + | | + +-----------------------------------------------------------+ + + * * * * * + + + + +SEA POWER IN ITS RELATIONS +TO THE WAR OF +1812 + + +BY + +CAPTAIN A.T. MAHAN, D.C.L., LL.D. + +_United States Navy_ + + +AUTHOR OF "THE INFLUENCE OF SEA POWER UPON HISTORY, 1660-1783," "THE +INFLUENCE OF SEA POWER UPON THE FRENCH REVOLUTION +AND EMPIRE," "THE INTEREST OF AMERICA +IN SEA POWER," ETC. + + +IN TWO VOLUMES + +VOL. II + + +LONDON +SAMPSON LOW, MARSTON & COMPANY +LIMITED + + [Illustration: _From a Copley Print copyright 1899 by Curtis & + Cameron, Publishers, Boston._ + _The Constitution_] + + + + +CONTENTS + + +CHAPTER IX + +THE WINTER OF 1812-1813--BAINBRIDGE'S SQUADRON: ACTIONS BETWEEN +"CONSTITUTION" AND "JAVA," "HORNET" AND "PEACOCK"--INCREASING +PRESSURE ON ATLANTIC COAST + Page + +Bainbridge's squadron sails 1 + +His plans for the cruise 2 + +The "Essex" fails to join 3 + +Proceedings of "Constitution" and "Hornet" 3 + +Action between "Constitution" and "Java" 4 + +The "Constitution" returns to the United States 7 + +Proceedings of the "Hornet" 7 + +Action between the "Hornet" and "Peacock" 8 + +The "Hornet" returns 9 + +The Chesapeake and Delaware blockaded 9 + +Subsequent extension of blockade to the whole coast south of + Newport 10 + +Three periods into which the War of 1812 divides 10 + +Difficulty of American frigates in getting to sea 11 + +Difficulty of manning the navy 12 + +Cruise of the "Chesapeake" 13 + +Gradual suppression of American commerce 14 + +Increasing stringency of the commercial blockade 15 + +British occupation of Delaware and Chesapeake Bays 16 + +Diminution of the coasting trade, and increase of land carriage 17 + +Effects upon prices 18 + +Abandoned condition of the western Atlantic 20 + +Diminution in number of prizes taken by Americans 20 + +Estimate of relative captures by the two belligerents 21 + +Relative captures no indication of relative immunity 23 + +American deprivation makes for the prosperity of Halifax and + Canada 23 + +The blockade the chief offensive maritime operation of Great + Britain, in 1813 24 + +No opposition longer possible to the American Navy 25 + +Strength of the British blockading divisions 25 + +Escape possible only by evasion 25 + +The brunt of the British naval operations falls upon the + Chesapeake and Delaware 26 + + +CHAPTER X + +CAMPAIGN OF 1813 ON THE LAKE FRONTIER, TO THE BATTLE OF LAKE ERIE + + +The British naval service on the lakes under Warren's + supervision 28 + +Sir James Yeo appointed to the local command 29 + +Appoints Captain Barclay to take charge of British vessels on + Lake Erie 29 + +The Americans now superior on Ontario 29 + +Montreal the true American objective 29 + +Dearborn ordered to concentrate effort upon Lake Ontario 30 + +Chauncey's first plan, to capture Kingston 30 + +Dearborn and Chauncey ordered to proceed first against Kingston, + then Toronto, then Niagara 31 + +Dearborn's objections 32 + +His reports obtain change of plan from the Government 33 + +Chauncey's new plan 33 + +The expedition leaves Sackett's Harbor 36 + +Capture of Toronto 36 + +Chauncey's anxiety for Sackett's Harbor 37 + +Capture of Fort George, and British retreat from Niagara 38 + +Effects of the American occupation of the Niagara peninsula 40 + +American naval vessels escape from Black Rock to Erie 41 + +British attack upon Sackett's Harbor 42 + +Premature firing of the naval yard and vessels 45 + +Consequent delay in Chauncey's preparations 45 + +Yeo takes the lake with his squadron 46 + +American reverse at Stony Creek 46 + +The army retreats upon Fort George 47 + +The British re-occupy the peninsula, except Fort George 47 + +Dearborn is relieved from command 48 + +Paralysis of the American forces at Niagara 48 + +Yeo in temporary control of Lake Ontario 49 + +Chauncey sails to contest control 51 + +Characteristics of the ensuing naval campaign 52 + +Predominant idea of Chauncey and Yeo 52 + +Relative powers of the two squadrons 53 + +Their encounter of August 10, 1813 56 + +Chauncey's extreme caution 59 + +The engagement of September 11 60 + +Expediency of a "general chase" under the conditions 61 + + +CHAPTER XI + +THE CAMPAIGN OF 1813 ON THE LAKES AND NORTHERN FRONTIER--THE BATTLE +OF LAKE ERIE + +The American Navy on Lake Erie 62 + +Perry's eagerness for active operations 63 + +Coincidence of events on Lakes Erie and Ontario 64 + +Inferiority of Perry's crews in numbers and quality 64 + +Professional contrast between Chauncey and Perry 65 + +Personal difficulty. Perry applies to be detached 66 + +The Navy Department refuses 67 + +Position of the American army on the Maumee 67 + +Procter's attack upon Fort Meigs 68 + +Procter and Barclay plan attack on Erie 69 + +Re-enforcements of troops refused them 69 + +Barclay blockades Erie 70 + +Barclay visits Long Point 71 + +Perry's squadron crosses the bar at Erie 72 + +Procter attacks Fort Stephenson, and is repulsed 73 + +Barclay retires to Malden 74 + +Perry in control of the lake 74 + +Destitution of provisions in the British camp and fleet 75 + +Barclay goes out to fight 76 + +Composition and armament of the two squadrons 76 + +Controversy about the battle 78 + +Dispositions of the two commanders 80 + +Opening of the battle 81 + +Examination of the controversy between Perry and Elliott 82 + +Progress of the engagement 88 + +Second stage of the battle 89 + +The British surrender 94 + +Meritorious conduct of Captain Barclay 94 + +Question of credit on the American side 95 + +Comparison of the campaigns on Erie and on Ontario 99 + +Effect of the battle on the fate of the Northwest 99 + +Its bearing upon the peace negotiations of the following year 100 + +Influence of control of the water illustrated on the lakes 101 + + +CHAPTER XII + +THE CAMPAIGN OF 1813 ON THE LAKES AND NORTHERN FRONTIER, AFTER +THE BATTLE OF LAKE ERIE + +Perry's victory promptly followed up 102 + +General Harrison lands his army at Malden 103 + +Recovery of Detroit. Battle of the Thames, October 5, 1813 103 + +The Indians fall away from the British 103 + +Harrison's army transferred to Niagara 104 + +Perry detached from the lake service 104 + +Changed American plan of campaign on Ontario 104 + +General James Wilkinson replaces Dearborn 104 + +The Government designates Kingston as the objective 105 + +The embarkation begins at Niagara under cover of the navy 106 + +Yeo's squadron appears in the neighborhood 106 + +Encounter between the two squadrons, September 28, 1813 107 + +Criticism of Chauncey's management 108 + +Wilkinson's troops reach Sackett's Harbor 110 + +The British re-enforce Kingston 110 + +New change of American plan. The army to be directed on + Montreal 111 + +Intended junction with the troops from Lake Champlain, under + General Hampton 111 + +Wilkinson's army assembled within the mouth of the St. Lawrence 114 + +It proceeds down the river 114 + +Pursuit by a British detachment 114 + +American reverse at Chrystler's Farm 115 + +Hampton fails to join Wilkinson, and returns to Plattsburg 116 + +The expedition abandoned. Wilkinson goes into winter quarters + at French Mills 116 + +Chauncey returns to Sackett's Harbor from the St. Lawrence 117 + +Transports Harrison's division from Niagara to Sackett's Harbor 117 + +Fleets lay up for the winter 117 + +Disastrous close of the campaign upon the Niagara 118 + +Americans evacuate Fort George and the peninsula 120 + +They burn Newark 120 + +Act disavowed by the American Government 120 + +Sir Gordon Drummond in command in Upper Canada 120 + +The British, under General Riall, cross the Niagara and + capture Fort Niagara 121 + +Lewiston, Youngstown, and Manchester burned in retaliation for + Newark 121 + +Buffalo burned, and three naval vessels at Black Rock 121 + +General failure of the campaign about Lake Ontario 122 + +Discussion of the causes 123 + + +CHAPTER XIII + +SEABOARD MARITIME OPERATIONS, 1813 + + +United States on the defensive on the seaboard 126 + +British reasons for partially relaxing severity of blockade 127 + +Reasons do not apply to armed vessels or coasting trade 127 + +American Navy powerless to protect commerce 127 + +To destroy that of the enemy its principal mission 128 + +Cruises of the "President" and "Congress" 128 + +Efficacy of the British convoy system 130 + +Its chief failure is near ports of arrival 131 + +This dictates the orders to Captain Lawrence 131 + +Importance of the service 132 + +Imperfect preparation of the "Chesapeake" 132 + +Efficiency of the "Shannon." Broke's professional merit 133 + +His challenge to Lawrence. Not received 134 + +The "Chesapeake" sails, purposely to fight 135 + +Account of the action 136 + +The "Chesapeake" captured 140 + +Analysis of the engagement 141 + +Decatur fails to get to sea with a squadron 148 + +Driven to take refuge in New London 148 + +Frigates confined there for the war 149 + +Particular anxiety of the British Government about American + frigates 150 + +Expectations of the Admiralty and the country from Warren's + fleet 151 + +Effects of the blockade of New London on local coasting 152 + +Evidence of the closeness of the whole blockade south of + New London 153 + +Conditions at New York 154 + +British operations in the upper Chesapeake, 1813 156 + +Conditions in Delaware Bay 158 + +American precautions in Chesapeake and Delaware 159 + +Circumspect conduct of the British vessels in the Chesapeake 161 + +Warren brings a detachment of troops from Bermuda 162 + +Rencounters in and near Hampton Roads 163 + +British attack upon Craney Island. Fails 164 + +Attack upon Hampton. Ineffective 166 + +Further movements of the British in the Chesapeake 167 + +Movement of licensed vessels in Chesapeake Bay during these + operations 170 + +Consequent recommendation of President to prohibit all + exports during the blockade 173 + +Rejected by Senate. Enforced in Chesapeake by executive order 174 + +Glaring necessity for such action 175 + +Embargo law passed in December, 1813 176 + +Main British fleet quits the Chesapeake. Its failure in + direct military operation 177 + +Efficacy of the blockade 177 + +Characteristics of the different sections of the United + States, as affecting their suffering from blockade 178 + +Statistical evidences of its effects 181 + +Prices of great staples: flour and sugar 184 + +Dependence of Eastern and Southern States upon coasting, + greater than that of Middle States 186 + +Captain Hull's reports on Eastern coasting 187 + +Action between the "Boxer" and "Enterprise" 188 + +Intermission of Eastern blockade during winter 192 + +Its resumption in increased vigor in 1814 192 + +Undefended conditions of the American coast 193 + +Conditions of Southern coasting trade 195 + +British blockade severs the mutual intercourse of the different + sections of the United States 198 + +Remarks of Representative Pearson, of North Carolina 199 + +Message of the Governor of Pennsylvania 200 + +Rigors of the blockade shown by figures 201 + +Momentary importance of the North Carolina coast 203 + +Advocacy of an internal navigation system 204 + +Evidence of privation in the rebound of prices and shipping + movement after peace 205 + +Exposition of conditions, in a contemporary letter by a + naval officer 207 + +The experiences of the War of 1812 now largely forgotten 208 + +Lessons to be deduced 208 + +Pressure upon the British Government exerted, even by the + puny contemporary American Navy 209 + +Advantage of the American position 211 + +Opinions of Presidents Washington and Adams as to the + international advantage of a navy 212 + +Policy of President Jefferson 213 + + +CHAPTER XIV + +MARITIME OPERATIONS EXTERNAL TO THE WATERS OF THE UNITED STATES, +1813-1814 + +Commerce destruction the one offensive maritime resort left + open to the United States 215 + +Respective objects of privateers and of naval vessels 216 + +The approaches to the British islands the most fruitful + field for operations against commerce 216 + +Cruise of the "Argus" 217 + +Capture of the "Argus" by the "Pelican" 217 + +Significance of the cruise of the "Argus" 219 + +Great number of captures by American cruisers 220 + +Comparatively few American merchant ships captured at sea 221 + +Shows the large scale on which British commerce throve, and + the disappearance of American shipping 221 + +Control of British Navy shown by American practice of + destroying prizes 222 + +Successes of the privateers "Scourge" and "Rattlesnake" + in the North Sea 223 + +The "Leo" and "Lion" off coast of Portugal 224 + +British army in southern France incommoded by cruisers off + Cape Finisterre 224 + +American cruises based on French ports 225 + +The privateer "Yankee" on the gold-coast of Africa 226 + +Action between the American privateer "Globe" and two British + packets, off Madeira 227 + +Captures in the same neighborhood by privateers "Governor + Tompkins" and "America" 228 + +The West Indies as a field for warfare on commerce 229 + +Activity there of American cruisers 230 + +Stringency of the Convoy Act in the West Indies. Papers captured + there by the "Constitution" 230 + +Indirect effects of the warfare on commerce 231 + +Cruise in the West Indies of the naval brigs "Rattlesnake" and + "Enterprise" 232 + +Combat between the privateer "Decatur" and British war schooner + "Dominica" 233 + +The "Comet" and the British ship "Hibernia" 234 + +The "Saucy Jack" and the British ship "Pelham" 235 + +The "Saucy Jack" with the bomb-ship "Volcano" and transport + "Golden Fleece" 236 + +Remarkable seizure by the privateer "Kemp" 237 + +The cruises of the privateer "Chasseur" 237 + +Combat between the "Chasseur" and the British war schooner "St. + Lawrence" 238 + +Contrasted motives of the ship of war and the privateer 241 + +Relative success of American naval vessels and privateers in + the war upon commerce 242 + +Cruise of the frigate "Essex" 244 + +Arrival in Valparaiso of the "Essex," and of the British ships, + "Phoebe" and "Cherub" 247 + +Action between the "Essex" and the "Phoebe" and "Cherub" 249 + +Cruise of the "Wasp" 253 + +Action between the "Reindeer" and "Wasp" 254 + +Action between the "Avon" and "Wasp" 256 + +Disappearance of the "Wasp" 257 + +Cruise of the "Peacock" 258 + +Action between "Epervier" and "Peacock" 259 + +Further cruise of the "Peacock" 261 + +Activity of American cruisers in British waters 262 + +Agitation in Great Britain 263 + +The effect produced due to the American people severally 265 + +Prostration of the Government in the United States, 1814 265 + +Determination to accept peace without relinquishment of + impressment by Great Britain 266 + +Development of privateering 267 + +Adaptation of vessels to the pursuit 268 + +Practical considerations determining vessels to be employed 269 + +Secretary of the Navy recommends squadrons of schooners for + action against commerce 270 + +Debate in Congress 271 + +Recommendation adopted 272 + + +CHAPTER XV + +THE NIAGARA CAMPAIGN, AND EVENTS ON THE GREAT LAKES, IN 1814 + + +British advantages of position on the Niagara line 274 + +Unusual mildness of winter 1813-1814 276 + +Effect on operations 276 + +British project against the vessels in Put-in Bay 277 + +Difficulty of maintaining British garrison at Mackinac 278 + +American army abandons cantonments at French Mills 278 + +Part goes to Lake Champlain, part to Sackett's Harbor 278 + +American project against Kingston 279 + +General Brown's mistake as to the Government's purpose 280 + +Carries his army to the Niagara frontier 281 + +Chauncey's fears for Sackett's Harbor 281 + +Wilkinson's expedition to La Colle. Failure 282 + +Wilkinson superseded by General Izard 283 + +Yeo obtains momentary superiority on Ontario 283 + +Importance of Oswego 284 + +British capture Oswego, and destroy depots 284 + +Yeo blockades Sackett's Harbor 285 + +Difficulty of American situation on Ontario 285 + +British naval disaster in attempting to intercept convoy + from Oswego to Sackett's Harbor 286 + +Yeo abandons blockade of Sackett's Harbor 290 + +American plan of operations on northern frontier 291 + +Brown crosses the Niagara. Surrender of Fort Erie 294 + +Advance towards Fort George 294 + +Battle of Chippewa 295 + +Brown advances to Queenston 298 + +Chauncey's failure to co-operate 298 + +Consequent anxiety of the Government 299 + +Decatur ordered to relieve Chauncey 300 + +Chauncey's defence of his conduct 300 + +Discussion of his argument 301 + +British advantage through his inaction 304 + +Leads to the battle of Lundy's Lane 306 + +Battle of Lundy's Lane 309 + +Value to Americans of the battles of Chippewa and Lundy's Lane 311 + +Improvement in the militia through association with Brown's army 312 + +Brown unable longer to keep the field. Retires to Fort Erie 314 + +British assault upon Fort Erie. Disastrous repulse 314 + +British now embarrassed by Chauncey's blockade 315 + +American successful sortie from Fort Erie 316 + +Drummond abandons the siege, and retires to the Chippewa 317 + +Brown unable to follow him 317 + +Izard ordered from Lake Champlain to Brown's aid 318 + +His march 320 + +His corps arrives at the Niagara frontier 321 + +Strength of the British position on the Chippewa 322 + +Izard's hopelessness 322 + +Blows up Fort Erie and retires across the Niagara 323 + +Naval and military expedition against Mackinac 324 + +Unsuccessful, except in destroying British transports 324 + +British capture the American naval schooners "Tigress" and + "Scorpion" 325 + +American schooners "Ohio" and "Somers" also captured, off + Fort Erie 327 + +Loss of the "Caledonia" and "Ariel" 327 + +The Erie fleet lays up for the winter, after the British + abandon the siege of Fort Erie 328 + + +CHAPTER XVI + +SEABOARD OPERATIONS IN 1814. WASHINGTON, BALTIMORE, AND MAINE + + +Defensive character of the British northern campaign in 1814 329 + +Increase of vigor in their seaboard operations 330 + +Warren relieved by Cochrane 330 + +Intentions of the British Government 331 + +Retaliation for American actions in Canada 333 + +Prevost's call upon Cochrane to retaliate 334 + +Cochrane's orders to his vessels 334 + +Attitude of British officers 335 + +Early operations in Chesapeake Bay, 1814 336 + +Relations of Barney's flotilla to the British project against + Washington 337 + +Assembling of the British combined forces in the Chesapeake 340 + +Condition of American preparations 342 + +British advance. Destruction of Barney's flotilla 344 + +Retreat of American forces 345 + +American position at Bladensburg 346 + +Battle of Bladensburg 347 + +Burning of Washington 349 + +Capture and ransom of Alexandria by British frigates 350 + +Failure of British attempt on Baltimore 351 + +British harrying of New England coast 352 + +Occupation of Castine, in Maine 353 + +Destruction of the American frigate "Adams" 354 + + +CHAPTER XVII + +LAKE CHAMPLAIN AND NEW ORLEANS + + +Arrival of large British re-enforcements in Canada 355 + +Objects of the British northern campaign of 1814 356 + +Previous neglect of lake Champlain by both belligerents 357 + +Operations on the lake in 1813 358 + +British attempt in spring of 1814 361 + +Macdonough in control of lake, in summer of 1814 362 + +British "Confiance" building to contest control 362 + +Instructions of British Government to Prevost 362 + +Prevost in August reports approaching readiness to move 363 + +Treasonable actions of American citizens about Lake Champlain 364 + +Izard, with four thousand troops, leaves Plattsburg for + Sackett's Harbor 365 + +Consequent destitution of the Champlain frontier 365 + +British advance to Plattsburg 366 + +Relative positions of American squadron and land forces 367 + +Question of distance between squadron and land batteries 368 + +Opinions of Izard and Yeo as to the relations of the batteries + to the squadron 370 + +Proper combination for Prevost 371 + +Backward state of "Confiance" upon Downie's taking command 372 + +Urgent letters of Prevost to Downie 373 + +Downie's expectations in attacking 375 + +Macdonough's dispositions 376 + +Downie's consequent plan of engagement 377 + +Naval battle of Lake Champlain 377 + +Decisive character of the American victory 381 + +Preoccupation of the British Government with European conditions 382 + +Episodical character of the New Orleans expedition 382 + +Negotiations of Admiral Cochrane for the co-operation of the + Creek Indians 383 + +His measures for training them, and preparations for the + expedition 384 + +Objects of the British ministry 385 + +Attack upon Fort Bowyer, Mobile Bay, by a British squadron 386 + +Previous occupation of West Florida to the Perdido, by the + United States 387 + +Pensacola, remaining in Spanish hands, utilized by British 387 + +Seized by Jackson, and works destroyed 388 + +Arrival of British expedition in Mississippi Sound 388 + +Gunboat battle of Lake Borgne 390 + +British advance corps reaches the bank of the Mississippi 391 + +Night attack by American Navy and Jackson 391 + +Sir Edward Pakenham arrives from England 392 + +His preliminary movements 392 + +Particular danger of Jackson's position 393 + +Details of the final day of assault, January 8, 1815 394 + +The British withdraw after repulse 396 + +Capture of Fort Bowyer, Mobile Bay 397 + +Final naval episodes 397 + +Sailing of the "President." She grounds on the New York bar 398 + +Overtaken, and is captured, by the British blockading division 398 + +The "Constitution" captures the "Cyane" and "Levant" 404 + +Capture of the British sloop "Penguin" by the "Hornet" 407 + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +THE PEACE NEGOTIATIONS + +Early overtures towards peace by the United States 409 + +Castlereagh refuses to entertain the project of abandoning + impressment 410 + +Russia, in 1812, suggests negotiations for peace under mediation + of the Czar 411 + +United States accepts, but Great Britain refuses 412 + +Great Britain, through the Czar, offers a direct negotiation, + 1813 412 + +The United States accepts, and names five commissioners 413 + +The original instructions to the American Commission, 1813 413 + +Reduced, 1814, through pressure of the war 414 + +Confident attitude of Great Britain at the opening of the + negotiations 415 + +Hostile spirit in Great Britain towards the United States 415 + +The instructions to the British Commission 416 + +The demand on behalf of the Indians 417 + +Faulty presentation of it by the British Commission 418 + +British claim concerning the Great Lakes and boundaries 419 + +Discussion of these propositions 419 + +Reasons for British advocacy of the Indians 421 + +Final reduction of British demand for the Indians and acceptance + by American Commission 423 + +Concern of British ministry for the opinion of Europe 424 + +News received of the capture of Washington 424 + +Sanguine anticipations based upon reports from Cochrane and Ross 424 + +The British Government suggests the _uti possidetis_ as the + basis of agreement 425 + +The American Commission refuse, and offer instead the _status + ante bellum_ 426 + +News arrives of the British defeat on Lake Champlain 426 + +The political instructions to the commanders of the New Orleans + expedition, to be communicated for the satisfaction of the + continental powers 427 + +Urgency of the European situation 428 + +Dangerous internal state of France 428 + +Consequent wish of the British ministry to withdraw Wellington + from Paris 429 + +He is pressed to accept the American command 429 + +Wellington thus brought into the discussion of terms 430 + +He pronounces against the basis of _uti possidetis_ 431 + +The British ministry accept his judgment 431 + +The _status ante bellum_ accepted by Great Britain 431 + +Subsequent rapid conclusion of agreement 432 + +Terms of the Treaty 432 + +Signed by the commissioners, December 24, 1814 434 + +Despatched to America by a British ship of war 435 + +Ratified by the United States, February 17, 1815 435 + +Gallatin's opinion of the effect of the war upon the people + of the United States 436 + + +INDEX 439 + + + + +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. + +VOLUME TWO. + + +THE CHASE OF THE _Constitution_ _Frontispiece_ + From the painting by S. Salisbury Tuckerman. + +THE QUARTERDECK OF THE _Java_ BEFORE THE SURRENDER Page 6 + From a drawing by Henry Reuterdahl. + +THE NEW CARRYING TRADE Page 18 + From a drawing by Stanley M. Arthurs. + +THE RETREAT OF THE BRITISH FROM SACKETT'S HARBOR Page 44 + From a drawing by Henry Reuterdahl. + +THE FLEETS OF CHAUNCEY AND YEO MANOEUVRING ON LAKE CHAMPLAIN Page 52 + From a drawing by Carlton T. Chapman. + +CAPTAIN ISAAC CHAUNCEY Page 60 + From the engraving by D. Edwin, after the painting by + J. Woods. + +CAPTAIN SIR JAMES LUCAS YEO Page 60 + From the engraving by H.R. Cook, after the painting by + A. Buck. + +CAPTAIN OLIVER HAZARD PERRY Page 66 + From the painting by Gilbert Stuart, in the possession + of O.H. Perry, Esq. + +PERRY RECEIVING THE SURRENDER OF THE BRITISH AT THE BATTLE + OF LAKE ERIE Page 94 + From a drawing by Henry Reuterdahl. + +CAPTAIN PHILIP BOWES VERE BROKE Page 134 + From the mezzotint by Charles Turner, after the + painting by Samuel Lane, in the possession of Lady + Saumarez. + +THE CAPTURE OF THE _Chesapeake_ BY THE _Shannon_--THE + STRUGGLE ON THE QUARTERDECK Page 138 + From a drawing by Henry Reuterdahl. + +CAPTAIN JAMES LAWRENCE Page 140 + From the painting by Gilbert Stuart, in the possession + of the New Jersey Historical Society, Newark, N.J. + +THE BURNING OF A PRIVATEER PRIZE Page 222 + From a drawing by Henry Reuterdahl. + +CAPTAIN DAVID PORTER Page 244 + From the painting by Charles Wilson Peale, in + Independence Hall, Philadelphia. + +CAPTAIN THOMAS MACDONOUGH Page 360 + From the painting by Gilbert Stuart, in the Century + Club, New York, by permission of the owner, Rodney + Macdonough, Esq. + +THE BATTLE OF LAKE CHAMPLAIN Page 380 + From a drawing by Henry Reuterdahl. + + + + +MAPS AND BATTLE PLANS. + +VOLUME TWO. + + +Plan of Engagement between _Constitution_ and _Java_ Page 4 + +Plan of Engagement between _Hornet_ and _Peacock_ Page 8 + +Map of Niagara Peninsula Page 38 + +Surroundings of Sackett's Harbor Page 43 + +Plan of Chauncey's Engagement, August 10, 1813 Page 58 + +Plan of Erie Harbor, 1814 Page 72 + +Diagram of the Battle of Lake Erie, September 10, 1813 Page 82 + +Chauncey and Yeo, September 28, 1813 Page 108 + +_Chesapeake_ and _Shannon_ Page 136 + +Outline Map of Chesapeake Bay and Rivers Page 156 + +_Enterprise_ and _Boxer_ Page 188 + +_Argus_ and _Pelican_ Page 218 + +_Montague_, _Pelham_, and _Globe_ Page 228 + +_Chasseur_ and _St. Lawrence_ Page 238 + +_Wasp_ and _Reindeer_ Page 254 + +Sketch of the March of the British Army, under General Ross, + from the 19th to the 29th August, 1814 Page 344 + +Tracing from pencil sketch of Battle of Lake Champlain made + by Commodore Macdonough Page 368 + +Battle of Lake Champlain Page 377 + +The Landing of the British Army, its Encampments and + Fortifications on the Mississippi; Works they erected on + their Retreat; with the Encampments and Fortifications + of the American Army Page 392 + + + + +Sea Power in its Relations to the War of 1812 + + +THE WAR (_Continued_) + + +CHAPTER IX + +THE WINTER OF 1812-1813--BAINBRIDGE'S SQUADRON: ACTIONS +BETWEEN "CONSTITUTION" AND "JAVA," "HORNET" AND +"PEACOCK"--INCREASING PRESSURE ON ATLANTIC COAST + + +The squadron under Commodore William Bainbridge, the third which +sailed from the United States in October, 1812, started nearly three +weeks after the joint departure of Rodgers and Decatur. It consisted +of the "Constitution" and sloop of war "Hornet," then in Boston, and +of the "Essex," the only 32-gun frigate in the navy, fitting for sea +in the Delaware. The original armament of the latter, from which she +derived her rate, had been changed to forty 32-pounder carronades and +six long twelves; total, forty-six guns. It is noticeable that this +battery, which ultimately contributed not merely to her capture, but +to her almost helplessness under the fire of an enemy able to maintain +his distance out of carronade range, was strongly objected to by +Captain Porter. On October 14 he applied to be transferred to the +"Adams," giving as reasons "my insuperable dislike to carronades, and +the bad sailing of the "Essex," which render her, in my opinion, the +worst frigate in the service."[1] The request was not granted, and +Porter sailed in command of the ship on October 28, the two other +vessels having left Boston on the 26th. + +In order to facilitate a junction, Bainbridge had sent Porter full +details of his intended movements.[2] A summary of these will show his +views as to a well-planned commerce-destroying cruise. Starting about +October 25, he would steer first a course not differing greatly from +the general direction taken by Rodgers and Decatur, to the Cape Verde +Islands, where he would fill with water, and by November 27 sail for +the island Fernando de Noronha, two hundred and fifty miles south of +the Equator, and two hundred miles from the mainland of Brazil, then a +Portuguese colony, of which the island was a dependency. The trade +winds being fair for this passage, he hoped to leave there by December +15, and to cruise south along the Brazilian coast as far as Rio de +Janeiro, until January 15. In the outcome the meeting of the +"Constitution" with the "Java" cut short her proceedings at this +point; but Bainbridge had purposed to stay yet another month along the +Brazilian coast, between Rio and St. Catherine's, three hundred miles +south. Thence he would cross the South Atlantic to the neighborhood of +St. Helena, remaining just beyond sight of it, to intercept returning +British Indiamen, which frequently stopped there. Porter failed to +overtake the other vessels, on account of the bad sailing of the +"Essex." He arrived at Fernando de Noronha December 14, one day before +that fixed by Bainbridge as his last there; but the "Constitution" and +"Hornet" had already gone on to Bahia, on the Brazilian mainland, +seven hundred miles to the southwest, leaving a letter for him to +proceed off Cape Frio, sixty miles from the entrance of Rio. He +reached this rendezvous on the 25th, but saw nothing of Bainbridge, +who had been detained off Bahia by conditions there. The result was +that the "Essex" never found her consorts, and finally struck out a +career for herself, which belongs rather to a subsequent period of the +war. We therefore leave her spending her Christmas off Cape Frio. + +The two other vessels had arrived off Bahia on December 13. Here was +lying a British sloop of war, the "Bonne Citoyenne," understood to +have on board a very large amount of specie for England. The American +vessels blockaded her for some days, and then Captain Lawrence +challenged her to single combat; Bainbridge acquiescing, and pledging +his honor that the "Constitution" should remain out of the way, or at +least not interfere. The British captain, properly enough, declined. +That his ship and her reported value were detaining two American +vessels from wider depredations was a reason more important than any +fighting-cock glory to be had from an arranged encounter on equal +terms, and should have sufficed him without expressing the doubt he +did as to Bainbridge's good faith.[3] On the 26th the Commodore, +leaving Lawrence alone to watch the British sloop, stood out to sea +with the "Constitution," cruising well off shore; and thus on the +29th, at 9 A.M., being then five miles south of the port and some +miles from land, discovered two strange sail, which were the British +frigate "Java," Captain Henry Lambert, going to Bahia for water, with +an American ship, prize to her. + +Upon seeing the "Constitution" in the south-southwest, the British +captain shaped his course for her, directing the prize to enter the +harbor. Bainbridge, watching these movements, now tacked his ship, +and at 11.30 A.M. steered away southeast under all plain sail, to draw +the enemy well away from neutral waters; the Portuguese authorities +having shown some sensitiveness on that score. The "Java" followed, +running full ten miles an hour, a great speed in those days, and +gaining rapidly. At 1.30, being now as far off shore as desired, +Bainbridge went about and stood toward the enemy, who kept away with a +view to rake, which the "Constitution" avoided by the usual means of +wearing, resuming her course southeast, but under canvas much reduced. +At 2.10 the "Java," having closed to a half mile, the "Constitution" +fired one gun ahead of her; whereupon the British ship hoisted her +colors, and the American then fired two broadsides. The "Java" now +took up a position to windward of the "Constitution," on her port +side, a little forward (2.10); "within pistol-shot," according to the +minutes submitted by the officer who succeeded to the command; "much +further than I wished," by Bainbridge's journal. It is not possible +entirely to reconcile the pretty full details of further movements +given by each;[4] but it may be said, generally, that this battle was +not mainly an artillery duel, like those of the "Constitution" and +"Guerrière," the "Wasp" and "Frolic," nor yet one in which a principal +manoeuvre, by its decisive effect upon the use of artillery, played +the determining part, as was the case with the "United States" and +"Macedonian." Here it was a combination of the two factors, a +succession of evolutions resembling the changes of position, the +retreats and advances, of a fencing or boxing match, in which the +opponents work round the ring; accompanied by a continual play of +the guns, answering to the thrusts and blows of individual +encounter. In this game of manoeuvres the "Constitution" was somewhat +handicapped by her wheel being shot away at 2.30. The rudder remained +unharmed; but working a ship by relieving tackles, the substitute for +the wheel, is for several reasons neither as quick nor as accurate. + + [Illustration: PLAN OF THE ENGAGEMENT BETWEEN CONSTITUTION AND + JAVA] + +Certain salient incidents stand out in both accounts, marking the +progress of the engagement. Shortly before three o'clock the head of +the "Java's" bowsprit was shot away, and with it went the jib-boom. At +this time, the fore and main masts of the British frigate being badly +wounded, with all the rigging cut to pieces, Captain Lambert looked +upon the day as lost unless he could board. The sailing master having +been sent below wounded, the first lieutenant, whose account is here +followed, was directed to run the ship alongside the enemy; but the +helm was hardly put up when the foremast went overboard, at five +minutes past three, a time in which both accounts agree. The British +narrative states that the stump of their bowsprit caught in the mizzen +rigging of the "Constitution" (3.35). This Bainbridge does not +mention; but, if correct, the contact did not last long, for the +"Constitution" immediately wore across the "Java's" bow, and the +latter's maintopmast followed the foremast. The British frigate was +now beaten beyond recovery; nevertheless the flag was kept flying, and +it was after this that Captain Lambert fell, mortally wounded. +Resistance was continued until 4.05, by the American accounts; by the +British, till 4.35. Then, the enemy's mizzenmast having fallen, and +nothing left standing but the main lower mast, the "Constitution" shot +ahead to repair damages. There was no more firing, but the "Java's" +colors remained up till 5.25,--5.50 by the British times,--when they +were hauled down as the "Constitution" returned. The American loss +was nine killed and twenty-five wounded; that of the British, by their +official accounts, twenty-two killed, one hundred and two wounded. + +The superiority in broadside weight of fire of the "Constitution" over +the "Java" was about the same as over the "Guerrière." The "Java's" +crew was stronger in number than that of the "Guerrière," mustering +about four hundred, owing to having on board a hundred supernumeraries +for the East India station, to which the ship was ultimately destined. +On the other hand, the material of the ship's company is credibly +stated to have been extremely inferior, a condition frequently +complained of by British officers at this late period of the +Napoleonic wars. It has also been said, in apparent extenuation of her +defeat, that although six weeks out from England, having sailed +November 12, and greater part of that time necessarily in the trade +winds, with their usual good weather, the men had not been exercised +in firing the guns until December 28, the day before meeting the +"Constitution," when six broadsides of blank cartridges were +discharged. Whatever excuse may exist in the individual instance for +such neglect, it is scarcely receivable in bar of judgment when +disaster follows. No particular reason is given, except "the many +services of a newly fitted ship, lumbered with stores;" for in such +latitudes the other allegation, "a succession of gales of wind since +the day of departure,"[5] is incredible. On broad general grounds the +"Java" needed no apology for being beaten by a ship so much heavier; +and the "Constitution's" loss in killed and wounded was over double +that suffered from the "Guerrière" four months before, when the +American ship had substantially the same crew.[6] Further, +Bainbridge reported to his Government that "the damage received in the +action, but more especially the decayed state of the "Constitution," +made it necessary to return to the United States for repairs." +Although Lieutenant Chads, who succeeded Lambert, was mistaken in +supposing the American ship bound to the East Indies, he was evidently +justified in claiming that the stout resistance of the "Java" had +broken up the enemy's cruise, thus contributing to the protection of +the British commerce. + + [Illustration: THE QUARTERDECK OF THE _JAVA_ BEFORE THE + SURRENDER. + _Drawn by Henry Reuterdahl._] + +The "Java" was considered by Bainbridge too much injured to be worth +taking to the United States. She was therefore set on fire December +31, and the "Constitution" went back to Bahia, where the prisoners +were landed under parole. Thence she sailed for home January 6, 1813, +reaching Boston February 27. Before his departure the Commodore +directed Lawrence to blockade Bahia as long as seemed advisable, but +to beware of a British seventy-four, said to be on the coast. When it +became expedient, he was to quit the position and move northward; +first off Pernambuco, and thence to the coast of Cayenne, Surinam, and +Demerara, a favorite cruising ground for American commerce-destroyers. +The "Hornet" was to be in Boston in the first fortnight of April. + +In pursuance of these discretionary orders Lawrence remained off Bahia +for eighteen days, till January 24, when the expected seventy-four, +the "Montagu," appeared, forcing him into the harbor; but the same +night he came out, gave her the slip, and proceeded on his cruise. On +February 24, off the Demarara River, he encountered the British brig +of war "Peacock," a vessel of the same class as the "Frolic," which +was captured a few months before by the "Wasp," sister ship to the +"Hornet." There was no substantial difference in size between these +two approaching antagonists; but, unfortunately for the equality of +the contest, the "Peacock" carried 24-pounder carronades, instead of +the 32's which were her proper armament. Her battery power was +therefore but two thirds that of the "Hornet." The vessels crossed on +opposite tacks, exchanging broadsides within half pistol-shot, the +"Hornet" to windward(1). The "Peacock" then wore; observing which, +Lawrence kept off at once for her and ran on board her starboard +quarter (2). In this position the engagement was hot for about fifteen +minutes, when the "Peacock" surrendered, hoisting a flag union down, +in signal of distress. She had already six feet of water in the hold. +Being on soundings, in less than six fathoms, both anchored, and every +effort was made to save the British vessel; but she sank, carrying +down nine of her own crew and three of the "Hornet's." Her loss in +action was her commander and four men killed, and twenty-nine wounded, +of whom three died; that of the American vessel, one killed and two +wounded. The inequality in armament detracts inevitably from glory in +achievement; but the credit of readiness and efficiency is established +for Lawrence and his crew by prompt action and decisive results. So, +also, defeat is not inglorious under such odds; but it remains to the +discredit of the British commander that his ship did no more +execution, when well within the most effective range of her guns. In +commenting upon this engagement, after noticing the dandy neatness of +the "Peacock," James says, "Neglect to exercise the ship's company at +the guns prevailed then over two thirds of the British navy; to which +the Admiralty, by their sparing allowance of powder and shot for +practice, were in some degree instrumental." + +With the survivors of the "Peacock," and prisoners from other prizes, +Captain Lawrence found himself now with two hundred and seventy-seven +souls on board and only thirty-four hundred gallons of water. There +was at hand no friendly port where to deposit his captives, and +provisions were running short. He therefore steered for the United +States, and arrived at Holmes' Hole on March 19.[7] + + [Illustration: PLAN OF ENGAGEMENT BETWEEN HORNET AND PEACOCK] + +The capture of the "Peacock" was the last of five naval duels, three +between frigates and two between sloops, all favorable in issue to the +United States, which took place in what may justly be considered the +first of the three periods into which the War of 1812 obviously +divides. Great Britain, long reluctant to accept the fact of war as +irreversible, did not begin to put forth her strength, or to exercise +the measures of repression open to her, until the winter of 1812-13 +was drawing to a close. On October 13, convinced that the mere news of +the revocation of the Orders in Council would not induce any change in +the American determination, the hitherto deferred authority for +general reprisals was given; but accompanying them was an express +provision that they were not to be understood as recalling the +declaration which Warren had been commissioned to make, in order to +effect a suspension of hostilities.[8] On November 27, however, hopes +from this source having apparently disappeared, directions were sent +the admiral to institute a rigorous commercial blockade of Delaware +and Chesapeake bays,[9] the usual public notification of the fact to +neutral Powers, for the information of their shipping affected by it, +being issued December 26, three days before the action between the +"Constitution" and "Java." On February 21, three days before the +"Hornet" sank the "Peacock," Warren wrote that in compliance with the +orders of November 27 this blockade had been put in force. The ship +"Emily," from Baltimore for Lisbon, under a British license, with a +cargo of flour, was turned back when attempting to go to sea from the +Chesapeake, about February 5; Warren indorsing on her papers that the +bay had been placed under rigorous blockade the day before.[10] +Captain Stewart, the senior United States officer at Norfolk, notified +his Government of these facts on February 10.[11] Soon after, by an +Order in Council dated March 30, the measure was extended to New York, +Charleston, Port Royal, Savannah, and the Mississippi River.[12] Later +in the year Warren, by a sweeping proclamation, dated November 16,[13] +widened its scope to cover Long Island Sound, inside of Montauk and +Black Point; the latter being on the Connecticut shore, eight miles +west of New London. From thence it applied not only to the ports +named, but to all inlets whatsoever, southward, as far as the Florida +boundary. Narragansett Bay and the rest of New England remained still +exempt. + +These restrictions, together with the increase of Warren's force and +the operations of 1813 in the Chesapeake, may be considered as +initiating the second stage of the war, when Great Britain no longer +cherished hopes of any other solution than by the sword, but still was +restrained in the exercise of her power by the conflict with Napoleon. +With the downfall of the latter, in April, 1814, began the third and +final act, when she was more at liberty to let loose her strength, to +terminate a conflict at once weakening and exasperating. It is not +without significance that the treaty of peace with the restored +Bourbon government of France was signed May 30, 1814,[14] and that on +May 31 was issued a proclamation placing under strict and rigorous +blockade, not merely specified places, but "all the ports, harbors, +bays, creeks, rivers, inlets, outlets, islands, and sea-coasts of the +United States," from the border of New Brunswick to that of +Florida.[15] In form, this was only the public notification of a +measure already instituted by Warren's successor, Cochrane, embracing +Newport, Boston, and the East under restrictions heretofore limited to +New York--including Long Island Sound--and the coast southward; but it +was not merely the assertion of a stringent resolution. It was a clear +defiance, in the assurance of conscious power, of a principal +contention of the United States, that the measure of blockades against +neutrals was not legitimately applicable to whole coasts, but only to +specified ports closely watched by a naval force competent to its +avowed purpose. + +Despite the gathering of the storm, the full force of which was to be +expected in the spring, the United States ships of war that reached +port in the early and middle winter of 1812-13 remained. There is, +perhaps, an unrecognized element of "hindsight" in the surprise felt +at this fact by a seaman of to-day, knowing the views and wishes of +the prominent officers of the navy at that period. Decatur, with the +"United States," reached New York in December, accompanied by the +"Macedonian." Neither of these vessels got to sea again during the +war. By the time they were ready, both outlets to the port were +effectually blocked. Rodgers, with the "President" and "Congress," +entered Boston December 31, but did not sail again until April 23. The +"Constellation," Captain Stewart, was reported, perhaps erroneously, +as nearly ready for sea at Washington, November 26, waiting only for a +few additional hands. Later in the winter she went to Annapolis, to +examine her powder, leaving there for Hampton Roads February 1, on +account of the ice. On the 4th, approaching her destination, she +discovered two ships of the line, three frigates, and two smaller +British vessels, working up from the Capes for the Roads. In the face +of such a force there was nothing to do but to escape to Norfolk, +where she remained effectually shut up for the rest of the war. +Bainbridge, as already known, brought the "Constitution" back for +repairs in February. Even from Boston she was unable to escape till +the following December. + +That there were satisfactory reasons for this seeming dilatoriness is +assured by the character of the officers. Probably the difficulty of +keeping up the ship's companies, in competition with the superior +attractions of privateering and the very high wages offered by the +merchants for their hazardous but remunerative commercial voyages +accounted for much. Hull wrote from New York, October 29, 1812, that +the merchants fitting out their vessels gave such high wages that it +was difficult to get either seamen or workmen.[16] Where no system of +forced enrolment--conscription or impressment--is permitted, +privateering has always tended to injure the regular naval service. +Though unquestionably capable of being put by owners on a business +basis, as a commercial undertaking, with the individual seaman the +appeal of privateering has always been to the stimulants of chance and +gain, which prove so attractive in the lottery. Stewart, an officer of +great intelligence and experience in his profession, found a further +cause in the heavy ships of the enemy. In the hostilities with France +in 1798-1800, he said, "We had nearly four thousand able seamen in the +navy. We could frequently man a frigate in a week. One reason was +because the enemy we were then contending with had not afloat (with +very few exceptions) vessels superior in rate to frigates. The enemy +we are fighting now have ships of the line, and our sailors know the +great difference between them and frigates, and cannot but feel a +degree of reluctance at entering the service from the disparity of +force."[17] The reason seems to prove too much; pressed to an extreme, +no navy would be able to use light vessels, because the enemy had +heavier which might--or might not--be encountered. Certain it is, +however, that when the government in the following winter, in order to +stop the license trade with the enemy, embargoed all vessels in home +ports, much less difficulty was experienced in getting seamen for the +navy. + +Whatever the reasons, the only frigates at sea during the first four +months of 1813 were the "Essex" and the "Chesapeake." The former, +after failing to meet Bainbridge, struck off boldly for the Pacific +Ocean on Porter's own motion; and on March 15, 1813, anchored at +Valparaiso, preparatory to entering on a very successful career of a +year's duration in those seas. The "Chesapeake" had sailed from Boston +December 17, making for the Cape Verde Islands. In their neighborhood +she captured two of a British convoy, which, thinking itself beyond +danger, had dispersed for South American destinations. The frigate +then proceeded to her cruising ground near the equator, between +longitudes 24° and 30° west, where she remained for about a month, +taking only one other merchantman. Leaving this position, she was off +the coast of Surinam from March 2 to 6, when she returned to the +United States; passing sixty miles east of the Caribbean Islands and +thence north of Porto Rico and Santo Domingo, as far west as longitude +75°, whence she ran parallel to the American coast, reaching Boston +April 9. Having seen nothing between February 5 and March 19, she then +began to meet sails, speaking eight between the latter date and her +arrival. Most of these were Americans, homeward bound from the Spanish +peninsula; the others neutrals.[18] The conclusion is evident, that +the British were keeping their trade well shepherded in convoys. If a +ship like the "Chesapeake" struck one of them, she would probably have +to fight the escorting vessel, as the "Wasp" did the "Frolic," while +the merchantmen escaped; but the chances were against her seeing +anything. Another evident conclusion, corresponding to the export +returns already quoted, is that the enemy had not yet shut down upon +the access of American merchant ships to their own coast. + +This process was gradual, but steady. It is necessary to keep in mind +the distinction between a blockade, in the loose use of the term, +which closes a port only to the ships of the hostile nation, and the +commercial blockade which forbids neutrals as well. The former may be +intermittent, for the mere fact of war authorizes the capture of the +belligerent's shipping, wherever found; hence to intercept them at the +mouths of their own harbors is merely a more effectual method of +carrying out the measure. A blockade against neutrals requires the +permanent presence, before the blockaded port, of a force adequate to +make the attempt to enter or leave dangerous. For this many more ships +are needed. The British ministry, desirous chiefly to compel the +United States to peace, and embarrassed by the gigantic continental +strife in which it was engaged, sought at the outset to inflict such +harassment on the American coast as would cost the least diversion of +strength from the European contest. An ordinary blockade might be +tightened or relaxed as convenience demanded; and, moreover, there +were as yet, in comparison with American vessels, few neutrals to be +restrained. Normally, American shipping was adequate to American +commerce. The first move, therefore, was to gather upon the coast of +the United States all cruisers that could be spared from the Halifax +and West India stations, and to dispose along the approaches to the +principal ports those that were not needed to repress the privateers +in the Bay of Fundy and the waters of Nova Scotia. The action of these +privateers, strictly offensive in character, and the course of +Commodore Rodgers in sailing with a large squadron, before explained, +illustrate exactly how offensive operations promote defensive +security. With numbers scanty for their work, and obliged to +concentrate instead of scattering, the British, prior to Warren's +arrival, had not disposable the cruisers with which greatly to harass +even the hostile shipping, still less to institute a commercial +blockade. The wish to stock the Spanish peninsula and the West Indies +with provisions contributed further to mitigate the pressure. + +These restraining considerations gradually disappeared. +Re-enforcements arrived. Rodgers' squadron returned and could be +watched, its position being known. The license trade filled up Lisbon, +Cadiz, and the West Indies. Hopes of a change of mind in the American +Government lessened. Napoleon's disaster in Russia reversed the +outlook in European politics. Step by step the altered conditions were +reflected in the measures of the British ministry and navy. For +months, only the maritime centres of the Middle States were molested. +The senior naval officer at Charleston, South Carolina, wrote on +October 14, four months after war was declared, "Till to-day this +coast has been clear of enemy's cruisers; now Charleston is blockaded +by three brigs, two very large, and they have captured nine sail +within three miles of the bar."[19] The number was increased shortly; +and two months later he expressed surprise that the inland navigation +behind the sea islands had not been destroyed,[20] in consequence of +its defenceless state. In January, 1813, the mouth of the Chesapeake +was watched by a ship of the line, two frigates, and a sloop; the +commercial blockade not having been yet established. The hostile +divisions still remained outside, and American vessels continued to go +out and in with comparative facility, both there and at Charleston. A +lively trade had sprung up with France by letters-of-marque; that is, +by vessels whose primary object is commerce, and which therefore carry +cargoes, but have also guns, and a commission from the Government to +make prizes. Without such authorization capture is piracy. By February +12 conditions grow worse. The blockaders have entered the Chesapeake, +the commercial blockade has been proclaimed, vessels under neutral +flags, Spanish and Swedish, are being turned away, and two fine +letter-of-marque schooners have been captured inside, one of them +after a gallant struggle in which her captain was killed. Nautical +misadventures of that kind became frequent. On April 3 three +letters-of-marque and a privateer, which had entered the Rappahannock, +were attacked at anchor by boats from Warren's fleet. The +letters-of-marque, with smaller crews, offered little resistance to +boarding; but the privateer, having near a hundred men, made a sharp +resistance. The Americans lost six killed and ten wounded; the enemy, +two killed and eleven wounded.[21] + +In like manner the lower Delaware was occupied by one or more ships of +the line. Supported thus by a heavy squadron, hostile operations were +pushed to the upper waters of both bays, and in various directions; +the extensive water communications of the region offering great +facilities for depredation. Dismay and incessant disquietude spread +through all quarters of the waterside. Light cruisers make their way +above Reedy Island, fifty miles from the Capes of the Delaware; +coasting vessels are chased into the Severn River, over a hundred +miles above Hampton Roads; and a detachment appears even at the mouth +of the Patapsco, twelve miles from Baltimore. The destruction of bay +craft, and interruption of water traffic, show their effects in the +rise of marketing and fuel to double their usual prices. By May 1, all +intercourse by water was stopped, and Philadelphia was also cut off +from the lower Delaware. Both Philadelphia and Baltimore were now +severed from the sea, and their commerce destroyed, not to revive till +after the peace; while alarms, which the near future was to justify, +were felt for the land road which connected the two cities. As this +crossed the head waters of the Chesapeake, it was open to attack from +ships, which was further invited by deposits of goods in transit at +Elkton and Frenchtown. Fears for the safety of Norfolk were felt by +Captain Stewart, senior naval officer there. "When the means and force +of the enemy are considered, and the state of this place for defence, +it presents but a gloomy prospect for security."[22] Commodore Murray +from Philadelphia reports serious apprehensions, consternation among +the citizens, a situation daily more critical, and inadequate +provision for resistance.[23] There, as everywhere, the impotence of +the General Government has to be supplemented by local subscription +and local energy. + +At the same time, both northward and southward of these two great +estuaries, the approach of spring brought ever increasing enemies, big +and little, vexing the coasting trade; upon which, then as now, depended +largely the exchange of products between different sections of the +country. What it meant at that day to be reduced to communication by +land may be realized from a contemporary quotation: "Four wagons loaded +with dry goods passed to-day through Georgetown, South Carolina, for +Charleston, _forty-six days_ from Philadelphia."[24] Under the heading +"New Carrying Trade" a Boston paper announces on April 28 the arrival of +"a large number of teams from New Bedford with West India produce, and +four Pennsylvania wagons, seventeen days from Philadelphia."[25] "The +enemy has commenced his depredations on the coasting trade of the +Eastern States on a very extensive scale, by several ships and +sloops-of-war, and five or six active privateers. The United States brig +"Argus" cruises at the entrance of Long Island Sound for the protection +of trade, latterly jeopardized;"[26] a position from which she was soon +driven by an overwhelming force. Hull, now commanding at Portsmouth, +reports April 9, "several privateers on the Eastern coast, which have +been successful in cutting coasters out of several harbors east." May 7: +"A small force is indeed needed here; the enemy appear off the harbor +nearly every day. A few days since, a little east of this, they burnt +twelve coasters and chased several into this port."[27] The town is +defenceless. The Governor of Rhode Island laments to the Legislature +"the critical and exposed situation of our fellow-citizens in Newport, +who are frequently menaced by the ships and vessels about Point Judith"; +mentioning beside, "the burning of vessels in Narragansett Bay, and the +destruction of our coasting trade, which deprives us of the usual and +very necessary supplies of bread stuffs from other States."[28] The ship +"Maddox," blockaded for two or three months in the Chesapeake, escaped +in May, and reached Newport with five thousand barrels of flour. This is +said to have reduced the price by $2.50 in Boston, where it was ranging +at $17 to $18; while at Cadiz and Lisbon, thanks to British licenses +and heavy stocking in anticipation of war, it stood at $12 to $13. The +arrival at Machias of a captured British vessel, laden with wheat, was +hailed "as a seasonable supply for the starving inhabitants of the +eastward."[29] + + [Illustration: THE NEW CARRYING TRADE. + _Drawn by Stanley M. Arthurs._] + +Ships returning from abroad necessarily had to pass through the +cruisers which interrupted the coasting trade. "Many valuable vessels +arrive, making at times hairbreadth escapes." The trade of Baltimore +and Philadelphia is thrown back upon New York and Boston; but both of +these, and the eastern entrance of Long Island Sound, have hostile +squadrons before them. The letter-of-marque schooner "Ned" has +transmitted an experience doubtless undergone by many. Bound to +Baltimore, she arrived off the Chesapeake April 18, and was chased +away; tried to get into the Delaware on the 19th, but was headed off; +made for Sandy Hook, and was again chased. Finally, she tried the east +end of the Sound, and there made her way through four or five ships of +war, reaching New York April 24.[30] Of course, under such +circumstances trade rapidly dwindled. Only very fast and weatherly +vessels could hope to cope with the difficulties. Of these the +conspicuous type was the Baltimore schooner, which also had not too +many eggs in one basket. In the general deprivation of commerce a +lucky voyage was proportionately remunerative; but the high prices of +the successful venture were but the complement and reflection of +suffering in the community. The harbors, even of New York, became +crowded with unemployed shipping. + +This condition of things coastwise, supplemented by the activity of +American privateers, induced abnormal conditions of navigation in the +western Atlantic. The scanty success of Rodgers, Bainbridge, and the +"Chesapeake" have been noted; and it may be observed that there was a +great similarity in the directions taken by these and others. The Cape +Verdes, the equator between 24° and 30° west, the Guiana coast, the +eastern West Indies, Bermuda to Halifax, indicate a general line of +cruising; with which coincides substantially a project submitted by +Stewart, March 2, 1813, for a cruise by the "Constellation." These +plans were conceived with intelligent reference to known British +trade-routes; but, being met by the enemy with a rigid convoy system, +it was often hard to find a sail. The scattered American traders were +rapidly diminishing in numbers, retained in port as they arrived; and +it is noted that a British division of four vessels, returning to +Halifax after a four months' cruise between the Banks of Newfoundland +and Bermuda, have captured only one American.[31] An American +privateer, arriving at Providence after an absence of nearly four +months, "vexing the whole Atlantic," reports not seeing a single +enemy's merchant ship. Niles' return of prizes[32] to American +cruisers, national as well as privateers, gives three hundred and five +as the total for the first six months of the war; of which +seventy-nine only seem to have been taken distant from the home +shores. For the second six months, to June 30, 1813, the aggregate has +fallen to one hundred and fifty-nine, of which, as far as can be +probably inferred, ninety-one were captured in remote waters. +Comparing with the preceding and subsequent periods, we find here +evidently a time of transition, when American enterprise had not yet +aroused to the fact that British precaution in the Western Hemisphere +had made it necessary to seek prizes farther afield. + +In view of the incompleteness of the data it is difficult to state +more than broad conclusions. It seems fairly safe, however, to say +that after the winter of 1812-13 American commerce dwindled very +rapidly, till in 1814 it was practically annihilated; but that, prior +to Napoleon's downfall, the necessities of the British Government, and +the importunity of the British mercantile community, promoted a +certain collusive intercourse by licenses, or by neutrals, real or +feigned, between the enemy and the Eastern States of the Union, for +the exportation of American produce. This trade, from the reasons +which prompted it, was of course exempt from British capture. +Subsidiary to it, as a partial relief to the loss of the direct +American market, was fostered an indirect smuggling import from Great +Britain, by way of Halifax and Montreal, which conduced greatly to the +prosperity of both these places during the war, as it had during the +preceding periods of commercial restriction. It was to maintain this +contraband traffic, as well as to foster disaffection in an important +section of the Union, that the first extension of the commercial +blockade, issued by Warren from Bermuda, May 26, 1813, stopped short +of Newport; while the distinction thus drawn was emphasized, by +turning back vessels even with British licenses seeking to sail from +the Chesapeake. By this insidious action the commercial prosperity of +the country, so far as any existed, was centred about the Eastern +States. It was, however, almost purely local. Little relief reached +the Middle and South, which besides, as before mentioned, were thus +drained of specie, while their products lay idle in their stores. + +As regards relative captures made by the two belligerents, exact +numbers cannot be affirmed; but from the lists transmitted a fairly +correct estimate can be formed as to the comparative injury done in +this way. It must be remembered that such losses, however grievous in +themselves, and productive of individual suffering, have by no means +the decisive effect produced by the stoppage of commerce, even though +such cessation involves no more than the retention in harbor of the +belligerent's ships, as the Americans were after 1812, or as had been +the case during Jefferson's embargo of 1808. As that measure and its +congeners failed in their object of bringing the British Government to +terms, by deprivation of commerce, the pecuniary harm done the United +States by them was much greater than that suffered in the previous +years from the arbitrary action of Great Britain. She had seized, it +was alleged, as many as nine hundred and seventeen American +vessels,[33] many of which were condemned contrary to law, while the +remainder suffered loss from detention and attendant expenses; but +despite all this the commercial prosperity was such that the +commercial classes were averse to resenting the insults and injury. It +was the agricultural sections of the country, not the commercial, +which forced on the war. + +Niles' Register has transmitted a careful contemporary compilation of +American captures, in closing which the editor affirmed that in the +course of the war he had examined not less than ten, perhaps twelve, +thousand columns of ship news, rejecting all prizes not accounted for +by arrival or destruction. It is unlikely that data complete as he +used are now attainable, even if an increase of accuracy in this point +were worth the trouble of the search. Up to May 1, 1813, he records +four hundred and eleven captures, in which are included the British +ships of war as well as merchantmen; not a very material addition. The +British Naval Chronicle gives the prize lists of the various British +admirals. From these may be inferred in the same period at least three +hundred seizures of American merchant vessels. Among these are a good +many Chesapeake Bay craft, very small. This excludes privateers, but +not letters-of-marque, which are properly cargo ships. Both figures +are almost certainly underestimates; but not improbably the proportion +of four to three is nearly correct. Granting, however, that the +Americans had seized four British ships for every three lost by +themselves, what does the fact establish as regards the effect upon +the commerce of the two peoples? Take the simple report of a British +periodical in the same month of May, 1813: "We are happy to announce +the arrival of a valuable fleet from the West Indies, consisting of +two hundred and twenty-six sail, under convoy of the "Cumberland," +seventy-four, and three other ships of war."[34] This one fleet among +many, safely entering port, numbers more than half of their total +losses in the twelvemonth. Contrast this relative security with the +experience of the "Ned," cited a few pages back, hunted from headland +to headland on her home coast, and slipping in--a single ship by +dexterous management--past foes from whom no countryman can pretend to +shield her. + +Even more mortifying to Americans, because under their very eyes, in +sharp contrast to their sufferings, was the prosperity of Halifax and +Canada. Vexed though British commerce was by the daring activity of +American cruisers, the main streams continued to flow; diminished in +volume, but not interrupted. The closure of American harbors threw +upon the two ports named the business of supplying American products +to the British forces, the British West Indies, and in measure to +Great Britain itself. The same reason fixed in them the deposit of +British goods, to be illicitly conveyed into the United States by the +smuggling that went on actively along the northern seacoast and land +frontier; a revival of the practices under the embargo of 1808. This +underground traffic was of course inadequate to compensate for that +lost by the war and the blockade; but it was quite sufficient to add +immensely to the prosperity of these places, the communications of +which with the sea were held open and free by the British navy, and in +which centred what was left from one of the most important branches of +British trade in the days of peace. Halifax, from its position on the +sea, was the chief gainer. The effects of the war on it were very +marked. Trade was active. Prices rose. Provisions were in great +demand, to the profit of agriculture and fisheries. Rents doubled and +trebled. The frequent arrival of prizes, and of ships of war going and +coming, added to the transactions, and made money plentiful.[35] + +Recalling the generalization already made, that the seacoast of the +United States was strictly a defensive frontier, it will be recognized +that the successive institution of the commercial blockades, first of +the Chesapeake and Delaware in March, and afterward of the whole coast +south of Newport, in May, were the offensive operations with which the +British initiated the campaign of 1813. These blockades were +supported, and their effects sustained and intensified, by an +accumulation of naval force entirely beyond the competition of the +American navy. In view of such overwhelming disparity, it was no +longer possible, as in 1812, by assembling a squadron, to impose some +measure of concentration upon the enemy, and thus to facilitate +egress and ingress. The movements of the British had passed wholly +beyond control. Their admiral was free to dispose his fleet as he +would, having care only not to hazard a detachment weaker than that in +the port watched. This was a condition perfectly easy of fulfilment +with the numbers under his command. As a matter of fact, his vessels +were distributed over the entire seacoast; and at every point, with +the possible exception of Boston, the division stationed was so strong +that escape was possible only by evasion, under cover of severe +weather conditions. + +Under such circumstances, the larger the ship the more difficult for +her to get out. As early as the middle of April, Captain Jones, +formerly of the "Wasp," and now commanding the "Macedonian" in New +York, reports that "both outlets are at present strongly blocked, but +I believe at dark of the moon we shall be able to pass without much +risk."[36] May 22, when a moon had come and gone, Decatur, still on +board the "United States," in company with which the "Macedonian" was +to sail, thinks it will be better to try the Sound route. "The last +gale, which promised the fairest opportunity for us to get out, ended +in light southerly winds, which continued till the blockading ships +had regained their stations."[37] A few days later, the attempt by the +Sound resulted in the two being driven into New London, where they +remained to the close of the war. The only offensive operation by sea +open to the United States, the destruction of the enemy's commerce, +fell therefore to the smaller cruisers and privateers, the size and +numbers of which combined to make it impossible to restrain them all. + +For defensive measures the seaboard depended upon such fortifications +as existed, everywhere inadequate, but which either the laxness or the +policy of the British commander did not attempt to overcome in the +case of the seaports, narrowly so called. The wide-mouthed estuaries +of the Chesapeake and Delaware, entrance to which could not thus be +barred, bore, therefore, the full brunt of hostile occupation and +widespread harassment. In this there may have been deliberate +intention, as well as easy adoption of the readiest means of +annoyance. The war, though fairly supported in the middle section of +the Union, was essentially a Southern and Western measure. Its most +strenuous fomenters came from those parts, and the administration was +Virginian. The President himself had been identified with the entire +course of Jefferson's commercial retaliation, and general policy +toward Great Britain during twelve years past. It is impossible for +land forces alone to defend against naval aggression a region like the +Chesapeake, with its several great, and numerous small, streams +penetrating the country in every direction; and matters are not helped +when the defendants are loosely organized militia. The water in such a +case offers a great central district, with interior lines, in the +hands of a power to which belongs the initiative, with an overpowering +mobile force, able at any moment to appear where it will in superior +strength. + +No wonder then that the local journals of the day speak of continual +watchfulness, which from the present organization of the militia is +exceedingly toilsome, and of no little derangement to the private +affairs of the people.[38] The enemy spreads in every direction; and, +although the alarm caused much exceeds the injury done, disquietude is +extreme and universal. "Applications from various quarters are +constantly pouring in upon us," wrote a Governor of Maryland to the +President; "and as far as our very limited means will enable us we are +endeavoring to afford protection. But we have not arms and ammunition +to supply the demands of every section of the State; the unavoidable +expense of calling out the militia for its protection would greatly +exceed the ability of the State government. The capital of the State +[which was three miles from the bay, on a navigable river] has not +sufficient force for its protection. By the Constitution of the United +States, the common defence is committed to the National Government, +which is to protect each State against invasion, and to defray all +necessary expenses of a national war; and to us it is a most painful +reflection that after every effort we have made, or can make, for the +security of our fellow-citizens and of their property, they have +little to rely on but the possible forbearance of the enemy."[39] The +process of reaping what has been sowed is at times extremely +unpleasant. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[1] Captains' Letters. Navy Department. + +[2] Ibid., Bainbridge, Oct. 13, 1812. + +[3] Niles' Register, vol. iv. p. 25. + +[4] Bainbridge's report is in the Captains' Letters. Navy Department, +Jan. 3, 1813. It will be found also in Niles' Register, vol. iii. p. +410. Both give extracts from Bainbridge's journal, which is very full on +the subject of manoeuvres and times. The British account will be found +in the Naval Chronicle, vol. xxix. pp. 403-408, from which the plan of +the battle is copied. + +[5] James' Naval History, edition 1824, vol. v. p. 313. + +[6] Bainbridge in a private letter speaks of the men looking forward to +prize money for the "Guerrière" on their return. Niles' Register, vol. +iii. p. 411. + +[7] Lawrence's Report of these transactions is in Captains' Letters, +March 19, 1813. It will be found also in Niles' Register, vol. iv. p. +84. + +[8] Naval Chronicle, vol. xxviii. p. 305. + +[9] Admiralty to Warren, British Records Office. + +[10] Niles' Register, vol. iii. p. 383. + +[11] Captains' Letters. + +[12] Niles' Register, vol. iv. p. 159. The Admiralty's letter to Warren +to institute this blockade is dated March 25. British Records Office. + +[13] Niles' Register, vol. v. p. 264. + +[14] Naval Chronicle, vol. xxxi. p. 464. + +[15] Naval Chronicle, vol. xxxi. p. 475. + +[16] Captains' Letters. + +[17] American State Papers, Naval Affairs, vol. i. p. 280. + +[18] Captain Evans' Report, April 10, 1813. Captains' Letters. + +[19] Captains' Letters. + +[20] Ibid, Dec. 17, 1812. + +[21] Niles' Register, vol. iv. p. 119. Naval Chronicle, vol. xxix. p. +501. + +[22] March 17, 1813. Captains' Letters. + +[23] March 17, 18, and 21. Ibid. + +[24] Niles' Register, vol. iv. p. 222. + +[25] Columbian Centinel. + +[26] Niles' Register, vol. iv. p. 117. + +[27] Captains' Letters. + +[28] Message of the Governor of Rhode Island, May 5, 1813. + +[29] Niles' Register, vol. iv. pp. 200, 209. There were reported in +Cadiz at this time 160,000 barrels of flour, unsold. The Columbian +Centinel (Feb. 17) speaks of the Lisbon market as deplorable. + +[30] Niles' Register, vol. iv. p. 150. + +[31] Niles' Register, vol. iv. p. 101. + +[32] Ibid., p. 117. + +[33] American State Papers, Foreign Relations, vol. iii. p. 584. France +in the same period had seized five hundred and fifty-eight. + +[34] Naval Chronicle, vol. xxix. p. 497. The following extract from an +American journal may have interest as indicating the extent of the +British convoy movement. "American brig 'Hazard,' arrived at New York +from Madeira, June 5, reports: 'April 11, arrived at Funchal the outward +bound East India and Brazil fleets, forty sail, under convoy. Sailed +April 12. April 21, arrived outward bound Cork fleet, one hundred and +eighty sail convoyed by a seventy-four, a frigate, and a sloop.' April +30, sailed from Jamaica, three hundred merchantmen, under convoy of a +seventy-four, two frigates and a sloop." (Columbian Centinel, of Boston, +June 9, 1813.) + +[35] Murdoch's History of Nova Scotia, vol. iii. p. 351. + +[36] Captains' Letters, April 13, 1813. + +[37] Ibid., May 22. + +[38] Niles' Register, vol. iv. p. 134. + +[39] Letter of Governor Winder, April 26, 1813. Niles' Register, vol. +iv. p. 204. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +CAMPAIGN OF 1813 ON THE LAKE FRONTIER, TO THE BATTLE OF +LAKE ERIE + + +In April, 1813, on the land frontier of the north and west, no +substantial change had taken place in the conditions which gave to the +United States the power of the offensive. Such modification as +Chauncey's energy had effected was to strengthen superiority, by +promising ultimate control of the upper and lower lakes. The British +had not been idle; but the greater natural difficulties under which +they labored, from less numerous population and less advanced +development of the country and its communications, together with a +greater severity of climate, had not been compensated by a naval +direction similar to that exercised by the American commodore and his +efficient second, Perry. Sir John Warren had been ordered to pay +attention to the lakes, the naval service of which was placed under +his charge. This added to his responsibilities, and to the drain upon +his resources of men and materials; but, with an oversight already +extending from Halifax to Jamaica and Barbados, he could do little for +the lakes, beyond meeting requisitions of the local authorities and +furnishing a draft of officers. Among those sent from his fleet was +Captain Barclay, who commanded the British squadron in Perry's action. + +The Admiralty, meantime, had awaked to the necessity of placing +preparations and operations under competent naval guidance, if command +of the water was to be secured. For that purpose they selected Captain +Sir James Lucas Yeo, a young officer of much distinction, just turned +thirty, who was appointed to the general charge of the lake service, +under Warren. Leaving England in March, accompanied by a body of +officers and seamen, Yeo did not reach Kingston until May 15, 1813, +when the campaign was already well under way; having been begun by +Dearborn and Chauncey April 24. His impressions on arrival were +discouraging. He found the squadron in a weak state, and the enemy +superior in fact and in promise. They had just succeeded in burning at +York a British vessel intended for thirty guns, and they had, besides, +vessels building at Sackett's Harbor. He had set to work, however, +getting his force ready for action, and would go out as soon as +possible to contest the control of Ontario; for upon that depended the +tenure of Upper Canada.[40] Barclay, upon the arrival of his superior, +was sent on to Amherstburg, to fulfil upon Erie the same relation to +Yeo that Perry did to Chauncey. + +It had been clearly recognized by the American authorities that any +further movement for the recapture of Detroit and invasion of Canada +would depend upon the command of Lake Erie; and that that in turn +would depend largely upon mastery of Ontario. In fact, the nearer the +sea control over the water communications could be established, the +more radical and far-reaching the effect produced. For this reason, +Montreal was the true objective of American effort, but the +Government's attention from the first had centred upon the +northwestern territory; upon the extremity of the enemy's power, +instead of upon its heart. Under this prepossession, despite adequate +warning, it had persisted in the course of which Hull's disaster was +the outcome; and now, though aroused by this stunning humiliation, its +understanding embraced nothing beyond the Great Lakes. Clear +indication of this narrow outlook is to be found in the conditions on +Lake Champlain, the natural highway to Canada. Only the scantiest +mention is to be found of naval preparation there, because actually +little was being done; and although the American force was momentarily +superior, it was so simply because the British, being in Canada wholly +on the defensive, and therefore obliged to conform to American +initiative, contemplated no use of this lake, the mastery of which, +nevertheless, was soon afterward thrown into their hands by a +singularly unfortunate occurrence. + +Dearborn, who still remained in chief command of the armies on the New +York frontier, was therefore directed to concentrate his effort upon +Ontario, starting from Sackett's Harbor as a base. Chauncey, whose +charge extended no farther than the upper rapids of the St. Lawrence, +had of course no other interest. His first plan, transmitted to the +Navy Department January 21, 1813,[41] had been to proceed immediately +upon the opening of navigation, with the fleet and a land force of a +thousand picked troops, against Kingston, the capture of which, if +effected, would solve at a single stroke every difficulty in the upper +territory. No other harbor was tenable as a naval station; with its +fall, and the destruction of shipping and forts, would go the control +of the lake, even if the place itself were not permanently held. +Deprived thus of the water communications, the enemy could retain no +position to the westward, because neither re-enforcements nor supplies +could reach them. To quote Chauncey's own words, "I have no doubt we +should succeed in taking or destroying their ships and forts, and, of +course, preserve our ascendency on this lake." + +This remark, though sound, was narrow in scope; for it failed to +recognize, what was perfectly knowable, that the British support of +the Lake Erie stations and the upper country depended on their power +to control, or at worst to contest, Ontario. Of this they themselves +were conscious, as the words of Yeo and Brock alike testify. The new +American Secretary of War, Armstrong, who was a man of correct +strategical judgment and considerable military information, entered +heartily into this view; and in a letter dated February 10 +communicated to Dearborn the orders of the President for his +operations, based upon the Secretary's recommendation.[42] Four +thousand men were to be assembled at Sackett's, and three thousand at +Buffalo. The former, under convoy of the fleet, was to proceed first +against Kingston, then against York (Toronto). After this the two +corps should co-operate in an attack to be made upon the British +Niagara frontier, which rested upon Fort George on the Ontario shore, +and Fort Erie upon Lake Erie. This plan was adopted upon the +assumption, which was probably correct, that the enemy's entire +military force upon Ontario did not exceed twenty-one hundred regular +troops, of whom six hundred were at Kingston and twelve hundred at +Niagara. Armstrong, who recognized the paramount importance of +Montreal, had received the exaggerated impression that there might be +in that neighborhood eight to ten thousand regulars. There were not +yet nearly that number in all Canada;[43] but he was perhaps correct +in thinking that the provision for the offensive, which he had found +upon taking office a few weeks before, was insufficient for an advance +in that quarter. + +Dearborn very soon discovered objections to proceeding against +Kingston, in his own estimates of the enemy's numbers, based upon +remarkable reports received from sources "entitled to full credit." +On March 3 he was satisfied that from six to eight thousand men had +been assembled there from Quebec, Montreal, and Upper Canada; while +the presence of Sir George Prevost, the Governor General, and +commander-in-chief in Canada, who had seized an opportunity to make a +hurried visit to Kingston to assure himself as to the progress of the +ships building, convinced the American general that an attack upon +Sackett's was contemplated.[44] From that time forward Dearborn +realized in his own person the process of making pictures to one's +self concerning a military situation, against which Napoleon uttered a +warning. Chauncey was more sceptical, although he could not very well +avoid attention to the reports brought in. He expresses himself as +believing that a considerable number of men had been assembled in +Kingston, but that their real object was to proceed against Harrison +in the Far West.[45] + +There seems to have been no foundation for any of these alarms. +Prevost was a soldier of good reputation, but wanting in initiative, +audacity, and resolution, as the current war was to prove. His +presence at Kingston at this moment was simply one incident in a rapid +official visit to the upper military posts, extending as far as +Niagara, and accomplished in four weeks; for, leaving Quebec February +17, he was again writing from there on the 17th of March. As far as +can be deduced from his correspondence, four companies of regulars had +preceded him from Montreal to Kingston, and there may very well have +been a gathering of local forces for inspection or otherwise; but no +re-enforcements of regulars, other than that just mentioned, reached +Kingston from down the river before May. Dearborn never renounced his +belief in the meditated attack, though finally satisfied that it was +abandoned; and his positive reports as to the enemy's numbers wrung +from Armstrong acquiescence in a change of plan, by which York, and +not Kingston, should be the first object of the campaign.[46] + +Chauncey, who had some sound military ideas, as his first plan showed, +was also brought round to this conclusion by a process of reasoning +which he developed in a second plan of operations, submitted March +18,[47] but evidently long since matured. It apparently antedates +Dearborn's apprehensions, and is not affected by them, though the two +worked together to a common mistaken decision. The commodore's letter +presents an interesting study, in its demonstration of how an +erroneous first conception works out to false conclusions, and in the +particular instance to ultimate military disaster. The capture of +Kingston, his first plan, and its retention, which Armstrong purposed, +would have settled the whole campaign and affected decisively the +issue of the war. Chauncey's new project is dominated throughout by +the view, which was that of the Government, that the great object of +the war was to control the northwestern territory by local operations, +instead of striking at the source of British power in its +communication with the sea. At this moment, the end of March, the +British naval force on Ontario was divided between York and Kingston; +in each were vessels afloat and vessels building. An attack upon +Kingston, Chauncey said, no doubt would be finally successful--an +initial admission which gave away his case; but as the opposing force +would be considerable, it would protract the general operations of the +campaign--the reduction of the northwest--longer than would be +advisable, particularly as large re-enforcements would probably +arrive at Quebec in the course of two months. On the other hand, to +proceed against York, which probably could be carried immediately, +would result in destroying at once a large fraction of the British +fleet, greatly weakening the whole body. Thence the combined Americans +would turn against Fort George and the Niagara line. If successful +here, the abandonment of Fort Erie by the British would release the +American vessels which by its guns were confined at Black Rock. They +would sail forth and join their consorts at Erie; which done, +Chauncey, leaving his Ontario fleet to blockade Yeo at Kingston, would +go to the upper lake and carry against the British the squadron thus +concentrated there, would co-operate with the army under General +Harrison, recover Detroit, and capture Malden. Lake Erie and its +surroundings would thus become an American holding. After this, it +would be but a step to reconquer Michilimackinac, thereby acquiring an +influence over the Indians which, in conjunction with military and +naval preponderance, would compel the enemy to forsake the upper +country altogether, and concentrate his forces about Kingston and +Montreal. + +It is interesting to see an elaborate piece of serious reasoning +gradually culminate in a _reductio ad absurdum_; and Chauncey's +reasoning ends in a military absurdity. The importance of Kingston is +conceded by him, and the probability of capturing it at the first is +admitted. Thereupon follows a long project of operation, which ends in +compelling the enemy to concentrate all his strength at the very +points--Kingston and Montreal--which it is most important for the +Americans to gain; away from which, therefore, they should seek to +keep the enemy, and not to drive him in upon them. This comes from the +bias of the Government, and of the particular officer, regarding the +Northwestern territory as the means whereby success was to be +accomplished instead of merely the end to be attained. To make the +Western territory and control of the Indians the objects of the +campaign was a political and military motive perfectly allowable, and +probably, in view of recent history, extremely necessary; but to make +these things the objective of operations was to invert the order of +proceedings, as one who, desiring to fell a tree, should procure a +ladder and begin cutting off the outermost branches, instead of +striking at the trunk by the ground. + +Eighteen months later Chauncey wrote some very wise words in this +spirit. "It has always been my opinion that the best means to conquer +Canada was to cut off supplies from Lower to Upper by taking and +maintaining some position on the St. Lawrence. That would be killing +the tree by girdling; the branches, dependent on ordinary supplies, +die of necessity. But it is now attempted to kill the tree by lopping +off branches" [he is speaking of the Niagara campaign of 1814]; "the +body becomes invigorated by reducing the demands on its +resources."[48] By this time Chauncey had been chastened by +experience. He had seen his anticipated glory reaped on Lake Erie by +his junior. He had seen the control of Ontario contested, and finally +wrung from him, by vessels built at Kingston, the place which he had +failed to take when he thought it possible. He had been blockaded +during critical months by a superior squadron; and at the moment of +writing, November 5, 1814, Sir James Yeo was moving, irresistible, +back and forth over the waters of Ontario, with his flag flying in a +ship of 102 guns, built at Kingston. In short, the Canadian tree was +rooted in the ocean, where it was nourished by the sea power of Great +Britain. To destroy it, failing the ocean navy which the United States +had not, the trunk must be severed; the nearer the root the better. + +Demonstration of these truths was not long in coming, and will be +supplied by the narrative of events. When Chauncey penned the plan of +operations just analyzed, there were in York two vessels, the "Prince +Regent" of twenty guns, the "Duke of Gloucester," sixteen, and two--by +his information--on the stocks. On April 14 the ice in Sackett's +Harbor broke up, though large floes still remained in the lake. On the +19th these also had disappeared. Eighteen hundred troops were embarked +by the squadron, and on the 24th the expedition started, but was +driven back by heavy weather. The next day it got away finally, and on +the early morning of the 27th appeared off York. The troops were +landed westward of the town, and proceeded to attack, supported by the +shipping. The enemy, inferior in number, retired; the small regular +force making its escape, with the exception of fifty who surrendered +with the militia present. The American loss, army and navy, was a +little over three hundred; among whom was General Pike, an excellent +soldier, who commanded the landing and was mortally wounded by the +explosion of a magazine. The "Duke of Gloucester" schooner was taken, +but the "Prince Regent" had gone to Kingston three days before; the +weather which drove Chauncey back had enabled her to join her fleet as +soon as released by the ice. By her escape the blow lost most of its +effect; for York itself was indefensible, and was taken again without +difficulty in the following July. A 30-gun vessel approaching +completion was found on the stocks and burned, and a large quantity of +military and naval stores were either destroyed or brought away by the +victorious squadron. These losses were among the news that greeted +Yeo's arrival; but, though severe, they were not irreparable, as +Chauncey for the moment imagined. He wrote: "I believe that the enemy +has received a blow that he cannot recover, and if we succeed in our +next enterprise, which I see no reason to doubt, we may consider the +upper province as conquered."[49] The mistake here was soon to be +evident. + +No time was wasted at York. The work of destruction, and of loading +what was to be carried away, was completed in three days, and on May 1 +the troops were re-embarked, to sail for Fort George on the morrow. +The wind, which for some days had been fair and moderate from the +eastward, then came on to blow a gale which would make landing +impossible off Niagara, and even navigation dangerous for the small +vessels. This lasted through the 7th, Chauncey writing on that day +that they were still riding with two anchors ahead and lower yards +down. So crowded were the ships that only half the soldiers could be +below at one time; hence they were exposed to the rain, and also to +the fresh-water waves, which made a clean breach over the schooners. +Under such circumstances both troops and seamen sickened fast. On the +8th, the weather moderating, the squadron stood over to Fort Niagara, +landed the troops for refreshment, and then returned to Sackett's; it +being thought that the opportunity for surprise had been lost, and +that no harm could come of a short further delay, during which also +re-enforcements might be expected. + +Soon after his return Chauncey sent a flag of truce to Kingston. This +made observations as to the condition of the enemy which began to +dispel his fair illusions.[50] His purpose to go in person to Niagara +was postponed; and despatching thither the squadron with troops, he +remained at Sackett's to protect the yard and the ships building, in +co-operation with the garrison. His solicitude was not misplaced. +Niagara being a hundred and fifty miles from Sackett's, the fleet and +army had been committed to a relatively distant operation, depending +upon a main line of communication,--the lake,--on the flank and rear +of which, and close to their own inadequately protected base, was a +hostile arsenal, Kingston, harboring a naval force quite able to +compete with their own. The danger of such a situation is obvious to +any military man, and even to a layman needs only to be indicated. +Nevertheless the enterprise was launched, and there was nothing for it +now but to proceed on the lines laid down. + +Chauncey accordingly sailed May 22, re-enforcements of troops for the +defence of Sackett's having meantime arrived. He did not reach Niagara +until the 25th. The next day was spent in reconnoissances, and other +preparations for a landing on the lake shore, a short mile west of +Fort George. On the 27th, at 9 A.M., the attack began, covered by the +squadron. General Vincent, in command of the British Niagara frontier, +moved out to meet his enemy with the entire force near Fort George, +leaving only a small garrison of one hundred and thirty men to hold +the post itself. There was sharp fighting at the coast-line; but +Vincent's numbers were much inferior, and he was compelled steadily to +give ground, until finally, seeing that the only alternatives were the +destruction of his force or the abandonment of the position, he sent +word to the garrison to spike the guns, destroy the ammunition, and to +join his column as it withdrew. He retreated along the Niagara River +toward Queenston, and thence west to Beaver Dam, about sixteen miles +from Fort George. At the same time word was sent to the officers +commanding at Fort Erie, and the intermediate post of Chippewa, to +retire upon the same place, which had already been prepared in +anticipation of such an emergency. The three divisions were thus in +simultaneous movement, converging upon a common point of +concentration, where they all assembled during the night; the whole, +as reported by Vincent to his superior, now not exceeding sixteen +hundred.[51] The casualties during the day's fighting had been +heavy, over four hundred killed and wounded; but in the retreat no +prisoners were lost except the garrison of the fort, which was +intercepted. Dearborn, as before at York, had not landed with his +troops; prevented, doubtless, by the infirmities of age increasing +upon him. Two days later he wrote to the Department, "I had presumed +that the enemy would confide in the strength of his position and +venture an action, by which an opportunity would be afforded to cut +off his retreat."[52] This guileless expectation, that the net may be +spread not in vain before the eyes of any bird, provoked beyond +control such measure of equanimity as Armstrong possessed. Probably +suspecting already that his correct design upon Kingston had been +thwarted by false information, he retorted: "I cannot disguise from +you the _surprise_ occasioned by the _two escapes of a beaten enemy_; +first on May 27, and again on June 1. Battles are not gained, when an +inferior and broken enemy is not destroyed. Nothing is done, while +anything that might have been done is omitted."[53] Vincent was unkind +enough to disappoint his opponent. The morning after the engagement he +retired toward a position at the head of the lake, known then as +Burlington Heights, where the town of Hamilton now stands. Upon his +tenure here the course of operations turned twice in the course of the +next six months. + + [Illustration: MAP OF NIAGARA PENINSULA] + +While Vincent was in retreat upon Burlington, Captain Barclay arrived +at his headquarters, on the way to take charge of the Lake Erie +squadron;[54] having had to coast the north shore of Ontario, on +account of the American control of the water. The inopportuneness of +the moment was prophetic of the numberless disappointments with which +the naval officer would have to contend during the brief three months +preceding his defeat by Perry. "The ordnance, ammunition, and other +stores for the service on Lake Erie," wrote Prevost on July 20, with +reference to Barclay's deficiencies, "had been deposited at York for +the purpose of being transported to Amherstburg, but unfortunately +were either destroyed or fell into the enemy's hands when York was +taken by them; and the subsequent interruption to the communication, +by their occupation of Fort George, has rendered it extremely +difficult to afford the supplies Captain Barclay requires, which, +however, are in readiness to forward whenever circumstances will +permit it to be done with safety."[55] The road from Queenston to Fort +Erie, around Niagara Falls, was the most used and the best line of +transportation, because the shortest. To be thrown off it to that from +Burlington to Long Point was a serious mishap for a force requiring +much of heavy and bulky supplies. To add to these more vital +embarrassments, the principal ship, the "Queen Charlotte," which had +been lying at Fort Erie, had been ordered by Vincent to leave there +when the place was evacuated, and to go to Amherstburg, thus giving +Barclay the prospect of a land journey of two hundred miles through +the wilderness to his destination. Fortunately for him, a vessel +turned up at Long Point, enabling him to reach Amherstburg about June +7. + +The second step in Chauncey's programme had now been successfully +taken, and the vessels at Black Rock were free to move. With an energy +and foresight which in administration seldom forsook him, he had +prepared beforehand to seize even a fleeting opportunity to get them +out. Immediately upon the fall of York, "to put nothing to hazard, I +directed Mr. Eckford to take thirty carpenters to Black Rock, where he +has gone to put the vessels lying there in a perfect state of repair, +ready to leave the river for Presqu' Isle the moment we are in +possession of the opposite shore." Perry also was on hand, being +actively engaged in the landing at Fort George; and the same evening, +May 27, he left for Black Rock to hasten the departure. The process +involved great physical labor, the several vessels having to be +dragged by oxen against the current of the Niagara, here setting +heavily toward the falls. It was not until June 12 that they were all +above the rapids, and even this could not have been accomplished but +for soldiers furnished by Dearborn.[56] The circumstance shows how +hopeless the undertaking would have been if the enemy had remained in +Fort Erie. Nor was this the only peril in their path. Barclay, with +commendable promptitude, had taken the lake in superior force very +shortly after his arrival at Amherstburg, and about June 15 appeared +off Erie [Presqu' Isle]. Having reconnoitred the place, he cruised +between it and Black Rock, to intercept the expected division; but the +small vessels, coasting the beach, passed their adversary unseen in a +fog,[57] and on June 18 reached the port. As Chauncey had reported on +May 29 that the two brigs building there were launched, affairs on +that lake began to wear a promising aspect. The Lakes station as a +whole, however, was still very short of men; and the commodore added +that if none arrived before his approaching return to Sackett's, he +would have to lay up the Ontario fleet to man that upon Erie. + +To do this would have been to abandon to the enemy the very important +link in the communications, upon which chiefly depended the +re-enforcement and supplies for both armies on the Niagara peninsula. +The inherent viciousness of the plan upon which the American +operations were proceeding was now quickly evident. At the very moment +of the attack upon Fort George, a threatening but irresolute movement +against Sackett's was undertaken by Prevost, with the co-operation of +Yeo, by whom the attempt is described as a diversion, in consequence +of the enemy's attack upon Fort George. Had the place fallen, Chauncey +would have lost the ship then building, on which he was counting to +control the water; he would have had nowhere to rest his foot except +his own quarter-deck, and no means to repair his fleet or build the +new vessels continually needed to maintain superiority. The case of +Yeo dispossessed of Kingston would have been similar, but worse; for +land transport in the United States was much better than in Canada. +The issue of the war, as regarded the lakes and the Northwestern +territory, lay in those two places. Upon them depended offensive and +defensive action. + +At the time of the attack upon Sackett's only two vessels of the +squadron were there, the senior officer of which, Lieutenant Chauncey, +was in momentary command of the navy yard as well. The garrison +consisted of four hundred regular troops, the coming of whom a week +before had enabled Chauncey to leave for Niagara. Dearborn had already +written to Major-General Jacob Brown, of the New York militia, asking +him to take command of the station; for which his local knowledge +particularly fitted him, as he was a resident of some years' standing. +He had moreover manifested marked military capacity on the St. +Lawrence line, which was under his charge. Brown, whose instincts were +soldierly, was reluctant to supersede Colonel Backus, the officer of +regulars in command; but a letter from the latter received on the +27th, asking him to take charge, determined his compliance. When he +arrived five hundred militia had assembled. + +The British expedition left Kingston with a fine fair wind on the +early morning of May 27--the same day that the Americans were landing +at Fort George. The whole fleet accompanied the movement, having +embarked troops numbering over seven hundred; chiefly regulars. At +noon they were off Sackett's Harbor. Prevost and Yeo stood in to +reconnoitre; but in the course of an hour the troops, who were already +in the boats, ready to pull to the beach, were ordered to re-embark, +and the squadron stood out into the lake. The only result so far was +the capture of twelve out of nineteen American barges, on their way +from Oswego to the Harbor. The other seven gained the port. + +During the next thirty-six hours militia kept coming in, and Brown +took command. Sackett's Harbor is an indentation on the south side of +a broad bay, called Black River Bay, into which the Black River +empties. The harbor opens eastward; that is, its back is toward the +lake, from which it is distant a little over a mile; and its north +side is formed by a long narrow point, called Navy Point, on which was +the naval establishment. Where Black River Bay meets the lake, its +south shore is prolonged to the west by a projection called Horse +Island, connected with the land by a fordable neck. Brown expected the +landing to be made upon this, and he decided to meet the attack at the +water's edge of the mainland, as the enemy crossed the neck. There he +disposed his five hundred militia, placing the regulars under Backus +in a second line; a steadying point in case the first line of +untrained men failed to stand firm. It was arranged that, if the enemy +could not be resisted, Lieutenant Chauncey was to set fire to the +naval stores and shipping, and cross with his crews to the south side +of the harbor, east of a work called Fort Volunteer, where Brown +proposed to make his final stand. From there, although an enemy at the +yard could be molested, he could not certainly be prevented from +carrying off stores or ships; hence the necessity for destruction. + + [Illustration: SURROUNDINGS OF SACKETT'S HARBOR] + +The British landed upon Horse Island soon after daylight of May 29, +and from there advanced. The militia met them with a volley, but then +broke and fled, as had been foreseen by Brown, himself yet a militia +officer. Their colonel behaved gallantly, and was killed in trying to +rally his men; while Brown in person, collecting a hundred of the +fugitives, worked round with them to the left flank of the approaching +British. These, moving through the woods, now encountered Backus and +his regulars, who made upon them an impression of overwhelming +numbers, to which the British official report bears a vivid testimony. +The failure to carry the place is laid by this paper upon the light +and adverse winds, which prevented the co-operation of the squadron's +heavy guns, to reduce the batteries and blockhouse. Without this +assistance, it was impracticable to carry by assault the works in +which the Americans had taken refuge. The gunboats alone could get +within range, and their small carronades were totally inadequate to +make any impression on the forts and blockhouses. "The troops were +reluctantly ordered to leave a beaten enemy." Brown makes no mention +of this retreat into the works, though it appears clear that the +Americans fell gradually back to their support; but he justifies +Prevost's withdrawal, bitterly criticised by writers of his own +nation, in the words, "Had not General Prevost retreated most rapidly +under the guns of his vessels, he would never have returned to +Kingston."[58] + +In the midst of the action word was brought to Lieutenant Chauncey +that the battle was lost, and that the yard must be fired. Brown, in +his official report, expressly acquitted him of blame, with words of +personal commendation. The two schooners in commission had retreated +up Black River; but the prize "Duke of Gloucester," and the ship +approaching completion, were fired. Fortunately, the flames were +extinguished before serious damage was done; but when Commodore +Chauncey returned on June 1, he found that among a large quantity of +materials consumed were the stores and sails of the new ship. The loss +of these he thought would delay the movements of the squadron three +weeks; for without her Yeo's force was now superior.[59] + + [Illustration: THE RETREAT OF THE BRITISH FROM SACKETT'S HARBOR. + _Drawn by Henry Reuterdahl._] + +The defence of Sackett's Harbor obtained immediately for Brown, who +was just thirty-eight, the commission of brigadier general in the +army; for the new Secretary, Armstrong, was looking round anxiously +for men to put in command, and was quick to seize upon one when he +found him. To Chauncey, on the other hand, the affair in its +consequences and demonstration of actualities was a rude awakening, to +which his correspondence during the succeeding six weeks bears witness +by an evident waning of confidence, not before to be noted. On June 4 +he tells the Secretary of the Navy that he has on Ontario, exclusive +of the new ship not yet ready, fourteen vessels of every description, +mounting sixty-two guns; whereas Yeo has seven, which, with six +gunboats, carry one hundred and six. "If he leave Kingston, I shall +meet him. The result may be doubtful, but worth the trial." This +resolution is not maintained. June 11 he hears, with truth, that Yeo +was seen at the head of the lake on the 7th, and that the Americans at +Fort George had taken his squadron to be Chauncey's. By the same +channel he learns of a disastrous engagement of the army there, which +was likewise true. His impulse is to go out to meet the British +squadron; but he reflects that the enemy may then again find an +opportunity to descend upon Sackett's, and perhaps succeed in burning +the new ship. Her size and armament will, he thinks, give him the +decisive superiority. He therefore resolves to put nothing to hazard +till she is finished.[60] + +The impression produced by the late attack is obvious, and this +decision was probably correct; but Yeo too is building, and meantime +he has possession of the lake. On June 3 he left Kingston with a +squadron, two ships and four schooners, carrying some three hundred +troops for Vincent. On the evening of the 7th, about six o'clock, he +was sighted by the American army, which was then at Forty Mile Creek +on the Ontario shore; a position to which it had retired after a +severe reverse inflicted by the enemy thirty-six hours before. +Vincent's retreat had been followed as far as Stony Creek, ten miles +west of Forty Mile Creek, and somewhat less distant from Burlington +Heights, where the British lay. The situation of the latter was +extremely perilous; for, though strongly placed, they were greatly +outnumbered. In case of being driven from their lines, they must +retreat on York by a long and difficult road; and upon the same poor +communications they were dependent for supplies, unless their squadron +kept control of the lake. Recognizing that desperate conditions call +for desperate remedies, Vincent resolved to risk an attack with seven +hundred men under Colonel Harvey, in whose suggestion the movement +originated. These fell upon the American advance corps at two o'clock +in the morning of June 6. An hour of fighting ensued, with severe loss +on both sides; then Harvey, considering sufficient effect produced, +drew off his men before daylight revealed the smallness of their +numbers. + +There was in this affair nothing intrinsically decisive, scarcely more +than a business of outposts; but by a singular coincidence both +American generals present were captured in the confusion. The officer +who succeeded to the command, a colonel of cavalry, modestly +distrustful of his own powers, could think of nothing more proper than +to return to Forty Mile Creek, sending word to Fort George. Dearborn, +still too weak to go to the front, despatched thither General Morgan +Lewis. On his way Lewis was overtaken by two brief messages from the +commander-in-chief announcing the appearance of Yeo's fleet, and +indicating apprehension that by means of it Vincent might come upon +Fort George before the main army could fall back there. It was most +improbable that the British general, with the command of the lake in +doubt would thus place himself again in the position from which he had +with difficulty escaped ten days before; but Dearborn's fears for the +safety of the forts prevailed, and he ordered a retreat. The movement +began by noon of June 8, and in a few days the army was back at +Niagara River, having lost or abandoned a quantity of stores. The +British followed to within ten miles of the fort, where they took up a +position. They also reoccupied Beaver Dam; and a force of six hundred +Americans sent to dislodge them, under Colonel Boerstler, was +compelled to surrender on June 24.[61] Dearborn, who had already +reported to the Department that he personally was "so reduced in +strength as to be incapable of any command," attributed his +embarrassments "to the temporary loss of command of the lake. The +enemy has availed himself of the advantage and forwarded +re-enforcements and supplies." The effect of controlling the water +cannot be contested; but the conditions at Stony Creek were such that +it should have been possible to drive Vincent away from any hold on +the south shore of Ontario. Creditable as had been the enterprise of +Colonel Harvey, it had accomplished no change in material conditions. +Dearborn was soon afterward relieved. His officers, including Scott, +joined in a letter of regret and esteem, prompted doubtless by +sympathy for the sufferings and miscarriage of an aged officer who had +served gallantly in his youth during the War of Independence. + +To Colonel Harvey's attack, on the morning of June 6, a British +military critic has with justice assigned the turning of the tide in +the affairs of Upper Canada.[62] It is perfectly true that that +well-judged movement, admirable in conception and execution, checked +the progress of the American arms at a moment most favorable to them, +and put an end to conditions of advantage which never there recurred. +That this effect was produced, however, is attributable to the +inefficiency of the American officers in command. If Harvey had +divined this, from the previous operations, and made it a part of his +calculations, it is so much more to his credit; the competency of the +opponent is a chief factor to be considered in a military enterprise. +It detracts nothing from Harvey's merit to say that there was no +occasion for the American retreat, nor for the subsequent paralysis of +effort, which ended in expulsion from the Niagara peninsula at the end +of the year. "For some two months after this," wrote a very competent +eye-witness, afterward General Scott, "the army of Niagara, never less +than four thousand strong, stood fixed in a state of ignominy, under +Boyd, within five miles of an unintrenched enemy, with never more than +three thousand five hundred men."[63] Scott seems not to have known +that this inactivity was enjoined by the War Department till Chauncey +could resume control of the lake.[64] From this time, in fact, the +Niagara army and its plans disappear from the active operations. + +Yeo remained in undisputed mastery of the water. That the British at +this time felt themselves the stronger in effective force, may be +reasonably inferred from their continuing to keep the lake after +Chauncey's new ship was out. She was launched June 12, and named the +"General Pike," in honor of the officer killed at the taking of York. +Her armament was to be twenty-six long 24-pounders, which under some +circumstances would make her superior, not only to any single vessel, +but to any combination of vessels then under the British flag. If it +was still possible, by use of favoring conditions, to contend with the +American fleet after the addition to it of this ship, by so much more +was Yeo able to deal successfully with it before her coming. A +comparison of the armaments of the opposing forces also demonstrates +that, whatever Chauncey's duty might have been without such prospect, +he was justified, having this decisive advantage within reach, in +keeping his fleet housed waiting for its realization. The British new +vessel, the "Wolfe," with the "Royal George"[65] and the "Melville," +together threw a broadside weight of nine hundred and twenty +pounds,[66] to which the "Madison" and "Oneida" could oppose only six +hundred; and the batteries of all five being mainly carronades, there +are no qualifications to be made on the score of differing ranges. The +American schooners, though much more numerous than the British, in no +way compensated for this disparity, for reasons which will be given +when the narrative of operations begins. Unknown to Chauncey, the +vindication of his delay was to be found in Yeo's writing to the +Admiralty, that he was trying to induce the enemy to come out before +his new ship was ready. + +Disappointed in this endeavor, the British commodore meantime employed +his vessels in maintaining the communications of the British and +harassing those of the Americans, thus observing the true relation of +the lake to the hostilities. Mention has been made of the effect upon +Dearborn; morally, in the apprehension created, actually, in the +strength contributed to Vincent's army. "The enemy's fleet is +constantly hovering on the coast and interrupting our supplies," wrote +General Lewis, during Dearborn's incapacity. Besides incidental +mentions by American officers, Yeo himself reports the capture of two +schooners and boats loaded with stores June 13; and between that date +and the 19th he landed parties at the Genesee River and Great Sodus, +capturing or destroying a quantity of provisions. Transit between +Oswego and Sackett's was also in constant danger of an unexpected +interference by the British squadron. On June 20 it appeared off +Oswego, with apparent disposition to attack; but Yeo, who in his +exercise of chief command displayed a degree of caution remarkable in +view of his deservedly high reputation for dash acquired in less +responsible positions, did not pass beyond threat. All the same, the +mere uncertainty exercised a powerful influence on the maintenance of +intercourse. "If the schooners 'Lark' and 'Fly' are not now in +Sackett's," wrote Lieutenant Woolsey from Oswego, "they must have been +taken yesterday by the British boats. They were loaded with powder, +shot, and hospital stores for the army." He has also cordage, powder, +guns, cables, to send, and boats in which to ship them; but "under +existing circumstances I dare not take upon myself to send them +farther than to Sandy Creek, under strong guard. I think it would be +unsafe to venture round Stony Point [a projecting headland twelve +miles from Sackett's] without convoy or a good guard."[67] + +On July 2, having ranged the lake at will since June 1, Yeo returned +to Kingston, and Chauncey again began to hear rumors. "The fleet has +taken on board two thousand men, and two thousand more are to embark +in boats; an attack upon this place is the object. The plan is to make +a desperate push at our fleet before the 'General Pike' can be got +ready.... His real object may be to land re-enforcements near Fort +George, to act with General Vincent against Dearborn. If this be his +object, he will succeed in obliging our army to recross the Niagara +River;"[68] a damaging commentary on the American plan of campaign. +This fear, however, was excessive, for the reason that an effective +American army on the Niagara had a land line of communication, bad but +possible, alternative to the lake. The British had not. Moreover, the +Niagara peninsula had for them a value, as a land link between Ontario +and Erie, to which nothing corresponded on the United States side. Had +Vincent been driven from Burlington Heights, not only would he have +lost touch with the lake, and been forced back on York, but Ontario +would for the British have been entirely cut off from Erie. + +The "General Pike" was ready for service on July 20, and the following +evening Chauncey sailed. With this begins a period, extending over ten +or twelve weeks, which has no parallel in the naval lake history of +the war. It was unproductive of decisive results, and especially of +the one particular result which is the object of all naval action--the +destruction of the enemy's organized force, and the establishment of +one's own control of the water; nevertheless, the ensuing movements of +Yeo and Chauncey constituted a naval campaign of considerable +interest. Nothing resembling it occurred on either Lake Champlain or +Erie, and no similar condition recurred on Ontario. The fleets were +frequently in presence of each other, and three times came to blows. +On Erie and on Champlain the opposing forces met but once, and then +without any prolonged previous attempts at manoeuvring. They fought +immediately; the result in each case being an American victory, not +only complete but decisive, which has kept their remembrance alive to +this day in the national memory. On Ontario, after the close of the +season of 1813, the struggle resolved itself into a race of +ship-building; both parties endeavoring to maintain superiority by the +creation of ever-increasing numbers, instead of by crushing the enemy. +Such a contest sufficiently befits a period of peace; it is, for +instance, at this moment the condition of the great naval nations of +the world, each of which is endeavoring to maintain its place in the +naval scale by the constant production and development of material. In +war, however, the object is to put an end to a period of national +tension and expense by destroying the enemy; and the failure of the +commanders to effect this object calls for examination. + +The indecisive result on Ontario was due to the particular composition +of the two squadrons; to the absence of strong compelling conditions, +such as made fighting imperative on Barclay upon Erie, and perhaps +also on Downie upon Champlain; and finally, to the extreme wariness of +the commanders, each of whom was deeply impressed with the importance +of preserving his own fleet, in order not to sacrifice control of the +lake. Chauncey has depicted for us his frame of mind in instructions +issued at this very moment--July 14--to his subordinate, Perry. "The +first object will be to destroy or cripple the enemy's fleet; but in +all attempts upon the fleet you ought to use great caution, for the +loss of a single vessel may decide the fate of the campaign."[69] A +practical commentary of singular irony was passed upon this utterance +within two months; for by sacrificing a single ship Perry decided his +own campaign in his own favor. Given the spirit of Chauncey's warning, +and also two opponents with fleets so different in constitution that +one is strong where the other is weak, and _vice versa_, and there is +found the elements of wary and protracted fighting, with a strong +chance that neither will be badly hurt; but also that neither will +accomplish much. This is what happened on Ontario. + + [Illustration: THE FLEETS OF CHAUNCEY AND YEO MANOEUVRING ON LAKE + CHAMPLAIN. + _Drawn by Carlton T. Chapman._] + +The relative powers of the two fleets need to be briefly explained; +for they constituted, so to say, the hands in the game which each +commander had to play. The British had six vessels, of varying sizes +and rigs, but all built for war, and sailing fairly well together. +They formed therefore a good manoeuvring squadron. The Americans had +three vessels built for war, and at the beginning ten schooners also, +not so designed, and not sailing well with the armaments they bore. +Whatever the merits of this or that vessel, the squadron as a whole +manoeuvred badly, and its movements were impeded by the poorer +sailors. The contrast in armaments likewise had a very decisive +effect. There were in those days two principal classes of naval +cannon,--long guns, often called simply "guns," and carronades. The +guns had long range with light weight of shot fired; the carronades +had short range and heavy shot. Now in long guns the Americans were +four times as strong as the British, while in carronades the British +were twice as strong as the Americans. It follows that the American +commodore should prefer long range to begin with; whereas the British +would be careful not to approach within long range, unless with such a +breeze as would carry him rapidly down to where his carronades would +come into play. + +There was another controlling reason why short range favored the +British against the Americans. The schooners of the latter, not being +built for war, carried their guns on a deck unprotected by bulwarks. +The men, being exposed from the feet up, could be swept away by +canister, which is a quantity of small iron balls packed in a case and +fired from a cannon. When discharged, these separate and spread like +buckshot, striking many in a group. They can maim or kill a man, but +their range is short and penetrative power small. A bulwarked vessel +was, so to say, armored against canister; for it makes no difference +whether the protection is six inches of wood or ten of iron, provided +it keeps out the projectile. The American schooners were in this +respect wholly vulnerable. + +Over-insistence upon details of advantage or disadvantage is often +wearisome, and may be pushed to pettifogging; but these quoted are +general and fundamental. To mention them is not to chaffer over +details, but to state principles. There is one other which should be +noted, although its value may be differently estimated. Of the great +long-gun superiority of the Americans more than one half was in the +unprotected schooners; distributed, that is, among several vessels not +built for war, and not capable of acting well together, so as to +concentrate their fire. There is no equality between ten guns in five +such vessels and the same ten concentrated on one deck, under one +captain. That this is not special pleading, to contravene the +assertion advanced by James of great American superiority on Ontario, +I may quote words of my own, written years ago with reference to a +British officer: "An attempt was made to disparage Howe's conduct (in +1778), and to prove that his force was even superior to that of the +French, by adding together the guns in all his ships, disregarding +their classes, or by combining groups of his small vessels against +D'Estaing's larger units. For this kind of professional arithmetic +Howe felt and expressed just and utter contempt."[70] So Nelson wrote +to the commander of a British cruising squadron, "Your intentions of +attacking the 'Aigle'"--a seventy-four--"with your three frigates are +certainly very laudable, but I do not consider your force by any means +equal to it." The new American ship, the "General Pike," possessed +this advantage of the seventy-four. One discharge of her broadside was +substantially equal to that of the ten schooners, and all her guns +were long; entirely out-ranging the batteries of her antagonists. +Under some circumstances--a good breeze and the windward position--she +was doubtless able to encounter and beat the whole British squadron on +Ontario. But the American schooners were mere gunboats, called to act +in conditions unfavorable to that class of vessel, the record of which +for efficiency is under no circumstances satisfactory. + +After leaving Sackett's, Chauncey showed himself off Kingston and then +went up the lake, arriving off Niagara on the evening of July 27. An +abortive attempt, in conjunction with the army, was made upon a +position of the enemy at Burlington Heights, then far in rear of his +main line; but it being found too strong, the fleet, with the troops +still on board, bore over to York and there retaliated the injury done +by Yeo at Genesee and Sodus. There was no opposition; many stores were +destroyed or brought away, some military buildings burned, and the +vessels then returned to Niagara. They were lying there at daybreak of +August 7 when the British appeared: two ships, two brigs, and two +large schooners. Chauncey had substantially his whole force: two +ships, the "Pike" and "Madison," the brig "Oneida," and ten +schooners. He got under way shortly and put out into the lake. Various +manoeuvres followed, his principal object being to get to windward of +the enemy; or, when the wind failed, to sweep[71] the schooners close +enough for their long guns to reach; the only useful function they +possessed. These efforts were unsuccessful, and night shut in with the +two opponents sailing in parallel lines, heading north, with the wind +at west; the Americans to leeward and in rear of the British. At two +in the morning, in a heavy squall, two schooners upset, with the loss +of all on board save sixteen souls. Chauncey reckoned these to be +among his best, and, as they together mounted nineteen guns, he +considered that "this accident gave the enemy decidedly the +superiority"; another instance of faulty professional arithmetic, +omitting from the account the concentration of power in the "General +Pike." + +Yeo did not estimate conditions in the same way, and persisted warily +in keeping the weather gage, watching for a chance to cut off +schooners, or for other favoring opportunity; while Chauncey as +diligently sought to gain the advantage of the wind, to force action +with his heavy ships. Manoeuvring continued all day of the 8th, 9th, +and 10th. The winds, being light and shifting, favored now one, now +the other; but in no case for long enough to insure a meeting which +the American with good reason desired, and his antagonist with equal +propriety would accept only under conditions that suited him. At nine +in the evening of August 10 the American squadron was standing +northwest, with the wind at southwest, when the British, which was +then following to windward, wore and stood south. Chauncey made no +change in direction, but kept his vessels in two lines; this being the +order of battle by which, not being able to attack himself, he hoped +to induce Yeo to engage incautiously. The six smallest schooners, of +the eight now left to him, were put in the weather line; therefore +toward the enemy, if he persisted in keeping to windward. The lee +line, abreast of the other, and six hundred yards from it, was +composed of the "Pike," "Madison," and "Oneida," astern of which were +the two heaviest schooners. The smaller vessels were displayed as a +tempting bait, disposed, as it were, in such manner that the opponent +might hope to lay hands on one or more, without coming too much under +the "Pike's" heavy guns; for her two larger consorts, carrying +carronades chiefly, might be neglected at the distance named. If such +an attempt were made, the schooners' orders were to edge imperceptibly +to leeward, enticing the enemy to follow in his eagerness; and when he +was near enough they were to slip cleverly through the intervals in +the lee line, leaving it to finish the business. The lure was perhaps +a little too obvious, the enemy's innocent forgetfulness of the +dangers to leeward too easily presumed; for a ship does not get out of +the hold of a clear-headed captain as a mob of troops in hot pursuit +may at times escape the control of their officers. In view, however, +of Yeo's evident determination to keep his "fleet in being," by +avoiding action except on his own terms, nothing better was open to +Chauncey, unless fortune should favor him. + +At half-past ten the British again wore, now standing northwest after +the American squadron, the rear vessels of which opened fire at eleven +(A). At quarter-past eleven the cannonade became general between the +enemy and the weather line (B). Fifteen minutes later, the four rear +schooners of the latter, which were overmatched when once within +carronade range, bore up and ran to leeward; two taking position on +the other side of the main division, and two astern of it (c, c). So +far all went according to plan; but unhappily the leading two American +schooners, instead of keeping away in obedience to orders, +tacked--went about towards the enemy--keeping to windward (d). +Chauncey, seeing the risk involved for them, but prepossessed with the +idea of luring Yeo down by the appearance of flight set by the +schooners, made what can scarcely be considered other than the mistake +of keeping away himself, with the heavy ships; "filled the +maintopsail, and edged away two points, to lead the enemy down, not +only to engage him to more advantage, but to lead him away from the +'Growler' and 'Julia'" (C). Yeo, equally dominated by a preconceived +purpose not to bring his ships under the guns of the "Pike," acted +much as a squirrel would do with two nuts in sight; he went for the +one safely distant from suspected danger. "He kept his wind," reported +Chauncey, "until he had completely separated those two vessels from +the rest of the squadron, exchanged a few shot with the 'Pike,' as he +passed, without injury to us, and made sail after the two schooners" +(e). Some time after midnight these surrendered to odds plainly +irresistible.[72] + +The tacking of the two schooners was an act as ill-judged as it was +insubordinate, for which Chauncey was in no wise responsible. His +bearing up was certainly an error, which unfortunately lent itself to +the statement, contemporaneously made by an American paper, that he +retreated, leaving the two vessels to their fate. It was possible, +therefore, for Sir James to word the transaction as he airily did: "At +eleven we came within gunshot of their line of schooners, which opened +a heavy fire, their ships keeping off the wind to prevent our closing. +At half-past twelve this ship came within gunshot of the 'Pike' and +'Madison,' when they immediately bore up, fired their stern +chase-guns, and made sail for Niagara, leaving two of their schooners +astern, which we captured."[73] This gives a more victorious and +dashing air to the success than it quite deserves. As it stood, it was +real enough, though trivial. To take two vessels from a superior +fleet, within range of its commander-in-chief, is a handsome business, +which should not need to be embellished by the implication that a +greatly desired fight could not be had. To quote Marryat, "It is very +hard to come at the real truth of this sort of thing, as I found out +during the time that I was in his Majesty's service." Chauncey's +version is perfectly probable. Seeing that the enemy would not follow, +"tacked and stood after him. At twelve (midnight), finding that I must +either separate from the rest of the squadron, or relinquish the hope +of saving the two which had separated, I reluctantly gave up the +pursuit." His reading of Yeo's conduct is plausible. "From what I have +been able to discover of the movements of the enemy, he has no +intention of engaging us, except he can get decidedly the advantage of +wind and weather; and as his vessels in squadron sail better than our +squadron, he can always avoid an action.... He thinks to cut off our +small dull sailing schooners in detail." Here and always Chauncey's +conduct reflects the caution prescribed in his instructions to Perry, +rather than the resolute determination the latter showed to bring +matters to an issue. On the other hand, it is to be remembered that, +owing to the nearly equal facilities for ship-building--for replacing +ships lost--possessed by Kingston and Sackett's, a decisive naval +victory would not have the finality of result to be expected on Lake +Erie. Contrary to the usual conditions of naval war, the two ports, +not the fleets dependent on them, were the decisive elements of the +Ontario campaign; and the ignoring of that truth was the fundamental, +irremediable, American error. + + [Illustration: PLAN OF CHAUNCEY'S ENGAGEMENT AUGUST 10, 1813] + +Chauncey returned to Sackett's on August 13, provisioned the squadron +for five weeks, and sailed the same evening. On the 16th he was back +off Niagara, and there again sighted the enemy; but a heavy westerly +gale drove both squadrons to the lower end of the lake, where each +entered its own harbor on the 19th. August 29 the American put out +again, having an additional newly built schooner, named the "Sylph," +large and fast, carrying three or four long 32-pounders. Chauncey +reported that he had now nine vessels with ninety-one guns, but that +the enemy was still superior. In number of guns, possibly; but it is +difficult to accept the statement otherwise, except in the one very +important particular of squadron manoeuvring power. This enabled Yeo +to avoid action, except when it suited him to fight; or unless +Chauncey was willing to engage first with part only of his squadron, +following it with the rest. Such advantage in manoeuvring greatly +increases the ability of the inferior to serve his own cause, but it +does not constitute superiority. The delusion of measuring force by +guns, irrespective of the ships that carry them, has been explained. + +Yeo's intermediate movements do not appear, but on September 7 the +antagonists again met off the Niagara River. From that day till the +12th the American fleet endeavored to force a general action, which +the other steadily, and properly, refused. The persistent efforts of +the one to close, and of the other to avoid, led to a movement round +the lake, ending by the British entering Amherst Bay, five miles west +of Kingston. On one occasion, off the Genesee on September 11, a +westerly breeze carried the United States squadron within +three-quarters of a mile of the enemy, before the latter felt it. A +cannonade and pursuit of some hours followed, but without decisive +result. There seems traceable throughout Chauncey's account a distinct +indisposition to what is called technically "a general chase;" to +press on with part of the squadron, trusting to the slower vessels +coming up soon enough to complete the work of the faster. He was +unwilling thus to let his fleet loose. "This ship" (the "General +Pike"), "the 'Madison,' and the 'Sylph,' have each a schooner +constantly in tow, yet the others cannot sail as fast as the enemy's +squadron, which gives him decidedly the advantage, and puts it in his +power to engage me when and how he chooses." In such a situation +success can be had only by throwing the more rapid upon the enemy as +an advance guard, engaging as they get within range, relying upon +their effecting such detention that the others can arrive in time to +their support. To this recourse, though in halting fashion, Chauncey +finally came on what proved to be his last collision with Yeo, +September 28. + + [Illustration: CAPTAIN ISAAC CHAUNCEY. + _From the engraving by D. Edwin after the painting by J. Woods._] + + [Illustration: CAPTAIN SIR JAMES LUCAS YEO + _From the engraving by H.R. Cook after the Painting by A. Buck._] + +FOOTNOTES: + +[40] Yeo to Croker, May 26, 1813. Admiralty In-Letters, Records Office. + +[41] Captains' Letters, Navy Department. + +[42] American State Papers, Military Affairs, vol. i. p. 439. + +[43] Between July, 1812, and March 25, 1813, Prevost received +re-enforcements amounting in all to 2,175 regulars. His total force +then, for all Canada, excluding militia, was 9,177; of which 2,000 were +provincial corps. British Records Office. + +[44] American State Papers, Military Affairs, vol. i. p. 441. + +[45] Chauncey to Navy Department, March 8, 12, and 16, 1813. Captains' +Letters. + +[46] American State Papers, Military Affairs, vol. i. p. 442. + +[47] Captains' Letters. + +[48] Captains' Letters, Nov. 5, 1814. + +[49] Captains' Letters, May 7, 1813. + +[50] Ibid., May 15. + +[51] Canadian Archives. C. 678, p. 332. + +[52] American State Papers, Military Affairs, vol. i. p. 445. + +[53] Ibid., p. 449. Armstrong's italics. + +[54] Barclay's Narrative before the British Court Martial on the Battle +of Lake Erie. British Records Office. + +[55] Prevost to Bathurst, Canadian Archives. + +[56] Mackenzie's Life of Perry, vol. i. p. 148. + +[57] Barclay's Narrative. + +[58] Brown's and Prevost's Reports of this affair may be found in Niles' +Register, vol. iv. pp. 260, 261. That of Yeo is in the Canadian +Archives; M. 389, 6, p. 22. + +[59] Captains' Letters, June 11, 1813. + +[60] Captains' Letters. + +[61] The account of these transactions is summarized from American State +Papers, Military Affairs, vol. i. pp. 445-449. For Vincent's report of +the Stony Creek affair see Cruikshank's Documentary History of the +Campaign on the Niagara Frontier, 1813, Part II, p. 8. + +[62] Smyth's Précis of Wars in Canada, p. 137. + +[63] Scott's Memoirs, vol. i. p. 94. + +[64] American State Papers, Military Affairs, vol. i. pp. 450, 451. + +[65] Formerly the "Prince Regent." + +[66] Yeo's Report of the Vessels on the Lakes, July 15, 1813. British +Records Office. + +[67] Woolsey to Chauncey, June 20 and 21, 1813. Captains' Letters. + +[68] Chauncey to the Department, July 5, 1813. Captains' Letters. + +[69] Captains' Letters. Navy Department MSS. + +[70] "History of the Royal Navy," edited by Sir W.L. Clowes, vol. iii. +p. 411. + +[71] That is,--row + +[72] Chauncey's Report of this cruise is in Captains' Letters, Aug. 13, +1813. Also, in Niles' Register, vol. iv. p. 421. + +[73] James, Naval Occurrences. Appendix, p. lxxiv. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +THE CAMPAIGN OF 1813 ON THE LAKES AND NORTHERN FRONTIER. +THE BATTLE OF LAKE ERIE + + +While the movements last related in the preceding chapter were in +progress, the contest for Lake Erie was brought to a final decision. +After the successful transfer of the vessels from Black Rock to Erie, +June 18, Perry remained upon the upper lake superintending all +administrative work; but in particular pressing the equipment of the +two brigs ordered by Chauncey the previous winter. To one of these, on +which Perry intended to embark his own fortunes, was given the name of +"Lawrence," the captain of the "Chesapeake," whose death, heroic in +defeat, occurred at this period. The other was called the "Niagara." +They were sister vessels, of five hundred tons, constructed for war, +and brig-rigged; that is, with two masts, and carrying square sails on +both. Their armaments also were alike; eighteen 32-pounder carronades, +and two long 12-pounder guns. They were thus about equivalent in +fighting force to the ocean sloops-of-war, "Wasp" and "Hornet," which, +however, were three-masted. The remainder of the force would now be +called a scratch lot. Three were schooner-rigged gunboats, built for +the navy at Erie; the remainder were the vessels brought from Black +Rock. Of these, one was the brig "Caledonia," formerly British, +captured by Elliott the previous autumn; the others were purchased +lake craft. When finally taking the lake, August 6, the squadron +consisted of the two brigs, of the Black Rock division,--"Caledonia," +"Somers," "Tigress," "Ohio," and "Trippe,"--and of three other +schooners,--"Ariel," "Scorpion," and "Porcupine,"--apparently those +built at Erie; ten sail, all of which, except the "Ohio," were in the +final decisive battle. + +On July 23 the vessels were rigged, armed, and ready for service, but +there were not men enough to man them. How little exacting Perry was +in this matter, and how eager to enter upon active operations, is +shown by a letter from his superior, Chauncey, to the Secretary of the +Navy, dated July 8: "I am at a loss," he says, "to account for the +change in Captain Perry's sentiments with respect to the number of men +required for the little fleet at Presqu' Isle; for when I parted with +him on the last of May, we coincided in opinion perfectly as to the +number required for each vessel, which was one hundred and eighty for +each of the new brigs, sixty for the 'Caledonia,' and forty for each +of the other vessels, making in all seven hundred and forty officers +and men. But if Captain Perry can beat the enemy with half that +number, no one will feel more happy than myself."[74] Chauncey having +supreme control over both lakes, all re-enforcements from the seaboard +were sent to him; and as he had his own particular enemy on Ontario to +confront, it was evident, and natural, that Perry would be least well +served. Hence, after successive disappointments, and being of more +venturous temper than his superior, it is not surprising that he soon +was willing to undertake his task with fewer men than his unbiased +judgment would call necessary. + +The clash of interests between the two squadrons, having a common +superior but separate responsibilities, is seen by a comparison of +dates, which shows operations nearly simultaneous. On July 23 the Erie +squadron was reported "all ready to meet the enemy the moment they are +officered and manned;" on July 20 the "General Pike" was ready, and +on the 21st the Ontario squadron sailed from Sackett's Harbor. On +August 5 Perry had his vessels across the bar at Erie, and next day +stood out into the lake. On the 7th Chauncey and Yeo met for their +first encounter. On the 8th the two Ontario schooners, "Hamilton" and +"Scourge," were lost with nearly all on board; and on the 10th the +"Julia" and "Growler" were captured. After this, it may be imagined +that Chauncey with difficulty parted with men; and in the midst of his +second collision with Yeo the battle of Lake Erie occurred. In it, of +the one hundred and eighty men deemed necessary by Chauncey, Perry's +brig had one hundred and forty-two, of whom thirty were sick; while +the squadron, with nearly all its vessels present, instead of the +intended seven hundred and forty, had but four hundred and ninety. Of +this total, nearly one hundred were received from the army on August +31, only nine days before the action. For the most part these were +strangers to shipboard. Barring them, Perry's fighting force was +barely more than half that required by Chauncey's estimate. + +Indirectly, and notwithstanding Perry's disposition to make the best +of his difficulty, this condition came near causing his withdrawal +from the lake service; a loss which, had it occurred, might have +reversed the issues, for in few general actions has the personality of +the commander counted for so much, after the battle joined. In a +letter of July 26 to Chauncey, he had written: "The men that came by +Mr. Champlin are a motley set, blacks, soldiers, and boys. I cannot +think you saw them after they were selected."[75] Chauncey replied, +somewhat testily, "I regret you are not pleased with the men sent you; +for, to my knowledge, a part of them are not surpassed by any seamen +we have in the fleet; and I have yet to learn that the color of the +skin, or the cut and trimmings of the coat, can affect a man's +qualifications or usefulness." To this he added a warning not much +short of a reproof: "As you have assured the secretary that you should +conceive yourself equal or superior to the enemy, with a force in men +so much less than I had deemed necessary, there will be a great deal +expected from you by your country, and I trust they will not be +disappointed in the high expectations formed of your gallantry and +judgment. I will barely make an observation, which was impressed upon +my mind by an old soldier; that is, 'Never despise your enemy.'"[76] + +This advice was sound, rightly weighed. Yet it is not too much to say +that the confidence which carried Perry on to decisive victory has in +it inevitably something of that assurance of success which is akin to +contempt of the enemy, and that it was the precise quality in which +Chauncey, throughout his own career on the lakes, showed himself +deficient, and consequently failed. His plan at that moment, as he +himself said in a letter to Perry of July 14, was "to seek a meeting +with Sir James Yeo as soon as possible, in order to decide the fate of +this lake, and join you immediately after." This was an intelligent +project: to beat one enemy first, and then carry his force over to +beat the other; but never, when in presence of his antagonist, could +he despise him sufficiently to cut his gunboats adrift, and throw one +or two vessels into the midst of the fire, as Perry rushed his own +ship in, had her cut to pieces,--and won. It is even worse to respect +your enemy too greatly than to despise him. Said Farragut, speaking of +an officer he highly valued: "Drayton does not know fear, but he +believes in acting as if the enemy never can be caught unprepared; +whereas I believe in judging him by ourselves, and my motto in action +is, '_L'audace, et encore de l'audace, et toujours de l'audace!_'" +This described Perry in battle. + +Although Chauncey closed with expressions of confidence which might be +considered conciliatory, Perry experienced an annoyance which was +natural, though excessive. He was only twenty-eight, quick of temper, +though amiable, and somewhat prone to see more offence than was +intended. When the letter reached him, the squadron had just crossed +the bar; the most critical movement of the campaign, had the enemy +been duly watchful. Having accomplished this, he had before him only +the common vicissitudes of naval warfare. Nevertheless, under his +first impulse of resentment, he applied to be removed from the +station,[77] giving as his reason, not the quality of men sent, +concerning which indeed he had said, "I am pleased to see anything in +the shape of a man," but that "I cannot serve under an officer who has +been so totally regardless of my feelings." He then summarized the +difficulties with which he had contended, and added, "The critical +state of General Harrison was such that I took upon myself the +responsibility of going out with the few young officers you had been +pleased to send me," (Elliott, the second in command, did not arrive +till the squadron was over the bar), "with the few seamen I had, and +as many volunteers as I could muster from the militia. I did not +shrink from this responsibility; but, Sir, at that very moment I +surely did not anticipate the receipt of a letter in every line of +which is an insult." He then renewed his request. "I am willing to +forego that reward which I have considered for two months past almost +within my grasp." Fortunately for the renown of the service, from +which one of its finest actions might have been lost, it was +impossible to grant his application until after the battle had made +the question of the command on Lake Erie one of very minor +importance. The secretary replied to him with words in which rebuke +and appreciation were aptly blended. "A change of commander, under +existing circumstances, is equally inadmissible as it respects the +interest of the service and your own reputation. It is right that you +should reap the harvest which you have sown."[78] + + [Illustration: CAPTAIN OLIVER HAZARD PERRY. + _From the painting by Gilbert Stuart in the possession of O.H. + Perry, Esq._] + +After the Frenchtown disaster[79] of January 22, 1813, the Army of the +Northwest under General Harrison had remained strictly on the +defensive throughout the spring and summer. The tenure of its position +on the Maumee River depended upon Fort Meigs, built during the winter +just above the Rapids, some twenty miles from the lake. Thirty miles +east of Meigs was Fort Stephenson at the mouth of the Sandusky River, +protecting the approaches to Sandusky Bay, near which were Harrison's +headquarters at the time Perry's squadron was ready to move. Fort +Stephenson by its situation contributed also to secure the +communications of the Maumee line with Central Ohio, and was an +obstacle to an enemy's approach by land to Erie, a hundred and fifty +miles further east. It was not, however, a work permanent in +character, like Meigs; and neither post could be considered secure, +because inadequately garrisoned. Fortunately, the general tenor of the +instructions received by Procter from Prevost conspired with his own +natural character to indispose him to energetic measures. His force of +regulars was small; and he had not the faculty, which occasional white +men have shown, to arouse vigorous and sustained activity in the +Indians, of whom he had an abundance at call. The use of them in +desultory guerilla warfare, which was prescribed to him by Prevost, +became in his hands ineffective. Nevertheless, from the number known +to be under his command, and the control of the water enabling him to +land where he would, the threat of savage warfare hung over the +frontier like a pall, until finally dissipated by Perry's victory. + +The danger to British control of the water, and thereby to the +maintenance of their position in the northwest, if the American fleet +now building should succeed in getting upon the lake, was perfectly +apparent, and made Erie a third and principal point of interest. At +the time of Perry's arrival, March 27, the place was entirely +defenceless, and without any organization for defence, although the +keels of the two brigs were laid, and the three gunboats well advanced +in construction. By a visit to Pittsburgh he obtained from an army +ordnance officer four small guns, with some muskets; and upon his +application the local commander of Pennsylvania militia stationed at +Erie five hundred men, who remained till the vessels crossed the bar. +Under this slender protection went on the arduous work of building and +equipping a squadron in what was substantially a wilderness, to which +most of the mechanics and material had to be brought half a thousand +miles from the seaboard, under the difficulties of transport in those +days. The rapid advance in the preparations aroused the disquietude of +the British, but Procter had not the enterprising temper to throw all +upon the hazard, for the sake of destroying an armament which, if +completed, might destroy him; while the British inferiority of force +on Lake Ontario and the Niagara peninsula, together with the movement +of Chauncey and Dearborn resulting in the capture of York, April 27, +effectually prevented intervention from that quarter in the affairs of +Lake Erie. At this time Procter made his first effort of the season, +directed against Fort Meigs, which he held besieged for over a +week,--from May 1 to May 9. Although unable to capture it, the +mismanagement of an American relief force enabled him to inflict a +very severe loss; a corps of eight hundred and sixty-six men being cut +to pieces or captured, only one hundred and seventy escaping. The +chief points of interest in this business are the demonstration of the +weakness of the American frontier,--the principal defence of which was +thus not merely braved but threatened,--and the effect of control of +the water. By it Procter brought over gunboats which ascended the +river, and guns of a weight not to be transported by land. The lake +also secured his communications. + +After the failure before Meigs, Procter turned his attention more +seriously to the situation at Erie, and demanded re-enforcements to +enable him to attack the place.[80] Prevost, being commander-in-chief +for all Canada, recognized the expediency of the move, and wrote him, +June 20, that he had directed General De Rottenburg at Niagara, to +push on re-enforcements and supplies; but Prevost was in Kingston, and +De Rottenburg, immediately responsible for Niagara, wrote declining to +weaken his force. He was already inferior to the United States army +under Boyd, which was then confronting him, resting upon Fort George; +and there was the prospect also that Chauncey might regain control of +the lake. Instead of co-operation for offence, he transmitted +arrangements for retreat in case of a disaster to Yeo on Ontario. +Procter enclosed this letter to the commander-in-chief, remarking +pathetically that he was fully confident of receiving aid from him, +but intentions were of no avail. Had the force ordered been sent, he +felt sure of destroying the fleet at Erie, thus securing the command +of the lake, which would have benefited also the centre [Niagara] +division. He should now, he said, make an attempt upon Sandusky; Erie +was impossible without re-enforcements. At the same time, July 13, +Captain Barclay was about to sail for Long Point, on the Canada shore +directly opposite Erie, to embark one hundred troops, and then to +endeavor to retain the American fleet in port until the required +assistance could be sent. The new British ship "Detroit" was nearly +ready for launching at Amherstburg, and could be equipped and gunned +there; but seamen were absolutely needed. + +In accordance with these plans Barclay went with his squadron to Long +Point. There the desired soldiers were refused him; and, as also no +seamen were forthcoming, he wrote on July 16 a letter directly to Sir +George Prevost, "lest Sir James Yeo should be on the lake," +representing the critical state of affairs, owing to the inadequate +equipment of his vessels, the want of seamen, and the advanced +preparations of the Americans to put afloat a force superior to his. +July 20 he appeared off Erie, where Perry's fleet was still in the +harbor, waiting for men. How imminent the exposure of the American +flotilla at that moment, and how great the British opportunity, +appears from the recently published memoirs of a prominent +resident.[81] "An English fleet of five vessels of war was at that +time cruising off the harbor, in full view. That fleet might at any +time have sent in its boats during a dark night, and the destruction +of the whole American fleet was almost inevitable; for Perry's force +was totally inadequate to its defence, and the regiment of +Pennsylvania militia, stationed at Erie expressly for the defence of +the fleet, refused to keep guard at night on board. 'I told the boys +to go, Captain,' said the worthless colonel of the regiment, 'but the +boys won't go.'" Like American merchant ships, American militia obeyed +or disobeyed as they pleased. Two hundred soldiers, loaned by Dearborn +when the Black Rock flotilla came round, had been recalled July 10. On +the 23d and 30th re-enforcements were received from Chauncey, in all +one hundred and thirty men. With these, and some landsmen enlisted on +the spot for four months, the force of the squadron, estimated to +require seven hundred and forty men, was raised to three hundred; but +having lately received two pressing letters from the Navy Department, +urging General Harrison's critical need of co-operation, Perry +determined to go out. Most opportunely for his purpose, Barclay +disappeared on the 30th, Friday, which thus for him made good its +title to "unlucky." He was absent until August 4, and was by the +Americans believed to have gone to Long Point. Before his Court +Martial he merely stated that "I blockaded as closely as I could, +until I one morning saw the whole of the enemy's force over the bar, +and in a most formidable state of preparation." The Court did not +press inquiry on the point, which perhaps lay beyond its instructions; +but the double failure, to intercept the Black Rock division on its +way to Erie,[82] and to prevent the crossing of the bar, were serious +strategic misadventures when confronting superior numbers. Perry's +preparations for the passage had been for some time completed, but +information of contemplated movements travelled so easily from shore +to shore that he gave no indication of immediate action until Sunday. +On that day the officers were permitted to disperse in town as usual, +but afterwards were hastily summoned back, and the vessels moved down +to the bar, on which the depth ordinarily was from five to seven feet, +much less than needed for the "Lawrence" and "Niagara." This obstacle, +hitherto a protection against naval attack, now imposed an extremely +critical operation; for to get over, the brigs must be lightened of +their guns and their hulls lifted upon floats. So situated, they were +helplessly exposed to destruction, as far as their own powers went. + +From point to point the mouth of the harbor, where the outer bar +occurs, was eight tenths of a mile wide. As shown by a sketch of the +period, the distance to be travelled on the floats, from deep water +within to deep water without, was a mile; rather less than more. On +Monday morning, August 2, the movement of the vessels began +simultaneously. Five of the smaller, which under usual conditions could +pass without lightening, were ordered to cross and take positions +outside, covering the channel; a sixth, with the "Niagara," were +similarly posted within. The protection thus afforded was re-enforced +by three 12-pounder long guns, mounted on the beach, abreast the bar; +distant not over five hundred yards from the point where the channel +issued on the lake. While these dispositions were being made, the +"Lawrence's" guns were hoisted out, and placed in boats to be towed +astern of her; the floats taken alongside, filled, sunk, and made fast, +so that when pumped out their rising would lift the brig. In the course +of these preparations it was found that the water had fallen to four +feet, so that even the schooners had to be lightened, while the transit +of the "Lawrence" was rendered more tedious and difficult. The weather, +however, was propitious, with a smooth lake; and although the brig +grounded in the shoalest spot, necessitating a second sinking of the +burden-bearing floats,--appropriately called "camels,"--perseverance +protracted through that night and the day of the 3d carried her +outside. At 8 A.M. of the 4th she was fairly afloat. Guns, singly light +in weight as hers were, were quickly hoisted on board and mounted; but +none too soon, for the enemy appeared almost immediately. The +"Niagara's" passage was more easily effected, and Barclay offered no +molestation. In a letter to the Department, dated August 4, 1813, 9 +P.M., Perry reported, "I have great pleasure in informing you that I +have succeeded in getting over the bar the United States vessels, the +'Lawrence,' 'Niagara,' 'Caledonia,' 'Ariel,' 'Scorpion,' 'Somers,' +'Tigress,' and 'Porcupine.'" He added, "The enemy have been in sight +all day." The vessels named, with the schooner "Ohio" and the sloop +"Trippe," constituted the entire squadron. + + [Illustration: PLAN OF ERIE HARBOR 1814 + Copied from Captain's Letters, 1814, vol. 3, page 23, with letter + from Capt. A. Sinclair. May 6, 1814. A.H.E. Verified, Chas. W. + Stewart.] + +While Perry was thus profitably employed, Procter had embarked on +another enterprise against the magazines on the American front of +operations. His intention, as first reported to Prevost, was to attack +Sandusky; but the conduct of the Indians, upon the co-operation of +whom he had to rely, compelled him to diverge to Fort Meigs. Here the +savages began to desert, an attempt to draw the garrison into an +ambush having failed; and when Procter, after two days' stay, +determined to revert to Sandusky, he was accompanied by "as many +hundred of them as there should have been thousands." The white troops +went on by water, the Indians by the shore. They appeared before Fort +Stephenson on Sunday, August 1. The garrison was summoned, with the +customary intimation of the dire consequences to be apprehended from +the savages in case of an assault. The American commander, Major +Croghan, accepted these possibilities, and the following day, during +which the "Lawrence" was working her way over Erie bar, the artillery +and the guns of the gunboats were busy battering the northwest angle +of the fort. At 4 P.M. an assault was made. It was repelled with heavy +loss to the assailants, and little to the besieged. That night the +baffled enemy withdrew to Malden. + +The American squadron having gained the lake and mounted its +batteries, Barclay found himself like Chauncey while awaiting the +"General Pike." His new and most powerful vessel, the ship "Detroit," +was approaching completion. He was now too inferior in force to risk +action when he might expect her help so soon, and he therefore +retired to Malden. Perry was thus left in control of Lake Erie. He put +out on August 6; but, failing to find the enemy, he anchored again off +Erie, to take on board provisions, and also stores to be carried to +Sandusky for the army. While thus occupied, there came on the evening +of the 8th the welcome news that a re-enforcement of officers and +seamen was approaching. On the 10th, these joined him to the number of +one hundred and two. At their head was Commander Jesse D. Elliott, an +officer of reputation, who became second in command to Perry, and took +charge of the "Niagara." + +On August 12 the squadron finally made sail for the westward, not to +return to Erie till the campaign was decided. Its intermediate +movements possess little interest, the battle of Lake Erie being so +conspicuously the decisive incident as to reduce all preceding it to +insignificance. Perry was off Malden on August 25, and again on +September 1. The wind on the latter day favoring movement both to go +and come, a somewhat rare circumstance, he remained all day +reconnoitring near the harbor's mouth. The British squadron appeared +complete in vessels and equipment; but Barclay had his own troubles +about crews, as had his antagonist, his continual representations to +Yeo meeting with even less attention than Perry conceived himself to +receive from Chauncey. He was determined to postpone action until +re-enforcements of seamen should arrive from the eastward, unless +failure of provisions, already staring him in the face, should force +him to battle in order to re-establish communications by the lake. + +The headquarters of the United States squadron was at Put-in Bay, in +the Bass Islands, a group thirty miles southeast of Malden. The harbor +was good, and the position suitable for watching the enemy, in case he +should attempt to pass eastward down the lake, towards Long Point or +elsewhere. Hither Perry returned on September 6, after a brief visit +to Sandusky Bay, where information was received that the British +leaders had determined that the fleet must, at all hazards, restore +intercourse with Long Point. From official correspondence, afterwards +captured with Procter's baggage, it appears that the Amherstburg and +Malden district was now entirely dependent for flour upon Long Point, +access to which had been effectually destroyed by the presence of the +American squadron. Even cattle, though somewhat more plentiful, could +no longer be obtained in the neighborhood in sufficient numbers, owing +to the wasteful way in which the Indians had killed where they wanted. +They could not be restrained without alienating them, or, worse, +provoking them to outrage. Including warriors and their families, +fourteen thousand were now consuming provisions. In the condition of +the roads, only water transport could meet the requirements; and that +not by an occasional schooner running blockade, but by the free +transit of supplies conferred by naval control. To the decision to +fight may have been contributed also a letter from Prevost, who had +been drawn down from Kingston to St. David's, on the Niagara frontier, +by his anxiety about the general situation, particularly aroused by +Procter's repulse from Fort Stephenson. Alluding to the capture of +Chauncey's two schooners on August 10, he wrote Procter on the 22d, +"Yeo's experience should convince Barclay that he has only to dare and +he will be successful."[83] It was to be Sir George's unhappy lot, a +year later, to goad the British naval commander on Lake Champlain into +premature action; and there was ample time for the present indiscreet +innuendo to reach Barclay, and impel him to a step which Prevost +afterwards condemned as hasty, because not awaiting the arrival of a +body of fifty seamen announced to be at Kingston on their way to +Malden. + +At sunrise of September 10, the lookout at the masthead of the +"Lawrence" sighted the British squadron in the northwest. Barclay was +on his way down the lake, intending to fight. The wind was southwest, +fair for the British, but adverse to the Americans quitting the harbor +by the channel leading towards the enemy. Fortunately it shifted to +southeast, and there steadied; which not only enabled them to go out, +but gave them the windward position throughout the engagement. The +windward position, or weather gage, as it was commonly called, +conferred the power of initiative; whereas the vessel or fleet to +leeward, while it might by skill at times force action, or itself +obtain the weather gage by manoeuvring, was commonly obliged to await +attack and accept the distance chosen by the opponent. Where the +principal force of a squadron, as in Perry's case, consists in two +vessels armed almost entirely with carronades, the importance of +getting within carronade range is apparent. + +Looking forward to a meeting, Perry had prearranged the disposition of +his vessels to conform to that which he expected the enemy to assume. +Unlike ocean fleets, all the lake squadrons, as is already known of +Ontario, were composed of vessels very heterogeneous in character. +This was because the most had been bought, not designed for the navy. +It was antecedently probable, therefore, that a certain general +principle would dictate the constitution of the three parts of the +order of battle, the centre and two flanks, into which every military +line divides. The French have an expression for the centre,--_corps de +bataille_,--which was particularly appropriate to squadrons like those +of Barclay and Perry. Each had a natural "body of battle," in vessels +decisively stronger than all the others combined. This relatively +powerful division would take the centre, as a cohesive force, to +prevent the two ends--or flanks--being driven asunder by the enemy. +Barclay's vessels of this class were the new ship, "Detroit," and the +"Queen Charlotte;" Perry's were the "Lawrence" and "Niagara." Each had +an intermediate vessel; the British the "Lady Prevost," the Americans +the "Caledonia." In addition to these were the light craft, three +British and six Americans; concerning which it is to be said that the +latter were not only the more numerous, but individually much more +powerfully armed. + +The same remark is true, vessel for vessel, of those opposed to one +another by Perry's plan; that is, measuring the weight of shot +discharged at a broadside, which is the usual standard of comparison, +the "Lawrence" threw more metal than the "Detroit," the "Niagara" much +more than the "Queen Charlotte," and the "Caledonia," than the "Lady +Prevost." This, however, must be qualified by the consideration, more +conspicuously noticeable on Ontario than on Erie, of the greater +length of range of the long gun. This applies particularly to the +principal British vessel, the "Detroit." Owing to the difficulties of +transportation, and the demands of the Ontario squadron, her proper +armament had not arrived. She was provided with guns from the ramparts +of Fort Malden, and a more curiously composite battery probably never +was mounted; but, of the total nineteen, seventeen were long guns. It +is impossible to say what her broadside may have weighed. All her +pieces together fired two hundred and thirty pounds, but it is +incredible that a seaman like Barclay should not so have disposed them +as to give more than half that amount to one broadside. That of the +"Lawrence," was three hundred pounds; but all her guns, save two +twelves, were carronades. Compared with the "Queen Charlotte," the +battery of the "Niagara" was as 3 to 2; both chiefly carronades. + +From what has been stated, it is evident that if Perry's plan were +carried out, opposing vessel to vessel, the Americans would have a +superiority of at least fifty per cent. Such an advantage, in some +quarter at least, is the aim of every capable commander; for the +object of war is not to kill men, but to carry a point: not glory by +fighting, but success in result. The only obvious dangers were that +the wind might fail or be very light, which would unduly protract +exposure to long guns before getting within carronade range; or that, +by some vessels coming tardily into action, one or more of the others +would suffer from concentration of the enemy's fire. It was this +contingency, realized in fact, which gave rise to the embittered +controversy about the battle; a controversy never settled, and +probably now not susceptible of settlement, because the President of +the United States, Mr. Monroe, pigeonholed the charges formulated by +Perry against Elliott in 1818. There is thus no American sworn +testimony to facts, searched and sifted by cross-examination; for the +affidavits submitted on the one side and the other were _ex parte_, +while the Court of Inquiry, asked by Elliott in 1815, neglected to +call all accessible witnesses--notably Perry himself. In fact, there +was not before it a single commanding officer of a vessel engaged. +Such a procedure was manifestly inadequate to the requirement of the +Navy Department's letter to the Court, that "a true statement of the +facts in relation to Captain Elliott's conduct be exhibited to the +world." Investigation seems to have been confined to an assertion in a +British periodical, based upon the proceedings of the Court Martial +upon Barclay, to the effect that Elliott's vessel "had not been +engaged, and was making away,"[84] at the time when Perry "was +obliged to leave his ship, which soon after surrendered, and hoist his +flag on board another of his squadron." The American Court examined +two officers of Perry's vessel, and five of Elliott's; no others. To +the direct question, "Did the 'Niagara' at any time during the action +attempt to make off from the British fleet?" all replied, "No." The +Court, therefore, on the testimony before it, decided that the charge +"made in the proceedings[85] of the British Court Martial ... was +malicious, and unfounded in fact;" expressing besides its conviction +"that the attempts to wrest from Captain Elliott the laurels he gained +in that splendid victory ... ought in no wise to lessen him in the +opinion of his fellow citizens as a brave and skilful officer." At the +same time it regretted that "imperious duty compelled it to promulgate +testimony which appears materially to differ in some of its most +important points." + +In this state the evidence still remains, owing to the failure of the +President to take action, probably with a benevolent desire to allay +discord, and envelop facts under a kindly "All's well that ends well." +Perry died a year after making his charges, which labored under the +just imputation that he had commended Elliott in his report, and again +immediately afterwards, though in terms that his subordinate thought +failed to do him justice. American naval opinion divided, apparently +in very unequal numbers. Elliott's officers stood by him, as was +natural; for men feel themselves involved in that which concerns the +conduct of their ship, and see incidents in that light. Perry's +officers considered that the "Lawrence" had not been properly +supported; owing to which, after losses almost unparalleled, she had +to undergo the mortification of surrender. Her heroism, her losses, +and her surrender, were truths beyond question. + +The historian to-day thus finds himself in the dilemma that the +American testimony is in two categories, distinctly contradictory and +mutually destructive; yet to be tested only by his own capacity to +cross-examine the record, and by reference to the British accounts. +The latter are impartial, as between the American parties; their only +bias is to constitute a fair case for Barclay, by establishing the +surrender of the American flagship and the hesitancy of the "Niagara" +to enter into action. This would indicate victory so far, changed to +defeat by the use Perry made of the vessel preserved to him intact by +the over-caution of his second. Waiving motives, these claims are +substantially correct, and constitute the analysis of the battle as +fought and won. + +Barclay, finding the wind to head him and place him to leeward, +arranged his fleet to await attack in the following order, from van to +rear: The schooner "Chippewa," "Detroit," "Hunter," "Queen Charlotte," +"Lady Prevost," "Little Belt."[86] This, he said in his official +letter, was "according to a given plan, so that each ship [that is, +the "Detroit" and "Queen Charlotte"] might be supported against the +superior force of the two brigs opposed to them." The British vessels +lay in column, in each other's wake, by the wind on the port tack, +hove-to (stopped) with a topsail to the mast, heading to the southwest +(position 1). Perry now modified some details of his disposition. It +had been expected that the "Queen Charlotte" would precede the +"Detroit," and the American commander had therefore placed the +"Niagara" leading, as designated to fight the "Charlotte," the +"Lawrence" following the "Niagara." This order was now reversed, and +the "Caledonia" interposed between the two; the succession being +"Lawrence," "Caledonia," "Niagara." Having more schooners than the +enemy, he placed in the van two of the best, the "Scorpion" and the +"Ariel"; the other four behind the "Niagara." His centre, therefore, +the "Lawrence," "Caledonia," and "Niagara," were opposed to the +"Detroit," "Hunter," and "Queen Charlotte." The long guns of the +"Ariel," "Scorpion," and "Caledonia" supplied in measure the +deficiency of gun power in the "Lawrence," while standing down outside +of carronade range; the "Caledonia," with the rear schooners, giving a +like support to the "Niagara." The "Ariel," and perhaps also the +"Scorpion," was ordered to keep a little to windward of the +"Lawrence." This was a not uncommon use of van vessels, making more +hazardous any attempt of the opponent to tack and pass to windward, in +order to gain the weather gage with its particular advantages +(position 1). + +The rear four schooners, as is frequently the case in long columns, +were straggling somewhat at the time the signal to bear down was made; +and they had difficulty in getting into action, being compelled to +resort to the sweeps because the wind was light. It is not uncommon to +see small vessels with low sails thus retarded, while larger are being +urged forward by their lofty light canvas. The line otherwise having +been formed, Perry stood down without regard to them. At quarter +before noon the "Detroit" opened upon the "Lawrence" with her long +guns. Ten minutes later the Americans began to reply. Finding the +British fire at this range more destructive than he had anticipated, +Perry made more sail upon the Lawrence. Word had already been passed +by hail of trumpet to close up in the line, and for each vessel to +come into action against her opponent, before designated. The +"Lawrence" continued thus to approach obliquely, using her own long +twelves, and backed by the long guns of the vessels ahead and astern, +till she was within "canister range," apparently about two hundred and +fifty yards, when she turned her side to the wind on the weather +quarter of the "Detroit," bringing her carronade battery to bear +(position 2). This distance was greater than desirable for carronades; +but with a very light breeze, little more than two miles an hour, +there was a limit to the time during which it was prudent to allow an +opponent's raking fire to play, unaffected in aim by any reply. +Moreover, much of her rigging was already shot away, and she was +becoming unmanageable. The battle was thus joined by the +commander-in-chief; but, while supported to his satisfaction by the +"Scorpion" and "Ariel" ahead, and "Caledonia" astern, with their long +guns, the "Niagara" did not come up, and her carronades failed to do +their share. The captain of her opponent, the "Queen Charlotte," +finding that his own carronades would not reach her, made sail ahead, +passed the "Hunter," and brought his battery to the support of the +"Detroit" in her contest with the "Lawrence" (Q_{2}). Perry's vessel +thus found herself under the combined fire of the "Detroit," "Queen +Charlotte," and in some measure of the "Hunter"; the armament of the +last, however, was too trivial to count for much. + +Elliott's first placing of the "Niagara" may, or may not, have been +judicious as regards his particular opponent. The "Queen Charlotte's" +twenty-fours would not reach him; and it may be quite proper to take a +range where your own guns can tell and your enemy's cannot. +Circumstance must determine. The precaution applicable in a naval duel +may cease to be so when friends are in need of assistance; and when +the British captain, seeing how the case stood, properly and +promptly carried his ship forward to support his commander, +concentrating two vessels upon Perry's one, the situation was entirely +changed. The plea set up by Cooper, who fought Elliott's battle +conscientiously, but with characteristic bitterness as well as +shrewdness, that the "Niagara's" position, assigned in the line behind +the "Caledonia," could not properly be left without signal, +practically surrenders the case. It is applying the dry-rot system of +fleet tactics in the middle of the eighteenth century to the days +after Rodney and Nelson, and is further effectually disposed of by the +consentient statement of several of the American captains, that their +commander's dispositions were made with reference to the enemy's +order; that is, that he assigned a special enemy's ship to a special +American, and particularly the "Detroit" to the "Lawrence," and the +"Queen Charlotte" to the "Niagara." The vessels of both fleets being +so heterogeneous, it was not wise to act as with units nearly +homogeneous, by laying down an order, the governing principle of which +was mutual support by a line based upon its own intrinsic qualities. +The considerations dictating Perry's dispositions were external to his +fleet, not internal; in the enemy's order, not in his own. This was +emphasized by his changing the previously arranged stations of the +"Lawrence" and the "Niagara," when he saw Barclay's line. Lastly, he +re-enforced all this by quoting to his subordinates Nelson's words, +that no captain could go very far wrong who placed his vessel close +alongside those of the enemy. + + [Illustration: DIAGRAM OF THE BATTLE OF LAKE ERIE SEPTEMBER 10, + 1813] + +Cooper, the ablest of Elliott's champions, has insisted so strongly +upon the obligation of keeping the station _in the line_, as laid +down, that it is necessary to examine the facts in the particular +case. He rests the certainty of his contention on general principles, +then long exploded, and further upon a sentence in Perry's charges, +preferred in 1818, that "the commanding officer [Perry] issued, 1st, +an order directing in what manner the line of battle should be formed +... and enjoined upon the commanders to preserve their stations in the +line" thus laid down.[87] This is correct; but Cooper omits to give +the words immediately following in the specification: "and in all +cases to keep as near the commanding officer's vessel [the "Lawrence"] +as possible."[88] Cooper also omits that which next succeeds: "2d, An +order of attack, in which the 'Lawrence' was designated to attack the +enemy's new ship (afterwards ascertained to have been named the +'Detroit'), and the 'Niagara' designated to attack the 'Queen +Charlotte,' which orders were then communicated to all the commanders, +including the said Captain Elliott, who for that purpose ... were by +signal called together by the said commanding officer ... and +expressly instructed that 'if, in the expected engagement, they laid +their vessels close alongside of those of the enemy, they could not be +out of the way.'"[89] An officer, if at once gallant and intelligent, +finding himself behind a dull sailing vessel, as Cooper tells us the +"Caledonia" was, could hardly desire clearer authority than the above +to imitate his commanding officer when he made sail to close the +enemy:--"Keep close to him," and follow up the ship which "the +'Niagara' was designated to attack." + +Charges preferred are not technical legal proof, but, if duly +scrutinized, they are statements equivalent in value to many that +history rightly accepts; and, at all events, that which Cooper quotes +is not duly scrutinized if that which he does not quote is omitted. He +does indeed express a gloss upon them, in the words: "Though the +'Niagara' was ordered to direct her fire at the 'Queen Charlotte,' it +could only be done from her station astern of the 'Caledonia,' ... +without violating the primary order to preserve the line."[90] This +does not correctly construe the natural meaning of Perry's full +instructions. It is clear that, while he laid down a primary +formation, "a line of battle," he also most properly qualified it by a +contingent instruction, an "order of attack," designed to meet the +emergency likely to occur in every fleet engagement, and which +occurred here, when a slavish adherence to the line of battle would +prevent intelligent support to the main effort. If he knew naval +history, as his quotation from Nelson indicates, he also knew how many +a battle had been discreditably lost by "keeping the line." + +With regard to the line, however, it is apt to remark that in fleet +battle, unless otherwise specially directed, the line of the assailant +was supposed to be parallel to that of the defence, for the obvious +reason that the attacking vessels should all be substantially at the +same effective range. This distance, equal for all in fleets as +usually constituted, would naturally be set, and in practice was set, +by the commander-in-chief; his ship forming the point through which +should be drawn the line parallel to the enemy. This rule, well +established under Rodney, who died in 1792, was rigidly applicable +between vessels of the same force, such as the "Lawrence" and +"Niagara;" and whatever deductions might be made for the case of a +light-framed vessel, armed with long guns, like the "Caledonia," +keeping out of carronade distance of an opponent with heavy scantling, +would not in the least apply to the "Niagara." For her, the standard +of position was not, as Cooper insists, a half-cable's length from her +next ahead, the "Caledonia;" but abreast her designated opponent, at +the same distance as the "Lawrence" from the enemy's line. Repeated +mishaps had established the rule that position was to be taken from +the centre,--that is, from the commander-in-chief. Ships in line of +battle, bearing down upon an enemy in like order, did not steer in +each other's wake, unless specially ordered; and there is something +difficult to understand in the "Niagara" with her topsail sharp aback +to keep from running on board the "Caledonia," although the fact is in +evidence. The expression in Perry's report of the action, "at 10 A.M. +... formed the line and bore up," would by a person familiar with +naval battles be understood to mean that the line was first formed +parallel to the enemy, the vessels following one another, after which +they steered down for him, changing course together; they would then +no longer be in each other's wake, but in echelon, or as the naval +phrase then went, in bow and quarter line. Barclay confirms this, "At +10 the enemy bore up under easy sail, in a line abreast."[91] Thus, +when the distance desired by the commander-in-chief was reached,--a +fact more often indicated by his example than by signal,--the helm +would bring them again in line of battle, their broadsides bearing +upon the enemy. + +The technical point at issue is whether Perry, finding the long-gun +fire of the "Detroit" more destructive than he had anticipated, and +determining in consequence to shorten the period of its duration by +changing his original plan, increasing sail beyond the speed of such +slower vessels as the "Caledonia," had a right to expect that his +subordinates would follow his example. In the opinion of the writer, +he had, in the then condition of the theory and practice of fleet +battles; his transfer of his own position transferred the line of +battle in its entirety to the distance relative to the enemy which he +himself was seeking to assume. Were other authority lacking, his +action was warrant to his captains; but the expression in his report, +"I made sail, and directed the other vessels to follow, for the +purpose of closing with the enemy," causes increased regret that the +exact facts were not ascertained by cross-examination before a +Court-Martial. + +Elliott's place therefore was alongside the "Queen Charlotte," so to +engage her that she could attend to nothing else. This he did not do, +and for failure the only possible excuse was inability, through lack +of wind. The wind was light throughout, yet not so light but that the +"Lawrence" closed with the "Detroit," and the "Queen Charlotte" with +her flagship when she wished. None of Elliott's witnesses before the +Court of Inquiry state that he made sail before the middle of the +action, but they attribute the failure to get down to the lightness of +the wind. They do state that, after the "Lawrence" was disabled, a +breeze springing up, sail was made; which indicates that previously it +had not been. Again, it is alleged by the testimony in favor of +Elliott that much of the time the maintopsail was sharp aback, to keep +from running into the "Caledonia;" a circumstance upon which Cooper +dwells triumphantly, as showing that the "Niagara" was not by the wind +and was in her place, close astern of the "Caledonia." Accepting the +statements, they would show there was wind enough to fan the "Niagara" +to--what was really her place--her commodore's aid; for in those days +the distance between under fire and out of fire for efficient action +was a matter of half a mile.[92] Perry's formulated charge, addressed +to the Navy Department, and notified to Elliott, but never brought to +trial, was that when coming into action an order was passed by trumpet +for the vessels astern to close up in the line; that a few moments +previously to the enemy's opening fire the "Niagara" had been within +hail of the "Lawrence," and nevertheless she was allowed to drop +astern, and for two hours to remain at such distance from the enemy as +to render useless all her battery except the two long guns. Perry +himself made sail at the time the hail by trumpet was passed. The +"Niagara" did not. + +There is little reason for doubt that the tenor of Perry's +instructions required Elliott to follow the "Queen Charlotte," and no +doubt whatever that military propriety imperiously demanded it of him. +The question of wind must be matter of inference from the incidents +above stated: the movement of the "Lawrence" and "Queen Charlotte," +and the bracing aback of the "Niagara's" topsail. A sentence in +Perry's report apparently, but only apparently, attenuates the force +of these. He said, "At half-past two, the wind springing up, Captain +Elliott was enabled to bring his vessel, the 'Niagara,' gallantly into +close action." Alluding to, without insisting on, Perry's subsequent +statement that he endeavored to give as favorable a color as possible +to Elliott's course, it is clear enough that these words simply state +that Captain Elliott at 2.30 reached the range at which the "Lawrence" +had fought since a little after noon. + +Quitting now the discussion of proprieties, the order of events seems +to have been as follows: Perry having taken the initiative of bearing +down, under increased sail, Elliott remained behind, governed by, or +availing himself of--two very different motives, not lightly to be +determined, or assumed, by the historian--the technical point, long +before abandoned in practice, that he could not leave his place in the +line without a signal. Thus his action was controlled by the position +of his next ahead in the line, the dull-sailing "Caledonia," a vessel +differing radically from his own in armament, having two long and for +that day heavy guns, quite equal in range and efficiency to the best +of the "Detroit's,"[93] and therefore capable of good service, though +possibly not of their best, from the distance at which Perry changed +his speed. Elliott's battery was the same as Perry's. He thus +continued until it became evident that, the "Queen Charlotte" having +gone to the support of the "Detroit," the "Lawrence" was heavily +overpowered. Then, not earlier than an hour after Perry bore down, he +realized that his commander-in-chief would be destroyed under his +eyes, unless he went to his support, and he himself would rest under +the imputation of an inefficient spectator. He ordered the "Caledonia" +to bear up, in order that he might pass (position 3; C_{1}, C_{2}). +Though not demonstrably certain, it seems probable that the wind, +light throughout, was now so fallen as to impede the retrieval of his +position; the opportunity to close, used by Perry, had passed away. At +all events it was not till between 2 and 2.30 that the "Niagara" +arrived on the scene, within effective range of the carronades which +constituted nine tenths of her battery. + +With this began the second stage of the battle (3). Perry's bearing +down, receiving only the support of the long guns of the "Caledonia" +and of the schooners ahead of him, had brought the "Lawrence" into hot +engagement with the "Detroit," supported a half hour later by the +"Queen Charlotte." By a little after two o'clock both flagships were +well-nigh disabled, hull and battery; the "Lawrence" most so, having +but one gun left out of ten on the broadside. "At 2.30," wrote +Barclay, "the Detroit was a perfect wreck, principally from the raking +fire of the gunboats." Which gunboats? Evidently the "Ariel" and +"Scorpion," for all agree that the rear four were at this hour still +far astern, though not absolutely out of range. To these last was +probably due the crippling of the "Lady Prevost," which by now had +gone to leeward with her rudder injured. Up to this time, when the +first scene closed, what had been the general course of the action? +and what now the situation? Assuming, as is very probable, that +Barclay did not open with his long 24's until Perry was a mile, two +thousand yards, from him,--that distance requiring six degrees +elevation for those guns,--an estimate of speeds and courses, as +indicated by the evidence, would put the "Lawrence" in action, at two +hundred and fifty yards, at 12.10. This calculation, made +independently, received subsequent confirmation in consulting +Barclay's report, which says 12.15.[94] The same time, for the duller +"Caledonia" and the "Niagara," would place them one thousand yards +from the British line. This range, for the 32-pounder carronades of +the "Niagara," and the 24's of the "Queen Charlotte," required an +elevation of from four to six degrees. Coupling this with the British +statement, that the carronades of the "Charlotte" could not reach the +"Niagara," we obtain probable positions, two hundred and fifty yards +and one thousand yards, for the principal two American vessels at +quarter-past noon. + +From the general lightness and occasional failure of the wind up to 2 +P.M., it is more than likely that no great change took place before +that hour. What air there was might touch all alike, but would affect +least the "Lawrence," "Detroit," and "Queen Charlotte," because their +sails were being rent; and also they were in the centre of the +cannonade, which is believed usually to kill the breeze. The tendency +of the "Caledonia," "Niagara," and American vessels in rear of them, +between 12.30 and 2 P.M., during which period, to use Barclay's +report, "the action continued with great fury," would therefore be to +approach slowly the scene where the "Lawrence," supported by the long +guns of the "Ariel," "Scorpion," and "Caledonia," maintained the day +against the "Detroit" and "Queen Charlotte," backed by the schooner +"Chippewa" and the 6 and 4 pounder pop-guns of the "Hunter." How near +they drew is a mere matter of estimate. Taking all together, it may be +inferred that the "Niagara" had then been carried as close as five +hundred to six hundred yards to the British line, but it would appear +also towards its rear; rather, probably, that the British had advanced +relatively to her, owing to her course being oblique to theirs. + +The situation then was as follows: The "Lawrence," disabled, was +dropping astern of the "Detroit," "Queen Charlotte," and "Hunter." +More than half her ship's company lay dead or wounded on her decks. +Her loss, 83 killed and wounded out of a total of 142,--sick +included,[95]--was mostly incurred before this. With only one gun +left, she was a beaten ship, although her colors were up. The +"Detroit" lay in the British line almost equally mauled. On her lee +quarter,--that is, behind, but on the lee side,--and close to her, was +the "Queen Charlotte." Her captain, second to Barclay, had been +killed,--the first man hit on board,--and her first lieutenant +knocked senseless; being succeeded in command by an officer whom +Barclay described as of little experience. The first lieutenant of the +"Detroit" was also wounded mortally; and Barclay himself, who already +had been once hit in the thigh, was now a second time so severely +injured,--being his eighth wound in battle, though now only +thirty-two,--that he was forced at this critical instant to go below, +leaving the deck with the second lieutenant. The "Hunter" was astern +of her two consorts. The "Lady Prevost," fifth in the British order, +had fallen to leeward with her rudder crippled. The position of the +leading and rear British schooners is not mentioned, and is not +important; the reliance of each being one long 9-pounder gun. + +Before this, taking advantage of the breeze freshening, the "Niagara" +had gone clear of the "Caledonia," on her windward side, and had stood +to the southwest, towards the "Detroit." She had not at first either +foresail or topgallantsails set; and since she passed the "Lawrence" +to windward, she was then almost certainly over two hundred and fifty +yards from the British line, for there is no conclusive proof that the +"Lawrence" was nearer than that. Combining the narrative of the +British commodore with that of his second lieutenant, who now took +charge, it appears that Barclay, before going below, saw a boat +passing from the "Lawrence" to the "Niagara," and that the second +lieutenant, Inglis, after relieving him, found the "Niagara" on the +weather beam of the "Detroit." Perry, seeing the "Lawrence" incapable +of further offensive action, had decided to leave her and go on board +the "Niagara," and in this brief interval was making his passage from +one vessel to the other. After leaving the "Lawrence" astern, the +"Niagara" had made sail; the foresail having been set, and the +topgallantsails "in the act of being set, before Captain Perry came +on board."[96] This necessarily prolonged the time of his passage, +and may have given rise to the opprobrious British report that she was +making off. Her making sail as she did indicated that she had suffered +little aloft; she had been out of carronade range, while her consort, +still in fighting condition, was bearing the brunt; it was natural to +conclude that she would not alone renew the action, now that the +"Lawrence" was hopelessly disabled. The wish, too, may possibly have +helped the thought. The "Lawrence," in fact, having kept her colors +flying till Perry reached the "Niagara," struck immediately +afterwards. Had she surrendered while he was on board, he could not +honorably have quitted her; and the record was clearer by his reaching +a fresh ship while the flag of the one he left was still up. + +What next happened is under no doubt so far as the movements of the +"Niagara" are concerned, though there is irreconcilable difference as +to who initiated the action. Immediately after Perry came on board, +Elliott left her, to urge forward the rear gunboats. Her helm was put +up, and she bore down ahead of the "Detroit" to rake her; supported in +so doing by the small vessels, presumably the "Ariel," "Scorpion," and +"Caledonia." The British ship tried to wear, both to avoid being raked +and to get her starboard battery into action; many of the guns on the +broadside heretofore engaged being disabled. The "Charlotte" being on +her lee quarter, and ranging ahead, the two fell foul, and so remained +for some time. This condition gave free play to the American guns, +which were soon after re-enforced by those of the rear gunboats; +enabled, like the "Niagara," to close with the freshening breeze. +After the two British vessels got clear, another attempt was made to +bring their batteries to bear; but the end was inevitable, and is +best told in the words of the officer upon whom devolved the duty of +surrendering the "Detroit." "The ship lying completely unmanageable, +every brace cut away, the mizzen-topmast and gaff down, all the other +masts badly wounded, not a stay left forward, hull shattered very +much, a number of guns disabled, and the enemy's squadron raking both +ships ahead and astern, none of our own in a position to support us, I +was under the painful necessity of answering the enemy to say we had +struck, the 'Queen Charlotte' having previously done so."[97] A +Canadian officer taken prisoner at the battle of the Thames saw the +"Detroit," a month later, at Put-in Bay. "It would be impossible," he +wrote, "to place a hand upon that broadside which had been exposed to +the enemy's fire without covering some portion of a wound, either from +grape, round, canister, or chain shot."[98] Her loss in men was never +specifically given. Barclay reported that of the squadron as a whole +to be forty-one killed, ninety-four wounded. He had lost an arm at +Trafalgar; and on this occasion, besides other injuries, the one +remaining to him was so shattered as to be still in bandages a year +later, when he appeared before the Court Martial which emphatically +acquitted him of blame. The loss of the American squadron was +twenty-seven killed, ninety-six wounded; of whom twenty-two killed and +sixty-one wounded were on board the "Lawrence." + + [Illustration: PERRY RECEIVING THE SURRENDER OF THE BRITISH AT + THE BATTLE OF LAKE ERIE. + _Drawn by Henry Reuterdahl._] + +Thus was the battle of Lake Erie fought and won. Captain Barclay not +only had borne himself gallantly and tenaciously against a superior +force,--favored in so doing by the enemy attacking in detail,--but the +testimony on his trial showed that he had labored diligently during +the brief period of his command, amid surroundings of extreme +difficulty, to equip his squadron, and to train to discipline and +efficiency the heterogeneous material of which his crews were +composed. The only point not satisfactorily covered is his absence +when Perry was crossing the bar. In his defence his allusion to this +incident is very casual,--resembles somewhat gliding rapidly over thin +ice; but the Court raised no question, satisfied, probably, with the +certainty that the honor of the flag had not suffered in the action. +On the American side, since the history of a country is not merely the +narrative of principal transactions, but the record also of honor +reflected upon the nation by the distinguished men it produces, it is +proper to consider the question of credit, which has been raised in +this instance. There can be no doubt that opportunity must be seized +as it is offered; for accident or chance may prevent its recurrence. +Constituted as Perry's squadron was, the opportunity presented to him +could be seized only by standing down as he did, trusting that the +other vessels would follow the example of their commander. The +shifting of the wind in the morning, and its failure during the +engagement, alike testify to the urgency of taking the tide as it +serves. There was no lagging, like Chauncey's, to fetch up heavy +schooners; and the campaign was decided in a month, instead of +remaining at the end of three months a drawn contest, to lapse +thenceforth into a race of ship-building. Had the "Niagara" followed +closely, there could have been no doubling on the "Lawrence"; and +Perry's confidence would have been justified as well as his conduct. +The latter needs no apology. Without the help of the "Niagara," the +"Detroit" was reduced to a "defenceless state," and a "perfect +wreck,"[99] by the carronades of the "Lawrence," supported by the +raking fire of the "Ariel" and "Scorpion." Both the expressions quoted +are applied by the heroic Barclay to her condition at 2.30, when, as +he also says, the "Niagara" was perfectly fresh. Not only was the +"Detroit" thus put out of action, but the "Charlotte" was so damaged +that she surrendered before her. To this the "Caledonia's" two long +twenty-fours had contributed effectively. The first lieutenant of the +"Queen Charlotte" testified that up to the time he was disabled, an +hour or an hour and a quarter after the action began, the vessel was +still manageable; that "the 'Niagara' engaged us on our quarter, out +of carronade range, with what long guns she had; but our principal +injury was from the 'Caledonia,' who laid on our beam, with two long +24-pounders on pivots, also out of carronade-shot distance."[100] + +Is it to Perry, or to Elliott, that is due the credit of the +"Niagara's" action in bearing up across the bows of the "Detroit"? +This is the second stage of the battle; the bringing up the reserves. +An absolute reply is impossible in the face of the evidence, sworn but +not cross-examined. A probable inference, which in the present writer +amounts to conviction, is attainable. Before the Court of Inquiry, in +1815, Captain Elliott put the question to several of his witnesses, +"Was not the 'Niagara's' helm up and she standing direct for the +'Detroit' when Captain Perry came on board?" They replied, "Yes." All +these were midshipmen. By a singular fatality most of the "Niagara's" +responsible officers were already dead, and the one surviving +lieutenant had been below, stunned, when Perry reached the deck. It +may very possibly be that this answer applied only to the first change +of course, when Elliott decided to leave his position behind the +"Caledonia"; but if it is claimed as covering also the subsequent +bearing up eight points (at right angles), to cross the bows of the +"Detroit," it is to be observed that no mention of this very important +movement is made in a letter addressed to the Secretary of the Navy, +October 13, 1813, one month after the battle, drawn up for the +express purpose of vindicating Elliott, and signed by all the +lieutenants of the "Niagara," and by the purser, who formerly had been +a lieutenant in the navy. Their account was that Perry, on reaching +the ship, said he feared the day was lost; that Elliott replied it was +not, that he would repair on board the rear schooners, and bring them +up; that he did so, and "_the consequence was_ that in ten minutes the +'Detroit' and 'Queen Charlotte' with the 'Lady Prevost,' struck to us, +and soon after the whole of the enemy's squadron followed their +example."[101] This attributes the victory to the half-dozen long guns +of the four schooners, mostly inferior in caliber to the nine +carronades on board a single vessel, the "Niagara," raking within +pistol-shot of antagonists already in the condition described by +Barclay. Such a conclusion traverses all experience of the tactical +advantage of guns massed under one captain over a like number +distributed in several commands, and also contravenes the particular +superiority of carronades at close quarters. An officer of the +"Detroit," who was on deck throughout, testified that the "Lawrence" +had engaged at musket-shot, the "Niagara," when she bore down under +Perry, at pistol-shot. Barclay, and his surviving lieutenant, Inglis, +both lay most weight upon this action of the "Niagara," from which +arose also the fouling of the two largest British ships. + +Perry's charges of 1818 against Elliott formulated deliberate +statements, under the responsible expectation of cross-examination +under oath. This is his account: "When the commanding officer [Perry] +went on board the 'Niagara,' Captain Elliott was keeping her on a +course by the wind, which would in a few minutes have carried said +vessel entirely out of action, to prevent which, and in order to bring +the said vessel into close action with the enemy, the said commanding +officer was under the necessity of heaving-to, stopping and +immediately wearing said vessel, and altering her course at least +eight points"; that is, perpendicular to the direction before steered. +Against this solemn and serious charge is unquestionably to be placed +the commendatory mention and letter given by Perry to Elliott +immediately after the battle. Upon these also he had to expect the +sharpest interrogation, to the mortification attendant upon which he +could only oppose evidence extenuative of, but in no case justifying, +undeniable self-contradiction. If the formal charge was true, no +excuse can be admitted for the previous explicit commendation. As a +matter of historical inquiry, however, such contradictions have to be +met, and must be weighed in the light of all the testimony. The +author's conclusion upon the whole is that, as Perry's action in first +standing down insured decisive action, so by him was imparted to the +"Niagara" the final direction which determined victory. The influence +of the rear gunboats brought up by Elliott was contributive, but not +decisive. + +In short, the campaign of Lake Erie was brought to an immediate +successful issue by the ready initiative taken by Perry when he found +the British distant fire more destructive than he expected, and by his +instant acceptance of necessary risk, in standing down exposed to a +raking cannonade to which he for a long while could not reply. If, as +the author holds, he was entitled to expect prompt imitation by the +"Niagara," the risk was actual, but not undue. As it was, though the +"Lawrence" surrendered, it was not until she had, with the help of +gunboats stationed by Perry for that object, so damaged both her +opponents that they were incapable of further resistance. In the +tactical management of the "Lawrence" and her supports was no mere +headlong dash, but preparation adequate to conditions. Had the +"Niagara" followed, the "Lawrence" need never have struck. The +contemporary incidents on Erie and Ontario afford an instructive +commentary upon Napoleon's incisive irony, that "War cannot be waged +without running risks." There has been sufficient quotation from +Chauncey to indicate why the campaign on Ontario dragged through two +seasons, and then left the enemy in control. Small as the scale and +the theatre of these naval operations, they illustrate the unvarying +lesson that only in offensive action can defensive security be found. + +The destruction of the British naval force decided the campaign in the +Northwest by transferring the control of the water. Its general +military results were in this respect final. Nothing occurred to +modify them during the rest of the war. Detroit and Michigan territory +fell back into the hands of the United States; and the allegiance of +the Indians to the British cause, procured by Brock's sagacious daring +a twelvemonth before, but rudely shaken by the events narrated, was +destroyed by the death of their great leader, Tecumseh, a month later +in the battle of the Thames, itself the direct consequence of Perry's +success. The frontier was henceforth free from the Indian terror, +which had hitherto disquieted it from the Maumee to Cleveland. + +A more far-reaching political issue was also here definitely settled. +A sense of having betrayed the Indian interests in the previous +treaties of 1783 and 1794 was prevalent in British official circles, +and in their counsels a scheme had been circulated for constituting an +independent Indian territory, under joint guarantee of the two +nations, between their several dominions. This would be locally within +the boundaries of the United States; the sole jurisdiction of which +was thus to be limited and trammelled, because open to continual +British representation and reclamation, based upon treaty +stipulations.[102] This infringement upon the perfect sovereignty of +the nation inside its own borders, in favor of savage communities and +under foreign guarantee, was one of the propositions formally brought +forward as a _sine quâ non_ by the British negotiators at Ghent. +Although by that time the United States stood alone face to face with +Great Britain, at whose full disposal were now the veterans of the +Peninsular War, and the gigantic navy, which the abdication of +Napoleon had released from all other opponents, the American +commissioners refused with dignity to receive the proposition even for +reference. "It is not necessary," they replied, "to refer such demands +to the American Government for its instructions. They will only be a +fit subject for deliberation when it becomes necessary to decide upon +the expediency of an absolute surrender of national independence."[103] + +The envoys of the United States were able to be firm, because secure +of indignant support by their people; but it is beyond question that +two naval victories had arrayed upon their side, at the moment, the +preponderance of military argument, which weighs so heavily in +treaties of peace. New Orleans was yet in the future, with adverse +chances apparent; but, owing to the victory of Perry, the United +States was in firm military tenure of the territory, the virtual +cession of which was thus demanded. A year after Perry, McDonough's +equally complete success on Lake Champlain, by insuring control of the +water route for invasion, rolled back the army of Peninsular veterans +under Prevost, at a season of the year which forbade all hope of +renewing the enterprise until another spring. Great Britain was too +eager to end twenty years of continued war to brook further delay. The +lake campaigns of 1813 and 1814 thus emphasized the teaching of +history as to the influence of control of the water upon the course of +events; and they illustrate also the too often forgotten truth, that +it is not by brilliant individual feats of gallantry or skill, by +ships or men, but by the massing of superior forces, that military +issues are decided. For, although on a small scale, the lakes were +oceans, and the forces which met on them were fleets; and as, on a +wider field and in more tremendous issues, the fleets of Great Britain +saved their country and determined the fortunes of Europe, so Perry +and McDonough averted from the United States, without further +fighting, a rectification of frontier--as it is euphemistically +styled,--the effecting of which is one of the most fruitful causes and +frequent results of war in every continent and at every period. + + NOTE.--For the battle of Lake Erie, the most important original + data are the Court Martial upon Barclay (British Records + Office), and the Court of Inquiry held at Elliott's request, in + April, 1815. The proceedings and testimony of the latter are + published in the appendix to a "Biographical Notice of Commodore + Jesse D. Elliott," by Russell Jarvis, Philadelphia, 1835. + Perry's Report of the battle, Sept. 13, 1813, is in American + State Papers, Naval Affairs, vol. i. p. 295. Barclay's report is + in Naval Chronicle, vol. xxxi. pp. 250-253, as well as in the + record of the Court. Jarvis, and Mackenzie's Life of Perry (5th + edition), give a large number of affidavits by officers present + in the engagement, and Mackenzie gives also a copy of the + charges preferred by Perry in 1818 against Elliott. In the + controversy which arose over the battle, Mackenzie, in the + appendix to the fifth edition of Perry's Life, Duer, and Tristam + Burges, Battle of Lake Erie (Boston, 1839), are the principal + champions on Perry's side; Jarvis (as above) and J. Fenimore + Cooper, Battle of Lake Erie, on the side of Elliott; but the + latter himself published several vindications of his conduct. + The usual naval histories, American and British, may be + consulted, and there are also incidental mentions and reports in + Niles' Register and the British Naval Chronicle, which will be + found useful. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[74] Captains' Letters, Navy Department MSS. + +[75] Mackenzie's Life of Perry, vol. i. p. 166. + +[76] Mackenzie's Life of Perry, vol. i. p. 186. + +[77] Perry to the Secretary of the Navy, Aug. 10, 1813. Mackenzie's Life +of Perry, vol. i. p. 191. + +[78] Secretary's Letters, Aug. 18, 1813. Navy Department MSS. + +[79] Otherwise known by the name of the River Raisin. Ante, vol. i. p. +370. + +[80] The data of this paragraph are taken from the Report on Canadian +Archives, 1896, Lower Canada, pp. 132, 138-140. Barclay in his Defence +before the Court Martial mentions the designs on Erie. + +[81] Harm Jan Huidekoper, by Nina Moore Tiffany and Francis Tiffany. +1904. p. 187. Mr. Huidekoper speaks admiringly of the unfaltering +composure and cheerfulness which under these circumstances accompanied +Perry's energy. + +[82] See ante, p. 41. + +[83] Report on Canadian Archives, 1896. Lower Canada, p. 133. + +[84] This statement appeared in the course of a _summary_ of the +evidence before the British Court, given by the Naval Chronicle, vol. +xxxii. pp. 241-242. The only support to it in the evidence, as recorded, +is Barclay's official letter, which he appears to have confirmed under +oath, that the "Niagara" kept out of carronade range, and "was perfectly +fresh at 2.30," when Perry went on board her. The first lieutenant of +the "Queen Charlotte," who remained in command, the captain being +killed, corroborated Barclay as to her distance. + +[85] In the finding--or verdict--of the British Court, as in the +evidence, there is no expression of a charge that the "Niagara" was +making away. The finding restricted itself to the matter before the +Court, namely, Barclay's official conduct. + +[86] There was a question whether the "Hunter" was ahead or astern of +the "Queen Charlotte." In the author's opinion the balance of evidence +is as stated in the text. Perry rearranged his line with reference to +the British, upon seeing their array. Had the "Charlotte" been next the +"Detroit," as James puts her, it seems probable he would have placed the +"Niagara" next the "Lawrence." + +[87] Cooper, Battle of Lake Erie, p. 63. + +[88] See Mackenzie's Life of Perry, 5th edition, vol. ii. pp. 251-252. +Perry's charges against Elliott, dated Aug. 8, 1818, are there given in +full. + +[89] See Mackenzie's Life of Perry, 5th edition, vol. ii. pp. 251-252. + +[90] Cooper's Battle of Lake Erie, p. 63. + +[91] Barclay's Report, Naval Chronicle, vol. xxxi. p. 251. + +[92] The range of a 32 pdr. carronade, with which the "Niagara" was +armed, throwing one solid shot, with ¼ degree elevation,--substantially +point-blank,--was 260 yards; at 5 degrees, 1260 yards. The difference, +1000 yards, is just half a sea mile. A British professional writer of +that day, criticising their commander's choice of position at Lake +Champlain, says: "At 1000 or 1100 yards the elevation necessary to be +given a carronade would have been so great that none but chance shots +[from the Americans] could have taken effect; whereas, in closing, he +gave up this advantage." Naval Chronicle, vol. xxxiii. p. 132. + +[93] The "Caledonia" had two long 24-pounders, and one other lighter +gun, variously stated. The "Detroit's" heaviest were also two long 24's; +she had besides one long 18, six long 12's, etc. + +[94] With reference to times, always very difficult to establish, and +often very important as bases of calculation, the following extract from +the Diary of Dr. Usher Parsons, surgeon of the "Lawrence," possesses +value; the more so as it is believed to have been copied from the log of +the vessel, which afterwards disappeared. The phraseology is that of a +log and a seaman, not of a physician. "At 10 called all hands to +quarters. A quarter before meridian the enemy began action at one mile +distance. In a half hour came within musket-shot of the enemy's new +ship.... At 1.30, so entirely disabled we could work the brig no longer. +At 2 P.M., most of the guns were dismounted, breechings gone, or +carriages knocked to pieces. At half-past two, when not another gun +could be worked or fired, Captain Perry hauled down the fighting flag +[not the national flag], which bore this motto 'Don't give up the ship,' +and repaired on board the 'Niagara,' where he raised it again. In ten +minutes after we struck." Publications of the Rhode Island Historical +Society, vol. vii. p. 244. This was called to the author's attention +after the account in the text was written. + +[95] Mackenzie's Life of Perry, vol. ii. p. 283. + +[96] Evidence of Midshipman Montgomery of the "Niagara," before the +Court of Inquiry. + +[97] Naval Chronicle, vol. xxxi. p. 252. + +[98] Richardson, War of 1812, p. 243. + +[99] Barclay's Report. + +[100] British Court Martial Record. + +[101] Navy Department, MSS. Miscellaneous Letters. My italics. + +[102] This scheme appears outlined in a letter of Oct. 5, 1812, to Lord +Bathurst from Sir George Prevost, who in support of it adduces Brock's +opinion (Canadian Archives MSS). Bathurst replied, Dec. 9, 1812, "I so +entirely concur in the expediency of the suggestions contained in your +despatch, as to the necessity of securing the territories of the Indians +from encroachment, that I have submitted it to His Majesty's Secretary +for Foreign Affairs, in order that whenever negotiations for peace may +be entered into, the security of their possessions may not be either +compromised or forgotten." (British Colonial Office Records). Prevost +transmitted a copy of the letter to Admiral Warren, in his early +diplomatic capacity as a peace envoy. Gordon Drummond, the successor of +Brock, and later of Prevost, expressed the same interest (Canadian +Archives MSS., April 2, 1814). + +[103] American State Papers, Foreign Affairs, vol. iii. pp. 710-713. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +THE CAMPAIGN OF 1813 ON THE LAKES AND NORTHERN FRONTIER, +AFTER THE BATTLE OF LAKE ERIE + + +Perry's victory was promptly followed up by himself and Harrison. +Besides its ultimate influence on the general course of events, +already mentioned, it produced immediate military consequences, the +effect of which was felt throughout the lake frontier, from Detroit to +Champlain. That success elsewhere did not follow was due to other +causes than remissness on their part to improve the occasion. Although +the "Lawrence" had to be sent back to Erie for extensive repairs, and +the "Detroit" and "Queen Charlotte" rolled their masts overboard at +anchor in Put-in Bay on the third day after the battle, Perry within a +week had his squadron and four of the prizes sufficiently in repair to +undertake the transport of the army. This timely facility, which +betrayed the enemy's expectations, was due largely to the "Lawrence" +having borne the brunt of the action. Had the injuries been more +distributed, the delay of repairs must have been greater. The British +Adjutant General at Niagara, Harvey, the hero of Stoney Creek, wrote +on hearing of the battle, "After an action of three hours and a half, +the enemy's vessels must have received so much damage as not to be in +a situation to undertake anything for some time."[104] By September 26 +Harrison had assembled his forces at an island in the lake, called +Middle Sister, twelve miles from Malden. On the 27th they were +conveyed to Malden, partly in vessels and partly in boats, the weather +being fine. By September 30 Sandwich and Detroit were occupied; +Procter retreating eastward up the valley of the Thames. Harrison +pursued, and on October 5 overtook the British and Indians at a +settlement called Moravian Town. Here they made a stand and were +defeated, with the destruction or dispersal of the entire body, in an +action known to Americans as the battle of the Thames. Procter +himself, with some two hundred men, fled eastward and reached the +lines at Burlington Heights, at the head of Ontario, whither Vincent +had again retreated on October 9, immediately upon receiving news of +the disaster at Moravian Town. + +After this the Western Indians fell wholly away from the British +alliance, and Harrison returned to Detroit, satisfied that it was +useless to pursue the enemy by land. The season was thought now too +far advanced for operations against Michilimackinac, which was +believed also to be so effectually isolated, by the tenure of Lake +Erie, as to prevent its receiving supplies. This was a mistake, there +being a route, practicable though difficult, from Toronto to Georgian +Bay, on Lake Huron, by which necessary stores were hurried through +before the winter closed in. Mackinac remained in British hands to the +end of the war. + +At Detroit Harrison and Perry received orders to transport a body of +troops down Lake Erie, to re-enforce the army on the general scene of +operations centring round Lake Ontario. By the control of the Niagara +peninsula, consequent upon Vincent's necessary retreat after the +battle of the Thames, the American communications were complete and +secure throughout from Detroit to Sackett's Harbor, permitting free +movement from end to end. The two officers embarked together, taking +with them thirteen hundred men in seven vessels. October 24 they +reached Buffalo. Harrison went on to Niagara, but Perry was here +detached from the lake service, and returned to the seaboard, leaving +Elliott to command on Erie. In acknowledging the order for Perry's +removal, Chauncey regretted the granting of his application as a bad +precedent; and further took occasion to remark that when he himself +was sent to the lakes the only vessel on them owned by the United +States was the brig "Oneida." "Since then two fleets have been +created, one of which has covered itself with glory: the other, though +less fortunate, has not been less industrious." It may be questioned +whether the evident difference of achievement was to be charged to +fortune, or to relative quickness to seize opportunity, when offered. + +The successes on Lake Erie had come very appositely for a change +recently introduced into the plans of the Government, and then in +process of accomplishment. Since the middle of the summer the +Secretary of War, Armstrong, who at this time guided the military +counsels, had become disgusted by the fruitlessness of the movements +at the west end of Ontario, and had reverted to his earlier and +sounder prepossession in favor of an attack upon either Kingston or +Montreal. It had now been for some time in contemplation to transfer +to Sackett's Harbor all the troops that could be spared from Niagara, +leaving there only sufficient to hold Fort George, with Fort Niagara +on the American side, as supports to a defensive attitude upon that +frontier. Assured command of the lake was essential to the safety and +rapidity of the concentration at Sackett's, and this led to the next +meeting of the squadrons. + +General James Wilkinson, an officer advanced in years, of extremely +poor reputation, personal as well as professional, and of broken +constitution, had been either selected by, or forced upon,[105] the +Secretary of War to replace Dearborn in command of the New York +frontier and conduct of the proposed operations. To his suggested +doubts as to the direction of effort, whether westward or eastward, +Armstrong had replied definitely and finally on August 8: "Operations +westward of Kingston, if successful, leave the strength of the enemy +unbroken. It is the great depot of his resources. So long as he +retains this, and keeps open his communication with the sea, he will +not want the means of multiplying his naval and other defences, and of +re-enforcing or renewing the war in the West." He then explained that +there were two ways of reducing the place; by direct attack, or, +indirectly, by cutting its communications with the lower river. To +accomplish the latter, a demonstration of direct attack should be made +by part of the troops, while the main body should move rapidly down +the St. Lawrence to Madrid (or Hamilton),[106] in New York, and cross +there to the Canadian side, seizing and fortifying a bluff on the +north bank to control the road and river. This done, the rest of the +force should march upon Montreal. The army division on Champlain was +to co-operate by a simultaneous movement and subsequent junction. The +project, in general outline, had been approved by the President. In +transmitting it Armstrong wrote to Wilkinson, "After this exposition, +it is unnecessary to add, that, in conducting the present campaign, +you will make Kingston your _primary object_, and that you will +_choose_ (as circumstances may warrant), between a _direct_ and +_indirect_ attack upon that post."[107] + +Contemporary and subsequent movements are to be regarded in their +bearing on this plan. The first object was the concentration at +Sackett's, for which some three thousand troops were to be withdrawn +from the Niagara frontier. Wilkinson arrived at Sackett's from +Washington, August 20. Chauncey was then in port, after the gale which +had driven both him and Yeo down the lake. He sailed on the 29th. +Wilkinson followed shortly, reaching Fort George September 4. On the +5th, Armstrong himself came to Sackett's, having established the War +Department in northern New York for the campaign. On the 10th Perry +destroyed the British squadron on Lake Erie, opening the way for +Harrison's victorious entry to Upper Canada and subsequent transfer to +Niagara. + +Some days before the battle of the Thames the embarkation from Niagara +for Sackett's Harbor took place under cover of the naval operations. +After Yeo had gone into Amherst Bay on September 12, as already +mentioned,[108] Chauncey remained cruising in the neighborhood till +the 17th, when he went to Sackett's, the enemy having got into +Kingston. On the 19th he sailed again for Niagara, to support the +movement of the army. He arrived on the 24th, and found there a report +of Perry's victory, which had been received on the 22d. On the 25th +embarkation began, and Wilkinson hoped that the whole body, three +thousand strong, would start on their coasting voyage along the south +shore of the lake on the 27th; but after dark, to conceal the +direction taken. At this juncture, on September 26, Chauncey heard +that the British fleet was at York, which was confirmed by a lookout +vessel despatched by him. As Yeo, unless checked, might molest the +transportation of the troops, it became necessary first to seek him; +but owing to a head wind the American squadron could not leave the +river till the evening of the 27th. + +As the schooner gun-vessels sailed badly, the "Pike," the "Madison," +and the "Sylph" each took one in tow on the morning of the 28th, +steering for York, where the British fleet was soon after sighted. As +the Americans stood in, the British quitted the bay to gain the open +lake; for their better manoeuvring powers as a squadron would have +scope clear of the land. They formed on the port tack, running south +with the wind fresh at east (Positions 1). When about three miles +distant, to windward, Chauncey put his fleet on the same tack as the +enemy and edged down towards him (Positions 2). At ten minutes past +noon, the Americans threatening to cut off the rearmost two of the +British, Yeo tacked his column in succession, beginning with his own +ship, the leader (a), heading north toward his endangered vessels, +between them and the opponents. When round, he opened fire on the +"General Pike." As this movement, if continued, would bring the +leading and strongest British ships upon the weaker Americans astern, +Chauncey put his helm up and steered for the "Wolfe" (b), as soon as +the "General Pike" came abreast of her; the American column following +in his wake. The "Wolfe" then kept away, and a sharp encounter +followed between the two leaders, in which the rest of the squadrons +took some share (Positions 3). + +At the end of twenty minutes the "Wolfe" lost her main and mizzen +topmasts, and main yard. With all her after sail gone, there was +nothing to do but to keep before the wind, which was fair for the +British posts at the head of the bay (Positions 4). The American +squadron followed; but the "Madison," the next heaviest ship to the +"Pike," superior in battery power to the "Wasp" and "Hornet" of the +ocean navy, and substantially equal to the second British ship, the +"Royal George," "having a heavy schooner in tow, prevented her +commander from closing near enough to do any execution with her +carronades."[109] The explanation requires explanation, which is not +forthcoming. Concern at such instants for heavy schooners in tow is +not the spirit in which battles are won or campaigns decided; and it +must be admitted that Commodore Chauncey's solicitude to keep his +schooners up with his real fighting vessels, to conform, at critical +moments, the action of ships of eight hundred and six hundred tons, +like the "Pike" and "Madison," to those of lake craft of under one +hundred, is not creditable to his military instincts. He threw out a +signal, true, for the fleet to make all sail; but as he held on to the +schooner he had in tow, neither the "Madison" nor "Sylph" dropped +hers. His flagship, individually, appears to have been well fought; +but anxiety to keep a squadron united needs to be tempered with +discretion of a kind somewhat more eager than the quality commonly +thus named, and which on occasion can drop a schooner, or other small +craft, in order to get at the enemy. As the dismasted "Wolfe" ran to +leeward, "the 'Royal George,'" says the American naval historian +Cooper, "luffed up in noble style across her stern to cover the +English commodore" (c), and "kept yawing athwart her stern, delivering +her broadsides in a manner to extort exclamations of delight from the +American fleet (Positions 5). She was commanded by Captain Mulcaster." +Her fighting mate, the "Madison," had a heavy schooner in tow. This +interposition of the "Royal George" was especially timely if, as Yeo +states, Chauncey was holding at a distance whence his long +twenty-fours told, while the "Wolfe's" carronades did not reach. + +At quarter before three Chauncey relinquished pursuit. Both squadrons +were then about six miles from the head of the lake, running towards +it before a wind which had increased to a gale, with a heavy sea. +Ahead of them was a lee shore, and for the Americans a hostile coast. +"Though we might succeed in driving him on shore, the probability was +we should go on shore also, he amongst his friends, we amongst our +enemies; and after the gale abated, if he could get off one or two +vessels out of the two fleets, it would give him as completely the +command of the lake as if he had twenty vessels. Moreover, he was +covered at his anchorage by part of his army and several small +batteries thrown up for the purpose." For these reasons, the commodore +"without hesitation relinquished the opportunity then presenting +itself of acquiring individual reputation at the expense of my +country." The British squadron anchored without driving ashore. The +American returned to Niagara, having received a certain amount of +damage aloft, and one of the purchased schooners having lost her +foremast; but the killed and wounded by the enemy amounted to only +five, all on board the "General Pike." That vessel lost also +twenty-two men by the bursting of a gun. + + [Illustration: CHAUNCEY AND YEO, SEPTEMBER 28, 1813] + +Chauncey had been in consultation with Armstrong at Sackett's, and +understood perfectly the plans of the Government. On his return to +Niagara he was requested by Wilkinson to keep watch over the hostile +squadron in its present position under Burlington Heights, so as to +cover the eastward movement of the troops, which began October 1. On +the 2d the last transport had gone, and Wilkinson himself set out for +Sackett's; bringing, as he reported, thirty-five hundred men. On the +3d the British fleet was seen well towards the west end of the lake; +but on the 4th a vessel sent especially to reconnoitre came back with +the report that it was no longer there. This proved to be a mistake; +but, as it came from a careful and competent officer, Chauncey +inferred that the enemy had given him the slip and gone to the +eastward. He therefore ran down the lake, to cover the arrival of the +troops as he had their departure. On the afternoon of the 5th, near +Kingston, he captured six out of seven transports bound thither with +re-enforcements. Of these, two were the schooners taken by Yeo in the +engagement of August 10, which the British had not thought fit to add +to their fleet, but used simply as carriers; mounting their guns on +the fortifications of Kingston. Cooper justly remarks, "This +sufficiently proves the equivocal advantage enjoyed by the possession +of these craft." Chauncey himself, at the end of the campaign, +recommended the building of "one vessel of the size of the +'Sylph,'"--three hundred and forty tons,--"in lieu of all the heavy +schooners; for really they are of no manner of service, except to +carry troops or use as gunboats."[110] The reflection is +inevitable,--Why, then, had he allowed them so to hamper his +movements? It is to be feared that the long ascendency of the gunboat +policy in the councils of the Government had sapped the professional +intelligence even of some naval officers. + +The capture of the detachment going from York to Kingston showed that +the British had divined the general character of the American plans. +In fact, as early as October 2, Major General de Rottenburg, who after +an interval had succeeded to Brock's place in Upper Canada, as +lieutenant governor and commander of the forces, had started with two +regiments to re-enforce Kingston, leaving the Niagara peninsula again +under the command of General Vincent. On October 6 Chauncey's squadron +entered Sackett's, where Wilkinson had arrived on the 4th. The general +began at once to remonstrate strenuously with Armstrong against an +attempt upon Kingston, as delaying and possibly frustrating what he +saw fit to style the chief object of the campaign, the capture of +Montreal. The Secretary listened patiently, but overruled him.[111] +Kingston had been the principal object from the beginning, and still +so continued; but, if the garrison should be largely re-enforced, if +the British fleet should enter the harbor, or if the weather should +make navigation of the lake dangerous for the transports, then the +troops should proceed direct for Montreal by the river. Yeo apparently +returned to Kingston soon after this; but when Chauncey left port on +October 16, to bring forward from the Genesee River a detachment under +Colonel Winfield Scott, he still had the understanding that Kingston +was first to be attacked. + +On October 19, however, the Secretary reconsidered his decision. The +concentration of the army at Sackett's had not been effected until the +18th. On the 16th de Rottenburg, having coasted the north shore of the +lake, reached Kingston with his two regiments, reckoned by Armstrong +at fifteen hundred men. These raised to twenty-two hundred the +garrison previously estimated at seven to eight hundred.[112] The +numbers of the Americans were diminishing by sickness, and no further +re-enforcement was to be expected, excepting by uniting with the +Champlain division. This had been on the move from Plattsburg since +September 19, and was now at Chateaugay, on the Chateaugay River; a +local centre, whence roads running northeast, to the river's junction +with the St. Lawrence, immediately opposite the island of Montreal, +and west to St. Regis on the St. Lawrence, forty miles higher up, gave +facilities for moving in either direction to meet Wilkinson's advance. +By a letter of October 12 from its commander, General Wade Hampton, +this corps numbered "four thousand effective infantry, with a +well-appointed train." To bring it by land to Sackett's, over a +hundred miles distant, was considered too protracted and laborious in +the state of the roads; better utilize the current of the St. Lawrence +to carry Wilkinson down to it. In view of these circumstances, and of +the supposed increased strength of Kingston, Armstrong decided to +abandon the attack upon the latter and to move against Montreal, which +was believed to be much weaker, as well as strategically more +important.[113] The movement was hazardous; for, as planned, ultimate +success depended upon junction with another corps, which had natural +difficulties of its own to contend with, while both were open to +obstruction by an active enemy. As a distinguished military critic has +said, "The Americans committed upon this occasion the same error that +the British Government did in their plan for Burgoyne's march from the +head of Champlain to Albany,--that of making the desired result of an +important operation depend upon the success of all its constituent or +component parts." It is one of the most common of blunders in war. +Wilkinson and Hampton did not meet. Both moved, but one had retreated +before the other arrived. + +In fact, while Montreal, as the most important point in Canada for the +British, except Quebec, and at the same time the one most accessible +to the United States, was the true objective of the latter, +concentration against it should have been made in territory entirely +under American control, about Lake Champlain, and the advance begun +early in the season. By its own choice the Government had relinquished +this obvious and natural course, and throughout the summer had +directed its efforts to the westward. When the change of operations +from Niagara to the lower end of the lake was initiated, in the +beginning of October, it was already too late to do more than attack +Kingston, the strength of which appears to have been gravely +over-estimated. Armstrong had good military ideas; but at this +critical moment he seems to have faltered in the presence of an +immediate difficulty, and to have sought escape from it by a hasty +consent to a side measure, contrary to the soundest teachings of war. + +Not the least of objections was the risk to which Sackett's Harbor, +the naval base, was to be exposed. After October 16, Chauncey had +remained cruising between there and Kingston, covering the approaches +to the St. Lawrence. His intended trip to Genesee, to bring up Scott's +eight hundred regulars, had been abandoned at the urgent demand of +Wilkinson, who, while the troops were being transferred from Sackett's +to Grenadier Island, at the outlet of the lake to the river, "would +not allow any part of the fleet to be absent four days without +throwing the responsibility, in case of a failure of his expedition, +wholly on the navy."[114] The commodore did not learn of the new +scheme until October 30, ten days after its adoption, when he was +asked to cover the rear of the army from pursuit by water, by taking +position inside the St. Lawrence. While objecting strongly to the +change of plan, he of course consented to afford all the co-operation +in his power; but he wrote to the Navy Department, "If Sir James Yeo +knows the defenceless situation of Sackett's, he can take advantage of +a westerly wind while I am in the river, run over and burn it; for to +the best of my knowledge there are no troops left there except sick +and invalids, nor are there more than three guns mounted."[115] + +After many delays by rough water, Wilkinson's troops were assembled at +Grenadier Island towards the end of October. On November 1 they began +entering the river by detachments, collecting at French Creek, on the +American side, fifteen miles from the lake. Being here immediately +opposite one of the points considered suitable for advance on +Kingston, the object of the movement remained still doubtful to the +enemy. The detachments first arriving were cannonaded by four of Yeo's +vessels that had come through the channel north of Long Island, which +here divides the stream. On November 2 Chauncey anchored near by, +preventing the recurrence of this annoyance. On the 4th the entire +force was assembled, and next day started down the river with fine +weather, which lasted until the 11th. Up to this date no serious +difficulty was encountered; but immediately that the departure from +French Creek proclaimed the real direction of the movement, de +Rottenburg despatched a body of six hundred regular troops, under +Lieutenant Colonel Morrison, accompanied by some gunboats under +Captain Mulcaster, to harass the rear. For the purpose of being on +hand to fall upon the American flotilla, should the attempt be made to +cross the river to the north bank, Sir James Yeo on the 5th came out +from Kingston with his fleet. He anchored on the north side of Long +Island, only five miles from the American squadron, but separated by a +reef, over which the "General Pike" could not pass without being +lightened.[116] Steps were taken to effect this, and to buoy a +channel; but on the 6th Yeo retired to Kingston. Chauncey's letters +make no mention of Mulcaster's division, and after Yeo's withdrawal he +moved down to Carleton Island. + +Morrison and Mulcaster on the 8th reached Fort Wellington, opposite +Ogdensburg. Here they paused and received re-enforcements from the +garrison, raising their numbers to eight hundred, who continued to +follow, by water and by land, until the 11th. Then they were turned +upon by the rearguard of an American division, marching on the north +bank to suppress the harassment to which the flotilla otherwise was +liable in its advance. An action followed, known as that of +Chrystler's Farm, in which the Americans were the assailants and in +much superior numbers; but they were worsted and driven back, having +lost one hundred and two killed and two hundred and thirty-seven +wounded, besides one hundred prisoners. The troops engaged then +embarked, and passed down the Long Saut Rapids to Cornwall, which is +one hundred and twenty miles from Kingston and eighty-two from +Montreal. Here they were rejoined on the 12th by the vanguard of the +division, which had met little resistance in its progress. + +At this time and place Wilkinson received a letter from General +Hampton, to whom he had written that the provisions of his army were +insufficient, and requested him to send "two or three months' supply +by the safest route in a direction to the proposed scene of +action."[117] He also instructed him to join the advance at St. Regis, +opposite Cornwall, the point which had now been reached. As the two +bodies were co-operating, and Wilkinson was senior, these instructions +had the force of orders. In his reply, dated November 8,[118] Hampton +said, "The idea of meeting at St. Regis was most pleasing, until I +came to the disclosure of the amount of your supplies of provision." +Actually, the disclosure about the supplies preceded in the letter the +appointment to meet at St. Regis, which was the last subject +mentioned. "It would be impossible," Hampton continued, "for me to +bring more than each man could carry on his back; and when I reflected +that, in throwing myself upon your scanty means, I should be weakening +you in your most vulnerable point, I did not hesitate to adopt the +opinion that by throwing myself back upon my main depot [Plattsburg], +where all means of transportation had gone, and falling upon the +enemy's flank, and straining every effort to open a communication from +Plattsburg to ... the St. Lawrence, I should more effectually +contribute to your success than by the junction at St. Regis." + +Hampton then retired to Plattsburg, in the direction opposite from St. +Regis. Wilkinson, upon receiving his letter, held a council of war and +decided that "the attack on Montreal should be abandoned for the +present season." The army accordingly crossed to the American side and +went into winter quarters at French Mills, just within the New York +boundary; on the Salmon River, which enters the St. Lawrence thirteen +miles below St. Regis. Wilkinson was writing from there November 17, +twelve days after he started from French Creek to capture Montreal. +Thus two divisions, of eight thousand and four thousand respectively, +both fell back helplessly, when within a few days of a junction which +the enemy could not have prevented, even though he might successfully +have opposed their joint attack upon Montreal. + +It is a delicate matter to judge the discretion of a general officer +in Hampton's position; but the fact remains, as to provisions, that he +was in a country where, by his own statement of a month before, "we +have, and can have, an unlimited supply of good beef cattle."[119] A +British commissary at Prescott wrote two months later, January 5, +1814, "Our supplies for sixteen hundred men are all drawn from the +American side of the river. They drive droves of cattle from the +interior under pretence of supplying their army at Salmon River, and +so are allowed to pass the guards, and at night to cross them over to +our side,"--the river being frozen. He adds, "I shall be also under +the necessity of getting most of my flour from their side."[120] It is +not necessary greatly to respect Wilkinson in order to think that in +such a region Hampton might safely have waited for his superior to +join, and to decide upon the movements of the whole. He was acting +conjointly, and the junior.[121] Under all the circumstances there can +be no reasonable doubt that his independent action was precipitate, +unnecessary, contrary to orders, and therefore militarily culpable. It +gave Wilkinson the excuse, probably much desired, for abruptly closing +a campaign which had been ludicrously inefficient from the first, and +under his leadership might well have ended in a manner even more +mortifying. + +Chauncey remained within the St. Lawrence until November 10, the day +before the engagement at Chrystler's Farm. He was troubled with fears +as to what might happen in his rear; the defenceless condition of +Sackett's, and the possibility that the enemy by taking possession of +Carleton Island, below him, might prevent the squadron's getting +out.[122] None of these things occurred, and it would seem that the +British had not force to attempt them. On the 11th the squadron +returned to the Harbor, where was found a letter from Armstrong, +requesting conveyance to Sackett's for the brigade of Harrison's army, +which Perry had brought to Niagara, and which the Secretary destined +to replace the garrison gone down stream with Wilkinson. The execution +of this service closed the naval operations on Ontario for the year +1813. On November 21 Chauncey wrote that he had transported Harrison +with eleven hundred troops. On the night of December 2 the harbor +froze over, and a few days later the commodore learned that Yeo had +laid up his ships for the winter. + +There remains yet to tell the close of the campaign upon the Niagara +peninsula, control of which had been a leading motive in the opening +operations. Its disastrous ending supplies a vivid illustration of the +military truth that positions are in themselves of but little value, +if the organized forces of the enemy, armies or fleets, remain +unimpaired. The regular troops were all withdrawn for Wilkinson's +expedition; the last to go being the garrison of Fort George, eight +hundred men under Colonel Winfield Scott, which left on October 13. +The command of the frontier was turned over to Brigadier General +George M'Clure of the New York Militia. Scott reported that Fort +George, "as a field work, might be considered as complete at that +period. It was garnished with ten pieces of artillery, which number +might have been increased from the spare ordnance of the opposite +fort"[123]--Niagara. The latter, on the American side, was garrisoned +by two companies of regular artillery and "such of M'Clure's brigade +as had refused to cross the river." + +It was immediately before Scott's departure that the British forces +under General Vincent, upon receipt of news of the battle of the +Thames, had retreated precipitately to Burlington Heights, burning all +their stores, and abandoning the rest of the peninsula. This was on +October 9; a week after de Rottenburg had started for Kingston with +two regiments, leaving only ten or twelve hundred regulars. De +Rottenburg sent word for these also to retire upon York, and thence to +Kingston; but the lateness of the season, the condition of the roads, +and the necessity in such action to abandon sick and stores, decided +Vincent, in the exercise of his discretion, to hold on. This +resolution was as fortunate for his side as it proved unfortunate to +the Americans. M'Clure's force, as stated by himself, was then about +one thousand effective militia in Fort George, and two hundred and +fifty Indians. Concerning the latter he wrote, "An exhibition of two +or three hundred of them will strike more terror into the British than +a thousand militia."[124] From time to time there were also bodies of +"volunteers," who assembled on call and were subject to the orders of +the national government for the period of their service. With such +numbers, so constituted, it was as impossible for M'Clure to trouble +Vincent as it was inexpedient for Vincent to attack Fort George. + +A gleam of hope appeared for the American commander when Perry brought +down the thirteen hundred of Harrison's victorious army, with the +general himself. The latter, who was senior to M'Clure, lent a +favorable ear to his suggestion that the two forces should be combined +to attack Vincent's lines. Some four hundred additional volunteers +gathered for this purpose; but, before the project could take effect, +Chauncey arrived to carry Harrison's men to Sackett's, stripped of +troops for Wilkinson's expedition. The urgency was real, and Chauncey +pressing, on account both of Sackett's and the season. In reply to a +very aggrieved remonstrance from M'Clure, Harrison expressed extreme +sympathy with his disappointment and that of the volunteers, but said +no material disadvantage was incurred, for he was convinced the +British were removing as fast as they could from the head of the lake, +and that an expedition thither would find them gone. Therewith, on +November 16, he embarked and sailed. + +The period of service for which the militia were "draughted" would +expire December 9. To M'Clure's representations the national +government, which was responsible for the general defence, replied +impotently by renewing its draught on the state government for another +thousand militia. But, wrote Armstrong, if you cannot raise +volunteers, "what are you to expect from militia draughts, with their +constitutional scruples?"--about leaving their state. Armstrong was +not personally responsible for the lack of organized power in the +nation; but as the representative of the Government, which by a dozen +years of inefficiency and neglect had laid open this and other +frontiers, the fling was unbecoming. On December 10, the garrison of +Fort George was reduced to "sixty effective regulars and probably +forty volunteers. The militia have recrossed the river almost to a +man."[125] M'Clure also learned "that the enemy were advancing in +force." That night he abandoned the works, retiring to Fort Niagara, +and carrying off such stores as he could; but in addition he committed +the grave error of setting fire to the adjacent Canadian village of +Newark, which was burned to the ground. + +For this step M'Clure alleged the authority of the Secretary of War, +who on October 4 had written him, "Understanding that the defence of +the post committed to your charge may render it proper to destroy the +town of Newark, you are directed to apprise its inhabitants of this +circumstance, and to invite them to remove themselves and their +effects to some place of greater safety." The general construed this +to justify destruction in order to deprive the hostile troops of +shelter near Fort George. "The enemy are now completely shut out from +any hopes or means of wintering in the vicinity of Fort George." The +exigency was insufficient to justify the measure, which was promptly +disavowed by the United States Government; but the act imparted +additional bitterness to the war, and was taken by the enemy as a +justification and incentive to the retaliatory violence with which the +campaign closed. + +The civil and military government of Upper Canada at this time passed +into the hands of Sir Gordon Drummond. For the moment he sent to +Niagara General Riall, who took over the command from Vincent. On +December 13, M'Clure reported the enemy appearing in force on the +opposite shore; but, "having deprived them of shelter, they are +marching up to Queenston." This alone showed the futility of burning +Newark, but more decisive demonstration was to be given. Early on the +19th the British and Indians crossed the river before dawn, surprised +Fort Niagara, and carried it at the point of the bayonet; meeting, +indeed, but weak and disorganized resistance. At the same time a +detachment of militia at Lewiston was attacked and driven in, and that +village, with its neighbors, Youngstown and Manchester, were reduced +to ashes, in revenge for Newark. On December 30 the British again +crossed, burned Buffalo, and destroyed at Black Rock three small +vessels of the Erie flotilla; two of which, the "Ariel" and "Trippe," +had been in Perry's squadron on September 10, while the third, the +"Little Belt," was a prize taken in that action. Two thousand militia +had been officially reported assembled on the frontier on December 26, +summoned after the first alarm; but, "overpowered by the numbers and +discipline of the enemy," wrote their commander, "they gave way and +fled on every side. Every attempt to rally them was ineffectual."[126] + +With this may be said to have terminated the northern campaign of +1813. The British had regained full control of the Niagara peninsula, +and they continued to hold Fort Niagara, in the state of New York, +till peace was concluded. The only substantial gain on the whole +frontier, from the extreme east to the extreme west, was the +destruction of the British fleet on Lake Erie, and the consequent +transfer of power in the west to the United States. This was the left +flank of the American position. Had the same result been accomplished +on the right flank,--as it might have been,--at Montreal, or even at +Kingston, the centre and left must have fallen also. For the +misdirection of effort to Niagara, the local commanders, Dearborn and +Chauncey, are primarily responsible; for Armstrong yielded his own +correct perceptions to the representations of the first as to the +enemy's force, supported by the arguments of the naval officer +favoring the diversion of effort from Kingston to Toronto. Whether +Chauncey ever formally admitted to himself this fundamental mistake, +which wrecked the summer's work upon Lake Ontario, does not appear; +but that he had learned from experience is shown by a letter to the +Secretary of the Navy,[127] when the squadrons had been laid up. In +this he recognized the uselessness of the heavy sailing schooners when +once a cruising force of ships for war had been created, thereby +condemning much of his individual management of the campaign; and he +added: "If it is determined to prosecute the war offensively, and +secure our conquests in Upper Canada, Kingston ought unquestionably to +be the first object of attack, and that so early in the spring as to +prevent the enemy from using the whole of the naval force that he is +preparing." + +In the three chapters which here end, the Ontario operations have been +narrated consecutively and at length, without interruption by other +issues,--except the immediately related Lake Erie campaign,--because +upon them turned, and upon them by the dispositions of the Government +this year were wrecked the fortunes of the war. The year 1813, from +the opening of the spring to the closing in of winter, was for several +reasons the period when conditions were most propitious to the +American cause. In 1812 war was not begun until June, and then with +little antecedent preparation; and it was waged halfheartedly, both +governments desiring to nip hostilities. In 1814, on the other hand, +when the season opened, Napoleon had fallen, and the United States no +longer had an informal ally to divert the efforts of Great Britain. +But in the intervening year, 1813, although the pressure upon the +seaboard, the defensive frontier, was undoubtedly greater than before, +and much vexation and harassment was inflicted, no serious injury was +done beyond the suppression of commerce, inevitable in any event. In +the north, on the lakes frontier, the offensive and the initiative +continued in the hands of the United States. No substantial +re-enforcements reached Canada until long after the ice broke up, and +then in insufficient numbers. British naval preparations had been on +an inadequate scale, receiving no proper professional supervision. The +American Government, on the contrary, had had the whole winter to +prepare, and the services of a very competent naval organizer. It had +also the same period to get ready its land forces; while incompetent +Secretaries of War and of the Navy gave place in January to capable +men in both situations. + +With all this in its favor, and despite certain gratifying successes, +the general outcome was a complete failure, the full measure of which +could be realized only when the downfall of Napoleon revealed what +disaster may result from neglect to seize opportunity while it exists. +The tide then ebbed, and never again flowed. For this many causes may +be alleged. The imbecile ideas concerning military and naval +preparation which had prevailed since the opening of the century +doubtless counted for much. The intrusting of chief command to +broken-down men like Dearborn and Wilkinson was enough to ruin the +best conceived schemes. But, despite these very serious drawbacks, the +strategic misdirection of effort was the most fatal cause of failure. + +There is a simple but very fruitful remark of a Swiss military writer, +that every military line may be conceived as having three parts, the +middle and the two ends, or flanks. As sound principle requires that +military effort should not be distributed along the whole of an +enemy's position,--unless in the unusual case of overwhelming +superiority,--but that distinctly superior numbers should be +concentrated upon a limited portion of it, this idea of a threefold +division aids materially in considering any given situation. One +third, or two thirds, of an enemy's line may be assailed, but very +seldom the whole; and everything may depend upon the choice made for +attack. Now the British frontier, which the United States was to +assail, extended from Montreal on the east to Detroit on the west. Its +three parts were: Montreal and the St. Lawrence on the east, or left +flank; Ontario in the middle, centring at Kingston; and Erie on the +right; the strength of the British position in the last named section +being at Detroit and Malden, because they commanded the straits upon, +which the Indian tribes depended for access to the east. Over against +the British positions named lay those of the United States. Given in +the same order, these were: Lake Champlain, and the shores of Ontario +and of Erie, centring respectively in the naval stations at Sackett's +Harbor and Presqu' Isle. + +Accepting these definitions, which are too obvious to admit of +dispute, what considerations should have dictated to the United States +the direction of attack; the one, or two, parts out of the three, on +which effort should be concentrated? The reply, as a matter of +abstract, accepted, military principle, is certain. Unless very urgent +reasons to the contrary exist, strike at one end rather than at the +middle, because both ends can come up to help the middle against you +quicker than one end can get to help the other; and, as between the +two ends, strike at the one upon which the enemy most depends for +re-enforcements and supplies to maintain his strength. Sometimes this +decision presents difficulties. Before Waterloo, Wellington had his +own army as a centre of interest; on his right flank the sea, whence +came supplies and re-enforcements from England; on his left the +Prussian army, support by which was imminently necessary. On which +flank would Napoleon throw the weight of his attack? Wellington +reasoned, perhaps through national bias, intensified by years of +official dependence upon sea support, that the blow would fall upon +his right, and he strengthened it with a body of men sorely needed +when the enemy came upon his left, in overwhelming numbers, seeking to +separate him from the Prussians. + +No such doubt was possible as to Canada in 1813. It depended wholly +upon the sea, and it touched the sea at Montreal. The United States, +with its combined naval and military strength, crude as the latter +was, was at the beginning of 1813 quite able in material power to +grapple two out of the three parts,--Montreal and Kingston. Had they +been gained, Lake Erie would have fallen; as is demonstrated by the +fact that the whole Erie region went down like a house of cards the +moment Perry triumphed on the lake. His victory was decisive, simply +because it destroyed the communications of Malden with the sea. The +same result would have been achieved, with effect over a far wider +region, by a similar success in the east. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[104] Canadian Archives MSS. + +[105] Scott says, "The selection of this unprincipled imbecile was not +the blunder of Secretary Armstrong." Memoirs, vol. i. p. 94, note. + +[106] Both these names are used, confusingly, by Armstrong. Madrid was +the township, Hamilton a village on the St. Lawrence, fifteen to twenty +miles below the present Ogdensburg. + +[107] American State Papers, Military Affairs, vol. i. p. 464. +Armstrong's italics. + +[108] Ante, p. 60. + +[109] Chauncey's report, Oct. 1, 1813, Niles' Register, vol. v. p. 134. +The extract has been verified from the original in the Captains' +Letters. The report of Sir James Yeo (British Records Office) agrees +substantially with Chauncey's accounts of the movements, but adds that +upon the fall of the "Wolfe's" topmasts the "Pike" immediately took a +distance out of carronade range, whence her long 24's would tell. "I can +assure you, Sir, that the great advantage the enemy have over us from +their long 24-pounders almost precludes the possibility of success, +unless we can force them to close action, which they have ever avoided +with the most studied circumspection." + +[110] Chauncey to Navy Department, Dec. 17, 1813. Captains' Letters. + +[111] Armstrong, Oct. 5, 1813. American State Papers, Military Affairs, +vol. i. p. 470. + +[112] Ibid., p. 471. + +[113] Armstrong, Oct. 20, 1813. American State Papers, Military Affairs, +vol. i. p. 473. + +[114] Scott's Memoirs, vol. i. p. 106. In consequence, though Scott +personally succeeded in joining the movement from which so much was +expected, this considerable number of regulars were withdrawn from it. +They ultimately reached Sackett's, forming the nucleus of a garrison. + +[115] Captains' Letters, Oct. 30, 1813. + +[116] Chauncey to the Navy Department, Nov. 11, 1813. Captains' Letters. + +[117] Wilkinson to Hampton. American State Papers, Military Affairs, +vol. i. p. 462. + +[118] Ibid. + +[119] Hampton's Letters during this movement are in American State +Papers, Military Affairs, vol. i. pp. 458-463. + +[120] Ridout, Ten Years in Upper Canada, p. 269. + +[121] American State Papers, Military Affairs, vol. i. p. 465. + +[122] Chauncey to Navy Department, Nov. 11. Captains' Letters. + +[123] American State Papers, Military Affairs, vol. i. p. 483. + +[124] American State Papers, Military Affairs, vol. i. p. 484. + +[125] American State Papers, Military Affairs, vol. i. p. 486. + +[126] Report of General A. Hall, Niles' Register, vol. v. p. 394. + +[127] December 17, 1813. Captains' Letters, Navy Department. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +SEABOARD MARITIME OPERATIONS + + +Upon the Canada frontier the conditions of 1813 had permitted the +United States an ample field for offensive operations, with good +prospect of success. What use was made of the opportunity has now been +narrated. Upon the seaboard, continuous illustration was afforded that +there the country was widely open to attack, thrown wholly on the +defensive, with the exception of preying upon the enemy's commerce by +numerous small cruisers. As a secondary operation of war this has +always possessed value, and better use of it perhaps never was made +than by the American people at this time; but it is not determinative +of great issues, and the achievements of the public and private armed +vessels of the United States, energetic and successful as they were at +this period, constituted no exception to the universal experience. +Control of the highways of the ocean by great fleets destroys an +enemy's commerce, root and branch. The depredations of scattered +cruisers may inflict immense vexation, and even embarrassment; but +they neither kill nor mortally wound, they merely harass. Co-operating +with other influences, they may induce yielding in a maritime enemy; +but singly they never have done so, and probably never can. In 1814 no +commerce was left to the United States; and that conditions remained +somewhat better during 1813 was due to collusion of the enemy, not to +national power. + +The needs of the British armies in the Spanish Peninsula and in +Canada, and the exigencies of the West India colonies, induced the +enemy to wink at, and even to uphold, a considerable clandestine +export trade from the United States. Combined with this was the hope +of embarrassing the general government by the disaffection of New +England, and of possibly detaching that section of the country from +the Union. For these reasons, the eastern coast was not included in +the commercial blockade in 1813. But no motive existed for permitting +the egress of armed vessels, or the continuance of the coasting trade, +by which always, now as then, much of the intercourse between +different parts of the country must be maintained, and upon which in +1812 it depended almost altogether. With the approach of spring in +1813, therefore, not only was the commercial blockade extended to +embrace New York and all south of it, together with the Mississippi +River, but the naval constriction upon the shore line became so severe +as practically to annihilate the coasting trade, considered as a means +of commercial exchange. It is not possible for deep-sea cruisers +wholly to suppress the movement of small vessels, skirting the beaches +from headland to headland; but their operations can be so much +embarrassed as to reduce their usefulness to a bare alleviation of +social necessities, inadequate to any scale of interchange deserving +the name of commerce. + +"I doubt not," wrote Captain Broke, when challenging Lawrence to a +ship duel, "that you will feel convinced that it is only by repeated +triumphs in even combat that your little navy can now hope to console +your country for the loss of that trade it cannot protect."[128] The +taunt, doubtless intended to further the object of the letter by the +provocation involved, was applicable as well to coasting as to +deep-sea commerce. It ignored, however, the consideration, necessarily +predominant with American officers, that the conditions of the war +imposed commerce destruction as the principal mission of their navy. +They were not indeed to shun combat, when it offered as an incident, +but neither were they to seek it as a mere means of glory, +irrespective of advantage to be gained. Lawrence, whom Broke's letter +did not reach, was perhaps not sufficiently attentive to this motive. + +The British blockade, military and commercial, the coastwise +operations of their navy, and the careers of American cruisers +directed to the destruction of British commerce, are then the three +heads under which the ocean activities of 1813 divide. Although this +chapter is devoted to the first two of these subjects, brief mention +should be made here of the distant cruises of two American vessels, +because, while detached from any connection with other events, they +are closely linked, in time and place, with the disastrous seaboard +engagement between the "Chesapeake" and "Shannon," with which the +account of sea-coast maritime operations opens. On April 30 Captain +John Rodgers put to sea from Boston in the frigate "President," +accompanied by the frigate "Congress," Captain John Smith. Head winds +immediately after sailing detained them inside of Cape Cod until May +3, and it was not till near George's Bank that any of the blockading +squadron was seen. As, by the Admiralty's instructions, one of the +blockaders was usually a ship of the line, the American vessels very +properly evaded them. The two continued together until May 8, when +they separated, some six hundred miles east of Delaware Bay. Rodgers +kept along northward to the Banks of Newfoundland, hoping, at that +junction of commercial highways, to fall in with a West India convoy, +or vessels bound into Halifax or the St. Lawrence. Nothing, however, +was seen, and he thence steered to the Azores with equal bad fortune. +Obtaining thereabouts information of a homeward-bound convoy from the +West Indies, he went in pursuit to the northeast, but failed to find +it. Not till June 9 did he make three captures, in quick succession. +Being then two thirds of the way to the English Channel, he determined +to try the North Sea, shaping his course to intercept vessels bound +either by the north or south of Ireland. Not a sail was met until the +Shetland Islands were reached, and there were found only Danes, which, +though Denmark was in hostility with Great Britain, were trading under +British licenses. The "President" remained in the North Sea until the +end of July, but made only two prizes, although she lay in wait for +convoys of whose sailing accounts were received. Having renewed her +supply of water at Bergen, in Norway, she returned to the Atlantic, +made three captures off the north coast of Ireland, and thence beat +back to the Banks, where two stray homeward-bound West Indiamen were +at last caught. From there the ship made her way, still with a +constant head wind, to Nantucket, off which was captured a British +man-of-war schooner, tender to the admiral. On September 27 she +anchored in Narragansett Bay, having been absent almost five months, +and made twelve prizes, few of which were valuable. One, however, was +a mail packet to Halifax, the capture of which, as of its +predecessors, was noted by Prevost.[129] + +The "Congress" was still less successful in material result. She +followed a course which had hitherto been a favorite with American +captains, and which Rodgers had suggested as alternative to his own; +southeast, passing near the Cape Verde Islands, to the equator between +longitudes 24° and 31° west; thence to the coast of Brazil, and so +home, by a route which carried her well clear of the West India +Islands. She entered Portsmouth, New Hampshire, December 14, having +spent seven months making this wide sweep; in the course of which +three prizes only were taken.[130] It will be remembered that the +"Chesapeake," which had returned only a month before the "Congress" +sailed, had taken much the same direction with similar slight result. + +These cruises were primarily commerce-destroying, and were pursued in +that spirit, although with the full purpose of fighting should +occasion arise. The paucity of result is doubtless to be attributed to +the prey being sought chiefly on the high seas, too far away from the +points of arrival and departure. The convoy system, rigidly enforced, +as captured British correspondence shows, cleared the seas of British +vessels, except in the spots where they were found congested, +concentrated, by the operation of the system itself. It may be noted +that the experience of all these vessels showed that nowhere was the +system so rigidly operative as in the West Indies and Western +Atlantic. Doubtless, too, the naval officers in command took pains to +guide the droves of vessels entrusted to them over unusual courses, +with a view to elude pursuers. As the home port was neared, the common +disposition to relax tension of effort as the moment of relief draws +nigh, co-operated with the gradual drawing together of convoys from +all parts of the world to make the approaches to the English Channel +the most probable scene of success for the pursuer. There the greatest +number were to be found, and there presumption of safety tended to +decrease carefulness. This was to be amply proved by subsequent +experience. It had been predicted by Rodgers himself, although he +apparently did not think wise to hazard in such close quarters so fine +and large a frigate as the "President." "It is very generally +believed," he had written, "that the coasts of England, Ireland, and +Scotland are always swarming with British men of war, and that their +commerce would be found amply protected. This, however, I well know +by experience, in my voyages when a youth, to be incorrect; and that +it has always been their policy to keep their enemies as far distant +from their shores as possible, by stationing their ships at the +commencement of a war on the enemy's coasts, and in such other distant +situations, ... and thereby be enabled to protect their own commerce +in a twofold degree. This, however, they have been enabled to do, +owing as well to the inactivity of the enemy, as to the local +advantages derived from their relative situations."[131] + +The same tendency was observable at other points of arrival, and +recognition of this dictated the instructions issued to Captain +Lawrence for the cruise of the "Chesapeake," frustrated through her +capture by the "Shannon." Lawrence was appointed to the ship on May 6; +the sailing orders issued to Captain Evans being transferred to him on +that date. He was to go to the mouth of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, +seeking there to intercept the military store-ships, and transports +with troops, destined to Quebec and Upper Canada. "The enemy," wrote +the Secretary, "will not in all probability anticipate our taking this +ground with our public ships of war; and as his convoys generally +separate between Cape Race and Halifax, leaving the trade of the St. +Lawrence to proceed without convoy, the chance of captures upon an +extensive scale is very flattering." He added the just remark, that +"it is impossible to conceive a naval service of a higher order in a +national point of view than the destruction of the enemy's vessels, +with supplies for his army in Canada and his fleets on this +station."[132] + +Lawrence took command of the "Chesapeake" at Boston on May 20. The +ship had returned from her last cruise April 9, and had been so far +prepared for sea by her former commander that, as has been seen, her +sailing orders were issued May 6. It would appear from the statement +of the British naval historian James,[133] based upon a paper captured +in the ship, that the enlistments of her crew expired in April. +Although there were many reshipments, and a nucleus of naval seamen, +there was a large infusion of new and untrained men, amounting to a +reconstitution of the ship's company. More important still was the +fact that both the captain and first lieutenant were just appointed; +her former first lying fatally ill at the time she sailed. The third +and fourth lieutenants were also strange to her, and in a manner to +their positions; being in fact midshipmen, to whom acting appointments +as lieutenants were issued at Lawrence's request, by Commodore +Bainbridge of the navy yard, on May 27, five days before the action. +The third took charge of his division for the first time the day of +the battle, and the men were personally unknown to him. The first +lieutenant himself was extremely young. + +The bearing of these facts is not to excuse the defeat, but to enforce +the lesson that a grave military enterprise is not to be hazarded on a +side issue, or on a point of pride, without adequate preparation. The +"Chesapeake" was ordered to a service of very particular importance at +the moment--May, 1813--when the Canada campaign was about to open. She +was to act against the communications of the enemy; and while it is +upon the whole more expedient, for the _morale_ of a service, that +battle with an equal should not be declined, quite as necessarily +action should not be sought when it will materially interfere with the +discharge of a duty intrinsically of greater consequence. The capture +of a single enemy's frigate is not to be confounded with, or inflated +to, that destruction of an enemy's organized force which is the prime +object of all military effort. Indeed, the very purpose to which the +"Chesapeake" was designated was to cripple the organized force of the +British, either the army in Canada, or the navy on the lakes. The +chance of a disabling blow by unexpected action in the St. Lawrence +much exceeded any gain to be anticipated, even by a victorious ship +duel, which would not improbably entail return to port to refit; while +officers new to their duties, and unknown to their men, detracted +greatly from the chances of success, should momentary disaster or +confusion occur. + +The blockade of Boston Harbor at this moment was conducted by Captain +Philip Vere Broke of the "Shannon", a 38-gun frigate, which he had +then commanded for seven years. His was one of those cases where +singular merit as an officer, and an attention to duty altogether +exceptional, had not yet obtained opportunity for distinction. It +would probably be safe to say that no more thoroughly efficient ship +of her class had been seen in the British navy during the twenty +years' war with France, then drawing towards its close; but after +Trafalgar Napoleon's policy, while steadily directed towards +increasing the number of his ships, had more and more tended to +husbanding them against a future occasion, which in the end never +came. The result was a great diminution in naval combats. Hence, the +outbreak of the American war, followed by three frigate actions in +rapid succession, opened out a new prospect, which was none the less +stimulative because of the British reverses suffered. Captain Broke +was justly confident in his own leadership and in the efficiency of a +ship's company, which, whatever individual changes it may have +undergone, had retained its identity of organization through so many +years of his personal and energetic supervision. He now reasonably +hoped to demonstrate what could be done by officers and men so +carefully trained. Captain Pechell of the "Santo Domingo," the +flagship on the American station, wrote: "The 'Shannon's' men were +better trained, and understood gunnery better, than any men I ever +saw;" nevertheless, he added, "In the action with the 'Chesapeake' the +guns were all laid by Captain Broke's directions, consequently the +fire was all thrown in one horizontal line, not a shot going over the +'Chesapeake.'"[134] + +The escape of the "President" and "Congress" early in May, while the +"Shannon" and her consort, the "Tenedos," were temporarily off shore +in consequence of easterly weather, put Broke still more upon his +mettle; and, fearing a similar mishap with the "Chesapeake," he sent +Lawrence a challenge.[135] It has been said, by both Americans and +English, that this letter was a model of courtesy. Undoubtedly it was +in all respects such as a gentleman might write; but the courtesy was +that of the French duellist, nervously anxious lest he should misplace +an accent in the name of the man whom he intended to force into fight, +and to kill. It was provocative to the last degree, which, for the end +in view, it was probably meant to be. In it Broke showed himself as +adroit with his pen--the adroitness of Canning--as he was to prove +himself in battle. Not to speak of other points of irritation, the +underlining of the words, "even combat," involved an imputation, none +the less stinging because founded in truth, upon the previous frigate +actions, and upon Lawrence's own capture of the "Peacock." In guns, +the "Chesapeake" and "Shannon" were practically of equal force; but in +the engagement the American frigate carried fifty more men than her +adversary. To an invitation couched as was Broke's Lawrence was doubly +vulnerable, for only six months had elapsed since he himself had sent +a challenge to the "Bonne Citoyenne." With his temperament he could +scarcely have resisted the innuendo, had he received the letter; but +this he did not. It passed him on the way out and was delivered to +Bainbridge, by whom it was forwarded to the Navy Department. + + [Illustration: CAPTAIN PHILIP BOWES VERE BROKE. + _From the mezzotint by Charles Turner after the painting by + Samuel Lane in the possession of Lady Saumarez._] + +Although Broke's letter did not reach him, Captain Lawrence made no +attempt to get to sea without engagement. The "Shannon's" running +close to Boston Light, showing her colors, and heaving-to in defiance, +served the purpose of a challenge. Cooper, who was in full touch with +the naval tradition of the time, has transmitted that Lawrence went +into the action with great reluctance. This could have proceeded only +from consciousness of defective organization, for the heroic temper of +the man was notorious, and there is no hint of that mysterious +presentiment so frequent in the annals of military services. The wind +being fair from the westward, the "Chesapeake," which had unmoored at +8 A.M., lifted her last anchor at noon, June 1, and made sail. The +"Shannon," seeing at hand the combat she had provoked, stood out to +sea until on the line between Cape Ann and Cape Cod, where she hove-to +on the starboard tack, heading to the southeast. The "Chesapeake" +followed under all sail until 5 P.M., when she took in her light +canvas, sending the loftier--royal--yards on deck; and at 5.30 hauled +up her courses, thus reducing herself to the fighting trim already +assumed by her adversary. The "Shannon," which had been lying stopped +for a long time, at this same moment filled her sails, to regain +headway with which to manoeuvre, in case her opponent's action should +require it; but, after gathering speed sufficient for this purpose, +the British captain again slowed his ship, by so bracing the +maintopsail that it was kept shaking in the wind. Its effect being +thus lost, though readily recoverable, her forward movement depended +upon the sails of the fore and mizzen masts (1). In this attitude, and +steering southeast by the wind, she awaited her antagonist, who was +running for her weather--starboard--quarter, and whose approach, thus +seconded, became now very rapid. Broke made no further change in the +ship's direction, leaving the choice of windward or leeward side to +Lawrence, who took the former, discarding all tactical advantages, and +preferring a simple artillery duel between the vessels. + +Just before she closed, the "Chesapeake" rounded-to, taking a parallel +course, and backing the maintopsail (1) to reduce her speed to that of +the enemy. Captain Lawrence in his eagerness had made the serious +error of coming up under too great headway. At 5.50, as her bows +doubled on the quarter of the "Shannon" (1), at the distance of fifty +yards, the British ship opened fire, beginning with the after gun, and +continuing thence forward, as each in succession bore upon the +advancing American frigate. The latter replied after the second +British discharge, and the combat at once became furious. The previous +history of the two vessels makes it probable that the British gunnery +was the better; but it is impossible, seeing the course the action +finally took, so far to disentangle the effects of the fire while they +were on equal terms of position, from the totals afterwards +ascertained, as to say where the advantage, if any, lay during those +few minutes. The testimony of the "Chesapeake's" second lieutenant, +that his division--the forward one on the gun deck--fired three rounds +before their guns ceased to bear, agrees with Broke's report that two +or three broadsides were exchanged; and the time needed by +well-drilled men to do this is well within, yet accords fairly with, +James' statement, that from the first gun to the second stage in the +action six minutes elapsed. During the first of this period the +"Chesapeake" kept moving parallel at fifty yards distance, but gaining +continually, threatening thus to pass wholly ahead, so that her guns +would bear no longer. To prevent this Lawrence luffed closer to the +wind to shake her sails, but in vain; the movement increased her +distance, but she still ranged ahead, so that she finally reached much +further than abreast of the enemy. To use the nautical expression, she +was on the "Shannon's" weather bow (2). While this was happening her +sailing master was killed and Lawrence wounded; these being the two +officers chiefly concerned in the handling of the ship. + + [Illustration: Diagram of the Chesapeake vs. Shannon Battle] + +Upon this supervened a concurrence of accidents, affecting her +manageability, which initiated the second scene in the drama, and +called for instantaneous action by the officers injured. The +foretopsail tie being cut by the enemy's fire, the yard dropped, +leaving the sail empty of wind; and at the same time were shot away +the jib-sheet and the brails of the spanker. Although the latter, +flying loose, tends to spread itself against the mizzen rigging, it +probably added little to the effect of the after sails; but, the +foresail not being set, the first two mishaps practically took all the +forward canvas off the "Chesapeake." Under the combined impulses she, +at 5.56, came up into the wind (3), lost her way, and, although her +mainyard had been braced up, finally gathered sternboard; the upshot +being that she lay paralyzed some seventy yards from the "Shannon" (3, +4, 5), obliquely to the latter's course and slightly ahead of her. The +British ship going, or steering, a little off (3), her guns bore fair +upon the "Chesapeake," which, by her involuntarily coming into the +wind,--to such an extent that Broke thought she was attempting to haul +off, and himself hauled closer to the wind in consequence (4),--lost +in great measure the power of reply, except by musketry. The British +shot, entering the stern and quarter of her opponent, swept diagonally +along the after parts of the spar and main decks, a half-raking fire. + +Under these conditions Lawrence and the first lieutenant were mortally +wounded, the former falling by a musket-ball through his body; but he +had already given orders to have the boarders called, seeing that the +ship must drift foul of the enemy (5). The chaplain, who in the +boarding behaved courageously, meeting Broke in person with a +pistol-shot, and receiving a cutlass wound in return, was standing +close by the captain at this instant. He afterwards testified that as +Lawrence cried "Boarders away", the crews of the carronades ran +forward; which corresponds to Broke's report that, seeing the enemy +flinching from their guns, he then gave the order for boarding. This +may have been, indeed, merely the instinctive impulse which drives +disorganized men to seek escape from a fire which they cannot return; +but if Cooper is correct in saying that it was the practice of that +day to keep the boarders' weapons, not by their side, but on the +quarter-deck or at the masts, it may also have been that this +division, which had so far stuck to its guns while being raked, now, +at the captain's call, ran from them to get the side-arms. At the +Court of Inquiry it was in evidence that these men were unarmed; and +one of them, a petty officer, stated that he had defended himself with +the monkey tail of his gun. Whatever the cause, although there was +fighting to prevent the "Chesapeake" from being lashed to the +"Shannon", no combined resistance was offered abaft the mainmast. +There the marines made a stand, but were overpowered and driven +forward. The negro bugler of the ship, who should have echoed +Lawrence's summons, was too frightened to sound a note, and the voices +of the aids, who shouted the message to the gun deck, were imperfectly +heard; but, above all, leaders were wanting. There was not on the +upper deck an officer above the grade of midshipman; captain, first +lieutenant, master, marine officer, and even the boatswain, had been +mortally wounded before the ships touched. The second lieutenant was +in charge of the first gun division, at the far end of the deck below, +as yet ignorant how the fight was going, and that the fate of his +superiors had put him in command. Of the remaining lieutenants, also +stationed on the gun deck, the fourth had been mortally wounded by the +first broadside; while the third, who had heard the shout for +boarders, committed the indiscretion, ruinous to his professional +reputation, of accompanying those who, at the moment the ships came +together, were carrying below the wounded captain. + + [Illustration: THE CAPTURE OF THE _CHESAPEAKE_ BY THE + _SHANNON_.--THE STRUGGLE ON THE QUARTERDECK. + _Drawn by Henry Reuterdahl._] + +Before the new commanding officer could get to the spar deck, the +ships were in contact. According to the report of Captain Broke, the +most competent surviving eye-witness, the mizzen channels of the +"Chesapeake" locked in the fore-rigging of the "Shannon." "I went +forward," he continues, "to ascertain her position, and observing that +the enemy were flinching from their guns, I gave orders to prepare for +boarding." When the "Chesapeake's" second lieutenant reached the +forecastle, the British were in possession of the after part of the +ship, and of the principal hatchways by which the boarders of the +after divisions could come up. He directed the foresail set, to shoot +the ship clear, to prevent thus a re-enforcement to the enemy already +on board; and he rallied a few men, but was himself soon wounded and +thrown below. In brief, the fall of their officers and the position of +the ship, in irons and being raked, had thrown the crew into the +confusion attendant upon all sudden disaster. From this state only the +rallying cry of a well-known voice and example can rescue men. "The +enemy," reported Broke, "made a desperate but disorderly resistance." +The desperation of brave men is the temper which at times may retrieve +such conditions, but it must be guided and fashioned by a master +spirit into something better than disorder, if it is to be effective. +Disorder at any stage of a battle is incipient defeat; supervening +upon the enemy's gaining a commanding position it commonly means +defeat consummated. + +Fifteen minutes elapsed from the discharge of the first gun of the +"Shannon" to the "Chesapeake's" colors being hauled down. This was +done by the enemy, her own crew having been driven forward. In that +brief interval twenty-six British were killed and fifty-six wounded; +of the Americans forty-eight were killed and ninety-nine wounded. In +proportion to the number on board each ship when the action began, the +"Shannon" lost in men 24 per cent; the "Chesapeake" 46 per cent, or +practically double. + +Although a certain amount of national exultation or mortification +attends victory or defeat in an international contest, from a yacht +race to a frigate action, there is no question of national credit in +the result where initial inequality is great, as in such combats as +that of the "Chesapeake" and "Shannon," or the "Constitution" and +"Guerrière." It is possible for an officer to command a ship for seven +years, as Broke had, and fail to make of her the admirable pattern of +all that a ship of war should be, which he accomplished with the +"Shannon"; but no captain can in four weeks make a thoroughly +efficient crew out of a crowd of men newly assembled, and never out of +harbor together. The question at issue is not national, but personal; +it is the credit of Captain Lawrence. That it was inexpedient to take +the "Chesapeake" into action at all at that moment does not admit of +dispute; though much allowance must be made for a gallant spirit, +still in the early prime of life, and chafing under the thought that, +should he get to sea by successful evasion, he would be open to the +taunt, freely used by Broke,[136] of dodging, "eluding," an enemy only +his equal in material force. + +Having, however, undertaken a risk which cannot be justified, was +Captain Lawrence also reckless, and vainly confident, in his conduct +before and during the action? Was he foolhardy, or only rash? The +reply, if favorable, is due to one of the most gallant and attractive +personalities in the annals of the United States Navy. + + [Illustration: CAPTAIN JAMES LAWRENCE. + _From the painting by Gilbert Stuart in the possession of the New + Jersey Historical Society, Newark, N.J._] + +From his action it is evident that Lawrence clearly recognized that a +green crew can be more quickly formed to efficiency at the battery +than to that familiarity with the rigging and the sails, and that +habit of working together about decks, on which manoeuvring power +depends. He therefore chose an artillery duel, surrendering even the +opportunity of raking permitted him by Broke, who awaited his approach +without an attempt at molestation. How far was his expectation as to +the results overstrained? The American crew lost double in proportion +to their enemy; but it did not fail to inflict a very severe +punishment, and it must be added under a very considerable +disadvantage, which there has been a tendency recently to +underestimate. The loss of the head sails, and all that followed, is +part of the fortune of war; of that unforeseeable, which great leaders +admit may derange even the surest calculations. It is not, therefore, +to be complained of, but it is nevertheless to receive due account in +the scales of praise and blame; for the man who will run no risks of +accidents accomplishes nothing. + +In the preceding narrative, and in the following analysis, the account +of the British naval writer James is in essentials adopted; chiefly +because, of all historians having contemporary sources of information, +he has been at most pains to insure precision.[137] As told by him, +the engagement divides into three stages. First, the combat side to +side; second, the period during which the "Chesapeake" lay in the wind +being raked; third, the boarding and taking possession. To these James +assigns, as times: for the first, six minutes; for the second, four; +for the third, five; this last being again subdivisible into a space +of two minutes, during which the "Chesapeake" was being lashed to her +opponent, and the actual fighting on her decks, which Broke states did +not exceed three. + +The brief and disorderly, though desperate, resistance to boarding +proves that the "Chesapeake" was already beaten by the cannonade, +which lasted, as above, ten minutes. During only six of these, +accepting James' times, was she on equal gunnery terms. During four +tenths--nearly one half--of the gunnery contest she was at a great +disadvantage. The necessity of manoeuvring, which Lawrence tried to +avoid, was forced upon him; and the ship's company, or her +circumstances, proved unequal to meeting it. Nevertheless, though +little more than half the time on equal terms of position with her +opponent, half her own loss was inflicted upon him. How great her +subsequent disadvantage is best stated in the words of James, whom no +one will accuse of making points in favor of Americans. "At 5.56, +having had her jib-sheet and foretopsail tie shot away, and her helm, +probably from the death of the men stationed at it, being at the +moment unattended to, the 'Chesapeake' came so sharp to the wind as +completely to deaden her way." How extreme this deviation from her +course is shown by the impression made on Broke. "As the manoeuvres of +the 'Chesapeake' indicated an intention to haul away, Captain Broke +ordered the helm to be put a-lee, as the 'Shannon' had fallen off a +little." The "Chesapeake's" way being deadened, "the ship lay with +her stern and quarter exposed to her opponent's broadside. The shot +from the 'Shannon's' aftermost guns now took a diagonal direction +_along_[138] the decks of the 'Chesapeake,' beating in her stern +ports, and sweeping the men from their quarters. The shot from the +'Shannon's' foremost guns, at the same time, entering the +'Chesapeake's' ports from the mainmast aft, did considerable +execution." This describes a semi-raking fire, which lasted four +minutes, from 5.56 to 6 P.M., when the ships came together. + +The manner of collision and the injuries received bear out the above +account. The quarter of the "Chesapeake" came against the side of the +"Shannon," the angle at the moment, as represented in James' diagram, +being such as to make it impossible that any of the "Chesapeake's" +guns, save one or two of the after ones, could then bear; and as she +was already paying off, they had been in worse position before. "She +was severely battered in the hull, on the larboard quarter +particularly; and several shot entered the stern windows.... Her three +lower masts were badly wounded, the main and mizzen especially. The +bowsprit received no injury." All these details show that the sum +total of the "Shannon's" fire was directed most effectively upon the +after part of the ship, in the manner described by James; and coupled +with the fact that the British first broadside, always reckoned the +most deadly, would naturally take effect chiefly on the fore part of +the "Chesapeake," as she advanced from the "Shannon's" stern to her +bow,[139] we are justified in the inference that the worst of her +loss was suffered after accident had taken her movements out of +Lawrence's instant control. Under these circumstances it may be +claimed for him that the artillery duel, to which he sought to confine +the battle, was not so entirely a desperate chance as has been +inferred. + +It may therefore be said that, having resolved upon a risk which +cannot be justified at the bar of dispassionate professional judgment, +Captain Lawrence did not commit the further unpardonable error of not +maturely weighing and judiciously choosing his course. That the crew +was not organized and exercised at the guns, as far as his time and +opportunity permitted, is disproved by incidental mention in the +courts martial that followed, as well as by the execution done. Within +ten minutes at the utmost, within six of equal terms, the +"Chesapeake," an 18-pounder frigate, killed and wounded of the +"Shannon's" ship's company as many as the "Constitution" with her 24's +did of the "Guerrière's" in over twenty;[140] and the "Constitution" +not only was a much heavier ship than her opponent, but had been six +weeks almost continuously at sea. When her crew had been together four +months longer, the loss inflicted by her upon the "Java," in a contest +spread over two hours, did not greatly exceed in proportion that +suffered by the "Shannon"; and the circumstances of that engagement, +being largely manoeuvring, justified Lawrence's decision, under his +circumstances, to have none of it. His reliance upon the marksmanship +of his men is further vindicated by Broke's report that neither vessel +suffered much aloft. The American and best British tradition of firing +low was sustained by both ships. Finally, although the organization of +the "Chesapeake" was not matured sufficiently to hold the people +together, without leaders, after a tremendous punishment by the +enemy's battery, and in the face of well-trained and rapidly supported +boarders, it had so far progressed in cohesion that they did not +flinch from their guns through a severe raking fire. What further +shows this is that the boatswain of the "Shannon," lashing the ships +together in preparation for boarding, was mortally wounded, not by +musketry only but by sabre. When thus attacked he doubtless was +supported by a body of fighters as well as a gang of workers. In fact, +Broke was himself close by. + +Under thus much of preparation, certainly not sufficient, Lawrence +chose for action a smooth sea, a royal breeze, an artillery duel, and +a close range. "No manoeuvring, but downright fighting," as Nelson +said of his most critical battle; critical, just because his +opponents, though raw tyros compared to his own crews, had nothing to +do but to work their guns. The American captain took the most +promising method open to him for achieving success, and carried into +the fight a ship's company which was not so untrained but that, had +some luck favored him, instead of going the other way, there was a +fighting chance of victory. More cannot be claimed for him. He had no +right, under the conditions, voluntarily to seek the odds against him, +established by Broke's seven years of faithful and skilful command. +Except in material force, the "Chesapeake" was a ship much inferior to +the "Shannon," as a regiment newly enlisted is to one that has seen +service; and the moment things went seriously wrong she could not +retrieve herself. This her captain must have known; and to the +accusation of his country and his service that he brought upon them a +mortification which endures to this day, the only reply is that he +died "sword in hand." This covers the error of the dead, but cannot +justify the example to the living. + +As is customary in such cases, a Court of Inquiry was ordered to +investigate the defeat of the "Chesapeake," and sat from February 2 to +February 8, 1814. Little can be gleaned from the evidence concerning +the manoeuvring of the ship; the only two commissioned officers +surviving, having been stationed on the gun deck, could not see what +passed above. Incidental statements by midshipmen examined confirm +substantially the account above given. One mentions the particular +that, when the head sheets were shot away, "the bow of the 'Shannon' +was abreast of the 'Chesapeake's' midships, and she came into the +wind;" he adds that the mizzen-topsail was a-back, as well as the +main. This is the only important contribution to the determination of +the relative positions and handling of the vessels. As far as it goes, +it confirms a general impression that Lawrence's eagerness prevented +his making due allowance for the way of the "Chesapeake," causing him +to overshoot his aim; an error of judgment, which the accidents to the +headsails converted into irretrievable disaster. The general testimony +agrees that the crew, though dissatisfied at non-receipt of pay and +prize money, behaved well until the moment of boarding. Four +witnesses, all officers, stated as of their own observation that the +"Shannon" received several shot between wind and water, and used her +pumps continuously on the way to Halifax. Budd, the second lieutenant, +"was informed by an officer of the 'Shannon' that she was in a sinking +condition." "The 'Chesapeake' was not injured below her quarters, +except by one or two shot." "The 'Chesapeake' made no water; but the +'Shannon' had hands at the pumps continually." A good deal of pumping +in a ship seven years in commission did not necessarily indicate +injuries in action; Midshipman Curtis, however, who was transferred to +the "Shannon," testified that "the British officers were encouraging +the men by cheering to work at the pumps," which looks more serious. +The purser of the "Chesapeake" swore that she had shot plugs at the +water-line, and that "her sailing master said she had three shot holes +below." The repetition of remarks made by the "Shannon's" officers is +of course only hearsay testimony; but as regards the shots below the +water-line,--as distinguished from the general body of the ship,--this +on the one hand shows that the "Shannon" had her share of bad luck, +for in the smoke of the battle this result is not attributable to nice +precision of aiming. On the other hand it strongly re-enforces the +proof of the excellent marksmanship of the American frigate, deducible +from the killed and wounded of her opponent, and it confirms the +inference that her own disproportionate loss was at least partly due +to the raking fire and her simultaneous disability to reply. Upon the +whole, the conclusion to the writer is clear that, while Lawrence +should not have courted action, the condition of the "Chesapeake" as a +fighting ship was far better than has commonly been supposed. It may +be added that an irresponsible contemporary statement, that his +"orders were peremptory," is disproved by the Department's letter, +which forms part of the Court's record. He was to "proceed to sea as +soon as weather, and the force and position of the enemy, will admit." +Even a successful action must be expected to compel return to port, +preventing his proceeding; and there is an obvious difference between +fighting an enemy when met, and going out especially to fight him. The +orders were discretional. + +Whether, by paying attention to favoring conditions, Captain Lawrence +could have repeated the success of Commodore Rodgers in gaining the +sea a month before, must remain uncertain. The "Constitution," under +Captain Stewart, a seaman of very excellent reputation, was unable to +do so, until the winter gales made it impossible for the blockaders to +maintain an uninterrupted watch off Boston. The sailing of the +"President" and "Congress" was the last successful effort for many +months; and the capture of the "Chesapeake" was the first of several +incidents illustrating how complete was the iron-barring of the coast, +against all but small vessels. + +Commodore Decatur, having found it impossible to get out from New York +by the Sandy Hook route, undertook that by Long Island Sound. Passing +through Hell Gate, May 24, with his little squadron,--the "United +States," the "Macedonian," her late prize, and the sloop of war +"Hornet,"--he was on the 26th off Fisher's Island, abreast of New +London. Here he remained until June 1, obtaining various information +concerning the enemy, but only certain that there was at least a ship +of the line and a frigate in the neighborhood. On the last named day, +that of the fight between the "Chesapeake" and the "Shannon," the wind +serving, and the two enemy's vessels being far to the southwest of +Montauk Point, at the east end of Long Island, the squadron put to sea +together; but on approaching Block Island, which was close to their +course, two more enemy's cruisers loomed up to the eastward. The +hostile groups manoeuvred severally to get between the Americans and +their ports of refuge, New London in the one quarter, Newport in the +other. In plain sight of this overwhelming force Decatur feared the +results of trying to slip out to sea, and therefore beat back to New +London.[141] The enemy followed, and, having now this division +securely housed, instituted a close blockade. It was apprehended even +that they might endeavor to take it by main force, the defences of the +place being weak; but, as is commonly the case, the dangers of an +attack upon land batteries were sufficient to deter the ships from an +attempt, the object of which could be attained with equal certainty by +means less hazardous, if less immediate. + +The upshot was that the two frigates remained there blockaded to the +end of the war; dependent for their safety, in Decatur's opinion, +rather upon the difficulty of the channel than upon the strength of +the fortifications. "Fort Trumbull, the only work here mounted or +garrisoned, was in the most unprepared state, and only one or two +cannon were to be had in the neighborhood for any temporary work which +should be erected. I immediately directed all my exertions to +strengthening the defences. Groton Heights has been hastily prepared +for the reception of a few large guns, and they will be mounted +immediately.... I think the place might be made impregnable; but the +hostile force on our coast is so great that, were the enemy to exert a +large portion of his means in an attack here, I do not feel certain he +could be resisted successfully with the present defences."[142] On +December 6 he reported that the squadron was moored across the channel +and under Groton Heights, which had been fortified; while in the mouth +of the harbor, three gunshots distant, was anchored a British +division, consisting of one ship of the line, a frigate, and two +smaller vessels. Two other ships of the line and several frigates were +cruising in the open, between the east end of Long Island and Gay +Head. This state of affairs lasted throughout the winter, during which +the ships were kept in a state of expectancy, awaiting a possible +opportunity; but, when the return of spring found the hope +unfulfilled, it was plainly idle to look to the summer to afford what +winter had denied. The frigates were lightened over a three-fathom +bar, and thence, in April, 1814, removed up the Thames fourteen miles, +as far as the depth of water would permit. Being there wholly out of +reach of the enemy's heavy vessels, they were dismantled, and left to +the protection of the shore batteries and the "Hornet," retained for +that purpose. Decatur was transferred to the "President," then at New +York, taking with him his ship's company; while the crew of the +"Macedonian" was sent to the lakes. The enemy's vessels then off New +London were three seventy-fours, four frigates, and three sloops. + +This accumulation of force, to watch Decatur's two frigates and the +"President," which during October and November was lying at Bristol, +Rhode Island, testified to the anxiety of the British Government to +restrain or capture the larger American cruisers. Their individual +power was such that it was unwilling to expose to attack by them the +vessels, nominally of the same class, but actually much inferior, +which were ranging all seas to protect British commerce. That this +should suffer, and in some considerable degree, from the operations of +well-developed privateering enterprise, pursued by a maritime people +debarred from every other form of maritime activity, was to be +expected, and must be endured; but the frigates carried with them the +further menace, not indeed of serious injury to the colossal naval +power of Great Britain, but of mortification for defeats, which, +however reasonably to be accounted for by preponderance of force, are +not patiently accepted by a nation accustomed to regard itself as +invincible. There are few things more wearing than explaining adverse +results; and the moral effect of so satisfactory a reply as the +victory of the "Shannon" might well have weighed with an American +captain, not to risk prestige already gained, by seeking action when +conscious of deficient preparation. The clamor aroused in Great +Britain by the three rapidly succeeding captures of the "Guerrière," +"Macedonian," and "Java," was ample justification of the American +policy of securing superior force in single cruisers, throughout their +several classes; a policy entirely consistent with all sound military +principle. It should be remembered, however, that a cruiser is +intended generally to act singly, and depends upon herself alone for +that preponderance of strength which military effort usually seeks by +concentration of numbers. The advantage of great individual power, +therefore, does not apply so unqualifiedly to the components of +fleets, the superiority of which depends upon the mutual support of +its members, by efficient combination of movement, as well as upon +their separate power. + +Both the Government and people of Great Britain expected with some +confidence, from the large fleet placed under Sir John Warren, the +utter destruction of the frigates and of the American navy generally. +"We were in hopes, ere this," said a naval periodical in June, 1813, +"to have announced the capture of the American navy; and, as our +commander-in-chief on that station has sufficient force to effect so +desirable an object, we trust, before another month elapses, to lay +before our readers what we conceive ought long since to have +happened."[143] The words of the Admiralty were more measured, as +responsible utterances are prone to be; but their tenor was the same. +Expressing to Warren disappointment with the results so far obtained, +they added: "It is of the highest importance to the _character_ and +interests of the country that the naval force of the enemy should be +quickly and completely disposed of. Their Lordships therefore have +thought themselves justified at this moment in withdrawing ships from +other important services, for the purpose of placing under your +command a force with which you cannot fail to bring the naval war to a +termination, either by the capture of the American national vessels, +or by strictly blockading them in their own waters."[144] This +expectancy doubtless weighed with Broke; and probably also prompted a +challenge sent to Decatur's squadron to meet two British frigates, +under pledge of fair play, and of safe return if victorious. In the +latter case they at least would be badly injured; so in either event +the blockaders would be relieved of much of their burden. + +The presence of several American frigates, blockaded close to the +point where Narragansett Bay and Long Island Sound meet, constituted a +great inconvenience to all that region, by attracting thither so many +enemy's cruisers. To a coasting trade--then so singularly +important--projecting headlands, or capes, are the places of greatest +exposure; in this resembling the danger entailed by salients in all +military lines, in fortification or in the field. Traffic between New +England and New York, general and local, had derived a further impetus +from the fact that Newport, not being included in the commercial +blockade, could still receive external supplies by neutral vessels. +Intercourse depended largely on these waters; and it was to them a +grave misfortune that there were no United States frigates left in New +York to divert the enemy's attention. The vexations entailed were +forcibly presented by the Governor of Connecticut.[145] "The British +force stationed in our waters having occasioned great inquietude along +the whole of our maritime frontier, every precaution consistent with +due regard to the general safety has been adopted for its +protection.... In our present state of preparedness, it is believed a +descent upon our coast will not be attempted; a well-grounded hope is +entertained that it will be attended with little success. +Unfortunately, we have not the means of rendering our navigation +equally secure. Serious depredations have been committed even in our +harbors, and to such an extent that the usual communication through +the Sound is almost wholly interrupted. Thus, while anxiously engaged +in protecting our public ships [Decatur's], we are doomed to witness +the unrestrained capture of our private vessels, and the consequent +suspension of commercial pursuits." As "the disapprobation of the war +by the people of Connecticut had been publicly declared through the +proper organs shortly after hostilities commenced,"[146] it may be +supposed the conditions described, accompanied by continual alarms +withdrawing the militiaman from his shop or his harvest, to repel +petty invasion, did not tend to conciliate opinion. An officer of the +Connecticut militia wrote in December, "Our engagements with the enemy +have become so frequent that it would be in vain to attempt a +particular statement of each."[147] + +Similar conditions prevailed along the entire seaboard, from Maine to +Georgia; being of course greatest where inland navigation with wide +entrances, like Long Island Sound, had given particular development to +the coasting trade, and at the same time afforded to pursuers +particular immunity from ordinary dangers of the sea. Incidental +confirmation of the closeness of the hostile pressure is afforded by +Bainbridge's report of the brig "Siren's" arrival at Boston, June 11, +1813, from New Orleans. "Although at sea between thirty and forty +days, and great time along our blockaded coast, she did not see one +enemy's cruiser."[148] The cause is evident. The Chesapeake and +Delaware were blockaded from within. Ships watching New York and Long +Island Sound would be far inside the course of one destined to Boston +from the southward. From Hatteras to the Florida line the enemy's +vessels, mostly of small class, kept in summer well inside the line +from cape to cape, harassing even the water traffic behind the +sea-islands; while at Boston, her port of arrival, the "Siren" was +favored by Broke's procedure. In his eagerness to secure action with +the "Chesapeake," he had detached his consort, the "Tenedos," with +orders not to rejoin until June 14. Under cover of her absence, and +the "Shannon's" return to Halifax with her prize, the "Siren" slipped +into a harbor wholly relieved of the enemy's presence. With such +conditions, a voyage along the coast could well be outside the British +line of cruising. + +Owing to the difficulty of the New York entrance, except with good +pilotage, and to the absence thence of ships of war after Decatur's +departure, that port ceased to present any features of naval activity; +except as connected with the lake squadrons, which depended upon it +for supplies of all kinds. The blockade of the Sound affected its +domestic trade; and after May its external commerce shared the +inconveniences of the commercial blockade, then applied to it, and +made at least technically effective. What this pressure in the end +became is shown by a casual mention a year later, under the heading +"progress of luxury. A private stock of wine brought the average +'extraordinary' price of twenty-five dollars the gallon; while at the +same period one auction lot of prize goods, comprising three decanters +and twelve tumblers, sold for one hundred and twelve dollars."[149] +The arrival in August, 1813, of a vessel in distress, which, like the +"Siren," had passed along the whole Southern coast without seeing a +hostile cruiser, would seem to show some lapse of watchfulness; but, +although there were the occasional evasions which attend all +blockades, the general fact of neutrals turned away was established. A +flotilla of a dozen gunboats was kept in commission in the bay, but +under an officer not of the regular navy. As might readily have been +foreseen from conditions, and from experience elsewhere, the national +gunboat experiment had abundantly shown that vessels of that class +were not only excessively costly in expenditure, and lamentably +inefficient in results, as compared with seagoing cruisers, but were +also deleterious to the professional character of officers and +seamen. Two years before the war Captain Campbell, then in command +both at Charleston and Savannah, had commented on the unofficer-like +neglect noticeable in the gunboats, and Gordon now reported the same +effect upon the crew of the "Constellation," while thus detached for +harbor defence.[150] The Secretary of the Navy, affirming the general +observation, remarked that officers having knowledge of their business +were averse to gunboat duty, while those who had it yet to acquire +were unwilling, because there it could not be learned. "It is a +service in which those who are to form the officers for the ships of +war ought not to be employed."[151] He therefore had recommended the +commissioning of volunteer officers for this work. This local New York +harbor guard at times convoyed coasters in the Sound, and at times +interfered, both in that quarter and off Sandy Hook, to prevent small +cruisers or boats of the enemy from effecting seizures of vessels, +close in shore or run on the beach. Such military action possesses a +certain minor value, diminishing in some measure the grand total of +loss; but it is not capable of modifying seriously the broad results +of a strong commercial blockade. + +The Delaware and the Chesapeake--the latter particularly--became the +principal scenes of active operations by the British navy. Here in the +early part of the summer there seems to have been a formed determination +on the part of Sir John Warren to satisfy his Government and people by +evidence of military exertion in various quarters. Rear Admiral George +Cockburn, an officer of distinction and energy, had been ordered at the +end of 1812 from the Cadiz station, with four ships of the line and +several smaller cruisers, to re-enforce Warren. This strong detachment, +a token at once of the relaxing demand upon the British navy in Europe, +and of the increasing purpose of the British Government towards the +United States, joined the commander-in-chief at Bermuda, and accompanied +him to the Chesapeake in March. Cockburn became second in command. Early +in April the fleet began moving up the bay; an opening incident, already +mentioned,[152] being the successful attack by its boats upon several +letters-of-marque and privateers in the Rappahannock upon the 3d of the +month. Some of the schooners there captured were converted into tenders, +useful for penetrating the numerous waterways which intersected the +country in every direction. + +The fleet, comprising several ships of the line, besides numerous +smaller vessels, continued slowly upwards, taking time to land parties +in many quarters, keeping the country in perpetual alarm. The +multiplicity and diverseness of its operations, the particular object +of which could at no moment be foreseen, made it impossible to combine +resistance. The harassment was necessarily extreme, and the sustained +suspense wearing; for, with reports continually arriving, now from one +shore and now from the other, each neighborhood thought itself the +next to be attacked. Defence depended wholly upon militia, hastily +assembled, with whom local considerations are necessarily predominant. +But while thus spreading consternation on either side, diverting +attention from his main objective, the purpose of the British admiral +was clear to his own mind. It was "to cut off the enemy's supplies, +and destroy their foundries, stores, and public works, by penetrating +the rivers at the head of the Chesapeake." + + [Illustration: OUTLINE MAP OF CHESAPEAKE BAY AND RIVERS] + +On April 16 an advanced division arrived off the mouth of the +Patapsco, a dozen miles from Baltimore. There others successively +joined, until the whole force was reported on the 22d to be three +seventy-fours, with several frigates and smaller vessels, making a +total of fifteen. The body of the fleet remained stationary, causing +the city a strong anticipation of attack; an impression conducing to +retain there troops which, under a reasonable reliance upon adequate +fortifications, might have been transferred to the probable scene of +operations, sufficiently indicated by its intrinsic importance. Warren +now constituted a light squadron of two frigates, with a half-dozen +smaller vessels, including some of those recently captured. These he +placed in charge of Cockburn and despatched to the head of the bay. In +addition to the usual crews there went about four hundred of the naval +brigade, consisting of marines and seamen in nearly equal numbers. +This, with a handful of army artillerists, was the entire force. With +these Cockburn went first up the Elk River, where Washington thirty +years before had taken shipping on his way to the siege of Yorktown. +At Frenchtown, notwithstanding a six-gun battery lately erected, a +landing was effected on April 29, and a quantity of flour and army +equipments were destroyed, together with five bay schooners. Many +cattle were likewise seized; Cockburn, in this and other instances, +offering to pay in British government bills, provided no resistance +was attempted in the neighborhood. From Frenchtown he went round to +the Susquehanna, to obtain more cattle from an island, just below +Havre de Grace; but being there confronted on May 2 by an American +flag, hoisted over a battery at the town, he proceeded to attack the +following day. A nominal resistance was made; but as the British loss, +here and at Frenchtown, was one wounded on each occasion, no great +cause for pride was left with the defenders. Holding the inhabitants +responsible for the opposition in their neighborhood, he determined to +punish the town. Some houses were burned. The guns of the battery were +then embarked; and during this process Cockburn himself, with a small +party, marched three or four miles north of the place to a cannon +foundry, where he destroyed the guns and material found, together with +the buildings and machinery. + +"Our small division," he reported to Warren, "has been during the +whole of this day on shore, in the centre of the enemy's country, and +on his high road between Baltimore and Philadelphia." The feat +testified rather to the military imbecility of the United States +Government during the last decade than to any signal valor or +enterprise on the part of the invaders. Enough and to spare of both +there doubtless was among them; for the expedition was of a kind +continuously familiar to the British navy during the past twenty +years, under far greater difficulty, in many parts of the world. +Seeing the trifling force engaged, the mortification to Americans must +be that no greater demand was made upon it for the display of its +military virtues. Besides the destruction already mentioned, a +division of boats went up the Susquehanna, destroyed five vessels and +more flour; after which, "everything being completed to my utmost +wishes, the division embarked and returned to the ships, after being +twenty-two hours in constant exertion." From thence Cockburn went +round to the Sassafras River, where a similar series of small injuries +was inflicted, and two villages, Georgetown and Frederickstown, were +destroyed, in consequence of local resistance offered, by which five +British were wounded. Assurance coming from several quarters that no +further armed opposition would be made, and as there was "now neither +public property, vessels, nor warlike stores remaining in the +neighborhood," the expedition returned down the bay, May 7, and +regained the fleet.[153] + +The history of the Delaware and its waters during this period was +very much the same as that of the Chesapeake; except that, the water +system of the lower bay being less extensive and practicable, and the +river above narrower, there was not the scope for general marauding, +nor the facility for systematic destruction, which constituted the +peculiar exposure of the Chesapeake and gave Cockburn his opportunity. +Neither was there the same shelter from the sweep of the ocean, nor +any naval establishment to draw attention. For these reasons, the +Chesapeake naturally attracted much more active operations; and +Virginia, which formed so large a part of its coast-line, was the home +of the President. She was also the leading member of the group of +states which, in the internal contests of American politics, was +generally thought to represent hatred to Great Britain and attachment +to France. In both bays the American Government maintained flotillas +of gunboats and small schooners, together with--in the Delaware at +least--a certain number of great rowing barges, or galleys; but, +although creditable energy was displayed, it is impossible to detect +that, even in waters which might be thought suited to their particular +qualities, these small craft exerted any substantial influence upon +the movements of the enemy. Their principal effect appears to have +been to excite among the inhabitants a certain amount of unreasonable +expectation, followed inevitably by similar unreasoning complaint. + +It is probable, however, that they to some extent restricted the +movements of small foraging parties beyond the near range of their +ships; and they served also the purpose of watching and reporting the +dispositions of the British fleet. When it returned downwards from +Cockburn's expedition, it was followed by a division of these schooners +and gunboats, under Captain Charles Gordon of the navy, who remained +cruising for nearly a month below the Potomac, constantly sighting the +enemy, but without an opportunity offering for a blow to be struck +under conditions favorable to either party. "The position taken by the +enemy's ships," reported Gordon, "together with the constant protection +given their small cruisers, particularly in the night, rendered any +offensive operations on our part impracticable."[154] In the Delaware, +a British corvette, running upon a shoal with a falling tide, was +attacked in this situation by a division of ten gunboats which was at +hand. Such conditions were unusually favorable to them, and, though a +frigate was within plain sight, she could not get within range on +account of the shoalness of water; yet the two hours' action which +followed did no serious injury to the grounded ship. Meantime one of +the gunboats drifted from its position, and was swept by the tide out +of supporting distance from its fellows. The frigate and sloop then +manned boats, seven in number, pulled towards her, and despite a plucky +resistance carried her; their largely superior numbers easily climbing +on board her low-lying deck. Although the record of gunboats in all +parts of the world is mostly unfruitful, some surprise cannot but be +felt at the immunity experienced by a vessel aground under such +circumstances.[155] + +On May 13 Captain Stewart of the "Constellation" reported from Norfolk +that the enemy's fleet had returned down the bay; fifteen sail being +at anchor in a line stretching from Cape Henry to near Hampton Roads. +Little had yet been done by the authorities to remedy the defenceless +condition of the port, which he had deplored in his letter of March +17; and he apprehended a speedy attack either upon Hampton, on the +north shore of the James River, important as commanding communications +between Norfolk and the country above, or upon Craney Island, +covering the entrance to the Elizabeth River, through the narrow +channel of which the navy yard must be approached. There was a party +now at work throwing up a battery on the island, on which five hundred +troops were stationed, but he feared these preparations were begun too +late. He had assigned seven gunboats to assist the defence. It was +clear to his mind that, if Norfolk was their object, active operations +would begin at one of these approaches, and not immediately about the +place itself. Meanwhile, he would await developments, and postpone his +departure to Boston, whither he had been ordered to command the +"Constitution." + +Much to Stewart's surprise, considering the force of the enemy, which +he, as a seaman, could estimate accurately and compare with what he +knew to be the conditions confronting them, most of the British fleet +soon after put to sea with the commander-in-chief, leaving Cockburn +with one seventy-four and four frigates to hold the bay. This apparent +abandonment, or at best concession of further time to Craney Island, +aroused in him contempt as well as wonder. He had commented a month +before on their extremely circumspect management; "they act +cautiously, and never separate so far from one another that they +cannot in the course of a few hours give to each other support, by +dropping down or running up, as the wind or tide serve."[156] Such +precaution, however, was not out of place when confronted with the +presence of gunboats capable of utilizing calms and local conditions. +To avoid exposure to useless injury is not to pass the bounds of +military prudence. It was another matter to have brought so large a +force, and to depart with no greater results than those of Frenchtown +and Havre de Grace. "They do not appear disposed to put anything to +risk, or to make an attack where they are likely to meet with +opposition. Their conduct while in these waters has been highly +disgraceful to their arms, and evinces the respect and dread they have +for their opponents."[157] He added a circumstance which throws +further light upon the well-known discontent of the British crews and +their deterioration in quality, under a prolonged war and the +confinement attending the impressment system. "Their loss in prisoners +and deserters has been very considerable; the latter are coming up to +Norfolk almost daily, and their naked bodies are frequently fished up +on the bay shore, where they must have been drowned in attempting to +swim. They all give the same account of the dissatisfaction of their +crews, and their detestation of the service they are engaged in."[158] +Deserters, however, usually have tales acceptable to those to whom +they come. + +Whether Warren was judicious in postponing attack may be doubted, but +he had not lost sight of the Admiralty's hint about American frigates. +There were just two in the waters of the Chesapeake; the +"Constellation," 36, at Norfolk, and the "Adams," 24, Captain Charles +Morris, in the Potomac. The British admiral had been notified that a +division of troops would be sent to Bermuda, to be under his command +for operations on shore, and he was now gone to fetch them. Early in +June he returned, bringing these soldiers, two thousand six hundred +and fifty in number.[159] From his Gazette letters he evidently had in +view the capture of Norfolk with the "Constellation"; for when he +designates Hampton and Craney Island as points of attack, it is +because of their relations to Norfolk.[160] This justified the +forecast of Stewart, who had now departed; the command of the +"Constellation" devolving soon after upon Captain Gordon. In +connection with the military detachment intrusted to Warren, the +Admiralty, while declining to give particular directions as to its +employment, wrote him: "Against a maritime country like America, the +chief towns and establishments of which are situated upon navigable +rivers, a force of the kind under your orders must necessarily be +peculiarly formidable.... In the choice of objects of attack, it will +naturally occur to you that on every account any attempt which should +have the effect of crippling the enemy's naval force should have a +preference."[161] Except for the accidental presence of Decatur's +frigates in New London, as yet scarcely known to the British +commander-in-chief, Norfolk, more than any other place, met this +prescription of his Government. His next movements, therefore, may be +considered as resulting directly from his instructions. + +The first occurrence was a somewhat prolonged engagement between a +division of fifteen gunboats and the frigate "Junon," which, having +been sent to destroy vessels at the mouth of the James River, was +caught becalmed and alone in the upper part of Hampton Roads; no other +British vessel being nearer than three miles. The cannonade continued +for three quarters of an hour, when a breeze springing up brought two +of her consorts to the "Junon's" aid. The gunboats, incapable of close +action with a single frigate in a working breeze, necessarily now +retreated. They had suffered but slightly, one killed and two wounded; +but retired with the confidence, always found in the accounts of such +affairs, that they had inflicted great damage upon the enemy. The +commander of a United States revenue cutter, lately captured, who was +on board the frigate at the time, brought back word subsequently that +she had lost one man killed and two or three wounded.[162] The British +official reports do not allude to the affair. As regards positive +results, however, it may be affirmed with considerable assurance that +the military value of gunboats in their day, as a measure of coast +defence, was not what they effected, but the caution imposed upon the +enemy by the apprehension of what they might effect, did this or that +combination of circumstances occur. That the circumstances actually +almost never arose detracted little from this moral influence. The +making to one's self a picture of possible consequences is a powerful +factor in most military operations; and the gunboat is not without its +representative to-day in the sphere of imaginative warfare. + +The "Junon" business was a casual episode. Warren was already +preparing for his attack on Craney Island. This little strip of +ground, a half-mile long by two hundred yards across, lies within easy +gunshot to the west of the Elizabeth River, a narrow channel-way, +three hundred yards from edge to edge, which from Hampton Roads leads +due south, through extensive flats, to Norfolk and Portsmouth. The +navy yard is four miles above the island, on the west side of the +river, the banks of which there have risen above the water. Up to and +beyond Craney Island the river-bed proper, though fairly clear, is +submerged and hidden amid the surrounding expanse of shoal water. Good +pilotage, therefore, is necessary, and incidental thereto the +reduction beforehand of an enemy's positions commanding the approach. +Of these Craney Island was the first. From it the flats which +constitute the under-water banks of the Elizabeth extend north towards +Hampton Roads, for a distance of two miles, and are not traversable by +vessels powerful enough to act against batteries. For nearly half a +mile the depth is less than four feet, while the sand immediately +round the island was bare when the tide was out.[163] Attack here was +possible only by boats armed with light cannon and carrying troops. On +the west the island was separated from the mainland by a narrow strip +of water, fordable by infantry at low tide. It was therefore +determined to make a double assault,--one on the north, by fifteen +boats, carrying, besides their crews, five hundred soldiers; the other +on the west, by a division eight hundred strong,[164] to be landed +four miles away, at the mouth of the Nansemond River. The garrison of +the island numbered five hundred and eighty, and one hundred and fifty +seamen were landed from the "Constellation" to man one of the +principal batteries. + +The British plan labored under the difficulty that opposite conditions +of tide were desirable for the two parties which were to act in +concert. The front attack demanded high water, in order that under the +impulse of the oars the boats might get as near as possible before +they took the ground, whence the advance to the assault must be by +wading. The flanking movement required low water, to facilitate +passing the ford. Between the two, the hour was fixed for an ebbing +tide, probably to allow for delays, and to assure the arrival of the +infantry so as to profit by the least depth. At 11 A.M. of June 22 the +boat division arrived off the northwest point of the island, opposite +the battery manned by the seamen, in that day notoriously among the +best of artillerists. A difference of opinion as to the propriety of +advancing at all here showed itself among the senior naval officers; +for there will always be among seamen a dislike to operating over +unknown ground with a falling tide. The captain in command, however, +overruled hesitations; doubtless feeling that in a combined movement +the particular interest of one division must yield to the +requirements of mutual support. A spirited forward dash was therefore +made; but the guiding boat, sixty yards ahead of the others, grounded +a hundred yards from the battery. One or two others, disregarding her +signal, shared her mishap; and two were sunk by the American fire. +Under these circumstances a seaman, sounding with a boat hook, +declared that he found along side three or four feet of slimy mud. +This was considered decisive, and the attack was abandoned. + +The shore division had already retreated, having encountered +obstacles, the precise character of which is not stated. Warren's +report simply said, "In consequence of the representation of the +officer commanding the troops, of the difficulty of their passing over +from the land, I considered that the persevering in the attempt would +cost more men than the number with us would permit, as the other forts +must have been stormed before the frigate and dockyard could be +destroyed." The enterprise was therefore abandoned at the threshold, +because of probable ulterior difficulties, the degree of which it +would require to-day unprofitable labor even to conjecture; but +reduced as the affair in its upshot was to an abortive demonstration, +followed by no serious effort, it probably was not reckoned at home to +have fulfilled the Admiralty's injunctions, that the character as well +as the interest of the country required certain results. The loss was +trifling,--three killed, sixteen wounded, sixty-two missing.[165] + +Having relinquished his purpose against Craney Island, and with it, +apparently, all serious thought of the navy yard and the +"Constellation", Warren next turned his attention to Hampton. On the +early morning of June 26 two thousand troops were landed to take +possession of the place, which they did with slight resistance. Three +stand of colors were captured and seven field guns, with their +equipment and ammunition. The defences of the town were destroyed; but +as no further use was made of the advantage gained, the affair +amounted to nothing more than an illustration on a larger scale of the +guerilla depredation carried on on all sides of the Chesapeake. With +it ended Warren's attempts against Norfolk. His force may have been +really inadequate to more; certainly it was far smaller than was +despatched to the same quarter the following year; but the Admiralty +probably was satisfied by this time that he had not the enterprise +necessary for his position, and a successor was appointed during the +following winter. + +For two months longer the British fleet as a whole remained in the +bay, engaged in desultory operations, which had at least the effect of +greatly increasing their local knowledge, and in so far facilitating +the more serious undertakings of the next season. The Chesapeake was +not so much blockaded as occupied. On June 29 Captain Cassin of the +navy yard reported that six sail of the line, with four frigates, were +at the mouth of the Elizabeth, and that the day before a squadron of +thirteen--frigates, brigs, and schooners--had gone ten miles up the +James, causing the inhabitants of Smithfield and the surroundings to +fly from their homes, terrified by the transactions at Hampton. The +lighter vessels continued some distance farther towards Richmond. A +renewal of the attack was naturally expected; but on July 11 the fleet +quitted Hampton Roads, and again ascended the Chesapeake, leaving a +division of ten sail in Lynnhaven Bay, under Cape Henry. Two days +later the main body entered the Potomac, in which, as has before been +mentioned, was the frigate "Adams"; but she lay above the Narrows, out +of reach of such efforts as Warren was willing to risk. He went as +high as Blakiston Island, twenty-five to thirty miles from the river's +mouth, and from there Cockburn, with a couple of frigates and two +smaller vessels, tried to get beyond the Kettle Bottom Shoals, an +intricate bit of navigation ten miles higher up, but still below the +Narrows.[166] Two of his detachment, however, took the ground; and the +enterprise of approaching Washington by this route was for that time +abandoned. A year afterwards it was accomplished by Captain Gordon, of +the British Navy, who carried two frigates and a division of bomb +vessels as far as Alexandria. + +Two United States gunboats, "The Scorpion" and "Asp", lying in +Yeocomico River, a shallow tributary of the Potomac ten miles from the +Chesapeake, were surprised there July 14 by the entrance of the enemy. +Getting under way hastily, the "Scorpion" succeeded in reaching the +main stream and retreating up it; but the "Asp", being a bad sailer, +and the wind contrary, had to go back. She was pursued by boats; and +although an attack by three was beaten off, she was subsequently +carried when they were re-enforced to five. Her commander, Midshipman +Sigourney, was killed, and of the twenty-one in her crew nine were +either killed or wounded. The assailants were considerably superior in +numbers, as they need to be in such undertakings. They lost eight. +This was the second United States vessel thus captured in the +Chesapeake this year; the revenue cutter "Surveyor" having been taken +in York River, by the boats of the frigate "Narcissus", on the night +of June 12. In the latter instance, the sword of the commander, who +survived, was returned to him the next day by the captor, with a +letter testifying "an admiration on the part of your opponents, such +as I have seldom witnessed, for your gallant and desperate attempt to +defend your vessel against more than double your numbers."[167] +Trivial in themselves as these affairs were, it is satisfactory to +notice that in both the honor of the flag was upheld with a spirit +which is worth even more than victory. Sigourney had before received +the commendation of Captain Morris, no mean judge of an officer's +merits. + +The British fleet left the Potomac July 21, and went on up the bay, +spreading alarm on every side. Morris, with a body of seamen and +marines, was ordered from the "Adams" to Annapolis, the capital of +Maryland, on the River Severn, to command the defences. These he +reported, on August 13, to be in the "miserable condition" +characteristic of all the national preparations to meet hostilities. +With a view to entering, the enemy was sounding the bar, an operation +which frequently must be carried on beyond protection by ships' guns; +"but we have no floating force to molest them." The bulk of the fleet +was above the Severn, as were both admirals, and Morris found their +movements "contradictory, as usual."[168] As many as twenty sail had +at one time been visible from the state-house dome in the city. On +August 8, fifteen, three of which were seventy-fours, were counted +from North Point, at the mouth of the Patapsco, on which Baltimore +lies. Kent Island, on the eastern shore of the bay abreast Annapolis, +was taken possession of, and occupied for some days. At the same +period attacks were reported in other quarters on that side of the +Chesapeake, as elsewhere in the extensive basin penetrated by its +tributaries. The prosecution of these various enterprises was attended +with the usual amount of scuffling encounter, which associates itself +naturally with coastwise warfare of a guerilla character. The fortune +of war inclined now to one side, now to the other, in the particular +cases; but in the general there could be no doubt as to which party +was getting the worst, undergoing besides almost all the suffering and +quite all the harassment. This is the necessary penalty of the +defensive, when inadequate. + +Throughout most of this summer of conflict there went on, singularly +enough, a certain amount of trade by licensed vessels, neutral and +American, which passed down Chesapeake Bay and went to sea. Doubtless +the aggregate amount of traffic thus maintained was inconsiderable, as +compared with normal conditions, but its allowance by either party to +the war is noticeable,--by the British, because of the blockade +declared by them; by the Americans, because of the evident +inexpediency of permitting to depart vessels having full knowledge of +conditions, and almost certain to be boarded by the enemy. Sailing +from blockaded ports is of course promoted in most instances by the +nation blockaded, for it is in support of trade; and with the sea +close at hand, although there is risk, there is also chance of safe +passage through a belt of danger, relatively narrow and entered at +will. The case is quite different where a hazardous navigation of +sixty to a hundred miles, increasing in intricacy at its further end, +and lined throughout with enemy's cruisers, interposes before the sea +is reached. The difficulty here is demonstrated by the fact that the +"Adams," a ship by no means large or exceptionally fettered by +navigational difficulties, under a young captain burning to exercise +his first command in war, waited four months, even after the bulk of +the enemy's fleet had gone, before she was able to get through; and +finally did so only under such conditions of weather as caused her to +miss her way and strike bottom. + +The motive of the British for collusion is clear. The Chesapeake was +the heart of the wheat and flour production of the United States, and +while some provision had been made for meeting the wants of the West +Indies, and of the armies in Canada and Spain, by refraining from +commercial blockade of Boston and other eastern ports, these +necessary food supplies reached those places only after an expensive +transport which materially increased their price; the more as they +were carried by land to the point of exportation, it not suiting the +British policy to connive at coasting trade even for that purpose. A +neutral or licensed vessel, sailing from the Chesapeake with flour for +a port friendly to the United States, could be seized under cover of +the commercial blockade, which she was violating, sent to Halifax, and +condemned for her technical offence. The cargo then was available for +transport whither required, the whole transaction being covered by a +veil of legality; but it is plain that the risks to a merchant, in +attempting _bonâ fide_ to run a blockade like that of Chesapeake Bay, +exceeded too far any probable gain to have been undertaken without +some assurance of compensation, which did not appear on the surface. + +Taken in connection with intelligence obtained by this means, the +British motive is apparent; but why did the United States +administration tolerate procedures which betrayed its counsels, and +directly helped to sustain the enemy's war? Something perhaps is due +to executive weakness in a government constituted by popular vote; +more, probably, at least during the period when immediate military +danger did not threaten, to a wish to frustrate the particular +advantage reaped by New England, through its exemption from the +restrictions of the commercial blockade. When breadstuffs were pouring +out of the country through the coast-line of a section which gloried +in its opposition to the war,[169] and lost no opportunity to renew +the declaration of its disapproval and its criticism of the +Government, it was at least natural, perhaps even expedient, to wink +at proceedings which transferred elsewhere some of the profits, and +did not materially increase the advantage of the enemy. But +circumstances became very different when a fleet appeared in the bay, +the numbers and action of which showed a determination to carry +hostile operations wherever conditions permitted. Then, betrayal of +such conditions by passing vessels became an unbearable evil; and at +the same time the Administration had forced upon its attention the +unpleasant but notorious fact that, by the active complicity of many +of its own citizens, not only the flour trade continued, but the wants +of the blockading squadrons along the coast were being supplied. +Neutrals, real or pretended, and coasting vessels, assuming a lawful +destination, took on board cattle, fresh vegetables, and other stores +acceptable to ships confined to salt provisions, and either went +direct to enemy's ports or were captured by collusion. News was +received of contracts made by the British admiral at Bermuda for fresh +beef to be supplied from American ports, by American dealers, in +American vessels; while Halifax teemed with similar transactions, +without serious attempt at concealment. + +Such aid and comfort to an enemy is by no means unexampled in the +history of war, particularly where one of the belligerents is shrewdly +commercial; but it is scarcely too much to say that it attained +unusual proportions at this time in the United States, and was +countenanced by a public opinion which was more than tolerant, +particularly in New England, where the attitude of the majority +towards the Government approached hostility. As a manifestation of +contemporary national character, of unwillingness to subordinate +personal gain to public welfare, to loyalty to country, it was +pitiable and shameful, particularly as it affected large communities; +but its instructive significance at this time is the evidence it +gives that forty years of confederation, nearly twenty-five being of +the closer union under the present Constitution, had not yet welded +the people into a whole, or created a consciousness truly national. +The capacity for patriotism was there, and readiness to suffer for +patriotic cause had been demonstrated by the War of Independence; but +the mass of Americans had not yet risen sufficiently above local +traditions and interests to discern clearly the noble ideal of +national unity, and vagueness of apprehension resulted inevitably in +lukewarmness of sentiment. This condition goes far to palliate actions +which it cannot excuse; the reproach of helping the enemies of one's +country is somewhat less when the nation itself has scarcely emerged +to recognition, as it afterwards did under the inspiring watchword, +"The Union." + +The necessity to control these conditions of clandestine intercourse +found official expression in a message of the President to Congress, +July 20, 1813,[170] recommending "an immediate and effectual +prohibition of all exports" for a limited time; subject to removal by +executive order, in case the commercial blockade were raised. A +summary of the conditions above related was given, as a cause for +action. The President's further comment revealed the continuity of +thought and policy which dictated his recommendation, and connected +the proposed measure with the old series of commercial restrictions, +associated with his occupancy of the State Department under +Jefferson's administration. "The system of the enemy, combining with +the blockade of our ports special licenses to neutral vessels, and +insidious discrimination between different ports of the United States, +if not counteracted, will have the effect of diminishing very +materially the pressure of the war on the enemy, and encourage +perseverance in it, and at the same time will leave the general +commerce of the United States under all the pressure the enemy can +impose, thus subjecting the whole to British regulation, in +subserviency to British monopoly." + +The House passed a bill meeting the President's suggestions, but it +was rejected by the Senate on July 28. The Executive then fell back on +its own war powers; and on July 29 the Secretary of the Navy, by +direction of the President, issued a general order to all naval +officers in command, calling attention to "the palpable and criminal +intercourse held with the enemy's forces blockading and invading the +waters of the United States." "This intercourse," he explicitly added, +"is not only carried on by foreigners, under the specious garb of +friendly flags, who convey provisions, water, and succors of all kinds +(ostensibly destined for friendly ports, in the face, too, of a +declared and rigorous blockade),[171] direct to the fleets and +stations of the enemy, with constant intelligence of our naval and +military force and preparation, ... but the same traffic, intercourse, +and intelligence is carried on with great subtlety and treachery by +profligate citizens, who, in vessels ostensibly navigating our own +waters, from port to port [coasters], find means to convey succors or +intelligence to the enemy, and elude the penalty of law."[172] +Officers were therefore instructed to arrest all vessels, the +movements or situation of which indicated an intention to effect any +of the purposes indicated. + +A similar order was issued, August 5, by the War Department to army +officers.[173] In accordance with his instructions, Captain Morris of +the "Adams," on July 29 or 30, stopped the ship "Monsoon," from +Alexandria. Her agent wrote a correspondent in Boston that, when the +bill failed in the Senate, he had had no doubt of her being allowed +to proceed, "but the Secretary and Mr. Madison have made a sort of +embargo, or directed the stoppage of vessels."[174] He added that +another brig was lying in the river ready loaded, but held by the same +order. Morris's indorsement on the ship's papers shows the +barefacedness of the transaction. "Whereas the within-mentioned ship +'Monsoon' is laden with flour, and _must_ pass within the control of +the enemy's squadron now within, and blockading Chesapeake Bay, if she +be allowed to proceed on her intended voyage, and as the enemy might +derive from her such intelligence and succor as would be serviceable +to themselves and injurious to the United States, I forbid her +proceeding while the enemy shall be so disposed as to prevent a +reasonable possibility of her getting to sea without falling into +their possession."[175] At this writing the British had left the +Potomac itself, and the most of them were above. A week later, at +Charleston, a ship called the "Caroline" was visited by a United +States naval officer, and found with a license from Cockburn to carry +a cargo, free from molestation by British cruisers.[176] "With flour +at Lisbon $13 per barrel, _no sale_, and at Halifax $20, _in demand_," +queries a Baltimore paper of the day, "where would all the vessels +that would in a few days have been off from Alexandria have gone, if +the 'Monsoon' had not been stopped? They would have been _captured_ +and sent to Halifax."[177] + +Morris's action was in accordance with the Secretary's order, and went +no further than to stop a voyage which, in view of the existing +proclaimed blockade, and of the great British force at hand, bore +collusion on its face. The President's request for legislation, which +Congress had denied, went much further. It was a recurrence, and the +last, to the policy of commercial retaliation, fostered by himself and +Jefferson in preference to armed resistance. By such measures in peace, +and as far as commercial prosperity was concerned, they had opened the +nation's veins without vindicating its self-respect. The military value +of food supplies to the enemy in Canada and on the coast, however, +could not be contested; and during the recess of Congress it received +emphasis by a Canadian embargo upon the export of grain. Hence, at the +next session the President's recommendation of July was given +attention, and there was passed almost immediately--December 17, +1813,--a sweeping embargo law, applicable not only to external commerce +but to coasters. As this ended the long series of commercial +restrictions, so was it also of limited duration as compared with them, +being withdrawn the following April. + +By the Act of December 17, as interpreted by the Treasury, foreign +merchant vessels might depart with cargoes already laden, except +provisions and military stores, which must be relanded; but nothing +could be shipped that was not already on board when the Act was +received. Coasters, even for accustomed voyages, could obtain +clearances only by permission from the President; and the rules for +such permission, given through the collectors, were extremely +stringent. In no case were the vessels permitted to leave interior +waters, proceeding from one sound or bay to another, and be "at sea" +for even a short distance; nor were they to be permitted to carry any +provisions, or supplies useful to an enemy, if there was the slightest +chance of their falling into his power. It would appear that the +orders of July 29 had been allowed to lapse after the great body of +the British left the Chesapeake; for Morris, still in the Potomac, +acknowledging the receipt of this Act on December 20, writes: "There +are several vessels below us in the river with flour. I have issued +orders to the gunboats to detain them, and as soon as the wind will +permit, shall proceed with this ship, to give all possible effect to +the Act." Six days afterwards, having gone down as he intended, he +found the British anchored off the mouth of the stream, at a point +where the bay is little more than five miles wide. "Two American brigs +passed down before us, and I have every reason to believe threw +themselves into the enemy's hands last Wednesday."[178] + +On September 6 the principal part of the British fleet quitted +Chesapeake Bay for the season; leaving behind a ship of the line with +some smaller vessels, to enforce the blockade. Viewed as a military +campaign, to sustain the character as well as the interests of the +country, its operations cannot be regarded as successful. With +overwhelming numbers, and signally favored by the quiet inland waters +with extensive ramifications which characterized the scene of war, the +results, though on a more extensive scale, differed nothing in kind +from the harassment inflicted all along the coast from Maine to +Georgia, by the squadrons cruising outside. Ample demonstration was +indeed afforded, there as elsewhere, of the steady, remorseless, +far-reaching effect of a predominant sea power; and is confirmed +explicitly by an incidental remark of the Russian minister at +Washington writing to Warren, April 4, 1813, concerning an armistice, +in connection with the abortive Russian proffer of mediation.[179] +Even at this early period, "It would be almost impossible to establish +an armistice, without raising the blockade, since the latter does them +more harm than all the hostilities."[180] But in direct military +execution the expedition had undoubtedly fallen far short of its +opportunity, afforded by the wretchedly unprepared state of the region +against which it had been sent. Whether the fault lay with the +commander-in-chief, or with the Admiralty for insufficient means given +him, is needless here to inquire. The squadron remaining through the +winter perpetuated the isolation of Norfolk from the upper bay, and +barred the "Constellation" and "Adams" from the sea. Ammunition and +stores had to be brought by slow and unwieldly transportation from the +Potomac across country, and it was not till January 18, 1814, that the +"Adams" got away. Two attempts of the "Constellation" a month later +were frustrated. + +The principal two British divisions, the action of which has so far +been considered, the one blockading the Chesapeake, the other watching +Decatur's squadron in New London, marked the extremities of what may +be considered the central section of the enemy's coastwise operations +upon the Atlantic. Although the commercial shipping of the United +States belonged largely to New England, much the greater part of the +exports came from the district thus closed to the world; and within it +also, after the sailing of the "President" and "Congress" from Boston, +and the capture of the "Chesapeake", lay in 1813 all the bigger +vessels of the navy, save the "Constitution". + +In the conditions presented to the enemy, the sections of the +coast-line south of Virginia, and north of Cape Cod, differed in some +important respects from the central division, and from each other. +There was in them no extensive estuary wide open to the sea, +resembling Chesapeake and Delaware bays, and Long Island Sound, +accessible to vessels of all sizes; features which naturally +determined upon these points the chief effort of a maritime enemy, +enabling him readily to paralyze the whole system of intercourse +depending upon them, domestic as well as foreign. The southern waters +abounded indeed in internal coastwise communications; not consecutive +throughout, but continuous for long reaches along the shores of North +and South Carolina and Georgia. These, however, were narrow, and not +easily approached. Behind the sea islands, which inclose this +navigation, small craft can make their voyages sheltered from the +perils of the sea, and protected in great measure from attack other +than by boats or very light cruisers; to which, moreover, some local +knowledge was necessary, for crossing the bars, or threading the +channels connecting sound with sound. Into these inside basins empty +numerous navigable rivers, which promoted intercourse, and also +furnished lines of retreat from danger coming from the sea. Coupled +with these conditions was the fact that the United States had in these +quarters no naval establishment, and no naval vessels of force. +Defence was intrusted wholly to gunboats, with three or four armed +schooners of somewhat larger tonnage. American offensive operation, +confined here as elsewhere to commerce destroying, depended entirely +on privateers. Into these ports, where there were no public facilities +for repair, not even a national sloop of war entered until 1814 was +well advanced. + +Prior to the war, one third of the domestic export of the United +States had issued from this southern section; and in the harassed year +1813 this ratio increased. The aggregate for the whole country was +reduced by one half from that of 1811, and amounted to little more +than one fourth of the prosperous times preceding Jefferson's embargo +of 1808, with its vexatious progeny of restrictive measures; but the +proportion of the South increased. The same was observable in the +Middle states, containing the great centres of New York, Philadelphia, +and Baltimore. There a ratio to the total, of a little under fifty per +cent, rose to something above that figure. The relative diminution, +corresponding to the increases just noted, fell upon New England, and +is interesting because of what it indicates. Before the war the export +of domestic produce from the eastern ports was twenty per cent of the +national total; in 1813 it fell to ten per cent. When the domestic +export is taken in conjunction with the re-exportation of foreign +products, the loss of New England is still more striking. From +twenty-five per cent of the whole national export, domestic and +foreign, she now fell to ten per cent of the diminished total. When it +is remembered that throughout 1813 the Eastern ports alone were open +to neutral ships, no commercial blockade of them having yet been +instituted, these results are the more noticeable. + +The general explanation is that the industries of the United States at +that time divided into two principal classes,--agricultural and +maritime; the former of which supplied the material for commerce, +while the latter furnished transportation for whatever surplus of +production remained for export. Manufactures sufficed only for home +demands, being yet in a state of infancy; forced, in fact, upon an +unwilling New England by the policy of commercial restriction which +drove her ships off the sea. Domestic products for export therefore +meant almost wholly the yield of the fields, the forests, and the +fisheries. The latter belonged to New England, but they fell with the +war. Her soil did not supply grain enough to feed her people; and her +domestic exports, therefore, were reduced to shipments of wheat and +flour conveyed to her by inland transportation from the more fertile, +but blockaded, regions to the southward. Despite the great demand for +provisions in Halifax and the St. Lawrence region, and the facility +for egress by sea, through the absence of blockade, the slowness and +cost of land carriage brought forward an insufficient supply, and laid +a heavy charge upon the transaction; while the license system of the +British, modifying this condition of things to their own advantage, by +facilitating exports from the Chesapeake, certainly did operate, as +the President's message said, to regulate American commerce in +conformity with British interests. + +The re-exportation of foreign produce had once played a very large +part in the foreign trade of New England. This item consisted chiefly +in West India commodities; and although, owing to several causes, it +fell off very much in the years between 1805 and 1811, it had remained +still considerable. It was, however, particularly obnoxious to British +interests, as then understood by British statesmen and people; and +since it depended entirely upon American ships,--for it was not to the +interest of a neutral to bring sugar and coffee to an American port +merely to carry it away again,--it disappeared entirely when the +outbreak of war rendered all American merchant vessels liable to +capture. In fact, as far as the United States was concerned, although +this re-exportation appeared among commercial returns, it was not an +interest of commerce, accurately so called, but of navigation, of +carrying trade. It had to do with ships, not with cargoes; its gain +was that of the wagoner. Still, the loss by the idleness of the ships, +due to the war, may be measured in terms of the cargoes. In 1805 New +England re-exported foreign products to the amount of $15,621,484; in +1811, $5,944,121; in 1813, no more than $302,781. It remains to add +that, as can be readily understood, all export, whether of foreign or +domestic produce, was chiefly by neutrals, which were not liable to +capture so long as there was no blockade proclaimed. From December 1 +to 24, 1813, forty-four vessels cleared from Boston for abroad, of +which five only were Americans.[181] + +Under the very reduced amount of their commercial movement, the +tonnage of the Middle and Southern states was more than adequate to +their local necessities; and they now had no need of the aid which in +conditions of normal prosperity they received from the Eastern +shipping. The latter, therefore, having lost its usual local +occupation, and also the office it had filled towards the other +sections of the Union, was either left idle or turned perforce to +privateering. September 7, 1813, there were in Boston harbor +ninety-one ships, two barks, one hundred and nine brigs, and +forty-three schooners; total, two hundred and forty-five, besides +coasters. The accumulation shows the lack of employment. December 15, +two hundred square-rigged vessels were laid up in Boston alone.[182] +Insurance on American vessels was stated to be fifty per cent.[183] + +Whether tonnage to any large amount was transferred to a neutral flag, +as afterwards so much American shipping was during the Civil War, I +have not ascertained. It was roundly intimated that neutral flags were +used to cover the illicit intercourse with the enemy before mentioned; +but whether by regular transfer or by fraudulent papers does not +appear. An officer of the frigate "Congress," in her unprofitable +voyage just mentioned, says that after parting with the "President," +she fell in with a few licensed Americans and a great number of +Spaniards and Portuguese.[184] The flags of these two nations, and of +Sweden, certainly abounded to an abnormal extent, and did much of the +traffic from America; but it seems unlikely that there was at that +particular epoch any national commerce, other than British, at once +large enough, and sufficiently deficient in shipping of its own, to +absorb any great number of Americans. In truth, the commerce of the +world had lost pretty much all its American component, because this, +through a variety of causes, had come to consist chiefly of domestic +agricultural products, which were thrown back upon the nation's hands, +and required no carriers; the enemy having closed the gates against +them, except so far as suited his own purposes. The disappearance of +American merchant ships from the high seas corresponded to the void +occasioned by the blockade of American staples of commerce. The only +serious abatement from this generalization arises from the British +system of licenses, permitting the egress of certain articles useful +to themselves. + +The results from the conditions above analyzed are reflected in the +returns of commerce, in the movements of American coasters, and in the +consequent dispositions of the enemy. In the Treasury year ending +September 30, 1813, the value of the total exports from the Eastern +states was $3,049,022; from the Middle section, $17,513,930; from the +South, $7,293,043. Virginia is here reckoned with the Middle, because +her exports found their way out by the Chesapeake; and this +appreciation is commercial and military in character, not political or +social. While this was the state of foreign trade under war +conditions, the effect of local circumstances upon coasting is also to +be noticed. The Middle section, characterized by the great estuaries, +and by the description of its products,--grain primarily, and secondly +tobacco,--was relatively self-sufficing and compact. Its growth of +food, as has been seen, was far in excess of its wants, and the +distance by land between the extreme centres of distribution, from +tide-water to tide-water, was comparatively short. From New York to +Baltimore by road is but four fifths as far as from New York to +Boston; and at New York and Baltimore, as at Boston, water +communication was again reached for the great lines of distribution +from either centre. In fact, traffic from New York southward needed to +go no farther than Elk River, forty miles short of Baltimore, to be in +touch with the whole Chesapeake system. Philadelphia lies half-way +between New York and Baltimore, approximately a hundred miles from +each. + +The extremes of the Middle section of the country were thus +comparatively independent of coastwise traffic for mutual intercourse, +and the character of their coasts co-operated to reduce the +disposition to employ coasters in war. From the Chesapeake to Sandy +Hook the shore-line sweeps out to sea, is safely approachable by +hostile navigators, and has for refuge no harbors of consequence, +except the Delaware. The local needs of the little communities along +the beaches might foster a creeping stream of very small craft, for +local supply; but as a highway, for intercourse on a large scale, the +sea here was too exposed for use, when taken in connection with the +facility for transport by land, which was not only short but with +comparatively good roads. + +In war, as in other troublous times, prices are subject to complicated +causes of fluctuation, not always separable. Two great staples, flour +and sugar, however, may be taken to indicate with some certainty the +effects of impeded water transport. From a table of prices current, of +August, 1813, it appears that at Baltimore, in the centre of the wheat +export, flour was $6.00 per barrel; in Philadelphia, $7.50; in New +York, $8.50; in Boston, $11.87. At Richmond, equally well placed with +Baltimore as regarded supplies, but with inferior communications for +disposing of its surplus, the price was $4.00. Removing from the grain +centre in the other direction, flour at Charleston is reported at +$8.00--about the same as New York; at Wilmington, North Carolina, +$10.25. Not impossibly, river transportation had in these last some +cheapening effect, not readily ascertainable now. In sugar, the scale +is seen to ascend in an inverse direction. At Boston, unblockaded, it +is quoted at $18.75 the hundredweight, itself not a low rate; at New +York, blockaded, $21.50; at Philadelphia, with a longer journey, +$22.50; at Baltimore, $26.50; at Savannah, $20. In the last named +place, nearness to the Florida line, with the inland navigation, +favored smuggling and safe transportation. The price at New Orleans, a +sugar-producing district, $9.00, affords a standard by which to +measure the cost of carriage at that time. Flour in the same city, on +February 1, 1813, was $25 the barrel. + +In both articles the jump between Boston and New York suggests +forcibly the harassment of the coasting trade. It manifests either +diminution of supply, or the effect of more expensive conveyance by +land; possibly both. The case of the southern seaboard cities was +similar to that of Boston; for it will not be overlooked that, as the +more important food products came from the middle of the country, they +would be equally available for each extreme. The South was the more +remote, but this was compensated in some degree by better internal +water communications; and its demand also was less, for the white +population was smaller and less wealthy than that of New England. The +local product, rice, also went far to supply deficiencies in other +grains. In the matter of manufactured goods, however, the disadvantage +of the South was greater. These had to find their way there from the +farther extreme of the land; for the development of manufactures had +been much the most marked in the east. It has before been quoted that +some wagons loaded with dry goods were forty-six days in accomplishing +the journey from Philadelphia to Georgetown, South Carolina, in May of +this year. Some relief in these articles reached the South by +smuggling across the Florida line, and the Spanish waters opposite St. +Mary's were at this time thronged with merchant shipping to an +unprecedented extent; for although smuggling was continual, in peace +as in war, across a river frontier of a hundred miles, the stringent +demand consequent upon the interruption of coastwise traffic provoked +an increased supply. "The trade to Amelia,"--the northernmost of the +Spanish sea-islands,--reported the United States naval officer at St. +Mary's towards the end of the war, "is immense. Upwards of fifty +square-rigged vessels are now in that port under Swedish, Russian, +and Spanish colors, two thirds of which are considered British +property."[185] It was the old story of the Continental and License +systems of the Napoleonic struggle, re-enacted in America; and, as +always, the inhabitants on both sides the line co-operated heartily in +beating the law. + +The two great food staples chosen sufficiently indicate general +conditions as regards communications from centre to centre. Upon this +supervened the more extensive and intricate problem of distribution +from the centres. This more especially imparted to the Eastern and +Southern coasts the particular characteristics of coasting trade and +coast warfare, in which they differ from the Middle states. These form +the burden of the letters from the naval captains commanding the +stations at Charleston, Savannah, and Portsmouth, New Hampshire; nor +is it without significance that Bainbridge at Boston, not a way port, +but a centre, displayed noticeably less anxiety than the others about +this question, which less touched his own command. Captain Hull, now +commanding the Portsmouth Yard, writes, June 14, 1813, that light +cruisers like the "Siren," lately arrived at Boston, and the +"Enterprise," then with him, can be very useful by driving away the +enemy's small vessels and privateers which have been molesting the +coasting trade. He purposes to order them eastward, along the Maine +coast, to collect coasters in convoy and protect their long-shore +voyages, after the British fashion on the high seas. "The coasting +trade here," he adds, "is immense. Not less than fifty sail last night +anchored in this harbor, bound to Boston and other points south. The +'Nautilus' [a captured United States brig] has been seen from this +harbor every week for some time past, and several other enemy's +vessels are on the coast every few days." An American privateer has +just come in, bringing with her as a prize one of her own class, +called the "Liverpool Packet," which "within six months has taken from +us property to an immense amount."[186] + +Ten days later Hull's prospects have darkened. There has appeared off +Portsmouth a blockading division; a frigate, a sloop, and two brigs. +"When our two vessels were first ordered to this station, I believed +they would be very useful in protecting the coasting trade; but the +enemy's cruisers are now so much stronger that we can hardly promise +security to the trade, if we undertake to convoy it." On the contrary, +the brigs themselves would be greatly hazarded, and resistance to +attack, if supported by the neighborhood, may entail destruction upon +ports where they have taken refuge; a thought possibly suggested by +Cockburn's action at Havre de Grace and Frenchtown. He therefore now +proposes that they should run the blockade and cruise at sea. This +course was eventually adopted; but for the moment the Secretary wrote +that, while he perceived the propriety of Hull's remarks, "the call +for protection on that coast has been very loud, and having sent those +vessels for that special purpose, I do not now incline immediately to +remove them."[187] It was necessary to bend to a popular clamor, which +in this case did not, as it very frequently does, make unreasonable +demands and contravene all considerations of military wisdom. A month +later Hull reports the blockade so strict that it is impossible to get +out by day. The commander of the "Enterprise," Johnston Blakely, +expresses astonishment that the enemy should employ so large a force +to blockade so small a vessel.[188] It was, however, no matter for +surprise, but purely a question of business. The possibilities of +injury by the "Enterprise" must be blasted at any cost, and Blakely +himself a year later, in the "Wasp," was to illustrate forcibly what +one smart ship can effect in the destruction of hostile commerce and +hostile cruisers. + +Blakely's letter was dated July 31. The "Enterprise" had not long to +wait for her opportunity, but it did not fall to his lot to utilize +it. Being promoted the following month, he was relieved in command by +Lieutenant William Burrows. This officer had been absent in China, in +mercantile employment, when the war broke out, and, returning, was +captured at sea. Exchanged in June, 1813, he was ordered to the +"Enterprise," in which he saw his only service in the war,--a brief +month. She left Portsmouth September 1, on a coasting cruise, and on +the morning of the 5th, being then off Monhegan Island, on the coast +of Maine, sighted a vessel of war, which proved to be the British brig +"Boxer," Commander Samuel Blyth. + +The antagonists in the approaching combat were nearly of equal force, +the respective armaments being, "Enterprise," fourteen 18-pounder +carronades, and two long 9-pounders, the "Boxer," twelve 18-pounder +carronades and two long sixes. The action began side by side, at half +pistol-shot, the "Enterprise" to the right and to windward (position +1). After fifteen minutes the latter ranged ahead (2). As she did so, +one of her 9-pounders, which by the forethought of Captain Burrows had +been shifted from its place in the bow to the stern,[189] was used +with effect to rake her opponent. She then rounded-to on the starboard +tack, on the port-bow of the enemy,--ahead but well to the left +(3),--in position to rake with her carronades; and, setting the +foresail, sailed slowly across from left to right. In five minutes the +"Boxer's" maintopmast and foretopsailyard fell. This left the +"Enterprise" the mastery of the situation, which she continued to hold +until ten minutes later, when the enemy's fire ceased. Her colors +could not be hauled down, Blyth having nailed them to the mast. He +himself had been killed at the first broadside, and almost at the same +instant Burrows too fell, mortally wounded. + + [Illustration: Diagram of the Enterprise vs. Boxer battle] + +The "Boxer" belonged to a class of vessel, the gun brigs, which +Marryat through one of his characters styled "bathing machines," only +not built, as the legitimate article, to go up, but to go down. +Another,--the immortal Boatswain Chucks,--proclaimed that they would +"certainly d--n their inventor to all eternity;" adding +characteristically, that "their low common names, 'Pincher,' +'Thrasher,' 'Boxer,' 'Badger,' and all that sort, are quite good +enough for them." In the United States service the "Enterprise," which +had been altered from a schooner to a brig, was considered a +singularly dull sailer. As determined by American measurements, taken +four days after the action, the size of the two was the same within +twenty tons; the "Boxer" a little the larger. The superiority of the +"Enterprise" in broadside force, was eight guns to seven; or, stated +in weight of projectiles, one hundred and thirty-five pounds to one +hundred and fourteen. This disparity, though real, was in no sense +decisive, and the execution done by each bore no comparison to the +respective armaments. The hull of the "Boxer" was pierced on the +starboard side by twelve 18-pound shot, nearly two for each of the +"Enterprise's" carronades. The 9-pounder had done even better, scoring +five hits. On her port side had entered six of 18 pounds, and four of +9 pounds. By the official report of an inspection, made upon her +arrival in Portland, it appears that her upper works and sides forward +were torn to pieces.[190] In her mainmast alone were three 18-pound +shot.[191] As a set-off to this principal damage received, she had to +show only one 18-pound shot in the hull of the "Enterprise," one in +the foremast, and one in the mainmast.[192] + +From these returns, the American loss in killed and wounded, twelve, +must have been largely by grapeshot or musketry. The British had +twenty-one men hurt. It has been said that this difference in loss is +nearly proportionate to the difference in force. This is obviously +inexact; for the "Enterprise" was superior in gun power by twelve per +cent, while the "Boxer's" loss was greater by seventy-five per cent. +Moreover, if the statement of crews be accurate, that the "Enterprise" +had one hundred and twenty and the "Boxer" only sixty-six,[193] it is +clear that the latter had double the human target, and scored little +more than half the hits. The contest, in brief, was first an artillery +duel, side to side, followed by a raking position obtained by the +American. It therefore reproduced in leading features, although on a +minute scale, the affair between the "Chesapeake" and "Shannon"; and +the exultation of the American populace at this rehabilitation of the +credit of their navy, though exaggerated in impression, was in +principle sound. The British Court Martial found that the defeat was +"to be attributed to a superiority of the enemy's force, principally +in the number of men, as well as to a greater degree of skill in the +direction of her fire, and the destructive effects of her first +broadside."[194] This admission as to the enemy's gunnery is +substantially identical with the claim made for that of the +"Shannon,"--notably as to the first broadside. As to the greater +numbers, one hundred and twenty is certainly almost twice sixty-six, +and the circumstance should be weighed; but in an engagement confined +to the guns, and between 18-pounder carronade batteries, it is of less +consequence than at first glance appears. A cruiser of those days +expected to be ready to fight with many men away in prizes. Had it +come to boarding, or had the "Boxer's" gunnery been good, disabling +her opponent's men, the numbers would have become of consideration. As +it was, they told for something, but not for very much. + +If national credit were at issue in every single-ship action, the +balance of the "Chesapeake" and "Shannon," "Enterprise" and "Boxer," +would incline rather to the American side; for the "Boxer" was not +just out of port with new commander, officers, and crew, but had been +in commission six months, had in that time crossed the ocean, and been +employed along the coast. The credit and discredit in both cases is +personal, not national. It was the sadder in Blyth's case because he +was an officer of distinguished courage and activity, who had begun +his fighting career at the age of eleven, when he was on board a +heavily battered ship in Lord Howe's battle of June 1, 1794. At +thirty, with little influence, and at a period when promotion had +become comparatively sluggish, he had fairly fought his way to the +modest preferment in which he died. Under the restricted opportunities +of the United States Navy, Burrows had seen service, and his qualities +received recognition, in the hostilities with Tripoli. The unusual +circumstance of both captains falling, and so young,--Burrows was but +twenty-eight,--imparted to this tiny combat an unusual pathos, which +was somewhat heightened by the fact that Blyth himself had acted as +pall-bearer when Lawrence, three months before, was buried with +military honors at Halifax. In Portland, Maine, the two young +commanders were borne to their graves together, in a common funeral, +with all the observance possible in a small coast town; business being +everywhere suspended, and the customary tokens of mourning displayed +upon buildings and shipping. + +After this engagement, as the season progressed, coastwise operations +in this quarter became increasingly hazardous for both parties. On +October 22, Hull wrote that neither the "Enterprise" nor the +"Rattlesnake" could cruise much longer. The enemy still maintained his +grip, in virtue of greater size and numbers. Ten days later comes the +report of a convoy, with one of the brigs, driven into port by a +frigate; that the enemy appear almost every day, and never without a +force superior to that of both his brigs, which he fears to trust out +overnight, lest they find themselves at morning under the guns of an +opponent of weightier battery. The long nights and stormy seas of +winter, however, soon afforded to coasters a more secure protection +than friendly guns, and Hull's letters intermit until April 6, 1814, +when he announces that the enemy has made his appearance in great +force; he presumes for the summer. Besides the danger and interruption +of the coasting trade, Hull was increasingly anxious as to the safety +of Portsmouth itself. By a recent act of Congress four seventy-fours +had been ordered to be built, and one of them was now in construction +there under his supervision. Despite the navigational difficulties of +entering the port, which none was more capable of appreciating than +he, he regarded the defences as so inadequate that it would be +perfectly possible to destroy her on the stocks. "There is nothing," +he said, "to prevent a very small force from entering the harbor." At +the same moment Decatur was similarly concerned for the squadron at +New London, and we have seen the fears of Stewart for Norfolk. So +marked was Hull's apprehension in this respect, that he sent the +frigate "Congress" four miles up the river, where she remained to the +end of the war; her crew being transferred to Lake Ontario. New York, +the greater wealth of which increased both her danger and her capacity +for self-protection, was looking to her own fortifications, as well as +manning, provisioning, and paying the crews of the gunboats that +patrolled her waters, on the side of the sea and of the Sound. + +The exposure of the coasting trade from Boston Bay eastward was +increased by the absence of interior coastwise channels, until the +chain of islands about and beyond the Penobscot was reached. On the +other hand, the character of the shore, bold, with off-lying rocks and +many small harbors, conferred a distinct advantage upon those having +local knowledge, as the coasting seamen had. On such a route the +points of danger are capes and headlands, particularly if their +projection is great, such as the promontory between Portsmouth and +Boston, of which Cape Ann is a conspicuous landmark. There the coaster +has to go farthest from his refuge, and the deep-sea cruiser can +approach with least risk. In a proper scheme of coast defence +batteries are mounted on such positions. This, it is needless to say, +in view of the condition of the port fortifications, had not been done +in the United States. Barring this, the whole situation of the coast, +of trade, and of blockade, was one with which British naval officers +had then been familiar for twenty years, through their employment upon +the French and Spanish coasts, as well Mediterranean as Atlantic, and +in many other parts of the world. To hover near the land, intercepting +and fighting by day, manning boats and cutting out by night, +harassing, driving on shore, destroying the sinews of war by breaking +down communications, was to them simply an old experience to be +applied under new and rather easier circumstances. + +Of these operations frequent instances are given in contemporary +journals and letters; but less account has been taken of the effects, +as running through household and social economics, touching purse and +comfort. These are traceable in commercial statistics. At the time +they must have been severely felt, bringing the sense of the war +vividly home to the community. The stringency of the British action is +betrayed, however, by casual notices. The captain of a schooner burned +by the British frigate "Nymphe" is told by her commander that he had +orders to destroy every vessel large enough to carry two men. "A brisk +business is now carrying on all along our coast between British +cruisers and our coasting vessels, in ready money. Friday last, three +masters went into Gloucester to procure money to carry to a British +frigate to ransom their vessels. Thursday, a Marblehead schooner was +ransomed by the "Nymphe" for $400. Saturday, she took off Cape Ann +three coasters and six fishing boats, and the masters were sent on +shore for money to ransom them at $200 each." There was room for the +wail of a federalist paper: "Our coasts unnavigable to ourselves, +though free to the enemy and the money-making neutral; our harbors +blockaded; our shipping destroyed or rotting at the docks; silence and +stillness in our cities; the grass growing upon the public +wharves."[195] In the district of Maine, "the long stagnation of +foreign, and embarrassment of domestic trade, have extended the sad +effects from the seaboard through the interior, where the scarcity of +money is severely felt. There is not enough to pay the taxes."[196] + +South of Chesapeake Bay the coast is not bold and rocky, like that +north of Cape Cod, but in its low elevation and gradual soundings +resembles rather those of New Jersey and Delaware. It has certain more +pronounced features in the extensive navigable sounds and channels, +which lie behind the islands and sandbars skirting the shores. The +North Carolina system of internal water communications, Pamlico Sound +and its extensions, stood by itself. To reach that to the southward, +it was necessary to make a considerable sea run, round the far +projecting Cape Fear, exposed to capture outside; but from Charleston +to the St. Mary's River, which then formed the Florida boundary for a +hundred miles of its length, the inside passages of South Carolina and +Georgia were continuous, though in many places difficult, and in +others open to attack from the sea. Between St. Mary's and Savannah, +for example, there were seven inlets, and Captain Campbell, the naval +officer in charge of that district, reported that three of these were +practicable for frigates;[197] but this statement, while literally +accurate, conveys an exaggerated impression, for no sailing frigate +would be likely to cross a difficult bar for a single offensive +operation, merely to find herself confronted with conditions +forbidding further movement. + +The great menace to the inside traffic consisted in the facility with +which cruisers outside could pass from entrance to entrance, +contrasted with the intricacies within impeding similar action by the +defence. If a bevy of unprotected coasters were discerned by an +enemy's lookouts, the ship could run down abreast, send in her boats, +capture or destroy, before the gunboats, if equidistant at the +beginning, could overcome the obstacles due to rise and fall of tide, +or narrowness of passage, and arrive to the rescue.[198] A suggested +remedy was to replace the gunboats by rowing barges, similar to, but +more powerful than, those used by the enemy in his attacks. The +insuperable trouble here proved to be that men fit for such work, fit +to contend with the seamen of the enemy, were unwilling to abandon the +sea, with its hopes of prize money, or to submit to the exposure and +discomfort of the life. "The crews of the gunboats," wrote Captain +Campbell, "consist of all nations except Turks, Greeks, and Jews." On +one occasion the ship's company of an American privateer, which had +been destroyed after a desperate and celebrated resistance to attack +by British armed boats, arrived at St. Mary's. Of one hundred and +nineteen American seamen, only four could be prevailed upon to enter +the district naval force.[199] This was partly due to the +embarrassment of the national finances. "The want of funds to pay off +discharged men," wrote the naval captain at Charleston, "has given +such a character to the navy as to stop recruiting."[200] "Men could +be had," reported his colleague at St. Mary's, now transferred to +Savannah, "were it not for the Treasury notes, which cannot be passed +at less than five per cent discount. Men will not ship without cash. +There are upwards of a hundred seamen in port, but they refuse to +enter, even though we offer to ship for a month only."[201] + +During the American Civil War, fifty years after the time of which we +are speaking, this internal communication was effectually intercepted +by stationing inside steamers of adequate force; but that recourse, +while not absolutely impracticable for small sailing cruisers, +involved a risk disproportionate to the gain. Through traffic could +have been broken up by keeping a frigate in any one of the three +sounds, entrance to which was practicable for vessels of that class. +In view of the amount of trade passing back and forth, which Campbell +stated to be in one period of four months as much as eight million +dollars, it is surprising that this obvious expedient was not adopted +by the enemy. That they appreciated the situation is shown by the +intention, announced in 1813, of seizing one of the islands; which was +effected in January, 1815, by the occupation of Cumberland and St. +Simons'. As it was, up to that late period the routine methods of +their European experience prevailed, with the result that their +coastwise operations in the south differed little from those in the +extreme north. Smaller vessels occasionally, armed boats frequently, +pushed inside the inlets, seizing coasters, and at times even +attacking the gunboats. While the positive loss thus inflicted was +considerable, it will readily be understood that it was much exceeded +by the negative effect, in deterring from movement, and reducing +navigation to the limits of barest necessity. + +In these operations the ships of war were seconded by privateers from +the West Indies, which hovered round this coast, as the Halifax vessels +did round that of New England, seeking such scraps of prize money as +might be left over from the ruin of American commerce and the +immunities of the licensed traders. The United States officers at +Charleston and Savannah were at their wits' ends to provide security +with their scanty means,--more scanty even in men than in vessels; and +when there came upon them the additional duty of enforcing the embargo +of December, 1813, in the many quarters, and against the various +subterfuges, by which evasion would be attempted, the task was +manifestly impossible. "This is the most convenient part of the world +for illicit trade that I have ever seen," wrote Campbell. From a return +made this summer by the Secretary of the Navy to Congress,[202] it is +shown that one brig of eighteen guns, which was not a cruiser, but a +station ship at Savannah, eleven gunboats, three other schooners, and +four barges, were apportioned to the stretch of coast from Georgetown +to St. Mary's,--over two hundred miles. With the fettered movement of +the gunboats before mentioned, contrasted with the outside cruisers, it +was impossible to meet conditions by distributing this force, "for the +protection of the several inlets," as had at first been directed by the +Navy Department. The only defensive recourse approximately satisfactory +was that of the deep-sea merchant service of Great Britain, proposed +also by Hull at the northward, to assemble vessels in convoys, and to +accompany them throughout a voyage. "I have deemed it expedient," wrote +Campbell from St. Mary's, "to order the gun vessels to sail in company, +not less than four in number, and have ordered convoy to the inland +trade at stated periods, by which means vessels may be protected, and +am sorry to say this is all that can be effected in our present +situation."[203] In this way a fair degree of immunity was attained. +Rubs were met with occasionally, and heavy losses were reported from +time to time. There was a certain amount of fighting and scuffling, in +which advantage was now on one side, now on the other; but upon the +whole it would appear that the novelty of the conditions and ignorance +of the ground rather imposed upon the imagination of the enemy, and +that their operations against this inside trade were at once less +active and less successful than under the more familiar features +presented by the coasts of Maine and Massachusetts. + +Whatever more or less of success or injury attended the coastwise +trade in the several localities, the point to be observed is that the +enemy's operations effectually separated the different sections of the +country from one another, so far as this means of intercourse was +concerned; thereby striking a deadly blow at the mutual support which +might be given by communities differing so markedly in resources, +aptitudes, and industries. The remark before made upon the effect of +headlands, on the minor scale of a particular shore-line, applied with +special force to one so extensive as that of the United States +Atlantic coast in 1813. Cape Cod to the north and Cape Fear to the +south were conspicuous examples of such projection. Combined with the +relatively shelterless and harborless central stretch, intervening +between them, from the Chesapeake to Sandy Hook, they constituted +insuperable obstacles to sustained intercommunication by water. The +presence of the enemy in great numbers before, around, and within the +central section, emphasized the military weakness of position which +nature herself had there imposed. To get by sea from one end of the +country to the other it was necessary to break the blockade in +starting, to take a wide sweep out to sea, and again to break it at +the desired point of entrance. This, however, is not coasting. + +The effect which this coast pressure produced upon the welfare of the +several sections is indicated here and there by official utterances. +The war party naturally inclined to minimize unfavorable results, and +their opponents in some measure to exaggerate them; but of the general +tendency there can be no serious doubt. Mr. Pearson, an opposition +member of the House from North Carolina, speaking February 16, 1814, +when the record of 1813 was made up, and the short-lived embargo of +December was yet in force, said: "Blocked up as we are by the enemy's +squadron upon our coast, corked up by our still more unmerciful +embargo and non-importation laws, calculated as it were to fill up the +little chasm in the ills which the enemy alone could not inflict; the +entire coasting trade destroyed, and even the little pittance of +intercourse from one port to the other in the same state destroyed [by +the embargo], the planters of the Southern and Middle states, finding +no market at home for their products, are driven to the alternative of +wagoning them hundreds of miles, in search of a precarious market in +the Northern and Eastern states, or permitting them to rot on their +hands. Many articles which are, or by habit have become, necessary for +comfort, are obtained at extravagant prices from other parts of the +Union. The balance of trade, if trade it may be called, from these and +other causes being so entirely against the Southern and Middle states, +the whole of our specie is rapidly travelling to the North and East. +Our bank paper is thrown back upon the institutions from which it +issued; and as the war expenditures in the Southern and Middle states, +where the loans have been principally obtained, are proportionately +inconsiderable, the bills of these banks are daily returning, and +their vaults drained of specie, to be locked up in Eastern and Western +states, never to return but with the return of peace and +prosperity."[204] + +The isolation of North Carolina was extreme, with Cape Fear to the +south and the occupied Chesapeake north of her. The Governor of the +central state of Pennsylvania, evidently in entire political sympathy +with the national Administration, in his message to the legislature at +the same period,[205] is able to congratulate the people on the +gratifying state of the commonwealth; a full treasury, abundant yield +of agriculture, and the progress of manufacturing development, which, +"however we may deprecate and deplore the calamities of protracted +war, console us with the prospect of permanent and extensive +establishments equal to our wants, and such as will insure the real +and practical independence of our country." But he adds: "At no period +of our history has the immense importance of internal navigation been +so strikingly exemplified as since the commencement of hostilities. +The transportation of produce, and the intercourse between citizens of +the different states, which knit more strongly the bonds of social and +political union, are greatly retarded, and, through many of their +accustomed channels, entirely interrupted by the water craft of the +enemy, sinking, burning, and otherwise destroying, the property which +it cannot appropriate to its own use." He looks forward to a renewal +of similar misfortune in the following year, an anticipation more than +fulfilled. The officials of other states, according to their political +complexion, either lamented the sufferings of the war and its supposed +injustice, or comforted themselves and their hearers by reflecting +upon the internal fruitfulness of the country, and its increasing +self-sufficingness. The people were being equipped for independence of +the foreigner by the progress of manufactures, and by habits of +economy and self-denial, enforced by deprivation arising from the +suppression of the coasting trade and the rigors of the commercial +blockade. + +The effect of the latter, which by the spring of 1814 had been in +force nearly a twelvemonth over the entire coast south of Narragansett +Bay, can be more directly estimated and concisely stated, in terms of +money, than can the interruption of the coasting trade; for the +statistics of export and import, contrasted with those of years of +peace, convey it directly. It has already been stated that the exports +for the year ending September 30, 1814, during which the operation of +the blockade was most universal and continuous, fell to $7,000,000, as +compared with $25,000,000 in 1813, and $45,000,000 in 1811, a year of +peace though of restricted intercourse. Such figures speak distinctly +as well as forcibly; it being necessary, however, to full appreciation +of the difference between 1813 and 1814, to remember that during the +first half of the former official period--from October 1, 1812, to +April 1, 1813,--there had been no commercial blockade beyond the +Chesapeake and Delaware; and that, even after it had been instituted, +the British license system operated to the end of September to qualify +its effects. + +Here and there interesting particulars may be gleaned, which serve to +illustrate these effects, and to give to the picture that precision of +outline which heightens impression. "I believe," wrote a painstaking +Baltimore editor in December, 1814, "that there has not been an +arrival in Baltimore from a foreign port for a twelvemonth";[206] yet +the city in 1811 had had a registered tonnage of 88,398, and now +boasted that of the scanty national commerce still maintained, through +less secluded ports, at least one half was carried on by its +celebrated schooners,[207] the speed and handiness of which, combined +with a size that intrusted not too many eggs to one basket, imparted +special facilities for escaping pursuit and minimizing loss. A +representative from Maryland at about this time presented in the House +a memorial from Baltimore merchants, stating that "in consequence of +the strict blockade of our bays and rivers the private-armed service +is much discouraged," and submitting the expediency "of offering a +bounty for the destruction of enemy's vessels;" a suggestion the very +extravagance of which indicates more than words the extent of the +depression felt. The price of salt in Baltimore, in November, 1814, +was five dollars the bushel. In Charleston it was the same, while just +across the Spanish border, at Amelia Island, thronged with foreign +merchant ships, it was selling at seventy cents.[208] + +Such a contrast, which must necessarily be reproduced in other +articles not indigenous, accounts at once for the smuggling deplored +by Captain Campbell, and at the same time testifies both to the +efficacy of the blockade and to the pressure exercised upon the +inland navigation by the outside British national cruisers and +privateers. This one instance, affecting one of the prime necessaries +of life, certifies to the stringent exclusion from the sea of the +coast on which Charleston was the chief seaport. Captain Dent, +commanding this naval district, alludes to the constant presence of +blockaders, and occasionally to vessels taken outside by them, chased +ashore, or intercepted in various inlets; narrating particularly the +singular incident that, despite his remonstrances, a flag of truce was +sent on board the enemy by local authorities to negotiate a purchase +of goods thus captured.[209] This unmilitary proceeding, which evinces +the necessities of the neighborhood, was of course immediately stopped +by the Government. + +A somewhat singular incidental circumstance, supporting the other +inferences, is found in the spasmodic elevation of the North Carolina +coast into momentary commercial consequence as a place of entry and +deposit; not indeed to a very great extent, but ameliorating to a +slight degree the deprivation of the regions lying north and +south,--the neighborhood of Charleston on the one hand, of Richmond +and Baltimore on the other. "The waters of North Carolina, from +Wilmington to Ocracoke, though not favorable to commerce in time of +peace, by reason of their shallowness and the danger of the coast, +became important and useful in time of war, and a very considerable +trade was prosecuted from and into those waters during the late war, +and a coasting trade as far as Charleston, attended with less risk +than many would imagine. A vessel may prosecute a voyage from +Elizabeth City [near the Virginia line] to Charleston without being at +sea more than a few hours at any one time."[210] Some tables of +arrivals show a comparative immunity for vessels entering here from +abroad; due doubtless to the unquestioned dangers of the coast, which +conspired with the necessarily limited extent of the traffic to keep +the enemy at a distance. It was not by them wholly overlooked. In +July, 1813, Admiral Cockburn anchored with a division off Ocracoke +bar, sent in his boats, and captured a privateer and letter-of-marque +which had there sought a refuge denied to them by the blockade +elsewhere. The towns of Beaufort and Portsmouth were occupied for some +hours. The United States naval officer at Charleston found it +necessary also to extend the alongshore cruises of his schooners as +far as Cape Fear, for the protection of this trade on its way to his +district. + +The attention aroused to the development of internal navigation also +bears witness to the pressure of the blockade. "It is my opinion," +said the Governor of Pennsylvania, "that less than one half the +treasure expended by the United States for the protection of foreign +commerce, if combined with state and individual wealth, would have +perfected an inland water communication from Maine to Georgia." It was +argued by others that the extra money spent for land transportation of +goods, while the coasting trade was suspended, would have effected a +complete tide-water inland navigation such as here suggested; and +there was cited a declaration of Robert Fulton, who died during the +war, that within twenty-one months as great a sum had been laid out in +wagon hire as would have effected this object. Whatever the accuracy +of these estimates, their silent witness to the influence of the +blockade upon commerce, external and coastwise, quite overbears +President Madison's perfunctory denials of its effectiveness, based +upon the successful evasions which more or less attend all such +operations. + +Perhaps, however, the most signal proof of the pressure exerted is to +be seen in the rebound, the instant it was removed; in the effect upon +prices, and upon the movements of shipping. Taken in connection with the +other evidence, direct and circumstantial, so far cited, what can +testify more forcibly to the strangulation of the coasting trade than +the fact that in the month of March, 1815,--news of the peace having +been received February 11,--there sailed from Boston one hundred and +forty-four vessels, more than half of them square-rigged; and that of +the whole all but twenty-six were for United States ports. Within three +weeks of April there arrived at Charleston, exclusive of coasters, one +hundred and fifty-eight vessels; at Savannah, in the quarter ending June +30, two hundred and three. Something of this outburst of activity, in +which neutrals of many nations shared, was due, as Mr. Clay said, to the +suddenness with which commerce revived after momentary suspension. "The +bow had been unstrung that it might acquire fresh vigor and new +elasticity"; and the stored-up products of the country, so long barred +within, imparted a peculiar nervous haste to the renewal of intercourse. +The absolute numbers quoted do not give as vivid impression of +conditions at differing times as do some comparisons, easily made. In +the year 1813, as shown by the returns of the United States Treasury, +out of 674,853 tons of registered--sea-going--shipping, only +233,439--one third--paid the duties exacted upon each several voyage, +and of these many doubtless sailed under British license.[211] In 1814 +the total tonnage, 674,632, shows that ship-building had practically +ceased; and of this amount one twelfth only, 58,756 tons, paid dues for +going out.[212] In 1816, when peace conditions were fully established, +though less than two years had passed, the total tonnage had increased +to 800,760; duties, being paid each voyage, were collected on +865,219.[213] Thus the foreign voyages that year exceeded the total +shipping of the country, and by an amount greater than all the American +tonnage that put to sea in 1814. + +The movement of coasting vessels, technically called "enrolled," is +not so clearly indicated by the returns, because all the trips of each +were covered by one license annually renewed. A licensed coaster might +make several voyages, or she might make none. In 1813 the figures show +that, of 471,109 enrolled tonnage, 252,440 obtained licenses. In 1814 +there is, as in the registered shipping, a diminution of the total to +466,159, of which a still smaller proportion, 189,662, took out the +annual license. In 1816 the enrolment was 522,165, the licensing +414,594. In the fishing craft, a class by themselves, the employment +rose from 16,453 in 1814 to 48,147 in 1816;[214] the difference +doubtless being attributable chiefly to the reopening of the cod +fishing on the banks of Newfoundland, necessarily closed to the +American flag by the maritime hostilities. + +The influence of the peace upon prices is likewise a matter too +interesting to a correct appreciation of effects to be wholly passed +over. In considering it, the quotations before the receipt of the news +doubtless represent conditions more correctly than do the immediate +changes. The official tidings of peace reached New York, February 11, +1815. The Evening Post, in its number of February 14, says, "We give +to-day one of the effects of the prospect of peace, even before +ratification. Our markets of every kind experienced a sudden, and to +many a shocking, change. Sugar, for instance, fell from $26 per +hundredweight to $12.50. Tea, which sold on Saturday at $2.25, on +Monday was purchased at a $1.00. Specie, which had got up to the +enormous rate of 22 per cent premium, dropped down to 2. The article +of tin, in particular, fell from the height of $80 the box to $25. Six +per cents rose from 76 to 88; ten per cents and Treasury notes from 92 +to 98. Bank stock generally rose from five to ten per cent." In +Philadelphia, flour which sold at $7.50 the barrel on Saturday had +risen to $10 on Monday; a testimony that not only foreign export but +home supply to the eastward was to be renewed. The fall in foreign +products, due to freedom of import, was naturally accompanied by a +rise in domestic produce, to which an open outlet with proportionate +increase of demand was now afforded. In Philadelphia the exchange on +Boston reflected these conditions; falling from twenty-five per cent +to thirteen. + +It may then be concluded that there is little exaggeration in the +words used by "a distinguished naval officer" of the day, in a letter +contributed to Niles' Register, in its issue of June 17, 1815. "No +sooner had the enemy blockaded our harbors, and extended his line of +cruisers from Maine to Georgia, than both foreign and domestic +commerce came at once to be reduced to a deplorable state of +stagnation; producing in its consequences the utter ruin of many +respectable merchants, as well as of a great multitude besides, +connected with them in their mercantile pursuits. But these were not +the only consequences. The regular supply of foreign commodities being +thereby cut off, many articles, now become necessaries of life, were +raised to an exorbitant price, and bore much upon the finances of the +citizen, whose family could not comfortably exist without them. Add to +this, as most of the money loaned to the Government for the purposes +of the war came from the pockets of merchants, they were rendered +incapable of continuing these disbursements in consequence of this +interruption to their trade; whence the cause of that impending +bankruptcy with which the Government was at one time threatened.... At +a critical period of the war [April, 1814] Congress found it +necessary to remove all restrictions upon commerce, both foreign and +domestic. It is a lamentable fact, however, that the adventurous +merchant found no alleviation from these indulgences, his vessels +being uniformly prevented by a strong blockading force, not only from +going out, but from coming into port, at the most imminent risk of +capture. The risk did not stop here; for the islands and ports most +frequented by American vessels being known to the enemy, he was +enabled from his abundance of means to intercept them there also. The +coasting trade, that most valuable appendage to an extensive +mercantile establishment in the United States, was entirely +annihilated. The southern and northern sections of the Union were +unable to exchange their commodities, except upon a contracted scale +through the medium of land carriage, and then only at a great loss; so +that, upon the whole, nothing in a national point of view appeared to +be more loudly called for by men of all parties than a naval force +adequate to the protection of our commerce, and the raising of the +blockade of our coast." + +Such was the experience which sums up the forgotten bitter truth, +concerning a war which has left in the United States a prevalent +impression of distinguished success, because of a few brilliant naval +actions and the closing battle of New Orleans. The lesson to be +deduced is not that the country at that time should have sought to +maintain a navy approaching equality to the British. In the state of +national population and revenue, it was no more possible to attempt +this than that it would be expedient to do it now, under the present +immense development of resources and available wealth. What had been +possible during the decade preceding the war,--had the nation so +willed,--was to place the navy on such a footing, in numbers and +constitution, as would have made persistence in the course Great +Britain was following impolitic to the verge of madness, because it +would add to her war embarrassments the activity of an imposing +maritime enemy, at the threshold of her most valuable markets,--the +West Indies,--three thousand miles away from her own shores and from +the seat of her principal and necessary warfare. The United States +could not have encountered Great Britain single-handed--true; but +there was not then the slightest prospect of her having to do so. The +injuries of which she complained were incidental to a state of +European war; inconceivable and impossible apart from it. She was +therefore assured of the support of most powerful allies, occupying +the attention of the British navy and draining the resources of the +British empire. This condition of things was notorious, as was the +fact that, despite the disappointment of Trafalgar, Napoleon was +sedulously restoring the numbers of a navy, to the restraining of +which his enemy was barely competent. + +The anxiety caused to the British Admiralty by the operations of the +small American squadrons in the autumn of 1812 has already been +depicted in quotations from its despatches to Warren.[215] Three or +four divisions, each containing one to two ships of the line, were +kept on the go, following a general round in successive relief, but +together amounting to five or six battle ships--to use the modern +term--with proportionate cruisers. It was not possible to diminish +this total by concentrating them, for the essence of the scheme, and +the necessity which dictated it, was to cover a wide sweep of ocean, +and to protect several maritime strategic points through which the +streams of commerce, controlled by well-known conditions, passed, +intersected, or converged. So also the Admiralty signified its wish +that one ship of the line should form the backbone of the blockade +before each of the American harbors. For this purpose Warren's fleet +was raised to a number stated by the Admiralty's letter to him of +January 9, 1813, to be "upwards of ten of the line, exclusive of the +six sail of the line appropriated to the protection of the West India +convoys." These numbers were additional to detachments which, outside +of his command, were patrolling the eastern Atlantic, about the +equator, and from the Cape Verde Islands to the Azores, as mentioned +in another letter of February 10. "In all, therefore, about twenty +sail of the line were employed on account of American hostilities; and +this, it will be noticed, was after Napoleon's Russian disaster was +fully known in England. It has not been without interfering for the +moment with other very important services that my Lords have been able +to send you this re-enforcement, and they most anxiously hope that the +vigorous and successful use you will make of it will enable you +shortly to return some of the line of battle ships to England, which, +if the heavy American frigates should be taken or destroyed, you will +immediately do, retaining four line of battle ships." Attention should +fasten upon the importance here attached by the British Admiralty to +the bigger ships; for it is well to learn of the enemy, and to +appreciate that it was not solely light cruisers and privateers, but +chiefly the heavy vessels, that counted in the estimate of experienced +British naval officers. The facts are little understood in the United +States, and consequently are almost always misrepresented. + +The reasons for this abundance of force are evident. As regards +commerce Great Britain was on the defensive; and the defensive cannot +tell upon which of many exposed points a blow may fall. Dissemination +of effort, however modified by strategic ingenuity, is thus to a +certain extent imposed. If an American division might strike British +trade on the equator between 20° and 30° west longitude, and also in +the neighborhood of the Cape Verdes and of the Azores, preparation in +some form to protect all those points was necessary, and they are too +wide apart for this to be effected by mere concentration. So the +blockade of the United States harbors. There might be in New York no +American frigates, but if a division escaped from Boston it was +possible it might come upon the New York blockade in superior force, +if adequate numbers were not constantly kept there. The British +commercial blockade, though offensive in essence, had also its +defensive side, which compelled a certain dispersion of force, in +order to be in local sufficiency in several quarters. + +These several dispersed assemblages of British ships of war +constituted the totality of naval effort imposed upon Great Britain by +"the fourteen sail of vessels of all descriptions"[216] which composed +the United States navy. It would not in the least have been necessary +had these been sloops of war--were they fourteen or forty. The weight +of the burden was the heavy frigates, two of which together were more +than a match for three of the same nominal class--the 38-gun +frigate--which was the most numerous and efficient element in the +British cruising force. The American forty-four was unknown to British +experience, and could be met only by ships of the line. Add to this +consideration the remoteness of the American shore, and its dangerous +proximity to very vital British interests, and there are found the +elements of the difficult problem presented to the Admiralty by the +combination of American force--such as it was--with American advantage +of position for dealing a severe blow to British welfare at the +period, 1805-1812, when the empire was in the height of its +unsupported and almost desperate struggle with Napoleon; when Prussia +was chained, Austria paralyzed, and Russia in strict bonds of +alliance--personal and political--with France. + +If conditions were thus menacing, as we know them to to have been in +1812, when war was declared, and the invasion of Russia just +beginning, when the United States navy was "fourteen pendants," what +would they not have been in 1807, had the nation possessed even one +half of the twenty ships of the line which Gouverneur Morris, a shrewd +financier, estimated fifteen years before were within her competency? +While entirely convinced of the illegality of the British measures, +and feeling keenly--as what American even now cannot but feel?--the +humiliation and outrage to which his country was at that period +subjected, the writer has always recognized the stringent compulsion +under which Great Britain lay, and the military wisdom, in his +opinion, of the belligerent measures adopted by her to sustain her +strength through that unparalleled struggle; while in the matter of +impressment, it is impossible to deny--as was urged by Representative +Gaston of North Carolina and Gouverneur Morris--that her claim to the +service of her native seamen was consonant to the ideas of the time, +as well as of utmost importance to her in that hour of dire need. +Nevertheless, submission by America should have been impossible; and +would have been avoidable if for the fourteen pendants there had been +a dozen sail of the line, and frigates to match. To an adequate +weighing of conditions there will be indeed resentment for impressment +and the other mortifications; but it is drowned in wrath over the +humiliating impotence of an administration which, owing to +preconceived notions as to peace, made such endurance necessary. It is +not always ignominious to suffer ignominy; but it always is so to +deserve it. + +President Washington, in his last annual message, December 7, 1796, +defined the situation then confronting the United States, and +indicated its appropriate remedy, in the calm and forcible terms which +characterized all his perceptions. "It is in our own experience, that +the most sincere neutrality is not a sufficient guard against the +depredations of nations at war. To secure respect for a neutral flag +requires a naval force, organized and ready, to vindicate it from +insult or aggression. This may even prevent the necessity of going to +war, by discouraging belligerent powers from committing such +violations of the rights of the neutral party as may, first or last, +leave no other option" [than war]. The last sentence is that of the +statesman and soldier, who accurately appreciates the true office and +sphere of arms in international relations. His successor, John Adams, +yearly renewed his recommendation for the development of the navy; +although, not being a military man, he seems to have looked rather +exclusively on the defensive aspect, and not to have realized that +possible enemies are more deterred by the fear of offensive action +against themselves than by recognition of a defensive force which +awaits attack at an enemy's pleasure. Moreover, in his administration, +it was not Great Britain, but France, that was most actively engaged +in violating the neutral rights of American shipping, and French +commercial interests then presented nothing upon which retaliation +could take effect. The American problem then was purely defensive,--to +destroy the armed ships engaged in molesting the national commerce. + +President Jefferson, whose influence was paramount with the dominant +party which remained in power from his inauguration in 1801 to the +war, based his policy upon the conviction, expressed in his inaugural, +that this "was the only government where every man would meet +invasions of the public order as his own personal concern;" and that +"a well-disciplined militia is our best reliance for the first moments +of war, till regulars may relieve them." In pursuance of these +fundamental principles, it was doubtless logical to recommend in his +first annual message that, "beyond the small force which will probably +be wanted for actual service in the Mediterranean [against the +Barbary pirates], whatever annual sum you may think proper to +appropriate to naval preparations would perhaps be better employed in +providing those articles which may be kept without waste or +consumption, and be in readiness when any exigence calls them into +use. Progress has been made in providing materials for seventy-four +gun ships;" but this commended readiness issued in not laying their +keels till after the war began. + +Upon this first recommendation followed the discontinuance of building +ships for ocean service, and the initiation of the gunboat policy; +culminating, when war began, in the decision of the administration to +lay up the ships built for war, to keep them out of British hands. The +urgent remonstrances of two or three naval captains obtained the +reversal of this resolve, and thereby procured for the country those +few successes which, by a common trick of memory, have remained the +characteristic feature of the War of 1812. + + NOTE.--After writing the engagement between the "Boxer" and the + "Enterprise," the author found among his memoranda, overlooked, + the following statement from the report of her surviving + lieutenant, David McCreery: "I feel it my duty to mention that + the bulwarks of the 'Enterprise' were proof against our grape, + when her musket balls penetrated through our bulwarks." + (Canadian Archives, M. 389, 3. p. 87.) It will be noted that + this does not apply to the cannon balls, and does not qualify + the contrast in gunnery. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[128] Broke's Letter to Lawrence, June, 1813. Naval Chronicle, vol. xxx. +p. 413. + +[129] Rodgers' Report of this cruise is in Captains' Letters, Sept. 27, +1813. + +[130] Captains' Letters, Dec. 14, 1813. + +[131] Captains' Letters, June 3, 1812. + +[132] The Department's orders to Evans and the letter transferring them +to Lawrence, captured in the ship, can be found published in the Report +on Canadian Archives, 1896, p. 74. A copy is attached to the Record of +the subsequent Court of Inquiry, Navy Department MSS. + +[133] James' Naval History, vol. vi., edition of 1837. The account of +the action between the "Chesapeake" and "Shannon" will be found on pp. +196-206. + +[134] Secretary to the Admiralty, In-Letters, May, 1814, vol. 505, p. +777. + +[135] Naval Chronicle, vol. xxx, p. 413. + +[136] Broke, in his letter of challenge, "was disappointed that, after +various verbal messages sent into Boston, Commodore Rodgers, with the +'President' and 'Congress,' had _eluded_ the 'Shannon' and 'Tenedos,' by +sailing the first chance, after the prevailing easterly winds had +obliged us to keep an offing from the coast." + +[137] For the reason here assigned, and others mentioned in the +narrative, the author has preferred to follow in the main James' +account, analyzed, and compared with Broke's report (Naval Chronicle, +vol. xxx. p. 83), and with the testimony in the Court of Inquiry held in +Boston on the surrender of the "Chesapeake," and in the resultant courts +martial upon Lieutenant Cox and other persons connected with the ship, +which are in the Navy Department MSS. The official report of Lieutenant +Budd, the senior surviving officer of the "Chesapeake", is published in +Niles' Register (vol. iv, p. 290), which gives also several unofficial +statements of onlookers, and others. + +[138] Not "across"; the distinction is important, being decisive of +general raking direction. + +[139] Actually, a contemporary account, borrowed by the British "Naval +Chronicle" (vol. xxx. p. 161) from a Halifax paper, but avouched as +trustworthy, says the "Chesapeake" was terribly battered on the larboard +bow as well as quarter. The details in the text indicate merely the +local preponderance of injury, and the time and manner of its +occurrence. + +[140] A slight qualification is here needed, in that of the injured of +the "Shannon" some were hurt in the boarding, not by the cannonade; but +the general statement is substantially accurate. + +[141] Decatur to Navy Department. Captains' Letters, June, 1813. + +[142] Decatur to Navy Department. Captains' Letters, June, 1813. + +[143] Naval Chronicle, vol. xxix. p. 497. + +[144] Croker to Warren, Jan. 9, 1813. Admiralty Out-Letters, British +Records Office. My italics. + +[145] Message of the Governor of Connecticut, October, 1813. Niles' +Register, vol. v. p. 121. + +[146] Message of the Governor of Connecticut, October, 1813. Niles' +Register, vol. v. p. 121. + +[147] Niles' Register, vol. v. p. 302. + +[148] Captains' Letters. + +[149] Niles' Register, vol. vi. p. 136. + +[150] Captains' Letters, Nov. 3 and Dec. 31, 1809; March 26, 1810; and +Oct. 12, 1813. + +[151] American State Papers, Naval Affairs, vol. i. p. 307. + +[152] Ante, page 16. + +[153] The official reports of Warren and Cockburn concerning these +operations are published in the Naval Chronicle, vol. xxx. pp. 162-168. + +[154] Captains' Letters, June 21, 1813. + +[155] The American official account of this affair is given in Niles' +Register, vol. iv. pp. 375, 422. James' Naval History, vol. vi. pp. +236-238, gives the British story. + +[156] Captains' Letters, April, 1813. + +[157] Captains' Letters, May 21, 1813. + +[158] Ibid. + +[159] James, Naval History (edition 1837), vol. vi. p. 231. + +[160] Warren's Gazette Letters, here referred to, can be found in Naval +Chronicle, vol. xxx. pp. 243, 245. + +[161] Croker to Warren, March 20, 1813. Admiralty Out-Letters, Records +Office. + +[162] Niles' Register, vol. iv. p. 404. + +[163] The rise of the tide is about two and a half feet. + +[164] This is the number stated by James, the British naval historian, +and is somewhat difficult to reconcile with Warren's expression, "the +troops and a re-enforcement of seamen and marines from the ships." To be +effective, the attack should have been in greater numbers. + +[165] The British story of this failure, outside the official +despatches, is given in James' Naval History, vol. vi. pp. 232-234. + +[166] Report of the commander of the "Scorpion" to Captain Morris, July +21, 1813. Captains' Letters. + +[167] This letter, from the commanding officer of the "Narcissus", is in +Niles' Register, vol. iv. p. 279. + +[168] Morris to Navy Department, August 13, 23, and 27. Captains' +Letters. + +[169] Captain Hayes, of the "Majestic," in charge of the blockade of +Boston, wrote to Warren, October 25, 1813: "Almost every vessel I meet +has a license, or is under a neutral flag. Spanish, Portuguese, and +Swedes are passing in and out by hundreds, and licensed vessels out of +number from the West Indies. I find the licenses are sent blank to be +filled up in Boston. This is of course very convenient, and the +Portuguese consul is said to be making quite a trade of that flag, +covering the property and furnishing the necessary papers for any person +at a thousand dollars a ship." Canadian Archives, M. 389. 3. p. 189. + +[170] Annals of Congress, 1813-1814, vol. i. p. 500. + +[171] This parenthesis shows that the censures were not directed against +New England only, for the blockade so far declared did not extend +thither. + +[172] Niles' Register, vol. iv. pp. 370, 386. + +[173] Ibid., p. 387. + +[174] Niles' Register, vol. iv. p. 387. + +[175] Ibid., p. 402. + +[176] Ibid. + +[177] Ibid. Author's italics. + +[178] Morris to Navy Department, Dec. 20 and 26, 1813. Captains' +Letters. + +[179] Post, chapter xviii. + +[180] British Records Office, Secret Papers MSS. + +[181] Niles' Register, vol. v. p. 311. + +[182] The Columbian Centinel, Boston, Sept. 7 and Dec. 15, 1813. + +[183] Ibid., Dec. 18. + +[184] Ibid. + +[185] Campbell to the Navy Department, Nov. 11, 1814. Captains' Letters. + +[186] Captains' Letters. + +[187] Ibid., June 24, 1813. + +[188] Hull to Navy Department, July 31, 1813. Ibid. + +[189] Cooper tells the story that when this gun was transported, and +preparations being made to use it as a stern instead of a bow chaser, +the crew--to whom Burrows was as yet a stranger, known chiefly by his +reputation for great eccentricity--came to the mast to express a hope +that the brig was not going to retreat. + +[190] Report of Lieutenant Tillinghast to Captain Hull. Captains' +Letters, Sept. 9, 1813. + +[191] Hull to Bainbridge, Sept. 10. Niles' Register, vol. v. p. 58. + +[192] Report of the carpenter of the "Enterprise." Captains' Letters. + +[193] There is a discrepancy in the statements concerning the "Boxer's" +crew. Hull reported officially, "We have sixty-seven, exclusive of those +killed and thrown overboard." (Sept. 25. Captains' Letters.) Lieutenant +McCall, who succeeded to the command after Burrows fell, reported that +"from information received from officers of the 'Boxer' it appears that +there were between twenty and thirty-five killed, and fourteen wounded." +(U.S. State Papers, Naval Affairs, vol. i. p. 297.) The number killed is +evidently an exaggerated impression received, resembling some statements +made concerning the "Chesapeake;" but it is quite likely that the +"Boxer's" loss should be increased by several bodies thrown overboard. + +[194] Naval Chronicle, vol. xxxii. p. 473. + +[195] Columbian Centinel, July 28, Sept. 1, and Nov. 13, 1813. + +[196] Ibid., Sept. 25. + +[197] Campbell to Navy Department, Jan. 4, 1814. Captains' Letters. + +[198] For full particulars see Captains' Letters (Campbell), June 12, +1813; Jan. 2 and 4, Aug. 20, Sept. 3, Oct. 8, Oct. 15, Dec. 4, 1814. + +[199] Campbell, Dec. 2, 1814. Captains' Letters. + +[200] Dent to Navy Department, Jan. 28, 1815. Ibid. + +[201] Campbell, Feb. 3, 1815. Ibid. + +[202] June 7, 1813. Navy Department MSS. + +[203] Captains' Letters, Sept. 3, 1814. + +[204] Benton's Abridgment of the Debates of Congress, vol. v. p. 202. + +[205] Dec. 10, 1813. Niles' Register, vol. v. pp. 257-260. + +[206] Niles' Register, vol. vii. p. 194. + +[207] Ibid., vol. viii. p. 234. + +[208] Ibid., vol. vii. p. 168. Quoted from a Charleston, S.C., paper. + +[209] Captains' Letters, May 3, 23, 24; June 27, 29; August 7, 17; Nov. +9, 13, 23, 1813. + +[210] Niles' Register, vol. viii. p. 311. Quoted from a Norfolk paper. + +[211] American State Papers, Commerce and Navigation, vol. i. p. 1017. + +[212] Ibid., vol. ii. p. 12. + +[213] American State Papers, Commerce and Navigation, vol. ii. p. 87. + +[214] Ibid., vol. i. p. 1017; vol. ii. pp. 12, 87. + +[215] Ante, vol. i. pp. 402-404. + +[216] Admiralty's Letter to Warren. Feb. 10, 1813. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +MARITIME OPERATIONS EXTERNAL TO THE WATERS OF THE UNITED +STATES, 1813-1814 + + +In broad generalization, based upon analysis of conditions, it has +been said that the seacoast of the United States was in 1812 a +defensive frontier, from which, as from all defensive lines, there +should be, and was, opportunity for offensive returns; for action +planned to relieve the shore-line, and the general military situation, +by inflicting elsewhere upon the opponent injury, harassment, and +perplexity. The last chapter dealt with the warfare depending upon the +seaboard chiefly from the defensive point of view; to illustrate the +difficulties, the blows, and the sufferings, to which the country was +exposed, owing to inability to force the enemy away from any large +portion of the coast. The pressure was as universal as it was +inexorable and irresistible. + +It remains still to consider the employment and effects of the one +offensive maritime measure left open by the exigencies of the war; the +cruises directed against the enemy's commerce, and the characteristic +incidents to which they gave rise. In this pursuit were engaged both +the national ships of war and those equipped by the enterprise of the +mercantile community; but, as the operations were in their nature more +consonant to the proper purpose of privateers, so the far greater +number of these caused them to play a part much more considerable in +effect, though proportionately less fruitful in conspicuous action. +Fighting, when avoidable, is to the privateer a misdirection of +energy. Profit is his object, by depredation upon the enemy's +commerce; not the preservation of that of his own people. To the ship +of war, on the other hand, protection of the national shipping is the +primary concern; and for that reason it becomes her to shun no +encounter by which she may hope to remove from the seas a hostile +cruiser. + +The limited success of the frigates in their attempts against British +trade has been noted, and attributed to the general fact that their +cruises were confined to the more open sea, upon the highways of +commerce. These were now travelled by British ships under strict laws +of convoy, the effect of which was not merely to protect the several +flocks concentrated under their particular watchdogs, but to strip the +sea of those isolated vessels, that in time of peace rise in irregular +but frequent succession above the horizon, covering the face of the +deep with a network of tracks. These solitary wayfarers were now to be +found only as rare exceptions to the general rule, until the port of +destination was approached. There the homing impulse overbore the +bonds of regulation; and the convoys tended to the conduct noted by +Nelson as a captain, "behaving as all convoys that ever I saw did, +shamefully ill, parting company every day." Commodore John Rodgers has +before been quoted, as observing that the British practice was to rely +upon pressure on the enemy over sea, for security near home; and that +the waters surrounding the British Islands themselves were the field +where commerce destruction could be most decisively effected. + +The first United States vessel to emphasize this fact was the brig +"Argus," Captain William H. Allen, which sailed from New York June 18, +1813, having on board a newly appointed minister to France, Mr. +William H. Crawford, recently a senator from Georgia. On July 11 she +reached L'Orient, having in the twenty-three days of passage made but +one prize.[217] Three days later she proceeded to cruise in the chops +of the English Channel, and against the local trade between Ireland +and England; continuing thus until August 14, thirty-one days, during +which she captured nineteen sail, extending her depredations well up +into St. George's Channel. The contrast of results mentioned, between +her voyage across and her occupancy of British waters, illustrates the +comparative advantages of the two scenes of operations, regarded in +their relation to British commerce. + +On August 12 the British brig of war "Pelican," Captain Maples, +anchored at Cork from the West Indies. Before her sails were furled +she received orders to go out in search of the American ship of war +whose depredations had been reported. Two hours later she was again at +sea. The following evening, at half-past seven, a burning vessel to +the eastward gave direction to her course, and at daybreak, August 14, +she sighted a brig of war in the northeast, just quitting another +prize, which had also been fired. The wind, being south, gave the +windward position to the "Pelican," which stood in pursuit; the +"Argus" steering east, near the wind, but under moderate sail to +enable her opponent to close (positions 1). The advantage in size and +armament was on this occasion on the British side; the "Pelican" being +twenty per cent larger, and her broadside seventeen per cent heavier. + +At 5.55 A.M., St. David's Head on the coast of Wales bearing east, +distant about fifteen miles, the "Argus" wore, standing now to the +westward, with the wind on the port side (2). The "Pelican" did the +same, and the battle opened at six; the vessels running side by side, +within the range of grapeshot and musketry,--probably under two +hundred yards apart (2). Within five minutes Captain Allen received a +wound which cost him his leg, and in the end his life. He at first +refused to be taken below, but loss of blood soon so reduced him that +he could no longer exercise command. Ten minutes later the first +lieutenant was stunned by the graze of a grapeshot along his head, and +the charge of the ship devolved on the second. By this time the +rigging of the "Argus" had been a good deal cut, and the "Pelican" +bore up (3) to pass under her stern; but the American brig, luffing +close to the wind and backing her maintopsail (3), balked the attempt, +throwing herself across the enemy's path, and giving a raking +broadside, the poor aim of which seems to have lost her the effect +that should have resulted from this ready and neat manoeuvre. The main +braces of the "Argus" had already been shot away, as well as much of +the other gear upon which the after sails depended; and at 6.18 the +preventer (duplicate) braces, which formed part of the preparation for +battle, were also severed. The vessel thus became unmanageable, +falling off before the wind (4), and the "Pelican" was enabled to work +round her at will. This she did, placing herself first under the stern +(4), and then on the bow (5) of her antagonist, where the only reply +to her broadside was with musketry. + +In this helpless situation the "Argus" surrendered, after an +engagement of a little over three quarters of an hour. The British +loss was two killed and five wounded; the American, six killed and +seventeen wounded, of whom five afterwards died. Among these was +Captain Allen, who survived only four days, and was buried with +military honors at Plymouth, whither Captain Maples sent his +prize.[218] After every allowance for disparity of force, the injury +done by the American fire cannot be deemed satisfactory, and suggests +the consideration whether the voyage to France under pressure of a +diplomatic mission, and the busy preoccupation of making, manning, and +firing prizes, during the brief month of Channel cruising, may not +have interfered unduly with the more important requirements of +fighting efficiency. The surviving officer in command mentions in +explanation, "the superior size and metal of our opponent, and the +fatigue which the crew of the 'Argus' underwent from a very rapid +succession of prizes." + + [Illustration: Diagram of the Argus vs. Pelican battle] + +From the broad outlook of the universal maritime situation, this rapid +succession of captures is a matter of more significance than the loss +of a single brig of war. It showed the vulnerable point of British +trade and local intercommunication; and the career of the "Argus," +prematurely cut short though it was, tended to fix attention upon +facts sufficiently well known, but perhaps not fully appreciated. From +this time the opportunities offered by the English Channel and +adjacent waters, long familiar to French corsairs, were better +understood by Americans; as was also the difficulty of adequately +policing them against a number of swift and handy cruisers, preying +upon merchant vessels comparatively slow, lumbering, and undermanned. +The subsequent career of the United States ship "Wasp," and the +audacious exploits of several privateers, recall the impunity of Paul +Jones a generation before, and form a sequel to the brief prelude, in +which the leading part, though ultimately disastrous, was played by +the "Argus." + +While the cruise of the "Argus" stood by no means alone at this time, +the attending incidents made it conspicuous among several others of a +like nature, on the same scene or close by; and it therefore may be +taken as indicative of the changing character of the war, which soon +began to be manifest, owing to the change of conditions in Europe. In +general summary, the result was to transfer an additional weight of +British naval operations to the American side of the Atlantic, which +in turn compelled American cruisers, national and private, in pursuit +of commerce destruction, to get away from their own shores, and to +seek comparative security as well as richer prey in distant waters. To +this contributed also the increasing stringency of British convoy +regulation, enforced with special rigor in the Caribbean Sea and over +the Western Atlantic. It was impossible to impose the same strict +prescription upon the coastwise trade, by which chiefly the +indispensable continuous intercourse between the several parts of the +United Kingdom was maintained. Before the introduction of steam this +had a consequence quite disproportionate to the interior traffic by +land; and its development, combined with the feeling of greater +security as the British Islands were approached, occasioned in the +narrow seas, and on the coasts of Europe, a dispersion of vessels not +to be seen elsewhere. This favored the depredations of the light, +swift, and handy cruisers that alone are capable of profiting by such +an opportunity, through their power to evade the numerous, but +necessarily scattered, ships of war, which under these circumstances +must patrol the sea, like a watchman on beat, as the best substitute +for the more formal and regularized convoy protection, when that +ceases to apply. + +From the end of the summer of 1813, when this tendency to distant +enterprise became predominant, to the corresponding season a year +later, there were captured by American cruisers some six hundred and +fifty British vessels, chiefly merchantmen; a number which had +increased to between four and five hundred more, when the war ended in +the following winter.[219] An intelligible account of such +multitudinous activities can be framed only by selecting amid the mass +some illustrative particulars, accompanied by a general estimate of +the conditions they indicate and the results they exemplify. Thus it +may be stated, with fair approach to precision, that from September +30, 1813, to September 30, 1814, there were taken six hundred and +thirty-nine British vessels, of which four hundred and twenty-four +were in seas that may be called remote from the United States. From +that time to the end of the war, about six months, the total captures +were four hundred and fourteen, of which those distant were two +hundred and ninety-three. These figures, larger actually and in +impression than they are relatively to the total of British shipping, +represent the offensive maritime action of the United States during +the period in question; but, in considering them, it must be +remembered that such results were possible only because the sea was +kept open to British commerce by the paramount power of the British +navy. This could not prevent all mishaps; but it reduced them, by the +annihilation of hostile navies, to such a small percentage of the +whole shipping movement, that the British mercantile community found +steady profit both in foreign and coasting trade, of which the United +States at the same time was almost totally deprived. + +The numerous but beggarly array of American bay-craft and oyster +boats, which were paraded to swell British prize lists, till there +seemed to be a numerical set-off to their own losses, show indeed that +in point of size and value of vessels taken there was no real +comparison; but this was due to the fact, not at once suggested by the +figures themselves, that there were but few American merchant vessels +to be taken, because they did not dare to go to sea, with the +exception of the few to whom exceptional speed gave a chance of +immunity, not always realized. In the period under consideration, +September, 1813, to September, 1814, despite the great falling off of +trade noted in the returns, over thirty American merchant ships and +letters of marque were captured at sea;[220] at the head of the list +being the "Ned," whose hair-breadth escapes in seeking to reach a +United States port have been mentioned already.[221] She met her fate +near the French coast, September 6, 1813, on the outward voyage from +New York to Bordeaux. Privateering, risky though it was, offered a +more profitable employment, with less chance of capture; because, +besides being better armed and manned, the ship was not impeded in her +sailing by the carriage of a heavy cargo. While the enemy was losing a +certain small proportion of vessels, the United States suffered +practically an entire deprivation of external commerce; and her +coasting trade was almost wholly suppressed, at the time that her +cruisers, national and private, were causing exaggerated anxiety +concerning the intercourse between Great Britain and Ireland, which, +though certainly molested, was not seriously interrupted. + +Further evidence of the control exerted by the British Navy, and of +the consequent difficulty under which offensive action was maintained +by the United States, is to be found in the practice, from this time +largely followed, of destroying prizes, after removing from them +packages of little weight compared to their price. The prospect of a +captured vessel reaching an American port was very doubtful, for the +same reason that prevented the movement of American commerce; and +while the risk was sometimes run, it usually was with cargoes which +were at once costly and bulky, such as West India goods, sugars and +coffees. Even then specie, and light costly articles, were first +removed to the cruiser, where the chances for escape were decidedly +better. Recourse to burning to prevent recapture was permissible only +with enemy's vessels. If a neutral were found carrying enemy's goods, +a frequent incident of maritime war, she must be sent in for +adjudication; which, if adverse, affected the cargo only. Summary +processes, therefore, could not be applied in such cases, and the +close blockade of the United States coast seriously restricted the +operations of her cruisers in this particular field. + + [Illustration: THE BURNING OF A PRIVATEER PRIZE. + _Drawn by Henry Reuterdahl._] + +Examination of the records goes to show that, although individual +American vessels sometimes made numerous seizures in rapid succession, +they seldom, if ever, effected the capture or destruction of a large +convoy at a single blow. This was the object with which Rodgers +started on his first cruise, but failed to accomplish. A stroke of +this kind is always possible, and he had combined conditions unusually +favorable to his hopes; but, while history certainly presents a few +instances of such achievement on the large scale, they are +comparatively rare, and opportunity, when it offers, can be utilized +only by a more numerous force than at any subsequent time gathered +under the American flag. In 1813 two privateers, the "Scourge" of New +York and "Rattlesnake" of Philadelphia, passed the summer in the North +Sea, and there made a number of prizes,--twenty-two,--which being +reported together gave the impression of a single lucky encounter; +were supposed in fact to be the convoy for which Rodgers in the +"President" had looked unsuccessfully the same season.[222] The logs, +however, showed that these captures were spread over a period of two +months, and almost all made severally. Norway being then politically +attached to Denmark, and hostile to Great Britain, such prizes as were +not burned were sent into her ports. The "Scourge" appears to have +been singularly fortunate, for on her homeward trip she took, sent in, +or destroyed, ten more enemy's vessels; and in an absence extending a +little over a year had taken four hundred and twenty prisoners,--more +than the crew of a 38-gun frigate.[223] + +At the same time the privateer schooner "Leo," of Baltimore, was +similarly successful on the coast of Spain and Portugal. By an odd +coincidence, another of the same class, bearing the nearly identical +name, "Lion," was operating at the same time in the same waters, and +with like results; which may possibly account for a contemporary +report in a London paper, that an American off the Tagus had taken +thirty-two British vessels. The "Leo" destroyed thirteen, and took +four others; while the "Lion" destroyed fifteen, having first removed +from them cargo to the amount of $400,000, which she carried safely +into France. A curious circumstance, incidental to the presence of the +privateers off Cape Finisterre, is that Wellington's troops, which had +now passed the Pyrenees and were operating in southern France, had for +a long time to wait for their great-coats, which had been stored in +Lisbon for the summer, and now could not be returned by sea to Bayonne +and Bordeaux before convoy was furnished to protect the transports +against capture. Money to pay the troops, and for the commissariat, +was similarly detained. Niles' Register, which followed carefully the +news of maritime capture, announced in November, 1813, that eighty +British vessels had been taken within a few months in European seas by +the "President," "Argus," and five privateers. Compared with the +continuous harassment and loss to which the enemy had become hardened +during twenty years of war with France, allied often with other +maritime states, this result, viewed singly, was not remarkable; but +coming in addition to the other sufferings of British trade, and +associated with similar injuries in the West Indies, and disquiet +about the British seas themselves, the cumulative effect was +undeniable, and found voice in public meetings, resolutions, and +addresses to the Government. + +Although the United States was not in formal alliance with France, the +common hostility made the ports of either nation a base of operations +to the other, and much facilitated the activities of American cruisers +in British seas. One of the most successful of the privateers, the +"True Blooded Yankee," was originally equipped at Brest, under +American ownership, though it does not appear whether she was American +built. On her first cruise her prizes are reported at twenty-seven. +She remained out thirty-seven days, chiefly off the coast of Ireland, +where she is said to have held an island for six days. Afterwards she +burned several vessels in a Scotch harbor. Her procedure illustrates +the methods of privateering in more respects than one. Thus, two large +ships, one from Smyrna and one from Buenos Ayres, were thought +sufficiently valuable to attempt sending into a French port, although +the enemy watched the French coast as rigorously as the American. The +recapture of a third, ordered to Morlaix, received specific mention, +because one of the prize crew, being found to be an Englishman, was +sentenced to death by an English court.[224] Eight others were +destroyed; and, when the privateer returned to port, she carried in +her own hold a miscellaneous cargo of light goods, too costly to risk +in a less nimble bottom. Among these are named eighteen bales of +Turkey carpets, forty-three bales of raw silk, seventy packs of skins, +etc.[225] The "True Blooded Yankee" apparently continued to prefer +European waters; for towards the end of 1814 she was taken there and +sent into Gibraltar. + +While there were certain well-known districts, such as these just +mentioned, and others before specified, in which from causes constant +in operation there was always to be found abundant material for the +hazardous occupation of the commerce-destroyer, it was not to them +alone that American cruisers went. There were other smaller but +lucrative fields, into which an occasional irruption proved +profitable. Such were the gold-coast on the west shore of Africa, and +the island groups of Madeira, the Canaries, and Cape Verde, which +geographically appertain to that continent. Thither Captain Morris +directed the frigate "Adams," in January, 1814, after first escaping +from his long blockade in the Potomac. This voyage, whence he returned +to Savannah in April, was not remunerative; his most valuable prize, +an East India ship, being snatched out of his hands, when in the act +of taking possession, by an enemy's division in charge of a convoy of +twenty-five sail, to which probably she had belonged, and had been +separated by the thick weather that permitted her capture.[226] A year +before this the privateer "Yankee," of Bristol, Rhode Island, had had +better success. When she returned to Narragansett Bay in the spring of +1813, after a five months' absence, she reported having scoured the +whole west coast of Africa, taking eight vessels, which carried in the +aggregate sixty-two guns, one hundred and ninety-six men, and property +to the amount of $296,000. In accordance with the practice already +noticed, of distributing the spoil in order better to insure its +arrival, she brought back in her own hold the light but costly items +of six tons of ivory, thirty-two bales of fine goods, and $40,000 in +gold-dust.[227] This vessel was out again several times; and when the +war closed was said to have been the most successful of all American +cruisers. Her prizes numbered forty, of which thirty-four were ships +or brigs; that is, of the larger classes of merchantmen then used. The +estimated value of themselves and cargoes, $3,000,000, is to be +received with reserve.[228] + +It was in this neighborhood that the privateer schooner "Globe," +Captain Moon, of Baltimore, mounting eight 9-pounder carronades and +one long gun, met with an adventure illustrative of the fighting +incidental to the business. To this the privateersmen as a class were +in no wise loath, where there was a fair prospect of the gain for +which they were sent to look. Being off Funchal, in the island of +Madeira, November 1, 1813, two brigs, which proved to be English +packets, the "Montague" and "Pelham," were seen "backing and filling;" +that is, keeping position in the open roadstead which constitutes the +harbor, under sail, but not anchored. Packets, being in government +service, were well armed for their size, and as mail carriers were +necessarily chosen for speed; they therefore frequently carried +specie. In one taken by the "Essex," Captain Porter found $55,000, +which as ready cash helped him much to pay his frigate's way in a long +and adventurous career. It does not appear that the "Globe" at first +recognized the character of these particular vessels; but she lay-by +during the night, watching for their quitting the shelter of neutral +waters. This they did at 9 P.M., when the privateer pursued, but lost +sight of them in a squall. The next morning they were seen in the +southwest, and again chased. At 10.15 A.M. the "Montague" began firing +her stern guns. The schooner replied, but kept on to board, knowing +her superiority in men, and at 12.30 ran alongside (1). The attack +being smartly met, and the vessels separating almost immediately, the +attempt failed disastrously; there being left on board the packet the +two lieutenants of the "Globe" and three or four seamen. Immediately +upon this repulse, the "Pelham" crossed the privateer's bow and raked +her (P 2), dealing such destruction to sails and rigging as to leave +her unmanageable. The "Montague" and "Globe" now lay broadside to +broadside (2), engaging; and ten minutes later the "Montague" by her +own report was completely disabled (M 3). Captain Moon claimed that +she struck; and this was probably the case, if his further incidental +mention, that the mailbags were seen to be thrown overboard, is not a +mistake. The action then continued with the "Pelham," within +pistol-shot (3), for an hour or so, when the schooner, being found in +a sinking condition, was compelled to haul off; "having seven shot +between wind and water, the greater part of our standing and running +rigging shot away, and not a sail but was perfectly riddled and almost +useless." After separating, the several combatants all steered with +the tradewinds for the Canaries; the British going to Teneriffe, and +the American to the Grand Canary.[229] + +From the injuries received, it is apparent that, for the armaments of +the vessels, this was a very severe as well as determined engagement. +The British had six killed and twelve wounded; the American five +killed and thirteen wounded, besides the prisoners lost in boarding. +All three captains were severely hurt, that of the "Montague" being +killed. The figures given are those reported by each side; how +exaggerated the rumors current about such encounters, and the +consequent difficulty to the historian, is shown by what each heard +about the other's casualties. A Spanish brig from Teneriffe told Moon +that the enemy had twenty-seven men killed; while the British were +equally credibly informed that the "Globe" lost thirty-three killed +and nineteen wounded. + +Near about this time, in the same neighborhood of Madeira, the +privateer schooner "Governor Tompkins," of New York, captured in rapid +succession three British merchant vessels which had belonged to a +convoy from England to Buenos Ayres, but after its dispersal in a gale +were pursuing their route singly. Two of these reached an American +port, their bulky and heavy ladings of dry goods and hardware not +permitting transfer or distribution. The sale of one cargo realized +$270,000.[230] At about the same moment came in a brig of like +value, not improbably another wanderer from the same group, captured +near Madeira by the ship "America," of Salem. This vicinity, from the +islands to the equator, between 20° and 30° west longitude, belongs +essentially to the thronged highway and cross-roads of commerce, which +has been noted as a favorite cruising ground of American ships of war. +Hereabouts passed vessels both to and from the East Indies and South +America. The bad luck of several frigates, and the rough handling of +the "Globe" by the packets, illustrate one side of the fortune of war, +as the good hap of the "America" and "Governor Tompkins" shows the +other. + + [Illustration: Diagram of the Montague, Pelham, Globe battle] + +It is, however, the beginnings and endings of commercial routes, +rather than the intermediate stretch, which most favor enterprises +against an enemy's trade. In the thronging of vessels, the Caribbean +Sea, with its teeming archipelago, was second only, if second, to the +waters surrounding the United Kingdom. England was one extremity, and +the several West India Islands the other, of a traffic then one of the +richest in the world; while the tropical articles of this exchange, if +not absolute necessaries of life, had become by long indulgence +indispensable to the great part of civilized mankind. Here, therefore, +the numbers, the efforts, and the successes of American privateers +most nearly rivalled the daring achievements of their fellows in the +Narrow Seas and the approaches to Great Britain and Ireland. The two +regions resembled each other in another respect. Not only was there +for both an external trade, mainly with one another, but in each there +was also a local traffic of distribution and collection of goods, from +and to central ports, in which was concentrated the movement of import +and export. As has been remarked concerning the coastwise carriage of +the United Kingdom, this local intercourse, to be efficient, could not +be regulated and hampered to the same extent as the long voyage, +over-sea, transportation. A certain amount of freedom and +independence was essential, and the risk attendant upon such separate +action must be compensated, as far as might be, by diminishing the +size of the vessels engaged; a resource particularly applicable to the +moderate weather and quiet seas prevalent in the tropics. + +Both the exposure of trade under such relaxed conditions, and the +relative security obtained by the convoy system, rigidly applied, are +shown by a few facts. From September 1, 1813, to March 1, 1814, six +months, the number of prizes taken by Americans, exclusive of those on +the Lakes, was reported as two hundred and seventy. Of these, nearly +one third--eighty-six--were to, from, or within the West Indies. Since +in many reports the place of capture is not given, nor any data +sufficient to fix it, it is probable that quite one third belonged to +this trade. This evidences the scale, both of the commerce itself and +of its pursuers, justifying a contemporary statement that "the West +Indies swarm with American privateers;" and it suggests also that many +of the seizures were local traders between the islands, or at least +vessels taking their chance on short runs. On the other hand, the +stringency with which the local officials enforced the Convoy Act was +shown, generally, by the experience at this time of the United States +naval vessels, the records of which, unlike those of most privateers, +have been preserved by filing or publication; and, specifically, by a +number of papers found in a prize by the United States frigate +"Constitution," Captain Charles Stewart, while making a round of these +waters in the first three months of 1814. Among other documents was a +petition, signed by many merchants of Demerara, praying convoy for +fifty-one vessels which were collected and waiting for many weary +weeks, as often had to be done. In one letter occurs the following: +"With respect to procuring a license for the "Fanny" to run it, in +case any other ships should be about to do so, we do not believe that, +out of forty vessels ready to sail, any application has been made for +such license, though out of the number are several out-port vessels +well armed and manned. Indeed, we are aware application would be +perfectly useless, as the present Governor, when at Berbice, would not +permit a vessel from that colony to this [adjoining] without convoy. +If we could obtain a license, we could not justify ourselves to +shippers, who have ordered insurance with convoy."[231] + +The expense and embarrassment incident to such detentions are +far-reaching, and the effects are as properly chargeable as are +captures themselves to the credit of the cruisers, by the activity of +which they are occasioned. The "Constitution" could report only four +prizes as the result of a three months' cruise, necessarily shortened +by the approach of spring. This made it imperative for a vessel, +denied admission to most home ports by her draught of water, to +recover the shelter of one of them before the blockade again began, +and the exhaustion of her provisions should compel her to attempt +entrance under risk of an engagement with superior force. As it was, +she was chased into Salem, and had to lighten ship to escape. But +Stewart had driven an enemy's brig of war into Surinam, chased a +packet off Barbados, and a frigate in the Mona Passage; and the report +of these occurrences, wherever received, imposed additional +precaution, delay, and expense. + +At the same time that the "Constitution" was passing through the +southern Caribbean, the naval brigs "Rattlesnake" and "Enterprise" +were searching its northern limits. These had put out from Portsmouth, +New Hampshire, when the winter weather drove the blockaders from +there, as from Boston, whence the "Constitution" had sailed. Starting +early in January, 1814, these two light cruisers kept company, passing +east of Bermuda to the island of St. Thomas, at the northeast corner +of the Caribbean. Thence they turned west, skirting the north shores +of Porto Rico and Santo Domingo as far as the Windward Passage. +Through this they entered the Caribbean, followed the south coast of +Cuba, between it and Jamaica, rounded Cape San Antonio, at its western +extremity, and thence, traversing the Straits of Florida, returned +along the coast of the United States. Having already been chased twice +in this cruise, they were compelled by a third pursuer to separate, +February 25. The stranger chose to keep after the "Enterprise," which +being a very dull sailer was obliged in a flight of seventy hours to +throw overboard most of her battery to escape. The two put into +Wilmington, North Carolina, a port impracticable to a frigate.[232] + +In this long round the brigs overhauled eleven vessels, two only of +which were under the British flag. Two were Americans; the rest +neutrals, either Swedes or Spaniards. Of the two enemies, only one was +a merchant ship. The other was a privateer, the chase of which gave +rise to a curious and significant incident. Being near the Florida +coast, and thinking the brigs to be British, twenty or thirty of the +crew took to the boats and fled ashore to escape anticipated +impressment. As Marryat remarks, a British private vessel of that day +feared a British ship of war more than it did an enemy of equal force. +Of the neutrals stopped, one was in possession of a British prize +crew, and another had on board enemy's goods. For these reasons they +were sent in for adjudication, and arrived safely. Judged by these +small results from the several cruises of the "Enterprise," +"Rattlesnake," and "Constitution," the large aggregate of captures +before quoted, two hundred and seventy, would indicate that to effect +them required a great number of cruisers, national and private. That +this inference is correct will be shown later, by some interesting and +instructive figures. + +While the making of prizes was the primary concern of the American +privateers, their cruises in the West Indies, as elsewhere, gave rise +to a certain amount of hard fighting. One of the most noted of these +encounters, that of the schooner "Decatur," of Charleston, with the +man-of-war schooner "Dominica," can hardly be claimed for the United +States; for, though fought under the flag, her captain, Diron, was +French, as were most of the crew. The "Dominica" was in company with a +King's packet, which she was to convoy part of the way to England from +St. Thomas. On August 5, 1813, the "Decatur" met the two about three +hundred miles north of the island. The British vessel was superior in +armament, having fifteen guns; all carronades, except two long sixes. +The "Decatur's" battery was six carronades, and one long 18-pounder. +For long distances the latter was superior in carrying power and +penetration to anything on board the "Dominica;" but the American +captain, knowing himself to have most men, sought to board, and the +artillery combat was therefore mainly at close quarters, within +carronade range. It began at 2 P.M. At 2.30 the schooners were within +half-gunshot of one another; the "Dominica" in the position of being +chased, because of the necessity of avoiding the evident intention of +the "Decatur" to come hand to hand. Twice the latter tried to run +alongside, and twice was foiled by watchful steering, accompanied in +each case by a broadside which damaged her rigging and sails, besides +killing two of her crew. The third attempt was successful, the +"Decatur's" bow coming against the quarter of the "Dominica," the +jib-boom passing through her mainsail. The crew of the privateer +clambered on board, and there followed a hand-to-hand fight equally +honorable to both parties. The British captain, Lieutenant Barretté, a +young man of twenty-five, who had already proved his coolness and +skill in the management of the action, fell at the head of his men, of +whom sixty out of a total of eighty-eight were killed or wounded +before their colors were struck. The assailants, who numbered one +hundred and three, lost nineteen. The packet, though armed, took no +part in the fight, and when it was over effected her escape.[233] The +"Decatur" with her prize reached Charleston safely, August 20; +bringing also a captured merchantman. The moment of arrival was most +opportune; two enemy's brigs, which for some time had been blockading +the harbor, having left only the day before. + +In March, 1814, the privateer schooner "Comet," of Baltimore, not +being able to make her home port, put into Wilmington, North Carolina. +She had been cruising in the West Indies, and had there taken twenty +vessels, most of which were destroyed after removing valuables. In the +course of her operations she encountered near St. Thomas the British +ship "Hibernia;" the size of which, and her height above the water, by +preventing boarding, enabled her successfully to repel attack, and the +privateer was obliged to haul off, having lost three men killed and +thirteen wounded. The American account of this affair ascribes +twenty-two guns to the "Hibernia." The British story says that she had +but six, with a crew of twenty-two men; of whom one was killed and +eleven wounded. The importance of the matter in itself scarcely +demands a serious attempt to reconcile this discrepancy; and it is +safer to accept each party's statement of his own force. The two agree +that the action lasted eight or nine hours, and that both were much +cut up. It is evident also from each narrative that they lay alongside +most of the time, which makes it probable that the ship's height +saved her from being overborne by superior numbers. + +The "Saucy Jack," of Charleston, passed through several severe +combats, in one of which she was even worse mauled than the "Comet" in +the instance just cited. On April 30, 1814, off St. Nicolas Mole, in +the Windward Passage between Cuba and Santo Domingo, she met the +British ship "Pelham," a vessel of five hundred and forty tons, and +mounting ten guns, bound from London to Port au Prince. The "Pelham" +fought well, and the action lasted two hours, at the end of which she +was carried by boarding. Her forty men were overpowered by numbers, +but nevertheless still resisted with a resolution which commanded the +admiration of the victors. She lost four killed and eleven wounded; +among the latter her captain, dangerously. The privateer had two +killed and nine wounded. Both vessels reached Charleston safely, and +the "Saucy Jack" at once fitted out again. It is told that, between +daylight and dark of the day she began to enlist, one hundred and +thirty able-bodied seamen had shipped; and this at a time when the +navy with difficulty found crews.[234] + +The "Saucy Jack" returned to the West Indies for another cruise, in +which she encountered one of those rude deceptions which privateers +often experienced. She had made already eight prizes, for one of +which, the ship "Amelia," she had had to fight vigorously, killing +four and wounding five of the enemy, while herself sustaining a loss +of one killed and one wounded, when on October 31, 1814, about 1 A.M., +being then off Cape Tiburon at the west end of Haïti, she sighted two +vessels standing to the westward. Chase was made, and an hour later +the privateer opened fire. The strangers replied, at the same time +shortening sail, which looked ominous; but the "Saucy Jack," willing +to justify her name, kept on to close. At 6 A.M., having arrived +within a few hundred yards, the enemy were seen to be well armed, but +appeared not to be well manned. At seven, by which time it was +daylight, the "Saucy Jack" began an engagement with the nearer, and +ten minutes later ran her alongside, when she was found to be full of +soldiers. The privateer sheered off at once, and took to her heels, +followed by an incessant fire of grape and musketry from those whom +she had recently pursued. This awkward position, which carried the +chance of a disabling shot and consequent capture, lasted till eight, +when the speed of the schooner took her out of range, having had in +all eight men killed and fifteen wounded; two round shot in the hull, +and spars and rigging much cut up. It was afterwards ascertained that +her opponent was the "Volcano" bombship, convoying the transport +"Golden Fleece," on board which were two hundred and fifty troops from +Chesapeake Bay for Jamaica. The "Volcano" lost an officer and two men +killed, and two wounded; proving that under somewhat awkward +circumstances the "Saucy Jack" could give as well as take.[235] + +A little later in this season a group of nine sail, from the West +Indies for Europe, was encountered by the privateer "Kemp," of +Baltimore, broad off the coast of North Carolina. Excluded, like the +"Comet" and others, from return to the port where she belonged, the +"Kemp" had been in Wilmington, which she left November 29, 1814; the +strangers being sighted at 8 A.M. December 1. One was a convoying +frigate, which, when the "Kemp" pursued, gave chase and drove her off +that afternoon. The privateer outran her pursuer, and during the night +by devious courses gave her the slip; thereupon steering for the +position where she judged she would again fall in with the merchant +vessels. In this she was successful, at daylight discovering +them,--three ships, three brigs, and two schooners. At 11 A.M. one +ship was overtaken, but proving to be Spanish, from Havana to Hamburg, +was allowed to proceed, while the "Kemp" again followed the others. At +noon they were five miles to windward, drawn up in a line to fight; +for in those days of war and piracy most merchant ships carried at +least a few guns for defence, and in this case their numbers, combined +in mutual support, might effect a successful resistance. At two they +took the initiative, bearing down together and attacking. The "Kemp" +engaged them all, and in half an hour the untrained squadron was +naturally in confusion. One after the other, six of the seven were +boarded, or without waiting to be attacked struck their colors as the +schooner drew up; but while four were being taken into possession, the +two others seized the opportunity and made off. Two ships and two +brigs remained in the hands of the captor. All were laden with sugar +and coffee, valuable at any time, but especially so in the then +destitute condition of the United States. After this unusual, if not +wholly unique, experience, the "Kemp" returned to port, having been +absent only six days. Her prisoners amounted to seventy-one, her own +crew being fifty-three. The separation of the escort from the convoy, +the subsequent judicious search for the latter, and the completeness +of the result, constitute this a very remarkable instance of good +management accompanied by good fortune; success deserved and +achieved.[236] + +The privateer brig "Chasseur," of Baltimore, Captain Thomas Boyle, was +one of the typically successful and renowned cruisers of the time. She +carried a battery of sixteen 12-pounder carronades, and in the course +of the war thirty prizes are credited to her. In the late summer of +1814 she cruised off the coast of Great Britain and Ireland, +returning at the end of October; having made eighteen captures during +an absence of three months. From these she paroled and sent in by +cartels one hundred and fifty prisoners, bringing back with her +forty-three, of whom she had not been able thus to rid herself.[237] +After refitting she went to the West Indies for a winter cruise, which +extended from the Windward Islands to the neighborhood of Havana. Here +she signalized the approaching end of her career by an action, fought +after peace not only had been concluded at Ghent, but already was +known in the United States. On February 26, 1815, at 11 A.M., being +then twenty miles east of Havana, and six miles from the Cuban coast, +a schooner was seen in the northeast (1), running down before the +northeast trade-wind. Sail was made to intercept her (2), there being +at the time visible from the "Chasseur's" masthead a convoy lying-to +off Havana, information concerning which probably accounts for her +presence at this spot. The chase steered more to the northward (2), +bringing the wind on her starboard side, apparently wishing to avoid a +meeting. The "Chasseur" followed her motions, and when within about +three miles the stranger's foretopmast went over the side, showing the +press of sail she was carrying. After clearing the wreck she hauled +close on the wind, heading northerly. At 1 P.M., she began to fire her +stern gun and showed British colors; but only three port-holes were +visible on her port side,--towards the "Chasseur." + +Believing from appearances that he had before him a weakly armed +vessel making a passage, and seeing but few men on her deck, Captain +Boyle pressed forward without much preparation and under all sail. At +1.26 P.M. the "Chasseur" had come within pistol-shot (3), on the port +side, when the enemy disclosed a tier of ten ports and opened his +broadside, with round shot, grape, and musket balls. The American +schooner, having much way on, shot ahead, and as she was to leeward in +doing so, the British vessel kept off quickly (4) to run under her +stern and rake. This was successfully avoided by imitating the +movement (4), and the two were again side by side, but with the +"Chasseur" now to the right (5). The action continued thus for about +ten minutes, when Boyle found his opponent's battery too heavy for +him. He therefore ran alongside (6), and in the act of boarding the +enemy struck. She proved to be the British schooner "St. Lawrence," +belonging to the royal navy; formerly a renowned Philadelphia +privateer, the "Atlas." Her battery, one long 9-pounder and fourteen +12-pounder carronades, would have been no very unequal match for the +sixteen of her antagonist; but the "Chasseur" had been obliged +recently to throw overboard ten of these, while hard chased by the +Barrosa frigate, and had replaced them with some 9-pounders from a +prize, for which she had no proper projectiles. The complement allowed +the "St. Lawrence" was seventy-five, though it does not seem certain +that all were on board; and she was carrying also some soldiers, +marines, and naval officers, bound to New Orleans, in ignorance +probably of the disastrous end of that expedition. The "Chasseur" had +eighty-nine men, besides several boys. The British loss reported by +her captain was six killed and seventeen wounded; the American, five +killed and eight wounded.[238] + + [Illustration: Diagram of the Chasseur vs. St. Lawrence battle] + +This action was very creditably fought on both sides, but to the +American captain belongs the meed of having not only won success, but +deserved it. His sole mistake was the over-confidence in what he could +see, which made him a victim to the very proper ruse practised by his +antagonist in concealing his force. His manoeuvring was prompt, ready, +and accurate; that of the British vessel was likewise good, but a +greater disproportion of injury should have resulted from her superior +battery. In reporting the affair to his owners, Captain Boyle said, +apologetically: "I should not willingly, perhaps, have sought a +contest with a King's vessel, knowing that is not our object; but my +expectations at first were a valuable vessel, and a valuable cargo +also. When I found myself deceived, the honor of the flag intrusted to +my care was not to be disgraced by flight." The feeling expressed was +modest as well as spirited, and Captain Boyle's handsome conduct +merits the mention that the day after the action, when the captured +schooner was released as a cartel to Havana, in compassion to her +wounded, the commander of the "St. Lawrence" gave him a letter, in the +event of his being taken by a British cruiser, testifying to his +"obliging attention and watchful solicitude to preserve our effects, +and render us comfortable during the short time we were in his +possession;" in which, he added, the captain "was carefully seconded +by all his officers."[239] + +These instances, occurring either in the West Indies, or, in the case +of the "Kemp," affecting vessels which had just loaded there, are +sufficient, when taken in connection with those before cited from +other quarters of the globe, to illustrate the varied activities and +fortunes of privateering. The general subject, therefore, need not +further be pursued. It will be observed that in each case the cruiser +acts on the offensive; being careful, however, in choosing the object +of attack, to avoid armed ships, the capture of which seems unlikely +to yield pecuniary profit adequate to the risk. The gallantry and +skill of Captain Boyle of the "Chasseur" made particularly permissible +to him the avowal, that only mistake of judgment excused his +committing himself to an encounter which held out no such promise; and +it may be believed that the equally capable Captain Diron, if free to +do as he pleased, would have chosen the packet, and not her escort the +"Dominica," as the object of his pursuit. This the naval schooner of +course could not permit. It was necessary, therefore, first to fight +her; and, although she was beaten, the result of the action was to +insure the escape of the ship under her charge. These examples define +exactly the spirit and aim of privateering, and distinguish them from +the motives inspiring the ship of war. The object of the privateer is +profit by capture; to which fighting is only incidental, and where +avoidable is blamable. The mission of a navy on the other hand is +primarily military; and while custom permitted the immediate captor a +share in the proceeds of his prizes, the taking of them was in +conception not for direct gain, personal or national, but for injury +to the enemy. + +It may seem that, even though the ostensible motive was not the same, +the two courses of operation followed identical methods, and in +outcome were indistinguishable. This is not so. However subtle the +working of the desire for gain upon the individual naval officer, +leading at times to acts of doubtful propriety, the tone and spirit of +a profession, even when not clearly formulated in phrase and +definition, will assert itself in the determination of personal +conduct. The dominating sense of advantage to the state, which is the +military motive, and the dominating desire for gain in a mercantile +enterprise, are very different incentives; and the result showed +itself in a fact which has never been appreciated, and perhaps never +noted, that the national ships of war were far more effective as +prize takers than were the privateers. A contrary impression has +certainly obtained, and was shared by the present writer until he +resorted to the commonplace test of adding up figures. + +Amid much brilliant achievement, privateering, like all other business +pursuits, had also a large and preponderant record of unsuccess. The +very small number of naval cruisers necessarily yielded a much smaller +aggregate of prizes; but when the respective totals are considered +with reference to the numbers of vessels engaged in making them, the +returns from the individual vessels of the United States navy far +exceed those from the privateers. Among conspicuously successful +cruisers, also, the United States ships "Argus," "Essex," "Peacock," +and "Wasp" compare favorably in general results with the most +celebrated privateers, even without allowing for the evident fact that +a few instances of very extraordinary qualities and record are more +likely to be found among five hundred vessels than among twenty-two; +this being the entire number of naval pendants actually engaged in +open-sea cruising, from first to last. These twenty-two captured one +hundred and sixty-five prizes, an average of 7.5 each, in which are +included the enemy's ships of war taken. Of privateers of all classes +there were five hundred and twenty-six; or, excluding a few small +nondescripts, four hundred and ninety-two. By these were captured +thirteen hundred and forty-four vessels, an average of less than +three; to be exact, 2.7. The proportion, therefore, of prizes taken by +ships of war to those by private armed vessels was nearly three to +one. + +Comparison may be instituted in other ways. Of the twenty-two national +cruisers, four only, or one in five, took no prize; leaving to the +remaining eighteen an average of nine. Out of the grand total of five +hundred and twenty-six privateers only two hundred and seven caught +anything; three hundred and nineteen, three out of five, returned to +port empty-handed, or were themselves taken. Dividing the thirteen +hundred and forty-four prizes among the two hundred and seven more or +less successful privateers, there results an average of 6.5; so that, +regard being had only to successful cruisers, the achievement of the +naval vessels was to that of the private armed nearly as three to two. +These results may be accepted as disposing entirely of the extravagant +claims made for privateering as a system, when compared with a regular +naval service, especially when it is remembered with what difficulty +the American frigates could get to sea at all, on account of their +heavy draft and the close blockade; whereas the smaller vessels, +national or private, had not only many harbors open, but also +comparatively numerous opportunities to escape. The frigate "United +States" never got out after her capture of the "Macedonian," in 1812; +the "Congress" was shut up after her return in December, 1813; and the +"Chesapeake" had been captured in the previous June. All these +nevertheless count in the twenty-two pendants reckoned above. + +The figures here cited are from a compilation by Lieutenant George F. +Emmons,[240] of the United States Navy, published in 1853 under the +title, "The United States Navy from 1775 to 1853." Mr. Emmons made no +analyses, confining himself to giving lists and particulars; his work +is purely statistical. Counting captures upon the lakes, and a few +along the coast difficult of classification, his grand total of +floating craft taken from the enemy reaches fifteen hundred and +ninety-nine; which agrees nearly with the sixteen hundred and +thirty-four of Niles, whom he names among his sources of information. +From an examination of the tables some other details of interest may +be drawn. Of the five hundred and twenty-six privateers and +letters-of-marque given by name, twenty-six were ships, sixty-seven +brigs, three hundred and sixty-four schooners, thirty-five sloops, +thirty-four miscellaneous; down to, and including, a few boats putting +out from the beach. The number captured by the enemy was one hundred +and forty-eight, or twenty-eight per cent. The navy suffered more +severely. Of the twenty-two vessels reckoned above, twelve were taken, +or destroyed to keep them out of an enemy's hands; over fifty per +cent. Of the twelve, six were small brigs, corresponding in size and +nautical powers to the privateer. Three were frigates--the +"President," "Essex," and "Chesapeake." One, the "Adams," was not at +sea when destroyed by her own captain to escape capture. Only two +sloops of war, the first "Wasp" and the "Frolic,"[241] were taken; and +of these the former, as already known, was caught when partially +dismasted, at the end of a successful engagement. + +Contemporary with the career of the "Argus," the advantage of a sudden +and unexpected inroad, like hers, upon a region deemed safe by the +enemy, was receiving confirmation in the remote Pacific by the cruise +of the frigate "Essex." This vessel, which had formed part of +Commodore Bainbridge's squadron at the close of 1812, was last +mentioned as keeping her Christmas off Cape Frio,[242] on the coast of +Brazil, awaiting there the coming of the consorts whom she never +succeeded in joining. Captain Porter maintained this station, hearing +frequently about Bainbridge by vessels from Bahia, until January 12, +1813. Then a threatened shortness of provisions, and rumors of enemy's +ships in the neighborhood, especially of the seventy-four "Montagu" +combined to send him to St. Catherine's Island, another appointed +rendezvous, and the last upon the coast of Brazil. In this remote +and sequestered anchorage hostile cruisers would scarcely look for +him, at least until more likely positions had been carefully examined. + + [Illustration: CAPTAIN DAVID PORTER. + _From the painting by Charles Wilson Peale, in Independence Hall, + Philadelphia._] + +At St. Catherine's Porter heard of the action between the +"Constitution" and "Java" off Bahia, a thousand miles distant, and +received also a rumor, which seemed probable enough, that the third +ship of the division, the "Hornet," had been captured by the +"Montagu." He consequently left port January 26, for the southward, +still with the expectation of ultimately joining the Commodore off St. +Helena, the last indicated point of assembly; but having been unable +to renew his stores in St. Catherine's, and ascertaining that there +was no hope of better success at Buenos Ayres, or the other Spanish +settlements within the River La Plata, he after reflection decided to +cut loose from the squadron and go alone to the Pacific. There he +could reasonably hope to support himself by the whalers of the enemy; +that class of vessel being always well provided for long absences. +This alternative course he knew would be acceptable to the Government, +as well as to his immediate commander.[243] The next six weeks were +spent in the tempestuous passage round Cape Horn, the ship's company +living on half-allowance of provisions; but on March 14, 1813, the +"Essex" anchored in Valparaiso, being the first United States ship of +war to show the national flag in the Pacific. By a noteworthy +coincidence she had already been the first to carry it beyond the Cape +of Good Hope. + +Chile received the frigate hospitably, being at the time in revolt +against Spain; but the authority of the mother country was still +maintained in Peru, where a Spanish viceroy resided, and it was +learned that in the capacity of ally of Great Britain he intended to +fit out privateers against American whalers, of which there were many +in these seas. As several of the British whalers carried +letters-of-marque, empowering them to make prizes, the arrival of the +"Essex" not only menaced the hostile interests, but promised to +protect her own countrymen from a double danger. Her departure +therefore was hastened; and having secured abundant provision, such as +the port supplied, she sailed for the northward a week after +anchoring. A privateer from Peru was met, which had seized two +Americans. Porter threw overboard her guns and ammunition, and then +released her with a note for the viceroy, which served both as a +respectful explanation and a warning. One of the prizes taken by this +marauder was recaptured March 27, when entering Callao, the port of +Lima. + +The "Essex" then went to the Galapagos Islands, a group just south of +the equator, five hundred miles from the South American mainland. +These belong now to Ecuador, and at that day were a noted rendezvous +for whalers. In this neighborhood the frigate remained from April 17 +to October 3, during which period she captured twelve British whalers +out of some twenty-odd reported in the Pacific; with the necessary +consequence of driving all others to cover for the time being. The +prizes were valuable, some more, some less; not only from the +character of their cargoes, but because they themselves were larger +than the average merchant ship, and exceptionally well found. Three +were sent to Valparaiso in convoy of a fourth, which had been +converted into a consort of the "Essex," under the name of the "Essex +Junior," mounting twenty very light guns. September 30 she returned, +bringing word that a British squadron, consisting of the 36-gun +frigate "Phoebe," Captain James Hillyar, and the sloops of war +"Cherub" and "Raccoon," had sailed for the Pacific. The rumor was +correct, though long antedating the arrival of the vessels. In +consequence of it, Porter, considering that his work at the Galapagos +was now complete, and that the "Essex" would need overhauling before a +possible encounter with a division, the largest unit of which was +superior to her in class and force, decided to move to a position then +even more remote from disturbance than St. Catherine's had been. On +October 25 the "Essex" and "Essex Junior" anchored at the island of +Nukahiva, of the Marquesas group, having with them three of the +prizes. Of the others, besides those now at Valparaiso, two had been +given up to prisoners to convey them to England, and three had been +sent to the United States. That all the last were captured on the way +detracts nothing from Porter's merit, but testifies vividly to the +British command of the sea. + +At the Marquesas, by aid of the resources of the prizes, the frigate +was thoroughly overhauled, refitted, and provisioned for six months. +Porter had not only maintained his ship, but in part paid his officers +and crew from the proceeds of his captures. On December 12 he sailed +for Chile, satisfied with the material outcome of his venturous +cruise, but wishing to add to it something of further distinction by +an encounter with Hillyar, if obtainable on terms approaching +equality. With this object the ship's company were diligently +exercised at the guns and small arms during the passage, which lasted +nearly eight weeks; the Chilean coast being sighted on January 12, far +to the southward, and the "Essex" running slowly along it until +February 3, when she reached Valparaiso. On the 8th the "Phoebe" and +"Cherub" came in and anchored; the "Raccoon" having gone on to the +North Pacific. + +The antagonists now lay near one another, under the restraint of a +neutral port, for several days, during which some social intercourse +took place between the officers; the two captains renewing an +acquaintance made years before in the Mediterranean. After a period of +refit, and of repose for the crews, the British left the bay, and +cruised off the port. The "Essex" and "Essex Junior" remained at +anchor, imprisoned by a force too superior to be encountered without +some modifying circumstances of advantage. Porter found opportunities +for contrasting the speed of the two frigates, and convinced himself +that the "Essex" was on that score superior; but the respective +armaments introduced very important tactical considerations, which +might, and in the result did, prove decisive. The "Essex" originally +had been a 12-pounder frigate, classed as of thirty-two guns; but her +battery now was forty 32-pounder carronades and six long twelves. +Captain Porter in his report of the battle stated the armament of the +"Phoebe" to be thirty long 18-pounders and sixteen 32-pounder +carronades. The British naval historian James gives her twenty-six +long eighteens, fourteen 32-pounder carronades, and four long nines; +while to the "Cherub" he attributes a carronade battery of eighteen +thirty-twos and six eighteens, with two long sixes. Whichever +enumeration be accepted, the broadside of the "Essex" within carronade +range considerably outweighed that of the "Phoebe" alone, but was much +less than that of the two British ships combined; the light built and +light-armed "Essex Junior" not being of account to either side. There +remained always the serious chance that, even if the "Phoebe" accepted +single combat, some accident of wind might prevent the "Essex" +reaching her before being disabled by her long guns. Hillyar, +moreover, was an old disciple of Nelson, fully imbued with the +teaching that achievement of success, not personal glory, must dictate +action; and, having a well established reputation for courage and +conduct, he did not intend to leave anything to the chances of fortune +incident to engagement between equals. He would accept no provocation +to fight apart from the "Cherub." + +Forced to accept this condition, Porter now turned his attention to +escape. Valparaiso Bay is an open roadstead, facing north. The high +ground above the anchorage provides shelter from the south-southwest +wind, which prevails along this coast throughout the year with very +rare intermissions. At times, as is common under high land, it blows +furiously in gusts. The British vessels underway kept their station +close to the extreme western point of the bay, to prevent the "Essex" +from passing to southward of them, and so gaining the advantage of the +wind, which might entail a prolonged chase and enable her, if not to +distance pursuit, at least to draw the "Phoebe" out of support of the +"Cherub." Porter's aim of course was to seize an opportunity when by +neglect, or unavoidably, they had left a practicable opening between +them and the point. In the end, his hand was forced by an accident. + +On March 28 the south wind blew with unusual violence, and the "Essex" +parted one of her cables. The other anchor failed to hold when the +strain came upon it, and the ship began to drift to sea. The cable was +cut and sail made at once; for though the enemy were too nearly in +their station to have warranted the attempt to leave under ordinary +conditions, Porter, in the emergency thus suddenly thrust upon him, +thought he saw a prospect of passing to windward. The "Essex" +therefore was hauled close to the wind under single-reefed topsails, +heading to the westward; but just as she came under the point of the +bay a heavy squall carried away the maintopmast. The loss of this spar +hopelessly crippled her, and made it impossible even to regain the +anchorage left. She therefore put about, and ran eastward until within +pistol-shot of the coast, about three miles north of the city. Here +she anchored, well within neutral waters; Hillyar's report stating +that she was "so near shore as to preclude the possibility of passing +ahead of her without risk to his Majesty's ships." Three miles, then +the range of a cannon-shot, estimated liberally, was commonly accepted +as the width of water adjacent to neutral territory, which was under +the neutral protection. The British captain decided nevertheless to +attack. + +The wind remaining southerly, the "Essex" rode head to it; the two +hostile vessels approaching with the intention of running north of +her, close under her stern. The wind, however, forced them off as they +drew near; and their first attack, beginning about 4 P.M. and lasting +ten minutes, produced no visible effect, according to Hillyar's +report. Porter states, on the contrary, that considerable injury was +done to the "Essex"; and in particular the spring which he was trying +to get on the cable was thrice shot away, thus preventing the bringing +of her broadside to bear as required. The "Phoebe" and her consort +then wore, which increased their distance, and stood out again to sea. +While doing this they threw a few "random shots;" fired, that is, at +an elevation so great as to be incompatible with certainty of aim. +During this cannonade the "Essex," with three 12-pounders run out of +her stern ports, had deprived the "Phoebe" of "the use of her +mainsail, jib and mainstay." On standing in again Hillyar prepared to +anchor, but ordered the "Cherub" to keep underway, choosing a position +whence she could most annoy their opponent. + +At 5.35 P.M., by Hillyar's report,--Porter is silent as to the +hour,--the attack was renewed; the British ships both placing +themselves on the starboard--seaward--quarter of the "Essex." Before +the "Phoebe" reached the position in which she intended to anchor, the +"Essex" was seen to be underway. Hillyar could only suppose that her +cable had been severed by a shot; but Porter states that under the +galling fire to which she was subjected, without power to reply, he +cut the cable, hoping, as the enemy were to leeward, he might bring +the ship into close action, and perhaps even board the "Phoebe." The +decision was right, but under the conditions a counsel of desperation; +for sheets, tacks, and halliards being shot away, movement depended +upon sails hanging loose,--spread, but not set. Nevertheless, he was +able for a short time to near the enemy, and both accounts agree that +hereupon ensued the heat of the combat; "a serious conflict," to use +Hillyar's words, to which corresponds Porter's statement that "the +firing on both sides was now tremendous." The "Phoebe," however, was +handled, very properly, to utilize to the full the tactical advantages +she possessed in the greater range of her guns, and in power of +manoeuvring. In the circumstances under which she was acting, the sail +power left her was amply sufficient; having simply to keep drawing to +leeward, maintaining from her opponent a distance at which his guns +were useless and her own effective. + +Under these conditions, seeing success to be out of the question, and +suffering great loss of men, Porter turned to the last resort of the +vanquished, to destroy the vessel and to save the crew from captivity. +The "Essex" was pointed for the shore; but when within a couple of +hundred yards the wind, which had so far favored her approach, shifted +ahead. Still clinging to every chance, a kedge with a hawser was let +go, to hold her where she was; perhaps the enemy might drift +unwittingly out of range. But the hawser parted, and with it the +frigate's last hold upon the country which she had honored by an +heroic defence. Porter then authorized any who might wish to swim +ashore to do so; the flag being kept flying to warrant a proceeding +which after formal surrender would be a breach of faith. At 6.20 the +"Essex" at last lowered her colors.[244] Out of a ship's company of +two hundred and fifty-five, with which she sailed in the morning, +fifty-eight were killed, or died of their wounds, and sixty-five were +wounded. The missing were reported at thirty-one. By agreement between +Hillyar and Porter, the "Essex Junior" was disarmed, and neutralized, +to convey to the United States, as paroled prisoners of war, the +survivors who remained on board at the moment of surrender. These +numbered one hundred and thirty-two. It is an interesting particular, +linking those early days of the United States navy to a long +subsequent period of renown, and worthy therefore to be recalled, that +among the combatants of the "Essex" was Midshipman David G. Farragut, +then thirteen years old. His name figures among the wounded, as well +as in the list of passengers on board the "Essex Junior." + +The disaster to the "Essex" is connected by a singular and tragical +link with the fate of an American cruiser of like adventurous +enterprise in seas far distant from the Pacific. After the defeat at +Valparaiso, Lieutenant Stephen Decatur McKnight and Midshipman James +Lyman of the United States frigate were exchanged as prisoners of war +against a certain number of officers and seamen belonging to one of +the "Essex's" prizes; which, having continued under protection of the +neutral port, had undergone no change of belligerent relation by the +capture of her captor. When the "Essex Junior" sailed, these two +officers remained behind, by amicable arrangement, to go in the +"Phoebe" to Rio Janeiro, there to give certain evidence needed in +connection with the prize claims of the British frigate; which done, +it was understood they would be at liberty to return to their own +country by such conveyance as suited them. After arrival in Rio, the +first convenient opportunity offering was by a Swedish brig sailing +for Falmouth, England. In her they took passage, leaving Rio August +23, 1814. On October 9 the brig fell in with the United States sloop +of war "Wasp," in mid-ocean, about three hundred miles west of the +Cape Verde Islands, homeward bound. The two passengers transferred +themselves to her. Since this occurrence nothing further has ever been +heard of the American ship; nor would the incident itself have escaped +oblivion but for the anxiety of friends, which after the lapse, of +time prompted systematic inquiry to ascertain what had become of the +missing officers. + +The captain of the "Wasp" was Master-Commandant, or, as he would now +be styled, Commander Johnstone Blakely; the same who had commanded the +"Enterprise" up to a month before her engagement with the "Boxer," +when was demonstrated the efficiency to which he had brought her +ship's company. He sailed from Portsmouth, New Hampshire, May 1, 1814. +Of his instructions,[245] the most decisive was to remain for thirty +days in a position on the approaches to the English Channel, about one +hundred and fifty miles south of Ireland, in which neighborhood +occurred the most striking incidents of the cruise. On the outward +passage was taken only one prize, June 2. She was from Cork to +Halifax, twelve days out; therefore probably from six to eight hundred +miles west of Ireland. The second, from Limerick for Bordeaux, June +13, would show the "Wasp" on her station; on which, Blakely reported, +it was impossible to keep her, even approximately, being continually +drawn away in pursuit, and often much further up the English Channel +than desired, on account of the numerous sails passing.[246] When +overhauled, most of these were found to be neutrals. Nevertheless, +seven British merchant vessels were taken; all of which were +destroyed, except one given up to carry prisoners to England. + +While thus engaged, the "Wasp" on June 28 sighted a sail, which proved +to be the British brig of war "Reindeer," Captain Manners, that had +left Plymouth six days before. The place of this meeting was latitude +48-½° North, longitude 11° East; therefore nearly in the cruising +ground assigned to Blakely by his instructions. The antagonists were +unequally matched; the American carrying twenty 32-pounder carronades +and two long guns, the British sixteen 24-pounders and two long; a +difference against her of over fifty per cent. The "Reindeer" was to +windward, and some manoeuvring took place in the respective efforts to +keep or to gain this advantage. In the end the "Reindeer" retained it, +and the action began with both on the starboard tack, closehauled, the +British sloop on the weather quarter of the "Wasp,"--behind, but on +the weather side, which in this case was to the right (1). Approaching +slowly, the "Reindeer" with great deliberation fired five times, at +two-minute intervals, a light gun mounted on her forecastle, loaded +with round and grape shot. Finding her to maintain this position, upon +which his guns would not train, Blakely put the helm down, and the +"Wasp" turned swiftly to the right (2), bringing her starboard battery +to bear. This was at 3.26 P.M. The action immediately became very hot, +at very close range (3), and the "Reindeer" was speedily disabled. The +vessels then came together (4), and Captain Manners, who by this time +had received two severe wounds, with great gallantry endeavored to +board with his crew, reduced by the severe punishment already +inflicted to half its originally inferior numbers. As he climbed into +the rigging, two balls from the "Wasp's" tops passed through his head, +and he fell back dead on his own deck. No further resistance was +offered, and the "Wasp" took possession. She had lost five killed and +twenty-one wounded, of whom six afterwards died. The British +casualties were twenty-three killed and forty-two wounded. The brig +herself, being fairly torn to pieces, was burned the next day.[247] + + [Illustration: Diagram of the Wasp vs. Reindeer battle] + +The results of this engagement testify to the efficiency and +resolution of both combatants; but a special meed of praise is +assuredly due to Captain Manners, whose tenacity was as marked as his +daring, and who, by the injury done to his stronger antagonist, +demonstrated both the thoroughness of his previous general preparation +and the skill of his management in the particular instance. Under his +command the "Reindeer" had become a notable vessel in the fleet to +which she belonged; but as equality in force is at a disadvantage +where there is serious inferiority in training and discipline, so the +best of drilling must yield before decisive superiority of armament, +when there has been equal care on both sides to insure efficiency in +the use of the battery. To Blakely's diligence in this respect his +whole career bears witness. + +After the action Blakely wished to remain cruising, which neither the +condition of his ship nor her losses in men forbade; but the number of +prisoners and wounded compelled him to make a harbor. He accordingly +went into L'Orient, France, on July 8. Despite the change of +government, and the peace with Great Britain which attended the +restoration of the Bourbons, the "Wasp" was here hospitably received +and remained for seven weeks refitting, sailing again August 27. By +September 1 she had taken and destroyed three more enemy's vessels; +one of which was cut out from a convoy, and burnt under the eyes of +the convoying 74-gun ship. At 6.30 P.M. of September 1 four sails +were sighted, from which Blakely selected to pursue the one most to +windward; for, should this prove a ship of war, the others, if +consorts, would be to leeward of the fight, less able to assist. The +chase lasted till 9.26, when the "Wasp" was near enough to see that +the stranger was a brig of war, and to open with a light carronade on +the forecastle, as the "Reindeer" had done upon her in the same +situation. Confident in his vessel, however, Blakely abandoned this +advantage of position, ran under his antagonist's lee to prevent her +standing down to join the vessels to leeward, and at 9.29 began the +engagement, being then on her lee bow. At ten the "Wasp" ceased firing +and hailed, believing the enemy to be silenced; but receiving no +reply, and the British guns opening again, the combat was renewed. At +10.12, seeing the opponent to be suffering greatly, Blakely hailed +again and was answered that the brig had surrendered. The "Wasp's" +battery was secured, and a boat was in the act of being lowered to +take possession, when a second brig was discovered close astern. +Preparation was made to receive her and her coming up awaited; but at +10.36 the two others were also visible, astern and approaching. The +"Wasp" then made sail, hoping to decoy the second vessel from her +supports; but the sinking condition of the one first engaged detained +the new-comer, who, having come within pistol-shot, fired a broadside +which took effect only aloft, and then gave all her attention to +saving the crew of her comrade. As the "Wasp" drew away she heard the +repeated signal guns of distress discharged by her late adversary, the +name of which never became known to the captain and crew of the +victorious ship.[248] + +The vessel thus engaged was the British brig "Avon," of sixteen +32-pounder carronades, and two long 9-pounders; her force being to +that of the "Wasp" as four to five. Her loss in men was ten killed +and thirty-two wounded; that of the "Wasp" two killed and one wounded. +The "Avon" being much superior to the "Reindeer," this comparatively +slight injury inflicted by her testifies to inferior efficiency. The +broadside of her rescuer, the "Castilian," of the same weight as her +own, wholly missed the "Wasp's" hull, though delivered from so near; a +circumstance which drew from the British historian, James, the caustic +remark that she probably would have done no better than the "Avon," +had the action continued. The "Wasp" was much damaged in sails and +rigging; the "Avon" sank two hours and a half after the "Wasp" left +her and one hour after being rejoined by the "Castilian." + +The course of the "Wasp" after this event is traced by her captures. +The meeting with the "Avon" was within a hundred miles of that with +the "Reindeer." On September 12 and 14, having run south three hundred +and sixty miles, she took two vessels; being then about two hundred +and fifty miles west from Lisbon. On the 21st, having made four +degrees more southing, she seized the British brig "Atalanta," a +hundred miles east of Madeira. This prize being of exceptional value, +Blakely decided to send her in, and she arrived safely at Savannah on +November 4, in charge of Midshipman David Geisinger, who lived to +become a captain in the navy.[249] She brought with her Blakely's +official despatches, including the report of the affair with the +"Avon." This was the last tidings received from the "Wasp" until the +inquiries of friends elicited the fact that the two officers of the +"Essex" had joined her three weeks after the capture of the +"Atalanta," nine hundred miles farther south. Besides these, there +were among the lost two lieutenants who had been in the "Constitution" +when she took the "Guerrière" and the "Java," and one who had been in +the "Enterprise" in her action with the "Boxer." + +Coincident in time with the cruise of the "Wasp" was that of her +sister ship, the "Peacock"; like her also newly built, and named after +the British brig sunk by Captain Lawrence in the "Hornet." The finest +achievement of the "Wasp," however, was near the end of her career, +while it fell to the "Peacock" to begin with a successful action. +Having left New York early in March, she went first to St. Mary's, +Georgia, carrying a quantity of warlike stores. In making this passage +she was repeatedly chased by enemies. Having landed her cargo, she +sailed immediately and ran south as far as one of the Bahama Islands, +called the Great Isaac, near to which vessels from Jamaica and Cuba +bound to Europe must pass, because of the narrowness of the channel +separating the islands from the Florida coast. In this neighborhood +she remained from April 18 to 24, seeing only one neutral and two +privateers, which were pursued unsuccessfully. This absence of +unguarded merchant ships, coupled with the frequency of hostile +cruisers met before, illustrates exactly the conditions to which +attention has been repeatedly drawn, as characterizing the British +plan of action in the Western Atlantic. Learning that the expected +Jamaica convoy would be under charge of a seventy-four, two frigates, +and two sloops, and that the merchant ships in Havana, fearing to sail +alone, would await its passing to join, Captain Warrington next stood +slowly to the northward, and on April 29, off Cape Canaveral, sighted +four sail, which proved to be the British brig "Epervier" of eighteen +32-pounder carronades,[250] also northward bound, with three merchant +vessels under her convoy; one of these being Russian, and one Spanish, +belonging therefore to nations still at war with France, though +neutral towards the United States. The third, a merchant brig, was the +first British commercial vessel seen since leaving Savannah. + +As usual and proper, the "Epervier," seeing that the "Peacock" would +overtake her and her convoy, directed the latter to separate while she +stood down to engage the hostile cruiser. The two vessels soon came to +blows. The accounts of the action on both sides are extremely meagre, +and preclude any certain statement as to manoeuvres; which indeed +cannot have been material to the issue reached. The "Epervier," for +reasons that will appear later, fought first one broadside and then +the other; but substantially the contest appears to have been +maintained side to side. From the first discharge of the "Epervier" +two round shot struck the "Peacock's" foreyard nearly in the same +place, which so weakened the spar as to deprive the ship of the use of +her foresail and foretopsail; that is, practically, of all sail on the +foremast. Having thenceforth only the jibs for headsail, she had to be +kept a little off the wind. The action lasted forty-five minutes, when +the "Epervier" struck. Her loss in men was eight killed, and fifteen +wounded; the "Peacock" had two wounded. + +In extenuation of this disproportion in result, James states that in +the first broadside three of the "Epervier's" carronades were +unshipped; and that, when those on the other side were brought into +action by tacking, similar mishaps occurred. Further, the moment the +guns got warm they drew out the breeching bolts. Allowing full force +to these facts, they certainly have some bearing on the general +outcome; but viewed with regard to the particular question of +efficiency, which is the issue of credit in every fight,[251] there +remains the first broadside, and such other discharges as the +carronades could endure before getting warm. The light metal of those +guns indisputably caused them to heat rapidly, and to kick nastily; +but it can scarcely be considered probable that the "Epervier" was not +able to get in half a dozen broadsides. The result, two wounded, +establishes inefficiency, and a practical certainty of defeat had all +her ironwork held; for the "Peacock," though only three months +commissioned, was a good ship under a thoroughly capable and attentive +captain. A comical remark of James in connection with this engagement +illustrates the weakness of prepossession, in all matters relating to +Americans, which in him was joined to a painstaking accuracy in +ascertaining and stating external facts. "Two well-directed shot," he +says, disabled the "Peacock's" foreyard. It was certainly a capital +piece of luck for the "Epervier" that her opponent at the outset lost +the use of one of her most important spars; but the implication that +the shot were directed for the point hit is not only preposterous but, +in a combat between vessels nearly equal, depreciatory. The shot of a +first broadside had no business to be so high in the air. + +James alleges also poor quality and a mutinous spirit in the crew, and +that at the end, when their captain called upon them to board, they +refused, saying, "She is too heavy for us." To this the adequate reply +is that the brig had been in commission since the end of +1812,--sixteen months; time sufficient to bring even an indifferent +crew to a very reasonable degree of efficiency, yet not enough to +cause serious deterioration of material. That after the punishment +received the men refused to board, if discreditable to them under the +conditions, is discreditable also to the captain; not to his courage, +but to his hold upon the men whom he had commanded so long. The +establishment of the "Epervier's" inefficiency certainly detracts from +the distinction of the "Peacock's" victory; but it was scarcely her +fault that her adversary was not worthier, and it does not detract +from her credit for management and gunnery, considering that the +combat began with the loss of her own foresails, and ended with +forty-five shot in the hull, and five feet of water in the hold, of +her antagonist. + +By dark of the day of action the prize was in condition to make sail, +and the "Peacock's" yard had been fished and again sent aloft. The two +vessels then steered north for Savannah. The next evening two British +frigates appeared. Captain Warrington directed the "Epervier" to keep +on close along shore, while he stood southward to draw away the enemy. +This proved effective; the "Epervier" arriving safely May 2 at the +anchorage at the mouth of the Savannah River, where the "Peacock" +rejoined her on the 4th. The "Adams," Captain Morris, was also there; +having arrived from the coast of Africa on the day of the fight, and +sailing again a week after it, May 5, for another cruise. + +On June 4 the "Peacock" also started upon a protracted cruise, from +which she returned to New York October 30, after an absence of one +hundred and forty-seven days.[252] She followed the Gulf Stream, +outside the line of British blockaders, to the Banks of Newfoundland, +thence to the Azores, and so on to Ireland; off the south of which, +between Waterford and Cape Clear, she remained for four days. After +this she passed round the west coast, and to the northward as far as +Shetland and the Faroe Islands. She then retraced her course, crossed +the Bay of Biscay, and ran along the Portuguese coast; pursuing in +general outline the same path as that in which the "Wasp" very soon +afterwards followed. Fourteen prizes were taken; of which twelve were +destroyed, and two utilized as cartels to carry prisoners to England. +Of the whole number, one only was seized from September 2, when the +ship was off the Canaries, to October 12, off Barbuda in the West +Indies; and none from there to the United States. "Not a single vessel +was seen from the Cape Verde to Surinam," reported Warrington; while +in seven days spent between the Rock of Lisbon and Cape Ortegal, at +the northwest extremity of the Spanish peninsula, of twelve sail seen, +nine of which were spoken, only two were British. + +In these conditions were seen, exemplified and emphasized, the alarm +felt and precautions taken, by both the mercantile classes and the +Admiralty, in consequence of the invasion of European waters by +American armed vessels, of a class and an energy unusually fitted to +harass commerce. The lists of American prizes teem with evidence of +extraordinary activity, by cruisers singularly adapted for their work, +and audacious in proportion to their confidence of immunity, based +upon knowledge of their particular nautical qualities. The impression +produced by their operations is reflected in the representations of +the mercantile community, in the rise of insurance, and in the +stricter measures instituted by the Admiralty. The Naval Chronicle, a +service journal which since 1798 had been recording the successes and +supremacy of the British Navy, confessed now that "the depredations +committed on our commerce by American ships of war and privateers have +attained an extent beyond all former precedent.... We refer our +readers to the letters in our correspondence. The insurance between +Bristol and Waterford or Cork is now three times higher than it was +when we were at war with all Europe. The Admiralty have been +overwhelmed with letters of complaint or remonstrance."[253] In the +exertions of the cruisers the pace seems to grow more and more +furious, as the year 1814 draws to its close amid a scene of +exasperated coast warfare, desolation, and humiliation, in America; as +though they were determined, amid all their pursuit of gain, to make +the enemy also feel the excess of mortification which he was +inflicting upon their own country. The discouragement testified by +British shippers and underwriters was doubtless enhanced and +embittered by disappointment, in finding the movement of trade thus +embarrassed and intercepted at the very moment when the restoration of +peace in Europe had given high hopes of healing the wounds, and +repairing the breaches, made by over twenty years of maritime warfare, +almost unbroken. + +In London, on August 17, 1814, directors of two insurance companies +presented to the Admiralty remonstrances on the want of protection in +the Channel; to which the usual official reply was made that an +adequate force was stationed both in St. George's Channel and in the +North Sea. The London paper from which this intelligence was taken +stated that premiums on vessels trading between England and Ireland +had risen from an ordinary rate of less than one pound sterling to +five guineas per cent. The Admiralty, taxed with neglect, attributed +blame to the merchant captains, and announced additional severity to +those who should part convoy. Proceedings were instituted against two +masters guilty of this offence.[254] September 9, the merchants and +shipowners of Liverpool remonstrated direct to the Prince Regent, +going over the heads of the Admiralty, whom they censured. Again the +Admiralty alleged sufficient precautions, specifying three frigates +and fourteen sloops actually at sea for the immediate protection of +St. George's Channel and the western Irish coast against depredations, +which they nevertheless did not succeed in suppressing.[255] + +At the same time the same classes in Glasgow were taking action, and +passing resolutions, the biting phrases of which were probably +prompted as much by a desire to sting the Admiralty as by a personal +sense of national abasement. "At a time when we are at peace with all +the rest of the world, when the maintenance of our marine costs so +large a sum to the country, when the mercantile and shipping interests +pay a tax for protection under the form of convoy duty, and when, in +the plenitude of our power, we have declared the whole American coast +under blockade, it is equally distressing and mortifying that our +ships cannot with safety traverse our own channels, that insurance +cannot be effected but at an excessive premium, and that a horde of +American cruisers should be allowed, unheeded, unmolested, unresisted, +to take, burn, or sink our own vessels in our own inlets, and almost +in sight of our own harbours."[256] In the same month the merchants of +Bristol, the position of which was comparatively favorable to +intercourse with Ireland, also presented a memorial, stating that the +rate of insurance had risen to more than twofold the amount at which +it was usually effected during the continental war, when the British +Navy could not, as it now might, direct its operations solely against +American cruisers. Shipments consequently had been in a considerable +degree suspended. The Admiralty replied that the only certain +protection was by convoy. This they were ready to supply but could not +compel, for the Convoy Act did not apply to trade between ports of +the United Kingdom. + +This was the offensive return made by America's right arm of national +safety; the retort to the harrying of the Chesapeake, and of Long +Island Sound, and to the capture and destruction of Washington. But, +despite the demonstrated superiority of a national navy, on the whole, +for the infliction of such retaliation, even in the mere matter of +commerce destroying,--not to speak of confidence in national prowess, +sustained chiefly by the fighting successes at sea,--this weighty blow +to the pride and commerce of Great Britain was not dealt by the +national Government; for the national Government had gone to war +culpably unprepared. It was the work of the people almost wholly, +guided and governed by their own shrewdness and capacity; seeking, +indeed, less a military than a pecuniary result, an indemnity at the +expense of the enemy for the loss to which they had been subjected by +protracted inefficiency in administration and in statesmanship on the +part of their rulers. The Government sat wringing its hands, amid the +ruins of its capital and the crash of its resources; reaping the +reward of those wasted years during which, amid abounding warning, it +had neglected preparation to meet the wrath to come. Monroe, the +Secretary of State, writing from Washington to a private friend, July +3, 1814, said, "Even in this state, the Government shakes to the +foundation. Let a strong force land anywhere, and what will be the +effect?" A few months later, December 21, he tells Jefferson, "Our +finances are in a deplorable state. The means of the country have +scarcely yet been touched, yet we have neither money in the Treasury +nor credit."[257] This statement was abundantly confirmed by a +contemporary official report of the Secretary of the Treasury. At the +end of the year, Bainbridge, commanding the Boston navy yard, wrote +the Department, "The officers and men of this station are really +_suffering_ for want of pay due them, and articles now purchased for +the use of the navy are, in consequence of payment in treasury notes, +enhanced about thirty per cent. Yesterday we had to discharge one +hundred seamen, and could not pay them a cent of their wages. The +officers and men have neither money, clothes, nor credit, and are +embarrassed with debts."[258] No wonder the privateers got the seamen. + +The decision to abandon the leading contention of the war had been +reached long before.[259] In an official letter, dated June 27, 1814, +to the commissioners appointed to treat for peace, after enumerating +the threatening conditions confronting the country, now that the +European conflict was at an end, Monroe wrote, "On mature +consideration it has been decided that, under all the circumstances +above alluded to, incident to a prosecution of the war, _you may omit +any stipulation on the subject of impressment_, if found indispensably +necessary to terminate it. You will of course not recur to this +expedient until all your efforts to adjust the controversy in a more +satisfactory manner have failed."[260] The phraseology of this +instruction disposes completely of the specious plea, advanced by +partisans of the Administration, that the subject was dropped because +impressment was no longer a live issue; the maritime war of Europe +being over. It was dropped because it had to be dropped; because the +favorable opportunities presented in 1812 and 1813 had been lost by +the incompetency of the national Government, distributed over a period +of nearly a dozen years of idle verbal argumentation; because in 1814 +there stood between it and disastrous reverse, and loss of territory +in the north, only the resolution and professional skill of a yet +unrecognized seaman on the neglected waters of Lake Champlain. + +Before concluding finally the subject of the offensive maritime +operations against the enemy's commerce, it may be mentioned that in +the last six months of the war, that is within one fifth of its +duration, were made one third of the total captures. Duly to weigh +this result, regard must be had to the fact that, when the navy is +adequate, the most numerous seizures of commercial shipping are +usually effected at the beginning, because the scattered merchantmen +are taken unawares. The success of the last few months of this war +indicates the stimulus given to privateering, partly by the conditions +of the country, imperiously demanding some relief from the necessity, +and stagnancy of occupation, caused by the blockade; partly by the +growing appreciation of the fact that a richer harvest was to be +reaped by seeking the most suitable fields with the most suitable +vessels. In an energetic and businesslike people it will be expected +that the experience of the two preceding twelvemonths would have +produced decided opinions and practical results in the construction of +privateers, as well as in the direction given them. It is one thing to +take what is at hand and make the most of it in an emergency; it is +another to design thoughtfully a new instrument, best qualified for +the end in view. The cruiser needed speed and handiness,--that is the +first and obvious requirement; but, to escape the numerous enemies +gradually let loose to shorten her career, it became increasingly +requisite that she should have also weight of armament, to fight, and +weight of hull--tonnage--to hold her way in rough and head seas. These +qualities were not irreconcilable; but, to effect the necessary +combination, additional size was inevitable. + +Accordingly, recognition of these facts is found in the laying down of +privateers for the particular business. Niles' Register, a Baltimore +weekly, notes with local pride that, although the port itself is +bolted and barred by the blockade of the Chesapeake, the Baltimore +model for schooners is in demand from Maine to Georgia; that they are +being built, often with Baltimore capital, in many places from which +escape is always possible. In Boston, there are in construction three +stout hulls, pierced for twenty-two guns; clearly much heavier in +tonnage, as in armament, than the schooner rate, and bearing the +linked names of "Blakely," "Reindeer," and "Avon." Mention is made of +one vessel of twenty-two long, heavy guns, which has already sailed, +and of two others, to carry as many as thirty to thirty-six, nearly +ready.[261] + +Between the divergent requirements of size and numbers, there is +always a middle term; a mean, not capable of exact definition, but +still existent within certain not very widely separated extremes. For +commerce destroying by individual cruisers, acting separately, which +was the measure that commended itself to the men of 1812, vessels +approaching the tonnage of the national sloops of war seemed, by their +successes and their immunity from capture, to realize very nearly the +best conditions of advantage. The national brigs which put to sea were +all captured, save one; and she was so notoriously dull of sailing +that her escape was attributed to mere good luck, experienced on +several critical occasions. Nearly all the sloops escaped; while the +three frigates lost, the "Chesapeake," "Essex," and "President," were +taken under circumstances that offered no parallel to the exigencies +to which the privateer was liable. They were not run down, uninjured, +in a fair race. The only sloop so lost was the "Frolic," of the class +of the "Wasp" and "Peacock;" and the circumstances under which she was +caught by a frigate are not sufficiently known to pronounce whether +she might have been saved, as her sister ship, the "Hornet," was, from +the hot pursuit of a seventy-four. Under some conditions of wind and +sea, inferiority of bulk inflicts irredeemable disadvantage of speed; +but, taking one thing with another, in a system of commerce destroying +which rejected squadron action, and was based avowedly upon +dissemination of vessels, the gain of the frigate over the sloop due +to size did not counterbalance the loss in distribution of effort +which results from having only one ship, instead of two, for a first +outlay. + +That some such convictions, the fruit of rude experience in actual +cruising, were gradually forming in men's understanding, is probable +from the particulars cited; and they would receive additional force +from the consideration that, to make a profit out of privateering +under existing conditions, it would be necessary, not only to capture +vessels of weak force, but to return safely to port with at least some +notable salvage from their cargoes. In other words, there must be +power to fight small cruisers, and to escape large ones under all +probable disadvantage of weather. Whatever the conclusions of +practical seamen and shipowners in this respect, they found no +reflection in the dominant power in the Administration and Congress. +The exploits of the "Comet," the "Chasseur," and a few other fortunate +privateer schooners or brigs of small size, among them being cited +specifically the "Mammoth," which in the autumn of 1814 made +twenty-one prizes in three months, produced a strong popular +impression; and this was diligently but somewhat thoughtlessly +deepened by the press, as such popular movements are apt to be, +without thorough mastery of all facts, _contra_ as well as _pro_. It +was undeniable, also, that in the threatening aspect of affairs, when +Great Britain's whole strength was freed to be exerted against the +country, want of time to prepare new means was a weighty element in +decision, and recourse must be had to resources immediately at hand +for the retaliatory depredation upon the enemy's commerce, from the +effect of which so much was expected then, as it is now. For this +reason the scheme had naval backing, prominent in which was Captain +Porter, who had reached home in the July after the capture of the +"Essex." + +Under these circumstances, the Secretary of the Navy addressed a +letter, October 22, 1814,[262] to the naval committees of both houses +of Congress, enlarging on the greater attention of the enemy drawn to +the heavy frigates, and the increased difficulty of their getting to +sea. He recommended an appropriation of $600,000 for the purchase of +fast-sailing schooners for preying on the hostile commerce. In +consequence, a bill was introduced to build or purchase for the navy +twenty vessels, to carry not less than eight nor more than fourteen +guns; in short, of privateer class, but to be under naval control, not +only as regarded discipline and organization but direction of effort. +It was intended that a squadron of them should be intrusted to Captain +Porter, another to Captain Perry;[263] and Porter drew up a plan of +operations, which he submitted to the Department, providing for the +departure of the vessels, their keeping together for support in one +quarter, scattering in another, and again reuniting at a fixed +rendezvous.[264] Both officers reported great difficulty in procuring +suitable vessels, owing to the extent of privateering, the lack of +necessary funds, and the depreciation of Government credit, which +caused its drafts to be refused. + +When introducing the bill into the lower House, the Chairman of the +Naval Committee, after paying some compliments to the military +achievements of the naval vessels, said that in regard to depredation +on the commerce of the enemy, he believed their efficiency could not +be compared to that of vessels of a smaller class. This note dominated +the brief discussion; the speakers in favor being significantly enough +from Maryland, prepossessed doubtless by local pride in their justly +celebrated schooners. Mr. Ingersoll, of Pennsylvania, moved an +amendment to allow vessels of twenty-two guns; an increase of fifty +per cent. The limitation to fourteen guns, he remarked, was inserted +in the Senate by a gentleman from Maryland; but it was not the fact +that the best privateers were limited to fourteen guns. One or two +which had arrived lately, after reaping a rich harvest, carried +sixteen. Mr. Lowndes, of South Carolina, seconded this amendment, +hoping that the Senate limitation would be rejected. He quoted Captain +Perry, who had "never known an instance in which a brig of the United +States had failed to overtake a schooner." One member only, Mr. Reed, +of Massachusetts, spoke against the whole scheme. Though opposed to +the war, he said, he wished it conducted on correct principles. He +"was warranted by facts in saying that no force would be half as +efficient, in proportion to its expense; none would be of so much +service to the country; none certainly would touch the enemy half so +much as a naval force of a proper character;" which, he affirmed, this +was not. Ingersoll's amendment was rejected, obtaining only +twenty-five votes. The bill went again to conference, and on November +11, 1814, was reported and passed, fixing the limits of armament at +from eight to sixteen guns; a paltry addition of two. Forty years +later the editor of the "Debates of Congress," Senator Benton, wrote, +"This was a movement in the right direction. Private armed vessels, +and the success of small ships of war cruising as privateers, had +taught Congress that small vessels, not large ships, were the +effective means of attacking and annoying the enemy's commerce."[265] + +The final test was not permitted, to determine what success would have +attended the operations of several Baltimore schooners, united under +the single control of a man like Porter or Perry, and limited strictly +to the injury of the enemy's commerce by the destruction of prizes, +without thought of profit by sending them in. The advent of peace put +a stop to an experiment which would have been most instructive as well +as novel. Looking to other experiences of the past, it may be said +with confidence little short of certainty that, despite the +disadvantage of size, several schooners thus working in concert, and +with pure military purpose, would effect vastly more than the same +number acting separately, with a double eye to gain and glory. The +French privateer squadrons of Jean Bart and Duguay Trouin, in the +early eighteenth century, the example of the celebrated "Western" +squadrons of British frigates in the war of the French Revolution, as +protectors and destroyers of commerce, demonstrated beyond +peradventure the advantage of combined action in this, as in all +military enterprise; while the greater success of the individual +United States cruiser over the average privateer, so singularly +overlooked by the national legislators, gives assurance that Porter's +and Perry's schooners would collectively have done incomparable work. +This, however, is far from indicating that divisions of larger +vessels,--sloops or frigates,--under officers of their known energy, +could not have pushed home into the English Channel, or elsewhere +where British commerce congregated, an enterprise the results of which +would have caused the ears of those that heard them to tingle. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[217] Captain Allen to Navy Department. Niles' Register, vol. v. p. 46. + +[218] The American official report of this action can be found in Niles' +Register, vol. viii. p. 43. The British is in the Naval Chronicle, vol. +xxx. p. 247. Niles also gives it, vol. v. p. 118. + +[219] The prize data have been taken from the successive volumes of +Niles' Register. + +[220] Data concerning American vessels captured by British ships have +been drawn chiefly from prize lists, or official reports, in the Naval +Chronicle. + +[221] Ante, p. 19. + +[222] Niles' Register, vol. v. p. 175. + +[223] Niles gives an abstract of the log of the "Scourge," vol. vi. p. +269. + +[224] Niles' Register, vol. v. p. 90. + +[225] Ibid., vol. vi. p. 69. + +[226] For Morris' letter see Niles' Register, vol. vi. p. 180. + +[227] Ibid., vol. iv. p. 86. + +[228] Ibid., vol. vii. p. 366. + +[229] Niles' Register, vol. v. p. 413. Naval Chronicle, vol. xxxi. p. +25. + +[230] Niles' Register, vol. v. p. 414; vol. vi. p. 151. + +[231] Stewart's Letter is dated April 4, 1814, and, with the enclosures +mentioned, will be found among the Captains' Letters, Navy Department +MSS. + +[232] For the official reports of this cruise, and list of prizes, see +Niles, vol. vi. pp. 69-71. + +[233] Niles' Register, vol. v. pp. 14, 15. Naval Chronicle, vol. xxx. p. +348. + +[234] Niles' Register, vol. vi. pp. 225, 371. + +[235] Niles' Register, vol. vii. p. 293, gives both the American and +British accounts. + +[236] Niles' Register, vol. vii. p. 293. + +[237] Niles' Register, vol. vii. pp. 128, 290. + +[238] Niles' Register, vol. viii. p. 61. + +[239] It may not be amiss here to quote an incident similarly creditable +to privateersmen, a class usually much abused, and too often with good +cause. It was told by a British colonel to Colonel Winfield Scott, while +a prisoner in Canada. This gentleman with his wife had been passengers +from England in a transport captured near Halifax by an American +privateer. Although there was no fighting, the wife, who was in a +critical state of health, was dangerously affected by the attendant +alarm. As soon as the circumstances were mentioned to the captain of the +cruiser, he placed at the husband's disposition all that part of the +vessel where their quarters were, posting a sentry to prevent intrusion +and to secure all their personal effects from molestation. Scott's +Autobiography, vol. i. p. 70. + +[240] Afterwards Rear-Admiral Emmons. + +[241] The new United States sloop of war "Frolic," named after the +vessel taken by the "Wasp," was captured by the frigate "Orpheus," April +20, 1814. + +[242] Ante, p. 3. + +[243] Porter to the Secretary of the Navy, July 3, 1814. Niles' +Register, vol. vi. p. 338. + +[244] Porter's Report of this action is to be found in Niles' Register, +vol. vi. pp. 338-341. Hillyar's in Naval Chronicle, vol. xxxii. pp. +168-170. + +[245] The Secretary of the Navy to Blakely, March 3, 1814. Navy +Department MSS. + +[246] Blakely to the Navy Department, Niles' Register, vol. vii. p. 115. + +[247] The particulars of this action are taken from the minutes of the +"Wasp," enclosed in Blakely's Report, Niles' Register, vol. vii. p. 115. + +[248] Blakely's Report, Niles' Register, vol. vii. p. 192. + +[249] Niles' Register, vol. vii. p. 173. + +[250] James says that two of these guns were 18-pounders; but the first +lieutenant of the "Peacock," who brought the prize into port, and from +there wrote independently of Warrington, agrees with him in saying +eighteen thirty-twos. Niles' Register, vol. vi. pp. 180, 196. + +[251] In a "Synopsis of Naval Actions," between British and American +vessels, contributed to the Naval Chronicle by a "British naval officer +on the American station," occurs the remark relative to the defeat of +the "Avon": "Miserable gunnery on our side, attributable ... above all +to not drilling the men at firing at the guns; a practice the Americans +never neglect." Naval Chronicle, vol. xxxiv. p. 469. + +[252] For Captain Warrington's report of this cruise, see Niles' +Register, vol. vii. p. 155. + +[253] Naval Chronicle, vol. xxxii. p. 244. See also, Ibid., pp. 211, +218. + +[254] London paper, quoted in Niles' Register, vol. vii. p. 175. + +[255] Niles' Register, vol. vii. p. 190. Naval Chronicle, vol. xxxii. p. +244. + +[256] Niles' Register, vol. vii. p. 190. + +[257] Writings of James Monroe. + +[258] Captains' Letters, Dec. 11, 1814. Bainbridge's italics. + +[259] It will be remembered that after the repeal of the Orders in +Council, June 23, 1812, impressment remained the only _sine quâ non_ of +the United States. + +[260] American State Papers, Foreign Relations, vol. iii. p. 704. +Author's italics. This was the result of a Cabinet meeting held the same +day. "June 27, 1814. In consequence of letters from Bayard and Gallatin +of May 6-7, and other accounts from Europe of the ascendancy and views +of Great Britain, and the dispositions of the great Continental Powers, +the question was put to the Cabinet: 'Shall a treaty of peace, silent on +the subject of impressment, be authorized?' Agreed to by Monroe, +Campbell, Armstrong, and Jones. Rush absent. Our minister to be +instructed, besides trying other conditions, to make a previous trial to +insert or annex some declaration, or protest, against any inference, +from the silence of the Treaty on the subject of impressment, that the +British claim was admitted or that of the United States abandoned." +(Works of Madison, vol. iii. p. 408.) + +[261] Niles' Register, vol. vii. p. 190. + +[262] Navy Department MSS. + +[263] For Porter's and Perry's correspondence on this subject see +Captains' Letters, Navy Department MSS., Oct. 14 and 25, Nov. 29, Dec. +2, 9, and 25, 1814; Jan. 9, 1815. + +[264] Porter to Secretary, Feb. 8, 1815. Captains' Letters. + +[265] Benton's Abridgment of Debates in Congress, vol. v. p. 359, note. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +THE NIAGARA CAMPAIGN, AND EVENTS ON THE GREAT LAKES, IN +1814 + + +Active operations in the field for the winter of 1813-14 came to an +end with the successful incursion of the British army upon the +territory of the State of New York, before narrated.[266] This had +resulted in the capture of Fort Niagara and in the wasting of the +frontier, with the destruction of the villages of Lewiston, +Manchester, Buffalo, and others, in retaliation for the American +burning of Newark. Holding now the forts on both banks of the Niagara, +at its entrance into Lake Ontario, the British controlled the harbor +of refuge which its mouth afforded; and to this important accession of +strength for naval operations was added an increased security for +passing troops, at will and secretly, from side to side of the river. +From a military standpoint each work was a bridge-head, assuring +freedom of movement across in either direction; that such transit was +by boats, instead of by a permanent structure, was merely an +inconvenient detail, not a disability. The command of the two forts, +and of a third called Mississaga, on the Canadian side, immediately +overlooking the lake, appears to have been vested in a single officer, +to whom, as to a common superior, were issued orders involving the +action of the three. + +This disposition recognized implicitly the fact that the forts, taken +together, constituted a distinct element in the general British scheme +of operations. Fort Niagara by position threatened the line of +communications of any American army seeking to act on the Canadian +side. An effective garrison there, unless checked by an adequate force +stationed for the particular purpose, could move at any unexpected +moment against the magazines or trains on the American side; and it +was impossible to anticipate what number might be thus employed at a +given time, because intercourse between Niagara and George was open. +If by original or acquired superiority of numbers, as had been the +case in 1813, the American general should push his opponent back +towards the head of the lake, Fort George would in turn become an +additional menace to his communications. Therefore, properly to +initiate a campaign for the command of the Niagara peninsula, in 1814, +it would be necessary either to reduce both these works, which, if +they were properly garrisoned, meant an expenditure of time; or else +to blockade them by a large detachment of troops, which meant a +constant expenditure of force, diminishing that available for +operations in the field. The British military situation thus comprised +two factors, distinct but complementary; the active army in the field, +and the stationary fortifications which contributed to its support by +sheltering its supplies and menacing those of the enemy. The British +commander of the district, Lieutenant-General Drummond, estimated that +the blockaders before either fort, being ever on the defensive against +a sortie which they could not foresee, must in numbers considerably +exceed the besieged, covered as these were by their works, and able to +receive re-enforcement from the opposite shore. Consequently, when the +officer in immediate local control, Major-General Riall, embarrassed +by the smallness of his field force, suggested the destruction of Fort +Niagara, except a citadel of restricted extent, needing a less +numerous garrison, his superior replied that not only would such +smaller work be much more easily taken, but that in every event the +loss through holding the place was more than compensated by the +danger and the precautions entailed upon the enemy.[267] + +The inactivity, substantially unbroken, which prevailed throughout the +winter of 1813-14, was due principally to the unusual mildness of the +weather. This impeded movement in all quarters, by preventing the +formation of ice and of the usual hard snow surface, which made winter +the most favorable season for land transportation. Chauncey at +Sackett's Harbor chafed and fretted over the detention of the stores +and guns for his new ships then building, upon which he was reckoning +for control of the lake. "The roads are dreadful," he wrote on +February 24, "and if the present mild weather continues we shall +experience difficulty." A week later, "I have the mortification to +inform you that all our heavy guns are stopped at and below +Poughkeepsie in consequence of the badness of the roads, and that the +teamsters have abandoned them there." He has given up hopes of a +frost, and counts now only upon water communication; but the delay and +change of route were the cause of two smart affairs with which the +lake operations opened, for on March 29 he announces that the guns are +still below Albany, and now must come by way of Oswego and the +lake,[268] instead of securely inland by sleds. Yeo reported a like +delay on his side in the equipment of his new ships, owing to the +unusual scarcity of snow. + +The same conditions imposed similar, if less decisive, limitations +upon the movements of bodies of men. The most important instance of +purpose frustrated was in an enterprise projected by Drummond against +Put-in Bay, where were still lying the "Detroit" and "Queen +Charlotte", the most powerful of the prizes taken by Perry the +previous September, the injuries to which had prevented their removal +to the safer position of Erie. On January 21 he communicated to +Governor-General Prevost the details of an expedition of seventeen +hundred and sixty men,[269] two hundred of them seamen, who were to +start from the Niagara frontier by land against Detroit, and from +there to cross on the ice to the Bass Islands, where it was hoped they +could seize and burn the vessels. The occupation of Fort Niagara, and +other dispositions made of his division on the peninsula, had so +narrowed his front of defence, and thereby strengthened it, as to +warrant this large detachment. + +This project was one of several looking to regaining control of Lake +Erie, which during the remainder of the war occupied unceasingly the +attention of British officers. Although the particular destination was +successfully concealed, the general fact of preparations for some +offensive undertaking did not escape the observation of the Americans, +who noted that in the recent raid and destruction care had been taken +to spare a great number of sleighs, and to collect them within the +British lines. From this it was inferred that, when Lake Erie froze +over, a dash would be made against the naval station and ships at +Erie.[270] This would be undoubtedly a more valuable achievement, but +the enemy knew that the place was in some measure defended, with ample +re-enforcements at call; whereas a descent upon Put-in Bay could +encounter no other resistance than that of the small permanent +garrison of seamen. The mildness of the weather, leaving the lake open +on January 17, relieved the apprehension of the United States +authorities, and on February 3 Drummond had to report that his scheme +must be abandoned, as after that late period of the winter better +conditions could not be expected.[271] + +In default of the control of Lake Erie, measures were taken by the +British to supply the remote and isolated posts of Mackinac and St. +Joseph's by land carriage from Toronto to Lake Simcoe, a distance of +only forty miles, and thence across the ice to Matchedash Bay, on Lake +Huron; where also were being built batteaux and gunboats, to transport +the stores to their destination when navigation opened. As far as +Huron this land route was out of reach of probable molestation, but +from there it was necessary to proceed at the earliest moment; for, +although there was no American naval force then on that lake, one +might be expected to arrive from Erie early in the season. To this +cross-country line there was an alternative one still more remote, +from Montreal up the Ottawa River, and thence by other water +communication, striking Lake Huron much higher up. It was practicable +only for canoes with light lading, and in other respects not +satisfactory. The maintenance of Mackinac therefore must depend upon +armed control of the upper lakes; and to this the destruction of the +prizes at the islands would doubtless have contributed, morally and +materially. + +On the American side as little was accomplished during the winter. +Wilkinson's army, which at the end of 1813 was cantoned at French +Mills, on the Salmon River, just within the New York boundary, was +withdrawn from that position February 13. The greater part marched to +Lake Champlain, where they again took winter quarters in two +divisions; one at Burlington, Vermont, the other at Plattsburg. The +third contingent, under the command of General Brown, was sent to +Sackett's Harbor, where it arrived February 24. + +The Secretary of War, General Armstrong, despite his vacillating +course the previous year, had never lost sight of his perfectly +accurate conviction that Kingston, if not Montreal, was the true +objective for the northern army. Convinced that he had been misled in +the spring of 1813 by the opinions of the commanders on the spot, +Chauncey and Dearborn, he was again anxious, as he had been in the +intervening autumn, to retrieve the error. On February 28 he issued to +Brown two sets of instructions;[272] the one designed to transpire, in +order to mislead the enemy, the other, most secret, conveying the real +intention of the Department. In the former, stress was laid upon the +exposure of western New York, and the public humiliation at seeing +Fort Niagara in the hands of the British. Brigadier-General Scott +accordingly had been sent there to organize a force for the capture of +the fort and the protection of the frontier; but, as his numbers were +probably insufficient, Brown was directed to march to Batavia, and +thence to Buffalo, with the two thousand troops he had just brought +from French Mills. This letter was meant to reach the enemy's ears. +The other, embodying the true object aimed at, read thus: "It is +obviously Prevost's policy, and probably his intention, to +re-establish himself on Lake Erie during the ensuing month. But to +effect this other points of his line must be weakened, and these will +be either Kingston or Montreal. If the detachment from the former be +great, a moment may occur in which you may do, with the aid of +Commodore Chauncey, what I last year intended Pike should have done +without aid, and what we now all know was very practicable, viz.: to +cross the river, or head of the lake, on the ice, and carry Kingston +by a _coup de main_." The letter ended by making the enterprise depend +upon a concurrence of favorable conditions; in brief, upon the +discretion of the general, with whom remained all the responsibility +of final decision and action. + +These instructions were elicited, immediately, by recent information +that the effective garrison in Kingston was reduced to twelve +hundred, with no prospect of increase before June, when +re-enforcements from Europe were expected. Certainly, Drummond at this +time thought the force there no stronger than it should be, and early +in April was apprehensive on that account for the safety of the +place.[273] Brown and Chauncey, however, agreed that less than four +thousand men was insufficient for the undertaking. Singularly enough, +this number was precisely that fixed upon by Yeo and Drummond, in +consultation, as necessary for the reduction of Sackett's Harbor; +which they concurred with Prevost in considering the quickest and +surest solution of the difficulty attending their situation about +Niagara, owing to the exhaustion of local resources upon the +peninsula.[274] The scarcity thus experienced was aggravated by the +number of dependent Indian warriors, who with their families had +followed the British retreat from Malden and Detroit, and now hung +like lead upon the movements and supplies of the army. "Nearly twelve +hundred barrels of flour monthly to Indians alone," complained the +commanding officer, who had long since learned that for this +expenditure there was no return in military usefulness. In the felt +necessity to retain the good-will of the savages, no escape from the +dilemma was open, except in the maintenance of a stream of supplies +from Lower Canada by keeping command of the Lake;[275] to secure which +nothing was so certain as to capture Sackett's and destroy the +shipping and plant. + +Having decided that the enterprise against Kingston was not feasible, +Brown fell into the not unnatural mistake of construing the +Secretary's other letter to present not merely a ruse, but an +alternative line of action, more consonant to his active martial +temper than remaining idle in garrison. Accordingly, he left +Sackett's with his two thousand, an event duly chronicled in a letter +of Drummond's, that on Sunday, March 13, three thousand five hundred +left Sackett's for Niagara; a statement sufficiently characteristic of +the common tendency of an enemy's force to swell, as it passes from +mouth to mouth. The division had progressed as far as the present city +of Syracuse, sixty miles from Sackett's, and Brown himself was some +forty miles in advance of it, at Geneva, when one of his principal +subordinates persuaded him that he had misconstrued the Department's +purpose. In considerable distress he turned about, passing through +Auburn on the 23d at the rate of thirty miles a day, so said a +contemporary newspaper,[276] and hurried back to Sackett's. There +further consultation with Chauncey convinced him again that he was +intended to go to Niagara, and he resumed his march. Before April 1 he +reached Batavia, where his instructions read he would receive further +orders. General Scott was already at Buffalo, and there the troops +were placed under his immediate charge for organization and drill; +Brigadier-General Gaines being sent back to command at Sackett's, +where he arrived April 10. + +At this moment Chauncey was undergoing his turn of qualms. "The +enemy," he wrote the following day, "have prepared a force of three +thousand troops, with gunboats and a number of small craft, to attack +the harbor the moment the fleet leaves it. They may, however, be +determined to make the attack at all hazards, and I am sorry to say +our force is but little adapted to the defence of the place. There are +not a thousand effective men besides the sailors and marines."[277] +His information was substantially correct. Drummond had arranged to +concentrate three thousand men from the north shore of the lake; but +he wanted besides eight hundred from the peninsula, and for lack of +these the project was abandoned. + +The movement of Brown's small contingent to Buffalo, though contrary +to the intention of the Government, may be considered to have opened +the campaign of 1814; destined to prove as abortive in substantial +results as that of the year before, but not so futile and inglorious +to the American arms. The troops engaged had been formed under the +skilful organization and training of Scott. Led by Brown, who, though +not an educated soldier nor a master of the technicalities of the +profession, was essentially an aggressive fighting man of masculine +qualities, they failed indeed to achieve success, for which their +numbers were inadequate; but there was no further disgrace. + +Wilkinson, indeed, in his district, contrived to give to the beginning +of operations the air of absurdity that ever hung round his path. +Although he was the senior officer on the whole frontier, the Department +had not notified him of Brown's orders. This vicious practice of +managing the campaign from a point as distant as Washington then was, +ignoring any local centre of control, drew subsequently the +animadversion of the President, who in a minute to the Secretary +remarked that "it does not appear that Izard,"--Wilkinson's +successor,--"though the senior officer of the district, has been made +acquainted with the plan of operations under Brown."[278] On the present +occasion Wilkinson explained that, hearing of Brown's march by common +report, and having ascertained that the enemy was sending +re-enforcements up the St. Lawrence, he undertook an incursion into +Lower Canada as a diversion against such increase of the force with +which Brown must contend.[279] His enterprise was directed against La +Colle, a few miles from Plattsburg, within the Canada boundary; but +upon arriving before the position it was found that the garrison were +established in a stone mill, upon which the guns brought along could +make no impression. After this somewhat ludicrous experience, the +division, more than three thousand strong, retreated, having lost over +seventy men. The result was scarcely likely to afford Brown much relief +by its deterrent influence upon the enemy. + +This affair happened March 30, and in the course of the following +month Wilkinson was finally superseded. He was succeeded by General +Izard, who assumed command May 4, and remained in the neighborhood of +Champlain, while Brown continued immediately responsible for Sackett's +Harbor and for the force at Buffalo. On April 14 Yeo launched two new +ships, the "Prince Regent" of fifty-eight guns and the "Princess +Charlotte" of forty; and he at the same time had under construction +one destined to carry one hundred and two heavy guns, superior +therefore in size and armament to most of the British ocean navy, and +far more formidable than any in which Nelson ever served. Fortunately +for the Americans, this vessel, which Yeo undertook without authority +from home, was not ready until October; but the former two, added to +his last year's fleet, gave him for the moment a decided preponderance +over Chauncey, who also was building but had not yet completed. + +Under these circumstances the project of attacking Sackett's in force +was again most seriously agitated among the British officials, +military and naval, upon whom the destitution of the Niagara peninsula +pressed with increasing urgency. Such an intention rarely fails to +transpire, especially across a border line where the inhabitants on +either side speak the same tongue and are often intimately acquainted. +Desertion, moreover, was frequent from both parties. The rumor brought +Brown back hastily to the place, where he arrived April 24. The +enemy, however, again abandoned their purpose, and after embarking a +considerable body of troops turned their arms instead against Oswego. + +It will be remembered that the mildness of the winter had prevented +the transport of guns and stores by land, and made necessary to +accumulate them by water carriage at Oswego, whence there remained the +lake voyage to Sackett's Harbor. This, though a coasting operation, +involved much danger while the enemy possessed naval control. +Meanwhile Oswego became a somewhat congested and much exposed +intermediate station, inviting attack. Chauncey therefore had taken +the precaution of retaining the most important articles, guns and +their equipment, at the falls of the Oswego River, some twelve miles +inland. The enemy's change of plan becoming suspected, Brown detached +a small party--two hundred and ninety effectives--to defend the place, +in conjunction with the few seamen already there. The British fleet +appeared on May 5, but the attack was not made until the following +day, weather conditions being unfavorable. Despite the unprepared +state of the defences characteristic of the universal American +situation, on both lakes and seaboard, in this singular war, the +officer in command offered a spirited resistance, inflicting +considerable loss; but the urgency to preserve his force, for the +superior necessity of protecting under more favorable circumstances +the valuable property in the rear, compelled him to retreat, to escape +the risk of being surrounded and captured. He accordingly drew off in +good order, having lost six killed and thirty-eight wounded; besides +twenty-five missing, probably prisoners. The casualties of the +British, by their official reports, were eighteen killed and +seventy-three wounded. They kept possession of the town during the +night, retiring next day with two small schooners, over two thousand +barrels of provisions, and a quantity of cordage.[280] The most +serious loss to the Americans was that of nine heavy cannon; but the +bulk of the armament for the fleet remained safe at the falls. + +After this Yeo took position with his squadron off Sackett's Harbor, +where the Americans on May 1 had launched a new big ship, the +"Superior", to carry sixty-two guns, thirty-two long 32-pounders, and +thirty carronades of the same calibre. Besides her there was building +still another, of somewhat smaller force, without which Chauncey would +not consider himself able to contend with the enemy.[281] On the 20th +of the month he reported that "five sail were now anchored between +Point Peninsula and Stoney Island, about ten miles from the harbor, +and two brigs between Stoney Island and Stoney Point, completely +blocking both passes." He added, "This is the first time that I have +experienced the mortification of being blockaded on the lakes."[282] +The line thus occupied by the enemy covered the entire entrance to +Black River Bay, within which Sackett's Harbor lies. This situation +was the more intolerable under the existing necessity of bringing the +guns by water. Drummond, whose information was probably good, wrote at +this period that not more than fifteen of the heavy cannon needed for +the new ships had arrived, and that they could come from Oswego only +by the lake, as the roads were impassable except for horsemen. +Carronades, cordage, and other stores were going on by wagon from +Utica, but the long guns which were imperatively required could not do +so.[283] + +American contrivance proved equal to the dilemma, and led to a marked +British misadventure. A few miles south of Black River Bay, and +therefore outside the line of the British blockade, there was an inlet +called Stoney Creek, from the head of which a short land carriage of +three miles would strike Henderson's Bay. This, like Sackett's, is an +indentation of Black River Bay, and was well within the hostile ships. +The transit from Oswego to Stoney Creek, however, remained open to an +enemy's attack, and to be effected without loss required address, +enterprise, and rapidity of movement. The danger was lessened by the +number of streams which enter Mexico Bay, the deep bight formed by the +southern and eastern shores of Lake Ontario, between Oswego and +Sackett's. These, being navigable for batteaux, constituted a series +of harbors of refuge. + +Chauncey directed all the lighter equipment to be turned back from +Oswego River to North Bay, on Lake Oneida, and the long guns to be +placed in batteaux, ready to move instantly, either up or down, as the +movements of the enemy or a favorable opportunity might determine. +Discretionary power to act according to circumstances was then given +to Captain Woolsey, in local command on the Oswego. Woolsey made great +parade of his preparations to send everything, guns included, back +across the portage from the river, to North Bay. The reports reached +Yeo, as intended, but did not throw him wholly off his guard. On May +27 Woolsey despatched an officer in a fast pulling boat to reconnoitre +the coast, while he himself went with the requisite force to the +falls. On the 28th the batteaux, nineteen in number, carrying +twenty-one long 32-pounders, and thirteen lighter pieces, besides ten +heavy cables, were run over the rapids, reaching Oswego at sunset. The +lookout boat had returned, reporting all clear, and after dark the +convoy started. Besides the regular crews, there were embarked one +hundred and fifty riflemen from the army. The next morning at sunrise +one batteau was missing, but the other eighteen entered the Salmon +River, over twenty miles from Oswego. The nights were short at that +season, and the boats heavy; moreover there had been drenching rain. + +At Salmon River, a party of one hundred and twenty Oneida Indians +joined, who were to move along the coast on the flank of the convoy +through the next stage of the journey, by day, to support the defence +should the approach of an enemy compel refuge to be sought in one of +the creeks. As soon as they had taken up their march the batteaux also +started, and at noon, May 29, reached Big Sandy Creek, ten miles +further on, but eight miles short of the final destination at Stoney +Creek. Here greater care became necessary, on account of the nearness +of the enemy's fleet; and while awaiting information the division +moved two miles up the Big Sandy, where it anchored. + +The missing batteau, carrying two long 24's and a cable, had been +captured; having wandered away from the rest of the detachment, +despite the watchful care exerted to keep them together. Her crew +betrayed the extent of the operation of which they formed part, and a +division of boats was sent in quest, in charge of two captains of the +blockading vessels; the senior officer of the whole being Commander +Popham. On his way Popham fell in with another group of armed boats, +which he took under his command, raising his total to three +gun-vessels and four smaller boats, with near two hundred seamen and +marines. Certain intelligence being received that the convoy had +entered the Big Sandy, he steered thither, arriving off its mouth soon +after daylight of May 30. A reconnaissance on shore discovering the +masts of the batteaux plainly visible over a marsh, with apparently no +intervening forest, an immediate attack was decided. Having landed a +party of flankers on either bank, the expedition proceeded up stream +with due caution, firing an occasional round into the brush to +dislodge any possible ambush. It was not known that an escort, beyond +the usual crews, had accompanied the movement. Such a precaution might +indeed have been inferred from the importance of the object; but the +same reason naturally, and not improperly, decided Popham that +considerable risk was justifiable in order to frustrate his enemy's +purpose. + +Woolsey was already forewarned of his coming. At 2 A.M. of the same +day, May 30, he had received from Chauncey an express, in accordance +with which an officer was sent out upon the lake, to reconnoitre +towards the entrance of Black River Bay. At six o'clock he returned, +having been seen and pursued by some of Popham's division. The +riflemen and Indians were now advanced half a mile below the batteaux, +where they found cover and concealment in the woods. At eight the +British guns were heard. At nine a re-enforcement of cavalry and light +artillery arrived from Sackett's Harbor, but it was decided that they +should remain by the batteaux, the force already below being best +adapted for bush fighting. Towards ten o'clock the riflemen and +Indians attacked; a circumstance attributed by Captain Popham to an +accident befalling the 68-pounder carronade in the bow of the leading +gunboat, which compelled her to turn round, to bring into action her +stern gun, a 24-pounder. "The enemy thought we were commencing a +retreat, when they advanced their whole force, one hundred and fifty +riflemen, near two hundred Indians, and a numerous body of militia and +cavalry, who soon overpowered the few men I had.... The winding of the +creek, which gave the enemy a great advantage in advancing to +intercept our retreat, rendered further resistance unavailing." The +entire detachment surrendered, having had fourteen killed and +twenty-eight wounded; besides whom two captains, six lieutenants, and +one hundred and thirty-three seamen and marines remained prisoners. +The American loss was but two wounded; a result showing clearly +enough the disadvantage under which the British labored. + +This affair has been related in detail,[284] because, although on a +small scale, it was actually one of great consequence; but yet more +because it illustrates aptly one kind of those minor operations of +war, upon the success of which so much greater matters turn. The +American management throughout was admirable in its detailed foresight +and circumspection. To this was due the trivial loss attending its +final success; a loss therefore attesting far greater credit than +would the attaining of the same result by lavish expenditure of blood. +To Captain Popham must be attributed both enterprise and due +carefulness in undertaking an advance he knew to be hazardous, but +from which, if successful, he was entitled to expect nothing less than +the capture of almost the entire armament of a very large ship. In +such circumstances censure because of failure is unjust, unless the +risk is shown to be taken reckless of due precautions, which was not +the case in this instance. Yeo, whose deficiency in seamen was +reported at two hundred and seventy-nine,[285] three days after this +affair, appears to have been more exasperated by the loss of the men +than sensible of the merit of his subordinate. He had charged him not +to enter any creek in the endeavor to capture the stores, and +apparently laid the disaster to disregard of this order. The +subsequent customary court martial decided that Popham, having greatly +re-enforced himself by junction with a division of vessels, in a +manner which Yeo could not have contemplated, was fully justified by +the importance of preventing the convoy from reaching Sackett's +Harbor. The court regretted that Sir James Yeo should have used such +reproachful expressions in his letter to the Admiralty communicating +Captain Popham's capture. Popham, and his second, Spilsbury, were +included in the promotions of a year later. + +Soon after this mishap Yeo abandoned the immediate blockade of +Sackett's Harbor, returning to Kingston June 6. The recent experience +demonstrated that it would be impossible to prevent the forwarding of +supplies by the mere presence of the fleet at the mouth of the port. +The armament of the "Superior" had arrived despite his efforts, and +her speedy readiness to take the lake was assured. An exchange of +letters between himself and Drummond as to his proper course[286] led +to the conclusion that the blockade had not had all the effect +expected; and that, in view of the large re-enforcements of men coming +forward from England, the true policy was to avoid battle until the +third new ship, the "St. Lawrence" of one hundred and two guns, should +be ready. "The enemy," wrote Yeo, "are not in sufficient force to +undertake any expedition in the face of our present squadron, but any +disaster on our side might give them a serious ascendancy." Drummond, +who had rejoiced that the blockade "assures us a free intercourse +throughout the lake," concurred in this view. "I have no hesitation in +saying that there exists at present no motive or object, connected +with the security of Upper Canada, which can make it necessary for you +to act otherwise than cautiously on the defensive," until the large +ship is ready or other circumstances arise. + +On June 7 the Cabinet of the United States held a meeting, in which +was settled the plan of campaign on the northern frontier;[287] where +alone, and for a brief period only, an expected superiority of numbers +would permit offensive operations. As in the year before, the +decision, in general terms, was to direct the main effort against the +enemy's right and centre, Mackinac and the Niagara peninsula, instead +of against his left, at Montreal or Kingston. The principal movement +was to be by a concentration near Buffalo of forces from New York and +the western territory, which the Secretary of War estimated might +place under Brown's command five thousand regular troops and three +thousand volunteers. He had proposed that these, with the assistance +of the Erie navy, should be landed on the coast between Fort Erie, at +the entrance of the Niagara River, and Point Abino, ten miles to the +westward. Thence they were to act against Burlington Heights, at the +head of Lake Ontario, the tenure of which by Vincent in 1813, had +baffled, on two occasions, the advance of the Americans, and +maintained the land communications of the British with York (Toronto) +despite their enemy's control of the water. The Secretary's +anticipation was that, after gaining this position, the force could +proceed along the north shore of the lake towards York, receiving its +supplies by the fleet, which was expected to be ready by June 15. +Chauncey himself stated June 8 that he would be ready by July 1, if +men were sent him.[288] On the 11th was launched a second new ship, +the "Mohawk," to carry forty-two guns. The crew of the "Congress" was +ordered up from Portsmouth, and part of them, with other +re-enforcements, were reported to have arrived before June 20. June 24 +Chauncey wrote, "I shall sail the first week in July to offer the +enemy battle."[289] He did not, however, take the Lake until August 1. + +The Cabinet had approved the Secretary's suggestion, but extended the +place of debarkation to be between Fort Erie and Long Point, eighty +miles from the Niagara River, and well west of Burlington Heights. +Subsidiary to this main attack, General Izard at Plattsburg was to +make a diversion towards Montreal. Coincidently with these movements +an expedition of four or five of the Erie fleet, with eight hundred to +one thousand troops, should go against Mackinac; their first object, +however, being Matchedash Bay, on Lake Huron, which was the seat of an +incipient naval establishment, and the point of deposit for supplies +proceeding to Mackinac from York by way of Lake Simcoe. This attempt +to choke the communications of Mackinac, by holding a vital point upon +their line, was to have its counterpart in the east by the provision +of fifteen armed boats on the St. Lawrence, supported by posts on the +river garrisoned by detachments from Izard's army, so as to intercept +the water transport between Montreal and Kingston. It may be mentioned +that this particular method had specially commended itself to both Yeo +and Chauncey, as most suited to embarrass the British situation +throughout the upper province. In a subsequent report to the +Admiralty, Yeo characterized the failure of the Americans to do this +as an extreme stupidity, which had lost them the war, but upon a +repetition of which in future hostilities Great Britain should not +rely.[290] The importance of this intercourse is indicated by a +mention of Chauncey's, that in the week before June 15 more than two +hundred boats passed Ogdensburg for Kingston.[291] + +All this, however, simply emphasizes the fact that the decisive point +of attack was Montreal or Kingston; not the line between them, which +would become useless if either fell. Still less could the Niagara +peninsula, though a valuable link in a chain of communication from the +lower to the upper lakes, compare in importance with either of the +places named. It matters not that a chain is complete in itself, if it +is severed from one of the extremities which it is designed to +connect. As regards any attempt on the part of the Americans to +interrupt the traffic, Drummond appears to have been satisfied with +Yeo's promise that "every brigade of batteaux should have a suitable +convoy of gunboats." + +The Secretary of War, in his communication to the President before the +Cabinet met, had indicated plainly his preference for leaving Mackinac +alone and concentrating upon the central point of effort, Niagara or +Burlington. "Burlington and York carried, a barrier is interposed +which completely protects Detroit and Malden, makes doubtful and +hazardous the enemy's intercourse with the western Indians, reduces +Mackinac to a possession perfectly useless, renders probable the +evacuation of Fort Niagara, and takes from the enemy half his motive +for continuing the naval conflict on Lake Ontario. On the other hand, +take Mackinac, and what is gained but Mackinac itself?"[292] The +reasoning was indisputable, although Armstrong acquiesced in the +decision of the Cabinet. The main feature of the plan adopted, the +reduction of Burlington Heights and a successful advance on York, was +of doubtful issue; but, if successful, the vital end of the chain upon +which Mackinac depended for existence dropped useless to the ground. +All side enterprise that did not directly contribute to this decisive +movement should have been discarded in favor of concentration upon +Brown's army, to which its execution was committed, and the actual +strength of which was insufficient for the task. At the opening of the +campaign its total strength was four thousand seven hundred and +eighty, of whom eight hundred and thirty were militia.[293] On July 1 +there were present for duty three thousand five hundred. There were +also six hundred Indians of the Six Nations. In this impotent +conclusion resulted the Secretary's estimate of five thousand regulars +and three thousand volunteers. + +On July 2 Brown announced to his troops that he was authorized by the +Government to put them in motion against the enemy.[294] He had +decided to leave Fort Niagara, with its menace to his communications, +in his rear, unguarded, and to throw his command directly upon the +enemy on the west bank of the river. The crossing was made that night +in two divisions; one landing opposite Black Rock, below Fort Erie, +the other above that post, which surrendered July 3, at 5 P.M. The +garrison numbered one hundred and thirty-seven. From there Brown +proposed to turn north and advance towards Ontario, where he hoped to +join hands with the navy, which was expected by him, and by the +Government, to be on hand to co-operate. This expectation was based on +Chauncey's own assurance that he would take the lake on July 1, if +supplied with men, who were known since to have arrived. It does not +appear, however, that he had received specific instructions as to the +course he was intended to follow; and, in assuming that he would go to +the head of the lake, for direct co-operation, the Government and the +general were reckoning without their host, and in ignorance of his +views. He was as loath to leave Kingston and Sackett's in his rear, +unwatched, as Brown was willing to take the same risk with regard to +Niagara. It was a profound difference of temperament in two capable +men, to whom the Government failed to impart the unifying element of +orders. + +On July 4 Scott's brigade, which had crossed below the fort, advanced +from Fort Erie fifteen miles, to Street's Creek, a small stream, +bridged near its mouth, entering the Niagara two miles south of the +Chippewa River, the defensive line selected by the British, who now +fell back upon it. The Chippewa is of respectable size, one hundred +and fifty yards wide, and from twelve to twenty feet deep, running +from west to east. In general direction it is parallel to Street's +Creek; both entering the Niagara at right angles to its course. In the +belt separating the two the ground is flat, and was in great part +open; but midway between them there was a strip of thick wood +extending down to within a few hundred feet of the Niagara. This +formed a dense curtain, hiding movements on either side from the +other. The British forces under Riall were now north of the Chippewa, +Scott's brigade south of Street's; each having a bridge by which to +advance into the space between. The other American brigade, Ripley's, +was in rear of Scott--to the south. + +In this relative situation, Scott's pickets on the left being +disquieted by the British and Indians in the intervening woods, Brown +ordered up the militia and American Indians under General Porter to +expel them. This was done; but upon reaching the clearing on the +further side, the Indians, who were in the lead, encountered a heavy +fire, which drove them back upon the militia, and the whole body +retreated in a confusion which ended in a rout.[295] Riall had crossed +the Chippewa, and was advancing in force, although he believed Brown's +army much to outnumber his own now on the field, which in fact it did. +Gordon Drummond, in his instructions to him some months before, (March +23), had remarked that with the Americans liberties might be taken +which would seem hazardous "to a military man unacquainted with the +character of the enemy he had to contend with, or with the events of +the last two campaigns on that frontier."[296] This unflattering, but +not unreasonable, deduction from the performances of Dearborn and +others in 1813, as of Smyth and Van Rensselaer in 1812, was misplaced +in the present instance; but it doubtless governed Riall's action, and +justified it to himself and his superiors. He had not been engaged +since he drove the militia of New York before him like sheep, in the +preceding December; and he would have attacked on the very night after +the crossing, but that a regiment from York, which he had reason to +expect twenty-four hours before, did not arrive until the morning of +the 5th. The instant it came he made his dispositions to move at 4 +P.M. of the same day. + +It was this advance which met Porter and threw his division back, +uncovering the wood on the west. Scott at the same moment was marching +his brigade into the open space between Street's Creek and the +Chippewa; not to meet the enemy, whom he did not expect, but for some +drill in the cool of a hot summer's afternoon. As he went forward, the +Commander-in-Chief, who had been reconnoitring in front, rode by, +galloping to the rear to bring up his remaining force; for, while the +army in the aggregate was superior to Riall, the one brigade was +inferior. In passing, he called to Scott, "You will have a battle"; +and the head of the latter's column, as it crossed the bridge, came at +once under the enemy's guns. + +Although inferior, exposed, and in a sense surprised, both commander +and men were equal to the occasion. The division deployed steadily +under fire, and its leader, sending hastily one battalion to check the +enemy in the wood, formed front with the remainder of his force to +meet those in the plain. These, being yet unopposed, advanced beyond +the line of the wood, passing their own detachment within it, which +was held in check by the Americans charged with that duty. Losing thus +their support on that side, the British presented a new right flank, +to use Scott's expression. Thereupon he extended his two wings as far +as he dared, leaving between them a considerable interval, so as to +overlap his opponent at either extremity; which done, he threw his +left forward. His brigade thus formed an obtuse angle, the apex to the +rear, the bullets therefore converging and crossing upon the space in +front, into which it and the enemy were moving. In the approach both +parties halted several times to fire, and Scott says that the +superiority of aim in his own men was evident. When within sixty paces +a mutual rush, or charge, ensued; but the overlapping of the Americans +crowded the flanks of the enemy in upon his centre and produced +confusion, to which the preceding fire doubtless had contributed. +Scott's own description is that "the wings of the enemy being +outflanked, and in some measure doubled upon, were mouldered away like +a rope of sand."[297] In this brief and brilliant struggle only the +one brigade was engaged. + +Riall's account agrees substantially with that of Scott, mentioning +particularly "the greatest regularity" with which his opponents +"deployed and opened fire."[298] He directed a charge by the three +regiments in line, "but I am sorry to say that they suffered so +severely that I was obliged to withdraw them, finding their further +efforts against the superior numbers of the enemy would be +unavailing." He was right in believing that the aggregate of Brown's +army, although much short of the six thousand he estimated, was +superior to that which he could bring together without abandoning +posts he had to hold; but he was mistaken in thinking that in the +actual collision his opponents were more numerous than the fifteen +hundred regulars at which he states his own force, besides three +hundred militia. Scott's brigade, with its supporting artillery, when +it crossed four days before, was less than fifteen hundred; and the +militia and Indians were routed before he began to fight. His +artillery also was of lighter weight. The superiority of the American +fire was shown by the respective losses. They were: British, one +hundred and forty-eight killed, two hundred and twenty-one wounded, +forty-six missing; American, fifty-six killed, two hundred and +thirty-nine wounded, thirty-six missing. Of this total, there fell to +Scott's command forty-four killed, and two hundred and twenty-four +wounded; demonstrating conclusively that it alone was seriously +engaged. Not a man was reported missing. The other brigade lost only +three killed and three wounded. At the end of the action it was coming +up on Scott's left, where he was most exposed, but it did not arrive +until he had wrought his own deliverance. The remaining casualties +were among the militia and Indians. + +After the battle of Chippewa, Riall fell back towards Fort George, and +subsequently to the creek called Twenty Mile, west of Niagara, on Lake +Ontario. Brown followed as far as Queenston, where he arrived July 10. +On the 13th he wrote to Chauncey, begging for the fleet to meet him on +the lake shore, west of Fort George, to arrange a plan of operations; +in which case he had no doubt of breaking the power of the enemy in +Upper Canada in a short time. "All accounts," he said, "represent the +force of the enemy at Kingston as very light. Sir James Yeo will not +fight,"--which was certain. "For God's sake, let me see you. I have +looked for your fleet with the greatest anxiety since the 10th."[299] + +Chauncey had not left Sackett's Harbor, nor did he do so; to the utter +consternation, not of Brown only, but of the Government. On July 7 he +chronicled the burning of an enemy's schooner on the north shore of +the lake,[300] an exploit creditable enough in itself, but utterly +trivial in relation to pending issues; and on the 8th he wrote that +some changes of officers and crews, incidental to the absence of a +particular captain, would detain him a few days longer.[301] These +were flimsy reasons for inactivity at a moment of great national +interest, and when the operations in progress had been begun +absolutely upon the presupposition of naval control and co-operation, +for which he had undertaken to provide the means, even if not pledged +as to the manner. Then followed a silence of over two weeks; after +which, on July 25, he wrote again by his second to say that "the +squadron had been prevented being earlier fitted for sea, in +consequence of the delay in obtaining blocks and ironwork."[302] He +himself was too unwell to write, and had been so for some days. It is +probable that lapse of energy consequent upon illness had something to +do with this remarkable paralysis of action, in a man usually bustling +and efficient; and there may naturally have been unwillingness to +relinquish command,--which would have been his proper course,--after +the mortifications of the previous year, when he was just flattering +himself with the prospect of a new opportunity. + +This inaction, at the critical moment of Brown's advance, caused the +Government extreme perplexity and distress. In Chauncey was reposed a +confidence expressed by the Secretary of the Navy to Congress the year +before, when the resolution of thanks to Perry was pending. He then +"intimated the propriety of noticing in an appropriate manner the +commander-in-chief of the naval force upon the lakes, under whose +immediate command Captain Perry acted;" and spoke of the "zeal, +talent, constancy, courage, and prudence of the highest order, which +appears to me to merit particular distinction."[303] Such preconceived +opinion was hard to shake; but as day succeeded day of expectation +and suspense, the patience of the Administration gave way. Letters +bearing those elaborated phrases of assurance which most clearly +testify uneasiness were sent him, but did not arrive till after Brown +had retreated and he himself taken the lake. On July 24 the Secretary +writes, "I have expressed the solicitude which has produced this +letter, but my confidence in your patriotism, skill, judgment, and +energy is entire." On August 3, however, he says the explanation about +blocks and ironwork--apparently just received--is so extraordinary at +such a moment that "I cannot withhold from you the extreme anxiety and +astonishment which the protracted and fatal delay of the squadron has +excited in the mind of the President;" and on the 5th, "the known +detention of the squadron at Sackett's Harbor until the 27th ultimo, +the very feeble and precarious state of your health, the evils which +have already resulted from delay," etc., "have induced the President, +though with extreme reluctance, and undiminished confidence in your +zeal and capacity, to order Commodore Decatur to proceed to Sackett's +Harbor and take upon himself the naval command on Lake Ontario." + +The proposed change did not take place, the squadron having already +resumed active cruising. The Secretary repeated his expressions of +confidence, but does not appear to have renewed his recommendations to +Congress. Chauncey, stung by the reflections, open and implied, upon +his conduct, retorted with a defence and definition of his course, as +proposed and realized, which raises the whole question of the method +of naval co-operation under the circumstances, and of its probable +effectiveness. Replying to Brown's letter of July 13, quoted above, he +said positively that he had never given the general ground to expect +him at the head of the lake.[304] This assertion he repeated to the +Secretary, whose letters to him demonstrate that the Government had +left him entire discretion as to his particular method of procedure. +Acting therefore upon his own judgment, he justified his course by +alleging that direct co-operation at the Niagara end of the lake was +impossible, because the heavy ships could not get within two miles of +the forts, and Brown's army had never advanced to the lake shore; +consequently, the fleet could neither have acted directly by itself, +nor yet in support of a land force, with which it could not +communicate. So much for the negative side of the argument. +Positively, he said, the mission of the navy was to seek and fight the +enemy's squadron; and this duty was emphasized by the fact that to go +westward to Niagara, while the enemy was at Kingston, would expose to +capture Sackett's Harbor, the safety of which had remained a dominant +anxiety with Chauncey since its narrow escape the previous year. + +The protection of his own base, and the controlling or beating the +organized force of the enemy, are unquestionably two leading +considerations which should govern the general conduct of a general +officer, land or sea. In these particulars Chauncey's statement was +unassailable; but, whether well or ill, he seems to have been +incapable of rising to the larger estimate of naval control, to which +the rules enunciated, conduce simply as a formulation of principles, +giving to action preciseness and steadiness of direction. The +destruction of the enemy's fleet is the means to obtain naval control; +but naval control in itself is only a means, not an object. The object +of the campaign, set by the Government, was the acquirement of mastery +upon the Niagara peninsula, to the accomplishment of which Brown's +army was destined. Naval control would minister thereto, partly by +facilitating the re-enforcement and supply of the American army, and, +conversely, by impeding that of the British. Of these two means, the +latter was the more efficacious, because, owing to the thoroughly +denuded condition of the Canadian territory, from the Niagara to +Detroit, local resources were exhausted, and dependence was wholly +upon the water; whereas the United States forces, near a fruitful +friendly region, and in possession of Lake Erie, had other independent +and sufficient streams of maintenance. + +To weaken the British was by so much to strengthen Brown, even though +direct communication with him were impossible. It was of this that the +British stood in continual anxious terror, as shown by their letters; +and this it was that Chauncey gives no sign of recognizing. Of support +to his own colleague he spoke with ill-timed scorn: "That you might +find the fleet somewhat of a convenience in the transportation of +provisions and stores for the use of the army, and an agreeable +appendage to attend its marches and countermarches, I am ready to +believe; but, Sir, the Secretary of the Navy has honored us with a +higher destiny--we are intended to seek and to fight the enemy's +fleet. This is the great purpose of the Government in creating this +fleet; and I shall not be diverted in my efforts to effectuate it by +any sinister attempt to render us subordinate to, or an appendage of, +the army." It would be difficult to cite an apter instance of wresting +sound principles to one's own destruction. Whatever the antecedent +provocation, this is no temper in which to effect military objects. It +is indeed hard to believe that an army so little numerous as that of +Brown could have accomplished the ambitious designs confided to it; +but that does not affect the clear duty of affording it the utmost +assistance that ingenuity could devise and energy effect. The words +quoted were written August 10, but ignore entirely an alternative +suggested in a letter received that day from the Secretary, dated July +24, itself the repetition of one made July 20: "To destroy the enemy's +fleet, or to blockade his force _and cut off his entire communication +with the head of the lake_." The civilian here indicated clearly what +the naval officer should have known from the very first moment. + +As before said, the contemporary correspondence of British officers +abundantly shows their anxiety lest Chauncey, in these important +weeks, should do what he did not do. Sir James Yeo had deliberately +formulated the policy of remaining inactive in Kingston until the +completion of the 102-gun ship, which would give him command of the +lake beyond chance of dispute. To occupy the American fleet meanwhile +with a local blockade, which he intended not to contest, was precisely +what he wanted. To distress the army at Niagara to the point of +evacuating the peninsula was the one only thing that might impel--or +compel--him to come out and fight, despite his deliberate intention. +"Several small vessels," wrote the Commissary-General a month +later[305] to Sir George Prevost, "were despatched while the enemy's +squadron were unable to leave Sackett's Harbor; but since the enemy +commands the lake, that resource for the moment is cut off, and only +batteaux can be employed. These are [not][306] a very useful +conveyance, not only from the danger of the enemy's small vessels, +which can approach the shore without difficulty, but also from want of +proper steersmen, pilots, and middlemen.... This feeble means of +transport will never effect the forming of a sufficient depot at York, +Burlington Heights, and Niagara; and, unless the commissariat can be +aided to a great extent by the Royal Navy, the most disastrous +consequences must ensue." + +At the date this was written, August 27, Chauncey's force was that +which he had promised should be ready July 1, but with which he did +not sail until August 1,--too late. The very efficiency of his action +in August condemns therefore his inaction in July. Besides his two new +big ships, which matched Yeo's two, he had added to the fleet of the +previous year, then superior to the British, two brigs of the armament +and tonnage of the ocean sloops of war,--the "Peacock" and class. +Against these Yeo had nothing to show. It was therefore open to +Chauncey to blockade Kingston with an equal force, thus covering +Sackett's, and to despatch to the head of the lake vessels adequate to +embarrass Riall and Drummond most seriously. From York to Niagara by +land was eighty miles of road impassable to laden wagons; by lake +thirty miles of water facility. From Kingston to York, an additional +distance of a hundred and fifty miles, the same relative difficulty of +transportation obtained. Yet as late as July 13, Drummond could write +from Kingston, "As troops cannot be forwarded without provisions, I +have requested Sir James Yeo to send his two brigs immediately, with +as much flour and pork as they can carry to York and Burlington." On +the 16th, "The 'Charwell' sailed yesterday for the head of the lake +with provisions and ammunition. I have strong hopes she will arrive +safe, as the enemy's whole squadron are lying in Sackett's with their +sails bent, and apparently ready for sea, though no guns forward of +the foremast could be perceived on board the 'Mohawk.'"[307] + +Yeo, holding both York and the mouth of the Niagara, ventured thither +two brigs and two schooners, under Captain Dobbs, one of his officers. +"Without their valuable aid in the transport of troops and stores," +wrote Drummond, August 12, "I certainly should not have been able to +attempt offensive operations so soon after my arrival." By that time, +when Brown had of necessity abandoned the offensive, "Commodore +Chauncey has left three of his brigs to watch our vessels in the +Niagara. They continue cruising off that place."[308] Chauncey, in +his letter of vindication to the Secretary, had maintained that "if +our whole fleet were at the head of the lake, it would not detain a +regiment from [York to] Fort George more than twenty-four hours.... +Any one who knows anything of the navigation of this lake knows that +boats may cross the head of the lake, from York to the opposite shore, +unobserved by any fleet during the night."[309] Admitting that there +is no literal exaggeration in this statement, it takes no account of +the enemy's apprehensions, nor of the decisive difficulty of running +vessels of a size to transport the heavy stores, without which the +army could not remain. No one familiar with maritime affairs will deny +the impossibility of wholly suppressing all furtive movement of small +coasters, but it is equally certain much can be done to impede that +full course of supplies which constitutes security of communication. +To Chauncey's affirmation, Drummond gives an incidental reply, +September 2: "The enemy's blockading squadron not having been seen for +some days, I sent the 'Vincent' across to York, where she has arrived +in safety, and Captain Dobbs has directed the 'Charwell' to push +across the first morning the wind is fair. By their aid I got rid of +many encumbrances (prisoners and sick), and shall receive the supplies +that are waiting at York for this division."[310] + +It is needless to multiply quotations from the utterances, and +frequent outcries, that run throughout this correspondence. Chauncey, +from early July, had it in his hand seriously to molest the British +communications, and at the same time to contain the British squadron +in Kingston. Such action would subject Yeo to the just and humiliating +imputation of suffering the harassment of the army without an attempt +at relief, or else would compel him to come out and fight under +conditions which, "whatever the result," to use Nelson's words, "would +leave his squadron in a state to do no further harm," till the big +ship was ready. Thus also Chauncey would cover his base; for, as +Prevost wrote, "while Kingston is blockaded, no movement against +Sackett's Harbor can take place." It was Chauncey's misfortune himself +to demonstrate his own shortcoming by the profound distress he +inflicted, when sounder measures were instituted after the censure of +the Government,--too late. + +One of the most conspicuous instances of the effect of this neglect +was realized in the desperate and sanguinary engagement of Lundy's +Lane, the occurrence of which, at the time and in the manner it did, +as stated by one of the chief actors, Winfield Scott, was due directly +to the freedom of the lake to the British. Brown had remained at +Queenston for some days after July 10, in painful suspense. A +reconnaissance in force was made on the 15th by the militia brigade +under General Porter, accompanied by two pieces of artillery, which +moved round Fort George as far as Lake Ontario, whence the general +reported "we had an opportunity to examine the _northern_ face of +Forts Riall and Niagara, about two miles distant."[311] Beyond a few +random shots, no opposition was experienced. On the 20th the army as a +whole advanced to the neighborhood of Fort George, and made a +demonstration of throwing up siege works; not without serious +intention, for Brown had not yet abandoned hope of receiving the +cannon of necessary weight, 24-pounders, from Sackett's Harbor. He had +with him only eighteens. Riall was greatly alarmed, exaggerating the +force before him, and receiving reports of re-enforcements expected by +the lake. On July 22 he sent hasty and pressing word of the impending +emergency to Drummond, who arrived the same evening at York from +Kingston; but in the afternoon of the day he was able to give better +tidings. The Americans were falling back again upon Queenston, +abandoning the positions recently assumed.[312] + +Brown had hoped that by his advance, blowing up the works at +Queenston, and leaving his rear evidently much exposed, Riall might be +induced to attack. The British general was much disposed to do so; but +refrained, fearing for his own communications. On the morning of the +23d an express from General Gaines, commanding at Sackett's Harbor, +reached Brown at Queenston, informing him that Chauncey was sick, that +no one knew when the fleet would sail, and that an endeavor had been +made to send forward by batteaux, coasting the south shore, the +24-pounder guns needed for besieging Fort George; but the officer in +command had stopped at the mouth of Black River Bay, thinking himself +in danger from the British squadron.[313] A contemporary account +reads: "July 20, Morgan with the riflemen and cannon prevented from +sailing by Yeo's blockade of the harbor."[314] Apparently, Yeo had +even come out of port, in order by menace of attack to arrest the +forwarding of this essential succor. Chauncey's incidental mention is +positive that he approached no nearer than the Ducks, some large +islands thirty miles south of Kingston, and forty west of +Sackett's;[315] but it is obvious that in the quiescence of the +American squadron such a position was prohibitive of movement by +batteaux. It may readily be conceived that had Brown's demonstration +against the fort been coupled with an attempt to land the guns from a +naval division, Riall might have felt compelled to come out of his +lines. + +Neither guns nor naval division appeared, and Drummond, able to move +troops freely across the lake, concerted now a plan for striking a +dangerous blow from Fort Niagara, against Brown's communications on +the New York side; the exposed condition of which was known to him. +This was the immediate offensive of which he had spoken; his ability +to undertake which he attributed to naval aid. He had as +adjutant-general Lieutenant-Colonel Harvey, the same who suggested and +executed the brilliant stroke that disconcerted Dearborn's campaign in +1813; and who on the present occasion drew up the instructions to +Riall, and to Lieutenant-Colonel Tucker, the officer in charge of the +forts, with a delightful lucidity which characterizes all papers +signed by him.[316] The brigs "Star" and "Charwell" left York July 23, +with a re-enforcement of four hundred men for Fort Niagara, in which +post the officer commanding was directed to concentrate so many more +as would enable him to carry a full regiment of regulars against +batteries that were being put up at Youngstown. This movement was to +be made at daylight of Monday, July 25, and General Riall was +instructed to support it by a threatening demonstration on his side of +the river. On the evening of the 24th, Drummond himself sailed from +York in one of Yeo's schooners, and by daybreak reached Niagara. + +Upon his arrival,--or possibly before,--he learned that the Americans +had retired further, to the Chippewa. The motive for this backward +step was to draw necessary supplies across the river, from the +magazines at Fort Schlosser, and to leave there all superfluous +baggage, prior to a rush upon Burlington Heights, which Brown had now +substituted as the point of attack, in consequence of his +disappointment about the siege guns.[317] It had been his intention +to rest over the 25th, in order to start forward fresh on the 26th. +This retrograde movement, inducing Riall to advance, changed the +situation found by Drummond. He decided therefore to apply his +re-enforcements to the support of Riall directly, and to have the +enterprise from Niagara proceed with somewhat smaller numbers towards +Lewiston,--opposite Queenston,--where a body of Americans were posted. +This advance appears to have been detected very soon, for Drummond +writes, "Some unavoidable delay having occurred in the march of the +troops up the right bank, the enemy had moved off previous to Colonel +Tucker's arrival." Brown, in his report of this circumstance, wrote, +"As it appeared that the enemy with his increased force was about to +avail himself of the hazard under which our baggage and stores were on +our [American] side of Niagara, I conceived the most effectual method +of recalling him from the object was to put myself in motion towards +Queenston. General Scott with his brigade were accordingly put in +march on the road leading thither." The result was the battle of +Lundy's Lane. + +Scott in his autobiography attributes the report of an advance towards +Schlosser to a mistake on the part of the officer making it. It was +not so. There was an actual movement, modified in detail from the +original elaborate plan, the execution of which was based by the +British general upon the local control of the lake, enabling him to +send re-enforcements. The employment of Dobbs' four vessels, permitted +by Chauncey's inaction, thus had direct effect upon the occurrence and +the result of the desperately contested engagement which ensued, upon +the heights overlooking the lower torrent of the Niagara. From the +Chippewa to the Falls is about two miles, through which the main road +from Lake Erie to Ontario follows the curving west bank of the stream. +A half mile further on it was joined at right angles by the +crossroad, known as Lundy's Lane. As Scott's column turned the bend +above the Falls there were evidences of the enemy's presence, which at +first were thought to indicate only a detachment for observation; but +a few more paces disclosed the Lane held by a line of troops, superior +in number to those encountered with equal unexpectedness on the +Chippewa, three weeks before. + +Scott hesitated whether to fall back; but apprehensive of the effect +of such a step upon the other divisions, he sent word to Brown that he +would hold his ground, and prepared for battle, making dispositions to +turn the enemy's left,--towards the Niagara. It was then near sundown. +A hot engagement followed, in the course of which the pressure on the +British left caused it to give ground. In consequence, the American +right advancing and the British left receding, the two lines swung +round perpendicular to the Lane, the Americans standing with their +backs to the precipices, beneath which roar the lower rapids of +Niagara. At this period General Riall, who had received a severe +wound, was captured while being carried to the rear. + +As this change of front was taking place Brown arrived, with Ripley's +brigade and Porter's militia, which were brought into line with Scott; +the latter occupying the extreme right, Ripley the centre, and Porter +the left. When this arrangement had been completed the attack was +resumed, and a hill top, which was the key of the British position, +was carried; the artillery there falling into the hands of the +Americans. "In so determined a manner were these attacks directed +against our guns," reported Drummond, "that our artillery men were +bayoneted by the enemy in the act of loading, and the muzzles of the +enemy's guns were advanced within a few yards of ours.... Our troops +having for a moment been pushed back, some of our guns remained for a +few minutes in the enemy's hands."[318] Upon this central fact both +accounts agree, but on the upshot of the matter they differ. "Not only +were the guns quickly recovered," continued Drummond, "but the two +pieces which the enemy had brought up were captured by us." He admits, +however, the loss as well as gain of one 6-pounder. Brown, on the +contrary, claimed that the ground was held and that the enemy retired, +leaving his guns. "He attempted to drive us from our position and to +regain his artillery; our line was unshaken and the enemy repulsed. +Two other attempts having the same object had the same issue."[319] By +this time both Brown and Scott had been severely wounded and carried +off the field. In this situation the Commander-in-Chief directed the +officer now in command to withdraw the troops to the camp, three miles +behind, for refreshment, and then to re-occupy the field of battle. +Whether this was feasible or not would require an inquiry more +elaborate than the matter at stake demands. It is certain that the +next day the British resumed the position without resistance, and +continued to hold it. + +To Americans the real interest and value of this action, combined with +its predecessor at Chippewa, and with the subsequent equally desperate +fighting about Fort Erie, were that the contest did not close without +this conspicuous demonstration that in capable hands the raw material +of the American armies could be worked up into fighting quality equal +to the best. Regarded as an international conflict, the war was now +staggering to its end, which was but a few months distant; and in +every direction little but shame and mortification had befallen the +American arms on land. It would have been a calamity, indeed, had the +record closed for that generation with the showing of 1812 and 1813. +Nothing is gained by explaining or excusing such results; the only +expiation for them is by the demonstration of repentance, in works +worthy of men and soldiers. This was abundantly afforded by Brown's +brief campaign of 1814, otherwise fruitless. Not only the regular +troops, fashioned by Scott in a few brief months from raw recruits to +disciplined fighters, proved their mettle; the irregulars associated +with them, though without the same advantage of training and concert +of movement, caught their enthusiasm, gained confidence from their +example, and emulated their deeds. The rabble which scarcely waited +for a shot before scattering at the approach of Riall's columns in +December, 1813, abandoning their homes to destruction, had earned the +discriminating eulogium of General Brown before the year 1814 closed. +In August, after Lundy's Lane, he, a New Yorker himself, wrote to the +Governor of New York:[320] "This state has suffered in reputation in +this war; its militia have done nothing, or but little, and that, too, +after the state had been for a long time invaded." On September 20, +after the sanguinary and successful sortie from Fort Erie, he wrote +again: "The militia of New York have redeemed their character--they +behaved gallantly. Of those called out by the last requisition, +fifteen hundred have crossed the state border to our support. This +re-enforcement has been of immense importance to us; it doubled our +effective strength, and their good conduct cannot but have the +happiest effect upon the nation."[321] + +The American losses at Lundy's Lane were, killed one hundred and +seventy-one, wounded five hundred and seventy-two, missing one hundred +and seventeen; total, eight hundred and sixty. Those of the British +were, killed eighty-four, wounded five hundred and fifty-nine, +missing one hundred and ninety-three, prisoners forty-two; total, +eight hundred and seventy-eight. Of the British missing and prisoners, +one hundred and sixty-nine were reported by the Americans as in their +hands; among them nineteen officers. This substantial equality in +casualties corresponds to a similar equality in the numbers engaged. +The Americans had present for duty two thousand six hundred and +forty-four, including over four hundred militia; Drummond in his +report states that first and last he had upon the field not more than +two thousand eight hundred. That he estimates the force opposed to him +to have been at least five thousand, may be coupled with his mention +of "the reiterated and determined attacks which the enemy made upon +our centre," as showing the impression produced upon his mind during +the progress of the struggle. The comparison of numbers engaged with +injuries sustained justifies the inference that, in result, the actual +contest upon the ground was at least a drawn battle, if not the +positive success claimed by Brown and Scott. Colonel Hercules Scott, +of the British 103d Regiment, who to be sure shows somewhat of the +malcontent ever present in camps, but who afterwards fell well at the +front in the assault upon Fort Erie, was in this action; and in a +private letter uses an expression which practically corroborates the +American assertion that they held the ground at the end, and withdrew +afterwards. "In the last attack they gained possession of five out of +seven of our guns, but the fire kept upon them was so severe that it +afterwards appeared they had not been able to carry them off; _for we +found them next morning_ on the spot they had been taken. No [We?] +boast of a 'Great Victory,' but in my opinion it was nearly equal on +both sides."[322] + +Equality of loss, or even a technical victory, does not imply equality +of subsequent conditions. Brown had at the front all his available +force; he had no reserves or depots upon which to draw. He had +expended the last shot in the locker. Drummond not only had been +receiving re-enforcements, absolutely small, yet considerable in +proportion to the contending numbers, but he was continuing to receive +them. Lundy's Lane was July 25; Chauncey did not take the lake until +August 1, and it was the 5th when he came off Niagara, where he at +once intercepted and drove ashore one of the British brigs, which was +fired by her captain. He thus had immediate ocular demonstration of +what had been going on in his absence; but it was already too late for +the American squadron to turn the scales of war. If this could have +been accomplished at all, it would have been by such intervention as +in this instance; by injuring the enemy rather than by helping the +friend. But this would have been possible only in the beginning. Brown +felt himself unable longer to keep the field; and the army, now under +General Ripley, withdrew the following day, July 26, to Fort Erie, +where it proceeded to strengthen the work itself, and to develop a +fortified line depending upon it, covering the angle of ground made by +the shores of the Niagara River and Lake Erie. Brown was carried to +Buffalo to recover of his wounds, which were not dangerous, though +severe. He subsequently resumed chief command, but Scott was unable to +serve again during the campaign. General Gaines was summoned from +Sackett's Harbor, and on August 5 took charge at Fort Erie. + +From this time the operations on either side were limited to the +effort to take or to hold this position. Drummond's experience at +Lundy's Lane, and the extent of his loss, made him cautious in +pursuit; and time was yielded to the enemy to make good their +entrenchment. On the early morning of August 15 the British assaulted, +and were repelled with fifty-seven killed, three hundred and nine +wounded, and five hundred and thirty-nine missing.[323] The Americans, +covered by their works, reported a loss of less than one hundred. "I +am now reduced to a most unpleasant predicament with regard to force," +wrote Drummond to Prevost.[324] "I have ordered the 6th and 82d from +York to this frontier. I had intended to order another regiment from +Kingston, but from the badness of the roads since the recent rains I +could not calculate upon their arrival here before our squadron will +be able to take the lake, and as even at present the diminution of +stores and provisions is beginning to be felt, I intreat your +excellency will impress upon the Commodore the necessity of conveying +to this division, the very moment the squadron can leave harbor, a +full supply of each, as well as a re-enforcement of troops." + +After this sharp reverse Drummond settled down to a siege, in the +course of which he complained frequently and grievously of the +annoyance caused him by Chauncey's blockade, established August 6, +with three vessels competent seriously to interrupt transportation of +supplies, or of men in large detachments. The season was still +propitious for marching; but as early as August 21 Drummond was afraid +"that relief by control of the lake may not reach us in time." +September 11, "Our batteries have almost been silent for several days +from the reduced state of the ammunition." September 14, "The sudden +and most unlooked for return to the head of Lake Ontario of the two +brigs, by which the Niagara has been so long blockaded, _and my +communication with York cut off_, has had the effect of preventing the +junction of the 97th regiment, which arrived at York the 10th, and +probably would have been here the following day but for this unlucky +circumstance."[325] September 24, "The deficiency of provisions and +transport is the difficulty attending every operation in this country, +as it prevents the collection at any one point of an adequate force +for any object. These difficulties we must continue to experience, +until our squadron appears superior on the lake." It would be +impossible to depict more strongly the course incumbent upon Chauncey +in July, or to condemn more severely, by implication, his failure then +to do what he could, taking the chance of that chapter of accidents, +"to be in the way of good luck," which it is the duty of every +military leader to consider as among the clear possibilities of war. +"The blockade of Kingston," wrote Prevost on October 11 to Lord +Bathurst,[326] "has been vigorously maintained for the last six weeks +by the enemy's squadron. The vigilance of the American cruisers on +Lake Ontario was felt even by our batteaux creeping along the shore +with provisions for Drummond's division. In consequence, I found that +the wants of that army had grown to an alarming extent."[327] + +In pushing his siege works, Drummond by September 15 had erected three +batteries, the last of which, then just completed, "would rake +obliquely the whole American encampment."[328] Brown determined then +upon a sortie in force, which was made on the afternoon of September +17, with entire success. It was in this attack that the New York +militia, of whom fifteen hundred had crossed to the fort, bore an +honorable and distinguished part. Brown states the actual force +engaged in the fighting at one thousand regulars and one thousand +militia, to whose energy and stubbornness Drummond again pays the +compliment of estimating them at five thousand. The weight of the +onslaught was thrown on the British right flank, and there doubtless +the assailants were, and should have been, greatly superior. Two of +the three batteries were carried, one of them being that which had +directly incited the attack. "The enemy," reported Drummond, "was +everywhere driven back; not however before he had disabled the guns in +No. 3 battery, and exploded its magazine;"[329] that is, not before he +had accomplished his purpose. + +Nor was this all. The stroke ended the campaign. Drummond had nearly +lost hope of a successful issue, and this blow destroyed what little +remained. The American navy still held the lake; the big ship in +Kingston still tarried; rains torrential and almost incessant were +undermining the ramparts of Forts George and Niagara, causing serious +alarm for the defence, and spreading sickness among his troops, +re-enforcements to which could with difficulty be sent. The British +returns of loss in repelling the sortie gave one hundred and fifteen +killed, one hundred and forty-eight wounded, three hundred and sixteen +missing; total, five hundred and seventy-nine. The Americans, whose +casualties were five hundred and eleven, reported that they brought +back three hundred and eighty-five prisoners; among whom the roll of +officers tallies with the British list. Four days afterwards, +September 21, Drummond abandoned his works, leaving his fires burning +and huts standing, and fell back secretly by night to the Chippewa. + +Brown was in no condition to follow. In a brief ten weeks, over which +his adventurous enterprise spread, he had fought four engagements, +which might properly be called general actions, if regard were had to +the total force at his disposal, and not merely to the tiny scale of +the campaign. Barring the single episode of the battle of New +Orleans, his career on the Niagara peninsula is the one operation of +the land war of 1812 upon which thoughtful and understanding Americans +of the following generation could look back with satisfaction. Of how +great consequence this evidence of national military character was, to +the men who had no other experience, is difficult to be appreciated by +us, in whose memories are the successes of the Mexican contest and the +fierce titanic strife of the Civil War. In truth, Chippewa, Lundy's +Lane, and New Orleans, are the only names of 1812 preserved to popular +memory,[330] ever impatient of disagreeable reminiscence. Hull's +surrender was indeed an exception; the iron there burned too deep to +leave no lasting scar. To Brown and his distinguished subordinates we +owe the demonstration of what the War of 1812 might have accomplished, +had the Government of the United States since the beginning of the +century possessed even a rudimentary conception of what military +preparation means to practical statesmanship. + +Shortly after the sortie which decided Drummond to retire, the +defenders of Fort Erie were brought into immediate relation with the +major part of the forces upon Lake Champlain, under General Izard. +Both belonged to the same district, the ninth, which in Dearborn's +time had formed one general command; but which it now pleased the +Secretary of War, General Armstrong, to manage as two distinct +divisions, under his own controlling directions from Washington. The +Secretary undoubtedly had a creditable amount of acquired military +knowledge, but by this time he had manifested that he did not possess +the steadying military qualities necessary to play the role of a +distant commander-in-chief. Izard, at the time of his appointment, +reported everything connected with his command, the numbers and +discipline of the troops, their clothing and equipment, in a +deplorable state of inefficiency.[331] The summer months were spent in +building up anew the army on Champlain, and in erecting +fortifications; at Plattsburg, where the main station was fixed, and +at Cumberland Head, the promontory which defines the eastern side of +Plattsburg Bay. Upon the maintenance of these positions depended the +tenure of the place itself, as the most suitable advanced base for the +army and for the fleet, mutually indispensable for the protection of +that great line of operations. + +On July 27, before the Secretary could know of Lundy's Lane, but when +he did anticipate that Brown must fall back on Fort Erie, he wrote to +Izard that it would be expedient for him to advance against Montreal, +or against Prescott,--on the St. Lawrence opposite Ogdensburg,--in +case large re-enforcements had been sent from Montreal to check +Brown's advance, as was reported. His own inclination pointed to +Prescott, with a view to the contingent chance of an attack upon +Kingston, in co-operation with Chauncey and the garrison at +Sackett's.[332] This letter did not reach Izard till August 10. He +construed its somewhat tentative and vacillating terms as an order. "I +will make the movement you direct, if possible; but I shall do it +with the apprehension of risking the force under my command, and with +the certainty that everything in this vicinity, save the lately +erected works at Plattsburg and Cumberland Head, will, in less than +three days after my departure, be in possession of the enemy."[333] +Izard, himself, on July 19, had favored a step like this proposed; +but, as he correctly observed, the time for it was when Brown was +advancing and might be helped. Now, when Brown had been brought to a +stand, and was retiring, the movement would not aid him, but would +weaken the Champlain frontier; and that at the very moment when the +divisions from Wellington's army, which had embarked at Bordeaux, were +arriving at Quebec and Montreal. + +On August 12, Armstrong wrote again, saying that his first order had +been based upon the supposition that Chauncey would meet and beat Yeo, +or at least confine him in port. This last had in fact been done; but, +if the enemy should have carried his force from Montreal to Kingston, +and be prepared there, "a safer movement was to march two thousand men +to Sackett's, embark there, and go to Brown's assistance."[334] Izard +obediently undertook this new disposition, which he received August +20; but upon consultation with his officers concluded that to march by +the northern route, near the Canada border, would expose his +necessarily long column to dangerous flank attack. He therefore +determined to go by way of Utica.[335] On August 29 the division, +about four thousand effectives, set out from the camp at Chazy, eight +miles north of Plattsburg, and on September 16 reached Sackett's. Bad +weather prevented immediate embarkation, but on the 21st about two +thousand five hundred infantry sailed, and having a fair wind reached +next day the Genesee, where they were instantly put ashore. A +regiment of light artillery and a number of dragoons, beyond the +capacity of the fleet to carry, went by land and arrived a week later. + +In this manner the defence of Lake Champlain was deprived of four +thousand fairly trained troops at the moment that the British attack +in vast superiority of force was maturing. Their advance brigade, in +fact, crossed the frontier two days after Izard's departure. At the +critical moment, and during the last weeks of weather favorable for +operations, the men thus taken were employed in making an unprofitable +march of great length, to a quarter where there was now little +prospect of successful action, and where they could not arrive before +the season should be practically closed. Brown, of course, hailed an +accession of strength which he sorely needed, and did not narrowly +scrutinize a measure for which he was not responsible. On September +27, ten days after the successful sortie from Fort Erie, he was at +Batavia, in New York, where he had an interview with Izard, who was +the senior. In consequence of their consultation Izard determined that +his first movement should be the siege of Fort Niagara.[336] In +pursuance of this resolve his army marched to Lewiston, where it +arrived October 5. There he had a second meeting with Brown, +accompanied on this occasion by Porter, and under their +representations decided that it would be more proper to concentrate +all the forces at hand on the Canadian bank of the Niagara, south of +the Chippewa, and not to undertake a siege while Drummond kept the +field.[337] + +Despite many embarrassments, and anxieties on the score of supplies +and provisions while deprived of the free use of the lake, the British +general was now master of the situation. His position rested upon the +Chippewa on one flank, and upon Fort Niagara on the other. From end +to end he had secure communication, for he possessed the river and the +boats, below the falls. By these interior lines, despite his momentary +inferiority in total numbers, he was able to concentrate his forces +upon a threatened extremity with a rapidity which the assailants could +not hope to rival. Fort Niagara was not in a satisfactory condition to +resist battery by heavy cannon; but Izard had none immediately at +hand. Drummond was therefore justified in his hope that "the enemy +will find the recapture of the place not to be easily effected."[338] +His line of the Chippewa rested on the left upon the Niagara. On its +right flank the ground was impassable to everything save infantry, and +any effort to turn his position there would have to be made in the +face of artillery, to oppose which no guns could be brought forward. +Accordingly when Izard, after crossing in accordance with his last +decision, advanced on October 15 against the British works upon the +Chippewa, he found they were too strong for a frontal attack, the +opinion which Drummond himself entertained,[339] while the +topographical difficulties of the country baffled every attempt to +turn them. Drummond's one serious fear was that the Americans, finding +him impregnable here, might carry a force by Lake Erie, and try to +gain his rear from Long Point, or by the Grand River.[340] Though they +would meet many obstacles in such a circuit, yet the extent to which +he would have to detach in order to meet them, and the smallness of +his numbers, might prove very embarrassing. + +Izard entertained no such project. After his demonstration of October +15, which amounted to little more than a reconnaisance in force, he +lapsed into hopelessness. The following day he learned by express that +the American squadron had retired to Sackett's Harbor and was +throwing up defensive works. With his own eyes he saw, too, that the +British water service was not impeded. "Notwithstanding our supremacy +on Lake Ontario, at the time I was in Lewiston [October 5-8] the +communication between York and the mouth of the Niagara was +uninterrupted. I saw a large square-rigged vessel arriving, and +another, a brig, lying close to the Canada shore. Not a vessel of ours +was in sight."[341] The British big ship, launched September 10, was +on October 14 reported by Yeo completely equipped. The next day he +would proceed up the lake to Drummond's relief. Chauncey had not +waited for the enemy to come out. Convinced that the first use of +naval superiority would be to reduce his naval base, he took his ships +into port October 8; writing to Washington that the "St. Lawrence" had +her sails bent, apparently all ready for sea, and that he expected an +attack in ten days.[342] "I confess I am greatly embarrassed," wrote +Izard to Monroe, who had now superseded Armstrong as Secretary of War. +"At the head of the most efficient army the United States have +possessed during this war, much must be expected from me; and yet I +can discern no object which can be achieved at this point worthy of +the risk which will attend its attempt." The enemy perfectly +understood his perplexity, and despite his provocations refused to +play into his hands by leaving the shelter of their works to fight. On +October 21, he broke up his camp, and began to prepare winter quarters +for his own command opposite Black Rock, sending Brown with his +division to Sackett's Harbor. Two weeks later, on November 5, having +already transported all but a small garrison to the American shore, he +blew up Fort Erie and abandoned his last foothold on the peninsula. + +During the operations along the Niagara which ended thus fruitlessly, +the United States Navy upon Lake Erie met with some severe mishaps. +The Cabinet purpose, of carrying an expedition into the upper lakes +against Michilimackinac, was persisted in despite the reluctance of +Armstrong. Commander Arthur Sinclair, who after an interval had +succeeded Perry, was instructed to undertake this enterprise with such +force as might be necessary; but to leave within Lake Erie all that he +could spare, to co-operate with Brown. Accordingly he sailed from Erie +early in June, arriving on the 21st off Detroit, where he was to +embark the troops under Colonel Croghan for the land operations. After +various delays St. Joseph's was reached July 20, and found abandoned. +Its defences were destroyed. On the 26th the vessels were before +Mackinac, but after a reconnaisance Croghan decided that the position +was too strong for the force he had. Sinclair therefore started to +return, having so far accomplished little except the destruction of +two schooners, one on Lake Huron, and one on Lake Superior, both +essential to the garrison at Mackinac; there being at the time but one +other vessel on the lakes competent to the maintenance of their +communications. + +This remaining schooner, called the "Nancy," was known to be in +Nottawasaga Bay, at the south end of Georgian Bay, near the position +selected by the British as a depot for stores coming from York by way +of Lake Simcoe. After much dangerous search in uncharted waters, +Sinclair found her lying two miles up a river of the same name as the +bay, where she was watching a chance to slip through to Mackinac. Her +lading had been completed July 31, and the next day she had already +started, when a messenger brought word that approach to the island was +blocked by the American expedition. The winding of the river placed +her present anchorage within gunshot of the lake; but as she could +not be seen through the brush, Sinclair borrowed from the army a +howitzer, with which, mounted in the open beyond, he succeeded in +firing both the "Nancy" and the blockhouse defending the position. The +British were thus deprived of their last resource for transportation +in bulk upon the lake. What this meant to Mackinac may be inferred +from the fact that flour there was sixty dollars the barrel, even +before Sinclair's coming. + +Having inflicted this small, yet decisive, embarrassment on the enemy, +Sinclair on August 16 started back with the "Niagara" and "Hunter" for +Erie, whither he had already despatched the "Lawrence"--Perry's old +flagship--and the "Caledonia." He left in Nottawasaga Bay the +schooners "Scorpion" and "Tigress," "to maintain a rigid blockade +until driven from the lake by the inclemency of the weather," in order +"to cut the line of communications from Michilimackinac to York." +Lieutenant Daniel Turner of the "Scorpion," who had commanded the +"Caledonia" in Perry's action, was the senior officer of this +detachment. + +After Sinclair's departure the gales became frequent and violent. +Finding no good anchorage in Nottawasaga Bay, Turner thought he could +better fulfil the purpose of his instructions by taking the schooners +to St. Joseph's, and cruising thence to French River, which enters +Georgian Bay at its northern end. On the night of September 3, the +"Scorpion" being then absent at the river, the late commander of the +"Nancy," Lieutenant Miller Worsley, got together a boat's crew of +eighteen seamen, and obtained the co-operation of a detachment of +seventy soldiers. With these, followed by a number of Indians in +canoes, he attacked the "Tigress" at her anchors and carried her by +boarding. The night being very dark, the British were close alongside +when first seen; and the vessel was not provided with boarding +nettings, which her commander at his trial proved he had not the +cordage to make. Deprived of this essential defence, which in such an +exposed situation corresponds to a line of intrenched works on shore, +her crew of thirty men were readily overpowered by the superior +numbers, who could come upon them from four quarters at once, and had +but an easy step to her low-lying rail. The officer commanding the +British troops made a separate report of the affair, in which he said +that her resistance did credit to her officers, who were all severely +wounded.[343] Transferring his men to the prize, Worsley waited for +the return of the "Scorpion," which on the 5th anchored about five +miles off, ignorant of what had happened. The now British schooner +weighed and ran down to her, showing American colors; and, getting +thus alongside without being suspected, mastered her also. Besides the +officers hurt, there were of the "Tigress'" crew three killed and +three wounded; the British having two killed and eight wounded. No +loss seems to have been incurred on either side in the capture of the +"Scorpion." In reporting this affair Sir James Yeo wrote: "The +importance of this service is very great. Had not the naval force of +the enemy been taken, the commanding officer at Mackinac must have +surrendered."[344] He valued it further for its influence upon the +Indians, and upon the future of the naval establishment which he had +in contemplation for the upper lakes. + +When Sinclair reached Detroit from Nottawasaga he received news of +other disasters. According to his instructions, before starting for +the upper lakes he had left a division of his smaller vessels, under +Lieutenant Kennedy, to support the army at Niagara. When Brown fell +back upon Fort Erie, after Lundy's Lane, three of these, the "Ohio," +"Somers," and "Porcupine," anchored close by the shore, in such a +position as to flank the approaches to the fort, and to molest the +breaching battery which the British were erecting. As this interfered +with the besiegers' plans for an assault, Captain Dobbs, commanding +the naval detachment on Ontario which Yeo had assigned to co-operate +with Drummond, transported over land from below the falls six boats or +batteaux, and on the night of August 12 attacked the American +schooners, as Worsley afterwards did the "Tigress" and "Scorpion." The +"Ohio" and "Somers," each with a crew of thirty-five men, were carried +and brought successfully down the river within the British lines. +Dobbs attributed the escape of the "Porcupine" to the cables of the +two others being cut, in consequence of which they with the victorious +assailants on board drifted beyond possibility of return.[345] To +these four captures by the enemy must be added the loss by accident of +the "Caledonia"[346] and "Ariel," reported by Sinclair about this +time. Perry's fleet was thus disappearing by driblets; but the command +of the lake was not yet endangered, for there still remained, besides +several of the prizes, the two principal vessels, "Lawrence" and +"Niagara."[347] + +With these Sinclair returned to the east of the lake, and endeavored +to give support to the army at Fort Erie; but the violence of the +weather and the insecurity of the anchorage on both shores, as the +autumn drew on, not only prevented effectual co-operation, but +seriously threatened the very existence of the fleet, upon which +control of the water depended. In an attempt to go to Detroit for +re-enforcements for Brown, a gale of wind was encountered which +drifted the vessels back to Buffalo, where they had to anchor and lie +close to a lee shore for two days, September 18 to 20, with topmasts +and lower yards down, the sea breaking over them, and their cables +chafing asunder on a rocky bottom. After this, Drummond having raised +the siege of Fort Erie, the fleet retired to Erie and was laid up for +the winter. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[266] Ante, pp. 118-121. + +[267] Documentary History of the Campaign on the Niagara Frontier in +1814, by Ernest Cruikshank, Part I. p. 5. + +[268] Captains' Letters, Feb. 24, March 4 and 29, 1814. + +[269] Canadian Archives, C. 682, p. 32. + +[270] Niles' Register, Feb. 5, 1814, vol. v. pp. 381, 383. + +[271] Canadian Archives. C. 682, p. 90. + +[272] Armstrong, Notices of the War of 1812, vol. ii. p. 213. + +[273] Canadian Archives, C. 683, p. 10. + +[274] Ibid., pp. 53, 61-64. + +[275] Ibid., C. 682, p. 194. + +[276] Niles' Register, April 9, 1814, vol. vi. p. 102. + +[277] Captains' Letters, April 11, 1814. + +[278] Writings of Madison, Edition of 1865, vol. ii. p. 413. + +[279] Wilkinson's letter to a friend, April 9, 1814. Niles' Register, +vol. vi. p. 166. His official report of the affair is given, p. 131. + +[280] Yeo's Report, Canadian Archives, M. 389.6, p. 116. + +[281] The armaments of the corresponding two British vessels were: +"Prince Regent", thirty long 24-pounders, eight 68-pounder carronades, +twenty 32-pounder carronades; "Princess Charlotte", twenty-four long +24-pounders, sixteen 32-pounder carronades. Canadian Archives, M. 389.6, +p. 109. + +[282] Captains' Letters. + +[283] Canadian Archives, C. 683, p. 157. + +[284] Woolsey's Report, forwarded by Chauncey June 2, is in Captains' +Letters. It is given, together with several other papers bearing on the +affair, in Niles' Register, vol. vi. pp. 242, 265-267. For Popham's +Report, see Naval Chronicle, vol. xxxii. p. 167. + +[285] Canadian Archives, C. 683, p. 225. + +[286] Cruikshank's Documentary History, 1814, pp. 18-20. + +[287] Writings of Madison (Edition of 1865), vol. iii. p. 403. + +[288] Captains' Letters. + +[289] Ibid. + +[290] Yeo to Admiralty, May 30, 1815. Canadian Archives, M. 389.6, p. +310. For Chauncey's opinion to the same effect, see Captains' Letters, +Nov. 5, 1814. + +[291] Captains' Letters, June 15, 1814. + +[292] Armstrong to Madison, April 31 (_sic_), 1814. Armstrong's Notices +of War of 1812, vol. ii. p. 413. + +[293] These official returns are taken by the present writer from Mr. +Henry Adams' History of the United States. + +[294] Cruikshank's Documentary History of the Niagara Campaign of 1814, +p. 37. + +[295] Cruikshank, Documentary History. + +[296] Ibid., p. 4. + +[297] Scott's Autobiography, vol. i. pp. 130-132. + +[298] Cruikshank's Documentary History, p. 31. + +[299] Niles' Register, vol. vii. p. 38. + +[300] Captains' Letters. + +[301] Secretary of the Navy to Chauncey, July 24, 1814, Secretary's +Letters. + +[302] Secretary to Chauncey, Aug. 3, 1814. Ibid. + +[303] Ibid., Dec. 29, 1813. + +[304] Chauncey to Brown, Aug. 10, 1814. Niles' Register, vol. vii. p. +38. + +[305] August 27. Cruikshank's Documentary History, pp. 180-182. The +whole letter has interest as conveying an adequate idea of the +communications difficulty. + +[306] This word is wanting; but the context evidently requires it. + +[307] Cruikshank's Documentary History, 1814, pp. 58, 60. + +[308] Cruikshank's Documentary History, 1814, p. 134. + +[309] Captains' Letters. Aug. 19, 1814. + +[310] Cruikshank's Documentary History, 1814, p. 191. + +[311] Cruikshank's Documentary History, 1814, p. 68. + +[312] Cruikshank's Documentary History, 1814. Riall to Drummond, July +20, 21, 22, pp. 75-81. + +[313] Ibid., p. 87. + +[314] Ibid., p. 78. + +[315] "Sir James Yeo has not been nearer Sackett's Harbor than the Ducks +since June 5." Captains' Letters, Aug. 19, 1814. + +[316] Cruikshank's Documentary History, 1814, pp. 82, 84. + +[317] Brown's Report of Lundy's Lane to Secretary of War, Aug. 7, 1814. +Ibid., p. 97. + +[318] Drummond's Report of the Engagement, July 27. Cruikshank, pp. +87-92. + +[319] Brown's Report. Ibid., p. 99. + +[320] Brown to Governor Tompkins, Aug. 1, 1814. Cruikshank, p. 103. + +[321] Ibid., p. 207. + +[322] Cruikshank's Documentary History, 1814, p. 131. Author's italics. + +[323] The American account of this total is: killed, left on the field, +222; wounded, left on the field, 174; prisoners, 186. Total, 582. + +Two hundred supposed to be killed on the left flank (in the water) and +permitted to float down the Niagara. + +[324] Aug. 16. Cruikshank, pp. 146-147. + +[325] Cruikshank's Documentary History, 1814, pp. 199, 200. Author's +italics. + +[326] Bathurst was Secretary of State for War and the Colonies. + +[327] Cruikshank's Documentary History, 1814, pp. 229, 245. + +[328] Ibid., p. 207. Brown to Tompkins, Sept. 20, 1814. + +[329] Cruikshank's Documentary History, p. 205. + +[330] An interesting indication of popular appreciation is found in the +fact that two ships of the line laid down by Chauncey in or near +Sackett's Harbor, in the winter of 1814-15, were named the "New Orleans" +and the "Chippewa." Yeo after the peace returned to England by way of +Sackett's and New York, and was then greatly surprised at the rapidity +with which these two vessels, which he took to be of one hundred and +twenty guns each, (Canadian Archives, M. 389.6, p. 310), had been run +up, to meet his "St. Lawrence" in the spring, had the war continued. The +"New Orleans" remained on the Navy List, as a seventy-four, "on the +stocks," until 1882, when she was sold. For years she was the exception +to a rule that ships of her class should bear the name of a state of the +Union. The other square-rigged vessels on Ontario were sold, in May, +1825. (Records of the Bureau of Construction and Repair, Navy +Department.) + +[331] Izard to Secretary of War, May 7, 1814. Official Correspondence of +the Department of War with Major-General Izard, 1814 and 1815. + +[332] Izard Correspondence, p. 64. + +[333] Izard Correspondence, p. 65. + +[334] Ibid., p. 69. + +[335] Ibid., p. 63. + +[336] Izard Correspondence, p. 93. + +[337] Ibid., p. 98. + +[338] Oct. 6, 1814. Cruikshank's Documentary History, 1814, p. 240. + +[339] Izard Correspondence, p. 102; Cruikshank, p. 242. + +[340] Cruikshank, p. 240. + +[341] Izard Correspondence, p. 103. + +[342] Captains' Letters. + +[343] Canadian Archives, C. 685, pp. 172-174. + +[344] Ibid., M. 389.6, p. 222. + +[345] The Reports of Captain Dobbs and the American lieutenant, +Conkling, are in Cruikshank's Documentary History, p. 135. + +[346] Captains' Letters, Sept. 12, 1814. + +[347] This account of naval events on the upper lakes in 1814 has been +summarized from Sinclair's despatches, Captains' Letters, May 2 to Nov. +11, 1814, and from certain captured British letters, which, with several +of Sinclair's, were published in Niles' Register, vol. vii. and +Supplement. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +SEABOARD OPERATIONS IN 1814. WASHINGTON, BALTIMORE, AND +MAINE + + +The British command of the water on Lake Ontario was obtained too late +in the year 1814 to have any decisive effect upon their operations. +Combined with their continued powerlessness on Lake Erie, this caused +their campaign upon the northern frontier to be throughout defensive +in character, as that of the Americans had been offensive. Drummond +made no attempt in the winter to repeat the foray into New York of the +previous December, although he and Prevost both considered that they +had received provocation to retaliate, similar to that given at Newark +the year before. The infliction of such vindictive punishment was by +them thrown upon Warren's successor in the North Atlantic command, who +responded in word and will even more heartily than in deed. The +Champlain expedition, in September of this year, had indeed offensive +purpose, but even there the object specified was the protection of +Canada, by the destruction of the American naval establishments on the +lake, as well as at Sackett's Harbor;[348] while the rapidity with +which Prevost retreated, as soon as the British squadron was +destroyed, demonstrated how profoundly otherwise the spirit of a +simple defensive had possession of him, as it had also of the more +positive and aggressive temperaments of Drummond and Yeo, and how +essential naval control was in his eyes. In this general view he had +the endorsement of the Duke of Wellington, when his attention was +called to the subject, after the event. + +Upon the seaboard it was otherwise. There the British campaign of 1814 +much exceeded that of 1813 in offensive purpose and vigor, and in +effect. This was due in part to the change in the naval +commander-in-chief; in part also to the re-enforcements of troops +which the end of the European war enabled the British Government to +send to America. Early in the year 1813, Warren had represented to the +Admiralty the impossibility of his giving personal supervision to the +management of the West India stations, and had suggested devolving the +responsibility upon the local admirals, leaving him simply the power +to interfere when circumstances demanded.[349] The Admiralty then +declined, alleging that the character of the war required unity of +direction over the whole.[350] Later they changed their views. The +North Atlantic, Jamaica, and Leeward Islands stations were made again +severally independent, and Warren was notified that as the American +command, thus reduced, was beneath the claims of an officer of his +rank,--a full admiral,--a successor would be appointed.[351] +Vice-Admiral Sir Alexander Cochrane accordingly relieved him, April 1, +1814; his charge embracing both the Atlantic and Gulf coasts. At the +same period the Lakes Station, from Champlain to Superior inclusive, +was constituted a separate command; Yeo's orders to this effect being +dated the same day as Cochrane's, January 25, 1814. + +Cochrane brought to his duties a certain acrimony of feeling, +amounting almost to virulence. "I have it much at heart," he wrote +Bathurst, "to give them a complete drubbing before peace is made, +when I trust their northern limits will be circumscribed and the +command of the Mississippi wrested from them." He expects thousands of +slaves to join with their masters' horses, and looks forward to +enlisting them. They are good horsemen; and, while agreeing with his +lordship in deprecating a negro insurrection, he thinks such bodies +will "be as good Cossacks as any in the Russian army, and more +terrific to the Americans than any troops that can be brought +forward." Washington and Baltimore are equally accessible, and may be +either destroyed or laid under contribution.[352] These remarks, +addressed to a prominent member of the Cabinet, are somewhat +illuminative as to the formal purposes, as well as to the subsequent +action, of British officials. The sea coast from Maine to Georgia, +according to the season of the year, was made to feel the increasing +activity and closeness of the British attacks; and these, though +discursive and without apparent correlation of action, were evidently +animated throughout by a common intention of bringing the war home to +the experience of the people. + +As a whole, the principal movements were meant to serve as a +diversion, detaining on the Chesapeake and seaboard troops which might +otherwise be sent to oppose the advance Prevost was ordered to make +against Sackett's Harbor and Lake Champlain; for which purpose much +the larger part of the re-enforcements from Europe had been sent to +Canada. The instructions to the general detailed to command on the +Atlantic specified as his object "a diversion on the coast of the +United States in favor of the army employed in the defence of Upper +and Lower Canada."[353] During the operations, "if in any descent you +shall be enabled to take such a position as to threaten the +inhabitants with the destruction of their property, you are hereby +authorized to levy upon them contributions in return for your +forbearance." Negroes might be enlisted, or carried away, though in no +case as slaves. Taken in connection with the course subsequently +pursued at Washington, such directions show an aim to inflict in many +quarters suffering and deprivation, in order to impress popular +consciousness with the sense of an irresistible and ubiquitous power +incessantly at hand. Such moral impression, inclining those subject to +it to desire peace, conduced also to the retention of local forces in +the neighborhood where they belonged, and so furthered the intended +diversion. + +The general purpose of the British Government is further shown by some +incidental mention. Gallatin, who at the time of Napoleon's abdication +was in London, in connection with his duties on the Peace Commission, +wrote two months afterwards: "To use their own language, they mean to +inflict on America a chastisement which will teach her that war is not +to be declared against Great Britain with impunity. This is a very +general sentiment of the nation; and that such are the opinions of the +ministry was strongly impressed on the mind of ---- by a late +conversation he had with Lord Castlereagh. Admiral Warren also told +Levett Harris, with whom he was intimate at St. Petersburg, that he +was sorry to say the instructions given to his successor on the +American station were very different from those under which he acted, +and that he feared very serious injury would be done to America."[354] + +Thus inspired, the coast warfare, although more active and efficient +than the year before, and on a larger scale, continued in spirit and +in execution essentially desultory and wasting. As it progressed, a +peculiar bitterness was imparted by the liberal construction given by +British officers to the word "retaliation." By strict derivation, and +in wise application, the term summarizes the ancient retribution of +like for like,--an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth; and to destroy +three villages for one, as was done in retort for the burning of +Newark, the inhabitants in each case being innocent of offence, was an +excessive recourse to a punitive measure admittedly lawful. Two +further instances of improper destruction by Americans had occurred +during the campaign of 1814. Just before Sinclair sailed for Mackinac, +he suggested to a Colonel Campbell, commanding the troops at Erie, +that it would be a useful step to visit Long Point, on the opposite +Canada shore, and destroy there a quantity of flour, and some mills +which contributed materially to the support of the British forces on +the Niagara peninsula.[355] This was effectively done, and did add +seriously to Drummond's embarrassment; but Campbell went further and +fired some private houses also, on the ground that the owners were +British partisans and had had a share in the burning of Buffalo. A +Court of Inquiry, of which General Scott was president, justified the +destruction of the mills, but condemned unreservedly that of the +private houses.[356] Again, in Brown's advance upon Chippewa, some +American "volunteers," despatched to the village of St. David's, +burned there a number of dwellings. The commanding officer, Colonel +Stone, was ordered summarily and immediately by Brown to retire from +the expedition, as responsible for an act "contrary to the orders of +the Government, and to those of the commanding general published to +the army."[357] + +In both these cases disavowal had been immediate; and it had been +decisive also in that of Newark. The intent of the American Government +was clear, and reasonable ultimate compensation might have been +awaited; at least for a time. Prevost, however, being confined to the +defensive all along his lines, communicated the fact of the +destruction to Cochrane, calling upon him for the punishment which it +was not in his own power then to inflict. Cochrane accordingly issued +an order[358] to the ships under his command, to use measures of +retaliation "against the cities of the United States, from the Saint +Croix River to the southern boundary, near the St. Mary's River;" "to +destroy and lay waste," so he notified the United States Government, +"such towns and districts upon the coast as may be found +assailable."[359] In the first heat of his wrath, he used in his order +an expression, "and you will spare merely the lives of the unarmed +inhabitants of the United States," which he afterwards asked Prevost +to expunge, as it might be construed in a sense he never meant;[360] +and he reported to his Government that he had sent private +instructions to exercise forbearance toward the inhabitants.[361] It +can easily be believed that, like many words spoken in passion, the +phrase far outran his purposes; but it has significance and value as +indicating the manner in which Americans had come to be regarded in +Great Britain, through the experience of the period of peace and the +recent years of war. + +However the British Government might justify in terms the impressment +of seamen from American ships, or the delay of atonement for such an +insult as that of the Chesapeake, the nation which endured the same, +content with reams of argument instead of blow for blow, had sunk +beneath contempt as an inferior race, to be cowed and handled without +gloves by those who felt themselves the masters. Nor was the matter +bettered by the notorious fact that the interference with the freedom +of American trade, which Great Britain herself admitted to be outside +the law, had been borne unresisted because of the pecuniary stake +involved. The impression thus produced was deepened by the confident +boasts of immediate successes in Canada, made by leading members of +the party which brought on the war; followed as these were by a +display of inefficiency so ludicrous that opponents, as well native as +foreign, did not hesitate to apply to it the word "imbecility." The +American for a dozen years had been clubbed without giving evidence of +rebellion, beyond words; now that he showed signs of restiveness, +without corresponding evidence of power, he should feel the lash, and +there need be no nicety in measuring punishment. Codrington, an +officer of mark and character, who joined Cochrane at this time as +chief of staff, used expressions which doubtless convey the average +point of view of the British officer of that day: President Madison, +"by letting his generals burn villages in Canada again, has been +trying to excite terror; but as you may shortly see by the public +exposition of the Admiral's orders, the terror and the suffering will +probably be brought home to the doors of his own fellow citizens. I am +fully convinced that this is the true way to end this Yankee war, +whatever may be said in Parliament against it."[362] + +It is the grievous fault of all retaliation, especially in the heat of +war, that it rarely stays its hand at an equal measure, but almost +invariably proceeds to an excess which provokes the other party to +seek in turn to even the scale. The process tends to be unending; and +it is to the honor of the United States Government that, though +technically responsible for the acts of agents which it was too +inefficient to control, it did not seriously entertain the purpose of +resorting to this means, to vindicate the wrongs of its citizens at +the expense of the subjects of its opponent. Happily, the external +brutality of attitude which Cochrane's expression so aptly conveyed +yielded for the most part to nobler instincts in the British officers. +There was indeed much to condemn, much done that ought not to have +been done; but even in the contemporary accounts it is quite possible +to trace a certain rough humanity, a wish to deal equitably with +individuals, for whom, regarded nationally, they professed no respect. +Even in the marauding of the Chesapeake, the idea of compensation for +value taken was not lost to view; and in general the usages of war, as +to property exempt from destruction or appropriation, were respected, +although not without the rude incidents certain to occur where +atonement for acts of resistance, or the price paid for property +taken, is fixed by the victor. + +If retaliation upon any but the immediate culprit is ever permissible, +which in national matters will scarcely be contested, it is logically +just that it should fall first of all upon the capital, where the +interests and honor of the nation are centred. There, if anywhere, the +responsibility for the war and all its incidents is concrete in the +representatives of the nation, executive and legislative, and in the +public offices from which all overt acts are presumed to emanate. So +it befell the United States. In the first six months of 1814, the +warfare in the Chesapeake continued on the same general lines as in +1813; there having been the usual remission of activity during the +winter, to resume again as milder weather drew on. The blockade of the +bay was sustained, with force adequate to make it technically +effective, although Baltimore boasted that several of her clipper +schooners got to sea. On the part of the United States, Captain Gordon +of the navy had been relieved in charge of the bay flotilla by +Commodore Barney, of revolutionary and privateering renown. This local +command, in conformity with the precedent at New York, and as was due +to so distinguished an officer, was made independent of other branches +of the naval service; the commodore being in immediate communication +with the Navy Department. On April 17, he left Baltimore and proceeded +down the bay with thirteen vessels; ten of them being large barges or +galleys, propelled chiefly by oars, the others gunboats of the +ordinary type. The headquarters of this little force became the +Patuxent River, to which in the sequel it was in great measure +confined; the superiority of the enemy precluding any enlarged sphere +of activity. Its presence, however, was a provocation to the British, +as being the only floating force in the bay capable of annoying them; +the very existence of which was a challenge to their supremacy. To +destroy it became therefore a dominant motive, which was utilized also +to conceal to the last their purpose, tentative indeed throughout, to +make a dash at Washington. + +The Patuxent enters Chesapeake Bay from the north and west, sixty +miles below Baltimore, and twenty above the mouth of the Potomac, to +the general direction of which its own course in its lower part is +parallel. For boats drawing no more than did Barney's it is navigable +for forty miles from its mouth, to Pig Point; whence to Washington by +land is but fifteen miles. A pursuit of the flotilla so far therefore +brought pursuers within easy striking distance of the capital, +provided that between them and it stood no obstacle adequate to impose +delay until resistance could gather. It was impossible for such a +pursuit to be made by the navy alone; for, inadequate as the militia +was to the protection of the bay shore from raiding, it was quite +competent to act in conjunction with Barney, when battling only +against boats, which alone could follow him into lairs accessible to +him, but not to even the smaller vessels of the enemy. Ships of the +largest size could enter the river, but could ascend it only a little +way. Up the Patuxent itself, or in its tributaries, the Americans +therefore had always against the British Navy a refuge, in which they +might be blockaded indeed, but could not be reached. For all these +reasons, in order to destroy the flotilla, a body of troops must be +used; a necessity which served to mask any ulterior design. + +In the course of these operations, and in support of them, the British +Navy had created a post at Tangier Island, ten miles across the bay, +opposite the mouth of the Potomac.[363] Here they threw up +fortifications, and established an advanced rendezvous. Between the +island and the eastern shore, Tangier Sound gave sheltered anchorage. +The position was in every way convenient, and strategically central. +Being the junction of the water routes to Baltimore and Washington, it +threatened both; while the narrowness of the Chesapeake at this point +constituted the force there assembled an inner blockading line, well +situated to move rapidly at short notice in any direction, up or down, +to one side or the other. At such short distance from the Patuxent, +Barney's movements were of course well under observation, as he at +once experienced. On June 1, he left the river, apparently with a view +to reaching the Potomac. Two schooners becalmed were then visible, and +pursuit was made with the oars; but soon a large ship was seen under +sail, despatching a number of barges to their assistance. A breeze +springing up from southwest put the ship to windward, between the +Potomac and the flotilla, which was obliged to return to the Patuxent, +closely followed by the enemy. Some distant shots were exchanged, but +Barney escaped, and for the time was suffered to remain undisturbed +three miles from the bay; a 74-gun ship lying at the river's mouth, +with barges plying continually about her. The departure of the +British schooners, however, was construed to indicate a return with +re-enforcements for an attack; an anticipation not disappointed. Two +more vessels soon joined the seventy-four; one of them a brig. On +their appearance Barney shifted his berth two miles further up, +abreast St. Leonard's Creek. At daylight of June 9, one of the ships, +the brig, two schooners, and fifteen rowing barges, were seen coming +up with a fair wind. The flotilla then retreated two miles up the +creek, formed there across it in line abreast, and awaited attack. The +enemy's vessels could not follow; but their boats did, and a skirmish +ensued which ended in the British retiring. Later in the day the +attempt was renewed with no better success; and Barney claimed that, +having followed the boats in their retreat, he had seriously disabled +one of the large schooners anchored off the mouth of the creek to +support the movement. + +There is no doubt that the American gunboats were manfully and +skilfully handled, and that the crews in this and subsequent +encounters gained confidence and skill, the evidences of which were +shown afterwards at Bladensburg, remaining the only alleviating +remembrance from that day of disgrace. From Barney would be expected +no less than the most that man can do, or example effect; but his +pursuit was stopped by the ship and the brig, which stayed within the +Patuxent. The flotilla continued inside the creek, two frigates lying +off its mouth, until June 26, when an attack by the boats, in concert +with a body of militia,--infantry and light artillery,--decided the +enemy to move down the Patuxent. Barney took advantage of this to +leave the creek and go up the river. We are informed by a journal of +the day that the Government was by these affairs well satisfied with +the ability of the flotilla to restrain the operations of the enemy +within the waters of the Chesapeake, and had determined on a +considerable increase to it. Nothing seems improbable of that +Government; but, if this be true, it must have been easily satisfied. +Barney had secured a longer line of retreat, up the river; but the +situation was not materially changed. In either case, creek or river, +there was but one way out, and that was closed. He could only abide +the time when the enemy should see fit to come against him by land and +by water, which would seal his fate.[364] + +On June 2 there had sailed from Bordeaux for America a detachment from +Wellington's army, twenty-five hundred strong, under Major-General +Ross. It reached Bermuda July 25, and there was re-enforced by another +battalion, increasing its strength to thirty-four hundred. On August 3 +it left Bermuda, accompanied by several ships of war, and on the 15th +passed in by the capes of the Chesapeake. Admiral Cochrane had +preceded it by a few days, and was already lying there with his own +ship and the division under Rear-Admiral Cockburn, who hitherto had +been in immediate charge of operations in the bay. There were now +assembled over twenty vessels of war, four of them of the line, with a +large train of transports and store-ships. A battalion of seven +hundred marines were next detailed for duty with the troops, the +landing force being thus raised to over four thousand. The rendezvous +at Tangier Island gave the Americans no certain clue to the ultimate +object, for the reason already cited; and Cochrane designedly +contributed to their distraction, by sending one squadron of frigates +up the Potomac, and another up the Chesapeake above Baltimore.[365] On +August 18 the main body of the expedition moved abreast the mouth of +the Patuxent, and at noon of that day entered the river with a fair +wind. + +The purposes at this moment of the commanders of the army and navy, +acting jointly, are succinctly stated by Cochrane in his report to the +Admiralty: "Information from Rear-Admiral Cockburn that Commodore +Barney, with the Potomac flotilla, had taken shelter at the head of +the Patuxent, afforded a pretext for ascending that river to attack +him near its source, above Pig Point, while the ultimate destination +of the combined force was Washington, should it be found that the +attempt might be made with any prospect of success."[366] August 19, +the troops were landed at Benedict, twenty-five miles from the mouth +of the river, and the following day began their upward march, flanked +by a naval division of light vessels; the immediate objective being +Barney's flotilla. + +For the defence of the capital of the United States, throughout the +region by which it might be approached, the Government had selected +Brigadier-General Winder; the same who the year before had been +captured at Stoney Creek, on the Niagara frontier, in Vincent's bold +night attack. He was appointed July 2 to the command of a new military +district, the tenth, which comprised "the state of Maryland, the +District of Columbia, and that part of Virginia lying between the +Potomac and the Rappahannock;"[367] in brief, Washington and +Baltimore, with the ways converging upon them from the sea. This was +just seven weeks before the enemy landed in the Patuxent; time enough, +with reasonable antecedent preparation, or trained troops, to concert +adequate resistance, as was shown by the British subsequent failure +before Baltimore. + +The conditions with which Winder had to contend are best stated in the +terms of the Court of Inquiry[368] called to investigate his conduct, +at the head of which sat General Winfield Scott. After fixing the +date of his appointment, and ascertaining that he at once took every +means in his power to put his district in a proper state of defence, +the court found that on August 24, the day of the battle of +Bladensburg, he "was enabled by great and unremitting exertions to +bring into the field about five or six thousand men, all of whom +except four hundred were militia; that he could not collect more than +half his men until a day or two previously to the engagement, and six +or seven hundred of them did not arrive until fifteen minutes before +its commencement; ... that the officers commanding the troops were +generally unknown to him, and but a very small number of them had +enjoyed the benefit of military instruction or experience." So far +from attributing censure, the Court found that, "taking into +consideration the complicated difficulties and embarrassments under +which he labored, he is entitled to no little commendation, +notwithstanding the result; before the action he exhibited industry, +zeal, and talent, and during its continuance a coolness, a +promptitude, and a personal valor, highly honorable to himself." + +The finding of a court composed of competent experts, convened shortly +after the events, must be received with respect. It is clear, however, +that they here do not specify the particular professional merits of +Winder's conduct of operations, but only the general hopelessness of +success, owing to the antecedent conditions, not of his making, under +which he was called to act, and which he strenuously exerted himself +to meet. The blame for a mishap evidently and easily preventible still +remains, and, though of course not expressed by the Court, is +necessarily thrown back upon the Administration, and upon the party +represented by it, which had held power for over twelve years past. A +hostile corps of less than five thousand men had penetrated to the +capital, through a well populated country, which was, to quote the +Secretary of War, "covered with wood, and offering at every step +strong positions for defence;"[369] but there were neither defences +nor defenders. + +The sequence of events which terminated in this humiliating manner is +instructive. The Cabinet, which on June 7 had planned offensive +operations in Canada, met on July 1 in another frame of mind, alarmed +by the news from Europe, to plan for the defence of Washington and +Baltimore. It will be remembered that it was now two years since war +had been declared. In counting the force on which reliance might be +placed for meeting a possible enemy, the Secretary of War thought he +could assemble one thousand regulars, independent of artillerists in +the forts.[2] The Secretary of the Navy could furnish one hundred and +twenty marines, and the crews of Barney's flotilla, estimated at five +hundred.[2] For the rest, dependence must be upon militia, a call for +which was issued to the number of ninety-three thousand, five +hundred.[370] Of these, fifteen thousand were assigned to Winder, as +follows: From Virginia, two thousand; from Maryland, six thousand; +from Pennsylvania, five thousand; from the District of Columbia, two +thousand.[371] So ineffective were the administrative measures for +bringing out this paper force of citizen soldiery, the efficiency of +which the leaders of the party in power had been accustomed to vaunt, +that Winder, after falling back from point to point before the enemy's +advance, because only so might time be gained to get together the +lagging contingents, could muster in the open ground at Bladensburg, +five miles from the capital, where at last he made his stand, only the +paltry five or six thousand stated by the court. On the morning of the +battle the Secretary of War rode out to the field, with his colleagues +in the Administration, and in reply to a question from the President +said he had no suggestions to offer; "as it was between regulars and +militia, the latter would be beaten."[372] The phrase was Winder's +absolution; pronounced for the future, as for the past. The +responsibility for there being no regulars did not rest with him, nor +yet with the Secretary, but with the men who for a dozen years had +sapped the military preparation of the nation. + +Under the relative conditions of the opposing forces which have been +stated, the progress of events was rapid. Probably few now realize +that only a little over four days elapsed from the landing of the +British to the burning of the Capitol. Their army advanced along the +west bank of the Patuxent to Upper Marlborough, forty miles from the +river's mouth. To this place, which was reached August 22, Ross +continued in direct touch with the navy; and here at Pig Point, nearly +abreast on the river, the American flotilla was cornered at last. +Seeing the inevitable event, and to preserve his small but invaluable +force of men, Barney had abandoned the boats on the 21st, leaving with +each a half-dozen of her crew to destroy her at the last moment. This +was done when the British next day approached; one only escaping the +flames. + +The city of Washington, now the goal of the enemy's effort, lies on +the Potomac, between it and a tributary called the Eastern Branch. +Upon the east bank of the latter, five or six miles from the junction +of the two streams, is the village of Bladensburg. From Upper +Marlborough, where the British had arrived, two roads led to +Washington. One of these, the left going from Marlborough, crossed the +Eastern Branch near its mouth; the other, less direct, passed through +Bladensburg. Winder expected the British to advance by the former; and +upon it Barney with the four hundred seamen remaining to him joined +the army, at a place called Oldfields, seven miles from the capital. +This route was militarily the more important, because from it branches +were thrown off to the Potomac, up which the frigate squadron under +Captain Gordon was proceeding, and had already passed the +Kettle-bottoms, the most difficult bit of navigation in its path. The +side roads would enable the invaders to reach and co-operate with this +naval division; unless indeed Winder could make head against them. +This he was not able to do; but he remained almost to the last moment +in perplexing uncertainty whether they would strike for the capital, +or for its principal defence on the Potomac, Fort Washington, ten +miles lower down.[373] + + [Illustration: SKETCH _of the_ MARCH OF THE BRITISH ARMY Under + Gen. Ross _From the 19th. to the 29th. August 1814_] + +For the obvious reasons named, because the doubts of their opponent +facilitated their own movements by harassing his mind, as well as for +the strategic advantage of a central line permitting movement in two +directions at choice, the British advanced, as anticipated, by the +left-hand road, and at nightfall of August 23 were encamped about +three miles from the Americans. Here Winder covered a junction; for at +Oldfields the road by which the British were advancing forked. One +division led to Washington direct, crossing the Eastern Branch of the +Potomac where it is broadest and deepest, near its mouth; the other +passed it at Bladensburg. Winder feared to await the enemy, because of +the disorder to which his inexperienced troops would be exposed by a +night attack, causing possibly the loss of his artillery; the one arm +in which he felt himself superior. He retired therefore during the +night by the direct road, burning its bridge. This left open the way +to Bladensburg, which the British next day followed, arriving at the +village towards noon of the 24th. Contrary to Winder's instruction, +the officer stationed there had withdrawn his troops across the +stream, abandoning the place, and forming his line on the crest of +some hills on the west bank. The impression which this position made +upon the enemy was described by General Ross, as follows: "They were +strongly posted on very commanding heights, formed in two lines, the +advance occupying a fortified house, which with artillery covered the +bridge over the Eastern Branch, across which the British troops had to +pass. A broad and straight road, leading from the bridge to +Washington, ran through the enemy's position, which was carefully +defended by artillerymen and riflemen."[374] Allowing for the tendency +to magnify difficulties overcome, the British would have had before +them a difficult task, if opposed by men accustomed to mutual support +and mutual reliance, with the thousand-fold increase of strength which +comes with such habit and with the moral confidence it gives. + +The American line had been formed before Winder came on the ground. It +extended across the Washington road as described by Ross. A battery on +the hill-top commanded the bridge, and was supported by a line of +infantry on either side, with a second line in the rear. Fearing, +however, that the enemy might cross the stream higher up, where it was +fordable in many places, a regiment from the second line was +reluctantly ordered forward to extend the left; and Winder, when he +arrived, while approving this disposition, carried thither also some +of the artillery which he had brought with him.[375] The anxiety of +the Americans was therefore for their left. The British commander was +eager to be done with his job, and to get back to his ships from a +position militarily insecure. He had long been fighting Napoleon's +troops in the Spanish peninsula, and was not yet fully imbued with +Drummond's conviction that with American militia liberties might be +taken beyond the limit of ordinary military precaution. No time was +spent looking for a ford, but the troops dashed straight for the +bridge. The fire of the American artillery was excellent, and mowed +down the head of the column; but the seasoned men persisted and forced +their way across. At this moment Barney was coming up with his seamen, +and at Winder's request brought his guns into line across the +Washington road, facing the bridge. Soon after this, a few rockets +passing close over the heads of the battalions supporting the +batteries on the left started them running, much as a mule train may +be stampeded by a night alarm. It was impossible to rally them. A part +held for a short time; but when Winder attempted to retire them a +little way, from a fire which had begun to annoy them, they also broke +and fled.[376] + +The American left was thus routed, but Barney's battery and its +supporting infantry still held their ground. "During this period," +reported the Commodore,--that is, while his guns were being brought +into battery, and the remainder of his seamen and marines posted to +support them,--"the engagement continued, the enemy advancing, and our +own army retreating before them, apparently in much disorder. At +length the enemy made his appearance on the main road, in force, in +front of my battery, and on seeing us made a halt. I reserved our +fire. In a few minutes the enemy again advanced, when I ordered an +18-pounder to be fired, which completely cleared the road; shortly +after, a second and a third attempt was made by the enemy to come +forward, but all were destroyed. They then crossed into an open field +and attempted to flank our right; he was met there by three +12-pounders, the marines under Captain Miller, and my men, acting as +infantry, and again was totally cut up. By this time not a vestige of +the American army remained, except a body of five or six hundred, +posted on a height on my right, from whom I expected much support from +their fine situation."[377] + +In this expectation Barney was disappointed. The enemy desisted from +direct attack and worked gradually round towards his right flank and +rear. As they thus moved, the guns of course were turned towards them; +but a charge being made up the hill by a force not exceeding half that +of its defenders, they also "to my great mortification made no +resistance, giving a fire or two, and retired. Our ammunition was +expended, and unfortunately the drivers of my ammunition wagons had +gone off in the general panic." Barney himself, being wounded and +unable to escape from loss of blood, was left a prisoner. Two of his +officers were killed, and two wounded. The survivors stuck to him till +he ordered them off the ground. Ross and Cockburn were brought to him, +and greeted him with a marked respect and politeness; and he reported +that, during the stay of the British in Bladensburg, he was treated by +all "like a brother," to use his own words.[378] + +The character of this affair is sufficiently shown by the above +outline narrative, re-enforced by the account of the losses sustained. +Of the victors sixty-four were killed, one hundred and eighty-five +wounded. The defeated, by the estimate of their superintending +surgeon, had ten or twelve killed and forty wounded.[379] Such a +disparity of injury is usual when the defendants are behind +fortifications; but in this case of an open field, and a river to be +crossed by the assailants, the evident significance is that the party +attacked did not wait to contest the ground, once the enemy had gained +the bridge. After that, not only was the rout complete, but, save for +Barney's tenacity, there was almost no attempt at resistance. Ten +pieces of cannon remained in the hands of the British. "The rapid +flight of the enemy," reported General Ross, "and his knowledge of the +country, precluded the possibility of many prisoners being +taken."[380] + +That night the British entered Washington. The Capitol, White House, +and several public buildings were burned by them; the navy yard and +vessels by the American authorities. Ross, accustomed to European +warfare, did not feel Drummond's easiness concerning his position, +which technically was most insecure as regarded his communications. On +the evening of June 25 he withdrew rapidly, and on that of the 26th +regained touch with the fleet in the Patuxent, after a separation of +only four days. Cockburn remarked in his official report that there +was no molestation of their retreat; "not a single musket having been +fired."[381] It was the completion of the Administration's disgrace, +unrelieved by any feature of credit save the gallant stand of Barney's +four hundred. + +The burning of Washington was the impressive culmination of the +devastation to which the coast districts were everywhere exposed by +the weakness of the country, while the battle of Bladensburg crowned +the humiliation entailed upon the nation by the demagogic prejudices +in favor of untrained patriotism, as supplying all defects for +ordinary service in the field. In the defenders of Bladensburg was +realized Jefferson's ideal of a citizen soldiery,[382] unskilled, but +strong in their love of home, flying to arms to oppose an invader; and +they had every inspiring incentive to tenacity, for they, and they +only, stood between the enemy and the centre and heart of national +life. The position they occupied, though unfortified, had many natural +advantages; while the enemy had to cross a river which, while in part +fordable, was nevertheless an obstacle to rapid action, especially +when confronted by the superior artillery the Americans had. The +result has been told; but only when contrasted with the contemporary +fight at Lundy's Lane is Bladensburg rightly appreciated. Occurring +precisely a month apart, and with men of the same race, they +illustrate exactly the difference in military value between crude +material and finished product. + +Coincident with the capture of Washington, a little British +squadron--two frigates and five smaller vessels--ascended the Potomac. +Fort Washington, a dozen miles below the capital, was abandoned August +27 by the officer in charge, removing the only obstacle due to the +foresight of the Government. He was afterwards cashiered by sentence +of court martial. On the 29th, Captain Gordon, the senior officer, +anchored his force before Alexandria, of which he kept possession for +three days. Upon withdrawing, he carried away all the merchantmen that +were seaworthy, having loaded them with merchandise awaiting +exportation. Energetic efforts were made by Captains Rodgers, Perry, +and Porter, of the American Navy, to molest the enemy's retirement by +such means as could be extemporized; but both ships and prizes +escaped, the only loss being in life: seven killed and forty-five +wounded. + +After the burning of Washington, the British main fleet and army moved +up the Chesapeake against Baltimore, which would undoubtedly have +undergone the lot of Alexandria, in a contribution laid upon shipping +and merchandise. The attack, however, was successfully met. The +respite afforded by the expedition against Washington had been +improved by the citizens to interpose earthworks on the hills before +the city. This local precaution saved the place. In the field the +militia behaved better than at Bladensburg, but showed, nevertheless, +the unsteadiness of raw men. To harass the British advance a body of +riflemen had been posted well forward, and a shot from these mortally +wounded General Ross; but, "imagine my chagrin, when I perceived the +whole corps falling back upon my main position, having too credulously +listened to groundless information that the enemy was landing on Back +River to cut them off."[383] + +The British approached along the narrow strip of land between the +Patapsco and Back rivers. The American general, Stricker, had +judiciously selected for his line of defence a neck, where inlets from +both streams narrowed the ground to half a mile. His flanks were thus +protected, but the water on the left giving better indication of being +fordable, the British directed there the weight of the assault. To +meet this, Stricker drew up a regiment to the rear of his main line, +and at right angles, the volleys from which should sweep the inlet. +When the enemy's attack developed, this regiment "delivered one random +fire," and then broke and fled; "totally forgetful of the honor of the +brigade, and of its own reputation," to use Stricker's words.[384] +This flight carried along part of the left flank proper. The remainder +of the line held for a time, and then retired without awaiting the +hostile bayonet. The American report gives the impression of an +orderly retreat; a British participant, who admits that the ground was +well chosen, and that the line held until within twenty yards, wrote +that after that he never witnessed a more complete rout. The invaders +then approached the city, but upon viewing the works of defence, and +learning that the fleet would not be able to co-operate, owing to +vessels sunk across the channel, the commanding officer decided that +success would not repay the loss necessary to achieve it. Fleet and +army then withdrew. + +The attacks on Washington and Baltimore, the seizure of Alexandria, +and the general conduct of operations in the Chesapeake, belong +strictly to the punitive purpose which dictated British measures upon +the seaboard. Similar action extended through Long Island Sound, and +to the eastward, where alarm in all quarters was maintained by the +general enterprise of the enemy, and by specific injury in various +places. "The Government has declared war against the most powerful +maritime nation," wrote the Governor of Massachusetts to the +legislature, "and we are disappointed in our expectations of national +defence. But though we may be convinced that the war was unnecessary +and unjust, and has been prosecuted without any useful or practicable +object with the inhabitants of Canada, while our seacoast has been +left almost defenceless, yet I presume there will be no doubt of our +right to defend our possessions against any hostile attack by which +their destruction is menaced." "The eastern coast," reports a journal +of the time, "is much vexed by the enemy. Having destroyed a great +portion of the coasting craft, they seem determined to enter the +little outports and villages, and burn everything that floats."[385] +On April 7, six British barges ascended the Connecticut River eight +miles, to Pettipaug, where they burned twenty-odd sea-going +vessels.[386] On June 13, at Wareham, Massachusetts, a similar +expedition entered and destroyed sixteen.[387] These were somewhat +large instances of an action everywhere going on, inflicting +indirectly incalculably more injury than even the direct loss +suffered; the whole being with a view to bring the meaning of war +close home to the consciousness of the American people. They were to +be made to realize the power of the enemy and their own helplessness. + +An attempt looking to more permanent results was made during the +summer upon the coast of Maine. The northward projection of that +state, then known as the District of Maine,[388] intervened between +the British provinces of Lower Canada and New Brunswick, and imposed a +long détour upon the line of communications between Quebec and +Halifax, the two most important military posts in British North +America. This inconvenience could not be remedied unless the land in +question were brought into British possession; and when the end of the +war in Europe gave prospect of a vigorous offensive from the side of +Canada, the British ministry formulated the purpose of demanding there +a rectification of frontier. The object in this case being +acquisition, not punishment, conciliation of the inhabitants was to be +practised; in place of the retaliatory action prescribed for the +sea-coast elsewhere. + +Moose Island, in Passamaquoddy Bay, though held by the United States, +was claimed by Great Britain to have been always within the boundary +line of New Brunswick. It was seized July 11, 1814; protection being +promised to persons and property. In August, General Sherbrooke, the +Governor of Nova Scotia, received orders "to occupy so much of the +District of Maine as shall insure an uninterrupted communication +between Halifax and Quebec."[389] His orders being discretional as to +method, he decided that with the force available he would best comply +by taking possession of Machias and the Penobscot River.[390] On +September 1, a combined naval and army expedition appeared at the +mouth of the Penobscot, before Castine, which was quickly abandoned. A +few days before, the United States frigate "Adams," Captain Charles +Morris, returning from a cruise, had run ashore upon Isle au Haut, and +in consequence of the injuries received had been compelled to make a +harbor in the river. She was then at Hampden, thirty miles up. A +detachment of seamen and soldiers was sent against her. Her guns had +been landed, and placed in battery for her defence, and militia had +gathered for the support necessary to artillery so situated; but they +proved unreliable, and upon their retreat nothing was left but to fire +the ship.[391] This was done, the crew escaping. The British +penetrated as far as Bangor, seized a number of merchant vessels, and +subsequently went to Machias, where they captured the fort with +twenty-five cannon. Sherbrooke then returned with the most of his +force to Halifax, whence he issued a voluminous proclamation[392] to +the effect that he had taken possession of all the country between the +Penobscot and New Brunswick; and promised protection to the +inhabitants, if they behaved themselves accordingly. Two regiments +were left at Castine, with transports to remove them in case of attack +by superior numbers. This burlesque of occupation, "one foot on shore, +and one on sea," was advanced by the British ministry as a reason +justifying the demand for cession of the desired territory to the +northward. Wellington, when called into counsel concerning American +affairs, said derisively that an officer might as well claim +sovereignty over the ground on which he had posted his pickets. The +British force remained undisturbed, however, to the end of the war. +Amicable relations were established with the inhabitants, and a brisk +contraband trade throve with Nova Scotia. It is even said that the +news of peace was unwelcome in the place. It was not evacuated until +April 27, 1815.[393] + +FOOTNOTES: + +[348] "Some Account of the Life of Sir George Prevost." London, 1823, +pp. 136, 137. The author has not been able to find the despatch of June +3, 1814, there quoted. + +[349] Warren to Croker, Feb. 26, 1813. Admiralty In-Letters MSS. + +[350] Croker to Warren, March 20, 1813. Admiralty Out-Letters. + +[351] Warren to Croker, Jan. 28, 1814. Canadian Archives MSS. + +[352] Cochrane to Bathurst, July 14, 1814. War Office In-Letters MSS. + +[353] Bathurst's Instructions to the officer in command of the troops +detached from the Gironde. May 20, 1814. From copy sent to Cochrane. +Admiralty In-Letters, from Secretary of State. + +[354] Gallatin to Monroe, London, June 13, 1814. Adams' Writings of +Gallatin, vol. i. p. 627. + +[355] Sinclair, Erie, May 13, 1814. Captains' Letters. + +[356] Cruikshank's Documentary History of the Campaign of 1814, p. 18. + +[357] Ibid., p. 74. + +[358] Cruikshank's Documentary History, pp. 414, 415. + +[359] American State Papers, Foreign Relations, vol. iii. pp. 693, 694. + +[360] Cochrane to Prevost, July 26, 1814. Canadian Archives MSS., C. +684, p. 231. + +[361] Report on Canadian Archives, 1896, p. 54. + +[362] Life of Sir Edward Codrington, vol. i. p. 313. + +[363] See Map of Chesapeake Bay, ante, p. 156. + +[364] This account of Barney's movements is summarized from his letters, +and others, published in Niles' Register, vol. vi. pp. 244, 268, 300. + +[365] Report of Admiral Cochrane, Naval Chronicle, vol. xxxii. p. 342. + +[366] Report of Admiral Cochrane, Naval Chronicle, vol. xxxii. p. 342. + +[367] American State Papers, Military Affairs, vol. i. p. 524. + +[368] The finding of the Court of Inquiry was published in Niles' +Register for Feb. 25, 1815, from the official paper, the National +Intelligencer. Niles, vol. vii. p. 410. + +[369] Report of Secretary Armstrong to a Committee of the House of +Representatives. American State Papers, Military Affairs, vol. i. p. +526. + +[370] Ibid., pp. 538, 540, 524. + +[371] Ibid., p. 524. + +[372] Works of Madison (Ed. 1865), vol. iii. p. 422. + +[373] Winder's Narrative. American State Papers, Military Affairs, vol. +i pp. 552-560. + +[374] Ross's Despatch, Aug. 30, 1814. Naval Chronicle, vol. xxxii. p. +338. + +[375] Narrative of Monroe, the Secretary of State. American State +Papers, Military Affairs, vol. i. p. 536. + +[376] Winder's Narrative. + +[377] Barney's Report, Aug. 29, 1814. State Papers, Military Affairs, +vol. i. p. 579. + +[378] Barney's Report. + +[379] American State Papers, Military Affairs, vol. i. p. 530. + +[380] Ross's Despatch. + +[381] Report of Rear-Admiral Cockburn, Naval Chronicle, vol. xxxii. p. +345. + +[382] Ante, p. 213. + +[383] Report of Brigadier-General Stricker of the Maryland militia. +Niles' Register, vol. vii. pp. 27, 28. + +[384] Ibid. + +[385] Niles' Register, vol. vi. p. 317. + +[386] Ibid., pp. 118, 133, 222. + +[387] Ibid., p. 317. + +[388] Maine was then attached politically to Massachusetts. + +[389] Sherbrooke to Prevost, Aug. 2, 1814. Canadian Archives MSS., C. +685, p. 28. + +[390] Sherbrooke to Prevost, Aug. 24, 1814. Ibid., p. 147. + +[391] Morris' reports (Captains' Letters, Navy Dept.) are published in +Niles' Register, vol. vii. pp. 62, 63; and Supplement, p. 136. + +[392] Sept. 21, 1814. Niles' Register, vol. vii. p. 117. + +[393] Ibid., p. 347, and vol. viii. pp. 13, 214. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +LAKE CHAMPLAIN AND NEW ORLEANS + + +General Brown's retirement within the lines of Fort Erie, July 26, +1814, may be taken as marking the definitive abandonment by the United +States of the offensive on the Canada frontier. The opportunities of +two years had been wasted by inefficiency of force and misdirection of +effort. It was generally recognized by thoughtful men that the war had +now become one of defence against a greatly superior enemy, +disembarrassed of the other foe which had hitherto engaged his +attention, and imbued with ideas of conquest, or at least of extorting +territorial cession for specific purposes. While Brown was +campaigning, the re-enforcements were rapidly arriving which were to +enable the British to assume the aggressive; although, in the absence +of naval preponderance on the lakes, their numbers were not sufficient +to compel the rectification of frontier by surrender of territory +which the British Government now desired. Lord Castlereagh, Secretary +for Foreign Affairs, and the leading representative of the aims of the +Cabinet, wrote in his instructions to the Peace Commissioners, August +14, 1814: "The views of the Government are strictly defensive. +Territory as such is by no means their object; but, as the weaker +Power in North America, Great Britain considers itself entitled to +claim the use of the lakes as a military barrier."[394] The +declaration of war by the United States was regarded by most +Englishmen as a wanton endeavor to overthrow their immemorial right to +the services of their seamen, wherever found; and consequently the +invasion of Canada had been an iniquitous attempt to effect annexation +under cover of an indefensible pretext. To guard against the renewal +of such, the lakes must be made British waters, to which the American +flag should have only commercial access. Dominion south of the lakes +would not be exacted, "provided the American Government will stipulate +not to preserve or construct any fortifications upon or within a +limited distance of their shores." "On the side of Lower Canada there +should be such a line of demarcation as may establish a direct +communication between Quebec and Halifax."[395] + +Such were the political and military projects with which the British +ministry entered upon the summer campaign of 1814 in Canada. Luckily, +although Napoleon had fallen, conditions in Europe were still too +unsettled and volcanic to permit Great Britain seriously to weaken her +material force there. Two weeks later Castlereagh wrote to the Prime +Minister: "Are we prepared to continue the war for territorial +arrangements?" "Is it desirable to take the chances of the campaign, and +then be governed by circumstances?"[396] The last sentence defines the +policy actually followed; and the chances went definitely against it +when Macdonough destroyed the British fleet on Lake Champlain. Except at +Baltimore and New Orleans,--mere defensive successes,--nothing but +calamity befell the American arms. To the battle of Lake Champlain it +was owing that the British occupancy of United States soil at the end of +the year was such that the Duke of Wellington advised that no claim for +territorial cession could be considered to exist, and that the basis of +_uti possidetis_, upon which it was proposed to treat, was +untenable.[397] The earnestness of the Government, however, in seeking +the changes specified, is indicated by the proposition seriously made to +the Duke to take the command in America. + +Owing to the military conditions hitherto existing on the American +continent, the power to take the offensive throughout the lake +frontier had rested with the United States Government; and the +direction given by this to its efforts had left Lake Champlain +practically out of consideration. Sir George Prevost, being thrown on +the defensive, could only conform to the initiative of his adversary. +For these reasons, whatever transactions took place in this quarter up +to the summer of 1814 were in characteristic simply episodes; an +epithet which applies accurately to the more formidable, but brief, +operations here in 1814, as also to those in Louisiana. Whatever +intention underlay either attempt, they were in matter of fact almost +without any relations of antecedent or consequent. They stood by +themselves, and not only may, but should, be so considered. Prior to +them, contemporary reference to Lake Champlain, or to Louisiana, is +both rare and casual. For this reason, mention of earlier occurrences +in either of these quarters has heretofore been deferred, as +irrelevant and intrusive if introduced among other events, with which +they coincided in time, but had no further connection. A brief +narrative of them will now be presented, as a necessary introduction +to the much more important incidents of 1814. + +At the beginning of hostilities the balance of naval power on Lake +Champlain rested with the United States, and so continued until June, +1813. The force on each side was small to triviality, nor did either +make any serious attempt to obtain a marked preponderance. The +Americans had, however, three armed sloops, the "President," +"Growler," and "Eagle," to which the British could oppose only one. +Both parties had also a few small gunboats and rowing galleys, in the +number of which the superiority lay with the British. Under these +relative conditions the Americans ranged the lake proper at will; the +enemy maintaining his force in the lower narrows, at Isle aux Noix, +which was made a fortified station. + +On June 1, 1813, a detachment of British boats, coming up the lake, +passed the boundary line and fired upon some small American craft. The +"Eagle" and "Growler," being then at Plattsburg, started in pursuit on +the 2d, and by dark had entered some distance within the narrows, +where they anchored. The following morning they sighted three of the +enemy's gunboats and chased them with a fair south wind; but, being by +this means led too far, they became entangled in a place where +manoeuvring was difficult. The officers of the royal navy designated +for service on Lake Champlain had not yet arrived, and the flotilla +was at the disposition of the commanding army officer at Isle aux +Noix. Only one sloop being visible at first to the garrison, he sent +out against her the three gunboats; but when the second appeared he +landed a number of men on each bank, who took up a position to rake +the vessels. The action which followed lasted three hours. The +circumstances were disadvantageous to the Americans; but the fair wind +with which they had entered was ahead for return, and to beat back was +impossible in so narrow a channel. The "Eagle" received a raking shot, +and had to be run ashore to avoid sinking. Both then surrendered, and +the "Eagle" was afterwards raised. The two prizes were taken into the +British service; and as this occurrence followed immediately after the +capture of the "Chesapeake" by the "Shannon," they were called "Broke" +and "Shannon." These names afterwards were changed, apparently by +Admiralty order, to "Chub" and "Finch," under which they took part in +the battle of Lake Champlain, where they were recaptured. + +Although not built for war, but simply purchased vessels of not over +one hundred tons, this loss was serious; for by it superiority on the +lake passed to the British, and with some fluctuation so remained for +a twelvemonth,--till May, 1814. They were still too deficient in men +to profit at once by their success; the difficulty of recruiting in +Canada being as great as in the United States, and for very similar +reasons. "It is impossible to enlist seamen in Quebec for the lakes, +as merchants are giving twenty-five to thirty guineas for the run to +England. Recruits desert as soon as they receive the bounty."[398] +After some correspondence, Captain Everard, of the sloop of war +"Wasp," then lying at Quebec, consented to leave his ship, go with a +large part of her crew to Champlain, man the captured sloops, and raid +the American stations on the lake. A body of troops being embarked, +the flotilla left Isle aux Noix July 29. On the 30th they came to +Plattsburg, destroyed there the public buildings, with the barracks at +Saranac, and brought off a quantity of stores. A detachment was sent +to Champlain Town, and a landing made also at Swanton in Vermont, +where similar devastation was inflicted on public property. Thence +they went up the lake to Burlington, where Macdonough, who was +alarmingly short of seamen since the capture of the "Eagle" and +"Growler," had to submit to seeing himself defied by vessels lately +his own. After seizing a few more small lake craft, Everard on August +3 hastened back, anxious to regain his own ship and resume the regular +duties, for abandoning which he had no authority save his own. The +step he had taken was hardly to be anticipated from a junior officer, +commanding a ship on sea service so remote from the scene of the +proposed operation; and the rapidity of his action took the Americans +quite by surprise, for there had been no previous indication of +activity. As soon as Macdonough heard of his arrival at Isle aux Noix, +he wrote for re-enforcements, but it was too late. His letter did not +reach New York till the British had come and gone.[399] + +Upon Everard's return both he and Captain Pring, of the royal navy, +who had been with him during the foray and thenceforth remained +attached to the fortunes of the Champlain flotilla, recommended the +building of a large brig of war and two gunboats, in order to preserve +upon the lake the supremacy they had just asserted in act. With the +material at hand, they said, these vessels could all be afloat within +eight weeks after their keels were laid.[400] This suggestion appears +to have been acted upon; for in the following March it was reported +that there were building at St. John's a brig to carry twenty guns, a +schooner of eighteen, and twelve 2-gun galleys. However, the Americans +also were by this time building, and at the crucial moment came out a +very little ahead in point of readiness. + +Nothing further of consequence occurred during 1813. After the British +departed, Macdonough received a re-enforcement of men. He then went in +person with such vessels as he had to the foot of the lake, taking +station at Plattsburg, and advancing at times to the boundary line, +twenty-five miles below. The enemy occasionally showed themselves, but +were apparently indisposed to action in their then state of +forwardness. Later the American flotilla retired up the lake to Otter +Creek in Vermont, where, on April 11, 1814, was launched the ship +"Saratoga," which carried Macdonough's pendant in the battle five +months afterwards. On May 10, Pring, hoping to destroy the American +vessels before ready for service, made another inroad with his +squadron, consisting now of the new brig, called the "Linnet," five +armed sloops, and thirteen galleys. On the 14th he was off Otter Creek +and attacked; but batteries established on shore compelled him to +retire. Macdonough in his report of this transaction mentions only +eight galleys, with a bomb vessel, as the number of the enemy engaged. +The new brig was probably considered too essential to naval control to +be risked against shore guns; a decision scarcely to be contested, +although Prevost seems to have been dissatisfied as usual with the +exertions of the navy. The American force at this time completed, or +approaching completion, was, besides the "Saratoga," one schooner, +three sloops,[401] and ten gunboats or galleys. Of the sloops one +only, the "Preble," appears to have been serviceable. The "President" +and another called the "Montgomery" were not in the fight at +Plattsburg; where Macdonough certainly needed every gun he could +command. A brig of twenty guns, called the "Eagle," was subsequently +laid down and launched in time for the action. Prevost reported at +this period that a new ship was building at Isle aux Noix, which would +make the British force equal to the American. + + [Illustration: CAPTAIN THOMAS MACDONOUGH. + _From the painting by Gilbert Stuart in the Century Club, New + York, by permission of Rodney Macdonough, Esq._] + +Before the end of May, 1814, Macdonough's fleet was ready, except the +"Eagle"; and on the 29th he was off Plattsburg, with the "Saratoga," +the schooner "Ticonderoga," the sloop "Preble," and ten galleys. The +command of the lake thus established permitted the transfer of troops +and stores, before locked up in Burlington. The "Saratoga" carried +twenty-six guns; of which eight were long 24-pounders, the others +carronades, six 42-pounders, and twelve 32's. She was so much superior +to the "Linnet," which had only sixteen guns, long 12-pounders, that +the incontestable supremacy remained with the Americans, and it was +impossible for the British squadron to show itself at all until their +new ship was completed. She was launched August 25,[402] and called +the "Confiance."[403] The name excited some derision after her defeat +and capture, but seems to have had no more arrogant origin than the +affectionate recollection of the Commander-in-Chief on the lakes, Sir +James Yeo, for the vessel which he had first and long commanded, to +which he had been promoted for distinguished gallantry in winning her, +and in which he finally reached post-rank. The new "Confiance," from +which doubtless much was hoped, was her namesake. She was to carry +twenty-seven 24-pounders. One of these, being on a pivot, fought on +either side of the ship; thus giving her fourteen of these guns for +each broadside. In addition, she had ten carronades, four of them +32-pounders, and six 24's. + +On July 12, 1814, Prevost had reported the arrival at Montreal of the +first of four brigades from Wellington's Peninsular Army. These had +sailed from Bordeaux at the same period as the one destined for the +Atlantic coast operations, under General Ross, already related. He +acknowledged also the receipt of instructions, prescribing the +character of his operations, which he had anxiously requested the year +before. Among these instructions were "to give immediate protection to +his Majesty's possessions in America," by "the entire destruction of +Sackett's Harbor, and of the naval establishments on Lake Erie and +Lake Champlain."[404] They will be obeyed, he wrote, as soon as the +whole force shall have arrived; but defensive measures only will be +practicable, until the complete command of Lakes Ontario and +Champlain shall be obtained, which cannot be expected before +September.[405] The statement was perfectly correct. The command of +these lakes was absolutely essential to both parties to the war, if +intending to maintain operations in their neighborhood. + +On August 14, Prevost reported home that the troops from Bordeaux had +all arrived, and, with the exception of a brigade destined for +Kingston, would be at their points of formation by the 25th; at which +date his returns show that he had under his general command, in Upper +and Lower Canada, exclusive of officers, twenty-nine thousand four +hundred and thirty-seven men. All these were British regulars, with +the exception of four thousand seven hundred and six; of which last, +two thousand two hundred belonged to "foreign" regiments, and the +remainder to provincial corps. Of this total, from eleven thousand to +fourteen thousand accompanied him in his march to Plattsburg. Under +the same date he reported that the "Confiance" could not be ready +before September 15; for which time had he patiently waited, he would +at least have better deserved success. His decision as to his line of +advance was determined by a singular consideration, deeply mortifying +to American recollection, but which must be mentioned because of its +historical interest, as an incidental indication of the slow progress +of the people of the United States towards national sentiment. +"Vermont has shown a disinclination to the war, and, as it is sending +in specie and provisions, I will confine offensive operations to the +west side of Lake Champlain."[406] Three weeks later he writes again, +"Two thirds of the army are supplied with beef by American +contractors, principally of Vermont and New York."[407] + +That this was no slander was indignantly confirmed by a citizen of +Vermont, who wrote to General Izard, June 27, "Droves of cattle are +continually passing from the northern parts of this state into Canada +for the British." Izard, in forwarding the letter, said: "This +confirms a fact not only disgraceful to our countrymen but seriously +detrimental to the public interest. From the St. Lawrence to the ocean +an open disregard prevails for the laws prohibiting intercourse with +the enemy. The road to St. Regis [New York] is covered with droves of +cattle, and the river with rafts destined for the enemy. On the +eastern side of Lake Champlain the high roads are insufficient for the +cattle pouring into Canada. Like herds of buffaloes they press through +the forests, making paths for themselves. Were it not for these +supplies, the British forces in Canada would soon be suffering from +famine."[408] The British commissary at Prescott wrote, June 19, 1814, +"I have contracted with a Yankee magistrate to furnish this post with +fresh beef. A major came with him to make the agreement; but, as he +was foreman of the grand jury of the court in which the Government +prosecutes the magistrates for high treason and smuggling, he turned +his back and would not see the paper signed."[409] More vital still in +its treason to the interests of the country, Commodore Macdonough +reported officially, June 29, that one of his officers had seized two +spars, supposed from their size to be for the fore and mizzen masts of +the "Confiance," on the way to Canada, near the lines, under the +management of citizens of the United States; and eight days later +there were intercepted four others, which from their dimensions were +fitted for her mainmast and three topmasts.[410] By this means the +British ship was to be enabled to sail for the attack on the American +fleet, and by this only; for to drag spars of that weight up the +rapids of the Richelieu, or over the rough intervening country, meant +at least unendurable delay. "The turpitude of many of our citizens in +this part of the country," wrote Macdonough, "furnishes the enemy with +every information he wants."[411] + +On August 29, four days after Prevost's divisions were expected to be +assembled at their designated rendezvous, Izard, in the face of the +storm gathering before him, started with his four thousand men from +Plattsburg for Sackett's Harbor, in obedience to the intimation of the +War Department, which he accepted as orders. Brigadier-General Macomb +was left to hold the works about Plattsburg with a force which he +stated did not exceed fifteen hundred effectives.[412] His own brigade +having been broken up to strengthen Izard's division, none of this +force was organized, except four companies of one regiment. The +remainder were convalescents, or recruits of new regiments; soldiers +as yet only in name, and without the constituted regimental framework, +incorporation into which so much facilitates the transition from the +recruit to the veteran. On September 4 seven hundred militia from the +neighborhood joined, in response to a call from Macomb; and before the +final action of the 11th other militia from New York, and volunteers +from Vermont, across the lake, kept pouring in from all quarters, in +encouraging contrast to their fellow citizens who were making money by +abetting the enemy. + +Prevost's army, which had been assembled along the frontier of Lower +Canada, from the Richelieu River to the St. Lawrence, began its +forward march August 31; the leading brigade entering the State of +New York, and encamping that night at Champlain Town, a short distance +south of the boundary. By September 4 the whole body had reached to +the village of Chazy, twenty-five miles from Plattsburg. Thus far, to +the mouth of the Little Chazy River, where the supplies of the army +were to be landed, no opposition was experienced. The American +squadron waiting on the defensive at Plattsburg, the left flank of the +British received constant support from their flotilla of gunboats and +galleys under the command of Captain Pring, who seized also the +American Island La Motte, in the narrows of the lake, abreast the +Little Chazy. The following day, September 5, delays began to be met +through the trees felled and bridges broken by Macomb's orders. On the +6th there was some skirmishing between the advanced guards; but the +American militia "could not be prevailed on to stand, notwithstanding +the exertions of their officers, although the fields were divided by +strong stone walls, and they were told that the enemy could not +possibly cut them off."[413] Deprived of this support, the small body +of regulars could do little, and the British Peninsulars pushed on +contemptuously, and almost silently. "They never deployed in their +whole march," reported Macomb, "always pressing on in column." That +evening they entered Plattsburg. Macomb retreated across the Saranac, +which divided the town. He removed from the bridges their planking, +which was used to form breastworks to dispute any attempt to force a +passage, and then retired to the works previously prepared by Izard. +These were on the bluffs on the south side of the Saranac, overlooking +the bay, and covering the peninsula embraced between the lake and the +river. + +From the 7th to the 11th, the day of the battle, the British were +employed in preparations for battering the forts, preliminary to an +assault, and there was constant skirmishing at the bridges and fords. +Macomb utilized the same time to strengthen his works, aided by the +numbers of militia continually arriving, who labored night and day +with great spirit. Prevost's purposes and actions were dominated by +the urgency of haste, owing to the lateness of the season; and this +motive co-operated with a certain captiousness of temper to +precipitate him now into a grave error of judgment and of conduct. At +Plattsburg he found the small American army intrenched behind a +fordable river, the bridges of which had been made useless; and in the +bay lay the American squadron, anchored with a view to defence. The +two were not strictly in co-operation, in their present position. +Tactically, they for the moment contributed little to each other's +support; for the reason that the position chosen judiciously by +Macdonough for the defence of the bay was too far from the works of +the army to receive--or to give--assistance with the guns of that day. +The squadron was a little over a mile from the army. It could not +remain there, if the British got possession of the works, for it would +be within range of injury at long shot; but in an engagement between +the hostile fleets the bluffs could have no share, no matter which +party held them, for the fire would be as dangerous to friend as to +foe. + +The question of probability, that the American squadron was within +long gunshot of the shore batteries, is crucial, for upon it would +depend the ultimate military judgment upon the management of Sir +George Prevost. That he felt this is evident by letters addressed on +his behalf to Macdonough; by A.W. Cochran, a lawyer of Quebec, to whom +Prevost, after his recall to England for trial, left the charge of +collecting testimony, and by Cadwalader Colden of New York.[414] Both +inquire specifically as to this distance, Colden particularizing that +"it would be all important to learn that the American squadron were +during the engagement beyond the effectual range of the batteries." To +Colden, Macdonough replied guardedly, "It is my opinion that our +squadron was anchored one mile and a half from the batteries." The +answer to Cochran has not been found; but on the back of the letter +from him the Commodore sketched his recollection of the situation, +which is here reproduced. Without insisting unduly on the precision of +such a piece, it seems clear that he thought his squadron but little +more than half way towards the other side of the bay. Cumberland Head +being by survey two miles from the batteries, it would follow that the +vessels were a little over a mile from them. This inference is adopted +as more dependable than the estimate, "a mile and a half." Such eye +reckoning is notoriously uncertain; and this seemingly was made by +recollection, not contemporaneously.[415] + +The 24- and 32-pounder long gun of that day ranged a sea mile and a +half, with an elevation of less than fifteen degrees.[416] They could +therefore annoy a squadron at or within that distance. The question +is not of best fighting range. It is whether a number of light built +and light draught vessels could hold their ground under such a +cannonade, knowing that a hostile squadron awaited them without. Even +at such random range, a disabling shot in hull or spars must be +expected. At whatever risk, departure is enforced. + + [Illustration: Tracing from pencil sketch of Battle of L. + Champlain, made by Com. Macdonough on back of a letter of + inquiry, addressed to him within a year of the action. + The names are not in the sketch; but with the letters, express + the author's understanding of the Commodore's meaning.] + +To a similar letter from Colden, General Macomb replied that he did +not think the squadron within range. There is also a statement in +Niles' Register[417] that several British officers visited Macomb at +Plattsburg, and at their request experiments were made, presumably +trial shots, to ascertain whether the guns of the forts could have +annoyed the American squadron. It was found they could not. Macomb's +opinion may have rested upon this, and the conclusion may be just; but +it is open to remark that, as the squadron was not then there, its +assumed position depended upon memory,--like Macdonough's sketch. +Macomb said further, that "a fruitless attempt was made during the +action to elevate the guns so as to bear on the enemy; but none were +fired, all being convinced that the vessels were beyond their reach." +The worth of this conviction is shown by the next remark, which he +repeated under date of August 1, 1815.[418] "This opinion was +strengthened by observations on the actual range of the guns of the +'Confiance'--her heaviest metal [24-pounders] falling upwards of five +hundred yards short of the shore." The "Confiance" was five hundred +yards further off than the American squadron, and to reach it her guns +would be elevated for that distance only. Because under such condition +they dropped their shot five hundred yards short of three thousand +five hundred yards, it is scarcely legitimate to infer that guns +elevated for three thousand could not carry so far. + +The arguments having been stated, it is to be remarked that, whatever +the truth, it is knowledge after the fact as far as Prevost was +concerned. In his report dated September 11, 1814, the day of the +action, he speaks of the difficulties which had been before him; among +them "blockhouses armed with _heavy_ ordnance." This he then believed; +and whether this ordnance could reach the squadron he could only know +by trying. It was urgently proper, in view of his large land force, +and of the expectations of his Government, which had made such great +exertions for an attainable and important object, that he should storm +the works and try. After a careful estimate of the strength of the two +squadrons, I think that a seaman would certainly say that in the open +the British was superior; but decidedly inferior for an attack upon +the American at anchor. This was the opinion of the surviving British +officers, under oath, and of Downie. General Izard, who had been in +command at Plattsburg up to a fortnight before the attack, wrote +afterwards to the Secretary of War, "I may venture to assert that +without the works, Fort Moreau and its dependencies, Captain +Macdonough would not have ventured to await the enemy's attack in +Plattsburg Bay, but would have retired to the upper part of Lake +Champlain."[419] The whole campaign turning upon naval control, the +situation was eminently one that called upon the army to drive the +enemy from his anchorage. The judgment of the author endorses the +words of Sir James Yeo: "There was not the least necessity for our +squadron giving the enemy such decided advantages by going into their +bay to engage them. Even had they been successful, it could not in the +least have assisted the troops in storming the batteries; whereas, +had our troops taken their batteries first, it would have obliged the +enemy's squadron to quit the bay and given ours a fair chance."[420] +At the Court Martial two witnesses, Lieutenant Drew of the "Linnet," +and Brydone, master of the "Confiance," swore that after the action +Macdonough removed his squadron to Crab Island, out of range of the +batteries. Macdonough in his report does not mention this; nor was it +necessary that he should. + +In short, though apparently so near, the two fractions of the American +force, the army and the navy, were actually in the dangerous military +condition of being exposed to be beaten in detail; and the destruction +of either would probably be fatal to the other. The largest two +British vessels, "Confiance" and "Linnet," were slightly inferior to +the American "Saratoga" and "Eagle" in aggregate weight of broadside; +but, like the "General Pike" on Ontario in 1813, the superiority of +the "Confiance" in long guns, and under one captain, would on the open +lake have made her practically equal to cope with the whole American +squadron, and still more with the "Saratoga" alone, assuming that the +"Linnet" gave the "Eagle" some occupation. + +It would seem clear, therefore, that the true combination for the +British general would have been to use his military superiority, vast +in quality as in numbers, to reduce the works and garrison at +Plattsburg. That accomplished, the squadron would be driven to the +open lake, where the "Confiance" could bring into play her real +superiority, instead of being compelled to sacrifice it by attacking +vessels in a carefully chosen position, ranged with a seaman's eye for +defence, and prepared with a seaman's foresight for every contingency. +Prevost, however, became possessed with the idea that a joint attack +was indispensable,[421] and in communicating his purpose to the +commander of the squadron, Captain Downie, he used language +indefensible in itself, tending to goad a sensitive man into action +contrary to his better judgment; and he clenched this injudicious +proceeding with words which certainly implied an assurance of assault +by the army on the works, simultaneous with that of the navy on the +squadron. + +Captain Downie had taken command of the Champlain fleet only on +September 2. He was next in rank to Yeo on the lakes, a circumstance +that warranted his orders; the immediate reason for which, however, as +explained by Yeo to the Admiralty, was that his predecessor's temper +had shown him unfit for chief command. He had quarrelled with Pring, +and Yeo felt the change essential. Downie, upon arrival, found the +"Confiance" in a very incomplete state, for which he at least was in +no wise responsible. He had brought with him a first lieutenant in +whom he had merited confidence, and the two worked diligently to get +her into shape. The crew had been assembled hurriedly by draughts from +several ships at Quebec, from the 39th regiment, and from the marine +artillery. The last detachment came on board the night but one before +the battle. They thus were unknown by face to their officers, and +largely to one another. Launched August 25, the ship hauled from the +wharf into the stream September 7, and the same day started for the +front, being towed by boats against a head wind and downward current. +Behind her dragged a batteau carrying her powder, while her magazine +was being finished. + +The next day a similar painful advance was made, and the crew then +were stationed at the guns, while the mechanics labored at their +fittings. That night she anchored off Chazy, where the whole squadron +was now gathered. The 9th was spent at anchor, exercising the guns; +the mechanics still at work. In fact, the hammering and driving +continued until two hours before the ship came under fire, when the +last gang shoved off, leaving her still unfinished. "This day"--the +9th--wrote the first lieutenant, Robertson, "employed setting-up +rigging, scraping decks, manning and arranging the gunboats. Exercised +at great guns. Artificers employed fitting beds, coins, belaying pins, +etc;"[422]--essentials for fighting the guns and working the sails. It +scarcely needs the habit of a naval seaman to recognize that even +three or four days' grace for preparation would immensely increase +efficiency. Nevertheless, such was the pressure from without that the +order was given for the squadron to go into action next day; and this +was prevented only by a strong head wind, against which there was not +channel space to beat. + +As long as Prevost was contending with the difficulties of his own +advance he seems not to have worried Downie; but as soon as fairly +before the works of Plattsburg he initiated a correspondence, which on +his part became increasingly peremptory. It will be remembered that he +not only was much the senior in rank,--as in years,--but also +Governor-General of Canada. Nor should it be forgotten that he had +known and written a month before that the "Confiance" could not be +ready before September 15. He knew, as his subsequent action showed, +that if the British fleet were disabled his own progress was hopeless; +and, if he could not understand that to a ship so lately afloat a day +was worth a week of ordinary conditions, he should at least have +realized that the naval captain could judge better than he when she +was ready for battle. On September 7 he wrote to urge Downie, who +replied the same day with assurances of every exertion to hasten +matters. The 8th he sent information of Macdonough's arrangements by +an aid, who carried also a letter saying that "it is of the highest +importance that the ships, vessels, and gunboats, under your command, +should combine a co-operation with the division of the army under my +command. I only wait for your arrival to proceed against General +Macomb's last position on the south bank of the Saranac." On the 9th +he wrote, "In consequence of your communication of yesterday I have +postponed action until your squadron is prepared to co-operate. I need +not dwell with you on the evils resulting to both services from +delay." He inclosed reports received from deserters that the American +fleet was insufficiently manned; and that when the "Eagle" arrived, a +few days before, they had swept the guard houses of prisoners to +complete her crew. A postscript conveyed a scarcely veiled intimation +that an eye was kept on his proceedings. "Captain Watson of the +provincial cavalry is directed to remain at Little Chazy until you are +preparing to get underway, when he is instructed to return to this +place with the intelligence."[423] + +Thus pressed, Downie, as has been said, gave orders to sail at +midnight, with the expectation of rounding into Plattsburg Bay about +dawn, and proceeding to an immediate attack. This purpose was +communicated formally to Prevost. The preventing cause, the head wind, +was obvious enough, and spoke for itself; but the check drew from +Prevost words which stung Downie to the quick. "In consequence of your +letter the troops have been held in readiness, since six o'clock this +morning, to storm the enemy's works at nearly the same moment as the +naval action begins in the bay. I ascribe the disappointment I have +experienced to the unfortunate change of wind, and shall rejoice to +learn that my reasonable expectations have been frustrated by no other +cause." The letter was sent by the aid, Major Coore, who had carried +the others; and both he and Pring, who were present, testified to the +effect upon Downie. Coore, in a vindication of Prevost, wrote, "After +perusing it, Captain Downie said with some warmth, 'I am surprised Sir +George Prevost should think necessary to urge me upon this subject. He +must feel I am as desirous of proceeding to active operations as he +can be; but I am responsible for the squadron, and no man shall make +me lead it into action before I consider it in fit condition.'"[424] +Nevertheless, the effect was produced; for he remarked afterward to +Pring, "This letter does not deserve an answer, but I will convince +him that the naval force will not be backward in their share of the +attack."[425] + +It was arranged that the approach of the squadron should be signalled +by scaling the guns,--firing cartridges without shot; and Downie +certainty understood, and informed his officers generally, that the +army would assault in co-operation with the attack of the fleet. The +precise nature of his expectation was clearly conveyed to Pring, who +had represented the gravity of this undertaking. "When the batteries +are stormed and taken possession of by the British land forces, which +the commander of the land forces has promised to do at the moment the +naval action commences, the enemy will be obliged to quit their +position, whereby we shall obtain decided advantage over them during +their confusion. I would otherwise prefer fighting them on the lake, +and would wait until our force is in an efficient state; but I fear +they would take shelter up the lake and would not meet me on equal +terms."[426] The following morning, September 11, the wind being fair +from northeast, the British fleet weighed before daylight and stood up +the narrows for the open lake and Plattsburg Bay. About five o'clock +the agreed signal was given by scaling the guns, the reports of which +it was presumed must certainly be heard by the army at the then +distance of six or seven miles, with the favorable air blowing. At +7.30, near Cumberland Head, the squadron hove-to, and Captain Downie +went ahead in a boat to reconnoitre the American position. + +For defence against the hostile squadron, Macdonough had had to rely +solely on his own force, and its wise disposition by him. On shore, a +defensive position is determined by the circumstances of the ground +selected, improved by fortification; all which gives strength +additional to the number of men. A sailing squadron anchored for +defence similarly gained force by adapting its formation to the +circumstances of the anchorage, and to known wind conditions, with +careful preparations to turn the guns in any direction; deliberate +precautions, not possible to the same extent to the assailant +anchoring under fire. To this is to be added the release of the crew +from working sails to manning the guns. + +Plattsburg Bay, in which the United States squadron was anchored, is +two miles wide, and two long. It lies north and south, open to the +southward. Its eastern boundary is called Cumberland Head. The British +vessels, starting from below, in a channel too narrow to beat, must +come up with a north wind. To insure that this should be ahead, or +bring them close on the wind, after rounding the Head,--a condition +unfavorable for attack,--Macdonough fixed the head of his line as far +north as was safe; having in mind that the enemy might bring guns to +the shore north of the Saranac. His order thence extended southward, +abreast of the American works, and somewhat nearer the Cumberland than +the Plattsburg side. The wind conditions further made it expedient to +put the strongest vessels to the northward,--to windward,--whence they +would best be able to manoeuvre as circumstances might require. The +order from north to south therefore was: the brig "Eagle," twenty +guns; the ship "Saratoga," twenty-six; the "Ticonderoga" schooner, +seven, and the sloop "Preble," seven. + +Macdonough's dispositions being perfectly under observation, Captain +Downie framed his plan accordingly.[427] The "Confiance" should engage +the "Saratoga;" but, before doing so, would pass along the "Eagle," +from north to south, give her a broadside, and then anchor head and +stern across the bows of the "Saratoga." After this, the "Linnet," +supported by the "Chub," would become the opponent of the "Eagle," +reduced more nearly to equality by the punishment already received. +Three British vessels would thus grapple the two strongest enemies. +The "Finch" was to attack the American rear, supported by all the +British gunboats--eleven in number. There were American gunboats, or +galleys, as well, which Macdonough distributed in groups, inshore of +his order; but, as was almost invariably the case, these light vessels +exerted no influence on the result. + +This being the plan, when the wind came northeast on the morning of +September 11, the British stood up the lake in column, as follows: +"Finch," "Confiance," "Linnet," "Chub." Thus, when they rounded +Cumberland Head, and simultaneously changed course towards the +American line, they would be properly disposed to reach the several +places assigned. As the vessels came round the Head, to Downie's +dismay no co-operation by the army was visible. He was fairly +committed to his movement, however, and could only persist. As the +initial act was to be the attack upon the "Eagle" by the "Confiance," +she led in advance of her consorts, which caused a concentration of +the hostile guns upon her; the result being that she was unable to +carry out her part. The wind also failed, and she eventually anchored +five hundred yards from the American line. Her first broadside is said +to have struck down forty, or one fifth of the "Saratoga's" crew. As +in the case of the "Chesapeake," this shows men of naval training, +accustomed to guns; but, as with the "Chesapeake," lack of +organization, of the habit of working together, officers and men, was +to tell ere the end. Fifteen minutes after the action began Captain +Downie was killed, leaving in command Lieutenant Robertson. + + [Illustration: BATTLE OF LAKE CHAMPLAIN] + +The "Linnet" reached her berth and engaged the "Eagle" closely; but +the "Chub," which was to support her, received much damage to her +sails and rigging, and the lieutenant in charge was nervously +prostrated by a not very severe wound. Instead of anchoring, she was +permitted to drift helplessly, and so passed through the American +order, where she hauled down her colors. Though thus disappointed of +the assistance intended for her, the "Linnet" continued to fight +manfully and successfully, her opponent finally quitting the line; a +result to which the forward battery of the "Confiance" in large +measure contributed.[428] The "Finch," by an error of judgment on the +part of her commander, did not keep near enough to the wind. She +therefore failed to reach her position, near the "Ticonderoga;" and +the breeze afterwards falling, she could not retrieve her error. +Ultimately, she went ashore on Crab Island, a mile to the southward. +This remoteness enabled her to keep her flag flying till her consorts +had surrendered; but the credit of being last to strike belongs really +to the "Linnet," Captain Pring. By the failure of the "Finch," the +"Ticonderoga" underwent no attack except by the British gunboats. +Whatever might possibly have come of this was frustrated by the +misbehavior of most of them. Four fought with great gallantry and +persistence, eliciting much admiration from their opponents; but the +remainder kept at distance, the commander of the whole actually +running away, and absconding afterwards to avoid trial. The +"Ticonderoga" maintained her position to the end; but the weak +"Preble" was forced from her anchors, and ran ashore under the +Plattsburg batteries. + +The fight thus resolved itself into a contest between the "Saratoga" +and "Eagle," on one side, the "Confiance" and "Linnet" on the other. +The wind being north-northeast, the ships at their anchors headed so +that the forward third of the "Confiance's" battery bore upon the +"Eagle," and only the remaining two thirds upon the "Saratoga." This +much equalized conditions all round. It was nine o'clock when she +anchored. At 10.30 the "Eagle," having many of her guns on the engaged +side disabled, cut her cable, ran down the line, and placed herself +south of the "Saratoga," anchoring by the stern. This had the effect +of turning towards the enemy her other side, the guns of which were +still uninjured. "In this new position," wrote Lieutenant Robertson, +"she kept up a destructive fire on the "Confiance," without being +exposed to a shot from that ship or the "Linnet." On the other hand, +Macdonough found the "Saratoga" suffer from the "Linnet," now relieved +of her immediate opponent."[429] + +By this time the fire of both the "Saratoga" and "Confiance" had +materially slackened, owing to the havoc among guns and men. Nearly +the whole battery on the starboard side of the United States ship was +dismounted, or otherwise unserviceable. The only resource was to +bring the uninjured side towards the enemy, as the "Eagle" had just +done; but to use the same method, getting under way, would be to +abandon the fight, for there was not astern another position of +usefulness for the "Saratoga." There was nothing for it but to +"wind"[430] the ship--turn her round where she was. Then appeared the +advantage attendant upon the defensive, if deliberately utilized. The +"Confiance" standing in had had shot away, one after another, the +anchors and ropes upon which she depended for such a manoeuvre.[431] +The "Saratoga's" resources were unimpaired. A stern anchor was let go, +the bow cable cut, and the ship winded, either by force of the wind, +or by the use of "springs"[432] before prepared, presenting to the +"Confiance" her uninjured broadside--for fighting purposes a new +vessel. The British ship, having now but four guns that could be used +on the side engaged,[433] must do the like, or be hopelessly +overmatched. The stern anchor prepared having been shot away, an +effort was made to swing her by a new spring on the bow cable; but +while this slow process was carrying on, and the ship so far turned as +to be at right angles with the American line, a raking shot entered, +killing and wounding several of the crew. Then, reported Lieutenant +Robertson, the surviving officer in command, "the ship's company +declared they would stand no longer to their quarters, nor could the +officers with their utmost exertions rally them." The vessel was in a +sinking condition, kept afloat by giving her a marked heel to +starboard, by running in the guns on the port side, so as to bring the +shot holes out of water.[434] The wounded on the deck below had to be +continually moved, lest they should be drowned where they lay. She +drew but eight and a half feet of water. Her colors were struck at +about 11 A.M.; the "Linnet's" fifteen minutes later. By Macdonough's +report, the action had lasted two hours and twenty minutes, without +intermission. + + [Illustration: THE BATTLE OF LAKE CHAMPLAIN. + _Drawn by Henry Reuterdahl._] + +Few combats have been more resolutely contested. The "Saratoga" had +fifty-five round shot in her hull; the "Confiance," one hundred and +five.[435] Of the American crew of two hundred and ten men, +twenty-eight were killed and twenty-nine wounded. The British loss is +not known exactly. Robertson reported that there were thirty-eight +bodies sent ashore for interment, besides those thrown overboard in +action. This points to a loss of about fifty killed, and James states +the wounded at about sixty; the total was certainly more than one +hundred in a ship's company of two hundred and seventy. + +There was reason for obstinacy, additional to the natural resolution +of the parties engaged. The battle of Lake Champlain, more nearly than +any other incident of the War of 1812, merits the epithet "decisive." +The moment the issue was known, Prevost retreated into Canada; +entirely properly, as indicated by the Duke of Wellington's words +before and after. His previous conduct was open to censure, for he had +used towards Captain Downie urgency of pressure which induced that +officer to engage prematurely; "goaded" into action, as Yeo wrote. +Before the usual naval Court Martial, the officers sworn testified +that Downie had been led to expect co-operation, which in their +judgment would have reversed the issue; but that no proper assault was +made. Charges were preferred, and Prevost was summoned home; but he +died before trial. There remains therefore no sworn testimony on his +side, nor was there any adequate cross-examination of the naval +witnesses. In the judgment of the writer, it was incumbent upon +Prevost to assault the works when Downie was known to be approaching, +with a fair wind, in the hope of driving the American squadron from +its anchors to the open lake, where the real superiority of the +British could assert itself.[436] + +Castlereagh's "chances of the campaign" had gone so decidedly against +the British that no ground was left to claim territorial adjustments. +To effect these the war must be continued; and for this Great Britain +was not prepared, nor could she afford the necessary detachment of +force. In the completeness of Napoleon's downfall, we now are prone to +forget that remaining political conditions in Europe still required +all the Great Powers to keep their arms at hand. + + * * * * * + +The war was practically ended by Prevost's retreat. What remained was +purely episodical in character, and should be so regarded. +Nevertheless, although without effect upon the issue, and indeed in +great part transacted after peace had been actually signed, it is so +directly consecutive with the war as to require united treatment. + +Very soon after reaching Bermuda, Vice-Admiral Cochrane, in pursuance +of the "confidential communications with which he was charged," the +character of which, he intimated to Warren,[437] was a reason for +expediting the transfer of the command, despatched the frigate +"Orpheus" to the Appalachicola River to negotiate with the Creek and +other Indians. The object was to rouse and arm "our Indian allies in +the Southern States," and to arrange with them a system of training by +British officers, and a general plan of action; by which, "supporting +the Indian tribes situated on the confines of Florida, and in the back +parts of Georgia, it would be easy to reduce New Orleans, and to +distress the enemy very seriously in the neighboring provinces."[438] + +The "Orpheus" arrived at the mouth of the Appalachicola May 10, 1814, +and on the 20th her captain, Pigot, had an interview with the +principal Creek chiefs. He found[439] that the feeling of their people +was very strong against the Americans; and from the best attainable +information he estimated that twenty-eight hundred warriors were ready +to take up arms with the British. There were said to be as many more +Choctaws thus disposed; and perhaps a thousand other Indians, then +dispersed and unarmed, could be collected. The negroes of Georgia +would probably also come over in crowds, once the movement started. +With a suitable number of British subalterns and drill sergeants, the +savages could be fitted to act in concert with British troops in eight +or ten weeks; for they were already familiar with the use of +fire-arms, and were moreover good horsemen. The season of the year +being still so early, there was ample time for the necessary training. +With these preparations, and adequate supplies of arms and military +stores, Pigot thought that a handful of British troops, co-operating +with the Creeks and Choctaws, could get possession of Baton Rouge, +from which New Orleans and the lower Mississippi would be an easy +conquest. Between Pensacola, still in the possession of Spain, and New +Orleans, Mobile was the only post held by the United States. In its +fort were two hundred troops, and in those up country not more than +seven hundred. + +When transmitting this letter, which, with his own of June 20, was +received at the Admiralty August 8, Cochrane endorsed most of Pigot's +recommendations. He gave as his own estimate, that to drive the +Americans entirely out of Louisiana and the Floridas would require not +more than three thousand British troops; to be landed at Mobile, where +they would be joined by all the Indians and the disaffected French and +Spaniards.[440] In this calculation reappears the perennial error of +relying upon disaffected inhabitants, as well as savages. Disaffection +must be supported by intolerable conditions, before inhabitants will +stake all; not merely the chance of life, but the certainty of losing +property, if unsuccessful. Cochrane took the further practical step of +sending at once such arms and ammunition as the fleet could spare, +together with four officers and one hundred and eight non-commissioned +officers and privates of the marine corps, to train the Indians. These +were all under the command of Major Nicholls, who for this service was +given the local rank of Colonel. The whole were despatched July 23, in +the naval vessels "Hermes" and "Carron," for the Appalachicola. The +Admiral, while contemplating evidently a progress towards Baton Rouge, +looked also to coastwise operations; for he asked the Government to +furnish him vessels of light draught, to carry heavy guns into Lake +Ponchartrain, and to navigate the shoal water between it and Mobile, +now called Mississippi Sound. + +The Admiralty in reply[441] reminded Cochrane of the former purpose +of the Government to direct operations against New Orleans, with a +very large force under Lord Hill, Wellington's second in the +Peninsular War. Circumstances had made it inexpedient to send so many +troops from Europe at this moment; but, in view of the Admiral's +recommendation, General Ross would be directed to co-operate in the +intended movement at the proper season, and his corps would be raised +to six thousand men, independent of such help in seamen and marines as +the fleet might afford. The re-enforcements would be sent to Negril +Bay, at the west end of Jamaica, which was made the general +rendezvous; and there Cochrane and Ross were directed to join not +later than November 20. The purpose of the Government in attempting +the enterprise was stated to be twofold. "First, to obtain command of +the embouchure of the Mississippi, so as to deprive the back +settlements of America of their communication with the sea; and, +secondly, to occupy some important and valuable possession, by the +restoration of which the conditions of peace might be improved, or +which we might be entitled to exact the cession of, as the price of +peace." Entire discretion was left with the two commanders as to the +method of proceeding, whether directly against New Orleans, by water, +or to its rear, by land, through the country of the Creeks; and they +were at liberty to abandon the undertaking in favor of some other, +should that course seem more suitable. When news of the capture of +Washington was received, two thousand additional troops were sent to +Bermuda, under the impression that the General might desire to push +his success on the Atlantic coast. These ultimately joined the +expedition two days before the attack on Jackson's lines. Upon the +death of General Ross, Sir Edward Pakenham was ordered to replace him; +but he did not arrive until after the landing, and had therefore no +voice in determining the general line of operations adopted. + +These were the military instructions. To them were added certain +others, political in character, dictated mainly by the disturbed state +of Europe, and with an eye to appease the jealousies existing among +the Powers, which extended to American conditions, colonial and +commercial. While united against Napoleon, they viewed with distrust +the aggrandizement of Great Britain. Ross was ordered, therefore, to +discountenance any overture of the inhabitants to place themselves +under British dominion; but should he find a general and decided +disposition to withdraw from their recent connection with the United +States, with the view of establishing themselves as an independent +people, or of returning under the dominion of Spain, from which they +then had been separated less than twenty years, he was to give them +every support in his power. He must make them clearly understand, +however, that in the peace with the United States neither independence +nor restoration to Spain could be made a _sine quâ non_;[442] there +being about that a finality, of which the Government had already been +warned in the then current negotiations with the American +commissioners. These instructions to Ross were communicated to Lord +Castlereagh at Vienna, to use as might be expedient in the discussions +of the Conference. + +No serious attempt was made in the direction of Baton Rouge, through +the back countries of Georgia and Florida; nor does there appear any +result of consequence from the mission of Colonel Nicholls. On +September 17 the "Hermes" and "Carron," supported by two brigs of war, +made an attack upon Fort Bowyer, a work of logs and sand commanding +the entrance to Mobile Bay. After a severe cannonade, lasting between +two and three hours, they were repulsed; and the "Hermes," running +aground, was set on fire by her captain to prevent her falling into +the hands of the enemy. Mobile was thus preserved from becoming the +starting point of the expedition, as suggested by Cochrane; and that +this object underlay the attempt may be inferred from the finding of +the Court Martial upon Captain Percy of the "Hermes," which decided +that the attack was perfectly justified by the circumstances stated at +the trial.[443] + +In October, 1810, by executive proclamation of President Madison, the +United States had taken possession of the region between Louisiana and +the River Perdido,[444] being the greater part of what was then known +as West Florida. The Spanish troops occupying Mobile, however, were +not then disturbed;[445] nor was there a military occupation, except +of one almost uninhabited spot near Bay St. Louis.[446] This +intervention was justified on the ground of a claim to the territory, +asserted to be valid; and occasion for it was found in the danger of a +foreign interference, resulting from the subversion of Spanish +authority by a revolutionary movement. By Great Britain it was +regarded as a usurpation, to effect which advantage had been taken of +the embarrassment of the Spaniards when struggling against Napoleon +for national existence. On May 14, 1812, being then on the verge of +war with Great Britain, the ally of Spain, an Act of Congress declared +the whole country annexed, and extended over it the jurisdiction of +the United States. Mobile was occupied April 15, 1813. Pensacola, east +of the Perdido, but close to it, remained in the hands of Spain, and +was used as a base of operations by the British fleet, both before and +after the attack of the "Hermes" and her consorts upon Fort Bowyer. +From there Nicholls announced that he had arrived in the Floridas for +the purpose of annoying "the only enemy Great Britain has in the +world"[447]; and Captain Percy thence invited the pirates of Barataria +to join the British cause. Cochrane also informed the Admiralty that +for quicker communication, while operating in the Gulf, he intended to +establish a system of couriers through Florida, between Amelia Island +and Pensacola, both under Spanish jurisdiction.[448] On the score of +neutrality, therefore, fault can scarcely be found with General +Jackson for assaulting the latter, which surrendered to him November +7. The British vessels departed, and the works were blown up; after +which the place was restored to the Spaniards. + +In acknowledging the Admiralty's letter of August 10, Cochrane said +that the diminution of numbers from those intended for Lord Hill would +not affect his plans; that, unless the United States had sent very +great re-enforcements to Louisiana, the troops now to be employed were +perfectly adequate, even without the marines. These he intended to +send under Rear-Admiral Cockburn, to effect a diversion by occupying +Cumberland Island, off the south coast of Georgia, about November 10, +whence the operations would be extended to the mainland. It was hoped +this would draw to the coast the American force employed against the +Indians, and so favor the movements in Louisiana.[449] While not +expressly stated, the inference seems probable that Cochrane +still--October 3--expected to land at Mobile. For some reason +Cockburn's attack on Cumberland Island did not occur until January 12, +when the New Orleans business was already concluded; so that, although +successful, and prosecuted further to the seacoast, it had no +influence upon the general issues. + +Cochrane, with the division from the Atlantic coast, joined the +re-enforcements from England in Negril Bay, and thence proceeded to +Mississippi Sound; anchoring off Ship Island, December 8. On the 2d +General Jackson had arrived in New Orleans, whither had been ordered a +large part of the troops heretofore acting against the Creeks. The +British commanders had now determined definitely to attack the city +from the side of the sea. As there could be little hope for vessels +dependent upon sails to pass the forts on the lower Mississippi, +against the strong current, as was done by Farragut's steamers fifty +years later, it was decided to reach the river far above those works, +passing the army through some of the numerous bayous which intersect +the swampy delta to the eastward. From Ship Island this desired +approach could be made through Lake Borgne. + +For the defence of these waters there were stationed five American +gunboats and two or three smaller craft, the whole under command of +Lieutenant Thomas ap Catesby Jones. As even the lighter British ships +of war could not here navigate, on account of the shoalness, and the +troops, to reach the place of debarkation, the Bayou des Pêcheurs, at +the head of Lake Borgne, must go sixty miles in open boats, the +hostile gun vessels had first to be disposed of. Jones, who from an +advanced position had been watching the enemy's proceedings in +Mississippi Sound, decided December 12 that their numbers had so +increased as to make remaining hazardous. He therefore retired, both +to secure his retreat and to cause the boats of the fleet a longer and +more harassing pull to overtake him. The movement was none too soon, +for that night the British barges and armed boats left the fleet in +pursuit. Jones was not able to get as far as he wished, on account of +failure of wind; but nevertheless on the 13th the enemy did not come +up with him. During the night he made an attempt at further +withdrawal; but calm continuing, and a strong ebb-tide running, he was +compelled again to anchor at 1 A.M. of the 14th, and prepared for +battle. His five gunboats, with one light schooner, were ranged in +line across the channel way, taking the usual precautions of springs +on their cables and boarding nettings triced up. Unluckily for the +solidity of his order, the current set two of the gunboats, one being +his own, some distance to the eastward,--in advance of the others. + +At daylight the British flotilla was seen nine miles distant, at +anchor. By Jones' count it comprised forty-two launches and three +light gigs.[450] They soon after weighed and pulled towards the +gunboats. At ten, being within long gunshot, they again anchored for +breakfast; after which they once more took to the oars. An hour later +they closed with their opponents. The British commander, Captain +Lockyer, threw his own boat, together with a half-dozen others, upon +Jones' vessel, "Number 156,"[451] and carried her after a sharp +struggle of about twenty minutes, during which both Lockyer and Jones +were severely wounded. Her guns were then turned against her late +comrades, in support of the British boarders, and at the end of +another half-hour, at 12.40 P.M., the last of them surrendered. + +That this affair was very gallantly contested on both sides is +sufficiently shown by the extent of the British loss--seventeen killed +and seventy-seven wounded.[452] They were of course in much larger +numbers than the Americans. No such attempt should be made except with +this advantage, and the superiority should be as great as is permitted +by the force at the disposal of the assailant. + +This obstacle to the movement of the troops being removed, debarkation +began at the mouth of the Bayou des Pêcheurs;[453] whence the +British, undiscovered during their progress, succeeded in penetrating +by the Bayou Bienvenu and its tributaries to a point on the +Mississippi eight miles below New Orleans. The advance corps, sixteen +hundred strong, arrived there at noon, December 23, accompanied by +Major-General Keane, as yet in command of the whole army. The news +reached Jackson two hours later. + +Fresh from the experiences of Washington and Baltimore, the British +troops flattered themselves with the certainty of a quiet night. The +Americans, they said to each other, have never dared to attack. At +7.30, however, a vessel dropped her anchor abreast them, and a voice +was heard, "Give them this for the honor of America!" The words were +followed by the discharge of her battery, which swept through the +camp. Without artillery to reply, having but two light field guns, +while the assailant--the naval schooner "Caroline," Lieut. J.D. +Henley--had anchored out of musket range, the invaders, suffering +heavily, were driven to seek shelter behind the levee, where they lay +for nearly an hour.[454] At the end of this, a dropping fire was heard +from above and inland. Jackson, with sound judgment and characteristic +energy, had decided to attack at once, although, by his own report, he +could as yet muster only fifteen hundred men, of whom but six hundred +were regulars. A confused and desperate night action followed, the men +on both sides fighting singly or in groups, ignorant often whether +those before them were friends or foes. The Americans eventually +withdrew, carrying with them sixty-six prisoners. Their loss in killed +and wounded was one hundred and thirty-nine; that of the British, two +hundred and thirteen. + +The noise of this rencounter hastened the remainder of the British +army, and by the night of December 24 the whole were on the ground. +Meantime, the "Caroline" had been joined by the ship "Louisiana," +which anchored nearly a mile above her. In her came Commodore +Patterson, in chief naval command. The presence of the two impelled +the enemy to a slight retrograde movement, out of range of their +artillery. The next morning, Christmas, Sir Edward Pakenham arrived +from England. A personal examination satisfied him that only by a +reconnaissance in force could he ascertain the American strength and +preparations, and that, as a preliminary to such attempt, the vessels +whose guns swept the line of advance must be driven off. On the 26th +the "Caroline" tried to get up stream to Jackson's camp, but could not +against a strong head wind; and on the 27th the British were able to +burn her with hot shot. The "Louisiana" succeeded in shifting her +place, and thenceforth lay on the west bank of the stream, abreast of +and flanking the entrenchments behind which Jackson was established. + +These obstacles gone, Pakenham made his reconnaissance. As described +by a participant,[455] the British advanced four or five miles on +December 28, quite unaware what awaited them, till a turn in the road +brought them face to face with Jackson's entrenchments. These covered +a front of three fourths of a mile, and neither flank could be turned, +because resting either on the river or the swamp. They were not yet +complete, but afforded good shelter for riflemen, and had already +several cannon in position, while the "Louisiana's" broadside also +swept the ground in front. A hot artillery fire opened at once from +both ship and works, and when the British infantry advanced they +were met equally with musketry. The day's results convinced Pakenham +that he must resort to the erection of batteries before attempting an +assault; an unfortunate necessity, as the delay not only encouraged +the defenders, but allowed time for re-enforcement, and for further +development of their preparations. While the British siege pieces were +being brought forward, largely from the fleet, a distance of seventy +miles, the American Navy was transferring guns from the "Louisiana" to +a work on the opposite side of the river, which would flank the +enemies' batteries, as well as their columns in case of an attempt to +storm. + + [Illustration: MAP + SHOWING THE LANDING OF THE + BRITISH ARMY + its several Encampments and Fortifications on the Mississippi and + the Works they erected on their Retreat; also the different + Posts, Encampments and Fortifications made by the several Corps + of the American Army during the whole Campaign + by Major A. LACARRIERE LATOUR Late Principal Engineer 7th + Military District U.S. Army 1815] + +When the guns had arrived, the British on the night of December 31 +threw up entrenchments, finding convenient material in the sugar +hogsheads of the plantations. On the morning of January 1 they opened +with thirty pieces at a distance of five hundred yards; but it was +soon found that in such a duel they were hopelessly overmatched, a +result to which contributed the enfilading position of the naval +battery. "To the well-directed exertions from the other side of the +river," wrote Jackson to Patterson, after the close of the operations, +"must be ascribed in great measure that harassment of the enemy which +led to his ignominious flight." The British guns were silenced, and +for the moment abandoned; but during the night they were either +withdrawn or destroyed. It was thus demonstrated that no adequate +antecedent impression could be made on the American lines by +cannonade; and, as neither flank could be turned, no resource +remained, on the east shore at least, but direct frontal assault. + +But while Jackson's main position was thus secure, he ran great risk +that the enemy, by crossing the river, and successful advance there, +might establish themselves in rear of his works; which, if effected, +would put him at the same disadvantage that the naval battery now +imposed upon his opponents. His lines would be untenable if his +antagonist commanded the water, or gained the naval battery on his +flank, to which the crew of the "Louisiana" and her long guns had now +been transferred. This the British also perceived, and began to +improve a narrow canal which then led from the head of the bayou to +the levee, but was passable by canoes only. They expected ultimately +to pierce the levee, and launch barges upon the river; but the work +was impeded by the nature of the soil, the river fell, and some of the +heavier boats grounding delayed the others, so that, at the moment of +final assault, only five hundred men had been transported instead of +thrice that number, as intended.[456] What these few effected showed +how real and great was the danger. + +The canal was completed on the evening of January 6, on which day the +last re-enforcements from England, sixteen hundred men under +Major-General Lambert, reached the front. Daylight of January 8 was +appointed for the general assault; the intervening day and night being +allowed for preparations, and for dragging forward the boats into the +river. It was expected that the whole crossing party of fifteen +hundred, under Colonel Thornton, would be on the west bank, ready to +move forward at the same moment as the principal assault, which was +also to be supported by all the available artillery, playing upon the +naval battery to keep down its fire. There was therefore no lack of +ordinary military prevision; but after waiting until approaching +daylight began to throw more light than was wished upon the advance of +the columns, Pakenham gave the concerted signal. Owing to the causes +mentioned, Thornton had but just landed with his first detachment of +five hundred. Eager to seize the battery, from which was to be feared +so much destructive effect on the storming columns on the east bank, +he pushed forward at once with the men he had, his flank towards the +river covered by a division of naval armed boats; "but the ensemble of +the general movement," wrote the British general, Lambert, who +succeeded Pakenham in command, "was thus lost, and in a point which +was of the last importance to the [main] attack on the left bank of +the river." + +Not only was Thornton too weak, but he was eight hours[457] late, +though not by his own fault. Commodore Patterson, whose duties kept +him on the west bank, reported that the naval battery was actively and +effectively employed upon the flank of the storming columns, and it +was not until some time after the engagement opened that he was +informed of the near approach of the British detachment on that side. +In prevision of such an attempt, a line of works had been thrown up at +the lower end of the naval battery, at right angles to it, to cover +its flank. This was weak, however, at the extremity farthest from the +river, and thither the British directed their attack. The defenders +there, some very newly joined Kentucky militia, broke and fled, and +their flight carried with them all the other infantry. The seamen of +the battery, deprived of their supports, retreated after spiking their +guns, which fell into the enemy's hands; and Thornton, who was +severely wounded, was able to date his report of success from the +"Redoubt on the right bank of the Mississippi."[458] He advanced +actually, and without serious opposition, a mile above--that is, in +rear of--Jackson's lines and the "Louisiana's" anchorage. "This +important rout," wrote Jackson, "had totally changed the aspect of +affairs. The enemy now occupied a position from which they might annoy +us without hazard, and by means of which they might have been enabled +to defeat, in a great measure, the effects of our success on this side +of the river. It became, therefore, an object of the first consequence +to dislodge him as soon as possible." + +Jackson himself attributed his success in this desirable object as +much to negotiation as to the force he would be able to apply. The +story of the main assault and its disastrous repulse is familiar. In +itself, it was but an instance of a truth conspicuously illustrated, +before and after, on many fields, of the desperate character of a +frontal attack upon protected men accustomed to the use of +fire-arms--even though they be irregulars. Could Thornton's movement +have been made in full force assigned, and at the moment intended,--so +that most of the advance on both sides the river could have been +consummated before dawn,--a successful flanking operation would have +been effected; and it is far from improbable that Jackson, finding the +naval guns turned against him, would have been driven out of his +lines. With raw troops under his command, and six thousand veterans +upon his heels, no stand could have been made short of the town, nor +in it. + +As it was, the failure of the two parts of the British to act +coincidently caused them to be beaten in detail: for the disastrous +and bloody repulse of the columns on the east bank led to the +withdrawal of the tiny body on the west.[459] No further attempt was +made. On the 18th of January the British withdrew. In pursuance of the +full discretionary power given by their orders as to any further +employment upon the American coast of the forces under their command, +General Lambert and the Admiral then concerted an attack upon Fort +Bowyer, at the entrance to Mobile Bay. This surrendered February 11, +the day that the news of the Peace reached New York. + + * * * * * + +The ocean as well as the land had its episodes of fighting after peace +had been signed. The United States frigate "President," which during +the first two years of the war had been commanded continuously by +Commodore John Rodgers, was in May, 1814, transferred to Decatur, who +took to her with him the crew of his old ship, the "United States," +irretrievably shut up in New London. The "President" remained in New +York throughout the year, narrowly watched by the enemy. In a letter +of August 10, Decatur speaks of the unfavorable conditions of the +season for sailing; that four British ships kept close to Sandy Hook, +at times even anchored. He then mentions also "the great apprehension +and danger" which New York was undergoing, in common with the entire +seaboard, and the wish of the city government that the crew of the +ship should remain for defence of the port.[460] It will be remembered +that this was in the anxious period preceding the development of the +British menace to the coast, which issued in the capture of Washington +and Alexandria, and the attack on Baltimore. Philadelphia also +trembled; and Decatur received an order to carry the "President's" +crew to her protection, if threatened.[461] + +On New Year Day, 1815, the "President" was still in the bay, awaiting +a chance to sail. She was deeply laden for a long absence, and was to +be accompanied by a merchant brig, the "Macedonian," carrying further +stores. The sloops "Hornet" and "Peacock," and brig "Tom Bowline," +were likewise watching to slip out. On the night of January 14, 1815, +in a heavy northwester, the "President's" attempt was made; the +pilots for the occasion having undertaken to mark the channel by boats +suitably stationed. Despite these precautions the ship grounded, and +beat heavily on the bottom for an hour and a half. By this she was +seriously injured, and would have gone back had the wind permitted. As +it was, she had to be forced over, and at 10 P.M. went clear; but with +loss of a large part of that speed for which she was known, and which +had been among Decatur's chief reasons for preferring her to the new +"Guerrière."[462] The "Macedonian" was in company. + +The British blockading division was under the command of Captain John +Hayes, of the razee[463] "Majestic," and consisted, besides that ship, +of the forty-gun 24-pounder frigate "Endymion," and the +thirty-eight-gun 18-pounder frigates "Pomone" and "Tenedos"; the +latter of which had joined on the 13th. The vessels were driven off +shore by the violence of the gale; but Hayes, reasoning as a seaman, +anticipated both Decatur's sailing that night and his probable course. +After clearing the bar, the "President" steered nearly due east, along +the south shore of Long Island, for fifty miles, when she headed off, +southeast by east, for the open sea. At 5 A.M. three of the British +squadron were seen ahead on the new course; the fourth, the "Tenedos," +being then out of sight to the southward, either detached for a wider +sweep of watchfulness, or separated by the gale. + +The "President," on seeing the enemy, hauled up again along shore, and +a stern chase began, which lasted till near nightfall of the 15th; +the "Endymion" leading the British squadron. The "Tenedos" being +sighted soon after daybreak, Hayes detached the "Pomone" to ascertain +what ship it was; a step which for the time threw the "Pomone," as +well as the "Tenedos," out of the running. At 5 P.M. the "Endymion" +had got well within point-blank shot of the "President." It must be +appreciated that, with the whole hostile squadron at her heels, the +American frigate could not delay, or turn her side with its battery +towards an assailant behind; for to do so enabled the others to gain +on her. On the other hand, the pursuer could so deflect--yaw--at +frequent intervals, and having the greater speed could continually +recover the ground thus lost. This was what Captain Hope of the +"Endymion" did, with sound judgment. He took a position on the +off-shore quarter of the "President," where neither her broadside nor +stern guns could bear upon him, so long as she held her course. +Thence, yawing continually, the "Endymion" poured in her successive +broadsides, practically unopposed, mistress of the situation. + +Decatur endured this for a time; but it was the military merit of his +antagonist's conduct that it must eventually force him to turn aside, +and so convert the stern chase of the British squadron to the more +hopeful attempt to cut him off on a new course. After half an hour the +"President's" helm was put to port, and the ship headed abruptly +south, threatening to cross the "Endymion's" bow, and rake. The +British frigate had to follow this movement of her opponent, and the +two ran off on parallel lines, exchanging broadsides. The object of +Decatur was to dismantle this enemy, strip him of his motive power, +and so increase his own chance of escape. In this he was successful. +After two hours and a half, between 8 and 8.30 P.M., the "Endymion's" +sails were stripped from the yards. She dropped astern, and the +"President" again steered east, bringing the other enemy's ships once +more in her wake,--a stern chase. + +At 11 P.M. the "Pomone" and "Tenedos" overtook her. These were of the +class of the "Guerrière," "Macedonian," and "Shannon," very much +lighter, singly, than the "President," which had a heavier battery than +the "Constitution." Had the American ship retained her normal speed, she +probably would have escaped; but the "Pomone," the first to arrive, +outsailed her without using studdingsails, which the "President" was +still able to carry alow and aloft, despite her engagement with the +"Endymion." This fresh British ship luffed to port, and fired her +starboard broadside. The "President" imitated the manoeuvre, heading up +to north; but she did not fire. At this point the historian is met by a +direct contradiction of evidence. Decatur says that the "Pomone" was now +on the port bow, within musket-shot,[464] the "Tenedos" five hundred +yards astern, "taking up a raking position on our quarter, and the rest +(with the exception of the 'Endymion') within gunshot."[465] These +statements are confirmed by the sworn testimony before the American +Court of Inquiry. The log of the "Pomone," published with intention, +reads that the "Tenedos" was not more than three miles off,--a distance +to which no gun on shipboard of that day could carry,--and the +"Endymion" and "Majestic" so far away that they did not come on the +scene until 12.45 and 3 A.M., respectively, of the 16th. The "Pomone" +fired a second broadside, and hauling still further to port was about to +discharge a third, from a raking position ahead, when the "President" +struck. She had not fired a gun at either the "Pomone" or the "Tenedos." +The log of the "Pomone" is clear on this point, and Decatur's elaborate +report makes no mention of having done so. The witnesses before the +Court of Inquiry are equally silent. + +Between the "Endymion" and the "President," in point of battery, the +proportion of force was as four to three, in favor of the American +ship. Against that must fairly be weighed the power of the "Endymion" +to maintain for half an hour a quartering and raking position, owing +to the necessity to escape laid on the "President." A quantitative +estimate of this advantage would be largely guess; but it may safely +be said that the disproportion of killed and wounded[466] can probably +be laid to this, coupled with the very proper endeavor of Decatur to +throw off his immediate enemy by aiming at her spars. After two and a +half hours' fighting, the sails of the "Endymion" were "stripped from +the yards," Captain Hayes reported; while the "President," by the +"Pomone's" log, "continued to stand east under a press of sail," all +studdingsails set, from lower to royal. This result accounts for where +the "President's" shot went, and under the circumstances should have +gone, and for why the "Endymion" lost fewer men; and it was not the +sole reason for the last. There is, in the writer's judgment, no +ground whatever for the assumption that the "Endymion" did, or singly +would, have beaten the "President." The disparity of material force +was counterbalanced by the circumstance that the "President" had the +other vessels to take into account. From the legal point of view ships +merely in sight contribute, and are therefore entitled to prize money. +In the present instance they necessarily affected the manoeuvring and +gunnery of the "President." + +There is a good deal of human nature, and some food for quiet +entertainment, in the British accounts. There were several to share, +and apparently the glory was not quite enough to go round. With +Admiral Hotham, not present in the action, but in immediate command of +the station during Cochrane's absence at New Orleans and Cockburn's in +Georgia, it was "the force which I had collected off the bar of New +York." Captain Hayes had much to say on his calculations of the +enemy's movements: "What is a little singular, at the very instant of +arriving at the point of the supposed track of the enemy, Sandy Hook +west-northwest fifteen leagues, we were made happy by the sight of a +ship and a brig, not more than two miles on the weather bow." The +published report of Captain Hope, of the "Endymion," is simple and +modest; but some of his followers apparently would have all the glory. +The "Endymion" had done the whole business. This drew forth the +publication of the "Pomone's" log, concerning which the Naval +Chronicle remarks, "It appears that some differences have taken place +between the British frigates engaged, as to the honor of having +captured the 'President.'"[467] + +Had Decatur appreciated at the moment that his speedy surrender to the +"Pomone" would be attributed to the subjection to which the "Endymion" +was supposed to have reduced his ship, he very probably would have +made a second fight of it. But he was convinced that ultimate escape +was impossible. "Two fresh," though much weaker, ships of the enemy at +hand, his own having fought for two hours and a half; "about one fifth +of my crew killed and wounded, my ship crippled, and a more than +fourfold force opposed to me, without a chance of escape left, I +deemed it my duty to surrender." Physical and mental fatigue, the +moral discomfiture of a hopeless situation, are all fairly to be taken +into account; nor should resistance be protracted where it means +merely loss of life. Yet it may be questioned whether the moral tone +of a military service, which is its breath of life, does not suffer +when the attempt is made to invest with a halo of extraordinary +heroism such a resistance as Decatur made, by his own showing. Unless +the "President" was really thrashed out by the "Endymion," which was +the British assertion,[468] she might have put one of his Majesty's +thirty-eight-gun frigates, the "Pomone," out of commission for a long +time; and that, in addition to the "Endymion,"--the two fastest +British vessels,--would have been no light matter in the then state of +the New York blockade. If the finding of the American Court of +Inquiry,[469] that "the 'Endymion' was conquered, while the +'President' in the contest with her had sustained but little injury," +be admitted, there seems no reply to the comment that the "President" +surrendered within musket-shot of a thirty-eight-gun frigate which +with three or four broadsides she should have nearly annihilated. She +was out to destroy commerce and enemy's cruisers, and she struck +before her powers in that respect--by the Court's finding--were +exhausted. Escape was impossible; one object of her cruise--the +enemy's commerce--had become impracticable; was it justifiable to +neglect the last opportunity for the other? Decatur's personal +gallantry is beyond question; but, if the defence of the "President" +is to be considered "glorious," and "heroic," it is difficult to know +what term can be applied to that of the "Essex." War is violence, +wounds, and death. Needless bloodshed is to be avoided; but even more, +at the present day, is to be deprecated the view that the objects of a +war are to be sacrificed to the preservation of life. + +After a long detention, through the closeness of the Boston blockade, +the "Constitution," still commanded by Captain Charles Stewart, +effected her escape to sea towards the end of December. On February +20, 1815, two hundred miles east-northeast from Madeira, she fell in +with two British ships of war, the "Cyane," and the "Levant," then on +their way from Gibraltar to the Azores, and thence to the American +coast. The "Cyane," a frigate-built ship, carried a battery of +carronades: thirty 32-pounders, two 18-pounders. She had also two long +9-pounders; making a total of thirty-four guns, throwing a broadside +weight of five hundred and seven pounds.[470] The "Levant" was a sloop +of war, of the American "Hornet" class, carrying eighteen 32-pounder +carronades and two long 9-pounders; giving two hundred and +ninety-seven as her broadside weight. Between the two they therefore +threw eight hundred and four pounds of metal. The "Constitution's" +broadside was seven hundred and four pounds; but of this three hundred +and eighty-four were in long 24-pounders. Supposing both parties +willing to fight under such circumstances, the game would be all in +the "Constitution's" hands. Her problem rather was so to conduct the +contest that neither enemy should escape. Captain Stewart, in +reporting his success, dwelt upon the advantages derived by the enemy +"from a divided and more active force, as also their superiority in +the weight and numbers of guns." One cannot but feel the utmost +diffidence in differing from a seaman of the time, and one so skilful +as Stewart; but the advantage of a divided force is as difficult to +see as the superiority in battery power. + +Though consorts, the enemy when first seen were separated by a +distance of ten miles; and were sighted successively between 1 and 2 +P.M. The wind was easterly and light. The "Constitution" was unable to +prevent their junction, which was effected at 5.45. They then formed +in line on the starboard tack, the "Levant" leading; with an interval +between them of three hundred feet. At six the "Constitution" drew up +on the weather side of the "Cyane," and five minutes later the action +began at a distance of three hundred yards. After a quarter of an +hour, noting the enemy's fire to slacken, Stewart stopped his own, to +allow the smoke to lift. When he could see, he found the +"Constitution" abreast the "Levant," with the "Cyane" astern, luffing +up for his port quarter. He gave his port broadside to the "Levant," +then braced aback his after-sails, and so went astern towards the +"Cyane," bringing her abeam under cover of the renewed cannonade. At +6.35--about ten minutes later--the enemy's fire again weakened, and +the "Levant" was seen to be bearing up before the wind. Stewart made +sail ahead, raked her twice from astern with the port guns, and then +saw the "Cyane" also wearing. The "Constitution" immediately wore +short round, and caught this opponent before she had completed her +manoeuvre, so that she raked her also from astern with the starboard +battery. The "Cyane" then came to the wind on the port tack, and fired +that broadside, to which the "Constitution," having reloaded after +raking, was about to reply, when, at 6.50 this enemy struck, and fired +a lee gun,--the signal of submission. A prize crew, with a party of +marines to guard prisoners, was hastily thrown on board, and at eight +the "Constitution" made sail again after the "Levant." At 8.30 this +plucky little ship was met returning to the conflict. At 8.50 the two +passed on opposite tacks, and exchanged broadsides, after which the +"Constitution" kept away under the enemy's stern and raked again. The +"Levant" could now run with a clear conscience. Whatever argument can +be based on the united batteries of the two British ships, and the +advantage of divided force, eighteen 32-pounder carronades were no +match for the "Constitution." The "Levant" took to her heels, but at +10 P.M. was overtaken and surrendered.[471] + +The losses as reported by Stewart were: "Constitution," killed three; +wounded twelve; "Cyane," killed twelve; wounded twenty-six; "Levant," +killed twenty-three; wounded sixteen. Captain Stewart's management of +his vessel was strikingly clever and prompt. The advantages which he +attributed to the enemy, an aggregate of guns, slightly superior in +total weight, divided between two smaller ships, the author has never +been able to recognize.[472] + +The sloops of war "Hornet," Commander James Biddle, and "Peacock," +Commander Lewis Warrington, and the brig "Tom Bowline," which were +waiting their opportunity in the lower bay of New York when the +"President" sailed, got to sea five days after her, January 20. When +two days out, the "Hornet" separated in chase. The vessels had a +rendezvous at the lonely island of Tristan d'Acunha, in the South +Atlantic, some fifteen hundred miles west of the Cape of Good Hope. +The "Hornet" arrived first, and was about to anchor, at 10.30 in the +morning of March 23, when a sail was seen to the southeast, steering +west. As it soon passed behind the island, the "Hornet" made sail to +the westward, and the two shortly came within sight. The stranger was +the British sloop of war "Penguin," Captain Dickinson. By the report +of Captain Biddle, based on examination after the action, she carried +sixteen 32-pounder carronades, two long 12-pounders in broadside, and +one long twelve on a pivot, fighting either side. The "Hornet" had +eighteen 32-pounder carronades, and two long twelves. + +The wind being south-southwest, the "Penguin" was to windward, and +bore up to close. At 1.40 P.M., being nearly within musket-shot, she +hauled to the wind on the starboard tack, a movement which the +"Hornet" at once imitated, and the battle began; the "Hornet" to +leeward, the two running on parallel courses,--an artillery duel. The +"Penguin" drew gradually nearer, and at 1.55 put her helm hard up, to +run her antagonist on board. The American crew were called to repel +boarders, and so were on hand when the enemy's bowsprit came in +between the main and mizzen rigging; but, while ready to resist an +attempt to board, the course of the action had so satisfied Biddle of +the superiority of his ship's gunnery that he would not throw his men +away in a hand-to-hand contest upon the enemy's decks. The small arms +men and marines, however, distributed along the "Hornet's" side kept +up a lively musketry fire, which the British endured at great +disadvantage, crowded upon the narrow front presented by a ship's +forecastle. The "Penguin" finally wrenched clear with the loss of her +foremast and bowsprit, and in this crippled state surrendered +immediately. From the first gun to hauling down the flag was +twenty-two minutes. The British ship had lost fourteen killed and +twenty-eight wounded, her captain being among the slain. The "Hornet" +had one killed and ten wounded. The comparative efficiency of the two +vessels is best indicated by the fact that the "Hornet" had not a +single cannon-ball in her hull, nor any serious injury even to her +lower masts; yet that her rigging and sails were very much cut proves +that her opponent's guns were active. By the ready skill of the seamen +of that day she was completely ready for any service forty-eight hours +later. The "Penguin" was scuttled. + +The action between the "Hornet" and "Penguin" was the last naval +combat of the War of 1812. The day after it, March 24, the "Peacock" +and "Tom Bowline" arrived, in time to see the "Penguin" before her +captor sunk her. The brig "Macedonian," which had sailed in company +with the "President," but escaped her fate, also came to Tristan +d'Acunha, which would seem to have been intended as a fresh starting +point for some enterprise in common. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[394] Memoirs and Correspondence of Lord Castlereagh. Series iii. vol. +ii. pp. 86-91. + +[395] Castlereagh Memoirs, series iii. vol. ii. pp. 86-91. + +[396] Castlereagh to Liverpool (Prime Minister), Aug. 28, 1814. Ibid., +pp. 100-102. + +[397] Wellington to Liverpool, Nov. 9, 1814. Castlereagh Memoirs, series +iii. vol. ii. pp. 186-189. + +[398] Canadian Archives, C. 680, p. 46. The date is Sept. 10, 1813. + +[399] Letter of Captain Evans, commanding N.Y. Navy Yard, Aug. 6, 1813. + +[400] Canadian Archives, C. 679, pp. 348, 362. + +[401] Izard says two. Official Correspondence of the Department of War +with Major-General Izard, 1814 and 1815, p. 7. + +[402] British Court Martial Record. + +[403] Confidence. + +[404] Account of the Public Life of Sir George Prevost, p. 136. + +[405] Prevost to Bathurst, July 12, 1814. Report on Canadian Archives, +1896. Lower Canada, p. 31. + +[406] Prevost to Bathurst, Aug. 5, 1814. Ibid., p. 35. + +[407] Prevost to Bathurst, Aug. 27. + +[408] Official Correspondence of General Izard with the Department of +War, pp. 56, 57. Philadelphia, 1816. + +[409] Ridout, Ten Years in Upper Canada, p. 282. + +[410] Niles' Register, vol. vi. p. 357. + +[411] June 8, 1814. Navy Department MSS. + +[412] Macomb's Report, Brannan's Military and Naval Letters, p. 415. +Izard (Correspondence, p. 98) says, "There were at or about the works at +Plattsburg not less than three thousand regulars, of whom fifteen +hundred were fit for duty in the field. In the number were three +companies of artillery." + +[413] General Benjamin Mooers, who was in command of the New York State +militia during these operations, in a letter to Governor Tompkins, dated +Sept. 16, 1814 (Gov. Tompkins MSS. vol. ix. pp. 212-217, State Library, +Albany, N.Y.), claims that Macomb was here less than just to the +militia, "many of whom stood their ground as long as it was tenable" +during the first day. In a general order issued by him Sept. 8 (Niles' +Register, vol. vii. p. 70), he spoke of some "who fled at the first +approach of the enemy, and afterwards basely disbanded themselves, and +returned home." Macomb himself wrote that after the first day, when the +army had retired to the works, "the militia behaved with great spirit." + +[414] For copies of these letters, and of Macdonough's reply and +endorsement, I am indebted to Mr. Rodney Macdonough, the Commodore's +grandson. Cochran's is dated March 22, and Colden's June 26, 1815; +Macdonough's reply July 3. It is well to note that all these preceded +the British naval court martial, held in Portsmouth, Aug. 18-21, 1815, +where the testimony that the squadron was within range was unanimous and +accepted by the Court. + +[415] The first lieutenant of the "Confiance" in his evidence said that +it was not more than ten minutes after the ship rounded Cumberland Head +that the enemy began firing at her, and that the shot at first fell +short. As far as it goes, this would show that the American squadron was +over a mile from the Head; and, if so, scarcely more than a mile from +the batteries. + +[416] For information as to ranges, the author applied to Professor +Philip R. Alger, U.S. Navy, whose intimate acquaintance with questions +of ordnance and gunnery is known throughout his service. + +[417] Vol. viii. p. 70, April 1, 1815. + +[418] These two letters of Macomb are given in the "Account of the +Public Life of Sir George Prevost," p. 165. + +[419] Izard's Correspondence, p. 98. + +[420] Yeo to the Admiralty, Sept. 24, 1814. From a copy in the Court +Martial Record. + +[421] In his Narrative, submitted to the Court Martial, Captain Pring +stated that Prevost wished a joint attack, because, in the advance along +the head of Cumberland Bay, the left flank of the army, when crossing +Dead Creek, had been much annoyed by the American gunboats. He feared +the same in crossing the Saranac to the assault of the works, and wanted +the navy to draw off the gunboats. + +[422] Robertson's Narrative before the Court Martial. + +[423] The correspondence between Prevost and Downie, Sept. 7-10, is in +the Canadian Archives, M. 389.6. pp. 176-183. + +[424] This letter of Major Coore, published in a Canadian paper, Feb. +26, 1815, is to be found in the Canadian Archives MSS., M. 389.6. p. +287. + +[425] Court Martial Evidence. + +[426] Evidence of Pring, and of Brydone, master of the "Confiance," +before the Court Martial. Robertson in his narrative is equally positive +and explicit on this point. + +[427] Robertson's Narrative. + +[428] Robertson's Narrative. + +[429] Macdonough's Report. + +[430] Pronounced "wynd." + +[431] Robertson's Narrative. + +[432] A spring is a rope taken from the stern of a ship to the anchor, +by hauling on which the ship is turned in the direction desired. + +[433] Brydone's Evidence. + +[434] Evidence of Sailing Master Brydone. + +[435] Macdonough's Report. + +[436] For the battle of Lake Champlain much the most complete and +satisfactory evidence is the Record of the British Court Martial. There +having been no dispute on the American side, as between Perry and +Elliott at Lake Erie, there has not been the same output of conflicting +statements, tending to elucidate as well as to confuse. Commander Henley +of the "Eagle" was apparently dissatisfied with Macdonough's report, as +the Commodore (apparently) was with his action. This drew from him a +special report. Navy Department MSS. Niles' Register, vol. vii. +Supplement, p. 135, contains this letter with many verbal changes, which +do not materially affect its purport. + +[437] Cochrane arrived at Bermuda March 6; but, despite his urgency and +evident annoyance, Warren, who was senior, and had had ample notice of +his supersession, took his own leisurely time about giving over the +command, which he did not do till April 1, sailing for England April 8. + +[438] Bathurst to Ross, Sept. 6, 1814. War Office, Entry Book. + +[439] Pigot's Report to Cochrane, June 8, 1814. Admiralty In-Letters +MSS. + +[440] Cochrane to the Admiralty, June 20, 1814. Admiralty In-Letters +MSS. + +[441] Admiralty to Cochrane, Aug. 10, 1814. The reference in the text +depends upon a long paper near the end of vol. 39, British War Office +Records, which appears to the writer to have been drawn up for the use +of the ministry in parliamentary debate. It gives step by step the +procedure of the Government in entering on the New Orleans undertaking. + +[442] Bathurst to Ross, Sept. 6, 1814. British War Office Records. + +[443] Naval Chronicle, vol. xxxiii. p. 429. + +[444] American State Papers, Foreign Relations, vol. iii. p. 397. + +[445] Ibid., p. 572. + +[446] Niles' Register, vol. iii. p. 182. + +[447] Ibid., vol. vii. pp. 133-135. + +[448] Cochrane to the Admiralty, Oct. 3, 1814. Admiralty In-Letters. + +[449] Ibid. + +[450] Neither Cochrane nor Lockyer gives the number of the British +boats; but as there were three divisions, drawn from five ships of the +line and three or four frigates, besides smaller vessels, Jones' count +was probably accurate. He had ample time to observe. + +[451] The gunboats of Jefferson's building had no names, and were +distinguished by number only. + +[452] Jones' Report of this affair is found in Niles' Register, vol. +viii. p. 126; those of Cochrane and Lockyer in the Naval Chronicle, vol. +xxxiii. pp. 337-341. + +[453] So styled in Cochrane's Report, which also speaks of it as Bayou +Catalan. The name does not appear on the map of Major Latour, chief of +engineers to Jackson, who in his report calls the whole bayou Bienvenu. + +[454] Gleig, Narrative of the Campaign of Washington, Baltimore, and New +Orleans, pp. 282-288. + +[455] Gleig, pp. 308-309. + +[456] Gleig's Narrative, p. 321. Cochrane's Report, Naval Chronicle, +vol. xxxiii. p. 341. Report of Major C.R. Forrest, British Assistant +Quarter-master-General, War Office Records. + +[457] Thornton's Report. James' Military Occurrences of the War of 1812, +vol. ii., p. 547. + +[458] James' Military Occurrences, vol. ii. p. 547. + +[459] Niles' Register, vols. vii. and viii., gives a large number of the +official reports, as well British as American, concerning the New +Orleans Expedition. So also does James in his "Military Occurrences" and +"Naval Occurrences" of the War of 1812. Regarded in outline, as is +attempted in the text, the operations are of a simple character, +presenting no difficulties. + +[460] Captains' Letters. Navy Department MSS. + +[461] Ibid., Sept. 26, 1814. + +[462] Decatur to Navy Department, April 9, 1814. Captains' Letters. + +[463] A razee is a ship cut down, and reduced from her original rate. +The "Majestic" had been a seventy-four, and probably was the same vessel +which under that name and rate took part in the battle of the Nile. The +expedient of razeeing had been adopted by the British Government, in +order rapidly to prepare vessels superior to the American forty-fours, +yet less costly in crews than ships of the line. These razees were rated +as carrying fifty-six guns. + +[464] Deposition of Commodore Decatur at Bermuda. Naval Chronicle, vol. +xxxiii. p. 371. + +[465] Decatur's Report. Niles' Register, vol. viii. p. 8. In his +deposition Decatur says "the 'Tenedos' did not fire at the time of such +surrender." + +[466] The loss of the "President" was twenty-four killed, fifty-five +wounded. (Decatur's Report.) That of the "Endymion," eleven killed and +fourteen wounded. (Naval Chronicle, vol. xxxiii. p. 262.) + +[467] Naval Chronicle, vol. xxxiii. p. 370. + +[468] Captain Hayes' Report. Niles' Register, vol. viii. p. 175. Naval +Chronicle, vol. xxxiii. p. 261. + +[469] Niles' Register, vol. viii. p. 147. + +[470] The armament of the "Cyane" is that reported by Lieut. Hoffman, +U.S. Navy, who brought her to the United States. Niles' Register, vol. +viii. p. 134. + +[471] The "Cyane" reached a United States port, but the "Levant" was +recaptured by a British squadron. Both names remained in the United +States Navy till the Civil War. A "Levant," built in succession to the +one captured, was lost at sea in 1860--never heard from. + +[472] The account given in the text depends upon Stewart's "minutes of +the action" (Niles' Register, vol. viii. p. 219), compared with the +"Constitution's" log (Navy Department MSS.), of which the minutes are a +development. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +THE PEACE NEGOTIATIONS + + +The Government of the United States had been honestly loath to declare +war in 1812, and had signalized its reluctance by immediate advances +looking to a restoration of peace. These were made through Jonathan +Russell, the _chargé d'affaires_ in London when hostilities began. To +use the expression of Monroe, then Secretary of State, "At the moment +of the declaration of war, the President, regretting the necessity +which produced it, looked to its termination, and provided for +it."[473] The two concessions required as indispensable, in the +overture thus referred to, dated June 26, 1812, were the revocation of +the Orders in Council, and the abandonment of the practice of +impressing from American merchant ships. Should these preliminary +conditions be obtained, Russell was authorized to stipulate an +armistice, during which the two countries should enter upon +negotiations, to be conducted either at Washington or in London, for +the settlement of all points of difference. + +Russell made this communication to Castlereagh August 24, 1812. Before +this date Admiral Warren had sailed from England for the American +command, carrying with him the propositions of the British Government +for a suspension of hostilities, consequent upon the repeal of the +Orders in Council.[474] In view of Warren's mission, and of the fact +that Russell had no powers to negotiate, but merely to conclude an +arrangement upon terms which he could not alter, and which his +Government had laid down in ignorance of the revocation of the Orders, +Castlereagh declined to discuss with him the American requirements. "I +cannot, however," he wrote, "refrain on one single point from +expressing my surprise, namely, that as a condition preliminary even +to a suspension of hostilities, the Government of the United States +should have thought fit to demand that the British Government should +desist from its ancient and accustomed practice of impressing British +seamen from the merchant ships of a foreign state, simply on the +assurance that a law shall hereafter be passed to prohibit the +employment of British seamen in the public or commercial service of +that state."[475] "The Government could not consent to suspend the +exercise of a right upon which the naval strength of the empire mainly +depends," until fully convinced that the object would be assured by +other means. To a subsequent modification of the American +propositions, in form, though not in tenor, the British minister +replied in the same spirit, throwing the weight of his objections upon +the question of impressment, which indeed remained alone of the two +causes of rupture.[476] + +Commendable as was its desire for peace, the American Government had +made the mistake of being unwilling to insure it by due and timely +preparation for war. In these advances, therefore, its adversary +naturally saw not magnanimity, but apprehension. Russell, in reporting +his final interview, wrote, "Lord Castlereagh once observed somewhat +loftily, that if the American Government was so anxious _to get rid of +the war_,[477] it would have an opportunity of doing so on learning +the revocation of the Orders in Council." The American representative +rejoined with proper spirit; but the remark betrayed the impression +produced by this speedy offer, joined to the notorious military +unreadiness of the United States. Such things do not make for peace. +The British ministry, like a large part of the American people, saw in +the declaration of war a mere variation upon the intermittent policy +of commercial restrictions of the past five years; an attempt to +frighten by bluster. In such spirit Monroe, in this very letter of +June 26 to Russell, had dwelt upon the many advantages to be derived +from peace with the United States; adding, "not to mention the +injuries which cannot fail to result from a prosecution of the war." +In transcribing his instructions, Russell discreetly omitted the +latter phrase; but the omission, like the words themselves, betrays +consciousness that the Administration was faithful to the tradition of +its party, dealing in threats rather than in deeds. Through great part +of the final negotiations the impression thus made remained with the +British ministers. + +On September 20, 1812, the Chancellor of the Russian Empire requested +a visit from the American minister resident at St. Petersburg, Mr. +John Quincy Adams. In the consequent interview, the next evening, the +Chancellor said that the Czar, having recently made peace and +re-established commercial intercourse with Great Britain, was much +concerned that war should have arisen almost immediately between her +and the United States. Hostilities between the two nations, which +together nearly monopolized the carrying trade of the world, would +prevent the economical benefits to Russia expected from the recent +change in her political relations. The question was then asked, +whether a proffer of Russian mediation would be regarded favorably by +the United States. Adams had not yet received official intelligence +even of the declaration of war, and was without information as to the +views of his Government on the point suggested; but he expressed +certainty that such an advance would be cordially met, and he could +foresee no obstacle to its entertainment. The proposal was accordingly +made to the President, through the customary channels, and on March +11, 1813, was formally accepted by him. James A. Bayard and Albert +Gallatin were nominated commissioners, conjointly with Mr. Adams, to +act for the United States in forming a treaty of peace under the +mediation of the Czar. They sailed soon afterwards. + +The American acceptance reached St. Petersburg about June 15; but on +that day Adams was informed by the Chancellor that his despatches from +London signified the rejection of the Russian proposition by the +British Government, on the ground that the differences with the United +States involved principles of the internal government of Great +Britain, which could not be submitted to the discussion of any +mediation.[478] As the Russian Court was then in campaign, at the +headquarters of the allied armies, in the tremendous operations of the +summer of 1813 against Napoleon, much delay necessarily ensued. On +September 1, however, the British ambassador, who was accompanying the +Court in the field, presented a formal letter reaffirming the +unwillingness of his Government to treat under mediation, but offering +through the Czar, whose mediatorial advance was so far recognized, to +nominate plenipotentiaries to meet those of the United States in +direct consultation. In the backward and forward going of despatches +in that preoccupied and unsettled moment, it was not till near +November 1 that the British Foreign Office heard from the ambassador +that the American commissioners were willing so to treat, and desirous +to keep their business separate from that of the continent of Europe; +but that their powers were limited to action through the mediation of +Russia. Castlereagh then, on November 4, addressed a note to the +United States Government, offering a direct negotiation. This was +accepted formally, January 5, 1814;[479] and Henry Clay with Jonathan +Russell were added to the commission already constituted, raising the +number of members to five. The representatives of Great Britain were +three: Admiral Lord Gambier, Henry Goulburn, and William Adams. Ghent +was fixed upon for the place of meeting. + +The instructions issued to the American commissioners were voluminous. +They contained not only the requirements of the Government, but +arguments from every point of view, and alternatives of several +descriptions, to meet anticipated objections. Such elaboration was +perhaps necessary when negotiation was to take place so remote from +communication with home. On one point, however, as originally issued +in contemplation of Russian mediation, demand was peremptory. +Impressment must cease, by stipulation. "If this encroachment of Great +Britain is not provided against, the United States have appealed to +arms in vain." At that moment, April 15, 1813,[480] the flush of +expectation was still strong. "Should improper impressions have been +taken of the probable consequences of the war, you will have ample +means to remove them. It is certain that from its prosecution Great +Britain can promise to herself no advantage, while she exposes herself +to great expenses and to the danger of still greater losses." Nine +months later, looking to direct negotiation, the same confident tone +is maintained. "On impressment, the sentiments of the President have +undergone no change. This degrading practice must cease.... No +concession is contemplated on any point in controversy;"[481] and +three weeks afterwards, February 14, 1814, "Should peace be made in +Europe, it is presumed that the British Government would have less +objection to forbear impressment for a specified term, than it would +have should the war continue. In concluding a peace, even in case of a +previous general peace in Europe, it is important to obtain such a +stipulation."[482] On June 27, the note was lowered. "If found +indispensably necessary to terminate the war, you may omit any +stipulation on the subject of impressment." This was in pursuance of +the Cabinet determination of June 27, already quoted.[483] It +abandoned the only ground for war that had existed since August, 1812, +when the Orders in Council were known to have been repealed. The +commissioners were indeed to do their best to obtain from the British +Government the demanded concessions, not in the matter of impressment +only, but on the whole subject of irregular blockades, which underlay +the Orders in Council, as well as on other maritime questions in +dispute; but in pressing such demands they were under orders to fall +back before resistance. From the opening of the colloquy they were on +the defensive. + +Quite different was the position assumed at first by the British +Government and people. The events of the critical year 1813, both in +Europe and America, had changed the entire outlook. Alexander Baring, +whose general attitude towards the United States was friendly, wrote +to Gallatin, October 12, 1813, "We wish for peace, but the pressure of +the war upon our commerce and manufactures is over. They have ample +relief in other quarters; indeed, the dependence of the two countries +on each other was overrated." He was positive that there would be no +concession on impressment. Again, on December 14, "The pressure of +the war is diminished. Commerce is now abundantly prosperous."[484] +Gallatin himself had occasion to spend some time in London during the +succeeding spring,--1814. Quotation from his observations has been +made already.[485] In a letter of April 21,--after Napoleon's +abdication,--"The prosecution of war with the United States would +afford a convenient pretext for preserving a more considerable +standing force."[486] This would be a useful element in the +troublesome diplomacy to be foreseen, in settling the disturbed +affairs of Europe; and the Government stood in need of reasons for +maintaining the pressure of taxation, which was already eliciting, and +later in the year still more elicited, symptoms of great discontent +and dangerous Parliamentary opposition. Yet in its conduct towards +America the Cabinet had the people behind it. Two months later, +Gallatin wrote to the Secretary of State, "You may rest assured of the +general hostile spirit of this nation, and of its wish to inflict +serious injury on the United States; that no assistance can be +expected from Europe; and that no better terms will be obtained than +the _status ante bellum_."[487] + +At the time of this writing, June 13, the British Foreign Secretary, +Lord Castlereagh, returned from Paris, where he had been spending the +two months succeeding the first abdication of Napoleon. During this +period formal peace with France had been established, and the Bourbons +reseated on her throne. His instructions to the British commissioners +at Ghent, issued July 28, were framed on lines which showed +consciousness of mastery.[488] The question of abandoning the +practice of impressment would not be so much as entertained. The Rule +of 1756 should "rest on its own clear and well established +authority."[489] The commissioners were not even to discuss it. +Equally decisive was the position taken with regard to questions of +irregular blockades, and of compensation for seizures under the Orders +in Council. When these were presented by the American commissioners, +the first was waived aside, as one on which there was no difference of +abstract principle; while as to the second, "you cannot be too +peremptory in discouraging, at the outset, the smallest expectation of +any restitution of captures made under the Orders in Council."[490] + +Military and naval weakness, combined with the changed conditions in +Europe, made the United States powerless when thus confronted with +refusal. The British Secretary stood on far less sure ground, as to +success, when he began to formulate his own demands. These were +essentially two: suitable arrangements for the Indians, and a +rectification of the frontiers. There was a third question, concerning +the fisheries on the Great Banks of Newfoundland. As to these, the +general right of all nations to frequent the Banks, being open sea, +was explicitly admitted; but the subjects of a foreign state had no +right to fish within the maritime jurisdiction of Great Britain, much +less to land with their catch on coasts belonging to her. The +provisions of the Treaty of 1783 therefore would not be renewed, +unless for an equivalent. + +As regarded the Indians, an adequate arrangement of their interests +was a _sine quâ non_ of peace; nor would a full and express +recognition of present limits by itself alone fulfil this demand. +There must be security for its future observance. The particular +method by which this observance should be maintained was not made +indispensable; but it was plainly stated in the instructions that the +best means was "a mutual guarantee of the Indian possessions, as they +shall be established upon the peace, against encroachment on the part +of either State." The suggestion, in its logical consequence and in +its intent, went to establishing the communities of Indians as a +sovereign state, with boundaries guaranteed by Great Britain and the +United States,--a most entangling alliance. In support of this, +Castlereagh alleged that such a barrier of separation possessed a +distinct advantage over a line of contact between the two guaranteeing +states, such as now existed in their common boundary. The collisions +incident to intercourse between red and white men were easily +transferred from side to side of such a conventional line, causing +continual disputes. The advantages of a buffer state, to use the +modern term, would be secured by the proposed arrangement. Writing to +the prime minister, the Earl of Liverpool, he said, "The question is +one of expediency; and not of principle, as the American commissioners +have endeavored to make it. It does not follow, because, in the year +1783, the two States, not perhaps very justly, took a common boundary, +thereby assuming a sort of sovereignty over the Indians, that they may +not mutually recede from that boundary, if a frontier conterminous +with that of the Indians is preferable to one with each other."[491] + +However plausible reasoning based upon such premises might seem to the +party advancing it, it could not qualify the fact that it required +from the United States a large cession of territory, to be +surrendered to the Indians under British guarantee. Such a demand was +a dangerous diplomatic weapon to put within reach of a commission, of +which Adams and Gallatin were members. In presenting it, also, the +British representatives went beyond the letter of their instructions, +issued by Castlereagh on July 28, and enlarged August 14. Not only was +the inclusion of the Indians in the peace to be a _sine quâ non_, but +they wrote, "_It is equally necessary_" that a definite boundary be +assigned, and the integrity of their possessions mutually +guaranteed.[492] This paper was submitted to Castlereagh as he passed +through Ghent to Paris, on his way to the Vienna Conference. "Had I +been to prepare the note given in on our part, I should have been less +peremptory;" but, like many superiors, he hesitated to fetter the men +in immediate charge, and "acquiesced in the expression, 'It is equally +necessary, etc.,' which is very strong."[493] The prime minister was +still more deprecatory. He wrote Castlereagh, "Our commissioners had +certainly taken a very erroneous view of our policy. If the +negotiations had been allowed to break off upon the two notes already +presented, ... I am satisfied the war would have become popular in +America."[494] + +The American commissioners could see this also, and were quick to use +the advantage given by the wording of the paper before them, to +improve the status of the United States in the negotiation; for one of +the great weaknesses, on which Great Britain reckoned, was the +disunion of American sentiment on the subject of the war. Of their +reply, dated August 24, Castlereagh wrote, "It is extremely material +to answer the American note, as it is evidently intended to rouse the +people upon the question of their independence."[495] Besides the +Indian proposition, the British note of August 19 had conveyed also +the explicit views of the ministry as to rectification of frontier. +Stated briefly, the chain of the Great Lakes was asserted to be a +military barrier essential to the security of Canada, as the weaker +community in North America. To assure it, no territorial cession was +required; but the lakes should be in the sole military tenure of Great +Britain. The United States might use them freely for commercial +purposes, but should maintain on them no ship of war, nor build any +fortification on their shores, or within a certain distance, to be +fixed by agreement. In addition to this, on the side of the lower St. +Lawrence, there was to be such a cession of the northern part of Maine +as would establish a direct communication between Quebec and Halifax. +The American reply of August 24[496] discussed these questions, +patiently but instructively. The matters involved were made plain for +the American reader, and the paper closed with the clear intimation +that before such terms were accepted there must be a great deal more +fighting. "It is not necessary to refer such demands to the American +Government for instructions. They will only be a fit subject of +deliberation when it becomes necessary to decide upon the expediency +of an absolute surrender of national independence." So far as the +British proposals went, the question was military, not diplomatic; for +soldiers and seamen to decide, not for negotiators. + +So it stood, and so in the solution it proved. The American +commissioners held firm to this ground; while on the part of the British +there was thenceforth a continual effort to escape from a false +position, or to temporize, until some favorable change of circumstances +might enable them to insist. "The substance of the question," wrote +Castlereagh to the prime minister, "is, are we prepared to continue the +war for territorial arrangements. If not, is this the best time to make +peace, or is it desirable to take the chances of the campaign and then +to be governed by circumstances?"[497] "If our campaign in Canada should +be as successful as our military preparations would lead us to expect," +... replied Liverpool, "if our commander does his duty, I am persuaded +we shall have acquired by our arms every point on the Canadian frontier, +which we ought to insist on keeping."[498] + +By these considerations the next British note was dictated, and +presented September 4.[499] It simply argued the question, with +dilatory design, in a somewhat minatory tone. "I think it not +unlikely," Liverpool had written with reference to it, "that the +American commissioners will propose to refer the subject to their +Government. In that case, the negotiation may be adjourned till the +answer is received, and we shall know the result of the campaign +before it can be resumed." But the Americans did not refer. They too +needed time for their people to learn what now was the purpose of +hostilities, which the British envoys had precipitately stated as an +indispensable concession, and to manifest the national temper under +the changed circumstances; but they did not choose that the matter +should be stated as one open to discussion. They knew well enough the +harassment of maintaining a land warfare three thousand miles from +Great Britain, as well as the dangers threatening the European +situation and embarrassing the British ministry. They in turn +discussed at length, scrutinizing historically the several arguments +of their opponents; but their conclusion was foregone. The two +propositions--first, of assigning "a definite boundary to the Indians +living within the limit of the United States, beyond which boundary +they [the United States] should stipulate not to acquire any +territory; secondly, of securing the exclusive military possession of +the lakes to Great Britain--are both inadmissible. We cannot subscribe +to, and would deem useless to refer to our Government, any arrangement +containing either of these propositions." The British Government was +not permitted any subterfuge to escape from the premature insistence +upon cession of territory made by their envoys, which would tend to +unite the people in America; nor was it to be anticipated that +prolonged hostilities for such an object would be acceptable in Great +Britain. + +The pre-eminence given to the Indian question by Great Britain in +these negotiations was due to the importance attached by British local +officials to the aid of the savages in war, and to a sensitive +conviction that, when thus utilized, they should not be abandoned in +peace. Their military value was probably over-estimated. It consisted +chiefly in numbers, in which the British were inferior, and in the +terror produced by their cruelties; doubtless, also, in some degree to +their skill in woodcraft; but they were not dependable. Such as it +was, their support went usually to the weaker party; not because the +Indian naturally sided with the weaker, but because he instinctively +recognized that from the stronger he had most to fear. Therefore in +colonial days France, in later days Great Britain, in both cases +Canada, derived more apparent profit from their employment than did +their opponent, whose more numerous white men enabled him to dispense +with the fickle and feebler aid of the aborigines. + +Before the firm attitude of the note of September 9, the British +Government again procrastinated, and receded from demands which sound +policy should from the first have recognized as untenable, unless +reposing upon decisive military success and occupation. On September +19, their commissioners replied[500] that while the exclusive military +possession of the lakes would be conducive to a good understanding, +without endangering the security of the United States, it had not been +advanced as a _sine quâ non_. A final proposition on the subject of +the Canadian boundaries would be made, when the Indian question was +settled. Concerning this, they were "authorized distinctly to declare +that they are instructed not to sign a treaty of peace, unless the +Indian nations are included in it, and restored to all the rights, +privileges, and territories, which they enjoyed in the year 1811," by +treaties then existing. "From this point the British plenipotentiaries +cannot depart." They were instructed further to _offer for discussion_ +an article establishing Indian boundaries, within which the two +countries should bind themselves not to make acquisitions by purchase +during a term of years. To the absence of Lord Castlereagh, and +consequent private correspondence between him and his colleagues in +London, we owe the knowledge that the question of purchasing Indian +lands, and the guarantee, would no longer be insisted on; and that the +military control of the lakes was now reduced in purpose to the +retention of Forts Michilimackinac and Niagara.[501] The intention +remained, however, to insist upon the Indian provisions as just +stated. + +On September 26, the American commission replied that, as thus +presented, there was no apparent difference in the purposes of the two +nations as regarded the substantial welfare of the Indians themselves. +The United States meant towards them peace, and the placing them in +the position in which they stood before the war. "The real difference +was" in the methods proposed. Great Britain "insisted on including the +Indians, as allies, in the treaty of peace between her and the United +States." But the Indians concerned dwelt within the acknowledged +bounds of the United States, and their political relations towards her +were no concern of Great Britain; nor could any arrangement be +admitted which would constitute them independent communities, in whose +behalf Great Britain might hereafter claim a right to interfere. The +error underlying the British demand was the assumption that the Indian +tribes were independent; whereas, in their relation to foreign +countries, they were merely dwellers in the United States, who had +made war upon her in co-operation with Great Britain. The upshot was a +mutual agreement, drawn up by the British plenipotentiaries, that upon +the conclusion of peace each state would put an end to hostilities in +which it might be engaged with the Indians, and would restore them to +the rights enjoyed before 1811. The Americans accepted this, subject +to ratification at home, on the ground that, while it included the +Indians in the peace, it did not do so as parties to the treaty, and +left the manner of settlement in the hands of each Government +interested. The agreement thus framed formed one of the articles of +the treaty. + +On September 27 the Gazette account of the capture of Washington was +published in London. Lord Bathurst, who in the absence of Castlereagh +was acting as Foreign Secretary, despatched the news the same day to +the commissioners at Ghent, instructing them to assure the Americans +that it made no difference in the British desire for peace, nor would +modify unfavorably the requirements as to frontier, as yet +unstated.[502] Liverpool wrote coincidently to Castlereagh, suggesting +that he should communicate to the sovereigns and ministers at Vienna +the moderation with which the Government was acting, as well as the +tone assumed by the American commissioners, "so very different from +what their situation appears to warrant." "I fear the Emperor of +Russia is half an American, and it would be very desirable to do away +any prejudices which may exist in his mind, or in that of Count +Nesselrode, on this subject."[503] The remark is illuminating as to +the reciprocal influence of the American contest and the European +negotiations, and also as to the reasons for declining the proposed +Russian mediation of 1813. The continent generally, and Russia +conspicuously, held opinions on neutral maritime rights similar to +those of the United States. Liverpool had already[504] expressed his +wish to be well out of the war, although expecting decided military +successes, and convinced that the terms as now reduced would be very +unpopular in England; "but I feel too strongly the inconvenience of a +continuance not to make me desirous of concluding it at the expense of +some popularity." + +It was in this spirit, doubtless, that Bathurst instructed the envoys +that, if the Americans wished to refer the very modified proposals, or +to sign them conditional upon ratification at home, either proposition +would be accepted; an assurance repeated on October 5.[505] Were +neither alternative embraced as to the Indian settlement, the +negotiation should be closed and the commission return to England. +British military anticipation then stood high. Not only was the +capture of Washington over-estimated, but Ross and Cochrane had +impressed their Government with brilliant expectations. "They are very +sanguine about the future operations. They intend, on account of the +season, to proceed in the first instance to the northward, and to +occupy Rhode Island, where they propose remaining and living upon the +country until about the first of November. They will then proceed +southward, destroy Baltimore, if they should find it practicable +without too much risk, occupy several important points on the coast +of Georgia and the Carolinas, take possession of Mobile in the +Floridas, and close the campaign with an attack on New Orleans."[506] +This was a large programme for a corps of the size of Ross', after all +allowance made for the ease with which Washington had fallen. It is +probably to be read in connection with the project of sending to +America very large re-enforcements; so numerous, indeed, that Lord +Hill, Wellington's second in the Peninsula, had been designated for +the command. This purpose had been communicated to Ross and Cochrane; +and at the time of the capture of Washington they had not received the +letters notifying them that "circumstances had induced his Majesty's +Government to defer their intention of employing so considerable a +force in that quarter."[507] For this change of mind America doubtless +was indebted to European considerations. Besides the expectations +mentioned, the British Government had well-founded reasons to hope for +control of Lake Ontario, and for substantial results from the handsome +force placed at the disposal of Sir George Prevost, to which the +triumphant expedition of Cochrane and Ross had been intended only as a +diversion. + +Under these flattering anticipations were formulated the bases upon +which to treat, now that the Indian question was out of the way. On +October 18 and 20 Bathurst instructed the commissioners to propose, as +a starting point, the principle that each party should hold what it +had, subject to modifications for mutual accommodation. "Considering +the relative situation of the two countries, the moderation evinced by +his Majesty's Government in admitting this principle, (thereby +surrendering claim to the future conquests), in the present state of +the contest, must be manifest." When this was accepted, but not +before, the mutual accommodations were to be suggested. The present +captured possessions were stated to be: British, Fort Michilimackinac, +Fort Niagara, and all the country east of the Penobscot; the American, +Fort Erie and Fort Malden. Upon the surrender of the two latter, Great +Britain would restore the forts at Castine and Machias. She would +retain Mackinac and Fort Niagara, the latter with a surrounding strip +of five miles of territory; and in exchange (apparently) for "all the +country east of the Penobscot," would accept that part of Maine which +lies north of the Aroostook River, thus insuring between Quebec and +Halifax a direct communication, wholly under British jurisdiction. + +There were some further minor matters of detail, unnecessary to mention; +the more so that they did not come formally before the American +commissioners, who immediately rejected the proposed principle of _uti +possidetis_, and replied, October 24, that they were not empowered to +yield any territory, and could treat only on the basis of entire mutual +restitution. This Liverpool testily likened to the claim of the French +revolutionary Government[508] that territory could not be ceded because +contrary to the fundamental law of the Republic. In the American case, +however, it was substantially an affirmation that the military +conditions did not warrant surrender. Meanwhile, on October 21, the news +of Macdonough's victory reached London from American sources. Although +the British official accounts did not arrive until some time later, +Liverpool, writing to Castlereagh on that day, admitted that there could +be no doubt of the defeat of the flotilla.[509] Despite this check, the +Cabinet still cherished hopes of further successes, and were unwilling +yet to abandon entirely the last inches of the ground heretofore +assumed. "Had it not been for this unfortunate adventure on Lake +Champlain," wrote Bathurst to Castlereagh, "I really believe we should +have signed a peace by the end of this month. This will put the enemy in +spirits. The campaign will end in our doing much where we thought we +should have done little, and doing nothing where we expected +everything."[510] He announced the intention to send Pakenham in Ross' +place for the New Orleans expedition, and to increase his force in the +spring, should the war last till then. Meanwhile, it might be well to +let the Powers assembled at Vienna understand that, whatever the success +in Louisiana, the inhabitants would be distinctly told that in no case +would the country be taken under British protection. They might be +granted independence, but preferably would be urged to place themselves +again under the Spanish Crown; but they must know that, in treating with +the United States, neither of these solutions would be made by Great +Britain a _sine quâ non_. The Government had probably taken a distaste +to that peremptory formula by the unsatisfactory result of the +proposition about the Indians. + +This care concerning the effect produced upon the course of events at +Vienna appears forcibly in the letters of Liverpool. After the receipt +of the American commission's refusal to accept the basis of the _uti +possidetis_, he wrote to Castlereagh, October 28, that he feared it +put an end to any hopes of bringing the American war to a conclusion. +The expectation of some favorable change in the aspect of affairs, +however, decided the ministry to gain a little more time before +bringing the negotiation to a close; and the envoys at Ghent were +therefore to be instructed to demand a full _projet_ of all the +American conditions before entering on further discussion. The same +day Liverpool sent a second letter,[511] in which he said distinctly +that, in viewing the European settlement, it was material to consider +that the war with America would probably be of some duration; that +enemies should not be made in other quarters by holding out too long +on the questions of Poland, Naples, and Saxony, for he was +apprehensive that "some of our European allies will not be indisposed +to favor the Americans; and, if the Emperor of Russia should be +desirous of taking up their cause, we are well aware from some of Lord +Walpole's late communications that there is a most powerful party in +Russia to support him. Looking to a continuance of the American war, +our financial state is far from satisfactory. We shall want a loan for +the ensuing year of £27,000,000 or £28,000,000. The American war will +not cost us less than £10,000,000, in addition to our peace +establishment and other expenses. We must expect, therefore, to have +it said that the property tax is continued for the purpose of securing +a better frontier for Canada." Castlereagh himself had already spoken +of the financial conditions as "perfectly without precedent in our +financial history."[512] + +The renewal of the European war, avowedly dreaded by Liverpool,[513] +was thought not impossible by Castlereagh and Wellington; while +conditions in France already threatened an explosion, such as +Bonaparte occasioned in the succeeding March. "It is impossible," +wrote Wellington, "to conceive the distress in which individuals of +all descriptions are. The only remedy is the revival of Bonaparte's +system of war and plunder; and it is evident that cannot be adopted +during the reign of the Bourbons."[514] Neither he nor Castlereagh +doubted the imminence of the danger. "It sounds incredible," wrote the +latter, "that Talleyrand should treat the notion of any agitation at +Paris as wholly unfounded."[515] A plot was believed to exist, which +embraced as one of its features the seizing of the Duke, and holding +him as a hostage. He himself thought it possible, and saw no means in +the French Government's hands adequate to resist. "You already know my +opinion of the danger at Paris.... The event may occur any night, and +if it should occur, I don't think I should be allowed to depart. My +safety depends upon the King's;"[516] but he was characteristically +averse to any step which bore the appearance of precipitate +withdrawal. + +While the American negotiators were drawing up the _projet_ which they +had decided to present in response to the British demand, the +combination of circumstances just stated led the British ministry to +resolve on removing Wellington from Paris on some pretext, lest his +services should be lost to them in the emergency now momentarily +dreaded. The urgency for peace with America co-operated to determine +the ostensible reason, which was almost a true one. The American +command was offered to him. "The Duke of Wellington would restore +confidence to the army, place the military operations on a proper +footing, and give us the best chance of peace. I know he is very +anxious for the restoration of peace with America, if it can be made +upon terms at all honorable. It is a material consideration, likewise, +that if we shall be disposed for the sake of peace to give up +something of our just pretensions, we can do this more creditably +through him than through any other person."[517] Liverpool voiced the +conclusions of the Cabinet, and it would be difficult for words to +manifest more forcibly anxiety to escape from a situation. Wellington +himself drew attention to this. "Does it not occur to your lordship +that, by appointing me to go to America at this moment, you give +ground for belief, all over Europe, that your affairs there are in a +much worse situation than they really are? and will not my nomination +at this moment be a triumph to the Americans, and their friends here +and elsewhere?"[518] Conditions were alarming, but the action +resembled panic. + +The offer, which was really a request, brought Wellington by a side +wind into the American negotiations, and enabled him to give the +Government the weight of his name and authority in concluding a peace +otherwise than on their "just pretensions." The war, he said, has been +honorable to Great Britain; meaning doubtless that, considering the +huge physical mass and the proximity of the United States, it was well +done to have escaped injury, as it was militarily disgraceful to the +American Government, with such superiority, to have been so impotent. +But, he continued, neither I nor any one else can achieve success, in +the way of conquests, unless you have naval superiority on the lakes. +That was what was needed; "not a general, nor general officers and +troops. Till that superiority is acquired, it is impossible, according +to my notion, to maintain an army in such a situation as to keep the +enemy out of the whole frontier, much less to make any conquest from +the enemy, which, with those superior means, might, with reasonable +hopes of success, be undertaken.... The question is, whether we can +obtain this naval superiority on the lakes. If we cannot, I shall do +you but little good in America; and I shall go there only to prove the +truth of Prevost's defence, and to sign a peace which might as well be +signed now." This endorsed not only Prevost's retreat, but also the +importance of Macdonough's victory. The Duke then added frankly that, +in the state of the war, they had no right to demand any concession of +territory. He brushed contemptuously aside the claim of occupying the +country east of the Penobscot, on the ground of Sherbrooke's few +companies at Castine, ready to retreat at a moment's notice. "If this +reasoning be true, why stipulate for the _uti possidetis_?"[519] + +Penned November 9, the day before the American negotiators at Ghent +handed in their requested _projet_, this letter may be regarded as +decisive. November 13, Liverpool replied that the ministry was waiting +anxiously for the American _projet_, ... and, "without entering into +particulars, I can assure you that we shall be disposed to meet your +views upon the points on which the negotiation appears to turn at +present;" the points being the _uti possidetis_, with the several +details of possession put forward by Bathurst. The American paper was in +London before the 18th, when Liverpool wrote to Castlereagh, "I think we +have determined, if all other points can be satisfactorily settled, not +to continue the war for the purpose of obtaining, or securing, any +acquisition of territory. We have been led to this determination by the +consideration of the unsatisfactory state of the negotiations at Vienna, +and by that of the alarming situation of the interior of France." "Under +such circumstances, it has appeared to us desirable to bring the +American war, if possible, to a conclusion."[520] The basis of the +_status quo ante bellum_, sustained all along by the American +commission, was thus definitely accepted, and so stated formally by +Bathurst.[521] + +This fundamental agreement having been reached, the negotiations ran +rapidly to a settlement without further serious hitch; a conclusion to +which contributed powerfully the increasing anxiety of the British +ministry over the menacing aspect of the Continent. The American +_projet_,[522] besides the customary formal stipulations as to +procedure for bringing hostilities to a close, consisted of articles +embodying the American positions on the subjects of impressment and +blockade, with claims for indemnity for losses sustained by irregular +captures and seizures during the late hostilities between France and +Great Britain; a provision aimed at the Orders in Council. These +demands, which covered the motives of the war, and may be regarded as +the offensive side of the American negotiation, were pronounced +inadmissible at once by the British, and were immediately abandoned. +Their presentation had been merely formal; the United States +Government, within its own council chamber, had already recognized +that they could not be enforced. The _projet_ included the agreement +previously framed concerning the Indians; who were thus provided for +in the treaty, though excluded from any recognition as parties to it, +or as independent political communities. This was the only demand +which Great Britain can be said fairly to have carried, and it was so +far a reduction from her original requirement as to be unrecognizable. +An American proposition, pledging each of the contracting parties not +again to employ Indians in war, was rejected. + +The remaining articles of the _projet_, although entirely suitable to +a treaty of peace, were not essentially connected with the war. The +treaty merely gave a suitable occasion for presenting them. They +provided for fixing, by mixed commissions, the boundary lines between +the British possessions and the United States. These the Treaty of +1783 had stated in terms which had as yet received no proper +topographical determination. From the mouth of the St. Croix River, +and the islands within it and in the adjacent sea, around, north and +west, as far as the head of Lake Superior, the precise course of the +bounding line needed definition by surveyors. These propositions were +agreed to; but when it came to similar provision for settling the +boundary of the new territories acquired by the Louisiana purchase, as +far as the Rocky Mountains, difficulties arose. In the result it was +agreed that the determination of the boundary should be carried as far +as the most northwestern point of the Lake of the Woods, "in +conformity with the true intent of the said Treaty of Peace of one +thousand seven hundred and eighty-three." The treaty was silent on the +subject of boundary westward of the Lake of the Woods, and this +article of the _projet_ was dropped. It differed indeed from its +associates, in providing the settlement for a new question, and not +the definition of an old settlement. In conclusion, the British +commissioners obtained the adoption of an agreement that both parties +"would use their best endeavors to promote the entire abolition of the +slave trade." In Great Britain the agitation for this measure had +reached proportions which were not the least among the embarrassments +of the ministry; and at this critical juncture the practical +politicians conducting affairs found themselves constrained by a +popular demand to press the subject upon the less sympathetic +statesmen of the Cabinet. + +The American commissioners had made a good fight, and shown complete +appreciation of the factors working continuously in their behalf. To +the end, and even more evidently at the end, was apparent the +increasing anxiety of the British Government, the reasonable cause for +it in European conditions, and the immense difficulty under such +circumstances of accomplishing any substantial military successes in +America. The Duke of Wellington wrote that "all the American armies +of which I ever read would not beat out of a field of battle the +troops that went from Bordeaux last summer;"[523] but still, "his +opinion is that no military advantage can be expected if the war goes +on, and he would have great reluctance in undertaking the command +unless we made a serious effort first to obtain peace, without +insisting upon keeping any part of our conquests."[524] On December +23, Liverpool sent a long and anxious letter to Castlereagh, in reply +to his late despatches. The fear of a renewal of war on the Continent +is prominent in his consideration, and it was recognized that the size +of the European armaments, combined with the pecuniary burden of +maintaining them, tended of itself to precipitate an outbreak. Should +that occur, France could scarcely fail to be drawn in; and France, if +involved, might direct her efforts towards the Low Countries, "the +only object on the continent which would be regarded as a distinct +British interest of sufficient magnitude to reconcile the country to +war," with its renewed burden of taxation. "We are decidedly and +unanimously of opinion that all your efforts should be directed to the +continuance of peace. There is no mode in which the arrangements in +Poland, Germany, and Italy, can be settled, consistently with the +stipulations of the Treaty of Paris, which is not to be preferred, +under present circumstances, to a renewal of hostilities between the +Continental Powers." Coincidently with this, in another letter of the +same day, he mentions the meetings which have taken place on account +of the property tax, and the spirit which had arisen on the subject. +"This, as well as other considerations, make us most anxious to get +rid of the American war."[525] + +The Treaty of Ghent was signed December 24, 1814, by the eight +commissioners. The last article provided for its ratification, without +alteration, at Washington, within four months from the signature. A +_chargé d'affaires_ to the United States was appointed, and directed +to proceed at once in a British ship of war to America, with the +Prince Regent's ratification, to be exchanged against that of the +President; but he was especially instructed that the exchange should +not be made unless the ratification by the United States was without +alteration, addition, or exclusion, in any form whatsoever. +Hostilities were not to cease until such action had taken place. The +British Government were apparently determined that concessions wrung +from them, by considerations foreign to the immediate struggle, should +not be subjected to further modification in the Senate. + +Mr. Baker, the British _chargé_, sailed in the British sloop of war +"Favorite," accompanied by Mr. Carroll bearing the despatches of the +American commissioners. The "Favorite" arrived in New York on +Saturday, February 11. The treaty was ratified by the President, as it +stood, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, on the 17th +of February, 1815. + + * * * * * + +A year after the conclusion of peace, a weighty opinion as to the +effect of the War of 1812 upon the national history was expressed by +one of the commissioners, Mr. Albert Gallatin. For fifteen years past, +no man had been in closer touch with the springs of national life, +national policy, and national action; as representative in Congress, +and as intimate adviser of two consecutive Presidents, in his position +as Secretary of the Treasury. His experience, the perspicuity of his +intellect, and his lucidity of thought and expression, give particular +value to his conclusions; the more so that to some extent they are the +condemnation, regretfully uttered, of a scheme of political conduct +with the main ideas of which he had been closely identified. He wrote: +"The war has been productive of evil and of good, but I think the good +preponderates. Independent of the loss of lives, and of the property +of individuals, the war has laid the foundations of permanent taxes +and military establishments, which the Republicans[526] had deemed +unfavorable to the happiness and free institutions of the country. But +under our former system we were becoming too selfish, too much +attached exclusively to the acquisition of wealth, above all, too much +confined in our political feelings to local and state objects. The war +has renewed and reinstated the national feelings and character which +the Revolution had given, and which were daily lessening. The people +have now more general objects of attachment, with which their pride +and political opinions are connected. They are more Americans; they +feel and act more as a nation; and I hope that the permanency of the +Union is thereby better secured."[527] + +Such, even at so early a date, could be seen to be the meaning of the +War of 1812 in the progress of the national history. The people, born +by war to independence, had by war again been transformed from +childhood, absorbed in the visible objects immediately surrounding it, +to youth with its dawning vision and opening enthusiasms. They issued +from the contest, battered by adversity, but through it at last fairly +possessed by the conception of a national unity, which during days of +material prosperity had struggled in vain against the predominance of +immediate interests and local prepossessions. The conflict, indeed, +was not yet over. Two generations of civic strife were still to +signalize the slow and painful growth of the love for "The Union"; +that personification of national being, upon which can safely fasten +the instinct of human nature to centre devotion upon a person and a +name. But, through these years of fluctuating affections, the work of +the War of 1812 was continuously felt. Men had been forced out of +themselves. More and more of the people became more Americans; they +felt and acted more as a nation; and when the moment came that the +unity of the state was threatened from within, the passion for the +Union, conceived in 1812, and nurtured silently for years in homes and +hearts, asserted itself. The price to be paid was heavy. Again war +desolated the land; but through war the permanency of the Union was +secured. Since then, relieved from internal weakness, strong now in +the maturity of manhood, and in a common motive, the nation has taken +its place among the Powers of the earth. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[473] Monroe to Russell, Aug. 21, 1812. American State Papers, Foreign +Relations, vol. iii. p. 587. + +[474] Ante, vol. i. p. 390. + +[475] American State Papers, Foreign Relations, vol. iii. p. 590. + +[476] Correspondence between Russell and Castlereagh, Sept. 12-18, 1812; +and Russell to Monroe, Sept. 17. American State Papers, Foreign +Relations, vol. iii. pp. 591-595. + +[477] Russell's italics. + +[478] The correspondence relating to the Russian proffer of mediation is +to be found in American State Papers, vol. iii. pp. 623-627. + +[479] American State Papers, vol. iii. pp. 621-622. + +[480] Ibid., pp. 695-700. + +[481] American State Papers, Foreign Relations, vol. iii. p. 701. + +[482] Ibid., p. 703. + +[483] Ante, p. 266, and note. + +[484] Writings of Albert Gallatin, edited by Henry Adams, vol. i. pp. +586, 592. + +[485] Ante, p. 332. + +[486] Writings of Albert Gallatin, vol. i. p. 603. + +[487] Ibid., vol. i. p. 629. + +[488] A similar consciousness appears to the writer discernible in a +letter of Wellington to Castlereagh, of May 25, 1814. To procure "the +cession of Olivenza by Spain to Portugal, we could promise to _bind_ +North America, by a secret article in our treaty of peace, to give no +encouragement, or _countenance_, or assistance, to the Spanish colonies" +(then in revolt). Memoirs and Correspondence of Lord Castlereagh, series +iii. vol. ii. p. 44. The italics are mine. + +[489] Castlereagh to the British commissioners, July 28, 1814. +Castlereagh's Memoirs and Correspondence, series iii. vol. ii. p. 69. + +[490] Ibid., Aug. 14, 1814, pp. 88, 89. + +[491] Castlereagh to Liverpool, Paris, Aug. 28, 1814. Castlereagh +Memoirs, p. 101. + +[492] Note of the British commissioners, Aug. 19, 1814. American State +Papers, Foreign Relations, vol. iii. p. 710. My italics. + +[493] Castlereagh to Liverpool, Aug. 28, 1814. Castlereagh Memoirs, +series iii. vol. ii. p. 100. + +[494] Liverpool to Castlereagh, Sept. 2, 1814. Castlereagh Papers MSS. + +[495] Castlereagh Memoirs, etc., series iii. vol. ii. p. 101. + +[496] American State Papers, Foreign Relations, vol. iii. pp. 711-713. + +[497] Castlereagh to Liverpool, August 28. Memoirs, etc., series iii. +vol. ii. p. 102. + +[498] Liverpool to Castlereagh, September 2, Castlereagh Papers MSS. + +[499] American State Papers, Foreign Relations, vol. iii. p. 713. + +[500] American State Papers, Foreign Relations, vol. iii. p. 717. + +[501] Bathurst to Castlereagh, Sept. 16, 1814. Castlereagh Papers MSS. + +[502] Castlereagh Memoirs, series iii. vol. ii. p. 138. + +[503] Liverpool to Castlereagh, September 27. Castlereagh Papers MSS. + +[504] September 23. Ibid. + +[505] Castlereagh Memoirs, series iii. vol. ii. p. 148. + +[506] Liverpool to Castlereagh, Sept. 27, 1814. Castlereagh Papers MSS. + +[507] Ante, p. 385; and 384, note. + +[508] Liverpool to Castlereagh, Oct. 28. Castlereagh Papers MSS. + +[509] Liverpool to Castlereagh, Oct. 21, 1814. Ibid. + +[510] Bathurst to Castlereagh, Oct. 21, 1814. Castlereagh Papers MSS. + +[511] Castlereagh Papers MSS. + +[512] Castlereagh to Sir H. Wellesley, Sept. 9, 1814. Memoirs, series +iii. vol. ii. p. 112. + +[513] Liverpool to Castlereagh, Nov. 2, 1814. Castlereagh Papers MSS. + +[514] Wellington to Liverpool, Nov. 9, 1814. Castlereagh Memoirs, series +iii. vol. ii. p. 187. + +[515] Castlereagh to Wellington, Nov. 21, 1814. Castlereagh Memoirs, +series iii. vol. ii. p. 205. + +[516] Wellington to Liverpool, Nov. 7 and 9, 1814. Ibid., pp. 186, 190. + +[517] Liverpool to Castlereagh, Nov. 4, 1814. Castlereagh MSS. + +[518] Wellington to Liverpool, Nov. 18, 1814. Castlereagh Letters, +series iii. vol. ii. p. 203. + +[519] Wellington to Liverpool, Nov. 9, 1814. Castlereagh Memoirs, series +iii. vol. ii. p. 189. + +[520] Liverpool to Castlereagh, Nov. 18, 1814. Castlereagh MSS. + +[521] Bathurst to the commissioners, Dec. 6, 1814. Castlereagh Memoirs, +series iii. vol. ii. p. 214. + +[522] American State Papers, Foreign Relations, vol. iii. p. 735. + +[523] Castlereagh Memoirs, series iii. vol. ii. p. 188. + +[524] Liverpool to Castlereagh, Nov. 18, 1814. Castlereagh MSS. + +[525] Ibid., Dec. 23, 1814. Castlereagh MSS. + +[526] The contemporary name of the political party to which Jefferson, +Madison, and Gallatin belonged. + +[527] Writings of Gallatin, May 7, 1816, vol. i. p. 700. + + + + +INDEX + + +_Actions, Land._ + i.: + Detroit, 346; + Queenston, 357; + Niagara, 358; + Frenchtown, 370. + ii.: + York [Toronto], 36, 55; + Fort George, 38; + Sackett's Harbor, 42; + Stony Creek, 46; + Beaver Dam, 47; + Fort Meigs, 68; + Fort Stephenson, 73; + The Thames, 103; + Chrystler's Farm, 115; + Chippewa, 295; + Lundy's Lane, 306; + Fort Erie, 314, 316; + Bladensburg, 346; + Plattsburg, 366; + New Orleans, 394. + +_Actions, Naval._ + i.: + Elliott's capture of "Caledonia" and "Detroit," 354; + "Constitution" and "Guerrière," 330; + "Frolic" and "Wasp," 412; + "Macedonian" and "United States," 416. + ii.: + "Constitution" and "Java," 3; + "Hornet" and "Peacock," 7; + squadron engagements on Lake Ontario, 1813, August 10, 56; + September 11, 60; + September 28, 107; + battle of Lake Erie, 76; + "Chesapeake" and "Shannon," 135; + "Boxer" and "Enterprise," 188; + "Argus" and "Pelican," 217; + "Essex" with "Phoebe" and "Cherub," 249; + "Wasp" and "Reindeer," 254; + "Wasp" and "Avon," 256; + "Epervier" and "Peacock," 259; + battle of Lake Champlain, 377; + gunboat squadron on Lake Borgne, 389; + "President" with British squadron, 398; + "Constitution" with "Cyane" and "Levant," 405; + "Hornet" and "Penguin," 407. + +_Actions, Privateer._ + ii.: + "Globe" with British packets, 226; + "Decatur" and "Dominica," 233; + "Comet" and "Hibernia," 234; + "Saucy Jack" and "Pelham," 235; + "Saucy Jack" with "Volcano" and "Golden Fleece," 235; + "Kemp" with seven British merchantmen, 237; + "Chasseur" and "St. Lawrence," 238. + +_Acts of Congress._ + To protect American shipping, i. 76, 80; + Non-Importation Act, against Great Britain, April, 1806, 113, 131, 183; + Embargo Act, December 22, 1807, 182; + Act for the better Enforcement of the Embargo, January 9, 1809, 208; + partial repeal of Embargo Act--"Non-Intercourse" Act against Great + Britain and France, March 1, 1809, 210, 211, 213, 214; + + Act repealing Non-Intercourse Act, with a substitute, May 1, 1810, + 234, 235; + supplementary Act, reviving Non-Intercourse against Great Britain + alone, March 2, 1811, 248, 249; + Embargo Act for ninety days, war measure, April 4, 1812, 263; + Declaration of War, June 18, 1812, 279. + +_Adams, John._ Minister to Great Britain. + French colonial principles, i. 28; + British interest in navigation, 11, 30 (and note); + public opinion in England, as observed by him, 47, 63, 64, 69, 79; + remonstrates against impressment of American seamen, 119; + President of United States, instructs against impressment, 121; + care for the navy, ii. 213. + +_Adams, John Quincy._ Senator from Massachusetts. + Opinions as to Orders in Council, i. 178-181; + opinions on a navy, 186; + Minister to Russia, ii. 411; + commissioner to treat for peace, 412. + +"_Adams._" American frigate. + Blockaded in Potomac, ii. 162, 169-170, 174; + escapes, 178; + cruise of, 226, 261; + runs ashore on Isle au Haut, 353; + takes refuge in Penobscot, and destroyed to escape capture, 354. + +_Allen, William H._ Commander, U.S.N. + Commands "Argus," ii. 216; + killed in action, 218. + +"_America._" + Private armed ship, i. 398; ii. 229. + +"_Argus._" + American brig of war, i. 314-415; + captured by "Pelican," ii. 217. + +_Armstrong, John._ + U.S. Minister to France at the time of the Berlin Decree, i. 172-174, + 181, 182, 236-238, 240, 244. + Advice to Eustis, Secretary of War, before the outbreak of + hostilities, 309, 339. + Secretary of War, 31, 33, 39, 45, 104-106, 110-112, 117, 120, 122, + 266 (note), 278, 291-293, 319, 343, 344. + +"_Avon._" British brig of war. + Sunk by U.S.S. "Reindeer," ii. 256. + + +_Bainbridge, William._ Captain, U.S.N. + Applies for furlough, because of the condition of the navy, i. 257; + opinion as to employment of navy in war, 318; + mentions public opinion in Boston, 393; + commands squadron, 407; + his plans for the cruise, ii. 2; + captures Java, 4; + instructions to Lawrence for cruise of "Hornet," 7; + returns to the United States, 7; + commands Boston navy yard, 135, 153, 186. + +_Barclay, Robert H._ Commander, R.N. + Sent to lakes by Warren, ii. 28; + ordered by Yeo to command on Lake Erie, 29; + difficulty in reaching his command, 39; + operations prior to battle of Lake Erie, 41, 69-74; + battle of Lake Erie, 76; + merits of his conduct, 94. + +_Barclay, Thomas._ British Consul-General at New York. + On impressment question, i. 118, 122; + on effects of embargo on seamen, 192. + +_Barlow, Joel._ + U.S. Minister to France, in succession to Armstrong, i. 176, 193, + 264, 271-273. + +_Barney, Joshua._ Commodore by courtesy. + Commands privateer "Rossie," i. 395-398; + commands Chesapeake flotilla, ii. 336-344; + gallant conduct of himself and men at Bladensburg, 347, 348. + +_Bassano, Duke of._ French Minister of Foreign Affairs. + Presents to the American minister the spurious Decree of April 28, + 1811, i. 272. + +_Bathurst, Earl._ British Secretary for War and Colonies. + Quoted, ii. 100, 331 (note), 383, 422, 423, 424, 425, 426, 427, 431. + +_Berkeley, George C._ Vice-Admiral, R.N., commanding North American + station. + Issues the order to search the U.S.S. "Chesapeake," i. 156; + recalled from his command in consequence, 167, + but given within a year the important command at Lisbon, 168; + British Government refuses further punishment for his action, 168. + +_Biddle, James._ Commander, U.S.N. + Commands "Hornet" when she captures "Penguin," ii. 407. + +_Black Rock._ + Selected by Elliott as American naval station on Lake Erie, i. 355, 374; + changed by Chauncey, 375; + mentioned in operations, 355, 358, 374, 377; ii. 34, 40, 41, 62, 71, 121. + +_Blakely, Johnstone._ Commander, U.S.N. + Commands "Enterprise," ii. 187; + commands "Wasp," 253; + captures "Reindeer," 254; + sinks "Avon," 256; + lost at sea, 257. + +_Blockades._ + General principle determining legality of, i. 99, 110, 145; + position of United States concerning, defined, 110; + that of May 16, 1806, illustrates difference between United States + and Great Britain, 111; + Napoleon's definition of the right of blockade, 142-144; + Marshall, in 1800, and Pinkney, 1811, incidentally support Napoleon's + view, 146, 147; + effect of this view upon sea power, and upon Great Britain, 147; + effect upon the Civil War of the United States, had it been + conceded, 148; + the Orders in Council of 1807 are admitted by Great Britain to usurp + the privileges of, without complying with the obligations, 177; + though modelled on the general plan of, 179; + distinction between military and commercial, 286; + in essence and effect, a form of commerce destruction, 287; + as such, the weapon of the stronger, 288; + of Chesapeake and Delaware,--commercial,--by British, notified, + December 26, 1812, ii. 9; + extended to coast south of Narragansett Bay, March 30 and November + 16, 1813, 10; + to whole United States coast, April and May, 1814, 11; + the last a defiance in form of the United States claim concerning, 11; + effects of the British commercial, upon United States, 177-187, 193-208; + American definition of, rejected as inadmissible at the treaty of + peace, 432. + +"_Boxer._" British brig of war. + Captured by "Enterprise," ii. 188. + See also note to chap. xiii. + +_Brock, Isaac._ British general. + Lieutenant Governor, and military commander in Upper Canada, i. 337; + his professional opinions, 304, 308; + his successful action against Hull for the preservation of the + northwest, 341-348; + returns to the Niagara frontier, 351; + killed in action at Queenston, 357. + +_Broke, Philip B.V._ Captain, R.N. + Commands frigate "Shannon"; + senior officer of vessels of New York, i. 325; + accompanies West India convoy, 326; + chase of "Constitution," 327; + blockading Boston, ii. 133; + singular merit of, 133; + sends challenge to Lawrence, 134; + action with, and capture of, U.S.S. "Chesapeake," 135. + +_Brown, Jacob._ American general. + First in the militia, successfully defends Sackett's Harbor, ii. 42; + appointed brigadier general in the army, 45; + stationed at Sackett's Harbor, 1814, 278; + campaign on Niagara peninsula, 280-318; + wounded at Lundy's Lane, 311; + defence of Fort Erie, 314-318; + returns to Sackett's at end of the campaign, 323. + +_Burrows, William._ Lieutenant, U.S.N. + Commands "Enterprise" when she captures "Boxer," ii. 188; + killed in the action, 189. + + +"_Caledonia._" British armed brig on lakes. + Aids at capture of Mackinac, i. 341; + captured by Lieutenant Elliott, 355; + takes part as American in battle of Lake Erie, ii. 81; + lost, 327. + +_Calhoun, John C._ Member of American Congress. + Confidence concerning the conquest of Canada, i. 303. + +_Campbell, Hugh G._ Captain, U.S.N., commanding Georgia coast district. + Reports on coast conditions, ii. 185, 186, 195, 196, 197, 198. + +_Canada._ + Expected by British writers to take the place of the United States in + supplying West Indies, i. 45, 48; + unable to do so, 64, 86; + benefited, however, by enforcement of navigation laws against the + United States, 78, 79; + propriety of invasion of by the United States, in 1812, considered, + 292-294; + object of invasion of, defined by Monroe, 293; + how regarded in England, ii. 356. + +_Canning, George._ British Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs. + Takes office, i. 134; + statement as to the British right of impressment from foreign merchant + vessels, 115; + refusal to re-open treaty negotiations with Monroe and Pinkney, 135; + characteristics of his letters, 154; + negotiations with Monroe, concerning the "Chesapeake" affair, 156-168; + instructions to Erskine, for proposals to United States, 215-219; + Erskine's action disavowed by, and Jackson sent in place, 221; + misquotation of, by Robert Smith, American Secretary of State, 226, 227; + duel with Castlereagh, 229; + succeeded in office by Lord Wellesley, 229. + +_Carden, John S._ Captain, R.N. + Commands "Macedonian" captured by "United States," i. 416. + +_Castlereagh, Lord._ British Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs. + Duel with Canning, i. 229; + remains in office after Perceval's assassination, 273; + opinion on political movements in United States immediately before + war, 274; + concerning Napoleon's alleged decree of April 28, 1811, 276; + instructions to the peace commission at Ghent, 415-418; + quoted in connection with the peace negotiations, 410, 417, 418, 420, + 428, 429. + +_Chalmers, George._ British writer on political and economical subjects. + Quoted, i. 21, 26, 32, 36, 50, 68, 77 (note). + +_Champagny, Duc de Cadore._ French Minister of Foreign Affairs. + Quoted in connection with Napoleon's Decrees, i. 174. 175, 181; + celebrated letter of, August 5, 1810, 237; + accepted by American Government as a valid revocation of the + Decrees, 238; + discussion of, 239-242; + rejected as a revocation by Great Britain, 242. + +_Champlain, Lake._ + Natural highway to Canada, i. 309; + neglected by American Government in 1812, i. 351, 359; ii. 30, 357; + not under Chauncey's command, i. 361; + events on, 1812 and 1813, ii. 357-360; + Sir George Prevost's expedition, 362-381; + battle of Lake Champlain, 377-381; + effects of battle on conditions of peace, 382 (see also 99-101). + +_Chauncey, Isaac._ Captain, U.S.N. + Ordered to command on Lakes Erie and Ontario, i. 354, 361; + early measures of preparation, 362-364; + cruises in 1812, 364, 365; + lays up for the winter, 366; + preparations on Lake Erie, 374-376; + Commander Perry ordered as second to, 376; + effects of energy of, ii. 28; + first plan of campaign, 1813, 30; + second plan, 33; + comment upon, 34; + expedition against York, 36; + operations about Niagara peninsula, 37-41; + impression produced on, by attack on Sackett's Harbor, 45; + naval campaign of, 1813, July 21-September 28, 51-60, 106-109; + engagements with British squadron, August 10, 56-59; + September 11, 60; + September 28, 106; + professional characteristics shown, 28, 35, 40, 45, 52, 56, 60, 61, + 63, 65, 95, 108, 109, 110, 117, 294, 298-302, 305-306, 316, 323; + recommendations for campaign of 1814, 122; + singular inaction of, in June and July, 1814, 298-300; + controversy with General Brown, 300-302; + correspondence of Department with, 300; + Decatur ordered to relieve, 300; + subsequent movements of, 314-316, 323. + +"_Cherub._" British sloop of war. + Takes part in attack on "Essex," ii. 247-252. + +_Chesapeake Bay._ Blockade of, ii. 9; + operations in, 1813, 16, 156-158, 160-169; + singular contraband trade in, 1813, 170-175; + military exposure of, 159, 178, 202; + operations in, 1814, 336-351. + +"_Chesapeake._" American frigate. + Attack upon by British ship of war "Leopard," i. 3, 134, 155; + negotiations concerning the affair, 156-170, 222, 228, 251; + settlement of, 255; + cruise of, in 1813, ii. 13; + action with, and capture by, the "Shannon," 132-147. + +_Cheves, Langdon._ Member of American Congress. + Report recommending increase of navy, i. 260-263. + +_Clay, Henry._ Member of American Congress. + Favors increase of navy, i. 260; + expects rapid conquest of Canada, 304; + calculations on Bonaparte's success in Russia, 390; + appointed peace commissioner at Ghent, ii. 413. + +_Cochrane, Sir Alexander._ Vice-Admiral, R.N. + Appointed commander-in-chief on the American station, in succession + to Warren, ii. 330, 382 (note); + his retaliatory order for the burning of Newark, 334-335; + operations in the Chesapeake, 1814, 340-351; + plans for action against New Orleans, 383-388; + operations against New Orleans and Mobile, 388-396; + capture of Fort Bowyer, Mobile, 397. + +_Cockburn, George._ Rear Admiral, R.N. + Second in command to Warren, ii. 155; + expedition to the upper Chesapeake, 1813, 157, 158; + in the Potomac, 168; + American vessel licensed by, 175; + attack at Ocracoke inlet, N.C., 204; + at capture of Washington, 348, 349; + expedition against Cumberland Island, Georgia, 388. + +_Colonies._ + Relations of colonies to mother countries in respect to trade, during + the period of American dependence, i. 24-28; + Montesquieu's phrase, 27; + Bryan Edwards' statement, 28; + John Adams' observation, 28; + supposed effect of, upon the carrying trade, 25, 26, 49, 50, 65; + and naval power, 51, 52; + the _entrepôt_ monopoly, derived from colonial system, 12, 16, 24; + renewed by the Orders in Council of 1807, 27; + characteristics of the West India group of colonies, 32, 33, + and of those now the United States, 34, 35; + their mutual relations, as colonies, 31, 35, 36; + the imperial inter-action of the mother country, and the two groups + of colonies, 52, 55, 63; + British hopes of reinstating this condition, after the Revolution, by + substituting Canada and Nova Scotia for the lost continental + colonies, 48, 64; + effect of colonial traditions upon events subsequent to American + independence, 65-70, 75-79; + tendency to reimpose colonial restriction upon the new states, a + cause of War of 1812, 40, 87, 88, 90-92, 177, 178. + +_Committee_, of the Privy Council of Great Britain, 1791. + Report on the conditions of British commerce since the independence + of the United States, and the probable effect of American + legislation for the protection of American carrying trade, i. 77-85. + +"_Constellation._" American frigate. + Hopelessly blockaded in Norfolk throughout the war, ii. 11, 162, 178. + +"_Constitution._" American frigate. + Chased by British squadron, i. 328; + captures the "Guerrière," i. 330-335; + the "Java," ii. 3-7; + the "Cyane" and "Levant," 404-406. + +_Continental._ + Distinctive significance of the term, applied to the colonial system + of Great Britain in North America, i. 32; + Bermuda and the Bahamas reckoned officially among the continental + colonies, 31 (note). + +_Continental System_ of Napoleon. + Extraordinary political character of, defined, i. 152, 153, 174; + co-operation of the United States desired in, 173; + and practically given by the United States, 176. + +_Cooper, James Fenimore._ American naval historian. + Quoted, ii. 83-87, 101 (note), 108, 110, 135, 138, 188 (note). + +_Craney Island_, near Norfolk. + Attack on by the British, in 1813, ii. 164-166. + +_Croghan, George._ Major, U.S. Army. + Gallant defence of Fort Stephenson, 1813, ii. 73; + commands troops in the abortive military and naval expedition against + Michilimackinac, 1814, 324. + +"_Cyane._" British ship of war. + Captured by the "Constitution," ii. 404-406. + + +_Dacres, James R._ Captain, R.N., commanding "Guerrière." + His defence before the Court Martial, i. 334. + +_Dearborn, Henry._ American general. + Appointed, i. 337; + age, 337; + characterized by a British officer, 351; + negotiates a suspension of hostilities, which is disapproved, 352; + inactivity, 359; ii. 39, 47, 48; + apprehensions, ii. 32, 47; + relieved from command, 48. + +_Decatur, Stephen._ Captain, U.S.N. + Commands a squadron, i. 314; + plan for employment of the navy in war, 317, 415; + accompanies John Rodgers on the first cruise of the war, 322-324; + sails on an independent cruise, 407, 408, 415; + action between the "United States" and "Macedonian," 416; + in 1813 unable to get to sea with a squadron, ii. 25, 148, + which is blocked in New London for the rest of the war, 149; + ordered to relieve Chauncey on the lakes, 300; + appointed to command frigate "President," 397; + action with "Endymion," 399; + surrenders to British squadron, 400-403. + +_Decrees, Napoleon's._ + Berlin, November 21, 1806, i. 141-148; + its design, and counter design of Great Britain, 149; + rigid enforcement of, 172; + Milan, December 17, 1807, 180, 189, (note), 205; + Bayonne, April 17, 1808, 189, 203; + Rambouillet, March 23, 1810, 235, 236; + alleged revocation of, by Champagny's letter of August 5, 1810, + 237-242; + spurious Decree of April 28, 1811, 282. + +_Delaware Bay._ + Blockade of, and operations in, ii. 9, 16, 158-160. + +_Dent, John H._ Captain, U.S.N., commanding South Carolina coast district. + Reports on coast conditions, ii. 15, 196, 203 (and note), 204. + +"_Detroit._" British armed brig (late American "Adams"). + Captured by Elliott on Lake Erie, i. 354-356. + +"_Detroit._" + British flagship at battle of Lake Erie, ii. 73, 77; + condition when surrendered, 94. + +_Direct Trade._ + To foreign countries, forbidden to colonies, i. 24-26; + common practice of all maritime states, 27, 28; + stress laid upon this idea in Great Britain, 75, 76, 83, 84, 96; + question of what constitutes, 100; + decision adverse to American navigation, by Sir William Scott, 101; + practical effect of the decision, 102. + +_Downie, George._ Commander, R.N. + Commands the British squadron on Lake Champlain, ii. 372-375; + his plan of action, 377; + killed in the battle, 378. + +_Drummond, Sir Gordon._ + Civil and military Governor of Upper Canada, ii. 120; + his plans for the winter of 1813-1814, 276-278; + his appreciations of the strength of Kingston and of Sackett's + Harbor, 280; + dependence upon the control of the water, i. 301, 302; ii. 290, + 302-306, 308-309, 314-317; + comments on American troops, 295; + campaign of 1814--arrival at York, 307; + plan of action, 308-309; + battle of Lundy's Lane, 310-312; + assault on Fort Erie, 314; + American sortie against, 316; + line of the "Chippewa," 317, 321-322. + + +_Elliott, Jesse D._ Commander U.S.N. + Serves under Chauncey on the lake, i. 354, 363; + captures British brigs "Caledonia" and "Detroit," 355; + selects Black Rock for naval station on Lake Erie, 374; + ordered as second to Perry, on Lake Erie, ii. 74; + conduct in the battle, 78-80, 83-88, 96; + in command on Lake Erie, after Perry's detachment, 104. + +_Embargo_, of 1808. + Approved by President Jefferson, December 22, 1807, i. 182; + its aims, 183-186; + its effects in the United States, 186-207; + upon West Indies, 196-198; + upon Canada and Nova Scotia, 198; + upon Great Britain, 200, 201; + Act for better Enforcement, January 9, 1809, 208; + repeal of, 214; + Embargo of 1812, for ninety days, 263. + +"_Endymion._" British frigate. + Her action with the "President," ii. 398-407. + +"_Enterprise._" + American brig of war, ii. 186, 187, 231-233; + capture of British brig "Boxer," 188. + +_Entrepôt._ + Significance of the term, and advantage to commerce, i. 12; + conspicuous part in colonial regulation, 16, 24-26; + underlying relation to Orders in Council of 1807, 27. + +"_Enumerated_" articles. + Definition of, i. 24. + +"_Epervier._" British sloop of war. + Captured by the "Peacock," ii. 258-261. + +_Erie, Town of._ + Selected by Chauncey for naval station on Lake Erie, i. 375; + advantages and drawbacks, 375; + British designs against, ii. 69. + +_Erskine, David M._ British Minister to Washington. + Exceeds his instructions in negotiating, i. 216-218; + disavowed and recalled, 219; + succeeded by Francis J. Jackson, 221. + +"_Essex._" American frigate. + Captain Porter's dissatisfaction with, ii. 1, 2; + sails, but fails to join Bainbridge's squadron, 3; + goes to the Pacific, 244; + cruise in the Pacific, 246; + action with, and capture by, British ships "Phoebe" and "Cherub," + 249-252. + +_Europe._ + Conditions in, as affecting war in America, i. 378-385, 389-390, 401, + 410; ii. 9-11, 126, 210-212, 266 (and note), 330, 340, 355-356, + 362-363, 385-387; + effect upon the peace negotiations, ii. 411, 414, 415, 420, 423-424, + 427-431, 434. + + +_Fox, Charles James._ British Secretary for Foreign Affairs. + Takes office, i. 104; + negotiations with Monroe concerning "direct" trade, 105; + connection with blockade of May 16, 1806, 108; + illness and death, 128-131. + +"_Frolic._" British brig of war. + Captured by "Wasp," 412-415; + recaptured, 415. + +"_Frolic._" American sloop of war, named after above. + Captured by "Orpheus," ii. 269 (note), 244 (note). + + +_Gallattin, Albert._ American Secretary of the Treasury. + Concerning the Embargo of 1808, i. 194, 196, 202, 208; + concerning Non-Intercourse Act, 217; + conversation with Turreau, concerning Erskine's proposition, 230; + report on the finances, immediately before the war, 281; + opinion as to privateering, 396; + observations as to feeling in England, 1814, ii. 332, 415; + appointed peace commissioner, 412; + opinion as to the effect of the war upon the nation, 435-436. + +_Gambier, Lord._ British admiral. + Peace commissioner at Ghent, 413. + +_Gaston, William._ Representative from North Carolina. + Speech on allegiance and impressment, i. 6-8, 123, 137. + +_Ghent._ + Negotiations at, and Treaty of, ii. 413-435; + names of commissioners, 412, 413; + terms of, 431-433; + signature and ratification of, 434-435. + +_Goulburn, Henry._ + British peace commissioner at Ghent, ii. 413. + +_Grenville, Lord._ British Secretary for Foreign Affairs. + Correspondence with Rufus King concerning impressment, i. 117-118, + 120-121. + +"_Guerrière._" British frigate. + Captured by the "Constitution," i. 330-335. + +"_Guerrière._" American, named after above. + Command declined by Decatur for reasons, i. 422; ii. 398. + +_Gunboats._ + Jefferson's sole naval dependence on, i. 187; ii. 213-214; + nautical disqualifications of, 196, 291, 296; + extravagant expense of, 260, 262; ii. 154; + proclaim a merely defensive policy, 296; + demoralizing effect upon officers and crews, ii. 154, 155; + committed in war to officers not of regular navy, 154, 336-337; + general uselessness in war, 154, 159, 160, 161, 163, 164, 179, 195, 198; + gallant defence of the "Asp," 168, and of the Lake Borgne flotilla, + 389-390. + + +_Halifax._ + Benefited by American embargo and War of 1812, i. 198; ii. 21, 23; + importance relative to trade routes, and cruising, i. 392, 394. + +_Hampton._ Town in Virginia. + Local military importance of, ii. 160, 162; + attack on, 167. + +_Hampton, Wade._ American general. + Commands Lake Champlain district, 1813, ii. 111; + to co-operate with Wilkinson, 111; + fails to join, and retires on Plattsburg, 115, 116. + +_Harrison, William H._ American general. + Succeeds to Hull's command, i. 367; + plans of campaign, 368, 369, + overthrown by Winchester's disaster at Frenchtown, 370; + remains on defensive awaiting naval control of lakes, 371; + resumes operations after Perry's victory, ii. 102; + wins battle of the Thames, 103; + transferred to Niagara, 104, + and thence to Sackett's Harbor, 117. + +_Harvey, J._ Lieutenant-colonel, British army. + Suggests and conducts decisive attack at Stony Creek, ii. 46-48. + Quoted, 102, 308. + +_Hillyar, James._ Captain, R.N. + Commands frigate "Phoebe," ii. 246; + in company with "Cherub" captures U.S.S. "Essex," 247-252. + +"_Hornet._" American sloop of war. + Captures the "Peacock," ii. 8; + sails with Decatur's squadron, 1813, and driven into New London, + 148, 149; + escapes thence to New York, sails again, 397, + and captures, "Penguin," 406-408. + +_Hull, Isaac._ Captain, U.S.N. + Commands "Constitution," i. 328; + chased by British squadron, 329; + sails from Boston on a cruise, 329; + captures "Guerrière," 330-335; + commanding Portsmouth yard, reports on coastwise conditions, ii. 186, + 187, 192, 198. + +_Hull, William._ American general. + Appointed brigadier general, i. 337; + his letter setting forth military conditions prior to war, 339; + his campaign, 340-346, and surrender, 347. + + +_Impressment._ + A principal cause of War of 1812, i. 2; + statement of the British claim, 3; + counter-claim of American Government, 4, 120; + American people not unanimous in support, 5, 116; + opinions of Morris, Gaston, and Strong, 6-8; + not mentioned in Jay's instructions, 1794, 88; + made pre-eminent in those to Monroe and Pinkney, 1806, 114; + historical summary of the controversy, to 1806, 114-133; + treaty of December 31, 1806, does not provide for, satisfactorily, 133; + rejected therefore by Jefferson, 133; + a real cause of the war, though so denied by some, 136-138; + American demand revived in connection with the "Chesapeake" affair, 161; + Great Britain refuses to mingle the two questions, 165; + numbers of American seamen alleged to have been impressed, 128, 300 + (and note); + demand renewed, coincident with a proposal looking to peace after the + declaration of war, ii. 409; + Great Britain again refuses, 410; + stated as a _sine quâ non_ in reply to British propositions made + through Admiral Warren, i. 391; + embodied in instructions to peace commissioners, ii. 413-414; + again refused by Great Britain, 416; + abandoned by the American Government, in consequence of the pressure + of the war, ii. 266 (and note), 414, 432. + +_Indians_, American. + Estimated importance of, in consideration of war, i. 305-307, 338, + 339; ii. 67, 293, 421; + effect upon Hull, in surrendering, 349; + instability of, 345, 346; ii. 73, 75, 99, 103, 280, 421; + desire of British officials to secure them in their possessions at + the peace, ii. 99, 100 (note), 421; + the consequent effect upon the peace negotiations, 416-423; + not included, as parties to the treaty, 432. + +_Izard, George._ American general. + Relieves Wilkinson in command of Champlain district, ii. 283; + action first intended for, 292; + his reports of conditions, 318-319, 364; + his preparations about Plattsburg, 319, 370; + ordered to proceed to Brown's assistance on Niagara frontier, 319-320; + his march thither, 320-321, 365; + proceedings about Niagara, 321-323; + blows up Fort Erie and retreats to New York side, 323. + + +_Jackson, Andrew._ American general. + Takes Pensacola, ii. 388; + goes to New Orleans, 388; + operations about New Orleans, 391-396. + +_Jackson, Francis J._ British Minister to the United States. + Appointed, with special powers, i. 221; + negotiations at Washington, 221-225; + American Government declines further intercourse with, 225; + discussion of the correspondence, 226-228; + British Government declines to censure, 228, 231. + +_James, William._ British naval historian. + Quoted, i. 325, 327, 414, 415; ii. 6, 8, 54, 58, 80 (note), 132, 141 + (and note), 142, 143, 160 (note), 162, 165 (note), 257, 258 (note), + 260, 381, 395 (note), 396 (note). + +"_Java._" British frigate. + Captured by "Constitution," ii. 3-7. + +_Jay, John._ Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court. + Epochal significance of treaty with Great Britain negotiated by, i. 43; + appointed special envoy, 88; + occasion for the mission, 89, 90; + character of the negotiation, 93-95; + the treaty a temporary arrangement, 95; + ratified, with an omission, 96. + +_Jefferson, Thomas._ + American Secretary of State. + Opinion as to the importance of navigation to national defence, i. 52; + unflattering opinion of British policy, 70; + favors coercive retaliation in matters of commerce and navigation, 71; + principle as to impressment enunciated by, 120. + President of the United States. + Broad principle as to impressment asserted by, i. 4; + expectations of commercial concessions from Great Britain, 1804, 100; + aversion to military and naval preparations, 106, 138, 187, 280, 291, + 297, 300, 336; ii. 213-214; + reliance upon commercial coercion, 107; + refuses approval of treaty of December 31, 1806, because without + stipulation against impressment, 133; + consistency of position in regard to impressment, 136-138; + action in the "Chesapeake" affair, 160-162; + endeavors to utilize it to obtain relinquishment of impressment, 164; + recommends a general embargo, 181; + expectations of, from the embargo, 183 (and note); + dislike to the carrying trade, 187, + and to Great Britain, 188-190; + gunboat policy of, 187, 260, 262; ii. 213-214; + embarrassment in executing embargo, i. 194; + tenacious adherence to the embargo policy, 202; + views as to American neutral waters, 291. + After leaving office. + Opinion as to cause of Erskine's arrangement, 1809, i. 231; + on Bonaparte's policy, 239; + favors keeping navy under cover during war, 280; + expectations as to easy conquest of Canada, 291. + +_Jones, Jacob._ Commander, U.S.N., commanding "Wasp." + Captures "Frolic," i. 411-415; + taken by British seventy-four, 415; + commands frigate "Macedonian" (as captain), ii. 25; + expectations of escape, deceived, 25; + sails with Decatur, 148, and blockaded in New London, 150. + +_Jones, Thomas ap Catesby._ Lieutenant, U.S.N. + Commands gunboat flotilla in Lake Borgne and Mississippi Sound, ii. 389; + overpowered, wounded, and captured by superior enemy's force, 390. + +_Jones, William._ Secretary of the Navy. + Commercial estimate of privateering by, i. 396; + judicious reply to Perry's request for detachment, ii. 67; + comments on the effects of gunboat service on naval officers, 154, 155; + stigmatizes American intercourse with enemy, and issues order to + prevent, 174; + recommends to Congress procurement of naval schooners for commerce + destroying, 270; + recommendation of Chauncey to Congress, 1813, 299; + anxious correspondence with Chauncey, 1814, 300; + naval force available for defence of Washington, stated by, 343. + + +_Keane, John._ British general. + In temporary command of the expedition against New Orleans, 391. + +_King, Rufus._ American Minister to Great Britain. + Appointed, i. 120; + negotiations concerning impressment, 120-122, 124-127. + +_Kingston_, Canada. + Strategic importance of, i. 305-308; ii. 30, 42, 59; + operations contemplated against, ii. 30-33, 104-106, 278-280, 319. + + +_Lakes, the Great._ + Strategic importance of, in War of 1812, i. 300-303, 353, 356; + ii. 29, 46-48, 99-101, 102-104, 276-278, 285, 290-291, 298-300; + decisive positions upon, i. 304-308; + Hull's exposition of effect of naval predominance on, 339; + Madison's admission concerning, 350; + improved conditions on, through Chauncey's energy, 361-366; + control of, dependent on naval force, 371, 373; ii. 68-70, 73-75, + 99-101, 300-308, 314-315; + minor naval events on, i. 354-356; ii. 324-328; + British demands concerning, in the negotiations for peace, + ii. 355-356, 419, 421, 422. + +_Lambert, Henry._ Captain, R.N. + Commands "Java" when taken by the "Constitution," ii. 3; + mortally wounded in the action, 5. + +_Lambert, Sir John._ British general. + Joins New Orleans expedition two days before the assault, ii. 385; + succeeds to command upon Pakenham's death, 394-397; + proceeds against and captures Fort Bowyer, in Mobile Bay, 397. + +_Lawrence, James._ Captain, U.S.N. + Commands "Hornet" in Bainbridge's squadron, i. 407; + sails in company with "Constitution," ii. 2; + challenges "Bonne Citoyenne," 3; + sinks the "Peacock," 8; + returns to United States, 9; + ordered to command "Chesapeake," 131; + nature of his orders, 131-132; + action with, and captured by, "Shannon," 135-140; + mortally wounded, 137; + examination of his conduct, 140-145. + +"_Levant._" British sloop of war. + Captured by "Constitution," ii. 404-406; + recaptured by British squadron, 406 (note). + +_Lewis, Morgan._ + American general, ii. 47; + temporarily succeeds Dearborn in command at Niagara, 50. + +_Licenses._ + British to American merchant vessels, i. 203-206; + for the supply of armies in Spanish Peninsula, i. 265, 409-412; + ii. 9, 15, 21, 170-175. + +_Liverpool, Earl of._ Prime Minister of Great Britain. + Quotations from correspondence of, relative to the peace negotiations, + chap. xviii., ii. 409-434. + + +_Macdonough, Thomas._ Captain, U.S.N. + Commands flotilla on Lake Champlain, ii. 356; + operations prior to Prevost's invasion, 356-363; + preparations for battle, 367-371, 376-377, 380; + wins battle of Lake Champlain, 377-381; + effects of the victory, 381-382, 427, 430-431; + news of the victory received in London, 426. + +"_Macedonian._" British frigate. + Captured by the United States, i. 416-422. + +"_Macedonian._" American frigate (captured as above). + Unable to get to sea, ii. 25, + and blockaded in New London during the war, 148-150. + +_Macomb, Alexander._ American general. + Left by Izard in command at Plattsburg, ii. 365; + operations before, and at, Plattsburg, 366-367; + opinions of, as to distance of Macdonough's squadron from the shore + batteries, 369. + +_M'Clure, George._ American, general of N.Y. militia. + Left in command of Niagara frontier, ii. 118; + difficulties of situation of, 119; + retreats to American side of river, 120; + burns Canadian village of Newark, 120; + this action of, disavowed by the Government, 120. + +_Madison, James._ Secretary of State, and President of the United States. + Close association of, with events leading to War of 1812, and summary + of its cause, i. 41; + characterization of, 106; + discussion of questions of blockade, 110, 111; + pronouncement on impressment, 114, 131, 132; + instructions to Monroe and Pinkney to reopen negotiations, 1807, 133; + narrow outlook of, 139; + opinion of the Berlin Decree, 142, 182; + upon the Rule of 1756, 152; + instructions to Monroe by, in the "Chesapeake" affair, 161, 241; + object of Jefferson's course in that affair, stated by, 164; + use of the affair, made by, 170; + explanation of the motive of the Embargo of 1808 by, 183; + relation of, to Non-Intercourse Act, 215; + misled (as President) in negotiations with Erskine, 216-218; + proclamation, renewing intercourse with Great Britain, 219; + annulled, 219; + negotiations with Jackson, Erskine's successor, 221-225; + declines further communication with Jackson, 225; + special supervision of this correspondence by, 226; + interpretation of British motive for Erskine's supposed concession, 230; + accepts Champagny's letter as an actual revocation of Napoleon's + Decrees, and so proclaims, 238, 254; + afterwards recognizes delicacy of situation thus created, 266; + non-intercourse with Great Britain revives, 248; + message of, to Congress in special session, November 4, 1811, 259; + recommends embargo, preparatory to war, 263; + identified with policy of peaceful coercion, 278, 378; ii. 26, 175-176; + sends war message to Congress, and approves declaration of war, i. 279; + assumes only his share of responsibility for the war, 393; + indignation of, at British sectional blockade of coast, 296; ii. 173; + selects Dearborn and Hull for general officers, i. 337; + failure of expectations as to Hull's expedition, admitted by, 339; + ingenuous surprise at capitulation of Michilimackinac, 341; + admits mistake of not securing naval command of lakes, 350; + military inefficiency of Government under, 360; ii. 26-27, 265; + insists on relinquishment of impressment as a preliminary to treating + for peace, i. 391, + but obtains also from Congress law excluding British-born seamen + from American ships, 392; + to prevent clandestine supply of enemy, recommends prohibition of all + export, ii. 173; + issues executive order to same end, 174; + denials of effectiveness of British blockade, 204; + decides to abandon demand for cessation of impressment as a condition + for peace, 266 (note); + comment on Armstrong's management of military operations, 282. + +_Manners, William._ + Commander, R.N., commanding "Reindeer," ii. 254; + skill and gallantry of, in action with "Wasp," 254-255; + killed in the action, 255. + +_Maples, J.F._ Commander, R.N., commanding "Pelican." + Captures "Argus," ii. 217-219. + +_Marshall, John._ American Secretary of State under President John Adams. + Summary of commercial injuries received from Great Britain, i. 97; + propositions to Great Britain concerning impressment, 121; + opinion concerning blockades, 146; + tendency of this opinion, if accepted, 148. + (Afterwards Chief Justice of Supreme Court.) + +_Militia._ + Jefferson's dependence upon, i. 52; ii. 213; + conduct of, American and Canadian, i. 344, 345, 346, 351, 357, 360; + ii. 26, 27, 42, 44, 70, 119-121, 157-158, 295, 312, 316, 337, 339, + 343, 347-351, 354, 365, 366, (and note), 367, 391-396. + +_Monroe, James._ + American Minister to Great Britain, i. 104, 126; + reports conditions of American commerce in 1804 prosperous, 99, 100, 104, + but changed in 1805, 104; + consequent negotiations with Fox, 104-113; + Pinkney appointed as colleague to, for special negotiation, 113; + negotiations with British ministry on impressment, 128-132; + with Pinkney signs treaty of December 31, 1806, 133; + treaty rejected by Jefferson, and new negotiations ordered, 133; + "Chesapeake" affair intervenes, but British Government eventually + refuses to reopen, 135; + unlucky comment of, upon Rule of 1756, 151; + negotiations of, with Canning, concerning "Chesapeake" affair, 156-165; + returns to the United States, leaving Pinkney as minister, 135; + after return vindicates the rejected treaty, 169, 213; + proposes to Jefferson, in 1809, a special mission to France and Great + Britain, for which he offers himself, 212; + becomes Secretary of State, under President Madison, 254; + correspondence, while Secretary, quoted, 255, 293, 391; ii. 265, 266, + 411, 413, 414; + advanced views, for one of his party, concerning utility of a navy, + i. 280; + on project of keeping navy in port, in war, 106, 281; + statement regarding readiness for war, 393. + Secretary of War, ii. 323. + +_Montreal._ + Strategic importance of, i. 303-309. + +_Mooers, Benjamin._ General, New York militia. + Vindicates the conduct of most part of the militia under his command, + ii. 366 (note). + +_Morris, Charles_. Captain, U.S.N. (first lieutenant of the + "Constitution" in action with "Guerrière"). + Commands frigate "Adams," in Potomac, ii. 162, 167; + services in Potomac, and at Annapolis, 169, 174-177; + difficulty in escaping British blockade, 170, 178; + first cruise of "Adams," 226, 261; + second cruise, strikes on Isle au Haut, takes refuge in Penobscot, + and burned to escape capture, 353-354. + +_Morris, Gouverneur._ American statesman. + Opinion favorable to British right of impressment of British-born + seamen on high seas, i. 5-7; + opinion of the United States' ability to maintain a strong navy, 71; + in London, contends against impressment of Americans, 119. + + +_Napoleon, The Emperor._ + Issues Berlin Decree, i. 112; + purpose, as defined by himself, 144; + objects of, as towards the United States, 149, 169, 173, 182, 235, + 249, 268, 278; + scope of Berlin Decree, 152, 173, 176, 182, 253-254; + sole control of Continent by, 153, 174, 220, 221, 269; + vigorous application of Decree to American shipping, 172; + effects of his reverses in Spain, 191, 209; + Bayonne Decree of, 203; + tenor of Milan Decree of, 205; + Decree of Rambouillet, 235-236; + alleged revocation of decrees by, 237, 271, 272; + instances of arguments of, 240, 267; + effect of reverses in Russia upon the War of 1812, 389; + of downfall of, ii. 10, 123, 330. + +_Navigation._ + Connection between naval power and, 11, 49-52, 81; + distinction between commerce and, 11, 81. + +_Navigation, Acts of._ + The formulated expression of a national need, i. 9; + opinion of Adam Smith concerning, 9-10; + historical summary of, 13-19; + apparent effects of, 19; + British national conviction concerning, 21-24, 60-61; + relation of colonies to system of, 24-27; + endeavor to maintain system of, towards United States after + independence, 27, 29, 40, 41, 45-48, 103; + copied by French Convention, 28; + attitude of foreigners towards, 30; + progress of British colonies under, 31-39; + attitude of American colonists towards, 39; + Lord Sheffield's pamphlet upon, 46, 47, 49, 50, 57, 64, 65, 73 (and + note), 75; + inter-relations of British Empire protected by, 53-55, 63-64, 67; + working of, threatened by American independence, 56-58, 65; + modifications of, proposed by Pitt, but rejected by country, 58; + dependence of, upon West Indies, 65; + system of, continued by proclamation towards United States, + 1783-1794, 67-70; + British commerce and shipping grow under this enforcement of, 76-84; + purpose of, offensive, in military sense, 79; + effect of French Revolution on, 87-88; + dependence of Rule of 1756 upon the system of, 90; + principle of Rule of 1756 leads up to molestation of American + navigation, and Orders in Council of 1807, 93, 98-104, + and so to war with United States, 136. + +_Navy, American._ + Gouverneur Morris' opinion of power of United States to maintain, i. 71; + opinion of John Quincy Adams, 186; + recommendation of Presidents Washington and John Adams, ii. 212, 213; + policy of President Jefferson, 213; i. 187, 280; + neglect of, during administrations of Jefferson and Madison, shown by + condition of, at outbreak of war, 257, 297, 300, + and stated by a committee of Congress, 1812, 260-262; + Madison's lukewarm mention, 259, 260; + Congress on approach of war refuses to increase, 263; + high professional merit of officers of, 279-280; + numbers of, as estimated by British admiralty, ii. 211; + total numbers of vessels in active employment, all told, from beginning + of war to its conclusion, twenty-two, 242. + +_New Orleans._ + For battle of, see _Actions, Land_. + +"_New Orleans._" + Ship of the line, on the lakes, ii. 318 (note). + +_Niagara, Peninsula of._ + Strategic importance of, i. 338, 345-346, 352, 353; ii. 39-40, 51, + 291, 293; + effect of climatic conditions of, i. 359. + + +_Orders in Council._ + General definition of, i. 2 (note); + of 1807, cause of war with United States, 2; + _entrepôt_ motive for, 16, 27; + of June and November, 1793, 89, 92; + of January, 1794, 93; + relations of, to Rule of 1756, 93; + of January, 1798, motive of, 98, + and renewal in 1803, 99; + effect of these last upon "direct trade," 101; + of May, 1806, 108, + effect and purpose of, 109; + legitimacy of, denied by the United States, 110-112, + and by Napoleon, who upon it bases Berlin Decree, 112; + of January, 1807, and its effects, 150-152; + Of November, 1807, purport of, 177, 187; + resented by United States, 178; + delay in communicating to American Government, 179; + general plan of, that of blockades, 180; + illustrative instances of execution of, 180 (note), 204, 205 (notes); + known in United States before the passage of Embargo Act, 181; + conditional offer of British Government to withdraw, 215-218; + revocation of, by substitution of Order of April, 1809, 220; + American expectation of revocation, in consequence of Champagny's + letter, 238; + British Government declines to revoke, 243-245; + Pinkney's analysis, and condemnation, of, to Wellesley, 245-246; + Wellesley's reply, 246; + Wellesley's exposition of policy of, 253-254; + discontent in Great Britain with, 269; + order of April 12, 1812, promises revocation, conditional, 270; + British determination to maintain, otherwise, 273-276; + revocation of, June, 1812, 276, + to date from August 1, 1812, 277; + too late to secure peace with America, 278, + or to restore it, 391-392; ii. 9; + compensation for seizures under, refused in peace negotiations, + ii. 416, 432. + + +_Pakenham, Sir Edward._ British general. + Named to command New Orleans expedition after death of Ross, ii. 385; + instructions to, concerning conduct in Louisiana, 427; + arrival and operations, 392-396. + +_Patterson, Daniel T._ Captain, U.S.N. + Commands in chief in waters of New Orleans, ii. 392-395. + +"_Peacock._" British sloop of war. + Captured by "Hornet," ii. 7-9. + +"_Peacock._" American sloop of war. + Captures "Epervier," ii. 258-261; + subsequent cruise of, 261-262; + sails again, January 20, 1815, 406. + +_Pearson, Joseph._ Representative in Congress from North Carolina. + Speech on conditions of country, owing to the war, ii. 199. + +"_Pelican._" British brig of war. + Captures American brig "Argus," ii. 217. + +"_Penguin._" British sloop of war. + Captured by "Hornet," ii. 407. + +_Perceval, Spencer._ Prime Minister of Great Britain. + Murder of, and consequent confusion in the Government, i. 273; + firm determination of, to maintain Orders in Council, and opinion + of American resistance, 274. + +_Perry, Oliver H._ Captain, U.S.N. + Applies for, and ordered to, the lakes service, i. 376; + assigned by Chauncey to Lake Erie, and practical independence of + action there, 377; + conditions of force found, 377, + and merits of general action of, 378; + engaged at capture of Fort George, and transfers Black Rock flotilla + to Erie, ii. 41; + thenceforth remains on Lake Erie, 62, + but always under Chauncey, 63; + collision of interests between the two officers, 64; + altercation with Chauncey, 65; + applies to be detached, 66; + Navy Department refuses, 67; + exposed situation of Erie, and preparations for defence, during + equipment of squadron, 68-70; + blockaded by British squadron, 70; + seizes opportunity of its absence, to cross bar, 71; + proceedings prior to battle of Lake Erie, 74-75; + battle of Lake Erie, 76-94; + discussion of claim to credit of, 95-99; + consequences of success of, 99-101; + prompt subsequent action of, 102; + detached from lakes service, 104; + engaged in harassing retreat of British squadron down the Potomac, 350; + opinion as to qualities of smaller and larger vessels, 271; + detailed to command a squadron of schooners, against enemy's + commerce, 270-273. + +"_Phoebe._" British frigate. + Sent to Pacific with two sloops of war to capture "Essex," 246; + with "Cherub" captures "Essex," 248-252. + +_Pinkney, William._ + Appointed colleague to Monroe, in London, for special negotiations, + i. 113; + course of negotiations, 127-133; + signs treaty of December 31, 1806, 133; + remains as minister, after Monroe's return, 135; + quoted in connection with mission, 146, 177, 215, 216, 218, 219, 230, + 238, 241, 251; + party relations, 169; + early forwards a copy of Orders in Council of November 11, 1807, + 179 (note); + letter of Secretary of State to, communicating dismissal of Jackson + by U.S. Government, 226-228; + communicates the same to the British Government, 230; + construes Champagny's letter to revoke French Decrees, and demands + recall of British Orders in Council, 238; + letter to British Secretary for Foreign Affairs, analyzing and + condemning system of Orders in Council, 245; + conditional instructions to, to present recall, 250; + dilatory course of Wellesley towards, 251; + presents recall, 252; + returns to the United States, 252; + no successor to, till after the war, 252. + +_Pitt, William._ Prime Minister of Great Britain. + Popularity of, i. 1; + as Chancellor of Exchequer, 1783, introduces bill favorable to United + States, for regulating commerce, 58; + controversy over bill, 60; + measure then dropped, 67, 68; + concession becomes possible to, 87, 97; + return to power, in 1804, 100; + new measures of, due to popular discontents, 101-104; + remark to Gouverneur Morris, concerning impressment difficulties, 120; + death of, 104. + +_Porter, David._ Captain, U.S.N. + Commands frigate "Essex," i. 407; ii. 1-3, 13; + cruise of "Essex," in Pacific, ii. 244-247; + action with, and capture by, "Phoebe" and "Cherub," 249-252; + approves of commerce destroying by naval armed schooners, appointed + to command a squadron of them, and draws up plan of operations, 270; + engaged in harassing retreat of British frigates in Potomac, 350. + +_Porter, Peter B._ Representative in Congress from New York, and general + of New York militia. + Testimony at trial of General Hull, i. 340; + duel with General Smyth, 358; + tribute to gallantry of naval detachment at Niagara, 315; + engaged at Chippewa, ii. 295, + on Niagara peninsula, 306, + and Lundy's Lane, 310. + +"_President._" American frigate. + Rencounter with British sloop of war "Little Belt," i. 256-259; + cruises under command of Commodore Rodgers, i. 322-324, 407-409; + ii. 128-129; + sails under Decatur, 397; + capture of, by British squadron, 398-401. + +_Prevost, Sir George._ British general. + Governor of Nova Scotia, reports failure of American embargo, i. 199. + Governor-General of Canada, and commander-in-chief, reports British + naval superiority on lakes, 1812, i. 295; + statements of effect of naval control on operations, 302; ii. 40, + 306, 316, 362-363, 374-375; + negotiates suspension of hostilities with Dearborn, i. 351-352; + instructs Brock to forbear offensive, 356, 367; + visit of, to Kingston, February, 1813, effect of, on American + plans, ii. 32; + attack on Sackett's Harbor by, in conjunction with Yeo, 42-45; + instructions to Procter, at Malden, 67, + and to De Rottenburg, at Niagara, 69; + submits plan for securing territories in United States to Indian + allies of Great Britain, 99 (note); + calls upon Admiral Cochrane to inflict retaliation for unauthorized + burning by Americans in Canada, 329, 334; + receives large re-enforcements from Wellington's Peninsular army, + 362-363, + with instructions for operations, 362; + reasons for advancing by New York side of Lake Champlain, instead + of through Vermont, 363; + advance upon Plattsburg, 365-367; + awaits the arrival of British squadron before attacking, 372-375; + reason for desiring a joint attack by army and navy, 372 (note); + correspondence with Captain Downie, commanding the squadron, 373-375; + charges against, by naval officers of the squadron, 375, 381; + retreats after squadron's defeat, 381; + summoned home under charges, but dies before trial, 381. + Retreat of, after the naval defeat, endorsed by Wellington, 430. + +_Pring, Daniel._ Commander, R.N. + Attached to lake service, Lake Champlain, 360; + operations on, 360-361, 366; + second in command at battle of Lake Champlain, 372-381. + +_Privateering._ + Employment of a sea-militia force, requiring little antecedent + training, i. 286; + recourse of the weaker belligerent, 288; + aptitude of Americans for, 384; + extemporized character of early, in War of 1812, 394; + opinions concerning nature of, of Secretaries Gallatin and Jones, 396; + susceptible of business regulation and direction, 397, 399; ii. 220, + 225, 229; + energy of American, noted by Warren, i. 401-402; + effect of, upon regular navy, ii. 12; + a secondary operation of war, not in itself decisive, 126; + primary object of, 215-216, 241; + details of methods pursued, in 1812, 222, 225, 226, 240; + comparison of, with a regular naval service, in motive, and + inefficiency for the particular object of commerce destroying, + 241-244; + a popular effort in War of 1812, independent of Government + initiative, 265; + development and systematization of, towards end of war, 267-268, 269. + +_Privateers_ mentioned by name: + "America," i. 398; ii. 229; + "Chasseur," ii. 237-240; + "Comet," ii. 234; + "Decatur," ii. 233; + "Globe," ii. 226-228; + "Governor Tompkins," ii. 228; + "Kemp," ii. 236; + "Leo," ii. 224; + "Lion," ii. 224; + "Mammoth," ii. 269; + "Rapid," i. 398; + "Rattlesnake," ii. 223; + "Rossie," i. 295-297; + "Saucy Jack," ii. 235-236; + "Scourge," ii. 223; + "True-blooded Yankee," ii. 225; + "Yankee," ii. 226. + Number and classes of, ii. 243-244. + Combats, of. See _Actions, Privateer_. + +_Prizes_ taken by Americans in first three months of war, and in what + localities taken, i. 394-395; + taken by British in same period, 399-400; + at later period of war, 406; + transition period of prize-taking, January-June, 1813, ii. 20; + estimate of relative losses by the two belligerents, 21-22; + compilation of lists, by Niles' Register, 22; + overlooked significance of the greater British losses, 23, 221; + limited success of American frigates in taking, to what attributable, + 216; + taken by American cruisers, in latter part of war, 220-221; + in West Indies, 230; + total number taken throughout the war, by American naval vessels, and + by privateers, 241-243. + +_Proclamation._ + Commerce between Great Britain and America, regulated by, 1783-1794, + i. 67-70; + issued by Jefferson excluding British armed vessels from American + waters, after "Chesapeake" affair, 160-161; + Royal, directing commanders of British naval vessels to impress + British-born seamen found in foreign merchant ships, and denying + efficacy of naturalization papers to discharge from allegiance, 166; + by Jefferson, against combinations to defy Embargo laws, 207; + by Madison, permitting renewal of trade with Great Britain, 219, + and withdrawn, 219; + by Madison, announcing revocation of Napoleon's Decrees, 238. + +_Procter, Henry._ British general. + As colonel, in command of Fort Malden, i. 345; + acts against Hull's communications, 345; + instructions from Brock, after fall of Detroit, 367; + compels surrender of Winchester's detachment at Frenchtown, 370; + subsequent action, 373; ii. 67, 68; + attack on Fort Meigs, 68; + project against Erie, 69; + baffled at Fort Stephenson, 73; + upon Harrison's approach, after battle of Lake Erie, evacuates + Detroit and Malden, retreating up valley of the Thames, and defeated + at Moravian Town, 103; + reaches British lines at Burlington, with remnant of his force, 103. + + +_Quincy, Josiah._ Representative in Congress from Massachusetts. + Defines position of New England concerning Orders in Council and + impressment questions, i. 211-212; + disproves the accuracy of the charge brought by the Administration + against the British minister, Jackson, 232; + supports the report for increase of navy, 260; + predicts that a suitable naval establishment would be a unifying force + in national politics, 261; + sends word to seaports of intended embargo of April, 1812, 263. + + +"_Rattlesnake._" American brig of war. + Particulars of cruise of, ii. 231-233. + +_Reeves._ + British writer on the Navigation Laws, quoted, i. 14, 15, 17, 19, 23, + 25, 39 (note). + +"_Reindeer._" British sloop of war. + Captured by "Wasp," ii. 254. + +_Riall, Phineas._ British general, commanding on Niagara frontier, + December, 1813. + Captures Fort Niagara, and raids successfully western New York, + burning towns in retaliation for the burning of Newark, ii. 120-122; + in 1814, suggests destruction of Fort Niagara, 275; + at Chippewa and Lundy's Lane, with intervening operations, 295-298, + 306-310; + wounded and captured at Lundy's Lane, 310. + +_Rodgers, John._ Captain, U.S.N. + Encounter with British sloop "Little Belt," i. 256-259; + commands a squadron at declaration of war, 314; + opinion as to proper mode of using navy against enemy's commerce, + 317-320; ii. 130-131, 216; + orders of Navy Department to, 320; + sails with squadron on the first cruise of the war, 322; + incidents, 323-324, + and effects, direct and indirect, of first cruise of, 324-327; + effects of second cruise, 402-404; + incidents of second cruise, with "President" and "Congress," 407-409; + incidents of third cruise, in "President" alone, ii. 128-129; + after fourth cruise, enters New York, and turns over command of + "President" to Decatur, i. 405. + Employed in Potomac River, harassing retreat of British squadron from + Alexandria, 350. + +_Rose, George H._ + British special envoy to Washington for settlement of "Chesapeake" + affair, i. 165-167; + failure of mission, 167. + +_Ross, Robert._ British general employed in Chesapeake expedition. + Instructions issued to, ii. 331; + capture of Washington, 340-351; + killed in advance against Baltimore, 357; + instructions to, for New Orleans expedition, 385-386; + sanguine expectations of, after capture of Washington, 424-425; + succeeded by Sir Edward Pakenham for New Orleans expedition, 392, 427. + +_Rottenburg, De._ + British general in command on Niagara frontier June, 1813, ii. 69; + declines to detach to aid of Procter and Barclay on Lake Erie, 69; + proceeds to Kingston, with re-enforcements, in anticipation of + American attack, 110-111; + despatches detachment in pursuit of Wilkinson's movement down the St. + Lawrence, 114. + +_Russell, Jonathan._ + American _chargé d'affaires_ in France, after Armstrong's departure, + i. 247; + correspondence with American and French Governments relative to the + alleged repeal of the French Decrees, quoted, 247, 267, 268; + transferred as _chargé_ to London, 264; + correspondence as such with American and British Governments, quoted, + 264, 266, 272-278; + opinion of the alleged French Decree of April 28, 1811, 272, 276; + negotiation with Castlereagh, after declaration of war, looking to + suspension of hostilities, ii. 409-411; + appointed additional peace commissioner at Ghent, 413. + +_Russia._ + Offers in 1812 mediation between Great Britain and United States, + ii. 411; + accepted by United States, but rejected by Great Britain, 412; + attitude of Czar towards America, 423-124, 428. + + +_Sackett's Harbor._ American naval station on Lake Ontario. + Conditions at, i. 302, 309, 363, 374, 376; ii. 37, 38, 50, 104-106, + 110-113, 119, 276, 278, 280, 281, 291, 304; + ships constructed at, 364, 366, 377; ii. 49, 276, 283, 291, 318 (note); + attack upon, by Prevost and Yeo, ii. 42-45; + Brown's march from, to Niagara frontier, 281; + Yeo's blockade of, 285, + abandoned, 290; + Izard's march to, on way to support Brown at Niagara, 319-320; + Chauncey retires finally to, after launch of the British "St. + Lawrence," 323; + destruction of, prescribed to Prevost by instructions, in 1814, 329, 362; + Yeo's observations at, 318 (note). + +_Seaboard, United States._ + Conditions on, i. 296-298, 300, 310-313, 360, 393, 404-406; + ii. 15-19, 24-27, 127-128, 148-150, 152-155, 202; + Chesapeake and Delaware Bays, 1813, ii. 155-178; + three divisions of the seaboard, Northern, Middle, and Southern, 178; + distinctive topographical features of each, 178, 179, 183, 184, 193, 195; + proportionate effect of the war upon each, with reasons therefor, + 179-183; + commercial and military characteristics of Middle section, 183-184; + necessity of coasting trade to Middle, 184, + less than to Northern and Southern, 185-187; + effect of hostile pressure upon coasting in Northern section, 192-194; + in Southern section, 195-198, 203; + effectual separation between the sections by the British blockades, + 198-201; + statistics of export, 201; + momentary importance of North Carolina coast, 203; + effects of pressure upon seaboard shown by rebound upon peace, in + prices, and in shipping statistics, 204-207; + statement by a naval officer of the time, 207-208; + operations in Chesapeake Bay, 1814, 336-341, 350-351; + capture of Washington, 341-350; + occurrences on New England coast, 352; + invasion of Maine, and occupation of Castine, 353-354; + Gulf coast and New Orleans, 382-397. + +_Scott, Winfield._ American general. + Quoted, i. 336; ii. 48, 104 (note), 118, 240 (note), 297; + joins Wilkinson's expedition down the St. Lawrence, ii. 113; + on Niagara frontier, in 1814, 279, 281, 282; + battle of Chippewa, 294-298; + Lundy's Lane, 306-311; + severely wounded, 311, + and unable to serve again during the campaign, 314; + president of the Court of Inquiry concerning the capture of + Washington, 341-342. + +"_Shannon._" British frigate, blockading off New York. + Pursuit of "Constitution," and protection of convoy, i. 325-329; + admirable efficiency of, under Captain Broke, 133-134; + capture of "Chesapeake" by, 135-145; + reported injuries to, 146-147. + +_Sheffield, Lord._ British writer on economical questions. + Conspicuous opponent of Pitt's policy in opening West India trade to + American navigation, i. 50; + leading constructive ideas of, in scheme of policy towards the United + States, 63-64, 65-66; + success of, in preventing Pitt's measure, 67, 68; + Gibbon's estimate of, 73 (note); + apparent temporary success of policy of, 75-79; + Canada and the other North-American colonies fail to fulfil the part + expected from them, 86; + pamphlet of, "Observations on the Commerce of the American States," 65; + quotations from, i. 28 (note), 31 (note), 37 (and note), 46, 47, 49, + 50, 57, 65, 72. + +_Sherbrooke, Sir John._ British general, Governor of Nova Scotia. + Ordered to occupy so much of Maine as shall insure direct + communication between Halifax and Quebec, ii. 353; + expedition to the Penobscot, and seizure of Castine and Machias, 354; + Wellington's opinion of the result, 354, 431. + +_Sinclair, Arthur._ Commander, U.S.N., commanding on Upper Lakes, in + 1814, ii. 324; + operations of, 324-328; + mentioned, 333. + +_Smith, Adam._ + Quoted in connection with the Navigation Act, i. 9-10, 49. + +_Smith, Robert._ + American Secretary of State during early part of Madison's first term, + i. 222; + correspondence with, and in the case of, Jackson, the British minister + to Washington, 222-228; + attributes to Madison's intervention an offensive expression in letter + to Erskine, 228-229. + +_Smith, Samuel._ Senator from Maryland. + Quoted in connection with Embargo legislation, i. 184. + +_Stewart, Charles._ Captain, U.S.N. + Commands "Constellation," ii. 11, + when driven into Norfolk, and there blockaded for the rest of the + war, 12; + his reports while in Norfolk waters, 10, 17, 160-162; + transferred to the "Constitution," at Boston, 161, 162; + difficulty in escaping from Boston, 147 (see also i. 405 and ii. 12); + first cruise in "Constitution," 230-231; + second escape, 404; + captures "Cyane" and "Levant," 405-406; + quoted, ii. 12, 20. + +_Strong, Caleb._ Governor of Massachusetts. + Quoted, in support of British claim to impress, i. 7; + in condemnation of the war, and of the invasion of Canada, ii. 352. + +_St. Vincent, Earl of._ British admiral and First Lord of the Admiralty. + Statements and opinions concerning impressment, during Rufus King's + negotiations, i. 124-126. + + +_Turreau, General._ French Minister to the United States. + Opinion that Erskine's concessions showed the break-down of Great + Britain, i. 230. + + +_Vincent, John._ + British general, commanding on Niagara line, at the time of Dearborn's + attack, ii. 38; + retreat to Burlington, 39; + attack by, at Stony Creek, 46; + on American retreat reoccupies peninsula, except Fort George, 47-48; + superseded by De Rottenburg, Lieutenant Governor of Upper Canada, 69; + left again in command by De Rottenburg's departure to Kingston, 110; + retreats again to Burlington on the news of battle of the Thames, + 103, 118; + ordered to retire further, to York, and reasons for not doing so, 118. + + +_Warren, Sir John._ + British admiral, and commander-in-chief on North American station, + i. 387; + Halifax and West Indian stations consolidated under, 387; + charged with diplomatic overture to American Government, 390; + reply received by, 391; + first impressions on arrival, 392; + representations to, 401, + and correspondence with, Admiralty, 402-404; + proclamations of blockades, ii. 9, 10; + the lakes service under supervision of, 28; + expectations of British Government and people from, 151; + operations in the Chesapeake, 155-169; + quits Chesapeake for the season, 177; + urgency of the Admiralty upon, 209-211; + relieved by Cochrane, 330. + Remark quoted, 332. + +_Warrington, Lewis._ Commander, U.S.N., commanding "Peacock." + Captures "Epervier," ii. 258-261; + subsequent cruise, 261-262; + later cruise, 406-408. + +_Washington, City of._ + Capture by the British, ii. 337-350. + +_Washington, George._ + Statements concerning conditions in the United States before the + adoption of the Constitution, i. 47; + as President of the United States, recommendations concerning the navy, + ii. 212-213. + +"_Wasp._" American sloop of war. + Action with, and capture of, "Frolic," i. 411-415; + is captured with her prize by the "Poictiers," seventy-four, 415. + +"_Wasp._" American sloop of war, built and named for the last, which + was captured only by overwhelming force. + Cruise of, ii. 253-258; + action with, and capture of, "Reindeer," 254; + action with, and sinking of, "Avon," 256; + disappears at sea, 257. + +_Wellesley, Marquis of._ British Secretary for Foreign Affairs. + Succeeds Canning, i. 229; + treatment of the Jackson case, 230-231, 250-252; + action in view of Champagny's letter, 238, 241-247; + construction placed by him upon the American demands consequent on + that letter, 246; + dilatory actions of, 252; + suggests to Pinkney to reconsider his intended departure, in view of + the nomination of Foster, 252; + summary statement of the British policy in the Orders in Council, + 253-254. + +_Wellington, Duke of._ + Represents to British Government conditions in France, 1814, ii. 428, + and imminence of trouble in Paris, 429; + anxiety of British Government, to remove him from Paris, 429; + pressed to accept the command in America, 429; + reluctance of, 430; + influence of, upon the negotiations at Ghent, 430-431; + approves Prevost's retreat in default of naval command of the lakes, + 430-431; + opinion of Sherbrooke's occupation of Maine, 431 (see also 354). + +_West Indies._ + Relations of, to the mother country and to the colonies of the American + continent, i. 32-40, 53-55, 56-58, 65-67; + British expectation that in these relations the lost colonies might + be replaced by Canada, Nova Scotia, etc., 44-48, 50-51, 64; + sufferings of, after 1776 and 1783, 54, 62-63, 67; + Pitt's measure, 1783, for benefit of, 58-60; + measure fails, and Navigation Acts applied to intercourse between + United States and, 68-70; + effect upon, 75, 78, 79; + recommendations of Committee of Privy Council, 1791, 82-84; + increased importance of, after outbreak of French Revolution, 86-88; + result, in fettering American intercourse with, 89, 95; + concession to United States of trade to, obtained in Jay's treaty, 96; + continued by British executive order, although article not confirmed + by Senate, 97; + course of British policy relating to, until 1805, 97-100; + question of American trade from, "direct" or "indirect," raised in + 1805, 100; + decision adverse to American interests, 101-103; + object of new departure of British Government, 103; + principle asserted identical with colonial practice, and with Orders + in Council of 1807, which led to War of 1812, 104. + As a field for operations against commerce, ii. 229-240. + +_Wilkinson, James._ American general. + Replaces Dearborn in command of New York frontier, ii. 104; + Armstrong's instructions to, 105; + movements of, 106; + concentrates at Sackett's Harbor, 109-111; + expedition down St. Lawrence against Montreal, 112-115; + failure of, and winter quarters at French Mills, 116; + removes thence to Plattsburg, 278; + abortive attempt against La Colle, 282-283; + superseded by Izard, 283. + +_Winder, William H._ American general. + Captured in the British attack at Stony Creek, ii. 47, 341; + appointed to command the tenth military district, including Baltimore + and Washington, 341; + conditions found by, as shown by Court of Inquiry, 342; + operations of, 343-350. + +_Woolsey, Melancthon T._ Lieutenant (afterwards captain), U.S.N. + Commands brig "Oneida" on Lake Ontario when war begins, i. 354; + employed organizing lake force, 364; + affairs at Oswego, 1813, ii. 50-51; + successful expedition by, in 1814, 285-289. + + +_Yeo, Sir James Lucas._ British commodore. + Appointed to charge of lakes service, under Sir J. Warren, ii. 29; + attack on Sackett's Harbor, in combination with army, 42-45; + in temporary control of Lake Ontario, 46-51; + contest with Chauncey in 1813, 51-61; + action of August 10, 56-59, + and September 11, 60; + action of September 28, 106-109; + subsequent movements in 1813, 111, 114; + proposed renewed attack on Sackett's Harbor, 280, 283; + made on Oswego instead, 284; + blockades Sackett's Harbor for a time, 285-289; + abandons blockade, returns to Kingston, and there remains, 290; + opinion of the importance of the St. Lawrence River, 292; + inactive policy during summer of 1814, 303, 307; + launches, and takes the lake with, a ship of 102 guns, giving him + entire control, 323; + observations at Sackett's Harbor, on his return to England after + peace, 318 (note); + given independent command on lakes after Warren's detachment, 330. + + + * * * * * + + +-----------------------------------------------------------+ + | Typographical errors corrected in text: | + | | + | Page 13: vesesls replaced with vessels | + | Page 131: frustated replaced with frustrated | + | Page 184: Philadephia replaced with Philadelphia | + | | + +-----------------------------------------------------------+ + + * * * * * + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 25912 *** diff --git a/25912-h/25912-h.htm b/25912-h/25912-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..cecf42b --- /dev/null +++ b/25912-h/25912-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,18979 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"> +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> + <head> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; 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padding-right: 5%;} /* right aligning paragraphs */ + .totoc {position: absolute; right: 2%; font-size: 75%; text-align: right;} /* Table of contents anchor */ + .totoi {position: absolute; right: 2%; font-size: 75%; text-align: right;} /* to Table of Illustrations link */ + .img {text-align: center; padding: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;} /* centering images */ + .padtb {padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: .25em;} + .tdr {text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;} /* right align cell */ + .tdc {text-align: center; font-weight: bold;} /* center align cell */ + .tdl {text-align: left;} /* left align cell */ + .tdl2 {text-align: left; padding-left: 1em; padding-right: .5em;} /* left align cell */ + .tdlsc {text-align: left; font-variant: small-caps;} /* aligning cell content and small caps */ + .tdrsc {text-align: right; font-variant: small-caps;} /* aligning cell content and small caps */ + .tdcsc {text-align: center; font-variant: small-caps;} /* aligning cell content and small caps */ + .tr {margin-left: 15%; margin-right: 15%; margin-top: 5%; margin-bottom: 5%; padding: 1em; background-color: #f6f2f2; color: black; border: dotted black 1px;} /* transcriber's notes */ + + .pagenum { /* uncomment the next line for invisible page numbers */ + /* visibility: hidden; */ + position: absolute; right: 2%; + font-size: 75%; + color: silver; + background-color: inherit; + text-align: right; + text-indent: 0em; + font-style: normal; + font-weight: normal; + font-variant: normal;} /* page numbers */ + + .footnotes {border: dashed 1px;} + .footnote {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-size: 90%;} + .footnote .label {position: absolute; right: 84%; text-align: right; font-size: 90%;} + .fnanchor {vertical-align: text-top; font-size: .8em; text-decoration: none;} + + </style> + </head> +<body> +<div>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 25912 ***</div> + +<div class="tr"> +<p class="cen" style="font-weight: bold;">Transcriber's Note:</p> +<br /> +<p class="noin">Inconsistent hyphenation and spelling in the original document have been preserved.</p> +<p class="noin" style="text-align: left;">Obvious typographical errors have been corrected. +For a complete list, please see the <span style="white-space: nowrap;"><a href="#TN">end of this document</a>.</span></p> +<p class="noin">Click on the images to see a larger version.</p> +</div> + +<br /> +<hr /> +<br /> + +<h1>SEA POWER IN ITS RELATIONS<br /> +TO THE WAR OF<br /> +1812</h1> + +<br /> + +<h4>BY</h4> + +<h3>CAPTAIN A.T. MAHAN, D.C.L., LL.D.</h3> + +<h4><i>United States Navy</i></h4> + +<h6>AUTHOR OF "THE INFLUENCE OF SEA POWER UPON HISTORY, 1660-1783," "THE<br /> +INFLUENCE OF SEA POWER UPON THE FRENCH REVOLUTION<br /> +AND EMPIRE," "THE INTEREST OF AMERICA<br /> +IN SEA POWER," ETC.</h6> + +<h5>IN TWO VOLUMES</h5> + +<h4>VOL. II</h4> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<h5>LONDON<br /> +SAMPSON LOW, MARSTON & COMPANY<br /> +<span class="sc">Limited</span></h5> + +<br /> +<hr /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<div class="img"><a name="frontis" id="frontis"></a> +<a href="images/frontis.jpg"> +<img border="0" src="images/frontis.jpg" width="95%" alt="The Constitution" /></a><br /> +<p class="right" style="margin-top: .2em; font-size: 80%;"><i>From a Copley Print copyright 1899 by<br /> +Curtis & Cameron, Publishers, Boston.</i></p> +<p class="cen" style="margin-top: .2em;"><i>The Constitution</i><span class="totoi"><a href="#toi">ToList</a></span></p> +</div> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="toc" id="toc"></a><hr /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_v" id="PageV2_v">[v]</a></span><br /> + +<h3>CONTENTS</h3> +<br /> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" width="80%" summary="Table of Contents"> + <tr> + <td class="tdc" colspan="2" style="padding-bottom: .5em;"><a href="#CHAPTER_IX">CHAPTER IX</a><br /> + <span class="sc">The Winter of 1812-1813—Bainbridge's Squadron: Actions Between<br /> + "Constitution" and "Java," "Hornet" and "Peacock"—Increasing<br /> + Pressure on Atlantic Coast</span></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td width="80%"> </td> + <td class="tdr" width="20%" style="font-size: 90%;">Page</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Bainbridge's squadron sails</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_1">1</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">His plans for the cruise</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_2">2</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">The "Essex" fails to join</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_3">3</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Proceedings of "Constitution" and "Hornet"</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_3">3</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Action between "Constitution" and "Java"</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_4">4</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">The "Constitution" returns to the United States</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_7">7</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Proceedings of the "Hornet"</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_7">7</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Action between the "Hornet" and "Peacock"</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_8">8</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">The "Hornet" returns</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_9">9</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">The Chesapeake and Delaware blockaded</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_9">9</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Subsequent extension of blockade to the whole coast south of Newport</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_10">10</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Three periods into which the War of 1812 divides</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_10">10</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Difficulty of American frigates in getting to sea</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_11">11</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Difficulty of manning the navy</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_12">12</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Cruise of the "Chesapeake"</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_13">13</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Gradual suppression of American commerce</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_14">14</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Increasing stringency of the commercial blockade</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_15">15</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">British occupation of Delaware and Chesapeake Bays</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_16">16</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Diminution of the coasting trade, and increase of land carriage</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_17">17</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Effects upon prices</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_18">18</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Abandoned condition of the western Atlantic</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_20">20</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Diminution in number of prizes taken by Americans</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_20">20</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Estimate of relative captures by the two belligerents</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_21">21</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Relative captures no indication of relative immunity</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_23">23</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">American deprivation makes for the prosperity of Halifax and Canada</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_23">23</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">The blockade the chief offensive maritime operation of Great Britain, in 1813</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_24">24</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">No opposition longer possible to the American Navy</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_25">25</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Strength of the British blockading divisions</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_25">25</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Escape possible only by evasion</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_25">25</a><span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_vi" id="PageV2_vi">[vi]</a></span></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">The brunt of the British naval operations falls upon the Chesapeake and Delaware</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_26">26</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdc" colspan="2" style="padding-top: 2em; padding-bottom: .5em;"><a href="#CHAPTER_X">CHAPTER X</a><br /> + <span class="sc">Campaign of 1813 on the Lake Frontier, To the Battle of Lake Erie</span></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">The British naval service on the lakes under Warren's supervision</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_28">28</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Sir James Yeo appointed to the local command</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_29">29</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Appoints Captain Barclay to take charge of British vessels on Lake Erie</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_29">29</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">The Americans now superior on Ontario</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_29">29</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Montreal the true American objective</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_29">29</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Dearborn ordered to concentrate effort upon Lake Ontario</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_30">30</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Chauncey's first plan, to capture Kingston</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_30">30</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Dearborn and Chauncey ordered to proceed first against Kingston, then Toronto, then Niagara</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_31">31</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Dearborn's objections</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_32">32</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">His reports obtain change of plan from the Government</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_33">33</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Chauncey's new plan</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_33">33</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">The expedition leaves Sackett's Harbor</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_36">36</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Capture of Toronto</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_36">36</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Chauncey's anxiety for Sackett's Harbor</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_37">37</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Capture of Fort George, and British retreat from Niagara</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_38">38</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Effects of the American occupation of the Niagara peninsula</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_40">40</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">American naval vessels escape from Black Rock to Erie</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_41">41</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">British attack upon Sackett's Harbor</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_42">42</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Premature firing of the naval yard and vessels</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_45">45</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Consequent delay in Chauncey's preparations</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_45">45</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Yeo takes the lake with his squadron</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_46">46</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">American reverse at Stony Creek</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_46">46</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">The army retreats upon Fort George</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_47">47</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">The British re-occupy the peninsula, except Fort George</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_47">47</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Dearborn is relieved from command</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_48">48</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Paralysis of the American forces at Niagara</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_48">48</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Yeo in temporary control of Lake Ontario</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_49">49</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Chauncey sails to contest control</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_51">51</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Characteristics of the ensuing naval campaign</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_52">52</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Predominant idea of Chauncey and Yeo</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_52">52</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Relative powers of the two squadrons</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_53">53</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Their encounter of August 10, 1813</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_56">56</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Chauncey's extreme caution</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_59">59</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">The engagement of September 11</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_60">60</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Expediency of a "general chase" under the conditions</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_61">61</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdc" colspan="2" style="padding-top: 2em; padding-bottom: .5em;"><span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_vii" id="PageV2_vii">[vii]</a></span><a href="#CHAPTER_XI">CHAPTER XI</a><br /> + <span class="sc">The Campaign of 1813 on the Lakes and Northern Frontier—The Battle<br /> + of Lake Erie</span></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">The American Navy on Lake Erie</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_62">62</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Perry's eagerness for active operations</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_63">63</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Coincidence of events on Lakes Erie and Ontario</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_64">64</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Inferiority of Perry's crews in numbers and quality</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_64">64</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Professional contrast between Chauncey and Perry</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_65">65</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Personal difficulty. Perry applies to be detached</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_66">66</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">The Navy Department refuses</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_67">67</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Position of the American army on the Maumee</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_67">67</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Procter's attack upon Fort Meigs</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_68">68</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Procter and Barclay plan attack on Erie</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_69">69</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Re-enforcements of troops refused them</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_69">69</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Barclay blockades Erie</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_70">70</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Barclay visits Long Point</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_71">71</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Perry's squadron crosses the bar at Erie</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_72">72</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Procter attacks Fort Stephenson, and is repulsed</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_73">73</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Barclay retires to Malden</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_74">74</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Perry in control of the lake</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_74">74</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Destitution of provisions in the British camp and fleet</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_75">75</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Barclay goes out to fight</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_76">76</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Composition and armament of the two squadrons</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_76">76</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Controversy about the battle</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_78">78</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Dispositions of the two commanders</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_80">80</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Opening of the battle</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_81">81</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Examination of the controversy between Perry and Elliott</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_82">82</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Progress of the engagement</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_88">88</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Second stage of the battle</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_89">89</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">The British surrender</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_94">94</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Meritorious conduct of Captain Barclay</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_94">94</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Question of credit on the American side</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_95">95</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Comparison of the campaigns on Erie and on Ontario</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_99">99</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Effect of the battle on the fate of the Northwest</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_99">99</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Its bearing upon the peace negotiations of the following year</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_100">100</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Influence of control of the water illustrated on the lakes</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_101">101</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdc" colspan="2" style="padding-top: 2em; padding-bottom: .5em;"><a href="#CHAPTER_XII">CHAPTER XII</a><br /> + <span class="sc">The Campaign of 1813 on the Lakes and Northern Frontier, After<br /> + the Battle of Lake Erie</span></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Perry's victory promptly followed up</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_102">102</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">General Harrison lands his army at Malden</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_103">103</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Recovery of Detroit. Battle of the Thames, October 5, 1813</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_103">103</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">The Indians fall away from the British</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_103">103</a><span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_viii" id="PageV2_viii">[viii]</a></span></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Harrison's army transferred to Niagara</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_104">104</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Perry detached from the lake service</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_104">104</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Changed American plan of campaign on Ontario</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_104">104</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">General James Wilkinson replaces Dearborn</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_104">104</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">The Government designates Kingston as the objective</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_105">105</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">The embarkation begins at Niagara under cover of the navy</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_106">106</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Yeo's squadron appears in the neighborhood</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_106">106</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Encounter between the two squadrons, September 28, 1813</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_107">107</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Criticism of Chauncey's management</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_108">108</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Wilkinson's troops reach Sackett's Harbor</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_110">110</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">The British re-enforce Kingston</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_110">110</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">New change of American plan. The army to be directed on Montreal</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_111">111</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Intended junction with the troops from Lake Champlain, under General Hampton</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_111">111</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Wilkinson's army assembled within the mouth of the St. Lawrence</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_114">114</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">It proceeds down the river</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_114">114</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Pursuit by a British detachment</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_114">114</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">American reverse at Chrystler's Farm</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_115">115</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Hampton fails to join Wilkinson, and returns to Plattsburg</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_116">116</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">The expedition abandoned. Wilkinson goes into winter quarters at French Mills</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_116">116</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Chauncey returns to Sackett's Harbor from the St. Lawrence</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_117">117</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Transports Harrison's division from Niagara to Sackett's Harbor</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_117">117</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Fleets lay up for the winter</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_117">117</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Disastrous close of the campaign upon the Niagara</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_118">118</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Americans evacuate Fort George and the peninsula</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_120">120</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">They burn Newark</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_120">120</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Act disavowed by the American Government</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_120">120</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Sir Gordon Drummond in command in Upper Canada</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_120">120</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">The British, under General Riall, cross the Niagara and capture Fort Niagara</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_121">121</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Lewiston, Youngstown, and Manchester burned in retaliation for Newark</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_121">121</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Buffalo burned, and three naval vessels at Black Rock</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_121">121</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">General failure of the campaign about Lake Ontario</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_122">122</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Discussion of the causes</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_123">123</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdc" colspan="2" style="padding-top: 2em; padding-bottom: .5em;"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIII">CHAPTER XIII</a><br /> + <span class="sc">Seaboard Maritime Operations, 1813</span></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">United States on the defensive on the seaboard</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_126">126</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">British reasons for partially relaxing severity of blockade</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_127">127</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Reasons do not apply to armed vessels or coasting trade</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_127">127</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">American Navy powerless to protect commerce</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_127">127</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">To destroy that of the enemy its principal mission</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_128">128</a><span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_ix" id="PageV2_ix">[ix]</a></span></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Cruises of the "President" and "Congress"</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_128">128</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Efficacy of the British convoy system</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_130">130</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Its chief failure is near ports of arrival</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_131">131</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">This dictates the orders to Captain Lawrence</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_131">131</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Importance of the service</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_132">132</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Imperfect preparation of the "Chesapeake"</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_132">132</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Efficiency of the "Shannon." Broke's professional merit</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_133">133</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">His challenge to Lawrence. Not received</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_134">134</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">The "Chesapeake" sails, purposely to fight</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_135">135</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Account of the action</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_136">136</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">The "Chesapeake" captured</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_140">140</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Analysis of the engagement</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_141">141</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Decatur fails to get to sea with a squadron</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_148">148</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Driven to take refuge in New London</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_148">148</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Frigates confined there for the war</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_149">149</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Particular anxiety of the British Government about American frigates</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_150">150</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Expectations of the Admiralty and the country from Warren's fleet</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_151">151</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Effects of the blockade of New London on local coasting</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_152">152</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Evidence of the closeness of the whole blockade south of New London</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_153">153</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Conditions at New York</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_154">154</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">British operations in the upper Chesapeake, 1813</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_156">156</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Conditions in Delaware Bay</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_158">158</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">American precautions in Chesapeake and Delaware</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_159">159</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Circumspect conduct of the British vessels in the Chesapeake</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_161">161</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Warren brings a detachment of troops from Bermuda</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_162">162</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Rencounters in and near Hampton Roads</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_163">163</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">British attack upon Craney Island. Fails</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_164">164</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Attack upon Hampton. Ineffective</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_166">166</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Further movements of the British in the Chesapeake</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_167">167</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Movement of licensed vessels in Chesapeake Bay during these operations</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_170">170</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Consequent recommendation of President to prohibit all exports during the blockade</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_173">173</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Rejected by Senate. Enforced in Chesapeake by executive order</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_174">174</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Glaring necessity for such action</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_175">175</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Embargo law passed in December, 1813</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_176">176</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Main British fleet quits the Chesapeake. Its failure in direct military operation</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_177">177</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Efficacy of the blockade</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_177">177</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Characteristics of the different sections of the United States, as affecting their suffering from blockade</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_178">178</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Statistical evidences of its effects</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_181">181</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Prices of great staples: flour and sugar</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_184">184</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Dependence of Eastern and Southern States upon coasting, greater than that of Middle States</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_186">186</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Captain Hull's reports on Eastern coasting</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_187">187</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl"><span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_x" id="PageV2_x">[x]</a></span>Action between the "Boxer" and "Enterprise"</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_188">188</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Intermission of Eastern blockade during winter</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_192">192</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Its resumption in increased vigor in 1814</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_192">192</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Undefended conditions of the American coast</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_193">193</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Conditions of Southern coasting trade</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_195">195</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">British blockade severs the mutual intercourse of the different sections of the United States</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_198">198</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Remarks of Representative Pearson, of North Carolina</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_199">199</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Message of the Governor of Pennsylvania</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_200">200</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Rigors of the blockade shown by figures</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_201">201</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Momentary importance of the North Carolina coast</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_203">203</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Advocacy of an internal navigation system</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_204">204</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Evidence of privation in the rebound of prices and shipping movement after peace</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_205">205</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Exposition of conditions, in a contemporary letter by a naval officer</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_207">207</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">The experiences of the War of 1812 now largely forgotten</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_208">208</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Lessons to be deduced</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_208">208</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Pressure upon the British Government exerted, even by the puny contemporary American Navy</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_209">209</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Advantage of the American position</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_211">211</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Opinions of Presidents Washington and Adams as to the international advantage of a navy</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_212">212</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Policy of President Jefferson</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_213">213</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdc" colspan="2" style="padding-top: 2em; padding-bottom: .5em;"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIV">CHAPTER XIV</a><br /> + <span class="sc">Maritime Operations External to the Waters of the United States,<br /> + 1813-1814</span></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Commerce destruction the one offensive maritime resort left open to the United States</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_215">215</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Respective objects of privateers and of naval vessels</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_216">216</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">The approaches to the British islands the most fruitful field for operations against commerce</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_216">216</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Cruise of the "Argus"</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_217">217</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Capture of the "Argus" by the "Pelican"</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_217">217</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Significance of the cruise of the "Argus"</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_219">219</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Great number of captures by American cruisers</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_220">220</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Comparatively few American merchant ships captured at sea</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_221">221</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Shows the large scale on which British commerce throve, and the disappearance of American shipping</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_221">221</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Control of British Navy shown by American practice of destroying prizes</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_222">222</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Successes of the privateers "Scourge" and "Rattlesnake" in the North Sea</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_223">223</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">The "Leo" and "Lion" off coast of Portugal</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_224">224</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">British army in southern France incommoded by cruisers off Cape Finisterre</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_224">224</a><span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_xi" id="PageV2_xi">[xi]</a></span></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">American cruises based on French ports</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_225">225</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">The privateer "Yankee" on the gold-coast of Africa</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_226">226</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Action between the American privateer "Globe" and two British packets, off Madeira</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_227">227</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Captures in the same neighborhood by privateers "Governor Tompkins" and "America"</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_228">228</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">The West Indies as a field for warfare on commerce</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_229">229</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Activity there of American cruisers</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_230">230</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Stringency of the Convoy Act in the West Indies. Papers captured there by the "Constitution"</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_230">230</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Indirect effects of the warfare on commerce</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_231">231</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Cruise in the West Indies of the naval brigs "Rattlesnake" and "Enterprise"</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_232">232</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Combat between the privateer "Decatur" and British war schooner "Dominica"</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_233">233</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">The "Comet" and the British ship "Hibernia"</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_234">234</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">The "Saucy Jack" and the British ship "Pelham"</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_235">235</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">The "Saucy Jack" with the bomb-ship "Volcano" and transport "Golden Fleece"</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_236">236</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Remarkable seizure by the privateer "Kemp"</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_237">237</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">The cruises of the privateer "Chasseur"</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_237">237</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Combat between the "Chasseur" and the British war schooner "St. Lawrence"</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_238">238</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Contrasted motives of the ship of war and the privateer</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_241">241</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Relative success of American naval vessels and privateers in the war upon commerce</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_242">242</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Cruise of the frigate "Essex"</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_244">244</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Arrival in Valparaiso of the "Essex," and of the British ships, "Phœbe" and "Cherub"</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_247">247</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Action between the "Essex" and the "Phœbe" and "Cherub"</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_249">249</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Cruise of the "Wasp"</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_253">253</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Action between the "Reindeer" and "Wasp"</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_254">254</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Action between the "Avon" and "Wasp"</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_256">256</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Disappearance of the "Wasp"</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_257">257</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Cruise of the "Peacock"</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_258">258</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Action between "Epervier" and "Peacock"</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_259">259</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Further cruise of the "Peacock"</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_261">261</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Activity of American cruisers in British waters</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_262">262</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Agitation in Great Britain</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_263">263</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">The effect produced due to the American people severally</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_265">265</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Prostration of the Government in the United States, 1814</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_265">265</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Determination to accept peace without relinquishment of impressment by Great Britain</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_266">266</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Development of privateering</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_267">267</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Adaptation of vessels to the pursuit</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_268">268</a><span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_xii" id="PageV2_xii">[xii]</a></span></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Practical considerations determining vessels to be employed</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_269">269</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Secretary of the Navy recommends squadrons of schooners for action against commerce</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_270">270</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Debate in Congress</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_271">271</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Recommendation adopted</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_272">272</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdc" colspan="2" style="padding-top: 2em; padding-bottom: .5em;"><a href="#CHAPTER_XV">CHAPTER XV</a><br /> + <span class="sc">The Niagara Campaign, and Events on the Great Lakes, in 1814</span></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">British advantages of position on the Niagara line</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_274">274</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Unusual mildness of winter 1813-1814</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_276">276</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Effect on operations</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_276">276</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">British project against the vessels in Put-in Bay</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_277">277</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Difficulty of maintaining British garrison at Mackinac</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_278">278</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">American army abandons cantonments at French Mills</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_278">278</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Part goes to Lake Champlain, part to Sackett's Harbor</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_278">278</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">American project against Kingston</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_279">279</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">General Brown's mistake as to the Government's purpose</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_280">280</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Carries his army to the Niagara frontier</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_281">281</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Chauncey's fears for Sackett's Harbor</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_281">281</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Wilkinson's expedition to La Colle. Failure</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_282">282</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Wilkinson superseded by General Izard</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_283">283</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Yeo obtains momentary superiority on Ontario</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_283">283</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Importance of Oswego</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_284">284</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">British capture Oswego, and destroy depots</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_284">284</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Yeo blockades Sackett's Harbor</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_285">285</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Difficulty of American situation on Ontario</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_285">285</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">British naval disaster in attempting to intercept convoy from Oswego to Sackett's Harbor</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_286">286</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Yeo abandons blockade of Sackett's Harbor</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_290">290</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">American plan of operations on northern frontier</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_291">291</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Brown crosses the Niagara. Surrender of Fort Erie</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_294">294</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Advance towards Fort George</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_294">294</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Battle of Chippewa</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_295">295</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Brown advances to Queenston</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_298">298</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Chauncey's failure to co-operate</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_298">298</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Consequent anxiety of the Government</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_299">299</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Decatur ordered to relieve Chauncey</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_300">300</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Chauncey's defence of his conduct</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_300">300</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Discussion of his argument</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_301">301</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">British advantage through his inaction</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_304">304</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Leads to the battle of Lundy's Lane</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_306">306</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Battle of Lundy's Lane</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_309">309</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Value to Americans of the battles of Chippewa and Lundy's Lane</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_311">311</a><span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_xiii" id="PageV2_xiii">[xiii]</a></span></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Improvement in the militia through association with Brown's army</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_312">312</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Brown unable longer to keep the field. Retires to Fort Erie</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_314">314</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">British assault upon Fort Erie. Disastrous repulse</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_314">314</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">British now embarrassed by Chauncey's blockade</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_315">315</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">American successful sortie from Fort Erie</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_316">316</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Drummond abandons the siege, and retires to the Chippewa</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_317">317</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Brown unable to follow him</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_317">317</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Izard ordered from Lake Champlain to Brown's aid</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_318">318</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">His march</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_320">320</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">His corps arrives at the Niagara frontier</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_321">321</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Strength of the British position on the Chippewa</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_322">322</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Izard's hopelessness</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_322">322</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Blows up Fort Erie and retires across the Niagara</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_323">323</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Naval and military expedition against Mackinac</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_324">324</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Unsuccessful, except in destroying British transports</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_324">324</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">British capture the American naval schooners "Tigress" and "Scorpion"</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_325">325</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">American schooners "Ohio" and "Somers" also captured, off Fort Erie</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_327">327</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Loss of the "Caledonia" and "Ariel"</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_327">327</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">The Erie fleet lays up for the winter, after the British abandon the siege of Fort Erie</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_328">328</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdc" colspan="2" style="padding-top: 2em; padding-bottom: .5em;"><a href="#CHAPTER_XVI">CHAPTER XVI</a><br /> + <span class="sc">Seaboard Operations in 1814. Washington, Baltimore, and Maine</span></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Defensive character of the British northern campaign in 1814</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_329">329</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Increase of vigor in their seaboard operations</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_330">330</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Warren relieved by Cochrane</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_330">330</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Intentions of the British Government</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_331">331</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Retaliation for American actions in Canada</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_333">333</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Prevost's call upon Cochrane to retaliate</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_334">334</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Cochrane's orders to his vessels</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_334">334</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Attitude of British officers</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_335">335</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Early operations in Chesapeake Bay, 1814</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_336">336</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Relations of Barney's flotilla to the British project against Washington</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_337">337</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Assembling of the British combined forces in the Chesapeake</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_340">340</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Condition of American preparations</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_342">342</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">British advance. Destruction of Barney's flotilla</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_344">344</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Retreat of American forces</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_345">345</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">American position at Bladensburg</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_346">346</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Battle of Bladensburg</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_347">347</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Burning of Washington</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_349">349</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Capture and ransom of Alexandria by British frigates</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_350">350</a><span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_xiv" id="PageV2_xiv">[xiv]</a></span></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Failure of British attempt on Baltimore</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_351">351</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">British harrying of New England coast</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_352">352</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Occupation of Castine, in Maine</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_353">353</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Destruction of the American frigate "Adams"</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_354">354</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdc" colspan="2" style="padding-top: 2em; padding-bottom: .5em;"><a href="#CHAPTER_XVII">CHAPTER XVII</a><br /> + <span class="sc">Lake Champlain and New Orleans</span></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Arrival of large British re-enforcements in Canada</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_355">355</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Objects of the British northern campaign of 1814</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_356">356</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Previous neglect of lake Champlain by both belligerents</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_357">357</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Operations on the lake in 1813</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_358">358</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">British attempt in spring of 1814</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_361">361</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Macdonough in control of lake, in summer of 1814</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_362">362</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">British "Confiance" building to contest control</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_362">362</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Instructions of British Government to Prevost</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_362">362</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Prevost in August reports approaching readiness to move</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_363">363</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Treasonable actions of American citizens about Lake Champlain</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_364">364</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Izard, with four thousand troops, leaves Plattsburg for Sackett's Harbor</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_365">365</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Consequent destitution of the Champlain frontier</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_365">365</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">British advance to Plattsburg</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_366">366</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Relative positions of American squadron and land forces</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_367">367</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Question of distance between squadron and land batteries</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_368">368</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Opinions of Izard and Yeo as to the relations of the batteries to the squadron</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_370">370</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Proper combination for Prevost</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_371">371</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Backward state of "Confiance" upon Downie's taking command</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_372">372</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Urgent letters of Prevost to Downie</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_373">373</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Downie's expectations in attacking</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_375">375</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Macdonough's dispositions</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_376">376</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Downie's consequent plan of engagement</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_377">377</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Naval battle of Lake Champlain</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_377">377</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Decisive character of the American victory</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_381">381</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Preoccupation of the British Government with European conditions</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_382">382</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Episodical character of the New Orleans expedition</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_382">382</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Negotiations of Admiral Cochrane for the co-operation of the Creek Indians</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_383">383</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">His measures for training them, and preparations for the expedition</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_384">384</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Objects of the British ministry</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_385">385</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Attack upon Fort Bowyer, Mobile Bay, by a British squadron</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_386">386</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Previous occupation of West Florida to the Perdido, by the United States</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_387">387</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Pensacola, remaining in Spanish hands, utilized by British</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_387">387</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Seized by Jackson, and works destroyed</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_388">388</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl"><span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_xv" id="PageV2_xv">[xv]</a></span>Arrival of British expedition in Mississippi Sound</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_388">388</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Gunboat battle of Lake Borgne</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_390">390</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">British advance corps reaches the bank of the Mississippi</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_391">391</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Night attack by American Navy and Jackson</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_391">391</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Sir Edward Pakenham arrives from England</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_392">392</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">His preliminary movements</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_392">392</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Particular danger of Jackson's position</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_393">393</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Details of the final day of assault, January 8, 1815</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_394">394</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">The British withdraw after repulse</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_396">396</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Capture of Fort Bowyer, Mobile Bay</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_397">397</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Final naval episodes</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_397">397</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Sailing of the "President." She grounds on the New York bar</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_398">398</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Overtaken, and is captured, by the British blockading division</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_398">398</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">The "Constitution" captures the "Cyane" and "Levant"</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_404">404</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Capture of the British sloop "Penguin" by the "Hornet"</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_407">407</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdc" colspan="2" style="padding-top: 2em; padding-bottom: .5em;"><a href="#CHAPTER_XVIII">CHAPTER XVIII</a><br /> + <span class="sc">The Peace Negotiations</span></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Early overtures towards peace by the United States</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_409">409</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Castlereagh refuses to entertain the project of abandoning impressment</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_410">410</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Russia, in 1812, suggests negotiations for peace under mediation of the Czar</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_411">411</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">United States accepts, but Great Britain refuses</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_412">412</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Great Britain, through the Czar, offers a direct negotiation, 1813</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_412">412</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">The United States accepts, and names five commissioners</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_413">413</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">The original instructions to the American Commission, 1813</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_413">413</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Reduced, 1814, through pressure of the war</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_414">414</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Confident attitude of Great Britain at the opening of the negotiations</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_415">415</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Hostile spirit in Great Britain towards the United States</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_415">415</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">The instructions to the British Commission</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_416">416</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">The demand on behalf of the Indians</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_417">417</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Faulty presentation of it by the British Commission</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_418">418</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">British claim concerning the Great Lakes and boundaries</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_419">419</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Discussion of these propositions</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_419">419</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Reasons for British advocacy of the Indians</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_421">421</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Final reduction of British demand for the Indians and acceptance by American Commission</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_423">423</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Concern of British ministry for the opinion of Europe</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_424">424</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">News received of the capture of Washington</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_424">424</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Sanguine anticipations based upon reports from Cochrane and Ross</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_424">424</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">The British Government suggests the <i>uti possidetis</i> as the basis of agreement</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_425">425</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">The American Commission refuse, and offer instead the <i>status ante bellum</i></td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_426">426</a><span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_xvi" id="PageV2_xvi">[xvi]</a></span></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">News arrives of the British defeat on Lake Champlain</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_426">426</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">The political instructions to the commanders of the New Orleans expedition, to be communicated for the satisfaction of the continental powers</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_427">427</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Urgency of the European situation</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_428">428</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Dangerous internal state of France</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_428">428</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Consequent wish of the British ministry to withdraw Wellington from Paris</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_429">429</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">He is pressed to accept the American command</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_429">429</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Wellington thus brought into the discussion of terms</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_430">430</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">He pronounces against the basis of <i>uti possidetis</i></td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_431">431</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">The British ministry accept his judgment</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_431">431</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">The <i>status ante bellum</i> accepted by Great Britain</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_431">431</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Subsequent rapid conclusion of agreement</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_432">432</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Terms of the Treaty</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_432">432</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Signed by the commissioners, December 24, 1814</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_434">434</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Despatched to America by a British ship of war</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_435">435</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Ratified by the United States, February 17, 1815</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_435">435</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Gallatin's opinion of the effect of the war upon the people of the United States</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_436">436</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#INDEX">INDEX</a></td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#PageV2_439">439</a></td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="toi" id="toi"></a><hr /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_xvii" id="PageV2_xvii">[xvii]</a></span><br /> + +<h3>LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.</h3> +<br /> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="80%" summary="Illustrations"> + <tr> + <td class="tdc" colspan="2" style="padding-bottom: 1em;">VOLUME TWO.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl padtb" width="80%"><a href="#frontis"><span class="sc">The Chase of the</span> <i>Constitution</i></a></td> + <td class="tdr padtb" width="20%"><i>Frontispiece</i></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl2">From the painting by S. Salisbury Tuckerman.</td> + <td class="tdr"> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl padtb"><a href="#imagep006"><span class="sc">The Quarterdeck of the</span> <i>Java</i> <span class="sc">Before the Surrender</span></a></td> + <td class="tdr padtb"><i>Page 6</i></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl2">From a drawing by Henry Reuterdahl.</td> + <td class="tdr"> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdlsc padtb"><a href="#imagep018">The New Carrying Trade</a></td> + <td class="tdr padtb"><i>Page 18</i></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl2">From a drawing by Stanley M. Arthurs.</td> + <td class="tdr"> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdlsc padtb"><a href="#imagep044">The Retreat of the British From Sackett's Harbor</a></td> + <td class="tdr padtb"><i>Page 44</i></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl2">From a drawing by Henry Reuterdahl.</td> + <td class="tdr"> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdlsc padtb"><a href="#imagep052">The Fleets of Chauncey and Yeo Manœuvring on Lake Champlain</a></td> + <td class="tdr padtb"><i>Page 52</i></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl2">From a drawing by Carlton T. Chapman.</td> + <td class="tdr"> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdlsc padtb"><a href="#imagep060a">Captain Isaac Chauncey</a></td> + <td class="tdr padtb"><i>Page 60</i></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl2">From the engraving by D. Edwin, after the painting by J. Woods.</td> + <td class="tdr"> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdlsc padtb"><a href="#imagep060b">Captain Sir James Lucas Yeo</a></td> + <td class="tdr padtb"><i>Page 60</i></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl2">From the engraving by H.R. Cook, after the painting by A. Buck.</td> + <td class="tdr"> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdlsc padtb"><a href="#imagep066">Captain Oliver Hazard Perry</a></td> + <td class="tdr padtb"><i>Page 66</i></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl2">From the painting by Gilbert Stuart, in the possession of O.H. Perry, Esq.</td> + <td class="tdr"> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdlsc padtb"><a href="#imagep094">Perry Receiving the Surrender of + the British at the Battle of Lake Erie</a></td> + <td class="tdr padtb"><i>Page 94</i></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl2">From a drawing by Henry Reuterdahl.</td> + <td class="tdr"> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdlsc padtb"><a href="#imagep134">Captain Philip Bowes Vere Broke</a></td> + <td class="tdr padtb"><i>Page 134</i></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl2">From the mezzotint by Charles Turner, after the painting + by Samuel Lane, in the possession of Lady Saumarez.</td> + <td class="tdr"> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl padtb"><a href="#imagep138"><span class="sc">The Capture of the</span> <i>Chesapeake</i> <span class="sc">by the</span> <i>Shannon</i>—<span class="sc">The Struggle + on the Quarterdeck</span></a></td> + <td class="tdr padtb"><i>Page 138</i><span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_xviii" id="PageV2_xviii">[xviii]</a></span></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl2">From a drawing by Henry Reuterdahl.</td> + <td class="tdr"> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdlsc padtb"><a href="#imagep140">Captain James Lawrence</a></td> + <td class="tdr padtb"><i>Page 140</i></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl2">From the painting by Gilbert Stuart, in the possession + of the New Jersey Historical Society, Newark, N.J.</td> + <td class="tdr"> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdlsc padtb"><a href="#imagep222">The Burning of a Privateer Prize</a></td> + <td class="tdr padtb"><i>Page 222</i></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl2">From a drawing by Henry Reuterdahl.</td> + <td class="tdr"> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdlsc padtb"><a href="#imagep244">Captain David Porter</a></td> + <td class="tdr padtb"><i>Page 244</i></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl2">From the painting by Charles Wilson Peale, in Independence + Hall, Philadelphia.</td> + <td class="tdr"> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdlsc padtb"><a href="#imagep360">Captain Thomas Macdonough</a></td> + <td class="tdr padtb"><i>Page 360</i></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl2">From the painting by Gilbert Stuart, in the Century Club, + New York, by permission of the owner, Rodney Macdonough, Esq.</td> + <td class="tdr"> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdlsc padtb"><a href="#imagep380">The Battle of Lake Champlain</a></td> + <td class="tdr padtb"><i>Page 380</i></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl2">From a drawing by Henry Reuterdahl.</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<hr /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_xix" id="PageV2_xix">[xix]</a></span><br /> + +<h3>MAPS AND BATTLE PLANS.</h3> +<br /> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" width="80%" summary="Maps"> + <tr> + <td class="tdc" colspan="2" style="padding-bottom: 1em;">VOLUME TWO.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" width="80%"><a href="#imagep004">Plan of Engagement between <i>Constitution</i> and <i>Java</i></a></td> + <td class="tdr" width="20%"><i>Page 4</i></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#imagep008">Plan of Engagement between <i>Hornet</i> and <i>Peacock</i></a></td> + <td class="tdr"><i>Page 8</i></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#imagep038">Map of Niagara Peninsula</a></td> + <td class="tdr"><i>Page 38</i></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#imagep043">Surroundings of Sackett's Harbor</a></td> + <td class="tdr"><i>Page 43</i></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#imagep058">Plan of Chauncey's Engagement, August 10, 1813</a></td> + <td class="tdr"><i>Page 58</i></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#imagep072">Plan of Erie Harbor, 1814</a></td> + <td class="tdr"><i>Page 72</i></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#imagep082">Diagram of the Battle of Lake Erie, September 10, 1813</a></td> + <td class="tdr"><i>Page 82</i></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#imagep108">Chauncey and Yeo, September 28, 1813</a></td> + <td class="tdr"><i>Page 108</i></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#imagep136"><i>Chesapeake</i> and <i>Shannon</i></a></td> + <td class="tdr"><i>Page 136</i></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#imagep156">Outline Map of Chesapeake Bay and Rivers</a></td> + <td class="tdr"><i>Page 156</i></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#imagep188"><i>Enterprise</i> and <i>Boxer</i></a></td> + <td class="tdr"><i>Page 188</i></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#imagep218"><i>Argus</i> and <i>Pelican</i></a></td> + <td class="tdr"><i>Page 218</i></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#imagep228"><i>Montague</i>, <i>Pelham</i>, and <i>Globe</i></a></td> + <td class="tdr"><i>Page 228</i></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#imagep238"><i>Chasseur</i> and <i>St. Lawrence</i></a></td> + <td class="tdr"><i>Page 238</i></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#imagep254"><i>Wasp</i> and <i>Reindeer</i></a></td> + <td class="tdr"><i>Page 254</i></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#imagep344">Sketch of the March of the British Army, under General Ross, + from the 19th to the 29th August, 1814</a></td> + <td class="tdr"><i>Page 344</i></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#imagep368">Tracing from pencil sketch of Battle of Lake Champlain made + by Commodore Macdonough</a></td> + <td class="tdr"><i>Page 368</i></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#imagep377">Battle of Lake Champlain</a></td> + <td class="tdr"><i> Page 377</i></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#imagep392">The Landing of the British Army, its Encampments and + Fortifications on the Mississippi; Works they erected on + their Retreat; with the Encampments and Fortifications + of the American Army</a></td> + <td class="tdr"><i>Page 392</i></td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="CHAPTER_IX" id="CHAPTER_IX"></a><hr /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_1" id="PageV2_1">[1]</a></span><br /> + +<h1>Sea Power in its Relations to<br /> the War of 1812</h1> + +<h2>THE WAR <span style="font-size: smaller;">(<i>Continued</i>)</span></h2> + +<br /> +<br /> + + +<h3>CHAPTER IX<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3> + +<h4>THE WINTER OF 1812-1813—BAINBRIDGE'S SQUADRON: ACTIONS<br /> +BETWEEN "CONSTITUTION" AND "JAVA," "HORNET" AND<br /> +"PEACOCK"—INCREASING PRESSURE ON ATLANTIC COAST</h4> +<br /> + +<p>The squadron under Commodore William Bainbridge, the third which +sailed from the United States in October, 1812, started nearly three +weeks after the joint departure of Rodgers and Decatur. It consisted +of the "Constitution" and sloop of war "Hornet," then in Boston, and +of the "Essex," the only 32-gun frigate in the navy, fitting for sea +in the Delaware. The original armament of the latter, from which she +derived her rate, had been changed to forty 32-pounder carronades and +six long twelves; total, forty-six guns. It is noticeable that this +battery, which ultimately contributed not merely to her capture, but +to her almost helplessness under the fire of an enemy able to maintain +his distance out of carronade range, was strongly objected to by +Captain Porter. On October 14 he applied <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_2" id="PageV2_2">[2]</a></span>to be transferred to the +"Adams," giving as reasons "my insuperable dislike to carronades, and +the bad sailing of the "Essex," which render her, in my opinion, the +worst frigate in the service."<a name="FNanchor_1_1" id="FNanchor_1_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> The request was not granted, and +Porter sailed in command of the ship on October 28, the two other +vessels having left Boston on the 26th.</p> + +<p>In order to facilitate a junction, Bainbridge had sent Porter full +details of his intended movements.<a name="FNanchor_2_2" id="FNanchor_2_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a> A summary of these will show his +views as to a well-planned commerce-destroying cruise. Starting about +October 25, he would steer first a course not differing greatly from +the general direction taken by Rodgers and Decatur, to the Cape Verde +Islands, where he would fill with water, and by November 27 sail for +the island Fernando de Noronha, two hundred and fifty miles south of +the Equator, and two hundred miles from the mainland of Brazil, then a +Portuguese colony, of which the island was a dependency. The trade +winds being fair for this passage, he hoped to leave there by December +15, and to cruise south along the Brazilian coast as far as Rio de +Janeiro, until January 15. In the outcome the meeting of the +"Constitution" with the "Java" cut short her proceedings at this +point; but Bainbridge had purposed to stay yet another month along the +Brazilian coast, between Rio and St. Catherine's, three hundred miles +south. Thence he would cross the South Atlantic to the neighborhood of +St. Helena, remaining just beyond sight of it, to intercept returning +British Indiamen, which frequently stopped there. Porter failed to +overtake the other vessels, on account of the bad sailing of the +"Essex." He arrived at Fernando de Noronha December 14, one day before +that fixed by Bainbridge as his last there; but the "Constitution" and +"Hornet" had already gone on to Bahia, on the Brazilian mainland, +seven <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_3" id="PageV2_3">[3]</a></span>hundred miles to the southwest, leaving a letter for him to +proceed off Cape Frio, sixty miles from the entrance of Rio. He +reached this rendezvous on the 25th, but saw nothing of Bainbridge, +who had been detained off Bahia by conditions there. The result was +that the "Essex" never found her consorts, and finally struck out a +career for herself, which belongs rather to a subsequent period of the +war. We therefore leave her spending her Christmas off Cape Frio.</p> + +<p>The two other vessels had arrived off Bahia on December 13. Here was +lying a British sloop of war, the "Bonne Citoyenne," understood to +have on board a very large amount of specie for England. The American +vessels blockaded her for some days, and then Captain Lawrence +challenged her to single combat; Bainbridge acquiescing, and pledging +his honor that the "Constitution" should remain out of the way, or at +least not interfere. The British captain, properly enough, declined. +That his ship and her reported value were detaining two American +vessels from wider depredations was a reason more important than any +fighting-cock glory to be had from an arranged encounter on equal +terms, and should have sufficed him without expressing the doubt he +did as to Bainbridge's good faith.<a name="FNanchor_3_3" id="FNanchor_3_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_3_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a> On the 26th the Commodore, +leaving Lawrence alone to watch the British sloop, stood out to sea +with the "Constitution," cruising well off shore; and thus on the +29th, at 9 <span class="fakesc">A.M.</span>, being then five miles south of the port and +some miles from land, discovered two strange sail, which were the +British frigate "Java," Captain Henry Lambert, going to Bahia for +water, with an American ship, prize to her.</p> + +<p>Upon seeing the "Constitution" in the south-southwest, the British +captain shaped his course for her, directing the prize to enter the +harbor. Bainbridge, watching <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_4" id="PageV2_4">[4]</a></span>these movements, now tacked his ship, +and at 11.30 <span class="fakesc">A.M.</span> steered away southeast under all plain +sail, to draw the enemy well away from neutral waters; the Portuguese +authorities having shown some sensitiveness on that score. The "Java" +followed, running full ten miles an hour, a great speed in those days, +and gaining rapidly. At 1.30, being now as far off shore as desired, +Bainbridge went about and stood toward the enemy, who kept away with a +view to rake, which the "Constitution" avoided by the usual means of +wearing, resuming her course southeast, but under canvas much reduced. +At 2.10 the "Java," having closed to a half mile, the "Constitution" +fired one gun ahead of her; whereupon the British ship hoisted her +colors, and the American then fired two broadsides. The "Java" now +took up a position to windward of the "Constitution," on her port +side, a little forward (2.10); "within pistol-shot," according to the +minutes submitted by the officer who succeeded to the command; "much +further than I wished," by Bainbridge's journal. It is not possible +entirely to reconcile the pretty full details of further movements +given by each;<a name="FNanchor_4_4" id="FNanchor_4_4"></a><a href="#Footnote_4_4" class="fnanchor">[4]</a> but it may be said, generally, that this battle was +not mainly an artillery duel, like those of the "Constitution" and +"Guerrière," the "Wasp" and "Frolic," nor yet one in which a principal +manœuvre, by its decisive effect upon the use of artillery, played +the determining part, as was the case with the "United States" and +"Macedonian." Here it was a combination of the two factors, a +succession of evolutions resembling the changes of position, the +retreats and advances, of a fencing or boxing match, in which the +opponents work round the ring; accompanied by a continual play of +the <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_5" id="PageV2_5">[5]</a></span>guns, answering to the thrusts and blows of individual +encounter. In this game of manœuvres the "Constitution" was +somewhat handicapped by her wheel being shot away at 2.30. The rudder +remained unharmed; but working a ship by relieving tackles, the +substitute for the wheel, is for several reasons neither as quick nor +as accurate.</p> + +<div class="img"><a name="imagep004" id="imagep004"></a> +<a href="images/imagep004.jpg"> +<img border="0" src="images/imagep004.jpg" width="95%" alt="Plan of the Engagement between Constitution and Java" /></a><br /> +<p class="cen" style="margin-top: .2em;">PLAN OF THE ENGAGEMENT BETWEEN CONSTITUTION AND JAVA<span class="totoi"><a href="#toi">ToList</a></span></p> +</div> + +<p>Certain salient incidents stand out in both accounts, marking the +progress of the engagement. Shortly before three o'clock the head of +the "Java's" bowsprit was shot away, and with it went the jib-boom. At +this time, the fore and main masts of the British frigate being badly +wounded, with all the rigging cut to pieces, Captain Lambert looked +upon the day as lost unless he could board. The sailing master having +been sent below wounded, the first lieutenant, whose account is here +followed, was directed to run the ship alongside the enemy; but the +helm was hardly put up when the foremast went overboard, at five +minutes past three, a time in which both accounts agree. The British +narrative states that the stump of their bowsprit caught in the mizzen +rigging of the "Constitution" (3.35). This Bainbridge does not +mention; but, if correct, the contact did not last long, for the +"Constitution" immediately wore across the "Java's" bow, and the +latter's maintopmast followed the foremast. The British frigate was +now beaten beyond recovery; nevertheless the flag was kept flying, and +it was after this that Captain Lambert fell, mortally wounded. +Resistance was continued until 4.05, by the American accounts; by the +British, till 4.35. Then, the enemy's mizzenmast having fallen, and +nothing left standing but the main lower mast, the "Constitution" shot +ahead to repair damages. There was no more firing, but the "Java's" +colors remained up till 5.25,—5.50 by the British times,—when they +were hauled down as the <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_6" id="PageV2_6">[6]</a></span>"Constitution" returned. The American loss +was nine killed and twenty-five wounded; that of the British, by their +official accounts, twenty-two killed, one hundred and two wounded.</p> + +<p>The superiority in broadside weight of fire of the "Constitution" over +the "Java" was about the same as over the "Guerrière." The "Java's" +crew was stronger in number than that of the "Guerrière," mustering +about four hundred, owing to having on board a hundred supernumeraries +for the East India station, to which the ship was ultimately destined. +On the other hand, the material of the ship's company is credibly +stated to have been extremely inferior, a condition frequently +complained of by British officers at this late period of the +Napoleonic wars. It has also been said, in apparent extenuation of her +defeat, that although six weeks out from England, having sailed +November 12, and greater part of that time necessarily in the trade +winds, with their usual good weather, the men had not been exercised +in firing the guns until December 28, the day before meeting the +"Constitution," when six broadsides of blank cartridges were +discharged. Whatever excuse may exist in the individual instance for +such neglect, it is scarcely receivable in bar of judgment when +disaster follows. No particular reason is given, except "the many +services of a newly fitted ship, lumbered with stores;" for in such +latitudes the other allegation, "a succession of gales of wind since +the day of departure,"<a name="FNanchor_5_5" id="FNanchor_5_5"></a><a href="#Footnote_5_5" class="fnanchor">[5]</a> is incredible. On broad general grounds the +"Java" needed no apology for being beaten by a ship so much heavier; +and the "Constitution's" loss in killed and wounded was over double +that suffered from the "Guerrière" four months before, when the +American ship had substantially the same crew.<a name="FNanchor_6_6" id="FNanchor_6_6"></a><a href="#Footnote_6_6" class="fnanchor">[6]</a> Further, +<span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_7" id="PageV2_7">[7]</a></span>Bainbridge reported to his Government that "the damage received in the +action, but more especially the decayed state of the "Constitution," +made it necessary to return to the United States for repairs." +Although Lieutenant Chads, who succeeded Lambert, was mistaken in +supposing the American ship bound to the East Indies, he was evidently +justified in claiming that the stout resistance of the "Java" had +broken up the enemy's cruise, thus contributing to the protection of +the British commerce.</p> + +<div class="img"><a name="imagep006" id="imagep006"></a> +<a href="images/imagep006.jpg"> +<img border="0" src="images/imagep006.jpg" width="45%" alt="The Quarterdeck of the Java before the surrender" /></a><br /> +<p class="cen" style="margin-top: .2em;">THE QUARTERDECK OF THE <i>JAVA</i> BEFORE THE SURRENDER.<br /> +<i>Drawn by Henry Reuterdahl.</i><span class="totoi"><a href="#toi">ToList</a></span></p> +</div> + +<p>The "Java" was considered by Bainbridge too much injured to be worth +taking to the United States. She was therefore set on fire December +31, and the "Constitution" went back to Bahia, where the prisoners +were landed under parole. Thence she sailed for home January 6, 1813, +reaching Boston February 27. Before his departure the Commodore +directed Lawrence to blockade Bahia as long as seemed advisable, but +to beware of a British seventy-four, said to be on the coast. When it +became expedient, he was to quit the position and move northward; +first off Pernambuco, and thence to the coast of Cayenne, Surinam, and +Demerara, a favorite cruising ground for American commerce-destroyers. +The "Hornet" was to be in Boston in the first fortnight of April.</p> + +<p>In pursuance of these discretionary orders Lawrence remained off Bahia +for eighteen days, till January 24, when the expected seventy-four, +the "Montagu," appeared, forcing him into the harbor; but the same +night he came out, gave her the slip, and proceeded on his cruise. On +February 24, off the Demarara River, he encountered the British brig +of war "Peacock," a vessel of the same class as the "Frolic," which +was captured a few months before by the "Wasp," sister ship to the +"Hornet." There was no substantial difference in size between these +two approaching antagonists; but, unfortunately for the equality of +the contest, the "Peacock" <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_8" id="PageV2_8">[8]</a></span>carried 24-pounder carronades, instead of +the 32's which were her proper armament. Her battery power was +therefore but two thirds that of the "Hornet." The vessels crossed on +opposite tacks, exchanging broadsides within half pistol-shot, the +"Hornet" to windward(1). The "Peacock" then wore; observing which, +Lawrence kept off at once for her and ran on board her starboard +quarter (2). In this position the engagement was hot for about fifteen +minutes, when the "Peacock" surrendered, hoisting a flag union down, +in signal of distress. She had already six feet of water in the hold. +Being on soundings, in less than six fathoms, both anchored, and every +effort was made to save the British vessel; but she sank, carrying +down nine of her own crew and three of the "Hornet's." Her loss in +action was her commander and four men killed, and twenty-nine wounded, +of whom three died; that of the American vessel, one killed and two +wounded. The inequality in armament detracts inevitably from glory in +achievement; but the credit of readiness and efficiency is established +for Lawrence and his crew by prompt action and decisive results. So, +also, defeat is not inglorious under such odds; but it remains to the +discredit of the British commander that his ship did no more +execution, when well within the most effective range of her guns. In +commenting upon this engagement, after noticing the dandy neatness of +the "Peacock," James says, "Neglect to exercise the ship's company at +the guns prevailed then over two thirds of the British navy; to which +the Admiralty, by their sparing allowance of powder and shot for +practice, were in some degree instrumental."</p> + +<p>With the survivors of the "Peacock," and prisoners from other prizes, +Captain Lawrence found himself now with two hundred and seventy-seven +souls on board and only thirty-four hundred gallons of water. There +was at hand no friendly port where to deposit his captives, and +<span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_9" id="PageV2_9">[9]</a></span>provisions were running short. He therefore steered for the United +States, and arrived at Holmes' Hole on March 19.<a name="FNanchor_7_7" id="FNanchor_7_7"></a><a href="#Footnote_7_7" class="fnanchor">[7]</a></p> + +<div class="img"><a name="imagep008" id="imagep008"></a> +<a href="images/imagep008.jpg"> +<img border="0" src="images/imagep008.jpg" width="95%" alt="PLAN OF ENGAGEMENT BETWEEN HORNET AND PEACOCK" /></a><br /> +<p class="cen" style="margin-top: .2em;">PLAN OF ENGAGEMENT BETWEEN HORNET AND PEACOCK<span class="totoi"><a href="#toi">ToList</a></span></p> +</div> + +<p>The capture of the "Peacock" was the last of five naval duels, three +between frigates and two between sloops, all favorable in issue to the +United States, which took place in what may justly be considered the +first of the three periods into which the War of 1812 obviously +divides. Great Britain, long reluctant to accept the fact of war as +irreversible, did not begin to put forth her strength, or to exercise +the measures of repression open to her, until the winter of 1812-13 +was drawing to a close. On October 13, convinced that the mere news of +the revocation of the Orders in Council would not induce any change in +the American determination, the hitherto deferred authority for +general reprisals was given; but accompanying them was an express +provision that they were not to be understood as recalling the +declaration which Warren had been commissioned to make, in order to +effect a suspension of hostilities.<a name="FNanchor_8_8" id="FNanchor_8_8"></a><a href="#Footnote_8_8" class="fnanchor">[8]</a> On November 27, however, hopes +from this source having apparently disappeared, directions were sent +the admiral to institute a rigorous commercial blockade of Delaware +and Chesapeake bays,<a name="FNanchor_9_9" id="FNanchor_9_9"></a><a href="#Footnote_9_9" class="fnanchor">[9]</a> the usual public notification of the fact to +neutral Powers, for the information of their shipping affected by it, +being issued December 26, three days before the action between the +"Constitution" and "Java." On February 21, three days before the +"Hornet" sank the "Peacock," Warren wrote that in compliance with the +orders of November 27 this blockade had been put in force. The ship +"Emily," from Baltimore for Lisbon, under a British license, with a +cargo of flour, was turned back when attempting to go to sea from <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_10" id="PageV2_10">[10]</a></span>the +Chesapeake, about February 5; Warren indorsing on her papers that the +bay had been placed under rigorous blockade the day before.<a name="FNanchor_10_10" id="FNanchor_10_10"></a><a href="#Footnote_10_10" class="fnanchor">[10]</a> +Captain Stewart, the senior United States officer at Norfolk, notified +his Government of these facts on February 10.<a name="FNanchor_11_11" id="FNanchor_11_11"></a><a href="#Footnote_11_11" class="fnanchor">[11]</a> Soon after, by an +Order in Council dated March 30, the measure was extended to New York, +Charleston, Port Royal, Savannah, and the Mississippi River.<a name="FNanchor_12_12" id="FNanchor_12_12"></a><a href="#Footnote_12_12" class="fnanchor">[12]</a> Later +in the year Warren, by a sweeping proclamation, dated November 16,<a name="FNanchor_13_13" id="FNanchor_13_13"></a><a href="#Footnote_13_13" class="fnanchor">[13]</a> +widened its scope to cover Long Island Sound, inside of Montauk and +Black Point; the latter being on the Connecticut shore, eight miles +west of New London. From thence it applied not only to the ports +named, but to all inlets whatsoever, southward, as far as the Florida +boundary. Narragansett Bay and the rest of New England remained still +exempt.</p> + +<p>These restrictions, together with the increase of Warren's force and +the operations of 1813 in the Chesapeake, may be considered as +initiating the second stage of the war, when Great Britain no longer +cherished hopes of any other solution than by the sword, but still was +restrained in the exercise of her power by the conflict with Napoleon. +With the downfall of the latter, in April, 1814, began the third and +final act, when she was more at liberty to let loose her strength, to +terminate a conflict at once weakening and exasperating. It is not +without significance that the treaty of peace with the restored +Bourbon government of France was signed May 30, 1814,<a name="FNanchor_14_14" id="FNanchor_14_14"></a><a href="#Footnote_14_14" class="fnanchor">[14]</a> and that on +May 31 was issued a proclamation placing under strict and rigorous +blockade, not merely specified places, but "all the ports, harbors, +bays, creeks, rivers, inlets, outlets, islands, <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_11" id="PageV2_11">[11]</a></span>and sea-coasts of the +United States," from the border of New Brunswick to that of +Florida.<a name="FNanchor_15_15" id="FNanchor_15_15"></a><a href="#Footnote_15_15" class="fnanchor">[15]</a> In form, this was only the public notification of a +measure already instituted by Warren's successor, Cochrane, embracing +Newport, Boston, and the East under restrictions heretofore limited to +New York—including Long Island Sound—and the coast southward; but it +was not merely the assertion of a stringent resolution. It was a clear +defiance, in the assurance of conscious power, of a principal +contention of the United States, that the measure of blockades against +neutrals was not legitimately applicable to whole coasts, but only to +specified ports closely watched by a naval force competent to its +avowed purpose.</p> + +<p>Despite the gathering of the storm, the full force of which was to be +expected in the spring, the United States ships of war that reached +port in the early and middle winter of 1812-13 remained. There is, +perhaps, an unrecognized element of "hindsight" in the surprise felt +at this fact by a seaman of to-day, knowing the views and wishes of +the prominent officers of the navy at that period. Decatur, with the +"United States," reached New York in December, accompanied by the +"Macedonian." Neither of these vessels got to sea again during the +war. By the time they were ready, both outlets to the port were +effectually blocked. Rodgers, with the "President" and "Congress," +entered Boston December 31, but did not sail again until April 23. The +"Constellation," Captain Stewart, was reported, perhaps erroneously, +as nearly ready for sea at Washington, November 26, waiting only for a +few additional hands. Later in the winter she went to Annapolis, to +examine her powder, leaving there for Hampton Roads February 1, on +account of the ice. On the 4th, approaching her destination, she +discovered two ships of the line, three frigates, and two smaller +British <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_12" id="PageV2_12">[12]</a></span>vessels, working up from the Capes for the Roads. In the face +of such a force there was nothing to do but to escape to Norfolk, +where she remained effectually shut up for the rest of the war. +Bainbridge, as already known, brought the "Constitution" back for +repairs in February. Even from Boston she was unable to escape till +the following December.</p> + +<p>That there were satisfactory reasons for this seeming dilatoriness is +assured by the character of the officers. Probably the difficulty of +keeping up the ship's companies, in competition with the superior +attractions of privateering and the very high wages offered by the +merchants for their hazardous but remunerative commercial voyages +accounted for much. Hull wrote from New York, October 29, 1812, that +the merchants fitting out their vessels gave such high wages that it +was difficult to get either seamen or workmen.<a name="FNanchor_16_16" id="FNanchor_16_16"></a><a href="#Footnote_16_16" class="fnanchor">[16]</a> Where no system of +forced enrolment—conscription or impressment—is permitted, +privateering has always tended to injure the regular naval service. +Though unquestionably capable of being put by owners on a business +basis, as a commercial undertaking, with the individual seaman the +appeal of privateering has always been to the stimulants of chance and +gain, which prove so attractive in the lottery. Stewart, an officer of +great intelligence and experience in his profession, found a further +cause in the heavy ships of the enemy. In the hostilities with France +in 1798-1800, he said, "We had nearly four thousand able seamen in the +navy. We could frequently man a frigate in a week. One reason was +because the enemy we were then contending with had not afloat (with +very few exceptions) vessels superior in rate to frigates. The enemy +we are fighting now have ships of the line, and our sailors know the +great difference between them and frigates, and cannot but feel a +degree of <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_13" id="PageV2_13">[13]</a></span>reluctance at entering the service from the disparity of +force."<a name="FNanchor_17_17" id="FNanchor_17_17"></a><a href="#Footnote_17_17" class="fnanchor">[17]</a> The reason seems to prove too much; pressed to an extreme, +no navy would be able to use light vessels, because the enemy had +heavier which might—or might not—be encountered. Certain it is, +however, that when the government in the following winter, in order to +stop the license trade with the enemy, embargoed all vessels in home +ports, much less difficulty was experienced in getting seamen for the +navy.</p> + +<p>Whatever the reasons, the only frigates at sea during the first four +months of 1813 were the "Essex" and the "Chesapeake." The former, +after failing to meet Bainbridge, struck off boldly for the Pacific +Ocean on Porter's own motion; and on March 15, 1813, anchored at +Valparaiso, preparatory to entering on a very successful career of a +year's duration in those seas. The "Chesapeake" had sailed from Boston +December 17, making for the Cape Verde Islands. In their neighborhood +she captured two of a British convoy, which, thinking itself beyond +danger, had dispersed for South American destinations. The frigate +then proceeded to her cruising ground near the equator, between +longitudes 24° and 30° west, where she remained for about a month, +taking only one other merchantman. Leaving this position, she was off +the coast of Surinam from March 2 to 6, when she returned to the +United States; passing sixty miles east of the Caribbean Islands and +thence north of Porto Rico and Santo Domingo, as far west as longitude +75°, whence she ran parallel to the American coast, reaching Boston +April 9. Having seen nothing between February 5 and March 19, she then +began to meet sails, speaking eight between the latter date and her +arrival. Most of these were Americans, homeward bound from the Spanish +peninsula; the others neutrals.<a name="FNanchor_18_18" id="FNanchor_18_18"></a><a href="#Footnote_18_18" class="fnanchor">[18]</a> The conclusion is evident, <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_14" id="PageV2_14">[14]</a></span>that +the British were keeping their trade well shepherded in convoys. If a +ship like the "Chesapeake" struck one of them, she would probably have +to fight the escorting vessel, as the "Wasp" did the "Frolic," while +the merchantmen escaped; but the chances were against her seeing +anything. Another evident conclusion, corresponding to the export +returns already quoted, is that the enemy had not yet shut down upon +the access of American merchant ships to their own coast.</p> + +<p>This process was gradual, but steady. It is necessary to keep in mind +the distinction between a blockade, in the loose use of the term, +which closes a port only to the ships of the hostile nation, and the +commercial blockade which forbids neutrals as well. The former may be +intermittent, for the mere fact of war authorizes the capture of the +belligerent's shipping, wherever found; hence to intercept them at the +mouths of their own harbors is merely a more effectual method of +carrying out the measure. A blockade against neutrals requires the +permanent presence, before the blockaded port, of a force adequate to +make the attempt to enter or leave dangerous. For this many more ships +are needed. The British ministry, desirous chiefly to compel the +United States to peace, and embarrassed by the gigantic continental +strife in which it was engaged, sought at the outset to inflict such +harassment on the American coast as would cost the least diversion of +strength from the European contest. An ordinary blockade might be +tightened or relaxed as convenience demanded; and, moreover, there +were as yet, in comparison with American vessels, few neutrals to be +restrained. Normally, American shipping was adequate to American +commerce. The first move, therefore, was to gather upon the coast of +the United States all cruisers that could be spared from the Halifax +and West India stations, and to dispose along the approaches to the +<span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_15" id="PageV2_15">[15]</a></span>principal ports those that were not needed to repress the privateers +in the Bay of Fundy and the waters of Nova Scotia. The action of these +privateers, strictly offensive in character, and the course of +Commodore Rodgers in sailing with a large squadron, before explained, +illustrate exactly how offensive operations promote defensive +security. With numbers scanty for their work, and obliged to +concentrate instead of scattering, the British, prior to Warren's +arrival, had not disposable the cruisers with which greatly to harass +even the hostile shipping, still less to institute a commercial +blockade. The wish to stock the Spanish peninsula and the West Indies +with provisions contributed further to mitigate the pressure.</p> + +<p>These restraining considerations gradually disappeared. +Re-enforcements arrived. Rodgers' squadron returned and could be +watched, its position being known. The license trade filled up Lisbon, +Cadiz, and the West Indies. Hopes of a change of mind in the American +Government lessened. Napoleon's disaster in Russia reversed the +outlook in European politics. Step by step the altered conditions were +reflected in the measures of the British ministry and navy. For +months, only the maritime centres of the Middle States were molested. +The senior naval officer at Charleston, South Carolina, wrote on +October 14, four months after war was declared, "Till to-day this +coast has been clear of enemy's cruisers; now Charleston is blockaded +by three brigs, two very large, and they have captured nine sail +within three miles of the bar."<a name="FNanchor_19_19" id="FNanchor_19_19"></a><a href="#Footnote_19_19" class="fnanchor">[19]</a> The number was increased shortly; +and two months later he expressed surprise that the inland navigation +behind the sea islands had not been destroyed,<a name="FNanchor_20_20" id="FNanchor_20_20"></a><a href="#Footnote_20_20" class="fnanchor">[20]</a> in consequence of +its defenceless state. In January, 1813, the mouth of the Chesapeake +was watched by a ship of the line, two frigates, and a sloop; the +commercial blockade <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_16" id="PageV2_16">[16]</a></span>not having been yet established. The hostile +divisions still remained outside, and American vessels continued to go +out and in with comparative facility, both there and at Charleston. A +lively trade had sprung up with France by letters-of-marque; that is, +by vessels whose primary object is commerce, and which therefore carry +cargoes, but have also guns, and a commission from the Government to +make prizes. Without such authorization capture is piracy. By February +12 conditions grow worse. The blockaders have entered the Chesapeake, +the commercial blockade has been proclaimed, vessels under neutral +flags, Spanish and Swedish, are being turned away, and two fine +letter-of-marque schooners have been captured inside, one of them +after a gallant struggle in which her captain was killed. Nautical +misadventures of that kind became frequent. On April 3 three +letters-of-marque and a privateer, which had entered the Rappahannock, +were attacked at anchor by boats from Warren's fleet. The +letters-of-marque, with smaller crews, offered little resistance to +boarding; but the privateer, having near a hundred men, made a sharp +resistance. The Americans lost six killed and ten wounded; the enemy, +two killed and eleven wounded.<a name="FNanchor_21_21" id="FNanchor_21_21"></a><a href="#Footnote_21_21" class="fnanchor">[21]</a></p> + +<p>In like manner the lower Delaware was occupied by one or more ships of +the line. Supported thus by a heavy squadron, hostile operations were +pushed to the upper waters of both bays, and in various directions; +the extensive water communications of the region offering great +facilities for depredation. Dismay and incessant disquietude spread +through all quarters of the waterside. Light cruisers make their way +above Reedy Island, fifty miles from the Capes of the Delaware; +coasting vessels are chased into the Severn River, over a hundred +miles above Hampton Roads; and a detachment appears <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_17" id="PageV2_17">[17]</a></span>even at the mouth +of the Patapsco, twelve miles from Baltimore. The destruction of bay +craft, and interruption of water traffic, show their effects in the +rise of marketing and fuel to double their usual prices. By May 1, all +intercourse by water was stopped, and Philadelphia was also cut off +from the lower Delaware. Both Philadelphia and Baltimore were now +severed from the sea, and their commerce destroyed, not to revive till +after the peace; while alarms, which the near future was to justify, +were felt for the land road which connected the two cities. As this +crossed the head waters of the Chesapeake, it was open to attack from +ships, which was further invited by deposits of goods in transit at +Elkton and Frenchtown. Fears for the safety of Norfolk were felt by +Captain Stewart, senior naval officer there. "When the means and force +of the enemy are considered, and the state of this place for defence, +it presents but a gloomy prospect for security."<a name="FNanchor_22_22" id="FNanchor_22_22"></a><a href="#Footnote_22_22" class="fnanchor">[22]</a> Commodore Murray +from Philadelphia reports serious apprehensions, consternation among +the citizens, a situation daily more critical, and inadequate +provision for resistance.<a name="FNanchor_23_23" id="FNanchor_23_23"></a><a href="#Footnote_23_23" class="fnanchor">[23]</a> There, as everywhere, the impotence of +the General Government has to be supplemented by local subscription +and local energy.</p> + +<p>At the same time, both northward and southward of these two great +estuaries, the approach of spring brought ever increasing enemies, big +and little, vexing the coasting trade; upon which, then as now, +depended largely the exchange of products between different sections +of the country. What it meant at that day to be reduced to +communication by land may be realized from a contemporary quotation: +"Four wagons loaded with dry goods passed to-day through Georgetown, +South Carolina, for <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_18" id="PageV2_18">[18]</a></span>Charleston, <i>forty-six days</i> from +Philadelphia."<a name="FNanchor_24_24" id="FNanchor_24_24"></a><a href="#Footnote_24_24" class="fnanchor">[24]</a> Under the heading "New Carrying Trade" a Boston +paper announces on April 28 the arrival of "a large number of teams +from New Bedford with West India produce, and four Pennsylvania +wagons, seventeen days from Philadelphia."<a name="FNanchor_25_25" id="FNanchor_25_25"></a><a href="#Footnote_25_25" class="fnanchor">[25]</a> "The enemy has +commenced his depredations on the coasting trade of the Eastern States +on a very extensive scale, by several ships and sloops-of-war, and +five or six active privateers. The United States brig "Argus" cruises +at the entrance of Long Island Sound for the protection of trade, +latterly jeopardized;"<a name="FNanchor_26_26" id="FNanchor_26_26"></a><a href="#Footnote_26_26" class="fnanchor">[26]</a> a position from which she was soon driven +by an overwhelming force. Hull, now commanding at Portsmouth, reports +April 9, "several privateers on the Eastern coast, which have been +successful in cutting coasters out of several harbors east." May 7: "A +small force is indeed needed here; the enemy appear off the harbor +nearly every day. A few days since, a little east of this, they burnt +twelve coasters and chased several into this port."<a name="FNanchor_27_27" id="FNanchor_27_27"></a><a href="#Footnote_27_27" class="fnanchor">[27]</a> The town is +defenceless. The Governor of Rhode Island laments to the Legislature +"the critical and exposed situation of our fellow-citizens in Newport, +who are frequently menaced by the ships and vessels about Point +Judith"; mentioning beside, "the burning of vessels in Narragansett +Bay, and the destruction of our coasting trade, which deprives us of +the usual and very necessary supplies of bread stuffs from other +States."<a name="FNanchor_28_28" id="FNanchor_28_28"></a><a href="#Footnote_28_28" class="fnanchor">[28]</a> The ship "Maddox," blockaded for two or three months in +the Chesapeake, escaped in May, and reached Newport with five thousand +barrels of flour. This is said to have reduced the price by $2.50 in +Boston, where it was ranging at $17 to $18; while at Cadiz <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_19" id="PageV2_19">[19]</a></span>and +Lisbon, thanks to British licenses and heavy stocking in anticipation +of war, it stood at $12 to $13. The arrival at Machias of a captured +British vessel, laden with wheat, was hailed "as a seasonable supply +for the starving inhabitants of the eastward."<a name="FNanchor_29_29" id="FNanchor_29_29"></a><a href="#Footnote_29_29" class="fnanchor">[29]</a></p> + +<div class="img"><a name="imagep018" id="imagep018"></a> +<a href="images/imagep018.jpg"> +<img border="0" src="images/imagep018.jpg" width="85%" alt="The New Carrying Trade" /></a><br /> +<p class="cen" style="margin-top: .2em;">THE NEW CARRYING TRADE.<br /> +<i>Drawn by Stanley M. Arthurs.</i><span class="totoi"><a href="#toi">ToList</a></span></p> +</div> + +<p>Ships returning from abroad necessarily had to pass through the +cruisers which interrupted the coasting trade. "Many valuable vessels +arrive, making at times hairbreadth escapes." The trade of Baltimore +and Philadelphia is thrown back upon New York and Boston; but both of +these, and the eastern entrance of Long Island Sound, have hostile +squadrons before them. The letter-of-marque schooner "Ned" has +transmitted an experience doubtless undergone by many. Bound to +Baltimore, she arrived off the Chesapeake April 18, and was chased +away; tried to get into the Delaware on the 19th, but was headed off; +made for Sandy Hook, and was again chased. Finally, she tried the east +end of the Sound, and there made her way through four or five ships of +war, reaching New York April 24.<a name="FNanchor_30_30" id="FNanchor_30_30"></a><a href="#Footnote_30_30" class="fnanchor">[30]</a> Of course, under such +circumstances trade rapidly dwindled. Only very fast and weatherly +vessels could hope to cope with the difficulties. Of these the +conspicuous type was the Baltimore schooner, which also had not too +many eggs in one basket. In the general deprivation of commerce a +lucky voyage was proportionately remunerative; but the high prices of +the successful venture were but the complement and reflection of +suffering in the community. The harbors, even of New York, became +crowded with unemployed shipping.</p> + +<p>This condition of things coastwise, supplemented by the activity of +American privateers, induced abnormal <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_20" id="PageV2_20">[20]</a></span>conditions of navigation in the +western Atlantic. The scanty success of Rodgers, Bainbridge, and the +"Chesapeake" have been noted; and it may be observed that there was a +great similarity in the directions taken by these and others. The Cape +Verdes, the equator between 24° and 30° west, the Guiana coast, the +eastern West Indies, Bermuda to Halifax, indicate a general line of +cruising; with which coincides substantially a project submitted by +Stewart, March 2, 1813, for a cruise by the "Constellation." These +plans were conceived with intelligent reference to known British +trade-routes; but, being met by the enemy with a rigid convoy system, +it was often hard to find a sail. The scattered American traders were +rapidly diminishing in numbers, retained in port as they arrived; and +it is noted that a British division of four vessels, returning to +Halifax after a four months' cruise between the Banks of Newfoundland +and Bermuda, have captured only one American.<a name="FNanchor_31_31" id="FNanchor_31_31"></a><a href="#Footnote_31_31" class="fnanchor">[31]</a> An American +privateer, arriving at Providence after an absence of nearly four +months, "vexing the whole Atlantic," reports not seeing a single +enemy's merchant ship. Niles' return of prizes<a name="FNanchor_32_32" id="FNanchor_32_32"></a><a href="#Footnote_32_32" class="fnanchor">[32]</a> to American +cruisers, national as well as privateers, gives three hundred and five +as the total for the first six months of the war; of which +seventy-nine only seem to have been taken distant from the home +shores. For the second six months, to June 30, 1813, the aggregate has +fallen to one hundred and fifty-nine, of which, as far as can be +probably inferred, ninety-one were captured in remote waters. +Comparing with the preceding and subsequent periods, we find here +evidently a time of transition, when American enterprise had not yet +aroused to the fact that British precaution in the Western Hemisphere +had made it necessary to seek prizes farther afield.</p> + +<p>In view of the incompleteness of the data it is difficult <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_21" id="PageV2_21">[21]</a></span>to state +more than broad conclusions. It seems fairly safe, however, to say +that after the winter of 1812-13 American commerce dwindled very +rapidly, till in 1814 it was practically annihilated; but that, prior +to Napoleon's downfall, the necessities of the British Government, and +the importunity of the British mercantile community, promoted a +certain collusive intercourse by licenses, or by neutrals, real or +feigned, between the enemy and the Eastern States of the Union, for +the exportation of American produce. This trade, from the reasons +which prompted it, was of course exempt from British capture. +Subsidiary to it, as a partial relief to the loss of the direct +American market, was fostered an indirect smuggling import from Great +Britain, by way of Halifax and Montreal, which conduced greatly to the +prosperity of both these places during the war, as it had during the +preceding periods of commercial restriction. It was to maintain this +contraband traffic, as well as to foster disaffection in an important +section of the Union, that the first extension of the commercial +blockade, issued by Warren from Bermuda, May 26, 1813, stopped short +of Newport; while the distinction thus drawn was emphasized, by +turning back vessels even with British licenses seeking to sail from +the Chesapeake. By this insidious action the commercial prosperity of +the country, so far as any existed, was centred about the Eastern +States. It was, however, almost purely local. Little relief reached +the Middle and South, which besides, as before mentioned, were thus +drained of specie, while their products lay idle in their stores.</p> + +<p>As regards relative captures made by the two belligerents, exact +numbers cannot be affirmed; but from the lists transmitted a fairly +correct estimate can be formed as to the comparative injury done in +this way. It must be remembered that such losses, however grievous in +<span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_22" id="PageV2_22">[22]</a></span>themselves, and productive of individual suffering, have by no means +the decisive effect produced by the stoppage of commerce, even though +such cessation involves no more than the retention in harbor of the +belligerent's ships, as the Americans were after 1812, or as had been +the case during Jefferson's embargo of 1808. As that measure and its +congeners failed in their object of bringing the British Government to +terms, by deprivation of commerce, the pecuniary harm done the United +States by them was much greater than that suffered in the previous +years from the arbitrary action of Great Britain. She had seized, it +was alleged, as many as nine hundred and seventeen American +vessels,<a name="FNanchor_33_33" id="FNanchor_33_33"></a><a href="#Footnote_33_33" class="fnanchor">[33]</a> many of which were condemned contrary to law, while the +remainder suffered loss from detention and attendant expenses; but +despite all this the commercial prosperity was such that the +commercial classes were averse to resenting the insults and injury. It +was the agricultural sections of the country, not the commercial, +which forced on the war.</p> + +<p>Niles' Register has transmitted a careful contemporary compilation of +American captures, in closing which the editor affirmed that in the +course of the war he had examined not less than ten, perhaps twelve, +thousand columns of ship news, rejecting all prizes not accounted for +by arrival or destruction. It is unlikely that data complete as he +used are now attainable, even if an increase of accuracy in this point +were worth the trouble of the search. Up to May 1, 1813, he records +four hundred and eleven captures, in which are included the British +ships of war as well as merchantmen; not a very material addition. The +British Naval Chronicle gives the prize lists of the various British +admirals. From these may be inferred in the same period at least three +hundred seizures of American <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_23" id="PageV2_23">[23]</a></span>merchant vessels. Among these are a good +many Chesapeake Bay craft, very small. This excludes privateers, but +not letters-of-marque, which are properly cargo ships. Both figures +are almost certainly underestimates; but not improbably the proportion +of four to three is nearly correct. Granting, however, that the +Americans had seized four British ships for every three lost by +themselves, what does the fact establish as regards the effect upon +the commerce of the two peoples? Take the simple report of a British +periodical in the same month of May, 1813: "We are happy to announce +the arrival of a valuable fleet from the West Indies, consisting of +two hundred and twenty-six sail, under convoy of the "Cumberland," +seventy-four, and three other ships of war."<a name="FNanchor_34_34" id="FNanchor_34_34"></a><a href="#Footnote_34_34" class="fnanchor">[34]</a> This one fleet among +many, safely entering port, numbers more than half of their total +losses in the twelvemonth. Contrast this relative security with the +experience of the "Ned," cited a few pages back, hunted from headland +to headland on her home coast, and slipping in—a single ship by +dexterous management—past foes from whom no countryman can pretend to +shield her.</p> + +<p>Even more mortifying to Americans, because under their very eyes, in +sharp contrast to their sufferings, was the prosperity of Halifax and +Canada. Vexed though British commerce was by the daring activity of +American cruisers, the main streams continued to flow; diminished in +volume, but not interrupted. The closure of American harbors threw +upon the two ports named the <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_24" id="PageV2_24">[24]</a></span>business of supplying American products +to the British forces, the British West Indies, and in measure to +Great Britain itself. The same reason fixed in them the deposit of +British goods, to be illicitly conveyed into the United States by the +smuggling that went on actively along the northern seacoast and land +frontier; a revival of the practices under the embargo of 1808. This +underground traffic was of course inadequate to compensate for that +lost by the war and the blockade; but it was quite sufficient to add +immensely to the prosperity of these places, the communications of +which with the sea were held open and free by the British navy, and in +which centred what was left from one of the most important branches of +British trade in the days of peace. Halifax, from its position on the +sea, was the chief gainer. The effects of the war on it were very +marked. Trade was active. Prices rose. Provisions were in great +demand, to the profit of agriculture and fisheries. Rents doubled and +trebled. The frequent arrival of prizes, and of ships of war going and +coming, added to the transactions, and made money plentiful.<a name="FNanchor_35_35" id="FNanchor_35_35"></a><a href="#Footnote_35_35" class="fnanchor">[35]</a></p> + +<p>Recalling the generalization already made, that the seacoast of the +United States was strictly a defensive frontier, it will be recognized +that the successive institution of the commercial blockades, first of +the Chesapeake and Delaware in March, and afterward of the whole coast +south of Newport, in May, were the offensive operations with which the +British initiated the campaign of 1813. These blockades were +supported, and their effects sustained and intensified, by an +accumulation of naval force entirely beyond the competition of the +American navy. In view of such overwhelming disparity, it was no +longer possible, as in 1812, by assembling a squadron, to impose some +measure of concentration upon the enemy, and thus to <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_25" id="PageV2_25">[25]</a></span>facilitate +egress and ingress. The movements of the British had passed wholly +beyond control. Their admiral was free to dispose his fleet as he +would, having care only not to hazard a detachment weaker than that in +the port watched. This was a condition perfectly easy of fulfilment +with the numbers under his command. As a matter of fact, his vessels +were distributed over the entire seacoast; and at every point, with +the possible exception of Boston, the division stationed was so strong +that escape was possible only by evasion, under cover of severe +weather conditions.</p> + +<p>Under such circumstances, the larger the ship the more difficult for +her to get out. As early as the middle of April, Captain Jones, +formerly of the "Wasp," and now commanding the "Macedonian" in New +York, reports that "both outlets are at present strongly blocked, but +I believe at dark of the moon we shall be able to pass without much +risk."<a name="FNanchor_36_36" id="FNanchor_36_36"></a><a href="#Footnote_36_36" class="fnanchor">[36]</a> May 22, when a moon had come and gone, Decatur, still on +board the "United States," in company with which the "Macedonian" was +to sail, thinks it will be better to try the Sound route. "The last +gale, which promised the fairest opportunity for us to get out, ended +in light southerly winds, which continued till the blockading ships +had regained their stations."<a name="FNanchor_37_37" id="FNanchor_37_37"></a><a href="#Footnote_37_37" class="fnanchor">[37]</a> A few days later, the attempt by the +Sound resulted in the two being driven into New London, where they +remained to the close of the war. The only offensive operation by sea +open to the United States, the destruction of the enemy's commerce, +fell therefore to the smaller cruisers and privateers, the size and +numbers of which combined to make it impossible to restrain them all.</p> + +<p>For defensive measures the seaboard depended upon such fortifications +as existed, everywhere inadequate, but which either the laxness or the +policy of the British <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_26" id="PageV2_26">[26]</a></span>commander did not attempt to overcome in the +case of the seaports, narrowly so called. The wide-mouthed estuaries +of the Chesapeake and Delaware, entrance to which could not thus be +barred, bore, therefore, the full brunt of hostile occupation and +widespread harassment. In this there may have been deliberate +intention, as well as easy adoption of the readiest means of +annoyance. The war, though fairly supported in the middle section of +the Union, was essentially a Southern and Western measure. Its most +strenuous fomenters came from those parts, and the administration was +Virginian. The President himself had been identified with the entire +course of Jefferson's commercial retaliation, and general policy +toward Great Britain during twelve years past. It is impossible for +land forces alone to defend against naval aggression a region like the +Chesapeake, with its several great, and numerous small, streams +penetrating the country in every direction; and matters are not helped +when the defendants are loosely organized militia. The water in such a +case offers a great central district, with interior lines, in the +hands of a power to which belongs the initiative, with an overpowering +mobile force, able at any moment to appear where it will in superior +strength.</p> + +<p>No wonder then that the local journals of the day speak of continual +watchfulness, which from the present organization of the militia is +exceedingly toilsome, and of no little derangement to the private +affairs of the people.<a name="FNanchor_38_38" id="FNanchor_38_38"></a><a href="#Footnote_38_38" class="fnanchor">[38]</a> The enemy spreads in every direction; and, +although the alarm caused much exceeds the injury done, disquietude is +extreme and universal. "Applications from various quarters are +constantly pouring in upon us," wrote a Governor of Maryland to the +President; "and as far as our very limited means will enable us we are +endeavoring to afford protection. But we have not arms and <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_27" id="PageV2_27">[27]</a></span>ammunition +to supply the demands of every section of the State; the unavoidable +expense of calling out the militia for its protection would greatly +exceed the ability of the State government. The capital of the State +[which was three miles from the bay, on a navigable river] has not +sufficient force for its protection. By the Constitution of the United +States, the common defence is committed to the National Government, +which is to protect each State against invasion, and to defray all +necessary expenses of a national war; and to us it is a most painful +reflection that after every effort we have made, or can make, for the +security of our fellow-citizens and of their property, they have +little to rely on but the possible forbearance of the enemy."<a name="FNanchor_39_39" id="FNanchor_39_39"></a><a href="#Footnote_39_39" class="fnanchor">[39]</a> The +process of reaping what has been sowed is at times extremely +unpleasant.</p> + +<br /> +<hr style="width: 15%;" /> +<br /> + +<h4>FOOTNOTES:</h4> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_1_1" id="Footnote_1_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> Captains' Letters. Navy Department.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_2_2" id="Footnote_2_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2_2"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> Ibid., Bainbridge, Oct. 13, 1812.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_3_3" id="Footnote_3_3"></a><a href="#FNanchor_3_3"><span class="label">[3]</span></a> Niles' Register, vol. iv. p. 25.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_4_4" id="Footnote_4_4"></a><a href="#FNanchor_4_4"><span class="label">[4]</span></a> Bainbridge's report is in the Captains' Letters. Navy +Department, Jan. 3, 1813. It will be found also in Niles' Register, +vol. iii. p. 410. Both give extracts from Bainbridge's journal, which +is very full on the subject of manœuvres and times. The British +account will be found in the Naval Chronicle, vol. xxix. pp. 403-408, +from which the plan of the battle is copied.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_5_5" id="Footnote_5_5"></a><a href="#FNanchor_5_5"><span class="label">[5]</span></a> James' Naval History, edition 1824, vol. v. p. 313.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_6_6" id="Footnote_6_6"></a><a href="#FNanchor_6_6"><span class="label">[6]</span></a> Bainbridge in a private letter speaks of the men looking +forward to prize money for the "Guerrière" on their return. Niles' +Register, vol. iii. p. 411.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_7_7" id="Footnote_7_7"></a><a href="#FNanchor_7_7"><span class="label">[7]</span></a> Lawrence's Report of these transactions is in Captains' +Letters, March 19, 1813. It will be found also in Niles' Register, +vol. iv. p. 84.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_8_8" id="Footnote_8_8"></a><a href="#FNanchor_8_8"><span class="label">[8]</span></a> Naval Chronicle, vol. xxviii. p. 305.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_9_9" id="Footnote_9_9"></a><a href="#FNanchor_9_9"><span class="label">[9]</span></a> Admiralty to Warren, British Records Office.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_10_10" id="Footnote_10_10"></a><a href="#FNanchor_10_10"><span class="label">[10]</span></a> Niles' Register, vol. iii. p. 383.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_11_11" id="Footnote_11_11"></a><a href="#FNanchor_11_11"><span class="label">[11]</span></a> Captains' Letters.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_12_12" id="Footnote_12_12"></a><a href="#FNanchor_12_12"><span class="label">[12]</span></a> Niles' Register, vol. iv. p. 159. The Admiralty's letter +to Warren to institute this blockade is dated March 25. British +Records Office.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_13_13" id="Footnote_13_13"></a><a href="#FNanchor_13_13"><span class="label">[13]</span></a> Niles' Register, vol. v. p. 264.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_14_14" id="Footnote_14_14"></a><a href="#FNanchor_14_14"><span class="label">[14]</span></a> Naval Chronicle, vol. xxxi. p. 464.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_15_15" id="Footnote_15_15"></a><a href="#FNanchor_15_15"><span class="label">[15]</span></a> Naval Chronicle, vol. xxxi. p. 475.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_16_16" id="Footnote_16_16"></a><a href="#FNanchor_16_16"><span class="label">[16]</span></a> Captains' Letters.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_17_17" id="Footnote_17_17"></a><a href="#FNanchor_17_17"><span class="label">[17]</span></a> American State Papers, Naval Affairs, vol. i. p. 280.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_18_18" id="Footnote_18_18"></a><a href="#FNanchor_18_18"><span class="label">[18]</span></a> Captain Evans' Report, April 10, 1813. Captains' +Letters.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_19_19" id="Footnote_19_19"></a><a href="#FNanchor_19_19"><span class="label">[19]</span></a> Captains' Letters.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_20_20" id="Footnote_20_20"></a><a href="#FNanchor_20_20"><span class="label">[20]</span></a> Ibid, Dec. 17, 1812.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_21_21" id="Footnote_21_21"></a><a href="#FNanchor_21_21"><span class="label">[21]</span></a> Niles' Register, vol. iv. p. 119. Naval Chronicle, vol. +xxix. p. 501.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_22_22" id="Footnote_22_22"></a><a href="#FNanchor_22_22"><span class="label">[22]</span></a> March 17, 1813. Captains' Letters.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_23_23" id="Footnote_23_23"></a><a href="#FNanchor_23_23"><span class="label">[23]</span></a> March 17, 18, and 21. Ibid.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_24_24" id="Footnote_24_24"></a><a href="#FNanchor_24_24"><span class="label">[24]</span></a> Niles' Register, vol. iv. p. 222.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_25_25" id="Footnote_25_25"></a><a href="#FNanchor_25_25"><span class="label">[25]</span></a> Columbian Centinel.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_26_26" id="Footnote_26_26"></a><a href="#FNanchor_26_26"><span class="label">[26]</span></a> Niles' Register, vol. iv. p. 117.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_27_27" id="Footnote_27_27"></a><a href="#FNanchor_27_27"><span class="label">[27]</span></a> Captains' Letters.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_28_28" id="Footnote_28_28"></a><a href="#FNanchor_28_28"><span class="label">[28]</span></a> Message of the Governor of Rhode Island, May 5, 1813.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_29_29" id="Footnote_29_29"></a><a href="#FNanchor_29_29"><span class="label">[29]</span></a> Niles' Register, vol. iv. pp. 200, 209. There were +reported in Cadiz at this time 160,000 barrels of flour, unsold. The +Columbian Centinel (Feb. 17) speaks of the Lisbon market as +deplorable.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_30_30" id="Footnote_30_30"></a><a href="#FNanchor_30_30"><span class="label">[30]</span></a> Niles' Register, vol. iv. p. 150.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_31_31" id="Footnote_31_31"></a><a href="#FNanchor_31_31"><span class="label">[31]</span></a> Niles' Register, vol. iv. p. 101.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_32_32" id="Footnote_32_32"></a><a href="#FNanchor_32_32"><span class="label">[32]</span></a> Ibid., p. 117.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_33_33" id="Footnote_33_33"></a><a href="#FNanchor_33_33"><span class="label">[33]</span></a> American State Papers, Foreign Relations, vol. iii. p. +584. France in the same period had seized five hundred and +fifty-eight.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_34_34" id="Footnote_34_34"></a><a href="#FNanchor_34_34"><span class="label">[34]</span></a> Naval Chronicle, vol. xxix. p. 497. The following +extract from an American journal may have interest as indicating the +extent of the British convoy movement. "American brig 'Hazard,' +arrived at New York from Madeira, June 5, reports: 'April 11, arrived +at Funchal the outward bound East India and Brazil fleets, forty sail, +under convoy. Sailed April 12. April 21, arrived outward bound Cork +fleet, one hundred and eighty sail convoyed by a seventy-four, a +frigate, and a sloop.' April 30, sailed from Jamaica, three hundred +merchantmen, under convoy of a seventy-four, two frigates and a +sloop." (Columbian Centinel, of Boston, June 9, 1813.)</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_35_35" id="Footnote_35_35"></a><a href="#FNanchor_35_35"><span class="label">[35]</span></a> Murdoch's History of Nova Scotia, vol. iii. p. 351.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_36_36" id="Footnote_36_36"></a><a href="#FNanchor_36_36"><span class="label">[36]</span></a> Captains' Letters, April 13, 1813.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_37_37" id="Footnote_37_37"></a><a href="#FNanchor_37_37"><span class="label">[37]</span></a> Ibid., May 22.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_38_38" id="Footnote_38_38"></a><a href="#FNanchor_38_38"><span class="label">[38]</span></a> Niles' Register, vol. iv. p. 134.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_39_39" id="Footnote_39_39"></a><a href="#FNanchor_39_39"><span class="label">[39]</span></a> Letter of Governor Winder, April 26, 1813. Niles' +Register, vol. iv. p. 204.</p></div> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="CHAPTER_X" id="CHAPTER_X"></a><hr /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_28" id="PageV2_28">[28]</a></span><br /> + +<h3>CHAPTER X<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3> + +<h4>CAMPAIGN OF 1813 ON THE LAKE FRONTIER, TO THE BATTLE OF +LAKE ERIE</h4> +<br /> + +<p>In April, 1813, on the land frontier of the north and west, no +substantial change had taken place in the conditions which gave to the +United States the power of the offensive. Such modification as +Chauncey's energy had effected was to strengthen superiority, by +promising ultimate control of the upper and lower lakes. The British +had not been idle; but the greater natural difficulties under which +they labored, from less numerous population and less advanced +development of the country and its communications, together with a +greater severity of climate, had not been compensated by a naval +direction similar to that exercised by the American commodore and his +efficient second, Perry. Sir John Warren had been ordered to pay +attention to the lakes, the naval service of which was placed under +his charge. This added to his responsibilities, and to the drain upon +his resources of men and materials; but, with an oversight already +extending from Halifax to Jamaica and Barbados, he could do little for +the lakes, beyond meeting requisitions of the local authorities and +furnishing a draft of officers. Among those sent from his fleet was +Captain Barclay, who commanded the British squadron in Perry's action.</p> + +<p>The Admiralty, meantime, had awaked to the necessity of placing +preparations and operations under competent naval guidance, if command +of the water was to be secured. For that purpose they selected Captain +Sir James Lucas <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_29" id="PageV2_29">[29]</a></span>Yeo, a young officer of much distinction, just turned +thirty, who was appointed to the general charge of the lake service, +under Warren. Leaving England in March, accompanied by a body of +officers and seamen, Yeo did not reach Kingston until May 15, 1813, +when the campaign was already well under way; having been begun by +Dearborn and Chauncey April 24. His impressions on arrival were +discouraging. He found the squadron in a weak state, and the enemy +superior in fact and in promise. They had just succeeded in burning at +York a British vessel intended for thirty guns, and they had, besides, +vessels building at Sackett's Harbor. He had set to work, however, +getting his force ready for action, and would go out as soon as +possible to contest the control of Ontario; for upon that depended the +tenure of Upper Canada.<a name="FNanchor_40_40" id="FNanchor_40_40"></a><a href="#Footnote_40_40" class="fnanchor">[40]</a> Barclay, upon the arrival of his superior, +was sent on to Amherstburg, to fulfil upon Erie the same relation to +Yeo that Perry did to Chauncey.</p> + +<p>It had been clearly recognized by the American authorities that any +further movement for the recapture of Detroit and invasion of Canada +would depend upon the command of Lake Erie; and that that in turn +would depend largely upon mastery of Ontario. In fact, the nearer the +sea control over the water communications could be established, the +more radical and far-reaching the effect produced. For this reason, +Montreal was the true objective of American effort, but the +Government's attention from the first had centred upon the +northwestern territory; upon the extremity of the enemy's power, +instead of upon its heart. Under this prepossession, despite adequate +warning, it had persisted in the course of which Hull's disaster was +the outcome; and now, though aroused by this stunning humiliation, its +understanding embraced nothing beyond the Great Lakes. Clear +<span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_30" id="PageV2_30">[30]</a></span>indication of this narrow outlook is to be found in the conditions on +Lake Champlain, the natural highway to Canada. Only the scantiest +mention is to be found of naval preparation there, because actually +little was being done; and although the American force was momentarily +superior, it was so simply because the British, being in Canada wholly +on the defensive, and therefore obliged to conform to American +initiative, contemplated no use of this lake, the mastery of which, +nevertheless, was soon afterward thrown into their hands by a +singularly unfortunate occurrence.</p> + +<p>Dearborn, who still remained in chief command of the armies on the New +York frontier, was therefore directed to concentrate his effort upon +Ontario, starting from Sackett's Harbor as a base. Chauncey, whose +charge extended no farther than the upper rapids of the St. Lawrence, +had of course no other interest. His first plan, transmitted to the +Navy Department January 21, 1813,<a name="FNanchor_41_41" id="FNanchor_41_41"></a><a href="#Footnote_41_41" class="fnanchor">[41]</a> had been to proceed immediately +upon the opening of navigation, with the fleet and a land force of a +thousand picked troops, against Kingston, the capture of which, if +effected, would solve at a single stroke every difficulty in the upper +territory. No other harbor was tenable as a naval station; with its +fall, and the destruction of shipping and forts, would go the control +of the lake, even if the place itself were not permanently held. +Deprived thus of the water communications, the enemy could retain no +position to the westward, because neither re-enforcements nor supplies +could reach them. To quote Chauncey's own words, "I have no doubt we +should succeed in taking or destroying their ships and forts, and, of +course, preserve our ascendency on this lake."</p> + +<p>This remark, though sound, was narrow in scope; for it failed to +recognize, what was perfectly knowable, that <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_31" id="PageV2_31">[31]</a></span>the British support of +the Lake Erie stations and the upper country depended on their power +to control, or at worst to contest, Ontario. Of this they themselves +were conscious, as the words of Yeo and Brock alike testify. The new +American Secretary of War, Armstrong, who was a man of correct +strategical judgment and considerable military information, entered +heartily into this view; and in a letter dated February 10 +communicated to Dearborn the orders of the President for his +operations, based upon the Secretary's recommendation.<a name="FNanchor_42_42" id="FNanchor_42_42"></a><a href="#Footnote_42_42" class="fnanchor">[42]</a> Four +thousand men were to be assembled at Sackett's, and three thousand at +Buffalo. The former, under convoy of the fleet, was to proceed first +against Kingston, then against York (Toronto). After this the two +corps should co-operate in an attack to be made upon the British +Niagara frontier, which rested upon Fort George on the Ontario shore, +and Fort Erie upon Lake Erie. This plan was adopted upon the +assumption, which was probably correct, that the enemy's entire +military force upon Ontario did not exceed twenty-one hundred regular +troops, of whom six hundred were at Kingston and twelve hundred at +Niagara. Armstrong, who recognized the paramount importance of +Montreal, had received the exaggerated impression that there might be +in that neighborhood eight to ten thousand regulars. There were not +yet nearly that number in all Canada;<a name="FNanchor_43_43" id="FNanchor_43_43"></a><a href="#Footnote_43_43" class="fnanchor">[43]</a> but he was perhaps correct +in thinking that the provision for the offensive, which he had found +upon taking office a few weeks before, was insufficient for an advance +in that quarter.</p> + +<p>Dearborn very soon discovered objections to proceeding against +Kingston, in his own estimates of the enemy's numbers, based upon +remarkable reports received from <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_32" id="PageV2_32">[32]</a></span>sources "entitled to full credit." +On March 3 he was satisfied that from six to eight thousand men had +been assembled there from Quebec, Montreal, and Upper Canada; while +the presence of Sir George Prevost, the Governor General, and +commander-in-chief in Canada, who had seized an opportunity to make a +hurried visit to Kingston to assure himself as to the progress of the +ships building, convinced the American general that an attack upon +Sackett's was contemplated.<a name="FNanchor_44_44" id="FNanchor_44_44"></a><a href="#Footnote_44_44" class="fnanchor">[44]</a> From that time forward Dearborn +realized in his own person the process of making pictures to one's +self concerning a military situation, against which Napoleon uttered a +warning. Chauncey was more sceptical, although he could not very well +avoid attention to the reports brought in. He expresses himself as +believing that a considerable number of men had been assembled in +Kingston, but that their real object was to proceed against Harrison +in the Far West.<a name="FNanchor_45_45" id="FNanchor_45_45"></a><a href="#Footnote_45_45" class="fnanchor">[45]</a></p> + +<p>There seems to have been no foundation for any of these alarms. +Prevost was a soldier of good reputation, but wanting in initiative, +audacity, and resolution, as the current war was to prove. His +presence at Kingston at this moment was simply one incident in a rapid +official visit to the upper military posts, extending as far as +Niagara, and accomplished in four weeks; for, leaving Quebec February +17, he was again writing from there on the 17th of March. As far as +can be deduced from his correspondence, four companies of regulars had +preceded him from Montreal to Kingston, and there may very well have +been a gathering of local forces for inspection or otherwise; but no +re-enforcements of regulars, other than that just mentioned, reached +Kingston from down the river before May. Dearborn never renounced his +belief in the meditated <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_33" id="PageV2_33">[33]</a></span>attack, though finally satisfied that it was +abandoned; and his positive reports as to the enemy's numbers wrung +from Armstrong acquiescence in a change of plan, by which York, and +not Kingston, should be the first object of the campaign.<a name="FNanchor_46_46" id="FNanchor_46_46"></a><a href="#Footnote_46_46" class="fnanchor">[46]</a></p> + +<p>Chauncey, who had some sound military ideas, as his first plan showed, +was also brought round to this conclusion by a process of reasoning +which he developed in a second plan of operations, submitted March +18,<a name="FNanchor_47_47" id="FNanchor_47_47"></a><a href="#Footnote_47_47" class="fnanchor">[47]</a> but evidently long since matured. It apparently antedates +Dearborn's apprehensions, and is not affected by them, though the two +worked together to a common mistaken decision. The commodore's letter +presents an interesting study, in its demonstration of how an +erroneous first conception works out to false conclusions, and in the +particular instance to ultimate military disaster. The capture of +Kingston, his first plan, and its retention, which Armstrong purposed, +would have settled the whole campaign and affected decisively the +issue of the war. Chauncey's new project is dominated throughout by +the view, which was that of the Government, that the great object of +the war was to control the northwestern territory by local operations, +instead of striking at the source of British power in its +communication with the sea. At this moment, the end of March, the +British naval force on Ontario was divided between York and Kingston; +in each were vessels afloat and vessels building. An attack upon +Kingston, Chauncey said, no doubt would be finally successful—an +initial admission which gave away his case; but as the opposing force +would be considerable, it would protract the general operations of the +campaign—the reduction of the northwest—longer than would be +advisable, particularly as large re-enforcements would probably +<span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_34" id="PageV2_34">[34]</a></span>arrive at Quebec in the course of two months. On the other hand, to +proceed against York, which probably could be carried immediately, +would result in destroying at once a large fraction of the British +fleet, greatly weakening the whole body. Thence the combined Americans +would turn against Fort George and the Niagara line. If successful +here, the abandonment of Fort Erie by the British would release the +American vessels which by its guns were confined at Black Rock. They +would sail forth and join their consorts at Erie; which done, +Chauncey, leaving his Ontario fleet to blockade Yeo at Kingston, would +go to the upper lake and carry against the British the squadron thus +concentrated there, would co-operate with the army under General +Harrison, recover Detroit, and capture Malden. Lake Erie and its +surroundings would thus become an American holding. After this, it +would be but a step to reconquer Michilimackinac, thereby acquiring an +influence over the Indians which, in conjunction with military and +naval preponderance, would compel the enemy to forsake the upper +country altogether, and concentrate his forces about Kingston and +Montreal.</p> + +<p>It is interesting to see an elaborate piece of serious reasoning +gradually culminate in a <i>reductio ad absurdum</i>; and Chauncey's +reasoning ends in a military absurdity. The importance of Kingston is +conceded by him, and the probability of capturing it at the first is +admitted. Thereupon follows a long project of operation, which ends in +compelling the enemy to concentrate all his strength at the very +points—Kingston and Montreal—which it is most important for the +Americans to gain; away from which, therefore, they should seek to +keep the enemy, and not to drive him in upon them. This comes from the +bias of the Government, and of the particular officer, regarding the +Northwestern territory as the means whereby success was to be +accomplished instead of merely the end <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_35" id="PageV2_35">[35]</a></span>to be attained. To make the +Western territory and control of the Indians the objects of the +campaign was a political and military motive perfectly allowable, and +probably, in view of recent history, extremely necessary; but to make +these things the objective of operations was to invert the order of +proceedings, as one who, desiring to fell a tree, should procure a +ladder and begin cutting off the outermost branches, instead of +striking at the trunk by the ground.</p> + +<p>Eighteen months later Chauncey wrote some very wise words in this +spirit. "It has always been my opinion that the best means to conquer +Canada was to cut off supplies from Lower to Upper by taking and +maintaining some position on the St. Lawrence. That would be killing +the tree by girdling; the branches, dependent on ordinary supplies, +die of necessity. But it is now attempted to kill the tree by lopping +off branches" [he is speaking of the Niagara campaign of 1814]; "the +body becomes invigorated by reducing the demands on its +resources."<a name="FNanchor_48_48" id="FNanchor_48_48"></a><a href="#Footnote_48_48" class="fnanchor">[48]</a> By this time Chauncey had been chastened by +experience. He had seen his anticipated glory reaped on Lake Erie by +his junior. He had seen the control of Ontario contested, and finally +wrung from him, by vessels built at Kingston, the place which he had +failed to take when he thought it possible. He had been blockaded +during critical months by a superior squadron; and at the moment of +writing, November 5, 1814, Sir James Yeo was moving, irresistible, +back and forth over the waters of Ontario, with his flag flying in a +ship of 102 guns, built at Kingston. In short, the Canadian tree was +rooted in the ocean, where it was nourished by the sea power of Great +Britain. To destroy it, failing the ocean navy which the United States +had not, the trunk must be severed; the nearer the root the better.</p> + +<p>Demonstration of these truths was not long in coming, <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_36" id="PageV2_36">[36]</a></span>and will be +supplied by the narrative of events. When Chauncey penned the plan of +operations just analyzed, there were in York two vessels, the "Prince +Regent" of twenty guns, the "Duke of Gloucester," sixteen, and two—by +his information—on the stocks. On April 14 the ice in Sackett's +Harbor broke up, though large floes still remained in the lake. On the +19th these also had disappeared. Eighteen hundred troops were embarked +by the squadron, and on the 24th the expedition started, but was +driven back by heavy weather. The next day it got away finally, and on +the early morning of the 27th appeared off York. The troops were +landed westward of the town, and proceeded to attack, supported by the +shipping. The enemy, inferior in number, retired; the small regular +force making its escape, with the exception of fifty who surrendered +with the militia present. The American loss, army and navy, was a +little over three hundred; among whom was General Pike, an excellent +soldier, who commanded the landing and was mortally wounded by the +explosion of a magazine. The "Duke of Gloucester" schooner was taken, +but the "Prince Regent" had gone to Kingston three days before; the +weather which drove Chauncey back had enabled her to join her fleet as +soon as released by the ice. By her escape the blow lost most of its +effect; for York itself was indefensible, and was taken again without +difficulty in the following July. A 30-gun vessel approaching +completion was found on the stocks and burned, and a large quantity of +military and naval stores were either destroyed or brought away by the +victorious squadron. These losses were among the news that greeted +Yeo's arrival; but, though severe, they were not irreparable, as +Chauncey for the moment imagined. He wrote: "I believe that the enemy +has received a blow that he cannot recover, and if we succeed in our +next enterprise, which I see no reason to doubt, we may consider the +<span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_37" id="PageV2_37">[37]</a></span>upper province as conquered."<a name="FNanchor_49_49" id="FNanchor_49_49"></a><a href="#Footnote_49_49" class="fnanchor">[49]</a> The mistake here was soon to be +evident.</p> + +<p>No time was wasted at York. The work of destruction, and of loading +what was to be carried away, was completed in three days, and on May 1 +the troops were re-embarked, to sail for Fort George on the morrow. +The wind, which for some days had been fair and moderate from the +eastward, then came on to blow a gale which would make landing +impossible off Niagara, and even navigation dangerous for the small +vessels. This lasted through the 7th, Chauncey writing on that day +that they were still riding with two anchors ahead and lower yards +down. So crowded were the ships that only half the soldiers could be +below at one time; hence they were exposed to the rain, and also to +the fresh-water waves, which made a clean breach over the schooners. +Under such circumstances both troops and seamen sickened fast. On the +8th, the weather moderating, the squadron stood over to Fort Niagara, +landed the troops for refreshment, and then returned to Sackett's; it +being thought that the opportunity for surprise had been lost, and +that no harm could come of a short further delay, during which also +re-enforcements might be expected.</p> + +<p>Soon after his return Chauncey sent a flag of truce to Kingston. This +made observations as to the condition of the enemy which began to +dispel his fair illusions.<a name="FNanchor_50_50" id="FNanchor_50_50"></a><a href="#Footnote_50_50" class="fnanchor">[50]</a> His purpose to go in person to Niagara +was postponed; and despatching thither the squadron with troops, he +remained at Sackett's to protect the yard and the ships building, in +co-operation with the garrison. His solicitude was not misplaced. +Niagara being a hundred and fifty miles from Sackett's, the fleet and +army had been committed to a relatively distant operation, depending +upon a main line of communication,—the lake,—on the flank and rear +<span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_38" id="PageV2_38">[38]</a></span>of which, and close to their own inadequately protected base, was a +hostile arsenal, Kingston, harboring a naval force quite able to +compete with their own. The danger of such a situation is obvious to +any military man, and even to a layman needs only to be indicated. +Nevertheless the enterprise was launched, and there was nothing for it +now but to proceed on the lines laid down.</p> + +<p>Chauncey accordingly sailed May 22, re-enforcements of troops for the +defence of Sackett's having meantime arrived. He did not reach Niagara +until the 25th. The next day was spent in reconnoissances, and other +preparations for a landing on the lake shore, a short mile west of +Fort George. On the 27th, at 9 <span class="fakesc">A.M.</span>, the attack began, +covered by the squadron. General Vincent, in command of the British +Niagara frontier, moved out to meet his enemy with the entire force +near Fort George, leaving only a small garrison of one hundred and +thirty men to hold the post itself. There was sharp fighting at the +coast-line; but Vincent's numbers were much inferior, and he was +compelled steadily to give ground, until finally, seeing that the only +alternatives were the destruction of his force or the abandonment of +the position, he sent word to the garrison to spike the guns, destroy +the ammunition, and to join his column as it withdrew. He retreated +along the Niagara River toward Queenston, and thence west to Beaver +Dam, about sixteen miles from Fort George. At the same time word was +sent to the officers commanding at Fort Erie, and the intermediate +post of Chippewa, to retire upon the same place, which had already +been prepared in anticipation of such an emergency. The three +divisions were thus in simultaneous movement, converging upon a common +point of concentration, where they all assembled during the night; the +whole, as reported by Vincent to his superior, now not exceeding +sixteen hundred.<a name="FNanchor_51_51" id="FNanchor_51_51"></a><a href="#Footnote_51_51" class="fnanchor">[51]</a> The <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_39" id="PageV2_39">[39]</a></span>casualties during the day's fighting had +been heavy, over four hundred killed and wounded; but in the retreat +no prisoners were lost except the garrison of the fort, which was +intercepted. Dearborn, as before at York, had not landed with his +troops; prevented, doubtless, by the infirmities of age increasing +upon him. Two days later he wrote to the Department, "I had presumed +that the enemy would confide in the strength of his position and +venture an action, by which an opportunity would be afforded to cut +off his retreat."<a name="FNanchor_52_52" id="FNanchor_52_52"></a><a href="#Footnote_52_52" class="fnanchor">[52]</a> This guileless expectation, that the net may be +spread not in vain before the eyes of any bird, provoked beyond +control such measure of equanimity as Armstrong possessed. Probably +suspecting already that his correct design upon Kingston had been +thwarted by false information, he retorted: "I cannot disguise from +you the <i>surprise</i> occasioned by the <i>two escapes of a beaten enemy</i>; +first on May 27, and again on June 1. Battles are not gained, when an +inferior and broken enemy is not destroyed. Nothing is done, while +anything that might have been done is omitted."<a name="FNanchor_53_53" id="FNanchor_53_53"></a><a href="#Footnote_53_53" class="fnanchor">[53]</a> Vincent was unkind +enough to disappoint his opponent. The morning after the engagement he +retired toward a position at the head of the lake, known then as +Burlington Heights, where the town of Hamilton now stands. Upon his +tenure here the course of operations turned twice in the course of the +next six months.</p> + +<div class="img"><a name="imagep038" id="imagep038"></a> +<a href="images/imagep038.jpg"> +<img border="0" src="images/imagep038.jpg" width="40%" alt="MAP OF NIAGARA PENINSULA" /></a><br /> +<p class="cen" style="margin-top: .2em;">MAP OF NIAGARA PENINSULA<span class="totoi"><a href="#toi">ToList</a></span></p> +</div> + +<p>While Vincent was in retreat upon Burlington, Captain Barclay arrived +at his headquarters, on the way to take charge of the Lake Erie +squadron;<a name="FNanchor_54_54" id="FNanchor_54_54"></a><a href="#Footnote_54_54" class="fnanchor">[54]</a> having had to coast the north shore of Ontario, on +account of the American control of the water. The inopportuneness of +the moment was prophetic of the numberless disappointments with <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_40" id="PageV2_40">[40]</a></span>which +the naval officer would have to contend during the brief three months +preceding his defeat by Perry. "The ordnance, ammunition, and other +stores for the service on Lake Erie," wrote Prevost on July 20, with +reference to Barclay's deficiencies, "had been deposited at York for +the purpose of being transported to Amherstburg, but unfortunately +were either destroyed or fell into the enemy's hands when York was +taken by them; and the subsequent interruption to the communication, +by their occupation of Fort George, has rendered it extremely +difficult to afford the supplies Captain Barclay requires, which, +however, are in readiness to forward whenever circumstances will +permit it to be done with safety."<a name="FNanchor_55_55" id="FNanchor_55_55"></a><a href="#Footnote_55_55" class="fnanchor">[55]</a> The road from Queenston to Fort +Erie, around Niagara Falls, was the most used and the best line of +transportation, because the shortest. To be thrown off it to that from +Burlington to Long Point was a serious mishap for a force requiring +much of heavy and bulky supplies. To add to these more vital +embarrassments, the principal ship, the "Queen Charlotte," which had +been lying at Fort Erie, had been ordered by Vincent to leave there +when the place was evacuated, and to go to Amherstburg, thus giving +Barclay the prospect of a land journey of two hundred miles through +the wilderness to his destination. Fortunately for him, a vessel +turned up at Long Point, enabling him to reach Amherstburg about June +7.</p> + +<p>The second step in Chauncey's programme had now been successfully +taken, and the vessels at Black Rock were free to move. With an energy +and foresight which in administration seldom forsook him, he had +prepared beforehand to seize even a fleeting opportunity to get them +out. Immediately upon the fall of York, "to put nothing to hazard, I +directed Mr. Eckford to take thirty carpenters to Black Rock, where he +has gone to put the vessels lying <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_41" id="PageV2_41">[41]</a></span>there in a perfect state of repair, +ready to leave the river for Presqu' Isle the moment we are in +possession of the opposite shore." Perry also was on hand, being +actively engaged in the landing at Fort George; and the same evening, +May 27, he left for Black Rock to hasten the departure. The process +involved great physical labor, the several vessels having to be +dragged by oxen against the current of the Niagara, here setting +heavily toward the falls. It was not until June 12 that they were all +above the rapids, and even this could not have been accomplished but +for soldiers furnished by Dearborn.<a name="FNanchor_56_56" id="FNanchor_56_56"></a><a href="#Footnote_56_56" class="fnanchor">[56]</a> The circumstance shows how +hopeless the undertaking would have been if the enemy had remained in +Fort Erie. Nor was this the only peril in their path. Barclay, with +commendable promptitude, had taken the lake in superior force very +shortly after his arrival at Amherstburg, and about June 15 appeared +off Erie [Presqu' Isle]. Having reconnoitred the place, he cruised +between it and Black Rock, to intercept the expected division; but the +small vessels, coasting the beach, passed their adversary unseen in a +fog,<a name="FNanchor_57_57" id="FNanchor_57_57"></a><a href="#Footnote_57_57" class="fnanchor">[57]</a> and on June 18 reached the port. As Chauncey had reported on +May 29 that the two brigs building there were launched, affairs on +that lake began to wear a promising aspect. The Lakes station as a +whole, however, was still very short of men; and the commodore added +that if none arrived before his approaching return to Sackett's, he +would have to lay up the Ontario fleet to man that upon Erie.</p> + +<p>To do this would have been to abandon to the enemy the very important +link in the communications, upon which chiefly depended the +re-enforcement and supplies for both armies on the Niagara peninsula. +The inherent viciousness of the plan upon which the American +<span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_42" id="PageV2_42">[42]</a></span>operations were proceeding was now quickly evident. At the very moment +of the attack upon Fort George, a threatening but irresolute movement +against Sackett's was undertaken by Prevost, with the co-operation of +Yeo, by whom the attempt is described as a diversion, in consequence +of the enemy's attack upon Fort George. Had the place fallen, Chauncey +would have lost the ship then building, on which he was counting to +control the water; he would have had nowhere to rest his foot except +his own quarter-deck, and no means to repair his fleet or build the +new vessels continually needed to maintain superiority. The case of +Yeo dispossessed of Kingston would have been similar, but worse; for +land transport in the United States was much better than in Canada. +The issue of the war, as regarded the lakes and the Northwestern +territory, lay in those two places. Upon them depended offensive and +defensive action.</p> + +<p>At the time of the attack upon Sackett's only two vessels of the +squadron were there, the senior officer of which, Lieutenant Chauncey, +was in momentary command of the navy yard as well. The garrison +consisted of four hundred regular troops, the coming of whom a week +before had enabled Chauncey to leave for Niagara. Dearborn had already +written to Major-General Jacob Brown, of the New York militia, asking +him to take command of the station; for which his local knowledge +particularly fitted him, as he was a resident of some years' standing. +He had moreover manifested marked military capacity on the St. +Lawrence line, which was under his charge. Brown, whose instincts were +soldierly, was reluctant to supersede Colonel Backus, the officer of +regulars in command; but a letter from the latter received on the +27th, asking him to take charge, determined his compliance. When he +arrived five hundred militia had assembled.</p> + +<p>The British expedition left Kingston with a fine fair <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_43" id="PageV2_43">[43]</a></span>wind on the +early morning of May 27—the same day that the Americans were landing +at Fort George. The whole fleet accompanied the movement, having +embarked troops numbering over seven hundred; chiefly regulars. At +noon they were off Sackett's Harbor. Prevost and Yeo stood in to +reconnoitre; but in the course of an hour the troops, who were already +in the boats, ready to pull to the beach, were ordered to re-embark, +and the squadron stood out into the lake. The only result so far was +the capture of twelve out of nineteen American barges, on their way +from Oswego to the Harbor. The other seven gained the port.</p> + +<p>During the next thirty-six hours militia kept coming in, and Brown +took command. Sackett's Harbor is an indentation on the south side of +a broad bay, called Black River Bay, into which the Black River +empties. The harbor opens eastward; that is, its back is toward the +lake, from which it is distant a little over a mile; and its north +side is formed by a long narrow point, called Navy Point, on which was +the naval establishment. Where Black River Bay meets the lake, its +south shore is prolonged to the west by a projection called Horse +Island, connected with the land by a fordable neck. Brown expected the +landing to be made upon this, and he decided to meet the attack at the +water's edge of the mainland, as the enemy crossed the neck. There he +disposed his five hundred militia, placing the regulars under Backus +in a second line; a steadying point in case the first line of +untrained men failed to stand firm. It was arranged that, if the enemy +could not be resisted, Lieutenant Chauncey was to set fire to the +naval stores and shipping, and cross with his crews to the south side +of the harbor, east of a work called Fort Volunteer, where Brown +proposed to make his final stand. From there, although an enemy at the +yard could be molested, he could not <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_44" id="PageV2_44">[44]</a></span>certainly be prevented from +carrying off stores or ships; hence the necessity for destruction.</p> + +<div class="img"><a name="imagep043" id="imagep043"></a> +<a href="images/imagep043.jpg"> +<img border="0" src="images/imagep043.jpg" width="40%" alt="SURROUNDINGS OF SACKETT'S HARBOR" /></a><br /> +<p class="cen" style="margin-top: .2em;">SURROUNDINGS OF SACKETT'S HARBOR<span class="totoi"><a href="#toi">ToList</a></span></p> +</div> + +<p>The British landed upon Horse Island soon after daylight of May 29, +and from there advanced. The militia met them with a volley, but then +broke and fled, as had been foreseen by Brown, himself yet a militia +officer. Their colonel behaved gallantly, and was killed in trying to +rally his men; while Brown in person, collecting a hundred of the +fugitives, worked round with them to the left flank of the approaching +British. These, moving through the woods, now encountered Backus and +his regulars, who made upon them an impression of overwhelming +numbers, to which the British official report bears a vivid testimony. +The failure to carry the place is laid by this paper upon the light +and adverse winds, which prevented the co-operation of the squadron's +heavy guns, to reduce the batteries and blockhouse. Without this +assistance, it was impracticable to carry by assault the works in +which the Americans had taken refuge. The gunboats alone could get +within range, and their small carronades were totally inadequate to +make any impression on the forts and blockhouses. "The troops were +reluctantly ordered to leave a beaten enemy." Brown makes no mention +of this retreat into the works, though it appears clear that the +Americans fell gradually back to their support; but he justifies +Prevost's withdrawal, bitterly criticised by writers of his own +nation, in the words, "Had not General Prevost retreated most rapidly +under the guns of his vessels, he would never have returned to +Kingston."<a name="FNanchor_58_58" id="FNanchor_58_58"></a><a href="#Footnote_58_58" class="fnanchor">[58]</a></p> + +<p>In the midst of the action word was brought to Lieutenant Chauncey +that the battle was lost, and that the yard must be fired. Brown, in +his official report, expressly <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_45" id="PageV2_45">[45]</a></span>acquitted him of blame, with words of +personal commendation. The two schooners in commission had retreated +up Black River; but the prize "Duke of Gloucester," and the ship +approaching completion, were fired. Fortunately, the flames were +extinguished before serious damage was done; but when Commodore +Chauncey returned on June 1, he found that among a large quantity of +materials consumed were the stores and sails of the new ship. The loss +of these he thought would delay the movements of the squadron three +weeks; for without her Yeo's force was now superior.<a name="FNanchor_59_59" id="FNanchor_59_59"></a><a href="#Footnote_59_59" class="fnanchor">[59]</a></p> + +<div class="img"><a name="imagep044" id="imagep044"></a> +<a href="images/imagep044.jpg"> +<img border="0" src="images/imagep044.jpg" width="85%" alt="The Retreat of the British from Sackett's Harbor" /></a><br /> +<p class="cen" style="margin-top: .2em;">THE RETREAT OF THE BRITISH FROM SACKETT'S HARBOR.<br /> +<i>Drawn by Henry Reuterdahl.</i><span class="totoi"><a href="#toi">ToList</a></span></p> +</div> + +<p>The defence of Sackett's Harbor obtained immediately for Brown, who +was just thirty-eight, the commission of brigadier general in the +army; for the new Secretary, Armstrong, was looking round anxiously +for men to put in command, and was quick to seize upon one when he +found him. To Chauncey, on the other hand, the affair in its +consequences and demonstration of actualities was a rude awakening, to +which his correspondence during the succeeding six weeks bears witness +by an evident waning of confidence, not before to be noted. On June 4 +he tells the Secretary of the Navy that he has on Ontario, exclusive +of the new ship not yet ready, fourteen vessels of every description, +mounting sixty-two guns; whereas Yeo has seven, which, with six +gunboats, carry one hundred and six. "If he leave Kingston, I shall +meet him. The result may be doubtful, but worth the trial." This +resolution is not maintained. June 11 he hears, with truth, that Yeo +was seen at the head of the lake on the 7th, and that the Americans at +Fort George had taken his squadron to be Chauncey's. By the same +channel he learns of a disastrous engagement of the army there, which +was likewise true. His impulse is to go out to meet the British +squadron; but he reflects that the enemy may then <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_46" id="PageV2_46">[46]</a></span>again find an +opportunity to descend upon Sackett's, and perhaps succeed in burning +the new ship. Her size and armament will, he thinks, give him the +decisive superiority. He therefore resolves to put nothing to hazard +till she is finished.<a name="FNanchor_60_60" id="FNanchor_60_60"></a><a href="#Footnote_60_60" class="fnanchor">[60]</a></p> + +<p>The impression produced by the late attack is obvious, and this +decision was probably correct; but Yeo too is building, and meantime +he has possession of the lake. On June 3 he left Kingston with a +squadron, two ships and four schooners, carrying some three hundred +troops for Vincent. On the evening of the 7th, about six o'clock, he +was sighted by the American army, which was then at Forty Mile Creek +on the Ontario shore; a position to which it had retired after a +severe reverse inflicted by the enemy thirty-six hours before. +Vincent's retreat had been followed as far as Stony Creek, ten miles +west of Forty Mile Creek, and somewhat less distant from Burlington +Heights, where the British lay. The situation of the latter was +extremely perilous; for, though strongly placed, they were greatly +outnumbered. In case of being driven from their lines, they must +retreat on York by a long and difficult road; and upon the same poor +communications they were dependent for supplies, unless their squadron +kept control of the lake. Recognizing that desperate conditions call +for desperate remedies, Vincent resolved to risk an attack with seven +hundred men under Colonel Harvey, in whose suggestion the movement +originated. These fell upon the American advance corps at two o'clock +in the morning of June 6. An hour of fighting ensued, with severe loss +on both sides; then Harvey, considering sufficient effect produced, +drew off his men before daylight revealed the smallness of their +numbers.</p> + +<p>There was in this affair nothing intrinsically decisive, scarcely more +than a business of outposts; but by a singular <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_47" id="PageV2_47">[47]</a></span>coincidence both +American generals present were captured in the confusion. The officer +who succeeded to the command, a colonel of cavalry, modestly +distrustful of his own powers, could think of nothing more proper than +to return to Forty Mile Creek, sending word to Fort George. Dearborn, +still too weak to go to the front, despatched thither General Morgan +Lewis. On his way Lewis was overtaken by two brief messages from the +commander-in-chief announcing the appearance of Yeo's fleet, and +indicating apprehension that by means of it Vincent might come upon +Fort George before the main army could fall back there. It was most +improbable that the British general, with the command of the lake in +doubt would thus place himself again in the position from which he had +with difficulty escaped ten days before; but Dearborn's fears for the +safety of the forts prevailed, and he ordered a retreat. The movement +began by noon of June 8, and in a few days the army was back at +Niagara River, having lost or abandoned a quantity of stores. The +British followed to within ten miles of the fort, where they took up a +position. They also reoccupied Beaver Dam; and a force of six hundred +Americans sent to dislodge them, under Colonel Boerstler, was +compelled to surrender on June 24.<a name="FNanchor_61_61" id="FNanchor_61_61"></a><a href="#Footnote_61_61" class="fnanchor">[61]</a> Dearborn, who had already +reported to the Department that he personally was "so reduced in +strength as to be incapable of any command," attributed his +embarrassments "to the temporary loss of command of the lake. The +enemy has availed himself of the advantage and forwarded +re-enforcements and supplies." The effect of controlling the water +cannot be contested; but the conditions at Stony Creek were such that +it should have been possible to drive Vincent away from any hold on +the south shore of Ontario. Creditable <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_48" id="PageV2_48">[48]</a></span>as had been the enterprise of +Colonel Harvey, it had accomplished no change in material conditions. +Dearborn was soon afterward relieved. His officers, including Scott, +joined in a letter of regret and esteem, prompted doubtless by +sympathy for the sufferings and miscarriage of an aged officer who had +served gallantly in his youth during the War of Independence.</p> + +<p>To Colonel Harvey's attack, on the morning of June 6, a British +military critic has with justice assigned the turning of the tide in +the affairs of Upper Canada.<a name="FNanchor_62_62" id="FNanchor_62_62"></a><a href="#Footnote_62_62" class="fnanchor">[62]</a> It is perfectly true that that +well-judged movement, admirable in conception and execution, checked +the progress of the American arms at a moment most favorable to them, +and put an end to conditions of advantage which never there recurred. +That this effect was produced, however, is attributable to the +inefficiency of the American officers in command. If Harvey had +divined this, from the previous operations, and made it a part of his +calculations, it is so much more to his credit; the competency of the +opponent is a chief factor to be considered in a military enterprise. +It detracts nothing from Harvey's merit to say that there was no +occasion for the American retreat, nor for the subsequent paralysis of +effort, which ended in expulsion from the Niagara peninsula at the end +of the year. "For some two months after this," wrote a very competent +eye-witness, afterward General Scott, "the army of Niagara, never less +than four thousand strong, stood fixed in a state of ignominy, under +Boyd, within five miles of an unintrenched enemy, with never more than +three thousand five hundred men."<a name="FNanchor_63_63" id="FNanchor_63_63"></a><a href="#Footnote_63_63" class="fnanchor">[63]</a> Scott seems not to have known +that this inactivity was enjoined by the War Department till Chauncey +could resume control of the lake.<a name="FNanchor_64_64" id="FNanchor_64_64"></a><a href="#Footnote_64_64" class="fnanchor">[64]</a> From <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_49" id="PageV2_49">[49]</a></span>this time, in fact, the +Niagara army and its plans disappear from the active operations.</p> + +<p>Yeo remained in undisputed mastery of the water. That the British at +this time felt themselves the stronger in effective force, may be +reasonably inferred from their continuing to keep the lake after +Chauncey's new ship was out. She was launched June 12, and named the +"General Pike," in honor of the officer killed at the taking of York. +Her armament was to be twenty-six long 24-pounders, which under some +circumstances would make her superior, not only to any single vessel, +but to any combination of vessels then under the British flag. If it +was still possible, by use of favoring conditions, to contend with the +American fleet after the addition to it of this ship, by so much more +was Yeo able to deal successfully with it before her coming. A +comparison of the armaments of the opposing forces also demonstrates +that, whatever Chauncey's duty might have been without such prospect, +he was justified, having this decisive advantage within reach, in +keeping his fleet housed waiting for its realization. The British new +vessel, the "Wolfe," with the "Royal George"<a name="FNanchor_65_65" id="FNanchor_65_65"></a><a href="#Footnote_65_65" class="fnanchor">[65]</a> and the "Melville," +together threw a broadside weight of nine hundred and twenty +pounds,<a name="FNanchor_66_66" id="FNanchor_66_66"></a><a href="#Footnote_66_66" class="fnanchor">[66]</a> to which the "Madison" and "Oneida" could oppose only six +hundred; and the batteries of all five being mainly carronades, there +are no qualifications to be made on the score of differing ranges. The +American schooners, though much more numerous than the British, in no +way compensated for this disparity, for reasons which will be given +when the narrative of operations begins. Unknown to Chauncey, the +vindication of his delay was to be found in Yeo's writing to the +Admiralty, that he was trying to <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_50" id="PageV2_50">[50]</a></span>induce the enemy to come out before +his new ship was ready.</p> + +<p>Disappointed in this endeavor, the British commodore meantime employed +his vessels in maintaining the communications of the British and +harassing those of the Americans, thus observing the true relation of +the lake to the hostilities. Mention has been made of the effect upon +Dearborn; morally, in the apprehension created, actually, in the +strength contributed to Vincent's army. "The enemy's fleet is +constantly hovering on the coast and interrupting our supplies," wrote +General Lewis, during Dearborn's incapacity. Besides incidental +mentions by American officers, Yeo himself reports the capture of two +schooners and boats loaded with stores June 13; and between that date +and the 19th he landed parties at the Genesee River and Great Sodus, +capturing or destroying a quantity of provisions. Transit between +Oswego and Sackett's was also in constant danger of an unexpected +interference by the British squadron. On June 20 it appeared off +Oswego, with apparent disposition to attack; but Yeo, who in his +exercise of chief command displayed a degree of caution remarkable in +view of his deservedly high reputation for dash acquired in less +responsible positions, did not pass beyond threat. All the same, the +mere uncertainty exercised a powerful influence on the maintenance of +intercourse. "If the schooners 'Lark' and 'Fly' are not now in +Sackett's," wrote Lieutenant Woolsey from Oswego, "they must have been +taken yesterday by the British boats. They were loaded with powder, +shot, and hospital stores for the army." He has also cordage, powder, +guns, cables, to send, and boats in which to ship them; but "under +existing circumstances I dare not take upon myself to send them +farther than to Sandy Creek, under strong guard. I think it would be +unsafe to venture round Stony Point [a projecting headland <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_51" id="PageV2_51">[51]</a></span>twelve +miles from Sackett's] without convoy or a good guard."<a name="FNanchor_67_67" id="FNanchor_67_67"></a><a href="#Footnote_67_67" class="fnanchor">[67]</a></p> + +<p>On July 2, having ranged the lake at will since June 1, Yeo returned +to Kingston, and Chauncey again began to hear rumors. "The fleet has +taken on board two thousand men, and two thousand more are to embark +in boats; an attack upon this place is the object. The plan is to make +a desperate push at our fleet before the 'General Pike' can be got +ready.... His real object may be to land re-enforcements near Fort +George, to act with General Vincent against Dearborn. If this be his +object, he will succeed in obliging our army to recross the Niagara +River;"<a name="FNanchor_68_68" id="FNanchor_68_68"></a><a href="#Footnote_68_68" class="fnanchor">[68]</a> a damaging commentary on the American plan of campaign. +This fear, however, was excessive, for the reason that an effective +American army on the Niagara had a land line of communication, bad but +possible, alternative to the lake. The British had not. Moreover, the +Niagara peninsula had for them a value, as a land link between Ontario +and Erie, to which nothing corresponded on the United States side. Had +Vincent been driven from Burlington Heights, not only would he have +lost touch with the lake, and been forced back on York, but Ontario +would for the British have been entirely cut off from Erie.</p> + +<p>The "General Pike" was ready for service on July 20, and the following +evening Chauncey sailed. With this begins a period, extending over ten +or twelve weeks, which has no parallel in the naval lake history of +the war. It was unproductive of decisive results, and especially of +the one particular result which is the object of all naval action—the +destruction of the enemy's organized force, and the establishment of +one's own control of the water; nevertheless, the ensuing movements of +Yeo and Chauncey <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_52" id="PageV2_52">[52]</a></span>constituted a naval campaign of considerable +interest. Nothing resembling it occurred on either Lake Champlain or +Erie, and no similar condition recurred on Ontario. The fleets were +frequently in presence of each other, and three times came to blows. +On Erie and on Champlain the opposing forces met but once, and then +without any prolonged previous attempts at manœuvring. They fought +immediately; the result in each case being an American victory, not +only complete but decisive, which has kept their remembrance alive to +this day in the national memory. On Ontario, after the close of the +season of 1813, the struggle resolved itself into a race of +ship-building; both parties endeavoring to maintain superiority by the +creation of ever-increasing numbers, instead of by crushing the enemy. +Such a contest sufficiently befits a period of peace; it is, for +instance, at this moment the condition of the great naval nations of +the world, each of which is endeavoring to maintain its place in the +naval scale by the constant production and development of material. In +war, however, the object is to put an end to a period of national +tension and expense by destroying the enemy; and the failure of the +commanders to effect this object calls for examination.</p> + +<p>The indecisive result on Ontario was due to the particular composition +of the two squadrons; to the absence of strong compelling conditions, +such as made fighting imperative on Barclay upon Erie, and perhaps +also on Downie upon Champlain; and finally, to the extreme wariness of +the commanders, each of whom was deeply impressed with the importance +of preserving his own fleet, in order not to sacrifice control of the +lake. Chauncey has depicted for us his frame of mind in instructions +issued at this very moment—July 14—to his subordinate, Perry. "The +first object will be to destroy or cripple the enemy's fleet; but in +all attempts upon the fleet you ought to use <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_53" id="PageV2_53">[53]</a></span>great caution, for the +loss of a single vessel may decide the fate of the campaign."<a name="FNanchor_69_69" id="FNanchor_69_69"></a><a href="#Footnote_69_69" class="fnanchor">[69]</a> A +practical commentary of singular irony was passed upon this utterance +within two months; for by sacrificing a single ship Perry decided his +own campaign in his own favor. Given the spirit of Chauncey's warning, +and also two opponents with fleets so different in constitution that +one is strong where the other is weak, and <i>vice versa</i>, and there is +found the elements of wary and protracted fighting, with a strong +chance that neither will be badly hurt; but also that neither will +accomplish much. This is what happened on Ontario.</p> + +<div class="img"><a name="imagep052" id="imagep052"></a> +<a href="images/imagep052.jpg"> +<img border="0" src="images/imagep052.jpg" width="85%" alt="The Fleets of Chauncey and Yeo Manoeuvring on Lake Champlain" /></a><br /> +<p class="cen" style="margin-top: .2em;">THE FLEETS OF CHAUNCEY AND YEO MANŒUVRING ON LAKE CHAMPLAIN.<br /> +<i>Drawn by Carlton T. Chapman.</i><span class="totoi"><a href="#toi">ToList</a></span></p> +</div> + +<p>The relative powers of the two fleets need to be briefly explained; +for they constituted, so to say, the hands in the game which each +commander had to play. The British had six vessels, of varying sizes +and rigs, but all built for war, and sailing fairly well together. +They formed therefore a good manœuvring squadron. The Americans had +three vessels built for war, and at the beginning ten schooners also, +not so designed, and not sailing well with the armaments they bore. +Whatever the merits of this or that vessel, the squadron as a whole +manœuvred badly, and its movements were impeded by the poorer +sailors. The contrast in armaments likewise had a very decisive +effect. There were in those days two principal classes of naval +cannon,—long guns, often called simply "guns," and carronades. The +guns had long range with light weight of shot fired; the carronades +had short range and heavy shot. Now in long guns the Americans were +four times as strong as the British, while in carronades the British +were twice as strong as the Americans. It follows that the American +commodore should prefer long range to begin with; whereas the British +would be careful not to approach within long range, unless with such a +breeze <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_54" id="PageV2_54">[54]</a></span>as would carry him rapidly down to where his carronades would +come into play.</p> + +<p>There was another controlling reason why short range favored the +British against the Americans. The schooners of the latter, not being +built for war, carried their guns on a deck unprotected by bulwarks. +The men, being exposed from the feet up, could be swept away by +canister, which is a quantity of small iron balls packed in a case and +fired from a cannon. When discharged, these separate and spread like +buckshot, striking many in a group. They can maim or kill a man, but +their range is short and penetrative power small. A bulwarked vessel +was, so to say, armored against canister; for it makes no difference +whether the protection is six inches of wood or ten of iron, provided +it keeps out the projectile. The American schooners were in this +respect wholly vulnerable.</p> + +<p>Over-insistence upon details of advantage or disadvantage is often +wearisome, and may be pushed to pettifogging; but these quoted are +general and fundamental. To mention them is not to chaffer over +details, but to state principles. There is one other which should be +noted, although its value may be differently estimated. Of the great +long-gun superiority of the Americans more than one half was in the +unprotected schooners; distributed, that is, among several vessels not +built for war, and not capable of acting well together, so as to +concentrate their fire. There is no equality between ten guns in five +such vessels and the same ten concentrated on one deck, under one +captain. That this is not special pleading, to contravene the +assertion advanced by James of great American superiority on Ontario, +I may quote words of my own, written years ago with reference to a +British officer: "An attempt was made to disparage Howe's conduct (in +1778), and to prove that his force was even superior to that of the +French, by adding <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_55" id="PageV2_55">[55]</a></span>together the guns in all his ships, disregarding +their classes, or by combining groups of his small vessels against +D'Estaing's larger units. For this kind of professional arithmetic +Howe felt and expressed just and utter contempt."<a name="FNanchor_70_70" id="FNanchor_70_70"></a><a href="#Footnote_70_70" class="fnanchor">[70]</a> So Nelson wrote +to the commander of a British cruising squadron, "Your intentions of +attacking the 'Aigle'"—a seventy-four—"with your three frigates are +certainly very laudable, but I do not consider your force by any means +equal to it." The new American ship, the "General Pike," possessed +this advantage of the seventy-four. One discharge of her broadside was +substantially equal to that of the ten schooners, and all her guns +were long; entirely out-ranging the batteries of her antagonists. +Under some circumstances—a good breeze and the windward position—she +was doubtless able to encounter and beat the whole British squadron on +Ontario. But the American schooners were mere gunboats, called to act +in conditions unfavorable to that class of vessel, the record of which +for efficiency is under no circumstances satisfactory.</p> + +<p>After leaving Sackett's, Chauncey showed himself off Kingston and then +went up the lake, arriving off Niagara on the evening of July 27. An +abortive attempt, in conjunction with the army, was made upon a +position of the enemy at Burlington Heights, then far in rear of his +main line; but it being found too strong, the fleet, with the troops +still on board, bore over to York and there retaliated the injury done +by Yeo at Genesee and Sodus. There was no opposition; many stores were +destroyed or brought away, some military buildings burned, and the +vessels then returned to Niagara. They were lying there at daybreak of +August 7 when the British appeared: two ships, two brigs, and two +large schooners. Chauncey had substantially his whole force: two +ships, the "Pike" and <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_56" id="PageV2_56">[56]</a></span>"Madison," the brig "Oneida," and ten +schooners. He got under way shortly and put out into the lake. Various +manœuvres followed, his principal object being to get to windward +of the enemy; or, when the wind failed, to sweep<a name="FNanchor_71_71" id="FNanchor_71_71"></a><a href="#Footnote_71_71" class="fnanchor">[71]</a> the schooners +close enough for their long guns to reach; the only useful function +they possessed. These efforts were unsuccessful, and night shut in +with the two opponents sailing in parallel lines, heading north, with +the wind at west; the Americans to leeward and in rear of the British. +At two in the morning, in a heavy squall, two schooners upset, with +the loss of all on board save sixteen souls. Chauncey reckoned these +to be among his best, and, as they together mounted nineteen guns, he +considered that "this accident gave the enemy decidedly the +superiority"; another instance of faulty professional arithmetic, +omitting from the account the concentration of power in the "General +Pike."</p> + +<p>Yeo did not estimate conditions in the same way, and persisted warily +in keeping the weather gage, watching for a chance to cut off +schooners, or for other favoring opportunity; while Chauncey as +diligently sought to gain the advantage of the wind, to force action +with his heavy ships. Manœuvring continued all day of the 8th, 9th, +and 10th. The winds, being light and shifting, favored now one, now +the other; but in no case for long enough to insure a meeting which +the American with good reason desired, and his antagonist with equal +propriety would accept only under conditions that suited him. At nine +in the evening of August 10 the American squadron was standing +northwest, with the wind at southwest, when the British, which was +then following to windward, wore and stood south. Chauncey made no +change in direction, but kept his vessels in two lines; this being the +order of battle by which, not being able to attack himself, he hoped +to <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_57" id="PageV2_57">[57]</a></span>induce Yeo to engage incautiously. The six smallest schooners, of +the eight now left to him, were put in the weather line; therefore +toward the enemy, if he persisted in keeping to windward. The lee +line, abreast of the other, and six hundred yards from it, was +composed of the "Pike," "Madison," and "Oneida," astern of which were +the two heaviest schooners. The smaller vessels were displayed as a +tempting bait, disposed, as it were, in such manner that the opponent +might hope to lay hands on one or more, without coming too much under +the "Pike's" heavy guns; for her two larger consorts, carrying +carronades chiefly, might be neglected at the distance named. If such +an attempt were made, the schooners' orders were to edge imperceptibly +to leeward, enticing the enemy to follow in his eagerness; and when he +was near enough they were to slip cleverly through the intervals in +the lee line, leaving it to finish the business. The lure was perhaps +a little too obvious, the enemy's innocent forgetfulness of the +dangers to leeward too easily presumed; for a ship does not get out of +the hold of a clear-headed captain as a mob of troops in hot pursuit +may at times escape the control of their officers. In view, however, +of Yeo's evident determination to keep his "fleet in being," by +avoiding action except on his own terms, nothing better was open to +Chauncey, unless fortune should favor him.</p> + +<p>At half-past ten the British again wore, now standing northwest after +the American squadron, the rear vessels of which opened fire at eleven +(A). At quarter-past eleven the cannonade became general between the +enemy and the weather line (B). Fifteen minutes later, the four rear +schooners of the latter, which were overmatched when once within +carronade range, bore up and ran to leeward; two taking position on +the other side of the main division, and two astern of it (c, c). So +far all went according to plan; but unhappily the leading two American +schooners, <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_58" id="PageV2_58">[58]</a></span>instead of keeping away in obedience to orders, +tacked—went about towards the enemy—keeping to windward (d). +Chauncey, seeing the risk involved for them, but prepossessed with the +idea of luring Yeo down by the appearance of flight set by the +schooners, made what can scarcely be considered other than the mistake +of keeping away himself, with the heavy ships; "filled the +maintopsail, and edged away two points, to lead the enemy down, not +only to engage him to more advantage, but to lead him away from the +'Growler' and 'Julia'" (C). Yeo, equally dominated by a preconceived +purpose not to bring his ships under the guns of the "Pike," acted +much as a squirrel would do with two nuts in sight; he went for the +one safely distant from suspected danger. "He kept his wind," reported +Chauncey, "until he had completely separated those two vessels from +the rest of the squadron, exchanged a few shot with the 'Pike,' as he +passed, without injury to us, and made sail after the two schooners" +(e). Some time after midnight these surrendered to odds plainly +irresistible.<a name="FNanchor_72_72" id="FNanchor_72_72"></a><a href="#Footnote_72_72" class="fnanchor">[72]</a></p> + +<p>The tacking of the two schooners was an act as ill-judged as it was +insubordinate, for which Chauncey was in no wise responsible. His +bearing up was certainly an error, which unfortunately lent itself to +the statement, contemporaneously made by an American paper, that he +retreated, leaving the two vessels to their fate. It was possible, +therefore, for Sir James to word the transaction as he airily did: "At +eleven we came within gunshot of their line of schooners, which opened +a heavy fire, their ships keeping off the wind to prevent our closing. +At half-past twelve this ship came within gunshot of the 'Pike' and +'Madison,' when they immediately bore up, fired their stern +chase-guns, and made sail for Niagara, leaving two of their schooners +astern, which we captured."<a name="FNanchor_73_73" id="FNanchor_73_73"></a><a href="#Footnote_73_73" class="fnanchor">[73]</a> This gives a more victorious and +<span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_59" id="PageV2_59">[59]</a></span>dashing air to the success than it quite deserves. As it stood, it was +real enough, though trivial. To take two vessels from a superior +fleet, within range of its commander-in-chief, is a handsome business, +which should not need to be embellished by the implication that a +greatly desired fight could not be had. To quote Marryat, "It is very +hard to come at the real truth of this sort of thing, as I found out +during the time that I was in his Majesty's service." Chauncey's +version is perfectly probable. Seeing that the enemy would not follow, +"tacked and stood after him. At twelve (midnight), finding that I must +either separate from the rest of the squadron, or relinquish the hope +of saving the two which had separated, I reluctantly gave up the +pursuit." His reading of Yeo's conduct is plausible. "From what I have +been able to discover of the movements of the enemy, he has no +intention of engaging us, except he can get decidedly the advantage of +wind and weather; and as his vessels in squadron sail better than our +squadron, he can always avoid an action.... He thinks to cut off our +small dull sailing schooners in detail." Here and always Chauncey's +conduct reflects the caution prescribed in his instructions to Perry, +rather than the resolute determination the latter showed to bring +matters to an issue. On the other hand, it is to be remembered that, +owing to the nearly equal facilities for ship-building—for replacing +ships lost—possessed by Kingston and Sackett's, a decisive naval +victory would not have the finality of result to be expected on Lake +Erie. Contrary to the usual conditions of naval war, the two ports, +not the fleets dependent on them, were the decisive elements of the +Ontario campaign; and the ignoring of that truth was the fundamental, +irremediable, American error.</p> + +<div class="img"><a name="imagep058" id="imagep058"></a> +<a href="images/imagep058.jpg"> +<img border="0" src="images/imagep058.jpg" width="40%" alt="Plan of Chauncey's Engagement August 10, 1813" /></a><br /> +<p class="cen" style="margin-top: .2em;">PLAN OF CHAUNCEY'S ENGAGEMENT AUGUST 10, 1813<span class="totoi"><a href="#toi">ToList</a></span></p> +</div> + +<p>Chauncey returned to Sackett's on August 13, provisioned the squadron +for five weeks, and sailed the same evening. On the 16th he was back +off Niagara, and <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_60" id="PageV2_60">[60]</a></span>there again sighted the enemy; but a heavy westerly +gale drove both squadrons to the lower end of the lake, where each +entered its own harbor on the 19th. August 29 the American put out +again, having an additional newly built schooner, named the "Sylph," +large and fast, carrying three or four long 32-pounders. Chauncey +reported that he had now nine vessels with ninety-one guns, but that +the enemy was still superior. In number of guns, possibly; but it is +difficult to accept the statement otherwise, except in the one very +important particular of squadron manœuvring power. This enabled Yeo +to avoid action, except when it suited him to fight; or unless +Chauncey was willing to engage first with part only of his squadron, +following it with the rest. Such advantage in manœuvring greatly +increases the ability of the inferior to serve his own cause, but it +does not constitute superiority. The delusion of measuring force by +guns, irrespective of the ships that carry them, has been explained.</p> + +<p>Yeo's intermediate movements do not appear, but on September 7 the +antagonists again met off the Niagara River. From that day till the +12th the American fleet endeavored to force a general action, which +the other steadily, and properly, refused. The persistent efforts of +the one to close, and of the other to avoid, led to a movement round +the lake, ending by the British entering Amherst Bay, five miles west +of Kingston. On one occasion, off the Genesee on September 11, a +westerly breeze carried the United States squadron within +three-quarters of a mile of the enemy, before the latter felt it. A +cannonade and pursuit of some hours followed, but without decisive +result. There seems traceable throughout Chauncey's account a distinct +indisposition to what is called technically "a general chase;" to +press on with part of the squadron, trusting to the slower vessels +coming up soon enough to complete the work of the faster. He was +<span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_61" id="PageV2_61">[61]</a></span>unwilling thus to let his fleet loose. "This ship" (the "General +Pike"), "the 'Madison,' and the 'Sylph,' have each a schooner +constantly in tow, yet the others cannot sail as fast as the enemy's +squadron, which gives him decidedly the advantage, and puts it in his +power to engage me when and how he chooses." In such a situation +success can be had only by throwing the more rapid upon the enemy as +an advance guard, engaging as they get within range, relying upon +their effecting such detention that the others can arrive in time to +their support. To this recourse, though in halting fashion, Chauncey +finally came on what proved to be his last collision with Yeo, +September 28.</p> + +<div class="img"><a name="imagep060a" id="imagep060a"></a> +<a href="images/imagep060a.jpg"> +<img border="0" src="images/imagep060a.jpg" width="55%" alt="Captain Isaac Chauncey" /></a><br /> +<p class="cen" style="margin-top: .2em;">CAPTAIN ISAAC CHAUNCEY.<br /> +<i>From the engraving by D. Edwin after the painting by J. Woods.</i><span class="totoi"><a href="#toi">ToList</a></span></p> +</div> + +<div class="img"><a name="imagep060b" id="imagep060b"></a> +<a href="images/imagep060b.jpg"> +<img border="0" src="images/imagep060b.jpg" width="55%" alt="Captain Sir James Lucas Yeo" /></a><br /> +<p class="cen" style="margin-top: .2em;">CAPTAIN SIR JAMES LUCAS YEO<br /> +<i>From the engraving by H.R. Cook after the Painting by A. Buck.</i><span class="totoi"><a href="#toi">ToList</a></span></p> +</div> + +<br /> +<hr style="width: 15%;" /> +<br /> + +<h4>FOOTNOTES:</h4> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_40_40" id="Footnote_40_40"></a><a href="#FNanchor_40_40"><span class="label">[40]</span></a> Yeo to Croker, May 26, 1813. Admiralty In-Letters, +Records Office.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_41_41" id="Footnote_41_41"></a><a href="#FNanchor_41_41"><span class="label">[41]</span></a> Captains' Letters, Navy Department.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_42_42" id="Footnote_42_42"></a><a href="#FNanchor_42_42"><span class="label">[42]</span></a> American State Papers, Military Affairs, vol. i. p. +439.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_43_43" id="Footnote_43_43"></a><a href="#FNanchor_43_43"><span class="label">[43]</span></a> Between July, 1812, and March 25, 1813, Prevost received +re-enforcements amounting in all to 2,175 regulars. His total force +then, for all Canada, excluding militia, was 9,177; of which 2,000 +were provincial corps. British Records Office.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_44_44" id="Footnote_44_44"></a><a href="#FNanchor_44_44"><span class="label">[44]</span></a> American State Papers, Military Affairs, vol. i. p. +441.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_45_45" id="Footnote_45_45"></a><a href="#FNanchor_45_45"><span class="label">[45]</span></a> Chauncey to Navy Department, March 8, 12, and 16, 1813. +Captains' Letters.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_46_46" id="Footnote_46_46"></a><a href="#FNanchor_46_46"><span class="label">[46]</span></a> American State Papers, Military Affairs, vol. i. p. +442.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_47_47" id="Footnote_47_47"></a><a href="#FNanchor_47_47"><span class="label">[47]</span></a> Captains' Letters.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_48_48" id="Footnote_48_48"></a><a href="#FNanchor_48_48"><span class="label">[48]</span></a> Captains' Letters, Nov. 5, 1814.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_49_49" id="Footnote_49_49"></a><a href="#FNanchor_49_49"><span class="label">[49]</span></a> Captains' Letters, May 7, 1813.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_50_50" id="Footnote_50_50"></a><a href="#FNanchor_50_50"><span class="label">[50]</span></a> Ibid., May 15.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_51_51" id="Footnote_51_51"></a><a href="#FNanchor_51_51"><span class="label">[51]</span></a> Canadian Archives. C. 678, p. 332.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_52_52" id="Footnote_52_52"></a><a href="#FNanchor_52_52"><span class="label">[52]</span></a> American State Papers, Military Affairs, vol. i. p. +445.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_53_53" id="Footnote_53_53"></a><a href="#FNanchor_53_53"><span class="label">[53]</span></a> Ibid., p. 449. Armstrong's italics.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_54_54" id="Footnote_54_54"></a><a href="#FNanchor_54_54"><span class="label">[54]</span></a> Barclay's Narrative before the British Court Martial on +the Battle of Lake Erie. British Records Office.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_55_55" id="Footnote_55_55"></a><a href="#FNanchor_55_55"><span class="label">[55]</span></a> Prevost to Bathurst, Canadian Archives.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_56_56" id="Footnote_56_56"></a><a href="#FNanchor_56_56"><span class="label">[56]</span></a> Mackenzie's Life of Perry, vol. i. p. 148.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_57_57" id="Footnote_57_57"></a><a href="#FNanchor_57_57"><span class="label">[57]</span></a> Barclay's Narrative.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_58_58" id="Footnote_58_58"></a><a href="#FNanchor_58_58"><span class="label">[58]</span></a> Brown's and Prevost's Reports of this affair may be +found in Niles' Register, vol. iv. pp. 260, 261. That of Yeo is in the +Canadian Archives; M. 389, 6, p. 22.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_59_59" id="Footnote_59_59"></a><a href="#FNanchor_59_59"><span class="label">[59]</span></a> Captains' Letters, June 11, 1813.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_60_60" id="Footnote_60_60"></a><a href="#FNanchor_60_60"><span class="label">[60]</span></a> Captains' Letters.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_61_61" id="Footnote_61_61"></a><a href="#FNanchor_61_61"><span class="label">[61]</span></a> The account of these transactions is summarized from +American State Papers, Military Affairs, vol. i. pp. 445-449. For +Vincent's report of the Stony Creek affair see Cruikshank's +Documentary History of the Campaign on the Niagara Frontier, 1813, +Part II, p. 8.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_62_62" id="Footnote_62_62"></a><a href="#FNanchor_62_62"><span class="label">[62]</span></a> Smyth's Précis of Wars in Canada, p. 137.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_63_63" id="Footnote_63_63"></a><a href="#FNanchor_63_63"><span class="label">[63]</span></a> Scott's Memoirs, vol. i. p. 94.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_64_64" id="Footnote_64_64"></a><a href="#FNanchor_64_64"><span class="label">[64]</span></a> American State Papers, Military Affairs, vol. i. pp. +450, 451.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_65_65" id="Footnote_65_65"></a><a href="#FNanchor_65_65"><span class="label">[65]</span></a> Formerly the "Prince Regent."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_66_66" id="Footnote_66_66"></a><a href="#FNanchor_66_66"><span class="label">[66]</span></a> Yeo's Report of the Vessels on the Lakes, July 15, 1813. +British Records Office.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_67_67" id="Footnote_67_67"></a><a href="#FNanchor_67_67"><span class="label">[67]</span></a> Woolsey to Chauncey, June 20 and 21, 1813. Captains' +Letters.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_68_68" id="Footnote_68_68"></a><a href="#FNanchor_68_68"><span class="label">[68]</span></a> Chauncey to the Department, July 5, 1813. Captains' +Letters.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_69_69" id="Footnote_69_69"></a><a href="#FNanchor_69_69"><span class="label">[69]</span></a> Captains' Letters. Navy Department MSS.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_70_70" id="Footnote_70_70"></a><a href="#FNanchor_70_70"><span class="label">[70]</span></a> "History of the Royal Navy," edited by Sir W.L. Clowes, +vol. iii. p. 411.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_71_71" id="Footnote_71_71"></a><a href="#FNanchor_71_71"><span class="label">[71]</span></a> That is,—row</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_72_72" id="Footnote_72_72"></a><a href="#FNanchor_72_72"><span class="label">[72]</span></a> Chauncey's Report of this cruise is in Captains' +Letters, Aug. 13, 1813. Also, in Niles' Register, vol. iv. p. 421.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_73_73" id="Footnote_73_73"></a><a href="#FNanchor_73_73"><span class="label">[73]</span></a> James, Naval Occurrences. Appendix, p. lxxiv.</p></div> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="CHAPTER_XI" id="CHAPTER_XI"></a><hr /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_62" id="PageV2_62">[62]</a></span><br /> + +<h3>CHAPTER XI<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3> + +<h4>THE CAMPAIGN OF 1813 ON THE LAKES AND NORTHERN FRONTIER.<br /> +THE BATTLE OF LAKE ERIE</h4> +<br /> + +<p>While the movements last related in the preceding chapter were in +progress, the contest for Lake Erie was brought to a final decision. +After the successful transfer of the vessels from Black Rock to Erie, +June 18, Perry remained upon the upper lake superintending all +administrative work; but in particular pressing the equipment of the +two brigs ordered by Chauncey the previous winter. To one of these, on +which Perry intended to embark his own fortunes, was given the name of +"Lawrence," the captain of the "Chesapeake," whose death, heroic in +defeat, occurred at this period. The other was called the "Niagara." +They were sister vessels, of five hundred tons, constructed for war, +and brig-rigged; that is, with two masts, and carrying square sails on +both. Their armaments also were alike; eighteen 32-pounder carronades, +and two long 12-pounder guns. They were thus about equivalent in +fighting force to the ocean sloops-of-war, "Wasp" and "Hornet," which, +however, were three-masted. The remainder of the force would now be +called a scratch lot. Three were schooner-rigged gunboats, built for +the navy at Erie; the remainder were the vessels brought from Black +Rock. Of these, one was the brig "Caledonia," formerly British, +captured by Elliott the previous autumn; the others were purchased +lake craft. When finally taking the lake, August 6, the squadron +consisted of the two brigs, of the Black Rock <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_63" id="PageV2_63">[63]</a></span>division,—"Caledonia," +"Somers," "Tigress," "Ohio," and "Trippe,"—and of three other +schooners,—"Ariel," "Scorpion," and "Porcupine,"—apparently those +built at Erie; ten sail, all of which, except the "Ohio," were in the +final decisive battle.</p> + +<p>On July 23 the vessels were rigged, armed, and ready for service, but +there were not men enough to man them. How little exacting Perry was +in this matter, and how eager to enter upon active operations, is +shown by a letter from his superior, Chauncey, to the Secretary of the +Navy, dated July 8: "I am at a loss," he says, "to account for the +change in Captain Perry's sentiments with respect to the number of men +required for the little fleet at Presqu' Isle; for when I parted with +him on the last of May, we coincided in opinion perfectly as to the +number required for each vessel, which was one hundred and eighty for +each of the new brigs, sixty for the 'Caledonia,' and forty for each +of the other vessels, making in all seven hundred and forty officers +and men. But if Captain Perry can beat the enemy with half that +number, no one will feel more happy than myself."<a name="FNanchor_74_74" id="FNanchor_74_74"></a><a href="#Footnote_74_74" class="fnanchor">[74]</a> Chauncey having +supreme control over both lakes, all re-enforcements from the seaboard +were sent to him; and as he had his own particular enemy on Ontario to +confront, it was evident, and natural, that Perry would be least well +served. Hence, after successive disappointments, and being of more +venturous temper than his superior, it is not surprising that he soon +was willing to undertake his task with fewer men than his unbiased +judgment would call necessary.</p> + +<p>The clash of interests between the two squadrons, having a common +superior but separate responsibilities, is seen by a comparison of +dates, which shows operations nearly simultaneous. On July 23 the Erie +squadron was reported "all ready to meet the enemy the moment they are +officered and <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_64" id="PageV2_64">[64]</a></span>manned;" on July 20 the "General Pike" was ready, and +on the 21st the Ontario squadron sailed from Sackett's Harbor. On +August 5 Perry had his vessels across the bar at Erie, and next day +stood out into the lake. On the 7th Chauncey and Yeo met for their +first encounter. On the 8th the two Ontario schooners, "Hamilton" and +"Scourge," were lost with nearly all on board; and on the 10th the +"Julia" and "Growler" were captured. After this, it may be imagined +that Chauncey with difficulty parted with men; and in the midst of his +second collision with Yeo the battle of Lake Erie occurred. In it, of +the one hundred and eighty men deemed necessary by Chauncey, Perry's +brig had one hundred and forty-two, of whom thirty were sick; while +the squadron, with nearly all its vessels present, instead of the +intended seven hundred and forty, had but four hundred and ninety. Of +this total, nearly one hundred were received from the army on August +31, only nine days before the action. For the most part these were +strangers to shipboard. Barring them, Perry's fighting force was +barely more than half that required by Chauncey's estimate.</p> + +<p>Indirectly, and notwithstanding Perry's disposition to make the best +of his difficulty, this condition came near causing his withdrawal +from the lake service; a loss which, had it occurred, might have +reversed the issues, for in few general actions has the personality of +the commander counted for so much, after the battle joined. In a +letter of July 26 to Chauncey, he had written: "The men that came by +Mr. Champlin are a motley set, blacks, soldiers, and boys. I cannot +think you saw them after they were selected."<a name="FNanchor_75_75" id="FNanchor_75_75"></a><a href="#Footnote_75_75" class="fnanchor">[75]</a> Chauncey replied, +somewhat testily, "I regret you are not pleased with the men sent you; +for, to my knowledge, a part of them are not surpassed by any seamen +we have in the fleet; and I have yet to learn that the <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_65" id="PageV2_65">[65]</a></span>color of the +skin, or the cut and trimmings of the coat, can affect a man's +qualifications or usefulness." To this he added a warning not much +short of a reproof: "As you have assured the secretary that you should +conceive yourself equal or superior to the enemy, with a force in men +so much less than I had deemed necessary, there will be a great deal +expected from you by your country, and I trust they will not be +disappointed in the high expectations formed of your gallantry and +judgment. I will barely make an observation, which was impressed upon +my mind by an old soldier; that is, 'Never despise your enemy.'"<a name="FNanchor_76_76" id="FNanchor_76_76"></a><a href="#Footnote_76_76" class="fnanchor">[76]</a></p> + +<p>This advice was sound, rightly weighed. Yet it is not too much to say +that the confidence which carried Perry on to decisive victory has in +it inevitably something of that assurance of success which is akin to +contempt of the enemy, and that it was the precise quality in which +Chauncey, throughout his own career on the lakes, showed himself +deficient, and consequently failed. His plan at that moment, as he +himself said in a letter to Perry of July 14, was "to seek a meeting +with Sir James Yeo as soon as possible, in order to decide the fate of +this lake, and join you immediately after." This was an intelligent +project: to beat one enemy first, and then carry his force over to +beat the other; but never, when in presence of his antagonist, could +he despise him sufficiently to cut his gunboats adrift, and throw one +or two vessels into the midst of the fire, as Perry rushed his own +ship in, had her cut to pieces,—and won. It is even worse to respect +your enemy too greatly than to despise him. Said Farragut, speaking of +an officer he highly valued: "Drayton does not know fear, but he +believes in acting as if the enemy never can be caught unprepared; +whereas I believe in judging him by ourselves, and my motto in action +is, '<i>L'audace, et <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_66" id="PageV2_66">[66]</a></span>encore de l'audace, et toujours de l'audace!</i>'" +This described Perry in battle.</p> + +<p>Although Chauncey closed with expressions of confidence which might be +considered conciliatory, Perry experienced an annoyance which was +natural, though excessive. He was only twenty-eight, quick of temper, +though amiable, and somewhat prone to see more offence than was +intended. When the letter reached him, the squadron had just crossed +the bar; the most critical movement of the campaign, had the enemy +been duly watchful. Having accomplished this, he had before him only +the common vicissitudes of naval warfare. Nevertheless, under his +first impulse of resentment, he applied to be removed from the +station,<a name="FNanchor_77_77" id="FNanchor_77_77"></a><a href="#Footnote_77_77" class="fnanchor">[77]</a> giving as his reason, not the quality of men sent, +concerning which indeed he had said, "I am pleased to see anything in +the shape of a man," but that "I cannot serve under an officer who has +been so totally regardless of my feelings." He then summarized the +difficulties with which he had contended, and added, "The critical +state of General Harrison was such that I took upon myself the +responsibility of going out with the few young officers you had been +pleased to send me," (Elliott, the second in command, did not arrive +till the squadron was over the bar), "with the few seamen I had, and +as many volunteers as I could muster from the militia. I did not +shrink from this responsibility; but, Sir, at that very moment I +surely did not anticipate the receipt of a letter in every line of +which is an insult." He then renewed his request. "I am willing to +forego that reward which I have considered for two months past almost +within my grasp." Fortunately for the renown of the service, from +which one of its finest actions might have been lost, it was +impossible to grant his application until after the battle had made +the question of the <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_67" id="PageV2_67">[67]</a></span>command on Lake Erie one of very minor +importance. The secretary replied to him with words in which rebuke +and appreciation were aptly blended. "A change of commander, under +existing circumstances, is equally inadmissible as it respects the +interest of the service and your own reputation. It is right that you +should reap the harvest which you have sown."<a name="FNanchor_78_78" id="FNanchor_78_78"></a><a href="#Footnote_78_78" class="fnanchor">[78]</a></p> + +<div class="img"><a name="imagep066" id="imagep066"></a> +<a href="images/imagep066.jpg"> +<img border="0" src="images/imagep066.jpg" width="55%" alt="Captain Oliver Hazard Perry" /></a><br /> +<p class="cen" style="margin-top: .2em;">CAPTAIN OLIVER HAZARD PERRY.<br /> +<i>From the painting by Gilbert Stuart in the possession of O.H. Perry, Esq.</i><span class="totoi"><a href="#toi">ToList</a></span></p> +</div> + +<p>After the Frenchtown disaster<a name="FNanchor_79_79" id="FNanchor_79_79"></a><a href="#Footnote_79_79" class="fnanchor">[79]</a> of January 22, 1813, the Army of the +Northwest under General Harrison had remained strictly on the +defensive throughout the spring and summer. The tenure of its position +on the Maumee River depended upon Fort Meigs, built during the winter +just above the Rapids, some twenty miles from the lake. Thirty miles +east of Meigs was Fort Stephenson at the mouth of the Sandusky River, +protecting the approaches to Sandusky Bay, near which were Harrison's +headquarters at the time Perry's squadron was ready to move. Fort +Stephenson by its situation contributed also to secure the +communications of the Maumee line with Central Ohio, and was an +obstacle to an enemy's approach by land to Erie, a hundred and fifty +miles further east. It was not, however, a work permanent in +character, like Meigs; and neither post could be considered secure, +because inadequately garrisoned. Fortunately, the general tenor of the +instructions received by Procter from Prevost conspired with his own +natural character to indispose him to energetic measures. His force of +regulars was small; and he had not the faculty, which occasional white +men have shown, to arouse vigorous and sustained activity in the +Indians, of whom he had an abundance at call. The use of them in +desultory guerilla warfare, which was prescribed to him by Prevost, +became in his hands ineffective. Nevertheless, from the number known +to be under his command, and <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_68" id="PageV2_68">[68]</a></span>the control of the water enabling him to +land where he would, the threat of savage warfare hung over the +frontier like a pall, until finally dissipated by Perry's victory.</p> + +<p>The danger to British control of the water, and thereby to the +maintenance of their position in the northwest, if the American fleet +now building should succeed in getting upon the lake, was perfectly +apparent, and made Erie a third and principal point of interest. At +the time of Perry's arrival, March 27, the place was entirely +defenceless, and without any organization for defence, although the +keels of the two brigs were laid, and the three gunboats well advanced +in construction. By a visit to Pittsburgh he obtained from an army +ordnance officer four small guns, with some muskets; and upon his +application the local commander of Pennsylvania militia stationed at +Erie five hundred men, who remained till the vessels crossed the bar. +Under this slender protection went on the arduous work of building and +equipping a squadron in what was substantially a wilderness, to which +most of the mechanics and material had to be brought half a thousand +miles from the seaboard, under the difficulties of transport in those +days. The rapid advance in the preparations aroused the disquietude of +the British, but Procter had not the enterprising temper to throw all +upon the hazard, for the sake of destroying an armament which, if +completed, might destroy him; while the British inferiority of force +on Lake Ontario and the Niagara peninsula, together with the movement +of Chauncey and Dearborn resulting in the capture of York, April 27, +effectually prevented intervention from that quarter in the affairs of +Lake Erie. At this time Procter made his first effort of the season, +directed against Fort Meigs, which he held besieged for over a +week,—from May 1 to May 9. Although unable to capture it, the +mismanagement of an American relief force enabled him to inflict a +very severe loss; a corps of eight hundred and sixty-six men being cut +to pieces or captured, only one hundred <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_69" id="PageV2_69">[69]</a></span>and seventy escaping. The +chief points of interest in this business are the demonstration of the +weakness of the American frontier,—the principal defence of which was +thus not merely braved but threatened,—and the effect of control of +the water. By it Procter brought over gunboats which ascended the +river, and guns of a weight not to be transported by land. The lake +also secured his communications.</p> + +<p>After the failure before Meigs, Procter turned his attention more +seriously to the situation at Erie, and demanded re-enforcements to +enable him to attack the place.<a name="FNanchor_80_80" id="FNanchor_80_80"></a><a href="#Footnote_80_80" class="fnanchor">[80]</a> Prevost, being commander-in-chief +for all Canada, recognized the expediency of the move, and wrote him, +June 20, that he had directed General De Rottenburg at Niagara, to +push on re-enforcements and supplies; but Prevost was in Kingston, and +De Rottenburg, immediately responsible for Niagara, wrote declining to +weaken his force. He was already inferior to the United States army +under Boyd, which was then confronting him, resting upon Fort George; +and there was the prospect also that Chauncey might regain control of +the lake. Instead of co-operation for offence, he transmitted +arrangements for retreat in case of a disaster to Yeo on Ontario. +Procter enclosed this letter to the commander-in-chief, remarking +pathetically that he was fully confident of receiving aid from him, +but intentions were of no avail. Had the force ordered been sent, he +felt sure of destroying the fleet at Erie, thus securing the command +of the lake, which would have benefited also the centre [Niagara] +division. He should now, he said, make an attempt upon Sandusky; Erie +was impossible without re-enforcements. At the same time, July 13, +Captain Barclay was about to sail for Long Point, on the Canada <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_70" id="PageV2_70">[70]</a></span>shore +directly opposite Erie, to embark one hundred troops, and then to +endeavor to retain the American fleet in port until the required +assistance could be sent. The new British ship "Detroit" was nearly +ready for launching at Amherstburg, and could be equipped and gunned +there; but seamen were absolutely needed.</p> + +<p>In accordance with these plans Barclay went with his squadron to Long +Point. There the desired soldiers were refused him; and, as also no +seamen were forthcoming, he wrote on July 16 a letter directly to Sir +George Prevost, "lest Sir James Yeo should be on the lake," +representing the critical state of affairs, owing to the inadequate +equipment of his vessels, the want of seamen, and the advanced +preparations of the Americans to put afloat a force superior to his. +July 20 he appeared off Erie, where Perry's fleet was still in the +harbor, waiting for men. How imminent the exposure of the American +flotilla at that moment, and how great the British opportunity, +appears from the recently published memoirs of a prominent +resident.<a name="FNanchor_81_81" id="FNanchor_81_81"></a><a href="#Footnote_81_81" class="fnanchor">[81]</a> "An English fleet of five vessels of war was at that +time cruising off the harbor, in full view. That fleet might at any +time have sent in its boats during a dark night, and the destruction +of the whole American fleet was almost inevitable; for Perry's force +was totally inadequate to its defence, and the regiment of +Pennsylvania militia, stationed at Erie expressly for the defence of +the fleet, refused to keep guard at night on board. 'I told the boys +to go, Captain,' said the worthless colonel of the regiment, 'but the +boys won't go.'" Like American merchant ships, American militia obeyed +or disobeyed as they pleased. Two hundred soldiers, loaned by Dearborn +when the Black Rock flotilla came round, had been recalled July 10. On +the 23d <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_71" id="PageV2_71">[71]</a></span>and 30th re-enforcements were received from Chauncey, in all +one hundred and thirty men. With these, and some landsmen enlisted on +the spot for four months, the force of the squadron, estimated to +require seven hundred and forty men, was raised to three hundred; but +having lately received two pressing letters from the Navy Department, +urging General Harrison's critical need of co-operation, Perry +determined to go out. Most opportunely for his purpose, Barclay +disappeared on the 30th, Friday, which thus for him made good its +title to "unlucky." He was absent until August 4, and was by the +Americans believed to have gone to Long Point. Before his Court +Martial he merely stated that "I blockaded as closely as I could, +until I one morning saw the whole of the enemy's force over the bar, +and in a most formidable state of preparation." The Court did not +press inquiry on the point, which perhaps lay beyond its instructions; +but the double failure, to intercept the Black Rock division on its +way to Erie,<a name="FNanchor_82_82" id="FNanchor_82_82"></a><a href="#Footnote_82_82" class="fnanchor">[82]</a> and to prevent the crossing of the bar, were serious +strategic misadventures when confronting superior numbers. Perry's +preparations for the passage had been for some time completed, but +information of contemplated movements travelled so easily from shore +to shore that he gave no indication of immediate action until Sunday. +On that day the officers were permitted to disperse in town as usual, +but afterwards were hastily summoned back, and the vessels moved down +to the bar, on which the depth ordinarily was from five to seven feet, +much less than needed for the "Lawrence" and "Niagara." This obstacle, +hitherto a protection against naval attack, now imposed an extremely +critical operation; for to get over, the brigs must be lightened of +their guns and their hulls lifted upon floats. So situated, they were +helplessly exposed to destruction, as far as their own powers went.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_72" id="PageV2_72">[72]</a></span>From point to point the mouth of the harbor, where the outer bar +occurs, was eight tenths of a mile wide. As shown by a sketch of the +period, the distance to be travelled on the floats, from deep water +within to deep water without, was a mile; rather less than more. On +Monday morning, August 2, the movement of the vessels began +simultaneously. Five of the smaller, which under usual conditions +could pass without lightening, were ordered to cross and take +positions outside, covering the channel; a sixth, with the "Niagara," +were similarly posted within. The protection thus afforded was +re-enforced by three 12-pounder long guns, mounted on the beach, +abreast the bar; distant not over five hundred yards from the point +where the channel issued on the lake. While these dispositions were +being made, the "Lawrence's" guns were hoisted out, and placed in +boats to be towed astern of her; the floats taken alongside, filled, +sunk, and made fast, so that when pumped out their rising would lift +the brig. In the course of these preparations it was found that the +water had fallen to four feet, so that even the schooners had to be +lightened, while the transit of the "Lawrence" was rendered more +tedious and difficult. The weather, however, was propitious, with a +smooth lake; and although the brig grounded in the shoalest spot, +necessitating a second sinking of the burden-bearing +floats,—appropriately called "camels,"—perseverance protracted +through that night and the day of the 3d carried her outside. At 8 +<span class="fakesc">A.M.</span> of the 4th she was fairly afloat. Guns, singly light in +weight as hers were, were quickly hoisted on board and mounted; but +none too soon, for the enemy appeared almost immediately. The +"Niagara's" passage was more easily effected, and Barclay offered no +molestation. In a letter to the Department, dated August 4, 1813, 9 +<span class="fakesc">P.M.</span>, Perry reported, "I have great pleasure in informing you +that I have succeeded in getting over the bar the United States +vessels, the <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_73" id="PageV2_73">[73]</a></span>'Lawrence,' 'Niagara,' 'Caledonia,' 'Ariel,' +'Scorpion,' 'Somers,' 'Tigress,' and 'Porcupine.'" He added, "The +enemy have been in sight all day." The vessels named, with the +schooner "Ohio" and the sloop "Trippe," constituted the entire +squadron.</p> + +<div class="img"><a name="imagep072" id="imagep072"></a> +<a href="images/imagep072.jpg"> +<img border="0" src="images/imagep072.jpg" width="95%" alt="Plan Of Erie Harbor 1814" /></a><br /> +<p class="cen" style="margin-top: .2em;">PLAN OF ERIE HARBOR 1814<span class="totoi"><a href="#toi">ToList</a></span></p> +</div> + +<p>While Perry was thus profitably employed, Procter had embarked on +another enterprise against the magazines on the American front of +operations. His intention, as first reported to Prevost, was to attack +Sandusky; but the conduct of the Indians, upon the co-operation of +whom he had to rely, compelled him to diverge to Fort Meigs. Here the +savages began to desert, an attempt to draw the garrison into an +ambush having failed; and when Procter, after two days' stay, +determined to revert to Sandusky, he was accompanied by "as many +hundred of them as there should have been thousands." The white troops +went on by water, the Indians by the shore. They appeared before Fort +Stephenson on Sunday, August 1. The garrison was summoned, with the +customary intimation of the dire consequences to be apprehended from +the savages in case of an assault. The American commander, Major +Croghan, accepted these possibilities, and the following day, during +which the "Lawrence" was working her way over Erie bar, the artillery +and the guns of the gunboats were busy battering the northwest angle +of the fort. At 4 <span class="fakesc">P.M.</span> an assault was made. It was repelled +with heavy loss to the assailants, and little to the besieged. That +night the baffled enemy withdrew to Malden.</p> + +<p>The American squadron having gained the lake and mounted its +batteries, Barclay found himself like Chauncey while awaiting the +"General Pike." His new and most powerful vessel, the ship "Detroit," +was approaching completion. He was now too inferior in force to risk +action when he might expect her help so soon, and he <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_74" id="PageV2_74">[74]</a></span>therefore +retired to Malden. Perry was thus left in control of Lake Erie. He put +out on August 6; but, failing to find the enemy, he anchored again off +Erie, to take on board provisions, and also stores to be carried to +Sandusky for the army. While thus occupied, there came on the evening +of the 8th the welcome news that a re-enforcement of officers and +seamen was approaching. On the 10th, these joined him to the number of +one hundred and two. At their head was Commander Jesse D. Elliott, an +officer of reputation, who became second in command to Perry, and took +charge of the "Niagara."</p> + +<p>On August 12 the squadron finally made sail for the westward, not to +return to Erie till the campaign was decided. Its intermediate +movements possess little interest, the battle of Lake Erie being so +conspicuously the decisive incident as to reduce all preceding it to +insignificance. Perry was off Malden on August 25, and again on +September 1. The wind on the latter day favoring movement both to go +and come, a somewhat rare circumstance, he remained all day +reconnoitring near the harbor's mouth. The British squadron appeared +complete in vessels and equipment; but Barclay had his own troubles +about crews, as had his antagonist, his continual representations to +Yeo meeting with even less attention than Perry conceived himself to +receive from Chauncey. He was determined to postpone action until +re-enforcements of seamen should arrive from the eastward, unless +failure of provisions, already staring him in the face, should force +him to battle in order to re-establish communications by the lake.</p> + +<p>The headquarters of the United States squadron was at Put-in Bay, in +the Bass Islands, a group thirty miles southeast of Malden. The harbor +was good, and the position suitable for watching the enemy, in case he +should attempt to pass eastward down the lake, towards Long Point or +elsewhere. Hither Perry returned on September <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_75" id="PageV2_75">[75]</a></span>6, after a brief visit +to Sandusky Bay, where information was received that the British +leaders had determined that the fleet must, at all hazards, restore +intercourse with Long Point. From official correspondence, afterwards +captured with Procter's baggage, it appears that the Amherstburg and +Malden district was now entirely dependent for flour upon Long Point, +access to which had been effectually destroyed by the presence of the +American squadron. Even cattle, though somewhat more plentiful, could +no longer be obtained in the neighborhood in sufficient numbers, owing +to the wasteful way in which the Indians had killed where they wanted. +They could not be restrained without alienating them, or, worse, +provoking them to outrage. Including warriors and their families, +fourteen thousand were now consuming provisions. In the condition of +the roads, only water transport could meet the requirements; and that +not by an occasional schooner running blockade, but by the free +transit of supplies conferred by naval control. To the decision to +fight may have been contributed also a letter from Prevost, who had +been drawn down from Kingston to St. David's, on the Niagara frontier, +by his anxiety about the general situation, particularly aroused by +Procter's repulse from Fort Stephenson. Alluding to the capture of +Chauncey's two schooners on August 10, he wrote Procter on the 22d, +"Yeo's experience should convince Barclay that he has only to dare and +he will be successful."<a name="FNanchor_83_83" id="FNanchor_83_83"></a><a href="#Footnote_83_83" class="fnanchor">[83]</a> It was to be Sir George's unhappy lot, a +year later, to goad the British naval commander on Lake Champlain into +premature action; and there was ample time for the present indiscreet +innuendo to reach Barclay, and impel him to a step which Prevost +afterwards condemned as hasty, because not awaiting the arrival of a +body of fifty seamen announced to be at Kingston on their way to +Malden.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_76" id="PageV2_76">[76]</a></span>At sunrise of September 10, the lookout at the masthead of the +"Lawrence" sighted the British squadron in the northwest. Barclay was +on his way down the lake, intending to fight. The wind was southwest, +fair for the British, but adverse to the Americans quitting the harbor +by the channel leading towards the enemy. Fortunately it shifted to +southeast, and there steadied; which not only enabled them to go out, +but gave them the windward position throughout the engagement. The +windward position, or weather gage, as it was commonly called, +conferred the power of initiative; whereas the vessel or fleet to +leeward, while it might by skill at times force action, or itself +obtain the weather gage by manœuvring, was commonly obliged to +await attack and accept the distance chosen by the opponent. Where the +principal force of a squadron, as in Perry's case, consists in two +vessels armed almost entirely with carronades, the importance of +getting within carronade range is apparent.</p> + +<p>Looking forward to a meeting, Perry had prearranged the disposition of +his vessels to conform to that which he expected the enemy to assume. +Unlike ocean fleets, all the lake squadrons, as is already known of +Ontario, were composed of vessels very heterogeneous in character. +This was because the most had been bought, not designed for the navy. +It was antecedently probable, therefore, that a certain general +principle would dictate the constitution of the three parts of the +order of battle, the centre and two flanks, into which every military +line divides. The French have an expression for the centre,—<i>corps de +bataille</i>,—which was particularly appropriate to squadrons like those +of Barclay and Perry. Each had a natural "body of battle," in vessels +decisively stronger than all the others combined. This relatively +powerful division would take the centre, as a cohesive force, to +prevent the two ends—or flanks—being driven asunder by the enemy. +Barclay's <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_77" id="PageV2_77">[77]</a></span>vessels of this class were the new ship, "Detroit," and the +"Queen Charlotte;" Perry's were the "Lawrence" and "Niagara." Each had +an intermediate vessel; the British the "Lady Prevost," the Americans +the "Caledonia." In addition to these were the light craft, three +British and six Americans; concerning which it is to be said that the +latter were not only the more numerous, but individually much more +powerfully armed.</p> + +<p>The same remark is true, vessel for vessel, of those opposed to one +another by Perry's plan; that is, measuring the weight of shot +discharged at a broadside, which is the usual standard of comparison, +the "Lawrence" threw more metal than the "Detroit," the "Niagara" much +more than the "Queen Charlotte," and the "Caledonia," than the "Lady +Prevost." This, however, must be qualified by the consideration, more +conspicuously noticeable on Ontario than on Erie, of the greater +length of range of the long gun. This applies particularly to the +principal British vessel, the "Detroit." Owing to the difficulties of +transportation, and the demands of the Ontario squadron, her proper +armament had not arrived. She was provided with guns from the ramparts +of Fort Malden, and a more curiously composite battery probably never +was mounted; but, of the total nineteen, seventeen were long guns. It +is impossible to say what her broadside may have weighed. All her +pieces together fired two hundred and thirty pounds, but it is +incredible that a seaman like Barclay should not so have disposed them +as to give more than half that amount to one broadside. That of the +"Lawrence," was three hundred pounds; but all her guns, save two +twelves, were carronades. Compared with the "Queen Charlotte," the +battery of the "Niagara" was as 3 to 2; both chiefly carronades.</p> + +<p>From what has been stated, it is evident that if Perry's plan were +carried out, opposing vessel to vessel, the <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_78" id="PageV2_78">[78]</a></span>Americans would have a +superiority of at least fifty per cent. Such an advantage, in some +quarter at least, is the aim of every capable commander; for the +object of war is not to kill men, but to carry a point: not glory by +fighting, but success in result. The only obvious dangers were that +the wind might fail or be very light, which would unduly protract +exposure to long guns before getting within carronade range; or that, +by some vessels coming tardily into action, one or more of the others +would suffer from concentration of the enemy's fire. It was this +contingency, realized in fact, which gave rise to the embittered +controversy about the battle; a controversy never settled, and +probably now not susceptible of settlement, because the President of +the United States, Mr. Monroe, pigeonholed the charges formulated by +Perry against Elliott in 1818. There is thus no American sworn +testimony to facts, searched and sifted by cross-examination; for the +affidavits submitted on the one side and the other were <i>ex parte</i>, +while the Court of Inquiry, asked by Elliott in 1815, neglected to +call all accessible witnesses—notably Perry himself. In fact, there +was not before it a single commanding officer of a vessel engaged. +Such a procedure was manifestly inadequate to the requirement of the +Navy Department's letter to the Court, that "a true statement of the +facts in relation to Captain Elliott's conduct be exhibited to the +world." Investigation seems to have been confined to an assertion in a +British periodical, based upon the proceedings of the Court Martial +upon Barclay, to the effect that Elliott's vessel "had not been +engaged, and was making away,"<a name="FNanchor_84_84" id="FNanchor_84_84"></a><a href="#Footnote_84_84" class="fnanchor">[84]</a> at the time when Perry "was +<span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_79" id="PageV2_79">[79]</a></span>obliged to leave his ship, which soon after surrendered, and hoist his +flag on board another of his squadron." The American Court examined +two officers of Perry's vessel, and five of Elliott's; no others. To +the direct question, "Did the 'Niagara' at any time during the action +attempt to make off from the British fleet?" all replied, "No." The +Court, therefore, on the testimony before it, decided that the charge +"made in the proceedings<a name="FNanchor_85_85" id="FNanchor_85_85"></a><a href="#Footnote_85_85" class="fnanchor">[85]</a> of the British Court Martial ... was +malicious, and unfounded in fact;" expressing besides its conviction +"that the attempts to wrest from Captain Elliott the laurels he gained +in that splendid victory ... ought in no wise to lessen him in the +opinion of his fellow citizens as a brave and skilful officer." At the +same time it regretted that "imperious duty compelled it to promulgate +testimony which appears materially to differ in some of its most +important points."</p> + +<p>In this state the evidence still remains, owing to the failure of the +President to take action, probably with a benevolent desire to allay +discord, and envelop facts under a kindly "All's well that ends well." +Perry died a year after making his charges, which labored under the +just imputation that he had commended Elliott in his report, and again +immediately afterwards, though in terms that his subordinate thought +failed to do him justice. American naval opinion divided, apparently +in very unequal numbers. Elliott's officers stood by him, as was +natural; for men feel themselves involved in that which concerns the +conduct of their ship, and see incidents in that light. Perry's +officers considered that the "Lawrence" had not been properly +supported; owing to which, after losses almost unparalleled, she had +to undergo the mortification of <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_80" id="PageV2_80">[80]</a></span>surrender. Her heroism, her losses, +and her surrender, were truths beyond question.</p> + +<p>The historian to-day thus finds himself in the dilemma that the +American testimony is in two categories, distinctly contradictory and +mutually destructive; yet to be tested only by his own capacity to +cross-examine the record, and by reference to the British accounts. +The latter are impartial, as between the American parties; their only +bias is to constitute a fair case for Barclay, by establishing the +surrender of the American flagship and the hesitancy of the "Niagara" +to enter into action. This would indicate victory so far, changed to +defeat by the use Perry made of the vessel preserved to him intact by +the over-caution of his second. Waiving motives, these claims are +substantially correct, and constitute the analysis of the battle as +fought and won.</p> + +<p>Barclay, finding the wind to head him and place him to leeward, +arranged his fleet to await attack in the following order, from van to +rear: The schooner "Chippewa," "Detroit," "Hunter," "Queen Charlotte," +"Lady Prevost," "Little Belt."<a name="FNanchor_86_86" id="FNanchor_86_86"></a><a href="#Footnote_86_86" class="fnanchor">[86]</a> This, he said in his official +letter, was "according to a given plan, so that each ship [that is, +the "Detroit" and "Queen Charlotte"] might be supported against the +superior force of the two brigs opposed to them." The British vessels +lay in column, in each other's wake, by the wind on the port tack, +hove-to (stopped) with a topsail to the mast, heading to the southwest +(position 1). Perry now modified some details of his disposition. It +had been expected that the "Queen Charlotte" would precede the +"Detroit," and the American commander had <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_81" id="PageV2_81">[81]</a></span>therefore placed the +"Niagara" leading, as designated to fight the "Charlotte," the +"Lawrence" following the "Niagara." This order was now reversed, and +the "Caledonia" interposed between the two; the succession being +"Lawrence," "Caledonia," "Niagara." Having more schooners than the +enemy, he placed in the van two of the best, the "Scorpion" and the +"Ariel"; the other four behind the "Niagara." His centre, therefore, +the "Lawrence," "Caledonia," and "Niagara," were opposed to the +"Detroit," "Hunter," and "Queen Charlotte." The long guns of the +"Ariel," "Scorpion," and "Caledonia" supplied in measure the +deficiency of gun power in the "Lawrence," while standing down outside +of carronade range; the "Caledonia," with the rear schooners, giving a +like support to the "Niagara." The "Ariel," and perhaps also the +"Scorpion," was ordered to keep a little to windward of the +"Lawrence." This was a not uncommon use of van vessels, making more +hazardous any attempt of the opponent to tack and pass to windward, in +order to gain the weather gage with its particular advantages +(position 1).</p> + +<p>The rear four schooners, as is frequently the case in long columns, +were straggling somewhat at the time the signal to bear down was made; +and they had difficulty in getting into action, being compelled to +resort to the sweeps because the wind was light. It is not uncommon to +see small vessels with low sails thus retarded, while larger are being +urged forward by their lofty light canvas. The line otherwise having +been formed, Perry stood down without regard to them. At quarter +before noon the "Detroit" opened upon the "Lawrence" with her long +guns. Ten minutes later the Americans began to reply. Finding the +British fire at this range more destructive than he had anticipated, +Perry made more sail upon the Lawrence. Word had already been passed +by hail of <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_82" id="PageV2_82">[82]</a></span>trumpet to close up in the line, and for each vessel to +come into action against her opponent, before designated. The +"Lawrence" continued thus to approach obliquely, using her own long +twelves, and backed by the long guns of the vessels ahead and astern, +till she was within "canister range," apparently about two hundred and +fifty yards, when she turned her side to the wind on the weather +quarter of the "Detroit," bringing her carronade battery to bear +(position 2). This distance was greater than desirable for carronades; +but with a very light breeze, little more than two miles an hour, +there was a limit to the time during which it was prudent to allow an +opponent's raking fire to play, unaffected in aim by any reply. +Moreover, much of her rigging was already shot away, and she was +becoming unmanageable. The battle was thus joined by the +commander-in-chief; but, while supported to his satisfaction by the +"Scorpion" and "Ariel" ahead, and "Caledonia" astern, with their long +guns, the "Niagara" did not come up, and her carronades failed to do +their share. The captain of her opponent, the "Queen Charlotte," +finding that his own carronades would not reach her, made sail ahead, +passed the "Hunter," and brought his battery to the support of the +"Detroit" in her contest with the "Lawrence" (Q<sub>2</sub>). Perry's vessel +thus found herself under the combined fire of the "Detroit," "Queen +Charlotte," and in some measure of the "Hunter"; the armament of the +last, however, was too trivial to count for much.</p> + +<p>Elliott's first placing of the "Niagara" may, or may not, have been +judicious as regards his particular opponent. The "Queen Charlotte's" +twenty-fours would not reach him; and it may be quite proper to take a +range where your own guns can tell and your enemy's cannot. +Circumstance must determine. The precaution applicable in a naval duel +may cease to be so when friends are in need of assistance; and when +the British captain, seeing how the <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_83" id="PageV2_83">[83]</a></span>case stood, properly and +promptly carried his ship forward to support his commander, +concentrating two vessels upon Perry's one, the situation was entirely +changed. The plea set up by Cooper, who fought Elliott's battle +conscientiously, but with characteristic bitterness as well as +shrewdness, that the "Niagara's" position, assigned in the line behind +the "Caledonia," could not properly be left without signal, +practically surrenders the case. It is applying the dry-rot system of +fleet tactics in the middle of the eighteenth century to the days +after Rodney and Nelson, and is further effectually disposed of by the +consentient statement of several of the American captains, that their +commander's dispositions were made with reference to the enemy's +order; that is, that he assigned a special enemy's ship to a special +American, and particularly the "Detroit" to the "Lawrence," and the +"Queen Charlotte" to the "Niagara." The vessels of both fleets being +so heterogeneous, it was not wise to act as with units nearly +homogeneous, by laying down an order, the governing principle of which +was mutual support by a line based upon its own intrinsic qualities. +The considerations dictating Perry's dispositions were external to his +fleet, not internal; in the enemy's order, not in his own. This was +emphasized by his changing the previously arranged stations of the +"Lawrence" and the "Niagara," when he saw Barclay's line. Lastly, he +re-enforced all this by quoting to his subordinates Nelson's words, +that no captain could go very far wrong who placed his vessel close +alongside those of the enemy.</p> + +<div class="img"><a name="imagep082" id="imagep082"></a> +<a href="images/imagep082.jpg"> +<img border="0" src="images/imagep082.jpg" width="95%" alt="Diagram of the Battle of Lake Erie September 10, 1813" /></a><br /> +<p class="cen" style="margin-top: .2em;">DIAGRAM OF THE BATTLE OF LAKE ERIE SEPTEMBER 10, 1813<span class="totoi"><a href="#toi">ToList</a></span></p> +</div> + +<p>Cooper, the ablest of Elliott's champions, has insisted so strongly +upon the obligation of keeping the station <i>in the line</i>, as laid +down, that it is necessary to examine the facts in the particular +case. He rests the certainty of his contention on general principles, +then long exploded, and further upon a sentence in Perry's charges, +preferred in 1818, that "the commanding officer [Perry] issued, 1st, +an <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_84" id="PageV2_84">[84]</a></span>order directing in what manner the line of battle should be formed +... and enjoined upon the commanders to preserve their stations in the +line" thus laid down.<a name="FNanchor_87_87" id="FNanchor_87_87"></a><a href="#Footnote_87_87" class="fnanchor">[87]</a> This is correct; but Cooper omits to give +the words immediately following in the specification: "and in all +cases to keep as near the commanding officer's vessel [the "Lawrence"] +as possible."<a name="FNanchor_88_88" id="FNanchor_88_88"></a><a href="#Footnote_88_88" class="fnanchor">[88]</a> Cooper also omits that which next succeeds: "2d, An +order of attack, in which the 'Lawrence' was designated to attack the +enemy's new ship (afterwards ascertained to have been named the +'Detroit'), and the 'Niagara' designated to attack the 'Queen +Charlotte,' which orders were then communicated to all the commanders, +including the said Captain Elliott, who for that purpose ... were by +signal called together by the said commanding officer ... and +expressly instructed that 'if, in the expected engagement, they laid +their vessels close alongside of those of the enemy, they could not be +out of the way.'"<a name="FNanchor_89_89" id="FNanchor_89_89"></a><a href="#Footnote_89_89" class="fnanchor">[89]</a> An officer, if at once gallant and intelligent, +finding himself behind a dull sailing vessel, as Cooper tells us the +"Caledonia" was, could hardly desire clearer authority than the above +to imitate his commanding officer when he made sail to close the +enemy:—"Keep close to him," and follow up the ship which "the +'Niagara' was designated to attack."</p> + +<p>Charges preferred are not technical legal proof, but, if duly +scrutinized, they are statements equivalent in value to many that +history rightly accepts; and, at all events, that which Cooper quotes +is not duly scrutinized if that which he does not quote is omitted. He +does indeed express a gloss upon them, in the words: "Though the +'Niagara' was ordered to direct her fire at the 'Queen Charlotte,' it +could only be done from her station astern of <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_85" id="PageV2_85">[85]</a></span>the 'Caledonia,' ... +without violating the primary order to preserve the line."<a name="FNanchor_90_90" id="FNanchor_90_90"></a><a href="#Footnote_90_90" class="fnanchor">[90]</a> This +does not correctly construe the natural meaning of Perry's full +instructions. It is clear that, while he laid down a primary +formation, "a line of battle," he also most properly qualified it by a +contingent instruction, an "order of attack," designed to meet the +emergency likely to occur in every fleet engagement, and which +occurred here, when a slavish adherence to the line of battle would +prevent intelligent support to the main effort. If he knew naval +history, as his quotation from Nelson indicates, he also knew how many +a battle had been discreditably lost by "keeping the line."</p> + +<p>With regard to the line, however, it is apt to remark that in fleet +battle, unless otherwise specially directed, the line of the assailant +was supposed to be parallel to that of the defence, for the obvious +reason that the attacking vessels should all be substantially at the +same effective range. This distance, equal for all in fleets as +usually constituted, would naturally be set, and in practice was set, +by the commander-in-chief; his ship forming the point through which +should be drawn the line parallel to the enemy. This rule, well +established under Rodney, who died in 1792, was rigidly applicable +between vessels of the same force, such as the "Lawrence" and +"Niagara;" and whatever deductions might be made for the case of a +light-framed vessel, armed with long guns, like the "Caledonia," +keeping out of carronade distance of an opponent with heavy scantling, +would not in the least apply to the "Niagara." For her, the standard +of position was not, as Cooper insists, a half-cable's length from her +next ahead, the "Caledonia;" but abreast her designated opponent, at +the same distance as the "Lawrence" from the enemy's line. Repeated +mishaps had established the rule that position was to be taken from +the centre,—that is, from the commander-in-chief. <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_86" id="PageV2_86">[86]</a></span>Ships in line of +battle, bearing down upon an enemy in like order, did not steer in +each other's wake, unless specially ordered; and there is something +difficult to understand in the "Niagara" with her topsail sharp aback +to keep from running on board the "Caledonia," although the fact is in +evidence. The expression in Perry's report of the action, "at 10 +<span class="fakesc">A.M.</span> ... formed the line and bore up," would by a person +familiar with naval battles be understood to mean that the line was +first formed parallel to the enemy, the vessels following one another, +after which they steered down for him, changing course together; they +would then no longer be in each other's wake, but in echelon, or as +the naval phrase then went, in bow and quarter line. Barclay confirms +this, "At 10 the enemy bore up under easy sail, in a line +abreast."<a name="FNanchor_91_91" id="FNanchor_91_91"></a><a href="#Footnote_91_91" class="fnanchor">[91]</a> Thus, when the distance desired by the +commander-in-chief was reached,—a fact more often indicated by his +example than by signal,—the helm would bring them again in line of +battle, their broadsides bearing upon the enemy.</p> + +<p>The technical point at issue is whether Perry, finding the long-gun +fire of the "Detroit" more destructive than he had anticipated, and +determining in consequence to shorten the period of its duration by +changing his original plan, increasing sail beyond the speed of such +slower vessels as the "Caledonia," had a right to expect that his +subordinates would follow his example. In the opinion of the writer, +he had, in the then condition of the theory and practice of fleet +battles; his transfer of his own position transferred the line of +battle in its entirety to the distance relative to the enemy which he +himself was seeking to assume. Were other authority lacking, his +action was warrant to his captains; but the expression in his report, +"I made sail, and directed the other vessels to follow, for the +purpose of closing with the enemy," causes increased regret <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_87" id="PageV2_87">[87]</a></span>that the +exact facts were not ascertained by cross-examination before a +Court-Martial.</p> + +<p>Elliott's place therefore was alongside the "Queen Charlotte," so to +engage her that she could attend to nothing else. This he did not do, +and for failure the only possible excuse was inability, through lack +of wind. The wind was light throughout, yet not so light but that the +"Lawrence" closed with the "Detroit," and the "Queen Charlotte" with +her flagship when she wished. None of Elliott's witnesses before the +Court of Inquiry state that he made sail before the middle of the +action, but they attribute the failure to get down to the lightness of +the wind. They do state that, after the "Lawrence" was disabled, a +breeze springing up, sail was made; which indicates that previously it +had not been. Again, it is alleged by the testimony in favor of +Elliott that much of the time the maintopsail was sharp aback, to keep +from running into the "Caledonia;" a circumstance upon which Cooper +dwells triumphantly, as showing that the "Niagara" was not by the wind +and was in her place, close astern of the "Caledonia." Accepting the +statements, they would show there was wind enough to fan the "Niagara" +to—what was really her place—her commodore's aid; for in those days +the distance between under fire and out of fire for efficient action +was a matter of half a mile.<a name="FNanchor_92_92" id="FNanchor_92_92"></a><a href="#Footnote_92_92" class="fnanchor">[92]</a> Perry's formulated charge, addressed +to the Navy Department, and notified to Elliott, but never brought to +trial, was that when coming into action an order was passed by trumpet +for the vessels astern to close up in the line; <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_88" id="PageV2_88">[88]</a></span>that a few moments +previously to the enemy's opening fire the "Niagara" had been within +hail of the "Lawrence," and nevertheless she was allowed to drop +astern, and for two hours to remain at such distance from the enemy as +to render useless all her battery except the two long guns. Perry +himself made sail at the time the hail by trumpet was passed. The +"Niagara" did not.</p> + +<p>There is little reason for doubt that the tenor of Perry's +instructions required Elliott to follow the "Queen Charlotte," and no +doubt whatever that military propriety imperiously demanded it of him. +The question of wind must be matter of inference from the incidents +above stated: the movement of the "Lawrence" and "Queen Charlotte," +and the bracing aback of the "Niagara's" topsail. A sentence in +Perry's report apparently, but only apparently, attenuates the force +of these. He said, "At half-past two, the wind springing up, Captain +Elliott was enabled to bring his vessel, the 'Niagara,' gallantly into +close action." Alluding to, without insisting on, Perry's subsequent +statement that he endeavored to give as favorable a color as possible +to Elliott's course, it is clear enough that these words simply state +that Captain Elliott at 2.30 reached the range at which the "Lawrence" +had fought since a little after noon.</p> + +<p>Quitting now the discussion of proprieties, the order of events seems +to have been as follows: Perry having taken the initiative of bearing +down, under increased sail, Elliott remained behind, governed by, or +availing himself of—two very different motives, not lightly to be +determined, or assumed, by the historian—the technical point, long +before abandoned in practice, that he could not leave his place in the +line without a signal. Thus his action was controlled by the position +of his next ahead in the line, the dull-sailing "Caledonia," a vessel +differing radically from his own in armament, having two long and for +that day <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_89" id="PageV2_89">[89]</a></span>heavy guns, quite equal in range and efficiency to the best +of the "Detroit's,"<a name="FNanchor_93_93" id="FNanchor_93_93"></a><a href="#Footnote_93_93" class="fnanchor">[93]</a> and therefore capable of good service, though +possibly not of their best, from the distance at which Perry changed +his speed. Elliott's battery was the same as Perry's. He thus +continued until it became evident that, the "Queen Charlotte" having +gone to the support of the "Detroit," the "Lawrence" was heavily +overpowered. Then, not earlier than an hour after Perry bore down, he +realized that his commander-in-chief would be destroyed under his +eyes, unless he went to his support, and he himself would rest under +the imputation of an inefficient spectator. He ordered the "Caledonia" +to bear up, in order that he might pass (position 3; C<sub>1</sub>, C<sub>2</sub>). +Though not demonstrably certain, it seems probable that the wind, +light throughout, was now so fallen as to impede the retrieval of his +position; the opportunity to close, used by Perry, had passed away. At +all events it was not till between 2 and 2.30 that the "Niagara" +arrived on the scene, within effective range of the carronades which +constituted nine tenths of her battery.</p> + +<p>With this began the second stage of the battle (3). Perry's bearing +down, receiving only the support of the long guns of the "Caledonia" +and of the schooners ahead of him, had brought the "Lawrence" into hot +engagement with the "Detroit," supported a half hour later by the +"Queen Charlotte." By a little after two o'clock both flagships were +well-nigh disabled, hull and battery; the "Lawrence" most so, having +but one gun left out of ten on the broadside. "At 2.30," wrote +Barclay, "the Detroit was a perfect wreck, principally from the raking +fire of the gunboats." Which gunboats? Evidently the "Ariel" and +"Scorpion," for all agree that the rear four were at this <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_90" id="PageV2_90">[90]</a></span>hour still +far astern, though not absolutely out of range. To these last was +probably due the crippling of the "Lady Prevost," which by now had +gone to leeward with her rudder injured. Up to this time, when the +first scene closed, what had been the general course of the action? +and what now the situation? Assuming, as is very probable, that +Barclay did not open with his long 24's until Perry was a mile, two +thousand yards, from him,—that distance requiring six degrees +elevation for those guns,—an estimate of speeds and courses, as +indicated by the evidence, would put the "Lawrence" in action, at two +hundred and fifty yards, at 12.10. This calculation, made +independently, received subsequent confirmation in consulting +Barclay's report, which says 12.15.<a name="FNanchor_94_94" id="FNanchor_94_94"></a><a href="#Footnote_94_94" class="fnanchor">[94]</a> The same time, for the duller +"Caledonia" and the "Niagara," would place them one thousand yards +from the British line. This range, for the 32-pounder carronades of +the "Niagara," and the 24's of the "Queen Charlotte," required an +elevation of from four to six degrees. Coupling this with the British +statement, that the carronades of the "Charlotte" could not reach the +"Niagara," we obtain probable positions, two hundred and fifty yards +and one thousand yards, for the principal two American vessels at +quarter-past noon.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_91" id="PageV2_91">[91]</a></span>From the general lightness and occasional failure of the wind up to 2 +<span class="fakesc">P.M.</span>, it is more than likely that no great change took place +before that hour. What air there was might touch all alike, but would +affect least the "Lawrence," "Detroit," and "Queen Charlotte," because +their sails were being rent; and also they were in the centre of the +cannonade, which is believed usually to kill the breeze. The tendency +of the "Caledonia," "Niagara," and American vessels in rear of them, +between 12.30 and 2 <span class="fakesc">P.M.</span>, during which period, to use +Barclay's report, "the action continued with great fury," would +therefore be to approach slowly the scene where the "Lawrence," +supported by the long guns of the "Ariel," "Scorpion," and +"Caledonia," maintained the day against the "Detroit" and "Queen +Charlotte," backed by the schooner "Chippewa" and the 6 and 4 pounder +pop-guns of the "Hunter." How near they drew is a mere matter of +estimate. Taking all together, it may be inferred that the "Niagara" +had then been carried as close as five hundred to six hundred yards to +the British line, but it would appear also towards its rear; rather, +probably, that the British had advanced relatively to her, owing to +her course being oblique to theirs.</p> + +<p>The situation then was as follows: The "Lawrence," disabled, was +dropping astern of the "Detroit," "Queen Charlotte," and "Hunter." +More than half her ship's company lay dead or wounded on her decks. +Her loss, 83 killed and wounded out of a total of 142,—sick +included,<a name="FNanchor_95_95" id="FNanchor_95_95"></a><a href="#Footnote_95_95" class="fnanchor">[95]</a>—was mostly incurred before this. With only one gun +left, she was a beaten ship, although her colors were up. The +"Detroit" lay in the British line almost equally mauled. On her lee +quarter,—that is, behind, but on the lee side,—and close to her, was +the "Queen Charlotte." Her captain, second to Barclay, had been +killed,—the first <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_92" id="PageV2_92">[92]</a></span>man hit on board,—and her first lieutenant +knocked senseless; being succeeded in command by an officer whom +Barclay described as of little experience. The first lieutenant of the +"Detroit" was also wounded mortally; and Barclay himself, who already +had been once hit in the thigh, was now a second time so severely +injured,—being his eighth wound in battle, though now only +thirty-two,—that he was forced at this critical instant to go below, +leaving the deck with the second lieutenant. The "Hunter" was astern +of her two consorts. The "Lady Prevost," fifth in the British order, +had fallen to leeward with her rudder crippled. The position of the +leading and rear British schooners is not mentioned, and is not +important; the reliance of each being one long 9-pounder gun.</p> + +<p>Before this, taking advantage of the breeze freshening, the "Niagara" +had gone clear of the "Caledonia," on her windward side, and had stood +to the southwest, towards the "Detroit." She had not at first either +foresail or topgallantsails set; and since she passed the "Lawrence" +to windward, she was then almost certainly over two hundred and fifty +yards from the British line, for there is no conclusive proof that the +"Lawrence" was nearer than that. Combining the narrative of the +British commodore with that of his second lieutenant, who now took +charge, it appears that Barclay, before going below, saw a boat +passing from the "Lawrence" to the "Niagara," and that the second +lieutenant, Inglis, after relieving him, found the "Niagara" on the +weather beam of the "Detroit." Perry, seeing the "Lawrence" incapable +of further offensive action, had decided to leave her and go on board +the "Niagara," and in this brief interval was making his passage from +one vessel to the other. After leaving the "Lawrence" astern, the +"Niagara" had made sail; the foresail having been set, and the +topgallantsails "in the act of being set, before Captain Perry came +on <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_93" id="PageV2_93">[93]</a></span>board."<a name="FNanchor_96_96" id="FNanchor_96_96"></a><a href="#Footnote_96_96" class="fnanchor">[96]</a> This necessarily prolonged the time of his passage, +and may have given rise to the opprobrious British report that she was +making off. Her making sail as she did indicated that she had suffered +little aloft; she had been out of carronade range, while her consort, +still in fighting condition, was bearing the brunt; it was natural to +conclude that she would not alone renew the action, now that the +"Lawrence" was hopelessly disabled. The wish, too, may possibly have +helped the thought. The "Lawrence," in fact, having kept her colors +flying till Perry reached the "Niagara," struck immediately +afterwards. Had she surrendered while he was on board, he could not +honorably have quitted her; and the record was clearer by his reaching +a fresh ship while the flag of the one he left was still up.</p> + +<p>What next happened is under no doubt so far as the movements of the +"Niagara" are concerned, though there is irreconcilable difference as +to who initiated the action. Immediately after Perry came on board, +Elliott left her, to urge forward the rear gunboats. Her helm was put +up, and she bore down ahead of the "Detroit" to rake her; supported in +so doing by the small vessels, presumably the "Ariel," "Scorpion," and +"Caledonia." The British ship tried to wear, both to avoid being raked +and to get her starboard battery into action; many of the guns on the +broadside heretofore engaged being disabled. The "Charlotte" being on +her lee quarter, and ranging ahead, the two fell foul, and so remained +for some time. This condition gave free play to the American guns, +which were soon after re-enforced by those of the rear gunboats; +enabled, like the "Niagara," to close with the freshening breeze. +After the two British vessels got clear, another attempt was made to +bring their batteries to bear; but the end was <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_94" id="PageV2_94">[94]</a></span>inevitable, and is +best told in the words of the officer upon whom devolved the duty of +surrendering the "Detroit." "The ship lying completely unmanageable, +every brace cut away, the mizzen-topmast and gaff down, all the other +masts badly wounded, not a stay left forward, hull shattered very +much, a number of guns disabled, and the enemy's squadron raking both +ships ahead and astern, none of our own in a position to support us, I +was under the painful necessity of answering the enemy to say we had +struck, the 'Queen Charlotte' having previously done so."<a name="FNanchor_97_97" id="FNanchor_97_97"></a><a href="#Footnote_97_97" class="fnanchor">[97]</a> A +Canadian officer taken prisoner at the battle of the Thames saw the +"Detroit," a month later, at Put-in Bay. "It would be impossible," he +wrote, "to place a hand upon that broadside which had been exposed to +the enemy's fire without covering some portion of a wound, either from +grape, round, canister, or chain shot."<a name="FNanchor_98_98" id="FNanchor_98_98"></a><a href="#Footnote_98_98" class="fnanchor">[98]</a> Her loss in men was never +specifically given. Barclay reported that of the squadron as a whole +to be forty-one killed, ninety-four wounded. He had lost an arm at +Trafalgar; and on this occasion, besides other injuries, the one +remaining to him was so shattered as to be still in bandages a year +later, when he appeared before the Court Martial which emphatically +acquitted him of blame. The loss of the American squadron was +twenty-seven killed, ninety-six wounded; of whom twenty-two killed and +sixty-one wounded were on board the "Lawrence."</p> + +<div class="img"><a name="imagep094" id="imagep094"></a> +<a href="images/imagep094.jpg"> +<img border="0" src="images/imagep094.jpg" width="85%" alt="Perry Receiving the Surrender of the British at the Battle of Lake Erie" /></a><br /> +<p class="cen" style="margin-top: .2em;">PERRY RECEIVING THE SURRENDER OF THE BRITISH AT THE BATTLE OF LAKE ERIE.<br /> +<i>Drawn by Henry Reuterdahl.</i><span class="totoi"><a href="#toi">ToList</a></span></p> +</div> + +<p>Thus was the battle of Lake Erie fought and won. Captain Barclay not +only had borne himself gallantly and tenaciously against a superior +force,—favored in so doing by the enemy attacking in detail,—but the +testimony on his trial showed that he had labored diligently during +the brief period of his command, amid surroundings of extreme +difficulty, to equip his squadron, and to train to discipline <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_95" id="PageV2_95">[95]</a></span>and +efficiency the heterogeneous material of which his crews were +composed. The only point not satisfactorily covered is his absence +when Perry was crossing the bar. In his defence his allusion to this +incident is very casual,—resembles somewhat gliding rapidly over thin +ice; but the Court raised no question, satisfied, probably, with the +certainty that the honor of the flag had not suffered in the action. +On the American side, since the history of a country is not merely the +narrative of principal transactions, but the record also of honor +reflected upon the nation by the distinguished men it produces, it is +proper to consider the question of credit, which has been raised in +this instance. There can be no doubt that opportunity must be seized +as it is offered; for accident or chance may prevent its recurrence. +Constituted as Perry's squadron was, the opportunity presented to him +could be seized only by standing down as he did, trusting that the +other vessels would follow the example of their commander. The +shifting of the wind in the morning, and its failure during the +engagement, alike testify to the urgency of taking the tide as it +serves. There was no lagging, like Chauncey's, to fetch up heavy +schooners; and the campaign was decided in a month, instead of +remaining at the end of three months a drawn contest, to lapse +thenceforth into a race of ship-building. Had the "Niagara" followed +closely, there could have been no doubling on the "Lawrence"; and +Perry's confidence would have been justified as well as his conduct. +The latter needs no apology. Without the help of the "Niagara," the +"Detroit" was reduced to a "defenceless state," and a "perfect +wreck,"<a name="FNanchor_99_99" id="FNanchor_99_99"></a><a href="#Footnote_99_99" class="fnanchor">[99]</a> by the carronades of the "Lawrence," supported by the +raking fire of the "Ariel" and "Scorpion." Both the expressions quoted +are applied by the heroic Barclay to her condition at 2.30, when, as +he also says, the "Niagara" was perfectly <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_96" id="PageV2_96">[96]</a></span>fresh. Not only was the +"Detroit" thus put out of action, but the "Charlotte" was so damaged +that she surrendered before her. To this the "Caledonia's" two long +twenty-fours had contributed effectively. The first lieutenant of the +"Queen Charlotte" testified that up to the time he was disabled, an +hour or an hour and a quarter after the action began, the vessel was +still manageable; that "the 'Niagara' engaged us on our quarter, out +of carronade range, with what long guns she had; but our principal +injury was from the 'Caledonia,' who laid on our beam, with two long +24-pounders on pivots, also out of carronade-shot distance."<a name="FNanchor_100_100" id="FNanchor_100_100"></a><a href="#Footnote_100_100" class="fnanchor">[100]</a></p> + +<p>Is it to Perry, or to Elliott, that is due the credit of the +"Niagara's" action in bearing up across the bows of the "Detroit"? +This is the second stage of the battle; the bringing up the reserves. +An absolute reply is impossible in the face of the evidence, sworn but +not cross-examined. A probable inference, which in the present writer +amounts to conviction, is attainable. Before the Court of Inquiry, in +1815, Captain Elliott put the question to several of his witnesses, +"Was not the 'Niagara's' helm up and she standing direct for the +'Detroit' when Captain Perry came on board?" They replied, "Yes." All +these were midshipmen. By a singular fatality most of the "Niagara's" +responsible officers were already dead, and the one surviving +lieutenant had been below, stunned, when Perry reached the deck. It +may very possibly be that this answer applied only to the first change +of course, when Elliott decided to leave his position behind the +"Caledonia"; but if it is claimed as covering also the subsequent +bearing up eight points (at right angles), to cross the bows of the +"Detroit," it is to be observed that no mention of this very important +movement is made in a letter addressed to the Secretary of the Navy, +October <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_97" id="PageV2_97">[97]</a></span>13, 1813, one month after the battle, drawn up for the +express purpose of vindicating Elliott, and signed by all the +lieutenants of the "Niagara," and by the purser, who formerly had been +a lieutenant in the navy. Their account was that Perry, on reaching +the ship, said he feared the day was lost; that Elliott replied it was +not, that he would repair on board the rear schooners, and bring them +up; that he did so, and "<i>the consequence was</i> that in ten minutes the +'Detroit' and 'Queen Charlotte' with the 'Lady Prevost,' struck to us, +and soon after the whole of the enemy's squadron followed their +example."<a name="FNanchor_101_101" id="FNanchor_101_101"></a><a href="#Footnote_101_101" class="fnanchor">[101]</a> This attributes the victory to the half-dozen long guns +of the four schooners, mostly inferior in caliber to the nine +carronades on board a single vessel, the "Niagara," raking within +pistol-shot of antagonists already in the condition described by +Barclay. Such a conclusion traverses all experience of the tactical +advantage of guns massed under one captain over a like number +distributed in several commands, and also contravenes the particular +superiority of carronades at close quarters. An officer of the +"Detroit," who was on deck throughout, testified that the "Lawrence" +had engaged at musket-shot, the "Niagara," when she bore down under +Perry, at pistol-shot. Barclay, and his surviving lieutenant, Inglis, +both lay most weight upon this action of the "Niagara," from which +arose also the fouling of the two largest British ships.</p> + +<p>Perry's charges of 1818 against Elliott formulated deliberate +statements, under the responsible expectation of cross-examination +under oath. This is his account: "When the commanding officer [Perry] +went on board the 'Niagara,' Captain Elliott was keeping her on a +course by the wind, which would in a few minutes have carried said +vessel entirely out of action, to prevent which, and in order to bring +the said vessel into close action with the enemy, the <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_98" id="PageV2_98">[98]</a></span>said commanding +officer was under the necessity of heaving-to, stopping and +immediately wearing said vessel, and altering her course at least +eight points"; that is, perpendicular to the direction before steered. +Against this solemn and serious charge is unquestionably to be placed +the commendatory mention and letter given by Perry to Elliott +immediately after the battle. Upon these also he had to expect the +sharpest interrogation, to the mortification attendant upon which he +could only oppose evidence extenuative of, but in no case justifying, +undeniable self-contradiction. If the formal charge was true, no +excuse can be admitted for the previous explicit commendation. As a +matter of historical inquiry, however, such contradictions have to be +met, and must be weighed in the light of all the testimony. The +author's conclusion upon the whole is that, as Perry's action in first +standing down insured decisive action, so by him was imparted to the +"Niagara" the final direction which determined victory. The influence +of the rear gunboats brought up by Elliott was contributive, but not +decisive.</p> + +<p>In short, the campaign of Lake Erie was brought to an immediate +successful issue by the ready initiative taken by Perry when he found +the British distant fire more destructive than he expected, and by his +instant acceptance of necessary risk, in standing down exposed to a +raking cannonade to which he for a long while could not reply. If, as +the author holds, he was entitled to expect prompt imitation by the +"Niagara," the risk was actual, but not undue. As it was, though the +"Lawrence" surrendered, it was not until she had, with the help of +gunboats stationed by Perry for that object, so damaged both her +opponents that they were incapable of further resistance. In the +tactical management of the "Lawrence" and her supports was no mere +headlong dash, but preparation adequate to conditions. Had the +"Niagara" followed, the "Lawrence" <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_99" id="PageV2_99">[99]</a></span>need never have struck. The +contemporary incidents on Erie and Ontario afford an instructive +commentary upon Napoleon's incisive irony, that "War cannot be waged +without running risks." There has been sufficient quotation from +Chauncey to indicate why the campaign on Ontario dragged through two +seasons, and then left the enemy in control. Small as the scale and +the theatre of these naval operations, they illustrate the unvarying +lesson that only in offensive action can defensive security be found.</p> + +<p>The destruction of the British naval force decided the campaign in the +Northwest by transferring the control of the water. Its general +military results were in this respect final. Nothing occurred to +modify them during the rest of the war. Detroit and Michigan territory +fell back into the hands of the United States; and the allegiance of +the Indians to the British cause, procured by Brock's sagacious daring +a twelvemonth before, but rudely shaken by the events narrated, was +destroyed by the death of their great leader, Tecumseh, a month later +in the battle of the Thames, itself the direct consequence of Perry's +success. The frontier was henceforth free from the Indian terror, +which had hitherto disquieted it from the Maumee to Cleveland.</p> + +<p>A more far-reaching political issue was also here definitely settled. +A sense of having betrayed the Indian interests in the previous +treaties of 1783 and 1794 was prevalent in British official circles, +and in their counsels a scheme had been circulated for constituting an +independent Indian territory, under joint guarantee of the two +nations, between their several dominions. This would be locally within +the boundaries of the United States; the sole jurisdiction of which +was thus to be limited and trammelled, because open to continual +British representation and reclamation, based upon treaty +stipulations.<a name="FNanchor_102_102" id="FNanchor_102_102"></a><a href="#Footnote_102_102" class="fnanchor">[102]</a> This infringement <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_100" id="PageV2_100">[100]</a></span>upon the perfect sovereignty of +the nation inside its own borders, in favor of savage communities and +under foreign guarantee, was one of the propositions formally brought +forward as a <i>sine quâ non</i> by the British negotiators at Ghent. +Although by that time the United States stood alone face to face with +Great Britain, at whose full disposal were now the veterans of the +Peninsular War, and the gigantic navy, which the abdication of +Napoleon had released from all other opponents, the American +commissioners refused with dignity to receive the proposition even for +reference. "It is not necessary," they replied, "to refer such demands +to the American Government for its instructions. They will only be a +fit subject for deliberation when it becomes necessary to decide upon +the expediency of an absolute surrender of national +independence."<a name="FNanchor_103_103" id="FNanchor_103_103"></a><a href="#Footnote_103_103" class="fnanchor">[103]</a></p> + +<p>The envoys of the United States were able to be firm, because secure +of indignant support by their people; but it is beyond question that +two naval victories had arrayed upon their side, at the moment, the +preponderance of military argument, which weighs so heavily in +treaties of peace. New Orleans was yet in the future, with adverse +chances apparent; but, owing to the victory of Perry, the United +States was in firm military tenure of the territory, the virtual +cession of which was thus demanded. A year after Perry, McDonough's +equally complete success on Lake Champlain, by insuring control of the +water <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_101" id="PageV2_101">[101]</a></span>route for invasion, rolled back the army of Peninsular veterans +under Prevost, at a season of the year which forbade all hope of +renewing the enterprise until another spring. Great Britain was too +eager to end twenty years of continued war to brook further delay. The +lake campaigns of 1813 and 1814 thus emphasized the teaching of +history as to the influence of control of the water upon the course of +events; and they illustrate also the too often forgotten truth, that +it is not by brilliant individual feats of gallantry or skill, by +ships or men, but by the massing of superior forces, that military +issues are decided. For, although on a small scale, the lakes were +oceans, and the forces which met on them were fleets; and as, on a +wider field and in more tremendous issues, the fleets of Great Britain +saved their country and determined the fortunes of Europe, so Perry +and McDonough averted from the United States, without further +fighting, a rectification of frontier—as it is euphemistically +styled,—the effecting of which is one of the most fruitful causes and +frequent results of war in every continent and at every period.</p> + +<div class="block1"><p><span class="sc">Note.</span>—For the battle of Lake Erie, the most important +original data are the Court Martial upon Barclay (British +Records Office), and the Court of Inquiry held at Elliott's +request, in April, 1815. The proceedings and testimony of the +latter are published in the appendix to a "Biographical Notice +of Commodore Jesse D. Elliott," by Russell Jarvis, Philadelphia, +1835. Perry's Report of the battle, Sept. 13, 1813, is in +American State Papers, Naval Affairs, vol. i. p. 295. Barclay's +report is in Naval Chronicle, vol. xxxi. pp. 250-253, as well as +in the record of the Court. Jarvis, and Mackenzie's Life of +Perry (5th edition), give a large number of affidavits by +officers present in the engagement, and Mackenzie gives also a +copy of the charges preferred by Perry in 1818 against Elliott. +In the controversy which arose over the battle, Mackenzie, in +the appendix to the fifth edition of Perry's Life, Duer, and +Tristam Burges, Battle of Lake Erie (Boston, 1839), are the +principal champions on Perry's side; Jarvis (as above) and J. +Fenimore Cooper, Battle of Lake Erie, on the side of Elliott; +but the latter himself published several vindications of his +conduct. The usual naval histories, American and British, may be +consulted, and there are also incidental mentions and reports in +Niles' Register and the British Naval Chronicle, which will be +found useful.</p></div> + +<br /> +<hr style="width: 15%;" /> +<br /> + +<h4>FOOTNOTES:</h4> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_74_74" id="Footnote_74_74"></a><a href="#FNanchor_74_74"><span class="label">[74]</span></a> Captains' Letters, Navy Department MSS.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_75_75" id="Footnote_75_75"></a><a href="#FNanchor_75_75"><span class="label">[75]</span></a> Mackenzie's Life of Perry, vol. i. p. 166.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_76_76" id="Footnote_76_76"></a><a href="#FNanchor_76_76"><span class="label">[76]</span></a> Mackenzie's Life of Perry, vol. i. p. 186.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_77_77" id="Footnote_77_77"></a><a href="#FNanchor_77_77"><span class="label">[77]</span></a> Perry to the Secretary of the Navy, Aug. 10, 1813. +Mackenzie's Life of Perry, vol. i. p. 191.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_78_78" id="Footnote_78_78"></a><a href="#FNanchor_78_78"><span class="label">[78]</span></a> Secretary's Letters, Aug. 18, 1813. Navy Department +MSS.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_79_79" id="Footnote_79_79"></a><a href="#FNanchor_79_79"><span class="label">[79]</span></a> Otherwise known by the name of the River Raisin. Ante, +vol. i. p. 370.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_80_80" id="Footnote_80_80"></a><a href="#FNanchor_80_80"><span class="label">[80]</span></a> The data of this paragraph are taken from the Report on +Canadian Archives, 1896, Lower Canada, pp. 132, 138-140. Barclay in +his Defence before the Court Martial mentions the designs on Erie.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_81_81" id="Footnote_81_81"></a><a href="#FNanchor_81_81"><span class="label">[81]</span></a> Harm Jan Huidekoper, by Nina Moore Tiffany and Francis +Tiffany. 1904. p. 187. Mr. Huidekoper speaks admiringly of the +unfaltering composure and cheerfulness which under these circumstances +accompanied Perry's energy.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_82_82" id="Footnote_82_82"></a><a href="#FNanchor_82_82"><span class="label">[82]</span></a> See ante, p. 41.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_83_83" id="Footnote_83_83"></a><a href="#FNanchor_83_83"><span class="label">[83]</span></a> Report on Canadian Archives, 1896. Lower Canada, p. +133.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_84_84" id="Footnote_84_84"></a><a href="#FNanchor_84_84"><span class="label">[84]</span></a> This statement appeared in the course of a <i>summary</i> of +the evidence before the British Court, given by the Naval Chronicle, +vol. xxxii. pp. 241-242. The only support to it in the evidence, as +recorded, is Barclay's official letter, which he appears to have +confirmed under oath, that the "Niagara" kept out of carronade range, +and "was perfectly fresh at 2.30," when Perry went on board her. The +first lieutenant of the "Queen Charlotte," who remained in command, +the captain being killed, corroborated Barclay as to her distance.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_85_85" id="Footnote_85_85"></a><a href="#FNanchor_85_85"><span class="label">[85]</span></a> In the finding—or verdict—of the British Court, as in +the evidence, there is no expression of a charge that the "Niagara" +was making away. The finding restricted itself to the matter before +the Court, namely, Barclay's official conduct.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_86_86" id="Footnote_86_86"></a><a href="#FNanchor_86_86"><span class="label">[86]</span></a> There was a question whether the "Hunter" was ahead or +astern of the "Queen Charlotte." In the author's opinion the balance +of evidence is as stated in the text. Perry rearranged his line with +reference to the British, upon seeing their array. Had the "Charlotte" +been next the "Detroit," as James puts her, it seems probable he would +have placed the "Niagara" next the "Lawrence."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_87_87" id="Footnote_87_87"></a><a href="#FNanchor_87_87"><span class="label">[87]</span></a> Cooper, Battle of Lake Erie, p. 63.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_88_88" id="Footnote_88_88"></a><a href="#FNanchor_88_88"><span class="label">[88]</span></a> See Mackenzie's Life of Perry, 5th edition, vol. ii. pp. +251-252. Perry's charges against Elliott, dated Aug. 8, 1818, are +there given in full.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_89_89" id="Footnote_89_89"></a><a href="#FNanchor_89_89"><span class="label">[89]</span></a> See Mackenzie's Life of Perry, 5th edition, vol. ii. pp. +251-252.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_90_90" id="Footnote_90_90"></a><a href="#FNanchor_90_90"><span class="label">[90]</span></a> Cooper's Battle of Lake Erie, p. 63.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_91_91" id="Footnote_91_91"></a><a href="#FNanchor_91_91"><span class="label">[91]</span></a> Barclay's Report, Naval Chronicle, vol. xxxi. p. 251.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_92_92" id="Footnote_92_92"></a><a href="#FNanchor_92_92"><span class="label">[92]</span></a> The range of a 32 pdr. carronade, with which the +"Niagara" was armed, throwing one solid shot, with ¼ degree +elevation,—substantially point-blank,—was 260 yards; at 5 degrees, +1260 yards. The difference, 1000 yards, is just half a sea mile. A +British professional writer of that day, criticising their commander's +choice of position at Lake Champlain, says: "At 1000 or 1100 yards the +elevation necessary to be given a carronade would have been so great +that none but chance shots [from the Americans] could have taken +effect; whereas, in closing, he gave up this advantage." Naval +Chronicle, vol. xxxiii. p. 132.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_93_93" id="Footnote_93_93"></a><a href="#FNanchor_93_93"><span class="label">[93]</span></a> The "Caledonia" had two long 24-pounders, and one other +lighter gun, variously stated. The "Detroit's" heaviest were also two +long 24's; she had besides one long 18, six long 12's, etc.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_94_94" id="Footnote_94_94"></a><a href="#FNanchor_94_94"><span class="label">[94]</span></a> With reference to times, always very difficult to +establish, and often very important as bases of calculation, the +following extract from the Diary of Dr. Usher Parsons, surgeon of the +"Lawrence," possesses value; the more so as it is believed to have +been copied from the log of the vessel, which afterwards disappeared. +The phraseology is that of a log and a seaman, not of a physician. "At +10 called all hands to quarters. A quarter before meridian the enemy +began action at one mile distance. In a half hour came within +musket-shot of the enemy's new ship.... At 1.30, so entirely disabled +we could work the brig no longer. At 2 <span class="fakesc">P.M.</span>, most of the guns +were dismounted, breechings gone, or carriages knocked to pieces. At +half-past two, when not another gun could be worked or fired, Captain +Perry hauled down the fighting flag [not the national flag], which +bore this motto 'Don't give up the ship,' and repaired on board the +'Niagara,' where he raised it again. In ten minutes after we struck." +Publications of the Rhode Island Historical Society, vol. vii. p. 244. +This was called to the author's attention after the account in the +text was written.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_95_95" id="Footnote_95_95"></a><a href="#FNanchor_95_95"><span class="label">[95]</span></a> Mackenzie's Life of Perry, vol. ii. p. 283.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_96_96" id="Footnote_96_96"></a><a href="#FNanchor_96_96"><span class="label">[96]</span></a> Evidence of Midshipman Montgomery of the "Niagara," +before the Court of Inquiry.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_97_97" id="Footnote_97_97"></a><a href="#FNanchor_97_97"><span class="label">[97]</span></a> Naval Chronicle, vol. xxxi. p. 252.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_98_98" id="Footnote_98_98"></a><a href="#FNanchor_98_98"><span class="label">[98]</span></a> Richardson, War of 1812, p. 243.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_99_99" id="Footnote_99_99"></a><a href="#FNanchor_99_99"><span class="label">[99]</span></a> Barclay's Report.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_100_100" id="Footnote_100_100"></a><a href="#FNanchor_100_100"><span class="label">[100]</span></a> British Court Martial Record.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_101_101" id="Footnote_101_101"></a><a href="#FNanchor_101_101"><span class="label">[101]</span></a> Navy Department, MSS. Miscellaneous Letters. My +italics.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_102_102" id="Footnote_102_102"></a><a href="#FNanchor_102_102"><span class="label">[102]</span></a> This scheme appears outlined in a letter of Oct. 5, +1812, to Lord Bathurst from Sir George Prevost, who in support of it +adduces Brock's opinion (Canadian Archives MSS). Bathurst replied, +Dec. 9, 1812, "I so entirely concur in the expediency of the +suggestions contained in your despatch, as to the necessity of +securing the territories of the Indians from encroachment, that I have +submitted it to His Majesty's Secretary for Foreign Affairs, in order +that whenever negotiations for peace may be entered into, the security +of their possessions may not be either compromised or forgotten." +(British Colonial Office Records). Prevost transmitted a copy of the +letter to Admiral Warren, in his early diplomatic capacity as a peace +envoy. Gordon Drummond, the successor of Brock, and later of Prevost, +expressed the same interest (Canadian Archives MSS., April 2, 1814).</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_103_103" id="Footnote_103_103"></a><a href="#FNanchor_103_103"><span class="label">[103]</span></a> American State Papers, Foreign Affairs, vol. iii. pp. +710-713.</p></div> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="CHAPTER_XII" id="CHAPTER_XII"></a><hr /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_102" id="PageV2_102">[102]</a></span><br /> + +<h3>CHAPTER XII<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3> + +<h4>THE CAMPAIGN OF 1813 ON THE LAKES AND NORTHERN FRONTIER,<br /> +AFTER THE BATTLE OF LAKE ERIE</h4> +<br /> + +<p>Perry's victory was promptly followed up by himself and Harrison. +Besides its ultimate influence on the general course of events, +already mentioned, it produced immediate military consequences, the +effect of which was felt throughout the lake frontier, from Detroit to +Champlain. That success elsewhere did not follow was due to other +causes than remissness on their part to improve the occasion. Although +the "Lawrence" had to be sent back to Erie for extensive repairs, and +the "Detroit" and "Queen Charlotte" rolled their masts overboard at +anchor in Put-in Bay on the third day after the battle, Perry within a +week had his squadron and four of the prizes sufficiently in repair to +undertake the transport of the army. This timely facility, which +betrayed the enemy's expectations, was due largely to the "Lawrence" +having borne the brunt of the action. Had the injuries been more +distributed, the delay of repairs must have been greater. The British +Adjutant General at Niagara, Harvey, the hero of Stoney Creek, wrote +on hearing of the battle, "After an action of three hours and a half, +the enemy's vessels must have received so much damage as not to be in +a situation to undertake anything for some time."<a name="FNanchor_104_104" id="FNanchor_104_104"></a><a href="#Footnote_104_104" class="fnanchor">[104]</a> By September 26 +Harrison had assembled his forces at an island in the lake, <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_103" id="PageV2_103">[103]</a></span>called +Middle Sister, twelve miles from Malden. On the 27th they were +conveyed to Malden, partly in vessels and partly in boats, the weather +being fine. By September 30 Sandwich and Detroit were occupied; +Procter retreating eastward up the valley of the Thames. Harrison +pursued, and on October 5 overtook the British and Indians at a +settlement called Moravian Town. Here they made a stand and were +defeated, with the destruction or dispersal of the entire body, in an +action known to Americans as the battle of the Thames. Procter +himself, with some two hundred men, fled eastward and reached the +lines at Burlington Heights, at the head of Ontario, whither Vincent +had again retreated on October 9, immediately upon receiving news of +the disaster at Moravian Town.</p> + +<p>After this the Western Indians fell wholly away from the British +alliance, and Harrison returned to Detroit, satisfied that it was +useless to pursue the enemy by land. The season was thought now too +far advanced for operations against Michilimackinac, which was +believed also to be so effectually isolated, by the tenure of Lake +Erie, as to prevent its receiving supplies. This was a mistake, there +being a route, practicable though difficult, from Toronto to Georgian +Bay, on Lake Huron, by which necessary stores were hurried through +before the winter closed in. Mackinac remained in British hands to the +end of the war.</p> + +<p>At Detroit Harrison and Perry received orders to transport a body of +troops down Lake Erie, to re-enforce the army on the general scene of +operations centring round Lake Ontario. By the control of the Niagara +peninsula, consequent upon Vincent's necessary retreat after the +battle of the Thames, the American communications were complete and +secure throughout from Detroit to Sackett's Harbor, permitting free +movement from end to end. The two officers embarked together, taking +with them thirteen hundred men in seven vessels. October 24 they +reached <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_104" id="PageV2_104">[104]</a></span>Buffalo. Harrison went on to Niagara, but Perry was here +detached from the lake service, and returned to the seaboard, leaving +Elliott to command on Erie. In acknowledging the order for Perry's +removal, Chauncey regretted the granting of his application as a bad +precedent; and further took occasion to remark that when he himself +was sent to the lakes the only vessel on them owned by the United +States was the brig "Oneida." "Since then two fleets have been +created, one of which has covered itself with glory: the other, though +less fortunate, has not been less industrious." It may be questioned +whether the evident difference of achievement was to be charged to +fortune, or to relative quickness to seize opportunity, when offered.</p> + +<p>The successes on Lake Erie had come very appositely for a change +recently introduced into the plans of the Government, and then in +process of accomplishment. Since the middle of the summer the +Secretary of War, Armstrong, who at this time guided the military +counsels, had become disgusted by the fruitlessness of the movements +at the west end of Ontario, and had reverted to his earlier and +sounder prepossession in favor of an attack upon either Kingston or +Montreal. It had now been for some time in contemplation to transfer +to Sackett's Harbor all the troops that could be spared from Niagara, +leaving there only sufficient to hold Fort George, with Fort Niagara +on the American side, as supports to a defensive attitude upon that +frontier. Assured command of the lake was essential to the safety and +rapidity of the concentration at Sackett's, and this led to the next +meeting of the squadrons.</p> + +<p>General James Wilkinson, an officer advanced in years, of extremely +poor reputation, personal as well as professional, and of broken +constitution, had been either selected by, or forced upon,<a name="FNanchor_105_105" id="FNanchor_105_105"></a><a href="#Footnote_105_105" class="fnanchor">[105]</a> the +Secretary of War to replace Dearborn in <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_105" id="PageV2_105">[105]</a></span>command of the New York +frontier and conduct of the proposed operations. To his suggested +doubts as to the direction of effort, whether westward or eastward, +Armstrong had replied definitely and finally on August 8: "Operations +westward of Kingston, if successful, leave the strength of the enemy +unbroken. It is the great depot of his resources. So long as he +retains this, and keeps open his communication with the sea, he will +not want the means of multiplying his naval and other defences, and of +re-enforcing or renewing the war in the West." He then explained that +there were two ways of reducing the place; by direct attack, or, +indirectly, by cutting its communications with the lower river. To +accomplish the latter, a demonstration of direct attack should be made +by part of the troops, while the main body should move rapidly down +the St. Lawrence to Madrid (or Hamilton),<a name="FNanchor_106_106" id="FNanchor_106_106"></a><a href="#Footnote_106_106" class="fnanchor">[106]</a> in New York, and cross +there to the Canadian side, seizing and fortifying a bluff on the +north bank to control the road and river. This done, the rest of the +force should march upon Montreal. The army division on Champlain was +to co-operate by a simultaneous movement and subsequent junction. The +project, in general outline, had been approved by the President. In +transmitting it Armstrong wrote to Wilkinson, "After this exposition, +it is unnecessary to add, that, in conducting the present campaign, +you will make Kingston your <i>primary object</i>, and that you will +<i>choose</i> (as circumstances may warrant), between a <i>direct</i> and +<i>indirect</i> attack upon that post."<a name="FNanchor_107_107" id="FNanchor_107_107"></a><a href="#Footnote_107_107" class="fnanchor">[107]</a></p> + +<p>Contemporary and subsequent movements are to be regarded in their +bearing on this plan. The first object was the concentration at +Sackett's, for which some three <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_106" id="PageV2_106">[106]</a></span>thousand troops were to be withdrawn +from the Niagara frontier. Wilkinson arrived at Sackett's from +Washington, August 20. Chauncey was then in port, after the gale which +had driven both him and Yeo down the lake. He sailed on the 29th. +Wilkinson followed shortly, reaching Fort George September 4. On the +5th, Armstrong himself came to Sackett's, having established the War +Department in northern New York for the campaign. On the 10th Perry +destroyed the British squadron on Lake Erie, opening the way for +Harrison's victorious entry to Upper Canada and subsequent transfer to +Niagara.</p> + +<p>Some days before the battle of the Thames the embarkation from Niagara +for Sackett's Harbor took place under cover of the naval operations. +After Yeo had gone into Amherst Bay on September 12, as already +mentioned,<a name="FNanchor_108_108" id="FNanchor_108_108"></a><a href="#Footnote_108_108" class="fnanchor">[108]</a> Chauncey remained cruising in the neighborhood till +the 17th, when he went to Sackett's, the enemy having got into +Kingston. On the 19th he sailed again for Niagara, to support the +movement of the army. He arrived on the 24th, and found there a report +of Perry's victory, which had been received on the 22d. On the 25th +embarkation began, and Wilkinson hoped that the whole body, three +thousand strong, would start on their coasting voyage along the south +shore of the lake on the 27th; but after dark, to conceal the +direction taken. At this juncture, on September 26, Chauncey heard +that the British fleet was at York, which was confirmed by a lookout +vessel despatched by him. As Yeo, unless checked, might molest the +transportation of the troops, it became necessary first to seek him; +but owing to a head wind the American squadron could not leave the +river till the evening of the 27th.</p> + +<p>As the schooner gun-vessels sailed badly, the "Pike," the "Madison," +and the "Sylph" each took one in tow on the morning of the 28th, +steering for York, where the <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_107" id="PageV2_107">[107]</a></span>British fleet was soon after sighted. As +the Americans stood in, the British quitted the bay to gain the open +lake; for their better manœuvring powers as a squadron would have +scope clear of the land. They formed on the port tack, running south +with the wind fresh at east (Positions 1). When about three miles +distant, to windward, Chauncey put his fleet on the same tack as the +enemy and edged down towards him (Positions 2). At ten minutes past +noon, the Americans threatening to cut off the rearmost two of the +British, Yeo tacked his column in succession, beginning with his own +ship, the leader (a), heading north toward his endangered vessels, +between them and the opponents. When round, he opened fire on the +"General Pike." As this movement, if continued, would bring the +leading and strongest British ships upon the weaker Americans astern, +Chauncey put his helm up and steered for the "Wolfe" (b), as soon as +the "General Pike" came abreast of her; the American column following +in his wake. The "Wolfe" then kept away, and a sharp encounter +followed between the two leaders, in which the rest of the squadrons +took some share (Positions 3).</p> + +<p>At the end of twenty minutes the "Wolfe" lost her main and mizzen +topmasts, and main yard. With all her after sail gone, there was +nothing to do but to keep before the wind, which was fair for the +British posts at the head of the bay (Positions 4). The American +squadron followed; but the "Madison," the next heaviest ship to the +"Pike," superior in battery power to the "Wasp" and "Hornet" of the +ocean navy, and substantially equal to the second British ship, the +"Royal George," "having a heavy schooner in tow, prevented her +commander from closing near enough to do any execution with her +carronades."<a name="FNanchor_109_109" id="FNanchor_109_109"></a><a href="#Footnote_109_109" class="fnanchor">[109]</a> The explanation requires explanation, which is not +<span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_108" id="PageV2_108">[108]</a></span>forthcoming. Concern at such instants for heavy schooners in tow is +not the spirit in which battles are won or campaigns decided; and it +must be admitted that Commodore Chauncey's solicitude to keep his +schooners up with his real fighting vessels, to conform, at critical +moments, the action of ships of eight hundred and six hundred tons, +like the "Pike" and "Madison," to those of lake craft of under one +hundred, is not creditable to his military instincts. He threw out a +signal, true, for the fleet to make all sail; but as he held on to the +schooner he had in tow, neither the "Madison" nor "Sylph" dropped +hers. His flagship, individually, appears to have been well fought; +but anxiety to keep a squadron united needs to be tempered with +discretion of a kind somewhat more eager than the quality commonly +thus named, and which on occasion can drop a schooner, or other small +craft, in order to get at the enemy. As the dismasted "Wolfe" ran to +leeward, "the 'Royal George,'" says the American naval historian +Cooper, "luffed up in noble style across her stern to cover the +English commodore" (c), and "kept yawing athwart her stern, delivering +her broadsides in a manner to extort exclamations of delight from the +American fleet (Positions 5). She was commanded by Captain Mulcaster." +Her fighting mate, the "Madison," had a heavy schooner in tow. This +interposition of the "Royal George" was especially timely if, as Yeo +states, Chauncey was holding at a distance whence his long +twenty-fours told, while the "Wolfe's" carronades did not reach.</p> + +<p>At quarter before three Chauncey relinquished pursuit. Both squadrons +were then about six miles from the head <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_109" id="PageV2_109">[109]</a></span>of the lake, running towards +it before a wind which had increased to a gale, with a heavy sea. +Ahead of them was a lee shore, and for the Americans a hostile coast. +"Though we might succeed in driving him on shore, the probability was +we should go on shore also, he amongst his friends, we amongst our +enemies; and after the gale abated, if he could get off one or two +vessels out of the two fleets, it would give him as completely the +command of the lake as if he had twenty vessels. Moreover, he was +covered at his anchorage by part of his army and several small +batteries thrown up for the purpose." For these reasons, the commodore +"without hesitation relinquished the opportunity then presenting +itself of acquiring individual reputation at the expense of my +country." The British squadron anchored without driving ashore. The +American returned to Niagara, having received a certain amount of +damage aloft, and one of the purchased schooners having lost her +foremast; but the killed and wounded by the enemy amounted to only +five, all on board the "General Pike." That vessel lost also +twenty-two men by the bursting of a gun.</p> + +<div class="img"><a name="imagep108" id="imagep108"></a> +<a href="images/imagep108.jpg"> +<img border="0" src="images/imagep108.jpg" width="95%" alt="Chauncey and Yeo, September 28, 1813" /></a><br /> +<p class="cen" style="margin-top: .2em;">CHAUNCEY AND YEO, SEPTEMBER 28, 1813<span class="totoi"><a href="#toi">ToList</a></span></p> +</div> + +<p>Chauncey had been in consultation with Armstrong at Sackett's, and +understood perfectly the plans of the Government. On his return to +Niagara he was requested by Wilkinson to keep watch over the hostile +squadron in its present position under Burlington Heights, so as to +cover the eastward movement of the troops, which began October 1. On +the 2d the last transport had gone, and Wilkinson himself set out for +Sackett's; bringing, as he reported, thirty-five hundred men. On the +3d the British fleet was seen well towards the west end of the lake; +but on the 4th a vessel sent especially to reconnoitre came back with +the report that it was no longer there. This proved to be a mistake; +but, as it came from a careful and competent officer, Chauncey +inferred that the <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_110" id="PageV2_110">[110]</a></span>enemy had given him the slip and gone to the +eastward. He therefore ran down the lake, to cover the arrival of the +troops as he had their departure. On the afternoon of the 5th, near +Kingston, he captured six out of seven transports bound thither with +re-enforcements. Of these, two were the schooners taken by Yeo in the +engagement of August 10, which the British had not thought fit to add +to their fleet, but used simply as carriers; mounting their guns on +the fortifications of Kingston. Cooper justly remarks, "This +sufficiently proves the equivocal advantage enjoyed by the possession +of these craft." Chauncey himself, at the end of the campaign, +recommended the building of "one vessel of the size of the +'Sylph,'"—three hundred and forty tons,—"in lieu of all the heavy +schooners; for really they are of no manner of service, except to +carry troops or use as gunboats."<a name="FNanchor_110_110" id="FNanchor_110_110"></a><a href="#Footnote_110_110" class="fnanchor">[110]</a> The reflection is +inevitable,—Why, then, had he allowed them so to hamper his +movements? It is to be feared that the long ascendency of the gunboat +policy in the councils of the Government had sapped the professional +intelligence even of some naval officers.</p> + +<p>The capture of the detachment going from York to Kingston showed that +the British had divined the general character of the American plans. +In fact, as early as October 2, Major General de Rottenburg, who after +an interval had succeeded to Brock's place in Upper Canada, as +lieutenant governor and commander of the forces, had started with two +regiments to re-enforce Kingston, leaving the Niagara peninsula again +under the command of General Vincent. On October 6 Chauncey's squadron +entered Sackett's, where Wilkinson had arrived on the 4th. The general +began at once to remonstrate strenuously with Armstrong against an +attempt upon Kingston, as delaying and possibly frustrating what he +saw fit to style the chief <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_111" id="PageV2_111">[111]</a></span>object of the campaign, the capture of +Montreal. The Secretary listened patiently, but overruled him.<a name="FNanchor_111_111" id="FNanchor_111_111"></a><a href="#Footnote_111_111" class="fnanchor">[111]</a> +Kingston had been the principal object from the beginning, and still +so continued; but, if the garrison should be largely re-enforced, if +the British fleet should enter the harbor, or if the weather should +make navigation of the lake dangerous for the transports, then the +troops should proceed direct for Montreal by the river. Yeo apparently +returned to Kingston soon after this; but when Chauncey left port on +October 16, to bring forward from the Genesee River a detachment under +Colonel Winfield Scott, he still had the understanding that Kingston +was first to be attacked.</p> + +<p>On October 19, however, the Secretary reconsidered his decision. The +concentration of the army at Sackett's had not been effected until the +18th. On the 16th de Rottenburg, having coasted the north shore of the +lake, reached Kingston with his two regiments, reckoned by Armstrong +at fifteen hundred men. These raised to twenty-two hundred the +garrison previously estimated at seven to eight hundred.<a name="FNanchor_112_112" id="FNanchor_112_112"></a><a href="#Footnote_112_112" class="fnanchor">[112]</a> The +numbers of the Americans were diminishing by sickness, and no further +re-enforcement was to be expected, excepting by uniting with the +Champlain division. This had been on the move from Plattsburg since +September 19, and was now at Chateaugay, on the Chateaugay River; a +local centre, whence roads running northeast, to the river's junction +with the St. Lawrence, immediately opposite the island of Montreal, +and west to St. Regis on the St. Lawrence, forty miles higher up, gave +facilities for moving in either direction to meet Wilkinson's advance. +By a letter of October 12 from its commander, General Wade Hampton, +this corps numbered "four thousand effective infantry, with a +well-appointed train." To bring it by <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_112" id="PageV2_112">[112]</a></span>land to Sackett's, over a +hundred miles distant, was considered too protracted and laborious in +the state of the roads; better utilize the current of the St. Lawrence +to carry Wilkinson down to it. In view of these circumstances, and of +the supposed increased strength of Kingston, Armstrong decided to +abandon the attack upon the latter and to move against Montreal, which +was believed to be much weaker, as well as strategically more +important.<a name="FNanchor_113_113" id="FNanchor_113_113"></a><a href="#Footnote_113_113" class="fnanchor">[113]</a> The movement was hazardous; for, as planned, ultimate +success depended upon junction with another corps, which had natural +difficulties of its own to contend with, while both were open to +obstruction by an active enemy. As a distinguished military critic has +said, "The Americans committed upon this occasion the same error that +the British Government did in their plan for Burgoyne's march from the +head of Champlain to Albany,—that of making the desired result of an +important operation depend upon the success of all its constituent or +component parts." It is one of the most common of blunders in war. +Wilkinson and Hampton did not meet. Both moved, but one had retreated +before the other arrived.</p> + +<p>In fact, while Montreal, as the most important point in Canada for the +British, except Quebec, and at the same time the one most accessible +to the United States, was the true objective of the latter, +concentration against it should have been made in territory entirely +under American control, about Lake Champlain, and the advance begun +early in the season. By its own choice the Government had relinquished +this obvious and natural course, and throughout the summer had +directed its efforts to the westward. When the change of operations +from Niagara to the lower end of the lake was initiated, in the +beginning of October, it was already too late to do more than attack +Kingston, the <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_113" id="PageV2_113">[113]</a></span>strength of which appears to have been gravely +over-estimated. Armstrong had good military ideas; but at this +critical moment he seems to have faltered in the presence of an +immediate difficulty, and to have sought escape from it by a hasty +consent to a side measure, contrary to the soundest teachings of war.</p> + +<p>Not the least of objections was the risk to which Sackett's Harbor, +the naval base, was to be exposed. After October 16, Chauncey had +remained cruising between there and Kingston, covering the approaches +to the St. Lawrence. His intended trip to Genesee, to bring up Scott's +eight hundred regulars, had been abandoned at the urgent demand of +Wilkinson, who, while the troops were being transferred from Sackett's +to Grenadier Island, at the outlet of the lake to the river, "would +not allow any part of the fleet to be absent four days without +throwing the responsibility, in case of a failure of his expedition, +wholly on the navy."<a name="FNanchor_114_114" id="FNanchor_114_114"></a><a href="#Footnote_114_114" class="fnanchor">[114]</a> The commodore did not learn of the new +scheme until October 30, ten days after its adoption, when he was +asked to cover the rear of the army from pursuit by water, by taking +position inside the St. Lawrence. While objecting strongly to the +change of plan, he of course consented to afford all the co-operation +in his power; but he wrote to the Navy Department, "If Sir James Yeo +knows the defenceless situation of Sackett's, he can take advantage of +a westerly wind while I am in the river, run over and burn it; for to +the best of my knowledge there are no troops left there except sick +and invalids, nor are there more than three guns mounted."<a name="FNanchor_115_115" id="FNanchor_115_115"></a><a href="#Footnote_115_115" class="fnanchor">[115]</a></p> + +<p>After many delays by rough water, Wilkinson's troops were assembled at +Grenadier Island towards the end of <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_114" id="PageV2_114">[114]</a></span>October. On November 1 they began +entering the river by detachments, collecting at French Creek, on the +American side, fifteen miles from the lake. Being here immediately +opposite one of the points considered suitable for advance on +Kingston, the object of the movement remained still doubtful to the +enemy. The detachments first arriving were cannonaded by four of Yeo's +vessels that had come through the channel north of Long Island, which +here divides the stream. On November 2 Chauncey anchored near by, +preventing the recurrence of this annoyance. On the 4th the entire +force was assembled, and next day started down the river with fine +weather, which lasted until the 11th. Up to this date no serious +difficulty was encountered; but immediately that the departure from +French Creek proclaimed the real direction of the movement, de +Rottenburg despatched a body of six hundred regular troops, under +Lieutenant Colonel Morrison, accompanied by some gunboats under +Captain Mulcaster, to harass the rear. For the purpose of being on +hand to fall upon the American flotilla, should the attempt be made to +cross the river to the north bank, Sir James Yeo on the 5th came out +from Kingston with his fleet. He anchored on the north side of Long +Island, only five miles from the American squadron, but separated by a +reef, over which the "General Pike" could not pass without being +lightened.<a name="FNanchor_116_116" id="FNanchor_116_116"></a><a href="#Footnote_116_116" class="fnanchor">[116]</a> Steps were taken to effect this, and to buoy a +channel; but on the 6th Yeo retired to Kingston. Chauncey's letters +make no mention of Mulcaster's division, and after Yeo's withdrawal he +moved down to Carleton Island.</p> + +<p>Morrison and Mulcaster on the 8th reached Fort Wellington, opposite +Ogdensburg. Here they paused and received re-enforcements from the +garrison, raising their numbers to eight hundred, who continued to +follow, by water and by land, until the 11th. Then they were turned +<span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_115" id="PageV2_115">[115]</a></span>upon by the rearguard of an American division, marching on the north +bank to suppress the harassment to which the flotilla otherwise was +liable in its advance. An action followed, known as that of +Chrystler's Farm, in which the Americans were the assailants and in +much superior numbers; but they were worsted and driven back, having +lost one hundred and two killed and two hundred and thirty-seven +wounded, besides one hundred prisoners. The troops engaged then +embarked, and passed down the Long Saut Rapids to Cornwall, which is +one hundred and twenty miles from Kingston and eighty-two from +Montreal. Here they were rejoined on the 12th by the vanguard of the +division, which had met little resistance in its progress.</p> + +<p>At this time and place Wilkinson received a letter from General +Hampton, to whom he had written that the provisions of his army were +insufficient, and requested him to send "two or three months' supply +by the safest route in a direction to the proposed scene of +action."<a name="FNanchor_117_117" id="FNanchor_117_117"></a><a href="#Footnote_117_117" class="fnanchor">[117]</a> He also instructed him to join the advance at St. Regis, +opposite Cornwall, the point which had now been reached. As the two +bodies were co-operating, and Wilkinson was senior, these instructions +had the force of orders. In his reply, dated November 8,<a name="FNanchor_118_118" id="FNanchor_118_118"></a><a href="#Footnote_118_118" class="fnanchor">[118]</a> Hampton +said, "The idea of meeting at St. Regis was most pleasing, until I +came to the disclosure of the amount of your supplies of provision." +Actually, the disclosure about the supplies preceded in the letter the +appointment to meet at St. Regis, which was the last subject +mentioned. "It would be impossible," Hampton continued, "for me to +bring more than each man could carry on his back; and when I reflected +that, in throwing myself upon your scanty means, I should be weakening +you in your most vulnerable point, I did not <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_116" id="PageV2_116">[116]</a></span>hesitate to adopt the +opinion that by throwing myself back upon my main depot [Plattsburg], +where all means of transportation had gone, and falling upon the +enemy's flank, and straining every effort to open a communication from +Plattsburg to ... the St. Lawrence, I should more effectually +contribute to your success than by the junction at St. Regis."</p> + +<p>Hampton then retired to Plattsburg, in the direction opposite from St. +Regis. Wilkinson, upon receiving his letter, held a council of war and +decided that "the attack on Montreal should be abandoned for the +present season." The army accordingly crossed to the American side and +went into winter quarters at French Mills, just within the New York +boundary; on the Salmon River, which enters the St. Lawrence thirteen +miles below St. Regis. Wilkinson was writing from there November 17, +twelve days after he started from French Creek to capture Montreal. +Thus two divisions, of eight thousand and four thousand respectively, +both fell back helplessly, when within a few days of a junction which +the enemy could not have prevented, even though he might successfully +have opposed their joint attack upon Montreal.</p> + +<p>It is a delicate matter to judge the discretion of a general officer +in Hampton's position; but the fact remains, as to provisions, that he +was in a country where, by his own statement of a month before, "we +have, and can have, an unlimited supply of good beef cattle."<a name="FNanchor_119_119" id="FNanchor_119_119"></a><a href="#Footnote_119_119" class="fnanchor">[119]</a> A +British commissary at Prescott wrote two months later, January 5, +1814, "Our supplies for sixteen hundred men are all drawn from the +American side of the river. They drive droves of cattle from the +interior under pretence of supplying their army at Salmon River, and +so are allowed to pass the guards, and at night to cross them over to +our side,"—the river being <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_117" id="PageV2_117">[117]</a></span>frozen. He adds, "I shall be also under +the necessity of getting most of my flour from their side."<a name="FNanchor_120_120" id="FNanchor_120_120"></a><a href="#Footnote_120_120" class="fnanchor">[120]</a> It is +not necessary greatly to respect Wilkinson in order to think that in +such a region Hampton might safely have waited for his superior to +join, and to decide upon the movements of the whole. He was acting +conjointly, and the junior.<a name="FNanchor_121_121" id="FNanchor_121_121"></a><a href="#Footnote_121_121" class="fnanchor">[121]</a> Under all the circumstances there can +be no reasonable doubt that his independent action was precipitate, +unnecessary, contrary to orders, and therefore militarily culpable. It +gave Wilkinson the excuse, probably much desired, for abruptly closing +a campaign which had been ludicrously inefficient from the first, and +under his leadership might well have ended in a manner even more +mortifying.</p> + +<p>Chauncey remained within the St. Lawrence until November 10, the day +before the engagement at Chrystler's Farm. He was troubled with fears +as to what might happen in his rear; the defenceless condition of +Sackett's, and the possibility that the enemy by taking possession of +Carleton Island, below him, might prevent the squadron's getting +out.<a name="FNanchor_122_122" id="FNanchor_122_122"></a><a href="#Footnote_122_122" class="fnanchor">[122]</a> None of these things occurred, and it would seem that the +British had not force to attempt them. On the 11th the squadron +returned to the Harbor, where was found a letter from Armstrong, +requesting conveyance to Sackett's for the brigade of Harrison's army, +which Perry had brought to Niagara, and which the Secretary destined +to replace the garrison gone down stream with Wilkinson. The execution +of this service closed the naval operations on Ontario for the year +1813. On November 21 Chauncey wrote that he had transported Harrison +with eleven hundred troops. On the night of December 2 the harbor +froze over, and a few days later the commodore learned that Yeo had +laid up his ships for the winter.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_118" id="PageV2_118">[118]</a></span>There remains yet to tell the close of the campaign upon the Niagara +peninsula, control of which had been a leading motive in the opening +operations. Its disastrous ending supplies a vivid illustration of the +military truth that positions are in themselves of but little value, +if the organized forces of the enemy, armies or fleets, remain +unimpaired. The regular troops were all withdrawn for Wilkinson's +expedition; the last to go being the garrison of Fort George, eight +hundred men under Colonel Winfield Scott, which left on October 13. +The command of the frontier was turned over to Brigadier General +George M'Clure of the New York Militia. Scott reported that Fort +George, "as a field work, might be considered as complete at that +period. It was garnished with ten pieces of artillery, which number +might have been increased from the spare ordnance of the opposite +fort"<a name="FNanchor_123_123" id="FNanchor_123_123"></a><a href="#Footnote_123_123" class="fnanchor">[123]</a>—Niagara. The latter, on the American side, was garrisoned +by two companies of regular artillery and "such of M'Clure's brigade +as had refused to cross the river."</p> + +<p>It was immediately before Scott's departure that the British forces +under General Vincent, upon receipt of news of the battle of the +Thames, had retreated precipitately to Burlington Heights, burning all +their stores, and abandoning the rest of the peninsula. This was on +October 9; a week after de Rottenburg had started for Kingston with +two regiments, leaving only ten or twelve hundred regulars. De +Rottenburg sent word for these also to retire upon York, and thence to +Kingston; but the lateness of the season, the condition of the roads, +and the necessity in such action to abandon sick and stores, decided +Vincent, in the exercise of his discretion, to hold on. This +resolution was as fortunate for his side as it proved unfortunate to +the Americans. M'Clure's force, as stated by himself, was then about +one thousand effective militia in Fort <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_119" id="PageV2_119">[119]</a></span>George, and two hundred and +fifty Indians. Concerning the latter he wrote, "An exhibition of two +or three hundred of them will strike more terror into the British than +a thousand militia."<a name="FNanchor_124_124" id="FNanchor_124_124"></a><a href="#Footnote_124_124" class="fnanchor">[124]</a> From time to time there were also bodies of +"volunteers," who assembled on call and were subject to the orders of +the national government for the period of their service. With such +numbers, so constituted, it was as impossible for M'Clure to trouble +Vincent as it was inexpedient for Vincent to attack Fort George.</p> + +<p>A gleam of hope appeared for the American commander when Perry brought +down the thirteen hundred of Harrison's victorious army, with the +general himself. The latter, who was senior to M'Clure, lent a +favorable ear to his suggestion that the two forces should be combined +to attack Vincent's lines. Some four hundred additional volunteers +gathered for this purpose; but, before the project could take effect, +Chauncey arrived to carry Harrison's men to Sackett's, stripped of +troops for Wilkinson's expedition. The urgency was real, and Chauncey +pressing, on account both of Sackett's and the season. In reply to a +very aggrieved remonstrance from M'Clure, Harrison expressed extreme +sympathy with his disappointment and that of the volunteers, but said +no material disadvantage was incurred, for he was convinced the +British were removing as fast as they could from the head of the lake, +and that an expedition thither would find them gone. Therewith, on +November 16, he embarked and sailed.</p> + +<p>The period of service for which the militia were "draughted" would +expire December 9. To M'Clure's representations the national +government, which was responsible for the general defence, replied +impotently by renewing its draught on the state government for another +thousand militia. But, wrote Armstrong, if you cannot raise +volunteers, "what are you to expect from militia <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_120" id="PageV2_120">[120]</a></span>draughts, with their +constitutional scruples?"—about leaving their state. Armstrong was +not personally responsible for the lack of organized power in the +nation; but as the representative of the Government, which by a dozen +years of inefficiency and neglect had laid open this and other +frontiers, the fling was unbecoming. On December 10, the garrison of +Fort George was reduced to "sixty effective regulars and probably +forty volunteers. The militia have recrossed the river almost to a +man."<a name="FNanchor_125_125" id="FNanchor_125_125"></a><a href="#Footnote_125_125" class="fnanchor">[125]</a> M'Clure also learned "that the enemy were advancing in +force." That night he abandoned the works, retiring to Fort Niagara, +and carrying off such stores as he could; but in addition he committed +the grave error of setting fire to the adjacent Canadian village of +Newark, which was burned to the ground.</p> + +<p>For this step M'Clure alleged the authority of the Secretary of War, +who on October 4 had written him, "Understanding that the defence of +the post committed to your charge may render it proper to destroy the +town of Newark, you are directed to apprise its inhabitants of this +circumstance, and to invite them to remove themselves and their +effects to some place of greater safety." The general construed this +to justify destruction in order to deprive the hostile troops of +shelter near Fort George. "The enemy are now completely shut out from +any hopes or means of wintering in the vicinity of Fort George." The +exigency was insufficient to justify the measure, which was promptly +disavowed by the United States Government; but the act imparted +additional bitterness to the war, and was taken by the enemy as a +justification and incentive to the retaliatory violence with which the +campaign closed.</p> + +<p>The civil and military government of Upper Canada at this time passed +into the hands of Sir Gordon Drummond. For the moment he sent to +Niagara General Riall, <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_121" id="PageV2_121">[121]</a></span>who took over the command from Vincent. On +December 13, M'Clure reported the enemy appearing in force on the +opposite shore; but, "having deprived them of shelter, they are +marching up to Queenston." This alone showed the futility of burning +Newark, but more decisive demonstration was to be given. Early on the +19th the British and Indians crossed the river before dawn, surprised +Fort Niagara, and carried it at the point of the bayonet; meeting, +indeed, but weak and disorganized resistance. At the same time a +detachment of militia at Lewiston was attacked and driven in, and that +village, with its neighbors, Youngstown and Manchester, were reduced +to ashes, in revenge for Newark. On December 30 the British again +crossed, burned Buffalo, and destroyed at Black Rock three small +vessels of the Erie flotilla; two of which, the "Ariel" and "Trippe," +had been in Perry's squadron on September 10, while the third, the +"Little Belt," was a prize taken in that action. Two thousand militia +had been officially reported assembled on the frontier on December 26, +summoned after the first alarm; but, "overpowered by the numbers and +discipline of the enemy," wrote their commander, "they gave way and +fled on every side. Every attempt to rally them was ineffectual."<a name="FNanchor_126_126" id="FNanchor_126_126"></a><a href="#Footnote_126_126" class="fnanchor">[126]</a></p> + +<p>With this may be said to have terminated the northern campaign of +1813. The British had regained full control of the Niagara peninsula, +and they continued to hold Fort Niagara, in the state of New York, +till peace was concluded. The only substantial gain on the whole +frontier, from the extreme east to the extreme west, was the +destruction of the British fleet on Lake Erie, and the consequent +transfer of power in the west to the United States. This was the left +flank of the American position. Had the same result been accomplished +on the right flank,—as it might have been,—at Montreal, or even at +Kingston, the centre and <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_122" id="PageV2_122">[122]</a></span>left must have fallen also. For the +misdirection of effort to Niagara, the local commanders, Dearborn and +Chauncey, are primarily responsible; for Armstrong yielded his own +correct perceptions to the representations of the first as to the +enemy's force, supported by the arguments of the naval officer +favoring the diversion of effort from Kingston to Toronto. Whether +Chauncey ever formally admitted to himself this fundamental mistake, +which wrecked the summer's work upon Lake Ontario, does not appear; +but that he had learned from experience is shown by a letter to the +Secretary of the Navy,<a name="FNanchor_127_127" id="FNanchor_127_127"></a><a href="#Footnote_127_127" class="fnanchor">[127]</a> when the squadrons had been laid up. In +this he recognized the uselessness of the heavy sailing schooners when +once a cruising force of ships for war had been created, thereby +condemning much of his individual management of the campaign; and he +added: "If it is determined to prosecute the war offensively, and +secure our conquests in Upper Canada, Kingston ought unquestionably to +be the first object of attack, and that so early in the spring as to +prevent the enemy from using the whole of the naval force that he is +preparing."</p> + +<p>In the three chapters which here end, the Ontario operations have been +narrated consecutively and at length, without interruption by other +issues,—except the immediately related Lake Erie campaign,—because +upon them turned, and upon them by the dispositions of the Government +this year were wrecked the fortunes of the war. The year 1813, from +the opening of the spring to the closing in of winter, was for several +reasons the period when conditions were most propitious to the +American cause. In 1812 war was not begun until June, and then with +little antecedent preparation; and it was waged halfheartedly, both +governments desiring to nip hostilities. In 1814, on the other hand, +when the season opened, <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_123" id="PageV2_123">[123]</a></span>Napoleon had fallen, and the United States no +longer had an informal ally to divert the efforts of Great Britain. +But in the intervening year, 1813, although the pressure upon the +seaboard, the defensive frontier, was undoubtedly greater than before, +and much vexation and harassment was inflicted, no serious injury was +done beyond the suppression of commerce, inevitable in any event. In +the north, on the lakes frontier, the offensive and the initiative +continued in the hands of the United States. No substantial +re-enforcements reached Canada until long after the ice broke up, and +then in insufficient numbers. British naval preparations had been on +an inadequate scale, receiving no proper professional supervision. The +American Government, on the contrary, had had the whole winter to +prepare, and the services of a very competent naval organizer. It had +also the same period to get ready its land forces; while incompetent +Secretaries of War and of the Navy gave place in January to capable +men in both situations.</p> + +<p>With all this in its favor, and despite certain gratifying successes, +the general outcome was a complete failure, the full measure of which +could be realized only when the downfall of Napoleon revealed what +disaster may result from neglect to seize opportunity while it exists. +The tide then ebbed, and never again flowed. For this many causes may +be alleged. The imbecile ideas concerning military and naval +preparation which had prevailed since the opening of the century +doubtless counted for much. The intrusting of chief command to +broken-down men like Dearborn and Wilkinson was enough to ruin the +best conceived schemes. But, despite these very serious drawbacks, the +strategic misdirection of effort was the most fatal cause of failure.</p> + +<p>There is a simple but very fruitful remark of a Swiss military writer, +that every military line may be conceived <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_124" id="PageV2_124">[124]</a></span>as having three parts, the +middle and the two ends, or flanks. As sound principle requires that +military effort should not be distributed along the whole of an +enemy's position,—unless in the unusual case of overwhelming +superiority,—but that distinctly superior numbers should be +concentrated upon a limited portion of it, this idea of a threefold +division aids materially in considering any given situation. One +third, or two thirds, of an enemy's line may be assailed, but very +seldom the whole; and everything may depend upon the choice made for +attack. Now the British frontier, which the United States was to +assail, extended from Montreal on the east to Detroit on the west. Its +three parts were: Montreal and the St. Lawrence on the east, or left +flank; Ontario in the middle, centring at Kingston; and Erie on the +right; the strength of the British position in the last named section +being at Detroit and Malden, because they commanded the straits upon, +which the Indian tribes depended for access to the east. Over against +the British positions named lay those of the United States. Given in +the same order, these were: Lake Champlain, and the shores of Ontario +and of Erie, centring respectively in the naval stations at Sackett's +Harbor and Presqu' Isle.</p> + +<p>Accepting these definitions, which are too obvious to admit of +dispute, what considerations should have dictated to the United States +the direction of attack; the one, or two, parts out of the three, on +which effort should be concentrated? The reply, as a matter of +abstract, accepted, military principle, is certain. Unless very urgent +reasons to the contrary exist, strike at one end rather than at the +middle, because both ends can come up to help the middle against you +quicker than one end can get to help the other; and, as between the +two ends, strike at the one upon which the enemy most depends for +re-enforcements and supplies to maintain his strength. Sometimes this +decision presents <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_125" id="PageV2_125">[125]</a></span>difficulties. Before Waterloo, Wellington had his +own army as a centre of interest; on his right flank the sea, whence +came supplies and re-enforcements from England; on his left the +Prussian army, support by which was imminently necessary. On which +flank would Napoleon throw the weight of his attack? Wellington +reasoned, perhaps through national bias, intensified by years of +official dependence upon sea support, that the blow would fall upon +his right, and he strengthened it with a body of men sorely needed +when the enemy came upon his left, in overwhelming numbers, seeking to +separate him from the Prussians.</p> + +<p>No such doubt was possible as to Canada in 1813. It depended wholly +upon the sea, and it touched the sea at Montreal. The United States, +with its combined naval and military strength, crude as the latter +was, was at the beginning of 1813 quite able in material power to +grapple two out of the three parts,—Montreal and Kingston. Had they +been gained, Lake Erie would have fallen; as is demonstrated by the +fact that the whole Erie region went down like a house of cards the +moment Perry triumphed on the lake. His victory was decisive, simply +because it destroyed the communications of Malden with the sea. The +same result would have been achieved, with effect over a far wider +region, by a similar success in the east.</p> + +<br /> +<hr style="width: 15%;" /> +<br /> + +<h4>FOOTNOTES:</h4> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_104_104" id="Footnote_104_104"></a><a href="#FNanchor_104_104"><span class="label">[104]</span></a> Canadian Archives MSS.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_105_105" id="Footnote_105_105"></a><a href="#FNanchor_105_105"><span class="label">[105]</span></a> Scott says, "The selection of this unprincipled +imbecile was not the blunder of Secretary Armstrong." Memoirs, vol. i. +p. 94, note.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_106_106" id="Footnote_106_106"></a><a href="#FNanchor_106_106"><span class="label">[106]</span></a> Both these names are used, confusingly, by Armstrong. +Madrid was the township, Hamilton a village on the St. Lawrence, +fifteen to twenty miles below the present Ogdensburg.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_107_107" id="Footnote_107_107"></a><a href="#FNanchor_107_107"><span class="label">[107]</span></a> American State Papers, Military Affairs, vol. i. p. +464. Armstrong's italics.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_108_108" id="Footnote_108_108"></a><a href="#FNanchor_108_108"><span class="label">[108]</span></a> Ante, p. 60.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_109_109" id="Footnote_109_109"></a><a href="#FNanchor_109_109"><span class="label">[109]</span></a> Chauncey's report, Oct. 1, 1813, Niles' Register, vol. +v. p. 134. The extract has been verified from the original in the +Captains' Letters. The report of Sir James Yeo (British Records +Office) agrees substantially with Chauncey's accounts of the +movements, but adds that upon the fall of the "Wolfe's" topmasts the +"Pike" immediately took a distance out of carronade range, whence her +long 24's would tell. "I can assure you, Sir, that the great advantage +the enemy have over us from their long 24-pounders almost precludes +the possibility of success, unless we can force them to close action, +which they have ever avoided with the most studied circumspection."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_110_110" id="Footnote_110_110"></a><a href="#FNanchor_110_110"><span class="label">[110]</span></a> Chauncey to Navy Department, Dec. 17, 1813. Captains' +Letters.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_111_111" id="Footnote_111_111"></a><a href="#FNanchor_111_111"><span class="label">[111]</span></a> Armstrong, Oct. 5, 1813. American State Papers, +Military Affairs, vol. i. p. 470.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_112_112" id="Footnote_112_112"></a><a href="#FNanchor_112_112"><span class="label">[112]</span></a> Ibid., p. 471.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_113_113" id="Footnote_113_113"></a><a href="#FNanchor_113_113"><span class="label">[113]</span></a> Armstrong, Oct. 20, 1813. American State Papers, +Military Affairs, vol. i. p. 473.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_114_114" id="Footnote_114_114"></a><a href="#FNanchor_114_114"><span class="label">[114]</span></a> Scott's Memoirs, vol. i. p. 106. In consequence, though +Scott personally succeeded in joining the movement from which so much +was expected, this considerable number of regulars were withdrawn from +it. They ultimately reached Sackett's, forming the nucleus of a +garrison.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_115_115" id="Footnote_115_115"></a><a href="#FNanchor_115_115"><span class="label">[115]</span></a> Captains' Letters, Oct. 30, 1813.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_116_116" id="Footnote_116_116"></a><a href="#FNanchor_116_116"><span class="label">[116]</span></a> Chauncey to the Navy Department, Nov. 11, 1813. +Captains' Letters.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_117_117" id="Footnote_117_117"></a><a href="#FNanchor_117_117"><span class="label">[117]</span></a> Wilkinson to Hampton. American State Papers, Military +Affairs, vol. i. p. 462.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_118_118" id="Footnote_118_118"></a><a href="#FNanchor_118_118"><span class="label">[118]</span></a> Ibid.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_119_119" id="Footnote_119_119"></a><a href="#FNanchor_119_119"><span class="label">[119]</span></a> Hampton's Letters during this movement are in American +State Papers, Military Affairs, vol. i. pp. 458-463.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_120_120" id="Footnote_120_120"></a><a href="#FNanchor_120_120"><span class="label">[120]</span></a> Ridout, Ten Years in Upper Canada, p. 269.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_121_121" id="Footnote_121_121"></a><a href="#FNanchor_121_121"><span class="label">[121]</span></a> American State Papers, Military Affairs, vol. i. p. +465.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_122_122" id="Footnote_122_122"></a><a href="#FNanchor_122_122"><span class="label">[122]</span></a> Chauncey to Navy Department, Nov. 11. Captains' +Letters.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_123_123" id="Footnote_123_123"></a><a href="#FNanchor_123_123"><span class="label">[123]</span></a> American State Papers, Military Affairs, vol. i. p. +483.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_124_124" id="Footnote_124_124"></a><a href="#FNanchor_124_124"><span class="label">[124]</span></a> American State Papers, Military Affairs, vol. i. p. +484.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_125_125" id="Footnote_125_125"></a><a href="#FNanchor_125_125"><span class="label">[125]</span></a> American State Papers, Military Affairs, vol. i. p. +486.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_126_126" id="Footnote_126_126"></a><a href="#FNanchor_126_126"><span class="label">[126]</span></a> Report of General A. Hall, Niles' Register, vol. v. p. +394.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_127_127" id="Footnote_127_127"></a><a href="#FNanchor_127_127"><span class="label">[127]</span></a> December 17, 1813. Captains' Letters, Navy +Department.</p></div> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="CHAPTER_XIII" id="CHAPTER_XIII"></a><hr /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_126" id="PageV2_126">[126]</a></span><br /> + +<h3>CHAPTER XIII<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3> + +<h4>SEABOARD MARITIME OPERATIONS</h4> +<br /> + +<p>Upon the Canada frontier the conditions of 1813 had permitted the +United States an ample field for offensive operations, with good +prospect of success. What use was made of the opportunity has now been +narrated. Upon the seaboard, continuous illustration was afforded that +there the country was widely open to attack, thrown wholly on the +defensive, with the exception of preying upon the enemy's commerce by +numerous small cruisers. As a secondary operation of war this has +always possessed value, and better use of it perhaps never was made +than by the American people at this time; but it is not determinative +of great issues, and the achievements of the public and private armed +vessels of the United States, energetic and successful as they were at +this period, constituted no exception to the universal experience. +Control of the highways of the ocean by great fleets destroys an +enemy's commerce, root and branch. The depredations of scattered +cruisers may inflict immense vexation, and even embarrassment; but +they neither kill nor mortally wound, they merely harass. Co-operating +with other influences, they may induce yielding in a maritime enemy; +but singly they never have done so, and probably never can. In 1814 no +commerce was left to the United States; and that conditions remained +somewhat better during 1813 was due to collusion of the enemy, not to +national power.</p> + +<p>The needs of the British armies in the Spanish Peninsula and in +Canada, and the exigencies of the West India <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_127" id="PageV2_127">[127]</a></span>colonies, induced the +enemy to wink at, and even to uphold, a considerable clandestine +export trade from the United States. Combined with this was the hope +of embarrassing the general government by the disaffection of New +England, and of possibly detaching that section of the country from +the Union. For these reasons, the eastern coast was not included in +the commercial blockade in 1813. But no motive existed for permitting +the egress of armed vessels, or the continuance of the coasting trade, +by which always, now as then, much of the intercourse between +different parts of the country must be maintained, and upon which in +1812 it depended almost altogether. With the approach of spring in +1813, therefore, not only was the commercial blockade extended to +embrace New York and all south of it, together with the Mississippi +River, but the naval constriction upon the shore line became so severe +as practically to annihilate the coasting trade, considered as a means +of commercial exchange. It is not possible for deep-sea cruisers +wholly to suppress the movement of small vessels, skirting the beaches +from headland to headland; but their operations can be so much +embarrassed as to reduce their usefulness to a bare alleviation of +social necessities, inadequate to any scale of interchange deserving +the name of commerce.</p> + +<p>"I doubt not," wrote Captain Broke, when challenging Lawrence to a +ship duel, "that you will feel convinced that it is only by repeated +triumphs in even combat that your little navy can now hope to console +your country for the loss of that trade it cannot protect."<a name="FNanchor_128_128" id="FNanchor_128_128"></a><a href="#Footnote_128_128" class="fnanchor">[128]</a> The +taunt, doubtless intended to further the object of the letter by the +provocation involved, was applicable as well to coasting as to +deep-sea commerce. It ignored, however, the consideration, necessarily +predominant with American <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_128" id="PageV2_128">[128]</a></span>officers, that the conditions of the war +imposed commerce destruction as the principal mission of their navy. +They were not indeed to shun combat, when it offered as an incident, +but neither were they to seek it as a mere means of glory, +irrespective of advantage to be gained. Lawrence, whom Broke's letter +did not reach, was perhaps not sufficiently attentive to this motive.</p> + +<p>The British blockade, military and commercial, the coastwise +operations of their navy, and the careers of American cruisers +directed to the destruction of British commerce, are then the three +heads under which the ocean activities of 1813 divide. Although this +chapter is devoted to the first two of these subjects, brief mention +should be made here of the distant cruises of two American vessels, +because, while detached from any connection with other events, they +are closely linked, in time and place, with the disastrous seaboard +engagement between the "Chesapeake" and "Shannon," with which the +account of sea-coast maritime operations opens. On April 30 Captain +John Rodgers put to sea from Boston in the frigate "President," +accompanied by the frigate "Congress," Captain John Smith. Head winds +immediately after sailing detained them inside of Cape Cod until May +3, and it was not till near George's Bank that any of the blockading +squadron was seen. As, by the Admiralty's instructions, one of the +blockaders was usually a ship of the line, the American vessels very +properly evaded them. The two continued together until May 8, when +they separated, some six hundred miles east of Delaware Bay. Rodgers +kept along northward to the Banks of Newfoundland, hoping, at that +junction of commercial highways, to fall in with a West India convoy, +or vessels bound into Halifax or the St. Lawrence. Nothing, however, +was seen, and he thence steered to the Azores with equal bad fortune. +Obtaining thereabouts information of a homeward-bound <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_129" id="PageV2_129">[129]</a></span>convoy from the +West Indies, he went in pursuit to the northeast, but failed to find +it. Not till June 9 did he make three captures, in quick succession. +Being then two thirds of the way to the English Channel, he determined +to try the North Sea, shaping his course to intercept vessels bound +either by the north or south of Ireland. Not a sail was met until the +Shetland Islands were reached, and there were found only Danes, which, +though Denmark was in hostility with Great Britain, were trading under +British licenses. The "President" remained in the North Sea until the +end of July, but made only two prizes, although she lay in wait for +convoys of whose sailing accounts were received. Having renewed her +supply of water at Bergen, in Norway, she returned to the Atlantic, +made three captures off the north coast of Ireland, and thence beat +back to the Banks, where two stray homeward-bound West Indiamen were +at last caught. From there the ship made her way, still with a +constant head wind, to Nantucket, off which was captured a British +man-of-war schooner, tender to the admiral. On September 27 she +anchored in Narragansett Bay, having been absent almost five months, +and made twelve prizes, few of which were valuable. One, however, was +a mail packet to Halifax, the capture of which, as of its +predecessors, was noted by Prevost.<a name="FNanchor_129_129" id="FNanchor_129_129"></a><a href="#Footnote_129_129" class="fnanchor">[129]</a></p> + +<p>The "Congress" was still less successful in material result. She +followed a course which had hitherto been a favorite with American +captains, and which Rodgers had suggested as alternative to his own; +southeast, passing near the Cape Verde Islands, to the equator between +longitudes 24° and 31° west; thence to the coast of Brazil, and so +home, by a route which carried her well clear of the West India +Islands. She entered Portsmouth, New Hampshire, December 14, having +spent seven months making this wide <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_130" id="PageV2_130">[130]</a></span>sweep; in the course of which +three prizes only were taken.<a name="FNanchor_130_130" id="FNanchor_130_130"></a><a href="#Footnote_130_130" class="fnanchor">[130]</a> It will be remembered that the +"Chesapeake," which had returned only a month before the "Congress" +sailed, had taken much the same direction with similar slight result.</p> + +<p>These cruises were primarily commerce-destroying, and were pursued in +that spirit, although with the full purpose of fighting should +occasion arise. The paucity of result is doubtless to be attributed to +the prey being sought chiefly on the high seas, too far away from the +points of arrival and departure. The convoy system, rigidly enforced, +as captured British correspondence shows, cleared the seas of British +vessels, except in the spots where they were found congested, +concentrated, by the operation of the system itself. It may be noted +that the experience of all these vessels showed that nowhere was the +system so rigidly operative as in the West Indies and Western +Atlantic. Doubtless, too, the naval officers in command took pains to +guide the droves of vessels entrusted to them over unusual courses, +with a view to elude pursuers. As the home port was neared, the common +disposition to relax tension of effort as the moment of relief draws +nigh, co-operated with the gradual drawing together of convoys from +all parts of the world to make the approaches to the English Channel +the most probable scene of success for the pursuer. There the greatest +number were to be found, and there presumption of safety tended to +decrease carefulness. This was to be amply proved by subsequent +experience. It had been predicted by Rodgers himself, although he +apparently did not think wise to hazard in such close quarters so fine +and large a frigate as the "President." "It is very generally +believed," he had written, "that the coasts of England, Ireland, and +Scotland are always swarming with British men of war, and that their +commerce would be found <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_131" id="PageV2_131">[131]</a></span>amply protected. This, however, I well know +by experience, in my voyages when a youth, to be incorrect; and that +it has always been their policy to keep their enemies as far distant +from their shores as possible, by stationing their ships at the +commencement of a war on the enemy's coasts, and in such other distant +situations, ... and thereby be enabled to protect their own commerce +in a twofold degree. This, however, they have been enabled to do, +owing as well to the inactivity of the enemy, as to the local +advantages derived from their relative situations."<a name="FNanchor_131_131" id="FNanchor_131_131"></a><a href="#Footnote_131_131" class="fnanchor">[131]</a></p> + +<p>The same tendency was observable at other points of arrival, and +recognition of this dictated the instructions issued to Captain +Lawrence for the cruise of the "Chesapeake," frustrated through her +capture by the "Shannon." Lawrence was appointed to the ship on May 6; +the sailing orders issued to Captain Evans being transferred to him on +that date. He was to go to the mouth of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, +seeking there to intercept the military store-ships, and transports +with troops, destined to Quebec and Upper Canada. "The enemy," wrote +the Secretary, "will not in all probability anticipate our taking this +ground with our public ships of war; and as his convoys generally +separate between Cape Race and Halifax, leaving the trade of the St. +Lawrence to proceed without convoy, the chance of captures upon an +extensive scale is very flattering." He added the just remark, that +"it is impossible to conceive a naval service of a higher order in a +national point of view than the destruction of the enemy's vessels, +with supplies for his army in Canada and his fleets on this +station."<a name="FNanchor_132_132" id="FNanchor_132_132"></a><a href="#Footnote_132_132" class="fnanchor">[132]</a></p> + +<p>Lawrence took command of the "Chesapeake" at Boston on May 20. The +ship had returned from her last cruise <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_132" id="PageV2_132">[132]</a></span>April 9, and had been so far +prepared for sea by her former commander that, as has been seen, her +sailing orders were issued May 6. It would appear from the statement +of the British naval historian James,<a name="FNanchor_133_133" id="FNanchor_133_133"></a><a href="#Footnote_133_133" class="fnanchor">[133]</a> based upon a paper captured +in the ship, that the enlistments of her crew expired in April. +Although there were many reshipments, and a nucleus of naval seamen, +there was a large infusion of new and untrained men, amounting to a +reconstitution of the ship's company. More important still was the +fact that both the captain and first lieutenant were just appointed; +her former first lying fatally ill at the time she sailed. The third +and fourth lieutenants were also strange to her, and in a manner to +their positions; being in fact midshipmen, to whom acting appointments +as lieutenants were issued at Lawrence's request, by Commodore +Bainbridge of the navy yard, on May 27, five days before the action. +The third took charge of his division for the first time the day of +the battle, and the men were personally unknown to him. The first +lieutenant himself was extremely young.</p> + +<p>The bearing of these facts is not to excuse the defeat, but to enforce +the lesson that a grave military enterprise is not to be hazarded on a +side issue, or on a point of pride, without adequate preparation. The +"Chesapeake" was ordered to a service of very particular importance at +the moment—May, 1813—when the Canada campaign was about to open. She +was to act against the communications of the enemy; and while it is +upon the whole more expedient, for the <i>morale</i> of a service, that +battle with an equal should not be declined, quite as necessarily +action should not be sought when it will materially interfere with the +discharge of a duty intrinsically of greater consequence. The capture +of a single enemy's frigate is not to be confounded with, or inflated +to, that destruction of an enemy's organized <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_133" id="PageV2_133">[133]</a></span>force which is the prime +object of all military effort. Indeed, the very purpose to which the +"Chesapeake" was designated was to cripple the organized force of the +British, either the army in Canada, or the navy on the lakes. The +chance of a disabling blow by unexpected action in the St. Lawrence +much exceeded any gain to be anticipated, even by a victorious ship +duel, which would not improbably entail return to port to refit; while +officers new to their duties, and unknown to their men, detracted +greatly from the chances of success, should momentary disaster or +confusion occur.</p> + +<p>The blockade of Boston Harbor at this moment was conducted by Captain +Philip Vere Broke of the "Shannon", a 38-gun frigate, which he had +then commanded for seven years. His was one of those cases where +singular merit as an officer, and an attention to duty altogether +exceptional, had not yet obtained opportunity for distinction. It +would probably be safe to say that no more thoroughly efficient ship +of her class had been seen in the British navy during the twenty +years' war with France, then drawing towards its close; but after +Trafalgar Napoleon's policy, while steadily directed towards +increasing the number of his ships, had more and more tended to +husbanding them against a future occasion, which in the end never +came. The result was a great diminution in naval combats. Hence, the +outbreak of the American war, followed by three frigate actions in +rapid succession, opened out a new prospect, which was none the less +stimulative because of the British reverses suffered. Captain Broke +was justly confident in his own leadership and in the efficiency of a +ship's company, which, whatever individual changes it may have +undergone, had retained its identity of organization through so many +years of his personal and energetic supervision. He now reasonably +hoped to demonstrate what could be done by officers and men so +carefully trained. Captain Pechell of the "Santo <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_134" id="PageV2_134">[134]</a></span>Domingo," the +flagship on the American station, wrote: "The 'Shannon's' men were +better trained, and understood gunnery better, than any men I ever +saw;" nevertheless, he added, "In the action with the 'Chesapeake' the +guns were all laid by Captain Broke's directions, consequently the +fire was all thrown in one horizontal line, not a shot going over the +'Chesapeake.'"<a name="FNanchor_134_134" id="FNanchor_134_134"></a><a href="#Footnote_134_134" class="fnanchor">[134]</a></p> + +<p>The escape of the "President" and "Congress" early in May, while the +"Shannon" and her consort, the "Tenedos," were temporarily off shore +in consequence of easterly weather, put Broke still more upon his +mettle; and, fearing a similar mishap with the "Chesapeake," he sent +Lawrence a challenge.<a name="FNanchor_135_135" id="FNanchor_135_135"></a><a href="#Footnote_135_135" class="fnanchor">[135]</a> It has been said, by both Americans and +English, that this letter was a model of courtesy. Undoubtedly it was +in all respects such as a gentleman might write; but the courtesy was +that of the French duellist, nervously anxious lest he should misplace +an accent in the name of the man whom he intended to force into fight, +and to kill. It was provocative to the last degree, which, for the end +in view, it was probably meant to be. In it Broke showed himself as +adroit with his pen—the adroitness of Canning—as he was to prove +himself in battle. Not to speak of other points of irritation, the +underlining of the words, "even combat," involved an imputation, none +the less stinging because founded in truth, upon the previous frigate +actions, and upon Lawrence's own capture of the "Peacock." In guns, +the "Chesapeake" and "Shannon" were practically of equal force; but in +the engagement the American frigate carried fifty more men than her +adversary. To an invitation couched as was Broke's Lawrence was doubly +vulnerable, for only six months had elapsed since he himself had sent +a challenge to the "Bonne Citoyenne." With his temperament he could +scarcely have <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_135" id="PageV2_135">[135]</a></span>resisted the innuendo, had he received the letter; but +this he did not. It passed him on the way out and was delivered to +Bainbridge, by whom it was forwarded to the Navy Department.</p> + +<div class="img"><a name="imagep134" id="imagep134"></a> +<a href="images/imagep134.jpg"> +<img border="0" src="images/imagep134.jpg" width="43%" alt="Captain Philip Bowes Vere Broke" /></a><br /> +<p class="cen" style="margin-top: .2em;">CAPTAIN PHILIP BOWES VERE BROKE.<br /> +<i>From the mezzotint by Charles Turner after the painting by Samuel +Lane <br />in the possession of Lady Saumarez.</i><span class="totoi"><a href="#toi">ToList</a></span></p> +</div> + +<p>Although Broke's letter did not reach him, Captain Lawrence made no +attempt to get to sea without engagement. The "Shannon's" running +close to Boston Light, showing her colors, and heaving-to in defiance, +served the purpose of a challenge. Cooper, who was in full touch with +the naval tradition of the time, has transmitted that Lawrence went +into the action with great reluctance. This could have proceeded only +from consciousness of defective organization, for the heroic temper of +the man was notorious, and there is no hint of that mysterious +presentiment so frequent in the annals of military services. The wind +being fair from the westward, the "Chesapeake," which had unmoored at +8 <span class="fakesc">A.M.</span>, lifted her last anchor at noon, June 1, and made +sail. The "Shannon," seeing at hand the combat she had provoked, stood +out to sea until on the line between Cape Ann and Cape Cod, where she +hove-to on the starboard tack, heading to the southeast. The +"Chesapeake" followed under all sail until 5 <span class="fakesc">P.M.</span>, when she +took in her light canvas, sending the loftier—royal—yards on deck; +and at 5.30 hauled up her courses, thus reducing herself to the +fighting trim already assumed by her adversary. The "Shannon," which +had been lying stopped for a long time, at this same moment filled her +sails, to regain headway with which to manœuvre, in case her +opponent's action should require it; but, after gathering speed +sufficient for this purpose, the British captain again slowed his +ship, by so bracing the maintopsail that it was kept shaking in the +wind. Its effect being thus lost, though readily recoverable, her +forward movement depended upon the sails of the fore and mizzen masts +(1). In this attitude, and steering southeast by the wind, she +<span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_136" id="PageV2_136">[136]</a></span>awaited her antagonist, who was running for her +weather—starboard—quarter, and whose approach, thus seconded, became +now very rapid. Broke made no further change in the ship's direction, +leaving the choice of windward or leeward side to Lawrence, who took +the former, discarding all tactical advantages, and preferring a +simple artillery duel between the vessels.</p> + +<p>Just before she closed, the "Chesapeake" rounded-to, taking a parallel +course, and backing the maintopsail (1) to reduce her speed to that of +the enemy. Captain Lawrence in his eagerness had made the serious +error of coming up under too great headway. At 5.50, as her bows +doubled on the quarter of the "Shannon" (1), at the distance of fifty +yards, the British ship opened fire, beginning with the after gun, and +continuing thence forward, as each in succession bore upon the +advancing American frigate. The latter replied after the second +British discharge, and the combat at once became furious. The previous +history of the two vessels makes it probable that the British gunnery +was the better; but it is impossible, seeing the course the action +finally took, so far to disentangle the effects of the fire while they +were on equal terms of position, from the totals afterwards +ascertained, as to say where the advantage, if any, lay during those +few minutes. The testimony of the "Chesapeake's" second lieutenant, +that his division—the forward one on the gun deck—fired three rounds +before their guns ceased to bear, agrees with Broke's report that two +or three broadsides were exchanged; and the time needed by +well-drilled men to do this is well within, yet accords fairly with, +James' statement, that from the first gun to the second stage in the +action six minutes elapsed. During the first of this period the +"Chesapeake" kept moving parallel at fifty yards distance, but gaining +continually, threatening thus to pass wholly ahead, so that her guns +would bear no longer. To prevent this Lawrence <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_137" id="PageV2_137">[137]</a></span>luffed closer to the +wind to shake her sails, but in vain; the movement increased her +distance, but she still ranged ahead, so that she finally reached much +further than abreast of the enemy. To use the nautical expression, she +was on the "Shannon's" weather bow (2). While this was happening her +sailing master was killed and Lawrence wounded; these being the two +officers chiefly concerned in the handling of the ship.</p> + +<div class="img"><a name="imagep136" id="imagep136"></a> +<a href="images/imagep136.jpg"> +<img border="0" src="images/imagep136.jpg" width="95%" alt="Diagram of the Chesapeake vs. Shannon Battle" /></a><br /> +<p class="cen" style="margin-top: .2em;">Diagram of the Chesapeake vs. Shannon Battle<span class="totoi"><a href="#toi">ToList</a></span></p> +</div> + +<p>Upon this supervened a concurrence of accidents, affecting her +manageability, which initiated the second scene in the drama, and +called for instantaneous action by the officers injured. The +foretopsail tie being cut by the enemy's fire, the yard dropped, +leaving the sail empty of wind; and at the same time were shot away +the jib-sheet and the brails of the spanker. Although the latter, +flying loose, tends to spread itself against the mizzen rigging, it +probably added little to the effect of the after sails; but, the +foresail not being set, the first two mishaps practically took all the +forward canvas off the "Chesapeake." Under the combined impulses she, +at 5.56, came up into the wind (3), lost her way, and, although her +mainyard had been braced up, finally gathered sternboard; the upshot +being that she lay paralyzed some seventy yards from the "Shannon" (3, +4, 5), obliquely to the latter's course and slightly ahead of her. The +British ship going, or steering, a little off (3), her guns bore fair +upon the "Chesapeake," which, by her involuntarily coming into the +wind,—to such an extent that Broke thought she was attempting to haul +off, and himself hauled closer to the wind in consequence (4),—lost +in great measure the power of reply, except by musketry. The British +shot, entering the stern and quarter of her opponent, swept diagonally +along the after parts of the spar and main decks, a half-raking fire.</p> + +<p>Under these conditions Lawrence and the first lieutenant were mortally +wounded, the former falling by a <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_138" id="PageV2_138">[138]</a></span>musket-ball through his body; but he +had already given orders to have the boarders called, seeing that the +ship must drift foul of the enemy (5). The chaplain, who in the +boarding behaved courageously, meeting Broke in person with a +pistol-shot, and receiving a cutlass wound in return, was standing +close by the captain at this instant. He afterwards testified that as +Lawrence cried "Boarders away", the crews of the carronades ran +forward; which corresponds to Broke's report that, seeing the enemy +flinching from their guns, he then gave the order for boarding. This +may have been, indeed, merely the instinctive impulse which drives +disorganized men to seek escape from a fire which they cannot return; +but if Cooper is correct in saying that it was the practice of that +day to keep the boarders' weapons, not by their side, but on the +quarter-deck or at the masts, it may also have been that this +division, which had so far stuck to its guns while being raked, now, +at the captain's call, ran from them to get the side-arms. At the +Court of Inquiry it was in evidence that these men were unarmed; and +one of them, a petty officer, stated that he had defended himself with +the monkey tail of his gun. Whatever the cause, although there was +fighting to prevent the "Chesapeake" from being lashed to the +"Shannon", no combined resistance was offered abaft the mainmast. +There the marines made a stand, but were overpowered and driven +forward. The negro bugler of the ship, who should have echoed +Lawrence's summons, was too frightened to sound a note, and the voices +of the aids, who shouted the message to the gun deck, were imperfectly +heard; but, above all, leaders were wanting. There was not on the +upper deck an officer above the grade of midshipman; captain, first +lieutenant, master, marine officer, and even the boatswain, had been +mortally wounded before the ships touched. The second lieutenant was +in charge of the first gun division, at the far end of the deck below, +as yet ignorant how the <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_139" id="PageV2_139">[139]</a></span>fight was going, and that the fate of his +superiors had put him in command. Of the remaining lieutenants, also +stationed on the gun deck, the fourth had been mortally wounded by the +first broadside; while the third, who had heard the shout for +boarders, committed the indiscretion, ruinous to his professional +reputation, of accompanying those who, at the moment the ships came +together, were carrying below the wounded captain.</p> + +<div class="img"><a name="imagep138" id="imagep138"></a> +<a href="images/imagep138.jpg"> +<img border="0" src="images/imagep138.jpg" width="85%" alt="The Capture of the Chesapeake by the Shannon" /></a><br /> +<p class="cen" style="margin-top: .2em;">THE CAPTURE OF THE <i>CHESAPEAKE</i> BY THE <i>SHANNON</i>.—THE STRUGGLE ON THE QUARTERDECK.<br /> +<i>Drawn by Henry Reuterdahl.</i><span class="totoi"><a href="#toi">ToList</a></span></p> +</div> + +<p>Before the new commanding officer could get to the spar deck, the +ships were in contact. According to the report of Captain Broke, the +most competent surviving eye-witness, the mizzen channels of the +"Chesapeake" locked in the fore-rigging of the "Shannon." "I went +forward," he continues, "to ascertain her position, and observing that +the enemy were flinching from their guns, I gave orders to prepare for +boarding." When the "Chesapeake's" second lieutenant reached the +forecastle, the British were in possession of the after part of the +ship, and of the principal hatchways by which the boarders of the +after divisions could come up. He directed the foresail set, to shoot +the ship clear, to prevent thus a re-enforcement to the enemy already +on board; and he rallied a few men, but was himself soon wounded and +thrown below. In brief, the fall of their officers and the position of +the ship, in irons and being raked, had thrown the crew into the +confusion attendant upon all sudden disaster. From this state only the +rallying cry of a well-known voice and example can rescue men. "The +enemy," reported Broke, "made a desperate but disorderly resistance." +The desperation of brave men is the temper which at times may retrieve +such conditions, but it must be guided and fashioned by a master +spirit into something better than disorder, if it is to be effective. +Disorder at any stage of a battle is incipient defeat; supervening +upon the enemy's gaining a commanding position it commonly means +defeat consummated.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_140" id="PageV2_140">[140]</a></span>Fifteen minutes elapsed from the discharge of the first gun of the +"Shannon" to the "Chesapeake's" colors being hauled down. This was +done by the enemy, her own crew having been driven forward. In that +brief interval twenty-six British were killed and fifty-six wounded; +of the Americans forty-eight were killed and ninety-nine wounded. In +proportion to the number on board each ship when the action began, the +"Shannon" lost in men 24 per cent; the "Chesapeake" 46 per cent, or +practically double.</p> + +<p>Although a certain amount of national exultation or mortification +attends victory or defeat in an international contest, from a yacht +race to a frigate action, there is no question of national credit in +the result where initial inequality is great, as in such combats as +that of the "Chesapeake" and "Shannon," or the "Constitution" and +"Guerrière." It is possible for an officer to command a ship for seven +years, as Broke had, and fail to make of her the admirable pattern of +all that a ship of war should be, which he accomplished with the +"Shannon"; but no captain can in four weeks make a thoroughly +efficient crew out of a crowd of men newly assembled, and never out of +harbor together. The question at issue is not national, but personal; +it is the credit of Captain Lawrence. That it was inexpedient to take +the "Chesapeake" into action at all at that moment does not admit of +dispute; though much allowance must be made for a gallant spirit, +still in the early prime of life, and chafing under the thought that, +should he get to sea by successful evasion, he would be open to the +taunt, freely used by Broke,<a name="FNanchor_136_136" id="FNanchor_136_136"></a><a href="#Footnote_136_136" class="fnanchor">[136]</a> of dodging, "eluding," an enemy only +his equal in material force.</p> + +<p>Having, however, undertaken a risk which cannot be <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_141" id="PageV2_141">[141]</a></span>justified, was +Captain Lawrence also reckless, and vainly confident, in his conduct +before and during the action? Was he foolhardy, or only rash? The +reply, if favorable, is due to one of the most gallant and attractive +personalities in the annals of the United States Navy.</p> + +<div class="img"><a name="imagep140" id="imagep140"></a> +<a href="images/imagep140.jpg"> +<img border="0" src="images/imagep140.jpg" width="50%" alt="Captain James Lawrence" /></a><br /> +<p class="cen" style="margin-top: .2em;">CAPTAIN JAMES LAWRENCE.<br /> +<i>From the painting by Gilbert Stuart in the possession of the New<br /> +Jersey Historical Society, Newark, N.J.</i><span class="totoi"><a href="#toi">ToList</a></span></p> +</div> + +<p>From his action it is evident that Lawrence clearly recognized that a +green crew can be more quickly formed to efficiency at the battery +than to that familiarity with the rigging and the sails, and that +habit of working together about decks, on which manœuvring power +depends. He therefore chose an artillery duel, surrendering even the +opportunity of raking permitted him by Broke, who awaited his approach +without an attempt at molestation. How far was his expectation as to +the results overstrained? The American crew lost double in proportion +to their enemy; but it did not fail to inflict a very severe +punishment, and it must be added under a very considerable +disadvantage, which there has been a tendency recently to +underestimate. The loss of the head sails, and all that followed, is +part of the fortune of war; of that unforeseeable, which great leaders +admit may derange even the surest calculations. It is not, therefore, +to be complained of, but it is nevertheless to receive due account in +the scales of praise and blame; for the man who will run no risks of +accidents accomplishes nothing.</p> + +<p>In the preceding narrative, and in the following analysis, the account +of the British naval writer James is in essentials adopted; chiefly +because, of all historians having contemporary sources of information, +he has been at most pains to insure precision.<a name="FNanchor_137_137" id="FNanchor_137_137"></a><a href="#Footnote_137_137" class="fnanchor">[137]</a> As told by him, +the engagement <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_142" id="PageV2_142">[142]</a></span>divides into three stages. First, the combat side to +side; second, the period during which the "Chesapeake" lay in the wind +being raked; third, the boarding and taking possession. To these James +assigns, as times: for the first, six minutes; for the second, four; +for the third, five; this last being again subdivisible into a space +of two minutes, during which the "Chesapeake" was being lashed to her +opponent, and the actual fighting on her decks, which Broke states did +not exceed three.</p> + +<p>The brief and disorderly, though desperate, resistance to boarding +proves that the "Chesapeake" was already beaten by the cannonade, +which lasted, as above, ten minutes. During only six of these, +accepting James' times, was she on equal gunnery terms. During four +tenths—nearly one half—of the gunnery contest she was at a great +disadvantage. The necessity of manœuvring, which Lawrence tried to +avoid, was forced upon him; and the ship's company, or her +circumstances, proved unequal to meeting it. Nevertheless, though +little more than half the time on equal terms of position with her +opponent, half her own loss was inflicted upon him. How great her +subsequent disadvantage is best stated in the words of James, whom no +one will accuse of making points in favor of Americans. "At 5.56, +having had her jib-sheet and foretopsail tie shot away, and her helm, +probably from the death of the men stationed at it, being at the +moment unattended to, the 'Chesapeake' came so sharp to the wind as +completely to deaden her way." How extreme this deviation from her +course is shown by the impression made on Broke. "As the manœuvres +of the 'Chesapeake' indicated an intention to haul away, Captain Broke +ordered the helm to be put a-lee, as the 'Shannon' had fallen off a +little." The <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_143" id="PageV2_143">[143]</a></span>"Chesapeake's" way being deadened, "the ship lay with +her stern and quarter exposed to her opponent's broadside. The shot +from the 'Shannon's' aftermost guns now took a diagonal direction +<i>along</i><a name="FNanchor_138_138" id="FNanchor_138_138"></a><a href="#Footnote_138_138" class="fnanchor">[138]</a> the decks of the 'Chesapeake,' beating in her stern +ports, and sweeping the men from their quarters. The shot from the +'Shannon's' foremost guns, at the same time, entering the +'Chesapeake's' ports from the mainmast aft, did considerable +execution." This describes a semi-raking fire, which lasted four +minutes, from 5.56 to 6 <span class="fakesc">P.M.</span>, when the ships came together.</p> + +<p>The manner of collision and the injuries received bear out the above +account. The quarter of the "Chesapeake" came against the side of the +"Shannon," the angle at the moment, as represented in James' diagram, +being such as to make it impossible that any of the "Chesapeake's" +guns, save one or two of the after ones, could then bear; and as she +was already paying off, they had been in worse position before. "She +was severely battered in the hull, on the larboard quarter +particularly; and several shot entered the stern windows.... Her three +lower masts were badly wounded, the main and mizzen especially. The +bowsprit received no injury." All these details show that the sum +total of the "Shannon's" fire was directed most effectively upon the +after part of the ship, in the manner described by James; and coupled +with the fact that the British first broadside, always reckoned the +most deadly, would naturally take effect chiefly on the fore part of +the "Chesapeake," as she advanced from the "Shannon's" stern to her +bow,<a name="FNanchor_139_139" id="FNanchor_139_139"></a><a href="#Footnote_139_139" class="fnanchor">[139]</a> we are justified in the inference that the <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_144" id="PageV2_144">[144]</a></span>worst of her +loss was suffered after accident had taken her movements out of +Lawrence's instant control. Under these circumstances it may be +claimed for him that the artillery duel, to which he sought to confine +the battle, was not so entirely a desperate chance as has been +inferred.</p> + +<p>It may therefore be said that, having resolved upon a risk which +cannot be justified at the bar of dispassionate professional judgment, +Captain Lawrence did not commit the further unpardonable error of not +maturely weighing and judiciously choosing his course. That the crew +was not organized and exercised at the guns, as far as his time and +opportunity permitted, is disproved by incidental mention in the +courts martial that followed, as well as by the execution done. Within +ten minutes at the utmost, within six of equal terms, the +"Chesapeake," an 18-pounder frigate, killed and wounded of the +"Shannon's" ship's company as many as the "Constitution" with her 24's +did of the "Guerrière's" in over twenty;<a name="FNanchor_140_140" id="FNanchor_140_140"></a><a href="#Footnote_140_140" class="fnanchor">[140]</a> and the "Constitution" +not only was a much heavier ship than her opponent, but had been six +weeks almost continuously at sea. When her crew had been together four +months longer, the loss inflicted by her upon the "Java," in a contest +spread over two hours, did not greatly exceed in proportion that +suffered by the "Shannon"; and the circumstances of that engagement, +being largely manœuvring, justified Lawrence's decision, under his +circumstances, to have none of it. His reliance upon the marksmanship +of his men is further vindicated by Broke's report that neither vessel +suffered much aloft. The American and best British tradition of firing +low was sustained by both ships. Finally, although the organization of +the "Chesapeake" was not matured sufficiently to hold the people +together, without leaders, after a <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_145" id="PageV2_145">[145]</a></span>tremendous punishment by the +enemy's battery, and in the face of well-trained and rapidly supported +boarders, it had so far progressed in cohesion that they did not +flinch from their guns through a severe raking fire. What further +shows this is that the boatswain of the "Shannon," lashing the ships +together in preparation for boarding, was mortally wounded, not by +musketry only but by sabre. When thus attacked he doubtless was +supported by a body of fighters as well as a gang of workers. In fact, +Broke was himself close by.</p> + +<p>Under thus much of preparation, certainly not sufficient, Lawrence +chose for action a smooth sea, a royal breeze, an artillery duel, and +a close range. "No manœuvring, but downright fighting," as Nelson +said of his most critical battle; critical, just because his +opponents, though raw tyros compared to his own crews, had nothing to +do but to work their guns. The American captain took the most +promising method open to him for achieving success, and carried into +the fight a ship's company which was not so untrained but that, had +some luck favored him, instead of going the other way, there was a +fighting chance of victory. More cannot be claimed for him. He had no +right, under the conditions, voluntarily to seek the odds against him, +established by Broke's seven years of faithful and skilful command. +Except in material force, the "Chesapeake" was a ship much inferior to +the "Shannon," as a regiment newly enlisted is to one that has seen +service; and the moment things went seriously wrong she could not +retrieve herself. This her captain must have known; and to the +accusation of his country and his service that he brought upon them a +mortification which endures to this day, the only reply is that he +died "sword in hand." This covers the error of the dead, but cannot +justify the example to the living.</p> + +<p>As is customary in such cases, a Court of Inquiry was <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_146" id="PageV2_146">[146]</a></span>ordered to +investigate the defeat of the "Chesapeake," and sat from February 2 to +February 8, 1814. Little can be gleaned from the evidence concerning +the manœuvring of the ship; the only two commissioned officers +surviving, having been stationed on the gun deck, could not see what +passed above. Incidental statements by midshipmen examined confirm +substantially the account above given. One mentions the particular +that, when the head sheets were shot away, "the bow of the 'Shannon' +was abreast of the 'Chesapeake's' midships, and she came into the +wind;" he adds that the mizzen-topsail was a-back, as well as the +main. This is the only important contribution to the determination of +the relative positions and handling of the vessels. As far as it goes, +it confirms a general impression that Lawrence's eagerness prevented +his making due allowance for the way of the "Chesapeake," causing him +to overshoot his aim; an error of judgment, which the accidents to the +headsails converted into irretrievable disaster. The general testimony +agrees that the crew, though dissatisfied at non-receipt of pay and +prize money, behaved well until the moment of boarding. Four +witnesses, all officers, stated as of their own observation that the +"Shannon" received several shot between wind and water, and used her +pumps continuously on the way to Halifax. Budd, the second lieutenant, +"was informed by an officer of the 'Shannon' that she was in a sinking +condition." "The 'Chesapeake' was not injured below her quarters, +except by one or two shot." "The 'Chesapeake' made no water; but the +'Shannon' had hands at the pumps continually." A good deal of pumping +in a ship seven years in commission did not necessarily indicate +injuries in action; Midshipman Curtis, however, who was transferred to +the "Shannon," testified that "the British officers were encouraging +the men by cheering to work at the pumps," which looks more serious. +The purser of the <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_147" id="PageV2_147">[147]</a></span>"Chesapeake" swore that she had shot plugs at the +water-line, and that "her sailing master said she had three shot holes +below." The repetition of remarks made by the "Shannon's" officers is +of course only hearsay testimony; but as regards the shots below the +water-line,—as distinguished from the general body of the ship,—this +on the one hand shows that the "Shannon" had her share of bad luck, +for in the smoke of the battle this result is not attributable to nice +precision of aiming. On the other hand it strongly re-enforces the +proof of the excellent marksmanship of the American frigate, deducible +from the killed and wounded of her opponent, and it confirms the +inference that her own disproportionate loss was at least partly due +to the raking fire and her simultaneous disability to reply. Upon the +whole, the conclusion to the writer is clear that, while Lawrence +should not have courted action, the condition of the "Chesapeake" as a +fighting ship was far better than has commonly been supposed. It may +be added that an irresponsible contemporary statement, that his +"orders were peremptory," is disproved by the Department's letter, +which forms part of the Court's record. He was to "proceed to sea as +soon as weather, and the force and position of the enemy, will admit." +Even a successful action must be expected to compel return to port, +preventing his proceeding; and there is an obvious difference between +fighting an enemy when met, and going out especially to fight him. The +orders were discretional.</p> + +<p>Whether, by paying attention to favoring conditions, Captain Lawrence +could have repeated the success of Commodore Rodgers in gaining the +sea a month before, must remain uncertain. The "Constitution," under +Captain Stewart, a seaman of very excellent reputation, was unable to +do so, until the winter gales made it impossible for the blockaders to +maintain an uninterrupted watch off Boston. The sailing of the +"President" and "Congress" <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_148" id="PageV2_148">[148]</a></span>was the last successful effort for many +months; and the capture of the "Chesapeake" was the first of several +incidents illustrating how complete was the iron-barring of the coast, +against all but small vessels.</p> + +<p>Commodore Decatur, having found it impossible to get out from New York +by the Sandy Hook route, undertook that by Long Island Sound. Passing +through Hell Gate, May 24, with his little squadron,—the "United +States," the "Macedonian," her late prize, and the sloop of war +"Hornet,"—he was on the 26th off Fisher's Island, abreast of New +London. Here he remained until June 1, obtaining various information +concerning the enemy, but only certain that there was at least a ship +of the line and a frigate in the neighborhood. On the last named day, +that of the fight between the "Chesapeake" and the "Shannon," the wind +serving, and the two enemy's vessels being far to the southwest of +Montauk Point, at the east end of Long Island, the squadron put to sea +together; but on approaching Block Island, which was close to their +course, two more enemy's cruisers loomed up to the eastward. The +hostile groups manœuvred severally to get between the Americans and +their ports of refuge, New London in the one quarter, Newport in the +other. In plain sight of this overwhelming force Decatur feared the +results of trying to slip out to sea, and therefore beat back to New +London.<a name="FNanchor_141_141" id="FNanchor_141_141"></a><a href="#Footnote_141_141" class="fnanchor">[141]</a> The enemy followed, and, having now this division +securely housed, instituted a close blockade. It was apprehended even +that they might endeavor to take it by main force, the defences of the +place being weak; but, as is commonly the case, the dangers of an +attack upon land batteries were sufficient to deter the ships from an +attempt, the object of which could be attained with equal certainty by +means less hazardous, if less immediate.</p> + +<p>The upshot was that the two frigates remained there <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_149" id="PageV2_149">[149]</a></span>blockaded to the +end of the war; dependent for their safety, in Decatur's opinion, +rather upon the difficulty of the channel than upon the strength of +the fortifications. "Fort Trumbull, the only work here mounted or +garrisoned, was in the most unprepared state, and only one or two +cannon were to be had in the neighborhood for any temporary work which +should be erected. I immediately directed all my exertions to +strengthening the defences. Groton Heights has been hastily prepared +for the reception of a few large guns, and they will be mounted +immediately.... I think the place might be made impregnable; but the +hostile force on our coast is so great that, were the enemy to exert a +large portion of his means in an attack here, I do not feel certain he +could be resisted successfully with the present defences."<a name="FNanchor_142_142" id="FNanchor_142_142"></a><a href="#Footnote_142_142" class="fnanchor">[142]</a> On +December 6 he reported that the squadron was moored across the channel +and under Groton Heights, which had been fortified; while in the mouth +of the harbor, three gunshots distant, was anchored a British +division, consisting of one ship of the line, a frigate, and two +smaller vessels. Two other ships of the line and several frigates were +cruising in the open, between the east end of Long Island and Gay +Head. This state of affairs lasted throughout the winter, during which +the ships were kept in a state of expectancy, awaiting a possible +opportunity; but, when the return of spring found the hope +unfulfilled, it was plainly idle to look to the summer to afford what +winter had denied. The frigates were lightened over a three-fathom +bar, and thence, in April, 1814, removed up the Thames fourteen miles, +as far as the depth of water would permit. Being there wholly out of +reach of the enemy's heavy vessels, they were dismantled, and left to +the protection of the shore batteries and the "Hornet," retained for +that purpose. Decatur was transferred to the "President," then at New +York, taking with him his ship's company; while <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_150" id="PageV2_150">[150]</a></span>the crew of the +"Macedonian" was sent to the lakes. The enemy's vessels then off New +London were three seventy-fours, four frigates, and three sloops.</p> + +<p>This accumulation of force, to watch Decatur's two frigates and the +"President," which during October and November was lying at Bristol, +Rhode Island, testified to the anxiety of the British Government to +restrain or capture the larger American cruisers. Their individual +power was such that it was unwilling to expose to attack by them the +vessels, nominally of the same class, but actually much inferior, +which were ranging all seas to protect British commerce. That this +should suffer, and in some considerable degree, from the operations of +well-developed privateering enterprise, pursued by a maritime people +debarred from every other form of maritime activity, was to be +expected, and must be endured; but the frigates carried with them the +further menace, not indeed of serious injury to the colossal naval +power of Great Britain, but of mortification for defeats, which, +however reasonably to be accounted for by preponderance of force, are +not patiently accepted by a nation accustomed to regard itself as +invincible. There are few things more wearing than explaining adverse +results; and the moral effect of so satisfactory a reply as the +victory of the "Shannon" might well have weighed with an American +captain, not to risk prestige already gained, by seeking action when +conscious of deficient preparation. The clamor aroused in Great +Britain by the three rapidly succeeding captures of the "Guerrière," +"Macedonian," and "Java," was ample justification of the American +policy of securing superior force in single cruisers, throughout their +several classes; a policy entirely consistent with all sound military +principle. It should be remembered, however, that a cruiser is +intended generally to act singly, and depends upon herself alone for +that preponderance of strength which military effort usually seeks by +concentration of numbers. The <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_151" id="PageV2_151">[151]</a></span>advantage of great individual power, +therefore, does not apply so unqualifiedly to the components of +fleets, the superiority of which depends upon the mutual support of +its members, by efficient combination of movement, as well as upon +their separate power.</p> + +<p>Both the Government and people of Great Britain expected with some +confidence, from the large fleet placed under Sir John Warren, the +utter destruction of the frigates and of the American navy generally. +"We were in hopes, ere this," said a naval periodical in June, 1813, +"to have announced the capture of the American navy; and, as our +commander-in-chief on that station has sufficient force to effect so +desirable an object, we trust, before another month elapses, to lay +before our readers what we conceive ought long since to have +happened."<a name="FNanchor_143_143" id="FNanchor_143_143"></a><a href="#Footnote_143_143" class="fnanchor">[143]</a> The words of the Admiralty were more measured, as +responsible utterances are prone to be; but their tenor was the same. +Expressing to Warren disappointment with the results so far obtained, +they added: "It is of the highest importance to the <i>character</i> and +interests of the country that the naval force of the enemy should be +quickly and completely disposed of. Their Lordships therefore have +thought themselves justified at this moment in withdrawing ships from +other important services, for the purpose of placing under your +command a force with which you cannot fail to bring the naval war to a +termination, either by the capture of the American national vessels, +or by strictly blockading them in their own waters."<a name="FNanchor_144_144" id="FNanchor_144_144"></a><a href="#Footnote_144_144" class="fnanchor">[144]</a> This +expectancy doubtless weighed with Broke; and probably also prompted a +challenge sent to Decatur's squadron to meet two British frigates, +under pledge of fair play, and of safe return if victorious. In the +latter case they at least would be badly injured; so in <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_152" id="PageV2_152">[152]</a></span>either event +the blockaders would be relieved of much of their burden.</p> + +<p>The presence of several American frigates, blockaded close to the +point where Narragansett Bay and Long Island Sound meet, constituted a +great inconvenience to all that region, by attracting thither so many +enemy's cruisers. To a coasting trade—then so singularly +important—projecting headlands, or capes, are the places of greatest +exposure; in this resembling the danger entailed by salients in all +military lines, in fortification or in the field. Traffic between New +England and New York, general and local, had derived a further impetus +from the fact that Newport, not being included in the commercial +blockade, could still receive external supplies by neutral vessels. +Intercourse depended largely on these waters; and it was to them a +grave misfortune that there were no United States frigates left in New +York to divert the enemy's attention. The vexations entailed were +forcibly presented by the Governor of Connecticut.<a name="FNanchor_145_145" id="FNanchor_145_145"></a><a href="#Footnote_145_145" class="fnanchor">[145]</a> "The British +force stationed in our waters having occasioned great inquietude along +the whole of our maritime frontier, every precaution consistent with +due regard to the general safety has been adopted for its +protection.... In our present state of preparedness, it is believed a +descent upon our coast will not be attempted; a well-grounded hope is +entertained that it will be attended with little success. +Unfortunately, we have not the means of rendering our navigation +equally secure. Serious depredations have been committed even in our +harbors, and to such an extent that the usual communication through +the Sound is almost wholly interrupted. Thus, while anxiously engaged +in protecting our public ships [Decatur's], we are doomed to witness +the unrestrained capture of our private vessels, and the consequent +suspension of commercial pursuits." <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_153" id="PageV2_153">[153]</a></span>As "the disapprobation of the war +by the people of Connecticut had been publicly declared through the +proper organs shortly after hostilities commenced,"<a name="FNanchor_146_146" id="FNanchor_146_146"></a><a href="#Footnote_146_146" class="fnanchor">[146]</a> it may be +supposed the conditions described, accompanied by continual alarms +withdrawing the militiaman from his shop or his harvest, to repel +petty invasion, did not tend to conciliate opinion. An officer of the +Connecticut militia wrote in December, "Our engagements with the enemy +have become so frequent that it would be in vain to attempt a +particular statement of each."<a name="FNanchor_147_147" id="FNanchor_147_147"></a><a href="#Footnote_147_147" class="fnanchor">[147]</a></p> + +<p>Similar conditions prevailed along the entire seaboard, from Maine to +Georgia; being of course greatest where inland navigation with wide +entrances, like Long Island Sound, had given particular development to +the coasting trade, and at the same time afforded to pursuers +particular immunity from ordinary dangers of the sea. Incidental +confirmation of the closeness of the hostile pressure is afforded by +Bainbridge's report of the brig "Siren's" arrival at Boston, June 11, +1813, from New Orleans. "Although at sea between thirty and forty +days, and great time along our blockaded coast, she did not see one +enemy's cruiser."<a name="FNanchor_148_148" id="FNanchor_148_148"></a><a href="#Footnote_148_148" class="fnanchor">[148]</a> The cause is evident. The Chesapeake and +Delaware were blockaded from within. Ships watching New York and Long +Island Sound would be far inside the course of one destined to Boston +from the southward. From Hatteras to the Florida line the enemy's +vessels, mostly of small class, kept in summer well inside the line +from cape to cape, harassing even the water traffic behind the +sea-islands; while at Boston, her port of arrival, the "Siren" was +favored by Broke's procedure. In his eagerness to secure action with +the "Chesapeake," he had detached his consort, the "Tenedos," with +orders not to rejoin until <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_154" id="PageV2_154">[154]</a></span>June 14. Under cover of her absence, and +the "Shannon's" return to Halifax with her prize, the "Siren" slipped +into a harbor wholly relieved of the enemy's presence. With such +conditions, a voyage along the coast could well be outside the British +line of cruising.</p> + +<p>Owing to the difficulty of the New York entrance, except with good +pilotage, and to the absence thence of ships of war after Decatur's +departure, that port ceased to present any features of naval activity; +except as connected with the lake squadrons, which depended upon it +for supplies of all kinds. The blockade of the Sound affected its +domestic trade; and after May its external commerce shared the +inconveniences of the commercial blockade, then applied to it, and +made at least technically effective. What this pressure in the end +became is shown by a casual mention a year later, under the heading +"progress of luxury. A private stock of wine brought the average +'extraordinary' price of twenty-five dollars the gallon; while at the +same period one auction lot of prize goods, comprising three decanters +and twelve tumblers, sold for one hundred and twelve dollars."<a name="FNanchor_149_149" id="FNanchor_149_149"></a><a href="#Footnote_149_149" class="fnanchor">[149]</a> +The arrival in August, 1813, of a vessel in distress, which, like the +"Siren," had passed along the whole Southern coast without seeing a +hostile cruiser, would seem to show some lapse of watchfulness; but, +although there were the occasional evasions which attend all +blockades, the general fact of neutrals turned away was established. A +flotilla of a dozen gunboats was kept in commission in the bay, but +under an officer not of the regular navy. As might readily have been +foreseen from conditions, and from experience elsewhere, the national +gunboat experiment had abundantly shown that vessels of that class +were not only excessively costly in expenditure, and lamentably +inefficient in results, as compared with seagoing cruisers, but were +also deleterious to the professional character of officers <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_155" id="PageV2_155">[155]</a></span>and +seamen. Two years before the war Captain Campbell, then in command +both at Charleston and Savannah, had commented on the unofficer-like +neglect noticeable in the gunboats, and Gordon now reported the same +effect upon the crew of the "Constellation," while thus detached for +harbor defence.<a name="FNanchor_150_150" id="FNanchor_150_150"></a><a href="#Footnote_150_150" class="fnanchor">[150]</a> The Secretary of the Navy, affirming the general +observation, remarked that officers having knowledge of their business +were averse to gunboat duty, while those who had it yet to acquire +were unwilling, because there it could not be learned. "It is a +service in which those who are to form the officers for the ships of +war ought not to be employed."<a name="FNanchor_151_151" id="FNanchor_151_151"></a><a href="#Footnote_151_151" class="fnanchor">[151]</a> He therefore had recommended the +commissioning of volunteer officers for this work. This local New York +harbor guard at times convoyed coasters in the Sound, and at times +interfered, both in that quarter and off Sandy Hook, to prevent small +cruisers or boats of the enemy from effecting seizures of vessels, +close in shore or run on the beach. Such military action possesses a +certain minor value, diminishing in some measure the grand total of +loss; but it is not capable of modifying seriously the broad results +of a strong commercial blockade.</p> + +<p>The Delaware and the Chesapeake—the latter particularly—became the +principal scenes of active operations by the British navy. Here in the +early part of the summer there seems to have been a formed +determination on the part of Sir John Warren to satisfy his Government +and people by evidence of military exertion in various quarters. Rear +Admiral George Cockburn, an officer of distinction and energy, had +been ordered at the end of 1812 from the Cadiz station, with four +ships of the line and several smaller cruisers, to re-enforce Warren. +This strong detachment, a <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_156" id="PageV2_156">[156]</a></span>token at once of the relaxing demand upon +the British navy in Europe, and of the increasing purpose of the +British Government towards the United States, joined the +commander-in-chief at Bermuda, and accompanied him to the Chesapeake +in March. Cockburn became second in command. Early in April the fleet +began moving up the bay; an opening incident, already mentioned,<a name="FNanchor_152_152" id="FNanchor_152_152"></a><a href="#Footnote_152_152" class="fnanchor">[152]</a> +being the successful attack by its boats upon several +letters-of-marque and privateers in the Rappahannock upon the 3d of +the month. Some of the schooners there captured were converted into +tenders, useful for penetrating the numerous waterways which +intersected the country in every direction.</p> + +<p>The fleet, comprising several ships of the line, besides numerous +smaller vessels, continued slowly upwards, taking time to land parties +in many quarters, keeping the country in perpetual alarm. The +multiplicity and diverseness of its operations, the particular object +of which could at no moment be foreseen, made it impossible to combine +resistance. The harassment was necessarily extreme, and the sustained +suspense wearing; for, with reports continually arriving, now from one +shore and now from the other, each neighborhood thought itself the +next to be attacked. Defence depended wholly upon militia, hastily +assembled, with whom local considerations are necessarily predominant. +But while thus spreading consternation on either side, diverting +attention from his main objective, the purpose of the British admiral +was clear to his own mind. It was "to cut off the enemy's supplies, +and destroy their foundries, stores, and public works, by penetrating +the rivers at the head of the Chesapeake."</p> + +<div class="img"><a name="imagep156" id="imagep156"></a> +<a href="images/imagep156.jpg"> +<img border="0" src="images/imagep156.jpg" width="40%" alt="Outline Map of Chesapeake Bay and Rivers" /></a><br /> +<p class="cen" style="margin-top: .2em;">OUTLINE MAP OF CHESAPEAKE BAY AND RIVERS<span class="totoi"><a href="#toi">ToList</a></span></p> +</div> + +<p>On April 16 an advanced division arrived off the mouth of the +Patapsco, a dozen miles from Baltimore. There others successively +joined, until the whole force was reported on <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_157" id="PageV2_157">[157]</a></span>the 22d to be three +seventy-fours, with several frigates and smaller vessels, making a +total of fifteen. The body of the fleet remained stationary, causing +the city a strong anticipation of attack; an impression conducing to +retain there troops which, under a reasonable reliance upon adequate +fortifications, might have been transferred to the probable scene of +operations, sufficiently indicated by its intrinsic importance. Warren +now constituted a light squadron of two frigates, with a half-dozen +smaller vessels, including some of those recently captured. These he +placed in charge of Cockburn and despatched to the head of the bay. In +addition to the usual crews there went about four hundred of the naval +brigade, consisting of marines and seamen in nearly equal numbers. +This, with a handful of army artillerists, was the entire force. With +these Cockburn went first up the Elk River, where Washington thirty +years before had taken shipping on his way to the siege of Yorktown. +At Frenchtown, notwithstanding a six-gun battery lately erected, a +landing was effected on April 29, and a quantity of flour and army +equipments were destroyed, together with five bay schooners. Many +cattle were likewise seized; Cockburn, in this and other instances, +offering to pay in British government bills, provided no resistance +was attempted in the neighborhood. From Frenchtown he went round to +the Susquehanna, to obtain more cattle from an island, just below +Havre de Grace; but being there confronted on May 2 by an American +flag, hoisted over a battery at the town, he proceeded to attack the +following day. A nominal resistance was made; but as the British loss, +here and at Frenchtown, was one wounded on each occasion, no great +cause for pride was left with the defenders. Holding the inhabitants +responsible for the opposition in their neighborhood, he determined to +punish the town. Some houses were burned. The guns of the battery were +then embarked; <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_158" id="PageV2_158">[158]</a></span>and during this process Cockburn himself, with a small +party, marched three or four miles north of the place to a cannon +foundry, where he destroyed the guns and material found, together with +the buildings and machinery.</p> + +<p>"Our small division," he reported to Warren, "has been during the +whole of this day on shore, in the centre of the enemy's country, and +on his high road between Baltimore and Philadelphia." The feat +testified rather to the military imbecility of the United States +Government during the last decade than to any signal valor or +enterprise on the part of the invaders. Enough and to spare of both +there doubtless was among them; for the expedition was of a kind +continuously familiar to the British navy during the past twenty +years, under far greater difficulty, in many parts of the world. +Seeing the trifling force engaged, the mortification to Americans must +be that no greater demand was made upon it for the display of its +military virtues. Besides the destruction already mentioned, a +division of boats went up the Susquehanna, destroyed five vessels and +more flour; after which, "everything being completed to my utmost +wishes, the division embarked and returned to the ships, after being +twenty-two hours in constant exertion." From thence Cockburn went +round to the Sassafras River, where a similar series of small injuries +was inflicted, and two villages, Georgetown and Frederickstown, were +destroyed, in consequence of local resistance offered, by which five +British were wounded. Assurance coming from several quarters that no +further armed opposition would be made, and as there was "now neither +public property, vessels, nor warlike stores remaining in the +neighborhood," the expedition returned down the bay, May 7, and +regained the fleet.<a name="FNanchor_153_153" id="FNanchor_153_153"></a><a href="#Footnote_153_153" class="fnanchor">[153]</a></p> + +<p>The history of the Delaware and its waters during this <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_159" id="PageV2_159">[159]</a></span>period was +very much the same as that of the Chesapeake; except that, the water +system of the lower bay being less extensive and practicable, and the +river above narrower, there was not the scope for general marauding, +nor the facility for systematic destruction, which constituted the +peculiar exposure of the Chesapeake and gave Cockburn his opportunity. +Neither was there the same shelter from the sweep of the ocean, nor +any naval establishment to draw attention. For these reasons, the +Chesapeake naturally attracted much more active operations; and +Virginia, which formed so large a part of its coast-line, was the home +of the President. She was also the leading member of the group of +states which, in the internal contests of American politics, was +generally thought to represent hatred to Great Britain and attachment +to France. In both bays the American Government maintained flotillas +of gunboats and small schooners, together with—in the Delaware at +least—a certain number of great rowing barges, or galleys; but, +although creditable energy was displayed, it is impossible to detect +that, even in waters which might be thought suited to their particular +qualities, these small craft exerted any substantial influence upon +the movements of the enemy. Their principal effect appears to have +been to excite among the inhabitants a certain amount of unreasonable +expectation, followed inevitably by similar unreasoning complaint.</p> + +<p>It is probable, however, that they to some extent restricted the +movements of small foraging parties beyond the near range of their +ships; and they served also the purpose of watching and reporting the +dispositions of the British fleet. When it returned downwards from +Cockburn's expedition, it was followed by a division of these +schooners and gunboats, under Captain Charles Gordon of the navy, who +remained cruising for nearly a month below the Potomac, constantly +sighting the enemy, but without <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_160" id="PageV2_160">[160]</a></span>an opportunity offering for a blow to +be struck under conditions favorable to either party. "The position +taken by the enemy's ships," reported Gordon, "together with the +constant protection given their small cruisers, particularly in the +night, rendered any offensive operations on our part +impracticable."<a name="FNanchor_154_154" id="FNanchor_154_154"></a><a href="#Footnote_154_154" class="fnanchor">[154]</a> In the Delaware, a British corvette, running upon +a shoal with a falling tide, was attacked in this situation by a +division of ten gunboats which was at hand. Such conditions were +unusually favorable to them, and, though a frigate was within plain +sight, she could not get within range on account of the shoalness of +water; yet the two hours' action which followed did no serious injury +to the grounded ship. Meantime one of the gunboats drifted from its +position, and was swept by the tide out of supporting distance from +its fellows. The frigate and sloop then manned boats, seven in number, +pulled towards her, and despite a plucky resistance carried her; their +largely superior numbers easily climbing on board her low-lying deck. +Although the record of gunboats in all parts of the world is mostly +unfruitful, some surprise cannot but be felt at the immunity +experienced by a vessel aground under such circumstances.<a name="FNanchor_155_155" id="FNanchor_155_155"></a><a href="#Footnote_155_155" class="fnanchor">[155]</a></p> + +<p>On May 13 Captain Stewart of the "Constellation" reported from Norfolk +that the enemy's fleet had returned down the bay; fifteen sail being +at anchor in a line stretching from Cape Henry to near Hampton Roads. +Little had yet been done by the authorities to remedy the defenceless +condition of the port, which he had deplored in his letter of March +17; and he apprehended a speedy attack either upon Hampton, on the +north shore of the James River, important as commanding communications +between Norfolk and the country above, or upon Craney Island, +<span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_161" id="PageV2_161">[161]</a></span>covering the entrance to the Elizabeth River, through the narrow +channel of which the navy yard must be approached. There was a party +now at work throwing up a battery on the island, on which five hundred +troops were stationed, but he feared these preparations were begun too +late. He had assigned seven gunboats to assist the defence. It was +clear to his mind that, if Norfolk was their object, active operations +would begin at one of these approaches, and not immediately about the +place itself. Meanwhile, he would await developments, and postpone his +departure to Boston, whither he had been ordered to command the +"Constitution."</p> + +<p>Much to Stewart's surprise, considering the force of the enemy, which +he, as a seaman, could estimate accurately and compare with what he +knew to be the conditions confronting them, most of the British fleet +soon after put to sea with the commander-in-chief, leaving Cockburn +with one seventy-four and four frigates to hold the bay. This apparent +abandonment, or at best concession of further time to Craney Island, +aroused in him contempt as well as wonder. He had commented a month +before on their extremely circumspect management; "they act +cautiously, and never separate so far from one another that they +cannot in the course of a few hours give to each other support, by +dropping down or running up, as the wind or tide serve."<a name="FNanchor_156_156" id="FNanchor_156_156"></a><a href="#Footnote_156_156" class="fnanchor">[156]</a> Such +precaution, however, was not out of place when confronted with the +presence of gunboats capable of utilizing calms and local conditions. +To avoid exposure to useless injury is not to pass the bounds of +military prudence. It was another matter to have brought so large a +force, and to depart with no greater results than those of Frenchtown +and Havre de Grace. "They do not appear disposed to put anything to +risk, or to make an attack where they are likely to meet with +opposition. Their <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_162" id="PageV2_162">[162]</a></span>conduct while in these waters has been highly +disgraceful to their arms, and evinces the respect and dread they have +for their opponents."<a name="FNanchor_157_157" id="FNanchor_157_157"></a><a href="#Footnote_157_157" class="fnanchor">[157]</a> He added a circumstance which throws +further light upon the well-known discontent of the British crews and +their deterioration in quality, under a prolonged war and the +confinement attending the impressment system. "Their loss in prisoners +and deserters has been very considerable; the latter are coming up to +Norfolk almost daily, and their naked bodies are frequently fished up +on the bay shore, where they must have been drowned in attempting to +swim. They all give the same account of the dissatisfaction of their +crews, and their detestation of the service they are engaged in."<a name="FNanchor_158_158" id="FNanchor_158_158"></a><a href="#Footnote_158_158" class="fnanchor">[158]</a> +Deserters, however, usually have tales acceptable to those to whom +they come.</p> + +<p>Whether Warren was judicious in postponing attack may be doubted, but +he had not lost sight of the Admiralty's hint about American frigates. +There were just two in the waters of the Chesapeake; the +"Constellation," 36, at Norfolk, and the "Adams," 24, Captain Charles +Morris, in the Potomac. The British admiral had been notified that a +division of troops would be sent to Bermuda, to be under his command +for operations on shore, and he was now gone to fetch them. Early in +June he returned, bringing these soldiers, two thousand six hundred +and fifty in number.<a name="FNanchor_159_159" id="FNanchor_159_159"></a><a href="#Footnote_159_159" class="fnanchor">[159]</a> From his Gazette letters he evidently had in +view the capture of Norfolk with the "Constellation"; for when he +designates Hampton and Craney Island as points of attack, it is +because of their relations to Norfolk.<a name="FNanchor_160_160" id="FNanchor_160_160"></a><a href="#Footnote_160_160" class="fnanchor">[160]</a> This justified the +forecast of Stewart, who had now departed; the command of the +"Constellation" devolving soon after upon Captain Gordon. In +connection with the military detachment intrusted to Warren, the +Admiralty, while declining <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_163" id="PageV2_163">[163]</a></span>to give particular directions as to its +employment, wrote him: "Against a maritime country like America, the +chief towns and establishments of which are situated upon navigable +rivers, a force of the kind under your orders must necessarily be +peculiarly formidable.... In the choice of objects of attack, it will +naturally occur to you that on every account any attempt which should +have the effect of crippling the enemy's naval force should have a +preference."<a name="FNanchor_161_161" id="FNanchor_161_161"></a><a href="#Footnote_161_161" class="fnanchor">[161]</a> Except for the accidental presence of Decatur's +frigates in New London, as yet scarcely known to the British +commander-in-chief, Norfolk, more than any other place, met this +prescription of his Government. His next movements, therefore, may be +considered as resulting directly from his instructions.</p> + +<p>The first occurrence was a somewhat prolonged engagement between a +division of fifteen gunboats and the frigate "Junon," which, having +been sent to destroy vessels at the mouth of the James River, was +caught becalmed and alone in the upper part of Hampton Roads; no other +British vessel being nearer than three miles. The cannonade continued +for three quarters of an hour, when a breeze springing up brought two +of her consorts to the "Junon's" aid. The gunboats, incapable of close +action with a single frigate in a working breeze, necessarily now +retreated. They had suffered but slightly, one killed and two wounded; +but retired with the confidence, always found in the accounts of such +affairs, that they had inflicted great damage upon the enemy. The +commander of a United States revenue cutter, lately captured, who was +on board the frigate at the time, brought back word subsequently that +she had lost one man killed and two or three wounded.<a name="FNanchor_162_162" id="FNanchor_162_162"></a><a href="#Footnote_162_162" class="fnanchor">[162]</a> The British +official reports do not allude to the affair. As <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_164" id="PageV2_164">[164]</a></span>regards positive +results, however, it may be affirmed with considerable assurance that +the military value of gunboats in their day, as a measure of coast +defence, was not what they effected, but the caution imposed upon the +enemy by the apprehension of what they might effect, did this or that +combination of circumstances occur. That the circumstances actually +almost never arose detracted little from this moral influence. The +making to one's self a picture of possible consequences is a powerful +factor in most military operations; and the gunboat is not without its +representative to-day in the sphere of imaginative warfare.</p> + +<p>The "Junon" business was a casual episode. Warren was already +preparing for his attack on Craney Island. This little strip of +ground, a half-mile long by two hundred yards across, lies within easy +gunshot to the west of the Elizabeth River, a narrow channel-way, +three hundred yards from edge to edge, which from Hampton Roads leads +due south, through extensive flats, to Norfolk and Portsmouth. The +navy yard is four miles above the island, on the west side of the +river, the banks of which there have risen above the water. Up to and +beyond Craney Island the river-bed proper, though fairly clear, is +submerged and hidden amid the surrounding expanse of shoal water. Good +pilotage, therefore, is necessary, and incidental thereto the +reduction beforehand of an enemy's positions commanding the approach. +Of these Craney Island was the first. From it the flats which +constitute the under-water banks of the Elizabeth extend north towards +Hampton Roads, for a distance of two miles, and are not traversable by +vessels powerful enough to act against batteries. For nearly half a +mile the depth is less than four feet, while the sand immediately +round the island was bare when the tide was out.<a name="FNanchor_163_163" id="FNanchor_163_163"></a><a href="#Footnote_163_163" class="fnanchor">[163]</a> Attack here was +<span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_165" id="PageV2_165">[165]</a></span>possible only by boats armed with light cannon and carrying troops. On +the west the island was separated from the mainland by a narrow strip +of water, fordable by infantry at low tide. It was therefore +determined to make a double assault,—one on the north, by fifteen +boats, carrying, besides their crews, five hundred soldiers; the other +on the west, by a division eight hundred strong,<a name="FNanchor_164_164" id="FNanchor_164_164"></a><a href="#Footnote_164_164" class="fnanchor">[164]</a> to be landed +four miles away, at the mouth of the Nansemond River. The garrison of +the island numbered five hundred and eighty, and one hundred and fifty +seamen were landed from the "Constellation" to man one of the +principal batteries.</p> + +<p>The British plan labored under the difficulty that opposite conditions +of tide were desirable for the two parties which were to act in +concert. The front attack demanded high water, in order that under the +impulse of the oars the boats might get as near as possible before +they took the ground, whence the advance to the assault must be by +wading. The flanking movement required low water, to facilitate +passing the ford. Between the two, the hour was fixed for an ebbing +tide, probably to allow for delays, and to assure the arrival of the +infantry so as to profit by the least depth. At 11 <span class="fakesc">A.M.</span> of +June 22 the boat division arrived off the northwest point of the +island, opposite the battery manned by the seamen, in that day +notoriously among the best of artillerists. A difference of opinion as +to the propriety of advancing at all here showed itself among the +senior naval officers; for there will always be among seamen a dislike +to operating over unknown ground with a falling tide. The captain in +command, however, overruled hesitations; doubtless feeling that in a +combined movement the particular interest of one division must yield +<span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_166" id="PageV2_166">[166]</a></span>to the requirements of mutual support. A spirited forward dash was +therefore made; but the guiding boat, sixty yards ahead of the others, +grounded a hundred yards from the battery. One or two others, +disregarding her signal, shared her mishap; and two were sunk by the +American fire. Under these circumstances a seaman, sounding with a +boat hook, declared that he found along side three or four feet of +slimy mud. This was considered decisive, and the attack was abandoned.</p> + +<p>The shore division had already retreated, having encountered +obstacles, the precise character of which is not stated. Warren's +report simply said, "In consequence of the representation of the +officer commanding the troops, of the difficulty of their passing over +from the land, I considered that the persevering in the attempt would +cost more men than the number with us would permit, as the other forts +must have been stormed before the frigate and dockyard could be +destroyed." The enterprise was therefore abandoned at the threshold, +because of probable ulterior difficulties, the degree of which it +would require to-day unprofitable labor even to conjecture; but +reduced as the affair in its upshot was to an abortive demonstration, +followed by no serious effort, it probably was not reckoned at home to +have fulfilled the Admiralty's injunctions, that the character as well +as the interest of the country required certain results. The loss was +trifling,—three killed, sixteen wounded, sixty-two missing.<a name="FNanchor_165_165" id="FNanchor_165_165"></a><a href="#Footnote_165_165" class="fnanchor">[165]</a></p> + +<p>Having relinquished his purpose against Craney Island, and with it, +apparently, all serious thought of the navy yard and the +"Constellation", Warren next turned his attention to Hampton. On the +early morning of June 26 two thousand troops were landed to take +possession of the place, which they did with slight resistance. Three +stand <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_167" id="PageV2_167">[167]</a></span>of colors were captured and seven field guns, with their +equipment and ammunition. The defences of the town were destroyed; but +as no further use was made of the advantage gained, the affair +amounted to nothing more than an illustration on a larger scale of the +guerilla depredation carried on on all sides of the Chesapeake. With +it ended Warren's attempts against Norfolk. His force may have been +really inadequate to more; certainly it was far smaller than was +despatched to the same quarter the following year; but the Admiralty +probably was satisfied by this time that he had not the enterprise +necessary for his position, and a successor was appointed during the +following winter.</p> + +<p>For two months longer the British fleet as a whole remained in the +bay, engaged in desultory operations, which had at least the effect of +greatly increasing their local knowledge, and in so far facilitating +the more serious undertakings of the next season. The Chesapeake was +not so much blockaded as occupied. On June 29 Captain Cassin of the +navy yard reported that six sail of the line, with four frigates, were +at the mouth of the Elizabeth, and that the day before a squadron of +thirteen—frigates, brigs, and schooners—had gone ten miles up the +James, causing the inhabitants of Smithfield and the surroundings to +fly from their homes, terrified by the transactions at Hampton. The +lighter vessels continued some distance farther towards Richmond. A +renewal of the attack was naturally expected; but on July 11 the fleet +quitted Hampton Roads, and again ascended the Chesapeake, leaving a +division of ten sail in Lynnhaven Bay, under Cape Henry. Two days +later the main body entered the Potomac, in which, as has before been +mentioned, was the frigate "Adams"; but she lay above the Narrows, out +of reach of such efforts as Warren was willing to risk. He went as +high as Blakiston Island, twenty-five to thirty miles from the river's +mouth, <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_168" id="PageV2_168">[168]</a></span>and from there Cockburn, with a couple of frigates and two +smaller vessels, tried to get beyond the Kettle Bottom Shoals, an +intricate bit of navigation ten miles higher up, but still below the +Narrows.<a name="FNanchor_166_166" id="FNanchor_166_166"></a><a href="#Footnote_166_166" class="fnanchor">[166]</a> Two of his detachment, however, took the ground; and the +enterprise of approaching Washington by this route was for that time +abandoned. A year afterwards it was accomplished by Captain Gordon, of +the British Navy, who carried two frigates and a division of bomb +vessels as far as Alexandria.</p> + +<p>Two United States gunboats, "The Scorpion" and "Asp", lying in +Yeocomico River, a shallow tributary of the Potomac ten miles from the +Chesapeake, were surprised there July 14 by the entrance of the enemy. +Getting under way hastily, the "Scorpion" succeeded in reaching the +main stream and retreating up it; but the "Asp", being a bad sailer, +and the wind contrary, had to go back. She was pursued by boats; and +although an attack by three was beaten off, she was subsequently +carried when they were re-enforced to five. Her commander, Midshipman +Sigourney, was killed, and of the twenty-one in her crew nine were +either killed or wounded. The assailants were considerably superior in +numbers, as they need to be in such undertakings. They lost eight. +This was the second United States vessel thus captured in the +Chesapeake this year; the revenue cutter "Surveyor" having been taken +in York River, by the boats of the frigate "Narcissus", on the night +of June 12. In the latter instance, the sword of the commander, who +survived, was returned to him the next day by the captor, with a +letter testifying "an admiration on the part of your opponents, such +as I have seldom witnessed, for your gallant and desperate attempt to +defend your vessel against more than double your numbers."<a name="FNanchor_167_167" id="FNanchor_167_167"></a><a href="#Footnote_167_167" class="fnanchor">[167]</a> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_169" id="PageV2_169">[169]</a></span>Trivial in themselves as these affairs were, it is satisfactory to +notice that in both the honor of the flag was upheld with a spirit +which is worth even more than victory. Sigourney had before received +the commendation of Captain Morris, no mean judge of an officer's +merits.</p> + +<p>The British fleet left the Potomac July 21, and went on up the bay, +spreading alarm on every side. Morris, with a body of seamen and +marines, was ordered from the "Adams" to Annapolis, the capital of +Maryland, on the River Severn, to command the defences. These he +reported, on August 13, to be in the "miserable condition" +characteristic of all the national preparations to meet hostilities. +With a view to entering, the enemy was sounding the bar, an operation +which frequently must be carried on beyond protection by ships' guns; +"but we have no floating force to molest them." The bulk of the fleet +was above the Severn, as were both admirals, and Morris found their +movements "contradictory, as usual."<a name="FNanchor_168_168" id="FNanchor_168_168"></a><a href="#Footnote_168_168" class="fnanchor">[168]</a> As many as twenty sail had +at one time been visible from the state-house dome in the city. On +August 8, fifteen, three of which were seventy-fours, were counted +from North Point, at the mouth of the Patapsco, on which Baltimore +lies. Kent Island, on the eastern shore of the bay abreast Annapolis, +was taken possession of, and occupied for some days. At the same +period attacks were reported in other quarters on that side of the +Chesapeake, as elsewhere in the extensive basin penetrated by its +tributaries. The prosecution of these various enterprises was attended +with the usual amount of scuffling encounter, which associates itself +naturally with coastwise warfare of a guerilla character. The fortune +of war inclined now to one side, now to the other, in the particular +cases; but in the general there could be no doubt as to which party +was getting the worst, undergoing besides almost all the suffering and +quite all <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_170" id="PageV2_170">[170]</a></span>the harassment. This is the necessary penalty of the +defensive, when inadequate.</p> + +<p>Throughout most of this summer of conflict there went on, singularly +enough, a certain amount of trade by licensed vessels, neutral and +American, which passed down Chesapeake Bay and went to sea. Doubtless +the aggregate amount of traffic thus maintained was inconsiderable, as +compared with normal conditions, but its allowance by either party to +the war is noticeable,—by the British, because of the blockade +declared by them; by the Americans, because of the evident +inexpediency of permitting to depart vessels having full knowledge of +conditions, and almost certain to be boarded by the enemy. Sailing +from blockaded ports is of course promoted in most instances by the +nation blockaded, for it is in support of trade; and with the sea +close at hand, although there is risk, there is also chance of safe +passage through a belt of danger, relatively narrow and entered at +will. The case is quite different where a hazardous navigation of +sixty to a hundred miles, increasing in intricacy at its further end, +and lined throughout with enemy's cruisers, interposes before the sea +is reached. The difficulty here is demonstrated by the fact that the +"Adams," a ship by no means large or exceptionally fettered by +navigational difficulties, under a young captain burning to exercise +his first command in war, waited four months, even after the bulk of +the enemy's fleet had gone, before she was able to get through; and +finally did so only under such conditions of weather as caused her to +miss her way and strike bottom.</p> + +<p>The motive of the British for collusion is clear. The Chesapeake was +the heart of the wheat and flour production of the United States, and +while some provision had been made for meeting the wants of the West +Indies, and of the armies in Canada and Spain, by refraining from +commercial blockade of Boston and other eastern ports, <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_171" id="PageV2_171">[171]</a></span>these +necessary food supplies reached those places only after an expensive +transport which materially increased their price; the more as they +were carried by land to the point of exportation, it not suiting the +British policy to connive at coasting trade even for that purpose. A +neutral or licensed vessel, sailing from the Chesapeake with flour for +a port friendly to the United States, could be seized under cover of +the commercial blockade, which she was violating, sent to Halifax, and +condemned for her technical offence. The cargo then was available for +transport whither required, the whole transaction being covered by a +veil of legality; but it is plain that the risks to a merchant, in +attempting <i>bonâ fide</i> to run a blockade like that of Chesapeake Bay, +exceeded too far any probable gain to have been undertaken without +some assurance of compensation, which did not appear on the surface.</p> + +<p>Taken in connection with intelligence obtained by this means, the +British motive is apparent; but why did the United States +administration tolerate procedures which betrayed its counsels, and +directly helped to sustain the enemy's war? Something perhaps is due +to executive weakness in a government constituted by popular vote; +more, probably, at least during the period when immediate military +danger did not threaten, to a wish to frustrate the particular +advantage reaped by New England, through its exemption from the +restrictions of the commercial blockade. When breadstuffs were pouring +out of the country through the coast-line of a section which gloried +in its opposition to the war,<a name="FNanchor_169_169" id="FNanchor_169_169"></a><a href="#Footnote_169_169" class="fnanchor">[169]</a> and lost no opportunity to renew +the <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_172" id="PageV2_172">[172]</a></span>declaration of its disapproval and its criticism of the +Government, it was at least natural, perhaps even expedient, to wink +at proceedings which transferred elsewhere some of the profits, and +did not materially increase the advantage of the enemy. But +circumstances became very different when a fleet appeared in the bay, +the numbers and action of which showed a determination to carry +hostile operations wherever conditions permitted. Then, betrayal of +such conditions by passing vessels became an unbearable evil; and at +the same time the Administration had forced upon its attention the +unpleasant but notorious fact that, by the active complicity of many +of its own citizens, not only the flour trade continued, but the wants +of the blockading squadrons along the coast were being supplied. +Neutrals, real or pretended, and coasting vessels, assuming a lawful +destination, took on board cattle, fresh vegetables, and other stores +acceptable to ships confined to salt provisions, and either went +direct to enemy's ports or were captured by collusion. News was +received of contracts made by the British admiral at Bermuda for fresh +beef to be supplied from American ports, by American dealers, in +American vessels; while Halifax teemed with similar transactions, +without serious attempt at concealment.</p> + +<p>Such aid and comfort to an enemy is by no means unexampled in the +history of war, particularly where one of the belligerents is shrewdly +commercial; but it is scarcely too much to say that it attained +unusual proportions at this time in the United States, and was +countenanced by a public opinion which was more than tolerant, +particularly in New England, where the attitude of the majority +towards the Government approached hostility. As a manifestation of +contemporary national character, of unwillingness to subordinate +personal gain to public welfare, to loyalty to country, it was +pitiable and shameful, particularly as it affected large communities; +but its instructive <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_173" id="PageV2_173">[173]</a></span>significance at this time is the evidence it +gives that forty years of confederation, nearly twenty-five being of +the closer union under the present Constitution, had not yet welded +the people into a whole, or created a consciousness truly national. +The capacity for patriotism was there, and readiness to suffer for +patriotic cause had been demonstrated by the War of Independence; but +the mass of Americans had not yet risen sufficiently above local +traditions and interests to discern clearly the noble ideal of +national unity, and vagueness of apprehension resulted inevitably in +lukewarmness of sentiment. This condition goes far to palliate actions +which it cannot excuse; the reproach of helping the enemies of one's +country is somewhat less when the nation itself has scarcely emerged +to recognition, as it afterwards did under the inspiring watchword, +"The Union."</p> + +<p>The necessity to control these conditions of clandestine intercourse +found official expression in a message of the President to Congress, +July 20, 1813,<a name="FNanchor_170_170" id="FNanchor_170_170"></a><a href="#Footnote_170_170" class="fnanchor">[170]</a> recommending "an immediate and effectual +prohibition of all exports" for a limited time; subject to removal by +executive order, in case the commercial blockade were raised. A +summary of the conditions above related was given, as a cause for +action. The President's further comment revealed the continuity of +thought and policy which dictated his recommendation, and connected +the proposed measure with the old series of commercial restrictions, +associated with his occupancy of the State Department under +Jefferson's administration. "The system of the enemy, combining with +the blockade of our ports special licenses to neutral vessels, and +insidious discrimination between different ports of the United States, +if not counteracted, will have the effect of diminishing very +materially the pressure of the war on the enemy, and encourage +perseverance in it, and at the same time will <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_174" id="PageV2_174">[174]</a></span>leave the general +commerce of the United States under all the pressure the enemy can +impose, thus subjecting the whole to British regulation, in +subserviency to British monopoly."</p> + +<p>The House passed a bill meeting the President's suggestions, but it +was rejected by the Senate on July 28. The Executive then fell back on +its own war powers; and on July 29 the Secretary of the Navy, by +direction of the President, issued a general order to all naval +officers in command, calling attention to "the palpable and criminal +intercourse held with the enemy's forces blockading and invading the +waters of the United States." "This intercourse," he explicitly added, +"is not only carried on by foreigners, under the specious garb of +friendly flags, who convey provisions, water, and succors of all kinds +(ostensibly destined for friendly ports, in the face, too, of a +declared and rigorous blockade),<a name="FNanchor_171_171" id="FNanchor_171_171"></a><a href="#Footnote_171_171" class="fnanchor">[171]</a> direct to the fleets and +stations of the enemy, with constant intelligence of our naval and +military force and preparation, ... but the same traffic, intercourse, +and intelligence is carried on with great subtlety and treachery by +profligate citizens, who, in vessels ostensibly navigating our own +waters, from port to port [coasters], find means to convey succors or +intelligence to the enemy, and elude the penalty of law."<a name="FNanchor_172_172" id="FNanchor_172_172"></a><a href="#Footnote_172_172" class="fnanchor">[172]</a> +Officers were therefore instructed to arrest all vessels, the +movements or situation of which indicated an intention to effect any +of the purposes indicated.</p> + +<p>A similar order was issued, August 5, by the War Department to army +officers.<a name="FNanchor_173_173" id="FNanchor_173_173"></a><a href="#Footnote_173_173" class="fnanchor">[173]</a> In accordance with his instructions, Captain Morris of +the "Adams," on July 29 or 30, stopped the ship "Monsoon," from +Alexandria. Her agent wrote a correspondent in Boston that, when the +bill failed in the <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_175" id="PageV2_175">[175]</a></span>Senate, he had had no doubt of her being allowed +to proceed, "but the Secretary and Mr. Madison have made a sort of +embargo, or directed the stoppage of vessels."<a name="FNanchor_174_174" id="FNanchor_174_174"></a><a href="#Footnote_174_174" class="fnanchor">[174]</a> He added that +another brig was lying in the river ready loaded, but held by the same +order. Morris's indorsement on the ship's papers shows the +barefacedness of the transaction. "Whereas the within-mentioned ship +'Monsoon' is laden with flour, and <i>must</i> pass within the control of +the enemy's squadron now within, and blockading Chesapeake Bay, if she +be allowed to proceed on her intended voyage, and as the enemy might +derive from her such intelligence and succor as would be serviceable +to themselves and injurious to the United States, I forbid her +proceeding while the enemy shall be so disposed as to prevent a +reasonable possibility of her getting to sea without falling into +their possession."<a name="FNanchor_175_175" id="FNanchor_175_175"></a><a href="#Footnote_175_175" class="fnanchor">[175]</a> At this writing the British had left the +Potomac itself, and the most of them were above. A week later, at +Charleston, a ship called the "Caroline" was visited by a United +States naval officer, and found with a license from Cockburn to carry +a cargo, free from molestation by British cruisers.<a name="FNanchor_176_176" id="FNanchor_176_176"></a><a href="#Footnote_176_176" class="fnanchor">[176]</a> "With flour +at Lisbon $13 per barrel, <i>no sale</i>, and at Halifax $20, <i>in demand</i>," +queries a Baltimore paper of the day, "where would all the vessels +that would in a few days have been off from Alexandria have gone, if +the 'Monsoon' had not been stopped? They would have been <i>captured</i> +and sent to Halifax."<a name="FNanchor_177_177" id="FNanchor_177_177"></a><a href="#Footnote_177_177" class="fnanchor">[177]</a></p> + +<p>Morris's action was in accordance with the Secretary's order, and went +no further than to stop a voyage which, in view of the existing +proclaimed blockade, and of the great British force at hand, bore +collusion on its face. The President's request for legislation, which +Congress had denied, went much further. It was a recurrence, and the +last, to the policy of commercial retaliation, fostered by <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_176" id="PageV2_176">[176]</a></span>himself +and Jefferson in preference to armed resistance. By such measures in +peace, and as far as commercial prosperity was concerned, they had +opened the nation's veins without vindicating its self-respect. The +military value of food supplies to the enemy in Canada and on the +coast, however, could not be contested; and during the recess of +Congress it received emphasis by a Canadian embargo upon the export of +grain. Hence, at the next session the President's recommendation of +July was given attention, and there was passed almost +immediately—December 17, 1813,—a sweeping embargo law, applicable +not only to external commerce but to coasters. As this ended the long +series of commercial restrictions, so was it also of limited duration +as compared with them, being withdrawn the following April.</p> + +<p>By the Act of December 17, as interpreted by the Treasury, foreign +merchant vessels might depart with cargoes already laden, except +provisions and military stores, which must be relanded; but nothing +could be shipped that was not already on board when the Act was +received. Coasters, even for accustomed voyages, could obtain +clearances only by permission from the President; and the rules for +such permission, given through the collectors, were extremely +stringent. In no case were the vessels permitted to leave interior +waters, proceeding from one sound or bay to another, and be "at sea" +for even a short distance; nor were they to be permitted to carry any +provisions, or supplies useful to an enemy, if there was the slightest +chance of their falling into his power. It would appear that the +orders of July 29 had been allowed to lapse after the great body of +the British left the Chesapeake; for Morris, still in the Potomac, +acknowledging the receipt of this Act on December 20, writes: "There +are several vessels below us in the river with flour. I have issued +orders to the gunboats to detain <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_177" id="PageV2_177">[177]</a></span>them, and as soon as the wind will +permit, shall proceed with this ship, to give all possible effect to +the Act." Six days afterwards, having gone down as he intended, he +found the British anchored off the mouth of the stream, at a point +where the bay is little more than five miles wide. "Two American brigs +passed down before us, and I have every reason to believe threw +themselves into the enemy's hands last Wednesday."<a name="FNanchor_178_178" id="FNanchor_178_178"></a><a href="#Footnote_178_178" class="fnanchor">[178]</a></p> + +<p>On September 6 the principal part of the British fleet quitted +Chesapeake Bay for the season; leaving behind a ship of the line with +some smaller vessels, to enforce the blockade. Viewed as a military +campaign, to sustain the character as well as the interests of the +country, its operations cannot be regarded as successful. With +overwhelming numbers, and signally favored by the quiet inland waters +with extensive ramifications which characterized the scene of war, the +results, though on a more extensive scale, differed nothing in kind +from the harassment inflicted all along the coast from Maine to +Georgia, by the squadrons cruising outside. Ample demonstration was +indeed afforded, there as elsewhere, of the steady, remorseless, +far-reaching effect of a predominant sea power; and is confirmed +explicitly by an incidental remark of the Russian minister at +Washington writing to Warren, April 4, 1813, concerning an armistice, +in connection with the abortive Russian proffer of mediation.<a name="FNanchor_179_179" id="FNanchor_179_179"></a><a href="#Footnote_179_179" class="fnanchor">[179]</a> +Even at this early period, "It would be almost impossible to establish +an armistice, without raising the blockade, since the latter does them +more harm than all the hostilities."<a name="FNanchor_180_180" id="FNanchor_180_180"></a><a href="#Footnote_180_180" class="fnanchor">[180]</a> But in direct military +execution the expedition had undoubtedly fallen far short of its +opportunity, afforded by the wretchedly unprepared state of the region +against which it had been <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_178" id="PageV2_178">[178]</a></span>sent. Whether the fault lay with the +commander-in-chief, or with the Admiralty for insufficient means given +him, is needless here to inquire. The squadron remaining through the +winter perpetuated the isolation of Norfolk from the upper bay, and +barred the "Constellation" and "Adams" from the sea. Ammunition and +stores had to be brought by slow and unwieldly transportation from the +Potomac across country, and it was not till January 18, 1814, that the +"Adams" got away. Two attempts of the "Constellation" a month later +were frustrated.</p> + +<p>The principal two British divisions, the action of which has so far +been considered, the one blockading the Chesapeake, the other watching +Decatur's squadron in New London, marked the extremities of what may +be considered the central section of the enemy's coastwise operations +upon the Atlantic. Although the commercial shipping of the United +States belonged largely to New England, much the greater part of the +exports came from the district thus closed to the world; and within it +also, after the sailing of the "President" and "Congress" from Boston, +and the capture of the "Chesapeake", lay in 1813 all the bigger +vessels of the navy, save the "Constitution".</p> + +<p>In the conditions presented to the enemy, the sections of the +coast-line south of Virginia, and north of Cape Cod, differed in some +important respects from the central division, and from each other. +There was in them no extensive estuary wide open to the sea, +resembling Chesapeake and Delaware bays, and Long Island Sound, +accessible to vessels of all sizes; features which naturally +determined upon these points the chief effort of a maritime enemy, +enabling him readily to paralyze the whole system of intercourse +depending upon them, domestic as well as foreign. The southern waters +abounded indeed in internal coastwise communications; not consecutive +throughout, but continuous for long reaches along the shores of North +<span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_179" id="PageV2_179">[179]</a></span>and South Carolina and Georgia. These, however, were narrow, and not +easily approached. Behind the sea islands, which inclose this +navigation, small craft can make their voyages sheltered from the +perils of the sea, and protected in great measure from attack other +than by boats or very light cruisers; to which, moreover, some local +knowledge was necessary, for crossing the bars, or threading the +channels connecting sound with sound. Into these inside basins empty +numerous navigable rivers, which promoted intercourse, and also +furnished lines of retreat from danger coming from the sea. Coupled +with these conditions was the fact that the United States had in these +quarters no naval establishment, and no naval vessels of force. +Defence was intrusted wholly to gunboats, with three or four armed +schooners of somewhat larger tonnage. American offensive operation, +confined here as elsewhere to commerce destroying, depended entirely +on privateers. Into these ports, where there were no public facilities +for repair, not even a national sloop of war entered until 1814 was +well advanced.</p> + +<p>Prior to the war, one third of the domestic export of the United +States had issued from this southern section; and in the harassed year +1813 this ratio increased. The aggregate for the whole country was +reduced by one half from that of 1811, and amounted to little more +than one fourth of the prosperous times preceding Jefferson's embargo +of 1808, with its vexatious progeny of restrictive measures; but the +proportion of the South increased. The same was observable in the +Middle states, containing the great centres of New York, Philadelphia, +and Baltimore. There a ratio to the total, of a little under fifty per +cent, rose to something above that figure. The relative diminution, +corresponding to the increases just noted, fell upon New England, and +is interesting because of what it indicates. Before the war the export +of domestic produce from the eastern ports was twenty per cent of the +national total; <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_180" id="PageV2_180">[180]</a></span>in 1813 it fell to ten per cent. When the domestic +export is taken in conjunction with the re-exportation of foreign +products, the loss of New England is still more striking. From +twenty-five per cent of the whole national export, domestic and +foreign, she now fell to ten per cent of the diminished total. When it +is remembered that throughout 1813 the Eastern ports alone were open +to neutral ships, no commercial blockade of them having yet been +instituted, these results are the more noticeable.</p> + +<p>The general explanation is that the industries of the United States at +that time divided into two principal classes,—agricultural and +maritime; the former of which supplied the material for commerce, +while the latter furnished transportation for whatever surplus of +production remained for export. Manufactures sufficed only for home +demands, being yet in a state of infancy; forced, in fact, upon an +unwilling New England by the policy of commercial restriction which +drove her ships off the sea. Domestic products for export therefore +meant almost wholly the yield of the fields, the forests, and the +fisheries. The latter belonged to New England, but they fell with the +war. Her soil did not supply grain enough to feed her people; and her +domestic exports, therefore, were reduced to shipments of wheat and +flour conveyed to her by inland transportation from the more fertile, +but blockaded, regions to the southward. Despite the great demand for +provisions in Halifax and the St. Lawrence region, and the facility +for egress by sea, through the absence of blockade, the slowness and +cost of land carriage brought forward an insufficient supply, and laid +a heavy charge upon the transaction; while the license system of the +British, modifying this condition of things to their own advantage, by +facilitating exports from the Chesapeake, certainly did operate, as +the President's message said, to regulate American commerce in +conformity with British interests.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_181" id="PageV2_181">[181]</a></span>The re-exportation of foreign produce had once played a very large +part in the foreign trade of New England. This item consisted chiefly +in West India commodities; and although, owing to several causes, it +fell off very much in the years between 1805 and 1811, it had remained +still considerable. It was, however, particularly obnoxious to British +interests, as then understood by British statesmen and people; and +since it depended entirely upon American ships,—for it was not to the +interest of a neutral to bring sugar and coffee to an American port +merely to carry it away again,—it disappeared entirely when the +outbreak of war rendered all American merchant vessels liable to +capture. In fact, as far as the United States was concerned, although +this re-exportation appeared among commercial returns, it was not an +interest of commerce, accurately so called, but of navigation, of +carrying trade. It had to do with ships, not with cargoes; its gain +was that of the wagoner. Still, the loss by the idleness of the ships, +due to the war, may be measured in terms of the cargoes. In 1805 New +England re-exported foreign products to the amount of $15,621,484; in +1811, $5,944,121; in 1813, no more than $302,781. It remains to add +that, as can be readily understood, all export, whether of foreign or +domestic produce, was chiefly by neutrals, which were not liable to +capture so long as there was no blockade proclaimed. From December 1 +to 24, 1813, forty-four vessels cleared from Boston for abroad, of +which five only were Americans.<a name="FNanchor_181_181" id="FNanchor_181_181"></a><a href="#Footnote_181_181" class="fnanchor">[181]</a></p> + +<p>Under the very reduced amount of their commercial movement, the +tonnage of the Middle and Southern states was more than adequate to +their local necessities; and they now had no need of the aid which in +conditions of normal prosperity they received from the Eastern +shipping. The latter, therefore, having lost its usual local +occupation, <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_182" id="PageV2_182">[182]</a></span>and also the office it had filled towards the other +sections of the Union, was either left idle or turned perforce to +privateering. September 7, 1813, there were in Boston harbor +ninety-one ships, two barks, one hundred and nine brigs, and +forty-three schooners; total, two hundred and forty-five, besides +coasters. The accumulation shows the lack of employment. December 15, +two hundred square-rigged vessels were laid up in Boston alone.<a name="FNanchor_182_182" id="FNanchor_182_182"></a><a href="#Footnote_182_182" class="fnanchor">[182]</a> +Insurance on American vessels was stated to be fifty per cent.<a name="FNanchor_183_183" id="FNanchor_183_183"></a><a href="#Footnote_183_183" class="fnanchor">[183]</a></p> + +<p>Whether tonnage to any large amount was transferred to a neutral flag, +as afterwards so much American shipping was during the Civil War, I +have not ascertained. It was roundly intimated that neutral flags were +used to cover the illicit intercourse with the enemy before mentioned; +but whether by regular transfer or by fraudulent papers does not +appear. An officer of the frigate "Congress," in her unprofitable +voyage just mentioned, says that after parting with the "President," +she fell in with a few licensed Americans and a great number of +Spaniards and Portuguese.<a name="FNanchor_184_184" id="FNanchor_184_184"></a><a href="#Footnote_184_184" class="fnanchor">[184]</a> The flags of these two nations, and of +Sweden, certainly abounded to an abnormal extent, and did much of the +traffic from America; but it seems unlikely that there was at that +particular epoch any national commerce, other than British, at once +large enough, and sufficiently deficient in shipping of its own, to +absorb any great number of Americans. In truth, the commerce of the +world had lost pretty much all its American component, because this, +through a variety of causes, had come to consist chiefly of domestic +agricultural products, which were thrown back upon the nation's hands, +and required no carriers; the enemy having closed the gates against +them, except so far as suited his own purposes. The disappearance of +American merchant ships from the high seas corresponded to the void +occasioned <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_183" id="PageV2_183">[183]</a></span>by the blockade of American staples of commerce. The only +serious abatement from this generalization arises from the British +system of licenses, permitting the egress of certain articles useful +to themselves.</p> + +<p>The results from the conditions above analyzed are reflected in the +returns of commerce, in the movements of American coasters, and in the +consequent dispositions of the enemy. In the Treasury year ending +September 30, 1813, the value of the total exports from the Eastern +states was $3,049,022; from the Middle section, $17,513,930; from the +South, $7,293,043. Virginia is here reckoned with the Middle, because +her exports found their way out by the Chesapeake; and this +appreciation is commercial and military in character, not political or +social. While this was the state of foreign trade under war +conditions, the effect of local circumstances upon coasting is also to +be noticed. The Middle section, characterized by the great estuaries, +and by the description of its products,—grain primarily, and secondly +tobacco,—was relatively self-sufficing and compact. Its growth of +food, as has been seen, was far in excess of its wants, and the +distance by land between the extreme centres of distribution, from +tide-water to tide-water, was comparatively short. From New York to +Baltimore by road is but four fifths as far as from New York to +Boston; and at New York and Baltimore, as at Boston, water +communication was again reached for the great lines of distribution +from either centre. In fact, traffic from New York southward needed to +go no farther than Elk River, forty miles short of Baltimore, to be in +touch with the whole Chesapeake system. Philadelphia lies half-way +between New York and Baltimore, approximately a hundred miles from +each.</p> + +<p>The extremes of the Middle section of the country were thus +comparatively independent of coastwise traffic for mutual intercourse, +and the character of their coasts <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_184" id="PageV2_184">[184]</a></span>co-operated to reduce the +disposition to employ coasters in war. From the Chesapeake to Sandy +Hook the shore-line sweeps out to sea, is safely approachable by +hostile navigators, and has for refuge no harbors of consequence, +except the Delaware. The local needs of the little communities along +the beaches might foster a creeping stream of very small craft, for +local supply; but as a highway, for intercourse on a large scale, the +sea here was too exposed for use, when taken in connection with the +facility for transport by land, which was not only short but with +comparatively good roads.</p> + +<p>In war, as in other troublous times, prices are subject to complicated +causes of fluctuation, not always separable. Two great staples, flour +and sugar, however, may be taken to indicate with some certainty the +effects of impeded water transport. From a table of prices current, of +August, 1813, it appears that at Baltimore, in the centre of the wheat +export, flour was $6.00 per barrel; in Philadelphia, $7.50; in New +York, $8.50; in Boston, $11.87. At Richmond, equally well placed with +Baltimore as regarded supplies, but with inferior communications for +disposing of its surplus, the price was $4.00. Removing from the grain +centre in the other direction, flour at Charleston is reported at +$8.00—about the same as New York; at Wilmington, North Carolina, +$10.25. Not impossibly, river transportation had in these last some +cheapening effect, not readily ascertainable now. In sugar, the scale +is seen to ascend in an inverse direction. At Boston, unblockaded, it +is quoted at $18.75 the hundredweight, itself not a low rate; at New +York, blockaded, $21.50; at Philadelphia, with a longer journey, +$22.50; at Baltimore, $26.50; at Savannah, $20. In the last named +place, nearness to the Florida line, with the inland navigation, +favored smuggling and safe transportation. The price at New Orleans, a +sugar-producing district, $9.00, affords a standard by which to +measure the <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_185" id="PageV2_185">[185]</a></span>cost of carriage at that time. Flour in the same city, on +February 1, 1813, was $25 the barrel.</p> + +<p>In both articles the jump between Boston and New York suggests +forcibly the harassment of the coasting trade. It manifests either +diminution of supply, or the effect of more expensive conveyance by +land; possibly both. The case of the southern seaboard cities was +similar to that of Boston; for it will not be overlooked that, as the +more important food products came from the middle of the country, they +would be equally available for each extreme. The South was the more +remote, but this was compensated in some degree by better internal +water communications; and its demand also was less, for the white +population was smaller and less wealthy than that of New England. The +local product, rice, also went far to supply deficiencies in other +grains. In the matter of manufactured goods, however, the disadvantage +of the South was greater. These had to find their way there from the +farther extreme of the land; for the development of manufactures had +been much the most marked in the east. It has before been quoted that +some wagons loaded with dry goods were forty-six days in accomplishing +the journey from Philadelphia to Georgetown, South Carolina, in May of +this year. Some relief in these articles reached the South by +smuggling across the Florida line, and the Spanish waters opposite St. +Mary's were at this time thronged with merchant shipping to an +unprecedented extent; for although smuggling was continual, in peace +as in war, across a river frontier of a hundred miles, the stringent +demand consequent upon the interruption of coastwise traffic provoked +an increased supply. "The trade to Amelia,"—the northernmost of the +Spanish sea-islands,—reported the United States naval officer at St. +Mary's towards the end of the war, "is immense. Upwards of fifty +square-rigged vessels are now in that port under <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_186" id="PageV2_186">[186]</a></span>Swedish, Russian, +and Spanish colors, two thirds of which are considered British +property."<a name="FNanchor_185_185" id="FNanchor_185_185"></a><a href="#Footnote_185_185" class="fnanchor">[185]</a> It was the old story of the Continental and License +systems of the Napoleonic struggle, re-enacted in America; and, as +always, the inhabitants on both sides the line co-operated heartily in +beating the law.</p> + +<p>The two great food staples chosen sufficiently indicate general +conditions as regards communications from centre to centre. Upon this +supervened the more extensive and intricate problem of distribution +from the centres. This more especially imparted to the Eastern and +Southern coasts the particular characteristics of coasting trade and +coast warfare, in which they differ from the Middle states. These form +the burden of the letters from the naval captains commanding the +stations at Charleston, Savannah, and Portsmouth, New Hampshire; nor +is it without significance that Bainbridge at Boston, not a way port, +but a centre, displayed noticeably less anxiety than the others about +this question, which less touched his own command. Captain Hull, now +commanding the Portsmouth Yard, writes, June 14, 1813, that light +cruisers like the "Siren," lately arrived at Boston, and the +"Enterprise," then with him, can be very useful by driving away the +enemy's small vessels and privateers which have been molesting the +coasting trade. He purposes to order them eastward, along the Maine +coast, to collect coasters in convoy and protect their long-shore +voyages, after the British fashion on the high seas. "The coasting +trade here," he adds, "is immense. Not less than fifty sail last night +anchored in this harbor, bound to Boston and other points south. The +'Nautilus' [a captured United States brig] has been seen from this +harbor every week for some time past, and several other enemy's +vessels are on the coast every few days." An American privateer has +just come in, bringing with her as <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_187" id="PageV2_187">[187]</a></span>a prize one of her own class, +called the "Liverpool Packet," which "within six months has taken from +us property to an immense amount."<a name="FNanchor_186_186" id="FNanchor_186_186"></a><a href="#Footnote_186_186" class="fnanchor">[186]</a></p> + +<p>Ten days later Hull's prospects have darkened. There has appeared off +Portsmouth a blockading division; a frigate, a sloop, and two brigs. +"When our two vessels were first ordered to this station, I believed +they would be very useful in protecting the coasting trade; but the +enemy's cruisers are now so much stronger that we can hardly promise +security to the trade, if we undertake to convoy it." On the contrary, +the brigs themselves would be greatly hazarded, and resistance to +attack, if supported by the neighborhood, may entail destruction upon +ports where they have taken refuge; a thought possibly suggested by +Cockburn's action at Havre de Grace and Frenchtown. He therefore now +proposes that they should run the blockade and cruise at sea. This +course was eventually adopted; but for the moment the Secretary wrote +that, while he perceived the propriety of Hull's remarks, "the call +for protection on that coast has been very loud, and having sent those +vessels for that special purpose, I do not now incline immediately to +remove them."<a name="FNanchor_187_187" id="FNanchor_187_187"></a><a href="#Footnote_187_187" class="fnanchor">[187]</a> It was necessary to bend to a popular clamor, which +in this case did not, as it very frequently does, make unreasonable +demands and contravene all considerations of military wisdom. A month +later Hull reports the blockade so strict that it is impossible to get +out by day. The commander of the "Enterprise," Johnston Blakely, +expresses astonishment that the enemy should employ so large a force +to blockade so small a vessel.<a name="FNanchor_188_188" id="FNanchor_188_188"></a><a href="#Footnote_188_188" class="fnanchor">[188]</a> It was, however, no matter for +surprise, but purely a question of business. The possibilities of +injury by the "Enterprise" must be blasted at any cost, and Blakely +himself a year later, in <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_188" id="PageV2_188">[188]</a></span>the "Wasp," was to illustrate forcibly what +one smart ship can effect in the destruction of hostile commerce and +hostile cruisers.</p> + +<p>Blakely's letter was dated July 31. The "Enterprise" had not long to +wait for her opportunity, but it did not fall to his lot to utilize +it. Being promoted the following month, he was relieved in command by +Lieutenant William Burrows. This officer had been absent in China, in +mercantile employment, when the war broke out, and, returning, was +captured at sea. Exchanged in June, 1813, he was ordered to the +"Enterprise," in which he saw his only service in the war,—a brief +month. She left Portsmouth September 1, on a coasting cruise, and on +the morning of the 5th, being then off Monhegan Island, on the coast +of Maine, sighted a vessel of war, which proved to be the British brig +"Boxer," Commander Samuel Blyth.</p> + +<p>The antagonists in the approaching combat were nearly of equal force, +the respective armaments being, "Enterprise," fourteen 18-pounder +carronades, and two long 9-pounders, the "Boxer," twelve 18-pounder +carronades and two long sixes. The action began side by side, at half +pistol-shot, the "Enterprise" to the right and to windward (position +1). After fifteen minutes the latter ranged ahead (2). As she did so, +one of her 9-pounders, which by the forethought of Captain Burrows had +been shifted from its place in the bow to the stern,<a name="FNanchor_189_189" id="FNanchor_189_189"></a><a href="#Footnote_189_189" class="fnanchor">[189]</a> was used +with effect to rake her opponent. She then rounded-to on the starboard +tack, on the port-bow of the enemy,—ahead but well to the left +(3),—in position to rake with her carronades; and, setting the +foresail, sailed slowly across from left to right. In five minutes the +"Boxer's" maintopmast and <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_189" id="PageV2_189">[189]</a></span>foretopsailyard fell. This left the +"Enterprise" the mastery of the situation, which she continued to hold +until ten minutes later, when the enemy's fire ceased. Her colors +could not be hauled down, Blyth having nailed them to the mast. He +himself had been killed at the first broadside, and almost at the same +instant Burrows too fell, mortally wounded.</p> + +<div class="img"><a name="imagep188" id="imagep188"></a> +<a href="images/imagep188.jpg"> +<img border="0" src="images/imagep188.jpg" width="95%" alt="Diagram of the Enterprise vs. Boxer battle" /></a><br /> +<p class="cen" style="margin-top: .2em;">Diagram of the Enterprise vs. Boxer battle<span class="totoi"><a href="#toi">ToList</a></span></p> +</div> + +<p>The "Boxer" belonged to a class of vessel, the gun brigs, which +Marryat through one of his characters styled "bathing machines," only +not built, as the legitimate article, to go up, but to go down. +Another,—the immortal Boatswain Chucks,—proclaimed that they would +"certainly d—n their inventor to all eternity;" adding +characteristically, that "their low common names, 'Pincher,' +'Thrasher,' 'Boxer,' 'Badger,' and all that sort, are quite good +enough for them." In the United States service the "Enterprise," which +had been altered from a schooner to a brig, was considered a +singularly dull sailer. As determined by American measurements, taken +four days after the action, the size of the two was the same within +twenty tons; the "Boxer" a little the larger. The superiority of the +"Enterprise" in broadside force, was eight guns to seven; or, stated +in weight of projectiles, one hundred and thirty-five pounds to one +hundred and fourteen. This disparity, though real, was in no sense +decisive, and the execution done by each bore no comparison to the +respective armaments. The hull of the "Boxer" was pierced on the +starboard side by twelve 18-pound shot, nearly two for each of the +"Enterprise's" carronades. The 9-pounder had done even better, scoring +five hits. On her port side had entered six of 18 pounds, and four of +9 pounds. By the official report of an inspection, made upon her +arrival in Portland, it appears that her upper works and sides forward +were torn to pieces.<a name="FNanchor_190_190" id="FNanchor_190_190"></a><a href="#Footnote_190_190" class="fnanchor">[190]</a> In <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_190" id="PageV2_190">[190]</a></span>her mainmast alone were three 18-pound +shot.<a name="FNanchor_191_191" id="FNanchor_191_191"></a><a href="#Footnote_191_191" class="fnanchor">[191]</a> As a set-off to this principal damage received, she had to +show only one 18-pound shot in the hull of the "Enterprise," one in +the foremast, and one in the mainmast.<a name="FNanchor_192_192" id="FNanchor_192_192"></a><a href="#Footnote_192_192" class="fnanchor">[192]</a></p> + +<p>From these returns, the American loss in killed and wounded, twelve, +must have been largely by grapeshot or musketry. The British had +twenty-one men hurt. It has been said that this difference in loss is +nearly proportionate to the difference in force. This is obviously +inexact; for the "Enterprise" was superior in gun power by twelve per +cent, while the "Boxer's" loss was greater by seventy-five per cent. +Moreover, if the statement of crews be accurate, that the "Enterprise" +had one hundred and twenty and the "Boxer" only sixty-six,<a name="FNanchor_193_193" id="FNanchor_193_193"></a><a href="#Footnote_193_193" class="fnanchor">[193]</a> it is +clear that the latter had double the human target, and scored little +more than half the hits. The contest, in brief, was first an artillery +duel, side to side, followed by a raking position obtained by the +American. It therefore reproduced in leading features, although on a +minute scale, the affair between the "Chesapeake" and "Shannon"; and +the exultation of the American populace at this rehabilitation of the +credit of their navy, though exaggerated in impression, was in +principle sound. The British Court Martial found that the defeat was +"to be attributed to a superiority of the enemy's force, principally +in the number of men, as well as to a greater degree of skill in the +direction of her fire, and the destructive <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_191" id="PageV2_191">[191]</a></span>effects of her first +broadside."<a name="FNanchor_194_194" id="FNanchor_194_194"></a><a href="#Footnote_194_194" class="fnanchor">[194]</a> This admission as to the enemy's gunnery is +substantially identical with the claim made for that of the +"Shannon,"—notably as to the first broadside. As to the greater +numbers, one hundred and twenty is certainly almost twice sixty-six, +and the circumstance should be weighed; but in an engagement confined +to the guns, and between 18-pounder carronade batteries, it is of less +consequence than at first glance appears. A cruiser of those days +expected to be ready to fight with many men away in prizes. Had it +come to boarding, or had the "Boxer's" gunnery been good, disabling +her opponent's men, the numbers would have become of consideration. As +it was, they told for something, but not for very much.</p> + +<p>If national credit were at issue in every single-ship action, the +balance of the "Chesapeake" and "Shannon," "Enterprise" and "Boxer," +would incline rather to the American side; for the "Boxer" was not +just out of port with new commander, officers, and crew, but had been +in commission six months, had in that time crossed the ocean, and been +employed along the coast. The credit and discredit in both cases is +personal, not national. It was the sadder in Blyth's case because he +was an officer of distinguished courage and activity, who had begun +his fighting career at the age of eleven, when he was on board a +heavily battered ship in Lord Howe's battle of June 1, 1794. At +thirty, with little influence, and at a period when promotion had +become comparatively sluggish, he had fairly fought his way to the +modest preferment in which he died. Under the restricted opportunities +of the United States Navy, Burrows had seen service, and his qualities +received recognition, in the hostilities with Tripoli. The unusual +circumstance of both captains falling, and so young,—Burrows was but +twenty-eight,—imparted to this tiny <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_192" id="PageV2_192">[192]</a></span>combat an unusual pathos, which +was somewhat heightened by the fact that Blyth himself had acted as +pall-bearer when Lawrence, three months before, was buried with +military honors at Halifax. In Portland, Maine, the two young +commanders were borne to their graves together, in a common funeral, +with all the observance possible in a small coast town; business being +everywhere suspended, and the customary tokens of mourning displayed +upon buildings and shipping.</p> + +<p>After this engagement, as the season progressed, coastwise operations +in this quarter became increasingly hazardous for both parties. On +October 22, Hull wrote that neither the "Enterprise" nor the +"Rattlesnake" could cruise much longer. The enemy still maintained his +grip, in virtue of greater size and numbers. Ten days later comes the +report of a convoy, with one of the brigs, driven into port by a +frigate; that the enemy appear almost every day, and never without a +force superior to that of both his brigs, which he fears to trust out +overnight, lest they find themselves at morning under the guns of an +opponent of weightier battery. The long nights and stormy seas of +winter, however, soon afforded to coasters a more secure protection +than friendly guns, and Hull's letters intermit until April 6, 1814, +when he announces that the enemy has made his appearance in great +force; he presumes for the summer. Besides the danger and interruption +of the coasting trade, Hull was increasingly anxious as to the safety +of Portsmouth itself. By a recent act of Congress four seventy-fours +had been ordered to be built, and one of them was now in construction +there under his supervision. Despite the navigational difficulties of +entering the port, which none was more capable of appreciating than +he, he regarded the defences as so inadequate that it would be +perfectly possible to destroy her on the stocks. "There is nothing," +he said, "to prevent a very <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_193" id="PageV2_193">[193]</a></span>small force from entering the harbor." At +the same moment Decatur was similarly concerned for the squadron at +New London, and we have seen the fears of Stewart for Norfolk. So +marked was Hull's apprehension in this respect, that he sent the +frigate "Congress" four miles up the river, where she remained to the +end of the war; her crew being transferred to Lake Ontario. New York, +the greater wealth of which increased both her danger and her capacity +for self-protection, was looking to her own fortifications, as well as +manning, provisioning, and paying the crews of the gunboats that +patrolled her waters, on the side of the sea and of the Sound.</p> + +<p>The exposure of the coasting trade from Boston Bay eastward was +increased by the absence of interior coastwise channels, until the +chain of islands about and beyond the Penobscot was reached. On the +other hand, the character of the shore, bold, with off-lying rocks and +many small harbors, conferred a distinct advantage upon those having +local knowledge, as the coasting seamen had. On such a route the +points of danger are capes and headlands, particularly if their +projection is great, such as the promontory between Portsmouth and +Boston, of which Cape Ann is a conspicuous landmark. There the coaster +has to go farthest from his refuge, and the deep-sea cruiser can +approach with least risk. In a proper scheme of coast defence +batteries are mounted on such positions. This, it is needless to say, +in view of the condition of the port fortifications, had not been done +in the United States. Barring this, the whole situation of the coast, +of trade, and of blockade, was one with which British naval officers +had then been familiar for twenty years, through their employment upon +the French and Spanish coasts, as well Mediterranean as Atlantic, and +in many other parts of the world. To hover near the land, intercepting +and fighting by day, manning boats and cutting out by night, +harassing, <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_194" id="PageV2_194">[194]</a></span>driving on shore, destroying the sinews of war by breaking +down communications, was to them simply an old experience to be +applied under new and rather easier circumstances.</p> + +<p>Of these operations frequent instances are given in contemporary +journals and letters; but less account has been taken of the effects, +as running through household and social economics, touching purse and +comfort. These are traceable in commercial statistics. At the time +they must have been severely felt, bringing the sense of the war +vividly home to the community. The stringency of the British action is +betrayed, however, by casual notices. The captain of a schooner burned +by the British frigate "Nymphe" is told by her commander that he had +orders to destroy every vessel large enough to carry two men. "A brisk +business is now carrying on all along our coast between British +cruisers and our coasting vessels, in ready money. Friday last, three +masters went into Gloucester to procure money to carry to a British +frigate to ransom their vessels. Thursday, a Marblehead schooner was +ransomed by the "Nymphe" for $400. Saturday, she took off Cape Ann +three coasters and six fishing boats, and the masters were sent on +shore for money to ransom them at $200 each." There was room for the +wail of a federalist paper: "Our coasts unnavigable to ourselves, +though free to the enemy and the money-making neutral; our harbors +blockaded; our shipping destroyed or rotting at the docks; silence and +stillness in our cities; the grass growing upon the public +wharves."<a name="FNanchor_195_195" id="FNanchor_195_195"></a><a href="#Footnote_195_195" class="fnanchor">[195]</a> In the district of Maine, "the long stagnation of +foreign, and embarrassment of domestic trade, have extended the sad +effects from the seaboard through the interior, where the scarcity of +money is severely felt. There is not enough to pay the taxes."<a name="FNanchor_196_196" id="FNanchor_196_196"></a><a href="#Footnote_196_196" class="fnanchor">[196]</a></p> + +<p>South of Chesapeake Bay the coast is not bold and <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_195" id="PageV2_195">[195]</a></span>rocky, like that +north of Cape Cod, but in its low elevation and gradual soundings +resembles rather those of New Jersey and Delaware. It has certain more +pronounced features in the extensive navigable sounds and channels, +which lie behind the islands and sandbars skirting the shores. The +North Carolina system of internal water communications, Pamlico Sound +and its extensions, stood by itself. To reach that to the southward, +it was necessary to make a considerable sea run, round the far +projecting Cape Fear, exposed to capture outside; but from Charleston +to the St. Mary's River, which then formed the Florida boundary for a +hundred miles of its length, the inside passages of South Carolina and +Georgia were continuous, though in many places difficult, and in +others open to attack from the sea. Between St. Mary's and Savannah, +for example, there were seven inlets, and Captain Campbell, the naval +officer in charge of that district, reported that three of these were +practicable for frigates;<a name="FNanchor_197_197" id="FNanchor_197_197"></a><a href="#Footnote_197_197" class="fnanchor">[197]</a> but this statement, while literally +accurate, conveys an exaggerated impression, for no sailing frigate +would be likely to cross a difficult bar for a single offensive +operation, merely to find herself confronted with conditions +forbidding further movement.</p> + +<p>The great menace to the inside traffic consisted in the facility with +which cruisers outside could pass from entrance to entrance, +contrasted with the intricacies within impeding similar action by the +defence. If a bevy of unprotected coasters were discerned by an +enemy's lookouts, the ship could run down abreast, send in her boats, +capture or destroy, before the gunboats, if equidistant at the +beginning, could overcome the obstacles due to rise and fall of tide, +or narrowness of passage, and arrive to the rescue.<a name="FNanchor_198_198" id="FNanchor_198_198"></a><a href="#Footnote_198_198" class="fnanchor">[198]</a> <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_196" id="PageV2_196">[196]</a></span>A suggested +remedy was to replace the gunboats by rowing barges, similar to, but +more powerful than, those used by the enemy in his attacks. The +insuperable trouble here proved to be that men fit for such work, fit +to contend with the seamen of the enemy, were unwilling to abandon the +sea, with its hopes of prize money, or to submit to the exposure and +discomfort of the life. "The crews of the gunboats," wrote Captain +Campbell, "consist of all nations except Turks, Greeks, and Jews." On +one occasion the ship's company of an American privateer, which had +been destroyed after a desperate and celebrated resistance to attack +by British armed boats, arrived at St. Mary's. Of one hundred and +nineteen American seamen, only four could be prevailed upon to enter +the district naval force.<a name="FNanchor_199_199" id="FNanchor_199_199"></a><a href="#Footnote_199_199" class="fnanchor">[199]</a> This was partly due to the +embarrassment of the national finances. "The want of funds to pay off +discharged men," wrote the naval captain at Charleston, "has given +such a character to the navy as to stop recruiting."<a name="FNanchor_200_200" id="FNanchor_200_200"></a><a href="#Footnote_200_200" class="fnanchor">[200]</a> "Men could +be had," reported his colleague at St. Mary's, now transferred to +Savannah, "were it not for the Treasury notes, which cannot be passed +at less than five per cent discount. Men will not ship without cash. +There are upwards of a hundred seamen in port, but they refuse to +enter, even though we offer to ship for a month only."<a name="FNanchor_201_201" id="FNanchor_201_201"></a><a href="#Footnote_201_201" class="fnanchor">[201]</a></p> + +<p>During the American Civil War, fifty years after the time of which we +are speaking, this internal communication was effectually intercepted +by stationing inside steamers of adequate force; but that recourse, +while not absolutely impracticable for small sailing cruisers, +involved a risk disproportionate to the gain. Through traffic could +have been broken up by keeping a frigate in any one of the three +sounds, entrance to which was practicable for vessels <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_197" id="PageV2_197">[197]</a></span>of that class. +In view of the amount of trade passing back and forth, which Campbell +stated to be in one period of four months as much as eight million +dollars, it is surprising that this obvious expedient was not adopted +by the enemy. That they appreciated the situation is shown by the +intention, announced in 1813, of seizing one of the islands; which was +effected in January, 1815, by the occupation of Cumberland and St. +Simons'. As it was, up to that late period the routine methods of +their European experience prevailed, with the result that their +coastwise operations in the south differed little from those in the +extreme north. Smaller vessels occasionally, armed boats frequently, +pushed inside the inlets, seizing coasters, and at times even +attacking the gunboats. While the positive loss thus inflicted was +considerable, it will readily be understood that it was much exceeded +by the negative effect, in deterring from movement, and reducing +navigation to the limits of barest necessity.</p> + +<p>In these operations the ships of war were seconded by privateers from +the West Indies, which hovered round this coast, as the Halifax +vessels did round that of New England, seeking such scraps of prize +money as might be left over from the ruin of American commerce and the +immunities of the licensed traders. The United States officers at +Charleston and Savannah were at their wits' ends to provide security +with their scanty means,—more scanty even in men than in vessels; and +when there came upon them the additional duty of enforcing the embargo +of December, 1813, in the many quarters, and against the various +subterfuges, by which evasion would be attempted, the task was +manifestly impossible. "This is the most convenient part of the world +for illicit trade that I have ever seen," wrote Campbell. From a +return made this summer by the Secretary of the Navy to Congress,<a name="FNanchor_202_202" id="FNanchor_202_202"></a><a href="#Footnote_202_202" class="fnanchor">[202]</a> +it is shown that one brig <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_198" id="PageV2_198">[198]</a></span>of eighteen guns, which was not a cruiser, +but a station ship at Savannah, eleven gunboats, three other +schooners, and four barges, were apportioned to the stretch of coast +from Georgetown to St. Mary's,—over two hundred miles. With the +fettered movement of the gunboats before mentioned, contrasted with +the outside cruisers, it was impossible to meet conditions by +distributing this force, "for the protection of the several inlets," +as had at first been directed by the Navy Department. The only +defensive recourse approximately satisfactory was that of the deep-sea +merchant service of Great Britain, proposed also by Hull at the +northward, to assemble vessels in convoys, and to accompany them +throughout a voyage. "I have deemed it expedient," wrote Campbell from +St. Mary's, "to order the gun vessels to sail in company, not less +than four in number, and have ordered convoy to the inland trade at +stated periods, by which means vessels may be protected, and am sorry +to say this is all that can be effected in our present +situation."<a name="FNanchor_203_203" id="FNanchor_203_203"></a><a href="#Footnote_203_203" class="fnanchor">[203]</a> In this way a fair degree of immunity was attained. +Rubs were met with occasionally, and heavy losses were reported from +time to time. There was a certain amount of fighting and scuffling, in +which advantage was now on one side, now on the other; but upon the +whole it would appear that the novelty of the conditions and ignorance +of the ground rather imposed upon the imagination of the enemy, and +that their operations against this inside trade were at once less +active and less successful than under the more familiar features +presented by the coasts of Maine and Massachusetts.</p> + +<p>Whatever more or less of success or injury attended the coastwise +trade in the several localities, the point to be observed is that the +enemy's operations effectually separated the different sections of the +country from one another, so far as this means of intercourse was +concerned; thereby <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_199" id="PageV2_199">[199]</a></span>striking a deadly blow at the mutual support which +might be given by communities differing so markedly in resources, +aptitudes, and industries. The remark before made upon the effect of +headlands, on the minor scale of a particular shore-line, applied with +special force to one so extensive as that of the United States +Atlantic coast in 1813. Cape Cod to the north and Cape Fear to the +south were conspicuous examples of such projection. Combined with the +relatively shelterless and harborless central stretch, intervening +between them, from the Chesapeake to Sandy Hook, they constituted +insuperable obstacles to sustained intercommunication by water. The +presence of the enemy in great numbers before, around, and within the +central section, emphasized the military weakness of position which +nature herself had there imposed. To get by sea from one end of the +country to the other it was necessary to break the blockade in +starting, to take a wide sweep out to sea, and again to break it at +the desired point of entrance. This, however, is not coasting.</p> + +<p>The effect which this coast pressure produced upon the welfare of the +several sections is indicated here and there by official utterances. +The war party naturally inclined to minimize unfavorable results, and +their opponents in some measure to exaggerate them; but of the general +tendency there can be no serious doubt. Mr. Pearson, an opposition +member of the House from North Carolina, speaking February 16, 1814, +when the record of 1813 was made up, and the short-lived embargo of +December was yet in force, said: "Blocked up as we are by the enemy's +squadron upon our coast, corked up by our still more unmerciful +embargo and non-importation laws, calculated as it were to fill up the +little chasm in the ills which the enemy alone could not inflict; the +entire coasting trade destroyed, and even the little pittance of +intercourse from one port to the other in the same state destroyed [by +the embargo], <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_200" id="PageV2_200">[200]</a></span>the planters of the Southern and Middle states, finding +no market at home for their products, are driven to the alternative of +wagoning them hundreds of miles, in search of a precarious market in +the Northern and Eastern states, or permitting them to rot on their +hands. Many articles which are, or by habit have become, necessary for +comfort, are obtained at extravagant prices from other parts of the +Union. The balance of trade, if trade it may be called, from these and +other causes being so entirely against the Southern and Middle states, +the whole of our specie is rapidly travelling to the North and East. +Our bank paper is thrown back upon the institutions from which it +issued; and as the war expenditures in the Southern and Middle states, +where the loans have been principally obtained, are proportionately +inconsiderable, the bills of these banks are daily returning, and +their vaults drained of specie, to be locked up in Eastern and Western +states, never to return but with the return of peace and +prosperity."<a name="FNanchor_204_204" id="FNanchor_204_204"></a><a href="#Footnote_204_204" class="fnanchor">[204]</a></p> + +<p>The isolation of North Carolina was extreme, with Cape Fear to the +south and the occupied Chesapeake north of her. The Governor of the +central state of Pennsylvania, evidently in entire political sympathy +with the national Administration, in his message to the legislature at +the same period,<a name="FNanchor_205_205" id="FNanchor_205_205"></a><a href="#Footnote_205_205" class="fnanchor">[205]</a> is able to congratulate the people on the +gratifying state of the commonwealth; a full treasury, abundant yield +of agriculture, and the progress of manufacturing development, which, +"however we may deprecate and deplore the calamities of protracted +war, console us with the prospect of permanent and extensive +establishments equal to our wants, and such as will insure the real +and practical independence of our country." But he adds: "At no period +of our history has the immense importance of internal navigation been +so strikingly exemplified as since the <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_201" id="PageV2_201">[201]</a></span>commencement of hostilities. +The transportation of produce, and the intercourse between citizens of +the different states, which knit more strongly the bonds of social and +political union, are greatly retarded, and, through many of their +accustomed channels, entirely interrupted by the water craft of the +enemy, sinking, burning, and otherwise destroying, the property which +it cannot appropriate to its own use." He looks forward to a renewal +of similar misfortune in the following year, an anticipation more than +fulfilled. The officials of other states, according to their political +complexion, either lamented the sufferings of the war and its supposed +injustice, or comforted themselves and their hearers by reflecting +upon the internal fruitfulness of the country, and its increasing +self-sufficingness. The people were being equipped for independence of +the foreigner by the progress of manufactures, and by habits of +economy and self-denial, enforced by deprivation arising from the +suppression of the coasting trade and the rigors of the commercial +blockade.</p> + +<p>The effect of the latter, which by the spring of 1814 had been in +force nearly a twelvemonth over the entire coast south of Narragansett +Bay, can be more directly estimated and concisely stated, in terms of +money, than can the interruption of the coasting trade; for the +statistics of export and import, contrasted with those of years of +peace, convey it directly. It has already been stated that the exports +for the year ending September 30, 1814, during which the operation of +the blockade was most universal and continuous, fell to $7,000,000, as +compared with $25,000,000 in 1813, and $45,000,000 in 1811, a year of +peace though of restricted intercourse. Such figures speak distinctly +as well as forcibly; it being necessary, however, to full appreciation +of the difference between 1813 and 1814, to remember that during the +first half of the former official period—from October 1, 1812, to +April 1, 1813,—there had been <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_202" id="PageV2_202">[202]</a></span>no commercial blockade beyond the +Chesapeake and Delaware; and that, even after it had been instituted, +the British license system operated to the end of September to qualify +its effects.</p> + +<p>Here and there interesting particulars may be gleaned, which serve to +illustrate these effects, and to give to the picture that precision of +outline which heightens impression. "I believe," wrote a painstaking +Baltimore editor in December, 1814, "that there has not been an +arrival in Baltimore from a foreign port for a twelvemonth";<a name="FNanchor_206_206" id="FNanchor_206_206"></a><a href="#Footnote_206_206" class="fnanchor">[206]</a> yet +the city in 1811 had had a registered tonnage of 88,398, and now +boasted that of the scanty national commerce still maintained, through +less secluded ports, at least one half was carried on by its +celebrated schooners,<a name="FNanchor_207_207" id="FNanchor_207_207"></a><a href="#Footnote_207_207" class="fnanchor">[207]</a> the speed and handiness of which, combined +with a size that intrusted not too many eggs to one basket, imparted +special facilities for escaping pursuit and minimizing loss. A +representative from Maryland at about this time presented in the House +a memorial from Baltimore merchants, stating that "in consequence of +the strict blockade of our bays and rivers the private-armed service +is much discouraged," and submitting the expediency "of offering a +bounty for the destruction of enemy's vessels;" a suggestion the very +extravagance of which indicates more than words the extent of the +depression felt. The price of salt in Baltimore, in November, 1814, +was five dollars the bushel. In Charleston it was the same, while just +across the Spanish border, at Amelia Island, thronged with foreign +merchant ships, it was selling at seventy cents.<a name="FNanchor_208_208" id="FNanchor_208_208"></a><a href="#Footnote_208_208" class="fnanchor">[208]</a></p> + +<p>Such a contrast, which must necessarily be reproduced in other +articles not indigenous, accounts at once for the smuggling deplored +by Captain Campbell, and at the same time testifies both to the +efficacy of the blockade and to the <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_203" id="PageV2_203">[203]</a></span>pressure exercised upon the +inland navigation by the outside British national cruisers and +privateers. This one instance, affecting one of the prime necessaries +of life, certifies to the stringent exclusion from the sea of the +coast on which Charleston was the chief seaport. Captain Dent, +commanding this naval district, alludes to the constant presence of +blockaders, and occasionally to vessels taken outside by them, chased +ashore, or intercepted in various inlets; narrating particularly the +singular incident that, despite his remonstrances, a flag of truce was +sent on board the enemy by local authorities to negotiate a purchase +of goods thus captured.<a name="FNanchor_209_209" id="FNanchor_209_209"></a><a href="#Footnote_209_209" class="fnanchor">[209]</a> This unmilitary proceeding, which evinces +the necessities of the neighborhood, was of course immediately stopped +by the Government.</p> + +<p>A somewhat singular incidental circumstance, supporting the other +inferences, is found in the spasmodic elevation of the North Carolina +coast into momentary commercial consequence as a place of entry and +deposit; not indeed to a very great extent, but ameliorating to a +slight degree the deprivation of the regions lying north and +south,—the neighborhood of Charleston on the one hand, of Richmond +and Baltimore on the other. "The waters of North Carolina, from +Wilmington to Ocracoke, though not favorable to commerce in time of +peace, by reason of their shallowness and the danger of the coast, +became important and useful in time of war, and a very considerable +trade was prosecuted from and into those waters during the late war, +and a coasting trade as far as Charleston, attended with less risk +than many would imagine. A vessel may prosecute a voyage from +Elizabeth City [near the Virginia line] to Charleston without being at +sea more than a few hours at any one time."<a name="FNanchor_210_210" id="FNanchor_210_210"></a><a href="#Footnote_210_210" class="fnanchor">[210]</a> Some tables of +arrivals show a <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_204" id="PageV2_204">[204]</a></span>comparative immunity for vessels entering here from +abroad; due doubtless to the unquestioned dangers of the coast, which +conspired with the necessarily limited extent of the traffic to keep +the enemy at a distance. It was not by them wholly overlooked. In +July, 1813, Admiral Cockburn anchored with a division off Ocracoke +bar, sent in his boats, and captured a privateer and letter-of-marque +which had there sought a refuge denied to them by the blockade +elsewhere. The towns of Beaufort and Portsmouth were occupied for some +hours. The United States naval officer at Charleston found it +necessary also to extend the alongshore cruises of his schooners as +far as Cape Fear, for the protection of this trade on its way to his +district.</p> + +<p>The attention aroused to the development of internal navigation also +bears witness to the pressure of the blockade. "It is my opinion," +said the Governor of Pennsylvania, "that less than one half the +treasure expended by the United States for the protection of foreign +commerce, if combined with state and individual wealth, would have +perfected an inland water communication from Maine to Georgia." It was +argued by others that the extra money spent for land transportation of +goods, while the coasting trade was suspended, would have effected a +complete tide-water inland navigation such as here suggested; and +there was cited a declaration of Robert Fulton, who died during the +war, that within twenty-one months as great a sum had been laid out in +wagon hire as would have effected this object. Whatever the accuracy +of these estimates, their silent witness to the influence of the +blockade upon commerce, external and coastwise, quite overbears +President Madison's perfunctory denials of its effectiveness, based +upon the successful evasions which more or less attend all such +operations.</p> + +<p>Perhaps, however, the most signal proof of the pressure <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_205" id="PageV2_205">[205]</a></span>exerted is to +be seen in the rebound, the instant it was removed; in the effect upon +prices, and upon the movements of shipping. Taken in connection with +the other evidence, direct and circumstantial, so far cited, what can +testify more forcibly to the strangulation of the coasting trade than +the fact that in the month of March, 1815,—news of the peace having +been received February 11,—there sailed from Boston one hundred and +forty-four vessels, more than half of them square-rigged; and that of +the whole all but twenty-six were for United States ports. Within +three weeks of April there arrived at Charleston, exclusive of +coasters, one hundred and fifty-eight vessels; at Savannah, in the +quarter ending June 30, two hundred and three. Something of this +outburst of activity, in which neutrals of many nations shared, was +due, as Mr. Clay said, to the suddenness with which commerce revived +after momentary suspension. "The bow had been unstrung that it might +acquire fresh vigor and new elasticity"; and the stored-up products of +the country, so long barred within, imparted a peculiar nervous haste +to the renewal of intercourse. The absolute numbers quoted do not give +as vivid impression of conditions at differing times as do some +comparisons, easily made. In the year 1813, as shown by the returns of +the United States Treasury, out of 674,853 tons of +registered—sea-going—shipping, only 233,439—one third—paid the +duties exacted upon each several voyage, and of these many doubtless +sailed under British license.<a name="FNanchor_211_211" id="FNanchor_211_211"></a><a href="#Footnote_211_211" class="fnanchor">[211]</a> In 1814 the total tonnage, 674,632, +shows that ship-building had practically ceased; and of this amount +one twelfth only, 58,756 tons, paid dues for going out.<a name="FNanchor_212_212" id="FNanchor_212_212"></a><a href="#Footnote_212_212" class="fnanchor">[212]</a> In 1816, +when peace conditions were fully established, though less than two +years had passed, the total tonnage had increased to 800,760; duties, +being paid <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_206" id="PageV2_206">[206]</a></span>each voyage, were collected on 865,219.<a name="FNanchor_213_213" id="FNanchor_213_213"></a><a href="#Footnote_213_213" class="fnanchor">[213]</a> Thus the +foreign voyages that year exceeded the total shipping of the country, +and by an amount greater than all the American tonnage that put to sea +in 1814.</p> + +<p>The movement of coasting vessels, technically called "enrolled," is +not so clearly indicated by the returns, because all the trips of each +were covered by one license annually renewed. A licensed coaster might +make several voyages, or she might make none. In 1813 the figures show +that, of 471,109 enrolled tonnage, 252,440 obtained licenses. In 1814 +there is, as in the registered shipping, a diminution of the total to +466,159, of which a still smaller proportion, 189,662, took out the +annual license. In 1816 the enrolment was 522,165, the licensing +414,594. In the fishing craft, a class by themselves, the employment +rose from 16,453 in 1814 to 48,147 in 1816;<a name="FNanchor_214_214" id="FNanchor_214_214"></a><a href="#Footnote_214_214" class="fnanchor">[214]</a> the difference +doubtless being attributable chiefly to the reopening of the cod +fishing on the banks of Newfoundland, necessarily closed to the +American flag by the maritime hostilities.</p> + +<p>The influence of the peace upon prices is likewise a matter too +interesting to a correct appreciation of effects to be wholly passed +over. In considering it, the quotations before the receipt of the news +doubtless represent conditions more correctly than do the immediate +changes. The official tidings of peace reached New York, February 11, +1815. The Evening Post, in its number of February 14, says, "We give +to-day one of the effects of the prospect of peace, even before +ratification. Our markets of every kind experienced a sudden, and to +many a shocking, change. Sugar, for instance, fell from $26 per +hundredweight to $12.50. Tea, which sold on Saturday at $2.25, on +Monday was purchased at a $1.00. Specie, which had got up to the +enormous rate of 22 per cent premium, dropped down to 2. <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_207" id="PageV2_207">[207]</a></span>The article +of tin, in particular, fell from the height of $80 the box to $25. Six +per cents rose from 76 to 88; ten per cents and Treasury notes from 92 +to 98. Bank stock generally rose from five to ten per cent." In +Philadelphia, flour which sold at $7.50 the barrel on Saturday had +risen to $10 on Monday; a testimony that not only foreign export but +home supply to the eastward was to be renewed. The fall in foreign +products, due to freedom of import, was naturally accompanied by a +rise in domestic produce, to which an open outlet with proportionate +increase of demand was now afforded. In Philadelphia the exchange on +Boston reflected these conditions; falling from twenty-five per cent +to thirteen.</p> + +<p>It may then be concluded that there is little exaggeration in the +words used by "a distinguished naval officer" of the day, in a letter +contributed to Niles' Register, in its issue of June 17, 1815. "No +sooner had the enemy blockaded our harbors, and extended his line of +cruisers from Maine to Georgia, than both foreign and domestic +commerce came at once to be reduced to a deplorable state of +stagnation; producing in its consequences the utter ruin of many +respectable merchants, as well as of a great multitude besides, +connected with them in their mercantile pursuits. But these were not +the only consequences. The regular supply of foreign commodities being +thereby cut off, many articles, now become necessaries of life, were +raised to an exorbitant price, and bore much upon the finances of the +citizen, whose family could not comfortably exist without them. Add to +this, as most of the money loaned to the Government for the purposes +of the war came from the pockets of merchants, they were rendered +incapable of continuing these disbursements in consequence of this +interruption to their trade; whence the cause of that impending +bankruptcy with which the Government was at one time threatened.... At +a critical period of the war [April, <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_208" id="PageV2_208">[208]</a></span>1814] Congress found it +necessary to remove all restrictions upon commerce, both foreign and +domestic. It is a lamentable fact, however, that the adventurous +merchant found no alleviation from these indulgences, his vessels +being uniformly prevented by a strong blockading force, not only from +going out, but from coming into port, at the most imminent risk of +capture. The risk did not stop here; for the islands and ports most +frequented by American vessels being known to the enemy, he was +enabled from his abundance of means to intercept them there also. The +coasting trade, that most valuable appendage to an extensive +mercantile establishment in the United States, was entirely +annihilated. The southern and northern sections of the Union were +unable to exchange their commodities, except upon a contracted scale +through the medium of land carriage, and then only at a great loss; so +that, upon the whole, nothing in a national point of view appeared to +be more loudly called for by men of all parties than a naval force +adequate to the protection of our commerce, and the raising of the +blockade of our coast."</p> + +<p>Such was the experience which sums up the forgotten bitter truth, +concerning a war which has left in the United States a prevalent +impression of distinguished success, because of a few brilliant naval +actions and the closing battle of New Orleans. The lesson to be +deduced is not that the country at that time should have sought to +maintain a navy approaching equality to the British. In the state of +national population and revenue, it was no more possible to attempt +this than that it would be expedient to do it now, under the present +immense development of resources and available wealth. What had been +possible during the decade preceding the war,—had the nation so +willed,—was to place the navy on such a footing, in numbers and +constitution, as would have made persistence in the course Great +Britain was following impolitic to the verge of <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_209" id="PageV2_209">[209]</a></span>madness, because it +would add to her war embarrassments the activity of an imposing +maritime enemy, at the threshold of her most valuable markets,—the +West Indies,—three thousand miles away from her own shores and from +the seat of her principal and necessary warfare. The United States +could not have encountered Great Britain single-handed—true; but +there was not then the slightest prospect of her having to do so. The +injuries of which she complained were incidental to a state of +European war; inconceivable and impossible apart from it. She was +therefore assured of the support of most powerful allies, occupying +the attention of the British navy and draining the resources of the +British empire. This condition of things was notorious, as was the +fact that, despite the disappointment of Trafalgar, Napoleon was +sedulously restoring the numbers of a navy, to the restraining of +which his enemy was barely competent.</p> + +<p>The anxiety caused to the British Admiralty by the operations of the +small American squadrons in the autumn of 1812 has already been +depicted in quotations from its despatches to Warren.<a name="FNanchor_215_215" id="FNanchor_215_215"></a><a href="#Footnote_215_215" class="fnanchor">[215]</a> Three or +four divisions, each containing one to two ships of the line, were +kept on the go, following a general round in successive relief, but +together amounting to five or six battle ships—to use the modern +term—with proportionate cruisers. It was not possible to diminish +this total by concentrating them, for the essence of the scheme, and +the necessity which dictated it, was to cover a wide sweep of ocean, +and to protect several maritime strategic points through which the +streams of commerce, controlled by well-known conditions, passed, +intersected, or converged. So also the Admiralty signified its wish +that one ship of the line should form the backbone of the blockade +before each of the American harbors. For this purpose Warren's fleet +was raised to a number stated by the <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_210" id="PageV2_210">[210]</a></span>Admiralty's letter to him of +January 9, 1813, to be "upwards of ten of the line, exclusive of the +six sail of the line appropriated to the protection of the West India +convoys." These numbers were additional to detachments which, outside +of his command, were patrolling the eastern Atlantic, about the +equator, and from the Cape Verde Islands to the Azores, as mentioned +in another letter of February 10. "In all, therefore, about twenty +sail of the line were employed on account of American hostilities; and +this, it will be noticed, was after Napoleon's Russian disaster was +fully known in England. It has not been without interfering for the +moment with other very important services that my Lords have been able +to send you this re-enforcement, and they most anxiously hope that the +vigorous and successful use you will make of it will enable you +shortly to return some of the line of battle ships to England, which, +if the heavy American frigates should be taken or destroyed, you will +immediately do, retaining four line of battle ships." Attention should +fasten upon the importance here attached by the British Admiralty to +the bigger ships; for it is well to learn of the enemy, and to +appreciate that it was not solely light cruisers and privateers, but +chiefly the heavy vessels, that counted in the estimate of experienced +British naval officers. The facts are little understood in the United +States, and consequently are almost always misrepresented.</p> + +<p>The reasons for this abundance of force are evident. As regards +commerce Great Britain was on the defensive; and the defensive cannot +tell upon which of many exposed points a blow may fall. Dissemination +of effort, however modified by strategic ingenuity, is thus to a +certain extent imposed. If an American division might strike British +trade on the equator between 20° and 30° west longitude, and also in +the neighborhood of the Cape Verdes and of the Azores, preparation in +some form to protect all those points was necessary, and they are too +wide apart for this to be <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_211" id="PageV2_211">[211]</a></span>effected by mere concentration. So the +blockade of the United States harbors. There might be in New York no +American frigates, but if a division escaped from Boston it was +possible it might come upon the New York blockade in superior force, +if adequate numbers were not constantly kept there. The British +commercial blockade, though offensive in essence, had also its +defensive side, which compelled a certain dispersion of force, in +order to be in local sufficiency in several quarters.</p> + +<p>These several dispersed assemblages of British ships of war +constituted the totality of naval effort imposed upon Great Britain by +"the fourteen sail of vessels of all descriptions"<a name="FNanchor_216_216" id="FNanchor_216_216"></a><a href="#Footnote_216_216" class="fnanchor">[216]</a> which composed +the United States navy. It would not in the least have been necessary +had these been sloops of war—were they fourteen or forty. The weight +of the burden was the heavy frigates, two of which together were more +than a match for three of the same nominal class—the 38-gun +frigate—which was the most numerous and efficient element in the +British cruising force. The American forty-four was unknown to British +experience, and could be met only by ships of the line. Add to this +consideration the remoteness of the American shore, and its dangerous +proximity to very vital British interests, and there are found the +elements of the difficult problem presented to the Admiralty by the +combination of American force—such as it was—with American advantage +of position for dealing a severe blow to British welfare at the +period, 1805-1812, when the empire was in the height of its +unsupported and almost desperate struggle with Napoleon; when Prussia +was chained, Austria paralyzed, and Russia in strict bonds of +alliance—personal and political—with France.</p> + +<p>If conditions were thus menacing, as we know them to to have been in +1812, when war was declared, and the <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_212" id="PageV2_212">[212]</a></span>invasion of Russia just +beginning, when the United States navy was "fourteen pendants," what +would they not have been in 1807, had the nation possessed even one +half of the twenty ships of the line which Gouverneur Morris, a shrewd +financier, estimated fifteen years before were within her competency? +While entirely convinced of the illegality of the British measures, +and feeling keenly—as what American even now cannot but feel?—the +humiliation and outrage to which his country was at that period +subjected, the writer has always recognized the stringent compulsion +under which Great Britain lay, and the military wisdom, in his +opinion, of the belligerent measures adopted by her to sustain her +strength through that unparalleled struggle; while in the matter of +impressment, it is impossible to deny—as was urged by Representative +Gaston of North Carolina and Gouverneur Morris—that her claim to the +service of her native seamen was consonant to the ideas of the time, +as well as of utmost importance to her in that hour of dire need. +Nevertheless, submission by America should have been impossible; and +would have been avoidable if for the fourteen pendants there had been +a dozen sail of the line, and frigates to match. To an adequate +weighing of conditions there will be indeed resentment for impressment +and the other mortifications; but it is drowned in wrath over the +humiliating impotence of an administration which, owing to +preconceived notions as to peace, made such endurance necessary. It is +not always ignominious to suffer ignominy; but it always is so to +deserve it.</p> + +<p>President Washington, in his last annual message, December 7, 1796, +defined the situation then confronting the United States, and +indicated its appropriate remedy, in the calm and forcible terms which +characterized all his perceptions. "It is in our own experience, that +the most sincere neutrality is not a sufficient guard against the +<span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_213" id="PageV2_213">[213]</a></span>depredations of nations at war. To secure respect for a neutral flag +requires a naval force, organized and ready, to vindicate it from +insult or aggression. This may even prevent the necessity of going to +war, by discouraging belligerent powers from committing such +violations of the rights of the neutral party as may, first or last, +leave no other option" [than war]. The last sentence is that of the +statesman and soldier, who accurately appreciates the true office and +sphere of arms in international relations. His successor, John Adams, +yearly renewed his recommendation for the development of the navy; +although, not being a military man, he seems to have looked rather +exclusively on the defensive aspect, and not to have realized that +possible enemies are more deterred by the fear of offensive action +against themselves than by recognition of a defensive force which +awaits attack at an enemy's pleasure. Moreover, in his administration, +it was not Great Britain, but France, that was most actively engaged +in violating the neutral rights of American shipping, and French +commercial interests then presented nothing upon which retaliation +could take effect. The American problem then was purely defensive,—to +destroy the armed ships engaged in molesting the national commerce.</p> + +<p>President Jefferson, whose influence was paramount with the dominant +party which remained in power from his inauguration in 1801 to the +war, based his policy upon the conviction, expressed in his inaugural, +that this "was the only government where every man would meet +invasions of the public order as his own personal concern;" and that +"a well-disciplined militia is our best reliance for the first moments +of war, till regulars may relieve them." In pursuance of these +fundamental principles, it was doubtless logical to recommend in his +first annual message that, "beyond the small force which will probably +be wanted for actual service in the Mediterranean [against the +<span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_214" id="PageV2_214">[214]</a></span>Barbary pirates], whatever annual sum you may think proper to +appropriate to naval preparations would perhaps be better employed in +providing those articles which may be kept without waste or +consumption, and be in readiness when any exigence calls them into +use. Progress has been made in providing materials for seventy-four +gun ships;" but this commended readiness issued in not laying their +keels till after the war began.</p> + +<p>Upon this first recommendation followed the discontinuance of building +ships for ocean service, and the initiation of the gunboat policy; +culminating, when war began, in the decision of the administration to +lay up the ships built for war, to keep them out of British hands. The +urgent remonstrances of two or three naval captains obtained the +reversal of this resolve, and thereby procured for the country those +few successes which, by a common trick of memory, have remained the +characteristic feature of the War of 1812.</p> + +<div class="block1"><p><span class="sc">Note.</span>—After writing the engagement between the "Boxer" +and the "Enterprise," the author found among his memoranda, +overlooked, the following statement from the report of her +surviving lieutenant, David McCreery: "I feel it my duty to +mention that the bulwarks of the 'Enterprise' were proof against +our grape, when her musket balls penetrated through our +bulwarks." (Canadian Archives, M. 389, 3. p. 87.) It will be +noted that this does not apply to the cannon balls, and does not +qualify the contrast in gunnery.</p></div> + +<br /> +<hr style="width: 15%;" /> +<br /> + +<h4>FOOTNOTES:</h4> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_128_128" id="Footnote_128_128"></a><a href="#FNanchor_128_128"><span class="label">[128]</span></a> Broke's Letter to Lawrence, June, 1813. Naval +Chronicle, vol. xxx. p. 413.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_129_129" id="Footnote_129_129"></a><a href="#FNanchor_129_129"><span class="label">[129]</span></a> Rodgers' Report of this cruise is in Captains' Letters, +Sept. 27, 1813.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_130_130" id="Footnote_130_130"></a><a href="#FNanchor_130_130"><span class="label">[130]</span></a> Captains' Letters, Dec. 14, 1813.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_131_131" id="Footnote_131_131"></a><a href="#FNanchor_131_131"><span class="label">[131]</span></a> Captains' Letters, June 3, 1812.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_132_132" id="Footnote_132_132"></a><a href="#FNanchor_132_132"><span class="label">[132]</span></a> The Department's orders to Evans and the letter +transferring them to Lawrence, captured in the ship, can be found +published in the Report on Canadian Archives, 1896, p. 74. A copy is +attached to the Record of the subsequent Court of Inquiry, Navy +Department MSS.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_133_133" id="Footnote_133_133"></a><a href="#FNanchor_133_133"><span class="label">[133]</span></a> James' Naval History, vol. vi., edition of 1837. The +account of the action between the "Chesapeake" and "Shannon" will be +found on pp. 196-206.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_134_134" id="Footnote_134_134"></a><a href="#FNanchor_134_134"><span class="label">[134]</span></a> Secretary to the Admiralty, In-Letters, May, 1814, vol. +505, p. 777.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_135_135" id="Footnote_135_135"></a><a href="#FNanchor_135_135"><span class="label">[135]</span></a> Naval Chronicle, vol. xxx, p. 413.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_136_136" id="Footnote_136_136"></a><a href="#FNanchor_136_136"><span class="label">[136]</span></a> Broke, in his letter of challenge, "was disappointed +that, after various verbal messages sent into Boston, Commodore +Rodgers, with the 'President' and 'Congress,' had <i>eluded</i> the +'Shannon' and 'Tenedos,' by sailing the first chance, after the +prevailing easterly winds had obliged us to keep an offing from the +coast."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_137_137" id="Footnote_137_137"></a><a href="#FNanchor_137_137"><span class="label">[137]</span></a> For the reason here assigned, and others mentioned in +the narrative, the author has preferred to follow in the main James' +account, analyzed, and compared with Broke's report (Naval Chronicle, +vol. xxx. p. 83), and with the testimony in the Court of Inquiry held +in Boston on the surrender of the "Chesapeake," and in the resultant +courts martial upon Lieutenant Cox and other persons connected with +the ship, which are in the Navy Department MSS. The official report of +Lieutenant Budd, the senior surviving officer of the "Chesapeake", is +published in Niles' Register (vol. iv, p. 290), which gives also +several unofficial statements of onlookers, and others.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_138_138" id="Footnote_138_138"></a><a href="#FNanchor_138_138"><span class="label">[138]</span></a> Not "across"; the distinction is important, being +decisive of general raking direction.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_139_139" id="Footnote_139_139"></a><a href="#FNanchor_139_139"><span class="label">[139]</span></a> Actually, a contemporary account, borrowed by the +British "Naval Chronicle" (vol. xxx. p. 161) from a Halifax paper, but +avouched as trustworthy, says the "Chesapeake" was terribly battered +on the larboard bow as well as quarter. The details in the text +indicate merely the local preponderance of injury, and the time and +manner of its occurrence.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_140_140" id="Footnote_140_140"></a><a href="#FNanchor_140_140"><span class="label">[140]</span></a> A slight qualification is here needed, in that of the +injured of the "Shannon" some were hurt in the boarding, not by the +cannonade; but the general statement is substantially accurate.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_141_141" id="Footnote_141_141"></a><a href="#FNanchor_141_141"><span class="label">[141]</span></a> Decatur to Navy Department. Captains' Letters, June, +1813.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_142_142" id="Footnote_142_142"></a><a href="#FNanchor_142_142"><span class="label">[142]</span></a> Decatur to Navy Department. Captains' Letters, June, +1813.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_143_143" id="Footnote_143_143"></a><a href="#FNanchor_143_143"><span class="label">[143]</span></a> Naval Chronicle, vol. xxix. p. 497.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_144_144" id="Footnote_144_144"></a><a href="#FNanchor_144_144"><span class="label">[144]</span></a> Croker to Warren, Jan. 9, 1813. Admiralty Out-Letters, +British Records Office. My italics.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_145_145" id="Footnote_145_145"></a><a href="#FNanchor_145_145"><span class="label">[145]</span></a> Message of the Governor of Connecticut, October, 1813. +Niles' Register, vol. v. p. 121.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_146_146" id="Footnote_146_146"></a><a href="#FNanchor_146_146"><span class="label">[146]</span></a> Message of the Governor of Connecticut, October, 1813. +Niles' Register, vol. v. p. 121.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_147_147" id="Footnote_147_147"></a><a href="#FNanchor_147_147"><span class="label">[147]</span></a> Niles' Register, vol. v. p. 302.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_148_148" id="Footnote_148_148"></a><a href="#FNanchor_148_148"><span class="label">[148]</span></a> Captains' Letters.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_149_149" id="Footnote_149_149"></a><a href="#FNanchor_149_149"><span class="label">[149]</span></a> Niles' Register, vol. vi. p. 136.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_150_150" id="Footnote_150_150"></a><a href="#FNanchor_150_150"><span class="label">[150]</span></a> Captains' Letters, Nov. 3 and Dec. 31, 1809; March 26, +1810; and Oct. 12, 1813.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_151_151" id="Footnote_151_151"></a><a href="#FNanchor_151_151"><span class="label">[151]</span></a> American State Papers, Naval Affairs, vol. i. p. 307.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_152_152" id="Footnote_152_152"></a><a href="#FNanchor_152_152"><span class="label">[152]</span></a> Ante, page 16.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_153_153" id="Footnote_153_153"></a><a href="#FNanchor_153_153"><span class="label">[153]</span></a> The official reports of Warren and Cockburn concerning +these operations are published in the Naval Chronicle, vol. xxx. pp. +162-168.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_154_154" id="Footnote_154_154"></a><a href="#FNanchor_154_154"><span class="label">[154]</span></a> Captains' Letters, June 21, 1813.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_155_155" id="Footnote_155_155"></a><a href="#FNanchor_155_155"><span class="label">[155]</span></a> The American official account of this affair is given +in Niles' Register, vol. iv. pp. 375, 422. James' Naval History, vol. +vi. pp. 236-238, gives the British story.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_156_156" id="Footnote_156_156"></a><a href="#FNanchor_156_156"><span class="label">[156]</span></a> Captains' Letters, April, 1813.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_157_157" id="Footnote_157_157"></a><a href="#FNanchor_157_157"><span class="label">[157]</span></a> Captains' Letters, May 21, 1813.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_158_158" id="Footnote_158_158"></a><a href="#FNanchor_158_158"><span class="label">[158]</span></a> Ibid.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_159_159" id="Footnote_159_159"></a><a href="#FNanchor_159_159"><span class="label">[159]</span></a> James, Naval History (edition 1837), vol. vi. p. 231.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_160_160" id="Footnote_160_160"></a><a href="#FNanchor_160_160"><span class="label">[160]</span></a> Warren's Gazette Letters, here referred to, can be +found in Naval Chronicle, vol. xxx. pp. 243, 245.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_161_161" id="Footnote_161_161"></a><a href="#FNanchor_161_161"><span class="label">[161]</span></a> Croker to Warren, March 20, 1813. Admiralty +Out-Letters, Records Office.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_162_162" id="Footnote_162_162"></a><a href="#FNanchor_162_162"><span class="label">[162]</span></a> Niles' Register, vol. iv. p. 404.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_163_163" id="Footnote_163_163"></a><a href="#FNanchor_163_163"><span class="label">[163]</span></a> The rise of the tide is about two and a half feet.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_164_164" id="Footnote_164_164"></a><a href="#FNanchor_164_164"><span class="label">[164]</span></a> This is the number stated by James, the British naval +historian, and is somewhat difficult to reconcile with Warren's +expression, "the troops and a re-enforcement of seamen and marines +from the ships." To be effective, the attack should have been in +greater numbers.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_165_165" id="Footnote_165_165"></a><a href="#FNanchor_165_165"><span class="label">[165]</span></a> The British story of this failure, outside the official +despatches, is given in James' Naval History, vol. vi. pp. 232-234.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_166_166" id="Footnote_166_166"></a><a href="#FNanchor_166_166"><span class="label">[166]</span></a> Report of the commander of the "Scorpion" to Captain +Morris, July 21, 1813. Captains' Letters.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_167_167" id="Footnote_167_167"></a><a href="#FNanchor_167_167"><span class="label">[167]</span></a> This letter, from the commanding officer of the +"Narcissus", is in Niles' Register, vol. iv. p. 279.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_168_168" id="Footnote_168_168"></a><a href="#FNanchor_168_168"><span class="label">[168]</span></a> Morris to Navy Department, August 13, 23, and 27. +Captains' Letters.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_169_169" id="Footnote_169_169"></a><a href="#FNanchor_169_169"><span class="label">[169]</span></a> Captain Hayes, of the "Majestic," in charge of the +blockade of Boston, wrote to Warren, October 25, 1813: "Almost every +vessel I meet has a license, or is under a neutral flag. Spanish, +Portuguese, and Swedes are passing in and out by hundreds, and +licensed vessels out of number from the West Indies. I find the +licenses are sent blank to be filled up in Boston. This is of course +very convenient, and the Portuguese consul is said to be making quite +a trade of that flag, covering the property and furnishing the +necessary papers for any person at a thousand dollars a ship." +Canadian Archives, M. 389. 3. p. 189.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_170_170" id="Footnote_170_170"></a><a href="#FNanchor_170_170"><span class="label">[170]</span></a> Annals of Congress, 1813-1814, vol. i. p. 500.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_171_171" id="Footnote_171_171"></a><a href="#FNanchor_171_171"><span class="label">[171]</span></a> This parenthesis shows that the censures were not +directed against New England only, for the blockade so far declared +did not extend thither.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_172_172" id="Footnote_172_172"></a><a href="#FNanchor_172_172"><span class="label">[172]</span></a> Niles' Register, vol. iv. pp. 370, 386.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_173_173" id="Footnote_173_173"></a><a href="#FNanchor_173_173"><span class="label">[173]</span></a> Ibid., p. 387.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_174_174" id="Footnote_174_174"></a><a href="#FNanchor_174_174"><span class="label">[174]</span></a> Niles' Register, vol. iv. p. 387.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_175_175" id="Footnote_175_175"></a><a href="#FNanchor_175_175"><span class="label">[175]</span></a> Ibid., p. 402.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_176_176" id="Footnote_176_176"></a><a href="#FNanchor_176_176"><span class="label">[176]</span></a> Ibid.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_177_177" id="Footnote_177_177"></a><a href="#FNanchor_177_177"><span class="label">[177]</span></a> Ibid. Author's italics.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_178_178" id="Footnote_178_178"></a><a href="#FNanchor_178_178"><span class="label">[178]</span></a> Morris to Navy Department, Dec. 20 and 26, 1813. +Captains' Letters.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_179_179" id="Footnote_179_179"></a><a href="#FNanchor_179_179"><span class="label">[179]</span></a> Post, chapter xviii.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_180_180" id="Footnote_180_180"></a><a href="#FNanchor_180_180"><span class="label">[180]</span></a> British Records Office, Secret Papers MSS.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_181_181" id="Footnote_181_181"></a><a href="#FNanchor_181_181"><span class="label">[181]</span></a> Niles' Register, vol. v. p. 311.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_182_182" id="Footnote_182_182"></a><a href="#FNanchor_182_182"><span class="label">[182]</span></a> The Columbian Centinel, Boston, Sept. 7 and Dec. 15, +1813.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_183_183" id="Footnote_183_183"></a><a href="#FNanchor_183_183"><span class="label">[183]</span></a> Ibid., Dec. 18.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_184_184" id="Footnote_184_184"></a><a href="#FNanchor_184_184"><span class="label">[184]</span></a> Ibid.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_185_185" id="Footnote_185_185"></a><a href="#FNanchor_185_185"><span class="label">[185]</span></a> Campbell to the Navy Department, Nov. 11, 1814. +Captains' Letters.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_186_186" id="Footnote_186_186"></a><a href="#FNanchor_186_186"><span class="label">[186]</span></a> Captains' Letters.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_187_187" id="Footnote_187_187"></a><a href="#FNanchor_187_187"><span class="label">[187]</span></a> Ibid., June 24, 1813.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_188_188" id="Footnote_188_188"></a><a href="#FNanchor_188_188"><span class="label">[188]</span></a> Hull to Navy Department, July 31, 1813. Ibid.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_189_189" id="Footnote_189_189"></a><a href="#FNanchor_189_189"><span class="label">[189]</span></a> Cooper tells the story that when this gun was +transported, and preparations being made to use it as a stern instead +of a bow chaser, the crew—to whom Burrows was as yet a stranger, +known chiefly by his reputation for great eccentricity—came to the +mast to express a hope that the brig was not going to retreat.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_190_190" id="Footnote_190_190"></a><a href="#FNanchor_190_190"><span class="label">[190]</span></a> Report of Lieutenant Tillinghast to Captain Hull. +Captains' Letters, Sept. 9, 1813.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_191_191" id="Footnote_191_191"></a><a href="#FNanchor_191_191"><span class="label">[191]</span></a> Hull to Bainbridge, Sept. 10. Niles' Register, vol. v. +p. 58.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_192_192" id="Footnote_192_192"></a><a href="#FNanchor_192_192"><span class="label">[192]</span></a> Report of the carpenter of the "Enterprise." Captains' +Letters.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_193_193" id="Footnote_193_193"></a><a href="#FNanchor_193_193"><span class="label">[193]</span></a> There is a discrepancy in the statements concerning the +"Boxer's" crew. Hull reported officially, "We have sixty-seven, +exclusive of those killed and thrown overboard." (Sept. 25. Captains' +Letters.) Lieutenant McCall, who succeeded to the command after +Burrows fell, reported that "from information received from officers +of the 'Boxer' it appears that there were between twenty and +thirty-five killed, and fourteen wounded." (U.S. State Papers, Naval +Affairs, vol. i. p. 297.) The number killed is evidently an +exaggerated impression received, resembling some statements made +concerning the "Chesapeake;" but it is quite likely that the "Boxer's" +loss should be increased by several bodies thrown overboard.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_194_194" id="Footnote_194_194"></a><a href="#FNanchor_194_194"><span class="label">[194]</span></a> Naval Chronicle, vol. xxxii. p. 473.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_195_195" id="Footnote_195_195"></a><a href="#FNanchor_195_195"><span class="label">[195]</span></a> Columbian Centinel, July 28, Sept. 1, and Nov. 13, +1813.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_196_196" id="Footnote_196_196"></a><a href="#FNanchor_196_196"><span class="label">[196]</span></a> Ibid., Sept. 25.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_197_197" id="Footnote_197_197"></a><a href="#FNanchor_197_197"><span class="label">[197]</span></a> Campbell to Navy Department, Jan. 4, 1814. Captains' +Letters.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_198_198" id="Footnote_198_198"></a><a href="#FNanchor_198_198"><span class="label">[198]</span></a> For full particulars see Captains' Letters (Campbell), +June 12, 1813; Jan. 2 and 4, Aug. 20, Sept. 3, Oct. 8, Oct. 15, Dec. +4, 1814.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_199_199" id="Footnote_199_199"></a><a href="#FNanchor_199_199"><span class="label">[199]</span></a> Campbell, Dec. 2, 1814. Captains' Letters.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_200_200" id="Footnote_200_200"></a><a href="#FNanchor_200_200"><span class="label">[200]</span></a> Dent to Navy Department, Jan. 28, 1815. Ibid.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_201_201" id="Footnote_201_201"></a><a href="#FNanchor_201_201"><span class="label">[201]</span></a> Campbell, Feb. 3, 1815. Ibid.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_202_202" id="Footnote_202_202"></a><a href="#FNanchor_202_202"><span class="label">[202]</span></a> June 7, 1813. Navy Department MSS.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_203_203" id="Footnote_203_203"></a><a href="#FNanchor_203_203"><span class="label">[203]</span></a> Captains' Letters, Sept. 3, 1814.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_204_204" id="Footnote_204_204"></a><a href="#FNanchor_204_204"><span class="label">[204]</span></a> Benton's Abridgment of the Debates of Congress, vol. v. +p. 202.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_205_205" id="Footnote_205_205"></a><a href="#FNanchor_205_205"><span class="label">[205]</span></a> Dec. 10, 1813. Niles' Register, vol. v. pp. 257-260.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_206_206" id="Footnote_206_206"></a><a href="#FNanchor_206_206"><span class="label">[206]</span></a> Niles' Register, vol. vii. p. 194.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_207_207" id="Footnote_207_207"></a><a href="#FNanchor_207_207"><span class="label">[207]</span></a> Ibid., vol. viii. p. 234.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_208_208" id="Footnote_208_208"></a><a href="#FNanchor_208_208"><span class="label">[208]</span></a> Ibid., vol. vii. p. 168. Quoted from a Charleston, +S.C., paper.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_209_209" id="Footnote_209_209"></a><a href="#FNanchor_209_209"><span class="label">[209]</span></a> Captains' Letters, May 3, 23, 24; June 27, 29; August +7, 17; Nov. 9, 13, 23, 1813.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_210_210" id="Footnote_210_210"></a><a href="#FNanchor_210_210"><span class="label">[210]</span></a> Niles' Register, vol. viii. p. 311. Quoted from a +Norfolk paper.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_211_211" id="Footnote_211_211"></a><a href="#FNanchor_211_211"><span class="label">[211]</span></a> American State Papers, Commerce and Navigation, vol. i. +p. 1017.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_212_212" id="Footnote_212_212"></a><a href="#FNanchor_212_212"><span class="label">[212]</span></a> Ibid., vol. ii. p. 12.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_213_213" id="Footnote_213_213"></a><a href="#FNanchor_213_213"><span class="label">[213]</span></a> American State Papers, Commerce and Navigation, vol. +ii. p. 87.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_214_214" id="Footnote_214_214"></a><a href="#FNanchor_214_214"><span class="label">[214]</span></a> Ibid., vol. i. p. 1017; vol. ii. pp. 12, 87.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_215_215" id="Footnote_215_215"></a><a href="#FNanchor_215_215"><span class="label">[215]</span></a> Ante, vol. i. pp. 402-404.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_216_216" id="Footnote_216_216"></a><a href="#FNanchor_216_216"><span class="label">[216]</span></a> Admiralty's Letter to Warren. Feb. 10, 1813.</p></div> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="CHAPTER_XIV" id="CHAPTER_XIV"></a><hr /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_215" id="PageV2_215">[215]</a></span><br /> + +<h3>CHAPTER XIV<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3> + +<h4>MARITIME OPERATIONS EXTERNAL TO THE WATERS OF<br /> +THE UNITED STATES, 1813-1814</h4> +<br /> + +<p>In broad generalization, based upon analysis of conditions, it has +been said that the seacoast of the United States was in 1812 a +defensive frontier, from which, as from all defensive lines, there +should be, and was, opportunity for offensive returns; for action +planned to relieve the shore-line, and the general military situation, +by inflicting elsewhere upon the opponent injury, harassment, and +perplexity. The last chapter dealt with the warfare depending upon the +seaboard chiefly from the defensive point of view; to illustrate the +difficulties, the blows, and the sufferings, to which the country was +exposed, owing to inability to force the enemy away from any large +portion of the coast. The pressure was as universal as it was +inexorable and irresistible.</p> + +<p>It remains still to consider the employment and effects of the one +offensive maritime measure left open by the exigencies of the war; the +cruises directed against the enemy's commerce, and the characteristic +incidents to which they gave rise. In this pursuit were engaged both +the national ships of war and those equipped by the enterprise of the +mercantile community; but, as the operations were in their nature more +consonant to the proper purpose of privateers, so the far greater +number of these caused them to play a part much more considerable in +effect, though proportionately less fruitful in conspicuous action. +Fighting, when avoidable, is to the privateer a misdirection <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_216" id="PageV2_216">[216]</a></span>of +energy. Profit is his object, by depredation upon the enemy's +commerce; not the preservation of that of his own people. To the ship +of war, on the other hand, protection of the national shipping is the +primary concern; and for that reason it becomes her to shun no +encounter by which she may hope to remove from the seas a hostile +cruiser.</p> + +<p>The limited success of the frigates in their attempts against British +trade has been noted, and attributed to the general fact that their +cruises were confined to the more open sea, upon the highways of +commerce. These were now travelled by British ships under strict laws +of convoy, the effect of which was not merely to protect the several +flocks concentrated under their particular watchdogs, but to strip the +sea of those isolated vessels, that in time of peace rise in irregular +but frequent succession above the horizon, covering the face of the +deep with a network of tracks. These solitary wayfarers were now to be +found only as rare exceptions to the general rule, until the port of +destination was approached. There the homing impulse overbore the +bonds of regulation; and the convoys tended to the conduct noted by +Nelson as a captain, "behaving as all convoys that ever I saw did, +shamefully ill, parting company every day." Commodore John Rodgers has +before been quoted, as observing that the British practice was to rely +upon pressure on the enemy over sea, for security near home; and that +the waters surrounding the British Islands themselves were the field +where commerce destruction could be most decisively effected.</p> + +<p>The first United States vessel to emphasize this fact was the brig +"Argus," Captain William H. Allen, which sailed from New York June 18, +1813, having on board a newly appointed minister to France, Mr. +William H. Crawford, recently a senator from Georgia. On July 11 she +reached L'Orient, having in the twenty-three days of passage made <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_217" id="PageV2_217">[217]</a></span>but +one prize.<a name="FNanchor_217_217" id="FNanchor_217_217"></a><a href="#Footnote_217_217" class="fnanchor">[217]</a> Three days later she proceeded to cruise in the chops +of the English Channel, and against the local trade between Ireland +and England; continuing thus until August 14, thirty-one days, during +which she captured nineteen sail, extending her depredations well up +into St. George's Channel. The contrast of results mentioned, between +her voyage across and her occupancy of British waters, illustrates the +comparative advantages of the two scenes of operations, regarded in +their relation to British commerce.</p> + +<p>On August 12 the British brig of war "Pelican," Captain Maples, +anchored at Cork from the West Indies. Before her sails were furled +she received orders to go out in search of the American ship of war +whose depredations had been reported. Two hours later she was again at +sea. The following evening, at half-past seven, a burning vessel to +the eastward gave direction to her course, and at daybreak, August 14, +she sighted a brig of war in the northeast, just quitting another +prize, which had also been fired. The wind, being south, gave the +windward position to the "Pelican," which stood in pursuit; the +"Argus" steering east, near the wind, but under moderate sail to +enable her opponent to close (positions 1). The advantage in size and +armament was on this occasion on the British side; the "Pelican" being +twenty per cent larger, and her broadside seventeen per cent heavier.</p> + +<p>At 5.55 <span class="fakesc">A.M.</span>, St. David's Head on the coast of Wales bearing +east, distant about fifteen miles, the "Argus" wore, standing now to +the westward, with the wind on the port side (2). The "Pelican" did +the same, and the battle opened at six; the vessels running side by +side, within the range of grapeshot and musketry,—probably under two +hundred yards apart (2). Within five minutes Captain Allen received a +wound which cost him his leg, and in the <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_218" id="PageV2_218">[218]</a></span>end his life. He at first +refused to be taken below, but loss of blood soon so reduced him that +he could no longer exercise command. Ten minutes later the first +lieutenant was stunned by the graze of a grapeshot along his head, and +the charge of the ship devolved on the second. By this time the +rigging of the "Argus" had been a good deal cut, and the "Pelican" +bore up (3) to pass under her stern; but the American brig, luffing +close to the wind and backing her maintopsail (3), balked the attempt, +throwing herself across the enemy's path, and giving a raking +broadside, the poor aim of which seems to have lost her the effect +that should have resulted from this ready and neat manœuvre. The +main braces of the "Argus" had already been shot away, as well as much +of the other gear upon which the after sails depended; and at 6.18 the +preventer (duplicate) braces, which formed part of the preparation for +battle, were also severed. The vessel thus became unmanageable, +falling off before the wind (4), and the "Pelican" was enabled to work +round her at will. This she did, placing herself first under the stern +(4), and then on the bow (5) of her antagonist, where the only reply +to her broadside was with musketry.</p> + +<p>In this helpless situation the "Argus" surrendered, after an +engagement of a little over three quarters of an hour. The British +loss was two killed and five wounded; the American, six killed and +seventeen wounded, of whom five afterwards died. Among these was +Captain Allen, who survived only four days, and was buried with +military honors at Plymouth, whither Captain Maples sent his +prize.<a name="FNanchor_218_218" id="FNanchor_218_218"></a><a href="#Footnote_218_218" class="fnanchor">[218]</a> After every allowance for disparity of force, the injury +done by the American fire cannot be deemed satisfactory, and suggests +the consideration whether the voyage <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_219" id="PageV2_219">[219]</a></span>to France under pressure of a +diplomatic mission, and the busy preoccupation of making, manning, and +firing prizes, during the brief month of Channel cruising, may not +have interfered unduly with the more important requirements of +fighting efficiency. The surviving officer in command mentions in +explanation, "the superior size and metal of our opponent, and the +fatigue which the crew of the 'Argus' underwent from a very rapid +succession of prizes."</p> + +<div class="img"><a name="imagep218" id="imagep218"></a> +<a href="images/imagep218.jpg"> +<img border="0" src="images/imagep218.jpg" width="78%" alt="Diagram of the Argus vs. Pelican battle" /></a><br /> +<p class="cen" style="margin-top: .2em;">Diagram of the Argus vs. Pelican battle<span class="totoi"><a href="#toi">ToList</a></span></p> +</div> + +<p>From the broad outlook of the universal maritime situation, this rapid +succession of captures is a matter of more significance than the loss +of a single brig of war. It showed the vulnerable point of British +trade and local intercommunication; and the career of the "Argus," +prematurely cut short though it was, tended to fix attention upon +facts sufficiently well known, but perhaps not fully appreciated. From +this time the opportunities offered by the English Channel and +adjacent waters, long familiar to French corsairs, were better +understood by Americans; as was also the difficulty of adequately +policing them against a number of swift and handy cruisers, preying +upon merchant vessels comparatively slow, lumbering, and undermanned. +The subsequent career of the United States ship "Wasp," and the +audacious exploits of several privateers, recall the impunity of Paul +Jones a generation before, and form a sequel to the brief prelude, in +which the leading part, though ultimately disastrous, was played by +the "Argus."</p> + +<p>While the cruise of the "Argus" stood by no means alone at this time, +the attending incidents made it conspicuous among several others of a +like nature, on the same scene or close by; and it therefore may be +taken as indicative of the changing character of the war, which soon +began to be manifest, owing to the change of conditions in Europe. In +general summary, the result was to transfer an additional weight of +British naval operations to the <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_220" id="PageV2_220">[220]</a></span>American side of the Atlantic, which +in turn compelled American cruisers, national and private, in pursuit +of commerce destruction, to get away from their own shores, and to +seek comparative security as well as richer prey in distant waters. To +this contributed also the increasing stringency of British convoy +regulation, enforced with special rigor in the Caribbean Sea and over +the Western Atlantic. It was impossible to impose the same strict +prescription upon the coastwise trade, by which chiefly the +indispensable continuous intercourse between the several parts of the +United Kingdom was maintained. Before the introduction of steam this +had a consequence quite disproportionate to the interior traffic by +land; and its development, combined with the feeling of greater +security as the British Islands were approached, occasioned in the +narrow seas, and on the coasts of Europe, a dispersion of vessels not +to be seen elsewhere. This favored the depredations of the light, +swift, and handy cruisers that alone are capable of profiting by such +an opportunity, through their power to evade the numerous, but +necessarily scattered, ships of war, which under these circumstances +must patrol the sea, like a watchman on beat, as the best substitute +for the more formal and regularized convoy protection, when that +ceases to apply.</p> + +<p>From the end of the summer of 1813, when this tendency to distant +enterprise became predominant, to the corresponding season a year +later, there were captured by American cruisers some six hundred and +fifty British vessels, chiefly merchantmen; a number which had +increased to between four and five hundred more, when the war ended in +the following winter.<a name="FNanchor_219_219" id="FNanchor_219_219"></a><a href="#Footnote_219_219" class="fnanchor">[219]</a> An intelligible account of such +multitudinous activities can be framed only by selecting amid the mass +some illustrative particulars, accompanied by a <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_221" id="PageV2_221">[221]</a></span>general estimate of +the conditions they indicate and the results they exemplify. Thus it +may be stated, with fair approach to precision, that from September +30, 1813, to September 30, 1814, there were taken six hundred and +thirty-nine British vessels, of which four hundred and twenty-four +were in seas that may be called remote from the United States. From +that time to the end of the war, about six months, the total captures +were four hundred and fourteen, of which those distant were two +hundred and ninety-three. These figures, larger actually and in +impression than they are relatively to the total of British shipping, +represent the offensive maritime action of the United States during +the period in question; but, in considering them, it must be +remembered that such results were possible only because the sea was +kept open to British commerce by the paramount power of the British +navy. This could not prevent all mishaps; but it reduced them, by the +annihilation of hostile navies, to such a small percentage of the +whole shipping movement, that the British mercantile community found +steady profit both in foreign and coasting trade, of which the United +States at the same time was almost totally deprived.</p> + +<p>The numerous but beggarly array of American bay-craft and oyster +boats, which were paraded to swell British prize lists, till there +seemed to be a numerical set-off to their own losses, show indeed that +in point of size and value of vessels taken there was no real +comparison; but this was due to the fact, not at once suggested by the +figures themselves, that there were but few American merchant vessels +to be taken, because they did not dare to go to sea, with the +exception of the few to whom exceptional speed gave a chance of +immunity, not always realized. In the period under consideration, +September, 1813, to September, 1814, despite the great falling off of +trade noted in the returns, over thirty American merchant ships and +letters of marque <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_222" id="PageV2_222">[222]</a></span>were captured at sea;<a name="FNanchor_220_220" id="FNanchor_220_220"></a><a href="#Footnote_220_220" class="fnanchor">[220]</a> at the head of the list +being the "Ned," whose hair-breadth escapes in seeking to reach a +United States port have been mentioned already.<a name="FNanchor_221_221" id="FNanchor_221_221"></a><a href="#Footnote_221_221" class="fnanchor">[221]</a> She met her fate +near the French coast, September 6, 1813, on the outward voyage from +New York to Bordeaux. Privateering, risky though it was, offered a +more profitable employment, with less chance of capture; because, +besides being better armed and manned, the ship was not impeded in her +sailing by the carriage of a heavy cargo. While the enemy was losing a +certain small proportion of vessels, the United States suffered +practically an entire deprivation of external commerce; and her +coasting trade was almost wholly suppressed, at the time that her +cruisers, national and private, were causing exaggerated anxiety +concerning the intercourse between Great Britain and Ireland, which, +though certainly molested, was not seriously interrupted.</p> + +<p>Further evidence of the control exerted by the British Navy, and of +the consequent difficulty under which offensive action was maintained +by the United States, is to be found in the practice, from this time +largely followed, of destroying prizes, after removing from them +packages of little weight compared to their price. The prospect of a +captured vessel reaching an American port was very doubtful, for the +same reason that prevented the movement of American commerce; and +while the risk was sometimes run, it usually was with cargoes which +were at once costly and bulky, such as West India goods, sugars and +coffees. Even then specie, and light costly articles, were first +removed to the cruiser, where the chances for escape were decidedly +better. Recourse to burning to prevent recapture was permissible only +with enemy's vessels. If a neutral were found carrying enemy's goods, +a frequent incident of maritime war, she must be sent in for +adjudication; which, <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_223" id="PageV2_223">[223]</a></span>if adverse, affected the cargo only. Summary +processes, therefore, could not be applied in such cases, and the +close blockade of the United States coast seriously restricted the +operations of her cruisers in this particular field.</p> + +<div class="img"><a name="imagep222" id="imagep222"></a> +<a href="images/imagep222.jpg"> +<img border="0" src="images/imagep222.jpg" width="45%" alt="The Burning of a Privateer Prize" /></a><br /> +<p class="cen" style="margin-top: .2em;">THE BURNING OF A PRIVATEER PRIZE.<br /> +<i>Drawn by Henry Reuterdahl.</i><span class="totoi"><a href="#toi">ToList</a></span></p> +</div> + +<p>Examination of the records goes to show that, although individual +American vessels sometimes made numerous seizures in rapid succession, +they seldom, if ever, effected the capture or destruction of a large +convoy at a single blow. This was the object with which Rodgers +started on his first cruise, but failed to accomplish. A stroke of +this kind is always possible, and he had combined conditions unusually +favorable to his hopes; but, while history certainly presents a few +instances of such achievement on the large scale, they are +comparatively rare, and opportunity, when it offers, can be utilized +only by a more numerous force than at any subsequent time gathered +under the American flag. In 1813 two privateers, the "Scourge" of New +York and "Rattlesnake" of Philadelphia, passed the summer in the North +Sea, and there made a number of prizes,—twenty-two,—which being +reported together gave the impression of a single lucky encounter; +were supposed in fact to be the convoy for which Rodgers in the +"President" had looked unsuccessfully the same season.<a name="FNanchor_222_222" id="FNanchor_222_222"></a><a href="#Footnote_222_222" class="fnanchor">[222]</a> The logs, +however, showed that these captures were spread over a period of two +months, and almost all made severally. Norway being then politically +attached to Denmark, and hostile to Great Britain, such prizes as were +not burned were sent into her ports. The "Scourge" appears to have +been singularly fortunate, for on her homeward trip she took, sent in, +or destroyed, ten more enemy's vessels; and in an absence extending a +little over a year had taken four hundred and twenty prisoners,—more +than the crew of a 38-gun frigate.<a name="FNanchor_223_223" id="FNanchor_223_223"></a><a href="#Footnote_223_223" class="fnanchor">[223]</a></p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_224" id="PageV2_224">[224]</a></span>At the same time the privateer schooner "Leo," of Baltimore, was +similarly successful on the coast of Spain and Portugal. By an odd +coincidence, another of the same class, bearing the nearly identical +name, "Lion," was operating at the same time in the same waters, and +with like results; which may possibly account for a contemporary +report in a London paper, that an American off the Tagus had taken +thirty-two British vessels. The "Leo" destroyed thirteen, and took +four others; while the "Lion" destroyed fifteen, having first removed +from them cargo to the amount of $400,000, which she carried safely +into France. A curious circumstance, incidental to the presence of the +privateers off Cape Finisterre, is that Wellington's troops, which had +now passed the Pyrenees and were operating in southern France, had for +a long time to wait for their great-coats, which had been stored in +Lisbon for the summer, and now could not be returned by sea to Bayonne +and Bordeaux before convoy was furnished to protect the transports +against capture. Money to pay the troops, and for the commissariat, +was similarly detained. Niles' Register, which followed carefully the +news of maritime capture, announced in November, 1813, that eighty +British vessels had been taken within a few months in European seas by +the "President," "Argus," and five privateers. Compared with the +continuous harassment and loss to which the enemy had become hardened +during twenty years of war with France, allied often with other +maritime states, this result, viewed singly, was not remarkable; but +coming in addition to the other sufferings of British trade, and +associated with similar injuries in the West Indies, and disquiet +about the British seas themselves, the cumulative effect was +undeniable, and found voice in public meetings, resolutions, and +addresses to the Government.</p> + +<p>Although the United States was not in formal alliance with France, the +common hostility made the ports of either <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_225" id="PageV2_225">[225]</a></span>nation a base of operations +to the other, and much facilitated the activities of American cruisers +in British seas. One of the most successful of the privateers, the +"True Blooded Yankee," was originally equipped at Brest, under +American ownership, though it does not appear whether she was American +built. On her first cruise her prizes are reported at twenty-seven. +She remained out thirty-seven days, chiefly off the coast of Ireland, +where she is said to have held an island for six days. Afterwards she +burned several vessels in a Scotch harbor. Her procedure illustrates +the methods of privateering in more respects than one. Thus, two large +ships, one from Smyrna and one from Buenos Ayres, were thought +sufficiently valuable to attempt sending into a French port, although +the enemy watched the French coast as rigorously as the American. The +recapture of a third, ordered to Morlaix, received specific mention, +because one of the prize crew, being found to be an Englishman, was +sentenced to death by an English court.<a name="FNanchor_224_224" id="FNanchor_224_224"></a><a href="#Footnote_224_224" class="fnanchor">[224]</a> Eight others were +destroyed; and, when the privateer returned to port, she carried in +her own hold a miscellaneous cargo of light goods, too costly to risk +in a less nimble bottom. Among these are named eighteen bales of +Turkey carpets, forty-three bales of raw silk, seventy packs of skins, +etc.<a name="FNanchor_225_225" id="FNanchor_225_225"></a><a href="#Footnote_225_225" class="fnanchor">[225]</a> The "True Blooded Yankee" apparently continued to prefer +European waters; for towards the end of 1814 she was taken there and +sent into Gibraltar.</p> + +<p>While there were certain well-known districts, such as these just +mentioned, and others before specified, in which from causes constant +in operation there was always to be found abundant material for the +hazardous occupation of the commerce-destroyer, it was not to them +alone that American cruisers went. There were other smaller but +lucrative fields, into which an occasional irruption proved +<span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_226" id="PageV2_226">[226]</a></span>profitable. Such were the gold-coast on the west shore of Africa, and +the island groups of Madeira, the Canaries, and Cape Verde, which +geographically appertain to that continent. Thither Captain Morris +directed the frigate "Adams," in January, 1814, after first escaping +from his long blockade in the Potomac. This voyage, whence he returned +to Savannah in April, was not remunerative; his most valuable prize, +an East India ship, being snatched out of his hands, when in the act +of taking possession, by an enemy's division in charge of a convoy of +twenty-five sail, to which probably she had belonged, and had been +separated by the thick weather that permitted her capture.<a name="FNanchor_226_226" id="FNanchor_226_226"></a><a href="#Footnote_226_226" class="fnanchor">[226]</a> A year +before this the privateer "Yankee," of Bristol, Rhode Island, had had +better success. When she returned to Narragansett Bay in the spring of +1813, after a five months' absence, she reported having scoured the +whole west coast of Africa, taking eight vessels, which carried in the +aggregate sixty-two guns, one hundred and ninety-six men, and property +to the amount of $296,000. In accordance with the practice already +noticed, of distributing the spoil in order better to insure its +arrival, she brought back in her own hold the light but costly items +of six tons of ivory, thirty-two bales of fine goods, and $40,000 in +gold-dust.<a name="FNanchor_227_227" id="FNanchor_227_227"></a><a href="#Footnote_227_227" class="fnanchor">[227]</a> This vessel was out again several times; and when the +war closed was said to have been the most successful of all American +cruisers. Her prizes numbered forty, of which thirty-four were ships +or brigs; that is, of the larger classes of merchantmen then used. The +estimated value of themselves and cargoes, $3,000,000, is to be +received with reserve.<a name="FNanchor_228_228" id="FNanchor_228_228"></a><a href="#Footnote_228_228" class="fnanchor">[228]</a></p> + +<p>It was in this neighborhood that the privateer schooner "Globe," +Captain Moon, of Baltimore, mounting eight 9-pounder carronades and +one long gun, met with an <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_227" id="PageV2_227">[227]</a></span>adventure illustrative of the fighting +incidental to the business. To this the privateersmen as a class were +in no wise loath, where there was a fair prospect of the gain for +which they were sent to look. Being off Funchal, in the island of +Madeira, November 1, 1813, two brigs, which proved to be English +packets, the "Montague" and "Pelham," were seen "backing and filling;" +that is, keeping position in the open roadstead which constitutes the +harbor, under sail, but not anchored. Packets, being in government +service, were well armed for their size, and as mail carriers were +necessarily chosen for speed; they therefore frequently carried +specie. In one taken by the "Essex," Captain Porter found $55,000, +which as ready cash helped him much to pay his frigate's way in a long +and adventurous career. It does not appear that the "Globe" at first +recognized the character of these particular vessels; but she lay-by +during the night, watching for their quitting the shelter of neutral +waters. This they did at 9 <span class="fakesc">P.M.</span>, when the privateer pursued, +but lost sight of them in a squall. The next morning they were seen in +the southwest, and again chased. At 10.15 <span class="fakesc">A.M.</span> the "Montague" +began firing her stern guns. The schooner replied, but kept on to +board, knowing her superiority in men, and at 12.30 ran alongside (1). +The attack being smartly met, and the vessels separating almost +immediately, the attempt failed disastrously; there being left on +board the packet the two lieutenants of the "Globe" and three or four +seamen. Immediately upon this repulse, the "Pelham" crossed the +privateer's bow and raked her (P 2), dealing such destruction to sails +and rigging as to leave her unmanageable. The "Montague" and "Globe" +now lay broadside to broadside (2), engaging; and ten minutes later +the "Montague" by her own report was completely disabled (M 3). +Captain Moon claimed that she struck; and this was probably the case, +if his further incidental mention, that the <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_228" id="PageV2_228">[228]</a></span>mailbags were seen to be +thrown overboard, is not a mistake. The action then continued with the +"Pelham," within pistol-shot (3), for an hour or so, when the +schooner, being found in a sinking condition, was compelled to haul +off; "having seven shot between wind and water, the greater part of +our standing and running rigging shot away, and not a sail but was +perfectly riddled and almost useless." After separating, the several +combatants all steered with the tradewinds for the Canaries; the +British going to Teneriffe, and the American to the Grand Canary.<a name="FNanchor_229_229" id="FNanchor_229_229"></a><a href="#Footnote_229_229" class="fnanchor">[229]</a></p> + +<p>From the injuries received, it is apparent that, for the armaments of +the vessels, this was a very severe as well as determined engagement. +The British had six killed and twelve wounded; the American five +killed and thirteen wounded, besides the prisoners lost in boarding. +All three captains were severely hurt, that of the "Montague" being +killed. The figures given are those reported by each side; how +exaggerated the rumors current about such encounters, and the +consequent difficulty to the historian, is shown by what each heard +about the other's casualties. A Spanish brig from Teneriffe told Moon +that the enemy had twenty-seven men killed; while the British were +equally credibly informed that the "Globe" lost thirty-three killed +and nineteen wounded.</p> + +<p>Near about this time, in the same neighborhood of Madeira, the +privateer schooner "Governor Tompkins," of New York, captured in rapid +succession three British merchant vessels which had belonged to a +convoy from England to Buenos Ayres, but after its dispersal in a gale +were pursuing their route singly. Two of these reached an American +port, their bulky and heavy ladings of dry goods and hardware not +permitting transfer or distribution. The sale of one cargo realized +$270,000.<a name="FNanchor_230_230" id="FNanchor_230_230"></a><a href="#Footnote_230_230" class="fnanchor">[230]</a> At about the <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_229" id="PageV2_229">[229]</a></span>same moment came in a brig of like +value, not improbably another wanderer from the same group, captured +near Madeira by the ship "America," of Salem. This vicinity, from the +islands to the equator, between 20° and 30° west longitude, belongs +essentially to the thronged highway and cross-roads of commerce, which +has been noted as a favorite cruising ground of American ships of war. +Hereabouts passed vessels both to and from the East Indies and South +America. The bad luck of several frigates, and the rough handling of +the "Globe" by the packets, illustrate one side of the fortune of war, +as the good hap of the "America" and "Governor Tompkins" shows the +other.</p> + +<div class="img"><a name="imagep228" id="imagep228"></a> +<a href="images/imagep228.jpg"> +<img border="0" src="images/imagep228.jpg" width="95%" alt="Diagram of the Montague, Pelham, Globe battle" /></a><br /> +<p class="cen" style="margin-top: .2em;">Diagram of the Montague, Pelham, Globe battle<span class="totoi"><a href="#toi">ToList</a></span></p> +</div> + +<p>It is, however, the beginnings and endings of commercial routes, +rather than the intermediate stretch, which most favor enterprises +against an enemy's trade. In the thronging of vessels, the Caribbean +Sea, with its teeming archipelago, was second only, if second, to the +waters surrounding the United Kingdom. England was one extremity, and +the several West India Islands the other, of a traffic then one of the +richest in the world; while the tropical articles of this exchange, if +not absolute necessaries of life, had become by long indulgence +indispensable to the great part of civilized mankind. Here, therefore, +the numbers, the efforts, and the successes of American privateers +most nearly rivalled the daring achievements of their fellows in the +Narrow Seas and the approaches to Great Britain and Ireland. The two +regions resembled each other in another respect. Not only was there +for both an external trade, mainly with one another, but in each there +was also a local traffic of distribution and collection of goods, from +and to central ports, in which was concentrated the movement of import +and export. As has been remarked concerning the coastwise carriage of +the United Kingdom, this local intercourse, to be efficient, could not +be regulated and hampered to the same extent as the long voyage, +over-sea, <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_230" id="PageV2_230">[230]</a></span>transportation. A certain amount of freedom and +independence was essential, and the risk attendant upon such separate +action must be compensated, as far as might be, by diminishing the +size of the vessels engaged; a resource particularly applicable to the +moderate weather and quiet seas prevalent in the tropics.</p> + +<p>Both the exposure of trade under such relaxed conditions, and the +relative security obtained by the convoy system, rigidly applied, are +shown by a few facts. From September 1, 1813, to March 1, 1814, six +months, the number of prizes taken by Americans, exclusive of those on +the Lakes, was reported as two hundred and seventy. Of these, nearly +one third—eighty-six—were to, from, or within the West Indies. Since +in many reports the place of capture is not given, nor any data +sufficient to fix it, it is probable that quite one third belonged to +this trade. This evidences the scale, both of the commerce itself and +of its pursuers, justifying a contemporary statement that "the West +Indies swarm with American privateers;" and it suggests also that many +of the seizures were local traders between the islands, or at least +vessels taking their chance on short runs. On the other hand, the +stringency with which the local officials enforced the Convoy Act was +shown, generally, by the experience at this time of the United States +naval vessels, the records of which, unlike those of most privateers, +have been preserved by filing or publication; and, specifically, by a +number of papers found in a prize by the United States frigate +"Constitution," Captain Charles Stewart, while making a round of these +waters in the first three months of 1814. Among other documents was a +petition, signed by many merchants of Demerara, praying convoy for +fifty-one vessels which were collected and waiting for many weary +weeks, as often had to be done. In one letter occurs the following: +"With respect to procuring a license for the "Fanny" to run it, in +<span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_231" id="PageV2_231">[231]</a></span>case any other ships should be about to do so, we do not believe that, +out of forty vessels ready to sail, any application has been made for +such license, though out of the number are several out-port vessels +well armed and manned. Indeed, we are aware application would be +perfectly useless, as the present Governor, when at Berbice, would not +permit a vessel from that colony to this [adjoining] without convoy. +If we could obtain a license, we could not justify ourselves to +shippers, who have ordered insurance with convoy."<a name="FNanchor_231_231" id="FNanchor_231_231"></a><a href="#Footnote_231_231" class="fnanchor">[231]</a></p> + +<p>The expense and embarrassment incident to such detentions are +far-reaching, and the effects are as properly chargeable as are +captures themselves to the credit of the cruisers, by the activity of +which they are occasioned. The "Constitution" could report only four +prizes as the result of a three months' cruise, necessarily shortened +by the approach of spring. This made it imperative for a vessel, +denied admission to most home ports by her draught of water, to +recover the shelter of one of them before the blockade again began, +and the exhaustion of her provisions should compel her to attempt +entrance under risk of an engagement with superior force. As it was, +she was chased into Salem, and had to lighten ship to escape. But +Stewart had driven an enemy's brig of war into Surinam, chased a +packet off Barbados, and a frigate in the Mona Passage; and the report +of these occurrences, wherever received, imposed additional +precaution, delay, and expense.</p> + +<p>At the same time that the "Constitution" was passing through the +southern Caribbean, the naval brigs "Rattlesnake" and "Enterprise" +were searching its northern limits. These had put out from Portsmouth, +New Hampshire, when the winter weather drove the blockaders from +there, as from Boston, whence the "Constitution" had <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_232" id="PageV2_232">[232]</a></span>sailed. Starting +early in January, 1814, these two light cruisers kept company, passing +east of Bermuda to the island of St. Thomas, at the northeast corner +of the Caribbean. Thence they turned west, skirting the north shores +of Porto Rico and Santo Domingo as far as the Windward Passage. +Through this they entered the Caribbean, followed the south coast of +Cuba, between it and Jamaica, rounded Cape San Antonio, at its western +extremity, and thence, traversing the Straits of Florida, returned +along the coast of the United States. Having already been chased twice +in this cruise, they were compelled by a third pursuer to separate, +February 25. The stranger chose to keep after the "Enterprise," which +being a very dull sailer was obliged in a flight of seventy hours to +throw overboard most of her battery to escape. The two put into +Wilmington, North Carolina, a port impracticable to a frigate.<a name="FNanchor_232_232" id="FNanchor_232_232"></a><a href="#Footnote_232_232" class="fnanchor">[232]</a></p> + +<p>In this long round the brigs overhauled eleven vessels, two only of +which were under the British flag. Two were Americans; the rest +neutrals, either Swedes or Spaniards. Of the two enemies, only one was +a merchant ship. The other was a privateer, the chase of which gave +rise to a curious and significant incident. Being near the Florida +coast, and thinking the brigs to be British, twenty or thirty of the +crew took to the boats and fled ashore to escape anticipated +impressment. As Marryat remarks, a British private vessel of that day +feared a British ship of war more than it did an enemy of equal force. +Of the neutrals stopped, one was in possession of a British prize +crew, and another had on board enemy's goods. For these reasons they +were sent in for adjudication, and arrived safely. Judged by these +small results from the several cruises of the "Enterprise," +"Rattlesnake," and "Constitution," the large aggregate of captures +before quoted, two hundred and <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_233" id="PageV2_233">[233]</a></span>seventy, would indicate that to effect +them required a great number of cruisers, national and private. That +this inference is correct will be shown later, by some interesting and +instructive figures.</p> + +<p>While the making of prizes was the primary concern of the American +privateers, their cruises in the West Indies, as elsewhere, gave rise +to a certain amount of hard fighting. One of the most noted of these +encounters, that of the schooner "Decatur," of Charleston, with the +man-of-war schooner "Dominica," can hardly be claimed for the United +States; for, though fought under the flag, her captain, Diron, was +French, as were most of the crew. The "Dominica" was in company with a +King's packet, which she was to convoy part of the way to England from +St. Thomas. On August 5, 1813, the "Decatur" met the two about three +hundred miles north of the island. The British vessel was superior in +armament, having fifteen guns; all carronades, except two long sixes. +The "Decatur's" battery was six carronades, and one long 18-pounder. +For long distances the latter was superior in carrying power and +penetration to anything on board the "Dominica;" but the American +captain, knowing himself to have most men, sought to board, and the +artillery combat was therefore mainly at close quarters, within +carronade range. It began at 2 <span class="fakesc">P.M.</span> At 2.30 the schooners +were within half-gunshot of one another; the "Dominica" in the +position of being chased, because of the necessity of avoiding the +evident intention of the "Decatur" to come hand to hand. Twice the +latter tried to run alongside, and twice was foiled by watchful +steering, accompanied in each case by a broadside which damaged her +rigging and sails, besides killing two of her crew. The third attempt +was successful, the "Decatur's" bow coming against the quarter of the +"Dominica," the jib-boom passing through her mainsail. The crew of the +privateer clambered on board, and there followed a <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_234" id="PageV2_234">[234]</a></span>hand-to-hand fight +equally honorable to both parties. The British captain, Lieutenant +Barretté, a young man of twenty-five, who had already proved his +coolness and skill in the management of the action, fell at the head +of his men, of whom sixty out of a total of eighty-eight were killed +or wounded before their colors were struck. The assailants, who +numbered one hundred and three, lost nineteen. The packet, though +armed, took no part in the fight, and when it was over effected her +escape.<a name="FNanchor_233_233" id="FNanchor_233_233"></a><a href="#Footnote_233_233" class="fnanchor">[233]</a> The "Decatur" with her prize reached Charleston safely, +August 20; bringing also a captured merchantman. The moment of arrival +was most opportune; two enemy's brigs, which for some time had been +blockading the harbor, having left only the day before.</p> + +<p>In March, 1814, the privateer schooner "Comet," of Baltimore, not +being able to make her home port, put into Wilmington, North Carolina. +She had been cruising in the West Indies, and had there taken twenty +vessels, most of which were destroyed after removing valuables. In the +course of her operations she encountered near St. Thomas the British +ship "Hibernia;" the size of which, and her height above the water, by +preventing boarding, enabled her successfully to repel attack, and the +privateer was obliged to haul off, having lost three men killed and +thirteen wounded. The American account of this affair ascribes +twenty-two guns to the "Hibernia." The British story says that she had +but six, with a crew of twenty-two men; of whom one was killed and +eleven wounded. The importance of the matter in itself scarcely +demands a serious attempt to reconcile this discrepancy; and it is +safer to accept each party's statement of his own force. The two agree +that the action lasted eight or nine hours, and that both were much +cut up. It is evident also from each narrative that they lay alongside +most of the time, which <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_235" id="PageV2_235">[235]</a></span>makes it probable that the ship's height +saved her from being overborne by superior numbers.</p> + +<p>The "Saucy Jack," of Charleston, passed through several severe +combats, in one of which she was even worse mauled than the "Comet" in +the instance just cited. On April 30, 1814, off St. Nicolas Mole, in +the Windward Passage between Cuba and Santo Domingo, she met the +British ship "Pelham," a vessel of five hundred and forty tons, and +mounting ten guns, bound from London to Port au Prince. The "Pelham" +fought well, and the action lasted two hours, at the end of which she +was carried by boarding. Her forty men were overpowered by numbers, +but nevertheless still resisted with a resolution which commanded the +admiration of the victors. She lost four killed and eleven wounded; +among the latter her captain, dangerously. The privateer had two +killed and nine wounded. Both vessels reached Charleston safely, and +the "Saucy Jack" at once fitted out again. It is told that, between +daylight and dark of the day she began to enlist, one hundred and +thirty able-bodied seamen had shipped; and this at a time when the +navy with difficulty found crews.<a name="FNanchor_234_234" id="FNanchor_234_234"></a><a href="#Footnote_234_234" class="fnanchor">[234]</a></p> + +<p>The "Saucy Jack" returned to the West Indies for another cruise, in +which she encountered one of those rude deceptions which privateers +often experienced. She had made already eight prizes, for one of +which, the ship "Amelia," she had had to fight vigorously, killing +four and wounding five of the enemy, while herself sustaining a loss +of one killed and one wounded, when on October 31, 1814, about 1 +<span class="fakesc">A.M.</span>, being then off Cape Tiburon at the west end of Haïti, +she sighted two vessels standing to the westward. Chase was made, and +an hour later the privateer opened fire. The strangers replied, at the +same time shortening sail, which looked ominous; but the "Saucy Jack," +willing to justify her name, kept on to close. At <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_236" id="PageV2_236">[236]</a></span>6 <span class="fakesc">A.M.</span>, +having arrived within a few hundred yards, the enemy were seen to be +well armed, but appeared not to be well manned. At seven, by which +time it was daylight, the "Saucy Jack" began an engagement with the +nearer, and ten minutes later ran her alongside, when she was found to +be full of soldiers. The privateer sheered off at once, and took to +her heels, followed by an incessant fire of grape and musketry from +those whom she had recently pursued. This awkward position, which +carried the chance of a disabling shot and consequent capture, lasted +till eight, when the speed of the schooner took her out of range, +having had in all eight men killed and fifteen wounded; two round shot +in the hull, and spars and rigging much cut up. It was afterwards +ascertained that her opponent was the "Volcano" bombship, convoying +the transport "Golden Fleece," on board which were two hundred and +fifty troops from Chesapeake Bay for Jamaica. The "Volcano" lost an +officer and two men killed, and two wounded; proving that under +somewhat awkward circumstances the "Saucy Jack" could give as well as +take.<a name="FNanchor_235_235" id="FNanchor_235_235"></a><a href="#Footnote_235_235" class="fnanchor">[235]</a></p> + +<p>A little later in this season a group of nine sail, from the West +Indies for Europe, was encountered by the privateer "Kemp," of +Baltimore, broad off the coast of North Carolina. Excluded, like the +"Comet" and others, from return to the port where she belonged, the +"Kemp" had been in Wilmington, which she left November 29, 1814; the +strangers being sighted at 8 <span class="fakesc">A.M.</span> December 1. One was a +convoying frigate, which, when the "Kemp" pursued, gave chase and +drove her off that afternoon. The privateer outran her pursuer, and +during the night by devious courses gave her the slip; thereupon +steering for the position where she judged she would again fall in +with the merchant vessels. In this she was successful, at <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_237" id="PageV2_237">[237]</a></span>daylight +discovering them,—three ships, three brigs, and two schooners. At 11 +<span class="fakesc">A.M.</span> one ship was overtaken, but proving to be Spanish, from +Havana to Hamburg, was allowed to proceed, while the "Kemp" again +followed the others. At noon they were five miles to windward, drawn +up in a line to fight; for in those days of war and piracy most +merchant ships carried at least a few guns for defence, and in this +case their numbers, combined in mutual support, might effect a +successful resistance. At two they took the initiative, bearing down +together and attacking. The "Kemp" engaged them all, and in half an +hour the untrained squadron was naturally in confusion. One after the +other, six of the seven were boarded, or without waiting to be +attacked struck their colors as the schooner drew up; but while four +were being taken into possession, the two others seized the +opportunity and made off. Two ships and two brigs remained in the +hands of the captor. All were laden with sugar and coffee, valuable at +any time, but especially so in the then destitute condition of the +United States. After this unusual, if not wholly unique, experience, +the "Kemp" returned to port, having been absent only six days. Her +prisoners amounted to seventy-one, her own crew being fifty-three. The +separation of the escort from the convoy, the subsequent judicious +search for the latter, and the completeness of the result, constitute +this a very remarkable instance of good management accompanied by good +fortune; success deserved and achieved.<a name="FNanchor_236_236" id="FNanchor_236_236"></a><a href="#Footnote_236_236" class="fnanchor">[236]</a></p> + +<p>The privateer brig "Chasseur," of Baltimore, Captain Thomas Boyle, was +one of the typically successful and renowned cruisers of the time. She +carried a battery of sixteen 12-pounder carronades, and in the course +of the war thirty prizes are credited to her. In the late summer of +1814 she cruised off the coast of Great Britain <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_238" id="PageV2_238">[238]</a></span>and Ireland, +returning at the end of October; having made eighteen captures during +an absence of three months. From these she paroled and sent in by +cartels one hundred and fifty prisoners, bringing back with her +forty-three, of whom she had not been able thus to rid herself.<a name="FNanchor_237_237" id="FNanchor_237_237"></a><a href="#Footnote_237_237" class="fnanchor">[237]</a> +After refitting she went to the West Indies for a winter cruise, which +extended from the Windward Islands to the neighborhood of Havana. Here +she signalized the approaching end of her career by an action, fought +after peace not only had been concluded at Ghent, but already was +known in the United States. On February 26, 1815, at 11 <span class="fakesc">A.M.</span>, +being then twenty miles east of Havana, and six miles from the Cuban +coast, a schooner was seen in the northeast (1), running down before +the northeast trade-wind. Sail was made to intercept her (2), there +being at the time visible from the "Chasseur's" masthead a convoy +lying-to off Havana, information concerning which probably accounts +for her presence at this spot. The chase steered more to the northward +(2), bringing the wind on her starboard side, apparently wishing to +avoid a meeting. The "Chasseur" followed her motions, and when within +about three miles the stranger's foretopmast went over the side, +showing the press of sail she was carrying. After clearing the wreck +she hauled close on the wind, heading northerly. At 1 <span class="fakesc">P.M.</span>, +she began to fire her stern gun and showed British colors; but only +three port-holes were visible on her port side,—towards the +"Chasseur."</p> + +<p>Believing from appearances that he had before him a weakly armed +vessel making a passage, and seeing but few men on her deck, Captain +Boyle pressed forward without much preparation and under all sail. At +1.26 <span class="fakesc">P.M.</span> the "Chasseur" had come within pistol-shot (3), on +the port side, when the enemy disclosed a tier of ten ports and opened +his broadside, with round shot, grape, and musket <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_239" id="PageV2_239">[239]</a></span>balls. The +American schooner, having much way on, shot ahead, and as she was to +leeward in doing so, the British vessel kept off quickly (4) to run +under her stern and rake. This was successfully avoided by imitating +the movement (4), and the two were again side by side, but with the +"Chasseur" now to the right (5). The action continued thus for about +ten minutes, when Boyle found his opponent's battery too heavy for +him. He therefore ran alongside (6), and in the act of boarding the +enemy struck. She proved to be the British schooner "St. Lawrence," +belonging to the royal navy; formerly a renowned Philadelphia +privateer, the "Atlas." Her battery, one long 9-pounder and fourteen +12-pounder carronades, would have been no very unequal match for the +sixteen of her antagonist; but the "Chasseur" had been obliged +recently to throw overboard ten of these, while hard chased by the +Barrosa frigate, and had replaced them with some 9-pounders from a +prize, for which she had no proper projectiles. The complement allowed +the "St. Lawrence" was seventy-five, though it does not seem certain +that all were on board; and she was carrying also some soldiers, +marines, and naval officers, bound to New Orleans, in ignorance +probably of the disastrous end of that expedition. The "Chasseur" had +eighty-nine men, besides several boys. The British loss reported by +her captain was six killed and seventeen wounded; the American, five +killed and eight wounded.<a name="FNanchor_238_238" id="FNanchor_238_238"></a><a href="#Footnote_238_238" class="fnanchor">[238]</a></p> + +<div class="img"><a name="imagep238" id="imagep238"></a> +<a href="images/imagep238.jpg"> +<img border="0" src="images/imagep238.jpg" width="62%" alt="Diagram of the Chasseur vs. St. Lawrence battle" /></a><br /> +<p class="cen" style="margin-top: .2em;">Diagram of the Chasseur vs. St. Lawrence battle<span class="totoi"><a href="#toi">ToList</a></span></p> +</div> + +<p>This action was very creditably fought on both sides, but to the +American captain belongs the meed of having not only won success, but +deserved it. His sole mistake was the over-confidence in what he could +see, which made him a victim to the very proper ruse practised by his +antagonist in concealing his force. His manœuvring was prompt, +ready, and accurate; that of the British vessel was <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_240" id="PageV2_240">[240]</a></span>likewise good, +but a greater disproportion of injury should have resulted from her +superior battery. In reporting the affair to his owners, Captain Boyle +said, apologetically: "I should not willingly, perhaps, have sought a +contest with a King's vessel, knowing that is not our object; but my +expectations at first were a valuable vessel, and a valuable cargo +also. When I found myself deceived, the honor of the flag intrusted to +my care was not to be disgraced by flight." The feeling expressed was +modest as well as spirited, and Captain Boyle's handsome conduct +merits the mention that the day after the action, when the captured +schooner was released as a cartel to Havana, in compassion to her +wounded, the commander of the "St. Lawrence" gave him a letter, in the +event of his being taken by a British cruiser, testifying to his +"obliging attention and watchful solicitude to preserve our effects, +and render us comfortable during the short time we were in his +possession;" in which, he added, the captain "was carefully seconded +by all his officers."<a name="FNanchor_239_239" id="FNanchor_239_239"></a><a href="#Footnote_239_239" class="fnanchor">[239]</a></p> + +<p>These instances, occurring either in the West Indies, or, in the case +of the "Kemp," affecting vessels which had just loaded there, are +sufficient, when taken in connection with those before cited from +other quarters of the globe, to illustrate the varied activities and +fortunes of privateering. The general subject, therefore, need not +further be pursued. It will be observed that in each case the cruiser +acts on the offensive; being careful, however, in choosing the object +<span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_241" id="PageV2_241">[241]</a></span>of attack, to avoid armed ships, the capture of which seems unlikely +to yield pecuniary profit adequate to the risk. The gallantry and +skill of Captain Boyle of the "Chasseur" made particularly permissible +to him the avowal, that only mistake of judgment excused his +committing himself to an encounter which held out no such promise; and +it may be believed that the equally capable Captain Diron, if free to +do as he pleased, would have chosen the packet, and not her escort the +"Dominica," as the object of his pursuit. This the naval schooner of +course could not permit. It was necessary, therefore, first to fight +her; and, although she was beaten, the result of the action was to +insure the escape of the ship under her charge. These examples define +exactly the spirit and aim of privateering, and distinguish them from +the motives inspiring the ship of war. The object of the privateer is +profit by capture; to which fighting is only incidental, and where +avoidable is blamable. The mission of a navy on the other hand is +primarily military; and while custom permitted the immediate captor a +share in the proceeds of his prizes, the taking of them was in +conception not for direct gain, personal or national, but for injury +to the enemy.</p> + +<p>It may seem that, even though the ostensible motive was not the same, +the two courses of operation followed identical methods, and in +outcome were indistinguishable. This is not so. However subtle the +working of the desire for gain upon the individual naval officer, +leading at times to acts of doubtful propriety, the tone and spirit of +a profession, even when not clearly formulated in phrase and +definition, will assert itself in the determination of personal +conduct. The dominating sense of advantage to the state, which is the +military motive, and the dominating desire for gain in a mercantile +enterprise, are very different incentives; and the result showed +itself in a fact which has never been appreciated, and perhaps never +noted, that the <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_242" id="PageV2_242">[242]</a></span>national ships of war were far more effective as +prize takers than were the privateers. A contrary impression has +certainly obtained, and was shared by the present writer until he +resorted to the commonplace test of adding up figures.</p> + +<p>Amid much brilliant achievement, privateering, like all other business +pursuits, had also a large and preponderant record of unsuccess. The +very small number of naval cruisers necessarily yielded a much smaller +aggregate of prizes; but when the respective totals are considered +with reference to the numbers of vessels engaged in making them, the +returns from the individual vessels of the United States navy far +exceed those from the privateers. Among conspicuously successful +cruisers, also, the United States ships "Argus," "Essex," "Peacock," +and "Wasp" compare favorably in general results with the most +celebrated privateers, even without allowing for the evident fact that +a few instances of very extraordinary qualities and record are more +likely to be found among five hundred vessels than among twenty-two; +this being the entire number of naval pendants actually engaged in +open-sea cruising, from first to last. These twenty-two captured one +hundred and sixty-five prizes, an average of 7.5 each, in which are +included the enemy's ships of war taken. Of privateers of all classes +there were five hundred and twenty-six; or, excluding a few small +nondescripts, four hundred and ninety-two. By these were captured +thirteen hundred and forty-four vessels, an average of less than +three; to be exact, 2.7. The proportion, therefore, of prizes taken by +ships of war to those by private armed vessels was nearly three to +one.</p> + +<p>Comparison may be instituted in other ways. Of the twenty-two national +cruisers, four only, or one in five, took no prize; leaving to the +remaining eighteen an average of nine. Out of the grand total of five +hundred and twenty-six privateers only two hundred and seven caught +anything; three hundred and nineteen, three out of five, returned to +<span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_243" id="PageV2_243">[243]</a></span>port empty-handed, or were themselves taken. Dividing the thirteen +hundred and forty-four prizes among the two hundred and seven more or +less successful privateers, there results an average of 6.5; so that, +regard being had only to successful cruisers, the achievement of the +naval vessels was to that of the private armed nearly as three to two. +These results may be accepted as disposing entirely of the extravagant +claims made for privateering as a system, when compared with a regular +naval service, especially when it is remembered with what difficulty +the American frigates could get to sea at all, on account of their +heavy draft and the close blockade; whereas the smaller vessels, +national or private, had not only many harbors open, but also +comparatively numerous opportunities to escape. The frigate "United +States" never got out after her capture of the "Macedonian," in 1812; +the "Congress" was shut up after her return in December, 1813; and the +"Chesapeake" had been captured in the previous June. All these +nevertheless count in the twenty-two pendants reckoned above.</p> + +<p>The figures here cited are from a compilation by Lieutenant George F. +Emmons,<a name="FNanchor_240_240" id="FNanchor_240_240"></a><a href="#Footnote_240_240" class="fnanchor">[240]</a> of the United States Navy, published in 1853 under the +title, "The United States Navy from 1775 to 1853." Mr. Emmons made no +analyses, confining himself to giving lists and particulars; his work +is purely statistical. Counting captures upon the lakes, and a few +along the coast difficult of classification, his grand total of +floating craft taken from the enemy reaches fifteen hundred and +ninety-nine; which agrees nearly with the sixteen hundred and +thirty-four of Niles, whom he names among his sources of information. +From an examination of the tables some other details of interest may +be drawn. Of the five hundred and twenty-six privateers and +letters-of-marque given by name, twenty-six <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_244" id="PageV2_244">[244]</a></span>were ships, sixty-seven +brigs, three hundred and sixty-four schooners, thirty-five sloops, +thirty-four miscellaneous; down to, and including, a few boats putting +out from the beach. The number captured by the enemy was one hundred +and forty-eight, or twenty-eight per cent. The navy suffered more +severely. Of the twenty-two vessels reckoned above, twelve were taken, +or destroyed to keep them out of an enemy's hands; over fifty per +cent. Of the twelve, six were small brigs, corresponding in size and +nautical powers to the privateer. Three were frigates—the +"President," "Essex," and "Chesapeake." One, the "Adams," was not at +sea when destroyed by her own captain to escape capture. Only two +sloops of war, the first "Wasp" and the "Frolic,"<a name="FNanchor_241_241" id="FNanchor_241_241"></a><a href="#Footnote_241_241" class="fnanchor">[241]</a> were taken; and +of these the former, as already known, was caught when partially +dismasted, at the end of a successful engagement.</p> + +<p>Contemporary with the career of the "Argus," the advantage of a sudden +and unexpected inroad, like hers, upon a region deemed safe by the +enemy, was receiving confirmation in the remote Pacific by the cruise +of the frigate "Essex." This vessel, which had formed part of +Commodore Bainbridge's squadron at the close of 1812, was last +mentioned as keeping her Christmas off Cape Frio,<a name="FNanchor_242_242" id="FNanchor_242_242"></a><a href="#Footnote_242_242" class="fnanchor">[242]</a> on the coast of +Brazil, awaiting there the coming of the consorts whom she never +succeeded in joining. Captain Porter maintained this station, hearing +frequently about Bainbridge by vessels from Bahia, until January 12, +1813. Then a threatened shortness of provisions, and rumors of enemy's +ships in the neighborhood, especially of the seventy-four "Montagu" +combined to send him to St. Catherine's Island, another appointed +rendezvous, and the last upon the coast of Brazil. In this remote +and <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_245" id="PageV2_245">[245]</a></span>sequestered anchorage hostile cruisers would scarcely look for +him, at least until more likely positions had been carefully examined.</p> + +<div class="img"><a name="imagep244" id="imagep244"></a> +<a href="images/imagep244.jpg"> +<img border="0" src="images/imagep244.jpg" width="55%" alt="Captain David Porter" /></a><br /> +<p class="cen" style="margin-top: .2em;">CAPTAIN DAVID PORTER.<br /> +<i>From the painting by Charles Wilson Peale, in Independence Hall, Philadelphia.</i><span class="totoi"><a href="#toi">ToList</a></span></p> +</div> + +<p>At St. Catherine's Porter heard of the action between the +"Constitution" and "Java" off Bahia, a thousand miles distant, and +received also a rumor, which seemed probable enough, that the third +ship of the division, the "Hornet," had been captured by the +"Montagu." He consequently left port January 26, for the southward, +still with the expectation of ultimately joining the Commodore off St. +Helena, the last indicated point of assembly; but having been unable +to renew his stores in St. Catherine's, and ascertaining that there +was no hope of better success at Buenos Ayres, or the other Spanish +settlements within the River La Plata, he after reflection decided to +cut loose from the squadron and go alone to the Pacific. There he +could reasonably hope to support himself by the whalers of the enemy; +that class of vessel being always well provided for long absences. +This alternative course he knew would be acceptable to the Government, +as well as to his immediate commander.<a name="FNanchor_243_243" id="FNanchor_243_243"></a><a href="#Footnote_243_243" class="fnanchor">[243]</a> The next six weeks were +spent in the tempestuous passage round Cape Horn, the ship's company +living on half-allowance of provisions; but on March 14, 1813, the +"Essex" anchored in Valparaiso, being the first United States ship of +war to show the national flag in the Pacific. By a noteworthy +coincidence she had already been the first to carry it beyond the Cape +of Good Hope.</p> + +<p>Chile received the frigate hospitably, being at the time in revolt +against Spain; but the authority of the mother country was still +maintained in Peru, where a Spanish viceroy resided, and it was +learned that in the capacity of ally of Great Britain he intended to +fit out privateers <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_246" id="PageV2_246">[246]</a></span>against American whalers, of which there were many +in these seas. As several of the British whalers carried +letters-of-marque, empowering them to make prizes, the arrival of the +"Essex" not only menaced the hostile interests, but promised to +protect her own countrymen from a double danger. Her departure +therefore was hastened; and having secured abundant provision, such as +the port supplied, she sailed for the northward a week after +anchoring. A privateer from Peru was met, which had seized two +Americans. Porter threw overboard her guns and ammunition, and then +released her with a note for the viceroy, which served both as a +respectful explanation and a warning. One of the prizes taken by this +marauder was recaptured March 27, when entering Callao, the port of +Lima.</p> + +<p>The "Essex" then went to the Galapagos Islands, a group just south of +the equator, five hundred miles from the South American mainland. +These belong now to Ecuador, and at that day were a noted rendezvous +for whalers. In this neighborhood the frigate remained from April 17 +to October 3, during which period she captured twelve British whalers +out of some twenty-odd reported in the Pacific; with the necessary +consequence of driving all others to cover for the time being. The +prizes were valuable, some more, some less; not only from the +character of their cargoes, but because they themselves were larger +than the average merchant ship, and exceptionally well found. Three +were sent to Valparaiso in convoy of a fourth, which had been +converted into a consort of the "Essex," under the name of the "Essex +Junior," mounting twenty very light guns. September 30 she returned, +bringing word that a British squadron, consisting of the 36-gun +frigate "Phœbe," Captain James Hillyar, and the sloops of war +"Cherub" and "Raccoon," had sailed for the Pacific. The rumor was +correct, though long <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_247" id="PageV2_247">[247]</a></span>antedating the arrival of the vessels. In +consequence of it, Porter, considering that his work at the Galapagos +was now complete, and that the "Essex" would need overhauling before a +possible encounter with a division, the largest unit of which was +superior to her in class and force, decided to move to a position then +even more remote from disturbance than St. Catherine's had been. On +October 25 the "Essex" and "Essex Junior" anchored at the island of +Nukahiva, of the Marquesas group, having with them three of the +prizes. Of the others, besides those now at Valparaiso, two had been +given up to prisoners to convey them to England, and three had been +sent to the United States. That all the last were captured on the way +detracts nothing from Porter's merit, but testifies vividly to the +British command of the sea.</p> + +<p>At the Marquesas, by aid of the resources of the prizes, the frigate +was thoroughly overhauled, refitted, and provisioned for six months. +Porter had not only maintained his ship, but in part paid his officers +and crew from the proceeds of his captures. On December 12 he sailed +for Chile, satisfied with the material outcome of his venturous +cruise, but wishing to add to it something of further distinction by +an encounter with Hillyar, if obtainable on terms approaching +equality. With this object the ship's company were diligently +exercised at the guns and small arms during the passage, which lasted +nearly eight weeks; the Chilean coast being sighted on January 12, far +to the southward, and the "Essex" running slowly along it until +February 3, when she reached Valparaiso. On the 8th the "Phœbe" and +"Cherub" came in and anchored; the "Raccoon" having gone on to the +North Pacific.</p> + +<p>The antagonists now lay near one another, under the restraint of a +neutral port, for several days, during which some social intercourse +took place between the officers; <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_248" id="PageV2_248">[248]</a></span>the two captains renewing an +acquaintance made years before in the Mediterranean. After a period of +refit, and of repose for the crews, the British left the bay, and +cruised off the port. The "Essex" and "Essex Junior" remained at +anchor, imprisoned by a force too superior to be encountered without +some modifying circumstances of advantage. Porter found opportunities +for contrasting the speed of the two frigates, and convinced himself +that the "Essex" was on that score superior; but the respective +armaments introduced very important tactical considerations, which +might, and in the result did, prove decisive. The "Essex" originally +had been a 12-pounder frigate, classed as of thirty-two guns; but her +battery now was forty 32-pounder carronades and six long twelves. +Captain Porter in his report of the battle stated the armament of the +"Phœbe" to be thirty long 18-pounders and sixteen 32-pounder +carronades. The British naval historian James gives her twenty-six +long eighteens, fourteen 32-pounder carronades, and four long nines; +while to the "Cherub" he attributes a carronade battery of eighteen +thirty-twos and six eighteens, with two long sixes. Whichever +enumeration be accepted, the broadside of the "Essex" within carronade +range considerably outweighed that of the "Phœbe" alone, but was +much less than that of the two British ships combined; the light built +and light-armed "Essex Junior" not being of account to either side. +There remained always the serious chance that, even if the "Phœbe" +accepted single combat, some accident of wind might prevent the +"Essex" reaching her before being disabled by her long guns. Hillyar, +moreover, was an old disciple of Nelson, fully imbued with the +teaching that achievement of success, not personal glory, must dictate +action; and, having a well established reputation for courage and +conduct, he did not intend to leave anything to the chances of fortune +incident to engagement between <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_249" id="PageV2_249">[249]</a></span>equals. He would accept no provocation +to fight apart from the "Cherub."</p> + +<p>Forced to accept this condition, Porter now turned his attention to +escape. Valparaiso Bay is an open roadstead, facing north. The high +ground above the anchorage provides shelter from the south-southwest +wind, which prevails along this coast throughout the year with very +rare intermissions. At times, as is common under high land, it blows +furiously in gusts. The British vessels underway kept their station +close to the extreme western point of the bay, to prevent the "Essex" +from passing to southward of them, and so gaining the advantage of the +wind, which might entail a prolonged chase and enable her, if not to +distance pursuit, at least to draw the "Phœbe" out of support of +the "Cherub." Porter's aim of course was to seize an opportunity when +by neglect, or unavoidably, they had left a practicable opening +between them and the point. In the end, his hand was forced by an +accident.</p> + +<p>On March 28 the south wind blew with unusual violence, and the "Essex" +parted one of her cables. The other anchor failed to hold when the +strain came upon it, and the ship began to drift to sea. The cable was +cut and sail made at once; for though the enemy were too nearly in +their station to have warranted the attempt to leave under ordinary +conditions, Porter, in the emergency thus suddenly thrust upon him, +thought he saw a prospect of passing to windward. The "Essex" +therefore was hauled close to the wind under single-reefed topsails, +heading to the westward; but just as she came under the point of the +bay a heavy squall carried away the maintopmast. The loss of this spar +hopelessly crippled her, and made it impossible even to regain the +anchorage left. She therefore put about, and ran eastward until within +pistol-shot of the coast, about three miles north of the city. Here +she anchored, well within neutral waters; Hillyar's report <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_250" id="PageV2_250">[250]</a></span>stating +that she was "so near shore as to preclude the possibility of passing +ahead of her without risk to his Majesty's ships." Three miles, then +the range of a cannon-shot, estimated liberally, was commonly accepted +as the width of water adjacent to neutral territory, which was under +the neutral protection. The British captain decided nevertheless to +attack.</p> + +<p>The wind remaining southerly, the "Essex" rode head to it; the two +hostile vessels approaching with the intention of running north of +her, close under her stern. The wind, however, forced them off as they +drew near; and their first attack, beginning about 4 <span class="fakesc">P.M.</span> and +lasting ten minutes, produced no visible effect, according to +Hillyar's report. Porter states, on the contrary, that considerable +injury was done to the "Essex"; and in particular the spring which he +was trying to get on the cable was thrice shot away, thus preventing +the bringing of her broadside to bear as required. The "Phœbe" and +her consort then wore, which increased their distance, and stood out +again to sea. While doing this they threw a few "random shots;" fired, +that is, at an elevation so great as to be incompatible with certainty +of aim. During this cannonade the "Essex," with three 12-pounders run +out of her stern ports, had deprived the "Phœbe" of "the use of her +mainsail, jib and mainstay." On standing in again Hillyar prepared to +anchor, but ordered the "Cherub" to keep underway, choosing a position +whence she could most annoy their opponent.</p> + +<p>At 5.35 <span class="fakesc">P.M.</span>, by Hillyar's report,—Porter is silent as to +the hour,—the attack was renewed; the British ships both placing +themselves on the starboard—seaward—quarter of the "Essex." Before +the "Phœbe" reached the position in which she intended to anchor, +the "Essex" was seen to be underway. Hillyar could only suppose that +her cable had been severed by a shot; but Porter states <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_251" id="PageV2_251">[251]</a></span>that under +the galling fire to which she was subjected, without power to reply, +he cut the cable, hoping, as the enemy were to leeward, he might bring +the ship into close action, and perhaps even board the "Phœbe." The +decision was right, but under the conditions a counsel of desperation; +for sheets, tacks, and halliards being shot away, movement depended +upon sails hanging loose,—spread, but not set. Nevertheless, he was +able for a short time to near the enemy, and both accounts agree that +hereupon ensued the heat of the combat; "a serious conflict," to use +Hillyar's words, to which corresponds Porter's statement that "the +firing on both sides was now tremendous." The "Phœbe," however, was +handled, very properly, to utilize to the full the tactical advantages +she possessed in the greater range of her guns, and in power of +manœuvring. In the circumstances under which she was acting, the +sail power left her was amply sufficient; having simply to keep +drawing to leeward, maintaining from her opponent a distance at which +his guns were useless and her own effective.</p> + +<p>Under these conditions, seeing success to be out of the question, and +suffering great loss of men, Porter turned to the last resort of the +vanquished, to destroy the vessel and to save the crew from captivity. +The "Essex" was pointed for the shore; but when within a couple of +hundred yards the wind, which had so far favored her approach, shifted +ahead. Still clinging to every chance, a kedge with a hawser was let +go, to hold her where she was; perhaps the enemy might drift +unwittingly out of range. But the hawser parted, and with it the +frigate's last hold upon the country which she had honored by an +heroic defence. Porter then authorized any who might wish to swim +ashore to do so; the flag being kept flying to warrant a proceeding +which after formal surrender would be a breach of faith. At 6.20 the +"Essex" at last lowered <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_252" id="PageV2_252">[252]</a></span>her colors.<a name="FNanchor_244_244" id="FNanchor_244_244"></a><a href="#Footnote_244_244" class="fnanchor">[244]</a> Out of a ship's company of +two hundred and fifty-five, with which she sailed in the morning, +fifty-eight were killed, or died of their wounds, and sixty-five were +wounded. The missing were reported at thirty-one. By agreement between +Hillyar and Porter, the "Essex Junior" was disarmed, and neutralized, +to convey to the United States, as paroled prisoners of war, the +survivors who remained on board at the moment of surrender. These +numbered one hundred and thirty-two. It is an interesting particular, +linking those early days of the United States navy to a long +subsequent period of renown, and worthy therefore to be recalled, that +among the combatants of the "Essex" was Midshipman David G. Farragut, +then thirteen years old. His name figures among the wounded, as well +as in the list of passengers on board the "Essex Junior."</p> + +<p>The disaster to the "Essex" is connected by a singular and tragical +link with the fate of an American cruiser of like adventurous +enterprise in seas far distant from the Pacific. After the defeat at +Valparaiso, Lieutenant Stephen Decatur McKnight and Midshipman James +Lyman of the United States frigate were exchanged as prisoners of war +against a certain number of officers and seamen belonging to one of +the "Essex's" prizes; which, having continued under protection of the +neutral port, had undergone no change of belligerent relation by the +capture of her captor. When the "Essex Junior" sailed, these two +officers remained behind, by amicable arrangement, to go in the +"Phœbe" to Rio Janeiro, there to give certain evidence needed in +connection with the prize claims of the British frigate; which done, +it was understood they would be at liberty to return to their own +country by such conveyance as suited them. After arrival in Rio, the +first convenient <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_253" id="PageV2_253">[253]</a></span>opportunity offering was by a Swedish brig sailing +for Falmouth, England. In her they took passage, leaving Rio August +23, 1814. On October 9 the brig fell in with the United States sloop +of war "Wasp," in mid-ocean, about three hundred miles west of the +Cape Verde Islands, homeward bound. The two passengers transferred +themselves to her. Since this occurrence nothing further has ever been +heard of the American ship; nor would the incident itself have escaped +oblivion but for the anxiety of friends, which after the lapse, of +time prompted systematic inquiry to ascertain what had become of the +missing officers.</p> + +<p>The captain of the "Wasp" was Master-Commandant, or, as he would now +be styled, Commander Johnstone Blakely; the same who had commanded the +"Enterprise" up to a month before her engagement with the "Boxer," +when was demonstrated the efficiency to which he had brought her +ship's company. He sailed from Portsmouth, New Hampshire, May 1, 1814. +Of his instructions,<a name="FNanchor_245_245" id="FNanchor_245_245"></a><a href="#Footnote_245_245" class="fnanchor">[245]</a> the most decisive was to remain for thirty +days in a position on the approaches to the English Channel, about one +hundred and fifty miles south of Ireland, in which neighborhood +occurred the most striking incidents of the cruise. On the outward +passage was taken only one prize, June 2. She was from Cork to +Halifax, twelve days out; therefore probably from six to eight hundred +miles west of Ireland. The second, from Limerick for Bordeaux, June +13, would show the "Wasp" on her station; on which, Blakely reported, +it was impossible to keep her, even approximately, being continually +drawn away in pursuit, and often much further up the English Channel +than desired, on account of the numerous sails passing.<a name="FNanchor_246_246" id="FNanchor_246_246"></a><a href="#Footnote_246_246" class="fnanchor">[246]</a> When +overhauled, most of these were found to be neutrals. Nevertheless, +seven <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_254" id="PageV2_254">[254]</a></span>British merchant vessels were taken; all of which were +destroyed, except one given up to carry prisoners to England.</p> + +<p>While thus engaged, the "Wasp" on June 28 sighted a sail, which proved +to be the British brig of war "Reindeer," Captain Manners, that had +left Plymouth six days before. The place of this meeting was latitude +48-½° North, longitude 11° East; therefore nearly in the cruising +ground assigned to Blakely by his instructions. The antagonists were +unequally matched; the American carrying twenty 32-pounder carronades +and two long guns, the British sixteen 24-pounders and two long; a +difference against her of over fifty per cent. The "Reindeer" was to +windward, and some manœuvring took place in the respective efforts +to keep or to gain this advantage. In the end the "Reindeer" retained +it, and the action began with both on the starboard tack, closehauled, +the British sloop on the weather quarter of the "Wasp,"—behind, but +on the weather side, which in this case was to the right (1). +Approaching slowly, the "Reindeer" with great deliberation fired five +times, at two-minute intervals, a light gun mounted on her forecastle, +loaded with round and grape shot. Finding her to maintain this +position, upon which his guns would not train, Blakely put the helm +down, and the "Wasp" turned swiftly to the right (2), bringing her +starboard battery to bear. This was at 3.26 <span class="fakesc">P.M.</span> The action +immediately became very hot, at very close range (3), and the +"Reindeer" was speedily disabled. The vessels then came together (4), +and Captain Manners, who by this time had received two severe wounds, +with great gallantry endeavored to board with his crew, reduced by the +severe punishment already inflicted to half its originally inferior +numbers. As he climbed into the rigging, two balls from the "Wasp's" +tops passed through his head, and he fell back dead on his own deck. +No <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_255" id="PageV2_255">[255]</a></span>further resistance was offered, and the "Wasp" took possession. +She had lost five killed and twenty-one wounded, of whom six +afterwards died. The British casualties were twenty-three killed and +forty-two wounded. The brig herself, being fairly torn to pieces, was +burned the next day.<a name="FNanchor_247_247" id="FNanchor_247_247"></a><a href="#Footnote_247_247" class="fnanchor">[247]</a></p> + +<div class="img"><a name="imagep254" id="imagep254"></a> +<a href="images/imagep254.jpg"> +<img border="0" src="images/imagep254.jpg" width="95%" alt="Diagram of the Wasp vs. Reindeer battle" /></a><br /> +<p class="cen" style="margin-top: .2em;">Diagram of the Wasp vs. Reindeer battle<span class="totoi"><a href="#toi">ToList</a></span></p> +</div> + +<p>The results of this engagement testify to the efficiency and +resolution of both combatants; but a special meed of praise is +assuredly due to Captain Manners, whose tenacity was as marked as his +daring, and who, by the injury done to his stronger antagonist, +demonstrated both the thoroughness of his previous general preparation +and the skill of his management in the particular instance. Under his +command the "Reindeer" had become a notable vessel in the fleet to +which she belonged; but as equality in force is at a disadvantage +where there is serious inferiority in training and discipline, so the +best of drilling must yield before decisive superiority of armament, +when there has been equal care on both sides to insure efficiency in +the use of the battery. To Blakely's diligence in this respect his +whole career bears witness.</p> + +<p>After the action Blakely wished to remain cruising, which neither the +condition of his ship nor her losses in men forbade; but the number of +prisoners and wounded compelled him to make a harbor. He accordingly +went into L'Orient, France, on July 8. Despite the change of +government, and the peace with Great Britain which attended the +restoration of the Bourbons, the "Wasp" was here hospitably received +and remained for seven weeks refitting, sailing again August 27. By +September 1 she had taken and destroyed three more enemy's vessels; +one of which was cut out from a convoy, and burnt under the eyes of +the convoying 74-gun ship. At 6.30 <span class="fakesc">P.M.</span> of <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_256" id="PageV2_256">[256]</a></span>September 1 four +sails were sighted, from which Blakely selected to pursue the one most +to windward; for, should this prove a ship of war, the others, if +consorts, would be to leeward of the fight, less able to assist. The +chase lasted till 9.26, when the "Wasp" was near enough to see that +the stranger was a brig of war, and to open with a light carronade on +the forecastle, as the "Reindeer" had done upon her in the same +situation. Confident in his vessel, however, Blakely abandoned this +advantage of position, ran under his antagonist's lee to prevent her +standing down to join the vessels to leeward, and at 9.29 began the +engagement, being then on her lee bow. At ten the "Wasp" ceased firing +and hailed, believing the enemy to be silenced; but receiving no +reply, and the British guns opening again, the combat was renewed. At +10.12, seeing the opponent to be suffering greatly, Blakely hailed +again and was answered that the brig had surrendered. The "Wasp's" +battery was secured, and a boat was in the act of being lowered to +take possession, when a second brig was discovered close astern. +Preparation was made to receive her and her coming up awaited; but at +10.36 the two others were also visible, astern and approaching. The +"Wasp" then made sail, hoping to decoy the second vessel from her +supports; but the sinking condition of the one first engaged detained +the new-comer, who, having come within pistol-shot, fired a broadside +which took effect only aloft, and then gave all her attention to +saving the crew of her comrade. As the "Wasp" drew away she heard the +repeated signal guns of distress discharged by her late adversary, the +name of which never became known to the captain and crew of the +victorious ship.<a name="FNanchor_248_248" id="FNanchor_248_248"></a><a href="#Footnote_248_248" class="fnanchor">[248]</a></p> + +<p>The vessel thus engaged was the British brig "Avon," of sixteen +32-pounder carronades, and two long 9-pounders; her force being to +that of the "Wasp" as four to <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_257" id="PageV2_257">[257]</a></span>five. Her loss in men was ten killed +and thirty-two wounded; that of the "Wasp" two killed and one wounded. +The "Avon" being much superior to the "Reindeer," this comparatively +slight injury inflicted by her testifies to inferior efficiency. The +broadside of her rescuer, the "Castilian," of the same weight as her +own, wholly missed the "Wasp's" hull, though delivered from so near; a +circumstance which drew from the British historian, James, the caustic +remark that she probably would have done no better than the "Avon," +had the action continued. The "Wasp" was much damaged in sails and +rigging; the "Avon" sank two hours and a half after the "Wasp" left +her and one hour after being rejoined by the "Castilian."</p> + +<p>The course of the "Wasp" after this event is traced by her captures. +The meeting with the "Avon" was within a hundred miles of that with +the "Reindeer." On September 12 and 14, having run south three hundred +and sixty miles, she took two vessels; being then about two hundred +and fifty miles west from Lisbon. On the 21st, having made four +degrees more southing, she seized the British brig "Atalanta," a +hundred miles east of Madeira. This prize being of exceptional value, +Blakely decided to send her in, and she arrived safely at Savannah on +November 4, in charge of Midshipman David Geisinger, who lived to +become a captain in the navy.<a name="FNanchor_249_249" id="FNanchor_249_249"></a><a href="#Footnote_249_249" class="fnanchor">[249]</a> She brought with her Blakely's +official despatches, including the report of the affair with the +"Avon." This was the last tidings received from the "Wasp" until the +inquiries of friends elicited the fact that the two officers of the +"Essex" had joined her three weeks after the capture of the +"Atalanta," nine hundred miles farther south. Besides these, there +were among the lost two lieutenants who had been in the "Constitution" +when she took the "Guerrière" and the <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_258" id="PageV2_258">[258]</a></span>"Java," and one who had been in +the "Enterprise" in her action with the "Boxer."</p> + +<p>Coincident in time with the cruise of the "Wasp" was that of her +sister ship, the "Peacock"; like her also newly built, and named after +the British brig sunk by Captain Lawrence in the "Hornet." The finest +achievement of the "Wasp," however, was near the end of her career, +while it fell to the "Peacock" to begin with a successful action. +Having left New York early in March, she went first to St. Mary's, +Georgia, carrying a quantity of warlike stores. In making this passage +she was repeatedly chased by enemies. Having landed her cargo, she +sailed immediately and ran south as far as one of the Bahama Islands, +called the Great Isaac, near to which vessels from Jamaica and Cuba +bound to Europe must pass, because of the narrowness of the channel +separating the islands from the Florida coast. In this neighborhood +she remained from April 18 to 24, seeing only one neutral and two +privateers, which were pursued unsuccessfully. This absence of +unguarded merchant ships, coupled with the frequency of hostile +cruisers met before, illustrates exactly the conditions to which +attention has been repeatedly drawn, as characterizing the British +plan of action in the Western Atlantic. Learning that the expected +Jamaica convoy would be under charge of a seventy-four, two frigates, +and two sloops, and that the merchant ships in Havana, fearing to sail +alone, would await its passing to join, Captain Warrington next stood +slowly to the northward, and on April 29, off Cape Canaveral, sighted +four sail, which proved to be the British brig "Epervier" of eighteen +32-pounder carronades,<a name="FNanchor_250_250" id="FNanchor_250_250"></a><a href="#Footnote_250_250" class="fnanchor">[250]</a> also <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_259" id="PageV2_259">[259]</a></span>northward bound, with three merchant +vessels under her convoy; one of these being Russian, and one Spanish, +belonging therefore to nations still at war with France, though +neutral towards the United States. The third, a merchant brig, was the +first British commercial vessel seen since leaving Savannah.</p> + +<p>As usual and proper, the "Epervier," seeing that the "Peacock" would +overtake her and her convoy, directed the latter to separate while she +stood down to engage the hostile cruiser. The two vessels soon came to +blows. The accounts of the action on both sides are extremely meagre, +and preclude any certain statement as to manœuvres; which indeed +cannot have been material to the issue reached. The "Epervier," for +reasons that will appear later, fought first one broadside and then +the other; but substantially the contest appears to have been +maintained side to side. From the first discharge of the "Epervier" +two round shot struck the "Peacock's" foreyard nearly in the same +place, which so weakened the spar as to deprive the ship of the use of +her foresail and foretopsail; that is, practically, of all sail on the +foremast. Having thenceforth only the jibs for headsail, she had to be +kept a little off the wind. The action lasted forty-five minutes, when +the "Epervier" struck. Her loss in men was eight killed, and fifteen +wounded; the "Peacock" had two wounded.</p> + +<p>In extenuation of this disproportion in result, James states that in +the first broadside three of the "Epervier's" carronades were +unshipped; and that, when those on the other side were brought into +action by tacking, similar mishaps occurred. Further, the moment the +guns got warm they drew out the breeching bolts. Allowing full force +to these facts, they certainly have some bearing on the general +outcome; but viewed with regard to the particular question of +efficiency, which is the issue of credit <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_260" id="PageV2_260">[260]</a></span>in every fight,<a name="FNanchor_251_251" id="FNanchor_251_251"></a><a href="#Footnote_251_251" class="fnanchor">[251]</a> there +remains the first broadside, and such other discharges as the +carronades could endure before getting warm. The light metal of those +guns indisputably caused them to heat rapidly, and to kick nastily; +but it can scarcely be considered probable that the "Epervier" was not +able to get in half a dozen broadsides. The result, two wounded, +establishes inefficiency, and a practical certainty of defeat had all +her ironwork held; for the "Peacock," though only three months +commissioned, was a good ship under a thoroughly capable and attentive +captain. A comical remark of James in connection with this engagement +illustrates the weakness of prepossession, in all matters relating to +Americans, which in him was joined to a painstaking accuracy in +ascertaining and stating external facts. "Two well-directed shot," he +says, disabled the "Peacock's" foreyard. It was certainly a capital +piece of luck for the "Epervier" that her opponent at the outset lost +the use of one of her most important spars; but the implication that +the shot were directed for the point hit is not only preposterous but, +in a combat between vessels nearly equal, depreciatory. The shot of a +first broadside had no business to be so high in the air.</p> + +<p>James alleges also poor quality and a mutinous spirit in the crew, and +that at the end, when their captain called upon them to board, they +refused, saying, "She is too heavy for us." To this the adequate reply +is that the brig had been in commission since the end of +1812,—sixteen months; time sufficient to bring even an indifferent +crew to a very reasonable degree of efficiency, yet not enough to +cause serious deterioration of material. <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_261" id="PageV2_261">[261]</a></span>That after the punishment +received the men refused to board, if discreditable to them under the +conditions, is discreditable also to the captain; not to his courage, +but to his hold upon the men whom he had commanded so long. The +establishment of the "Epervier's" inefficiency certainly detracts from +the distinction of the "Peacock's" victory; but it was scarcely her +fault that her adversary was not worthier, and it does not detract +from her credit for management and gunnery, considering that the +combat began with the loss of her own foresails, and ended with +forty-five shot in the hull, and five feet of water in the hold, of +her antagonist.</p> + +<p>By dark of the day of action the prize was in condition to make sail, +and the "Peacock's" yard had been fished and again sent aloft. The two +vessels then steered north for Savannah. The next evening two British +frigates appeared. Captain Warrington directed the "Epervier" to keep +on close along shore, while he stood southward to draw away the enemy. +This proved effective; the "Epervier" arriving safely May 2 at the +anchorage at the mouth of the Savannah River, where the "Peacock" +rejoined her on the 4th. The "Adams," Captain Morris, was also there; +having arrived from the coast of Africa on the day of the fight, and +sailing again a week after it, May 5, for another cruise.</p> + +<p>On June 4 the "Peacock" also started upon a protracted cruise, from +which she returned to New York October 30, after an absence of one +hundred and forty-seven days.<a name="FNanchor_252_252" id="FNanchor_252_252"></a><a href="#Footnote_252_252" class="fnanchor">[252]</a> She followed the Gulf Stream, +outside the line of British blockaders, to the Banks of Newfoundland, +thence to the Azores, and so on to Ireland; off the south of which, +between Waterford and Cape Clear, she remained for four days. After +this she passed round the west coast, <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_262" id="PageV2_262">[262]</a></span>and to the northward as far as +Shetland and the Faroe Islands. She then retraced her course, crossed +the Bay of Biscay, and ran along the Portuguese coast; pursuing in +general outline the same path as that in which the "Wasp" very soon +afterwards followed. Fourteen prizes were taken; of which twelve were +destroyed, and two utilized as cartels to carry prisoners to England. +Of the whole number, one only was seized from September 2, when the +ship was off the Canaries, to October 12, off Barbuda in the West +Indies; and none from there to the United States. "Not a single vessel +was seen from the Cape Verde to Surinam," reported Warrington; while +in seven days spent between the Rock of Lisbon and Cape Ortegal, at +the northwest extremity of the Spanish peninsula, of twelve sail seen, +nine of which were spoken, only two were British.</p> + +<p>In these conditions were seen, exemplified and emphasized, the alarm +felt and precautions taken, by both the mercantile classes and the +Admiralty, in consequence of the invasion of European waters by +American armed vessels, of a class and an energy unusually fitted to +harass commerce. The lists of American prizes teem with evidence of +extraordinary activity, by cruisers singularly adapted for their work, +and audacious in proportion to their confidence of immunity, based +upon knowledge of their particular nautical qualities. The impression +produced by their operations is reflected in the representations of +the mercantile community, in the rise of insurance, and in the +stricter measures instituted by the Admiralty. The Naval Chronicle, a +service journal which since 1798 had been recording the successes and +supremacy of the British Navy, confessed now that "the depredations +committed on our commerce by American ships of war and privateers have +attained an extent beyond all former precedent.... We refer our +readers to the letters in our <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_263" id="PageV2_263">[263]</a></span>correspondence. The insurance between +Bristol and Waterford or Cork is now three times higher than it was +when we were at war with all Europe. The Admiralty have been +overwhelmed with letters of complaint or remonstrance."<a name="FNanchor_253_253" id="FNanchor_253_253"></a><a href="#Footnote_253_253" class="fnanchor">[253]</a> In the +exertions of the cruisers the pace seems to grow more and more +furious, as the year 1814 draws to its close amid a scene of +exasperated coast warfare, desolation, and humiliation, in America; as +though they were determined, amid all their pursuit of gain, to make +the enemy also feel the excess of mortification which he was +inflicting upon their own country. The discouragement testified by +British shippers and underwriters was doubtless enhanced and +embittered by disappointment, in finding the movement of trade thus +embarrassed and intercepted at the very moment when the restoration of +peace in Europe had given high hopes of healing the wounds, and +repairing the breaches, made by over twenty years of maritime warfare, +almost unbroken.</p> + +<p>In London, on August 17, 1814, directors of two insurance companies +presented to the Admiralty remonstrances on the want of protection in +the Channel; to which the usual official reply was made that an +adequate force was stationed both in St. George's Channel and in the +North Sea. The London paper from which this intelligence was taken +stated that premiums on vessels trading between England and Ireland +had risen from an ordinary rate of less than one pound sterling to +five guineas per cent. The Admiralty, taxed with neglect, attributed +blame to the merchant captains, and announced additional severity to +those who should part convoy. Proceedings were instituted against two +masters guilty of this offence.<a name="FNanchor_254_254" id="FNanchor_254_254"></a><a href="#Footnote_254_254" class="fnanchor">[254]</a> September 9, the merchants and +shipowners of Liverpool remonstrated direct to the Prince Regent, +going over the <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_264" id="PageV2_264">[264]</a></span>heads of the Admiralty, whom they censured. Again the +Admiralty alleged sufficient precautions, specifying three frigates +and fourteen sloops actually at sea for the immediate protection of +St. George's Channel and the western Irish coast against depredations, +which they nevertheless did not succeed in suppressing.<a name="FNanchor_255_255" id="FNanchor_255_255"></a><a href="#Footnote_255_255" class="fnanchor">[255]</a></p> + +<p>At the same time the same classes in Glasgow were taking action, and +passing resolutions, the biting phrases of which were probably +prompted as much by a desire to sting the Admiralty as by a personal +sense of national abasement. "At a time when we are at peace with all +the rest of the world, when the maintenance of our marine costs so +large a sum to the country, when the mercantile and shipping interests +pay a tax for protection under the form of convoy duty, and when, in +the plenitude of our power, we have declared the whole American coast +under blockade, it is equally distressing and mortifying that our +ships cannot with safety traverse our own channels, that insurance +cannot be effected but at an excessive premium, and that a horde of +American cruisers should be allowed, unheeded, unmolested, unresisted, +to take, burn, or sink our own vessels in our own inlets, and almost +in sight of our own harbours."<a name="FNanchor_256_256" id="FNanchor_256_256"></a><a href="#Footnote_256_256" class="fnanchor">[256]</a> In the same month the merchants of +Bristol, the position of which was comparatively favorable to +intercourse with Ireland, also presented a memorial, stating that the +rate of insurance had risen to more than twofold the amount at which +it was usually effected during the continental war, when the British +Navy could not, as it now might, direct its operations solely against +American cruisers. Shipments consequently had been in a considerable +degree suspended. The Admiralty replied that the only certain +protection was by convoy. This they were ready to supply but could not +compel, for the Convoy <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_265" id="PageV2_265">[265]</a></span>Act did not apply to trade between ports of +the United Kingdom.</p> + +<p>This was the offensive return made by America's right arm of national +safety; the retort to the harrying of the Chesapeake, and of Long +Island Sound, and to the capture and destruction of Washington. But, +despite the demonstrated superiority of a national navy, on the whole, +for the infliction of such retaliation, even in the mere matter of +commerce destroying,—not to speak of confidence in national prowess, +sustained chiefly by the fighting successes at sea,—this weighty blow +to the pride and commerce of Great Britain was not dealt by the +national Government; for the national Government had gone to war +culpably unprepared. It was the work of the people almost wholly, +guided and governed by their own shrewdness and capacity; seeking, +indeed, less a military than a pecuniary result, an indemnity at the +expense of the enemy for the loss to which they had been subjected by +protracted inefficiency in administration and in statesmanship on the +part of their rulers. The Government sat wringing its hands, amid the +ruins of its capital and the crash of its resources; reaping the +reward of those wasted years during which, amid abounding warning, it +had neglected preparation to meet the wrath to come. Monroe, the +Secretary of State, writing from Washington to a private friend, July +3, 1814, said, "Even in this state, the Government shakes to the +foundation. Let a strong force land anywhere, and what will be the +effect?" A few months later, December 21, he tells Jefferson, "Our +finances are in a deplorable state. The means of the country have +scarcely yet been touched, yet we have neither money in the Treasury +nor credit."<a name="FNanchor_257_257" id="FNanchor_257_257"></a><a href="#Footnote_257_257" class="fnanchor">[257]</a> This statement was abundantly confirmed by a +contemporary official report of the Secretary of the Treasury. At the +end of the year, Bainbridge, <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_266" id="PageV2_266">[266]</a></span>commanding the Boston navy yard, wrote +the Department, "The officers and men of this station are really +<i>suffering</i> for want of pay due them, and articles now purchased for +the use of the navy are, in consequence of payment in treasury notes, +enhanced about thirty per cent. Yesterday we had to discharge one +hundred seamen, and could not pay them a cent of their wages. The +officers and men have neither money, clothes, nor credit, and are +embarrassed with debts."<a name="FNanchor_258_258" id="FNanchor_258_258"></a><a href="#Footnote_258_258" class="fnanchor">[258]</a> No wonder the privateers got the seamen.</p> + +<p>The decision to abandon the leading contention of the war had been +reached long before.<a name="FNanchor_259_259" id="FNanchor_259_259"></a><a href="#Footnote_259_259" class="fnanchor">[259]</a> In an official letter, dated June 27, 1814, +to the commissioners appointed to treat for peace, after enumerating +the threatening conditions confronting the country, now that the +European conflict was at an end, Monroe wrote, "On mature +consideration it has been decided that, under all the circumstances +above alluded to, incident to a prosecution of the war, <i>you may omit +any stipulation on the subject of impressment</i>, if found indispensably +necessary to terminate it. You will of course not recur to this +expedient until all your efforts to adjust the controversy in a more +satisfactory manner have failed."<a name="FNanchor_260_260" id="FNanchor_260_260"></a><a href="#Footnote_260_260" class="fnanchor">[260]</a> The phraseology of this +instruction disposes completely of the specious plea, advanced by +partisans of the <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_267" id="PageV2_267">[267]</a></span>Administration, that the subject was dropped because +impressment was no longer a live issue; the maritime war of Europe +being over. It was dropped because it had to be dropped; because the +favorable opportunities presented in 1812 and 1813 had been lost by +the incompetency of the national Government, distributed over a period +of nearly a dozen years of idle verbal argumentation; because in 1814 +there stood between it and disastrous reverse, and loss of territory +in the north, only the resolution and professional skill of a yet +unrecognized seaman on the neglected waters of Lake Champlain.</p> + +<p>Before concluding finally the subject of the offensive maritime +operations against the enemy's commerce, it may be mentioned that in +the last six months of the war, that is within one fifth of its +duration, were made one third of the total captures. Duly to weigh +this result, regard must be had to the fact that, when the navy is +adequate, the most numerous seizures of commercial shipping are +usually effected at the beginning, because the scattered merchantmen +are taken unawares. The success of the last few months of this war +indicates the stimulus given to privateering, partly by the conditions +of the country, imperiously demanding some relief from the necessity, +and stagnancy of occupation, caused by the blockade; partly by the +growing appreciation of the fact that a richer harvest was to be +reaped by seeking the most suitable fields with the most suitable +vessels. In an energetic and businesslike people it will be expected +that the experience of the two preceding twelvemonths would have +produced decided opinions and practical results in the construction of +privateers, as well as in the direction given them. It is one thing to +take what is at hand and make the most of it in an emergency; it is +another to design thoughtfully a new instrument, best qualified for +the end in view. The cruiser needed speed and handiness,—that is the +first <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_268" id="PageV2_268">[268]</a></span>and obvious requirement; but, to escape the numerous enemies +gradually let loose to shorten her career, it became increasingly +requisite that she should have also weight of armament, to fight, and +weight of hull—tonnage—to hold her way in rough and head seas. These +qualities were not irreconcilable; but, to effect the necessary +combination, additional size was inevitable.</p> + +<p>Accordingly, recognition of these facts is found in the laying down of +privateers for the particular business. Niles' Register, a Baltimore +weekly, notes with local pride that, although the port itself is +bolted and barred by the blockade of the Chesapeake, the Baltimore +model for schooners is in demand from Maine to Georgia; that they are +being built, often with Baltimore capital, in many places from which +escape is always possible. In Boston, there are in construction three +stout hulls, pierced for twenty-two guns; clearly much heavier in +tonnage, as in armament, than the schooner rate, and bearing the +linked names of "Blakely," "Reindeer," and "Avon." Mention is made of +one vessel of twenty-two long, heavy guns, which has already sailed, +and of two others, to carry as many as thirty to thirty-six, nearly +ready.<a name="FNanchor_261_261" id="FNanchor_261_261"></a><a href="#Footnote_261_261" class="fnanchor">[261]</a></p> + +<p>Between the divergent requirements of size and numbers, there is +always a middle term; a mean, not capable of exact definition, but +still existent within certain not very widely separated extremes. For +commerce destroying by individual cruisers, acting separately, which +was the measure that commended itself to the men of 1812, vessels +approaching the tonnage of the national sloops of war seemed, by their +successes and their immunity from capture, to realize very nearly the +best conditions of advantage. The national brigs which put to sea were +all captured, save one; and she was so notoriously dull of sailing +that her escape was attributed to mere good luck, experienced <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_269" id="PageV2_269">[269]</a></span>on +several critical occasions. Nearly all the sloops escaped; while the +three frigates lost, the "Chesapeake," "Essex," and "President," were +taken under circumstances that offered no parallel to the exigencies +to which the privateer was liable. They were not run down, uninjured, +in a fair race. The only sloop so lost was the "Frolic," of the class +of the "Wasp" and "Peacock;" and the circumstances under which she was +caught by a frigate are not sufficiently known to pronounce whether +she might have been saved, as her sister ship, the "Hornet," was, from +the hot pursuit of a seventy-four. Under some conditions of wind and +sea, inferiority of bulk inflicts irredeemable disadvantage of speed; +but, taking one thing with another, in a system of commerce destroying +which rejected squadron action, and was based avowedly upon +dissemination of vessels, the gain of the frigate over the sloop due +to size did not counterbalance the loss in distribution of effort +which results from having only one ship, instead of two, for a first +outlay.</p> + +<p>That some such convictions, the fruit of rude experience in actual +cruising, were gradually forming in men's understanding, is probable +from the particulars cited; and they would receive additional force +from the consideration that, to make a profit out of privateering +under existing conditions, it would be necessary, not only to capture +vessels of weak force, but to return safely to port with at least some +notable salvage from their cargoes. In other words, there must be +power to fight small cruisers, and to escape large ones under all +probable disadvantage of weather. Whatever the conclusions of +practical seamen and shipowners in this respect, they found no +reflection in the dominant power in the Administration and Congress. +The exploits of the "Comet," the "Chasseur," and a few other fortunate +privateer schooners or brigs of small size, among them being cited +specifically the "Mammoth," <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_270" id="PageV2_270">[270]</a></span>which in the autumn of 1814 made +twenty-one prizes in three months, produced a strong popular +impression; and this was diligently but somewhat thoughtlessly +deepened by the press, as such popular movements are apt to be, +without thorough mastery of all facts, <i>contra</i> as well as <i>pro</i>. It +was undeniable, also, that in the threatening aspect of affairs, when +Great Britain's whole strength was freed to be exerted against the +country, want of time to prepare new means was a weighty element in +decision, and recourse must be had to resources immediately at hand +for the retaliatory depredation upon the enemy's commerce, from the +effect of which so much was expected then, as it is now. For this +reason the scheme had naval backing, prominent in which was Captain +Porter, who had reached home in the July after the capture of the +"Essex."</p> + +<p>Under these circumstances, the Secretary of the Navy addressed a +letter, October 22, 1814,<a name="FNanchor_262_262" id="FNanchor_262_262"></a><a href="#Footnote_262_262" class="fnanchor">[262]</a> to the naval committees of both houses +of Congress, enlarging on the greater attention of the enemy drawn to +the heavy frigates, and the increased difficulty of their getting to +sea. He recommended an appropriation of $600,000 for the purchase of +fast-sailing schooners for preying on the hostile commerce. In +consequence, a bill was introduced to build or purchase for the navy +twenty vessels, to carry not less than eight nor more than fourteen +guns; in short, of privateer class, but to be under naval control, not +only as regarded discipline and organization but direction of effort. +It was intended that a squadron of them should be intrusted to Captain +Porter, another to Captain Perry;<a name="FNanchor_263_263" id="FNanchor_263_263"></a><a href="#Footnote_263_263" class="fnanchor">[263]</a> and Porter drew up a plan of +operations, which he submitted to the Department, providing for the +departure of the vessels, their keeping together for support in one +quarter, <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_271" id="PageV2_271">[271]</a></span>scattering in another, and again reuniting at a fixed +rendezvous.<a name="FNanchor_264_264" id="FNanchor_264_264"></a><a href="#Footnote_264_264" class="fnanchor">[264]</a> Both officers reported great difficulty in procuring +suitable vessels, owing to the extent of privateering, the lack of +necessary funds, and the depreciation of Government credit, which +caused its drafts to be refused.</p> + +<p>When introducing the bill into the lower House, the Chairman of the +Naval Committee, after paying some compliments to the military +achievements of the naval vessels, said that in regard to depredation +on the commerce of the enemy, he believed their efficiency could not +be compared to that of vessels of a smaller class. This note dominated +the brief discussion; the speakers in favor being significantly enough +from Maryland, prepossessed doubtless by local pride in their justly +celebrated schooners. Mr. Ingersoll, of Pennsylvania, moved an +amendment to allow vessels of twenty-two guns; an increase of fifty +per cent. The limitation to fourteen guns, he remarked, was inserted +in the Senate by a gentleman from Maryland; but it was not the fact +that the best privateers were limited to fourteen guns. One or two +which had arrived lately, after reaping a rich harvest, carried +sixteen. Mr. Lowndes, of South Carolina, seconded this amendment, +hoping that the Senate limitation would be rejected. He quoted Captain +Perry, who had "never known an instance in which a brig of the United +States had failed to overtake a schooner." One member only, Mr. Reed, +of Massachusetts, spoke against the whole scheme. Though opposed to +the war, he said, he wished it conducted on correct principles. He +"was warranted by facts in saying that no force would be half as +efficient, in proportion to its expense; none would be of so much +service to the country; none certainly would touch the enemy half so +much as a naval force of a proper character;" which, he affirmed, this +was not. Ingersoll's amendment was rejected, obtaining only +<span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_272" id="PageV2_272">[272]</a></span>twenty-five votes. The bill went again to conference, and on November +11, 1814, was reported and passed, fixing the limits of armament at +from eight to sixteen guns; a paltry addition of two. Forty years +later the editor of the "Debates of Congress," Senator Benton, wrote, +"This was a movement in the right direction. Private armed vessels, +and the success of small ships of war cruising as privateers, had +taught Congress that small vessels, not large ships, were the +effective means of attacking and annoying the enemy's commerce."<a name="FNanchor_265_265" id="FNanchor_265_265"></a><a href="#Footnote_265_265" class="fnanchor">[265]</a></p> + +<p>The final test was not permitted, to determine what success would have +attended the operations of several Baltimore schooners, united under +the single control of a man like Porter or Perry, and limited strictly +to the injury of the enemy's commerce by the destruction of prizes, +without thought of profit by sending them in. The advent of peace put +a stop to an experiment which would have been most instructive as well +as novel. Looking to other experiences of the past, it may be said +with confidence little short of certainty that, despite the +disadvantage of size, several schooners thus working in concert, and +with pure military purpose, would effect vastly more than the same +number acting separately, with a double eye to gain and glory. The +French privateer squadrons of Jean Bart and Duguay Trouin, in the +early eighteenth century, the example of the celebrated "Western" +squadrons of British frigates in the war of the French Revolution, as +protectors and destroyers of commerce, demonstrated beyond +peradventure the advantage of combined action in this, as in all +military enterprise; while the greater success of the individual +United States cruiser over the average privateer, so singularly +overlooked by the national legislators, gives assurance that Porter's +and Perry's schooners would collectively have done incomparable work. +This, however, is far <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_273" id="PageV2_273">[273]</a></span>from indicating that divisions of larger +vessels,—sloops or frigates,—under officers of their known energy, +could not have pushed home into the English Channel, or elsewhere +where British commerce congregated, an enterprise the results of which +would have caused the ears of those that heard them to tingle.</p> + +<br /> +<hr style="width: 15%;" /> +<br /> + +<h4>FOOTNOTES:</h4> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_217_217" id="Footnote_217_217"></a><a href="#FNanchor_217_217"><span class="label">[217]</span></a> Captain Allen to Navy Department. Niles' Register, vol. +v. p. 46.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_218_218" id="Footnote_218_218"></a><a href="#FNanchor_218_218"><span class="label">[218]</span></a> The American official report of this action can be +found in Niles' Register, vol. viii. p. 43. The British is in the +Naval Chronicle, vol. xxx. p. 247. Niles also gives it, vol. v. p. +118.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_219_219" id="Footnote_219_219"></a><a href="#FNanchor_219_219"><span class="label">[219]</span></a> The prize data have been taken from the successive +volumes of Niles' Register.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_220_220" id="Footnote_220_220"></a><a href="#FNanchor_220_220"><span class="label">[220]</span></a> Data concerning American vessels captured by British +ships have been drawn chiefly from prize lists, or official reports, +in the Naval Chronicle.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_221_221" id="Footnote_221_221"></a><a href="#FNanchor_221_221"><span class="label">[221]</span></a> Ante, p. 19.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_222_222" id="Footnote_222_222"></a><a href="#FNanchor_222_222"><span class="label">[222]</span></a> Niles' Register, vol. v. p. 175.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_223_223" id="Footnote_223_223"></a><a href="#FNanchor_223_223"><span class="label">[223]</span></a> Niles gives an abstract of the log of the "Scourge," +vol. vi. p. 269.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_224_224" id="Footnote_224_224"></a><a href="#FNanchor_224_224"><span class="label">[224]</span></a> Niles' Register, vol. v. p. 90.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_225_225" id="Footnote_225_225"></a><a href="#FNanchor_225_225"><span class="label">[225]</span></a> Ibid., vol. vi. p. 69.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_226_226" id="Footnote_226_226"></a><a href="#FNanchor_226_226"><span class="label">[226]</span></a> For Morris' letter see Niles' Register, vol. vi. p. +180.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_227_227" id="Footnote_227_227"></a><a href="#FNanchor_227_227"><span class="label">[227]</span></a> Ibid., vol. iv. p. 86.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_228_228" id="Footnote_228_228"></a><a href="#FNanchor_228_228"><span class="label">[228]</span></a> Ibid., vol. vii. p. 366.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_229_229" id="Footnote_229_229"></a><a href="#FNanchor_229_229"><span class="label">[229]</span></a> Niles' Register, vol. v. p. 413. Naval Chronicle, vol. +xxxi. p. 25.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_230_230" id="Footnote_230_230"></a><a href="#FNanchor_230_230"><span class="label">[230]</span></a> Niles' Register, vol. v. p. 414; vol. vi. p. 151.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_231_231" id="Footnote_231_231"></a><a href="#FNanchor_231_231"><span class="label">[231]</span></a> Stewart's Letter is dated April 4, 1814, and, with the +enclosures mentioned, will be found among the Captains' Letters, Navy +Department MSS.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_232_232" id="Footnote_232_232"></a><a href="#FNanchor_232_232"><span class="label">[232]</span></a> For the official reports of this cruise, and list of +prizes, see Niles, vol. vi. pp. 69-71.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_233_233" id="Footnote_233_233"></a><a href="#FNanchor_233_233"><span class="label">[233]</span></a> Niles' Register, vol. v. pp. 14, 15. Naval Chronicle, +vol. xxx. p. 348.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_234_234" id="Footnote_234_234"></a><a href="#FNanchor_234_234"><span class="label">[234]</span></a> Niles' Register, vol. vi. pp. 225, 371.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_235_235" id="Footnote_235_235"></a><a href="#FNanchor_235_235"><span class="label">[235]</span></a> Niles' Register, vol. vii. p. 293, gives both the +American and British accounts.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_236_236" id="Footnote_236_236"></a><a href="#FNanchor_236_236"><span class="label">[236]</span></a> Niles' Register, vol. vii. p. 293.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_237_237" id="Footnote_237_237"></a><a href="#FNanchor_237_237"><span class="label">[237]</span></a> Niles' Register, vol. vii. pp. 128, 290.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_238_238" id="Footnote_238_238"></a><a href="#FNanchor_238_238"><span class="label">[238]</span></a> Niles' Register, vol. viii. p. 61.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_239_239" id="Footnote_239_239"></a><a href="#FNanchor_239_239"><span class="label">[239]</span></a> It may not be amiss here to quote an incident similarly +creditable to privateersmen, a class usually much abused, and too +often with good cause. It was told by a British colonel to Colonel +Winfield Scott, while a prisoner in Canada. This gentleman with his +wife had been passengers from England in a transport captured near +Halifax by an American privateer. Although there was no fighting, the +wife, who was in a critical state of health, was dangerously affected +by the attendant alarm. As soon as the circumstances were mentioned to +the captain of the cruiser, he placed at the husband's disposition all +that part of the vessel where their quarters were, posting a sentry to +prevent intrusion and to secure all their personal effects from +molestation. Scott's Autobiography, vol. i. p. 70.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_240_240" id="Footnote_240_240"></a><a href="#FNanchor_240_240"><span class="label">[240]</span></a> Afterwards Rear-Admiral Emmons.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_241_241" id="Footnote_241_241"></a><a href="#FNanchor_241_241"><span class="label">[241]</span></a> The new United States sloop of war "Frolic," named +after the vessel taken by the "Wasp," was captured by the frigate +"Orpheus," April 20, 1814.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_242_242" id="Footnote_242_242"></a><a href="#FNanchor_242_242"><span class="label">[242]</span></a> Ante, p. 3.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_243_243" id="Footnote_243_243"></a><a href="#FNanchor_243_243"><span class="label">[243]</span></a> Porter to the Secretary of the Navy, July 3, 1814. +Niles' Register, vol. vi. p. 338.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_244_244" id="Footnote_244_244"></a><a href="#FNanchor_244_244"><span class="label">[244]</span></a> Porter's Report of this action is to be found in Niles' +Register, vol. vi. pp. 338-341. Hillyar's in Naval Chronicle, vol. +xxxii. pp. 168-170.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_245_245" id="Footnote_245_245"></a><a href="#FNanchor_245_245"><span class="label">[245]</span></a> The Secretary of the Navy to Blakely, March 3, 1814. +Navy Department MSS.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_246_246" id="Footnote_246_246"></a><a href="#FNanchor_246_246"><span class="label">[246]</span></a> Blakely to the Navy Department, Niles' Register, vol. +vii. p. 115.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_247_247" id="Footnote_247_247"></a><a href="#FNanchor_247_247"><span class="label">[247]</span></a> The particulars of this action are taken from the +minutes of the "Wasp," enclosed in Blakely's Report, Niles' Register, +vol. vii. p. 115.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_248_248" id="Footnote_248_248"></a><a href="#FNanchor_248_248"><span class="label">[248]</span></a> Blakely's Report, Niles' Register, vol. vii. p. 192.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_249_249" id="Footnote_249_249"></a><a href="#FNanchor_249_249"><span class="label">[249]</span></a> Niles' Register, vol. vii. p. 173.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_250_250" id="Footnote_250_250"></a><a href="#FNanchor_250_250"><span class="label">[250]</span></a> James says that two of these guns were 18-pounders; but +the first lieutenant of the "Peacock," who brought the prize into +port, and from there wrote independently of Warrington, agrees with +him in saying eighteen thirty-twos. Niles' Register, vol. vi. pp. 180, +196.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_251_251" id="Footnote_251_251"></a><a href="#FNanchor_251_251"><span class="label">[251]</span></a> In a "Synopsis of Naval Actions," between British and +American vessels, contributed to the Naval Chronicle by a "British +naval officer on the American station," occurs the remark relative to +the defeat of the "Avon": "Miserable gunnery on our side, attributable +... above all to not drilling the men at firing at the guns; a +practice the Americans never neglect." Naval Chronicle, vol. xxxiv. p. +469.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_252_252" id="Footnote_252_252"></a><a href="#FNanchor_252_252"><span class="label">[252]</span></a> For Captain Warrington's report of this cruise, see +Niles' Register, vol. vii. p. 155.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_253_253" id="Footnote_253_253"></a><a href="#FNanchor_253_253"><span class="label">[253]</span></a> Naval Chronicle, vol. xxxii. p. 244. See also, Ibid., +pp. 211, 218.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_254_254" id="Footnote_254_254"></a><a href="#FNanchor_254_254"><span class="label">[254]</span></a> London paper, quoted in Niles' Register, vol. vii. p. +175.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_255_255" id="Footnote_255_255"></a><a href="#FNanchor_255_255"><span class="label">[255]</span></a> Niles' Register, vol. vii. p. 190. Naval Chronicle, +vol. xxxii. p. 244.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_256_256" id="Footnote_256_256"></a><a href="#FNanchor_256_256"><span class="label">[256]</span></a> Niles' Register, vol. vii. p. 190.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_257_257" id="Footnote_257_257"></a><a href="#FNanchor_257_257"><span class="label">[257]</span></a> Writings of James Monroe.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_258_258" id="Footnote_258_258"></a><a href="#FNanchor_258_258"><span class="label">[258]</span></a> Captains' Letters, Dec. 11, 1814. Bainbridge's +italics.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_259_259" id="Footnote_259_259"></a><a href="#FNanchor_259_259"><span class="label">[259]</span></a> It will be remembered that after the repeal of the +Orders in Council, June 23, 1812, impressment remained the only <i>sine +quâ non</i> of the United States.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_260_260" id="Footnote_260_260"></a><a href="#FNanchor_260_260"><span class="label">[260]</span></a> American State Papers, Foreign Relations, vol. iii. p. +704. Author's italics. This was the result of a Cabinet meeting held +the same day. "June 27, 1814. In consequence of letters from Bayard +and Gallatin of May 6-7, and other accounts from Europe of the +ascendancy and views of Great Britain, and the dispositions of the +great Continental Powers, the question was put to the Cabinet: 'Shall +a treaty of peace, silent on the subject of impressment, be +authorized?' Agreed to by Monroe, Campbell, Armstrong, and Jones. Rush +absent. Our minister to be instructed, besides trying other +conditions, to make a previous trial to insert or annex some +declaration, or protest, against any inference, from the silence of +the Treaty on the subject of impressment, that the British claim was +admitted or that of the United States abandoned." (Works of Madison, +vol. iii. p. 408.)</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_261_261" id="Footnote_261_261"></a><a href="#FNanchor_261_261"><span class="label">[261]</span></a> Niles' Register, vol. vii. p. 190.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_262_262" id="Footnote_262_262"></a><a href="#FNanchor_262_262"><span class="label">[262]</span></a> Navy Department MSS.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_263_263" id="Footnote_263_263"></a><a href="#FNanchor_263_263"><span class="label">[263]</span></a> For Porter's and Perry's correspondence on this subject +see Captains' Letters, Navy Department MSS., Oct. 14 and 25, Nov. 29, +Dec. 2, 9, and 25, 1814; Jan. 9, 1815.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_264_264" id="Footnote_264_264"></a><a href="#FNanchor_264_264"><span class="label">[264]</span></a> Porter to Secretary, Feb. 8, 1815. Captains' Letters.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_265_265" id="Footnote_265_265"></a><a href="#FNanchor_265_265"><span class="label">[265]</span></a> Benton's Abridgment of Debates in Congress, vol. v. p. +359, note.</p></div> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="CHAPTER_XV" id="CHAPTER_XV"></a><hr /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_274" id="PageV2_274">[274]</a></span><br /> + +<h3>CHAPTER XV<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3> + +<h4>THE NIAGARA CAMPAIGN, AND EVENTS ON THE GREAT LAKES, IN +1814</h4> +<br /> + +<p>Active operations in the field for the winter of 1813-14 came to an +end with the successful incursion of the British army upon the +territory of the State of New York, before narrated.<a name="FNanchor_266_266" id="FNanchor_266_266"></a><a href="#Footnote_266_266" class="fnanchor">[266]</a> This had +resulted in the capture of Fort Niagara and in the wasting of the +frontier, with the destruction of the villages of Lewiston, +Manchester, Buffalo, and others, in retaliation for the American +burning of Newark. Holding now the forts on both banks of the Niagara, +at its entrance into Lake Ontario, the British controlled the harbor +of refuge which its mouth afforded; and to this important accession of +strength for naval operations was added an increased security for +passing troops, at will and secretly, from side to side of the river. +From a military standpoint each work was a bridge-head, assuring +freedom of movement across in either direction; that such transit was +by boats, instead of by a permanent structure, was merely an +inconvenient detail, not a disability. The command of the two forts, +and of a third called Mississaga, on the Canadian side, immediately +overlooking the lake, appears to have been vested in a single officer, +to whom, as to a common superior, were issued orders involving the +action of the three.</p> + +<p>This disposition recognized implicitly the fact that the forts, taken +together, constituted a distinct element in the general British scheme +of operations. Fort Niagara by position threatened the line of +communications of any <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_275" id="PageV2_275">[275]</a></span>American army seeking to act on the Canadian +side. An effective garrison there, unless checked by an adequate force +stationed for the particular purpose, could move at any unexpected +moment against the magazines or trains on the American side; and it +was impossible to anticipate what number might be thus employed at a +given time, because intercourse between Niagara and George was open. +If by original or acquired superiority of numbers, as had been the +case in 1813, the American general should push his opponent back +towards the head of the lake, Fort George would in turn become an +additional menace to his communications. Therefore, properly to +initiate a campaign for the command of the Niagara peninsula, in 1814, +it would be necessary either to reduce both these works, which, if +they were properly garrisoned, meant an expenditure of time; or else +to blockade them by a large detachment of troops, which meant a +constant expenditure of force, diminishing that available for +operations in the field. The British military situation thus comprised +two factors, distinct but complementary; the active army in the field, +and the stationary fortifications which contributed to its support by +sheltering its supplies and menacing those of the enemy. The British +commander of the district, Lieutenant-General Drummond, estimated that +the blockaders before either fort, being ever on the defensive against +a sortie which they could not foresee, must in numbers considerably +exceed the besieged, covered as these were by their works, and able to +receive re-enforcement from the opposite shore. Consequently, when the +officer in immediate local control, Major-General Riall, embarrassed +by the smallness of his field force, suggested the destruction of Fort +Niagara, except a citadel of restricted extent, needing a less +numerous garrison, his superior replied that not only would such +smaller work be much more easily taken, but that in every event the +loss through holding the place was <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_276" id="PageV2_276">[276]</a></span>more than compensated by the +danger and the precautions entailed upon the enemy.<a name="FNanchor_267_267" id="FNanchor_267_267"></a><a href="#Footnote_267_267" class="fnanchor">[267]</a></p> + +<p>The inactivity, substantially unbroken, which prevailed throughout the +winter of 1813-14, was due principally to the unusual mildness of the +weather. This impeded movement in all quarters, by preventing the +formation of ice and of the usual hard snow surface, which made winter +the most favorable season for land transportation. Chauncey at +Sackett's Harbor chafed and fretted over the detention of the stores +and guns for his new ships then building, upon which he was reckoning +for control of the lake. "The roads are dreadful," he wrote on +February 24, "and if the present mild weather continues we shall +experience difficulty." A week later, "I have the mortification to +inform you that all our heavy guns are stopped at and below +Poughkeepsie in consequence of the badness of the roads, and that the +teamsters have abandoned them there." He has given up hopes of a +frost, and counts now only upon water communication; but the delay and +change of route were the cause of two smart affairs with which the +lake operations opened, for on March 29 he announces that the guns are +still below Albany, and now must come by way of Oswego and the +lake,<a name="FNanchor_268_268" id="FNanchor_268_268"></a><a href="#Footnote_268_268" class="fnanchor">[268]</a> instead of securely inland by sleds. Yeo reported a like +delay on his side in the equipment of his new ships, owing to the +unusual scarcity of snow.</p> + +<p>The same conditions imposed similar, if less decisive, limitations +upon the movements of bodies of men. The most important instance of +purpose frustrated was in an enterprise projected by Drummond against +Put-in Bay, where were still lying the "Detroit" and "Queen +Charlotte", the most powerful of the prizes taken by Perry the +<span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_277" id="PageV2_277">[277]</a></span>previous September, the injuries to which had prevented their removal +to the safer position of Erie. On January 21 he communicated to +Governor-General Prevost the details of an expedition of seventeen +hundred and sixty men,<a name="FNanchor_269_269" id="FNanchor_269_269"></a><a href="#Footnote_269_269" class="fnanchor">[269]</a> two hundred of them seamen, who were to +start from the Niagara frontier by land against Detroit, and from +there to cross on the ice to the Bass Islands, where it was hoped they +could seize and burn the vessels. The occupation of Fort Niagara, and +other dispositions made of his division on the peninsula, had so +narrowed his front of defence, and thereby strengthened it, as to +warrant this large detachment.</p> + +<p>This project was one of several looking to regaining control of Lake +Erie, which during the remainder of the war occupied unceasingly the +attention of British officers. Although the particular destination was +successfully concealed, the general fact of preparations for some +offensive undertaking did not escape the observation of the Americans, +who noted that in the recent raid and destruction care had been taken +to spare a great number of sleighs, and to collect them within the +British lines. From this it was inferred that, when Lake Erie froze +over, a dash would be made against the naval station and ships at +Erie.<a name="FNanchor_270_270" id="FNanchor_270_270"></a><a href="#Footnote_270_270" class="fnanchor">[270]</a> This would be undoubtedly a more valuable achievement, but +the enemy knew that the place was in some measure defended, with ample +re-enforcements at call; whereas a descent upon Put-in Bay could +encounter no other resistance than that of the small permanent +garrison of seamen. The mildness of the weather, leaving the lake open +on January 17, relieved the apprehension of the United States +authorities, and on February 3 Drummond had to report that his scheme +must be abandoned, as after that late period of the winter better +conditions could not be expected.<a name="FNanchor_271_271" id="FNanchor_271_271"></a><a href="#Footnote_271_271" class="fnanchor">[271]</a></p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_278" id="PageV2_278">[278]</a></span>In default of the control of Lake Erie, measures were taken by the +British to supply the remote and isolated posts of Mackinac and St. +Joseph's by land carriage from Toronto to Lake Simcoe, a distance of +only forty miles, and thence across the ice to Matchedash Bay, on Lake +Huron; where also were being built batteaux and gunboats, to transport +the stores to their destination when navigation opened. As far as +Huron this land route was out of reach of probable molestation, but +from there it was necessary to proceed at the earliest moment; for, +although there was no American naval force then on that lake, one +might be expected to arrive from Erie early in the season. To this +cross-country line there was an alternative one still more remote, +from Montreal up the Ottawa River, and thence by other water +communication, striking Lake Huron much higher up. It was practicable +only for canoes with light lading, and in other respects not +satisfactory. The maintenance of Mackinac therefore must depend upon +armed control of the upper lakes; and to this the destruction of the +prizes at the islands would doubtless have contributed, morally and +materially.</p> + +<p>On the American side as little was accomplished during the winter. +Wilkinson's army, which at the end of 1813 was cantoned at French +Mills, on the Salmon River, just within the New York boundary, was +withdrawn from that position February 13. The greater part marched to +Lake Champlain, where they again took winter quarters in two +divisions; one at Burlington, Vermont, the other at Plattsburg. The +third contingent, under the command of General Brown, was sent to +Sackett's Harbor, where it arrived February 24.</p> + +<p>The Secretary of War, General Armstrong, despite his vacillating +course the previous year, had never lost sight of his perfectly +accurate conviction that Kingston, if not Montreal, was the true +objective for the northern army. <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_279" id="PageV2_279">[279]</a></span>Convinced that he had been misled in +the spring of 1813 by the opinions of the commanders on the spot, +Chauncey and Dearborn, he was again anxious, as he had been in the +intervening autumn, to retrieve the error. On February 28 he issued to +Brown two sets of instructions;<a name="FNanchor_272_272" id="FNanchor_272_272"></a><a href="#Footnote_272_272" class="fnanchor">[272]</a> the one designed to transpire, in +order to mislead the enemy, the other, most secret, conveying the real +intention of the Department. In the former, stress was laid upon the +exposure of western New York, and the public humiliation at seeing +Fort Niagara in the hands of the British. Brigadier-General Scott +accordingly had been sent there to organize a force for the capture of +the fort and the protection of the frontier; but, as his numbers were +probably insufficient, Brown was directed to march to Batavia, and +thence to Buffalo, with the two thousand troops he had just brought +from French Mills. This letter was meant to reach the enemy's ears. +The other, embodying the true object aimed at, read thus: "It is +obviously Prevost's policy, and probably his intention, to +re-establish himself on Lake Erie during the ensuing month. But to +effect this other points of his line must be weakened, and these will +be either Kingston or Montreal. If the detachment from the former be +great, a moment may occur in which you may do, with the aid of +Commodore Chauncey, what I last year intended Pike should have done +without aid, and what we now all know was very practicable, viz.: to +cross the river, or head of the lake, on the ice, and carry Kingston +by a <i>coup de main</i>." The letter ended by making the enterprise depend +upon a concurrence of favorable conditions; in brief, upon the +discretion of the general, with whom remained all the responsibility +of final decision and action.</p> + +<p>These instructions were elicited, immediately, by recent information +that the effective garrison in Kingston was <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_280" id="PageV2_280">[280]</a></span>reduced to twelve +hundred, with no prospect of increase before June, when +re-enforcements from Europe were expected. Certainly, Drummond at this +time thought the force there no stronger than it should be, and early +in April was apprehensive on that account for the safety of the +place.<a name="FNanchor_273_273" id="FNanchor_273_273"></a><a href="#Footnote_273_273" class="fnanchor">[273]</a> Brown and Chauncey, however, agreed that less than four +thousand men was insufficient for the undertaking. Singularly enough, +this number was precisely that fixed upon by Yeo and Drummond, in +consultation, as necessary for the reduction of Sackett's Harbor; +which they concurred with Prevost in considering the quickest and +surest solution of the difficulty attending their situation about +Niagara, owing to the exhaustion of local resources upon the +peninsula.<a name="FNanchor_274_274" id="FNanchor_274_274"></a><a href="#Footnote_274_274" class="fnanchor">[274]</a> The scarcity thus experienced was aggravated by the +number of dependent Indian warriors, who with their families had +followed the British retreat from Malden and Detroit, and now hung +like lead upon the movements and supplies of the army. "Nearly twelve +hundred barrels of flour monthly to Indians alone," complained the +commanding officer, who had long since learned that for this +expenditure there was no return in military usefulness. In the felt +necessity to retain the good-will of the savages, no escape from the +dilemma was open, except in the maintenance of a stream of supplies +from Lower Canada by keeping command of the Lake;<a name="FNanchor_275_275" id="FNanchor_275_275"></a><a href="#Footnote_275_275" class="fnanchor">[275]</a> to secure which +nothing was so certain as to capture Sackett's and destroy the +shipping and plant.</p> + +<p>Having decided that the enterprise against Kingston was not feasible, +Brown fell into the not unnatural mistake of construing the +Secretary's other letter to present not merely a ruse, but an +alternative line of action, more consonant to his active martial +temper than remaining idle in garrison. <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_281" id="PageV2_281">[281]</a></span>Accordingly, he left +Sackett's with his two thousand, an event duly chronicled in a letter +of Drummond's, that on Sunday, March 13, three thousand five hundred +left Sackett's for Niagara; a statement sufficiently characteristic of +the common tendency of an enemy's force to swell, as it passes from +mouth to mouth. The division had progressed as far as the present city +of Syracuse, sixty miles from Sackett's, and Brown himself was some +forty miles in advance of it, at Geneva, when one of his principal +subordinates persuaded him that he had misconstrued the Department's +purpose. In considerable distress he turned about, passing through +Auburn on the 23d at the rate of thirty miles a day, so said a +contemporary newspaper,<a name="FNanchor_276_276" id="FNanchor_276_276"></a><a href="#Footnote_276_276" class="fnanchor">[276]</a> and hurried back to Sackett's. There +further consultation with Chauncey convinced him again that he was +intended to go to Niagara, and he resumed his march. Before April 1 he +reached Batavia, where his instructions read he would receive further +orders. General Scott was already at Buffalo, and there the troops +were placed under his immediate charge for organization and drill; +Brigadier-General Gaines being sent back to command at Sackett's, +where he arrived April 10.</p> + +<p>At this moment Chauncey was undergoing his turn of qualms. "The +enemy," he wrote the following day, "have prepared a force of three +thousand troops, with gunboats and a number of small craft, to attack +the harbor the moment the fleet leaves it. They may, however, be +determined to make the attack at all hazards, and I am sorry to say +our force is but little adapted to the defence of the place. There are +not a thousand effective men besides the sailors and marines."<a name="FNanchor_277_277" id="FNanchor_277_277"></a><a href="#Footnote_277_277" class="fnanchor">[277]</a> +His information was substantially correct. Drummond had arranged to +concentrate three thousand men from the north shore of the lake; but +he <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_282" id="PageV2_282">[282]</a></span>wanted besides eight hundred from the peninsula, and for lack of +these the project was abandoned.</p> + +<p>The movement of Brown's small contingent to Buffalo, though contrary +to the intention of the Government, may be considered to have opened +the campaign of 1814; destined to prove as abortive in substantial +results as that of the year before, but not so futile and inglorious +to the American arms. The troops engaged had been formed under the +skilful organization and training of Scott. Led by Brown, who, though +not an educated soldier nor a master of the technicalities of the +profession, was essentially an aggressive fighting man of masculine +qualities, they failed indeed to achieve success, for which their +numbers were inadequate; but there was no further disgrace.</p> + +<p>Wilkinson, indeed, in his district, contrived to give to the beginning +of operations the air of absurdity that ever hung round his path. +Although he was the senior officer on the whole frontier, the +Department had not notified him of Brown's orders. This vicious +practice of managing the campaign from a point as distant as +Washington then was, ignoring any local centre of control, drew +subsequently the animadversion of the President, who in a minute to +the Secretary remarked that "it does not appear that +Izard,"—Wilkinson's successor,—"though the senior officer of the +district, has been made acquainted with the plan of operations under +Brown."<a name="FNanchor_278_278" id="FNanchor_278_278"></a><a href="#Footnote_278_278" class="fnanchor">[278]</a> On the present occasion Wilkinson explained that, hearing +of Brown's march by common report, and having ascertained that the +enemy was sending re-enforcements up the St. Lawrence, he undertook an +incursion into Lower Canada as a diversion against such increase of +the force with which Brown must contend.<a name="FNanchor_279_279" id="FNanchor_279_279"></a><a href="#Footnote_279_279" class="fnanchor">[279]</a> His enterprise was +directed against La Colle, a few <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_283" id="PageV2_283">[283]</a></span>miles from Plattsburg, within the +Canada boundary; but upon arriving before the position it was found +that the garrison were established in a stone mill, upon which the +guns brought along could make no impression. After this somewhat +ludicrous experience, the division, more than three thousand strong, +retreated, having lost over seventy men. The result was scarcely +likely to afford Brown much relief by its deterrent influence upon the +enemy.</p> + +<p>This affair happened March 30, and in the course of the following +month Wilkinson was finally superseded. He was succeeded by General +Izard, who assumed command May 4, and remained in the neighborhood of +Champlain, while Brown continued immediately responsible for Sackett's +Harbor and for the force at Buffalo. On April 14 Yeo launched two new +ships, the "Prince Regent" of fifty-eight guns and the "Princess +Charlotte" of forty; and he at the same time had under construction +one destined to carry one hundred and two heavy guns, superior +therefore in size and armament to most of the British ocean navy, and +far more formidable than any in which Nelson ever served. Fortunately +for the Americans, this vessel, which Yeo undertook without authority +from home, was not ready until October; but the former two, added to +his last year's fleet, gave him for the moment a decided preponderance +over Chauncey, who also was building but had not yet completed.</p> + +<p>Under these circumstances the project of attacking Sackett's in force +was again most seriously agitated among the British officials, +military and naval, upon whom the destitution of the Niagara peninsula +pressed with increasing urgency. Such an intention rarely fails to +transpire, especially across a border line where the inhabitants on +either side speak the same tongue and are often intimately acquainted. +Desertion, moreover, was frequent from both parties. The rumor brought +Brown back hastily to the <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_284" id="PageV2_284">[284]</a></span>place, where he arrived April 24. The +enemy, however, again abandoned their purpose, and after embarking a +considerable body of troops turned their arms instead against Oswego.</p> + +<p>It will be remembered that the mildness of the winter had prevented +the transport of guns and stores by land, and made necessary to +accumulate them by water carriage at Oswego, whence there remained the +lake voyage to Sackett's Harbor. This, though a coasting operation, +involved much danger while the enemy possessed naval control. +Meanwhile Oswego became a somewhat congested and much exposed +intermediate station, inviting attack. Chauncey therefore had taken +the precaution of retaining the most important articles, guns and +their equipment, at the falls of the Oswego River, some twelve miles +inland. The enemy's change of plan becoming suspected, Brown detached +a small party—two hundred and ninety effectives—to defend the place, +in conjunction with the few seamen already there. The British fleet +appeared on May 5, but the attack was not made until the following +day, weather conditions being unfavorable. Despite the unprepared +state of the defences characteristic of the universal American +situation, on both lakes and seaboard, in this singular war, the +officer in command offered a spirited resistance, inflicting +considerable loss; but the urgency to preserve his force, for the +superior necessity of protecting under more favorable circumstances +the valuable property in the rear, compelled him to retreat, to escape +the risk of being surrounded and captured. He accordingly drew off in +good order, having lost six killed and thirty-eight wounded; besides +twenty-five missing, probably prisoners. The casualties of the +British, by their official reports, were eighteen killed and +seventy-three wounded. They kept possession of the town during the +night, retiring next day with two small schooners, over two thousand +barrels of provisions, <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_285" id="PageV2_285">[285]</a></span>and a quantity of cordage.<a name="FNanchor_280_280" id="FNanchor_280_280"></a><a href="#Footnote_280_280" class="fnanchor">[280]</a> The most +serious loss to the Americans was that of nine heavy cannon; but the +bulk of the armament for the fleet remained safe at the falls.</p> + +<p>After this Yeo took position with his squadron off Sackett's Harbor, +where the Americans on May 1 had launched a new big ship, the +"Superior", to carry sixty-two guns, thirty-two long 32-pounders, and +thirty carronades of the same calibre. Besides her there was building +still another, of somewhat smaller force, without which Chauncey would +not consider himself able to contend with the enemy.<a name="FNanchor_281_281" id="FNanchor_281_281"></a><a href="#Footnote_281_281" class="fnanchor">[281]</a> On the 20th +of the month he reported that "five sail were now anchored between +Point Peninsula and Stoney Island, about ten miles from the harbor, +and two brigs between Stoney Island and Stoney Point, completely +blocking both passes." He added, "This is the first time that I have +experienced the mortification of being blockaded on the lakes."<a name="FNanchor_282_282" id="FNanchor_282_282"></a><a href="#Footnote_282_282" class="fnanchor">[282]</a> +The line thus occupied by the enemy covered the entire entrance to +Black River Bay, within which Sackett's Harbor lies. This situation +was the more intolerable under the existing necessity of bringing the +guns by water. Drummond, whose information was probably good, wrote at +this period that not more than fifteen of the heavy cannon needed for +the new ships had arrived, and that they could come from Oswego only +by the lake, as the roads were impassable except for horsemen. +Carronades, cordage, and other stores were going on by wagon from +Utica, but the long guns which were imperatively required could not do +so.<a name="FNanchor_283_283" id="FNanchor_283_283"></a><a href="#Footnote_283_283" class="fnanchor">[283]</a></p> + +<p>American contrivance proved equal to the dilemma, and led to a marked +British misadventure. A few miles south <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_286" id="PageV2_286">[286]</a></span>of Black River Bay, and +therefore outside the line of the British blockade, there was an inlet +called Stoney Creek, from the head of which a short land carriage of +three miles would strike Henderson's Bay. This, like Sackett's, is an +indentation of Black River Bay, and was well within the hostile ships. +The transit from Oswego to Stoney Creek, however, remained open to an +enemy's attack, and to be effected without loss required address, +enterprise, and rapidity of movement. The danger was lessened by the +number of streams which enter Mexico Bay, the deep bight formed by the +southern and eastern shores of Lake Ontario, between Oswego and +Sackett's. These, being navigable for batteaux, constituted a series +of harbors of refuge.</p> + +<p>Chauncey directed all the lighter equipment to be turned back from +Oswego River to North Bay, on Lake Oneida, and the long guns to be +placed in batteaux, ready to move instantly, either up or down, as the +movements of the enemy or a favorable opportunity might determine. +Discretionary power to act according to circumstances was then given +to Captain Woolsey, in local command on the Oswego. Woolsey made great +parade of his preparations to send everything, guns included, back +across the portage from the river, to North Bay. The reports reached +Yeo, as intended, but did not throw him wholly off his guard. On May +27 Woolsey despatched an officer in a fast pulling boat to reconnoitre +the coast, while he himself went with the requisite force to the +falls. On the 28th the batteaux, nineteen in number, carrying +twenty-one long 32-pounders, and thirteen lighter pieces, besides ten +heavy cables, were run over the rapids, reaching Oswego at sunset. The +lookout boat had returned, reporting all clear, and after dark the +convoy started. Besides the regular crews, there were embarked one +hundred and fifty riflemen from the army. The next morning at sunrise +one batteau was missing, but the other eighteen entered the Salmon +River, over twenty <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_287" id="PageV2_287">[287]</a></span>miles from Oswego. The nights were short at that +season, and the boats heavy; moreover there had been drenching rain.</p> + +<p>At Salmon River, a party of one hundred and twenty Oneida Indians +joined, who were to move along the coast on the flank of the convoy +through the next stage of the journey, by day, to support the defence +should the approach of an enemy compel refuge to be sought in one of +the creeks. As soon as they had taken up their march the batteaux also +started, and at noon, May 29, reached Big Sandy Creek, ten miles +further on, but eight miles short of the final destination at Stoney +Creek. Here greater care became necessary, on account of the nearness +of the enemy's fleet; and while awaiting information the division +moved two miles up the Big Sandy, where it anchored.</p> + +<p>The missing batteau, carrying two long 24's and a cable, had been +captured; having wandered away from the rest of the detachment, +despite the watchful care exerted to keep them together. Her crew +betrayed the extent of the operation of which they formed part, and a +division of boats was sent in quest, in charge of two captains of the +blockading vessels; the senior officer of the whole being Commander +Popham. On his way Popham fell in with another group of armed boats, +which he took under his command, raising his total to three +gun-vessels and four smaller boats, with near two hundred seamen and +marines. Certain intelligence being received that the convoy had +entered the Big Sandy, he steered thither, arriving off its mouth soon +after daylight of May 30. A reconnaissance on shore discovering the +masts of the batteaux plainly visible over a marsh, with apparently no +intervening forest, an immediate attack was decided. Having landed a +party of flankers on either bank, the expedition proceeded up stream +with due caution, firing an occasional round into the brush to +dislodge any possible <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_288" id="PageV2_288">[288]</a></span>ambush. It was not known that an escort, beyond +the usual crews, had accompanied the movement. Such a precaution might +indeed have been inferred from the importance of the object; but the +same reason naturally, and not improperly, decided Popham that +considerable risk was justifiable in order to frustrate his enemy's +purpose.</p> + +<p>Woolsey was already forewarned of his coming. At 2 <span class="fakesc">A.M.</span> of +the same day, May 30, he had received from Chauncey an express, in +accordance with which an officer was sent out upon the lake, to +reconnoitre towards the entrance of Black River Bay. At six o'clock he +returned, having been seen and pursued by some of Popham's division. +The riflemen and Indians were now advanced half a mile below the +batteaux, where they found cover and concealment in the woods. At +eight the British guns were heard. At nine a re-enforcement of cavalry +and light artillery arrived from Sackett's Harbor, but it was decided +that they should remain by the batteaux, the force already below being +best adapted for bush fighting. Towards ten o'clock the riflemen and +Indians attacked; a circumstance attributed by Captain Popham to an +accident befalling the 68-pounder carronade in the bow of the leading +gunboat, which compelled her to turn round, to bring into action her +stern gun, a 24-pounder. "The enemy thought we were commencing a +retreat, when they advanced their whole force, one hundred and fifty +riflemen, near two hundred Indians, and a numerous body of militia and +cavalry, who soon overpowered the few men I had.... The winding of the +creek, which gave the enemy a great advantage in advancing to +intercept our retreat, rendered further resistance unavailing." The +entire detachment surrendered, having had fourteen killed and +twenty-eight wounded; besides whom two captains, six lieutenants, and +one hundred and thirty-three seamen and marines remained prisoners. +The American loss was but two wounded; a result showing <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_289" id="PageV2_289">[289]</a></span>clearly +enough the disadvantage under which the British labored.</p> + +<p>This affair has been related in detail,<a name="FNanchor_284_284" id="FNanchor_284_284"></a><a href="#Footnote_284_284" class="fnanchor">[284]</a> because, although on a +small scale, it was actually one of great consequence; but yet more +because it illustrates aptly one kind of those minor operations of +war, upon the success of which so much greater matters turn. The +American management throughout was admirable in its detailed foresight +and circumspection. To this was due the trivial loss attending its +final success; a loss therefore attesting far greater credit than +would the attaining of the same result by lavish expenditure of blood. +To Captain Popham must be attributed both enterprise and due +carefulness in undertaking an advance he knew to be hazardous, but +from which, if successful, he was entitled to expect nothing less than +the capture of almost the entire armament of a very large ship. In +such circumstances censure because of failure is unjust, unless the +risk is shown to be taken reckless of due precautions, which was not +the case in this instance. Yeo, whose deficiency in seamen was +reported at two hundred and seventy-nine,<a name="FNanchor_285_285" id="FNanchor_285_285"></a><a href="#Footnote_285_285" class="fnanchor">[285]</a> three days after this +affair, appears to have been more exasperated by the loss of the men +than sensible of the merit of his subordinate. He had charged him not +to enter any creek in the endeavor to capture the stores, and +apparently laid the disaster to disregard of this order. The +subsequent customary court martial decided that Popham, having greatly +re-enforced himself by junction with a division of vessels, in a +manner which Yeo could not have contemplated, was fully justified by +the importance of preventing the convoy from reaching Sackett's +Harbor. The court regretted that <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_290" id="PageV2_290">[290]</a></span>Sir James Yeo should have used such +reproachful expressions in his letter to the Admiralty communicating +Captain Popham's capture. Popham, and his second, Spilsbury, were +included in the promotions of a year later.</p> + +<p>Soon after this mishap Yeo abandoned the immediate blockade of +Sackett's Harbor, returning to Kingston June 6. The recent experience +demonstrated that it would be impossible to prevent the forwarding of +supplies by the mere presence of the fleet at the mouth of the port. +The armament of the "Superior" had arrived despite his efforts, and +her speedy readiness to take the lake was assured. An exchange of +letters between himself and Drummond as to his proper course<a name="FNanchor_286_286" id="FNanchor_286_286"></a><a href="#Footnote_286_286" class="fnanchor">[286]</a> led +to the conclusion that the blockade had not had all the effect +expected; and that, in view of the large re-enforcements of men coming +forward from England, the true policy was to avoid battle until the +third new ship, the "St. Lawrence" of one hundred and two guns, should +be ready. "The enemy," wrote Yeo, "are not in sufficient force to +undertake any expedition in the face of our present squadron, but any +disaster on our side might give them a serious ascendancy." Drummond, +who had rejoiced that the blockade "assures us a free intercourse +throughout the lake," concurred in this view. "I have no hesitation in +saying that there exists at present no motive or object, connected +with the security of Upper Canada, which can make it necessary for you +to act otherwise than cautiously on the defensive," until the large +ship is ready or other circumstances arise.</p> + +<p>On June 7 the Cabinet of the United States held a meeting, in which +was settled the plan of campaign on the northern frontier;<a name="FNanchor_287_287" id="FNanchor_287_287"></a><a href="#Footnote_287_287" class="fnanchor">[287]</a> where +alone, and for a brief period only, an expected superiority of numbers +would permit offensive operations. As in the year before, the +decision, <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_291" id="PageV2_291">[291]</a></span>in general terms, was to direct the main effort against the +enemy's right and centre, Mackinac and the Niagara peninsula, instead +of against his left, at Montreal or Kingston. The principal movement +was to be by a concentration near Buffalo of forces from New York and +the western territory, which the Secretary of War estimated might +place under Brown's command five thousand regular troops and three +thousand volunteers. He had proposed that these, with the assistance +of the Erie navy, should be landed on the coast between Fort Erie, at +the entrance of the Niagara River, and Point Abino, ten miles to the +westward. Thence they were to act against Burlington Heights, at the +head of Lake Ontario, the tenure of which by Vincent in 1813, had +baffled, on two occasions, the advance of the Americans, and +maintained the land communications of the British with York (Toronto) +despite their enemy's control of the water. The Secretary's +anticipation was that, after gaining this position, the force could +proceed along the north shore of the lake towards York, receiving its +supplies by the fleet, which was expected to be ready by June 15. +Chauncey himself stated June 8 that he would be ready by July 1, if +men were sent him.<a name="FNanchor_288_288" id="FNanchor_288_288"></a><a href="#Footnote_288_288" class="fnanchor">[288]</a> On the 11th was launched a second new ship, +the "Mohawk," to carry forty-two guns. The crew of the "Congress" was +ordered up from Portsmouth, and part of them, with other +re-enforcements, were reported to have arrived before June 20. June 24 +Chauncey wrote, "I shall sail the first week in July to offer the +enemy battle."<a name="FNanchor_289_289" id="FNanchor_289_289"></a><a href="#Footnote_289_289" class="fnanchor">[289]</a> He did not, however, take the Lake until August 1.</p> + +<p>The Cabinet had approved the Secretary's suggestion, but extended the +place of debarkation to be between Fort Erie and Long Point, eighty +miles from the Niagara River, and well west of Burlington Heights. +Subsidiary to this main attack, General Izard at Plattsburg was to +make <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_292" id="PageV2_292">[292]</a></span>a diversion towards Montreal. Coincidently with these movements +an expedition of four or five of the Erie fleet, with eight hundred to +one thousand troops, should go against Mackinac; their first object, +however, being Matchedash Bay, on Lake Huron, which was the seat of an +incipient naval establishment, and the point of deposit for supplies +proceeding to Mackinac from York by way of Lake Simcoe. This attempt +to choke the communications of Mackinac, by holding a vital point upon +their line, was to have its counterpart in the east by the provision +of fifteen armed boats on the St. Lawrence, supported by posts on the +river garrisoned by detachments from Izard's army, so as to intercept +the water transport between Montreal and Kingston. It may be mentioned +that this particular method had specially commended itself to both Yeo +and Chauncey, as most suited to embarrass the British situation +throughout the upper province. In a subsequent report to the +Admiralty, Yeo characterized the failure of the Americans to do this +as an extreme stupidity, which had lost them the war, but upon a +repetition of which in future hostilities Great Britain should not +rely.<a name="FNanchor_290_290" id="FNanchor_290_290"></a><a href="#Footnote_290_290" class="fnanchor">[290]</a> The importance of this intercourse is indicated by a +mention of Chauncey's, that in the week before June 15 more than two +hundred boats passed Ogdensburg for Kingston.<a name="FNanchor_291_291" id="FNanchor_291_291"></a><a href="#Footnote_291_291" class="fnanchor">[291]</a></p> + +<p>All this, however, simply emphasizes the fact that the decisive point +of attack was Montreal or Kingston; not the line between them, which +would become useless if either fell. Still less could the Niagara +peninsula, though a valuable link in a chain of communication from the +lower to the upper lakes, compare in importance with either of the +places named. It matters not that a chain is complete in itself, if it +is severed from one of the extremities which it <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_293" id="PageV2_293">[293]</a></span>is designed to +connect. As regards any attempt on the part of the Americans to +interrupt the traffic, Drummond appears to have been satisfied with +Yeo's promise that "every brigade of batteaux should have a suitable +convoy of gunboats."</p> + +<p>The Secretary of War, in his communication to the President before the +Cabinet met, had indicated plainly his preference for leaving Mackinac +alone and concentrating upon the central point of effort, Niagara or +Burlington. "Burlington and York carried, a barrier is interposed +which completely protects Detroit and Malden, makes doubtful and +hazardous the enemy's intercourse with the western Indians, reduces +Mackinac to a possession perfectly useless, renders probable the +evacuation of Fort Niagara, and takes from the enemy half his motive +for continuing the naval conflict on Lake Ontario. On the other hand, +take Mackinac, and what is gained but Mackinac itself?"<a name="FNanchor_292_292" id="FNanchor_292_292"></a><a href="#Footnote_292_292" class="fnanchor">[292]</a> The +reasoning was indisputable, although Armstrong acquiesced in the +decision of the Cabinet. The main feature of the plan adopted, the +reduction of Burlington Heights and a successful advance on York, was +of doubtful issue; but, if successful, the vital end of the chain upon +which Mackinac depended for existence dropped useless to the ground. +All side enterprise that did not directly contribute to this decisive +movement should have been discarded in favor of concentration upon +Brown's army, to which its execution was committed, and the actual +strength of which was insufficient for the task. At the opening of the +campaign its total strength was four thousand seven hundred and +eighty, of whom eight hundred and thirty were militia.<a name="FNanchor_293_293" id="FNanchor_293_293"></a><a href="#Footnote_293_293" class="fnanchor">[293]</a> On July 1 +there were present for duty three thousand five hundred. There were +also six <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_294" id="PageV2_294">[294]</a></span>hundred Indians of the Six Nations. In this impotent +conclusion resulted the Secretary's estimate of five thousand regulars +and three thousand volunteers.</p> + +<p>On July 2 Brown announced to his troops that he was authorized by the +Government to put them in motion against the enemy.<a name="FNanchor_294_294" id="FNanchor_294_294"></a><a href="#Footnote_294_294" class="fnanchor">[294]</a> He had +decided to leave Fort Niagara, with its menace to his communications, +in his rear, unguarded, and to throw his command directly upon the +enemy on the west bank of the river. The crossing was made that night +in two divisions; one landing opposite Black Rock, below Fort Erie, +the other above that post, which surrendered July 3, at 5 +<span class="fakesc">P.M.</span> The garrison numbered one hundred and thirty-seven. From +there Brown proposed to turn north and advance towards Ontario, where +he hoped to join hands with the navy, which was expected by him, and +by the Government, to be on hand to co-operate. This expectation was +based on Chauncey's own assurance that he would take the lake on July +1, if supplied with men, who were known since to have arrived. It does +not appear, however, that he had received specific instructions as to +the course he was intended to follow; and, in assuming that he would +go to the head of the lake, for direct co-operation, the Government +and the general were reckoning without their host, and in ignorance of +his views. He was as loath to leave Kingston and Sackett's in his +rear, unwatched, as Brown was willing to take the same risk with +regard to Niagara. It was a profound difference of temperament in two +capable men, to whom the Government failed to impart the unifying +element of orders.</p> + +<p>On July 4 Scott's brigade, which had crossed below the fort, advanced +from Fort Erie fifteen miles, to Street's Creek, a small stream, +bridged near its mouth, entering <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_295" id="PageV2_295">[295]</a></span>the Niagara two miles south of the +Chippewa River, the defensive line selected by the British, who now +fell back upon it. The Chippewa is of respectable size, one hundred +and fifty yards wide, and from twelve to twenty feet deep, running +from west to east. In general direction it is parallel to Street's +Creek; both entering the Niagara at right angles to its course. In the +belt separating the two the ground is flat, and was in great part +open; but midway between them there was a strip of thick wood +extending down to within a few hundred feet of the Niagara. This +formed a dense curtain, hiding movements on either side from the +other. The British forces under Riall were now north of the Chippewa, +Scott's brigade south of Street's; each having a bridge by which to +advance into the space between. The other American brigade, Ripley's, +was in rear of Scott—to the south.</p> + +<p>In this relative situation, Scott's pickets on the left being +disquieted by the British and Indians in the intervening woods, Brown +ordered up the militia and American Indians under General Porter to +expel them. This was done; but upon reaching the clearing on the +further side, the Indians, who were in the lead, encountered a heavy +fire, which drove them back upon the militia, and the whole body +retreated in a confusion which ended in a rout.<a name="FNanchor_295_295" id="FNanchor_295_295"></a><a href="#Footnote_295_295" class="fnanchor">[295]</a> Riall had crossed +the Chippewa, and was advancing in force, although he believed Brown's +army much to outnumber his own now on the field, which in fact it did. +Gordon Drummond, in his instructions to him some months before, (March +23), had remarked that with the Americans liberties might be taken +which would seem hazardous "to a military man unacquainted with the +character of the enemy he had to contend with, or with the events of +the last two campaigns on that frontier."<a name="FNanchor_296_296" id="FNanchor_296_296"></a><a href="#Footnote_296_296" class="fnanchor">[296]</a> This unflattering, but +not unreasonable, deduction from the performances of <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_296" id="PageV2_296">[296]</a></span>Dearborn and +others in 1813, as of Smyth and Van Rensselaer in 1812, was misplaced +in the present instance; but it doubtless governed Riall's action, and +justified it to himself and his superiors. He had not been engaged +since he drove the militia of New York before him like sheep, in the +preceding December; and he would have attacked on the very night after +the crossing, but that a regiment from York, which he had reason to +expect twenty-four hours before, did not arrive until the morning of +the 5th. The instant it came he made his dispositions to move at 4 +<span class="fakesc">P.M.</span> of the same day.</p> + +<p>It was this advance which met Porter and threw his division back, +uncovering the wood on the west. Scott at the same moment was marching +his brigade into the open space between Street's Creek and the +Chippewa; not to meet the enemy, whom he did not expect, but for some +drill in the cool of a hot summer's afternoon. As he went forward, the +Commander-in-Chief, who had been reconnoitring in front, rode by, +galloping to the rear to bring up his remaining force; for, while the +army in the aggregate was superior to Riall, the one brigade was +inferior. In passing, he called to Scott, "You will have a battle"; +and the head of the latter's column, as it crossed the bridge, came at +once under the enemy's guns.</p> + +<p>Although inferior, exposed, and in a sense surprised, both commander +and men were equal to the occasion. The division deployed steadily +under fire, and its leader, sending hastily one battalion to check the +enemy in the wood, formed front with the remainder of his force to +meet those in the plain. These, being yet unopposed, advanced beyond +the line of the wood, passing their own detachment within it, which +was held in check by the Americans charged with that duty. Losing thus +their support on that side, the British presented a new right flank, +to use Scott's expression. Thereupon he extended his two wings as far +<span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_297" id="PageV2_297">[297]</a></span>as he dared, leaving between them a considerable interval, so as to +overlap his opponent at either extremity; which done, he threw his +left forward. His brigade thus formed an obtuse angle, the apex to the +rear, the bullets therefore converging and crossing upon the space in +front, into which it and the enemy were moving. In the approach both +parties halted several times to fire, and Scott says that the +superiority of aim in his own men was evident. When within sixty paces +a mutual rush, or charge, ensued; but the overlapping of the Americans +crowded the flanks of the enemy in upon his centre and produced +confusion, to which the preceding fire doubtless had contributed. +Scott's own description is that "the wings of the enemy being +outflanked, and in some measure doubled upon, were mouldered away like +a rope of sand."<a name="FNanchor_297_297" id="FNanchor_297_297"></a><a href="#Footnote_297_297" class="fnanchor">[297]</a> In this brief and brilliant struggle only the +one brigade was engaged.</p> + +<p>Riall's account agrees substantially with that of Scott, mentioning +particularly "the greatest regularity" with which his opponents +"deployed and opened fire."<a name="FNanchor_298_298" id="FNanchor_298_298"></a><a href="#Footnote_298_298" class="fnanchor">[298]</a> He directed a charge by the three +regiments in line, "but I am sorry to say that they suffered so +severely that I was obliged to withdraw them, finding their further +efforts against the superior numbers of the enemy would be +unavailing." He was right in believing that the aggregate of Brown's +army, although much short of the six thousand he estimated, was +superior to that which he could bring together without abandoning +posts he had to hold; but he was mistaken in thinking that in the +actual collision his opponents were more numerous than the fifteen +hundred regulars at which he states his own force, besides three +hundred militia. Scott's brigade, with its supporting artillery, when +it crossed four days before, was less than fifteen hundred; and the +militia and Indians were routed <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_298" id="PageV2_298">[298]</a></span>before he began to fight. His +artillery also was of lighter weight. The superiority of the American +fire was shown by the respective losses. They were: British, one +hundred and forty-eight killed, two hundred and twenty-one wounded, +forty-six missing; American, fifty-six killed, two hundred and +thirty-nine wounded, thirty-six missing. Of this total, there fell to +Scott's command forty-four killed, and two hundred and twenty-four +wounded; demonstrating conclusively that it alone was seriously +engaged. Not a man was reported missing. The other brigade lost only +three killed and three wounded. At the end of the action it was coming +up on Scott's left, where he was most exposed, but it did not arrive +until he had wrought his own deliverance. The remaining casualties +were among the militia and Indians.</p> + +<p>After the battle of Chippewa, Riall fell back towards Fort George, and +subsequently to the creek called Twenty Mile, west of Niagara, on Lake +Ontario. Brown followed as far as Queenston, where he arrived July 10. +On the 13th he wrote to Chauncey, begging for the fleet to meet him on +the lake shore, west of Fort George, to arrange a plan of operations; +in which case he had no doubt of breaking the power of the enemy in +Upper Canada in a short time. "All accounts," he said, "represent the +force of the enemy at Kingston as very light. Sir James Yeo will not +fight,"—which was certain. "For God's sake, let me see you. I have +looked for your fleet with the greatest anxiety since the 10th."<a name="FNanchor_299_299" id="FNanchor_299_299"></a><a href="#Footnote_299_299" class="fnanchor">[299]</a></p> + +<p>Chauncey had not left Sackett's Harbor, nor did he do so; to the utter +consternation, not of Brown only, but of the Government. On July 7 he +chronicled the burning of an enemy's schooner on the north shore of +the lake,<a name="FNanchor_300_300" id="FNanchor_300_300"></a><a href="#Footnote_300_300" class="fnanchor">[300]</a> an exploit creditable enough in itself, but utterly +trivial in relation to pending issues; and on the 8th he wrote that +some changes <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_299" id="PageV2_299">[299]</a></span>of officers and crews, incidental to the absence of a +particular captain, would detain him a few days longer.<a name="FNanchor_301_301" id="FNanchor_301_301"></a><a href="#Footnote_301_301" class="fnanchor">[301]</a> These +were flimsy reasons for inactivity at a moment of great national +interest, and when the operations in progress had been begun +absolutely upon the presupposition of naval control and co-operation, +for which he had undertaken to provide the means, even if not pledged +as to the manner. Then followed a silence of over two weeks; after +which, on July 25, he wrote again by his second to say that "the +squadron had been prevented being earlier fitted for sea, in +consequence of the delay in obtaining blocks and ironwork."<a name="FNanchor_302_302" id="FNanchor_302_302"></a><a href="#Footnote_302_302" class="fnanchor">[302]</a> He +himself was too unwell to write, and had been so for some days. It is +probable that lapse of energy consequent upon illness had something to +do with this remarkable paralysis of action, in a man usually bustling +and efficient; and there may naturally have been unwillingness to +relinquish command,—which would have been his proper course,—after +the mortifications of the previous year, when he was just flattering +himself with the prospect of a new opportunity.</p> + +<p>This inaction, at the critical moment of Brown's advance, caused the +Government extreme perplexity and distress. In Chauncey was reposed a +confidence expressed by the Secretary of the Navy to Congress the year +before, when the resolution of thanks to Perry was pending. He then +"intimated the propriety of noticing in an appropriate manner the +commander-in-chief of the naval force upon the lakes, under whose +immediate command Captain Perry acted;" and spoke of the "zeal, +talent, constancy, courage, and prudence of the highest order, which +appears to me to merit particular distinction."<a name="FNanchor_303_303" id="FNanchor_303_303"></a><a href="#Footnote_303_303" class="fnanchor">[303]</a> Such preconceived +opinion was hard to shake; but as day succeeded day of expectation +<span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_300" id="PageV2_300">[300]</a></span>and suspense, the patience of the Administration gave way. Letters +bearing those elaborated phrases of assurance which most clearly +testify uneasiness were sent him, but did not arrive till after Brown +had retreated and he himself taken the lake. On July 24 the Secretary +writes, "I have expressed the solicitude which has produced this +letter, but my confidence in your patriotism, skill, judgment, and +energy is entire." On August 3, however, he says the explanation about +blocks and ironwork—apparently just received—is so extraordinary at +such a moment that "I cannot withhold from you the extreme anxiety and +astonishment which the protracted and fatal delay of the squadron has +excited in the mind of the President;" and on the 5th, "the known +detention of the squadron at Sackett's Harbor until the 27th ultimo, +the very feeble and precarious state of your health, the evils which +have already resulted from delay," etc., "have induced the President, +though with extreme reluctance, and undiminished confidence in your +zeal and capacity, to order Commodore Decatur to proceed to Sackett's +Harbor and take upon himself the naval command on Lake Ontario."</p> + +<p>The proposed change did not take place, the squadron having already +resumed active cruising. The Secretary repeated his expressions of +confidence, but does not appear to have renewed his recommendations to +Congress. Chauncey, stung by the reflections, open and implied, upon +his conduct, retorted with a defence and definition of his course, as +proposed and realized, which raises the whole question of the method +of naval co-operation under the circumstances, and of its probable +effectiveness. Replying to Brown's letter of July 13, quoted above, he +said positively that he had never given the general ground to expect +him at the head of the lake.<a name="FNanchor_304_304" id="FNanchor_304_304"></a><a href="#Footnote_304_304" class="fnanchor">[304]</a> This assertion he repeated to the +Secretary, whose letters to him demonstrate that the <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_301" id="PageV2_301">[301]</a></span>Government had +left him entire discretion as to his particular method of procedure. +Acting therefore upon his own judgment, he justified his course by +alleging that direct co-operation at the Niagara end of the lake was +impossible, because the heavy ships could not get within two miles of +the forts, and Brown's army had never advanced to the lake shore; +consequently, the fleet could neither have acted directly by itself, +nor yet in support of a land force, with which it could not +communicate. So much for the negative side of the argument. +Positively, he said, the mission of the navy was to seek and fight the +enemy's squadron; and this duty was emphasized by the fact that to go +westward to Niagara, while the enemy was at Kingston, would expose to +capture Sackett's Harbor, the safety of which had remained a dominant +anxiety with Chauncey since its narrow escape the previous year.</p> + +<p>The protection of his own base, and the controlling or beating the +organized force of the enemy, are unquestionably two leading +considerations which should govern the general conduct of a general +officer, land or sea. In these particulars Chauncey's statement was +unassailable; but, whether well or ill, he seems to have been +incapable of rising to the larger estimate of naval control, to which +the rules enunciated, conduce simply as a formulation of principles, +giving to action preciseness and steadiness of direction. The +destruction of the enemy's fleet is the means to obtain naval control; +but naval control in itself is only a means, not an object. The object +of the campaign, set by the Government, was the acquirement of mastery +upon the Niagara peninsula, to the accomplishment of which Brown's +army was destined. Naval control would minister thereto, partly by +facilitating the re-enforcement and supply of the American army, and, +conversely, by impeding that of the British. Of these two means, the +latter was the more efficacious, because, owing to the thoroughly +<span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_302" id="PageV2_302">[302]</a></span>denuded condition of the Canadian territory, from the Niagara to +Detroit, local resources were exhausted, and dependence was wholly +upon the water; whereas the United States forces, near a fruitful +friendly region, and in possession of Lake Erie, had other independent +and sufficient streams of maintenance.</p> + +<p>To weaken the British was by so much to strengthen Brown, even though +direct communication with him were impossible. It was of this that the +British stood in continual anxious terror, as shown by their letters; +and this it was that Chauncey gives no sign of recognizing. Of support +to his own colleague he spoke with ill-timed scorn: "That you might +find the fleet somewhat of a convenience in the transportation of +provisions and stores for the use of the army, and an agreeable +appendage to attend its marches and countermarches, I am ready to +believe; but, Sir, the Secretary of the Navy has honored us with a +higher destiny—we are intended to seek and to fight the enemy's +fleet. This is the great purpose of the Government in creating this +fleet; and I shall not be diverted in my efforts to effectuate it by +any sinister attempt to render us subordinate to, or an appendage of, +the army." It would be difficult to cite an apter instance of wresting +sound principles to one's own destruction. Whatever the antecedent +provocation, this is no temper in which to effect military objects. It +is indeed hard to believe that an army so little numerous as that of +Brown could have accomplished the ambitious designs confided to it; +but that does not affect the clear duty of affording it the utmost +assistance that ingenuity could devise and energy effect. The words +quoted were written August 10, but ignore entirely an alternative +suggested in a letter received that day from the Secretary, dated July +24, itself the repetition of one made July 20: "To destroy the enemy's +fleet, or to blockade his force <i>and cut off his entire communication +with the head <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_303" id="PageV2_303">[303]</a></span>of the lake</i>." The civilian here indicated clearly what +the naval officer should have known from the very first moment.</p> + +<p>As before said, the contemporary correspondence of British officers +abundantly shows their anxiety lest Chauncey, in these important +weeks, should do what he did not do. Sir James Yeo had deliberately +formulated the policy of remaining inactive in Kingston until the +completion of the 102-gun ship, which would give him command of the +lake beyond chance of dispute. To occupy the American fleet meanwhile +with a local blockade, which he intended not to contest, was precisely +what he wanted. To distress the army at Niagara to the point of +evacuating the peninsula was the one only thing that might impel—or +compel—him to come out and fight, despite his deliberate intention. +"Several small vessels," wrote the Commissary-General a month +later<a name="FNanchor_305_305" id="FNanchor_305_305"></a><a href="#Footnote_305_305" class="fnanchor">[305]</a> to Sir George Prevost, "were despatched while the enemy's +squadron were unable to leave Sackett's Harbor; but since the enemy +commands the lake, that resource for the moment is cut off, and only +batteaux can be employed. These are [not]<a name="FNanchor_306_306" id="FNanchor_306_306"></a><a href="#Footnote_306_306" class="fnanchor">[306]</a> a very useful +conveyance, not only from the danger of the enemy's small vessels, +which can approach the shore without difficulty, but also from want of +proper steersmen, pilots, and middlemen.... This feeble means of +transport will never effect the forming of a sufficient depot at York, +Burlington Heights, and Niagara; and, unless the commissariat can be +aided to a great extent by the Royal Navy, the most disastrous +consequences must ensue."</p> + +<p>At the date this was written, August 27, Chauncey's force was that +which he had promised should be ready July 1, but with which he did +not sail until August <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_304" id="PageV2_304">[304]</a></span>1,—too late. The very efficiency of his action +in August condemns therefore his inaction in July. Besides his two new +big ships, which matched Yeo's two, he had added to the fleet of the +previous year, then superior to the British, two brigs of the armament +and tonnage of the ocean sloops of war,—the "Peacock" and class. +Against these Yeo had nothing to show. It was therefore open to +Chauncey to blockade Kingston with an equal force, thus covering +Sackett's, and to despatch to the head of the lake vessels adequate to +embarrass Riall and Drummond most seriously. From York to Niagara by +land was eighty miles of road impassable to laden wagons; by lake +thirty miles of water facility. From Kingston to York, an additional +distance of a hundred and fifty miles, the same relative difficulty of +transportation obtained. Yet as late as July 13, Drummond could write +from Kingston, "As troops cannot be forwarded without provisions, I +have requested Sir James Yeo to send his two brigs immediately, with +as much flour and pork as they can carry to York and Burlington." On +the 16th, "The 'Charwell' sailed yesterday for the head of the lake +with provisions and ammunition. I have strong hopes she will arrive +safe, as the enemy's whole squadron are lying in Sackett's with their +sails bent, and apparently ready for sea, though no guns forward of +the foremast could be perceived on board the 'Mohawk.'"<a name="FNanchor_307_307" id="FNanchor_307_307"></a><a href="#Footnote_307_307" class="fnanchor">[307]</a></p> + +<p>Yeo, holding both York and the mouth of the Niagara, ventured thither +two brigs and two schooners, under Captain Dobbs, one of his officers. +"Without their valuable aid in the transport of troops and stores," +wrote Drummond, August 12, "I certainly should not have been able to +attempt offensive operations so soon after my arrival." By that time, +when Brown had of necessity abandoned the offensive, "Commodore +Chauncey has left three of his brigs to watch our vessels in the +Niagara. They continue <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_305" id="PageV2_305">[305]</a></span>cruising off that place."<a name="FNanchor_308_308" id="FNanchor_308_308"></a><a href="#Footnote_308_308" class="fnanchor">[308]</a> Chauncey, in +his letter of vindication to the Secretary, had maintained that "if +our whole fleet were at the head of the lake, it would not detain a +regiment from [York to] Fort George more than twenty-four hours.... +Any one who knows anything of the navigation of this lake knows that +boats may cross the head of the lake, from York to the opposite shore, +unobserved by any fleet during the night."<a name="FNanchor_309_309" id="FNanchor_309_309"></a><a href="#Footnote_309_309" class="fnanchor">[309]</a> Admitting that there +is no literal exaggeration in this statement, it takes no account of +the enemy's apprehensions, nor of the decisive difficulty of running +vessels of a size to transport the heavy stores, without which the +army could not remain. No one familiar with maritime affairs will deny +the impossibility of wholly suppressing all furtive movement of small +coasters, but it is equally certain much can be done to impede that +full course of supplies which constitutes security of communication. +To Chauncey's affirmation, Drummond gives an incidental reply, +September 2: "The enemy's blockading squadron not having been seen for +some days, I sent the 'Vincent' across to York, where she has arrived +in safety, and Captain Dobbs has directed the 'Charwell' to push +across the first morning the wind is fair. By their aid I got rid of +many encumbrances (prisoners and sick), and shall receive the supplies +that are waiting at York for this division."<a name="FNanchor_310_310" id="FNanchor_310_310"></a><a href="#Footnote_310_310" class="fnanchor">[310]</a></p> + +<p>It is needless to multiply quotations from the utterances, and +frequent outcries, that run throughout this correspondence. Chauncey, +from early July, had it in his hand seriously to molest the British +communications, and at the same time to contain the British squadron +in Kingston. Such action would subject Yeo to the just and humiliating +imputation of suffering the harassment of the army <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_306" id="PageV2_306">[306]</a></span>without an attempt +at relief, or else would compel him to come out and fight under +conditions which, "whatever the result," to use Nelson's words, "would +leave his squadron in a state to do no further harm," till the big +ship was ready. Thus also Chauncey would cover his base; for, as +Prevost wrote, "while Kingston is blockaded, no movement against +Sackett's Harbor can take place." It was Chauncey's misfortune himself +to demonstrate his own shortcoming by the profound distress he +inflicted, when sounder measures were instituted after the censure of +the Government,—too late.</p> + +<p>One of the most conspicuous instances of the effect of this neglect +was realized in the desperate and sanguinary engagement of Lundy's +Lane, the occurrence of which, at the time and in the manner it did, +as stated by one of the chief actors, Winfield Scott, was due directly +to the freedom of the lake to the British. Brown had remained at +Queenston for some days after July 10, in painful suspense. A +reconnaissance in force was made on the 15th by the militia brigade +under General Porter, accompanied by two pieces of artillery, which +moved round Fort George as far as Lake Ontario, whence the general +reported "we had an opportunity to examine the <i>northern</i> face of +Forts Riall and Niagara, about two miles distant."<a name="FNanchor_311_311" id="FNanchor_311_311"></a><a href="#Footnote_311_311" class="fnanchor">[311]</a> Beyond a few +random shots, no opposition was experienced. On the 20th the army as a +whole advanced to the neighborhood of Fort George, and made a +demonstration of throwing up siege works; not without serious +intention, for Brown had not yet abandoned hope of receiving the +cannon of necessary weight, 24-pounders, from Sackett's Harbor. He had +with him only eighteens. Riall was greatly alarmed, exaggerating the +force before him, and receiving reports of re-enforcements expected by +the lake. On July 22 he sent hasty and pressing word of the impending +emergency to <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_307" id="PageV2_307">[307]</a></span>Drummond, who arrived the same evening at York from +Kingston; but in the afternoon of the day he was able to give better +tidings. The Americans were falling back again upon Queenston, +abandoning the positions recently assumed.<a name="FNanchor_312_312" id="FNanchor_312_312"></a><a href="#Footnote_312_312" class="fnanchor">[312]</a></p> + +<p>Brown had hoped that by his advance, blowing up the works at +Queenston, and leaving his rear evidently much exposed, Riall might be +induced to attack. The British general was much disposed to do so; but +refrained, fearing for his own communications. On the morning of the +23d an express from General Gaines, commanding at Sackett's Harbor, +reached Brown at Queenston, informing him that Chauncey was sick, that +no one knew when the fleet would sail, and that an endeavor had been +made to send forward by batteaux, coasting the south shore, the +24-pounder guns needed for besieging Fort George; but the officer in +command had stopped at the mouth of Black River Bay, thinking himself +in danger from the British squadron.<a name="FNanchor_313_313" id="FNanchor_313_313"></a><a href="#Footnote_313_313" class="fnanchor">[313]</a> A contemporary account +reads: "July 20, Morgan with the riflemen and cannon prevented from +sailing by Yeo's blockade of the harbor."<a name="FNanchor_314_314" id="FNanchor_314_314"></a><a href="#Footnote_314_314" class="fnanchor">[314]</a> Apparently, Yeo had +even come out of port, in order by menace of attack to arrest the +forwarding of this essential succor. Chauncey's incidental mention is +positive that he approached no nearer than the Ducks, some large +islands thirty miles south of Kingston, and forty west of +Sackett's;<a name="FNanchor_315_315" id="FNanchor_315_315"></a><a href="#Footnote_315_315" class="fnanchor">[315]</a> but it is obvious that in the quiescence of the +American squadron such a position was prohibitive of movement by +batteaux. It may readily be conceived that had Brown's demonstration +against the fort been coupled with an attempt to land the guns from a +naval division, Riall might have felt compelled to come out of his +lines.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_308" id="PageV2_308">[308]</a></span>Neither guns nor naval division appeared, and Drummond, able to move +troops freely across the lake, concerted now a plan for striking a +dangerous blow from Fort Niagara, against Brown's communications on +the New York side; the exposed condition of which was known to him. +This was the immediate offensive of which he had spoken; his ability +to undertake which he attributed to naval aid. He had as +adjutant-general Lieutenant-Colonel Harvey, the same who suggested and +executed the brilliant stroke that disconcerted Dearborn's campaign in +1813; and who on the present occasion drew up the instructions to +Riall, and to Lieutenant-Colonel Tucker, the officer in charge of the +forts, with a delightful lucidity which characterizes all papers +signed by him.<a name="FNanchor_316_316" id="FNanchor_316_316"></a><a href="#Footnote_316_316" class="fnanchor">[316]</a> The brigs "Star" and "Charwell" left York July 23, +with a re-enforcement of four hundred men for Fort Niagara, in which +post the officer commanding was directed to concentrate so many more +as would enable him to carry a full regiment of regulars against +batteries that were being put up at Youngstown. This movement was to +be made at daylight of Monday, July 25, and General Riall was +instructed to support it by a threatening demonstration on his side of +the river. On the evening of the 24th, Drummond himself sailed from +York in one of Yeo's schooners, and by daybreak reached Niagara.</p> + +<p>Upon his arrival,—or possibly before,—he learned that the Americans +had retired further, to the Chippewa. The motive for this backward +step was to draw necessary supplies across the river, from the +magazines at Fort Schlosser, and to leave there all superfluous +baggage, prior to a rush upon Burlington Heights, which Brown had now +substituted as the point of attack, in consequence of his +disappointment about the siege guns.<a name="FNanchor_317_317" id="FNanchor_317_317"></a><a href="#Footnote_317_317" class="fnanchor">[317]</a> It had been his <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_309" id="PageV2_309">[309]</a></span>intention +to rest over the 25th, in order to start forward fresh on the 26th. +This retrograde movement, inducing Riall to advance, changed the +situation found by Drummond. He decided therefore to apply his +re-enforcements to the support of Riall directly, and to have the +enterprise from Niagara proceed with somewhat smaller numbers towards +Lewiston,—opposite Queenston,—where a body of Americans were posted. +This advance appears to have been detected very soon, for Drummond +writes, "Some unavoidable delay having occurred in the march of the +troops up the right bank, the enemy had moved off previous to Colonel +Tucker's arrival." Brown, in his report of this circumstance, wrote, +"As it appeared that the enemy with his increased force was about to +avail himself of the hazard under which our baggage and stores were on +our [American] side of Niagara, I conceived the most effectual method +of recalling him from the object was to put myself in motion towards +Queenston. General Scott with his brigade were accordingly put in +march on the road leading thither." The result was the battle of +Lundy's Lane.</p> + +<p>Scott in his autobiography attributes the report of an advance towards +Schlosser to a mistake on the part of the officer making it. It was +not so. There was an actual movement, modified in detail from the +original elaborate plan, the execution of which was based by the +British general upon the local control of the lake, enabling him to +send re-enforcements. The employment of Dobbs' four vessels, permitted +by Chauncey's inaction, thus had direct effect upon the occurrence and +the result of the desperately contested engagement which ensued, upon +the heights overlooking the lower torrent of the Niagara. From the +Chippewa to the Falls is about two miles, through which the main road +from Lake Erie to Ontario follows the curving west bank of the stream. +A half mile further on it <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_310" id="PageV2_310">[310]</a></span>was joined at right angles by the +crossroad, known as Lundy's Lane. As Scott's column turned the bend +above the Falls there were evidences of the enemy's presence, which at +first were thought to indicate only a detachment for observation; but +a few more paces disclosed the Lane held by a line of troops, superior +in number to those encountered with equal unexpectedness on the +Chippewa, three weeks before.</p> + +<p>Scott hesitated whether to fall back; but apprehensive of the effect +of such a step upon the other divisions, he sent word to Brown that he +would hold his ground, and prepared for battle, making dispositions to +turn the enemy's left,—towards the Niagara. It was then near sundown. +A hot engagement followed, in the course of which the pressure on the +British left caused it to give ground. In consequence, the American +right advancing and the British left receding, the two lines swung +round perpendicular to the Lane, the Americans standing with their +backs to the precipices, beneath which roar the lower rapids of +Niagara. At this period General Riall, who had received a severe +wound, was captured while being carried to the rear.</p> + +<p>As this change of front was taking place Brown arrived, with Ripley's +brigade and Porter's militia, which were brought into line with Scott; +the latter occupying the extreme right, Ripley the centre, and Porter +the left. When this arrangement had been completed the attack was +resumed, and a hill top, which was the key of the British position, +was carried; the artillery there falling into the hands of the +Americans. "In so determined a manner were these attacks directed +against our guns," reported Drummond, "that our artillery men were +bayoneted by the enemy in the act of loading, and the muzzles of the +enemy's guns were advanced within a few yards of ours.... Our troops +having for a moment been pushed back, some of our <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_311" id="PageV2_311">[311]</a></span>guns remained for a +few minutes in the enemy's hands."<a name="FNanchor_318_318" id="FNanchor_318_318"></a><a href="#Footnote_318_318" class="fnanchor">[318]</a> Upon this central fact both +accounts agree, but on the upshot of the matter they differ. "Not only +were the guns quickly recovered," continued Drummond, "but the two +pieces which the enemy had brought up were captured by us." He admits, +however, the loss as well as gain of one 6-pounder. Brown, on the +contrary, claimed that the ground was held and that the enemy retired, +leaving his guns. "He attempted to drive us from our position and to +regain his artillery; our line was unshaken and the enemy repulsed. +Two other attempts having the same object had the same issue."<a name="FNanchor_319_319" id="FNanchor_319_319"></a><a href="#Footnote_319_319" class="fnanchor">[319]</a> By +this time both Brown and Scott had been severely wounded and carried +off the field. In this situation the Commander-in-Chief directed the +officer now in command to withdraw the troops to the camp, three miles +behind, for refreshment, and then to re-occupy the field of battle. +Whether this was feasible or not would require an inquiry more +elaborate than the matter at stake demands. It is certain that the +next day the British resumed the position without resistance, and +continued to hold it.</p> + +<p>To Americans the real interest and value of this action, combined with +its predecessor at Chippewa, and with the subsequent equally desperate +fighting about Fort Erie, were that the contest did not close without +this conspicuous demonstration that in capable hands the raw material +of the American armies could be worked up into fighting quality equal +to the best. Regarded as an international conflict, the war was now +staggering to its end, which was but a few months distant; and in +every direction little but shame and mortification had befallen the +American arms on land. It would have been a calamity, indeed, had the +record closed for that generation with the showing of <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_312" id="PageV2_312">[312]</a></span>1812 and 1813. +Nothing is gained by explaining or excusing such results; the only +expiation for them is by the demonstration of repentance, in works +worthy of men and soldiers. This was abundantly afforded by Brown's +brief campaign of 1814, otherwise fruitless. Not only the regular +troops, fashioned by Scott in a few brief months from raw recruits to +disciplined fighters, proved their mettle; the irregulars associated +with them, though without the same advantage of training and concert +of movement, caught their enthusiasm, gained confidence from their +example, and emulated their deeds. The rabble which scarcely waited +for a shot before scattering at the approach of Riall's columns in +December, 1813, abandoning their homes to destruction, had earned the +discriminating eulogium of General Brown before the year 1814 closed. +In August, after Lundy's Lane, he, a New Yorker himself, wrote to the +Governor of New York:<a name="FNanchor_320_320" id="FNanchor_320_320"></a><a href="#Footnote_320_320" class="fnanchor">[320]</a> "This state has suffered in reputation in +this war; its militia have done nothing, or but little, and that, too, +after the state had been for a long time invaded." On September 20, +after the sanguinary and successful sortie from Fort Erie, he wrote +again: "The militia of New York have redeemed their character—they +behaved gallantly. Of those called out by the last requisition, +fifteen hundred have crossed the state border to our support. This +re-enforcement has been of immense importance to us; it doubled our +effective strength, and their good conduct cannot but have the +happiest effect upon the nation."<a name="FNanchor_321_321" id="FNanchor_321_321"></a><a href="#Footnote_321_321" class="fnanchor">[321]</a></p> + +<p>The American losses at Lundy's Lane were, killed one hundred and +seventy-one, wounded five hundred and seventy-two, missing one hundred +and seventeen; total, eight hundred and sixty. Those of the British +were, killed eighty-four, wounded five hundred and fifty-nine, +missing <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_313" id="PageV2_313">[313]</a></span>one hundred and ninety-three, prisoners forty-two; total, +eight hundred and seventy-eight. Of the British missing and prisoners, +one hundred and sixty-nine were reported by the Americans as in their +hands; among them nineteen officers. This substantial equality in +casualties corresponds to a similar equality in the numbers engaged. +The Americans had present for duty two thousand six hundred and +forty-four, including over four hundred militia; Drummond in his +report states that first and last he had upon the field not more than +two thousand eight hundred. That he estimates the force opposed to him +to have been at least five thousand, may be coupled with his mention +of "the reiterated and determined attacks which the enemy made upon +our centre," as showing the impression produced upon his mind during +the progress of the struggle. The comparison of numbers engaged with +injuries sustained justifies the inference that, in result, the actual +contest upon the ground was at least a drawn battle, if not the +positive success claimed by Brown and Scott. Colonel Hercules Scott, +of the British 103d Regiment, who to be sure shows somewhat of the +malcontent ever present in camps, but who afterwards fell well at the +front in the assault upon Fort Erie, was in this action; and in a +private letter uses an expression which practically corroborates the +American assertion that they held the ground at the end, and withdrew +afterwards. "In the last attack they gained possession of five out of +seven of our guns, but the fire kept upon them was so severe that it +afterwards appeared they had not been able to carry them off; <i>for we +found them next morning</i> on the spot they had been taken. No [We?] +boast of a 'Great Victory,' but in my opinion it was nearly equal on +both sides."<a name="FNanchor_322_322" id="FNanchor_322_322"></a><a href="#Footnote_322_322" class="fnanchor">[322]</a></p> + +<p>Equality of loss, or even a technical victory, does not imply equality +of subsequent conditions. Brown had at <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_314" id="PageV2_314">[314]</a></span>the front all his available +force; he had no reserves or depots upon which to draw. He had +expended the last shot in the locker. Drummond not only had been +receiving re-enforcements, absolutely small, yet considerable in +proportion to the contending numbers, but he was continuing to receive +them. Lundy's Lane was July 25; Chauncey did not take the lake until +August 1, and it was the 5th when he came off Niagara, where he at +once intercepted and drove ashore one of the British brigs, which was +fired by her captain. He thus had immediate ocular demonstration of +what had been going on in his absence; but it was already too late for +the American squadron to turn the scales of war. If this could have +been accomplished at all, it would have been by such intervention as +in this instance; by injuring the enemy rather than by helping the +friend. But this would have been possible only in the beginning. Brown +felt himself unable longer to keep the field; and the army, now under +General Ripley, withdrew the following day, July 26, to Fort Erie, +where it proceeded to strengthen the work itself, and to develop a +fortified line depending upon it, covering the angle of ground made by +the shores of the Niagara River and Lake Erie. Brown was carried to +Buffalo to recover of his wounds, which were not dangerous, though +severe. He subsequently resumed chief command, but Scott was unable to +serve again during the campaign. General Gaines was summoned from +Sackett's Harbor, and on August 5 took charge at Fort Erie.</p> + +<p>From this time the operations on either side were limited to the +effort to take or to hold this position. Drummond's experience at +Lundy's Lane, and the extent of his loss, made him cautious in +pursuit; and time was yielded to the enemy to make good their +entrenchment. On the early morning of August 15 the British assaulted, +and were repelled with fifty-seven killed, three hundred and nine +<span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_315" id="PageV2_315">[315]</a></span>wounded, and five hundred and thirty-nine missing.<a name="FNanchor_323_323" id="FNanchor_323_323"></a><a href="#Footnote_323_323" class="fnanchor">[323]</a> The Americans, +covered by their works, reported a loss of less than one hundred. "I +am now reduced to a most unpleasant predicament with regard to force," +wrote Drummond to Prevost.<a name="FNanchor_324_324" id="FNanchor_324_324"></a><a href="#Footnote_324_324" class="fnanchor">[324]</a> "I have ordered the 6th and 82d from +York to this frontier. I had intended to order another regiment from +Kingston, but from the badness of the roads since the recent rains I +could not calculate upon their arrival here before our squadron will +be able to take the lake, and as even at present the diminution of +stores and provisions is beginning to be felt, I intreat your +excellency will impress upon the Commodore the necessity of conveying +to this division, the very moment the squadron can leave harbor, a +full supply of each, as well as a re-enforcement of troops."</p> + +<p>After this sharp reverse Drummond settled down to a siege, in the +course of which he complained frequently and grievously of the +annoyance caused him by Chauncey's blockade, established August 6, +with three vessels competent seriously to interrupt transportation of +supplies, or of men in large detachments. The season was still +propitious for marching; but as early as August 21 Drummond was afraid +"that relief by control of the lake may not reach us in time." +September 11, "Our batteries have almost been silent for several days +from the reduced state of the ammunition." September 14, "The sudden +and most unlooked for return to the head of Lake Ontario of the two +brigs, by which the Niagara has been so long blockaded, <i>and my +communication with York cut off</i>, has had the effect of preventing the +junction of the 97th regiment, which arrived at York the 10th, and +probably would have been <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_316" id="PageV2_316">[316]</a></span>here the following day but for this unlucky +circumstance."<a name="FNanchor_325_325" id="FNanchor_325_325"></a><a href="#Footnote_325_325" class="fnanchor">[325]</a> September 24, "The deficiency of provisions and +transport is the difficulty attending every operation in this country, +as it prevents the collection at any one point of an adequate force +for any object. These difficulties we must continue to experience, +until our squadron appears superior on the lake." It would be +impossible to depict more strongly the course incumbent upon Chauncey +in July, or to condemn more severely, by implication, his failure then +to do what he could, taking the chance of that chapter of accidents, +"to be in the way of good luck," which it is the duty of every +military leader to consider as among the clear possibilities of war. +"The blockade of Kingston," wrote Prevost on October 11 to Lord +Bathurst,<a name="FNanchor_326_326" id="FNanchor_326_326"></a><a href="#Footnote_326_326" class="fnanchor">[326]</a> "has been vigorously maintained for the last six weeks +by the enemy's squadron. The vigilance of the American cruisers on +Lake Ontario was felt even by our batteaux creeping along the shore +with provisions for Drummond's division. In consequence, I found that +the wants of that army had grown to an alarming extent."<a name="FNanchor_327_327" id="FNanchor_327_327"></a><a href="#Footnote_327_327" class="fnanchor">[327]</a></p> + +<p>In pushing his siege works, Drummond by September 15 had erected three +batteries, the last of which, then just completed, "would rake +obliquely the whole American encampment."<a name="FNanchor_328_328" id="FNanchor_328_328"></a><a href="#Footnote_328_328" class="fnanchor">[328]</a> Brown determined then +upon a sortie in force, which was made on the afternoon of September +17, with entire success. It was in this attack that the New York +militia, of whom fifteen hundred had crossed to the fort, bore an +honorable and distinguished part. Brown states the actual force +engaged in the fighting at one thousand regulars and one thousand +militia, to whose energy and stubbornness Drummond again pays the +compliment of estimating them at five thousand. The <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_317" id="PageV2_317">[317]</a></span>weight of the +onslaught was thrown on the British right flank, and there doubtless +the assailants were, and should have been, greatly superior. Two of +the three batteries were carried, one of them being that which had +directly incited the attack. "The enemy," reported Drummond, "was +everywhere driven back; not however before he had disabled the guns in +No. 3 battery, and exploded its magazine;"<a name="FNanchor_329_329" id="FNanchor_329_329"></a><a href="#Footnote_329_329" class="fnanchor">[329]</a> that is, not before he +had accomplished his purpose.</p> + +<p>Nor was this all. The stroke ended the campaign. Drummond had nearly +lost hope of a successful issue, and this blow destroyed what little +remained. The American navy still held the lake; the big ship in +Kingston still tarried; rains torrential and almost incessant were +undermining the ramparts of Forts George and Niagara, causing serious +alarm for the defence, and spreading sickness among his troops, +re-enforcements to which could with difficulty be sent. The British +returns of loss in repelling the sortie gave one hundred and fifteen +killed, one hundred and forty-eight wounded, three hundred and sixteen +missing; total, five hundred and seventy-nine. The Americans, whose +casualties were five hundred and eleven, reported that they brought +back three hundred and eighty-five prisoners; among whom the roll of +officers tallies with the British list. Four days afterwards, +September 21, Drummond abandoned his works, leaving his fires burning +and huts standing, and fell back secretly by night to the Chippewa.</p> + +<p>Brown was in no condition to follow. In a brief ten weeks, over which +his adventurous enterprise spread, he had fought four engagements, +which might properly be called general actions, if regard were had to +the total force at his disposal, and not merely to the tiny scale of +the campaign. Barring the single episode of the <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_318" id="PageV2_318">[318]</a></span>battle of New +Orleans, his career on the Niagara peninsula is the one operation of +the land war of 1812 upon which thoughtful and understanding Americans +of the following generation could look back with satisfaction. Of how +great consequence this evidence of national military character was, to +the men who had no other experience, is difficult to be appreciated by +us, in whose memories are the successes of the Mexican contest and the +fierce titanic strife of the Civil War. In truth, Chippewa, Lundy's +Lane, and New Orleans, are the only names of 1812 preserved to popular +memory,<a name="FNanchor_330_330" id="FNanchor_330_330"></a><a href="#Footnote_330_330" class="fnanchor">[330]</a> ever impatient of disagreeable reminiscence. Hull's +surrender was indeed an exception; the iron there burned too deep to +leave no lasting scar. To Brown and his distinguished subordinates we +owe the demonstration of what the War of 1812 might have accomplished, +had the Government of the United States since the beginning of the +century possessed even a rudimentary conception of what military +preparation means to practical statesmanship.</p> + +<p>Shortly after the sortie which decided Drummond to retire, the +defenders of Fort Erie were brought into immediate relation with the +major part of the forces upon Lake Champlain, under General Izard. +Both belonged to the same district, the ninth, which in Dearborn's +time had formed one general command; but which it now <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_319" id="PageV2_319">[319]</a></span>pleased the +Secretary of War, General Armstrong, to manage as two distinct +divisions, under his own controlling directions from Washington. The +Secretary undoubtedly had a creditable amount of acquired military +knowledge, but by this time he had manifested that he did not possess +the steadying military qualities necessary to play the role of a +distant commander-in-chief. Izard, at the time of his appointment, +reported everything connected with his command, the numbers and +discipline of the troops, their clothing and equipment, in a +deplorable state of inefficiency.<a name="FNanchor_331_331" id="FNanchor_331_331"></a><a href="#Footnote_331_331" class="fnanchor">[331]</a> The summer months were spent in +building up anew the army on Champlain, and in erecting +fortifications; at Plattsburg, where the main station was fixed, and +at Cumberland Head, the promontory which defines the eastern side of +Plattsburg Bay. Upon the maintenance of these positions depended the +tenure of the place itself, as the most suitable advanced base for the +army and for the fleet, mutually indispensable for the protection of +that great line of operations.</p> + +<p>On July 27, before the Secretary could know of Lundy's Lane, but when +he did anticipate that Brown must fall back on Fort Erie, he wrote to +Izard that it would be expedient for him to advance against Montreal, +or against Prescott,—on the St. Lawrence opposite Ogdensburg,—in +case large re-enforcements had been sent from Montreal to check +Brown's advance, as was reported. His own inclination pointed to +Prescott, with a view to the contingent chance of an attack upon +Kingston, in co-operation with Chauncey and the garrison at +Sackett's.<a name="FNanchor_332_332" id="FNanchor_332_332"></a><a href="#Footnote_332_332" class="fnanchor">[332]</a> This letter did not reach Izard till August 10. He +construed its somewhat tentative and vacillating terms as an order. "I +will make the movement you direct, if possible; but I <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_320" id="PageV2_320">[320]</a></span>shall do it +with the apprehension of risking the force under my command, and with +the certainty that everything in this vicinity, save the lately +erected works at Plattsburg and Cumberland Head, will, in less than +three days after my departure, be in possession of the enemy."<a name="FNanchor_333_333" id="FNanchor_333_333"></a><a href="#Footnote_333_333" class="fnanchor">[333]</a> +Izard, himself, on July 19, had favored a step like this proposed; +but, as he correctly observed, the time for it was when Brown was +advancing and might be helped. Now, when Brown had been brought to a +stand, and was retiring, the movement would not aid him, but would +weaken the Champlain frontier; and that at the very moment when the +divisions from Wellington's army, which had embarked at Bordeaux, were +arriving at Quebec and Montreal.</p> + +<p>On August 12, Armstrong wrote again, saying that his first order had +been based upon the supposition that Chauncey would meet and beat Yeo, +or at least confine him in port. This last had in fact been done; but, +if the enemy should have carried his force from Montreal to Kingston, +and be prepared there, "a safer movement was to march two thousand men +to Sackett's, embark there, and go to Brown's assistance."<a name="FNanchor_334_334" id="FNanchor_334_334"></a><a href="#Footnote_334_334" class="fnanchor">[334]</a> Izard +obediently undertook this new disposition, which he received August +20; but upon consultation with his officers concluded that to march by +the northern route, near the Canada border, would expose his +necessarily long column to dangerous flank attack. He therefore +determined to go by way of Utica.<a name="FNanchor_335_335" id="FNanchor_335_335"></a><a href="#Footnote_335_335" class="fnanchor">[335]</a> On August 29 the division, +about four thousand effectives, set out from the camp at Chazy, eight +miles north of Plattsburg, and on September 16 reached Sackett's. Bad +weather prevented immediate embarkation, but on the 21st about two +thousand five hundred infantry sailed, and having a fair wind reached +next day the Genesee, where they were instantly put <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_321" id="PageV2_321">[321]</a></span>ashore. A +regiment of light artillery and a number of dragoons, beyond the +capacity of the fleet to carry, went by land and arrived a week later.</p> + +<p>In this manner the defence of Lake Champlain was deprived of four +thousand fairly trained troops at the moment that the British attack +in vast superiority of force was maturing. Their advance brigade, in +fact, crossed the frontier two days after Izard's departure. At the +critical moment, and during the last weeks of weather favorable for +operations, the men thus taken were employed in making an unprofitable +march of great length, to a quarter where there was now little +prospect of successful action, and where they could not arrive before +the season should be practically closed. Brown, of course, hailed an +accession of strength which he sorely needed, and did not narrowly +scrutinize a measure for which he was not responsible. On September +27, ten days after the successful sortie from Fort Erie, he was at +Batavia, in New York, where he had an interview with Izard, who was +the senior. In consequence of their consultation Izard determined that +his first movement should be the siege of Fort Niagara.<a name="FNanchor_336_336" id="FNanchor_336_336"></a><a href="#Footnote_336_336" class="fnanchor">[336]</a> In +pursuance of this resolve his army marched to Lewiston, where it +arrived October 5. There he had a second meeting with Brown, +accompanied on this occasion by Porter, and under their +representations decided that it would be more proper to concentrate +all the forces at hand on the Canadian bank of the Niagara, south of +the Chippewa, and not to undertake a siege while Drummond kept the +field.<a name="FNanchor_337_337" id="FNanchor_337_337"></a><a href="#Footnote_337_337" class="fnanchor">[337]</a></p> + +<p>Despite many embarrassments, and anxieties on the score of supplies +and provisions while deprived of the free use of the lake, the British +general was now master of the situation. His position rested upon the +Chippewa on one flank, and upon Fort Niagara on the other. From <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_322" id="PageV2_322">[322]</a></span>end +to end he had secure communication, for he possessed the river and the +boats, below the falls. By these interior lines, despite his momentary +inferiority in total numbers, he was able to concentrate his forces +upon a threatened extremity with a rapidity which the assailants could +not hope to rival. Fort Niagara was not in a satisfactory condition to +resist battery by heavy cannon; but Izard had none immediately at +hand. Drummond was therefore justified in his hope that "the enemy +will find the recapture of the place not to be easily effected."<a name="FNanchor_338_338" id="FNanchor_338_338"></a><a href="#Footnote_338_338" class="fnanchor">[338]</a> +His line of the Chippewa rested on the left upon the Niagara. On its +right flank the ground was impassable to everything save infantry, and +any effort to turn his position there would have to be made in the +face of artillery, to oppose which no guns could be brought forward. +Accordingly when Izard, after crossing in accordance with his last +decision, advanced on October 15 against the British works upon the +Chippewa, he found they were too strong for a frontal attack, the +opinion which Drummond himself entertained,<a name="FNanchor_339_339" id="FNanchor_339_339"></a><a href="#Footnote_339_339" class="fnanchor">[339]</a> while the +topographical difficulties of the country baffled every attempt to +turn them. Drummond's one serious fear was that the Americans, finding +him impregnable here, might carry a force by Lake Erie, and try to +gain his rear from Long Point, or by the Grand River.<a name="FNanchor_340_340" id="FNanchor_340_340"></a><a href="#Footnote_340_340" class="fnanchor">[340]</a> Though they +would meet many obstacles in such a circuit, yet the extent to which +he would have to detach in order to meet them, and the smallness of +his numbers, might prove very embarrassing.</p> + +<p>Izard entertained no such project. After his demonstration of October +15, which amounted to little more than a reconnaisance in force, he +lapsed into hopelessness. The following day he learned by express that +the <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_323" id="PageV2_323">[323]</a></span>American squadron had retired to Sackett's Harbor and was +throwing up defensive works. With his own eyes he saw, too, that the +British water service was not impeded. "Notwithstanding our supremacy +on Lake Ontario, at the time I was in Lewiston [October 5-8] the +communication between York and the mouth of the Niagara was +uninterrupted. I saw a large square-rigged vessel arriving, and +another, a brig, lying close to the Canada shore. Not a vessel of ours +was in sight."<a name="FNanchor_341_341" id="FNanchor_341_341"></a><a href="#Footnote_341_341" class="fnanchor">[341]</a> The British big ship, launched September 10, was +on October 14 reported by Yeo completely equipped. The next day he +would proceed up the lake to Drummond's relief. Chauncey had not +waited for the enemy to come out. Convinced that the first use of +naval superiority would be to reduce his naval base, he took his ships +into port October 8; writing to Washington that the "St. Lawrence" had +her sails bent, apparently all ready for sea, and that he expected an +attack in ten days.<a name="FNanchor_342_342" id="FNanchor_342_342"></a><a href="#Footnote_342_342" class="fnanchor">[342]</a> "I confess I am greatly embarrassed," wrote +Izard to Monroe, who had now superseded Armstrong as Secretary of War. +"At the head of the most efficient army the United States have +possessed during this war, much must be expected from me; and yet I +can discern no object which can be achieved at this point worthy of +the risk which will attend its attempt." The enemy perfectly +understood his perplexity, and despite his provocations refused to +play into his hands by leaving the shelter of their works to fight. On +October 21, he broke up his camp, and began to prepare winter quarters +for his own command opposite Black Rock, sending Brown with his +division to Sackett's Harbor. Two weeks later, on November 5, having +already transported all but a small garrison to the American shore, he +blew up Fort Erie and abandoned his last foothold on the peninsula.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_324" id="PageV2_324">[324]</a></span>During the operations along the Niagara which ended thus fruitlessly, +the United States Navy upon Lake Erie met with some severe mishaps. +The Cabinet purpose, of carrying an expedition into the upper lakes +against Michilimackinac, was persisted in despite the reluctance of +Armstrong. Commander Arthur Sinclair, who after an interval had +succeeded Perry, was instructed to undertake this enterprise with such +force as might be necessary; but to leave within Lake Erie all that he +could spare, to co-operate with Brown. Accordingly he sailed from Erie +early in June, arriving on the 21st off Detroit, where he was to +embark the troops under Colonel Croghan for the land operations. After +various delays St. Joseph's was reached July 20, and found abandoned. +Its defences were destroyed. On the 26th the vessels were before +Mackinac, but after a reconnaisance Croghan decided that the position +was too strong for the force he had. Sinclair therefore started to +return, having so far accomplished little except the destruction of +two schooners, one on Lake Huron, and one on Lake Superior, both +essential to the garrison at Mackinac; there being at the time but one +other vessel on the lakes competent to the maintenance of their +communications.</p> + +<p>This remaining schooner, called the "Nancy," was known to be in +Nottawasaga Bay, at the south end of Georgian Bay, near the position +selected by the British as a depot for stores coming from York by way +of Lake Simcoe. After much dangerous search in uncharted waters, +Sinclair found her lying two miles up a river of the same name as the +bay, where she was watching a chance to slip through to Mackinac. Her +lading had been completed July 31, and the next day she had already +started, when a messenger brought word that approach to the island was +blocked by the American expedition. The winding of the river placed +her present anchorage within gunshot of <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_325" id="PageV2_325">[325]</a></span>the lake; but as she could +not be seen through the brush, Sinclair borrowed from the army a +howitzer, with which, mounted in the open beyond, he succeeded in +firing both the "Nancy" and the blockhouse defending the position. The +British were thus deprived of their last resource for transportation +in bulk upon the lake. What this meant to Mackinac may be inferred +from the fact that flour there was sixty dollars the barrel, even +before Sinclair's coming.</p> + +<p>Having inflicted this small, yet decisive, embarrassment on the enemy, +Sinclair on August 16 started back with the "Niagara" and "Hunter" for +Erie, whither he had already despatched the "Lawrence"—Perry's old +flagship—and the "Caledonia." He left in Nottawasaga Bay the +schooners "Scorpion" and "Tigress," "to maintain a rigid blockade +until driven from the lake by the inclemency of the weather," in order +"to cut the line of communications from Michilimackinac to York." +Lieutenant Daniel Turner of the "Scorpion," who had commanded the +"Caledonia" in Perry's action, was the senior officer of this +detachment.</p> + +<p>After Sinclair's departure the gales became frequent and violent. +Finding no good anchorage in Nottawasaga Bay, Turner thought he could +better fulfil the purpose of his instructions by taking the schooners +to St. Joseph's, and cruising thence to French River, which enters +Georgian Bay at its northern end. On the night of September 3, the +"Scorpion" being then absent at the river, the late commander of the +"Nancy," Lieutenant Miller Worsley, got together a boat's crew of +eighteen seamen, and obtained the co-operation of a detachment of +seventy soldiers. With these, followed by a number of Indians in +canoes, he attacked the "Tigress" at her anchors and carried her by +boarding. The night being very dark, the British were close alongside +when first seen; and the <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_326" id="PageV2_326">[326]</a></span>vessel was not provided with boarding +nettings, which her commander at his trial proved he had not the +cordage to make. Deprived of this essential defence, which in such an +exposed situation corresponds to a line of intrenched works on shore, +her crew of thirty men were readily overpowered by the superior +numbers, who could come upon them from four quarters at once, and had +but an easy step to her low-lying rail. The officer commanding the +British troops made a separate report of the affair, in which he said +that her resistance did credit to her officers, who were all severely +wounded.<a name="FNanchor_343_343" id="FNanchor_343_343"></a><a href="#Footnote_343_343" class="fnanchor">[343]</a> Transferring his men to the prize, Worsley waited for +the return of the "Scorpion," which on the 5th anchored about five +miles off, ignorant of what had happened. The now British schooner +weighed and ran down to her, showing American colors; and, getting +thus alongside without being suspected, mastered her also. Besides the +officers hurt, there were of the "Tigress'" crew three killed and +three wounded; the British having two killed and eight wounded. No +loss seems to have been incurred on either side in the capture of the +"Scorpion." In reporting this affair Sir James Yeo wrote: "The +importance of this service is very great. Had not the naval force of +the enemy been taken, the commanding officer at Mackinac must have +surrendered."<a name="FNanchor_344_344" id="FNanchor_344_344"></a><a href="#Footnote_344_344" class="fnanchor">[344]</a> He valued it further for its influence upon the +Indians, and upon the future of the naval establishment which he had +in contemplation for the upper lakes.</p> + +<p>When Sinclair reached Detroit from Nottawasaga he received news of +other disasters. According to his instructions, before starting for +the upper lakes he had left a division of his smaller vessels, under +Lieutenant Kennedy, to support the army at Niagara. When Brown fell +back upon Fort Erie, after Lundy's Lane, three of these, the <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_327" id="PageV2_327">[327]</a></span>"Ohio," +"Somers," and "Porcupine," anchored close by the shore, in such a +position as to flank the approaches to the fort, and to molest the +breaching battery which the British were erecting. As this interfered +with the besiegers' plans for an assault, Captain Dobbs, commanding +the naval detachment on Ontario which Yeo had assigned to co-operate +with Drummond, transported over land from below the falls six boats or +batteaux, and on the night of August 12 attacked the American +schooners, as Worsley afterwards did the "Tigress" and "Scorpion." The +"Ohio" and "Somers," each with a crew of thirty-five men, were carried +and brought successfully down the river within the British lines. +Dobbs attributed the escape of the "Porcupine" to the cables of the +two others being cut, in consequence of which they with the victorious +assailants on board drifted beyond possibility of return.<a name="FNanchor_345_345" id="FNanchor_345_345"></a><a href="#Footnote_345_345" class="fnanchor">[345]</a> To +these four captures by the enemy must be added the loss by accident of +the "Caledonia"<a name="FNanchor_346_346" id="FNanchor_346_346"></a><a href="#Footnote_346_346" class="fnanchor">[346]</a> and "Ariel," reported by Sinclair about this +time. Perry's fleet was thus disappearing by driblets; but the command +of the lake was not yet endangered, for there still remained, besides +several of the prizes, the two principal vessels, "Lawrence" and +"Niagara."<a name="FNanchor_347_347" id="FNanchor_347_347"></a><a href="#Footnote_347_347" class="fnanchor">[347]</a></p> + +<p>With these Sinclair returned to the east of the lake, and endeavored +to give support to the army at Fort Erie; but the violence of the +weather and the insecurity of the anchorage on both shores, as the +autumn drew on, not only prevented effectual co-operation, but +seriously threatened the very existence of the fleet, upon which +control of the water depended. In an attempt to go to Detroit for +<span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_328" id="PageV2_328">[328]</a></span>re-enforcements for Brown, a gale of wind was encountered which +drifted the vessels back to Buffalo, where they had to anchor and lie +close to a lee shore for two days, September 18 to 20, with topmasts +and lower yards down, the sea breaking over them, and their cables +chafing asunder on a rocky bottom. After this, Drummond having raised +the siege of Fort Erie, the fleet retired to Erie and was laid up for +the winter.</p> + +<br /> +<hr style="width: 15%;" /> +<br /> + +<h4>FOOTNOTES:</h4> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_266_266" id="Footnote_266_266"></a><a href="#FNanchor_266_266"><span class="label">[266]</span></a> Ante, pp. 118-121.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_267_267" id="Footnote_267_267"></a><a href="#FNanchor_267_267"><span class="label">[267]</span></a> Documentary History of the Campaign on the Niagara +Frontier in 1814, by Ernest Cruikshank, Part I. p. 5.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_268_268" id="Footnote_268_268"></a><a href="#FNanchor_268_268"><span class="label">[268]</span></a> Captains' Letters, Feb. 24, March 4 and 29, 1814.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_269_269" id="Footnote_269_269"></a><a href="#FNanchor_269_269"><span class="label">[269]</span></a> Canadian Archives, C. 682, p. 32.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_270_270" id="Footnote_270_270"></a><a href="#FNanchor_270_270"><span class="label">[270]</span></a> Niles' Register, Feb. 5, 1814, vol. v. pp. 381, 383.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_271_271" id="Footnote_271_271"></a><a href="#FNanchor_271_271"><span class="label">[271]</span></a> Canadian Archives. C. 682, p. 90.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_272_272" id="Footnote_272_272"></a><a href="#FNanchor_272_272"><span class="label">[272]</span></a> Armstrong, Notices of the War of 1812, vol. ii. p. +213.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_273_273" id="Footnote_273_273"></a><a href="#FNanchor_273_273"><span class="label">[273]</span></a> Canadian Archives, C. 683, p. 10.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_274_274" id="Footnote_274_274"></a><a href="#FNanchor_274_274"><span class="label">[274]</span></a> Ibid., pp. 53, 61-64.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_275_275" id="Footnote_275_275"></a><a href="#FNanchor_275_275"><span class="label">[275]</span></a> Ibid., C. 682, p. 194.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_276_276" id="Footnote_276_276"></a><a href="#FNanchor_276_276"><span class="label">[276]</span></a> Niles' Register, April 9, 1814, vol. vi. p. 102.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_277_277" id="Footnote_277_277"></a><a href="#FNanchor_277_277"><span class="label">[277]</span></a> Captains' Letters, April 11, 1814.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_278_278" id="Footnote_278_278"></a><a href="#FNanchor_278_278"><span class="label">[278]</span></a> Writings of Madison, Edition of 1865, vol. ii. p. 413.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_279_279" id="Footnote_279_279"></a><a href="#FNanchor_279_279"><span class="label">[279]</span></a> Wilkinson's letter to a friend, April 9, 1814. Niles' +Register, vol. vi. p. 166. His official report of the affair is given, +p. 131.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_280_280" id="Footnote_280_280"></a><a href="#FNanchor_280_280"><span class="label">[280]</span></a> Yeo's Report, Canadian Archives, M. 389.6, p. 116.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_281_281" id="Footnote_281_281"></a><a href="#FNanchor_281_281"><span class="label">[281]</span></a> The armaments of the corresponding two British vessels +were: "Prince Regent", thirty long 24-pounders, eight 68-pounder +carronades, twenty 32-pounder carronades; "Princess Charlotte", +twenty-four long 24-pounders, sixteen 32-pounder carronades. Canadian +Archives, M. 389.6, p. 109.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_282_282" id="Footnote_282_282"></a><a href="#FNanchor_282_282"><span class="label">[282]</span></a> Captains' Letters.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_283_283" id="Footnote_283_283"></a><a href="#FNanchor_283_283"><span class="label">[283]</span></a> Canadian Archives, C. 683, p. 157.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_284_284" id="Footnote_284_284"></a><a href="#FNanchor_284_284"><span class="label">[284]</span></a> Woolsey's Report, forwarded by Chauncey June 2, is in +Captains' Letters. It is given, together with several other papers +bearing on the affair, in Niles' Register, vol. vi. pp. 242, 265-267. +For Popham's Report, see Naval Chronicle, vol. xxxii. p. 167.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_285_285" id="Footnote_285_285"></a><a href="#FNanchor_285_285"><span class="label">[285]</span></a> Canadian Archives, C. 683, p. 225.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_286_286" id="Footnote_286_286"></a><a href="#FNanchor_286_286"><span class="label">[286]</span></a> Cruikshank's Documentary History, 1814, pp. 18-20.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_287_287" id="Footnote_287_287"></a><a href="#FNanchor_287_287"><span class="label">[287]</span></a> Writings of Madison (Edition of 1865), vol. iii. p. +403.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_288_288" id="Footnote_288_288"></a><a href="#FNanchor_288_288"><span class="label">[288]</span></a> Captains' Letters.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_289_289" id="Footnote_289_289"></a><a href="#FNanchor_289_289"><span class="label">[289]</span></a> Ibid.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_290_290" id="Footnote_290_290"></a><a href="#FNanchor_290_290"><span class="label">[290]</span></a> Yeo to Admiralty, May 30, 1815. Canadian Archives, M. +389.6, p. 310. For Chauncey's opinion to the same effect, see +Captains' Letters, Nov. 5, 1814.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_291_291" id="Footnote_291_291"></a><a href="#FNanchor_291_291"><span class="label">[291]</span></a> Captains' Letters, June 15, 1814.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_292_292" id="Footnote_292_292"></a><a href="#FNanchor_292_292"><span class="label">[292]</span></a> Armstrong to Madison, April 31 (<i>sic</i>), 1814. +Armstrong's Notices of War of 1812, vol. ii. p. 413.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_293_293" id="Footnote_293_293"></a><a href="#FNanchor_293_293"><span class="label">[293]</span></a> These official returns are taken by the present writer +from Mr. Henry Adams' History of the United States.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_294_294" id="Footnote_294_294"></a><a href="#FNanchor_294_294"><span class="label">[294]</span></a> Cruikshank's Documentary History of the Niagara +Campaign of 1814, p. 37.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_295_295" id="Footnote_295_295"></a><a href="#FNanchor_295_295"><span class="label">[295]</span></a> Cruikshank, Documentary History.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_296_296" id="Footnote_296_296"></a><a href="#FNanchor_296_296"><span class="label">[296]</span></a> Ibid., p. 4.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_297_297" id="Footnote_297_297"></a><a href="#FNanchor_297_297"><span class="label">[297]</span></a> Scott's Autobiography, vol. i. pp. 130-132.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_298_298" id="Footnote_298_298"></a><a href="#FNanchor_298_298"><span class="label">[298]</span></a> Cruikshank's Documentary History, p. 31.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_299_299" id="Footnote_299_299"></a><a href="#FNanchor_299_299"><span class="label">[299]</span></a> Niles' Register, vol. vii. p. 38.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_300_300" id="Footnote_300_300"></a><a href="#FNanchor_300_300"><span class="label">[300]</span></a> Captains' Letters.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_301_301" id="Footnote_301_301"></a><a href="#FNanchor_301_301"><span class="label">[301]</span></a> Secretary of the Navy to Chauncey, July 24, 1814, +Secretary's Letters.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_302_302" id="Footnote_302_302"></a><a href="#FNanchor_302_302"><span class="label">[302]</span></a> Secretary to Chauncey, Aug. 3, 1814. Ibid.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_303_303" id="Footnote_303_303"></a><a href="#FNanchor_303_303"><span class="label">[303]</span></a> Ibid., Dec. 29, 1813.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_304_304" id="Footnote_304_304"></a><a href="#FNanchor_304_304"><span class="label">[304]</span></a> Chauncey to Brown, Aug. 10, 1814. Niles' Register, vol. +vii. p. 38.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_305_305" id="Footnote_305_305"></a><a href="#FNanchor_305_305"><span class="label">[305]</span></a> August 27. Cruikshank's Documentary History, pp. +180-182. The whole letter has interest as conveying an adequate idea +of the communications difficulty.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_306_306" id="Footnote_306_306"></a><a href="#FNanchor_306_306"><span class="label">[306]</span></a> This word is wanting; but the context evidently +requires it.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_307_307" id="Footnote_307_307"></a><a href="#FNanchor_307_307"><span class="label">[307]</span></a> Cruikshank's Documentary History, 1814, pp. 58, 60.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_308_308" id="Footnote_308_308"></a><a href="#FNanchor_308_308"><span class="label">[308]</span></a> Cruikshank's Documentary History, 1814, p. 134.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_309_309" id="Footnote_309_309"></a><a href="#FNanchor_309_309"><span class="label">[309]</span></a> Captains' Letters. Aug. 19, 1814.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_310_310" id="Footnote_310_310"></a><a href="#FNanchor_310_310"><span class="label">[310]</span></a> Cruikshank's Documentary History, 1814, p. 191.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_311_311" id="Footnote_311_311"></a><a href="#FNanchor_311_311"><span class="label">[311]</span></a> Cruikshank's Documentary History, 1814, p. 68.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_312_312" id="Footnote_312_312"></a><a href="#FNanchor_312_312"><span class="label">[312]</span></a> Cruikshank's Documentary History, 1814. Riall to +Drummond, July 20, 21, 22, pp. 75-81.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_313_313" id="Footnote_313_313"></a><a href="#FNanchor_313_313"><span class="label">[313]</span></a> Ibid., p. 87.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_314_314" id="Footnote_314_314"></a><a href="#FNanchor_314_314"><span class="label">[314]</span></a> Ibid., p. 78.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_315_315" id="Footnote_315_315"></a><a href="#FNanchor_315_315"><span class="label">[315]</span></a> "Sir James Yeo has not been nearer Sackett's Harbor +than the Ducks since June 5." Captains' Letters, Aug. 19, 1814.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_316_316" id="Footnote_316_316"></a><a href="#FNanchor_316_316"><span class="label">[316]</span></a> Cruikshank's Documentary History, 1814, pp. 82, 84.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_317_317" id="Footnote_317_317"></a><a href="#FNanchor_317_317"><span class="label">[317]</span></a> Brown's Report of Lundy's Lane to Secretary of War, +Aug. 7, 1814. Ibid., p. 97.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_318_318" id="Footnote_318_318"></a><a href="#FNanchor_318_318"><span class="label">[318]</span></a> Drummond's Report of the Engagement, July 27. +Cruikshank, pp. 87-92.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_319_319" id="Footnote_319_319"></a><a href="#FNanchor_319_319"><span class="label">[319]</span></a> Brown's Report. Ibid., p. 99.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_320_320" id="Footnote_320_320"></a><a href="#FNanchor_320_320"><span class="label">[320]</span></a> Brown to Governor Tompkins, Aug. 1, 1814. Cruikshank, +p. 103.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_321_321" id="Footnote_321_321"></a><a href="#FNanchor_321_321"><span class="label">[321]</span></a> Ibid., p. 207.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_322_322" id="Footnote_322_322"></a><a href="#FNanchor_322_322"><span class="label">[322]</span></a> Cruikshank's Documentary History, 1814, p. 131. +Author's italics.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_323_323" id="Footnote_323_323"></a><a href="#FNanchor_323_323"><span class="label">[323]</span></a> The American account of this total is: killed, left on +the field, 222; wounded, left on the field, 174; prisoners, 186. +Total, 582. +</p><p> +Two hundred supposed to be killed on the left flank (in the water) and +permitted to float down the Niagara.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_324_324" id="Footnote_324_324"></a><a href="#FNanchor_324_324"><span class="label">[324]</span></a> Aug. 16. Cruikshank, pp. 146-147.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_325_325" id="Footnote_325_325"></a><a href="#FNanchor_325_325"><span class="label">[325]</span></a> Cruikshank's Documentary History, 1814, pp. 199, 200. +Author's italics.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_326_326" id="Footnote_326_326"></a><a href="#FNanchor_326_326"><span class="label">[326]</span></a> Bathurst was Secretary of State for War and the +Colonies.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_327_327" id="Footnote_327_327"></a><a href="#FNanchor_327_327"><span class="label">[327]</span></a> Cruikshank's Documentary History, 1814, pp. 229, 245.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_328_328" id="Footnote_328_328"></a><a href="#FNanchor_328_328"><span class="label">[328]</span></a> Ibid., p. 207. Brown to Tompkins, Sept. 20, 1814.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_329_329" id="Footnote_329_329"></a><a href="#FNanchor_329_329"><span class="label">[329]</span></a> Cruikshank's Documentary History, p. 205.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_330_330" id="Footnote_330_330"></a><a href="#FNanchor_330_330"><span class="label">[330]</span></a> An interesting indication of popular appreciation is +found in the fact that two ships of the line laid down by Chauncey in +or near Sackett's Harbor, in the winter of 1814-15, were named the +"New Orleans" and the "Chippewa." Yeo after the peace returned to +England by way of Sackett's and New York, and was then greatly +surprised at the rapidity with which these two vessels, which he took +to be of one hundred and twenty guns each, (Canadian Archives, M. +389.6, p. 310), had been run up, to meet his "St. Lawrence" in the +spring, had the war continued. The "New Orleans" remained on the Navy +List, as a seventy-four, "on the stocks," until 1882, when she was +sold. For years she was the exception to a rule that ships of her +class should bear the name of a state of the Union. The other +square-rigged vessels on Ontario were sold, in May, 1825. (Records of +the Bureau of Construction and Repair, Navy Department.)</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_331_331" id="Footnote_331_331"></a><a href="#FNanchor_331_331"><span class="label">[331]</span></a> Izard to Secretary of War, May 7, 1814. Official +Correspondence of the Department of War with Major-General Izard, 1814 +and 1815.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_332_332" id="Footnote_332_332"></a><a href="#FNanchor_332_332"><span class="label">[332]</span></a> Izard Correspondence, p. 64.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_333_333" id="Footnote_333_333"></a><a href="#FNanchor_333_333"><span class="label">[333]</span></a> Izard Correspondence, p. 65.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_334_334" id="Footnote_334_334"></a><a href="#FNanchor_334_334"><span class="label">[334]</span></a> Ibid., p. 69.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_335_335" id="Footnote_335_335"></a><a href="#FNanchor_335_335"><span class="label">[335]</span></a> Ibid., p. 63.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_336_336" id="Footnote_336_336"></a><a href="#FNanchor_336_336"><span class="label">[336]</span></a> Izard Correspondence, p. 93.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_337_337" id="Footnote_337_337"></a><a href="#FNanchor_337_337"><span class="label">[337]</span></a> Ibid., p. 98.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_338_338" id="Footnote_338_338"></a><a href="#FNanchor_338_338"><span class="label">[338]</span></a> Oct. 6, 1814. Cruikshank's Documentary History, 1814, +p. 240.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_339_339" id="Footnote_339_339"></a><a href="#FNanchor_339_339"><span class="label">[339]</span></a> Izard Correspondence, p. 102; Cruikshank, p. 242.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_340_340" id="Footnote_340_340"></a><a href="#FNanchor_340_340"><span class="label">[340]</span></a> Cruikshank, p. 240.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_341_341" id="Footnote_341_341"></a><a href="#FNanchor_341_341"><span class="label">[341]</span></a> Izard Correspondence, p. 103.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_342_342" id="Footnote_342_342"></a><a href="#FNanchor_342_342"><span class="label">[342]</span></a> Captains' Letters.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_343_343" id="Footnote_343_343"></a><a href="#FNanchor_343_343"><span class="label">[343]</span></a> Canadian Archives, C. 685, pp. 172-174.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_344_344" id="Footnote_344_344"></a><a href="#FNanchor_344_344"><span class="label">[344]</span></a> Ibid., M. 389.6, p. 222.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_345_345" id="Footnote_345_345"></a><a href="#FNanchor_345_345"><span class="label">[345]</span></a> The Reports of Captain Dobbs and the American +lieutenant, Conkling, are in Cruikshank's Documentary History, p. +135.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_346_346" id="Footnote_346_346"></a><a href="#FNanchor_346_346"><span class="label">[346]</span></a> Captains' Letters, Sept. 12, 1814.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_347_347" id="Footnote_347_347"></a><a href="#FNanchor_347_347"><span class="label">[347]</span></a> This account of naval events on the upper lakes in 1814 +has been summarized from Sinclair's despatches, Captains' Letters, May +2 to Nov. 11, 1814, and from certain captured British letters, which, +with several of Sinclair's, were published in Niles' Register, vol. +vii. and Supplement.</p></div> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="CHAPTER_XVI" id="CHAPTER_XVI"></a><hr /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_329" id="PageV2_329">[329]</a></span><br /> + +<h3>CHAPTER XVI<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3> + +<h4>SEABOARD OPERATIONS IN 1814. WASHINGTON, BALTIMORE, AND +MAINE</h4> +<br /> + +<p>The British command of the water on Lake Ontario was obtained too late +in the year 1814 to have any decisive effect upon their operations. +Combined with their continued powerlessness on Lake Erie, this caused +their campaign upon the northern frontier to be throughout defensive +in character, as that of the Americans had been offensive. Drummond +made no attempt in the winter to repeat the foray into New York of the +previous December, although he and Prevost both considered that they +had received provocation to retaliate, similar to that given at Newark +the year before. The infliction of such vindictive punishment was by +them thrown upon Warren's successor in the North Atlantic command, who +responded in word and will even more heartily than in deed. The +Champlain expedition, in September of this year, had indeed offensive +purpose, but even there the object specified was the protection of +Canada, by the destruction of the American naval establishments on the +lake, as well as at Sackett's Harbor;<a name="FNanchor_348_348" id="FNanchor_348_348"></a><a href="#Footnote_348_348" class="fnanchor">[348]</a> while the rapidity with +which Prevost retreated, as soon as the British squadron was +destroyed, demonstrated how profoundly otherwise the spirit of a +simple defensive had possession of him, as it had also of the more +positive and aggressive <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_330" id="PageV2_330">[330]</a></span>temperaments of Drummond and Yeo, and how +essential naval control was in his eyes. In this general view he had +the endorsement of the Duke of Wellington, when his attention was +called to the subject, after the event.</p> + +<p>Upon the seaboard it was otherwise. There the British campaign of 1814 +much exceeded that of 1813 in offensive purpose and vigor, and in +effect. This was due in part to the change in the naval +commander-in-chief; in part also to the re-enforcements of troops +which the end of the European war enabled the British Government to +send to America. Early in the year 1813, Warren had represented to the +Admiralty the impossibility of his giving personal supervision to the +management of the West India stations, and had suggested devolving the +responsibility upon the local admirals, leaving him simply the power +to interfere when circumstances demanded.<a name="FNanchor_349_349" id="FNanchor_349_349"></a><a href="#Footnote_349_349" class="fnanchor">[349]</a> The Admiralty then +declined, alleging that the character of the war required unity of +direction over the whole.<a name="FNanchor_350_350" id="FNanchor_350_350"></a><a href="#Footnote_350_350" class="fnanchor">[350]</a> Later they changed their views. The +North Atlantic, Jamaica, and Leeward Islands stations were made again +severally independent, and Warren was notified that as the American +command, thus reduced, was beneath the claims of an officer of his +rank,—a full admiral,—a successor would be appointed.<a name="FNanchor_351_351" id="FNanchor_351_351"></a><a href="#Footnote_351_351" class="fnanchor">[351]</a> +Vice-Admiral Sir Alexander Cochrane accordingly relieved him, April 1, +1814; his charge embracing both the Atlantic and Gulf coasts. At the +same period the Lakes Station, from Champlain to Superior inclusive, +was constituted a separate command; Yeo's orders to this effect being +dated the same day as Cochrane's, January 25, 1814.</p> + +<p>Cochrane brought to his duties a certain acrimony of feeling, +amounting almost to virulence. "I have it much at heart," he wrote +Bathurst, "to give them a complete <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_331" id="PageV2_331">[331]</a></span>drubbing before peace is made, +when I trust their northern limits will be circumscribed and the +command of the Mississippi wrested from them." He expects thousands of +slaves to join with their masters' horses, and looks forward to +enlisting them. They are good horsemen; and, while agreeing with his +lordship in deprecating a negro insurrection, he thinks such bodies +will "be as good Cossacks as any in the Russian army, and more +terrific to the Americans than any troops that can be brought +forward." Washington and Baltimore are equally accessible, and may be +either destroyed or laid under contribution.<a name="FNanchor_352_352" id="FNanchor_352_352"></a><a href="#Footnote_352_352" class="fnanchor">[352]</a> These remarks, +addressed to a prominent member of the Cabinet, are somewhat +illuminative as to the formal purposes, as well as to the subsequent +action, of British officials. The sea coast from Maine to Georgia, +according to the season of the year, was made to feel the increasing +activity and closeness of the British attacks; and these, though +discursive and without apparent correlation of action, were evidently +animated throughout by a common intention of bringing the war home to +the experience of the people.</p> + +<p>As a whole, the principal movements were meant to serve as a +diversion, detaining on the Chesapeake and seaboard troops which might +otherwise be sent to oppose the advance Prevost was ordered to make +against Sackett's Harbor and Lake Champlain; for which purpose much +the larger part of the re-enforcements from Europe had been sent to +Canada. The instructions to the general detailed to command on the +Atlantic specified as his object "a diversion on the coast of the +United States in favor of the army employed in the defence of Upper +and Lower Canada."<a name="FNanchor_353_353" id="FNanchor_353_353"></a><a href="#Footnote_353_353" class="fnanchor">[353]</a> During the operations, "if in any descent you +shall be enabled to take such a position as to threaten the +<span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_332" id="PageV2_332">[332]</a></span>inhabitants with the destruction of their property, you are hereby +authorized to levy upon them contributions in return for your +forbearance." Negroes might be enlisted, or carried away, though in no +case as slaves. Taken in connection with the course subsequently +pursued at Washington, such directions show an aim to inflict in many +quarters suffering and deprivation, in order to impress popular +consciousness with the sense of an irresistible and ubiquitous power +incessantly at hand. Such moral impression, inclining those subject to +it to desire peace, conduced also to the retention of local forces in +the neighborhood where they belonged, and so furthered the intended +diversion.</p> + +<p>The general purpose of the British Government is further shown by some +incidental mention. Gallatin, who at the time of Napoleon's abdication +was in London, in connection with his duties on the Peace Commission, +wrote two months afterwards: "To use their own language, they mean to +inflict on America a chastisement which will teach her that war is not +to be declared against Great Britain with impunity. This is a very +general sentiment of the nation; and that such are the opinions of the +ministry was strongly impressed on the mind of —— by a late +conversation he had with Lord Castlereagh. Admiral Warren also told +Levett Harris, with whom he was intimate at St. Petersburg, that he +was sorry to say the instructions given to his successor on the +American station were very different from those under which he acted, +and that he feared very serious injury would be done to America."<a name="FNanchor_354_354" id="FNanchor_354_354"></a><a href="#Footnote_354_354" class="fnanchor">[354]</a></p> + +<p>Thus inspired, the coast warfare, although more active and efficient +than the year before, and on a larger scale, continued in spirit and +in execution essentially desultory and wasting. As it progressed, a +peculiar bitterness was imparted by the liberal construction given by +British officers <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_333" id="PageV2_333">[333]</a></span>to the word "retaliation." By strict derivation, and +in wise application, the term summarizes the ancient retribution of +like for like,—an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth; and to destroy +three villages for one, as was done in retort for the burning of +Newark, the inhabitants in each case being innocent of offence, was an +excessive recourse to a punitive measure admittedly lawful. Two +further instances of improper destruction by Americans had occurred +during the campaign of 1814. Just before Sinclair sailed for Mackinac, +he suggested to a Colonel Campbell, commanding the troops at Erie, +that it would be a useful step to visit Long Point, on the opposite +Canada shore, and destroy there a quantity of flour, and some mills +which contributed materially to the support of the British forces on +the Niagara peninsula.<a name="FNanchor_355_355" id="FNanchor_355_355"></a><a href="#Footnote_355_355" class="fnanchor">[355]</a> This was effectively done, and did add +seriously to Drummond's embarrassment; but Campbell went further and +fired some private houses also, on the ground that the owners were +British partisans and had had a share in the burning of Buffalo. A +Court of Inquiry, of which General Scott was president, justified the +destruction of the mills, but condemned unreservedly that of the +private houses.<a name="FNanchor_356_356" id="FNanchor_356_356"></a><a href="#Footnote_356_356" class="fnanchor">[356]</a> Again, in Brown's advance upon Chippewa, some +American "volunteers," despatched to the village of St. David's, +burned there a number of dwellings. The commanding officer, Colonel +Stone, was ordered summarily and immediately by Brown to retire from +the expedition, as responsible for an act "contrary to the orders of +the Government, and to those of the commanding general published to +the army."<a name="FNanchor_357_357" id="FNanchor_357_357"></a><a href="#Footnote_357_357" class="fnanchor">[357]</a></p> + +<p>In both these cases disavowal had been immediate; and it had been +decisive also in that of Newark. The intent of the American Government +was clear, and reasonable <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_334" id="PageV2_334">[334]</a></span>ultimate compensation might have been +awaited; at least for a time. Prevost, however, being confined to the +defensive all along his lines, communicated the fact of the +destruction to Cochrane, calling upon him for the punishment which it +was not in his own power then to inflict. Cochrane accordingly issued +an order<a name="FNanchor_358_358" id="FNanchor_358_358"></a><a href="#Footnote_358_358" class="fnanchor">[358]</a> to the ships under his command, to use measures of +retaliation "against the cities of the United States, from the Saint +Croix River to the southern boundary, near the St. Mary's River;" "to +destroy and lay waste," so he notified the United States Government, +"such towns and districts upon the coast as may be found +assailable."<a name="FNanchor_359_359" id="FNanchor_359_359"></a><a href="#Footnote_359_359" class="fnanchor">[359]</a> In the first heat of his wrath, he used in his order +an expression, "and you will spare merely the lives of the unarmed +inhabitants of the United States," which he afterwards asked Prevost +to expunge, as it might be construed in a sense he never meant;<a name="FNanchor_360_360" id="FNanchor_360_360"></a><a href="#Footnote_360_360" class="fnanchor">[360]</a> +and he reported to his Government that he had sent private +instructions to exercise forbearance toward the inhabitants.<a name="FNanchor_361_361" id="FNanchor_361_361"></a><a href="#Footnote_361_361" class="fnanchor">[361]</a> It +can easily be believed that, like many words spoken in passion, the +phrase far outran his purposes; but it has significance and value as +indicating the manner in which Americans had come to be regarded in +Great Britain, through the experience of the period of peace and the +recent years of war.</p> + +<p>However the British Government might justify in terms the impressment +of seamen from American ships, or the delay of atonement for such an +insult as that of the Chesapeake, the nation which endured the same, +content with reams of argument instead of blow for blow, had sunk +beneath contempt as an inferior race, to be cowed and handled without +gloves by those who felt themselves the masters. Nor was the matter +bettered by the notorious fact that the <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_335" id="PageV2_335">[335]</a></span>interference with the freedom +of American trade, which Great Britain herself admitted to be outside +the law, had been borne unresisted because of the pecuniary stake +involved. The impression thus produced was deepened by the confident +boasts of immediate successes in Canada, made by leading members of +the party which brought on the war; followed as these were by a +display of inefficiency so ludicrous that opponents, as well native as +foreign, did not hesitate to apply to it the word "imbecility." The +American for a dozen years had been clubbed without giving evidence of +rebellion, beyond words; now that he showed signs of restiveness, +without corresponding evidence of power, he should feel the lash, and +there need be no nicety in measuring punishment. Codrington, an +officer of mark and character, who joined Cochrane at this time as +chief of staff, used expressions which doubtless convey the average +point of view of the British officer of that day: President Madison, +"by letting his generals burn villages in Canada again, has been +trying to excite terror; but as you may shortly see by the public +exposition of the Admiral's orders, the terror and the suffering will +probably be brought home to the doors of his own fellow citizens. I am +fully convinced that this is the true way to end this Yankee war, +whatever may be said in Parliament against it."<a name="FNanchor_362_362" id="FNanchor_362_362"></a><a href="#Footnote_362_362" class="fnanchor">[362]</a></p> + +<p>It is the grievous fault of all retaliation, especially in the heat of +war, that it rarely stays its hand at an equal measure, but almost +invariably proceeds to an excess which provokes the other party to +seek in turn to even the scale. The process tends to be unending; and +it is to the honor of the United States Government that, though +technically responsible for the acts of agents which it was too +inefficient to control, it did not seriously entertain the purpose of +resorting to this means, to vindicate the wrongs of its <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_336" id="PageV2_336">[336]</a></span>citizens at +the expense of the subjects of its opponent. Happily, the external +brutality of attitude which Cochrane's expression so aptly conveyed +yielded for the most part to nobler instincts in the British officers. +There was indeed much to condemn, much done that ought not to have +been done; but even in the contemporary accounts it is quite possible +to trace a certain rough humanity, a wish to deal equitably with +individuals, for whom, regarded nationally, they professed no respect. +Even in the marauding of the Chesapeake, the idea of compensation for +value taken was not lost to view; and in general the usages of war, as +to property exempt from destruction or appropriation, were respected, +although not without the rude incidents certain to occur where +atonement for acts of resistance, or the price paid for property +taken, is fixed by the victor.</p> + +<p>If retaliation upon any but the immediate culprit is ever permissible, +which in national matters will scarcely be contested, it is logically +just that it should fall first of all upon the capital, where the +interests and honor of the nation are centred. There, if anywhere, the +responsibility for the war and all its incidents is concrete in the +representatives of the nation, executive and legislative, and in the +public offices from which all overt acts are presumed to emanate. So +it befell the United States. In the first six months of 1814, the +warfare in the Chesapeake continued on the same general lines as in +1813; there having been the usual remission of activity during the +winter, to resume again as milder weather drew on. The blockade of the +bay was sustained, with force adequate to make it technically +effective, although Baltimore boasted that several of her clipper +schooners got to sea. On the part of the United States, Captain Gordon +of the navy had been relieved in charge of the bay flotilla by +Commodore Barney, of revolutionary and privateering renown. This local +command, in <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_337" id="PageV2_337">[337]</a></span>conformity with the precedent at New York, and as was due +to so distinguished an officer, was made independent of other branches +of the naval service; the commodore being in immediate communication +with the Navy Department. On April 17, he left Baltimore and proceeded +down the bay with thirteen vessels; ten of them being large barges or +galleys, propelled chiefly by oars, the others gunboats of the +ordinary type. The headquarters of this little force became the +Patuxent River, to which in the sequel it was in great measure +confined; the superiority of the enemy precluding any enlarged sphere +of activity. Its presence, however, was a provocation to the British, +as being the only floating force in the bay capable of annoying them; +the very existence of which was a challenge to their supremacy. To +destroy it became therefore a dominant motive, which was utilized also +to conceal to the last their purpose, tentative indeed throughout, to +make a dash at Washington.</p> + +<p>The Patuxent enters Chesapeake Bay from the north and west, sixty +miles below Baltimore, and twenty above the mouth of the Potomac, to +the general direction of which its own course in its lower part is +parallel. For boats drawing no more than did Barney's it is navigable +for forty miles from its mouth, to Pig Point; whence to Washington by +land is but fifteen miles. A pursuit of the flotilla so far therefore +brought pursuers within easy striking distance of the capital, +provided that between them and it stood no obstacle adequate to impose +delay until resistance could gather. It was impossible for such a +pursuit to be made by the navy alone; for, inadequate as the militia +was to the protection of the bay shore from raiding, it was quite +competent to act in conjunction with Barney, when battling only +against boats, which alone could follow him into lairs accessible to +him, but not to even the smaller vessels of the enemy. Ships of the +largest size could enter <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_338" id="PageV2_338">[338]</a></span>the river, but could ascend it only a little +way. Up the Patuxent itself, or in its tributaries, the Americans +therefore had always against the British Navy a refuge, in which they +might be blockaded indeed, but could not be reached. For all these +reasons, in order to destroy the flotilla, a body of troops must be +used; a necessity which served to mask any ulterior design.</p> + +<p>In the course of these operations, and in support of them, the British +Navy had created a post at Tangier Island, ten miles across the bay, +opposite the mouth of the Potomac.<a name="FNanchor_363_363" id="FNanchor_363_363"></a><a href="#Footnote_363_363" class="fnanchor">[363]</a> Here they threw up +fortifications, and established an advanced rendezvous. Between the +island and the eastern shore, Tangier Sound gave sheltered anchorage. +The position was in every way convenient, and strategically central. +Being the junction of the water routes to Baltimore and Washington, it +threatened both; while the narrowness of the Chesapeake at this point +constituted the force there assembled an inner blockading line, well +situated to move rapidly at short notice in any direction, up or down, +to one side or the other. At such short distance from the Patuxent, +Barney's movements were of course well under observation, as he at +once experienced. On June 1, he left the river, apparently with a view +to reaching the Potomac. Two schooners becalmed were then visible, and +pursuit was made with the oars; but soon a large ship was seen under +sail, despatching a number of barges to their assistance. A breeze +springing up from southwest put the ship to windward, between the +Potomac and the flotilla, which was obliged to return to the Patuxent, +closely followed by the enemy. Some distant shots were exchanged, but +Barney escaped, and for the time was suffered to remain undisturbed +three miles from the bay; a 74-gun ship lying at the river's mouth, +with barges plying continually about her. The departure of <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_339" id="PageV2_339">[339]</a></span>the +British schooners, however, was construed to indicate a return with +re-enforcements for an attack; an anticipation not disappointed. Two +more vessels soon joined the seventy-four; one of them a brig. On +their appearance Barney shifted his berth two miles further up, +abreast St. Leonard's Creek. At daylight of June 9, one of the ships, +the brig, two schooners, and fifteen rowing barges, were seen coming +up with a fair wind. The flotilla then retreated two miles up the +creek, formed there across it in line abreast, and awaited attack. The +enemy's vessels could not follow; but their boats did, and a skirmish +ensued which ended in the British retiring. Later in the day the +attempt was renewed with no better success; and Barney claimed that, +having followed the boats in their retreat, he had seriously disabled +one of the large schooners anchored off the mouth of the creek to +support the movement.</p> + +<p>There is no doubt that the American gunboats were manfully and +skilfully handled, and that the crews in this and subsequent +encounters gained confidence and skill, the evidences of which were +shown afterwards at Bladensburg, remaining the only alleviating +remembrance from that day of disgrace. From Barney would be expected +no less than the most that man can do, or example effect; but his +pursuit was stopped by the ship and the brig, which stayed within the +Patuxent. The flotilla continued inside the creek, two frigates lying +off its mouth, until June 26, when an attack by the boats, in concert +with a body of militia,—infantry and light artillery,—decided the +enemy to move down the Patuxent. Barney took advantage of this to +leave the creek and go up the river. We are informed by a journal of +the day that the Government was by these affairs well satisfied with +the ability of the flotilla to restrain the operations of the enemy +within the waters of the Chesapeake, and had determined on a +considerable <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_340" id="PageV2_340">[340]</a></span>increase to it. Nothing seems improbable of that +Government; but, if this be true, it must have been easily satisfied. +Barney had secured a longer line of retreat, up the river; but the +situation was not materially changed. In either case, creek or river, +there was but one way out, and that was closed. He could only abide +the time when the enemy should see fit to come against him by land and +by water, which would seal his fate.<a name="FNanchor_364_364" id="FNanchor_364_364"></a><a href="#Footnote_364_364" class="fnanchor">[364]</a></p> + +<p>On June 2 there had sailed from Bordeaux for America a detachment from +Wellington's army, twenty-five hundred strong, under Major-General +Ross. It reached Bermuda July 25, and there was re-enforced by another +battalion, increasing its strength to thirty-four hundred. On August 3 +it left Bermuda, accompanied by several ships of war, and on the 15th +passed in by the capes of the Chesapeake. Admiral Cochrane had +preceded it by a few days, and was already lying there with his own +ship and the division under Rear-Admiral Cockburn, who hitherto had +been in immediate charge of operations in the bay. There were now +assembled over twenty vessels of war, four of them of the line, with a +large train of transports and store-ships. A battalion of seven +hundred marines were next detailed for duty with the troops, the +landing force being thus raised to over four thousand. The rendezvous +at Tangier Island gave the Americans no certain clue to the ultimate +object, for the reason already cited; and Cochrane designedly +contributed to their distraction, by sending one squadron of frigates +up the Potomac, and another up the Chesapeake above Baltimore.<a name="FNanchor_365_365" id="FNanchor_365_365"></a><a href="#Footnote_365_365" class="fnanchor">[365]</a> On +August 18 the main body of the expedition moved abreast the mouth of +the Patuxent, and at noon of that day entered the river with a fair +wind.</p> + +<p>The purposes at this moment of the commanders of the <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_341" id="PageV2_341">[341]</a></span>army and navy, +acting jointly, are succinctly stated by Cochrane in his report to the +Admiralty: "Information from Rear-Admiral Cockburn that Commodore +Barney, with the Potomac flotilla, had taken shelter at the head of +the Patuxent, afforded a pretext for ascending that river to attack +him near its source, above Pig Point, while the ultimate destination +of the combined force was Washington, should it be found that the +attempt might be made with any prospect of success."<a name="FNanchor_366_366" id="FNanchor_366_366"></a><a href="#Footnote_366_366" class="fnanchor">[366]</a> August 19, +the troops were landed at Benedict, twenty-five miles from the mouth +of the river, and the following day began their upward march, flanked +by a naval division of light vessels; the immediate objective being +Barney's flotilla.</p> + +<p>For the defence of the capital of the United States, throughout the +region by which it might be approached, the Government had selected +Brigadier-General Winder; the same who the year before had been +captured at Stoney Creek, on the Niagara frontier, in Vincent's bold +night attack. He was appointed July 2 to the command of a new military +district, the tenth, which comprised "the state of Maryland, the +District of Columbia, and that part of Virginia lying between the +Potomac and the Rappahannock;"<a name="FNanchor_367_367" id="FNanchor_367_367"></a><a href="#Footnote_367_367" class="fnanchor">[367]</a> in brief, Washington and +Baltimore, with the ways converging upon them from the sea. This was +just seven weeks before the enemy landed in the Patuxent; time enough, +with reasonable antecedent preparation, or trained troops, to concert +adequate resistance, as was shown by the British subsequent failure +before Baltimore.</p> + +<p>The conditions with which Winder had to contend are best stated in the +terms of the Court of Inquiry<a name="FNanchor_368_368" id="FNanchor_368_368"></a><a href="#Footnote_368_368" class="fnanchor">[368]</a> called to investigate his conduct, +at the head of which sat General <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_342" id="PageV2_342">[342]</a></span>Winfield Scott. After fixing the +date of his appointment, and ascertaining that he at once took every +means in his power to put his district in a proper state of defence, +the court found that on August 24, the day of the battle of +Bladensburg, he "was enabled by great and unremitting exertions to +bring into the field about five or six thousand men, all of whom +except four hundred were militia; that he could not collect more than +half his men until a day or two previously to the engagement, and six +or seven hundred of them did not arrive until fifteen minutes before +its commencement; ... that the officers commanding the troops were +generally unknown to him, and but a very small number of them had +enjoyed the benefit of military instruction or experience." So far +from attributing censure, the Court found that, "taking into +consideration the complicated difficulties and embarrassments under +which he labored, he is entitled to no little commendation, +notwithstanding the result; before the action he exhibited industry, +zeal, and talent, and during its continuance a coolness, a +promptitude, and a personal valor, highly honorable to himself."</p> + +<p>The finding of a court composed of competent experts, convened shortly +after the events, must be received with respect. It is clear, however, +that they here do not specify the particular professional merits of +Winder's conduct of operations, but only the general hopelessness of +success, owing to the antecedent conditions, not of his making, under +which he was called to act, and which he strenuously exerted himself +to meet. The blame for a mishap evidently and easily preventible still +remains, and, though of course not expressed by the Court, is +necessarily thrown back upon the Administration, and upon the party +represented by it, which had held power for over twelve years past. A +hostile corps of less than five thousand men had penetrated to the +capital, through a well populated country, which was, <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_343" id="PageV2_343">[343]</a></span>to quote the +Secretary of War, "covered with wood, and offering at every step +strong positions for defence;"<a name="FNanchor_369_369" id="FNanchor_369_369"></a><a href="#Footnote_369_369" class="fnanchor">[369]</a> but there were neither defences +nor defenders.</p> + +<p>The sequence of events which terminated in this humiliating manner is +instructive. The Cabinet, which on June 7 had planned offensive +operations in Canada, met on July 1 in another frame of mind, alarmed +by the news from Europe, to plan for the defence of Washington and +Baltimore. It will be remembered that it was now two years since war +had been declared. In counting the force on which reliance might be +placed for meeting a possible enemy, the Secretary of War thought he +could assemble one thousand regulars, independent of artillerists in +the forts.[2] The Secretary of the Navy could furnish one hundred and +twenty marines, and the crews of Barney's flotilla, estimated at five +hundred.[2] For the rest, dependence must be upon militia, a call for +which was issued to the number of ninety-three thousand, five +hundred.<a name="FNanchor_370_370" id="FNanchor_370_370"></a><a href="#Footnote_370_370" class="fnanchor">[370]</a> Of these, fifteen thousand were assigned to Winder, as +follows: From Virginia, two thousand; from Maryland, six thousand; +from Pennsylvania, five thousand; from the District of Columbia, two +thousand.<a name="FNanchor_371_371" id="FNanchor_371_371"></a><a href="#Footnote_371_371" class="fnanchor">[371]</a> So ineffective were the administrative measures for +bringing out this paper force of citizen soldiery, the efficiency of +which the leaders of the party in power had been accustomed to vaunt, +that Winder, after falling back from point to point before the enemy's +advance, because only so might time be gained to get together the +lagging contingents, could muster in the open ground at Bladensburg, +five miles from the capital, where at last he made his stand, only the +paltry five or six thousand stated by the court. On the morning of the +battle the Secretary of War rode out to the field, with his colleagues +in the <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_344" id="PageV2_344">[344]</a></span>Administration, and in reply to a question from the President +said he had no suggestions to offer; "as it was between regulars and +militia, the latter would be beaten."<a name="FNanchor_372_372" id="FNanchor_372_372"></a><a href="#Footnote_372_372" class="fnanchor">[372]</a> The phrase was Winder's +absolution; pronounced for the future, as for the past. The +responsibility for there being no regulars did not rest with him, nor +yet with the Secretary, but with the men who for a dozen years had +sapped the military preparation of the nation.</p> + +<p>Under the relative conditions of the opposing forces which have been +stated, the progress of events was rapid. Probably few now realize +that only a little over four days elapsed from the landing of the +British to the burning of the Capitol. Their army advanced along the +west bank of the Patuxent to Upper Marlborough, forty miles from the +river's mouth. To this place, which was reached August 22, Ross +continued in direct touch with the navy; and here at Pig Point, nearly +abreast on the river, the American flotilla was cornered at last. +Seeing the inevitable event, and to preserve his small but invaluable +force of men, Barney had abandoned the boats on the 21st, leaving with +each a half-dozen of her crew to destroy her at the last moment. This +was done when the British next day approached; one only escaping the +flames.</p> + +<p>The city of Washington, now the goal of the enemy's effort, lies on +the Potomac, between it and a tributary called the Eastern Branch. +Upon the east bank of the latter, five or six miles from the junction +of the two streams, is the village of Bladensburg. From Upper +Marlborough, where the British had arrived, two roads led to +Washington. One of these, the left going from Marlborough, crossed the +Eastern Branch near its mouth; the other, less direct, passed through +Bladensburg. Winder expected the British to advance by the former; and +upon it Barney with the four hundred seamen remaining to him <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_345" id="PageV2_345">[345]</a></span>joined +the army, at a place called Oldfields, seven miles from the capital. +This route was militarily the more important, because from it branches +were thrown off to the Potomac, up which the frigate squadron under +Captain Gordon was proceeding, and had already passed the +Kettle-bottoms, the most difficult bit of navigation in its path. The +side roads would enable the invaders to reach and co-operate with this +naval division; unless indeed Winder could make head against them. +This he was not able to do; but he remained almost to the last moment +in perplexing uncertainty whether they would strike for the capital, +or for its principal defence on the Potomac, Fort Washington, ten +miles lower down.<a name="FNanchor_373_373" id="FNanchor_373_373"></a><a href="#Footnote_373_373" class="fnanchor">[373]</a></p> + +<div class="img"><a name="imagep344" id="imagep344"></a> +<a href="images/imagep344.jpg"> +<img border="0" src="images/imagep344.jpg" width="40%" alt="Sketch of the March of the British Army" /></a><br /> +<p class="cen" style="margin-top: .2em;">SKETCH <i>of the</i> MARCH OF THE BRITISH ARMY Under<br /> Gen. +Ross <i>From the 19th. to the 29th. August 1814</i><span class="totoi"><a href="#toi">ToList</a></span></p> +</div> + +<p>For the obvious reasons named, because the doubts of their opponent +facilitated their own movements by harassing his mind, as well as for +the strategic advantage of a central line permitting movement in two +directions at choice, the British advanced, as anticipated, by the +left-hand road, and at nightfall of August 23 were encamped about +three miles from the Americans. Here Winder covered a junction; for at +Oldfields the road by which the British were advancing forked. One +division led to Washington direct, crossing the Eastern Branch of the +Potomac where it is broadest and deepest, near its mouth; the other +passed it at Bladensburg. Winder feared to await the enemy, because of +the disorder to which his inexperienced troops would be exposed by a +night attack, causing possibly the loss of his artillery; the one arm +in which he felt himself superior. He retired therefore during the +night by the direct road, burning its bridge. This left open the way +to Bladensburg, which the British next day followed, arriving at the +village towards noon of the 24th. Contrary to Winder's instruction, +the officer stationed there had <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_346" id="PageV2_346">[346]</a></span>withdrawn his troops across the +stream, abandoning the place, and forming his line on the crest of +some hills on the west bank. The impression which this position made +upon the enemy was described by General Ross, as follows: "They were +strongly posted on very commanding heights, formed in two lines, the +advance occupying a fortified house, which with artillery covered the +bridge over the Eastern Branch, across which the British troops had to +pass. A broad and straight road, leading from the bridge to +Washington, ran through the enemy's position, which was carefully +defended by artillerymen and riflemen."<a name="FNanchor_374_374" id="FNanchor_374_374"></a><a href="#Footnote_374_374" class="fnanchor">[374]</a> Allowing for the tendency +to magnify difficulties overcome, the British would have had before +them a difficult task, if opposed by men accustomed to mutual support +and mutual reliance, with the thousand-fold increase of strength which +comes with such habit and with the moral confidence it gives.</p> + +<p>The American line had been formed before Winder came on the ground. It +extended across the Washington road as described by Ross. A battery on +the hill-top commanded the bridge, and was supported by a line of +infantry on either side, with a second line in the rear. Fearing, +however, that the enemy might cross the stream higher up, where it was +fordable in many places, a regiment from the second line was +reluctantly ordered forward to extend the left; and Winder, when he +arrived, while approving this disposition, carried thither also some +of the artillery which he had brought with him.<a name="FNanchor_375_375" id="FNanchor_375_375"></a><a href="#Footnote_375_375" class="fnanchor">[375]</a> The anxiety of +the Americans was therefore for their left. The British commander was +eager to be done with his job, and to get back to his ships from a +position militarily insecure. He had long been fighting Napoleon's +troops in the Spanish peninsula, and was not yet fully imbued with +Drummond's conviction that with <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_347" id="PageV2_347">[347]</a></span>American militia liberties might be +taken beyond the limit of ordinary military precaution. No time was +spent looking for a ford, but the troops dashed straight for the +bridge. The fire of the American artillery was excellent, and mowed +down the head of the column; but the seasoned men persisted and forced +their way across. At this moment Barney was coming up with his seamen, +and at Winder's request brought his guns into line across the +Washington road, facing the bridge. Soon after this, a few rockets +passing close over the heads of the battalions supporting the +batteries on the left started them running, much as a mule train may +be stampeded by a night alarm. It was impossible to rally them. A part +held for a short time; but when Winder attempted to retire them a +little way, from a fire which had begun to annoy them, they also broke +and fled.<a name="FNanchor_376_376" id="FNanchor_376_376"></a><a href="#Footnote_376_376" class="fnanchor">[376]</a></p> + +<p>The American left was thus routed, but Barney's battery and its +supporting infantry still held their ground. "During this period," +reported the Commodore,—that is, while his guns were being brought +into battery, and the remainder of his seamen and marines posted to +support them,—"the engagement continued, the enemy advancing, and our +own army retreating before them, apparently in much disorder. At +length the enemy made his appearance on the main road, in force, in +front of my battery, and on seeing us made a halt. I reserved our +fire. In a few minutes the enemy again advanced, when I ordered an +18-pounder to be fired, which completely cleared the road; shortly +after, a second and a third attempt was made by the enemy to come +forward, but all were destroyed. They then crossed into an open field +and attempted to flank our right; he was met there by three +12-pounders, the marines under Captain Miller, and my men, acting as +infantry, and again was totally cut up. By this time not a vestige of +the American <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_348" id="PageV2_348">[348]</a></span>army remained, except a body of five or six hundred, +posted on a height on my right, from whom I expected much support from +their fine situation."<a name="FNanchor_377_377" id="FNanchor_377_377"></a><a href="#Footnote_377_377" class="fnanchor">[377]</a></p> + +<p>In this expectation Barney was disappointed. The enemy desisted from +direct attack and worked gradually round towards his right flank and +rear. As they thus moved, the guns of course were turned towards them; +but a charge being made up the hill by a force not exceeding half that +of its defenders, they also "to my great mortification made no +resistance, giving a fire or two, and retired. Our ammunition was +expended, and unfortunately the drivers of my ammunition wagons had +gone off in the general panic." Barney himself, being wounded and +unable to escape from loss of blood, was left a prisoner. Two of his +officers were killed, and two wounded. The survivors stuck to him till +he ordered them off the ground. Ross and Cockburn were brought to him, +and greeted him with a marked respect and politeness; and he reported +that, during the stay of the British in Bladensburg, he was treated by +all "like a brother," to use his own words.<a name="FNanchor_378_378" id="FNanchor_378_378"></a><a href="#Footnote_378_378" class="fnanchor">[378]</a></p> + +<p>The character of this affair is sufficiently shown by the above +outline narrative, re-enforced by the account of the losses sustained. +Of the victors sixty-four were killed, one hundred and eighty-five +wounded. The defeated, by the estimate of their superintending +surgeon, had ten or twelve killed and forty wounded.<a name="FNanchor_379_379" id="FNanchor_379_379"></a><a href="#Footnote_379_379" class="fnanchor">[379]</a> Such a +disparity of injury is usual when the defendants are behind +fortifications; but in this case of an open field, and a river to be +crossed by the assailants, the evident significance is that the party +attacked did not wait to contest the ground, once the enemy had gained +the bridge. After that, not only was the rout complete, but, save for +Barney's tenacity, there was almost no <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_349" id="PageV2_349">[349]</a></span>attempt at resistance. Ten +pieces of cannon remained in the hands of the British. "The rapid +flight of the enemy," reported General Ross, "and his knowledge of the +country, precluded the possibility of many prisoners being +taken."<a name="FNanchor_380_380" id="FNanchor_380_380"></a><a href="#Footnote_380_380" class="fnanchor">[380]</a></p> + +<p>That night the British entered Washington. The Capitol, White House, +and several public buildings were burned by them; the navy yard and +vessels by the American authorities. Ross, accustomed to European +warfare, did not feel Drummond's easiness concerning his position, +which technically was most insecure as regarded his communications. On +the evening of June 25 he withdrew rapidly, and on that of the 26th +regained touch with the fleet in the Patuxent, after a separation of +only four days. Cockburn remarked in his official report that there +was no molestation of their retreat; "not a single musket having been +fired."<a name="FNanchor_381_381" id="FNanchor_381_381"></a><a href="#Footnote_381_381" class="fnanchor">[381]</a> It was the completion of the Administration's disgrace, +unrelieved by any feature of credit save the gallant stand of Barney's +four hundred.</p> + +<p>The burning of Washington was the impressive culmination of the +devastation to which the coast districts were everywhere exposed by +the weakness of the country, while the battle of Bladensburg crowned +the humiliation entailed upon the nation by the demagogic prejudices +in favor of untrained patriotism, as supplying all defects for +ordinary service in the field. In the defenders of Bladensburg was +realized Jefferson's ideal of a citizen soldiery,<a name="FNanchor_382_382" id="FNanchor_382_382"></a><a href="#Footnote_382_382" class="fnanchor">[382]</a> unskilled, but +strong in their love of home, flying to arms to oppose an invader; and +they had every inspiring incentive to tenacity, for they, and they +only, stood between the enemy and the centre and heart of national +life. The position they occupied, though unfortified, had many natural +advantages; while the enemy had to cross a river which, while in part +<span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_350" id="PageV2_350">[350]</a></span>fordable, was nevertheless an obstacle to rapid action, especially +when confronted by the superior artillery the Americans had. The +result has been told; but only when contrasted with the contemporary +fight at Lundy's Lane is Bladensburg rightly appreciated. Occurring +precisely a month apart, and with men of the same race, they +illustrate exactly the difference in military value between crude +material and finished product.</p> + +<p>Coincident with the capture of Washington, a little British +squadron—two frigates and five smaller vessels—ascended the Potomac. +Fort Washington, a dozen miles below the capital, was abandoned August +27 by the officer in charge, removing the only obstacle due to the +foresight of the Government. He was afterwards cashiered by sentence +of court martial. On the 29th, Captain Gordon, the senior officer, +anchored his force before Alexandria, of which he kept possession for +three days. Upon withdrawing, he carried away all the merchantmen that +were seaworthy, having loaded them with merchandise awaiting +exportation. Energetic efforts were made by Captains Rodgers, Perry, +and Porter, of the American Navy, to molest the enemy's retirement by +such means as could be extemporized; but both ships and prizes +escaped, the only loss being in life: seven killed and forty-five +wounded.</p> + +<p>After the burning of Washington, the British main fleet and army moved +up the Chesapeake against Baltimore, which would undoubtedly have +undergone the lot of Alexandria, in a contribution laid upon shipping +and merchandise. The attack, however, was successfully met. The +respite afforded by the expedition against Washington had been +improved by the citizens to interpose earthworks on the hills before +the city. This local precaution saved the place. In the field the +militia behaved better than at Bladensburg, but showed, nevertheless, +the unsteadiness of raw men. To harass the British advance a body of +<span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_351" id="PageV2_351">[351]</a></span>riflemen had been posted well forward, and a shot from these mortally +wounded General Ross; but, "imagine my chagrin, when I perceived the +whole corps falling back upon my main position, having too credulously +listened to groundless information that the enemy was landing on Back +River to cut them off."<a name="FNanchor_383_383" id="FNanchor_383_383"></a><a href="#Footnote_383_383" class="fnanchor">[383]</a></p> + +<p>The British approached along the narrow strip of land between the +Patapsco and Back rivers. The American general, Stricker, had +judiciously selected for his line of defence a neck, where inlets from +both streams narrowed the ground to half a mile. His flanks were thus +protected, but the water on the left giving better indication of being +fordable, the British directed there the weight of the assault. To +meet this, Stricker drew up a regiment to the rear of his main line, +and at right angles, the volleys from which should sweep the inlet. +When the enemy's attack developed, this regiment "delivered one random +fire," and then broke and fled; "totally forgetful of the honor of the +brigade, and of its own reputation," to use Stricker's words.<a name="FNanchor_384_384" id="FNanchor_384_384"></a><a href="#Footnote_384_384" class="fnanchor">[384]</a> +This flight carried along part of the left flank proper. The remainder +of the line held for a time, and then retired without awaiting the +hostile bayonet. The American report gives the impression of an +orderly retreat; a British participant, who admits that the ground was +well chosen, and that the line held until within twenty yards, wrote +that after that he never witnessed a more complete rout. The invaders +then approached the city, but upon viewing the works of defence, and +learning that the fleet would not be able to co-operate, owing to +vessels sunk across the channel, the commanding officer decided that +success would not repay the loss necessary to achieve it. Fleet and +army then withdrew.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_352" id="PageV2_352">[352]</a></span>The attacks on Washington and Baltimore, the seizure of Alexandria, +and the general conduct of operations in the Chesapeake, belong +strictly to the punitive purpose which dictated British measures upon +the seaboard. Similar action extended through Long Island Sound, and +to the eastward, where alarm in all quarters was maintained by the +general enterprise of the enemy, and by specific injury in various +places. "The Government has declared war against the most powerful +maritime nation," wrote the Governor of Massachusetts to the +legislature, "and we are disappointed in our expectations of national +defence. But though we may be convinced that the war was unnecessary +and unjust, and has been prosecuted without any useful or practicable +object with the inhabitants of Canada, while our seacoast has been +left almost defenceless, yet I presume there will be no doubt of our +right to defend our possessions against any hostile attack by which +their destruction is menaced." "The eastern coast," reports a journal +of the time, "is much vexed by the enemy. Having destroyed a great +portion of the coasting craft, they seem determined to enter the +little outports and villages, and burn everything that floats."<a name="FNanchor_385_385" id="FNanchor_385_385"></a><a href="#Footnote_385_385" class="fnanchor">[385]</a> +On April 7, six British barges ascended the Connecticut River eight +miles, to Pettipaug, where they burned twenty-odd sea-going +vessels.<a name="FNanchor_386_386" id="FNanchor_386_386"></a><a href="#Footnote_386_386" class="fnanchor">[386]</a> On June 13, at Wareham, Massachusetts, a similar +expedition entered and destroyed sixteen.<a name="FNanchor_387_387" id="FNanchor_387_387"></a><a href="#Footnote_387_387" class="fnanchor">[387]</a> These were somewhat +large instances of an action everywhere going on, inflicting +indirectly incalculably more injury than even the direct loss +suffered; the whole being with a view to bring the meaning of war +close home to the consciousness of the American people. They were to +be made to realize the power of the enemy and their own helplessness.</p> + +<p>An attempt looking to more permanent results was made <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_353" id="PageV2_353">[353]</a></span>during the +summer upon the coast of Maine. The northward projection of that +state, then known as the District of Maine,<a name="FNanchor_388_388" id="FNanchor_388_388"></a><a href="#Footnote_388_388" class="fnanchor">[388]</a> intervened between +the British provinces of Lower Canada and New Brunswick, and imposed a +long détour upon the line of communications between Quebec and +Halifax, the two most important military posts in British North +America. This inconvenience could not be remedied unless the land in +question were brought into British possession; and when the end of the +war in Europe gave prospect of a vigorous offensive from the side of +Canada, the British ministry formulated the purpose of demanding there +a rectification of frontier. The object in this case being +acquisition, not punishment, conciliation of the inhabitants was to be +practised; in place of the retaliatory action prescribed for the +sea-coast elsewhere.</p> + +<p>Moose Island, in Passamaquoddy Bay, though held by the United States, +was claimed by Great Britain to have been always within the boundary +line of New Brunswick. It was seized July 11, 1814; protection being +promised to persons and property. In August, General Sherbrooke, the +Governor of Nova Scotia, received orders "to occupy so much of the +District of Maine as shall insure an uninterrupted communication +between Halifax and Quebec."<a name="FNanchor_389_389" id="FNanchor_389_389"></a><a href="#Footnote_389_389" class="fnanchor">[389]</a> His orders being discretional as to +method, he decided that with the force available he would best comply +by taking possession of Machias and the Penobscot River.<a name="FNanchor_390_390" id="FNanchor_390_390"></a><a href="#Footnote_390_390" class="fnanchor">[390]</a> On +September 1, a combined naval and army expedition appeared at the +mouth of the Penobscot, before Castine, which was quickly abandoned. A +few days before, the United States frigate "Adams," Captain Charles +Morris, returning from a cruise, had run ashore upon Isle au Haut, and +in consequence of the injuries received had been compelled to <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_354" id="PageV2_354">[354]</a></span>make a +harbor in the river. She was then at Hampden, thirty miles up. A +detachment of seamen and soldiers was sent against her. Her guns had +been landed, and placed in battery for her defence, and militia had +gathered for the support necessary to artillery so situated; but they +proved unreliable, and upon their retreat nothing was left but to fire +the ship.<a name="FNanchor_391_391" id="FNanchor_391_391"></a><a href="#Footnote_391_391" class="fnanchor">[391]</a> This was done, the crew escaping. The British +penetrated as far as Bangor, seized a number of merchant vessels, and +subsequently went to Machias, where they captured the fort with +twenty-five cannon. Sherbrooke then returned with the most of his +force to Halifax, whence he issued a voluminous proclamation<a name="FNanchor_392_392" id="FNanchor_392_392"></a><a href="#Footnote_392_392" class="fnanchor">[392]</a> to +the effect that he had taken possession of all the country between the +Penobscot and New Brunswick; and promised protection to the +inhabitants, if they behaved themselves accordingly. Two regiments +were left at Castine, with transports to remove them in case of attack +by superior numbers. This burlesque of occupation, "one foot on shore, +and one on sea," was advanced by the British ministry as a reason +justifying the demand for cession of the desired territory to the +northward. Wellington, when called into counsel concerning American +affairs, said derisively that an officer might as well claim +sovereignty over the ground on which he had posted his pickets. The +British force remained undisturbed, however, to the end of the war. +Amicable relations were established with the inhabitants, and a brisk +contraband trade throve with Nova Scotia. It is even said that the +news of peace was unwelcome in the place. It was not evacuated until +April 27, 1815.<a name="FNanchor_393_393" id="FNanchor_393_393"></a><a href="#Footnote_393_393" class="fnanchor">[393]</a></p> + +<br /> +<hr style="width: 15%;" /> +<br /> + +<h4>FOOTNOTES:</h4> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_348_348" id="Footnote_348_348"></a><a href="#FNanchor_348_348"><span class="label">[348]</span></a> "Some Account of the Life of Sir George Prevost." +London, 1823, pp. 136, 137. The author has not been able to find the +despatch of June 3, 1814, there quoted.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_349_349" id="Footnote_349_349"></a><a href="#FNanchor_349_349"><span class="label">[349]</span></a> Warren to Croker, Feb. 26, 1813. Admiralty In-Letters +MSS.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_350_350" id="Footnote_350_350"></a><a href="#FNanchor_350_350"><span class="label">[350]</span></a> Croker to Warren, March 20, 1813. Admiralty +Out-Letters.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_351_351" id="Footnote_351_351"></a><a href="#FNanchor_351_351"><span class="label">[351]</span></a> Warren to Croker, Jan. 28, 1814. Canadian Archives +MSS.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_352_352" id="Footnote_352_352"></a><a href="#FNanchor_352_352"><span class="label">[352]</span></a> Cochrane to Bathurst, July 14, 1814. War Office +In-Letters MSS.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_353_353" id="Footnote_353_353"></a><a href="#FNanchor_353_353"><span class="label">[353]</span></a> Bathurst's Instructions to the officer in command of +the troops detached from the Gironde. May 20, 1814. From copy sent to +Cochrane. Admiralty In-Letters, from Secretary of State.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_354_354" id="Footnote_354_354"></a><a href="#FNanchor_354_354"><span class="label">[354]</span></a> Gallatin to Monroe, London, June 13, 1814. Adams' +Writings of Gallatin, vol. i. p. 627.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_355_355" id="Footnote_355_355"></a><a href="#FNanchor_355_355"><span class="label">[355]</span></a> Sinclair, Erie, May 13, 1814. Captains' Letters.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_356_356" id="Footnote_356_356"></a><a href="#FNanchor_356_356"><span class="label">[356]</span></a> Cruikshank's Documentary History of the Campaign of +1814, p. 18.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_357_357" id="Footnote_357_357"></a><a href="#FNanchor_357_357"><span class="label">[357]</span></a> Ibid., p. 74.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_358_358" id="Footnote_358_358"></a><a href="#FNanchor_358_358"><span class="label">[358]</span></a> Cruikshank's Documentary History, pp. 414, 415.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_359_359" id="Footnote_359_359"></a><a href="#FNanchor_359_359"><span class="label">[359]</span></a> American State Papers, Foreign Relations, vol. iii. pp. +693, 694.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_360_360" id="Footnote_360_360"></a><a href="#FNanchor_360_360"><span class="label">[360]</span></a> Cochrane to Prevost, July 26, 1814. Canadian Archives +MSS., C. 684, p. 231.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_361_361" id="Footnote_361_361"></a><a href="#FNanchor_361_361"><span class="label">[361]</span></a> Report on Canadian Archives, 1896, p. 54.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_362_362" id="Footnote_362_362"></a><a href="#FNanchor_362_362"><span class="label">[362]</span></a> Life of Sir Edward Codrington, vol. i. p. 313.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_363_363" id="Footnote_363_363"></a><a href="#FNanchor_363_363"><span class="label">[363]</span></a> See Map of Chesapeake Bay, ante, p. 156.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_364_364" id="Footnote_364_364"></a><a href="#FNanchor_364_364"><span class="label">[364]</span></a> This account of Barney's movements is summarized from +his letters, and others, published in Niles' Register, vol. vi. pp. +244, 268, 300.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_365_365" id="Footnote_365_365"></a><a href="#FNanchor_365_365"><span class="label">[365]</span></a> Report of Admiral Cochrane, Naval Chronicle, vol. +xxxii. p. 342.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_366_366" id="Footnote_366_366"></a><a href="#FNanchor_366_366"><span class="label">[366]</span></a> Report of Admiral Cochrane, Naval Chronicle, vol. +xxxii. p. 342.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_367_367" id="Footnote_367_367"></a><a href="#FNanchor_367_367"><span class="label">[367]</span></a> American State Papers, Military Affairs, vol. i. p. +524.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_368_368" id="Footnote_368_368"></a><a href="#FNanchor_368_368"><span class="label">[368]</span></a> The finding of the Court of Inquiry was published in +Niles' Register for Feb. 25, 1815, from the official paper, the +National Intelligencer. Niles, vol. vii. p. 410.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_369_369" id="Footnote_369_369"></a><a href="#FNanchor_369_369"><span class="label">[369]</span></a> Report of Secretary Armstrong to a Committee of the +House of Representatives. American State Papers, Military Affairs, +vol. i. p. 526.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_370_370" id="Footnote_370_370"></a><a href="#FNanchor_370_370"><span class="label">[370]</span></a> Ibid., pp. 538, 540, 524.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_371_371" id="Footnote_371_371"></a><a href="#FNanchor_371_371"><span class="label">[371]</span></a> Ibid., p. 524.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_372_372" id="Footnote_372_372"></a><a href="#FNanchor_372_372"><span class="label">[372]</span></a> Works of Madison (Ed. 1865), vol. iii. p. 422.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_373_373" id="Footnote_373_373"></a><a href="#FNanchor_373_373"><span class="label">[373]</span></a> Winder's Narrative. American State Papers, Military +Affairs, vol. i pp. 552-560.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_374_374" id="Footnote_374_374"></a><a href="#FNanchor_374_374"><span class="label">[374]</span></a> Ross's Despatch, Aug. 30, 1814. Naval Chronicle, vol. +xxxii. p. 338.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_375_375" id="Footnote_375_375"></a><a href="#FNanchor_375_375"><span class="label">[375]</span></a> Narrative of Monroe, the Secretary of State. American +State Papers, Military Affairs, vol. i. p. 536.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_376_376" id="Footnote_376_376"></a><a href="#FNanchor_376_376"><span class="label">[376]</span></a> Winder's Narrative.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_377_377" id="Footnote_377_377"></a><a href="#FNanchor_377_377"><span class="label">[377]</span></a> Barney's Report, Aug. 29, 1814. State Papers, Military +Affairs, vol. i. p. 579.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_378_378" id="Footnote_378_378"></a><a href="#FNanchor_378_378"><span class="label">[378]</span></a> Barney's Report.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_379_379" id="Footnote_379_379"></a><a href="#FNanchor_379_379"><span class="label">[379]</span></a> American State Papers, Military Affairs, vol. i. p. +530.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_380_380" id="Footnote_380_380"></a><a href="#FNanchor_380_380"><span class="label">[380]</span></a> Ross's Despatch.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_381_381" id="Footnote_381_381"></a><a href="#FNanchor_381_381"><span class="label">[381]</span></a> Report of Rear-Admiral Cockburn, Naval Chronicle, vol. +xxxii. p. 345.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_382_382" id="Footnote_382_382"></a><a href="#FNanchor_382_382"><span class="label">[382]</span></a> Ante, p. 213.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_383_383" id="Footnote_383_383"></a><a href="#FNanchor_383_383"><span class="label">[383]</span></a> Report of Brigadier-General Stricker of the Maryland +militia. Niles' Register, vol. vii. pp. 27, 28.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_384_384" id="Footnote_384_384"></a><a href="#FNanchor_384_384"><span class="label">[384]</span></a> Ibid.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_385_385" id="Footnote_385_385"></a><a href="#FNanchor_385_385"><span class="label">[385]</span></a> Niles' Register, vol. vi. p. 317.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_386_386" id="Footnote_386_386"></a><a href="#FNanchor_386_386"><span class="label">[386]</span></a> Ibid., pp. 118, 133, 222.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_387_387" id="Footnote_387_387"></a><a href="#FNanchor_387_387"><span class="label">[387]</span></a> Ibid., p. 317.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_388_388" id="Footnote_388_388"></a><a href="#FNanchor_388_388"><span class="label">[388]</span></a> Maine was then attached politically to Massachusetts.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_389_389" id="Footnote_389_389"></a><a href="#FNanchor_389_389"><span class="label">[389]</span></a> Sherbrooke to Prevost, Aug. 2, 1814. Canadian Archives +MSS., C. 685, p. 28.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_390_390" id="Footnote_390_390"></a><a href="#FNanchor_390_390"><span class="label">[390]</span></a> Sherbrooke to Prevost, Aug. 24, 1814. Ibid., p. 147.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_391_391" id="Footnote_391_391"></a><a href="#FNanchor_391_391"><span class="label">[391]</span></a> Morris' reports (Captains' Letters, Navy Dept.) are +published in Niles' Register, vol. vii. pp. 62, 63; and Supplement, p. +136.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_392_392" id="Footnote_392_392"></a><a href="#FNanchor_392_392"><span class="label">[392]</span></a> Sept. 21, 1814. Niles' Register, vol. vii. p. 117.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_393_393" id="Footnote_393_393"></a><a href="#FNanchor_393_393"><span class="label">[393]</span></a> Ibid., p. 347, and vol. viii. pp. 13, 214.</p></div> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="CHAPTER_XVII" id="CHAPTER_XVII"></a><hr /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_355" id="PageV2_355">[355]</a></span><br /> + +<h3>CHAPTER XVII<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3> + +<h4>LAKE CHAMPLAIN AND NEW ORLEANS</h4> +<br /> + +<p>General Brown's retirement within the lines of Fort Erie, July 26, +1814, may be taken as marking the definitive abandonment by the United +States of the offensive on the Canada frontier. The opportunities of +two years had been wasted by inefficiency of force and misdirection of +effort. It was generally recognized by thoughtful men that the war had +now become one of defence against a greatly superior enemy, +disembarrassed of the other foe which had hitherto engaged his +attention, and imbued with ideas of conquest, or at least of extorting +territorial cession for specific purposes. While Brown was +campaigning, the re-enforcements were rapidly arriving which were to +enable the British to assume the aggressive; although, in the absence +of naval preponderance on the lakes, their numbers were not sufficient +to compel the rectification of frontier by surrender of territory +which the British Government now desired. Lord Castlereagh, Secretary +for Foreign Affairs, and the leading representative of the aims of the +Cabinet, wrote in his instructions to the Peace Commissioners, August +14, 1814: "The views of the Government are strictly defensive. +Territory as such is by no means their object; but, as the weaker +Power in North America, Great Britain considers itself entitled to +claim the use of the lakes as a military barrier."<a name="FNanchor_394_394" id="FNanchor_394_394"></a><a href="#Footnote_394_394" class="fnanchor">[394]</a> The +declaration of war by the <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_356" id="PageV2_356">[356]</a></span>United States was regarded by most +Englishmen as a wanton endeavor to overthrow their immemorial right to +the services of their seamen, wherever found; and consequently the +invasion of Canada had been an iniquitous attempt to effect annexation +under cover of an indefensible pretext. To guard against the renewal +of such, the lakes must be made British waters, to which the American +flag should have only commercial access. Dominion south of the lakes +would not be exacted, "provided the American Government will stipulate +not to preserve or construct any fortifications upon or within a +limited distance of their shores." "On the side of Lower Canada there +should be such a line of demarcation as may establish a direct +communication between Quebec and Halifax."<a name="FNanchor_395_395" id="FNanchor_395_395"></a><a href="#Footnote_395_395" class="fnanchor">[395]</a></p> + +<p>Such were the political and military projects with which the British +ministry entered upon the summer campaign of 1814 in Canada. Luckily, +although Napoleon had fallen, conditions in Europe were still too +unsettled and volcanic to permit Great Britain seriously to weaken her +material force there. Two weeks later Castlereagh wrote to the Prime +Minister: "Are we prepared to continue the war for territorial +arrangements?" "Is it desirable to take the chances of the campaign, +and then be governed by circumstances?"<a name="FNanchor_396_396" id="FNanchor_396_396"></a><a href="#Footnote_396_396" class="fnanchor">[396]</a> The last sentence defines +the policy actually followed; and the chances went definitely against +it when Macdonough destroyed the British fleet on Lake Champlain. +Except at Baltimore and New Orleans,—mere defensive +successes,—nothing but calamity befell the American arms. To the +battle of Lake Champlain it was owing that the British occupancy of +United States soil at the end of the year was such that the Duke of +Wellington advised that no claim for territorial cession could be +<span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_357" id="PageV2_357">[357]</a></span>considered to exist, and that the basis of <i>uti possidetis</i>, upon +which it was proposed to treat, was untenable.<a name="FNanchor_397_397" id="FNanchor_397_397"></a><a href="#Footnote_397_397" class="fnanchor">[397]</a> The earnestness of +the Government, however, in seeking the changes specified, is +indicated by the proposition seriously made to the Duke to take the +command in America.</p> + +<p>Owing to the military conditions hitherto existing on the American +continent, the power to take the offensive throughout the lake +frontier had rested with the United States Government; and the +direction given by this to its efforts had left Lake Champlain +practically out of consideration. Sir George Prevost, being thrown on +the defensive, could only conform to the initiative of his adversary. +For these reasons, whatever transactions took place in this quarter up +to the summer of 1814 were in characteristic simply episodes; an +epithet which applies accurately to the more formidable, but brief, +operations here in 1814, as also to those in Louisiana. Whatever +intention underlay either attempt, they were in matter of fact almost +without any relations of antecedent or consequent. They stood by +themselves, and not only may, but should, be so considered. Prior to +them, contemporary reference to Lake Champlain, or to Louisiana, is +both rare and casual. For this reason, mention of earlier occurrences +in either of these quarters has heretofore been deferred, as +irrelevant and intrusive if introduced among other events, with which +they coincided in time, but had no further connection. A brief +narrative of them will now be presented, as a necessary introduction +to the much more important incidents of 1814.</p> + +<p>At the beginning of hostilities the balance of naval power on Lake +Champlain rested with the United States, and so continued until June, +1813. The force on each side was small to triviality, nor did either +make any serious attempt <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_358" id="PageV2_358">[358]</a></span>to obtain a marked preponderance. The +Americans had, however, three armed sloops, the "President," +"Growler," and "Eagle," to which the British could oppose only one. +Both parties had also a few small gunboats and rowing galleys, in the +number of which the superiority lay with the British. Under these +relative conditions the Americans ranged the lake proper at will; the +enemy maintaining his force in the lower narrows, at Isle aux Noix, +which was made a fortified station.</p> + +<p>On June 1, 1813, a detachment of British boats, coming up the lake, +passed the boundary line and fired upon some small American craft. The +"Eagle" and "Growler," being then at Plattsburg, started in pursuit on +the 2d, and by dark had entered some distance within the narrows, +where they anchored. The following morning they sighted three of the +enemy's gunboats and chased them with a fair south wind; but, being by +this means led too far, they became entangled in a place where +manœuvring was difficult. The officers of the royal navy designated +for service on Lake Champlain had not yet arrived, and the flotilla +was at the disposition of the commanding army officer at Isle aux +Noix. Only one sloop being visible at first to the garrison, he sent +out against her the three gunboats; but when the second appeared he +landed a number of men on each bank, who took up a position to rake +the vessels. The action which followed lasted three hours. The +circumstances were disadvantageous to the Americans; but the fair wind +with which they had entered was ahead for return, and to beat back was +impossible in so narrow a channel. The "Eagle" received a raking shot, +and had to be run ashore to avoid sinking. Both then surrendered, and +the "Eagle" was afterwards raised. The two prizes were taken into the +British service; and as this occurrence followed immediately after the +capture of the "Chesapeake" by the "Shannon," they were called "Broke" +and "Shannon." <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_359" id="PageV2_359">[359]</a></span>These names afterwards were changed, apparently by +Admiralty order, to "Chub" and "Finch," under which they took part in +the battle of Lake Champlain, where they were recaptured.</p> + +<p>Although not built for war, but simply purchased vessels of not over +one hundred tons, this loss was serious; for by it superiority on the +lake passed to the British, and with some fluctuation so remained for +a twelvemonth,—till May, 1814. They were still too deficient in men +to profit at once by their success; the difficulty of recruiting in +Canada being as great as in the United States, and for very similar +reasons. "It is impossible to enlist seamen in Quebec for the lakes, +as merchants are giving twenty-five to thirty guineas for the run to +England. Recruits desert as soon as they receive the bounty."<a name="FNanchor_398_398" id="FNanchor_398_398"></a><a href="#Footnote_398_398" class="fnanchor">[398]</a> +After some correspondence, Captain Everard, of the sloop of war +"Wasp," then lying at Quebec, consented to leave his ship, go with a +large part of her crew to Champlain, man the captured sloops, and raid +the American stations on the lake. A body of troops being embarked, +the flotilla left Isle aux Noix July 29. On the 30th they came to +Plattsburg, destroyed there the public buildings, with the barracks at +Saranac, and brought off a quantity of stores. A detachment was sent +to Champlain Town, and a landing made also at Swanton in Vermont, +where similar devastation was inflicted on public property. Thence +they went up the lake to Burlington, where Macdonough, who was +alarmingly short of seamen since the capture of the "Eagle" and +"Growler," had to submit to seeing himself defied by vessels lately +his own. After seizing a few more small lake craft, Everard on August +3 hastened back, anxious to regain his own ship and resume the regular +duties, for abandoning which he had no authority save his own. The +step he had taken was hardly to be anticipated <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_360" id="PageV2_360">[360]</a></span>from a junior officer, +commanding a ship on sea service so remote from the scene of the +proposed operation; and the rapidity of his action took the Americans +quite by surprise, for there had been no previous indication of +activity. As soon as Macdonough heard of his arrival at Isle aux Noix, +he wrote for re-enforcements, but it was too late. His letter did not +reach New York till the British had come and gone.<a name="FNanchor_399_399" id="FNanchor_399_399"></a><a href="#Footnote_399_399" class="fnanchor">[399]</a></p> + +<p>Upon Everard's return both he and Captain Pring, of the royal navy, +who had been with him during the foray and thenceforth remained +attached to the fortunes of the Champlain flotilla, recommended the +building of a large brig of war and two gunboats, in order to preserve +upon the lake the supremacy they had just asserted in act. With the +material at hand, they said, these vessels could all be afloat within +eight weeks after their keels were laid.<a name="FNanchor_400_400" id="FNanchor_400_400"></a><a href="#Footnote_400_400" class="fnanchor">[400]</a> This suggestion appears +to have been acted upon; for in the following March it was reported +that there were building at St. John's a brig to carry twenty guns, a +schooner of eighteen, and twelve 2-gun galleys. However, the Americans +also were by this time building, and at the crucial moment came out a +very little ahead in point of readiness.</p> + +<p>Nothing further of consequence occurred during 1813. After the British +departed, Macdonough received a re-enforcement of men. He then went in +person with such vessels as he had to the foot of the lake, taking +station at Plattsburg, and advancing at times to the boundary line, +twenty-five miles below. The enemy occasionally showed themselves, but +were apparently indisposed to action in their then state of +forwardness. Later the American flotilla retired up the lake to Otter +Creek in Vermont, where, on April 11, 1814, was launched the ship +"Saratoga," which carried Macdonough's pendant in the battle five +months <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_361" id="PageV2_361">[361]</a></span>afterwards. On May 10, Pring, hoping to destroy the American +vessels before ready for service, made another inroad with his +squadron, consisting now of the new brig, called the "Linnet," five +armed sloops, and thirteen galleys. On the 14th he was off Otter Creek +and attacked; but batteries established on shore compelled him to +retire. Macdonough in his report of this transaction mentions only +eight galleys, with a bomb vessel, as the number of the enemy engaged. +The new brig was probably considered too essential to naval control to +be risked against shore guns; a decision scarcely to be contested, +although Prevost seems to have been dissatisfied as usual with the +exertions of the navy. The American force at this time completed, or +approaching completion, was, besides the "Saratoga," one schooner, +three sloops,<a name="FNanchor_401_401" id="FNanchor_401_401"></a><a href="#Footnote_401_401" class="fnanchor">[401]</a> and ten gunboats or galleys. Of the sloops one +only, the "Preble," appears to have been serviceable. The "President" +and another called the "Montgomery" were not in the fight at +Plattsburg; where Macdonough certainly needed every gun he could +command. A brig of twenty guns, called the "Eagle," was subsequently +laid down and launched in time for the action. Prevost reported at +this period that a new ship was building at Isle aux Noix, which would +make the British force equal to the American.</p> + +<div class="img"><a name="imagep360" id="imagep360"></a> +<a href="images/imagep360.jpg"> +<img border="0" src="images/imagep360.jpg" width="50%" alt="Captain Thomas Macdonough" /></a><br /> +<p class="cen" style="margin-top: .2em;">CAPTAIN THOMAS MACDONOUGH.<br /> +<i>From the painting by Gilbert Stuart in the Century Club, New York, by +permission of Rodney Macdonough, Esq.</i><span class="totoi"><a href="#toi">ToList</a></span></p> +</div> + +<p>Before the end of May, 1814, Macdonough's fleet was ready, except the +"Eagle"; and on the 29th he was off Plattsburg, with the "Saratoga," +the schooner "Ticonderoga," the sloop "Preble," and ten galleys. The +command of the lake thus established permitted the transfer of troops +and stores, before locked up in Burlington. The "Saratoga" carried +twenty-six guns; of which eight were long 24-pounders, the others +carronades, six 42-pounders, and twelve 32's. She was so much superior +to the "Linnet," <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_362" id="PageV2_362">[362]</a></span>which had only sixteen guns, long 12-pounders, that +the incontestable supremacy remained with the Americans, and it was +impossible for the British squadron to show itself at all until their +new ship was completed. She was launched August 25,<a name="FNanchor_402_402" id="FNanchor_402_402"></a><a href="#Footnote_402_402" class="fnanchor">[402]</a> and called +the "Confiance."<a name="FNanchor_403_403" id="FNanchor_403_403"></a><a href="#Footnote_403_403" class="fnanchor">[403]</a> The name excited some derision after her defeat +and capture, but seems to have had no more arrogant origin than the +affectionate recollection of the Commander-in-Chief on the lakes, Sir +James Yeo, for the vessel which he had first and long commanded, to +which he had been promoted for distinguished gallantry in winning her, +and in which he finally reached post-rank. The new "Confiance," from +which doubtless much was hoped, was her namesake. She was to carry +twenty-seven 24-pounders. One of these, being on a pivot, fought on +either side of the ship; thus giving her fourteen of these guns for +each broadside. In addition, she had ten carronades, four of them +32-pounders, and six 24's.</p> + +<p>On July 12, 1814, Prevost had reported the arrival at Montreal of the +first of four brigades from Wellington's Peninsular Army. These had +sailed from Bordeaux at the same period as the one destined for the +Atlantic coast operations, under General Ross, already related. He +acknowledged also the receipt of instructions, prescribing the +character of his operations, which he had anxiously requested the year +before. Among these instructions were "to give immediate protection to +his Majesty's possessions in America," by "the entire destruction of +Sackett's Harbor, and of the naval establishments on Lake Erie and +Lake Champlain."<a name="FNanchor_404_404" id="FNanchor_404_404"></a><a href="#Footnote_404_404" class="fnanchor">[404]</a> They will be obeyed, he wrote, as soon as the +whole force shall have arrived; but defensive measures only will be +practicable, until the complete command of <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_363" id="PageV2_363">[363]</a></span>Lakes Ontario and +Champlain shall be obtained, which cannot be expected before +September.<a name="FNanchor_405_405" id="FNanchor_405_405"></a><a href="#Footnote_405_405" class="fnanchor">[405]</a> The statement was perfectly correct. The command of +these lakes was absolutely essential to both parties to the war, if +intending to maintain operations in their neighborhood.</p> + +<p>On August 14, Prevost reported home that the troops from Bordeaux had +all arrived, and, with the exception of a brigade destined for +Kingston, would be at their points of formation by the 25th; at which +date his returns show that he had under his general command, in Upper +and Lower Canada, exclusive of officers, twenty-nine thousand four +hundred and thirty-seven men. All these were British regulars, with +the exception of four thousand seven hundred and six; of which last, +two thousand two hundred belonged to "foreign" regiments, and the +remainder to provincial corps. Of this total, from eleven thousand to +fourteen thousand accompanied him in his march to Plattsburg. Under +the same date he reported that the "Confiance" could not be ready +before September 15; for which time had he patiently waited, he would +at least have better deserved success. His decision as to his line of +advance was determined by a singular consideration, deeply mortifying +to American recollection, but which must be mentioned because of its +historical interest, as an incidental indication of the slow progress +of the people of the United States towards national sentiment. +"Vermont has shown a disinclination to the war, and, as it is sending +in specie and provisions, I will confine offensive operations to the +west side of Lake Champlain."<a name="FNanchor_406_406" id="FNanchor_406_406"></a><a href="#Footnote_406_406" class="fnanchor">[406]</a> Three weeks later he writes again, +"Two thirds of the army are supplied with beef by American +contractors, principally of Vermont and New York."<a name="FNanchor_407_407" id="FNanchor_407_407"></a><a href="#Footnote_407_407" class="fnanchor">[407]</a></p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_364" id="PageV2_364">[364]</a></span>That this was no slander was indignantly confirmed by a citizen of +Vermont, who wrote to General Izard, June 27, "Droves of cattle are +continually passing from the northern parts of this state into Canada +for the British." Izard, in forwarding the letter, said: "This +confirms a fact not only disgraceful to our countrymen but seriously +detrimental to the public interest. From the St. Lawrence to the ocean +an open disregard prevails for the laws prohibiting intercourse with +the enemy. The road to St. Regis [New York] is covered with droves of +cattle, and the river with rafts destined for the enemy. On the +eastern side of Lake Champlain the high roads are insufficient for the +cattle pouring into Canada. Like herds of buffaloes they press through +the forests, making paths for themselves. Were it not for these +supplies, the British forces in Canada would soon be suffering from +famine."<a name="FNanchor_408_408" id="FNanchor_408_408"></a><a href="#Footnote_408_408" class="fnanchor">[408]</a> The British commissary at Prescott wrote, June 19, 1814, +"I have contracted with a Yankee magistrate to furnish this post with +fresh beef. A major came with him to make the agreement; but, as he +was foreman of the grand jury of the court in which the Government +prosecutes the magistrates for high treason and smuggling, he turned +his back and would not see the paper signed."<a name="FNanchor_409_409" id="FNanchor_409_409"></a><a href="#Footnote_409_409" class="fnanchor">[409]</a> More vital still in +its treason to the interests of the country, Commodore Macdonough +reported officially, June 29, that one of his officers had seized two +spars, supposed from their size to be for the fore and mizzen masts of +the "Confiance," on the way to Canada, near the lines, under the +management of citizens of the United States; and eight days later +there were intercepted four others, which from their dimensions were +fitted for her mainmast and three topmasts.<a name="FNanchor_410_410" id="FNanchor_410_410"></a><a href="#Footnote_410_410" class="fnanchor">[410]</a> By this means the +British ship was to be enabled to sail for the attack on the <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_365" id="PageV2_365">[365]</a></span>American +fleet, and by this only; for to drag spars of that weight up the +rapids of the Richelieu, or over the rough intervening country, meant +at least unendurable delay. "The turpitude of many of our citizens in +this part of the country," wrote Macdonough, "furnishes the enemy with +every information he wants."<a name="FNanchor_411_411" id="FNanchor_411_411"></a><a href="#Footnote_411_411" class="fnanchor">[411]</a></p> + +<p>On August 29, four days after Prevost's divisions were expected to be +assembled at their designated rendezvous, Izard, in the face of the +storm gathering before him, started with his four thousand men from +Plattsburg for Sackett's Harbor, in obedience to the intimation of the +War Department, which he accepted as orders. Brigadier-General Macomb +was left to hold the works about Plattsburg with a force which he +stated did not exceed fifteen hundred effectives.<a name="FNanchor_412_412" id="FNanchor_412_412"></a><a href="#Footnote_412_412" class="fnanchor">[412]</a> His own brigade +having been broken up to strengthen Izard's division, none of this +force was organized, except four companies of one regiment. The +remainder were convalescents, or recruits of new regiments; soldiers +as yet only in name, and without the constituted regimental framework, +incorporation into which so much facilitates the transition from the +recruit to the veteran. On September 4 seven hundred militia from the +neighborhood joined, in response to a call from Macomb; and before the +final action of the 11th other militia from New York, and volunteers +from Vermont, across the lake, kept pouring in from all quarters, in +encouraging contrast to their fellow citizens who were making money by +abetting the enemy.</p> + +<p>Prevost's army, which had been assembled along the frontier of Lower +Canada, from the Richelieu River to the St. Lawrence, began its +forward march August 31; the <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_366" id="PageV2_366">[366]</a></span>leading brigade entering the State of +New York, and encamping that night at Champlain Town, a short distance +south of the boundary. By September 4 the whole body had reached to +the village of Chazy, twenty-five miles from Plattsburg. Thus far, to +the mouth of the Little Chazy River, where the supplies of the army +were to be landed, no opposition was experienced. The American +squadron waiting on the defensive at Plattsburg, the left flank of the +British received constant support from their flotilla of gunboats and +galleys under the command of Captain Pring, who seized also the +American Island La Motte, in the narrows of the lake, abreast the +Little Chazy. The following day, September 5, delays began to be met +through the trees felled and bridges broken by Macomb's orders. On the +6th there was some skirmishing between the advanced guards; but the +American militia "could not be prevailed on to stand, notwithstanding +the exertions of their officers, although the fields were divided by +strong stone walls, and they were told that the enemy could not +possibly cut them off."<a name="FNanchor_413_413" id="FNanchor_413_413"></a><a href="#Footnote_413_413" class="fnanchor">[413]</a> Deprived of this support, the small body +of regulars could do little, and the British Peninsulars pushed on +contemptuously, and almost silently. "They never deployed in their +whole march," reported Macomb, "always pressing on in column." That +evening they entered Plattsburg. Macomb retreated across the Saranac, +which divided the town. He removed from the bridges their planking, +which was used to form breastworks to dispute any attempt to force a +passage, and then retired to the <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_367" id="PageV2_367">[367]</a></span>works previously prepared by Izard. +These were on the bluffs on the south side of the Saranac, overlooking +the bay, and covering the peninsula embraced between the lake and the +river.</p> + +<p>From the 7th to the 11th, the day of the battle, the British were +employed in preparations for battering the forts, preliminary to an +assault, and there was constant skirmishing at the bridges and fords. +Macomb utilized the same time to strengthen his works, aided by the +numbers of militia continually arriving, who labored night and day +with great spirit. Prevost's purposes and actions were dominated by +the urgency of haste, owing to the lateness of the season; and this +motive co-operated with a certain captiousness of temper to +precipitate him now into a grave error of judgment and of conduct. At +Plattsburg he found the small American army intrenched behind a +fordable river, the bridges of which had been made useless; and in the +bay lay the American squadron, anchored with a view to defence. The +two were not strictly in co-operation, in their present position. +Tactically, they for the moment contributed little to each other's +support; for the reason that the position chosen judiciously by +Macdonough for the defence of the bay was too far from the works of +the army to receive—or to give—assistance with the guns of that day. +The squadron was a little over a mile from the army. It could not +remain there, if the British got possession of the works, for it would +be within range of injury at long shot; but in an engagement between +the hostile fleets the bluffs could have no share, no matter which +party held them, for the fire would be as dangerous to friend as to +foe.</p> + +<p>The question of probability, that the American squadron was within +long gunshot of the shore batteries, is crucial, for upon it would +depend the ultimate military judgment upon the management of Sir +George Prevost. That he <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_368" id="PageV2_368">[368]</a></span>felt this is evident by letters addressed on +his behalf to Macdonough; by A.W. Cochran, a lawyer of Quebec, to whom +Prevost, after his recall to England for trial, left the charge of +collecting testimony, and by Cadwalader Colden of New York.<a name="FNanchor_414_414" id="FNanchor_414_414"></a><a href="#Footnote_414_414" class="fnanchor">[414]</a> Both +inquire specifically as to this distance, Colden particularizing that +"it would be all important to learn that the American squadron were +during the engagement beyond the effectual range of the batteries." To +Colden, Macdonough replied guardedly, "It is my opinion that our +squadron was anchored one mile and a half from the batteries." The +answer to Cochran has not been found; but on the back of the letter +from him the Commodore sketched his recollection of the situation, +which is here reproduced. Without insisting unduly on the precision of +such a piece, it seems clear that he thought his squadron but little +more than half way towards the other side of the bay. Cumberland Head +being by survey two miles from the batteries, it would follow that the +vessels were a little over a mile from them. This inference is adopted +as more dependable than the estimate, "a mile and a half." Such eye +reckoning is notoriously uncertain; and this seemingly was made by +recollection, not contemporaneously.<a name="FNanchor_415_415" id="FNanchor_415_415"></a><a href="#Footnote_415_415" class="fnanchor">[415]</a></p> + +<p>The 24- and 32-pounder long gun of that day ranged a sea mile and a +half, with an elevation of less than fifteen degrees.<a name="FNanchor_416_416" id="FNanchor_416_416"></a><a href="#Footnote_416_416" class="fnanchor">[416]</a> They could +therefore annoy a squadron at or <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_369" id="PageV2_369">[369]</a></span>within that distance. The question +is not of best fighting range. It is whether a number of light built +and light draught vessels could hold their ground under such a +cannonade, knowing that a hostile squadron awaited them without. Even +at such random range, a disabling shot in hull or spars must be +expected. At whatever risk, departure is enforced.</p> + +<div class="img"><a name="imagep368" id="imagep368"></a> +<a href="images/imagep368.jpg"> +<img border="0" src="images/imagep368.jpg" width="50%" alt="Tracing from pencil sketch of Battle of L. Champlain" /></a><br /> +<p class="cen" style="margin-top: .2em; margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%;">Tracing from pencil sketch of Battle of L. Champlain, +made by Com. Macdonough on back of a letter of inquiry, addressed to +him within a year of the action.</p> + +<p class="cen" style="margin-top: .2em; margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%;">The names are not in the sketch; but with the letters, express the +author's understanding of the Commodore's meaning.<span class="totoi"><a href="#toi">ToList</a></span></p> +</div> + +<p>To a similar letter from Colden, General Macomb replied that he did +not think the squadron within range. There is also a statement in +Niles' Register<a name="FNanchor_417_417" id="FNanchor_417_417"></a><a href="#Footnote_417_417" class="fnanchor">[417]</a> that several British officers visited Macomb at +Plattsburg, and at their request experiments were made, presumably +trial shots, to ascertain whether the guns of the forts could have +annoyed the American squadron. It was found they could not. Macomb's +opinion may have rested upon this, and the conclusion may be just; but +it is open to remark that, as the squadron was not then there, its +assumed position depended upon memory,—like Macdonough's sketch. +Macomb said further, that "a fruitless attempt was made during the +action to elevate the guns so as to bear on the enemy; but none were +fired, all being convinced that the vessels were beyond their reach." +The worth of this conviction is shown by the next remark, which he +repeated under date of August 1, 1815.<a name="FNanchor_418_418" id="FNanchor_418_418"></a><a href="#Footnote_418_418" class="fnanchor">[418]</a> "This opinion was +strengthened by observations on the actual range of the guns of the +'Confiance'—her heaviest metal [24-pounders] falling upwards of five +hundred yards short of the shore." The "Confiance" was five hundred +yards further off than the American squadron, and to reach it her guns +would be elevated for that distance only. Because under such condition +they dropped their shot five hundred yards <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_370" id="PageV2_370">[370]</a></span>short of three thousand +five hundred yards, it is scarcely legitimate to infer that guns +elevated for three thousand could not carry so far.</p> + +<p>The arguments having been stated, it is to be remarked that, whatever +the truth, it is knowledge after the fact as far as Prevost was +concerned. In his report dated September 11, 1814, the day of the +action, he speaks of the difficulties which had been before him; among +them "blockhouses armed with <i>heavy</i> ordnance." This he then believed; +and whether this ordnance could reach the squadron he could only know +by trying. It was urgently proper, in view of his large land force, +and of the expectations of his Government, which had made such great +exertions for an attainable and important object, that he should storm +the works and try. After a careful estimate of the strength of the two +squadrons, I think that a seaman would certainly say that in the open +the British was superior; but decidedly inferior for an attack upon +the American at anchor. This was the opinion of the surviving British +officers, under oath, and of Downie. General Izard, who had been in +command at Plattsburg up to a fortnight before the attack, wrote +afterwards to the Secretary of War, "I may venture to assert that +without the works, Fort Moreau and its dependencies, Captain +Macdonough would not have ventured to await the enemy's attack in +Plattsburg Bay, but would have retired to the upper part of Lake +Champlain."<a name="FNanchor_419_419" id="FNanchor_419_419"></a><a href="#Footnote_419_419" class="fnanchor">[419]</a> The whole campaign turning upon naval control, the +situation was eminently one that called upon the army to drive the +enemy from his anchorage. The judgment of the author endorses the +words of Sir James Yeo: "There was not the least necessity for our +squadron giving the enemy such decided advantages by going into their +bay to engage them. Even had they been successful, it could not in the +least <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_371" id="PageV2_371">[371]</a></span>have assisted the troops in storming the batteries; whereas, +had our troops taken their batteries first, it would have obliged the +enemy's squadron to quit the bay and given ours a fair chance."<a name="FNanchor_420_420" id="FNanchor_420_420"></a><a href="#Footnote_420_420" class="fnanchor">[420]</a> +At the Court Martial two witnesses, Lieutenant Drew of the "Linnet," +and Brydone, master of the "Confiance," swore that after the action +Macdonough removed his squadron to Crab Island, out of range of the +batteries. Macdonough in his report does not mention this; nor was it +necessary that he should.</p> + +<p>In short, though apparently so near, the two fractions of the American +force, the army and the navy, were actually in the dangerous military +condition of being exposed to be beaten in detail; and the destruction +of either would probably be fatal to the other. The largest two +British vessels, "Confiance" and "Linnet," were slightly inferior to +the American "Saratoga" and "Eagle" in aggregate weight of broadside; +but, like the "General Pike" on Ontario in 1813, the superiority of +the "Confiance" in long guns, and under one captain, would on the open +lake have made her practically equal to cope with the whole American +squadron, and still more with the "Saratoga" alone, assuming that the +"Linnet" gave the "Eagle" some occupation.</p> + +<p>It would seem clear, therefore, that the true combination for the +British general would have been to use his military superiority, vast +in quality as in numbers, to reduce the works and garrison at +Plattsburg. That accomplished, the squadron would be driven to the +open lake, where the "Confiance" could bring into play her real +superiority, instead of being compelled to sacrifice it by attacking +vessels in a carefully chosen position, ranged with a seaman's eye for +defence, and prepared with a seaman's foresight for every contingency. +Prevost, however, <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_372" id="PageV2_372">[372]</a></span>became possessed with the idea that a joint attack +was indispensable,<a name="FNanchor_421_421" id="FNanchor_421_421"></a><a href="#Footnote_421_421" class="fnanchor">[421]</a> and in communicating his purpose to the +commander of the squadron, Captain Downie, he used language +indefensible in itself, tending to goad a sensitive man into action +contrary to his better judgment; and he clenched this injudicious +proceeding with words which certainly implied an assurance of assault +by the army on the works, simultaneous with that of the navy on the +squadron.</p> + +<p>Captain Downie had taken command of the Champlain fleet only on +September 2. He was next in rank to Yeo on the lakes, a circumstance +that warranted his orders; the immediate reason for which, however, as +explained by Yeo to the Admiralty, was that his predecessor's temper +had shown him unfit for chief command. He had quarrelled with Pring, +and Yeo felt the change essential. Downie, upon arrival, found the +"Confiance" in a very incomplete state, for which he at least was in +no wise responsible. He had brought with him a first lieutenant in +whom he had merited confidence, and the two worked diligently to get +her into shape. The crew had been assembled hurriedly by draughts from +several ships at Quebec, from the 39th regiment, and from the marine +artillery. The last detachment came on board the night but one before +the battle. They thus were unknown by face to their officers, and +largely to one another. Launched August 25, the ship hauled from the +wharf into the stream September 7, and the same day started for the +front, being towed by boats against a head wind and downward current. +Behind her dragged a batteau carrying her powder, while her magazine +was being finished.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_373" id="PageV2_373">[373]</a></span>The next day a similar painful advance was made, and the crew then +were stationed at the guns, while the mechanics labored at their +fittings. That night she anchored off Chazy, where the whole squadron +was now gathered. The 9th was spent at anchor, exercising the guns; +the mechanics still at work. In fact, the hammering and driving +continued until two hours before the ship came under fire, when the +last gang shoved off, leaving her still unfinished. "This day"—the +9th—wrote the first lieutenant, Robertson, "employed setting-up +rigging, scraping decks, manning and arranging the gunboats. Exercised +at great guns. Artificers employed fitting beds, coins, belaying pins, +etc;"<a name="FNanchor_422_422" id="FNanchor_422_422"></a><a href="#Footnote_422_422" class="fnanchor">[422]</a>—essentials for fighting the guns and working the sails. It +scarcely needs the habit of a naval seaman to recognize that even +three or four days' grace for preparation would immensely increase +efficiency. Nevertheless, such was the pressure from without that the +order was given for the squadron to go into action next day; and this +was prevented only by a strong head wind, against which there was not +channel space to beat.</p> + +<p>As long as Prevost was contending with the difficulties of his own +advance he seems not to have worried Downie; but as soon as fairly +before the works of Plattsburg he initiated a correspondence, which on +his part became increasingly peremptory. It will be remembered that he +not only was much the senior in rank,—as in years,—but also +Governor-General of Canada. Nor should it be forgotten that he had +known and written a month before that the "Confiance" could not be +ready before September 15. He knew, as his subsequent action showed, +that if the British fleet were disabled his own progress was hopeless; +and, if he could not understand that to a ship so lately afloat a day +was worth a week of ordinary conditions, he should at least have +realized that the naval captain could judge better <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_374" id="PageV2_374">[374]</a></span>than he when she +was ready for battle. On September 7 he wrote to urge Downie, who +replied the same day with assurances of every exertion to hasten +matters. The 8th he sent information of Macdonough's arrangements by +an aid, who carried also a letter saying that "it is of the highest +importance that the ships, vessels, and gunboats, under your command, +should combine a co-operation with the division of the army under my +command. I only wait for your arrival to proceed against General +Macomb's last position on the south bank of the Saranac." On the 9th +he wrote, "In consequence of your communication of yesterday I have +postponed action until your squadron is prepared to co-operate. I need +not dwell with you on the evils resulting to both services from +delay." He inclosed reports received from deserters that the American +fleet was insufficiently manned; and that when the "Eagle" arrived, a +few days before, they had swept the guard houses of prisoners to +complete her crew. A postscript conveyed a scarcely veiled intimation +that an eye was kept on his proceedings. "Captain Watson of the +provincial cavalry is directed to remain at Little Chazy until you are +preparing to get underway, when he is instructed to return to this +place with the intelligence."<a name="FNanchor_423_423" id="FNanchor_423_423"></a><a href="#Footnote_423_423" class="fnanchor">[423]</a></p> + +<p>Thus pressed, Downie, as has been said, gave orders to sail at +midnight, with the expectation of rounding into Plattsburg Bay about +dawn, and proceeding to an immediate attack. This purpose was +communicated formally to Prevost. The preventing cause, the head wind, +was obvious enough, and spoke for itself; but the check drew from +Prevost words which stung Downie to the quick. "In consequence of your +letter the troops have been held in readiness, since six o'clock this +morning, to storm the enemy's works at nearly the same moment as the +naval action <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_375" id="PageV2_375">[375]</a></span>begins in the bay. I ascribe the disappointment I have +experienced to the unfortunate change of wind, and shall rejoice to +learn that my reasonable expectations have been frustrated by no other +cause." The letter was sent by the aid, Major Coore, who had carried +the others; and both he and Pring, who were present, testified to the +effect upon Downie. Coore, in a vindication of Prevost, wrote, "After +perusing it, Captain Downie said with some warmth, 'I am surprised Sir +George Prevost should think necessary to urge me upon this subject. He +must feel I am as desirous of proceeding to active operations as he +can be; but I am responsible for the squadron, and no man shall make +me lead it into action before I consider it in fit condition.'"<a name="FNanchor_424_424" id="FNanchor_424_424"></a><a href="#Footnote_424_424" class="fnanchor">[424]</a> +Nevertheless, the effect was produced; for he remarked afterward to +Pring, "This letter does not deserve an answer, but I will convince +him that the naval force will not be backward in their share of the +attack."<a name="FNanchor_425_425" id="FNanchor_425_425"></a><a href="#Footnote_425_425" class="fnanchor">[425]</a></p> + +<p>It was arranged that the approach of the squadron should be signalled +by scaling the guns,—firing cartridges without shot; and Downie +certainty understood, and informed his officers generally, that the +army would assault in co-operation with the attack of the fleet. The +precise nature of his expectation was clearly conveyed to Pring, who +had represented the gravity of this undertaking. "When the batteries +are stormed and taken possession of by the British land forces, which +the commander of the land forces has promised to do at the moment the +naval action commences, the enemy will be obliged to quit their +position, whereby we shall obtain decided advantage over them during +their confusion. I would otherwise prefer fighting them on the lake, +and would wait until our force is in an efficient state; but I fear +they would take shelter up the lake and would <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_376" id="PageV2_376">[376]</a></span>not meet me on equal +terms."<a name="FNanchor_426_426" id="FNanchor_426_426"></a><a href="#Footnote_426_426" class="fnanchor">[426]</a> The following morning, September 11, the wind being fair +from northeast, the British fleet weighed before daylight and stood up +the narrows for the open lake and Plattsburg Bay. About five o'clock +the agreed signal was given by scaling the guns, the reports of which +it was presumed must certainly be heard by the army at the then +distance of six or seven miles, with the favorable air blowing. At +7.30, near Cumberland Head, the squadron hove-to, and Captain Downie +went ahead in a boat to reconnoitre the American position.</p> + +<p>For defence against the hostile squadron, Macdonough had had to rely +solely on his own force, and its wise disposition by him. On shore, a +defensive position is determined by the circumstances of the ground +selected, improved by fortification; all which gives strength +additional to the number of men. A sailing squadron anchored for +defence similarly gained force by adapting its formation to the +circumstances of the anchorage, and to known wind conditions, with +careful preparations to turn the guns in any direction; deliberate +precautions, not possible to the same extent to the assailant +anchoring under fire. To this is to be added the release of the crew +from working sails to manning the guns.</p> + +<p>Plattsburg Bay, in which the United States squadron was anchored, is +two miles wide, and two long. It lies north and south, open to the +southward. Its eastern boundary is called Cumberland Head. The British +vessels, starting from below, in a channel too narrow to beat, must +come up with a north wind. To insure that this should be ahead, or +bring them close on the wind, after rounding the Head,—a condition +unfavorable for attack,—Macdonough fixed the head of his line as far +north as was safe; having in mind that the enemy might bring guns to +the shore <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_377" id="PageV2_377">[377]</a></span>north of the Saranac. His order thence extended southward, +abreast of the American works, and somewhat nearer the Cumberland than +the Plattsburg side. The wind conditions further made it expedient to +put the strongest vessels to the northward,—to windward,—whence they +would best be able to manœuvre as circumstances might require. The +order from north to south therefore was: the brig "Eagle," twenty +guns; the ship "Saratoga," twenty-six; the "Ticonderoga" schooner, +seven, and the sloop "Preble," seven.</p> + +<p>Macdonough's dispositions being perfectly under observation, Captain +Downie framed his plan accordingly.<a name="FNanchor_427_427" id="FNanchor_427_427"></a><a href="#Footnote_427_427" class="fnanchor">[427]</a> The "Confiance" should engage +the "Saratoga;" but, before doing so, would pass along the "Eagle," +from north to south, give her a broadside, and then anchor head and +stern across the bows of the "Saratoga." After this, the "Linnet," +supported by the "Chub," would become the opponent of the "Eagle," +reduced more nearly to equality by the punishment already received. +Three British vessels would thus grapple the two strongest enemies. +The "Finch" was to attack the American rear, supported by all the +British gunboats—eleven in number. There were American gunboats, or +galleys, as well, which Macdonough distributed in groups, inshore of +his order; but, as was almost invariably the case, these light vessels +exerted no influence on the result.</p> + +<p>This being the plan, when the wind came northeast on the morning of +September 11, the British stood up the lake in column, as follows: +"Finch," "Confiance," "Linnet," "Chub." Thus, when they rounded +Cumberland Head, and simultaneously changed course towards the +American line, they would be properly disposed to reach the several +places assigned. As the vessels came round the Head, to Downie's +dismay no co-operation by the army was visible. <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_378" id="PageV2_378">[378]</a></span>He was fairly +committed to his movement, however, and could only persist. As the +initial act was to be the attack upon the "Eagle" by the "Confiance," +she led in advance of her consorts, which caused a concentration of +the hostile guns upon her; the result being that she was unable to +carry out her part. The wind also failed, and she eventually anchored +five hundred yards from the American line. Her first broadside is said +to have struck down forty, or one fifth of the "Saratoga's" crew. As +in the case of the "Chesapeake," this shows men of naval training, +accustomed to guns; but, as with the "Chesapeake," lack of +organization, of the habit of working together, officers and men, was +to tell ere the end. Fifteen minutes after the action began Captain +Downie was killed, leaving in command Lieutenant Robertson.</p> + +<div class="img"><a name="imagep377" id="imagep377"></a> +<a href="images/imagep377.jpg"> +<img border="0" src="images/imagep377.jpg" width="57%" alt="BATTLE OF LAKE CHAMPLAIN" /></a><br /> +<p class="cen" style="margin-top: .2em;">BATTLE OF LAKE CHAMPLAIN<span class="totoi"><a href="#toi">ToList</a></span></p> +</div> + +<p>The "Linnet" reached her berth and engaged the "Eagle" closely; but +the "Chub," which was to support her, received much damage to her +sails and rigging, and the lieutenant in charge was nervously +prostrated by a not very severe wound. Instead of anchoring, she was +permitted to drift helplessly, and so passed through the American +order, where she hauled down her colors. Though thus disappointed of +the assistance intended for her, the "Linnet" continued to fight +manfully and successfully, her opponent finally quitting the line; a +result to which the forward battery of the "Confiance" in large +measure contributed.<a name="FNanchor_428_428" id="FNanchor_428_428"></a><a href="#Footnote_428_428" class="fnanchor">[428]</a> The "Finch," by an error of judgment on the +part of her commander, did not keep near enough to the wind. She +therefore failed to reach her position, near the "Ticonderoga;" and +the breeze afterwards falling, she could not retrieve her error. +Ultimately, she went ashore on Crab Island, a mile to the southward. +This remoteness enabled her to keep her flag flying till her consorts +had surrendered; but the credit of being last to strike belongs really +to the <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_379" id="PageV2_379">[379]</a></span>"Linnet," Captain Pring. By the failure of the "Finch," the +"Ticonderoga" underwent no attack except by the British gunboats. +Whatever might possibly have come of this was frustrated by the +misbehavior of most of them. Four fought with great gallantry and +persistence, eliciting much admiration from their opponents; but the +remainder kept at distance, the commander of the whole actually +running away, and absconding afterwards to avoid trial. The +"Ticonderoga" maintained her position to the end; but the weak +"Preble" was forced from her anchors, and ran ashore under the +Plattsburg batteries.</p> + +<p>The fight thus resolved itself into a contest between the "Saratoga" +and "Eagle," on one side, the "Confiance" and "Linnet" on the other. +The wind being north-northeast, the ships at their anchors headed so +that the forward third of the "Confiance's" battery bore upon the +"Eagle," and only the remaining two thirds upon the "Saratoga." This +much equalized conditions all round. It was nine o'clock when she +anchored. At 10.30 the "Eagle," having many of her guns on the engaged +side disabled, cut her cable, ran down the line, and placed herself +south of the "Saratoga," anchoring by the stern. This had the effect +of turning towards the enemy her other side, the guns of which were +still uninjured. "In this new position," wrote Lieutenant Robertson, +"she kept up a destructive fire on the "Confiance," without being +exposed to a shot from that ship or the "Linnet." On the other hand, +Macdonough found the "Saratoga" suffer from the "Linnet," now relieved +of her immediate opponent."<a name="FNanchor_429_429" id="FNanchor_429_429"></a><a href="#Footnote_429_429" class="fnanchor">[429]</a></p> + +<p>By this time the fire of both the "Saratoga" and "Confiance" had +materially slackened, owing to the havoc among guns and men. Nearly +the whole battery on the starboard side of the United States ship was +dismounted, or otherwise unserviceable. The only resource was to +bring <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_380" id="PageV2_380">[380]</a></span>the uninjured side towards the enemy, as the "Eagle" had just +done; but to use the same method, getting under way, would be to +abandon the fight, for there was not astern another position of +usefulness for the "Saratoga." There was nothing for it but to +"wind"<a name="FNanchor_430_430" id="FNanchor_430_430"></a><a href="#Footnote_430_430" class="fnanchor">[430]</a> the ship—turn her round where she was. Then appeared the +advantage attendant upon the defensive, if deliberately utilized. The +"Confiance" standing in had had shot away, one after another, the +anchors and ropes upon which she depended for such a manœuvre.<a name="FNanchor_431_431" id="FNanchor_431_431"></a><a href="#Footnote_431_431" class="fnanchor">[431]</a> +The "Saratoga's" resources were unimpaired. A stern anchor was let go, +the bow cable cut, and the ship winded, either by force of the wind, +or by the use of "springs"<a name="FNanchor_432_432" id="FNanchor_432_432"></a><a href="#Footnote_432_432" class="fnanchor">[432]</a> before prepared, presenting to the +"Confiance" her uninjured broadside—for fighting purposes a new +vessel. The British ship, having now but four guns that could be used +on the side engaged,<a name="FNanchor_433_433" id="FNanchor_433_433"></a><a href="#Footnote_433_433" class="fnanchor">[433]</a> must do the like, or be hopelessly +overmatched. The stern anchor prepared having been shot away, an +effort was made to swing her by a new spring on the bow cable; but +while this slow process was carrying on, and the ship so far turned as +to be at right angles with the American line, a raking shot entered, +killing and wounding several of the crew. Then, reported Lieutenant +Robertson, the surviving officer in command, "the ship's company +declared they would stand no longer to their quarters, nor could the +officers with their utmost exertions rally them." The vessel was in a +sinking condition, kept afloat by giving her a marked heel to +starboard, by running in the guns on the port side, so as to bring the +shot holes out of water.<a name="FNanchor_434_434" id="FNanchor_434_434"></a><a href="#Footnote_434_434" class="fnanchor">[434]</a> The wounded on the deck below had to be +continually moved, lest they should be drowned where they lay. She +drew but eight and a half <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_381" id="PageV2_381">[381]</a></span>feet of water. Her colors were struck at +about 11 <span class="fakesc">A.M.</span>; the "Linnet's" fifteen minutes later. By +Macdonough's report, the action had lasted two hours and twenty +minutes, without intermission.</p> + +<div class="img"><a name="imagep380" id="imagep380"></a> +<a href="images/imagep380.jpg"> +<img border="0" src="images/imagep380.jpg" width="43%" alt="The Battle of Lake Champlain" /></a><br /> +<p class="cen" style="margin-top: .2em;">THE BATTLE OF LAKE CHAMPLAIN.<br /> +<i>Drawn by Henry Reuterdahl.</i><span class="totoi"><a href="#toi">ToList</a></span></p> +</div> + +<p>Few combats have been more resolutely contested. The "Saratoga" had +fifty-five round shot in her hull; the "Confiance," one hundred and +five.<a name="FNanchor_435_435" id="FNanchor_435_435"></a><a href="#Footnote_435_435" class="fnanchor">[435]</a> Of the American crew of two hundred and ten men, +twenty-eight were killed and twenty-nine wounded. The British loss is +not known exactly. Robertson reported that there were thirty-eight +bodies sent ashore for interment, besides those thrown overboard in +action. This points to a loss of about fifty killed, and James states +the wounded at about sixty; the total was certainly more than one +hundred in a ship's company of two hundred and seventy.</p> + +<p>There was reason for obstinacy, additional to the natural resolution +of the parties engaged. The battle of Lake Champlain, more nearly than +any other incident of the War of 1812, merits the epithet "decisive." +The moment the issue was known, Prevost retreated into Canada; +entirely properly, as indicated by the Duke of Wellington's words +before and after. His previous conduct was open to censure, for he had +used towards Captain Downie urgency of pressure which induced that +officer to engage prematurely; "goaded" into action, as Yeo wrote. +Before the usual naval Court Martial, the officers sworn testified +that Downie had been led to expect co-operation, which in their +judgment would have reversed the issue; but that no proper assault was +made. Charges were preferred, and Prevost was summoned home; but he +died before trial. There remains therefore no sworn testimony on his +side, nor was there any adequate cross-examination of the naval +witnesses. In the judgment of the writer, it was incumbent upon +Prevost to assault the works when Downie was <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_382" id="PageV2_382">[382]</a></span>known to be approaching, +with a fair wind, in the hope of driving the American squadron from +its anchors to the open lake, where the real superiority of the +British could assert itself.<a name="FNanchor_436_436" id="FNanchor_436_436"></a><a href="#Footnote_436_436" class="fnanchor">[436]</a></p> + +<p>Castlereagh's "chances of the campaign" had gone so decidedly against +the British that no ground was left to claim territorial adjustments. +To effect these the war must be continued; and for this Great Britain +was not prepared, nor could she afford the necessary detachment of +force. In the completeness of Napoleon's downfall, we now are prone to +forget that remaining political conditions in Europe still required +all the Great Powers to keep their arms at hand.</p> + +<br /> +<hr style='width: 15%;' /> +<br /> + +<p>The war was practically ended by Prevost's retreat. What remained was +purely episodical in character, and should be so regarded. +Nevertheless, although without effect upon the issue, and indeed in +great part transacted after peace had been actually signed, it is so +directly consecutive with the war as to require united treatment.</p> + +<p>Very soon after reaching Bermuda, Vice-Admiral Cochrane, in pursuance +of the "confidential communications with which he was charged," the +character of which, he intimated to Warren,<a name="FNanchor_437_437" id="FNanchor_437_437"></a><a href="#Footnote_437_437" class="fnanchor">[437]</a> was a reason for +expediting the transfer of the <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_383" id="PageV2_383">[383]</a></span>command, despatched the frigate +"Orpheus" to the Appalachicola River to negotiate with the Creek and +other Indians. The object was to rouse and arm "our Indian allies in +the Southern States," and to arrange with them a system of training by +British officers, and a general plan of action; by which, "supporting +the Indian tribes situated on the confines of Florida, and in the back +parts of Georgia, it would be easy to reduce New Orleans, and to +distress the enemy very seriously in the neighboring provinces."<a name="FNanchor_438_438" id="FNanchor_438_438"></a><a href="#Footnote_438_438" class="fnanchor">[438]</a></p> + +<p>The "Orpheus" arrived at the mouth of the Appalachicola May 10, 1814, +and on the 20th her captain, Pigot, had an interview with the +principal Creek chiefs. He found<a name="FNanchor_439_439" id="FNanchor_439_439"></a><a href="#Footnote_439_439" class="fnanchor">[439]</a> that the feeling of their people +was very strong against the Americans; and from the best attainable +information he estimated that twenty-eight hundred warriors were ready +to take up arms with the British. There were said to be as many more +Choctaws thus disposed; and perhaps a thousand other Indians, then +dispersed and unarmed, could be collected. The negroes of Georgia +would probably also come over in crowds, once the movement started. +With a suitable number of British subalterns and drill sergeants, the +savages could be fitted to act in concert with British troops in eight +or ten weeks; for they were already familiar with the use of +fire-arms, and were moreover good horsemen. The season of the year +being still so early, there was ample time for the necessary training. +With these preparations, and adequate supplies of arms and military +stores, Pigot thought that a handful of British troops, co-operating +with the Creeks and Choctaws, could get possession of Baton Rouge, +from which New Orleans and the lower Mississippi would be an easy +conquest. Between Pensacola, still in the possession of Spain, and New +Orleans, Mobile was the only post held by <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_384" id="PageV2_384">[384]</a></span>the United States. In its +fort were two hundred troops, and in those up country not more than +seven hundred.</p> + +<p>When transmitting this letter, which, with his own of June 20, was +received at the Admiralty August 8, Cochrane endorsed most of Pigot's +recommendations. He gave as his own estimate, that to drive the +Americans entirely out of Louisiana and the Floridas would require not +more than three thousand British troops; to be landed at Mobile, where +they would be joined by all the Indians and the disaffected French and +Spaniards.<a name="FNanchor_440_440" id="FNanchor_440_440"></a><a href="#Footnote_440_440" class="fnanchor">[440]</a> In this calculation reappears the perennial error of +relying upon disaffected inhabitants, as well as savages. Disaffection +must be supported by intolerable conditions, before inhabitants will +stake all; not merely the chance of life, but the certainty of losing +property, if unsuccessful. Cochrane took the further practical step of +sending at once such arms and ammunition as the fleet could spare, +together with four officers and one hundred and eight non-commissioned +officers and privates of the marine corps, to train the Indians. These +were all under the command of Major Nicholls, who for this service was +given the local rank of Colonel. The whole were despatched July 23, in +the naval vessels "Hermes" and "Carron," for the Appalachicola. The +Admiral, while contemplating evidently a progress towards Baton Rouge, +looked also to coastwise operations; for he asked the Government to +furnish him vessels of light draught, to carry heavy guns into Lake +Ponchartrain, and to navigate the shoal water between it and Mobile, +now called Mississippi Sound.</p> + +<p>The Admiralty in reply<a name="FNanchor_441_441" id="FNanchor_441_441"></a><a href="#Footnote_441_441" class="fnanchor">[441]</a> reminded Cochrane of the <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_385" id="PageV2_385">[385]</a></span>former purpose +of the Government to direct operations against New Orleans, with a +very large force under Lord Hill, Wellington's second in the +Peninsular War. Circumstances had made it inexpedient to send so many +troops from Europe at this moment; but, in view of the Admiral's +recommendation, General Ross would be directed to co-operate in the +intended movement at the proper season, and his corps would be raised +to six thousand men, independent of such help in seamen and marines as +the fleet might afford. The re-enforcements would be sent to Negril +Bay, at the west end of Jamaica, which was made the general +rendezvous; and there Cochrane and Ross were directed to join not +later than November 20. The purpose of the Government in attempting +the enterprise was stated to be twofold. "First, to obtain command of +the embouchure of the Mississippi, so as to deprive the back +settlements of America of their communication with the sea; and, +secondly, to occupy some important and valuable possession, by the +restoration of which the conditions of peace might be improved, or +which we might be entitled to exact the cession of, as the price of +peace." Entire discretion was left with the two commanders as to the +method of proceeding, whether directly against New Orleans, by water, +or to its rear, by land, through the country of the Creeks; and they +were at liberty to abandon the undertaking in favor of some other, +should that course seem more suitable. When news of the capture of +Washington was received, two thousand additional troops were sent to +Bermuda, under the impression that the General might desire to push +his success on the Atlantic coast. These ultimately joined the +expedition two days before the attack on Jackson's lines. Upon the +death of General Ross, Sir Edward Pakenham was ordered to replace him; +but he did not arrive until after the landing, and had therefore no +voice in determining the general line of operations adopted.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_386" id="PageV2_386">[386]</a></span>These were the military instructions. To them were added certain +others, political in character, dictated mainly by the disturbed state +of Europe, and with an eye to appease the jealousies existing among +the Powers, which extended to American conditions, colonial and +commercial. While united against Napoleon, they viewed with distrust +the aggrandizement of Great Britain. Ross was ordered, therefore, to +discountenance any overture of the inhabitants to place themselves +under British dominion; but should he find a general and decided +disposition to withdraw from their recent connection with the United +States, with the view of establishing themselves as an independent +people, or of returning under the dominion of Spain, from which they +then had been separated less than twenty years, he was to give them +every support in his power. He must make them clearly understand, +however, that in the peace with the United States neither independence +nor restoration to Spain could be made a <i>sine quâ non</i>;<a name="FNanchor_442_442" id="FNanchor_442_442"></a><a href="#Footnote_442_442" class="fnanchor">[442]</a> there +being about that a finality, of which the Government had already been +warned in the then current negotiations with the American +commissioners. These instructions to Ross were communicated to Lord +Castlereagh at Vienna, to use as might be expedient in the discussions +of the Conference.</p> + +<p>No serious attempt was made in the direction of Baton Rouge, through +the back countries of Georgia and Florida; nor does there appear any +result of consequence from the mission of Colonel Nicholls. On +September 17 the "Hermes" and "Carron," supported by two brigs of war, +made an attack upon Fort Bowyer, a work of logs and sand commanding +the entrance to Mobile Bay. After a severe cannonade, lasting between +two and three hours, they were repulsed; and the "Hermes," running +aground, was set on fire by her captain to prevent her falling into +the hands of the enemy. Mobile was thus preserved from becoming the +<span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_387" id="PageV2_387">[387]</a></span>starting point of the expedition, as suggested by Cochrane; and that +this object underlay the attempt may be inferred from the finding of +the Court Martial upon Captain Percy of the "Hermes," which decided +that the attack was perfectly justified by the circumstances stated at +the trial.<a name="FNanchor_443_443" id="FNanchor_443_443"></a><a href="#Footnote_443_443" class="fnanchor">[443]</a></p> + +<p>In October, 1810, by executive proclamation of President Madison, the +United States had taken possession of the region between Louisiana and +the River Perdido,<a name="FNanchor_444_444" id="FNanchor_444_444"></a><a href="#Footnote_444_444" class="fnanchor">[444]</a> being the greater part of what was then known +as West Florida. The Spanish troops occupying Mobile, however, were +not then disturbed;<a name="FNanchor_445_445" id="FNanchor_445_445"></a><a href="#Footnote_445_445" class="fnanchor">[445]</a> nor was there a military occupation, except +of one almost uninhabited spot near Bay St. Louis.<a name="FNanchor_446_446" id="FNanchor_446_446"></a><a href="#Footnote_446_446" class="fnanchor">[446]</a> This +intervention was justified on the ground of a claim to the territory, +asserted to be valid; and occasion for it was found in the danger of a +foreign interference, resulting from the subversion of Spanish +authority by a revolutionary movement. By Great Britain it was +regarded as a usurpation, to effect which advantage had been taken of +the embarrassment of the Spaniards when struggling against Napoleon +for national existence. On May 14, 1812, being then on the verge of +war with Great Britain, the ally of Spain, an Act of Congress declared +the whole country annexed, and extended over it the jurisdiction of +the United States. Mobile was occupied April 15, 1813. Pensacola, east +of the Perdido, but close to it, remained in the hands of Spain, and +was used as a base of operations by the British fleet, both before and +after the attack of the "Hermes" and her consorts upon Fort Bowyer. +From there Nicholls announced that he had arrived in the Floridas for +the purpose of annoying "the only enemy Great Britain has in the +world"<a name="FNanchor_447_447" id="FNanchor_447_447"></a><a href="#Footnote_447_447" class="fnanchor">[447]</a>; and Captain Percy thence invited the pirates of Barataria +to join the British cause. <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_388" id="PageV2_388">[388]</a></span>Cochrane also informed the Admiralty that +for quicker communication, while operating in the Gulf, he intended to +establish a system of couriers through Florida, between Amelia Island +and Pensacola, both under Spanish jurisdiction.<a name="FNanchor_448_448" id="FNanchor_448_448"></a><a href="#Footnote_448_448" class="fnanchor">[448]</a> On the score of +neutrality, therefore, fault can scarcely be found with General +Jackson for assaulting the latter, which surrendered to him November +7. The British vessels departed, and the works were blown up; after +which the place was restored to the Spaniards.</p> + +<p>In acknowledging the Admiralty's letter of August 10, Cochrane said +that the diminution of numbers from those intended for Lord Hill would +not affect his plans; that, unless the United States had sent very +great re-enforcements to Louisiana, the troops now to be employed were +perfectly adequate, even without the marines. These he intended to +send under Rear-Admiral Cockburn, to effect a diversion by occupying +Cumberland Island, off the south coast of Georgia, about November 10, +whence the operations would be extended to the mainland. It was hoped +this would draw to the coast the American force employed against the +Indians, and so favor the movements in Louisiana.<a name="FNanchor_449_449" id="FNanchor_449_449"></a><a href="#Footnote_449_449" class="fnanchor">[449]</a> While not +expressly stated, the inference seems probable that Cochrane +still—October 3—expected to land at Mobile. For some reason +Cockburn's attack on Cumberland Island did not occur until January 12, +when the New Orleans business was already concluded; so that, although +successful, and prosecuted further to the seacoast, it had no +influence upon the general issues.</p> + +<p>Cochrane, with the division from the Atlantic coast, joined the +re-enforcements from England in Negril Bay, and thence proceeded to +Mississippi Sound; anchoring off Ship Island, December 8. On the 2d +General Jackson had arrived in New Orleans, whither had been ordered a +large <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_389" id="PageV2_389">[389]</a></span>part of the troops heretofore acting against the Creeks. The +British commanders had now determined definitely to attack the city +from the side of the sea. As there could be little hope for vessels +dependent upon sails to pass the forts on the lower Mississippi, +against the strong current, as was done by Farragut's steamers fifty +years later, it was decided to reach the river far above those works, +passing the army through some of the numerous bayous which intersect +the swampy delta to the eastward. From Ship Island this desired +approach could be made through Lake Borgne.</p> + +<p>For the defence of these waters there were stationed five American +gunboats and two or three smaller craft, the whole under command of +Lieutenant Thomas ap Catesby Jones. As even the lighter British ships +of war could not here navigate, on account of the shoalness, and the +troops, to reach the place of debarkation, the Bayou des Pêcheurs, at +the head of Lake Borgne, must go sixty miles in open boats, the +hostile gun vessels had first to be disposed of. Jones, who from an +advanced position had been watching the enemy's proceedings in +Mississippi Sound, decided December 12 that their numbers had so +increased as to make remaining hazardous. He therefore retired, both +to secure his retreat and to cause the boats of the fleet a longer and +more harassing pull to overtake him. The movement was none too soon, +for that night the British barges and armed boats left the fleet in +pursuit. Jones was not able to get as far as he wished, on account of +failure of wind; but nevertheless on the 13th the enemy did not come +up with him. During the night he made an attempt at further +withdrawal; but calm continuing, and a strong ebb-tide running, he was +compelled again to anchor at 1 <span class="fakesc">A.M.</span> of the 14th, and prepared +for battle. His five gunboats, with one light schooner, were ranged in +line across the channel way, taking the usual precautions <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_390" id="PageV2_390">[390]</a></span>of springs +on their cables and boarding nettings triced up. Unluckily for the +solidity of his order, the current set two of the gunboats, one being +his own, some distance to the eastward,—in advance of the others.</p> + +<p>At daylight the British flotilla was seen nine miles distant, at +anchor. By Jones' count it comprised forty-two launches and three +light gigs.<a name="FNanchor_450_450" id="FNanchor_450_450"></a><a href="#Footnote_450_450" class="fnanchor">[450]</a> They soon after weighed and pulled towards the +gunboats. At ten, being within long gunshot, they again anchored for +breakfast; after which they once more took to the oars. An hour later +they closed with their opponents. The British commander, Captain +Lockyer, threw his own boat, together with a half-dozen others, upon +Jones' vessel, "Number 156,"<a name="FNanchor_451_451" id="FNanchor_451_451"></a><a href="#Footnote_451_451" class="fnanchor">[451]</a> and carried her after a sharp +struggle of about twenty minutes, during which both Lockyer and Jones +were severely wounded. Her guns were then turned against her late +comrades, in support of the British boarders, and at the end of +another half-hour, at 12.40 <span class="fakesc">P.M.</span>, the last of them +surrendered.</p> + +<p>That this affair was very gallantly contested on both sides is +sufficiently shown by the extent of the British loss—seventeen killed +and seventy-seven wounded.<a name="FNanchor_452_452" id="FNanchor_452_452"></a><a href="#Footnote_452_452" class="fnanchor">[452]</a> They were of course in much larger +numbers than the Americans. No such attempt should be made except with +this advantage, and the superiority should be as great as is permitted +by the force at the disposal of the assailant.</p> + +<p>This obstacle to the movement of the troops being removed, debarkation +began at the mouth of the Bayou des <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_391" id="PageV2_391">[391]</a></span>Pêcheurs;<a name="FNanchor_453_453" id="FNanchor_453_453"></a><a href="#Footnote_453_453" class="fnanchor">[453]</a> whence the +British, undiscovered during their progress, succeeded in penetrating +by the Bayou Bienvenu and its tributaries to a point on the +Mississippi eight miles below New Orleans. The advance corps, sixteen +hundred strong, arrived there at noon, December 23, accompanied by +Major-General Keane, as yet in command of the whole army. The news +reached Jackson two hours later.</p> + +<p>Fresh from the experiences of Washington and Baltimore, the British +troops flattered themselves with the certainty of a quiet night. The +Americans, they said to each other, have never dared to attack. At +7.30, however, a vessel dropped her anchor abreast them, and a voice +was heard, "Give them this for the honor of America!" The words were +followed by the discharge of her battery, which swept through the +camp. Without artillery to reply, having but two light field guns, +while the assailant—the naval schooner "Caroline," Lieut. J.D. +Henley—had anchored out of musket range, the invaders, suffering +heavily, were driven to seek shelter behind the levee, where they lay +for nearly an hour.<a name="FNanchor_454_454" id="FNanchor_454_454"></a><a href="#Footnote_454_454" class="fnanchor">[454]</a> At the end of this, a dropping fire was heard +from above and inland. Jackson, with sound judgment and characteristic +energy, had decided to attack at once, although, by his own report, he +could as yet muster only fifteen hundred men, of whom but six hundred +were regulars. A confused and desperate night action followed, the men +on both sides fighting singly or in groups, ignorant often whether +those before them were friends or foes. The Americans eventually +withdrew, carrying with them sixty-six prisoners. Their loss in killed +and wounded was one <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_392" id="PageV2_392">[392]</a></span>hundred and thirty-nine; that of the British, two +hundred and thirteen.</p> + +<p>The noise of this rencounter hastened the remainder of the British +army, and by the night of December 24 the whole were on the ground. +Meantime, the "Caroline" had been joined by the ship "Louisiana," +which anchored nearly a mile above her. In her came Commodore +Patterson, in chief naval command. The presence of the two impelled +the enemy to a slight retrograde movement, out of range of their +artillery. The next morning, Christmas, Sir Edward Pakenham arrived +from England. A personal examination satisfied him that only by a +reconnaissance in force could he ascertain the American strength and +preparations, and that, as a preliminary to such attempt, the vessels +whose guns swept the line of advance must be driven off. On the 26th +the "Caroline" tried to get up stream to Jackson's camp, but could not +against a strong head wind; and on the 27th the British were able to +burn her with hot shot. The "Louisiana" succeeded in shifting her +place, and thenceforth lay on the west bank of the stream, abreast of +and flanking the entrenchments behind which Jackson was established.</p> + +<p>These obstacles gone, Pakenham made his reconnaissance. As described +by a participant,<a name="FNanchor_455_455" id="FNanchor_455_455"></a><a href="#Footnote_455_455" class="fnanchor">[455]</a> the British advanced four or five miles on +December 28, quite unaware what awaited them, till a turn in the road +brought them face to face with Jackson's entrenchments. These covered +a front of three fourths of a mile, and neither flank could be turned, +because resting either on the river or the swamp. They were not yet +complete, but afforded good shelter for riflemen, and had already +several cannon in position, while the "Louisiana's" broadside also +swept the ground in front. A hot artillery fire opened at once from +both ship and works, and when the British infantry advanced they +were <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_393" id="PageV2_393">[393]</a></span>met equally with musketry. The day's results convinced Pakenham +that he must resort to the erection of batteries before attempting an +assault; an unfortunate necessity, as the delay not only encouraged +the defenders, but allowed time for re-enforcement, and for further +development of their preparations. While the British siege pieces were +being brought forward, largely from the fleet, a distance of seventy +miles, the American Navy was transferring guns from the "Louisiana" to +a work on the opposite side of the river, which would flank the +enemies' batteries, as well as their columns in case of an attempt to +storm.</p> + +<div class="img"><a name="imagep392" id="imagep392"></a> +<a href="images/imagep392.jpg"> +<img border="0" src="images/imagep392th.jpg" width="95%" alt="Map Showing the Landing of the British Army" /></a><br /> +<p class="cen" style="margin-top: .2em; margin-bottom: .1em">MAP SHOWING THE LANDING OF THE BRITISH ARMY<span class="totoi"><a href="#toi">ToList</a></span></p> +<p class="cen" style="margin-top: .1em; margin-left: 5%; margin-right: 5%;">its several Encampments and Fortifications on the Mississippi and the +Works they erected on their Retreat; also the different Posts, +Encampments and Fortifications made by the several Corps of the +American Army during the whole Campaign<br /> +by Major A. LACARRIERE LATOUR Late Principal Engineer 7th Military +District U.S. Army 1815</p> +</div> + +<p>When the guns had arrived, the British on the night of December 31 +threw up entrenchments, finding convenient material in the sugar +hogsheads of the plantations. On the morning of January 1 they opened +with thirty pieces at a distance of five hundred yards; but it was +soon found that in such a duel they were hopelessly overmatched, a +result to which contributed the enfilading position of the naval +battery. "To the well-directed exertions from the other side of the +river," wrote Jackson to Patterson, after the close of the operations, +"must be ascribed in great measure that harassment of the enemy which +led to his ignominious flight." The British guns were silenced, and +for the moment abandoned; but during the night they were either +withdrawn or destroyed. It was thus demonstrated that no adequate +antecedent impression could be made on the American lines by +cannonade; and, as neither flank could be turned, no resource +remained, on the east shore at least, but direct frontal assault.</p> + +<p>But while Jackson's main position was thus secure, he ran great risk +that the enemy, by crossing the river, and successful advance there, +might establish themselves in rear of his works; which, if effected, +would put him at the same disadvantage that the naval battery now +imposed upon his opponents. His lines would be untenable if his +<span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_394" id="PageV2_394">[394]</a></span>antagonist commanded the water, or gained the naval battery on his +flank, to which the crew of the "Louisiana" and her long guns had now +been transferred. This the British also perceived, and began to +improve a narrow canal which then led from the head of the bayou to +the levee, but was passable by canoes only. They expected ultimately +to pierce the levee, and launch barges upon the river; but the work +was impeded by the nature of the soil, the river fell, and some of the +heavier boats grounding delayed the others, so that, at the moment of +final assault, only five hundred men had been transported instead of +thrice that number, as intended.<a name="FNanchor_456_456" id="FNanchor_456_456"></a><a href="#Footnote_456_456" class="fnanchor">[456]</a> What these few effected showed +how real and great was the danger.</p> + +<p>The canal was completed on the evening of January 6, on which day the +last re-enforcements from England, sixteen hundred men under +Major-General Lambert, reached the front. Daylight of January 8 was +appointed for the general assault; the intervening day and night being +allowed for preparations, and for dragging forward the boats into the +river. It was expected that the whole crossing party of fifteen +hundred, under Colonel Thornton, would be on the west bank, ready to +move forward at the same moment as the principal assault, which was +also to be supported by all the available artillery, playing upon the +naval battery to keep down its fire. There was therefore no lack of +ordinary military prevision; but after waiting until approaching +daylight began to throw more light than was wished upon the advance of +the columns, Pakenham gave the concerted signal. Owing to the causes +mentioned, Thornton had but just landed with his first detachment of +five hundred. Eager to seize the battery, from which was to be feared +so much destructive effect on the <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_395" id="PageV2_395">[395]</a></span>storming columns on the east bank, +he pushed forward at once with the men he had, his flank towards the +river covered by a division of naval armed boats; "but the ensemble of +the general movement," wrote the British general, Lambert, who +succeeded Pakenham in command, "was thus lost, and in a point which +was of the last importance to the [main] attack on the left bank of +the river."</p> + +<p>Not only was Thornton too weak, but he was eight hours<a name="FNanchor_457_457" id="FNanchor_457_457"></a><a href="#Footnote_457_457" class="fnanchor">[457]</a> late, +though not by his own fault. Commodore Patterson, whose duties kept +him on the west bank, reported that the naval battery was actively and +effectively employed upon the flank of the storming columns, and it +was not until some time after the engagement opened that he was +informed of the near approach of the British detachment on that side. +In prevision of such an attempt, a line of works had been thrown up at +the lower end of the naval battery, at right angles to it, to cover +its flank. This was weak, however, at the extremity farthest from the +river, and thither the British directed their attack. The defenders +there, some very newly joined Kentucky militia, broke and fled, and +their flight carried with them all the other infantry. The seamen of +the battery, deprived of their supports, retreated after spiking their +guns, which fell into the enemy's hands; and Thornton, who was +severely wounded, was able to date his report of success from the +"Redoubt on the right bank of the Mississippi."<a name="FNanchor_458_458" id="FNanchor_458_458"></a><a href="#Footnote_458_458" class="fnanchor">[458]</a> He advanced +actually, and without serious opposition, a mile above—that is, in +rear of—Jackson's lines and the "Louisiana's" anchorage. "This +important rout," wrote Jackson, "had totally changed the aspect of +affairs. The enemy now occupied a position from which they might annoy +us without hazard, and by means of which they <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_396" id="PageV2_396">[396]</a></span>might have been enabled +to defeat, in a great measure, the effects of our success on this side +of the river. It became, therefore, an object of the first consequence +to dislodge him as soon as possible."</p> + +<p>Jackson himself attributed his success in this desirable object as +much to negotiation as to the force he would be able to apply. The +story of the main assault and its disastrous repulse is familiar. In +itself, it was but an instance of a truth conspicuously illustrated, +before and after, on many fields, of the desperate character of a +frontal attack upon protected men accustomed to the use of +fire-arms—even though they be irregulars. Could Thornton's movement +have been made in full force assigned, and at the moment intended,—so +that most of the advance on both sides the river could have been +consummated before dawn,—a successful flanking operation would have +been effected; and it is far from improbable that Jackson, finding the +naval guns turned against him, would have been driven out of his +lines. With raw troops under his command, and six thousand veterans +upon his heels, no stand could have been made short of the town, nor +in it.</p> + +<p>As it was, the failure of the two parts of the British to act +coincidently caused them to be beaten in detail: for the disastrous +and bloody repulse of the columns on the east bank led to the +withdrawal of the tiny body on the west.<a name="FNanchor_459_459" id="FNanchor_459_459"></a><a href="#Footnote_459_459" class="fnanchor">[459]</a> No further attempt was +made. On the 18th of January the British withdrew. In pursuance of the +full discretionary power given by their orders as to any further +employment upon the American coast of the forces under their command, +General Lambert and the Admiral then concerted an attack upon Fort +Bowyer, at the entrance to <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_397" id="PageV2_397">[397]</a></span>Mobile Bay. This surrendered February 11, +the day that the news of the Peace reached New York.</p> + +<br /> +<hr style='width: 15%;' /> +<br /> + +<p>The ocean as well as the land had its episodes of fighting after peace +had been signed. The United States frigate "President," which during +the first two years of the war had been commanded continuously by +Commodore John Rodgers, was in May, 1814, transferred to Decatur, who +took to her with him the crew of his old ship, the "United States," +irretrievably shut up in New London. The "President" remained in New +York throughout the year, narrowly watched by the enemy. In a letter +of August 10, Decatur speaks of the unfavorable conditions of the +season for sailing; that four British ships kept close to Sandy Hook, +at times even anchored. He then mentions also "the great apprehension +and danger" which New York was undergoing, in common with the entire +seaboard, and the wish of the city government that the crew of the +ship should remain for defence of the port.<a name="FNanchor_460_460" id="FNanchor_460_460"></a><a href="#Footnote_460_460" class="fnanchor">[460]</a> It will be remembered +that this was in the anxious period preceding the development of the +British menace to the coast, which issued in the capture of Washington +and Alexandria, and the attack on Baltimore. Philadelphia also +trembled; and Decatur received an order to carry the "President's" +crew to her protection, if threatened.<a name="FNanchor_461_461" id="FNanchor_461_461"></a><a href="#Footnote_461_461" class="fnanchor">[461]</a></p> + +<p>On New Year Day, 1815, the "President" was still in the bay, awaiting +a chance to sail. She was deeply laden for a long absence, and was to +be accompanied by a merchant brig, the "Macedonian," carrying further +stores. The sloops "Hornet" and "Peacock," and brig "Tom Bowline," +were likewise watching to slip out. On the night of January 14, 1815, +in a heavy northwester, <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_398" id="PageV2_398">[398]</a></span>the "President's" attempt was made; the +pilots for the occasion having undertaken to mark the channel by boats +suitably stationed. Despite these precautions the ship grounded, and +beat heavily on the bottom for an hour and a half. By this she was +seriously injured, and would have gone back had the wind permitted. As +it was, she had to be forced over, and at 10 <span class="fakesc">P.M.</span> went clear; +but with loss of a large part of that speed for which she was known, +and which had been among Decatur's chief reasons for preferring her to +the new "Guerrière."<a name="FNanchor_462_462" id="FNanchor_462_462"></a><a href="#Footnote_462_462" class="fnanchor">[462]</a> The "Macedonian" was in company.</p> + +<p>The British blockading division was under the command of Captain John +Hayes, of the razee<a name="FNanchor_463_463" id="FNanchor_463_463"></a><a href="#Footnote_463_463" class="fnanchor">[463]</a> "Majestic," and consisted, besides that ship, +of the forty-gun 24-pounder frigate "Endymion," and the +thirty-eight-gun 18-pounder frigates "Pomone" and "Tenedos"; the +latter of which had joined on the 13th. The vessels were driven off +shore by the violence of the gale; but Hayes, reasoning as a seaman, +anticipated both Decatur's sailing that night and his probable course. +After clearing the bar, the "President" steered nearly due east, along +the south shore of Long Island, for fifty miles, when she headed off, +southeast by east, for the open sea. At 5 <span class="fakesc">A.M.</span> three of the +British squadron were seen ahead on the new course; the fourth, the +"Tenedos," being then out of sight to the southward, either detached +for a wider sweep of watchfulness, or separated by the gale.</p> + +<p>The "President," on seeing the enemy, hauled up again along shore, and +a stern chase began, which lasted <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_399" id="PageV2_399">[399]</a></span>till near nightfall of the 15th; +the "Endymion" leading the British squadron. The "Tenedos" being +sighted soon after daybreak, Hayes detached the "Pomone" to ascertain +what ship it was; a step which for the time threw the "Pomone," as +well as the "Tenedos," out of the running. At 5 <span class="fakesc">P.M.</span> the +"Endymion" had got well within point-blank shot of the "President." It +must be appreciated that, with the whole hostile squadron at her +heels, the American frigate could not delay, or turn her side with its +battery towards an assailant behind; for to do so enabled the others +to gain on her. On the other hand, the pursuer could so +deflect—yaw—at frequent intervals, and having the greater speed +could continually recover the ground thus lost. This was what Captain +Hope of the "Endymion" did, with sound judgment. He took a position on +the off-shore quarter of the "President," where neither her broadside +nor stern guns could bear upon him, so long as she held her course. +Thence, yawing continually, the "Endymion" poured in her successive +broadsides, practically unopposed, mistress of the situation.</p> + +<p>Decatur endured this for a time; but it was the military merit of his +antagonist's conduct that it must eventually force him to turn aside, +and so convert the stern chase of the British squadron to the more +hopeful attempt to cut him off on a new course. After half an hour the +"President's" helm was put to port, and the ship headed abruptly +south, threatening to cross the "Endymion's" bow, and rake. The +British frigate had to follow this movement of her opponent, and the +two ran off on parallel lines, exchanging broadsides. The object of +Decatur was to dismantle this enemy, strip him of his motive power, +and so increase his own chance of escape. In this he was successful. +After two hours and a half, between 8 and 8.30 <span class="fakesc">P.M.</span>, the +"Endymion's" sails were stripped from the yards. She dropped astern, +and the "President" again <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_400" id="PageV2_400">[400]</a></span>steered east, bringing the other enemy's +ships once more in her wake,—a stern chase.</p> + +<p>At 11 <span class="fakesc">P.M.</span> the "Pomone" and "Tenedos" overtook her. These +were of the class of the "Guerrière," "Macedonian," and "Shannon," +very much lighter, singly, than the "President," which had a heavier +battery than the "Constitution." Had the American ship retained her +normal speed, she probably would have escaped; but the "Pomone," the +first to arrive, outsailed her without using studdingsails, which the +"President" was still able to carry alow and aloft, despite her +engagement with the "Endymion." This fresh British ship luffed to +port, and fired her starboard broadside. The "President" imitated the +manœuvre, heading up to north; but she did not fire. At this point +the historian is met by a direct contradiction of evidence. Decatur +says that the "Pomone" was now on the port bow, within +musket-shot,<a name="FNanchor_464_464" id="FNanchor_464_464"></a><a href="#Footnote_464_464" class="fnanchor">[464]</a> the "Tenedos" five hundred yards astern, "taking up +a raking position on our quarter, and the rest (with the exception of +the 'Endymion') within gunshot."<a name="FNanchor_465_465" id="FNanchor_465_465"></a><a href="#Footnote_465_465" class="fnanchor">[465]</a> These statements are confirmed +by the sworn testimony before the American Court of Inquiry. The log +of the "Pomone," published with intention, reads that the "Tenedos" +was not more than three miles off,—a distance to which no gun on +shipboard of that day could carry,—and the "Endymion" and "Majestic" +so far away that they did not come on the scene until 12.45 and 3 +<span class="fakesc">A.M.</span>, respectively, of the 16th. The "Pomone" fired a second +broadside, and hauling still further to port was about to discharge a +third, from a raking position ahead, when the "President" struck. She +had not fired a gun at either the "Pomone" or the "Tenedos." The log +of the "Pomone" <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_401" id="PageV2_401">[401]</a></span>is clear on this point, and Decatur's elaborate +report makes no mention of having done so. The witnesses before the +Court of Inquiry are equally silent.</p> + +<p>Between the "Endymion" and the "President," in point of battery, the +proportion of force was as four to three, in favor of the American +ship. Against that must fairly be weighed the power of the "Endymion" +to maintain for half an hour a quartering and raking position, owing +to the necessity to escape laid on the "President." A quantitative +estimate of this advantage would be largely guess; but it may safely +be said that the disproportion of killed and wounded<a name="FNanchor_466_466" id="FNanchor_466_466"></a><a href="#Footnote_466_466" class="fnanchor">[466]</a> can probably +be laid to this, coupled with the very proper endeavor of Decatur to +throw off his immediate enemy by aiming at her spars. After two and a +half hours' fighting, the sails of the "Endymion" were "stripped from +the yards," Captain Hayes reported; while the "President," by the +"Pomone's" log, "continued to stand east under a press of sail," all +studdingsails set, from lower to royal. This result accounts for where +the "President's" shot went, and under the circumstances should have +gone, and for why the "Endymion" lost fewer men; and it was not the +sole reason for the last. There is, in the writer's judgment, no +ground whatever for the assumption that the "Endymion" did, or singly +would, have beaten the "President." The disparity of material force +was counterbalanced by the circumstance that the "President" had the +other vessels to take into account. From the legal point of view ships +merely in sight contribute, and are therefore entitled to prize money. +In the present instance they necessarily affected the manœuvring +and gunnery of the "President."</p> + +<p>There is a good deal of human nature, and some food for <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_402" id="PageV2_402">[402]</a></span>quiet +entertainment, in the British accounts. There were several to share, +and apparently the glory was not quite enough to go round. With +Admiral Hotham, not present in the action, but in immediate command of +the station during Cochrane's absence at New Orleans and Cockburn's in +Georgia, it was "the force which I had collected off the bar of New +York." Captain Hayes had much to say on his calculations of the +enemy's movements: "What is a little singular, at the very instant of +arriving at the point of the supposed track of the enemy, Sandy Hook +west-northwest fifteen leagues, we were made happy by the sight of a +ship and a brig, not more than two miles on the weather bow." The +published report of Captain Hope, of the "Endymion," is simple and +modest; but some of his followers apparently would have all the glory. +The "Endymion" had done the whole business. This drew forth the +publication of the "Pomone's" log, concerning which the Naval +Chronicle remarks, "It appears that some differences have taken place +between the British frigates engaged, as to the honor of having +captured the 'President.'"<a name="FNanchor_467_467" id="FNanchor_467_467"></a><a href="#Footnote_467_467" class="fnanchor">[467]</a></p> + +<p>Had Decatur appreciated at the moment that his speedy surrender to the +"Pomone" would be attributed to the subjection to which the "Endymion" +was supposed to have reduced his ship, he very probably would have +made a second fight of it. But he was convinced that ultimate escape +was impossible. "Two fresh," though much weaker, ships of the enemy at +hand, his own having fought for two hours and a half; "about one fifth +of my crew killed and wounded, my ship crippled, and a more than +fourfold force opposed to me, without a chance of escape left, I +deemed it my duty to surrender." Physical and mental fatigue, the +moral discomfiture of a hopeless situation, are all fairly to be taken +into account; nor should resistance be protracted where it means +<span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_403" id="PageV2_403">[403]</a></span>merely loss of life. Yet it may be questioned whether the moral tone +of a military service, which is its breath of life, does not suffer +when the attempt is made to invest with a halo of extraordinary +heroism such a resistance as Decatur made, by his own showing. Unless +the "President" was really thrashed out by the "Endymion," which was +the British assertion,<a name="FNanchor_468_468" id="FNanchor_468_468"></a><a href="#Footnote_468_468" class="fnanchor">[468]</a> she might have put one of his Majesty's +thirty-eight-gun frigates, the "Pomone," out of commission for a long +time; and that, in addition to the "Endymion,"—the two fastest +British vessels,—would have been no light matter in the then state of +the New York blockade. If the finding of the American Court of +Inquiry,<a name="FNanchor_469_469" id="FNanchor_469_469"></a><a href="#Footnote_469_469" class="fnanchor">[469]</a> that "the 'Endymion' was conquered, while the +'President' in the contest with her had sustained but little injury," +be admitted, there seems no reply to the comment that the "President" +surrendered within musket-shot of a thirty-eight-gun frigate which +with three or four broadsides she should have nearly annihilated. She +was out to destroy commerce and enemy's cruisers, and she struck +before her powers in that respect—by the Court's finding—were +exhausted. Escape was impossible; one object of her cruise—the +enemy's commerce—had become impracticable; was it justifiable to +neglect the last opportunity for the other? Decatur's personal +gallantry is beyond question; but, if the defence of the "President" +is to be considered "glorious," and "heroic," it is difficult to know +what term can be applied to that of the "Essex." War is violence, +wounds, and death. Needless bloodshed is to be avoided; but even more, +at the present day, is to be deprecated the view that the objects of a +war are to be sacrificed to the preservation of life.</p> + +<p>After a long detention, through the closeness of the <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_404" id="PageV2_404">[404]</a></span>Boston blockade, +the "Constitution," still commanded by Captain Charles Stewart, +effected her escape to sea towards the end of December. On February +20, 1815, two hundred miles east-northeast from Madeira, she fell in +with two British ships of war, the "Cyane," and the "Levant," then on +their way from Gibraltar to the Azores, and thence to the American +coast. The "Cyane," a frigate-built ship, carried a battery of +carronades: thirty 32-pounders, two 18-pounders. She had also two long +9-pounders; making a total of thirty-four guns, throwing a broadside +weight of five hundred and seven pounds.<a name="FNanchor_470_470" id="FNanchor_470_470"></a><a href="#Footnote_470_470" class="fnanchor">[470]</a> The "Levant" was a sloop +of war, of the American "Hornet" class, carrying eighteen 32-pounder +carronades and two long 9-pounders; giving two hundred and +ninety-seven as her broadside weight. Between the two they therefore +threw eight hundred and four pounds of metal. The "Constitution's" +broadside was seven hundred and four pounds; but of this three hundred +and eighty-four were in long 24-pounders. Supposing both parties +willing to fight under such circumstances, the game would be all in +the "Constitution's" hands. Her problem rather was so to conduct the +contest that neither enemy should escape. Captain Stewart, in +reporting his success, dwelt upon the advantages derived by the enemy +"from a divided and more active force, as also their superiority in +the weight and numbers of guns." One cannot but feel the utmost +diffidence in differing from a seaman of the time, and one so skilful +as Stewart; but the advantage of a divided force is as difficult to +see as the superiority in battery power.</p> + +<p>Though consorts, the enemy when first seen were separated by a +distance of ten miles; and were sighted successively between 1 and 2 +<span class="fakesc">P.M.</span> The wind was easterly and light. The "Constitution" was +unable to prevent their <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_405" id="PageV2_405">[405]</a></span>junction, which was effected at 5.45. They +then formed in line on the starboard tack, the "Levant" leading; with +an interval between them of three hundred feet. At six the +"Constitution" drew up on the weather side of the "Cyane," and five +minutes later the action began at a distance of three hundred yards. +After a quarter of an hour, noting the enemy's fire to slacken, +Stewart stopped his own, to allow the smoke to lift. When he could +see, he found the "Constitution" abreast the "Levant," with the +"Cyane" astern, luffing up for his port quarter. He gave his port +broadside to the "Levant," then braced aback his after-sails, and so +went astern towards the "Cyane," bringing her abeam under cover of the +renewed cannonade. At 6.35—about ten minutes later—the enemy's fire +again weakened, and the "Levant" was seen to be bearing up before the +wind. Stewart made sail ahead, raked her twice from astern with the +port guns, and then saw the "Cyane" also wearing. The "Constitution" +immediately wore short round, and caught this opponent before she had +completed her manœuvre, so that she raked her also from astern with +the starboard battery. The "Cyane" then came to the wind on the port +tack, and fired that broadside, to which the "Constitution," having +reloaded after raking, was about to reply, when, at 6.50 this enemy +struck, and fired a lee gun,—the signal of submission. A prize crew, +with a party of marines to guard prisoners, was hastily thrown on +board, and at eight the "Constitution" made sail again after the +"Levant." At 8.30 this plucky little ship was met returning to the +conflict. At 8.50 the two passed on opposite tacks, and exchanged +broadsides, after which the "Constitution" kept away under the enemy's +stern and raked again. The "Levant" could now run with a clear +conscience. Whatever argument can be based on the united batteries of +the two British ships, and the advantage of divided force, eighteen +32-pounder carronades were <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_406" id="PageV2_406">[406]</a></span>no match for the "Constitution." The +"Levant" took to her heels, but at 10 <span class="fakesc">P.M.</span> was overtaken and +surrendered.<a name="FNanchor_471_471" id="FNanchor_471_471"></a><a href="#Footnote_471_471" class="fnanchor">[471]</a></p> + +<p>The losses as reported by Stewart were: "Constitution," killed three; +wounded twelve; "Cyane," killed twelve; wounded twenty-six; "Levant," +killed twenty-three; wounded sixteen. Captain Stewart's management of +his vessel was strikingly clever and prompt. The advantages which he +attributed to the enemy, an aggregate of guns, slightly superior in +total weight, divided between two smaller ships, the author has never +been able to recognize.<a name="FNanchor_472_472" id="FNanchor_472_472"></a><a href="#Footnote_472_472" class="fnanchor">[472]</a></p> + +<p>The sloops of war "Hornet," Commander James Biddle, and "Peacock," +Commander Lewis Warrington, and the brig "Tom Bowline," which were +waiting their opportunity in the lower bay of New York when the +"President" sailed, got to sea five days after her, January 20. When +two days out, the "Hornet" separated in chase. The vessels had a +rendezvous at the lonely island of Tristan d'Acunha, in the South +Atlantic, some fifteen hundred miles west of the Cape of Good Hope. +The "Hornet" arrived first, and was about to anchor, at 10.30 in the +morning of March 23, when a sail was seen to the southeast, steering +west. As it soon passed behind the island, the "Hornet" made sail to +the westward, and the two shortly came within sight. The stranger was +the British sloop of war "Penguin," Captain Dickinson. By the report +of Captain Biddle, based on examination after the action, she carried +sixteen 32-pounder carronades, two long 12-pounders in broadside, and +one long twelve on <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_407" id="PageV2_407">[407]</a></span>a pivot, fighting either side. The "Hornet" had +eighteen 32-pounder carronades, and two long twelves.</p> + +<p>The wind being south-southwest, the "Penguin" was to windward, and +bore up to close. At 1.40 <span class="fakesc">P.M.</span>, being nearly within +musket-shot, she hauled to the wind on the starboard tack, a movement +which the "Hornet" at once imitated, and the battle began; the +"Hornet" to leeward, the two running on parallel courses,—an +artillery duel. The "Penguin" drew gradually nearer, and at 1.55 put +her helm hard up, to run her antagonist on board. The American crew +were called to repel boarders, and so were on hand when the enemy's +bowsprit came in between the main and mizzen rigging; but, while ready +to resist an attempt to board, the course of the action had so +satisfied Biddle of the superiority of his ship's gunnery that he +would not throw his men away in a hand-to-hand contest upon the +enemy's decks. The small arms men and marines, however, distributed +along the "Hornet's" side kept up a lively musketry fire, which the +British endured at great disadvantage, crowded upon the narrow front +presented by a ship's forecastle. The "Penguin" finally wrenched clear +with the loss of her foremast and bowsprit, and in this crippled state +surrendered immediately. From the first gun to hauling down the flag +was twenty-two minutes. The British ship had lost fourteen killed and +twenty-eight wounded, her captain being among the slain. The "Hornet" +had one killed and ten wounded. The comparative efficiency of the two +vessels is best indicated by the fact that the "Hornet" had not a +single cannon-ball in her hull, nor any serious injury even to her +lower masts; yet that her rigging and sails were very much cut proves +that her opponent's guns were active. By the ready skill of the seamen +of that day she was completely ready for any service forty-eight hours +later. The "Penguin" was scuttled.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_408" id="PageV2_408">[408]</a></span>The action between the "Hornet" and "Penguin" was the last naval +combat of the War of 1812. The day after it, March 24, the "Peacock" +and "Tom Bowline" arrived, in time to see the "Penguin" before her +captor sunk her. The brig "Macedonian," which had sailed in company +with the "President," but escaped her fate, also came to Tristan +d'Acunha, which would seem to have been intended as a fresh starting +point for some enterprise in common.</p> + +<br /> +<hr style="width: 15%;" /> +<br /> + +<h4>FOOTNOTES:</h4> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_394_394" id="Footnote_394_394"></a><a href="#FNanchor_394_394"><span class="label">[394]</span></a> Memoirs and Correspondence of Lord Castlereagh. Series +iii. vol. ii. pp. 86-91.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_395_395" id="Footnote_395_395"></a><a href="#FNanchor_395_395"><span class="label">[395]</span></a> Castlereagh Memoirs, series iii. vol. ii. pp. 86-91.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_396_396" id="Footnote_396_396"></a><a href="#FNanchor_396_396"><span class="label">[396]</span></a> Castlereagh to Liverpool (Prime Minister), Aug. 28, +1814. Ibid., pp. 100-102.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_397_397" id="Footnote_397_397"></a><a href="#FNanchor_397_397"><span class="label">[397]</span></a> Wellington to Liverpool, Nov. 9, 1814. Castlereagh +Memoirs, series iii. vol. ii. pp. 186-189.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_398_398" id="Footnote_398_398"></a><a href="#FNanchor_398_398"><span class="label">[398]</span></a> Canadian Archives, C. 680, p. 46. The date is Sept. 10, +1813.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_399_399" id="Footnote_399_399"></a><a href="#FNanchor_399_399"><span class="label">[399]</span></a> Letter of Captain Evans, commanding N.Y. Navy Yard, +Aug. 6, 1813.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_400_400" id="Footnote_400_400"></a><a href="#FNanchor_400_400"><span class="label">[400]</span></a> Canadian Archives, C. 679, pp. 348, 362.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_401_401" id="Footnote_401_401"></a><a href="#FNanchor_401_401"><span class="label">[401]</span></a> Izard says two. Official Correspondence of the +Department of War with Major-General Izard, 1814 and 1815, p. 7.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_402_402" id="Footnote_402_402"></a><a href="#FNanchor_402_402"><span class="label">[402]</span></a> British Court Martial Record.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_403_403" id="Footnote_403_403"></a><a href="#FNanchor_403_403"><span class="label">[403]</span></a> Confidence.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_404_404" id="Footnote_404_404"></a><a href="#FNanchor_404_404"><span class="label">[404]</span></a> Account of the Public Life of Sir George Prevost, p. +136.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_405_405" id="Footnote_405_405"></a><a href="#FNanchor_405_405"><span class="label">[405]</span></a> Prevost to Bathurst, July 12, 1814. Report on Canadian +Archives, 1896. Lower Canada, p. 31.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_406_406" id="Footnote_406_406"></a><a href="#FNanchor_406_406"><span class="label">[406]</span></a> Prevost to Bathurst, Aug. 5, 1814. Ibid., p. 35.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_407_407" id="Footnote_407_407"></a><a href="#FNanchor_407_407"><span class="label">[407]</span></a> Prevost to Bathurst, Aug. 27.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_408_408" id="Footnote_408_408"></a><a href="#FNanchor_408_408"><span class="label">[408]</span></a> Official Correspondence of General Izard with the +Department of War, pp. 56, 57. Philadelphia, 1816.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_409_409" id="Footnote_409_409"></a><a href="#FNanchor_409_409"><span class="label">[409]</span></a> Ridout, Ten Years in Upper Canada, p. 282.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_410_410" id="Footnote_410_410"></a><a href="#FNanchor_410_410"><span class="label">[410]</span></a> Niles' Register, vol. vi. p. 357.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_411_411" id="Footnote_411_411"></a><a href="#FNanchor_411_411"><span class="label">[411]</span></a> June 8, 1814. Navy Department MSS.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_412_412" id="Footnote_412_412"></a><a href="#FNanchor_412_412"><span class="label">[412]</span></a> Macomb's Report, Brannan's Military and Naval Letters, +p. 415. Izard (Correspondence, p. 98) says, "There were at or about +the works at Plattsburg not less than three thousand regulars, of whom +fifteen hundred were fit for duty in the field. In the number were +three companies of artillery."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_413_413" id="Footnote_413_413"></a><a href="#FNanchor_413_413"><span class="label">[413]</span></a> General Benjamin Mooers, who was in command of the New +York State militia during these operations, in a letter to Governor +Tompkins, dated Sept. 16, 1814 (Gov. Tompkins MSS. vol. ix. pp. +212-217, State Library, Albany, N.Y.), claims that Macomb was here +less than just to the militia, "many of whom stood their ground as +long as it was tenable" during the first day. In a general order +issued by him Sept. 8 (Niles' Register, vol. vii. p. 70), he spoke of +some "who fled at the first approach of the enemy, and afterwards +basely disbanded themselves, and returned home." Macomb himself wrote +that after the first day, when the army had retired to the works, "the +militia behaved with great spirit."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_414_414" id="Footnote_414_414"></a><a href="#FNanchor_414_414"><span class="label">[414]</span></a> For copies of these letters, and of Macdonough's reply +and endorsement, I am indebted to Mr. Rodney Macdonough, the +Commodore's grandson. Cochran's is dated March 22, and Colden's June +26, 1815; Macdonough's reply July 3. It is well to note that all these +preceded the British naval court martial, held in Portsmouth, Aug. +18-21, 1815, where the testimony that the squadron was within range +was unanimous and accepted by the Court.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_415_415" id="Footnote_415_415"></a><a href="#FNanchor_415_415"><span class="label">[415]</span></a> The first lieutenant of the "Confiance" in his evidence +said that it was not more than ten minutes after the ship rounded +Cumberland Head that the enemy began firing at her, and that the shot +at first fell short. As far as it goes, this would show that the +American squadron was over a mile from the Head; and, if so, scarcely +more than a mile from the batteries.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_416_416" id="Footnote_416_416"></a><a href="#FNanchor_416_416"><span class="label">[416]</span></a> For information as to ranges, the author applied to +Professor Philip R. Alger, U.S. Navy, whose intimate acquaintance with +questions of ordnance and gunnery is known throughout his service.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_417_417" id="Footnote_417_417"></a><a href="#FNanchor_417_417"><span class="label">[417]</span></a> Vol. viii. p. 70, April 1, 1815.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_418_418" id="Footnote_418_418"></a><a href="#FNanchor_418_418"><span class="label">[418]</span></a> These two letters of Macomb are given in the "Account +of the Public Life of Sir George Prevost," p. 165.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_419_419" id="Footnote_419_419"></a><a href="#FNanchor_419_419"><span class="label">[419]</span></a> Izard's Correspondence, p. 98.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_420_420" id="Footnote_420_420"></a><a href="#FNanchor_420_420"><span class="label">[420]</span></a> Yeo to the Admiralty, Sept. 24, 1814. From a copy in +the Court Martial Record.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_421_421" id="Footnote_421_421"></a><a href="#FNanchor_421_421"><span class="label">[421]</span></a> In his Narrative, submitted to the Court Martial, +Captain Pring stated that Prevost wished a joint attack, because, in +the advance along the head of Cumberland Bay, the left flank of the +army, when crossing Dead Creek, had been much annoyed by the American +gunboats. He feared the same in crossing the Saranac to the assault of +the works, and wanted the navy to draw off the gunboats.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_422_422" id="Footnote_422_422"></a><a href="#FNanchor_422_422"><span class="label">[422]</span></a> Robertson's Narrative before the Court Martial.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_423_423" id="Footnote_423_423"></a><a href="#FNanchor_423_423"><span class="label">[423]</span></a> The correspondence between Prevost and Downie, Sept. +7-10, is in the Canadian Archives, M. 389.6. pp. 176-183.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_424_424" id="Footnote_424_424"></a><a href="#FNanchor_424_424"><span class="label">[424]</span></a> This letter of Major Coore, published in a Canadian +paper, Feb. 26, 1815, is to be found in the Canadian Archives MSS., M. +389.6. p. 287.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_425_425" id="Footnote_425_425"></a><a href="#FNanchor_425_425"><span class="label">[425]</span></a> Court Martial Evidence.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_426_426" id="Footnote_426_426"></a><a href="#FNanchor_426_426"><span class="label">[426]</span></a> Evidence of Pring, and of Brydone, master of the +"Confiance," before the Court Martial. Robertson in his narrative is +equally positive and explicit on this point.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_427_427" id="Footnote_427_427"></a><a href="#FNanchor_427_427"><span class="label">[427]</span></a> Robertson's Narrative.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_428_428" id="Footnote_428_428"></a><a href="#FNanchor_428_428"><span class="label">[428]</span></a> Robertson's Narrative.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_429_429" id="Footnote_429_429"></a><a href="#FNanchor_429_429"><span class="label">[429]</span></a> Macdonough's Report.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_430_430" id="Footnote_430_430"></a><a href="#FNanchor_430_430"><span class="label">[430]</span></a> Pronounced "wynd."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_431_431" id="Footnote_431_431"></a><a href="#FNanchor_431_431"><span class="label">[431]</span></a> Robertson's Narrative.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_432_432" id="Footnote_432_432"></a><a href="#FNanchor_432_432"><span class="label">[432]</span></a> A spring is a rope taken from the stern of a ship to +the anchor, by hauling on which the ship is turned in the direction +desired.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_433_433" id="Footnote_433_433"></a><a href="#FNanchor_433_433"><span class="label">[433]</span></a> Brydone's Evidence.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_434_434" id="Footnote_434_434"></a><a href="#FNanchor_434_434"><span class="label">[434]</span></a> Evidence of Sailing Master Brydone.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_435_435" id="Footnote_435_435"></a><a href="#FNanchor_435_435"><span class="label">[435]</span></a> Macdonough's Report.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_436_436" id="Footnote_436_436"></a><a href="#FNanchor_436_436"><span class="label">[436]</span></a> For the battle of Lake Champlain much the most complete +and satisfactory evidence is the Record of the British Court Martial. +There having been no dispute on the American side, as between Perry +and Elliott at Lake Erie, there has not been the same output of +conflicting statements, tending to elucidate as well as to confuse. +Commander Henley of the "Eagle" was apparently dissatisfied with +Macdonough's report, as the Commodore (apparently) was with his +action. This drew from him a special report. Navy Department MSS. +Niles' Register, vol. vii. Supplement, p. 135, contains this letter +with many verbal changes, which do not materially affect its purport.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_437_437" id="Footnote_437_437"></a><a href="#FNanchor_437_437"><span class="label">[437]</span></a> Cochrane arrived at Bermuda March 6; but, despite his +urgency and evident annoyance, Warren, who was senior, and had had +ample notice of his supersession, took his own leisurely time about +giving over the command, which he did not do till April 1, sailing for +England April 8.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_438_438" id="Footnote_438_438"></a><a href="#FNanchor_438_438"><span class="label">[438]</span></a> Bathurst to Ross, Sept. 6, 1814. War Office, Entry +Book.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_439_439" id="Footnote_439_439"></a><a href="#FNanchor_439_439"><span class="label">[439]</span></a> Pigot's Report to Cochrane, June 8, 1814. Admiralty +In-Letters MSS.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_440_440" id="Footnote_440_440"></a><a href="#FNanchor_440_440"><span class="label">[440]</span></a> Cochrane to the Admiralty, June 20, 1814. Admiralty +In-Letters MSS.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_441_441" id="Footnote_441_441"></a><a href="#FNanchor_441_441"><span class="label">[441]</span></a> Admiralty to Cochrane, Aug. 10, 1814. The reference in +the text depends upon a long paper near the end of vol. 39, British +War Office Records, which appears to the writer to have been drawn up +for the use of the ministry in parliamentary debate. It gives step by +step the procedure of the Government in entering on the New Orleans +undertaking.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_442_442" id="Footnote_442_442"></a><a href="#FNanchor_442_442"><span class="label">[442]</span></a> Bathurst to Ross, Sept. 6, 1814. British War Office +Records.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_443_443" id="Footnote_443_443"></a><a href="#FNanchor_443_443"><span class="label">[443]</span></a> Naval Chronicle, vol. xxxiii. p. 429.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_444_444" id="Footnote_444_444"></a><a href="#FNanchor_444_444"><span class="label">[444]</span></a> American State Papers, Foreign Relations, vol. iii. p. +397.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_445_445" id="Footnote_445_445"></a><a href="#FNanchor_445_445"><span class="label">[445]</span></a> Ibid., p. 572.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_446_446" id="Footnote_446_446"></a><a href="#FNanchor_446_446"><span class="label">[446]</span></a> Niles' Register, vol. iii. p. 182.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_447_447" id="Footnote_447_447"></a><a href="#FNanchor_447_447"><span class="label">[447]</span></a> Ibid., vol. vii. pp. 133-135.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_448_448" id="Footnote_448_448"></a><a href="#FNanchor_448_448"><span class="label">[448]</span></a> Cochrane to the Admiralty, Oct. 3, 1814. Admiralty +In-Letters.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_449_449" id="Footnote_449_449"></a><a href="#FNanchor_449_449"><span class="label">[449]</span></a> Ibid.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_450_450" id="Footnote_450_450"></a><a href="#FNanchor_450_450"><span class="label">[450]</span></a> Neither Cochrane nor Lockyer gives the number of the +British boats; but as there were three divisions, drawn from five +ships of the line and three or four frigates, besides smaller vessels, +Jones' count was probably accurate. He had ample time to observe.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_451_451" id="Footnote_451_451"></a><a href="#FNanchor_451_451"><span class="label">[451]</span></a> The gunboats of Jefferson's building had no names, and +were distinguished by number only.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_452_452" id="Footnote_452_452"></a><a href="#FNanchor_452_452"><span class="label">[452]</span></a> Jones' Report of this affair is found in Niles' +Register, vol. viii. p. 126; those of Cochrane and Lockyer in the +Naval Chronicle, vol. xxxiii. pp. 337-341.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_453_453" id="Footnote_453_453"></a><a href="#FNanchor_453_453"><span class="label">[453]</span></a> So styled in Cochrane's Report, which also speaks of it +as Bayou Catalan. The name does not appear on the map of Major Latour, +chief of engineers to Jackson, who in his report calls the whole bayou +Bienvenu.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_454_454" id="Footnote_454_454"></a><a href="#FNanchor_454_454"><span class="label">[454]</span></a> Gleig, Narrative of the Campaign of Washington, +Baltimore, and New Orleans, pp. 282-288.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_455_455" id="Footnote_455_455"></a><a href="#FNanchor_455_455"><span class="label">[455]</span></a> Gleig, pp. 308-309.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_456_456" id="Footnote_456_456"></a><a href="#FNanchor_456_456"><span class="label">[456]</span></a> Gleig's Narrative, p. 321. Cochrane's Report, Naval +Chronicle, vol. xxxiii. p. 341. Report of Major C.R. Forrest, British +Assistant Quarter-master-General, War Office Records.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_457_457" id="Footnote_457_457"></a><a href="#FNanchor_457_457"><span class="label">[457]</span></a> Thornton's Report. James' Military Occurrences of the +War of 1812, vol. ii., p. 547.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_458_458" id="Footnote_458_458"></a><a href="#FNanchor_458_458"><span class="label">[458]</span></a> James' Military Occurrences, vol. ii. p. 547.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_459_459" id="Footnote_459_459"></a><a href="#FNanchor_459_459"><span class="label">[459]</span></a> Niles' Register, vols. vii. and viii., gives a large +number of the official reports, as well British as American, +concerning the New Orleans Expedition. So also does James in his +"Military Occurrences" and "Naval Occurrences" of the War of 1812. +Regarded in outline, as is attempted in the text, the operations are +of a simple character, presenting no difficulties.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_460_460" id="Footnote_460_460"></a><a href="#FNanchor_460_460"><span class="label">[460]</span></a> Captains' Letters. Navy Department MSS.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_461_461" id="Footnote_461_461"></a><a href="#FNanchor_461_461"><span class="label">[461]</span></a> Ibid., Sept. 26, 1814.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_462_462" id="Footnote_462_462"></a><a href="#FNanchor_462_462"><span class="label">[462]</span></a> Decatur to Navy Department, April 9, 1814. Captains' +Letters.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_463_463" id="Footnote_463_463"></a><a href="#FNanchor_463_463"><span class="label">[463]</span></a> A razee is a ship cut down, and reduced from her +original rate. The "Majestic" had been a seventy-four, and probably +was the same vessel which under that name and rate took part in the +battle of the Nile. The expedient of razeeing had been adopted by the +British Government, in order rapidly to prepare vessels superior to +the American forty-fours, yet less costly in crews than ships of the +line. These razees were rated as carrying fifty-six guns.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_464_464" id="Footnote_464_464"></a><a href="#FNanchor_464_464"><span class="label">[464]</span></a> Deposition of Commodore Decatur at Bermuda. Naval +Chronicle, vol. xxxiii. p. 371.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_465_465" id="Footnote_465_465"></a><a href="#FNanchor_465_465"><span class="label">[465]</span></a> Decatur's Report. Niles' Register, vol. viii. p. 8. In +his deposition Decatur says "the 'Tenedos' did not fire at the time of +such surrender."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_466_466" id="Footnote_466_466"></a><a href="#FNanchor_466_466"><span class="label">[466]</span></a> The loss of the "President" was twenty-four killed, +fifty-five wounded. (Decatur's Report.) That of the "Endymion," eleven +killed and fourteen wounded. (Naval Chronicle, vol. xxxiii. p. 262.)</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_467_467" id="Footnote_467_467"></a><a href="#FNanchor_467_467"><span class="label">[467]</span></a> Naval Chronicle, vol. xxxiii. p. 370.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_468_468" id="Footnote_468_468"></a><a href="#FNanchor_468_468"><span class="label">[468]</span></a> Captain Hayes' Report. Niles' Register, vol. viii. p. +175. Naval Chronicle, vol. xxxiii. p. 261.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_469_469" id="Footnote_469_469"></a><a href="#FNanchor_469_469"><span class="label">[469]</span></a> Niles' Register, vol. viii. p. 147.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_470_470" id="Footnote_470_470"></a><a href="#FNanchor_470_470"><span class="label">[470]</span></a> The armament of the "Cyane" is that reported by Lieut. +Hoffman, U.S. Navy, who brought her to the United States. Niles' +Register, vol. viii. p. 134.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_471_471" id="Footnote_471_471"></a><a href="#FNanchor_471_471"><span class="label">[471]</span></a> The "Cyane" reached a United States port, but the +"Levant" was recaptured by a British squadron. Both names remained in +the United States Navy till the Civil War. A "Levant," built in +succession to the one captured, was lost at sea in 1860—never heard +from.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_472_472" id="Footnote_472_472"></a><a href="#FNanchor_472_472"><span class="label">[472]</span></a> The account given in the text depends upon Stewart's +"minutes of the action" (Niles' Register, vol. viii. p. 219), compared +with the "Constitution's" log (Navy Department MSS.), of which the +minutes are a development.</p></div> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="CHAPTER_XVIII" id="CHAPTER_XVIII"></a><hr /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_409" id="PageV2_409">[409]</a></span><br /> + +<h3>CHAPTER XVIII<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3> + +<h4>THE PEACE NEGOTIATIONS</h4> +<br /> + +<p>The Government of the United States had been honestly loath to declare +war in 1812, and had signalized its reluctance by immediate advances +looking to a restoration of peace. These were made through Jonathan +Russell, the <i>chargé d'affaires</i> in London when hostilities began. To +use the expression of Monroe, then Secretary of State, "At the moment +of the declaration of war, the President, regretting the necessity +which produced it, looked to its termination, and provided for +it."<a name="FNanchor_473_473" id="FNanchor_473_473"></a><a href="#Footnote_473_473" class="fnanchor">[473]</a> The two concessions required as indispensable, in the +overture thus referred to, dated June 26, 1812, were the revocation of +the Orders in Council, and the abandonment of the practice of +impressing from American merchant ships. Should these preliminary +conditions be obtained, Russell was authorized to stipulate an +armistice, during which the two countries should enter upon +negotiations, to be conducted either at Washington or in London, for +the settlement of all points of difference.</p> + +<p>Russell made this communication to Castlereagh August 24, 1812. Before +this date Admiral Warren had sailed from England for the American +command, carrying with him the propositions of the British Government +for a suspension of hostilities, consequent upon the repeal of the +Orders in Council.<a name="FNanchor_474_474" id="FNanchor_474_474"></a><a href="#Footnote_474_474" class="fnanchor">[474]</a> In view of Warren's mission, and of <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_410" id="PageV2_410">[410]</a></span>the fact +that Russell had no powers to negotiate, but merely to conclude an +arrangement upon terms which he could not alter, and which his +Government had laid down in ignorance of the revocation of the Orders, +Castlereagh declined to discuss with him the American requirements. "I +cannot, however," he wrote, "refrain on one single point from +expressing my surprise, namely, that as a condition preliminary even +to a suspension of hostilities, the Government of the United States +should have thought fit to demand that the British Government should +desist from its ancient and accustomed practice of impressing British +seamen from the merchant ships of a foreign state, simply on the +assurance that a law shall hereafter be passed to prohibit the +employment of British seamen in the public or commercial service of +that state."<a name="FNanchor_475_475" id="FNanchor_475_475"></a><a href="#Footnote_475_475" class="fnanchor">[475]</a> "The Government could not consent to suspend the +exercise of a right upon which the naval strength of the empire mainly +depends," until fully convinced that the object would be assured by +other means. To a subsequent modification of the American +propositions, in form, though not in tenor, the British minister +replied in the same spirit, throwing the weight of his objections upon +the question of impressment, which indeed remained alone of the two +causes of rupture.<a name="FNanchor_476_476" id="FNanchor_476_476"></a><a href="#Footnote_476_476" class="fnanchor">[476]</a></p> + +<p>Commendable as was its desire for peace, the American Government had +made the mistake of being unwilling to insure it by due and timely +preparation for war. In these advances, therefore, its adversary +naturally saw not magnanimity, but apprehension. Russell, in reporting +his final interview, wrote, "Lord Castlereagh once observed somewhat +loftily, that if the American Government was so anxious <i>to get rid of +the war</i>,<a name="FNanchor_477_477" id="FNanchor_477_477"></a><a href="#Footnote_477_477" class="fnanchor">[477]</a> it would have an opportunity <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_411" id="PageV2_411">[411]</a></span>of doing so on learning +the revocation of the Orders in Council." The American representative +rejoined with proper spirit; but the remark betrayed the impression +produced by this speedy offer, joined to the notorious military +unreadiness of the United States. Such things do not make for peace. +The British ministry, like a large part of the American people, saw in +the declaration of war a mere variation upon the intermittent policy +of commercial restrictions of the past five years; an attempt to +frighten by bluster. In such spirit Monroe, in this very letter of +June 26 to Russell, had dwelt upon the many advantages to be derived +from peace with the United States; adding, "not to mention the +injuries which cannot fail to result from a prosecution of the war." +In transcribing his instructions, Russell discreetly omitted the +latter phrase; but the omission, like the words themselves, betrays +consciousness that the Administration was faithful to the tradition of +its party, dealing in threats rather than in deeds. Through great part +of the final negotiations the impression thus made remained with the +British ministers.</p> + +<p>On September 20, 1812, the Chancellor of the Russian Empire requested +a visit from the American minister resident at St. Petersburg, Mr. +John Quincy Adams. In the consequent interview, the next evening, the +Chancellor said that the Czar, having recently made peace and +re-established commercial intercourse with Great Britain, was much +concerned that war should have arisen almost immediately between her +and the United States. Hostilities between the two nations, which +together nearly monopolized the carrying trade of the world, would +prevent the economical benefits to Russia expected from the recent +change in her political relations. The question was then asked, +whether a proffer of Russian mediation would be regarded favorably by +the United States. Adams had not yet received official intelligence +even of the declaration of <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_412" id="PageV2_412">[412]</a></span>war, and was without information as to the +views of his Government on the point suggested; but he expressed +certainty that such an advance would be cordially met, and he could +foresee no obstacle to its entertainment. The proposal was accordingly +made to the President, through the customary channels, and on March +11, 1813, was formally accepted by him. James A. Bayard and Albert +Gallatin were nominated commissioners, conjointly with Mr. Adams, to +act for the United States in forming a treaty of peace under the +mediation of the Czar. They sailed soon afterwards.</p> + +<p>The American acceptance reached St. Petersburg about June 15; but on +that day Adams was informed by the Chancellor that his despatches from +London signified the rejection of the Russian proposition by the +British Government, on the ground that the differences with the United +States involved principles of the internal government of Great +Britain, which could not be submitted to the discussion of any +mediation.<a name="FNanchor_478_478" id="FNanchor_478_478"></a><a href="#Footnote_478_478" class="fnanchor">[478]</a> As the Russian Court was then in campaign, at the +headquarters of the allied armies, in the tremendous operations of the +summer of 1813 against Napoleon, much delay necessarily ensued. On +September 1, however, the British ambassador, who was accompanying the +Court in the field, presented a formal letter reaffirming the +unwillingness of his Government to treat under mediation, but offering +through the Czar, whose mediatorial advance was so far recognized, to +nominate plenipotentiaries to meet those of the United States in +direct consultation. In the backward and forward going of despatches +in that preoccupied and unsettled moment, it was not till near +November 1 that the British Foreign Office heard from the ambassador +that the American commissioners were willing so to treat, and desirous +to keep <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_413" id="PageV2_413">[413]</a></span>their business separate from that of the continent of Europe; +but that their powers were limited to action through the mediation of +Russia. Castlereagh then, on November 4, addressed a note to the +United States Government, offering a direct negotiation. This was +accepted formally, January 5, 1814;<a name="FNanchor_479_479" id="FNanchor_479_479"></a><a href="#Footnote_479_479" class="fnanchor">[479]</a> and Henry Clay with Jonathan +Russell were added to the commission already constituted, raising the +number of members to five. The representatives of Great Britain were +three: Admiral Lord Gambier, Henry Goulburn, and William Adams. Ghent +was fixed upon for the place of meeting.</p> + +<p>The instructions issued to the American commissioners were voluminous. +They contained not only the requirements of the Government, but +arguments from every point of view, and alternatives of several +descriptions, to meet anticipated objections. Such elaboration was +perhaps necessary when negotiation was to take place so remote from +communication with home. On one point, however, as originally issued +in contemplation of Russian mediation, demand was peremptory. +Impressment must cease, by stipulation. "If this encroachment of Great +Britain is not provided against, the United States have appealed to +arms in vain." At that moment, April 15, 1813,<a name="FNanchor_480_480" id="FNanchor_480_480"></a><a href="#Footnote_480_480" class="fnanchor">[480]</a> the flush of +expectation was still strong. "Should improper impressions have been +taken of the probable consequences of the war, you will have ample +means to remove them. It is certain that from its prosecution Great +Britain can promise to herself no advantage, while she exposes herself +to great expenses and to the danger of still greater losses." Nine +months later, looking to direct negotiation, the same confident tone +is maintained. "On impressment, the sentiments of the President have +undergone no change. This degrading practice must cease.... No +concession is contemplated on any point in <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_414" id="PageV2_414">[414]</a></span>controversy;"<a name="FNanchor_481_481" id="FNanchor_481_481"></a><a href="#Footnote_481_481" class="fnanchor">[481]</a> and +three weeks afterwards, February 14, 1814, "Should peace be made in +Europe, it is presumed that the British Government would have less +objection to forbear impressment for a specified term, than it would +have should the war continue. In concluding a peace, even in case of a +previous general peace in Europe, it is important to obtain such a +stipulation."<a name="FNanchor_482_482" id="FNanchor_482_482"></a><a href="#Footnote_482_482" class="fnanchor">[482]</a> On June 27, the note was lowered. "If found +indispensably necessary to terminate the war, you may omit any +stipulation on the subject of impressment." This was in pursuance of +the Cabinet determination of June 27, already quoted.<a name="FNanchor_483_483" id="FNanchor_483_483"></a><a href="#Footnote_483_483" class="fnanchor">[483]</a> It +abandoned the only ground for war that had existed since August, 1812, +when the Orders in Council were known to have been repealed. The +commissioners were indeed to do their best to obtain from the British +Government the demanded concessions, not in the matter of impressment +only, but on the whole subject of irregular blockades, which underlay +the Orders in Council, as well as on other maritime questions in +dispute; but in pressing such demands they were under orders to fall +back before resistance. From the opening of the colloquy they were on +the defensive.</p> + +<p>Quite different was the position assumed at first by the British +Government and people. The events of the critical year 1813, both in +Europe and America, had changed the entire outlook. Alexander Baring, +whose general attitude towards the United States was friendly, wrote +to Gallatin, October 12, 1813, "We wish for peace, but the pressure of +the war upon our commerce and manufactures is over. They have ample +relief in other quarters; indeed, the dependence of the two countries +on each other was overrated." He was positive that there would be no +concession on <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_415" id="PageV2_415">[415]</a></span>impressment. Again, on December 14, "The pressure of +the war is diminished. Commerce is now abundantly prosperous."<a name="FNanchor_484_484" id="FNanchor_484_484"></a><a href="#Footnote_484_484" class="fnanchor">[484]</a> +Gallatin himself had occasion to spend some time in London during the +succeeding spring,—1814. Quotation from his observations has been +made already.<a name="FNanchor_485_485" id="FNanchor_485_485"></a><a href="#Footnote_485_485" class="fnanchor">[485]</a> In a letter of April 21,—after Napoleon's +abdication,—"The prosecution of war with the United States would +afford a convenient pretext for preserving a more considerable +standing force."<a name="FNanchor_486_486" id="FNanchor_486_486"></a><a href="#Footnote_486_486" class="fnanchor">[486]</a> This would be a useful element in the +troublesome diplomacy to be foreseen, in settling the disturbed +affairs of Europe; and the Government stood in need of reasons for +maintaining the pressure of taxation, which was already eliciting, and +later in the year still more elicited, symptoms of great discontent +and dangerous Parliamentary opposition. Yet in its conduct towards +America the Cabinet had the people behind it. Two months later, +Gallatin wrote to the Secretary of State, "You may rest assured of the +general hostile spirit of this nation, and of its wish to inflict +serious injury on the United States; that no assistance can be +expected from Europe; and that no better terms will be obtained than +the <i>status ante bellum</i>."<a name="FNanchor_487_487" id="FNanchor_487_487"></a><a href="#Footnote_487_487" class="fnanchor">[487]</a></p> + +<p>At the time of this writing, June 13, the British Foreign Secretary, +Lord Castlereagh, returned from Paris, where he had been spending the +two months succeeding the first abdication of Napoleon. During this +period formal peace with France had been established, and the Bourbons +reseated on her throne. His instructions to the British commissioners +at Ghent, issued July 28, were framed on lines which showed +consciousness of mastery.<a name="FNanchor_488_488" id="FNanchor_488_488"></a><a href="#Footnote_488_488" class="fnanchor">[488]</a> The <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_416" id="PageV2_416">[416]</a></span>question of abandoning the +practice of impressment would not be so much as entertained. The Rule +of 1756 should "rest on its own clear and well established +authority."<a name="FNanchor_489_489" id="FNanchor_489_489"></a><a href="#Footnote_489_489" class="fnanchor">[489]</a> The commissioners were not even to discuss it. +Equally decisive was the position taken with regard to questions of +irregular blockades, and of compensation for seizures under the Orders +in Council. When these were presented by the American commissioners, +the first was waived aside, as one on which there was no difference of +abstract principle; while as to the second, "you cannot be too +peremptory in discouraging, at the outset, the smallest expectation of +any restitution of captures made under the Orders in Council."<a name="FNanchor_490_490" id="FNanchor_490_490"></a><a href="#Footnote_490_490" class="fnanchor">[490]</a></p> + +<p>Military and naval weakness, combined with the changed conditions in +Europe, made the United States powerless when thus confronted with +refusal. The British Secretary stood on far less sure ground, as to +success, when he began to formulate his own demands. These were +essentially two: suitable arrangements for the Indians, and a +rectification of the frontiers. There was a third question, concerning +the fisheries on the Great Banks of Newfoundland. As to these, the +general right of all nations to frequent the Banks, being open sea, +was explicitly admitted; but the subjects of a foreign state had no +right to fish within the maritime jurisdiction of Great Britain, much +less to land with their catch on coasts belonging to her. The +provisions of the Treaty of 1783 therefore would not be renewed, +unless for an equivalent.</p> + +<p>As regarded the Indians, an adequate arrangement of their <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_417" id="PageV2_417">[417]</a></span>interests +was a <i>sine quâ non</i> of peace; nor would a full and express +recognition of present limits by itself alone fulfil this demand. +There must be security for its future observance. The particular +method by which this observance should be maintained was not made +indispensable; but it was plainly stated in the instructions that the +best means was "a mutual guarantee of the Indian possessions, as they +shall be established upon the peace, against encroachment on the part +of either State." The suggestion, in its logical consequence and in +its intent, went to establishing the communities of Indians as a +sovereign state, with boundaries guaranteed by Great Britain and the +United States,—a most entangling alliance. In support of this, +Castlereagh alleged that such a barrier of separation possessed a +distinct advantage over a line of contact between the two guaranteeing +states, such as now existed in their common boundary. The collisions +incident to intercourse between red and white men were easily +transferred from side to side of such a conventional line, causing +continual disputes. The advantages of a buffer state, to use the +modern term, would be secured by the proposed arrangement. Writing to +the prime minister, the Earl of Liverpool, he said, "The question is +one of expediency; and not of principle, as the American commissioners +have endeavored to make it. It does not follow, because, in the year +1783, the two States, not perhaps very justly, took a common boundary, +thereby assuming a sort of sovereignty over the Indians, that they may +not mutually recede from that boundary, if a frontier conterminous +with that of the Indians is preferable to one with each other."<a name="FNanchor_491_491" id="FNanchor_491_491"></a><a href="#Footnote_491_491" class="fnanchor">[491]</a></p> + +<p>However plausible reasoning based upon such premises might seem to the +party advancing it, it could not qualify the fact that it required +from the United States a large <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_418" id="PageV2_418">[418]</a></span>cession of territory, to be +surrendered to the Indians under British guarantee. Such a demand was +a dangerous diplomatic weapon to put within reach of a commission, of +which Adams and Gallatin were members. In presenting it, also, the +British representatives went beyond the letter of their instructions, +issued by Castlereagh on July 28, and enlarged August 14. Not only was +the inclusion of the Indians in the peace to be a <i>sine quâ non</i>, but +they wrote, "<i>It is equally necessary</i>" that a definite boundary be +assigned, and the integrity of their possessions mutually +guaranteed.<a name="FNanchor_492_492" id="FNanchor_492_492"></a><a href="#Footnote_492_492" class="fnanchor">[492]</a> This paper was submitted to Castlereagh as he passed +through Ghent to Paris, on his way to the Vienna Conference. "Had I +been to prepare the note given in on our part, I should have been less +peremptory;" but, like many superiors, he hesitated to fetter the men +in immediate charge, and "acquiesced in the expression, 'It is equally +necessary, etc.,' which is very strong."<a name="FNanchor_493_493" id="FNanchor_493_493"></a><a href="#Footnote_493_493" class="fnanchor">[493]</a> The prime minister was +still more deprecatory. He wrote Castlereagh, "Our commissioners had +certainly taken a very erroneous view of our policy. If the +negotiations had been allowed to break off upon the two notes already +presented, ... I am satisfied the war would have become popular in +America."<a name="FNanchor_494_494" id="FNanchor_494_494"></a><a href="#Footnote_494_494" class="fnanchor">[494]</a></p> + +<p>The American commissioners could see this also, and were quick to use +the advantage given by the wording of the paper before them, to +improve the status of the United States in the negotiation; for one of +the great weaknesses, on which Great Britain reckoned, was the +disunion of American sentiment on the subject of the war. Of their +reply, dated August 24, Castlereagh wrote, "It is extremely material +to answer the American note, as it is <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_419" id="PageV2_419">[419]</a></span>evidently intended to rouse the +people upon the question of their independence."<a name="FNanchor_495_495" id="FNanchor_495_495"></a><a href="#Footnote_495_495" class="fnanchor">[495]</a> Besides the +Indian proposition, the British note of August 19 had conveyed also +the explicit views of the ministry as to rectification of frontier. +Stated briefly, the chain of the Great Lakes was asserted to be a +military barrier essential to the security of Canada, as the weaker +community in North America. To assure it, no territorial cession was +required; but the lakes should be in the sole military tenure of Great +Britain. The United States might use them freely for commercial +purposes, but should maintain on them no ship of war, nor build any +fortification on their shores, or within a certain distance, to be +fixed by agreement. In addition to this, on the side of the lower St. +Lawrence, there was to be such a cession of the northern part of Maine +as would establish a direct communication between Quebec and Halifax. +The American reply of August 24<a name="FNanchor_496_496" id="FNanchor_496_496"></a><a href="#Footnote_496_496" class="fnanchor">[496]</a> discussed these questions, +patiently but instructively. The matters involved were made plain for +the American reader, and the paper closed with the clear intimation +that before such terms were accepted there must be a great deal more +fighting. "It is not necessary to refer such demands to the American +Government for instructions. They will only be a fit subject of +deliberation when it becomes necessary to decide upon the expediency +of an absolute surrender of national independence." So far as the +British proposals went, the question was military, not diplomatic; for +soldiers and seamen to decide, not for negotiators.</p> + +<p>So it stood, and so in the solution it proved. The American +commissioners held firm to this ground; while on the part of the +British there was thenceforth a continual effort to escape from a +false position, or to temporize, until some favorable change of +circumstances might enable them <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_420" id="PageV2_420">[420]</a></span>to insist. "The substance of the +question," wrote Castlereagh to the prime minister, "is, are we +prepared to continue the war for territorial arrangements. If not, is +this the best time to make peace, or is it desirable to take the +chances of the campaign and then to be governed by +circumstances?"<a name="FNanchor_497_497" id="FNanchor_497_497"></a><a href="#Footnote_497_497" class="fnanchor">[497]</a> "If our campaign in Canada should be as +successful as our military preparations would lead us to expect," ... +replied Liverpool, "if our commander does his duty, I am persuaded we +shall have acquired by our arms every point on the Canadian frontier, +which we ought to insist on keeping."<a name="FNanchor_498_498" id="FNanchor_498_498"></a><a href="#Footnote_498_498" class="fnanchor">[498]</a></p> + +<p>By these considerations the next British note was dictated, and +presented September 4.<a name="FNanchor_499_499" id="FNanchor_499_499"></a><a href="#Footnote_499_499" class="fnanchor">[499]</a> It simply argued the question, with +dilatory design, in a somewhat minatory tone. "I think it not +unlikely," Liverpool had written with reference to it, "that the +American commissioners will propose to refer the subject to their +Government. In that case, the negotiation may be adjourned till the +answer is received, and we shall know the result of the campaign +before it can be resumed." But the Americans did not refer. They too +needed time for their people to learn what now was the purpose of +hostilities, which the British envoys had precipitately stated as an +indispensable concession, and to manifest the national temper under +the changed circumstances; but they did not choose that the matter +should be stated as one open to discussion. They knew well enough the +harassment of maintaining a land warfare three thousand miles from +Great Britain, as well as the dangers threatening the European +situation and embarrassing the British ministry. They in turn +discussed at length, scrutinizing historically the several arguments +of their opponents; but their conclusion was foregone. The two +<span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_421" id="PageV2_421">[421]</a></span>propositions—first, of assigning "a definite boundary to the Indians +living within the limit of the United States, beyond which boundary +they [the United States] should stipulate not to acquire any +territory; secondly, of securing the exclusive military possession of +the lakes to Great Britain—are both inadmissible. We cannot subscribe +to, and would deem useless to refer to our Government, any arrangement +containing either of these propositions." The British Government was +not permitted any subterfuge to escape from the premature insistence +upon cession of territory made by their envoys, which would tend to +unite the people in America; nor was it to be anticipated that +prolonged hostilities for such an object would be acceptable in Great +Britain.</p> + +<p>The pre-eminence given to the Indian question by Great Britain in +these negotiations was due to the importance attached by British local +officials to the aid of the savages in war, and to a sensitive +conviction that, when thus utilized, they should not be abandoned in +peace. Their military value was probably over-estimated. It consisted +chiefly in numbers, in which the British were inferior, and in the +terror produced by their cruelties; doubtless, also, in some degree to +their skill in woodcraft; but they were not dependable. Such as it +was, their support went usually to the weaker party; not because the +Indian naturally sided with the weaker, but because he instinctively +recognized that from the stronger he had most to fear. Therefore in +colonial days France, in later days Great Britain, in both cases +Canada, derived more apparent profit from their employment than did +their opponent, whose more numerous white men enabled him to dispense +with the fickle and feebler aid of the aborigines.</p> + +<p>Before the firm attitude of the note of September 9, the British +Government again procrastinated, and receded from demands which sound +policy should from the first have recognized as untenable, unless +reposing upon decisive <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_422" id="PageV2_422">[422]</a></span>military success and occupation. On September +19, their commissioners replied<a name="FNanchor_500_500" id="FNanchor_500_500"></a><a href="#Footnote_500_500" class="fnanchor">[500]</a> that while the exclusive military +possession of the lakes would be conducive to a good understanding, +without endangering the security of the United States, it had not been +advanced as a <i>sine quâ non</i>. A final proposition on the subject of +the Canadian boundaries would be made, when the Indian question was +settled. Concerning this, they were "authorized distinctly to declare +that they are instructed not to sign a treaty of peace, unless the +Indian nations are included in it, and restored to all the rights, +privileges, and territories, which they enjoyed in the year 1811," by +treaties then existing. "From this point the British plenipotentiaries +cannot depart." They were instructed further to <i>offer for discussion</i> +an article establishing Indian boundaries, within which the two +countries should bind themselves not to make acquisitions by purchase +during a term of years. To the absence of Lord Castlereagh, and +consequent private correspondence between him and his colleagues in +London, we owe the knowledge that the question of purchasing Indian +lands, and the guarantee, would no longer be insisted on; and that the +military control of the lakes was now reduced in purpose to the +retention of Forts Michilimackinac and Niagara.<a name="FNanchor_501_501" id="FNanchor_501_501"></a><a href="#Footnote_501_501" class="fnanchor">[501]</a> The intention +remained, however, to insist upon the Indian provisions as just +stated.</p> + +<p>On September 26, the American commission replied that, as thus +presented, there was no apparent difference in the purposes of the two +nations as regarded the substantial welfare of the Indians themselves. +The United States meant towards them peace, and the placing them in +the position in which they stood before the war. "The real difference +was" in the methods proposed. Great Britain "insisted on including the +Indians, as allies, in the treaty of peace <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_423" id="PageV2_423">[423]</a></span>between her and the United +States." But the Indians concerned dwelt within the acknowledged +bounds of the United States, and their political relations towards her +were no concern of Great Britain; nor could any arrangement be +admitted which would constitute them independent communities, in whose +behalf Great Britain might hereafter claim a right to interfere. The +error underlying the British demand was the assumption that the Indian +tribes were independent; whereas, in their relation to foreign +countries, they were merely dwellers in the United States, who had +made war upon her in co-operation with Great Britain. The upshot was a +mutual agreement, drawn up by the British plenipotentiaries, that upon +the conclusion of peace each state would put an end to hostilities in +which it might be engaged with the Indians, and would restore them to +the rights enjoyed before 1811. The Americans accepted this, subject +to ratification at home, on the ground that, while it included the +Indians in the peace, it did not do so as parties to the treaty, and +left the manner of settlement in the hands of each Government +interested. The agreement thus framed formed one of the articles of +the treaty.</p> + +<p>On September 27 the Gazette account of the capture of Washington was +published in London. Lord Bathurst, who in the absence of Castlereagh +was acting as Foreign Secretary, despatched the news the same day to +the commissioners at Ghent, instructing them to assure the Americans +that it made no difference in the British desire for peace, nor would +modify unfavorably the requirements as to frontier, as yet +unstated.<a name="FNanchor_502_502" id="FNanchor_502_502"></a><a href="#Footnote_502_502" class="fnanchor">[502]</a> Liverpool wrote coincidently to Castlereagh, suggesting +that he should communicate to the sovereigns and ministers at Vienna +the moderation with which the Government was acting, as well as the +tone assumed by the American commissioners, "so very different from +what their situation appears to warrant." "I fear the <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_424" id="PageV2_424">[424]</a></span>Emperor of +Russia is half an American, and it would be very desirable to do away +any prejudices which may exist in his mind, or in that of Count +Nesselrode, on this subject."<a name="FNanchor_503_503" id="FNanchor_503_503"></a><a href="#Footnote_503_503" class="fnanchor">[503]</a> The remark is illuminating as to +the reciprocal influence of the American contest and the European +negotiations, and also as to the reasons for declining the proposed +Russian mediation of 1813. The continent generally, and Russia +conspicuously, held opinions on neutral maritime rights similar to +those of the United States. Liverpool had already<a name="FNanchor_504_504" id="FNanchor_504_504"></a><a href="#Footnote_504_504" class="fnanchor">[504]</a> expressed his +wish to be well out of the war, although expecting decided military +successes, and convinced that the terms as now reduced would be very +unpopular in England; "but I feel too strongly the inconvenience of a +continuance not to make me desirous of concluding it at the expense of +some popularity."</p> + +<p>It was in this spirit, doubtless, that Bathurst instructed the envoys +that, if the Americans wished to refer the very modified proposals, or +to sign them conditional upon ratification at home, either proposition +would be accepted; an assurance repeated on October 5.<a name="FNanchor_505_505" id="FNanchor_505_505"></a><a href="#Footnote_505_505" class="fnanchor">[505]</a> Were +neither alternative embraced as to the Indian settlement, the +negotiation should be closed and the commission return to England. +British military anticipation then stood high. Not only was the +capture of Washington over-estimated, but Ross and Cochrane had +impressed their Government with brilliant expectations. "They are very +sanguine about the future operations. They intend, on account of the +season, to proceed in the first instance to the northward, and to +occupy Rhode Island, where they propose remaining and living upon the +country until about the first of November. They will then proceed +southward, destroy Baltimore, if they should find it practicable +without too much risk, <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_425" id="PageV2_425">[425]</a></span>occupy several important points on the coast +of Georgia and the Carolinas, take possession of Mobile in the +Floridas, and close the campaign with an attack on New Orleans."<a name="FNanchor_506_506" id="FNanchor_506_506"></a><a href="#Footnote_506_506" class="fnanchor">[506]</a> +This was a large programme for a corps of the size of Ross', after all +allowance made for the ease with which Washington had fallen. It is +probably to be read in connection with the project of sending to +America very large re-enforcements; so numerous, indeed, that Lord +Hill, Wellington's second in the Peninsula, had been designated for +the command. This purpose had been communicated to Ross and Cochrane; +and at the time of the capture of Washington they had not received the +letters notifying them that "circumstances had induced his Majesty's +Government to defer their intention of employing so considerable a +force in that quarter."<a name="FNanchor_507_507" id="FNanchor_507_507"></a><a href="#Footnote_507_507" class="fnanchor">[507]</a> For this change of mind America doubtless +was indebted to European considerations. Besides the expectations +mentioned, the British Government had well-founded reasons to hope for +control of Lake Ontario, and for substantial results from the handsome +force placed at the disposal of Sir George Prevost, to which the +triumphant expedition of Cochrane and Ross had been intended only as a +diversion.</p> + +<p>Under these flattering anticipations were formulated the bases upon +which to treat, now that the Indian question was out of the way. On +October 18 and 20 Bathurst instructed the commissioners to propose, as +a starting point, the principle that each party should hold what it +had, subject to modifications for mutual accommodation. "Considering +the relative situation of the two countries, the moderation evinced by +his Majesty's Government in admitting this principle, (thereby +surrendering claim to the future conquests), in the present state of +the contest, must be manifest." When this was accepted, but not +before, the <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_426" id="PageV2_426">[426]</a></span>mutual accommodations were to be suggested. The present +captured possessions were stated to be: British, Fort Michilimackinac, +Fort Niagara, and all the country east of the Penobscot; the American, +Fort Erie and Fort Malden. Upon the surrender of the two latter, Great +Britain would restore the forts at Castine and Machias. She would +retain Mackinac and Fort Niagara, the latter with a surrounding strip +of five miles of territory; and in exchange (apparently) for "all the +country east of the Penobscot," would accept that part of Maine which +lies north of the Aroostook River, thus insuring between Quebec and +Halifax a direct communication, wholly under British jurisdiction.</p> + +<p>There were some further minor matters of detail, unnecessary to +mention; the more so that they did not come formally before the +American commissioners, who immediately rejected the proposed +principle of <i>uti possidetis</i>, and replied, October 24, that they were +not empowered to yield any territory, and could treat only on the +basis of entire mutual restitution. This Liverpool testily likened to +the claim of the French revolutionary Government<a name="FNanchor_508_508" id="FNanchor_508_508"></a><a href="#Footnote_508_508" class="fnanchor">[508]</a> that territory +could not be ceded because contrary to the fundamental law of the +Republic. In the American case, however, it was substantially an +affirmation that the military conditions did not warrant surrender. +Meanwhile, on October 21, the news of Macdonough's victory reached +London from American sources. Although the British official accounts +did not arrive until some time later, Liverpool, writing to +Castlereagh on that day, admitted that there could be no doubt of the +defeat of the flotilla.<a name="FNanchor_509_509" id="FNanchor_509_509"></a><a href="#Footnote_509_509" class="fnanchor">[509]</a> Despite this check, the Cabinet still +cherished hopes of further successes, and were unwilling yet to +abandon entirely the last inches of the ground heretofore assumed. +"Had <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_427" id="PageV2_427">[427]</a></span>it not been for this unfortunate adventure on Lake Champlain," +wrote Bathurst to Castlereagh, "I really believe we should have signed +a peace by the end of this month. This will put the enemy in spirits. +The campaign will end in our doing much where we thought we should +have done little, and doing nothing where we expected +everything."<a name="FNanchor_510_510" id="FNanchor_510_510"></a><a href="#Footnote_510_510" class="fnanchor">[510]</a> He announced the intention to send Pakenham in Ross' +place for the New Orleans expedition, and to increase his force in the +spring, should the war last till then. Meanwhile, it might be well to +let the Powers assembled at Vienna understand that, whatever the +success in Louisiana, the inhabitants would be distinctly told that in +no case would the country be taken under British protection. They +might be granted independence, but preferably would be urged to place +themselves again under the Spanish Crown; but they must know that, in +treating with the United States, neither of these solutions would be +made by Great Britain a <i>sine quâ non</i>. The Government had probably +taken a distaste to that peremptory formula by the unsatisfactory +result of the proposition about the Indians.</p> + +<p>This care concerning the effect produced upon the course of events at +Vienna appears forcibly in the letters of Liverpool. After the receipt +of the American commission's refusal to accept the basis of the <i>uti +possidetis</i>, he wrote to Castlereagh, October 28, that he feared it +put an end to any hopes of bringing the American war to a conclusion. +The expectation of some favorable change in the aspect of affairs, +however, decided the ministry to gain a little more time before +bringing the negotiation to a close; and the envoys at Ghent were +therefore to be instructed to demand a full <i>projet</i> of all the +American conditions before entering on further discussion. The <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_428" id="PageV2_428">[428]</a></span>same +day Liverpool sent a second letter,<a name="FNanchor_511_511" id="FNanchor_511_511"></a><a href="#Footnote_511_511" class="fnanchor">[511]</a> in which he said distinctly +that, in viewing the European settlement, it was material to consider +that the war with America would probably be of some duration; that +enemies should not be made in other quarters by holding out too long +on the questions of Poland, Naples, and Saxony, for he was +apprehensive that "some of our European allies will not be indisposed +to favor the Americans; and, if the Emperor of Russia should be +desirous of taking up their cause, we are well aware from some of Lord +Walpole's late communications that there is a most powerful party in +Russia to support him. Looking to a continuance of the American war, +our financial state is far from satisfactory. We shall want a loan for +the ensuing year of £27,000,000 or £28,000,000. The American war will +not cost us less than £10,000,000, in addition to our peace +establishment and other expenses. We must expect, therefore, to have +it said that the property tax is continued for the purpose of securing +a better frontier for Canada." Castlereagh himself had already spoken +of the financial conditions as "perfectly without precedent in our +financial history."<a name="FNanchor_512_512" id="FNanchor_512_512"></a><a href="#Footnote_512_512" class="fnanchor">[512]</a></p> + +<p>The renewal of the European war, avowedly dreaded by Liverpool,<a name="FNanchor_513_513" id="FNanchor_513_513"></a><a href="#Footnote_513_513" class="fnanchor">[513]</a> +was thought not impossible by Castlereagh and Wellington; while +conditions in France already threatened an explosion, such as +Bonaparte occasioned in the succeeding March. "It is impossible," +wrote Wellington, "to conceive the distress in which individuals of +all descriptions are. The only remedy is the revival of Bonaparte's +system of war and plunder; and it is evident that cannot be adopted +during the reign of the Bourbons."<a name="FNanchor_514_514" id="FNanchor_514_514"></a><a href="#Footnote_514_514" class="fnanchor">[514]</a> <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_429" id="PageV2_429">[429]</a></span>Neither he nor Castlereagh +doubted the imminence of the danger. "It sounds incredible," wrote the +latter, "that Talleyrand should treat the notion of any agitation at +Paris as wholly unfounded."<a name="FNanchor_515_515" id="FNanchor_515_515"></a><a href="#Footnote_515_515" class="fnanchor">[515]</a> A plot was believed to exist, which +embraced as one of its features the seizing of the Duke, and holding +him as a hostage. He himself thought it possible, and saw no means in +the French Government's hands adequate to resist. "You already know my +opinion of the danger at Paris.... The event may occur any night, and +if it should occur, I don't think I should be allowed to depart. My +safety depends upon the King's;"<a name="FNanchor_516_516" id="FNanchor_516_516"></a><a href="#Footnote_516_516" class="fnanchor">[516]</a> but he was characteristically +averse to any step which bore the appearance of precipitate +withdrawal.</p> + +<p>While the American negotiators were drawing up the <i>projet</i> which they +had decided to present in response to the British demand, the +combination of circumstances just stated led the British ministry to +resolve on removing Wellington from Paris on some pretext, lest his +services should be lost to them in the emergency now momentarily +dreaded. The urgency for peace with America co-operated to determine +the ostensible reason, which was almost a true one. The American +command was offered to him. "The Duke of Wellington would restore +confidence to the army, place the military operations on a proper +footing, and give us the best chance of peace. I know he is very +anxious for the restoration of peace with America, if it can be made +upon terms at all honorable. It is a material consideration, likewise, +that if we shall be disposed for the sake of peace to give up +something of our just pretensions, we can do this more creditably +through him than through any other person."<a name="FNanchor_517_517" id="FNanchor_517_517"></a><a href="#Footnote_517_517" class="fnanchor">[517]</a> Liverpool voiced the +conclusions of the Cabinet, and it would be difficult for words to +<span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_430" id="PageV2_430">[430]</a></span>manifest more forcibly anxiety to escape from a situation. Wellington +himself drew attention to this. "Does it not occur to your lordship +that, by appointing me to go to America at this moment, you give +ground for belief, all over Europe, that your affairs there are in a +much worse situation than they really are? and will not my nomination +at this moment be a triumph to the Americans, and their friends here +and elsewhere?"<a name="FNanchor_518_518" id="FNanchor_518_518"></a><a href="#Footnote_518_518" class="fnanchor">[518]</a> Conditions were alarming, but the action +resembled panic.</p> + +<p>The offer, which was really a request, brought Wellington by a side +wind into the American negotiations, and enabled him to give the +Government the weight of his name and authority in concluding a peace +otherwise than on their "just pretensions." The war, he said, has been +honorable to Great Britain; meaning doubtless that, considering the +huge physical mass and the proximity of the United States, it was well +done to have escaped injury, as it was militarily disgraceful to the +American Government, with such superiority, to have been so impotent. +But, he continued, neither I nor any one else can achieve success, in +the way of conquests, unless you have naval superiority on the lakes. +That was what was needed; "not a general, nor general officers and +troops. Till that superiority is acquired, it is impossible, according +to my notion, to maintain an army in such a situation as to keep the +enemy out of the whole frontier, much less to make any conquest from +the enemy, which, with those superior means, might, with reasonable +hopes of success, be undertaken.... The question is, whether we can +obtain this naval superiority on the lakes. If we cannot, I shall do +you but little good in America; and I shall go there only to prove the +truth of Prevost's defence, and to sign a peace which might as well be +signed now." This endorsed not only Prevost's <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_431" id="PageV2_431">[431]</a></span>retreat, but also the +importance of Macdonough's victory. The Duke then added frankly that, +in the state of the war, they had no right to demand any concession of +territory. He brushed contemptuously aside the claim of occupying the +country east of the Penobscot, on the ground of Sherbrooke's few +companies at Castine, ready to retreat at a moment's notice. "If this +reasoning be true, why stipulate for the <i>uti possidetis</i>?"<a name="FNanchor_519_519" id="FNanchor_519_519"></a><a href="#Footnote_519_519" class="fnanchor">[519]</a></p> + +<p>Penned November 9, the day before the American negotiators at Ghent +handed in their requested <i>projet</i>, this letter may be regarded as +decisive. November 13, Liverpool replied that the ministry was waiting +anxiously for the American <i>projet</i>, ... and, "without entering into +particulars, I can assure you that we shall be disposed to meet your +views upon the points on which the negotiation appears to turn at +present;" the points being the <i>uti possidetis</i>, with the several +details of possession put forward by Bathurst. The American paper was +in London before the 18th, when Liverpool wrote to Castlereagh, "I +think we have determined, if all other points can be satisfactorily +settled, not to continue the war for the purpose of obtaining, or +securing, any acquisition of territory. We have been led to this +determination by the consideration of the unsatisfactory state of the +negotiations at Vienna, and by that of the alarming situation of the +interior of France." "Under such circumstances, it has appeared to us +desirable to bring the American war, if possible, to a +conclusion."<a name="FNanchor_520_520" id="FNanchor_520_520"></a><a href="#Footnote_520_520" class="fnanchor">[520]</a> The basis of the <i>status quo ante bellum</i>, sustained +all along by the American commission, was thus definitely accepted, +and so stated formally by Bathurst.<a name="FNanchor_521_521" id="FNanchor_521_521"></a><a href="#Footnote_521_521" class="fnanchor">[521]</a></p> + +<p>This fundamental agreement having been reached, the <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_432" id="PageV2_432">[432]</a></span>negotiations ran +rapidly to a settlement without further serious hitch; a conclusion to +which contributed powerfully the increasing anxiety of the British +ministry over the menacing aspect of the Continent. The American +<i>projet</i>,<a name="FNanchor_522_522" id="FNanchor_522_522"></a><a href="#Footnote_522_522" class="fnanchor">[522]</a> besides the customary formal stipulations as to +procedure for bringing hostilities to a close, consisted of articles +embodying the American positions on the subjects of impressment and +blockade, with claims for indemnity for losses sustained by irregular +captures and seizures during the late hostilities between France and +Great Britain; a provision aimed at the Orders in Council. These +demands, which covered the motives of the war, and may be regarded as +the offensive side of the American negotiation, were pronounced +inadmissible at once by the British, and were immediately abandoned. +Their presentation had been merely formal; the United States +Government, within its own council chamber, had already recognized +that they could not be enforced. The <i>projet</i> included the agreement +previously framed concerning the Indians; who were thus provided for +in the treaty, though excluded from any recognition as parties to it, +or as independent political communities. This was the only demand +which Great Britain can be said fairly to have carried, and it was so +far a reduction from her original requirement as to be unrecognizable. +An American proposition, pledging each of the contracting parties not +again to employ Indians in war, was rejected.</p> + +<p>The remaining articles of the <i>projet</i>, although entirely suitable to +a treaty of peace, were not essentially connected with the war. The +treaty merely gave a suitable occasion for presenting them. They +provided for fixing, by mixed commissions, the boundary lines between +the British possessions and the United States. These the Treaty of +1783 had stated in terms which had as yet received no <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_433" id="PageV2_433">[433]</a></span>proper +topographical determination. From the mouth of the St. Croix River, +and the islands within it and in the adjacent sea, around, north and +west, as far as the head of Lake Superior, the precise course of the +bounding line needed definition by surveyors. These propositions were +agreed to; but when it came to similar provision for settling the +boundary of the new territories acquired by the Louisiana purchase, as +far as the Rocky Mountains, difficulties arose. In the result it was +agreed that the determination of the boundary should be carried as far +as the most northwestern point of the Lake of the Woods, "in +conformity with the true intent of the said Treaty of Peace of one +thousand seven hundred and eighty-three." The treaty was silent on the +subject of boundary westward of the Lake of the Woods, and this +article of the <i>projet</i> was dropped. It differed indeed from its +associates, in providing the settlement for a new question, and not +the definition of an old settlement. In conclusion, the British +commissioners obtained the adoption of an agreement that both parties +"would use their best endeavors to promote the entire abolition of the +slave trade." In Great Britain the agitation for this measure had +reached proportions which were not the least among the embarrassments +of the ministry; and at this critical juncture the practical +politicians conducting affairs found themselves constrained by a +popular demand to press the subject upon the less sympathetic +statesmen of the Cabinet.</p> + +<p>The American commissioners had made a good fight, and shown complete +appreciation of the factors working continuously in their behalf. To +the end, and even more evidently at the end, was apparent the +increasing anxiety of the British Government, the reasonable cause for +it in European conditions, and the immense difficulty under such +circumstances of accomplishing any substantial military successes in +America. The Duke of Wellington <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_434" id="PageV2_434">[434]</a></span>wrote that "all the American armies +of which I ever read would not beat out of a field of battle the +troops that went from Bordeaux last summer;"<a name="FNanchor_523_523" id="FNanchor_523_523"></a><a href="#Footnote_523_523" class="fnanchor">[523]</a> but still, "his +opinion is that no military advantage can be expected if the war goes +on, and he would have great reluctance in undertaking the command +unless we made a serious effort first to obtain peace, without +insisting upon keeping any part of our conquests."<a name="FNanchor_524_524" id="FNanchor_524_524"></a><a href="#Footnote_524_524" class="fnanchor">[524]</a> On December +23, Liverpool sent a long and anxious letter to Castlereagh, in reply +to his late despatches. The fear of a renewal of war on the Continent +is prominent in his consideration, and it was recognized that the size +of the European armaments, combined with the pecuniary burden of +maintaining them, tended of itself to precipitate an outbreak. Should +that occur, France could scarcely fail to be drawn in; and France, if +involved, might direct her efforts towards the Low Countries, "the +only object on the continent which would be regarded as a distinct +British interest of sufficient magnitude to reconcile the country to +war," with its renewed burden of taxation. "We are decidedly and +unanimously of opinion that all your efforts should be directed to the +continuance of peace. There is no mode in which the arrangements in +Poland, Germany, and Italy, can be settled, consistently with the +stipulations of the Treaty of Paris, which is not to be preferred, +under present circumstances, to a renewal of hostilities between the +Continental Powers." Coincidently with this, in another letter of the +same day, he mentions the meetings which have taken place on account +of the property tax, and the spirit which had arisen on the subject. +"This, as well as other considerations, make us most anxious to get +rid of the American war."<a name="FNanchor_525_525" id="FNanchor_525_525"></a><a href="#Footnote_525_525" class="fnanchor">[525]</a></p> + +<p>The Treaty of Ghent was signed December 24, 1814, <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_435" id="PageV2_435">[435]</a></span>by the eight +commissioners. The last article provided for its ratification, without +alteration, at Washington, within four months from the signature. A +<i>chargé d'affaires</i> to the United States was appointed, and directed +to proceed at once in a British ship of war to America, with the +Prince Regent's ratification, to be exchanged against that of the +President; but he was especially instructed that the exchange should +not be made unless the ratification by the United States was without +alteration, addition, or exclusion, in any form whatsoever. +Hostilities were not to cease until such action had taken place. The +British Government were apparently determined that concessions wrung +from them, by considerations foreign to the immediate struggle, should +not be subjected to further modification in the Senate.</p> + +<p>Mr. Baker, the British <i>chargé</i>, sailed in the British sloop of war +"Favorite," accompanied by Mr. Carroll bearing the despatches of the +American commissioners. The "Favorite" arrived in New York on +Saturday, February 11. The treaty was ratified by the President, as it +stood, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, on the 17th +of February, 1815.</p> + +<br /> +<hr style='width: 15%;' /> +<br /> + +<p>A year after the conclusion of peace, a weighty opinion as to the +effect of the War of 1812 upon the national history was expressed by +one of the commissioners, Mr. Albert Gallatin. For fifteen years past, +no man had been in closer touch with the springs of national life, +national policy, and national action; as representative in Congress, +and as intimate adviser of two consecutive Presidents, in his position +as Secretary of the Treasury. His experience, the perspicuity of his +intellect, and his lucidity of thought and expression, give particular +value to his conclusions; the more so that to some extent they are the +condemnation, <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_436" id="PageV2_436">[436]</a></span>regretfully uttered, of a scheme of political conduct +with the main ideas of which he had been closely identified. He wrote: +"The war has been productive of evil and of good, but I think the good +preponderates. Independent of the loss of lives, and of the property +of individuals, the war has laid the foundations of permanent taxes +and military establishments, which the Republicans<a name="FNanchor_526_526" id="FNanchor_526_526"></a><a href="#Footnote_526_526" class="fnanchor">[526]</a> had deemed +unfavorable to the happiness and free institutions of the country. But +under our former system we were becoming too selfish, too much +attached exclusively to the acquisition of wealth, above all, too much +confined in our political feelings to local and state objects. The war +has renewed and reinstated the national feelings and character which +the Revolution had given, and which were daily lessening. The people +have now more general objects of attachment, with which their pride +and political opinions are connected. They are more Americans; they +feel and act more as a nation; and I hope that the permanency of the +Union is thereby better secured."<a name="FNanchor_527_527" id="FNanchor_527_527"></a><a href="#Footnote_527_527" class="fnanchor">[527]</a></p> + +<p>Such, even at so early a date, could be seen to be the meaning of the +War of 1812 in the progress of the national history. The people, born +by war to independence, had by war again been transformed from +childhood, absorbed in the visible objects immediately surrounding it, +to youth with its dawning vision and opening enthusiasms. They issued +from the contest, battered by adversity, but through it at last fairly +possessed by the conception of a national unity, which during days of +material prosperity had struggled in vain against the predominance of +immediate interests and local prepossessions. The conflict, indeed, +was not yet over. Two generations of civic strife were still to +signalize the slow and painful growth of the love for <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_437" id="PageV2_437">[437]</a></span>"The Union"; +that personification of national being, upon which can safely fasten +the instinct of human nature to centre devotion upon a person and a +name. But, through these years of fluctuating affections, the work of +the War of 1812 was continuously felt. Men had been forced out of +themselves. More and more of the people became more Americans; they +felt and acted more as a nation; and when the moment came that the +unity of the state was threatened from within, the passion for the +Union, conceived in 1812, and nurtured silently for years in homes and +hearts, asserted itself. The price to be paid was heavy. Again war +desolated the land; but through war the permanency of the Union was +secured. Since then, relieved from internal weakness, strong now in +the maturity of manhood, and in a common motive, the nation has taken +its place among the Powers of the earth.</p> + +<br /> +<hr style="width: 15%;" /> +<br /> + +<h4>FOOTNOTES:</h4> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_473_473" id="Footnote_473_473"></a><a href="#FNanchor_473_473"><span class="label">[473]</span></a> Monroe to Russell, Aug. 21, 1812. American State +Papers, Foreign Relations, vol. iii. p. 587.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_474_474" id="Footnote_474_474"></a><a href="#FNanchor_474_474"><span class="label">[474]</span></a> Ante, vol. i. p. 390.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_475_475" id="Footnote_475_475"></a><a href="#FNanchor_475_475"><span class="label">[475]</span></a> American State Papers, Foreign Relations, vol. iii. p. +590.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_476_476" id="Footnote_476_476"></a><a href="#FNanchor_476_476"><span class="label">[476]</span></a> Correspondence between Russell and Castlereagh, Sept. +12-18, 1812; and Russell to Monroe, Sept. 17. American State Papers, +Foreign Relations, vol. iii. pp. 591-595.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_477_477" id="Footnote_477_477"></a><a href="#FNanchor_477_477"><span class="label">[477]</span></a> Russell's italics.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_478_478" id="Footnote_478_478"></a><a href="#FNanchor_478_478"><span class="label">[478]</span></a> The correspondence relating to the Russian proffer of +mediation is to be found in American State Papers, vol. iii. pp. +623-627.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_479_479" id="Footnote_479_479"></a><a href="#FNanchor_479_479"><span class="label">[479]</span></a> American State Papers, vol. iii. pp. 621-622.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_480_480" id="Footnote_480_480"></a><a href="#FNanchor_480_480"><span class="label">[480]</span></a> Ibid., pp. 695-700.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_481_481" id="Footnote_481_481"></a><a href="#FNanchor_481_481"><span class="label">[481]</span></a> American State Papers, Foreign Relations, vol. iii. p. +701.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_482_482" id="Footnote_482_482"></a><a href="#FNanchor_482_482"><span class="label">[482]</span></a> Ibid., p. 703.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_483_483" id="Footnote_483_483"></a><a href="#FNanchor_483_483"><span class="label">[483]</span></a> Ante, p. 266, and note.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_484_484" id="Footnote_484_484"></a><a href="#FNanchor_484_484"><span class="label">[484]</span></a> Writings of Albert Gallatin, edited by Henry Adams, +vol. i. pp. 586, 592.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_485_485" id="Footnote_485_485"></a><a href="#FNanchor_485_485"><span class="label">[485]</span></a> Ante, p. 332.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_486_486" id="Footnote_486_486"></a><a href="#FNanchor_486_486"><span class="label">[486]</span></a> Writings of Albert Gallatin, vol. i. p. 603.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_487_487" id="Footnote_487_487"></a><a href="#FNanchor_487_487"><span class="label">[487]</span></a> Ibid., vol. i. p. 629.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_488_488" id="Footnote_488_488"></a><a href="#FNanchor_488_488"><span class="label">[488]</span></a> A similar consciousness appears to the writer +discernible in a letter of Wellington to Castlereagh, of May 25, 1814. +To procure "the cession of Olivenza by Spain to Portugal, we could +promise to <i>bind</i> North America, by a secret article in our treaty of +peace, to give no encouragement, or <i>countenance</i>, or assistance, to +the Spanish colonies" (then in revolt). Memoirs and Correspondence of +Lord Castlereagh, series iii. vol. ii. p. 44. The italics are mine.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_489_489" id="Footnote_489_489"></a><a href="#FNanchor_489_489"><span class="label">[489]</span></a> Castlereagh to the British commissioners, July 28, +1814. Castlereagh's Memoirs and Correspondence, series iii. vol. ii. +p. 69.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_490_490" id="Footnote_490_490"></a><a href="#FNanchor_490_490"><span class="label">[490]</span></a> Ibid., Aug. 14, 1814, pp. 88, 89.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_491_491" id="Footnote_491_491"></a><a href="#FNanchor_491_491"><span class="label">[491]</span></a> Castlereagh to Liverpool, Paris, Aug. 28, 1814. +Castlereagh Memoirs, p. 101.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_492_492" id="Footnote_492_492"></a><a href="#FNanchor_492_492"><span class="label">[492]</span></a> Note of the British commissioners, Aug. 19, 1814. +American State Papers, Foreign Relations, vol. iii. p. 710. My +italics.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_493_493" id="Footnote_493_493"></a><a href="#FNanchor_493_493"><span class="label">[493]</span></a> Castlereagh to Liverpool, Aug. 28, 1814. Castlereagh +Memoirs, series iii. vol. ii. p. 100.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_494_494" id="Footnote_494_494"></a><a href="#FNanchor_494_494"><span class="label">[494]</span></a> Liverpool to Castlereagh, Sept. 2, 1814. Castlereagh +Papers MSS.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_495_495" id="Footnote_495_495"></a><a href="#FNanchor_495_495"><span class="label">[495]</span></a> Castlereagh Memoirs, etc., series iii. vol. ii. p. +101.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_496_496" id="Footnote_496_496"></a><a href="#FNanchor_496_496"><span class="label">[496]</span></a> American State Papers, Foreign Relations, vol. iii. pp. +711-713.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_497_497" id="Footnote_497_497"></a><a href="#FNanchor_497_497"><span class="label">[497]</span></a> Castlereagh to Liverpool, August 28. Memoirs, etc., +series iii. vol. ii. p. 102.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_498_498" id="Footnote_498_498"></a><a href="#FNanchor_498_498"><span class="label">[498]</span></a> Liverpool to Castlereagh, September 2, Castlereagh +Papers MSS.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_499_499" id="Footnote_499_499"></a><a href="#FNanchor_499_499"><span class="label">[499]</span></a> American State Papers, Foreign Relations, vol. iii. p. +713.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_500_500" id="Footnote_500_500"></a><a href="#FNanchor_500_500"><span class="label">[500]</span></a> American State Papers, Foreign Relations, vol. iii. p. +717.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_501_501" id="Footnote_501_501"></a><a href="#FNanchor_501_501"><span class="label">[501]</span></a> Bathurst to Castlereagh, Sept. 16, 1814. Castlereagh +Papers MSS.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_502_502" id="Footnote_502_502"></a><a href="#FNanchor_502_502"><span class="label">[502]</span></a> Castlereagh Memoirs, series iii. vol. ii. p. 138.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_503_503" id="Footnote_503_503"></a><a href="#FNanchor_503_503"><span class="label">[503]</span></a> Liverpool to Castlereagh, September 27. Castlereagh +Papers MSS.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_504_504" id="Footnote_504_504"></a><a href="#FNanchor_504_504"><span class="label">[504]</span></a> September 23. Ibid.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_505_505" id="Footnote_505_505"></a><a href="#FNanchor_505_505"><span class="label">[505]</span></a> Castlereagh Memoirs, series iii. vol. ii. p. 148.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_506_506" id="Footnote_506_506"></a><a href="#FNanchor_506_506"><span class="label">[506]</span></a> Liverpool to Castlereagh, Sept. 27, 1814. Castlereagh +Papers MSS.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_507_507" id="Footnote_507_507"></a><a href="#FNanchor_507_507"><span class="label">[507]</span></a> Ante, p. 385; and 384, note.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_508_508" id="Footnote_508_508"></a><a href="#FNanchor_508_508"><span class="label">[508]</span></a> Liverpool to Castlereagh, Oct. 28. Castlereagh Papers +MSS.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_509_509" id="Footnote_509_509"></a><a href="#FNanchor_509_509"><span class="label">[509]</span></a> Liverpool to Castlereagh, Oct. 21, 1814. Ibid.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_510_510" id="Footnote_510_510"></a><a href="#FNanchor_510_510"><span class="label">[510]</span></a> Bathurst to Castlereagh, Oct. 21, 1814. Castlereagh +Papers MSS.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_511_511" id="Footnote_511_511"></a><a href="#FNanchor_511_511"><span class="label">[511]</span></a> Castlereagh Papers MSS.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_512_512" id="Footnote_512_512"></a><a href="#FNanchor_512_512"><span class="label">[512]</span></a> Castlereagh to Sir H. Wellesley, Sept. 9, 1814. +Memoirs, series iii. vol. ii. p. 112.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_513_513" id="Footnote_513_513"></a><a href="#FNanchor_513_513"><span class="label">[513]</span></a> Liverpool to Castlereagh, Nov. 2, 1814. Castlereagh +Papers MSS.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_514_514" id="Footnote_514_514"></a><a href="#FNanchor_514_514"><span class="label">[514]</span></a> Wellington to Liverpool, Nov. 9, 1814. Castlereagh +Memoirs, series iii. vol. ii. p. 187.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_515_515" id="Footnote_515_515"></a><a href="#FNanchor_515_515"><span class="label">[515]</span></a> Castlereagh to Wellington, Nov. 21, 1814. Castlereagh +Memoirs, series iii. vol. ii. p. 205.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_516_516" id="Footnote_516_516"></a><a href="#FNanchor_516_516"><span class="label">[516]</span></a> Wellington to Liverpool, Nov. 7 and 9, 1814. Ibid., pp. +186, 190.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_517_517" id="Footnote_517_517"></a><a href="#FNanchor_517_517"><span class="label">[517]</span></a> Liverpool to Castlereagh, Nov. 4, 1814. Castlereagh +MSS.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_518_518" id="Footnote_518_518"></a><a href="#FNanchor_518_518"><span class="label">[518]</span></a> Wellington to Liverpool, Nov. 18, 1814. Castlereagh +Letters, series iii. vol. ii. p. 203.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_519_519" id="Footnote_519_519"></a><a href="#FNanchor_519_519"><span class="label">[519]</span></a> Wellington to Liverpool, Nov. 9, 1814. Castlereagh +Memoirs, series iii. vol. ii. p. 189.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_520_520" id="Footnote_520_520"></a><a href="#FNanchor_520_520"><span class="label">[520]</span></a> Liverpool to Castlereagh, Nov. 18, 1814. Castlereagh +MSS.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_521_521" id="Footnote_521_521"></a><a href="#FNanchor_521_521"><span class="label">[521]</span></a> Bathurst to the commissioners, Dec. 6, 1814. +Castlereagh Memoirs, series iii. vol. ii. p. 214.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_522_522" id="Footnote_522_522"></a><a href="#FNanchor_522_522"><span class="label">[522]</span></a> American State Papers, Foreign Relations, vol. iii. p. +735.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_523_523" id="Footnote_523_523"></a><a href="#FNanchor_523_523"><span class="label">[523]</span></a> Castlereagh Memoirs, series iii. vol. ii. p. 188.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_524_524" id="Footnote_524_524"></a><a href="#FNanchor_524_524"><span class="label">[524]</span></a> Liverpool to Castlereagh, Nov. 18, 1814. Castlereagh +MSS.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_525_525" id="Footnote_525_525"></a><a href="#FNanchor_525_525"><span class="label">[525]</span></a> Ibid., Dec. 23, 1814. Castlereagh MSS.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_526_526" id="Footnote_526_526"></a><a href="#FNanchor_526_526"><span class="label">[526]</span></a> The contemporary name of the political party to which +Jefferson, Madison, and Gallatin belonged.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_527_527" id="Footnote_527_527"></a><a href="#FNanchor_527_527"><span class="label">[527]</span></a> Writings of Gallatin, May 7, 1816, vol. i. p. 700.</p></div> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_438" id="PageV2_438">[438]</a></span><br /> +<a name="INDEX" id="INDEX"></a><hr /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_439" id="PageV2_439">[439]</a></span><br /> + +<h3>INDEX<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3> +<br /> + +<ul><li><i>Actions, Land.</i> + <ul class="nest"> + <li>i.: + <ul class="nest2"> + <li>Detroit, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_346" target="_blank">346</a>;</li> + <li>Queenston, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_357" target="_blank">357</a>;</li> + <li>Niagara, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_358" target="_blank">358</a>;</li> + <li>Frenchtown, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_370" target="_blank">370</a>.</li> + </ul> + </li> + <li>ii.: + <ul class="nest2"> + <li>York [Toronto], <a href="#PageV2_36">36</a>, <a href="#PageV2_55">55</a>;</li> + <li>Fort George, <a href="#PageV2_38">38</a>;</li> + <li>Sackett's Harbor, <a href="#PageV2_42">42</a>;</li> + <li>Stony Creek, <a href="#PageV2_46">46</a>;</li> + <li>Beaver Dam, <a href="#PageV2_47">47</a>;</li> + <li>Fort Meigs, <a href="#PageV2_68">68</a>;</li> + <li>Fort Stephenson, <a href="#PageV2_73">73</a>;</li> + <li>The Thames, <a href="#PageV2_103">103</a>;</li> + <li>Chrystler's Farm, <a href="#PageV2_115">115</a>;</li> + <li>Chippewa, <a href="#PageV2_295">295</a>;</li> + <li>Lundy's Lane, <a href="#PageV2_306">306</a>;</li> + <li>Fort Erie, <a href="#PageV2_314">314</a>, <a href="#PageV2_316">316</a>;</li> + <li>Bladensburg, <a href="#PageV2_346">346</a>;</li> + <li>Plattsburg, <a href="#PageV2_366">366</a>;</li> + <li>New Orleans, <a href="#PageV2_394">394</a>.</li> + </ul> + </li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li><i>Actions, Naval.</i> + <ul class="nest"> + <li>i.: + <ul class="nest2"> + <li>Elliott's capture of "Caledonia" and "Detroit," <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_354" target="_blank">354</a>;</li> + <li>"Constitution" and "Guerrière," <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_330" target="_blank">330</a>;</li> + <li>"Frolic" and "Wasp," <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_412" target="_blank">412</a>;</li> + <li>"Macedonian" and "United States," <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_416" target="_blank">416</a>.</li> + </ul> + </li> + <li>ii.: + <ul class="nest2"> + <li>"Constitution" and "Java," <a href="#PageV2_3">3</a>;</li> + <li>"Hornet" and "Peacock," <a href="#PageV2_7">7</a>;</li> + <li>squadron engagements on Lake Ontario, 1813, August 10, <a href="#PageV2_56">56</a>; + <ul class="nest3"> + <li>September 11, <a href="#PageV2_60">60</a>;</li> + <li>September 28, <a href="#PageV2_107">107</a>;</li> + </ul> + </li> + <li>battle of Lake Erie, <a href="#PageV2_76">76</a>;</li> + <li>"Chesapeake" and "Shannon," <a href="#PageV2_135">135</a>;</li> + <li>"Boxer" and "Enterprise," <a href="#PageV2_188">188</a>;</li> + <li>"Argus" and "Pelican," <a href="#PageV2_217">217</a>;</li> + <li>"Essex" with "Phœbe" and "Cherub," <a href="#PageV2_249">249</a>;</li> + <li>"Wasp" and "Reindeer," <a href="#PageV2_254">254</a>;</li> + <li>"Wasp" and "Avon," <a href="#PageV2_256">256</a>;</li> + <li>"Epervier" and "Peacock," <a href="#PageV2_259">259</a>;</li> + <li>battle of Lake Champlain, <a href="#PageV2_377">377</a>;</li> + <li>gunboat squadron on Lake Borgne, <a href="#PageV2_389">389</a>;</li> + <li>"President" with British squadron, <a href="#PageV2_398">398</a>;</li> + <li>"Constitution" with "Cyane" and "Levant," <a href="#PageV2_405">405</a>;</li> + <li>"Hornet" and "Penguin," <a href="#PageV2_407">407</a>.</li> + </ul> + </li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li><i>Actions, Privateer.</i> + <ul class="nest"> + <li>ii.: + <ul class="nest2"> + <li>"Globe" with British packets, <a href="#PageV2_226">226</a>;</li> + <li>"Decatur" and "Dominica," <a href="#PageV2_233">233</a>;</li> + <li>"Comet" and "Hibernia," <a href="#PageV2_234">234</a>;</li> + <li>"Saucy Jack" and "Pelham," <a href="#PageV2_235">235</a>;</li> + <li>"Saucy Jack" with "Volcano" and "Golden Fleece," <a href="#PageV2_235">235</a>;</li> + <li>"Kemp" with seven British merchantmen, <a href="#PageV2_237">237</a>;</li> + <li>"Chasseur" and "St. Lawrence," <a href="#PageV2_238">238</a>.</li> + </ul> + </li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li><i>Acts of Congress.</i> + <ul class="nest"> + <li>To protect American shipping, i. <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_76" target="_blank">76</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_80" target="_blank">80</a>;</li> + <li>Non-Importation Act, against Great Britain, April, 1806, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_113" target="_blank">113</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_131" target="_blank">131</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_183" target="_blank">183</a>;</li> + <li>Embargo Act, December 22, 1807, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_182" target="_blank">182</a>;</li> + <li>Act for the better Enforcement of the Embargo, January 9, 1809, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_208" target="_blank">208</a>;</li> + <li>partial repeal of Embargo Act—"Non-Intercourse" Act against Great Britain and France, March 1, 1809, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_210" target="_blank">210</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_211" target="_blank">211</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_213" target="_blank">213</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_214" target="_blank">214</a>;</li> + <li>Act repealing Non-Intercourse Act, with a substitute, May 1, 1810, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_234" target="_blank">234</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_235" target="_blank">235</a>;</li> + <li>supplementary Act, reviving Non-Intercourse against Great Britain alone, March 2, 1811, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_248" target="_blank">248</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_249" target="_blank">249</a>;</li> + <li>Embargo Act for ninety days, war measure, April 4, 1812, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_263" target="_blank">263</a>;</li> + <li>Declaration of War, June 18, 1812, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_279" target="_blank">279</a>.</li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li><i>Adams, John.</i> Minister to Great Britain. + <ul class="nest"> + <li>French colonial principles, i. <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_28" target="_blank">28</a>;</li> + <li>British interest in navigation, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_11" target="_blank">11</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_30" target="_blank">30</a> (and note);</li> + <li>public opinion in England, as observed by him, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_47" target="_blank">47</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_63" target="_blank">63</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_64" target="_blank">64</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_69" target="_blank">69</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_79" target="_blank">79</a>;</li> + <li>remonstrates against impressment of American seamen, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_119" target="_blank">119</a>;</li> + <li>President of United States, instructs against impressment, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_121" target="_blank">121</a>;</li> + <li>care for the navy, ii. <a href="#PageV2_213">213</a>.</li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li><i>Adams, John Quincy.</i> Senator from Massachusetts. + <ul class="nest"> + <li>Opinions as to Orders in Council, i. <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_178" target="_blank">178-181</a>;</li> + <li>opinions on a navy, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_186" target="_blank">186</a>;</li> + <li>Minister to Russia, ii. <a href="#PageV2_411">411</a>;</li> + <li>commissioner to treat for peace, <a href="#PageV2_412">412</a>.</li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li>"<i>Adams.</i>" American frigate. + <ul class="nest"> + <li>Blockaded in Potomac, ii. <a href="#PageV2_162">162</a>, <a href="#PageV2_169">169-170</a>, <a href="#PageV2_174">174</a>;</li> + <li>escapes, <a href="#PageV2_178">178</a>;</li> + <li>cruise of, <a href="#PageV2_226">226</a>, <a href="#PageV2_261">261</a>;</li> + <li>runs ashore on Isle au Haut, <a href="#PageV2_353">353</a>;</li> + <li>takes refuge in Penobscot, and destroyed to escape capture, <a href="#PageV2_354">354</a>.</li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li><i>Allen, William H.</i> Commander, U.S.N. + <ul class="nest"> + <li>Commands "Argus," ii. <a href="#PageV2_216">216</a>;</li> + <li>killed in action, <a href="#PageV2_218">218</a>.</li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li>"<i>America.</i>" + <ul class="nest"> + <li>Private armed ship, i. <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_398" target="_blank">398</a>; ii. <a href="#PageV2_229">229</a>.</li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li>"<i>Argus.</i>" + <ul class="nest"> + <li>American brig of war, i. <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_314" target="_blank">314-415</a>;</li> + <li>captured by "Pelican," ii. <a href="#PageV2_217">217</a>.<span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_440" id="PageV2_440">[440]</a></span></li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li><i>Armstrong, John.</i> + <ul class="nest"> + <li>U.S. Minister to France at the time of the Berlin Decree, i. <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_172" target="_blank">172-174</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_181" target="_blank">181</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_182" target="_blank">182</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_236" target="_blank">236-238</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_240" target="_blank">240</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_244" target="_blank">244</a>.</li> + <li>Advice to Eustis, Secretary of War, before the outbreak of hostilities, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_309" target="_blank">309</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_339" target="_blank">339</a>.</li> + <li>Secretary of War, <a href="#PageV2_31">31</a>, <a href="#PageV2_33">33</a>, <a href="#PageV2_39">39</a>, <a href="#PageV2_45">45</a>, <a href="#PageV2_104">104-106</a>, <a href="#PageV2_110">110-112</a>, <a href="#PageV2_117">117</a>, <a href="#PageV2_120">120</a>, <a href="#PageV2_122">122</a>, <a href="#PageV2_266">266</a> (note), <a href="#PageV2_278">278</a>, <a href="#PageV2_291">291-293</a>, <a href="#PageV2_319">319</a>, <a href="#PageV2_343">343</a>, <a href="#PageV2_344">344</a>.</li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li>"<i>Avon.</i>" British brig of war. + <ul class="nest"> + <li>Sunk by U.S.S. "Reindeer," ii. <a href="#PageV2_256">256</a>.</li> + </ul> +<br /></li> + + +<li><i>Bainbridge, William.</i> Captain, U.S.N. + <ul class="nest"> + <li>Applies for furlough, because of the condition of the navy, i. <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_257" target="_blank">257</a>;</li> + <li>opinion as to employment of navy in war, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_318" target="_blank">318</a>;</li> + <li>mentions public opinion in Boston, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_393" target="_blank">393</a>;</li> + <li>commands squadron, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_407" target="_blank">407</a>;</li> + <li>his plans for the cruise, ii. <a href="#PageV2_2">2</a>;</li> + <li>captures Java, <a href="#PageV2_4">4</a>;</li> + <li>instructions to Lawrence for cruise of "Hornet," <a href="#PageV2_7">7</a>;</li> + <li>returns to the United States, <a href="#PageV2_7">7</a>;</li> + <li>commands Boston navy yard, <a href="#PageV2_135">135</a>, <a href="#PageV2_153">153</a>, <a href="#PageV2_186">186</a>.</li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li><i>Barclay, Robert H.</i> Commander, R.N. + <ul class="nest"> + <li>Sent to lakes by Warren, ii. <a href="#PageV2_28">28</a>;</li> + <li>ordered by Yeo to command on Lake Erie, <a href="#PageV2_29">29</a>;</li> + <li>difficulty in reaching his command, <a href="#PageV2_39">39</a>;</li> + <li>operations prior to battle of Lake Erie, <a href="#PageV2_41">41</a>, <a href="#PageV2_69">69-74</a>;</li> + <li>battle of Lake Erie, <a href="#PageV2_76">76</a>;</li> + <li>merits of his conduct, <a href="#PageV2_94">94</a>.</li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li><i>Barclay, Thomas.</i> British Consul-General at New York. + <ul class="nest"> + <li>On impressment question, i. <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_118" target="_blank">118</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_122" target="_blank">122</a>;</li> + <li>on effects of embargo on seamen, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_192" target="_blank">192</a>.</li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li><i>Barlow, Joel.</i> + <ul class="nest"> + <li>U.S. Minister to France, in succession to Armstrong, i. <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_176" target="_blank">176</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_193" target="_blank">193</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_264" target="_blank">264</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_271" target="_blank">271-273</a>.</li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li><i>Barney, Joshua.</i> Commodore by courtesy. + <ul class="nest"> + <li>Commands privateer "Rossie," i. <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_395" target="_blank">395-398</a>;</li> + <li>commands Chesapeake flotilla, ii. <a href="#PageV2_336">336-344</a>;</li> + <li>gallant conduct of himself and men at Bladensburg, <a href="#PageV2_347">347</a>, <a href="#PageV2_348">348</a>.</li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li><i>Bassano, Duke of.</i> French Minister of Foreign Affairs. + <ul class="nest"> + <li>Presents to the American minister the spurious Decree of April 28, 1811, i. <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_272" target="_blank">272</a>.</li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li><i>Bathurst, Earl.</i> British Secretary for War and Colonies. + <ul class="nest"> + <li>Quoted, ii. <a href="#PageV2_100">100</a>, <a href="#PageV2_331">331</a> (note), <a href="#PageV2_383">383</a>, <a href="#PageV2_422">422</a>, <a href="#PageV2_423">423</a>, <a href="#PageV2_424">424</a>, <a href="#PageV2_425">425</a>, <a href="#PageV2_426">426</a>, <a href="#PageV2_427">427</a>, <a href="#PageV2_431">431</a>.</li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li><i>Berkeley, George C.</i> Vice-Admiral, R.N., commanding North American station. + <ul class="nest"> + <li>Issues the order to search the U.S.S. "Chesapeake," i. <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_156" target="_blank">156</a>;</li> + <li>recalled from his command in consequence, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_167" target="_blank">167</a>, + <ul class="nest2"> + <li>but given within a year the important command at Lisbon, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_168" target="_blank">168</a>;</li> + </ul> + </li> + <li>British Government refuses further punishment for his action, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_168" target="_blank">168</a>.</li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li><i>Biddle, James.</i> Commander, U.S.N. + <ul class="nest"> + <li>Commands "Hornet" when she captures "Penguin," ii. <a href="#PageV2_407">407</a>.</li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li><i>Black Rock.</i> + <ul class="nest"> + <li>Selected by Elliott as American naval station on Lake Erie, i. <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_355" target="_blank">355</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_374" target="_blank">374</a>;</li> + <li>changed by Chauncey, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_375" target="_blank">375</a>;</li> + <li>mentioned in operations, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_355" target="_blank">355</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_358" target="_blank">358</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_374" target="_blank">374</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_377" target="_blank">377</a>; ii. <a href="#PageV2_34">34</a>, <a href="#PageV2_40">40</a>, <a href="#PageV2_41">41</a>, <a href="#PageV2_62">62</a>, <a href="#PageV2_71">71</a>, <a href="#PageV2_121">121</a>.</li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li><i>Blakely, Johnstone.</i> Commander, U.S.N. + <ul class="nest"> + <li>Commands "Enterprise," ii. <a href="#PageV2_187">187</a>;</li> + <li>commands "Wasp," <a href="#PageV2_253">253</a>;</li> + <li>captures "Reindeer," <a href="#PageV2_254">254</a>;</li> + <li>sinks "Avon," <a href="#PageV2_256">256</a>;</li> + <li>lost at sea, <a href="#PageV2_257">257</a>.</li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li><i>Blockades.</i> + <ul class="nest"> + <li>General principle determining legality of, i. <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_99" target="_blank">99</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_110" target="_blank">110</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_145" target="_blank">145</a>;</li> + <li>position of United States concerning, defined, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_110" target="_blank">110</a>;</li> + <li>that of May 16, 1806, illustrates difference between United States and Great Britain, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_111" target="_blank">111</a>;</li> + <li>Napoleon's definition of the right of blockade, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_142" target="_blank">142-144</a>;</li> + <li>Marshall, in 1800, and Pinkney, 1811, incidentally support Napoleon's view, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_146" target="_blank">146</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_147" target="_blank">147</a>;</li> + <li>effect of this view upon sea power, and upon Great Britain, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_147" target="_blank">147</a>;</li> + <li>effect upon the Civil War of the United States, had it been conceded, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_148" target="_blank">148</a>;</li> + <li>the Orders in Council of 1807 are admitted by Great Britain to usurp the privileges of, without complying with the obligations, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_177" target="_blank">177</a>;</li> + <li>though modelled on the general plan of, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_179" target="_blank">179</a>;</li> + <li>distinction between military and commercial, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_286" target="_blank">286</a>;</li> + <li>in essence and effect, a form of commerce destruction, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_287" target="_blank">287</a>;</li> + <li>as such, the weapon of the stronger, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_288" target="_blank">288</a>;</li> + <li>of Chesapeake and Delaware,—commercial,—by British, notified, December 26, 1812, ii. <a href="#PageV2_9">9</a>;</li> + <li>extended to coast south of Narragansett Bay, March 30 and November 16, 1813, <a href="#PageV2_10">10</a>;</li> + <li>to whole United States coast, April and May, 1814, <a href="#PageV2_11">11</a>;</li> + <li>the last a defiance in form of the United States claim concerning, <a href="#PageV2_11">11</a>;</li> + <li>effects of the British commercial, upon United States, <a href="#PageV2_177">177-187</a>, <a href="#PageV2_193">193-208</a>;</li> + <li>American definition of, rejected as inadmissible at the treaty of peace, <a href="#PageV2_432">432</a>.</li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li>"<i>Boxer.</i>" British brig of war. + <ul class="nest"> + <li>Captured by "Enterprise," ii. <a href="#PageV2_188">188</a>.<span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_441" id="PageV2_441">[441]</a></span></li> + <li>See also note to chap. xiii.</li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li><i>Brock, Isaac.</i> British general. + <ul class="nest"> + <li>Lieutenant Governor, and military commander in Upper Canada, i. <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_337" target="_blank">337</a>;</li> + <li>his professional opinions, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_304" target="_blank">304</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_308" target="_blank">308</a>;</li> + <li>his successful action against Hull for the preservation of the northwest, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_341" target="_blank">341-348</a>;</li> + <li>returns to the Niagara frontier, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_351" target="_blank">351</a>;</li> + <li>killed in action at Queenston, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_357" target="_blank">357</a>.</li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li><i>Broke, Philip B.V.</i> Captain, R.N. + <ul class="nest"> + <li>Commands frigate "Shannon";</li> + <li>senior officer of vessels of New York, i. <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_325" target="_blank">325</a>;</li> + <li>accompanies West India convoy, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_326" target="_blank">326</a>;</li> + <li>chase of "Constitution," <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_327" target="_blank">327</a>;</li> + <li>blockading Boston, ii. <a href="#PageV2_133">133</a>;</li> + <li>singular merit of, <a href="#PageV2_133">133</a>;</li> + <li>sends challenge to Lawrence, <a href="#PageV2_134">134</a>;</li> + <li>action with, and capture of, U.S.S. "Chesapeake," <a href="#PageV2_135">135</a>.</li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li><i>Brown, Jacob.</i> American general. + <ul class="nest"> + <li>First in the militia, successfully defends Sackett's Harbor, ii. <a href="#PageV2_42">42</a>;</li> + <li>appointed brigadier general in the army, <a href="#PageV2_45">45</a>;</li> + <li>stationed at Sackett's Harbor, 1814, <a href="#PageV2_278">278</a>;</li> + <li>campaign on Niagara peninsula, <a href="#PageV2_280">280-318</a>;</li> + <li>wounded at Lundy's Lane, <a href="#PageV2_311">311</a>;</li> + <li>defence of Fort Erie, <a href="#PageV2_314">314-318</a>;</li> + <li>returns to Sackett's at end of the campaign, <a href="#PageV2_323">323</a>.</li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li><i>Burrows, William.</i> Lieutenant, U.S.N. + <ul class="nest"> + <li>Commands "Enterprise" when she captures "Boxer," ii. <a href="#PageV2_188">188</a>;</li> + <li>killed in the action, <a href="#PageV2_189">189</a>.</li> + </ul> +<br /></li> + + +<li>"<i>Caledonia.</i>" British armed brig on lakes. + <ul class="nest"> + <li>Aids at capture of Mackinac, i. <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_341" target="_blank">341</a>;</li> + <li>captured by Lieutenant Elliott, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_355" target="_blank">355</a>;</li> + <li>takes part as American in battle of Lake Erie, ii. <a href="#PageV2_81">81</a>;</li> + <li>lost, <a href="#PageV2_327">327</a>.</li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li><i>Calhoun, John C.</i> Member of American Congress. + <ul class="nest"> + <li>Confidence concerning the conquest of Canada, i. <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_303" target="_blank">303</a>.</li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li><i>Campbell, Hugh G.</i> Captain, U.S.N., commanding Georgia coast district. + <ul class="nest"> + <li>Reports on coast conditions, ii. <a href="#PageV2_185">185</a>, <a href="#PageV2_186">186</a>, <a href="#PageV2_195">195</a>, <a href="#PageV2_196">196</a>, <a href="#PageV2_197">197</a>, <a href="#PageV2_198">198</a>.</li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li><i>Canada.</i> + <ul class="nest"> + <li>Expected by British writers to take the place of the United States in supplying West Indies, i. <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_45" target="_blank">45</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_48" target="_blank">48</a>;</li> + <li>unable to do so, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_64" target="_blank">64</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_86" target="_blank">86</a>;</li> + <li>benefited, however, by enforcement of navigation laws against the United States, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_78" target="_blank">78</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_79" target="_blank">79</a>;</li> + <li>propriety of invasion of by the United States, in 1812, considered, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_292" target="_blank">292-294</a>;</li> + <li>object of invasion of, defined by Monroe, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_293" target="_blank">293</a>;</li> + <li>how regarded in England, ii. <a href="#PageV2_356">356</a>.</li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li><i>Canning, George.</i> British Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs. + <ul class="nest"> + <li>Takes office, i. <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_134" target="_blank">134</a>;</li> + <li>statement as to the British right of impressment from foreign merchant vessels, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_115" target="_blank">115</a>;</li> + <li>refusal to re-open treaty negotiations with Monroe and Pinkney, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_135" target="_blank">135</a>;</li> + <li>characteristics of his letters, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_154" target="_blank">154</a>;</li> + <li>negotiations with Monroe, concerning the "Chesapeake" affair, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_156" target="_blank">156-168</a>;</li> + <li>instructions to Erskine, for proposals to United States, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_215" target="_blank">215-219</a>;</li> + <li>Erskine's action disavowed by, and Jackson sent in place, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_221" target="_blank">221</a>;</li> + <li>misquotation of, by Robert Smith, American Secretary of State, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_226" target="_blank">226</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_227" target="_blank">227</a>;</li> + <li>duel with Castlereagh, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_229" target="_blank">229</a>;</li> + <li>succeeded in office by Lord Wellesley, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_229" target="_blank">229</a>.</li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li><i>Carden, John S.</i> Captain, R.N. + <ul class="nest"> + <li>Commands "Macedonian" captured by "United States," i. <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_416" target="_blank">416</a>.</li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li><i>Castlereagh, Lord.</i> British Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs. + <ul class="nest"> + <li>Duel with Canning, i. <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_229" target="_blank">229</a>;</li> + <li>remains in office after Perceval's assassination, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_273" target="_blank">273</a>;</li> + <li>opinion on political movements in United States immediately before war, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_274" target="_blank">274</a>;</li> + <li>concerning Napoleon's alleged decree of April 28, 1811, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_276" target="_blank">276</a>;</li> + <li>instructions to the peace commission at Ghent, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_415" target="_blank">415-418</a>;</li> + <li>quoted in connection with the peace negotiations, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_410" target="_blank">410</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_417" target="_blank">417</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_418" target="_blank">418</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_420" target="_blank">420</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_428" target="_blank">428</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_429" target="_blank">429</a>.</li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li><i>Chalmers, George.</i> British writer on political and economical subjects. + <ul class="nest"> + <li>Quoted, i. <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_21" target="_blank">21</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_26" target="_blank">26</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_32" target="_blank">32</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_36" target="_blank">36</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_50" target="_blank">50</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_68" target="_blank">68</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_77" target="_blank">77</a> (note).</li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li><i>Champagny, Duc de Cadore.</i> French Minister of Foreign Affairs. + <ul class="nest"> + <li>Quoted in connection with Napoleon's Decrees, i. <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_174" target="_blank">174</a>. <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_175" target="_blank">175</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_181" target="_blank">181</a>;</li> + <li>celebrated letter of, August 5, 1810, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_237" target="_blank">237</a>;</li> + <li>accepted by American Government as a valid revocation of the Decrees, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_238" target="_blank">238</a>;</li> + <li>discussion of, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_239" target="_blank">239-242</a>;</li> + <li>rejected as a revocation by Great Britain, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_242" target="_blank">242</a>.</li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li><i>Champlain, Lake.</i> + <ul class="nest"> + <li>Natural highway to Canada, i. <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_309" target="_blank">309</a>;</li> + <li>neglected by American Government in 1812, i. <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_351" target="_blank">351</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_359" target="_blank">359</a>; ii. <a href="#PageV2_30">30</a>, <a href="#PageV2_357">357</a>;</li> + <li>not under Chauncey's command, i. <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_361" target="_blank">361</a>;</li> + <li>events on, 1812 and 1813, ii. <a href="#PageV2_357">357-360</a>;</li> + <li>Sir George Prevost's expedition, <a href="#PageV2_362">362-381</a>;</li> + <li>battle of Lake Champlain, <a href="#PageV2_377">377-381</a>;</li> + <li>effects of battle on conditions of peace, <a href="#PageV2_382">382</a> (see also <a href="#PageV2_99">99-101</a>).<span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_442" id="PageV2_442">[442]</a></span></li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li><i>Chauncey, Isaac.</i> Captain, U.S.N. + <ul class="nest"> + <li>Ordered to command on Lakes Erie and Ontario, i. <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_354" target="_blank">354</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_361" target="_blank">361</a>;</li> + <li>early measures of preparation, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_362" target="_blank">362-364</a>;</li> + <li>cruises in 1812, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_364" target="_blank">364</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_365" target="_blank">365</a>;</li> + <li>lays up for the winter, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_366" target="_blank">366</a>;</li> + <li>preparations on Lake Erie, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_374" target="_blank">374-376</a>;</li> + <li>Commander Perry ordered as second to, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_376" target="_blank">376</a>;</li> + <li>effects of energy of, ii. <a href="#PageV2_28">28</a>;</li> + <li>first plan of campaign, 1813, <a href="#PageV2_30">30</a>;</li> + <li>second plan, <a href="#PageV2_33">33</a>; + <ul class="nest2"> + <li>comment upon, <a href="#PageV2_34">34</a>;</li> + </ul> + </li> + <li>expedition against York, <a href="#PageV2_36">36</a>;</li> + <li>operations about Niagara peninsula, <a href="#PageV2_37">37-41</a>;</li> + <li>impression produced on, by attack on Sackett's Harbor, <a href="#PageV2_45">45</a>;</li> + <li>naval campaign of, 1813, July 21-September 28, <a href="#PageV2_51">51-60</a>, <a href="#PageV2_106">106-109</a>;</li> + <li>engagements with British squadron, August 10, <a href="#PageV2_56">56-59</a>; + <ul class="nest2"> + <li>September 11, <a href="#PageV2_60">60</a>;</li> + <li>September 28, <a href="#PageV2_106">106</a>;</li> + </ul> + </li> + <li>professional characteristics shown, <a href="#PageV2_28">28</a>, <a href="#PageV2_35">35</a>, <a href="#PageV2_40">40</a>, <a href="#PageV2_45">45</a>, <a href="#PageV2_52">52</a>, <a href="#PageV2_56">56</a>, <a href="#PageV2_60">60</a>, <a href="#PageV2_61">61</a>, <a href="#PageV2_63">63</a>, <a href="#PageV2_65">65</a>, <a href="#PageV2_95">95</a>, <a href="#PageV2_108">108</a>, <a href="#PageV2_109">109</a>, <a href="#PageV2_110">110</a>, <a href="#PageV2_117">117</a>, <a href="#PageV2_294">294</a>, <a href="#PageV2_298">298-302</a>, <a href="#PageV2_305">305-306</a>, <a href="#PageV2_316">316</a>, <a href="#PageV2_323">323</a>;</li> + <li>recommendations for campaign of 1814, <a href="#PageV2_122">122</a>;</li> + <li>singular inaction of, in June and July, 1814, <a href="#PageV2_298">298-300</a>;</li> + <li>controversy with General Brown, <a href="#PageV2_300">300-302</a>;</li> + <li>correspondence of Department with, <a href="#PageV2_300">300</a>;</li> + <li>Decatur ordered to relieve, <a href="#PageV2_300">300</a>;</li> + <li>subsequent movements of, <a href="#PageV2_314">314-316</a>, <a href="#PageV2_323">323</a>.</li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li>"<i>Cherub.</i>" British sloop of war. + <ul class="nest"> + <li>Takes part in attack on "Essex," ii. <a href="#PageV2_247">247-252</a>.</li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li><i>Chesapeake Bay.</i> Blockade of, ii. <a href="#PageV2_9">9</a>; + <ul class="nest"> + <li>operations in, 1813, <a href="#PageV2_16">16</a>, <a href="#PageV2_156">156-158</a>, <a href="#PageV2_160">160-169</a>;</li> + <li>singular contraband trade in, 1813, <a href="#PageV2_170">170-175</a>;</li> + <li>military exposure of, <a href="#PageV2_159">159</a>, <a href="#PageV2_178">178</a>, <a href="#PageV2_202">202</a>;</li> + <li>operations in, 1814, <a href="#PageV2_336">336-351</a>.</li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li>"<i>Chesapeake.</i>" American frigate. + <ul class="nest"> + <li>Attack upon by British ship of war "Leopard," i. <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_3" target="_blank">3</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_134" target="_blank">134</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_155" target="_blank">155</a>;</li> + <li>negotiations concerning the affair, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_156" target="_blank">156-170</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_222" target="_blank">222</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_228" target="_blank">228</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_251" target="_blank">251</a>;</li> + <li>settlement of, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_255" target="_blank">255</a>;</li> + <li>cruise of, in 1813, ii. <a href="#PageV2_13">13</a>;</li> + <li>action with, and capture by, the "Shannon," <a href="#PageV2_132">132-147</a>.</li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li><i>Cheves, Langdon.</i> Member of American Congress. + <ul class="nest"> + <li>Report recommending increase of navy, i. <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_260" target="_blank">260-263</a>.</li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li><i>Clay, Henry.</i> Member of American Congress. + <ul class="nest"> + <li>Favors increase of navy, i. <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_260" target="_blank">260</a>;</li> + <li>expects rapid conquest of Canada, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_304" target="_blank">304</a>;</li> + <li>calculations on Bonaparte's success in Russia, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_390" target="_blank">390</a>;</li> + <li>appointed peace commissioner at Ghent, ii. <a href="#PageV2_413">413</a>.</li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li><i>Cochrane, Sir Alexander.</i> Vice-Admiral, R.N. + <ul class="nest"> + <li>Appointed commander-in-chief on the American station, in succession to Warren, ii. <a href="#PageV2_330">330</a>, <a href="#PageV2_382">382</a> (note);</li> + <li>his retaliatory order for the burning of Newark, <a href="#PageV2_334">334-335</a>;</li> + <li>operations in the Chesapeake, 1814, <a href="#PageV2_340">340-351</a>;</li> + <li>plans for action against New Orleans, <a href="#PageV2_383">383-388</a>;</li> + <li>operations against New Orleans and Mobile, <a href="#PageV2_388">388-396</a>;</li> + <li>capture of Fort Bowyer, Mobile, <a href="#PageV2_397">397</a>.</li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li><i>Cockburn, George.</i> Rear Admiral, R.N. + <ul class="nest"> + <li>Second in command to Warren, ii. <a href="#PageV2_155">155</a>;</li> + <li>expedition to the upper Chesapeake, 1813, <a href="#PageV2_157">157</a>, <a href="#PageV2_158">158</a>;</li> + <li>in the Potomac, <a href="#PageV2_168">168</a>;</li> + <li>American vessel licensed by, <a href="#PageV2_175">175</a>;</li> + <li>attack at Ocracoke inlet, N.C., <a href="#PageV2_204">204</a>;</li> + <li>at capture of Washington, <a href="#PageV2_348">348</a>, <a href="#PageV2_349">349</a>;</li> + <li>expedition against Cumberland Island, Georgia, <a href="#PageV2_388">388</a>.</li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li><i>Colonies.</i> + <ul class="nest"> + <li>Relations of colonies to mother countries in respect to trade, during the period of American dependence, i. <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_24" target="_blank">24-28</a>;</li> + <li>Montesquieu's phrase, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_27" target="_blank">27</a>;</li> + <li>Bryan Edwards' statement, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_28" target="_blank">28</a>;</li> + <li>John Adams' observation, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_28" target="_blank">28</a>;</li> + <li>supposed effect of, upon the carrying trade, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_25" target="_blank">25</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_26" target="_blank">26</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_49" target="_blank">49</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_50" target="_blank">50</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_65" target="_blank">65</a>;</li> + <li>and naval power, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_51" target="_blank">51</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_52" target="_blank">52</a>;</li> + <li>the <i>entrepôt</i> monopoly, derived from colonial system, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_12" target="_blank">12</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_16" target="_blank">16</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_24" target="_blank">24</a>;</li> + <li>renewed by the Orders in Council of 1807, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_27" target="_blank">27</a>;</li> + <li>characteristics of the West India group of colonies, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_32" target="_blank">32</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_33" target="_blank">33</a>, + <ul class="nest2"> + <li>and of those now the United States, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_34" target="_blank">34</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_35" target="_blank">35</a>;</li> + </ul> + </li> + <li>their mutual relations, as colonies, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_31" target="_blank">31</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_35" target="_blank">35</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_36" target="_blank">36</a>;</li> + <li>the imperial inter-action of the mother country, and the two groups of colonies, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_52" target="_blank">52</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_55" target="_blank">55</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_63" target="_blank">63</a>;</li> + <li>British hopes of reinstating this condition, after the Revolution, by substituting Canada and Nova Scotia for the lost continental colonies, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_48" target="_blank">48</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_64" target="_blank">64</a>;</li> + <li>effect of colonial traditions upon events subsequent to American independence, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_65" target="_blank">65-70</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_75" target="_blank">75-79</a>;</li> + <li>tendency to reimpose colonial restriction upon the new states, a cause of War of 1812, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_40" target="_blank">40</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_87" target="_blank">87</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_88" target="_blank">88</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_90" target="_blank">90-92</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_177" target="_blank">177</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_178" target="_blank">178</a>.</li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li><i>Committee</i>, of the Privy Council of Great Britain, 1791. + <ul class="nest"> + <li>Report on the conditions of British commerce since the independence of the United States, and the probable effect of American legislation for the protection of American carrying trade, i. <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_77" target="_blank">77-85</a>.</li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li>"<i>Constellation.</i>" American frigate.<span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_443" id="PageV2_443">[443]</a></span> + <ul class="nest"> + <li>Hopelessly blockaded in Norfolk throughout the war, ii. <a href="#PageV2_11">11</a>, <a href="#PageV2_162">162</a>, <a href="#PageV2_178">178</a>.</li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li>"<i>Constitution.</i>" American frigate. + <ul class="nest"> + <li>Chased by British squadron, i. <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_328" target="_blank">328</a>;</li> + <li>captures the "Guerrière," i. <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_330" target="_blank">330-335</a>;</li> + <li>the "Java," ii. <a href="#PageV2_3">3-7</a>;</li> + <li>the "Cyane" and "Levant," <a href="#PageV2_404">404-406</a>.</li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li><i>Continental.</i> + <ul class="nest"> + <li>Distinctive significance of the term, applied to the colonial system of Great Britain in North America, i. <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_32" target="_blank">32</a>;</li> + <li>Bermuda and the Bahamas reckoned officially among the continental colonies, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_31" target="_blank">31</a> (note).</li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li><i>Continental System</i> of Napoleon. + <ul class="nest"> + <li>Extraordinary political character of, defined, i. <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_152" target="_blank">152</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_153" target="_blank">153</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_174" target="_blank">174</a>;</li> + <li>co-operation of the United States desired in, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_173" target="_blank">173</a>;</li> + <li>and practically given by the United States, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_176" target="_blank">176</a>.</li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li><i>Cooper, James Fenimore.</i> American naval historian. + <ul class="nest"> + <li>Quoted, ii. <a href="#PageV2_83">83-87</a>, <a href="#PageV2_101">101</a> (note), <a href="#PageV2_108">108</a>, <a href="#PageV2_110">110</a>, <a href="#PageV2_135">135</a>, <a href="#PageV2_138">138</a>, <a href="#PageV2_188">188</a> (note).</li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li><i>Craney Island</i>, near Norfolk. + <ul class="nest"> + <li>Attack on by the British, in 1813, ii. <a href="#PageV2_164">164-166</a>.</li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li><i>Croghan, George.</i> Major, U.S. Army. + <ul class="nest"> + <li>Gallant defence of Fort Stephenson, 1813, ii. <a href="#PageV2_73">73</a>;</li> + <li>commands troops in the abortive military and naval expedition against Michilimackinac, 1814, <a href="#PageV2_324">324</a>.</li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li>"<i>Cyane.</i>" British ship of war. + <ul class="nest"> + <li>Captured by the "Constitution," ii. <a href="#PageV2_404">404-406</a>.</li> + </ul> +<br /></li> + + +<li><i>Dacres, James R.</i> Captain, R.N., commanding "Guerrière." + <ul class="nest"> + <li>His defence before the Court Martial, i. <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_334" target="_blank">334</a>.</li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li><i>Dearborn, Henry.</i> American general. + <ul class="nest"> + <li>Appointed, i. <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_337" target="_blank">337</a>;</li> + <li>age, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_337" target="_blank">337</a>;</li> + <li>characterized by a British officer, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_351" target="_blank">351</a>;</li> + <li>negotiates a suspension of hostilities, which is disapproved, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_352" target="_blank">352</a>;</li> + <li>inactivity, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_359" target="_blank">359</a>; ii. <a href="#PageV2_39">39</a>, <a href="#PageV2_47">47</a>, <a href="#PageV2_48">48</a>;</li> + <li>apprehensions, ii. <a href="#PageV2_32">32</a>, <a href="#PageV2_47">47</a>;</li> + <li>relieved from command, <a href="#PageV2_48">48</a>.</li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li><i>Decatur, Stephen.</i> Captain, U.S.N. + <ul class="nest"> + <li>Commands a squadron, i. <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_314" target="_blank">314</a>;</li> + <li>plan for employment of the navy in war, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_317" target="_blank">317</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_415" target="_blank">415</a>;</li> + <li>accompanies John Rodgers on the first cruise of the war, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_322" target="_blank">322-324</a>;</li> + <li>sails on an independent cruise, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_407" target="_blank">407</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_408" target="_blank">408</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_415" target="_blank">415</a>;</li> + <li>action between the "United States" and "Macedonian," <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_416" target="_blank">416</a>;</li> + <li>in 1813 unable to get to sea with a squadron, ii. <a href="#PageV2_25">25</a>, <a href="#PageV2_148">148</a>, + <ul class="nest2"> + <li>which is blocked in New London for the rest of the war, <a href="#PageV2_149">149</a>;</li> + </ul> + </li> + <li>ordered to relieve Chauncey on the lakes, <a href="#PageV2_300">300</a>;</li> + <li>appointed to command frigate "President," <a href="#PageV2_397">397</a>;</li> + <li>action with "Endymion," <a href="#PageV2_399">399</a>;</li> + <li>surrenders to British squadron, <a href="#PageV2_400">400-403</a>.</li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li><i>Decrees, Napoleon's.</i> + <ul class="nest"> + <li>Berlin, November 21, 1806, i. <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_141" target="_blank">141-148</a>; + <ul class="nest2"> + <li>its design, and counter design of Great Britain, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_149" target="_blank">149</a>;</li> + <li>rigid enforcement of, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_172" target="_blank">172</a>;</li> + </ul> + </li> + <li>Milan, December 17, 1807, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_180" target="_blank">180</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_189" target="_blank">189</a>, (note), <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_205" target="_blank">205</a>;</li> + <li>Bayonne, April 17, 1808, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_189" target="_blank">189</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_203" target="_blank">203</a>;</li> + <li>Rambouillet, March 23, 1810, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_235" target="_blank">235</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_236" target="_blank">236</a>; + <ul class="nest2"> + <li>alleged revocation of, by Champagny's letter of August 5, 1810, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_237" target="_blank">237-242</a>;</li> + </ul> + </li> + <li>spurious Decree of April 28, 1811, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_272" target="_blank">272</a>.</li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li><i>Delaware Bay.</i> + <ul class="nest"> + <li>Blockade of, and operations in, ii. <a href="#PageV2_9">9</a>, <a href="#PageV2_16">16</a>, <a href="#PageV2_158">158-160</a>.</li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li><i>Dent, John H.</i> Captain, U.S.N., commanding South Carolina coast district. + <ul class="nest"> + <li>Reports on coast conditions, ii. <a href="#PageV2_15">15</a>, <a href="#PageV2_196">196</a>, <a href="#PageV2_203">203</a> (and note), <a href="#PageV2_204">204</a>.</li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li>"<i>Detroit.</i>" British armed brig (late American "Adams"). + <ul class="nest"> + <li>Captured by Elliott on Lake Erie, i. <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_354" target="_blank">354-356</a>.</li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li>"<i>Detroit.</i>" + <ul class="nest"> + <li>British flagship at battle of Lake Erie, ii. <a href="#PageV2_73">73</a>, <a href="#PageV2_77">77</a>;</li> + <li>condition when surrendered, <a href="#PageV2_94">94</a>.</li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li><i>Direct Trade.</i> + <ul class="nest"> + <li>To foreign countries, forbidden to colonies, i. <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_24" target="_blank">24-26</a>;</li> + <li>common practice of all maritime states, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_27" target="_blank">27</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_28" target="_blank">28</a>;</li> + <li>stress laid upon this idea in Great Britain, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_75" target="_blank">75</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_76" target="_blank">76</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_83" target="_blank">83</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_84" target="_blank">84</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_96" target="_blank">96</a>;</li> + <li>question of what constitutes, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_100" target="_blank">100</a>;</li> + <li>decision adverse to American navigation, by Sir William Scott, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_101" target="_blank">101</a>;</li> + <li>practical effect of the decision, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_102" target="_blank">102</a>.</li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li><i>Downie, George.</i> Commander, R.N. + <ul class="nest"> + <li>Commands the British squadron on Lake Champlain, ii. <a href="#PageV2_372">372-375</a>;</li> + <li>his plan of action, <a href="#PageV2_377">377</a>;</li> + <li>killed in the battle, <a href="#PageV2_378">378</a>.</li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li><i>Drummond, Sir Gordon.</i> + <ul class="nest"> + <li>Civil and military Governor of Upper Canada, ii. <a href="#PageV2_120">120</a>;</li> + <li>his plans for the winter of 1813-1814, <a href="#PageV2_276">276-278</a>;</li> + <li>his appreciations of the strength of Kingston and of Sackett's Harbor, <a href="#PageV2_280">280</a>;</li> + <li>dependence upon the control of the water, i. <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_301" target="_blank">301</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_302" target="_blank">302</a>; ii. <a href="#PageV2_290">290</a>, <a href="#PageV2_302">302-306</a>, <a href="#PageV2_308">308-309</a>, <a href="#PageV2_314">314-317</a>;</li> + <li>comments on American troops, <a href="#PageV2_295">295</a>;</li> + <li>campaign of 1814—arrival at York, <a href="#PageV2_307">307</a>;</li> + <li>plan of action, <a href="#PageV2_308">308-309</a>;</li> + <li>battle of Lundy's Lane, <a href="#PageV2_310">310-312</a>;</li> + <li>assault on Fort Erie, <a href="#PageV2_314">314</a>;<span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_444" id="PageV2_444">[444]</a></span></li> + <li>American sortie against, <a href="#PageV2_316">316</a>;</li> + <li>line of the "Chippewa," <a href="#PageV2_317">317</a>, <a href="#PageV2_321">321-322</a>.</li> + </ul> +<br /></li> + + +<li><i>Elliott, Jesse D.</i> Commander U.S.N. + <ul class="nest"> + <li>Serves under Chauncey on the lake, i. <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_354" target="_blank">354</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_363" target="_blank">363</a>;</li> + <li>captures British brigs "Caledonia" and "Detroit," <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_355" target="_blank">355</a>;</li> + <li>selects Black Rock for naval station on Lake Erie, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_374" target="_blank">374</a>;</li> + <li>ordered as second to Perry, on Lake Erie, ii. <a href="#PageV2_74">74</a>;</li> + <li>conduct in the battle, <a href="#PageV2_78">78-80</a>, <a href="#PageV2_83">83-88</a>, <a href="#PageV2_96">96</a>;</li> + <li>in command on Lake Erie, after Perry's detachment, <a href="#PageV2_104">104</a>.</li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li><i>Embargo</i>, of 1808. + <ul class="nest"> + <li>Approved by President Jefferson, December 22, 1807, i. <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_182" target="_blank">182</a>;</li> + <li>its aims, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_183" target="_blank">183-186</a>;</li> + <li>its effects in the United States, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_186" target="_blank">186-207</a>; + <ul class="nest2"> + <li>upon West Indies, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_196" target="_blank">196-198</a>;</li> + <li>upon Canada and Nova Scotia, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_198" target="_blank">198</a>;</li> + <li>upon Great Britain, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_200" target="_blank">200</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_201" target="_blank">201</a>;</li> + </ul> + </li> + <li>Act for better Enforcement, January 9, 1809, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_208" target="_blank">208</a>; + <ul class="nest2"> + <li>repeal of, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_214" target="_blank">214</a>;</li> + </ul> + </li> + <li>Embargo of 1812, for ninety days, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_263" target="_blank">263</a>.</li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li>"<i>Endymion.</i>" British frigate. + <ul class="nest"> + <li>Her action with the "President," ii. <a href="#PageV2_398">398-407</a>.</li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li>"<i>Enterprise.</i>" + <ul class="nest"> + <li>American brig of war, ii. <a href="#PageV2_186">186</a>, <a href="#PageV2_187">187</a>, <a href="#PageV2_231">231-233</a>;</li> + <li>capture of British brig "Boxer," <a href="#PageV2_188">188</a>.</li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li><i>Entrepôt.</i> + <ul class="nest"> + <li>Significance of the term, and advantage to commerce, i. <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_12" target="_blank">12</a>;</li> + <li>conspicuous part in colonial regulation, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_16" target="_blank">16</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_24" target="_blank">24-26</a>;</li> + <li>underlying relation to Orders in Council of 1807, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_27" target="_blank">27</a>.</li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li>"<i>Enumerated</i>" articles. + <ul class="nest"> + <li>Definition of, i. <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_24" target="_blank">24</a>.</li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li>"<i>Epervier.</i>" British sloop of war. + <ul class="nest"> + <li>Captured by the "Peacock," ii. <a href="#PageV2_258">258-261</a>.</li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li><i>Erie, Town of.</i> + <ul class="nest"> + <li>Selected by Chauncey for naval station on Lake Erie, i. <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_375" target="_blank">375</a>;</li> + <li>advantages and drawbacks, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_375" target="_blank">375</a>;</li> + <li>British designs against, ii. <a href="#PageV2_69">69</a>.</li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li><i>Erskine, David M.</i> British Minister to Washington. + <ul class="nest"> + <li>Exceeds his instructions in negotiating, i. <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_216" target="_blank">216-218</a>;</li> + <li>disavowed and recalled, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_219" target="_blank">219</a>;</li> + <li>succeeded by Francis J. Jackson, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_221" target="_blank">221</a>.</li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li>"<i>Essex.</i>" American frigate. + <ul class="nest"> + <li>Captain Porter's dissatisfaction with, ii. <a href="#PageV2_1">1</a>, <a href="#PageV2_2">2</a>;</li> + <li>sails, but fails to join Bainbridge's squadron, <a href="#PageV2_3">3</a>;</li> + <li>goes to the Pacific, <a href="#PageV2_244">244</a>;</li> + <li>cruise in the Pacific, <a href="#PageV2_246">246</a>;</li> + <li>action with, and capture by, British ships "Phoebe" and "Cherub," <a href="#PageV2_249">249-252</a>.</li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li><i>Europe.</i> + <ul class="nest"> + <li>Conditions in, as affecting war in America, i. <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_378" target="_blank">378-385</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_389" target="_blank">389-390</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_401" target="_blank">401</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_410" target="_blank">410</a>; ii. <a href="#PageV2_9">9-11</a>, <a href="#PageV2_126">126</a>, <a href="#PageV2_210">210-212</a>, <a href="#PageV2_266">266</a> (and note), <a href="#PageV2_330">330</a>, <a href="#PageV2_340">340</a>, <a href="#PageV2_355">355-356</a>, <a href="#PageV2_362">362-363</a>, <a href="#PageV2_385">385-387</a>;</li> + <li>effect upon the peace negotiations, ii. <a href="#PageV2_411">411</a>, <a href="#PageV2_414">414</a>, <a href="#PageV2_415">415</a>, <a href="#PageV2_420">420</a>, <a href="#PageV2_423">423-424</a>, <a href="#PageV2_427">427-431</a>, <a href="#PageV2_434">434</a>.</li> + </ul> +<br /></li> + + +<li><i>Fox, Charles James.</i> British Secretary for Foreign Affairs. + <ul class="nest"> + <li>Takes office, i. <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_104" target="_blank">104</a>;</li> + <li>negotiations with Monroe concerning "direct" trade, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_105" target="_blank">105</a>;</li> + <li>connection with blockade of May 16, 1806, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_108" target="_blank">108</a>;</li> + <li>illness and death, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_128" target="_blank">128-131</a>.</li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li>"<i>Frolic.</i>" British brig of war. + <ul class="nest"> + <li>Captured by "Wasp," <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_412" target="_blank">412-415</a>;</li> + <li>recaptured, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_415" target="_blank">415</a>.</li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li>"<i>Frolic.</i>" American sloop of war, named after above. + <ul class="nest"> + <li>Captured by "Orpheus," ii. <a href="#PageV2_269">269</a> (note), <a href="#PageV2_244">244</a> (note).</li> + </ul> +<br /></li> + + +<li><i>Gallattin, Albert.</i> American Secretary of the Treasury. + <ul class="nest"> + <li>Concerning the Embargo of 1808, i. <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_194" target="_blank">194</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_196" target="_blank">196</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_202" target="_blank">202</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_208" target="_blank">208</a>;</li> + <li>concerning Non-Intercourse Act, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_217" target="_blank">217</a>;</li> + <li>conversation with Turreau, concerning Erskine's proposition, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_230" target="_blank">230</a>;</li> + <li>report on the finances, immediately before the war, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_281" target="_blank">281</a>;</li> + <li>opinion as to privateering, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_396" target="_blank">396</a>;</li> + <li>observations as to feeling in England, 1814, ii. <a href="#PageV2_332">332</a>, <a href="#PageV2_415">415</a>;</li> + <li>appointed peace commissioner, <a href="#PageV2_412">412</a>;</li> + <li>opinion as to the effect of the war upon the nation, <a href="#PageV2_435">435-436</a>.</li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li><i>Gambier, Lord.</i> British admiral. + <ul class="nest"> + <li>Peace commissioner at Ghent, <a href="#PageV2_413">413</a>.</li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li><i>Gaston, William.</i> Representative from North Carolina. + <ul class="nest"> + <li>Speech on allegiance and impressment, i. <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_6" target="_blank">6-8</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_123" target="_blank">123</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_137" target="_blank">137</a>.</li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li><i>Ghent.</i> + <ul class="nest"> + <li>Negotiations at, and Treaty of, ii. <a href="#PageV2_413">413-435</a>;</li> + <li>names of commissioners, <a href="#PageV2_412">412</a>, <a href="#PageV2_413">413</a>;</li> + <li>terms of, <a href="#PageV2_431">431-433</a>;</li> + <li>signature and ratification of, <a href="#PageV2_434">434-435</a>.</li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li><i>Goulburn, Henry.</i> + <ul class="nest"> + <li>British peace commissioner at Ghent, ii. <a href="#PageV2_413">413</a>.</li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li><i>Grenville, Lord.</i> British Secretary for Foreign Affairs. + <ul class="nest"> + <li>Correspondence with Rufus King concerning impressment, i. <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_117" target="_blank">117-118</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_120" target="_blank">120-121</a>.</li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li>"<i>Guerrière.</i>" British frigate. + <ul class="nest"> + <li>Captured by the "Constitution," i. <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_330" target="_blank">330-335</a>.</li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li>"<i>Guerrière.</i>" American, named after above. + <ul class="nest"> + <li>Command declined by Decatur for reasons, i. <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_422" target="_blank">422</a>; ii. <a href="#PageV2_398">398</a>.<span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_445" id="PageV2_445">[445]</a></span></li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li><i>Gunboats.</i> + <ul class="nest"> + <li>Jefferson's sole naval dependence on, i. <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_187" target="_blank">187</a>; ii. <a href="#PageV2_213">213-214</a>;</li> + <li>nautical disqualifications of, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_196" target="_blank">196</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_291" target="_blank">291</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_296" target="_blank">296</a>;</li> + <li>extravagant expense of, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_260" target="_blank">260</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_262" target="_blank">262</a>; ii. <a href="#PageV2_154">154</a>;</li> + <li>proclaim a merely defensive policy, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_296" target="_blank">296</a>;</li> + <li>demoralizing effect upon officers and crews, ii. <a href="#PageV2_154">154</a>, <a href="#PageV2_155">155</a>;</li> + <li>committed in war to officers not of regular navy, <a href="#PageV2_154">154</a>, <a href="#PageV2_336">336-337</a>;</li> + <li>general uselessness in war, <a href="#PageV2_154">154</a>, <a href="#PageV2_159">159</a>, <a href="#PageV2_160">160</a>, <a href="#PageV2_161">161</a>, <a href="#PageV2_163">163</a>, <a href="#PageV2_164">164</a>, <a href="#PageV2_179">179</a>, <a href="#PageV2_195">195</a>, <a href="#PageV2_198">198</a>;</li> + <li>gallant defence of the "Asp," <a href="#PageV2_168">168</a>, and of the Lake Borgne flotilla, <a href="#PageV2_389">389-390</a>.</li> + </ul> +<br /></li> + + +<li><i>Halifax.</i> + <ul class="nest"> + <li>Benefited by American embargo and War of 1812, i. <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_198" target="_blank">198</a>; ii. <a href="#PageV2_21">21</a>, <a href="#PageV2_23">23</a>;</li> + <li>importance relative to trade routes, and cruising, i. <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_392" target="_blank">392</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_394" target="_blank">394</a>.</li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li><i>Hampton.</i> Town in Virginia. + <ul class="nest"> + <li>Local military importance of, ii. <a href="#PageV2_160">160</a>, <a href="#PageV2_162">162</a>;</li> + <li>attack on, <a href="#PageV2_167">167</a>.</li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li><i>Hampton, Wade.</i> American general. + <ul class="nest"> + <li>Commands Lake Champlain district, 1813, ii. <a href="#PageV2_111">111</a>;</li> + <li>to co-operate with Wilkinson, <a href="#PageV2_111">111</a>;</li> + <li>fails to join, and retires on Plattsburg, <a href="#PageV2_115">115</a>, <a href="#PageV2_116">116</a>.</li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li><i>Harrison, William H.</i> American general. + <ul class="nest"> + <li>Succeeds to Hull's command, i. <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_367" target="_blank">367</a>;</li> + <li>plans of campaign, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_368" target="_blank">368</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_369" target="_blank">369</a>, + <ul class="nest2"> + <li>overthrown by Winchester's disaster at Frenchtown, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_370" target="_blank">370</a>;</li> + </ul> + </li> + <li>remains on defensive awaiting naval control of lakes, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_371" target="_blank">371</a>;</li> + <li>resumes operations after Perry's victory, ii. <a href="#PageV2_102">102</a>;</li> + <li>wins battle of the Thames, <a href="#PageV2_103">103</a>;</li> + <li>transferred to Niagara, <a href="#PageV2_104">104</a>, + <ul class="nest2"> + <li>and thence to Sackett's Harbor, <a href="#PageV2_117">117</a>.</li> + </ul> + </li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li><i>Harvey, J.</i> Lieutenant-colonel, British army. + <ul class="nest"> + <li>Suggests and conducts decisive attack at Stony Creek, ii. <a href="#PageV2_46">46-48</a>.</li> + <li>Quoted, <a href="#PageV2_102">102</a>, <a href="#PageV2_308">308</a>.</li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li><i>Hillyar, James.</i> Captain, R.N. + <ul class="nest"> + <li>Commands frigate "Phœbe," ii. <a href="#PageV2_246">246</a>;</li> + <li>in company with "Cherub" captures U.S.S. "Essex," <a href="#PageV2_247">247-252</a>.</li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li>"<i>Hornet.</i>" American sloop of war. + <ul class="nest"> + <li>Captures the "Peacock," ii. <a href="#PageV2_8">8</a>;</li> + <li>sails with Decatur's squadron, 1813, and driven into New London, <a href="#PageV2_148">148</a>, <a href="#PageV2_149">149</a>;</li> + <li>escapes thence to New York, sails again, <a href="#PageV2_397">397</a>, + <ul class="nest2"> + <li>and captures, "Penguin," <a href="#PageV2_406">406-408</a>.</li> + </ul> + </li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li><i>Hull, Isaac.</i> Captain, U.S.N. + <ul class="nest"> + <li>Commands "Constitution," i. <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_328" target="_blank">328</a>;</li> + <li>chased by British squadron, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_329" target="_blank">329</a>;</li> + <li>sails from Boston on a cruise, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_329" target="_blank">329</a>;</li> + <li>captures "Guerrière," <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_330" target="_blank">330-335</a>;</li> + <li>commanding Portsmouth yard, reports on coastwise conditions, ii. <a href="#PageV2_186">186</a>, <a href="#PageV2_187">187</a>, <a href="#PageV2_192">192</a>, <a href="#PageV2_198">198</a>.</li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li><i>Hull, William.</i> American general. + <ul class="nest"> + <li>Appointed brigadier general, i. <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_337" target="_blank">337</a>;</li> + <li>his letter setting forth military conditions prior to war, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_339" target="_blank">339</a>;</li> + <li>his campaign, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_340" target="_blank">340-346</a>, and surrender, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_347" target="_blank">347</a>.</li> + </ul> +<br /></li> + + +<li><i>Impressment.</i> + <ul class="nest"> + <li>A principal cause of War of 1812, i. <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_2" target="_blank">2</a>;</li> + <li>statement of the British claim, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_3" target="_blank">3</a>;</li> + <li>counter-claim of American Government, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_4" target="_blank">4</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_120" target="_blank">120</a>;</li> + <li>American people not unanimous in support, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_5" target="_blank">5</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_116" target="_blank">116</a>;</li> + <li>opinions of Morris, Gaston, and Strong, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_6" target="_blank">6-8</a>;</li> + <li>not mentioned in Jay's instructions, 1794, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_88" target="_blank">88</a>;</li> + <li>made pre-eminent in those to Monroe and Pinkney, 1806, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_114" target="_blank">114</a>;</li> + <li>historical summary of the controversy, to 1806, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_114" target="_blank">114-133</a>;</li> + <li>treaty of December 31, 1806, does not provide for, satisfactorily, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_133" target="_blank">133</a>;</li> + <li>rejected therefore by Jefferson, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_133" target="_blank">133</a>;</li> + <li>a real cause of the war, though so denied by some, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_136" target="_blank">136-138</a>;</li> + <li>American demand revived in connection with the "Chesapeake" affair, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_161" target="_blank">161</a>;</li> + <li>Great Britain refuses to mingle the two questions, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_165" target="_blank">165</a>;</li> + <li>numbers of American seamen alleged to have been impressed, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_128" target="_blank">128</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_300" target="_blank">300</a> (and note);</li> + <li>demand renewed, coincident with a proposal looking to peace after the declaration of war, ii. <a href="#PageV2_409">409</a>;</li> + <li>Great Britain again refuses, <a href="#PageV2_410">410</a>;</li> + <li>stated as a <i>sine quâ non</i> in reply to British propositions made through Admiral Warren, i. <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_391" target="_blank">391</a>;</li> + <li>embodied in instructions to peace commissioners, ii. <a href="#PageV2_413">413-414</a>;</li> + <li>again refused by Great Britain, <a href="#PageV2_416">416</a>;</li> + <li>abandoned by the American Government, in consequence of the pressure of the war, ii. <a href="#PageV2_266">266</a> (and note), <a href="#PageV2_414">414</a>, <a href="#PageV2_432">432</a>.</li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li><i>Indians</i>, American. + <ul class="nest"> + <li>Estimated importance of, in consideration of war, i. <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_305" target="_blank">305-307</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_338" target="_blank">338</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_339" target="_blank">339</a>; ii. <a href="#PageV2_67">67</a>, <a href="#PageV2_293">293</a>, <a href="#PageV2_421">421</a>;</li> + <li>effect upon Hull, in surrendering, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_349" target="_blank">349</a>;</li> + <li>instability of, <a href="#PageV2_345">345</a>, <a href="#PageV2_346">346</a>; ii. <a href="#PageV2_73">73</a>, <a href="#PageV2_75">75</a>, <a href="#PageV2_99">99</a>, <a href="#PageV2_103">103</a>, <a href="#PageV2_280">280</a>, <a href="#PageV2_421">421</a>;</li> + <li>desire of British officials to secure them in their possessions at the peace, ii. <a href="#PageV2_99">99</a>, <a href="#PageV2_100">100</a> (note), <a href="#PageV2_421">421</a>;</li> + <li>the consequent effect upon the peace negotiations, <a href="#PageV2_416">416-423</a>;</li> + <li>not included, as parties to the treaty, <a href="#PageV2_432">432</a>.</li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li><i>Izard, George.</i> American general. + <ul class="nest"> + <li>Relieves Wilkinson in command of Champlain district, ii. <a href="#PageV2_283">283</a>;</li> + <li>action first intended for, <a href="#PageV2_292">292</a>;<span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_446" id="PageV2_446">[446]</a></span></li> + <li>his reports of conditions, <a href="#PageV2_318">318-319</a>, <a href="#PageV2_364">364</a>;</li> + <li>his preparations about Plattsburg, <a href="#PageV2_319">319</a>, <a href="#PageV2_370">370</a>;</li> + <li>ordered to proceed to Brown's assistance on Niagara frontier, <a href="#PageV2_319">319-320</a>;</li> + <li>his march thither, <a href="#PageV2_320">320-321</a>, <a href="#PageV2_365">365</a>;</li> + <li>proceedings about Niagara, <a href="#PageV2_321">321-323</a>;</li> + <li>blows up Fort Erie and retreats to New York side, <a href="#PageV2_323">323</a>.</li> + </ul> +<br /></li> + + +<li><i>Jackson, Andrew.</i> American general. + <ul class="nest"> + <li>Takes Pensacola, ii. <a href="#PageV2_388">388</a>;</li> + <li>goes to New Orleans, <a href="#PageV2_388">388</a>;</li> + <li>operations about New Orleans, <a href="#PageV2_391">391-396</a>.</li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li><i>Jackson, Francis J.</i> British Minister to the United States. + <ul class="nest"> + <li>Appointed, with special powers, i. <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_221" target="_blank">221</a>;</li> + <li>negotiations at Washington, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_221" target="_blank">221-225</a>;</li> + <li>American Government declines further intercourse with, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_225" target="_blank">225</a>;</li> + <li>discussion of the correspondence, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_226" target="_blank">226-228</a>;</li> + <li>British Government declines to censure, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_228" target="_blank">228</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_231" target="_blank">231</a>.</li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li><i>James, William.</i> British naval historian. + <ul class="nest"> + <li>Quoted, i. <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_325" target="_blank">325</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_327" target="_blank">327</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_414" target="_blank">414</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_415" target="_blank">415</a>; ii. <a href="#PageV2_6">6</a>, <a href="#PageV2_8">8</a>, <a href="#PageV2_54">54</a>, <a href="#PageV2_58">58</a>, <a href="#PageV2_80">80</a> (note), <a href="#PageV2_132">132</a>, <a href="#PageV2_141">141</a> (and note), <a href="#PageV2_142">142</a>, <a href="#PageV2_143">143</a>, <a href="#PageV2_160">160</a> (note), <a href="#PageV2_162">162</a>, <a href="#PageV2_165">165</a> (note), <a href="#PageV2_257">257</a>, <a href="#PageV2_258">258</a> (note), <a href="#PageV2_260">260</a>, <a href="#PageV2_381">381</a>, <a href="#PageV2_395">395</a> (note), <a href="#PageV2_396">396</a> (note).</li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li>"<i>Java.</i>" British frigate. + <ul class="nest"> + <li>Captured by "Constitution," ii. <a href="#PageV2_3">3-7</a>.</li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li><i>Jay, John.</i> Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court. + <ul class="nest"> + <li>Epochal significance of treaty with Great Britain negotiated by, i. <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_43" target="_blank">43</a>;</li> + <li>appointed special envoy, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_88" target="_blank">88</a>;</li> + <li>occasion for the mission, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_89" target="_blank">89</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_90" target="_blank">90</a>;</li> + <li>character of the negotiation, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_93" target="_blank">93-95</a>;</li> + <li>the treaty a temporary arrangement, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_95" target="_blank">95</a>;</li> + <li>ratified, with an omission, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_96" target="_blank">96</a>.</li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li><i>Jefferson, Thomas.</i> + <ul class="nest"> + <li>American Secretary of State. + <ul class="nest2"> + <li>Opinion as to the importance of navigation to national defence, i. <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_52" target="_blank">52</a>;</li> + <li>unflattering opinion of British policy, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_70" target="_blank">70</a>;</li> + <li>favors coercive retaliation in matters of commerce and navigation, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_71" target="_blank">71</a>;</li> + <li>principle as to impressment enunciated by, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_120" target="_blank">120</a>.</li> + </ul> + </li> + <li>President of the United States. + <ul class="nest2"> + <li>Broad principle as to impressment asserted by, i. <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_4" target="_blank">4</a>;</li> + <li>expectations of commercial concessions from Great Britain, 1804, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_100" target="_blank">100</a>;</li> + <li>aversion to military and naval preparations, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_106" target="_blank">106</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_138" target="_blank">138</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_187" target="_blank">187</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_280" target="_blank">280</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_291" target="_blank">291</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_297" target="_blank">297</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_300" target="_blank">300</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_336" target="_blank">336</a>; ii. <a href="#PageV2_213">213-214</a>;</li> + <li>reliance upon commercial coercion, <a href="#PageV2_107">107</a>;</li> + <li>refuses approval of treaty of December 31, 1806, because without stipulation against impressment, <a href="#PageV2_133">133</a>;</li> + <li>consistency of position in regard to impressment, <a href="#PageV2_136">136-138</a>;</li> + <li>action in the "Chesapeake" affair, <a href="#PageV2_160">160-162</a>;</li> + <li>endeavors to utilize it to obtain relinquishment of impressment, <a href="#PageV2_164">164</a>;</li> + <li>recommends a general embargo, <a href="#PageV2_181">181</a>;</li> + <li>expectations of, from the embargo, <a href="#PageV2_183">183</a> (and note);</li> + <li>dislike to the carrying trade, <a href="#PageV2_187">187</a>, + <ul class="nest3"> + <li>and to Great Britain, <a href="#PageV2_188">188-190</a>;</li> + </ul> + </li> + <li>gunboat policy of, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_187" target="_blank">187</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_260" target="_blank">260</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_262" target="_blank">262</a>; ii. <a href="#PageV2_213">213-214</a>;</li> + <li>embarrassment in executing embargo, i. <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_194" target="_blank">194</a>;</li> + <li>tenacious adherence to the embargo policy, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_202" target="_blank">202</a>;</li> + <li>views as to American neutral waters, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_291" target="_blank">291</a>.</li> + </ul> + </li> + <li>After leaving office. + <ul class="nest2"> + <li>Opinion as to cause of Erskine's arrangement, 1809, i. <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_231" target="_blank">231</a>;</li> + <li>on Bonaparte's policy, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_239" target="_blank">239</a>;</li> + <li>favors keeping navy under cover during war, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_280" target="_blank">280</a>;</li> + <li>expectations as to easy conquest of Canada, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_291" target="_blank">291</a>.</li> + </ul> + </li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li><i>Jones, Jacob.</i> Commander, U.S.N., commanding "Wasp." + <ul class="nest"> + <li>Captures "Frolic," i. <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_411" target="_blank">411-415</a>;</li> + <li>taken by British seventy-four, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_415" target="_blank">415</a>;</li> + <li>commands frigate "Macedonian" (as captain), ii. <a href="#PageV2_25">25</a>;</li> + <li>expectations of escape, deceived, <a href="#PageV2_25">25</a>;</li> + <li>sails with Decatur, <a href="#PageV2_148">148</a>, and blockaded in New London, <a href="#PageV2_150">150</a>.</li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li><i>Jones, Thomas ap Catesby.</i> Lieutenant, U.S.N. + <ul class="nest"> + <li>Commands gunboat flotilla in Lake Borgne and Mississippi Sound, ii. <a href="#PageV2_389">389</a>;</li> + <li>overpowered, wounded, and captured by superior enemy's force, <a href="#PageV2_390">390</a>.</li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li><i>Jones, William.</i> Secretary of the Navy. + <ul class="nest"> + <li>Commercial estimate of privateering by, i. <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_396" target="_blank">396</a>;</li> + <li>judicious reply to Perry's request for detachment, ii. <a href="#PageV2_67">67</a>;</li> + <li>comments on the effects of gunboat service on naval officers, <a href="#PageV2_154">154</a>, <a href="#PageV2_155">155</a>;</li> + <li>stigmatizes American intercourse with enemy, and issues order to prevent, <a href="#PageV2_174">174</a>;</li> + <li>recommends to Congress procurement of naval schooners for commerce destroying, <a href="#PageV2_270">270</a>;</li> + <li>recommendation of Chauncey to Congress, 1813, <a href="#PageV2_299">299</a>;</li> + <li>anxious correspondence with Chauncey, 1814, <a href="#PageV2_300">300</a>;</li> + <li>naval force available for defence of Washington, stated by, <a href="#PageV2_343">343</a>.</li> + </ul> +<br /></li> + + +<li><i>Keane, John.</i> British general. + <ul class="nest"> + <li>In temporary command of the expedition against New Orleans, <a href="#PageV2_391">391</a>.</li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li><i>King, Rufus.</i> American Minister to Great Britain.<span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_447" id="PageV2_447">[447]</a></span> + <ul class="nest"> + <li>Appointed, i. <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_120" target="_blank">120</a>;</li> + <li>negotiations concerning impressment, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_120" target="_blank">120-122</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_124" target="_blank">124-127</a>.</li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li><i>Kingston</i>, Canada. + <ul class="nest"> + <li>Strategic importance of, i. <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_305" target="_blank">305-308</a>; ii. <a href="#PageV2_30">30</a>, <a href="#PageV2_42">42</a>, <a href="#PageV2_59">59</a>;</li> + <li>operations contemplated against, ii. <a href="#PageV2_30">30-33</a>, <a href="#PageV2_104">104-106</a>, <a href="#PageV2_278">278-280</a>, <a href="#PageV2_319">319</a>.</li> + </ul> +<br /></li> + + +<li><i>Lakes, the Great.</i> + <ul class="nest"> + <li>Strategic importance of, in War of 1812, i. <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_300" target="_blank">300-303</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_353" target="_blank">353</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_356" target="_blank">356</a>; ii. <a href="#PageV2_29">29</a>, <a href="#PageV2_46">46-48</a>, <a href="#PageV2_99">99-101</a>, <a href="#PageV2_102">102-104</a>, <a href="#PageV2_276">276-278</a>, <a href="#PageV2_285">285</a>, <a href="#PageV2_290">290-291</a>, <a href="#PageV2_298">298-300</a>;</li> + <li>decisive positions upon, i. <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_304" target="_blank">304-308</a>;</li> + <li>Hull's exposition of effect of naval predominance on, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_339" target="_blank">339</a>;</li> + <li>Madison's admission concerning, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_350" target="_blank">350</a>;</li> + <li>improved conditions on, through Chauncey's energy, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_361" target="_blank">361-366</a>;</li> + <li>control of, dependent on naval force, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_371" target="_blank">371</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_373" target="_blank">373</a>; ii. <a href="#PageV2_68">68-70</a>, <a href="#PageV2_73">73-75</a>, <a href="#PageV2_99">99-101</a>, <a href="#PageV2_300">300-308</a>, <a href="#PageV2_314">314-315</a>;</li> + <li>minor naval events on, i. <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_354" target="_blank">354-356</a>; ii. <a href="#PageV2_324">324-328</a>;</li> + <li>British demands concerning, in the negotiations for peace, ii. <a href="#PageV2_355">355-356</a>, <a href="#PageV2_419">419</a>, <a href="#PageV2_421">421</a>, <a href="#PageV2_422">422</a>.</li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li><i>Lambert, Henry.</i> Captain, R.N. + <ul class="nest"> + <li>Commands "Java" when taken by the "Constitution," ii. <a href="#PageV2_3">3</a>;</li> + <li>mortally wounded in the action, <a href="#PageV2_5">5</a>.</li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li><i>Lambert, Sir John.</i> British general. + <ul class="nest"> + <li>Joins New Orleans expedition two days before the assault, ii. <a href="#PageV2_385">385</a>;</li> + <li>succeeds to command upon Pakenham's death, <a href="#PageV2_394">394-397</a>;</li> + <li>proceeds against and captures Fort Bowyer, in Mobile Bay, <a href="#PageV2_397">397</a>.</li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li><i>Lawrence, James.</i> Captain, U.S.N. + <ul class="nest"> + <li>Commands "Hornet" in Bainbridge's squadron, i. <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_407" target="_blank">407</a>;</li> + <li>sails in company with "Constitution," ii. <a href="#PageV2_2">2</a>;</li> + <li>challenges "Bonne Citoyenne," <a href="#PageV2_3">3</a>;</li> + <li>sinks the "Peacock," <a href="#PageV2_8">8</a>;</li> + <li>returns to United States, <a href="#PageV2_9">9</a>;</li> + <li>ordered to command "Chesapeake," <a href="#PageV2_131">131</a>;</li> + <li>nature of his orders, <a href="#PageV2_131">131-132</a>;</li> + <li>action with, and captured by, "Shannon," <a href="#PageV2_135">135-140</a>;</li> + <li>mortally wounded, <a href="#PageV2_137">137</a>;</li> + <li>examination of his conduct, <a href="#PageV2_140">140-145</a>.</li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li>"<i>Levant.</i>" British sloop of war. + <ul class="nest"> + <li>Captured by "Constitution," ii. <a href="#PageV2_404">404-406</a>;</li> + <li>recaptured by British squadron, <a href="#PageV2_406">406</a> (note).</li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li><i>Lewis, Morgan.</i> + <ul class="nest"> + <li>American general, ii. <a href="#PageV2_47">47</a>;</li> + <li>temporarily succeeds Dearborn in command at Niagara, <a href="#PageV2_50">50</a>.</li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li><i>Licenses.</i> + <ul class="nest"> + <li>British to American merchant vessels, i. <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_203" target="_blank">203-206</a>;</li> + <li>for the supply of armies in Spanish Peninsula, i. <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_265" target="_blank">265</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_409" target="_blank">409-412</a>; ii. <a href="#PageV2_9">9</a>, <a href="#PageV2_15">15</a>, <a href="#PageV2_21">21</a>, <a href="#PageV2_170">170-175</a>.</li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li><i>Liverpool, Earl of.</i> Prime Minister of Great Britain. + <ul class="nest"> + <li>Quotations from correspondence of, relative to the peace negotiations, chap. xviii., ii. <a href="#PageV2_409">409-434</a>.</li> + </ul> +<br /></li> + + +<li><i>Macdonough, Thomas.</i> Captain, U.S.N. + <ul class="nest"> + <li>Commands flotilla on Lake Champlain, ii. <a href="#PageV2_356">356</a>;</li> + <li>operations prior to Prevost's invasion, <a href="#PageV2_356">356-363</a>;</li> + <li>preparations for battle, <a href="#PageV2_367">367-371</a>, <a href="#PageV2_376">376-377</a>, <a href="#PageV2_380">380</a>;</li> + <li>wins battle of Lake Champlain, <a href="#PageV2_377">377-381</a>;</li> + <li>effects of the victory, <a href="#PageV2_381">381-382</a>, <a href="#PageV2_427">427</a>, <a href="#PageV2_430">430-431</a>;</li> + <li>news of the victory received in London, <a href="#PageV2_426">426</a>.</li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li>"<i>Macedonian.</i>" British frigate. + <ul class="nest"> + <li>Captured by the United States, i. <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_416" target="_blank">416-422</a>.</li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li>"<i>Macedonian.</i>" American frigate (captured as above). + <ul class="nest"> + <li>Unable to get to sea, ii. <a href="#PageV2_25">25</a>, + <ul class="nest2"> + <li>and blockaded in New London during the war, <a href="#PageV2_148">148-150</a>.</li> + </ul> + </li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li><i>Macomb, Alexander.</i> American general. + <ul class="nest"> + <li>Left by Izard in command at Plattsburg, ii. <a href="#PageV2_365">365</a>;</li> + <li>operations before, and at, Plattsburg, <a href="#PageV2_366">366-367</a>;</li> + <li>opinions of, as to distance of Macdonough's squadron from the shore batteries, <a href="#PageV2_369">369</a>.</li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li><i>M'Clure, George.</i> American, general of N.Y. militia. + <ul class="nest"> + <li>Left in command of Niagara frontier, ii. <a href="#PageV2_118">118</a>;</li> + <li>difficulties of situation of, <a href="#PageV2_119">119</a>;</li> + <li>retreats to American side of river, <a href="#PageV2_120">120</a>;</li> + <li>burns Canadian village of Newark, <a href="#PageV2_120">120</a>;</li> + <li>this action of, disavowed by the Government, <a href="#PageV2_120">120</a>.</li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li><i>Madison, James.</i> Secretary of State, and President of the United States. + <ul class="nest"> + <li>Close association of, with events leading to War of 1812, and summary of its cause, i. <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_41" target="_blank">41</a>;</li> + <li>characterization of, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_106" target="_blank">106</a>;</li> + <li>discussion of questions of blockade, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_110" target="_blank">110</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_111" target="_blank">111</a>;</li> + <li>pronouncement on impressment, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_114" target="_blank">114</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_131" target="_blank">131</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_132" target="_blank">132</a>;</li> + <li>instructions to Monroe and Pinkney to reopen negotiations, 1807, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_133" target="_blank">133</a>;</li> + <li>narrow outlook of, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_139" target="_blank">139</a>;</li> + <li>opinion of the Berlin Decree, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_142" target="_blank">142</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_182" target="_blank">182</a>;</li> + <li>upon the Rule of 1756, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_152" target="_blank">152</a>;</li> + <li>instructions to Monroe by, in the "Chesapeake" affair, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_161" target="_blank">161</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_241" target="_blank">241</a>;</li> + <li>object of Jefferson's course in that affair, stated by, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_164" target="_blank">164</a>;</li> + <li>use of the affair, made by, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_170" target="_blank">170</a>;</li> + <li>explanation of the motive of the Embargo of 1808 by, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_183" target="_blank">183</a>;<span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_448" id="PageV2_448">[448]</a></span></li> + <li>relation of, to Non-Intercourse Act, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_215" target="_blank">215</a>;</li> + <li>misled (as President) in negotiations with Erskine, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_216" target="_blank">216-218</a>;</li> + <li>proclamation, renewing intercourse with Great Britain, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_219" target="_blank">219</a>;</li> + <li>annulled, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_219" target="_blank">219</a>;</li> + <li>negotiations with Jackson, Erskine's successor, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_221" target="_blank">221-225</a>;</li> + <li>declines further communication with Jackson, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_225" target="_blank">225</a>;</li> + <li>special supervision of this correspondence by, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_226" target="_blank">226</a>;</li> + <li>interpretation of British motive for Erskine's supposed concession, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_230" target="_blank">230</a>;</li> + <li>accepts Champagny's letter as an actual revocation of Napoleon's Decrees, and so proclaims, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_238" target="_blank">238</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_254" target="_blank">254</a>;</li> + <li>afterwards recognizes delicacy of situation thus created, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_266" target="_blank">266</a>;</li> + <li>non-intercourse with Great Britain revives, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_248" target="_blank">248</a>;</li> + <li>message of, to Congress in special session, November 4, 1811, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_259" target="_blank">259</a>;</li> + <li>recommends embargo, preparatory to war, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_263" target="_blank">263</a>;</li> + <li>identified with policy of peaceful coercion, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_278" target="_blank">278</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_378" target="_blank">378</a>; ii. <a href="#PageV2_26">26</a>, <a href="#PageV2_175">175-176</a>;</li> + <li>sends war message to Congress, and approves declaration of war, i. <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_279" target="_blank">279</a>;</li> + <li>assumes only his share of responsibility for the war, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_393" target="_blank">393</a>;</li> + <li>indignation of, at British sectional blockade of coast, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_296" target="_blank">296</a>; ii. <a href="#PageV2_173">173</a>;</li> + <li>selects Dearborn and Hull for general officers, i. <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_337" target="_blank">337</a>;</li> + <li>failure of expectations as to Hull's expedition, admitted by, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_339" target="_blank">339</a>;</li> + <li>ingenuous surprise at capitulation of Michilimackinac, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_341" target="_blank">341</a>;</li> + <li>admits mistake of not securing naval command of lakes, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_350" target="_blank">350</a>;</li> + <li>military inefficiency of Government under, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_360" target="_blank">360</a>; ii. <a href="#PageV2_26">26-27</a>, <a href="#PageV2_265">265</a>;</li> + <li>insists on relinquishment of impressment as a preliminary to treating for peace, i. <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_391" target="_blank">391</a>, + <ul class="nest2"> + <li>but obtains also from Congress law excluding British-born seamen from American ships, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_392" target="_blank">392</a>;</li> + </ul> + </li> + <li>to prevent clandestine supply of enemy, recommends prohibition of all export, ii. <a href="#PageV2_173">173</a>;</li> + <li>issues executive order to same end, <a href="#PageV2_174">174</a>;</li> + <li>denials of effectiveness of British blockade, <a href="#PageV2_204">204</a>;</li> + <li>decides to abandon demand for cessation of impressment as a condition for peace, <a href="#PageV2_266">266</a> (note);</li> + <li>comment on Armstrong's management of military operations, <a href="#PageV2_282">282</a>.</li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li><i>Manners, William.</i> + <ul class="nest"> + <li>Commander, R.N., commanding "Reindeer," ii. <a href="#PageV2_254">254</a>;</li> + <li>skill and gallantry of, in action with "Wasp," <a href="#PageV2_254">254-255</a>;</li> + <li>killed in the action, <a href="#PageV2_255">255</a>.</li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li><i>Maples, J.F.</i> Commander, R.N., commanding "Pelican." + <ul class="nest"> + <li>Captures "Argus," ii. <a href="#PageV2_217">217-219</a>.</li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li><i>Marshall, John.</i> American Secretary of State under President John Adams. + <ul class="nest"> + <li>Summary of commercial injuries received from Great Britain, i. <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_97" target="_blank">97</a>;</li> + <li>propositions to Great Britain concerning impressment, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_121" target="_blank">121</a>;</li> + <li>opinion concerning blockades, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_146" target="_blank">146</a>;</li> + <li>tendency of this opinion, if accepted, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_148" target="_blank">148</a>.</li> + <li>(Afterwards Chief Justice of Supreme Court.)</li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li><i>Militia.</i> + <ul class="nest"> + <li>Jefferson's dependence upon, i. <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_52" target="_blank">52</a>; ii. <a href="#PageV2_213">213</a>;</li> + <li>conduct of, American and Canadian, i. <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_344" target="_blank">344</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_345" target="_blank">345</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_346" target="_blank">346</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_351" target="_blank">351</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_357" target="_blank">357</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_360" target="_blank">360</a>; ii. <a href="#PageV2_26">26</a>, <a href="#PageV2_27">27</a>, <a href="#PageV2_42">42</a>, <a href="#PageV2_44">44</a>, <a href="#PageV2_70">70</a>, <a href="#PageV2_119">119-121</a>, <a href="#PageV2_157">157-158</a>, <a href="#PageV2_295">295</a>, <a href="#PageV2_312">312</a>, <a href="#PageV2_316">316</a>, <a href="#PageV2_337">337</a>, <a href="#PageV2_339">339</a>, <a href="#PageV2_343">343</a>, <a href="#PageV2_347">347-351</a>, <a href="#PageV2_354">354</a>, <a href="#PageV2_365">365</a>, <a href="#PageV2_366">366</a>, (and note), <a href="#PageV2_367">367</a>, <a href="#PageV2_391">391-396</a>.</li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li><i>Monroe, James.</i> + <ul class="nest"> + <li>American Minister to Great Britain, i. <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_104" target="_blank">104</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_126" target="_blank">126</a>;</li> + <li>reports conditions of American commerce in 1804 prosperous, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_99" target="_blank">99</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_100" target="_blank">100</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_104" target="_blank">104</a>, + <ul class="nest2"> + <li>but changed in 1805, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_104" target="_blank">104</a>;</li> + </ul> + </li> + <li>consequent negotiations with Fox, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_104" target="_blank">104-113</a>;</li> + <li>Pinkney appointed as colleague to, for special negotiation, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_113" target="_blank">113</a>;</li> + <li>negotiations with British ministry on impressment, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_128" target="_blank">128-132</a>;</li> + <li>with Pinkney signs treaty of December 31, 1806, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_133" target="_blank">133</a>;</li> + <li>treaty rejected by Jefferson, and new negotiations ordered, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_133" target="_blank">133</a>;</li> + <li>"Chesapeake" affair intervenes, but British Government eventually refuses to reopen, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_135" target="_blank">135</a>;</li> + <li>unlucky comment of, upon Rule of 1756, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_151" target="_blank">151</a>;</li> + <li>negotiations of, with Canning, concerning "Chesapeake" affair, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_156" target="_blank">156-165</a>;</li> + <li>returns to the United States, leaving Pinkney as minister, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_135" target="_blank">135</a>;</li> + <li>after return vindicates the rejected treaty, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_169" target="_blank">169</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_213" target="_blank">213</a>;</li> + <li>proposes to Jefferson, in 1809, a special mission to France and Great Britain, for which he offers himself, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_212" target="_blank">212</a>;</li> + <li>becomes Secretary of State, under President Madison, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_254" target="_blank">254</a>;</li> + <li>correspondence, while Secretary, quoted, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_255" target="_blank">255</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_293" target="_blank">293</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_391" target="_blank">391</a>; ii. <a href="#PageV2_265">265</a>, <a href="#PageV2_266">266</a>, <a href="#PageV2_411">411</a>, <a href="#PageV2_413">413</a>, <a href="#PageV2_414">414</a>;</li> + <li>advanced views, for one of his party, concerning utility of a navy, i. <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_280" target="_blank">280</a>;</li> + <li>on project of keeping navy in port, in war, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_106" target="_blank">106</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_281" target="_blank">281</a>;</li> + <li>statement regarding readiness for war, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_393" target="_blank">393</a>.</li> + <li>Secretary of War, ii. <a href="#PageV2_323">323</a>.</li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li><i>Montreal.</i><span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_449" id="PageV2_449">[449]</a></span> + <ul class="nest"> + <li>Strategic importance of, i. <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_303" target="_blank">303-309</a>.</li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li><i>Mooers, Benjamin.</i> General, New York militia. + <ul class="nest"> + <li>Vindicates the conduct of most part of the militia under his command, ii. <a href="#PageV2_366">366</a> (note).</li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li><i>Morris, Charles</i>. Captain, U.S.N. (first lieutenant of the "Constitution" in action with "Guerrière"). + <ul class="nest"> + <li>Commands frigate "Adams," in Potomac, ii. <a href="#PageV2_162">162</a>, <a href="#PageV2_167">167</a>;</li> + <li>services in Potomac, and at Annapolis, <a href="#PageV2_169">169</a>, <a href="#PageV2_174">174-177</a>;</li> + <li>difficulty in escaping British blockade, <a href="#PageV2_170">170</a>, <a href="#PageV2_178">178</a>;</li> + <li>first cruise of "Adams," <a href="#PageV2_226">226</a>, <a href="#PageV2_261">261</a>;</li> + <li>second cruise, strikes on Isle au Haut, takes refuge in Penobscot, and burned to escape capture, <a href="#PageV2_353">353-354</a>.</li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li><i>Morris, Gouverneur.</i> American statesman. + <ul class="nest"> + <li>Opinion favorable to British right of impressment of British-born seamen on high seas, i. <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_5" target="_blank">5-7</a>;</li> + <li>opinion of the United States' ability to maintain a strong navy, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_71" target="_blank">71</a>;</li> + <li>in London, contends against impressment of Americans, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_119" target="_blank">119</a>.</li> + </ul> +<br /></li> + + +<li><i>Napoleon, The Emperor.</i> + <ul class="nest"> + <li>Issues Berlin Decree, i. <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_112" target="_blank">112</a>;</li> + <li>purpose, as defined by himself, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_144" target="_blank">144</a>;</li> + <li>objects of, as towards the United States, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_149" target="_blank">149</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_169" target="_blank">169</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_173" target="_blank">173</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_182" target="_blank">182</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_235" target="_blank">235</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_249" target="_blank">249</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_268" target="_blank">268</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_278" target="_blank">278</a>;</li> + <li>scope of Berlin Decree, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_152" target="_blank">152</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_173" target="_blank">173</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_176" target="_blank">176</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_182" target="_blank">182</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_253" target="_blank">253-254</a>;</li> + <li>sole control of Continent by, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_153" target="_blank">153</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_174" target="_blank">174</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_220" target="_blank">220</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_221" target="_blank">221</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_269" target="_blank">269</a>;</li> + <li>vigorous application of Decree to American shipping, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_172" target="_blank">172</a>;</li> + <li>effects of his reverses in Spain, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_191" target="_blank">191</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_209" target="_blank">209</a>;</li> + <li>Bayonne Decree of, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_203" target="_blank">203</a>;</li> + <li>tenor of Milan Decree of, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_205" target="_blank">205</a>;</li> + <li>Decree of Rambouillet, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_235" target="_blank">235-236</a>;</li> + <li>alleged revocation of decrees by, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_237" target="_blank">237</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_271" target="_blank">271</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_272" target="_blank">272</a>;</li> + <li>instances of arguments of, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_240" target="_blank">240</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_267" target="_blank">267</a>;</li> + <li>effect of reverses in Russia upon the War of 1812, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_389" target="_blank">389</a>;</li> + <li>of downfall of, ii. <a href="#PageV2_10">10</a>, <a href="#PageV2_123">123</a>, <a href="#PageV2_330">330</a>.</li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li><i>Navigation.</i> + <ul class="nest"> + <li>Connection between naval power and, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_11" target="_blank">11</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_49" target="_blank">49-52</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_81" target="_blank">81</a>;</li> + <li>distinction between commerce and, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_11" target="_blank">11</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_81" target="_blank">81</a>.</li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li><i>Navigation, Acts of.</i> + <ul class="nest"> + <li>The formulated expression of a national need, i. <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_9" target="_blank">9</a>;</li> + <li>opinion of Adam Smith concerning, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_9" target="_blank">9-10</a>;</li> + <li>historical summary of, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_13" target="_blank">13-19</a>;</li> + <li>apparent effects of, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_19" target="_blank">19</a>;</li> + <li>British national conviction concerning, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_21" target="_blank">21-24</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_60" target="_blank">60-61</a>;</li> + <li>relation of colonies to system of, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_24" target="_blank">24-27</a>;</li> + <li>endeavor to maintain system of, towards United States after independence, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_27" target="_blank">27</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_29" target="_blank">29</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_40" target="_blank">40</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_41" target="_blank">41</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_45" target="_blank">45-48</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_103" target="_blank">103</a>;</li> + <li>copied by French Convention, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_28" target="_blank">28</a>;</li> + <li>attitude of foreigners towards, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_30" target="_blank">30</a>;</li> + <li>progress of British colonies under, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_31" target="_blank">31-39</a>;</li> + <li>attitude of American colonists towards, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_39" target="_blank">39</a>;</li> + <li>Lord Sheffield's pamphlet upon, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_46" target="_blank">46</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_47" target="_blank">47</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_49" target="_blank">49</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_50" target="_blank">50</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_57" target="_blank">57</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_64" target="_blank">64</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_65" target="_blank">65</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_73" target="_blank">73</a> (and note), <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_75" target="_blank">75</a>;</li> + <li>inter-relations of British Empire protected by, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_53" target="_blank">53-55</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_63" target="_blank">63-64</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_67" target="_blank">67</a>;</li> + <li>working of, threatened by American independence, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_56" target="_blank">56-58</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_65" target="_blank">65</a>;</li> + <li>modifications of, proposed by Pitt, but rejected by country, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_58" target="_blank">58</a>;</li> + <li>dependence of, upon West Indies, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_65" target="_blank">65</a>;</li> + <li>system of, continued by proclamation towards United States, 1783-1794, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_67" target="_blank">67-70</a>;</li> + <li>British commerce and shipping grow under this enforcement of, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_76" target="_blank">76-84</a>;</li> + <li>purpose of, offensive, in military sense, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_79" target="_blank">79</a>;</li> + <li>effect of French Revolution on, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_87" target="_blank">87-88</a>;</li> + <li>dependence of Rule of 1756 upon the system of, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_90" target="_blank">90</a>;</li> + <li>principle of Rule of 1756 leads up to molestation of American navigation, and Orders in Council of 1807, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_93" target="_blank">93</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_98" target="_blank">98-104</a>, + <ul class="nest2"> + <li>and so to war with United States, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_136" target="_blank">136</a>.</li> + </ul> + </li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li><i>Navy, American.</i> + <ul class="nest"> + <li>Gouverneur Morris' opinion of power of United States to maintain, i. <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_71" target="_blank">71</a>;</li> + <li>opinion of John Quincy Adams, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_186" target="_blank">186</a>;</li> + <li>recommendation of Presidents Washington and John Adams, ii. <a href="#PageV2_212">212</a>, <a href="#PageV2_213">213</a>;</li> + <li>policy of President Jefferson, <a href="#PageV2_213">213</a>; i. <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_187" target="_blank">187</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_280" target="_blank">280</a>;</li> + <li>neglect of, during administrations of Jefferson and Madison, shown by condition of, at outbreak of war, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_257" target="_blank">257</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_297" target="_blank">297</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_300" target="_blank">300</a>, + <ul class="nest2"> + <li>and stated by a committee of Congress, 1812, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_260" target="_blank">260-262</a>;</li> + </ul> + </li> + <li>Madison's lukewarm mention, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_259" target="_blank">259</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_260" target="_blank">260</a>;</li> + <li>Congress on approach of war refuses to increase, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_263" target="_blank">263</a>;</li> + <li>high professional merit of officers of, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_279" target="_blank">279-280</a>;</li> + <li>numbers of, as estimated by British admiralty, ii. <a href="#PageV2_211">211</a>;</li> + <li>total numbers of vessels in active employment, all told, from beginning of war to its conclusion, twenty-two, <a href="#PageV2_242">242</a>.</li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li><i>New Orleans.</i> + <ul class="nest"> + <li>For battle of, see <i>Actions, Land</i>.</li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li>"<i>New Orleans.</i>" + <ul class="nest"> + <li>Ship of the line, on the lakes, ii. <a href="#PageV2_318">318</a> (note).</li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li><i>Niagara, Peninsula of.</i> + <ul class="nest"> + <li>Strategic importance of, i. <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_338" target="_blank">338</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_345" target="_blank">345-346</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_352" target="_blank">352</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_353" target="_blank">353</a>; ii. <a href="#PageV2_39">39-40</a>, <a href="#PageV2_51">51</a>, <a href="#PageV2_291">291</a>, <a href="#PageV2_293">293</a>;</li> + <li>effect of climatic conditions of, i. <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_359" target="_blank">359</a>.</li> + </ul> +<br /></li> + + +<li><i>Orders in Council.</i><span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_450" id="PageV2_450">[450]</a></span> + <ul class="nest"> + <li>General definition of, i. <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_2" target="_blank">2</a> (note);</li> + <li>of 1807, cause of war with United States, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_2" target="_blank">2</a>;</li> + <li><i>entrepôt</i> motive for, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_16" target="_blank">16</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_27" target="_blank">27</a>;</li> + <li>of June and November, 1793, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_89" target="_blank">89</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_92" target="_blank">92</a>;</li> + <li>of January, 1794, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_93" target="_blank">93</a>;</li> + <li>relations of, to Rule of 1756, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_93" target="_blank">93</a>;</li> + <li>of January, 1798, motive of, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_98" target="_blank">98</a>, + <ul class="nest2"> + <li>and renewal in 1803, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_99" target="_blank">99</a>;</li> + </ul> + </li> + <li>effect of these last upon "direct trade," <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_101" target="_blank">101</a>;</li> + <li>of May, 1806, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_108" target="_blank">108</a>, + <ul class="nest2"> + <li>effect and purpose of, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_109" target="_blank">109</a>;</li> + </ul> + </li> + <li>legitimacy of, denied by the United States, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_110" target="_blank">110-112</a>, + <ul class="nest2"> + <li>and by Napoleon, who upon it bases Berlin Decree, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_112" target="_blank">112</a>;</li> + </ul> + </li> + <li>of January, 1807, and its effects, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_150" target="_blank">150-152</a>;</li> + <li>Of November, 1807, purport of, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_177" target="_blank">177</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_187" target="_blank">187</a>; + <ul class="nest2"> + <li>resented by United States, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_178" target="_blank">178</a>;</li> + <li>delay in communicating to American Government, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_179" target="_blank">179</a>;</li> + <li>general plan of, that of blockades, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_180" target="_blank">180</a>;</li> + <li>illustrative instances of execution of, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_180" target="_blank">180</a> (note), <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_204" target="_blank">204</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_205" target="_blank">205</a> (notes);</li> + <li>known in United States before the passage of Embargo Act, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_181" target="_blank">181</a>;</li> + <li>conditional offer of British Government to withdraw, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_215" target="_blank">215-218</a>;</li> + <li>revocation of, by substitution of Order of April, 1809, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_220" target="_blank">220</a>;</li> + <li>American expectation of revocation, in consequence of Champagny's letter, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_238" target="_blank">238</a>;</li> + <li>British Government declines to revoke, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_243" target="_blank">243-245</a>;</li> + <li>Pinkney's analysis, and condemnation, of, to Wellesley, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_245" target="_blank">245-246</a>;</li> + <li>Wellesley's reply, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_246" target="_blank">246</a>;</li> + <li>Wellesley's exposition of policy of, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_253" target="_blank">253-254</a>;</li> + <li>discontent in Great Britain with, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_269" target="_blank">269</a>;</li> + <li>order of April 12, 1812, promises revocation, conditional, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_270" target="_blank">270</a>;</li> + <li>British determination to maintain, otherwise, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_273" target="_blank">273-276</a>;</li> + <li>revocation of, June, 1812, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_276" target="_blank">276</a>, + <ul class="nest3"> + <li>to date from August 1, 1812, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_277" target="_blank">277</a>;</li> + </ul> + </li> + <li>too late to secure peace with America, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_278" target="_blank">278</a>, + <ul class="nest3"> + <li>or to restore it, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_391" target="_blank">391-392</a>; ii. <a href="#PageV2_9">9</a>;</li> + </ul> + </li> + <li>compensation for seizures under, refused in peace negotiations, ii. <a href="#PageV2_416">416</a>, <a href="#PageV2_432">432</a>.</li> + </ul> + </li> + </ul> +<br /></li> + + +<li><i>Pakenham, Sir Edward.</i> British general. + <ul class="nest"> + <li>Named to command New Orleans expedition after death of Ross, ii. <a href="#PageV2_385">385</a>;</li> + <li>instructions to, concerning conduct in Louisiana, <a href="#PageV2_427">427</a>;</li> + <li>arrival and operations, <a href="#PageV2_392">392-396</a>.</li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li><i>Patterson, Daniel T.</i> Captain, U.S.N. + <ul class="nest"> + <li>Commands in chief in waters of New Orleans, ii. <a href="#PageV2_392">392-395</a>.</li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li>"<i>Peacock.</i>" British sloop of war. + <ul class="nest"> + <li>Captured by "Hornet," ii. <a href="#PageV2_7">7-9</a>.</li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li>"<i>Peacock.</i>" American sloop of war. + <ul class="nest"> + <li>Captures "Epervier," ii. <a href="#PageV2_258">258-261</a>;</li> + <li>subsequent cruise of, <a href="#PageV2_261">261-262</a>;</li> + <li>sails again, January 20, 1815, <a href="#PageV2_406">406</a>.</li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li><i>Pearson, Joseph.</i> Representative in Congress from North Carolina. + <ul class="nest"> + <li>Speech on conditions of country, owing to the war, ii. <a href="#PageV2_199">199</a>.</li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li>"<i>Pelican.</i>" British brig of war. + <ul class="nest"> + <li>Captures American brig "Argus," ii. <a href="#PageV2_217">217</a>.</li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li>"<i>Penguin.</i>" British sloop of war. + <ul class="nest"> + <li>Captured by "Hornet," ii. <a href="#PageV2_407">407</a>.</li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li><i>Perceval, Spencer.</i> Prime Minister of Great Britain. + <ul class="nest"> + <li>Murder of, and consequent confusion in the Government, i. <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_273" target="_blank">273</a>;</li> + <li>firm determination of, to maintain Orders in Council, and opinion of American resistance, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_274" target="_blank">274</a>.</li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li><i>Perry, Oliver H.</i> Captain, U.S.N. + <ul class="nest"> + <li>Applies for, and ordered to, the lakes service, i. <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_376" target="_blank">376</a>;</li> + <li>assigned by Chauncey to Lake Erie, and practical independence of action there, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_377" target="_blank">377</a>;</li> + <li>conditions of force found, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_377" target="_blank">377</a>, + <ul class="nest2"> + <li>and merits of general action of, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_378" target="_blank">378</a>;</li> + </ul> + </li> + <li>engaged at capture of Fort George, and transfers Black Rock flotilla to Erie, ii. <a href="#PageV2_41">41</a>;</li> + <li>thenceforth remains on Lake Erie, <a href="#PageV2_62">62</a>, + <ul class="nest2"> + <li>but always under Chauncey, <a href="#PageV2_63">63</a>;</li> + </ul> + </li> + <li>collision of interests between the two officers, <a href="#PageV2_64">64</a>;</li> + <li>altercation with Chauncey, <a href="#PageV2_65">65</a>;</li> + <li>applies to be detached, <a href="#PageV2_66">66</a>;</li> + <li>Navy Department refuses, <a href="#PageV2_67">67</a>;</li> + <li>exposed situation of Erie, and preparations for defence, during equipment of squadron, <a href="#PageV2_68">68-70</a>;</li> + <li>blockaded by British squadron, <a href="#PageV2_70">70</a>;</li> + <li>seizes opportunity of its absence, to cross bar, <a href="#PageV2_71">71</a>;</li> + <li>proceedings prior to battle of Lake Erie, <a href="#PageV2_74">74-75</a>;</li> + <li>battle of Lake Erie, <a href="#PageV2_76">76-94</a>;</li> + <li>discussion of claim to credit of, <a href="#PageV2_95">95-99</a>;</li> + <li>consequences of success of, <a href="#PageV2_99">99-101</a>;</li> + <li>prompt subsequent action of, <a href="#PageV2_102">102</a>;</li> + <li>detached from lakes service, <a href="#PageV2_104">104</a>;</li> + <li>engaged in harassing retreat of British squadron down the Potomac, <a href="#PageV2_350">350</a>;</li> + <li>opinion as to qualities of smaller and larger vessels, <a href="#PageV2_271">271</a>;</li> + <li>detailed to command a squadron of schooners, against enemy's commerce, <a href="#PageV2_270">270-273</a>.</li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li>"<i>Phœbe.</i>" British frigate. + <ul class="nest"> + <li>Sent to Pacific with two sloops of war to capture "Essex," <a href="#PageV2_246">246</a>;</li> + <li>with "Cherub" captures "Essex," <a href="#PageV2_248">248-252</a>.</li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li><i>Pinkney, William.</i> + <ul class="nest"> + <li>Appointed colleague to Monroe, in London, for special negotiations, i. <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_113" target="_blank">113</a>;<span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_451" id="PageV2_451">[451]</a></span></li> + <li>course of negotiations, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_127" target="_blank">127-133</a>;</li> + <li>signs treaty of December 31, 1806, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_133" target="_blank">133</a>;</li> + <li>remains as minister, after Monroe's return, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_135" target="_blank">135</a>;</li> + <li>quoted in connection with mission, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_146" target="_blank">146</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_177" target="_blank">177</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_215" target="_blank">215</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_216" target="_blank">216</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_218" target="_blank">218</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_219" target="_blank">219</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_230" target="_blank">230</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_238" target="_blank">238</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_241" target="_blank">241</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_251" target="_blank">251</a>;</li> + <li>party relations, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_169" target="_blank">169</a>;</li> + <li>early forwards a copy of Orders in Council of November 11, 1807, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_179" target="_blank">179</a> (note);</li> + <li>letter of Secretary of State to, communicating dismissal of Jackson by U.S. Government, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_226" target="_blank">226-228</a>;</li> + <li>communicates the same to the British Government, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_230" target="_blank">230</a>;</li> + <li>construes Champagny's letter to revoke French Decrees, and demands recall of British Orders in Council, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_238" target="_blank">238</a>;</li> + <li>letter to British Secretary for Foreign Affairs, analyzing and condemning system of Orders in Council, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_245" target="_blank">245</a>;</li> + <li>conditional instructions to, to present recall, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_250" target="_blank">250</a>;</li> + <li>dilatory course of Wellesley towards, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_251" target="_blank">251</a>;</li> + <li>presents recall, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_252" target="_blank">252</a>;</li> + <li>returns to the United States, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_252" target="_blank">252</a>;</li> + <li>no successor to, till after the war, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_252" target="_blank">252</a>.</li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li><i>Pitt, William.</i> Prime Minister of Great Britain. + <ul class="nest"> + <li>Popularity of, i. <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_1" target="_blank">1</a>;</li> + <li>as Chancellor of Exchequer, 1783, introduces bill favorable to United States, for regulating commerce, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_58" target="_blank">58</a>;</li> + <li>controversy over bill, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_60" target="_blank">60</a>;</li> + <li>measure then dropped, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_67" target="_blank">67</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_68" target="_blank">68</a>;</li> + <li>concession becomes possible to, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_87" target="_blank">87</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_97" target="_blank">97</a>;</li> + <li>return to power, in 1804, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_100" target="_blank">100</a>;</li> + <li>new measures of, due to popular discontents, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_101" target="_blank">101-104</a>;</li> + <li>remark to Gouverneur Morris, concerning impressment difficulties, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_120" target="_blank">120</a>;</li> + <li>death of, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_104" target="_blank">104</a>.</li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li><i>Porter, David.</i> Captain, U.S.N. + <ul class="nest"> + <li>Commands frigate "Essex," i. <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_407" target="_blank">407</a>; ii. <a href="#PageV2_1">1-3</a>, <a href="#PageV2_13">13</a>;</li> + <li>cruise of "Essex," in Pacific, ii. <a href="#PageV2_244">244-247</a>;</li> + <li>action with, and capture by, "Phœbe" and "Cherub," <a href="#PageV2_249">249-252</a>;</li> + <li>approves of commerce destroying by naval armed schooners, appointed to command a squadron of them, and draws up plan of operations, <a href="#PageV2_270">270</a>;</li> + <li>engaged in harassing retreat of British frigates in Potomac, <a href="#PageV2_350">350</a>.</li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li><i>Porter, Peter B.</i> Representative in Congress from New York, and general of New York militia. + <ul class="nest"> + <li>Testimony at trial of General Hull, i. <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_340" target="_blank">340</a>;</li> + <li>duel with General Smyth, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_358" target="_blank">358</a>;</li> + <li>tribute to gallantry of naval detachment at Niagara, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_315" target="_blank">315</a>;</li> + <li>engaged at Chippewa, ii. <a href="#PageV2_295">295</a>, + <ul class="nest2"> + <li>on Niagara peninsula, <a href="#PageV2_306">306</a>,</li> + <li>and Lundy's Lane, <a href="#PageV2_310">310</a>.</li> + </ul> + </li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li>"<i>President.</i>" American frigate. + <ul class="nest"> + <li>Rencounter with British sloop of war "Little Belt," i. <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_256" target="_blank">256-259</a>;</li> + <li>cruises under command of Commodore Rodgers, i. <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_322" target="_blank">322-324</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_407" target="_blank">407-409</a>; ii. <a href="#PageV2_128">128-129</a>;</li> + <li>sails under Decatur, <a href="#PageV2_397">397</a>;</li> + <li>capture of, by British squadron, <a href="#PageV2_398">398-401</a>.</li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li><i>Prevost, Sir George.</i> British general. + <ul class="nest"> + <li>Governor of Nova Scotia, reports failure of American embargo, i. <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_199" target="_blank">199</a>.</li> + <li>Governor-General of Canada, and commander-in-chief, reports British naval superiority on lakes, 1812, i. <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_295" target="_blank">295</a>; + <ul class="nest2"> + <li>statements of effect of naval control on operations, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_302" target="_blank">302</a>; ii. <a href="#PageV2_40">40</a>, <a href="#PageV2_306">306</a>, <a href="#PageV2_316">316</a>, <a href="#PageV2_362">362-363</a>, <a href="#PageV2_374">374-375</a>;</li> + <li>negotiates suspension of hostilities with Dearborn, i. <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_351" target="_blank">351-352</a>;</li> + <li>instructs Brock to forbear offensive, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_356" target="_blank">356</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_367" target="_blank">367</a>;</li> + <li>visit of, to Kingston, February, 1813, effect of, on American plans, ii. <a href="#PageV2_32">32</a>;</li> + <li>attack on Sackett's Harbor by, in conjunction with Yeo, <a href="#PageV2_42">42-45</a>;</li> + <li>instructions to Procter, at Malden, <a href="#PageV2_67">67</a>, + <ul class="nest3"> + <li>and to De Rottenburg, at Niagara, <a href="#PageV2_69">69</a>;</li> + </ul> + </li> + <li>submits plan for securing territories in United States to Indian allies of Great Britain, <a href="#PageV2_99">99</a> (note);</li> + <li>calls upon Admiral Cochrane to inflict retaliation for unauthorized burning by Americans in Canada, <a href="#PageV2_329">329</a>, <a href="#PageV2_334">334</a>;</li> + <li>receives large re-enforcements from Wellington's Peninsular army, <a href="#PageV2_362">362-363</a>, + <ul class="nest3"> + <li>with instructions for operations, <a href="#PageV2_362">362</a>;</li> + </ul> + </li> + <li>reasons for advancing by New York side of Lake Champlain, instead of through Vermont, <a href="#PageV2_363">363</a>;</li> + <li>advance upon Plattsburg, <a href="#PageV2_365">365-367</a>;</li> + <li>awaits the arrival of British squadron before attacking, <a href="#PageV2_372">372-375</a>;</li> + <li>reason for desiring a joint attack by army and navy, <a href="#PageV2_372">372</a> (note);</li> + <li>correspondence with Captain Downie, commanding the squadron, <a href="#PageV2_373">373-375</a>;</li> + <li>charges against, by naval officers of the squadron, <a href="#PageV2_375">375</a>, <a href="#PageV2_381">381</a>;</li> + <li>retreats after squadron's defeat, <a href="#PageV2_381">381</a>;</li> + <li>summoned home under charges, but dies before trial, <a href="#PageV2_381">381</a>.</li> + <li>Retreat of, after the naval defeat, endorsed by Wellington, <a href="#PageV2_430">430</a>.</li> + </ul> + </li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li><i>Pring, Daniel.</i> Commander, R.N. + <ul class="nest"> + <li>Attached to lake service, Lake Champlain, <a href="#PageV2_360">360</a>;</li> + <li>operations on, <a href="#PageV2_360">360-361</a>, <a href="#PageV2_366">366</a>;</li> + <li>second in command at battle of Lake Champlain, <a href="#PageV2_372">372-381</a>.</li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li><i>Privateering.</i><span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_452" id="PageV2_452">[452]</a></span> + <ul class="nest"> + <li>Employment of a sea-militia force, requiring little antecedent training, i. <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_286" target="_blank">286</a>;</li> + <li>recourse of the weaker belligerent, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_288" target="_blank">288</a>;</li> + <li>aptitude of Americans for, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_384" target="_blank">384</a>;</li> + <li>extemporized character of early, in War of 1812, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_394" target="_blank">394</a>;</li> + <li>opinions concerning nature of, of Secretaries Gallatin and Jones, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_396" target="_blank">396</a>;</li> + <li>susceptible of business regulation and direction, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_397" target="_blank">397</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_399" target="_blank">399</a>; ii. <a href="#PageV2_220">220</a>, <a href="#PageV2_225">225</a>, <a href="#PageV2_229">229</a>;</li> + <li>energy of American, noted by Warren, i. <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_401" target="_blank">401-402</a>;</li> + <li>effect of, upon regular navy, ii. <a href="#PageV2_12">12</a>;</li> + <li>a secondary operation of war, not in itself decisive, <a href="#PageV2_126">126</a>;</li> + <li>primary object of, <a href="#PageV2_215">215-216</a>, <a href="#PageV2_241">241</a>;</li> + <li>details of methods pursued, in 1812, <a href="#PageV2_222">222</a>, <a href="#PageV2_225">225</a>, <a href="#PageV2_226">226</a>, <a href="#PageV2_240">240</a>;</li> + <li>comparison of, with a regular naval service, in motive, and inefficiency for the particular object of commerce destroying, <a href="#PageV2_241">241-244</a>;</li> + <li>a popular effort in War of 1812, independent of Government initiative, <a href="#PageV2_265">265</a>;</li> + <li>development and systematization of, towards end of war, <a href="#PageV2_267">267-268</a>, <a href="#PageV2_269">269</a>.</li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li><i>Privateers</i> mentioned by name: + <ul class="nest"> + <li>"America," i. <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_398" target="_blank">398</a>; ii. <a href="#PageV2_229">229</a>;</li> + <li>"Chasseur," ii. <a href="#PageV2_237">237-240</a>;</li> + <li>"Comet," ii. <a href="#PageV2_234">234</a>;</li> + <li>"Decatur," ii. <a href="#PageV2_233">233</a>;</li> + <li>"Globe," ii. <a href="#PageV2_226">226-228</a>;</li> + <li>"Governor Tompkins," ii. <a href="#PageV2_228">228</a>;</li> + <li>"Kemp," ii. <a href="#PageV2_236">236</a>;</li> + <li>"Leo," ii. <a href="#PageV2_224">224</a>;</li> + <li>"Lion," ii. <a href="#PageV2_224">224</a>;</li> + <li>"Mammoth," ii. <a href="#PageV2_269">269</a>;</li> + <li>"Rapid," i. <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_398" target="_blank">398</a>;</li> + <li>"Rattlesnake," ii. <a href="#PageV2_223">223</a>;</li> + <li>"Rossie," i. <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_295" target="_blank">295-297</a>;</li> + <li>"Saucy Jack," ii. <a href="#PageV2_235">235-236</a>;</li> + <li>"Scourge," ii. <a href="#PageV2_223">223</a>;</li> + <li>"True-blooded Yankee," ii. <a href="#PageV2_225">225</a>;</li> + <li>"Yankee," ii. <a href="#PageV2_226">226</a>. + <ul class="nest2"> + <li>Number and classes of, ii. <a href="#PageV2_243">243-244</a>.</li> + <li>Combats, of. See <i>Actions, Privateer</i>.</li> + </ul> + </li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li><i>Prizes</i> taken by Americans in first three months of war, and in what localities taken, i. <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_394" target="_blank">394-395</a>; + <ul class="nest"> + <li>taken by British in same period, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_399" target="_blank">399-400</a>;</li> + <li>at later period of war, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_406" target="_blank">406</a>;</li> + <li>transition period of prize-taking, January-June, 1813, ii. <a href="#PageV2_20">20</a>;</li> + <li>estimate of relative losses by the two belligerents, <a href="#PageV2_21">21-22</a>;</li> + <li>compilation of lists, by Niles' Register, <a href="#PageV2_22">22</a>;</li> + <li>overlooked significance of the greater British losses, <a href="#PageV2_23">23</a>, <a href="#PageV2_221">221</a>;</li> + <li>limited success of American frigates in taking, to what attributable, <a href="#PageV2_216">216</a>;</li> + <li>taken by American cruisers, in latter part of war, <a href="#PageV2_220">220-221</a>;</li> + <li>in West Indies, <a href="#PageV2_230">230</a>;</li> + <li>total number taken throughout the war, by American naval vessels, and by privateers, <a href="#PageV2_241">241-243</a>.</li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li><i>Proclamation.</i> + <ul class="nest"> + <li>Commerce between Great Britain and America, regulated by, 1783-1794, i. <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_67" target="_blank">67-70</a>;</li> + <li>issued by Jefferson excluding British armed vessels from American waters, after "Chesapeake" affair, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_160" target="_blank">160-161</a>;</li> + <li>Royal, directing commanders of British naval vessels to impress British-born seamen found in foreign merchant ships, and denying efficacy of naturalization papers to discharge from allegiance, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_166" target="_blank">166</a>;</li> + <li>by Jefferson, against combinations to defy Embargo laws, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_207" target="_blank">207</a>;</li> + <li>by Madison, permitting renewal of trade with Great Britain, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_219" target="_blank">219</a>, + <ul class="nest2"> + <li>and withdrawn, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_219" target="_blank">219</a>;</li> + </ul> + </li> + <li>by Madison, announcing revocation of Napoleon's Decrees, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_238" target="_blank">238</a>.</li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li><i>Procter, Henry.</i> British general. + <ul class="nest"> + <li>As colonel, in command of Fort Malden, i. <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_345" target="_blank">345</a>;</li> + <li>acts against Hull's communications, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_345" target="_blank">345</a>;</li> + <li>instructions from Brock, after fall of Detroit, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_367" target="_blank">367</a>;</li> + <li>compels surrender of Winchester's detachment at Frenchtown, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_370" target="_blank">370</a>;</li> + <li>subsequent action, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_373" target="_blank">373</a>; ii. <a href="#PageV2_67">67</a>, <a href="#PageV2_68">68</a>;</li> + <li>attack on Fort Meigs, <a href="#PageV2_68">68</a>;</li> + <li>project against Erie, <a href="#PageV2_69">69</a>;</li> + <li>baffled at Fort Stephenson, <a href="#PageV2_73">73</a>;</li> + <li>upon Harrison's approach, after battle of Lake Erie, evacuates Detroit and Malden, retreating up valley of the Thames, and defeated at Moravian Town, <a href="#PageV2_103">103</a>;</li> + <li>reaches British lines at Burlington, with remnant of his force, <a href="#PageV2_103">103</a>.</li> + </ul> +<br /></li> + + +<li><i>Quincy, Josiah.</i> Representative in Congress from Massachusetts. + <ul class="nest"> + <li>Defines position of New England concerning Orders in Council and impressment questions, i. <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_211" target="_blank">211-212</a>;</li> + <li>disproves the accuracy of the charge brought by the Administration against the British minister, Jackson, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_232" target="_blank">232</a>;</li> + <li>supports the report for increase of navy, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_260" target="_blank">260</a>;</li> + <li>predicts that a suitable naval establishment would be a unifying force in national politics, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_261" target="_blank">261</a>;</li> + <li>sends word to seaports of intended embargo of April, 1812, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_263" target="_blank">263</a>.</li> + </ul> +<br /></li> + + +<li>"<i>Rattlesnake.</i>" American brig of war. + <ul class="nest"> + <li>Particulars of cruise of, ii. <a href="#PageV2_231">231-233</a>.</li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li><i>Reeves.</i><span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_453" id="PageV2_453">[453]</a></span> + <ul class="nest"> + <li>British writer on the Navigation Laws, quoted, i. <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_14" target="_blank">14</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_15" target="_blank">15</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_17" target="_blank">17</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_19" target="_blank">19</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_23" target="_blank">23</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_25" target="_blank">25</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_39" target="_blank">39</a> (note).</li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li>"<i>Reindeer.</i>" British sloop of war. + <ul class="nest"> + <li>Captured by "Wasp," ii. <a href="#PageV2_254">254</a>.</li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li><i>Riall, Phineas.</i> British general, commanding on Niagara frontier, December, 1813. + <ul class="nest"> + <li>Captures Fort Niagara, and raids successfully western New York, burning towns in retaliation for the burning of Newark, ii. <a href="#PageV2_120">120-122</a>;</li> + <li>in 1814, suggests destruction of Fort Niagara, <a href="#PageV2_275">275</a>;</li> + <li>at Chippewa and Lundy's Lane, with intervening operations, <a href="#PageV2_295">295-298</a>, <a href="#PageV2_306">306-310</a>;</li> + <li>wounded and captured at Lundy's Lane, <a href="#PageV2_310">310</a>.</li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li><i>Rodgers, John.</i> Captain, U.S.N. + <ul class="nest"> + <li>Encounter with British sloop "Little Belt," i. <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_256" target="_blank">256-259</a>;</li> + <li>commands a squadron at declaration of war, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_314" target="_blank">314</a>;</li> + <li>opinion as to proper mode of using navy against enemy's commerce, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_317" target="_blank">317-320</a>; ii. <a href="#PageV2_130">130-131</a>, <a href="#PageV2_216">216</a>;</li> + <li>orders of Navy Department to, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_320" target="_blank">320</a>;</li> + <li>sails with squadron on the first cruise of the war, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_322" target="_blank">322</a>;</li> + <li>incidents, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_323" target="_blank">323-324</a>, + <ul class="nest2"> + <li>and effects, direct and indirect, of first cruise of, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_324" target="_blank">324-327</a>;</li> + </ul> + </li> + <li>effects of second cruise, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_402" target="_blank">402-404</a>;</li> + <li>incidents of second cruise, with "President" and "Congress," <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_407" target="_blank">407-409</a>;</li> + <li>incidents of third cruise, in "President" alone, ii. <a href="#PageV2_128">128-129</a>;</li> + <li>after fourth cruise, enters New York, and turns over command of "President" to Decatur, i. <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_405" target="_blank">405</a>.</li> + <li>Employed in Potomac River, harassing retreat of British squadron from Alexandria, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_350" target="_blank">350</a>.</li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li><i>Rose, George H.</i> + <ul class="nest"> + <li>British special envoy to Washington for settlement of "Chesapeake" affair, i. <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_165" target="_blank">165-167</a>;</li> + <li>failure of mission, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_167" target="_blank">167</a>.</li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li><i>Ross, Robert.</i> British general employed in Chesapeake expedition. + <ul class="nest"> + <li>Instructions issued to, ii. <a href="#PageV2_331">331</a>;</li> + <li>capture of Washington, <a href="#PageV2_340">340-351</a>;</li> + <li>killed in advance against Baltimore, <a href="#PageV2_357">357</a>;</li> + <li>instructions to, for New Orleans expedition, <a href="#PageV2_385">385-386</a>;</li> + <li>sanguine expectations of, after capture of Washington, <a href="#PageV2_424">424-425</a>;</li> + <li>succeeded by Sir Edward Pakenham for New Orleans expedition, <a href="#PageV2_392">392</a>, <a href="#PageV2_427">427</a>.</li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li><i>Rottenburg, De.</i> + <ul class="nest"> + <li>British general in command on Niagara frontier June, 1813, ii. <a href="#PageV2_69">69</a>;</li> + <li>declines to detach to aid of Procter and Barclay on Lake Erie, <a href="#PageV2_69">69</a>;</li> + <li>proceeds to Kingston, with re-enforcements, in anticipation of American attack, <a href="#PageV2_110">110-111</a>;</li> + <li>despatches detachment in pursuit of Wilkinson's movement down the St. Lawrence, <a href="#PageV2_114">114</a>.</li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li><i>Russell, Jonathan.</i> + <ul class="nest"> + <li>American <i>chargé d'affaires</i> in France, after Armstrong's departure, i. <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_247" target="_blank">247</a>;</li> + <li>correspondence with American and French Governments relative to the alleged repeal of the French Decrees, quoted, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_247" target="_blank">247</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_267" target="_blank">267</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_268" target="_blank">268</a>;</li> + <li>transferred as <i>chargé</i> to London, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_264" target="_blank">264</a>;</li> + <li>correspondence as such with American and British Governments, quoted, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_264" target="_blank">264</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_266" target="_blank">266</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_272" target="_blank">272-278</a>;</li> + <li>opinion of the alleged French Decree of April 28, 1811, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_272" target="_blank">272</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_276" target="_blank">276</a>;</li> + <li>negotiation with Castlereagh, after declaration of war, looking to suspension of hostilities, ii. <a href="#PageV2_409">409-411</a>;</li> + <li>appointed additional peace commissioner at Ghent, <a href="#PageV2_413">413</a>.</li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li><i>Russia.</i> + <ul class="nest"> + <li>Offers in 1812 mediation between Great Britain and United States, ii. <a href="#PageV2_411">411</a>;</li> + <li>accepted by United States, but rejected by Great Britain, <a href="#PageV2_412">412</a>;</li> + <li>attitude of Czar towards America, <a href="#PageV2_423">423-124</a>, <a href="#PageV2_428">428</a>.</li> + </ul> +<br /></li> + + +<li><i>Sackett's Harbor.</i> American naval station on Lake Ontario. + <ul class="nest"> + <li>Conditions at, i. <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_302" target="_blank">302</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_309" target="_blank">309</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_363" target="_blank">363</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_374" target="_blank">374</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_376" target="_blank">376</a>; ii. <a href="#PageV2_37">37</a>, <a href="#PageV2_38">38</a>, <a href="#PageV2_50">50</a>, <a href="#PageV2_104">104-106</a>, <a href="#PageV2_110">110-113</a>, <a href="#PageV2_119">119</a>, <a href="#PageV2_276">276</a>, <a href="#PageV2_278">278</a>, <a href="#PageV2_280">280</a>, <a href="#PageV2_281">281</a>, <a href="#PageV2_291">291</a>, <a href="#PageV2_304">304</a>;</li> + <li>ships constructed at, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_364" target="_blank">364</a>, <a href="#PageV2_366">366</a>, <a href="#PageV2_377">377</a>; ii. <a href="#PageV2_49">49</a>, <a href="#PageV2_276">276</a>, <a href="#PageV2_283">283</a>, <a href="#PageV2_291">291</a>, <a href="#PageV2_318">318</a> (note);</li> + <li>attack upon, by Prevost and Yeo, ii. <a href="#PageV2_42">42-45</a>;</li> + <li>Brown's march from, to Niagara frontier, <a href="#PageV2_281">281</a>;</li> + <li>Yeo's blockade of, <a href="#PageV2_285">285</a>, + <ul class="nest2"> + <li>abandoned, <a href="#PageV2_290">290</a>;</li> + </ul> + </li> + <li>Izard's march to, on way to support Brown at Niagara, <a href="#PageV2_319">319-320</a>;</li> + <li>Chauncey retires finally to, after launch of the British "St. Lawrence," <a href="#PageV2_323">323</a>;</li> + <li>destruction of, prescribed to Prevost by instructions, in 1814, <a href="#PageV2_329">329</a>, <a href="#PageV2_362">362</a>;</li> + <li>Yeo's observations at, <a href="#PageV2_318">318</a> (note).</li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li><i>Seaboard, United States.</i> + <ul class="nest"> + <li>Conditions on, i. <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_296" target="_blank">296-298</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_300" target="_blank">300</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_310" target="_blank">310-313</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_360" target="_blank">360</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_393" target="_blank">393</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_404" target="_blank">404-406</a>; ii. <a href="#PageV2_15">15-19</a>, <a href="#PageV2_24">24-27</a>, <a href="#PageV2_127">127-128</a>, <a href="#PageV2_148">148-150</a>, <a href="#PageV2_152">152-155</a>, <a href="#PageV2_202">202</a>;</li> + <li>Chesapeake and Delaware Bays, 1813, ii. <a href="#PageV2_155">155-178</a>;</li> + <li>three divisions of the seaboard, Northern, Middle, and Southern, <a href="#PageV2_178">178</a>;</li> + <li>distinctive topographical features of each, <a href="#PageV2_178">178</a>, <a href="#PageV2_179">179</a>, <a href="#PageV2_183">183</a>, <a href="#PageV2_184">184</a>, <a href="#PageV2_193">193</a>, <a href="#PageV2_195">195</a>;</li> + <li>proportionate effect of the war upon each, with reasons therefor, <a href="#PageV2_179">179-183</a>;<span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_454" id="PageV2_454">[454]</a></span></li> + <li>commercial and military characteristics of Middle section, <a href="#PageV2_183">183-184</a>;</li> + <li>necessity of coasting trade to Middle, <a href="#PageV2_184">184</a>, + <ul class="nest2"> + <li>less than to Northern and Southern, <a href="#PageV2_185">185-187</a>;</li> + </ul> + </li> + <li>effect of hostile pressure upon coasting in Northern section, <a href="#PageV2_192">192-194</a>;</li> + <li>in Southern section, <a href="#PageV2_195">195-198</a>, <a href="#PageV2_203">203</a>;</li> + <li>effectual separation between the sections by the British blockades, <a href="#PageV2_198">198-201</a>;</li> + <li>statistics of export, <a href="#PageV2_201">201</a>;</li> + <li>momentary importance of North Carolina coast, <a href="#PageV2_203">203</a>;</li> + <li>effects of pressure upon seaboard shown by rebound upon peace, in prices, and in shipping statistics, <a href="#PageV2_204">204-207</a>;</li> + <li>statement by a naval officer of the time, <a href="#PageV2_207">207-208</a>;</li> + <li>operations in Chesapeake Bay, 1814, <a href="#PageV2_336">336-341</a>, <a href="#PageV2_350">350-351</a>;</li> + <li>capture of Washington, <a href="#PageV2_341">341-350</a>;</li> + <li>occurrences on New England coast, <a href="#PageV2_352">352</a>;</li> + <li>invasion of Maine, and occupation of Castine, <a href="#PageV2_353">353-354</a>;</li> + <li>Gulf coast and New Orleans, <a href="#PageV2_382">382-397</a>.</li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li><i>Scott, Winfield.</i> American general. + <ul class="nest"> + <li>Quoted, i. <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_336" target="_blank">336</a>; ii. <a href="#PageV2_48">48</a>, <a href="#PageV2_104">104</a> (note), <a href="#PageV2_118">118</a>, <a href="#PageV2_240">240</a> (note), <a href="#PageV2_297">297</a>;</li> + <li>joins Wilkinson's expedition down the St. Lawrence, ii. <a href="#PageV2_113">113</a>;</li> + <li>on Niagara frontier, in 1814, <a href="#PageV2_279">279</a>, <a href="#PageV2_281">281</a>, <a href="#PageV2_282">282</a>;</li> + <li>battle of Chippewa, <a href="#PageV2_294">294-298</a>;</li> + <li>Lundy's Lane, <a href="#PageV2_306">306-311</a>;</li> + <li>severely wounded, <a href="#PageV2_311">311</a>, + <ul class="nest2"> + <li>and unable to serve again during the campaign, <a href="#PageV2_314">314</a>;</li> + </ul> + </li> + <li>president of the Court of Inquiry concerning the capture of Washington, <a href="#PageV2_341">341-342</a>.</li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li>"<i>Shannon.</i>" British frigate, blockading off New York. + <ul class="nest"> + <li>Pursuit of "Constitution," and protection of convoy, i. <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_325" target="_blank">325-329</a>;</li> + <li>admirable efficiency of, under Captain Broke, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_133" target="_blank">133-134</a>;</li> + <li>capture of "Chesapeake" by, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_135" target="_blank">135-145</a>;</li> + <li>reported injuries to, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_146" target="_blank">146-147</a>.</li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li><i>Sheffield, Lord.</i> British writer on economical questions. + <ul class="nest"> + <li>Conspicuous opponent of Pitt's policy in opening West India trade to American navigation, i. <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_50" target="_blank">50</a>;</li> + <li>leading constructive ideas of, in scheme of policy towards the United States, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_63" target="_blank">63-64</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_65" target="_blank">65-66</a>;</li> + <li>success of, in preventing Pitt's measure, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_67" target="_blank">67</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_68" target="_blank">68</a>;</li> + <li>Gibbon's estimate of, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_73" target="_blank">73</a> (note);</li> + <li>apparent temporary success of policy of, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_75" target="_blank">75-79</a>;</li> + <li>Canada and the other North-American colonies fail to fulfil the part expected from them, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_86" target="_blank">86</a>;</li> + <li>pamphlet of, "Observations on the Commerce of the American States," <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_65" target="_blank">65</a>;</li> + <li>quotations from, i. <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_28" target="_blank">28</a> (note), <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_31" target="_blank">31</a> (note), <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_37" target="_blank">37</a> (and note), <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_46" target="_blank">46</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_47" target="_blank">47</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_49" target="_blank">49</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_50" target="_blank">50</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_57" target="_blank">57</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_65" target="_blank">65</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_72" target="_blank">72</a>.</li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li><i>Sherbrooke, Sir John.</i> British general, Governor of Nova Scotia. + <ul class="nest"> + <li>Ordered to occupy so much of Maine as shall insure direct communication between Halifax and Quebec, ii. <a href="#PageV2_353">353</a>;</li> + <li>expedition to the Penobscot, and seizure of Castine and Machias, <a href="#PageV2_354">354</a>;</li> + <li>Wellington's opinion of the result, <a href="#PageV2_354">354</a>, <a href="#PageV2_431">431</a>.</li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li><i>Sinclair, Arthur.</i> Commander, U.S.N., commanding on Upper Lakes, in 1814, ii. <a href="#PageV2_324">324</a>; + <ul class="nest"> + <li>operations of, <a href="#PageV2_324">324-328</a>;</li> + <li>mentioned, <a href="#PageV2_333">333</a>.</li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li><i>Smith, Adam.</i> + <ul class="nest"> + <li>Quoted in connection with the Navigation Act, i. <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_9" target="_blank">9-10</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_49" target="_blank">49</a>.</li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li><i>Smith, Robert.</i> + <ul class="nest"> + <li>American Secretary of State during early part of Madison's first term, i. <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_222" target="_blank">222</a>;</li> + <li>correspondence with, and in the case of, Jackson, the British minister to Washington, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_222" target="_blank">222-228</a>;</li> + <li>attributes to Madison's intervention an offensive expression in letter to Erskine, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_228" target="_blank">228-229</a>.</li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li><i>Smith, Samuel.</i> Senator from Maryland. + <ul class="nest"> + <li>Quoted in connection with Embargo legislation, i. <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_184" target="_blank">184</a>.</li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li><i>Stewart, Charles.</i> Captain, U.S.N. + <ul class="nest"> + <li>Commands "Constellation," ii. <a href="#PageV2_11">11</a>, + <ul class="nest2"> + <li>when driven into Norfolk, and there blockaded for the rest of the war, <a href="#PageV2_12">12</a>;</li> + </ul> + </li> + <li>his reports while in Norfolk waters, <a href="#PageV2_10">10</a>, <a href="#PageV2_17">17</a>, <a href="#PageV2_160">160-162</a>;</li> + <li>transferred to the "Constitution," at Boston, <a href="#PageV2_161">161</a>, <a href="#PageV2_162">162</a>;</li> + <li>difficulty in escaping from Boston, <a href="#PageV2_147">147</a> (see also i. <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_405" target="_blank">405</a> and ii. <a href="#PageV2_12">12</a>);</li> + <li>first cruise in "Constitution," <a href="#PageV2_230">230-231</a>;</li> + <li>second escape, <a href="#PageV2_404">404</a>;</li> + <li>captures "Cyane" and "Levant," <a href="#PageV2_405">405-406</a>;</li> + <li>quoted, ii. <a href="#PageV2_12">12</a>, <a href="#PageV2_20">20</a>.</li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li><i>Strong, Caleb.</i> Governor of Massachusetts. + <ul class="nest"> + <li>Quoted, in support of British claim to impress, i. <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_7" target="_blank">7</a>;</li> + <li>in condemnation of the war, and of the invasion of Canada, ii. <a href="#PageV2_352">352</a>.</li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li><i>St. Vincent, Earl of.</i> British admiral and First Lord of the Admiralty. + <ul class="nest"> + <li>Statements and opinions concerning impressment, during Rufus King's negotiations, i. <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_124" target="_blank">124-126</a>.</li> + </ul> +<br /></li> + + +<li><i>Turreau, General.</i> French Minister to the United States. + <ul class="nest"> + <li>Opinion that Erskine's concessions showed the break-down of Great Britain, i. <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_230" target="_blank">230</a>.<span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_455" id="PageV2_455">[455]</a></span></li> + </ul> +</li> + + +<li><i>Vincent, John.</i> + <ul class="nest"> + <li>British general, commanding on Niagara line, at the time of Dearborn's attack, ii. <a href="#PageV2_38">38</a>;</li> + <li>retreat to Burlington, <a href="#PageV2_39">39</a>;</li> + <li>attack by, at Stony Creek, <a href="#PageV2_46">46</a>;</li> + <li>on American retreat reoccupies peninsula, except Fort George, <a href="#PageV2_47">47-48</a>;</li> + <li>superseded by De Rottenburg, Lieutenant Governor of Upper Canada, <a href="#PageV2_69">69</a>;</li> + <li>left again in command by De Rottenburg's departure to Kingston, <a href="#PageV2_110">110</a>;</li> + <li>retreats again to Burlington on the news of battle of the Thames, <a href="#PageV2_103">103</a>, <a href="#PageV2_118">118</a>;</li> + <li>ordered to retire further, to York, and reasons for not doing so, <a href="#PageV2_118">118</a>.</li> + </ul> +<br /></li> + + +<li><i>Warren, Sir John.</i> + <ul class="nest"> + <li>British admiral, and commander-in-chief on North American station, i. <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_387" target="_blank">387</a>;</li> + <li>Halifax and West Indian stations consolidated under, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_387" target="_blank">387</a>;</li> + <li>charged with diplomatic overture to American Government, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_390" target="_blank">390</a>;</li> + <li>reply received by, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_391" target="_blank">391</a>;</li> + <li>first impressions on arrival, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_392" target="_blank">392</a>;</li> + <li>representations to, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_401" target="_blank">401</a>, + <ul class="nest2"> + <li>and correspondence with, Admiralty, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_402" target="_blank">402-404</a>;</li> + </ul> + </li> + <li>proclamations of blockades, ii. <a href="#PageV2_9">9</a>, <a href="#PageV2_10">10</a>;</li> + <li>the lakes service under supervision of, <a href="#PageV2_28">28</a>;</li> + <li>expectations of British Government and people from, <a href="#PageV2_151">151</a>;</li> + <li>operations in the Chesapeake, <a href="#PageV2_155">155-169</a>;</li> + <li>quits Chesapeake for the season, <a href="#PageV2_177">177</a>;</li> + <li>urgency of the Admiralty upon, <a href="#PageV2_209">209-211</a>;</li> + <li>relieved by Cochrane, <a href="#PageV2_330">330</a>.</li> + <li>Remark quoted, <a href="#PageV2_332">332</a>.</li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li><i>Warrington, Lewis.</i> Commander, U.S.N., commanding "Peacock." + <ul class="nest"> + <li>Captures "Epervier," ii. <a href="#PageV2_258">258-261</a>;</li> + <li>subsequent cruise, <a href="#PageV2_261">261-262</a>;</li> + <li>later cruise, <a href="#PageV2_406">406-408</a>.</li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li><i>Washington, City of.</i> + <ul class="nest"> + <li>Capture by the British, ii. <a href="#PageV2_337">337-350</a>.</li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li><i>Washington, George.</i> + <ul class="nest"> + <li>Statements concerning conditions in the United States before the adoption of the Constitution, i. <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_47" target="_blank">47</a>;</li> + <li>as President of the United States, recommendations concerning the navy, ii. <a href="#PageV2_212">212-213</a>.</li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li>"<i>Wasp.</i>" American sloop of war. + <ul class="nest"> + <li>Action with, and capture of, "Frolic," i. <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_411" target="_blank">411-415</a>;</li> + <li>is captured with her prize by the "Poictiers," seventy-four, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_415" target="_blank">415</a>.</li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li>"<i>Wasp.</i>" American sloop of war, built and named for the last, which was captured only by overwhelming force. + <ul class="nest"> + <li>Cruise of, ii. <a href="#PageV2_253">253-258</a>;</li> + <li>action with, and capture of, "Reindeer," <a href="#PageV2_254">254</a>;</li> + <li>action with, and sinking of, "Avon," <a href="#PageV2_256">256</a>;</li> + <li>disappears at sea, <a href="#PageV2_257">257</a>.</li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li><i>Wellesley, Marquis of.</i> British Secretary for Foreign Affairs. + <ul class="nest"> + <li>Succeeds Canning, i. <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_229" target="_blank">229</a>;</li> + <li>treatment of the Jackson case, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_230" target="_blank">230-231</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_250" target="_blank">250-252</a>;</li> + <li>action in view of Champagny's letter, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_238" target="_blank">238</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_241" target="_blank">241-247</a>;</li> + <li>construction placed by him upon the American demands consequent on that letter, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_246" target="_blank">246</a>;</li> + <li>dilatory actions of, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_252" target="_blank">252</a>;</li> + <li>suggests to Pinkney to reconsider his intended departure, in view of the nomination of Foster, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_252" target="_blank">252</a>;</li> + <li>summary statement of the British policy in the Orders in Council, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_253" target="_blank">253-254</a>.</li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li><i>Wellington, Duke of.</i> + <ul class="nest"> + <li>Represents to British Government conditions in France, 1814, ii. <a href="#PageV2_428">428</a>, + <ul class="nest2"> + <li>and imminence of trouble in Paris, <a href="#PageV2_429">429</a>;</li> + </ul> + </li> + <li>anxiety of British Government, to remove him from Paris, <a href="#PageV2_429">429</a>;</li> + <li>pressed to accept the command in America, <a href="#PageV2_429">429</a>;</li> + <li>reluctance of, <a href="#PageV2_430">430</a>;</li> + <li>influence of, upon the negotiations at Ghent, <a href="#PageV2_430">430-431</a>;</li> + <li>approves Prevost's retreat in default of naval command of the lakes, <a href="#PageV2_430">430-431</a>;</li> + <li>opinion of Sherbrooke's occupation of Maine, <a href="#PageV2_431">431</a> (see also <a href="#PageV2_354">354</a>).</li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li><i>West Indies.</i> + <ul class="nest"> + <li>Relations of, to the mother country and to the colonies of the American continent, i. <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_32" target="_blank">32-40</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_53" target="_blank">53-55</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_56" target="_blank">56-58</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_65" target="_blank">65-67</a>;</li> + <li>British expectation that in these relations the lost colonies might be replaced by Canada, Nova Scotia, etc., <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_44" target="_blank">44-48</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_50" target="_blank">50-51</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_64" target="_blank">64</a>;</li> + <li>sufferings of, after 1776 and 1783, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_54" target="_blank">54</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_62" target="_blank">62-63</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_67" target="_blank">67</a>;</li> + <li>Pitt's measure, 1783, for benefit of, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_58" target="_blank">58-60</a>;</li> + <li>measure fails, and Navigation Acts applied to intercourse between United States and, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_68" target="_blank">68-70</a>;</li> + <li>effect upon, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_75" target="_blank">75</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_78" target="_blank">78</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_79" target="_blank">79</a>;</li> + <li>recommendations of Committee of Privy Council, 1791, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_82" target="_blank">82-84</a>;</li> + <li>increased importance of, after outbreak of French Revolution, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_86" target="_blank">86-88</a>;</li> + <li>result, in fettering American intercourse with, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_89" target="_blank">89</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_95" target="_blank">95</a>;</li> + <li>concession to United States of trade to, obtained in Jay's treaty, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_96" target="_blank">96</a>;</li> + <li>continued by British executive order, although article not confirmed by Senate, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_97" target="_blank">97</a>;</li> + <li>course of British policy relating to, until 1805, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_97" target="_blank">97-100</a>;</li> + <li>question of American trade from, "direct" or "indirect," raised in 1805, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_100" target="_blank">100</a>;<span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_456" id="PageV2_456">[456]</a></span></li> + <li>decision adverse to American interests, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_101" target="_blank">101-103</a>;</li> + <li>object of new departure of British Government, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_103" target="_blank">103</a>;</li> + <li>principle asserted identical with colonial practice, and with Orders in Council of 1807, which led to War of 1812, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_104" target="_blank">104</a>.</li> + <li>As a field for operations against commerce, ii. <a href="#PageV2_229">229-240</a>.</li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li><i>Wilkinson, James.</i> American general. + <ul class="nest"> + <li>Replaces Dearborn in command of New York frontier, ii. <a href="#PageV2_104">104</a>;</li> + <li>Armstrong's instructions to, <a href="#PageV2_105">105</a>;</li> + <li>movements of, <a href="#PageV2_106">106</a>;</li> + <li>concentrates at Sackett's Harbor, <a href="#PageV2_109">109-111</a>;</li> + <li>expedition down St. Lawrence against Montreal, <a href="#PageV2_112">112-115</a>;</li> + <li>failure of, and winter quarters at French Mills, <a href="#PageV2_116">116</a>;</li> + <li>removes thence to Plattsburg, <a href="#PageV2_278">278</a>;</li> + <li>abortive attempt against La Colle, <a href="#PageV2_282">282-283</a>;</li> + <li>superseded by Izard, <a href="#PageV2_283">283</a>.</li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li><i>Winder, William H.</i> American general. + <ul class="nest"> + <li>Captured in the British attack at Stony Creek, ii. <a href="#PageV2_47">47</a>, <a href="#PageV2_341">341</a>;</li> + <li>appointed to command the tenth military district, including Baltimore and Washington, <a href="#PageV2_341">341</a>;</li> + <li>conditions found by, as shown by Court of Inquiry, <a href="#PageV2_342">342</a>;</li> + <li>operations of, <a href="#PageV2_343">343-350</a>.</li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li><i>Woolsey, Melancthon T.</i> Lieutenant (afterwards captain), U.S.N. + <ul class="nest"> + <li>Commands brig "Oneida" on Lake Ontario when war begins, i. <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_354" target="_blank">354</a>;</li> + <li>employed organizing lake force, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25911/25911-h/25911-h.htm#PageV1_364" target="_blank">364</a>;</li> + <li>affairs at Oswego, 1813, ii. <a href="#PageV2_50">50-51</a>;</li> + <li>successful expedition by, in 1814, <a href="#PageV2_285">285-289</a>.</li> + </ul> +<br /></li> + + +<li><i>Yeo, Sir James Lucas.</i> British commodore. + <ul class="nest"> + <li>Appointed to charge of lakes service, under Sir J. Warren, ii. <a href="#PageV2_29">29</a>;</li> + <li>attack on Sackett's Harbor, in combination with army, <a href="#PageV2_42">42-45</a>;</li> + <li>in temporary control of Lake Ontario, <a href="#PageV2_46">46-51</a>;</li> + <li>contest with Chauncey in 1813, <a href="#PageV2_51">51-61</a>;</li> + <li>action of August 10, <a href="#PageV2_56">56-59</a>, + <ul class="nest2"> + <li>and September 11, <a href="#PageV2_60">60</a>;</li> + </ul> + </li> + <li>action of September 28, <a href="#PageV2_106">106-109</a>;</li> + <li>subsequent movements in 1813, <a href="#PageV2_111">111</a>, <a href="#PageV2_114">114</a>;</li> + <li>proposed renewed attack on Sackett's Harbor, <a href="#PageV2_280">280</a>, <a href="#PageV2_283">283</a>;</li> + <li>made on Oswego instead, <a href="#PageV2_284">284</a>;</li> + <li>blockades Sackett's Harbor for a time, <a href="#PageV2_285">285-289</a>;</li> + <li>abandons blockade, returns to Kingston, and there remains, <a href="#PageV2_290">290</a>;</li> + <li>opinion of the importance of the St. Lawrence River, <a href="#PageV2_292">292</a>;</li> + <li>inactive policy during summer of 1814, <a href="#PageV2_303">303</a>, <a href="#PageV2_307">307</a>;</li> + <li>launches, and takes the lake with, a ship of 102 guns, giving him entire control, <a href="#PageV2_323">323</a>;</li> + <li>observations at Sackett's Harbor, on his return to England after peace, <a href="#PageV2_318">318</a> (note);</li> + <li>given independent command on lakes after Warren's detachment, <a href="#PageV2_330">330</a>.</li> + </ul> +</li> +</ul> + + +<br /> +<hr /> +<br /> + +<div class="tr"> +<p class="cen"><a name="TN" id="TN"></a>Typographical errors corrected in text:</p> +<br /> +Page 13: vesesls replaced with vessels<br /> +Page 131: frustated replaced with frustrated<br /> +Page 184: Philadephia replaced with Philadelphia<br /> +</div> + +<div>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 25912 ***</div> +</body> +</html> + diff --git 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