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The Naval War of 1812

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It is not too easy to reconcile the official letters of the commanders,
and it is still harder to get at the truth from either the American
or British histories. Cooper is very inexact, and, moreover, paints
every thing _couleur de rose_, paying no attention to the British
side of the question, and distributing so much praise to everybody
that one is at a loss to know where it really belongs. Still, he
is very useful, for he lived at the time of the events he narrates,
and could get much information about them at first hand, from the
actors themselves. James is almost the only British authority on
the subject; but he is not nearly as reliable as when dealing with
the ocean contests, most of this part of his work being taken up
with a succession of acrid soliloquies on the moral defects of the
American character. The British records for this extraordinary
service on the lakes were not at all carefully kept, and so James
is not hampered by the necessity of adhering more or less closely
to official documents, but lets his imagination run loose. On the
ocean and seaboard his account of the British force can generally
be relied upon; but on the lakes his authority is questionable in
every thing relating either to friends or foes. This is the more
exasperating because it is done wilfully, when, if he had chosen,
he could have written an invaluable history; he must often have
known the truth when, as a matter of preference, he chose either
to suppress or alter it. Thus he ignores all the small "cutting
out" expeditions in which the Americans were successful, and where
one would like to hear the British side. For example, Captain Yeo
captured two schooners, the _Julia_ and _Growler_, but Chauncy
recaptured both. We have the American account of this recapture
in full, but James does not even hint at it, and blandly puts down
both vessels in the total "American loss" at the end of his smaller
work. Worse still, when the _Growler_ again changed hands, he counts
it in again, in the total, as if it were an entirely different boat,
although he invariably rules out of the American list all recaptured
vessels. A more serious perversion of facts are his statements
about comparative tonnage. This was at that time measured arbitrarily,
the depth of hold being estimated at half the breadth of beam; and
the tonnage of our lake vessels was put down exactly as if they
were regular ocean cruisers of the same dimensions in length and
breadth. But on these inland seas the vessels really did not draw
more than half as much water as on the ocean, and the depth would
of course be much less. James, in comparing the tonnage, gives that
of the Americans as if they were regular ocean ships, but in the
case of the British vessels, carefully allows for their shallowness,
although professing to treat the two classes in the same way; and
thus he makes out a most striking and purely imaginary difference.
The best example is furnished by his accounts of the fleets on Lake
Erie. The captured vessels were appraised by two captains and the
ship-builder, Mr. Henry Eckford; their tonnage being computed
precisely as the tonnage of the American vessels. The appraisement
was recorded in the Navy Department, and was first made public by
Cooper, so that it could not have been done for effect. Thus
measured it was found that the tonnage was in round numbers as
follows: _Detroit_, 490 tons; _Queen Charlotte_, 400; _Lady Prevost_,
230; _Hunter_, 180; _Little Belt_, 90; _Chippeway_, 70. James makes
them measure respectively 305, 280, 120, 74, 54, and 32 tons, but
carefully gives the American ships the regular sea tonnage. So
also he habitually deducts about 25 percent, from the real number
of men on board the British ships; as regards Lake Erie he contradicts
himself so much that he does not need to be exposed from outside
sources. But the most glaring and least excusable misstatements
are made as to the battle of Lake Champlain, where he gives the
American as greatly exceeding the British force. He reaches this
conclusion by the most marvellous series of garblings and
misstatements. First, he says that the _Confiance_ and the _Saratoga_
were of nearly equal tonnage. The _Confiance_ being captured was
placed on our naval lists, where for years she ranked as a 36-gun
frigate, while the _Saratoga_ ranked among the 24-gun corvettes;
and by actual measurement the former was half as large again as the
latter. He gives the _Confiance_ but 270 men; one of her officers,
in a letter published in the _London Naval Chronicle_, [Footnote: Vol.
xxxii, p. 272. The letter also says that hardly five of her men
remained unhurt.] gives her over 300; more than that number of dead
and prisoners were taken out of her. He misstates the calibre of
her guns, and counts out two of them because they were used through
the bow-ports; whereas, from the method in which she made her attack,
these would have been peculiarly effective. The guns are given
accurately by Cooper, on the authority of an officer [Footnote:
Lieutenant E. A. F. Lavallette.] who was on board the _Confiance_
within 15 minutes after the _Linnet_ struck, and who was in charge
of her for two months.

Then James states that there were but 10 British gallies, while
Sir George Prevost's official account, as well as all the American
authorities, state the number to be 12. He says that the _Finch_
grounded opposite an American battery before the engagement began,
while in reality it was an hour afterward, and because she had been
disabled by the shot of the American fleet. The gallies were largely
manned by Canadians, and James, anxious to put the blame on these
rather than the British, says that they acted in the most cowardly
way, whereas in reality they caused the Americans more trouble
than Downie's smaller sailing vessels did. His account of the
armament of these vessels differs widely from the official reports.
He gives the _Linnet_ and _Chubb_ a smaller number of men than the
number of prisoners that were actually taken out of them, not
including the dead. Even misstating Downie's force in guns,
underestimating the number of his men, and leaving out two of his
gun-boats, did not content James; and to make the figures show a
proper disproportion, he says (vol. vi, p. 504) that he shall exclude
the _Finch_ from the estimate, because she grounded, and half of
the gun-boats, because he does not think they acted bravely. Even
were these assertions true, it would be quite as logical for an
American writer to put the _Chesapeake's_ crew down as only 200,
and say he should exclude the other men from the estimate because
they flinched; and to exclude all the guns that were disabled by
shot, would be no worse than to exclude the _Finch_. James'
manipulation of the figures is a really curious piece of audacity.
Naturally, subsequent British historians have followed him without
inquiry. James' account of this battle, alone, amply justifies
our rejecting his narrative entirely, as far as affairs on the lakes
go, whenever it conflicts with any other statement, British or
American. Even when it does not conflict, it must be followed with
extreme caution, for whenever he goes into figures the only thing
certain about them is that they are wrong. He gives no details at
all of most of the general actions. Of these, however, we already
possess excellent accounts, the best being those in the "Manual of
Naval Tactics," by Commander J. H. Ward, U. S. N. (1859), and in
Lossing's "Field-Book of the War of 1812," and Cooper's "Naval
History." The chief difficulty occurs in connection with matters
on Lake Ontario, [Footnote: The accounts of the two commanders on
Lake Ontario are as difficult to reconcile as are those of the
contending admirals in the battles which the Dutch waged against
the English and French during the years 1672-1675. In every one of
De Ruyter's last six battles each side regularly claimed the victory,
although there can be but little doubt that on the whole the
strategical, and probably the tactical, advantage remained with
De Ruyter. Every historian ought to feel a sense of the most lively
gratitude toward Nelson; in his various encounters he never left
any possible room for dispute as to which side had come out first
best.] where I have been obliged to have recourse to a perfect
patchwork of authors and even newspapers, for the details, using
_Niles' Register_ and James as mutual correctives. The armaments
and equipments being so irregular I have not, as in other cases,
made any allowance for the short weight of the Americans shot, as
here the British may have suffered under a similar disadvantage;
and it may be as well to keep in mind that on these inland waters
the seamen of the two navies seem to have been as evenly matched
in courage and skill as was possible. They were of exactly the
same stock, with the sole exception that among and under, but
entirely distinct from, the Canadian-English, fought the descendants
of the conquered Canadian-French; and even these had been trained
by Englishmen, were led by English captains, fought on ships built
by English gold, and with English weapons and discipline.

On Lake Ontario.

There being, as already explained, three independent centres of
inland naval operations, the events at each will be considered
separately.

At the opening of the war Lieutenant Woolsey, with the _Oneida_,
was stationed at Sackett's Harbor, which was protected at the
entrance by a small fort with a battery composed of one long 32.
The Canadian squadron of six ships, mounting nearly 80 guns, was
of course too strong to be meddled with. Indeed, had the _Royal
George_, 22, the largest vessel, been commanded by a regular
British sea-officer, she would have been perfectly competent to
take both the _Oneida_ and Sackett's Harbor; but before the
Canadian commodore, Earle, made up his mind to attack, Lieut.
Woolsey had time to make one or two short cruises, doing some
damage among the merchant vessels of the enemy.

On the 19th of July Earle's ships appeared off the Harbor; the
_Oneida_ was such a dull sailor that it was useless for her to try
to escape, so she was hauled up under a bank where she raked the
entrance, and her off guns landed and mounted on the shore, while
Lieut. Woolsey took charge of the "battery," or long 32, in the
fort. The latter was the only gun that was of much use, for after
a desultory cannonade of about an hour, Earle withdrew, having
suffered very little damage, inflicted none at all, and proved
himself and his subordinates to be grossly incompetent.

Acting under orders, Lieut. Woolsey now set about procuring merchant
schooners to be fitted and used as gun-vessels until more regular
cruisers could be built. A captured British schooner was christened
the _Julia_, armed with a long 32 and two 6's, manned with 30 men,
under Lieut. Henry Wells, and sent down to Ogdensburg. "On her way
thither she encountered and actually beat off, without losing a man,
the _Moira_, of 14, and _Gloucester_, of 10 guns." [Footnote: James,
vi, 350.] Five other schooners were also purchased; the _Hamilton_,
of 10 guns, being the largest, while the other four, the _Governor
Tompkins_, _Growler_, _Conquest_, and _Pert_ had but 11 pieces
between them. Nothing is more difficult than to exactly describe
the armaments of the smaller lake vessels. The American schooners
were mere makeshifts, and their guns were frequently changed,
[Footnote: They were always having accidents happen to them that
necessitated some alteration. If a boat was armed with a long 32,
she rolled too much, and they substituted a 24; if she also had an
18-pound carronade, it upset down the hatchway in the middle of a
fight, and made way for a long 12, which burst as soon as it was
used, and was replaced by two medium 6's. So a regular gamut of
changes would be rung.] as soon as they could be dispensed with
they were laid up, or sold, and forgotten.

It was even worse with the British, who manifested the most
indefatigable industry in intermittently changing the armament,
rig, and name of almost every vessel, and, the records being very
loosely kept, it is hard to find what was the force at any one time.
A vessel which in one conflict was armed with long 18's, in the
next would have replaced some of them with 68-pound carronades;
or, beginning life as a ship, she would do most of her work as a
schooner, and be captured as a brig, changing her name even oftener
than any thing else.

On the first of September Commodore Isaac Chauncy was appointed
commander of the forces on the lakes (except of those on Lake
Champlain), and he at once bent his energies to preparing an
effective flotilla. A large party of ship-carpenters were immediately
despatched to the Harbor; and they were soon followed by about a
hundred officers and seamen, with guns, stores, etc. The keel of a
ship to mount 24 32-pound carronades, and to be called the _Madison_,
was laid down, and she was launched on the 26th of November, just
when navigation had closed on account of the ice. Late in the
autumn, four more schooners were purchased, and named the _Ontario_,
_Scourge_, _Fair American_, and _Asp_, but these were hardly used
until the following spring. The cruising force of the Americans
was composed solely of the _Oneida_ and the six schooners first
mentioned. The British squadron was of nearly double this strength,
and had it been officered and trained as it was during the ensuing
summer, the Americans could not have stirred out of port. But as
it was, it merely served as a kind of water militia, the very
sailors, who subsequently did well, being then almost useless, and
unable to oppose their well-disciplined foes, though the latter
were so inferior in number and force. For the reason that it was
thus practically a contest of regulars against militia, I shall not
give numerical comparisons of the skirmishes in the autumn of 1812,
and shall touch on them but slightly. They teach the old lesson
that, whether by sea or land, a small, well-officered, and
well-trained force, can not, except very rarely, be resisted by a
greater number of mere militia; and that in the end it is true
economy to have the regular force prepared beforehand, without
waiting until we have been forced to prepare it by the disasters
happening to the irregulars. The Canadian seamen behaved badly,
but no worse than the American land-forces did at the same time;
later, under regular training, both nations retrieved their reputations.

Commodore Chauncy arrived at Sackett's Harbor in October, and
appeared on the lake on Nov. 8th, in the _Oneida_. Lieutenant
Woolsey, with the six schooners _Conquest_, Lieutenant Elliott;
_Hamilton_, Lieutenant McPherson; _Tompkins_, Lieutenant Brown;
_Pert_, Sailing-master Arundel; _Julia_, Sailing-master Trant;
_Growler_, Sailing-master Mix. The Canadian vessels were engaged
in conveying supplies from the westward. Commodore Chauncy
discovered the _Royal George_ off the False Duck Islands, and
chased her under the batteries of Kingston, on the 9th. Kingston
was too well defended to be taken by such a force as Chauncy's;
but the latter decided to make a reconnaissance, to discover the
enemy's means of defence and see if it was possible to lay the
_Royal George_ aboard. At 3 P.M. the attack was made. The
_Hamilton_ and _Tompkins_ were absent chasing, and did not arrive
until the fighting had begun. The other four gun-boats, _Conquest_,
_Julia_, _Pert_, and _Growler_, led, in the order named, to open
the attack with their heavy guns, and prepare the way for the
_Oneida_, which followed. At the third discharge the _Pert's_ gun
burst, putting her nearly _hors de combat_, badly wounding her
gallant commander, Mr. Arundel (who shortly afterward fell overboard
and was drowned), and slightly wounding four of her crew. The other
gun-boats engaged the five batteries of the enemy, while the _Oneida_
pushed on without firing a shot till at 3.40 she opened on the
_Royal George_, and after 20 minutes' combat actually succeeded in
compelling her opponent, though of double her force, to cut her
cables, run in, and tie herself to a wharf, where some of her
people deserted her; here she was under the protection of a large
body of troops, and the Americans could not board her in face of
the land-forces. It soon began to grow dusk, and Chauncy's squadron
beat out through the channel, against a fresh head-wind. In this
spirited attack the American loss had been confined to half a dozen
men, and had fallen almost exclusively on the _Oneida_. The next
day foul weather came on, and the squadron sailed for Sackett's
Harbor. Some merchant vessels were taken, and the _Simco_, 8, was
chased, but unsuccessfully.

The weather now became cold and tempestuous, but cruising continued
till the middle of November. The Canadian commanders, however,
utterly refused to fight; the _Royal George_ even fleeing from the
_Oneida_, when the latter was entirely alone, and leaving the
American commodore in undisputed command of the lake. Four of the
schooners continued blockading Kingston till the middle of November;
shortly afterward navigation closed. [Footnote: These preliminary
events were not very important, and the historians on both sides
agree almost exactly, so that I have not considered it necessary
to quote authorities.]

Lake Erie.

On Lake Erie there was no American naval force; but the army had
fitted out a small brig, armed with six 6-pounders. This fell into
the hands of the British at the capture of Detroit, and was named
after that city, so that by the time a force of American officers
and seamen arrived at the lake there was not a vessel on it for
them to serve in, while their foes had eight. But we only have to
deal with two of the latter at present. The _Detroit_, still
mounting six 6-pounders, and with a crew of 56 men, under the
command of Lieutenant of Marines Rolette, of the Royal Navy,
assisted by a boatswain and gunner, and containing also 30 American
prisoners, and the _Caledonia_, a small brig mounting two 4-pounders
on pivots, with a crew of 12 men, Canadian-English, under Mr. Irvine,
and having aboard also 10 American prisoners, and a very valuable
cargo of furs worth about 200,000 dollars, moved down the lake,
and on Oct. 7th anchored under Fort Erie. [Footnote: Letter of Captain
Jesse D. Elliott to Secretary of Navy. Black Rock. Oct. 5, 1812.]
Commander Jesse D. Elliott had been sent up to Erie some time before
with instructions from Commodore Chauncy to construct a naval force,
partly by building two brigs of 300 tons each, [Footnote: That is,
of 300 tons actual capacity; measured as if they had been ordinary
sea vessels they each tonned 480. Their opponent, the ship _Detroit_,
similarly tonned 305, actual measurement, or 490, computing it in
the ordinary manner.] and partly by purchasing schooners to act as
gun-boats. No sailors had yet arrived; but on the very day on which
the two brigs moved down and anchored under Fort Erie, Captain
Elliott received news that the first detachment of the promised
seamen, 51 in number, including officers, [Footnote: The number of
men in this expedition is taken from Lossing's "Field-Book of the
War of 1812," by Benson L. Lossing, New York, 1869, p. 385, note,
where a complete list of the names is given.] was but a few miles
distant. He at once sent word to have these men hurried up, but
when they arrived they were found to have no arms, for which
application was made to the military authorities. The latter not
only gave a sufficiency of sabres, pistols, and muskets to the
sailors, but also detailed enough soldiers, under Captain N.
Towson and Lieutenant Isaac Roach, to make the total number of men
that took part in the expedition 124. This force left Black Rock
at one o'clock on the morning of the 8th in two large boats, one
under the command of Commander Elliott, assisted by Lieutenant Roach,
the other under Sailing-master George Watts and Captain Towson.
After two hours' rowing they reached the foe, and the attack was
made at three o'clock. Elliott laid his boat alongside the _Detroit_
before he was discovered, and captured her after a very brief
struggle, in which he lost but one man killed, and Midshipman
J. C. Cummings wounded with a bayonet in the leg. The noise of the
scuffle roused the hardy provincials aboard the _Caledonia_, and
they were thus enabled to make a far more effectual resistance to
Sailing-master Watts than the larger vessel had to Captain Elliott.
As Watts pulled alongside he was greeted with a volley of musketry,
but at once boarded and carried the brig, the twelve Canadians
being cut down or made prisoners; one American was killed and four
badly wounded. The wind was too light and the current too strong
to enable the prizes to beat out and reach the lake, so the cables
were cut and they ran down stream. The _Caledonia_ was safely
beached under the protection of an American battery near Black
Rock. The _Detroit_, however, was obliged to anchor but four hundred
yards from a British battery, which, together with some flying
artillery, opened on her. Getting all his guns on the port side,
Elliott kept up a brisk cannonade till his ammunition gave out,
when he cut his cable and soon grounded on Squaw Island. Here the
_Detroit_ was commanded by the guns of both sides, and which ever
party took possession of her was at once driven out by the other.
The struggle ended in her destruction, most of her guns being
taken over to the American side. This was a very daring and
handsome exploit, reflecting great credit on Commander Elliott,
and giving the Americans, in the _Caledonia_, the nucleus of their
navy on Lake Erie; soon afterward Elliott returned to Lake Ontario,
a new detachment of seamen under Commander S. Angus having arrived.

On the 28th of November, the American general, Smith, despatched
two parties to make an attack on some of the British batteries.
One of these consisted of 10 boats, under the command of Captain
King of the 15th infantry, with 150 soldiers, and with him went
Mr. Angus with 82 sailors, including officers. The expedition left
at one o'clock in the morning, but was discovered and greeted with
a warm fire from a field battery placed in front of some British
barracks known as the Red House. Six of the boats put back; but
the other four, containing about a hundred men, dashed on. While
the soldiers were forming line and firing, the seamen rushed in
with their pikes and axes, drove off the British, capturing their
commander, Lieut. King, of the Royal Army, spiked and threw into
the river the guns, and then took the barracks and burned them,
after a desperate fight. Great confusion now ensued, which ended
in Mr. Angus and some of the seamen going off in the boats. Several
had been killed; eight, among whom were Midshipmen Wragg, Dudley,
and Holdup, all under 20 years old, remained with the troops under
Captain King, and having utterly routed the enemy found themselves
deserted by their friends. After staying on the shore a couple of
hours some of them found two boats and got over; but Captain King
and a few soldiers were taken prisoners. Thirty of the seamen,
including nine of the twelve officers, were killed or wounded--among
the former being Sailing-masters Sisson and Watts, and among the
latter Mr. Angus, Sailing-master Carter, and Midshipmen Wragg,
Holdup, Graham, Brailesford, and Irvine. Some twenty prisoners
were secured and taken over to the American shore; the enemy's
loss was more severe than ours, his resistance being very stubborn,
and a good many cannon were destroyed, but the expedition certainly
ended most disastrously. The accounts of it are hard to reconcile,
but it is difficult to believe that Mr. Angus acted correctly.

Later in the winter Captain Oliver Hazard Perry arrived to take
command of the forces on Lake Erie.



Chapter V


1813

ON THE OCEAN

_Blockade of the American coast--The_ Essex _in the South
Pacific--The_ Hornet _captures the_ Peacock--_American privateers
cut out by British boats--Unsuccessful cruise of Commodore
Rodgers--The_ Chesapeake _is captured by the_ Shannon--_Futile
gun boat actions--Defence of Craney Island--Cutting out
expeditions--The_ Argus _is captured by the_ Pelican--_The_
Enterprise _captures the_ Boxer--_Summary._

By the beginning of the year 1813 the British had been thoroughly
aroused by the American successes, and active measures were at once
taken to counteract them. The force on the American station was
largely increased, and a strict blockade begun, to keep the American
frigates in port. The British frigates now cruised for the most part
in couples, and orders were issued by the Board of Admiralty that
an 18-pounder frigate was not to engage an American 24-pounder.
Exaggerated accounts of the American 44's being circulated, a new
class of spar-deck frigates was constructed to meet them, rating
50 and mounting 60 guns; and some 74's were cut down for the same
purpose. [Footnote: 1. James. vi, p. 206] These new ships were all
much heavier than their intended opponents.

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