1812: The Navy's War

by George Daughan

  157 He did not have the gracious: McKee, A Gentlemanly and Honorable Profession, 11–13.

  157 “The first mate does not know”: Quoted in McKee, A Gentlemanly and Honorable Profession , 15–19.

  157 Jones did not waste any time: William Jones to Eleanor Jones, Jan. 23, 1813, in Dudley, ed., Naval War of 1812, 2:34–35.

  157 “It is impossible to attach”: Jones to Chauncey, Jan. 27, 1813, in Dudley, ed., Naval War of 1812, 2:419–20.

  157 “to expect a very considerable”: Circular from Secretary of the Navy Jones to Commanders of Ships Now in Port Refitting, Feb. 22, 1813, in Dudley, ed., Naval War of 1812, 2:48.

  158 Madison needed new leadership: J. C. A. Stagg, Mr. Madison’s War: Politics, Diplomacy, and Warfare in the Early American Republic, 1783–1830 (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1983), 276–84.

  159 The appointment was controversial: Thomas Fleming, The Perils of Peace: America’s Struggle for Survival After Yorktown (New York: HarperCollins, 2007), 268–72.

  160 Republican War Hawks like: Adams, History of the United States, 601–2.

  160 When Cheves and Lowndes introduced: Donald R. Hickey, The War of 1812: A Forgotten Conflict (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1989), 113–17; Adams, History of the United States, 606.

  161 it passed legislation authorizing: Brant, James Madison, vol. 6: Commander in Chief, 135–36.

  161 Authorizing a loan and obtaining: Henry Adams, Albert Gallatin (1879; reprint, New York: Chelsea House, 1983), 288–89; Brant, James Madison, vol. 6: Commander in Chief, 196–97; Donald R. Adams Jr., Finance and Enterprise in Early America: A Study of Stephen Girard’s Bank, 1812–1831 (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1978), 30–34.

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  163 As the summer wore on: Dominic Lieven, Russia Against Napoleon: The True Story of the Campaigns of War and Peace (New York: Viking, 2010), 138–70.

  164 As the Russian armies retreated: Lieven, Russia Against Napoleon, 170–73.

  165 “I will not sheath”: Times (London), July 25, 1812.

  166 On December 5, from Smorgoni: Alan Schom, Napoleon Bonaparte: A Life (New York: HarperCollins, 1997), 629–44.

  166 “From the very first”: Armand Louis Augustin de Caulaincourt, Memoirs du General de Caulaincourt (New York: Enigma Books reprint, 2003), 399.

  166 “We today celebrate”: Gazette de France, Dec. 7, 1812.

  167 “Every day brings some fresh”: Times (London), Dec. 11, 1812.

  167 “We have scotched”: Times (London), Dec. 14, 1812.

  168 “The arm of the giant”: Quoted in Times (London), Jan. 20, 1813.

  169 The American ambassador: Irving Brant, James Madison, vol. 6: Commander in Chief, 1812–1836 (Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill, 1961), 154.

  169 Andre Daschkoff: Daschkoff confirmed this with a letter dated March 8, cited in Henry Adams, History of the United States of America During the Administrations of James Madison (New York: Library of America, 1986), 648.

  169 Since Madison knew that Britain; Brant, James Madison, vol. 6: Commander in Chief, 154.

  169 “high respect for the Emperor”: Madison to Count Nikolai Rumiantsev, July 10, 1813, in Russell Papers, Ms Russell Codex 7, 16, John Hay Library, Brown University.

  169 “the pressure of the war”: Times (London), May 8, 1813.

  169 London’s attitude would undoubtedly: Fernand Ouellet, Lower Canada: 1791–1840: Social Change and Nationalism, trans. and adapted by Patricia Claxton (Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 1980), 100–106.

  170 “The American President was”: Times (London), Dec. 25, 1812.

  170 “sapping the foundation”: Quoted in Times (London), Feb. 19, 1813.

  170 “Who could believe”: Quoted in Times (London), Feb. 19, 1813.

  171 “We ought to consider”: Times (London), March 20, 1813.

  171 he and Castlereagh intended to propose: Times (London), May 17, 1813.

  171 “you must look for an explanation”: James F. Hopkins, ed., The Papers of Henry Clay: Volume I, The Rising Statesman, 1797–1814 (Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 1959), 609.

  172 a ship purchased by the navy: Secretary Jones to George Harrison (navy agent in Philadelphia), April 3, 1813, in The Naval War of 1812: A Documentary History, ed. William S. Dudley (Washington, DC: Naval Historical Center, 1992), 2:87–92; Brant, James Madison, vol. 6: Commander in Chief, 161.

  172 On May 31 Madison submitted: J. C. A. Stagg, Mr. Madison’s War: Politics, Diplomacy, and Warfare in the Early American Republic, 1783–1830 (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1983), 234.

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  174 The timing of the operation: Reginald Horsman, The War of 1812 (New York: Knopf, 1969), 89.

  174 Judging their troops: Chauncey to Jones, March 18, 1812, in The Naval War of 1812: A Documentary History, ed. William S. Dudley (Washington, DC: Naval Historical Center, 1992), 2:430–32.

  174 “the fate of the campaign”: Jones to Chauncey, April 8, 1813, in Dudley, ed., Naval War of 1812, 2:433–34.

  175 “The first and paramount”: Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty to Commodore Sir James Lucas Yeo, R.N., March 19, 1813, in Dudley, ed., Naval War of 1812, 2:435–36.

  175 “Their Lordships feel”: John Wilson Croker to Yeo, March 19, 1813, in Dudley, ed., Naval War of 1812, 2:436–37.

  175 He and Dearborn set out: Robert Malcomson, Warships of the Great Lakes, 1754–1834 (Edison, NJ: Knickerbocker Press, 2004), 74–75.

  176 Before leaving, he destroyed: Chauncey to Secretary Jones, April 28 and May 7, 1813, in Dudley, ed., Naval War of 1812, 449–50, 452–53; Dearborn to Secretary of War Armstrong, April 28, 1813, in Dudley, ed., Naval War of 1812, 2:450–51.

  176 Chauncey was pleased that: Robert Malcomson, Capital in Flames: The American Attack on York, 1813 (Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 2008), 178–238.

  177 In the aftermath of the short battle: W. B. Kerr, “The Occupation of York (Toronto) 1813,” Canadian Historical Review 5 (1924), and Malcomson, Capital in Flames, 242–61.

  177 Having taken York: Chauncey to Jones, May 28, 1813, in Dudley, ed., Naval War of 1812, 2:463–64.

  178 Oliver Hazard Perry helped: Chauncey to Jones, May 28, 1813, in Dudley, ed., Naval War of 1812, 2: 63–64.

  178 Thanks to the younger Chauncey’s: David Ellison, “David Wingfield and Sackets Harbor,” Dalhousie Review 52 (1972); Brigadier General Jacob Brown to Secretary of War Armstrong, June 1, 1813, in Dudley, ed., Naval War of 1812, 2: 73–77.

  180 When the British troops withdrew: Malcomson, Warships of the Great Lakes, 87–96, Alfred T. Mahan, Sea Power in Its Relations to the War of 1812 (Boston: Little, Brown, 1905), 2:41.

  180 He told Secretary Jones: Chauncey to Jones, June 11, 1813, in Dudley, ed., Naval War of 1812, 2:493–94.

  181 Instead of going after Vincent’s: James E. Elliot, Strange Fatality: The Battle of Stoney Creek, 1813 (Montreal: Robin Brass Studio, 2009), 104–45; John R. Elting, Amateurs to Arms: A Military History of the War of 1812 (Cambridge, MA: DaCapo Press, 1995), 131–32.

  182 In the meantime, Smith: Lieutenant Thomas Macdonough to Secretary Jones, July 11, 1813, in Dudley, ed., Naval War of 1812, 2:514–15; Deposition of Abraham Walter before Court of Common Pleas, County of Clinton, NY, Nov. 23, 1813, in Dudley, ed., Naval War of 1812, 2:601–2.

  182 During the course of the war: Ira Dye, “American Maritime Prisoners of War, 1812–1815,” in Ships, Seafaring and Society: Essays in Maritime History, ed. Timothy J. Runyan (Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1987), 293.

  182 When Chauncey discovered: Pierre Berton, Flames Across the Border: The Canadian-American Tragedy, 1813–1814 (Boston: Little, Brown, 1981), 98.

  183 Chauncey did not have to wait: Chauncey to Jones, Aug. 13, 1813, in Dudley, ed., Naval War of 1812, 2:537–41; James Fenimore Cooper, Ned Myers; or Life Before the Mast (1843; reprint, Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 1989), 77–100.

  183 Macdonough knew they were: David
C. Skaggs, Thomas Macdonough: Master of Command in the Early U.S. Navy (Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 2003), 68–74.

  183 Macdonough wanted to go: Macdonough to Jones, Aug. 3, 1813, in Dudley, ed., Naval War of 1812, 2:518.

  184 In spite of his troubles: Macdonough to Jones, Aug. 14, 1813, in Dudley, ed., Naval War of 1812, 2:520.

  185 “The example set me by”: Harrison to Secretary of War, Aug. 4, 1813, in John Brannan, Official Letters of the Military and Naval Officers of the United States During the War with Great Britain, in the Years 1812–1815 (Washington City: Way and Gideon, 1823), 181–84.

  185 Congress awarded Croghan: Berton, Flames Across the Border, 142.

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  187 The British public clamored: Croker to Warren, March 20, 1813, in The Naval War of 1812: A Documentary History, ed. William S. Dudley (Washington, DC: Naval Historical Center, 1992), 2:75–78; First Lord of the Admiralty Lord Melville to Warren, March 26, 1813, in Dudley, ed., Naval War of 1812, 2:78–79; First Secretary of the Admiralty John W. Croker to Warren, Jan. 9 and Feb. 10, 1813, in Dudley, ed., Naval War of 1812, 2:14–19; Times (London), March 20, 24, 1813.

  188 Bladen was anxious to prevent: Commodore Rodgers to Secretary of the Navy Jones, Sept. 27, 1813, in Dudley, ed., Naval War of 1812, 2:251.

  188 the Admiralty, dismayed: First Secretary of the Admiralty John W. Croker to Station Commanders in Chief, July 10, 1813, in Dudley, ed., Naval War of 1812, 2:183–84.

  188 he wrote a clever, insulting letter: Broke to Lawrence, n.d., in Dudley, ed., Naval War of 1812, 2:126–29.

  189 “ready for sea”: Lawrence to Jones, May 20, 1813, in Albert Gleaves, James Lawrence, Captain, United States Navy, Commander of the Chesapeake (New York: Putnam, 1904), 167.

  189 Lawrence wrote to Biddle: Lawrence to Biddle, May 27, 1813, in Gleaves, James Lawrence, 171.

  190 Lieutenant Ludlow wrote: Augustus Ludlow to Charles Ludlow, May 28, 1813, in Gleaves, James Lawrence, 168.

  190 her crew were all experienced: Writing almost a century later, Admiral Alfred Thayer Mahan claimed that the crew had so many new “untrained men” that it amounted to a “reconstitution of the ship’s company.” He also emphasized that Lieutenant Ludlow was “extremely young,” without explaining his long service in both the navy and the Chesapeake. And he claimed that the midshipmen promoted to acting lieutenants were “new to their duties and unknown to their men”; to the contrary, they were experienced officers and, in fact, knew their men well. So although Admiral Mahan was not satisfied with either officers or crew, Lawrence and Ludlow clearly were. Alfred T. Mahan, Sea Power in Its Relations to the War of 1812 (Boston: Little, Brown, 1905), 2:132.

  191 “My crew appear”: Lawrence to Jones, June 1, 1813, in Gleaves, James Lawrence, 175.

  191 “An English frigate is”: “Don’t Give Up the Ship”: A Catalogue of the Eugene H. Pool Collection of Captain James Lawrence (Salem, ME: Peabody Museum, 1942), 29.

  193 When Broke saw Ludlow’s men: James Tertius de Kay, A Rage for Glory: The Life of Commodore Stephen Decatur, USN (New York: Free Press, 2004), 139–41.

  194 The high casualties: Lieutenant Budd to Secretary of the Navy William Jones (from Halifax) June 15, 1813, in John Brannan, Official Letters of the Military and Naval Officers of the United States During the War with Great Britain, in the Years 1812–1815 (Washington City: Way and Gideon, 1823), 167–68; Captain Chapel’s account of the Chesapeake-Shannon duel, June 6, 1813, in Dudley, ed., Naval War of 1812, 2:129–33; C. S. Forester, The Age of Fighting Sail: The Story of the Naval War of 1812 (New York: Doubleday, 1956), 160–65; Mahan, Sea Power, 2:131–48; and Theodore Roosevelt, The Naval War of 1812 (New York: Modern Library, 1999), 100–109.

  194 In all the confusion: Charles Morris, The Autobiography of Commodore Charles Morris USN, ed. Frederick C. Leiner (Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 2002), 70.

  194 “the heroism of British”: Times (London), July 9, 1813.

  195 “American vanity”: Times (London), Aug. 16, 1813.

  195 “should any attempt be made”: Jones’s orders to Stewart in June 1813, in Claude Berube and John Rodgaard, A Call to the Sea: Captain Charles Stewart of the USS Constitution (Washington, DC: Potomac Books, 2005), 74.

  195 Cox, who considered himself: Niles Weekly Register, July 9, 1814.

  195 In April and May 1813: Ira Dye, The Fatal Cruise of the Argus: Two Captains in the War of 1812 (Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 1994), 144.

  197 Since it was the renowned Decatur: W. M. P. Dunne, “Inglorious First of June,” Long Island Historical Journal 2 (Spring, 1990): 214–16.

  197 “I immediately directed”: Decatur to Jones, June 1813, in Dudley, ed., Naval War of 1812, 2:133–34.

  198 They performed a heroic action: Chauncey to Jones, July 21, 1813, in Dudley, ed., Naval War of 1812, 2:523–25.

  198 they were the only possible response: Alfred Thayer Mahan wrote, “In 1812 and the two years following, the United States flooded the seas with privateers, producing an effect upon British commerce which, though inconclusive singly, doubtless co-operated powerfully with other motives to dispose the enemy to liberal terms of peace. It was . . . the only possible reply to the commercial blockade.” Mahan, Sea Power, 2:288.

  198 a desperate Congress authorized: National Intelligencer, March 11, 1813; Donald G. Shomette, Flotilla: The Patuxent Naval Campaign in the War of 1812 (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2009), 5.

  198 Madison commissioned 526 privateers: David Long, Ready to Hazard: A Biography of Commodore William Bainbridge, 1774–1833 (Hanover, NH: University Press of New England, 1981), 186–87; Edgar S. Maclay, A History of American Privateers (New York: D. Appleton, 1924), viii.

  198 According to Lloyds of London’s: Times (London), March 22, 1813.

  198 Britain’s privateering: Alfred L. Burt, The United States, Great Britain and British North America from the Revolution to the Establishment of Peace After the War of 1812 (Toronto: Ryerson Press, 1940), 318.

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  199 “the most complete and vigorous”: Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty to Admiral Sir John B. Warren, Dec. 26, 1812, in The Naval War of 1812: A Documentary History, ed. William S. Dudley (Washington, DC: Naval Historical Center, 1985), 1:633–34.

  199 On December 29: Warren to Secretary of the Admiralty, John W. Croker, Dec. 29, 1812, in Dudley, ed., Naval War of 1812, 1:649–51.

  200 “and kedging the ship”: Stewart to Jones, Feb. 5, 1813, in Dudley, ed., Naval War of 1812, 2:311–12; Claude Berube and John Rodgaard, A Call to the Sea: Captain Charles Stewart of the USS Constitution (Washington, DC: Potomac Books, 2005), 66–71.

  200 “by placing . . . boats:” Stewart to Jones, Feb. 5, 1813, in Dudley, ed., Naval War of 1812, 2:312.

  200 Rear Admiral George Cockburn set out: Cockburn to Warren, March 13, 1813, in Dudley, ed., Naval War of 1812, 2:320–24.

  200 “at the same time”: Cockburn to Warren, March 23, 1813, in Dudley, ed., Naval War of 1812, 2:326–29.

  201 On May 2 he attacked: Charles O. Paullin, Commodore John Rodgers: A Biography (Cleveland: Arthur H. Clark, 1910), 279.

  202 “I . . . keep the old Tunisian”: Dolley Madison to Edward Coles, May 12, 1813, in Dolley Madison, Memoirs and Letters of Dolly Madison, edited by her grandniece (Boston: Houghton, Mifflin, 1886; reprint, Port Washington, NY: Kennikat Press, 1971), 89–92 ; Irving Brant, James Madison, vol. 6: Commander in Chief, 1812–1836 (Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill, 1961), 169; Donald G. Shomette, Flotilla: The Patuxent Naval Campaign in the War of 1812 (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2009), 9.

  203 Smith thought North Point: Frank A. Cassell, Merchant Congressman in the Young Republic: Samuel Smith of Maryland, 1752–1839 (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1971), 186–92.

  203 All Secretary Jones did: Jones to Sinclair, Feb. 17, 1813, in Dudley, ed., Naval War of 1812, 2:333.

  204 He wrote later: Cassin to Jones, June 21, 1813, in Dudley, ed., Naval Wa
r of 1812, 2:358–59.

  204 He decided to leave: Jones to Cassin, Feb. 16, 1813, in Dudley, ed., Naval War of 1812, 2:313–14.

  204 On June 25, to compensate: Beckwith to Warren, July 5, 1813, in Dudley, ed., Naval War of 1812, 2:364–65.

  205 Warren ordered Cockburn: Cockburn to Warren, July 12, 1813, in Dudley, ed., Naval War of 1812, 2:184–85.

  205 Fulton had obtained his design: George C. Daughan, If By Sea: The Forging of the American Navy—From the Revolution to the War of 1812 (New York: Basic Books, 2008), 102–3.

  205 Fulton copied Bushnell’s: James T. Flexner, Steamboats Come True: American Inventors in Action (Boston: Little, Brown, 1978), 248–61.

  205 On the sixteenth of July: Cockburn to Warren, July 16, 1813, in Dudley, ed., Naval War of 1812, 2:355–56; Times (London), Sept. 8, 1813; Flexner, Steamboats Come True, 244–61.

  206 Warren now decided: Shomette, Flotilla, 19.

  206 Joshua Barney wrote: “Barney’s Defense Proposal,” in Dudley, ed., Naval War of 1812, 2:373–81.

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  207 Back on January 20, 1813: Samuel E. Morison, Old Bruin: Commodore Matthew Calbraith Perry, 1794–1858 (Boston: Little, Brown, 1967), 8–11.

  208 “Many are the difficulties”: Perry to Commodore Chauncey, April 10, 1813, in The Naval War of 1812: A Documentary History, ed. William S. Dudley (Washington, DC: Naval Historical Center, 1992), 2:440–41.

  209 “There is a general want”: Barclay to Proctor, June 29, 1813, in Dudley, ed., Naval War of 1812, 2:483.

  210 Barclay was having problems: Barclay to Prevost, July 16, 1813, and Prevost to Barclay, July 21, 1813, in Dudley, ed., Naval War of 1812, 2:544–45.

  210 “a motley set”: Perry to Chauncey, July 27, 1813, and Chauncey to Perry, July 30, 1813, in Dudley, ed., Naval War of 1812, 2:529–31.

  210 “removed from this”: Perry to Chauncey, July 27, 1813; Chauncey to Perry, July 30, 1813; Perry to Jones, Aug. 10, 1813; and Jones to Perry, Aug. 18, 1813, in Dudley, ed., Naval War of 1812, 2:529–33.