1812: The Navy's War

by George Daughan

  210 During the greater part: David Curtis Skaggs and Gerald T. Altoff, A Signal Victory: The Lake Erie Campaign, 1812–1813 (Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 1997), 84.

  211 When the haze cleared: Pierre Berton, Flames Across the Border: The Canadian-American Tragedy, 1813–1814 (Boston: Little, Brown, 1981), 149–51.

  211 Barclay sailed back to Amherstburg: Barclay to Yeo, Aug. 5, 1813, in Dudley, ed., Naval War of 1812, 2:546–47.

  211 “I have great pleasure”: Perry to Jones, Aug. 4, 1813, in Dudley, ed., Naval War of 1812, 2:546.

  212 Harrison was happy to give: Harrison to Secretary of the Army Armstrong, Sept. 15, 1813, in Dudley, ed., Naval War of 1812, 2:565–66.

  212 “I do not hesitate”: Proctor to Noah Freer, British Military Secretary, Sept. 6, 1813, in Dudley, ed., Naval War of 1812, 2:552.

  212 “So perfectly destitute”: Barclay to Yeo, Sept. 12, 1813, in Dudley, ed., Naval War of 1812, 2:555.

  212 “totally unacquainted”: Barclay to Yeo, Sept. 12, 1813, in Dudley, ed., Naval War of 1812, 2:555–57.

  212 In short order, Perry: Morison, Old Bruin, 42.

  213 “against the superior force”: Barclay’s report of the battle to Yeo, Sept. 12, 1813, in Dudley, ed., Naval War of 1812, 2:555–557.

  213 The Niagara and Jesse Elliott: Alfred T. Mahan, Sea Power in Its Relations to the War of 1812 (Boston: Little, Brown, 1905), 2:80–89.

  214 “Every brace and bowline”: Perry to Jones, Sept. 13, 1813, in Dudley, ed., Naval War of 1812, 2:557.

  215 “I determined to pass”: Perry to Jones, Sept, 13 1813, in Dudley, ed., Naval War of 1812, 2:557–59.

  216 “Every poor fellow”: Taylor to his wife, Abby Taylor, Sept. 15, 1813, in Dudley, ed., Naval War of 1812, 2:559–60.

  216 “We have met the enemy”: Perry to Harrison, Sept. 10, 1813, in Dudley, ed., Naval War of 1812, 2:553.

  216 “It has pleased the Almighty”: Perry to Jones, Sept. 10, 1813, in Dudley, ed., Naval War of 1812, 2:554.

  216 “[Perry] has immortalized”: Chauncey to Jones, Sept. 25, 1813, quoted in Robert Malcomson, Lords of the Lake: The Naval War on Lake Ontario, 1812–1814 (1998; reprint, Montreal: Robin Brass Studio, 2009), 197.

  216 “The greatest cause”: Barclay to Yeo, Sept. 12, 1813, in Dudley, ed., Naval War of 1812, 2:555–56.

  216 He wrote to Earl Bathurst: Prevost to Bathurst, Sept. 22, 1813, quoted in Malcomson, Lords of the Lake, 199.

  217 Perry, with a strong: Perry to Jones, Sept. n.d., 1813, in Dudley, ed., Naval War of 1812, 2:569.

  218 Having always been most: John R. Elting, Amateurs to Arms: A Military History of the War of 1812 (Cambridge, MA: DaCapo Press, 1995), 110–15.

  218 For Governor Shelby: Berton, Flames Across the Border, 208; Reginald Horsman, The War of 1812 (New York: Knopf, 1969), 107–15.

  218 On September 29: Jones to Perry, Sept. 29, 1813, and Chauncey to Jones, Oct. 13, 1813, in Dudley, ed., Naval War of 1812, 2:577–79.

  CHAPTER 18

  220 “unprincipled imbecile”: Winfield Scott, Memoirs of Lieutenant-General Scott, LLD: Written by Himself (New York: Sheldon, 1964), 1:37; Timothy D. Johnson, Winfield Scott: The Quest for Military Glory (Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 1998), 10, 34–40.

  220 A tireless self-promoter: James Ripley Jacobs, Tarnished Warrior: Major-General James Wilkinson (New York: Macmillan, 1938), 284–85; Andro Linklater, An Artist in Treason: The Extraordinary Double Life of General James Wilkinson (New York: Walker, 2009), 284–88.

  220 He was military commander: Linklater, An Artist in Treason, 299–300.

  221 “You will make Kingston”: Armstrong to Wilkinson, American State Papers: Military Affairs (Washington, DC: Gales & Seaton, 1832–61), 1:464.

  221 “afford the Army”: Chauncey to Jones, Oct. 30, 1813, in The Naval War of 1812: A Documentary History, ed. William S. Dudley (Washington, DC: Naval Historical Center, 1992), 2:594–96.

  222 On September 7 Chauncey: Chauncey to Jones, Sept. 13, 1813; Yeo to Admiral Warren, Sept. 12, 1813, in Dudley, ed., Naval War of 1812, 2:579–81.

  222 During the voyage Wilkinson: Wilkinson to Brown, Sept. 20, 1813, Jacob Brown Papers, Reel 1, Massachusetts Historical Society.

  222 To relieve his pain: John D. Morris, Sword of the Border: Major-General Jacob Jennings Brown, 1775–1828 (Kent, OH: Kent State University Press, 2000), 63.

  223 Chauncey was “mortified”: Chauncey to Jones, Oct. 30, 1813, in Dudley, ed., Naval War of 1812, 2:594–96.

  223 General Brown led: Wilkinson to Brown, Oct. 28, 1813, Jacob Brown Papers, Reel 1.

  223 On November 2 sloops: Mulcaster to Yeo, Nov. 2, 1813, in Dudley, ed., Naval War of 1812, 2:596–97.

  223 “It is now blowing”: Chauncey to Jones, Nov. 11, 1813, in Dudley, ed., Naval War of 1812, 2:597–98.

  223 he wrote to General Hampton: Wilkinson to Hampton, Nov. 6, 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), 258.

  224 People in Washington wondered: 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), 363.

  224 Weeks earlier: Hampton to Armstrong, Nov. 1, 1813, American State Papers: Military Affairs, 1:462.

  224 Hampton assumed that Armstrong: Henry Adams, History of the United States of America During the Administrations of James Madison (New York: Library of America, 1986), 759.

  224 Secretary Armstrong knew: Armstrong to Hampton, Sept. 28, 1813, American State Papers: Military Affairs, 1:459.

  224 On that day in October, Hampton: J. Mackay Hitsman, The Incredible War of 1812: A Military History (Montreal: Robin Brass Studio, 1999), 181–87.

  224 In his reply to Wilkinson: Hampton to Wilkinson, Nov. 8, 1813, Brannan, Official Letters, 259–60.

  225 The resulting Battle of Crysler’s Farm: Donald E. Graves, Field of Glory: The Battle of Crysler’s Farm, 1813 (Montreal: Robin Brass Studio, 2000), 185–264.

  225 The following day, Wilkinson: Graves, Field of Glory, 279.

  226 “language to express”: Wilkinson to Hampton, Nov. 12, 1813, in Brannan, Official Letters, 268–69; Wilkinson to Brown, Nov. 24 and 26, 1813, Jacob Brown Papers, Reel 1.

  226 “we have and can have”: Alfred T. Mahan, Sea Power in Its Relations to the War of 1812 (Boston: Little, Brown, 1905), 2:116.

  226 Prevost had mustered well over: Graves, Field of Glory, 83.

  226 Prevost’s sizable army: Reginald Horsman, The War of 1812 (New York: Knopf, 1969), 126.

  226 Fort George and Fort Niagara were: Scott to Wilkinson, Oct. 11, 1813, in Brannan, Official Letters, 241–44.

  227 On December 19, Drummond: Drummond to Prevost, Dec. 20, 1813, in Dudley, ed., Naval War of 1812, 2:624–25.

  227 “bodies were lying”: Albany Argus (New York), Dec. 26, 1813; McClure to Armstrong, Dec. 12, 1813, in Brannan, Official Letters, 288–89.

  228 “They gave way and”: Amos Hall to Governor Hopkins, Dec. 30, 1813, in Brannan, Official Letters, 289–90.

  228 The armies now went: Pierre Berton, Flames Across the Border: The Canadian-American Tragedy, 1813–1814 (Boston: Little, Brown, 1981), 303–14.

  CHAPTER 19

  229 “to proceed to sea”: Hull to Burrows, Aug. 28, 1813, in The Naval War of 1812: A Documentary History, ed. William S. Dudley (Washington, DC: Naval Historical Center, 1992), 2:233.

  230 The previous year, Blakeley: Stephen W. H. Duffy, Captain Blakeley and the Wasp: The Cruise of 1814 (Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 2001), 95–98.

  231 “with an intention”: Lieutenant Edward R. McCall to Captain Isaac Hull, Sept. 7, 1813, in Dudley, ed., Naval War of 1812, 2:235.

  231 “Our brave commander”: Eastern Argus, Sept. 8, 1813.

  232 “masts, sails, and spars”: Hull to Bainbridge, quoted in Eastern Argus, Sept. 10, 1813.

 
232 The Boxer had four killed: Lieutenant David McCrery, R.N., to Commander Alexander Gordon, R.N., Sept. 6, 1813, and Lieutenant Edward R. McCall to Captain Isaac Hull, Sept. 7, 1813, in Dudley, ed., Naval War of 1812, 2:235–38.

  232 “A great concourse of people”: Portland Gazette, Sept. 13, 1813.

  232 The two young captains: 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), 442; C. S. Forester, The Age of Fighting Sail: The Story of the Naval War of 1812 (New York: Doubleday, 1956), 193; Henry Adams, History of the United States of America During the Administrations of James Madison (New York: Library of America, 1986), 816.

  232 “endeavored to screen himself”: McCall’s charge in Dudley, ed., Naval War of 1812, 2:289–92; Sailing Master William Harper to Secretary Jones, Dec. 5, 1813, and Jones to Hull, Dec. 13, 1813, in Dudley, ed., Naval War of 1812, 2:289–92.

  232 The triumph of the Enterprise: Irving Brant, James Madison, vol. 6: Commander in Chief, 1812–1836 (Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill, 1961), 20; Linda M. Maloney, The Captain from Connecticut: The Life and Times of Isaac Hull (Boston: Northeastern University Press, 1986), 232–34.

  233 Unfortunately, during the last six: Brant, James Madison, vol. 6: Commander in Chief, 201–2.

  233 “The wind increases to”: Journal of William Crawford, in Dudley, ed., Naval War of 1812, 2:217.

  234 He disguised his ship: Ira Dye, The Fatal Cruise of the Argus: Two Captains in the War of 1812 (Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 1994), 267.

  235 Allen’s primary mission: Dye, The Fatal Cruise, 254–55.

  236 Captain Henry Allen and: Commander Maples to Admiral Thornborough, Aug. 12, 1813, in Dudley, ed., Naval War of 1812, 2:223 ; Dye, The Fatal Cruise, 276–79.

  236 “The victory of the Pelican”: Times (London), Aug. 24, 1813.

  236 The scandal of trading: Annals of Congress, 13th Cong., 1st Session, 55, 485; Donald R. Hickey, The War of 1812: A Forgotten Conflict (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1989), 123, 373.

  236 The first two months of Rodgers’s: Charles O. Paullin, Commodore John Rodgers: Captain, Commodore, and Senior Officer of the American Navy, 1773-1838 (1909; reprint, Annapolis, MD: United States Naval Institute, 1967), 265–66.

  237 All the Norwegians could: Paullin, Commodore John Rodgers, 265–66.

  237 They did so well: Alfred T. Mahan, Sea Power in Its Relations to the War of 1812 (Boston: Little, Brown, 1905), 2:223.

  237 Ironically, Rodgers was: Paullin, Commodore John Rodgers, 268–69.

  238 One of Rodgers’s lieutenants: Paullin, Commodore John Rodgers, 270; Times (London), Nov. 13, 1813.

  239 “a particularly fine vessel”: Beresford to Warren, Jan. 9, 1813, in Dudley, ed., Naval War of 1812, 2:27.

  239 “I made the best disposition”: Warren to Croker, Oct. 16, 1813 in Dudley, ed., Naval War of 1812, 2:261.

  239 In the end, Rodgers’s cruise: Rodgers to Secretary Jones, Sept. 27, 1813, in Dudley, ed., Naval War of 1812, 2:250–55.

  240 “the channel is very narrow”: Decatur to Jones, June 6, 1813, in Dudley, ed., Naval War of 1812, 2:136–37.

  240 “a quantity of powder”: Master Commandant Jacob Lewis to Secretary Jones, June 28, 1813, and Hardy to Warren, June 26, 1813, in Dudley, ed., Naval War of 1812, 2:161–62.

  241 David Bushnell’s famous Turtle: Daughan, If By Sea, 102–3. 24

  1 the bomb the new submarine: Jacob Lewis to Secretary Jones, June 28, 1813, in Dudley, ed., Naval War of 1812, 2:161; Spencer Tucker, Stephen Decatur: A Life Most Bold and Daring (Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 2005), 129.

  241 “Decatur has lost very”: Quoted in David Long, Sailor-Diplomat: A Biography of Commodore James Biddle, 1783–1848 (Boston: Northeastern University Press, 1983), 48.

  241 By December 12, he was ready: Decatur to Secretary Jones, Dec. 20, 1813, in James Tertius de Kay, The Battle of Stonington: Torpedoes, Submarines, and Rockets in the War of 1812 (Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 1990), 86–87; Robert J. Allison, Stephen Decatur: American Naval Hero, 1779–1820 (Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 2005), 135.

  242 Connecticut Federalists did indeed: Brant, James Madison, vol. 6: Commander in Chief, 233.

  242 “Sir Thomas Hardy soon acquired”: Frances M. Caulkins, History of New London, Connecticut, from the First Survey of the Coast in 1612 to 1852 (Hartford, CT: Case, Tiffany, 1852), 631.

  242 In the middle of December 1813: Maloney, Captain from Connecticut, 235–36.

  242 The Congress was the least: Adams, History of the United States, 816–17.

  243 “dark nights and”: Warren to Croker, Dec. 30, 1813, in Dudley, ed., Naval War of 1812, 2:307–8.

  244 Porter was also occupying: George F. G. Stanley, The War of 1812: Land Operations (Toronto: Macmillan of Canada, 1983), 163–65; Mark Zuehlke, For Honor’s Sake: The War of 1812 and the Brokering of an Uneasy Peace (Toronto: Alfred A. Knopf Canada, 2006), 211.

  244 The war was going far worse: In another disappointment for the navy in 1813, the schooner Vixen, under Sailing Master Thomas Hall, had been captured by an old nemesis, Captain Richard Byron and the Belvidera, on Christmas Day, off the Delaware Capes. Byron brought her to Bermuda as a prize.

  CHAPTER 20

  246 “Whilst Bonaparte was”: Times (London), Feb. 3, 1814.

  246 part of Frederick William’s army: Alan Schom, Napoleon Bonaparte: A Life (New York: HarperCollins, 1997), 655.

  247 The allied armies were able: Schom, Napoleon, 658–65.

  247 Instead of pressing his advantage: Georges Lefebvre, Napoleon: From Tilsit to Waterloo, 1807–1815, trans. J. E. Anderson (Paris, 1936; reprint, New York: Columbia University Press, 1990), 330–31.

  247 Bonaparte saw with great: Schom, Napoleon, 665.

  247 Shortly after the armistice began: Lefebvre, Napoleon, 331–32.

  248 When the armies took: Dominic Lieven, Russia Against Napoleon: The True Story of the Campaigns of War and Peace (New York: Viking, 2010), 362–363.

  248 The Battle of Leipzig took place: Lieven, Russia Against Napoleon, 458.

  249 The Bramble also carried: Castlereagh to Monroe, Nov. 4, 1813, and Monroe to Castlereagh, Jan. 5, 1814, in American State Papers: Foreign Relations (Washington, DC: Gales & Seaton, 1833–58), 3:621–29; Harry Ammon, James Monroe: The Quest for National Identity (Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1990), 325.

  249 At the beginning of 1814: Irving Brant, James Madison, vol. 6: Commander in Chief, 1812–1836 (Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill, 1961), 238–39.

  250 Losing more contact: Schom, Napoleon, 683.

  251 “The whole nation will”: Quoted in Charles Esdaile, Napoleon’s Wars: An International History, 1803-1815 (New York: Viking, 2008), 525.

  251 “the cry of Vive Louis”: Times (London), April 8, 1914.

  252 “heartfelt and universal joy.”: Times (London), April 11, 1814.

  252 “I own that, while I rejoice”: Jefferson to John Adams, July 15, 1814, in The Adams-Jefferson Letters: The Complete Correspondence Between Thomas Jefferson and Abigail and John Adams, ed. Lester J. Cappon (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1988), 430–34.

  252 “The reinforcements for”: Times (London), April 11, 1814.

  252 “There is no public feeling”: Times (London), April 15, 1814.

  252 “unprincipled” and “contemptible”: Morning Post (London), Jan. 27, 1814, quoted in Adams, History of the United States, 1187.

  252 The Courier was equally vicious: Courier (London), Jan. 27, 1814, quoted in Adams, History of the United States, 1187–8.

  252 “immediately transferred to America”: Times (London), April 15, 1814.

  CHAPTER 21

  255 Their grandiose strategy included: Samuel Flagg Bemis, John Quincy Adams and the Foundations of American Foreign Policy (New York: Knopf, 1950), 198–99.

  256 “Is it desirable to take”: Viscount Castlereagh to Lord Liverpool, Aug. 28, 181
4, in Robert Stewart Castlereagh, Correspondence, Despatches, and Other Papers of Viscount Castlereagh, Second Marquess of Londonderry (London: H. Colburn, 1848–53), 10:62–63.

  256 “A well organized and large army”: The Papers of Henry Clay, ed. James F. Hopkins (Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 1959), 1:883–85.

  257 Only 13,000 were dispatched: J. Mackay Hitsman, The Incredible War of 1812: A Military History (Montreal: Robin Brass Studio, 1999), 232; Jon Latimer, 1812: War with America (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2007), 339.

  258 “I have it much at heart”: Cochrane to Bathurst, July 14, 1812, in The Naval War of 1812: A Documentary History, ed. Michael Crawford (Washington, DC: Naval Historical Center, 2002), 3:131.

  259 Nonetheless, Prevost was expected: Bathurst to Prevost, June 3, 1814, quoted in Hitsman, The Incredible War of 1812, 287–88.

  259 Bitter cold, poor food: Wilkinson to Brown, Dec. 18, 1813, Jacob Brown Papers, Reel 1, Massachusetts Historical Society.

  260 the army had leadership: The new leaders would guide the army until the Civil War. Russell F. Weigley, History of the United States Army (New York: Macmillan, 1967), 123; Irving Brant, James Madison, vol. 6: Commander in Chief, 1812–1836 (Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill, 1961), 252–53; John R. Elting, Amateurs to Arms: A Military History of the War of 1812 (Cambridge, MA: DaCapo Press, 1995), 177.

  260 Congress approved Madison’s request: Brant, James Madison, vol. 6: Commander in Chief, 252.

  260 By the spring of 1814: Donald R. Hickey, The War of 1812: A Forgotten Conflict (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1989), 183.

  260 “where twenty of his ships”: Jones to Madison, May 25, 1814, in Crawford, ed., Naval War of 1812, 3:495–96.

  261 “Every possible resource”: Jones to Chauncey, Jan. 15, 1814, in Crawford, ed., Naval War of 1812, 3:386.

  261 he “could meet the enemy”: Jones to Macdonough, Dec. 7, 1813, in The Naval War of 1812: A Documentary History, ed. William S. Dudley (Washington, DC: Naval Historical Center, 1992), 2:605.