1812: The Navy's War

by George Daughan

  261 At the end of December 1813: Macdonough to Jones, Dec. 28, 1813, in Dudley, ed., Naval War of 1812, 2:606.

  261 To help Yeo win: Reginald Horsman, The War of 1812 (New York: Knopf, 1969), 139.

  261 the “war of the dockyards”: Robert Malcomson, Lords of the Lake: The Naval War on Lake Ontario, 1812–1814 (1998; reprint, Montreal: Robin Brass Studio, 2009), 225.

  261 During the winter, Yeo: Robert Malcomson, Warships of the Great Lakes, 1754–1834 (Edison, NJ: Knickerbocker Press, 2004), 102; Malcomson, Lords of the Lake: 225.

  262 “The increase pay and bounty”: Chauncey to Jones, March 7, 1813, in Crawford, ed., Naval War of 1812, 3:401.

  262 In early March Brown: Armstrong to Brown, Feb. 24, 1814, Jacob Brown Papers, Reel 1.

  262 He was under the impression: Brown to Chauncey, March 24, 1814, and Armstrong to Brown, Feb. 28, 1814, in Jacob Brown Papers, Reel 1.

  262 Nonetheless, when Armstrong discovered: Armstrong to Brown, March 20, 1814, and April 7, 1814, in Jacob Brown Papers, Reel 1.

  262 Armstrong, without the administration: C. Edward Skeen, John Armstrong, Jr., 1758–1843: A Biography (Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press, 1981), 177–78; John D. Morris, Sword of the Border: Major-General Jacob Jennings Brown, 1775–1828 (Kent, OH: Kent State University Press, 2000), 77.

  263 Admiral Yeo and Lieutenant General: Drummond to Prevost, April 28, 1814, and Prevost to Drummond, April 30, 1814, in The Documentary History of the Campaign upon the Niagara Frontier, 1812–1814, ed. E. A. Cruikshank (Welland, Ontario: Lundy’s Lane Historical Society, 1908), 9:313–14, 318–19.

  263 After putting up what fight: Lieutenant-Colonel Mitchell to General Brown, May 6, 1814, in Jacob Brown Papers, Reel 1; Jones to Madison, May 25, 1814, in Crawford, ed., Naval War of 1812, 3:495; Yeo to Croker, May 9, 1813, in Crawford, ed., Naval War of 1812, 3:477–79; Lieutenant-Colonel George Mitchell to Major-General Jacob Brown, May 8, 1814, in Crawford, ed., Naval War of 1812, 3:474–76; Horsman, The War of 1812, 173–74.

  263 “If Sir James had landed”: Chauncey to Jones, June 15, 1815, in Crawford, ed., Naval War of 1812, 3:522.

  263 He had placed General Gaines: Morris, Sword of the Border, 80.

  264 Woolsey had laid a clever: Major Daniel Appling to Brown, May 30, 1814, in Jacob Brown Papers, Reel 1.

  264 On June 6 Yeo returned: Major Daniel Appling to Brigadier-General Edmund P. Gaines, May 30, 1814, and Woolsey to Chauncey, June 1, 1814, in Crawford, ed., Naval War of 1812, 3:508–12; Malcomson, Warships of the Great Lakes, 108–9, 295–96.

  265 It would not be until: Malcomson, Lords of the Lake, 307–8.

  265 Recruiting offices were: Rodney Macdonough, The Life of Commodore Thomas Macdonough, U.S. Navy (Boston: Fort Hill Press, 1909), 145.

  266 Pring’s bomb vessel: Macdonough to Jones, May 14, 1814, in Macdonough, Life of Commodore Thomas Macdonough, 142.

  266 Macdonough then moved his fleet: Macdonough, Life of Commodore Thomas Macdonough , 146.

  266 “I find the Saratoga to be”: Macdonough to Jones, May 29, 1814, quoted in Macdonough, Life of Commodore Thomas Macdonough, 147.

  267 “I determined to make them”: Campbell to Armstrong, May 18, 1814, in Crawford, ed., The Naval War of 1812, 3:486–87.

  267 When Lieutenant General Drummond: Colonel John B. Campbell to Armstrong, May 18, 1814, in Crawford, ed., Naval War of 1812, 3:486–87; Captain Arthur Sinclair to Jones, May 19, 1814, in Crawford, ed., Naval War of 1812, 3:487–89; Drummond to Prevost, May 27, 1814, in Crawford, ed., Naval War of 1812, 3:141, 489–90; Hitsman, The Incredible War of 1812, 219.

  268 he gathered the cabinet: Brant, James Madison, vol. 6: Commander in Chief, 259, 263.

  268 The president also decided: Notes on Cabinet Meeting, June 7, 1814, in Crawford, ed., Naval War of 1812, 3:497–98.

  269 “excited much regret”: Jones to Sinclair, June 1, 1814, in Crawford, ed., Naval War of 1812, 3:513–14. A court of inquiry with General Scott as president also condemned the destruction of private property.

  269 “Mackinac is by nature”: Sinclair to Jones, Aug. 9, 1814, in Crawford, ed., Naval War of 1812, 3:568–70.

  269 “Our men were shot”: Sinclair to Jones, Aug. 9, 1814, in Crawford, ed., Naval War of 1812, 3:568–70.

  269 Seeing no way to attain: Diary of Surgeon Usher Parsons on the Brig Lawrence, in Crawford, ed., Naval War of 1812, 3:558–62.

  270 The Scorpion had been fifteen: Lieutenant Andrew H. Bulger, Royal Newfoundland Fensible Infantry, to Lieutenant Colonel Robert McDouall, British Army, Sept. 7,1814, in Crawford, ed., Naval War of 1812, 3:605; Hitsman, The Incredible War of 1812, 236; Elting, Amateurs to Arms, 274–80; Barry Gough, Fighting Sail on Lake Huron and Georgian Bay: The War of 1812 and Its Aftermath (Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 2002), 103–12.

  270 Not long afterward, McDouall: Horsman, The War of 1812, 169–72.

  270 The administration, meanwhile: Brown to Peter B. Porter, May 19, 1814, in Jacob Brown Papers, Reel 1; Armstrong to Brown, May 25, 1814, in Jacob Brown Papers, Reel 1; Armstrong to Izard, June 10, 1814, in Crawford, ed., Naval War of 1812, 3:498–99.

  271 “To give . . . immediate occupation”: Armstrong to Brown, June 2, 1814, in Jacob Brown Papers, Reel 1; Armstrong to Brown, June 10, 1814, in Crawford, ed., Naval War of 1812, 3:500.

  271 At eight o’clock Buck fired: Donald E. Graves, Where Right and Glory Lead! The Battle of Lundy’s Lane, 1814 (Montreal: Robin Brass Studio, 1999), 75–76.

  272 “For completeness, Scott’s victory”: Henry Adams, History of the United States of America During the Administrations of James Madison (New York: Library of America, 1986), 937–38.

  272 Chippawa was a source of immense pride: The best account of the battle is in Donald E. Graves, Red Coats & Grey Jackets: The Battle of Chippawa, 5 July 1814 (Toronto: Dundurn Press, 1994), 79–135; see also Graves, Where Right and Glory Lead, 75–92; Elting, Amateurs to Arms, 187. The grey uniforms of the cadets at West Point were not chosen in 1816 to commemorate Scott’s grey uniforms, but the legend that they were has persisted.

  273 he had made it clear: Chauncey to Brown, June 25, 1814, in Crawford, ed., Naval War of 1812, 3:527.

  273 “The slaughter had”: General Brown to Major Samuel Brown, July 30, 1814, in Jacob Brown Papers, Reel 1.

  274 “victory was complete”: Porter to Tompkins, July 29, 1814, quoted in Graves, Where Right and Glory Lead, 208.

  CHAPTER 22

  277 “I hope to be able”: Cochrane to Prevost, March 11, 1814, in The Naval War of 1812: A Documentary History, ed. Michael Crawford (Washington, DC: Naval Historical Center, 2002), 3:38–39.

  277 As Cochrane thought about: Cochrane to Croker, March 8, 1814, in Wade G. Dudley, Splintering the Wooden Wall: The British Blockade of the United States, 1812–1815 (Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 2003), 116.

  277 The British blockade now ran: Cochrane to Bathurst, July 14, 1814, in Alfred T. Mahan, Sea Power in Its Relations to the War of 1812 (Boston: Little, Brown, 1905), 2:330–31.

  278 “be taught to know”: James A. Pack, The Man Who Burned the White House: Admiral Sir George Cockburn, 1772–1853 (Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 1987), 166–67.

  278 “free settlers into some”: Quoted in J. Mackay Hitsman, The Incredible War of 1812: A Military History (Montreal: Robin Brass Studio, 1999), 238.

  278 Bathurst prohibited Cochrane: Bathurst to Major General Edward Barnes, May 20, 1814, in Crawford, ed., Naval War of 1812, 3:72–74.

  280 Decatur had some hope: Spencer Tucker, Stephen Decatur: A Life Most Bold and Daring (Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 2005), 133–34.

  280 Beginning on March 17: Tucker, Stephen Decatur, 137; Robert J. Allison, Stephen Decatur: American Naval Hero, 1779–1820 (Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 2005), 136–37.

  280 With the coming of warm spring: Tucker, Stephen Decatur, 137; and David Long, Sailor-Diplomat: A Biography of Commodore James Biddle, 1783–1848 (Boston: Northeastern
University Press, 1983), 48–49.

  280 “It is a most infamous arrangement”: Long, Sailor-Diplomat, 50.

  281 At one point in July: Tucker, Stephen Decatur, 139.

  281 “a challenge ship”: Jones to Gordon, Jan. 5, 1814, in Crawford, ed., Naval War of 1812, 3:6–7.

  281 In April, Jones directed: Jones to Gordon, April 15, 1814, in Crawford, ed., Naval War of 1812, 3:13.

  281 Jones gave up on Ridgely: Jones to Ridgely, April 4, 1814, in Crawford, ed., Naval War of 1812, 3:31–32.

  282 The Ontario was ready: Jones to Spence, April 4, 1814; Spence to Jones, April 9, 1814; Jones to Spence, April 18, 1814, in Crawford, ed., Naval War of 1812, 3:23–24.

  CHAPTER 23

  283 On July 6, 1814, at five: Porter to Jones, July 9, 1814, in The Naval War of 1812: A Documentary History, ed. Michael Crawford (Washington, DC: Naval Historical Center, 2002), 3:764–65.

  283 on January 5, 1813, the ubiquitous: Lieutenant William B. Finch to Secretary Jones, Feb. 13, 1813, in The Naval War of 1812: A Documentary History, ed. William S. Dudley (Washington, DC: Naval Historical Center, 1992), 2:684–85.

  283 Porter continued to the second: Porter to Bainbridge, March 23, 1813, in Dudley, ed., Naval War of 1812, 2:688–89.

  285 “perhaps the most barren”: Porter to Jones, July 3, 1814, in Crawford, ed., Naval War of 1812, 3:730–33.

  285 Porter turned his finest: Porter to Secretary of the Navy Hamilton, July 2, 1813, in Dudley, ed., Naval War of 1812, 2:697–99.

  285 “It seems somewhat”: David Porter, Journal of a Cruise (1815; reprint, Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 1986), 204.

  286 Viewing the natives: Porter, Journal of a Cruise, 355.

  286 To support Gamble: John M. Gamble to Secretary of the Navy, Aug. 28, 1815, 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), 362.

  287 Porter held his fire: Porter, Journal of a Cruise, 476.

  288 The Essex had forty: Theodore Roosevelt, The Naval War of 1812 (New York: Modern Library, 1999), 170; Alfred T. Mahan, Sea Power in Its Relations to the War of 1812 (Boston: Little, Brown, 1905), 2:248.

  288 “appeared determined to defend”: Porter to Jones, July 3, 1814, in Crawford, ed., Naval War of 1812, 3:734.

  288 The grisly slaughter went on: Porter to Jones, July 3, 1814, in Crawford, ed., Naval War of 1812, 3:733–37; Porter, Journal of a Cruise, 452–60.

  288 “history does not afford”: Roosevelt, The Naval War of 1812, 171.

  288 “More bravery, skill, patriotism”: Porter, Journal of a Cruise, 458.

  288 “We have been unfortunate”: Porter, Journal of a Cruise, 459.

  289 “I must in justification of myself”: Porter, Journal of a Cruise, 460.

  289 “In the first place, I consider that”: David G. Farragut, “Some Reminiscences of Early Life,” in Crawford, ed., Naval War of 1812, 3:751–52.

  289 Good weather accompanied: David Long, Nothing Too Daring: A Biography of Commodore David Porter, 1780–1843 (Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 1970), 165.

  289 Lieutenant Gamble, meanwhile: Gamble to Secretary of the Navy, Aug. 28, 1815, in Brannan, Official Letters, 362–66; Long, Nothing Too Daring, 135–41.

  290 “the loss is hidden”: President’s Message to Congress, Sept. 20, 1814, in Brannan, Official Letters, 431–35. The Essex, despite her injuries, was repaired and brought to England, where she was taken into the Royal Navy and served until 1837.

  CHAPTER 24

  291 On April 4, Rear Admiral Cockburn: Roger Morriss, Cockburn and the British Navy in Transition: Admiral Sir George Cockburn, 1772–1853 (Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 1997), 99; Donald G. Shomette, Flotilla: The Patuxent Naval Campaign in the War of 1812 (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2009), 74.

  293 On June 10 Barrie made: Shomette, Flotilla, 92–101; Louis Arthur Norton, Joshua Barney: Hero of the Revolution and 1812, Library of Naval Biography (Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 2000), 168–77.

  293 “so far into the country”: Croker to Cochrane, April 4, 1814, and Crocker to Cochrane, May 19, 1814, in The Naval War of 1812: A Documentary History, ed. Michael Crawford (Washington, DC: Naval Historical Center, 2002), 3:70–72.

  293 “effect a diversion”: Secretary of State for War and the Colonies Earl Bathurst to Major General Edward Barnes, British Army, May 20, 1814, in Crawford, ed., Naval War of 1812, 3:72–74.

  293 “assist in inflicting”: Quoted in Henry Adams, History of the United States of America During the Administrations of James Madison (New York: Library of America, 1986), 998.

  294 “to destroy and lay waste”: Orders of Vice Admiral Cochrane, July 18, 1814, in Bryan Perrett, The Real Hornblower: The Life of Admiral Sir James Gordon, GCB (Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 1997), 106.

  294 Over a month later Cochrane: Cochrane to Monroe, Aug. 13, 1814, and Monroe to Cochrane, Sept. 6, 1814, reprinted in Salem Gazette, Sept. 16, 1814, 6.

  294 “from his throne”: Cochrane to Cockburn, July 1, 1814, in Crawford ed., Naval War of 1812, 3:129–30.

  294 He was also impressed: Anthony S. Pitch, The Burning of Washington: The British Invasion of 1814 (Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 1998), 19; Cochrane to Croker, July 23, 1814, in Crawford, ed., Naval War of 1812, 3:135–36.

  294 “It is quite impossible”: Cockburn to Cochrane, July 17, 1814, in Crawford, ed., Naval War of 1812, 3:136–37.

  294 “within forty-eight hours”: Cockburn to Cochrane, July 17, 1814, in Crawford, ed., Naval War of 1812, 3:137–39; Irving Brant, James Madison, vol. 6: Commander in Chief, 1812–1836 (Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill, 1961), 285; Shomette, Flotilla, 253.

  295 At one time Monroe: Harry Ammon, James Monroe: The Quest for National Identity (Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1990), 328–29.

  295 “the éclat that would”: Rush report in Brant, James Madison, vol. 6: Commander in Chief, 270–71.

  295 Madison thought a force: Brant, James Madison, vol. 6: Commander in Chief, 271–72.

  295 Secretary Armstrong was in charge: C. Edward Skeen, John Armstrong, Jr.: A Biography 1758–1843 (Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press, 1981), 189.

  295 He had been one of the key: James E. Elliott, Strange Fatality: The Battle of Stoney Creek, 1813 (Montreal: Robin Brass Studio, 2009).

  296 Armstrong was indifferent: John K. Mahon, The War of 1812 (1972; reprint, New York: DaCapo Press, 1991), 292; Skeen, John Armstrong, Jr., 187–93.

  297 Gordon, who had the temporary rank: Perrett, The Real Hornblower, 111.

  298 “The enemy has entered”: Charles O. Paullin, Commodore John Rodgers A Biography (Cleveland: Arthur H. Clark, 1910), 284.

  298 Barney knew they were: Norton, Joshua Barney, 178–79.

  298 The night of the twenty-second: Cockburn to Cochrane, Aug. 22, 1814, in Crawford, ed., Naval War of 1812, 3:195–96.

  299 “the sooner the army”: Morriss, Cockburn and the British Navy in Transition, 106.

  299 Incredibly, Winder at no time: Court of Inquiry on Winder, in Niles’ Weekly Register, Feb. 25, 1815. General Winfield Scott presided. The court exonerated Winder.

  300 President Madison was on: Mahon, War of 1812, 295–300; Shomette, Flotilla, 306–27; Brant, James Madison, vol. 6: Commander in Chief, 301–3.

  301 Barney could not go: Shomette, Flotilla, 326–27; James A. Pack, The Man Who Burned the White House: Admiral Sir George Cockburn, 1772–1853 (Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 1987), 15.

  301 There were 71 American: Shomette, Flotilla, 329.

  301 An hour earlier: Brant, James Madison, vol. 6: Commander in Chief, 306–7.

  301 The day before: Brant, James Madison, vol. 6: Commander in Chief, 295.

  301 Many of the documents dated: Brant, James Madison, vol. 6: Commander in Chief, 292; Edward D. Ingraham, Sketches of the Events Which Preceded the Capture of Washington
(Philadelphia: Carey and Hart, 1849), 48.

  301 Shortly after Dolley’s: Brant, James Madison, vol. 6: Commander in Chief, 306–8.

  302 Ross and Cockburn entered: Pack, The Man Who Burned the White House, 187–90; National Intelligencer, Aug. 24, 1814.

  302 The British rampage through the city: Ross’s account of the entire battle and the burning of Washington is given in his letter, Ross to Bathurst, Aug. 30, 1814, in Crawford, ed., Naval War of 1812, 3:223–26.

  302 “If . . . you should attack”: Quoted in Robin Reilly, The British at the Gates: The New Orleans Campaign in the War of 1812 (Montreal: Robin Brass Studio, 2002), 167–68.

  303 “a deliberate disregard”: National Intelligencer, Sept. 1.

  304 The fort had a battery: Gordon to Cochrane, Sept. 9, 1814, in Crawford, ed., Naval War of 1812, 3:238; Walter Lord, The Dawn’s Early Light (New York: Norton, 1972), 197.

  304 “annoy or destroy the enemy”: Jones to Rodgers, Aug. 28, 1814, in Crawford, ed., Naval War of 1812, 3:242–43.

  304 he angrily ordered Rodgers: Jones to Rodgers, Aug. 29, 1814, in Crawford, ed., Naval War of 1812, 3:243.

  304 Rodgers immediately dispatched: Rodgers to Jones, Aug. 29, 1814 in Crawford, ed., Naval War of 1812, 3:244.

  304 “to effect the destruction”: Jones to Porter, Aug. 31, 1814, in Crawford, ed., Naval War of 1812, 3:245.

  304 Monroe, in desperation, suggested: Monroe to Rodgers, Sept. 2, 1814, in Crawford, ed., Naval War of 1812, 3:245.

  305 Rodgers tried again: Rodgers to Jones, Sept. 9, 1814, in Crawford, ed., Naval War of 1812, 3:256–58.

  305 “that it was not want”: Porter to Jones, Sept. 7, 1814, in Crawford, ed., Naval War of 1812, 3:251–55; Hungerford to Monroe, Sept. 9, 1814, 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), 409–10.