1812: The Navy's War

by George Daughan

  355 The duke wrote to Liverpool again: Wellington to Liverpool, Nov. 9, 1814, in Robert Stewart Castlereagh, Correspondence, Despatches, and Other Papers of Viscount Castlereagh, Second Marquess of Londonderry (London: H. Colburn, 1848–53), 10:118–19.

  356 “I confess that I think”: Wellington to Liverpool, Nov. 9, 1814, in Wellesley, ed., Supplementary Despatches, 9:422, 424–26, 435–37; Updyke, The Diplomacy of the War of 1812, 306–7.

  356 “I can assure you”: Liverpool to Wellington, Nov. 13, 1814, in Wellesley, ed., Supplementary Despatches, 430.

  356 Liverpool then wrote: Liverpool to Castlereagh, Nov. 18, 1814, in Wellesley, ed., Supplementary Despatches, 9:438.

  357 “After such a contest”: Updyke, The Diplomacy of the War of 1812, 302.

  357 “The American projet, I think”: Goulburn to Bathurst, Nov. 14, 1814, in Wellesley, ed., Supplementary Despatches, 9:432.

  357 the principle of uti possidetis: The clearest expression of the cabinet’s view of uti possidetis was given by Bathurst in his notes of Oct. 18 and 20, 1814, in Castlereagh, Correspondence , Despatches, and Other Papers, 9:168–69.

  357 The American commissioners offered: Irving Brant, James Madison, vol. 6: Commander in Chief, 1812–1836 (Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill, 1961), 368; American State Papers: Foreign Relations (Washington, DC: Gales & Seaton, 1833–58), 3:732–44.

  358 The final treaty: A copy of the complete peace treaty is conveniently 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), 504–10.

  359 “The terms of this instrument”: Hopkins, ed., Papers of Henry Clay, 1:1007.

  359 Adams wrote in his diary: Quoted in Samuel Flagg Bemis, John Quincy Adams and the Foundations of American Foreign Policy (New York: Knopf, 1950), 218.

  359 “Wherever . . . [the treaty] has been”: Courier (London), Dec. 30, 1814.

  359 “we have attempted to force”: Times (London), Dec. 30, 1814.

  359 “rejoice in adding”: Times (London), Dec. 31, 1814.

  359 The Edinburgh Review, after being: Brant, James Madison, vol. 6: Commander in Chief, 372.

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  361 “You are not mistaken”: Madison to Wilson Cary Nicholas, Nov. 25, 1814, in Irving Brant, James Madison, vol. 6: Commander in Chief, 1812–1836 ( Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill, 1961), 343.

  362 “We are compelled”: President’s Message to Congress, Sept. 20, 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), 431–35.

  362 “On our side,” he wrote: President’s Message to Congress, Sept. 20, 1814, in Brannan, Official Letters, 432.

  363 “cheerfully and proudly bear”: Brannan, Official Letters, 435.

  363 On October 17 Monroe requested: Donald R. Hickey, The War of 1812: A Forgotten Conflict (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1989), 240.

  363 All the Federalists from New England: Annals of Congress (Washington, DC: Gales & Seaton, 1834–1856), 13–3:162, 1895–1899.

  363 “The Congress have met”: Jones to Madison, Oct. 4, 1814, in Brant, James Madison, vol. 6: Commander in Chief, 327.

  364 “almost untouched by the hand”: Dallas to House Committee of Ways and Means, Oct. 14, 1814, in George M. Dallas, Life and Writings of Alexander James Dallas (Philadelphia: Lippincott, 1871), 234.

  365 The situation was so desperate: Brant, James Madison, vol. 6: Commander in Chief, 345.

  365 To meet urgent current expenses: Hickey, The War of 1812, 246–51.

  366 “lock up all our disposable”: Jones to Madison, Oct. 26, 1814, in The Naval War of 1812: A Documentary History, ed. Michael Crawford (Washington, DC: Naval Historical Center, 2002), 3:632.

  366 The president did not: Brant, James Madison, vol. 6, 345–46; Jones to Madison, Oct. 26, 1814, in Crawford, ed., Naval War of 1812, 3:631–36.

  366 His successor, Benjamin: Christopher McKee, A Gentlemanly and Honorable Profession: The Creation of the U.S. Naval Officer Corps, 1794–1815 (Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 1991), 17–18.

  366 Before leaving, Jones recommended: Brant, James Madison, vol. 6: Commander in Chief, 346, 388.

  368 On October 5, Governor Strong: Samuel Eliot Morison, Harrison Gray Otis: The Urbane Federalist (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1969), 356–57.

  368 Eustis called instead: National Intelligencer, Nov. 15, 1814.

  368 Madison was deeply concerned: Brant, James Madison, vol. 6: Commander in Chief, 360.

  368 Secretary of War Monroe prepared: 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), 477–83.

  369 “The expectation of those”: “Report of the Hartford Convention,” in Theodore Dwight, History of the Hartford Convention (New York: N & J White, 1833), 352, 380.

  369 The report then proposed: Dwight, History of the Hartford Convention, 370.

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  371 On June 20, he sent a proposed plan: Cochrane to Croker, June 20, 1814, in Alfred T. Mahan, Sea Power in Its Relations to the War of 1812 (Boston: Little, Brown, 1905), 2:384.

  371 Liverpool and Bathurst expected: Bathurst to Ross, July 10, 1814, in Henry Adams, History of the United States of America During the Administrations of James Madison (New York: Library of America, 1986), 1126; Croker to Cochrane, Aug. 10, 1814, in Mahan, Sea Power, 2:384.

  372 “supporting the Indian tribes”: Bathurst to Ross, Sept. 6, 1814, in Mahan, Sea Power, 2:383.

  373 there were perhaps 18,000 Creeks: John K. Mahon, The War of 1812 (1972; reprint, New York: DaCapo Press, 1991), 231.

  373 The episode at Fort Mims signaled: Adams, The History of the United States, 782.

  373 Ultimately, the task of crushing: Robert V. Remini, Andrew Jackson and the Course of American Empire (New York: Harper & Row, 1977), 187–205.

  374 Captain William Percy: Reginald Horsman, The War of 1812 (New York: Knopf, 1969), 228.

  375 Jackson was paying close: Remini, Andrew Jackson, 236.

  375 Major Lawrence’s guns fired: Jackson to Secretary of War, Sept. 17, 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), 426–27; William M. James, The Naval History of Great Britain (Mechanicsburg, PA: Stackpole Books, 2002), 6:356–57; Robin Reilly, The British at the Gates: The New Orleans Campaign in the War of 1812 (Montreal: Robin Brass Studio, 2002), 176–77.

  375 While he did, he ignored: Remini, Andrew Jackson, 238–39.

  376 Jackson attacked Pensacola: Jackson to Secretary of War Monroe, Nov. 14, 1814, in Brannan, Official Letters, 451–53.

  376 As early as September 5: Harry Ammon, James Monroe: The Quest for National Identity (Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1990), 342; Monroe to Jackson, Oct. 10, 1814, in Remini, Andrew Jackson, 239.

  376 Jackson now returned: Remini, Andrew Jackson, 244; Adams, History of the United States, 1139–40.

  377 “Andrew absorbed a near-permanent”: Remini, Andrew Jackson, 15.

  377 Captain Shreve brought: Reilly, The British at the Gates, 223.

  378 Jones stationed his mosquito: Cochrane to Croker, Dec. 7, 1814, in Mahon, The War of 1812, 353; Wilburt S. Brown, The Amphibious Campaign for West Florida and Louisiana, 1814–15: A Critical Review of Strategy and Tactics at New Orleans (Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 1969), 93.

  380 By 12:40 it was all over: Thomas ap Catesby Jones to Daniel Patterson, March 12, 1815, in Brannan, Official Letters, 487–89; Gene A. Smith, Thomas ap Catesby Jones: Commodore of Manifest Destiny (Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 2000), 26–29.

  380 Commodore Patterson could ill: Reilly, The British at the Gates, 233–35.

  381 Cochrane m
oved his army: George Robert Gleig, The Campaigns of the British Army at Washington and New Orleans . . . in the Years 1814–15 (London: J. Murray, 1847), 141–42.

  381 Three possible invasion routes presented: The routes are explained in Brown, The Amphibious Campaigns, 66.

  381 The third potential route was: Smith, Thomas ap Catesby Jones, 27.

  381 He did not have enough: Reilly, The British at the Gates, 248–49.

  382 Obstacles blocked the other: Reilly, The British at the Gates, 251.

  382 Jackson called out the entire: Horsman, The War of 1812, 239.

  382 She was a well-built schooner: Patterson to Secretary Jones, Oct. 10, 1814, in National Intelligencer, Nov. 14, 1814.

  383 The Louisiana was a converted: Patterson to the Secretary of the Navy, Jan. 27, 1815, in Brannan, Official Letters, 461–63.

  383 Laffite’s pirates did not serve: Brown, The Amphibious Campaign, 39–43.

  383 Admiral Cochrane made no attempt: Reilly, The British at the Gates, 253.

  384 “Fearing the consequence”: Jackson to Monroe, Dec. 27, 1814, in Brannan, Official Letters , 453–54.

  384 Jackson had inflicted so much: Remini, Andrew Jackson, 264.

  384 Cochrane committed his entire: Brown, Amphibious Campaign, 105.

  386 many of New Orleans’s prominent: Reilly, The British at the Gates, 287.

  386 “I lament that I have not”: Jackson to Monroe, Dec. 29, 1814 in Brannan, Official Letters, 455.

  387 Patterson was also strengthening: Brown, Amphibious Campaign, 121–42.

  388 Jackson had erected: Brown, Amphibious Campaign, 137; Mahon, Sea Power, 2:362.

  389 “Lieutenant Norris of the Navy”: Jackson’s General Orders from Headquarters, Seventh Military District, Jan. 21, 1815, in Brannan, Official Letters, 478.

  390 “twice the column”: Jackson to Secretary of War Monroe, Jan. 9, 1815, in National Intelligencer , Feb. 6, 1815.

  391 On the other side of the river: Reilly, The British at the Gates, 330.

  391 “may not everywhere”: Jackson to Monroe, Jan. 13, 1815, in Ralph Ketcham, James Madison: A Biography (Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1971), 596.

  391 Cochrane sent five small ships: Reilly, The British at the Gates, 334–35.

  392 The successful defense of New Orleans: Admiral Cockburn was supposed to create a diversion in favor of Cochrane when he attacked New Orleans, but Cockburn was late beginning an attack on Georgia. He did not commence his assault on Georgia’s coast until January 13. After bombarding a fort guarding the St. Mary’s River, he sailed up to the town of St. Mary’s and captured it on January 14. He then took Cumberland Island and established his headquarters there on January 22. He was waiting for ground troops to attack Savannah when word of peace came with an order to cease all military operations.

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  393 Prospects for an acceptable peace: National Intelligencer, Jan. 20, 1815.

  394 “The proceedings are tempered”: Quoted in Samuel Eliot Morison, Harrison Gray Otis: The Urbane Federalist (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1969), 381.

  394 “owing to some mistake”: Decatur to Secretary of the Navy Crowninshield, Jan. 18, 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).

  394 “and every article that”: Decatur to Crowninshield, Jan. 18, 1815, in Brannan, Official Letters, 481–83.

  395 The Pomone fired two devastating: Decatur to Crowninshield, Jan. 18, 1815, in Brannan, Official Letters, 481–83.

  396 On the evening of February 13: Irving Brant, James Madison, vol. 6: Commander in Chief, 1812–1836 (Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill, 1961), 366–67.

  396 The actual terms of the peace: Henry Adams, History of the United States of America During the Administrations of James Madison (New York: Library of America, 1986), 1222–23.

  396 In the midst of these momentous events: Morison, Harrison Gray Otis, 385–95.

  397 “bore up after her”: Constitution’s log, Feb. 20, 1815, in Brannan, Official Letters, 493.

  398 “braced aback . . . main”: Constitution’s log, in Brannan, Official Letters, 494.

  398 At ten o’clock Douglass: Constitution’s log, in Brannan, Official Letters, 494.

  398 He brought his prizes to Porto Praya: Tyrone G. Martin, ed., The USS Constitution’s Finest Fight, 1815: The Journal of Acting Chaplain Assheton Humphreys, US Navy (Mount Pleasant, SC: Nautical and Aviation Publishing, 2000), 5–53; Claude Berube and John Rodgaard, A Call to the Sea: Captain Charles Stewart of the USS Constitution (Washington, DC: Potomac Books, 2005), 86–93.

  399 Right on Warrington’s tail: Niles’ Weekly Register, July 8, 1815.

  399 During the trip a neutral vessel: David Long, Sailor-Diplomat: A Biography of Commodore James Biddle, 1783–1848 (Boston: Northeastern University Press, 1983), 50.

  400 The Penguin was so badly damaged: Biddle to the Secretary of the Navy, March 25, 1815, in Brannan, Official Letters, 490–92; Long, Sailor-Diplomat, 50–55.

  400 At daylight on April 30: Biddle to Decatur, June 10, 1815, in Brannan, Official Letters, 494–96; C. S. Forester, The Age of Fighting Sail: The Story of the Naval War of 1812 (New York: Doubleday, 1956), 276–78.

  400 All the while, Captain Warrington: Theodore Roosevelt, The Naval War of 1812 (New York: Random House, 1996), 169–70.

  400 The war did not end: Reginald Horsman, The War of 1812 (New York: Knopf, 1969), 263–64.

  401 At the end of the war the American: Horsman, The War of 1812, 263.

  401 “sincere regret on this”: Castlereagh to Baker, May 23, 1815, in Castlereagh, Memoirs, 232.

  401 Castlereagh’s conciliatory tone: Lord Bathurst to Baker, April 11, 1815, in Robert Stewart Castlereagh, Correspondence, Despatches, and Other Papers of Viscount Castlereagh, Second Marquess of Londonderry (London: H. Colburn, 1848–53), 10:198; Bathurst to Baker, April 21, 1815, in Castlereagh, Correspondence, Despatches, and Other Papers, 10:205; Horsman, The War of 1812, 264; Charles Andrews, The Prisoners’ Memoirs or Dartmoor Prison . . . (New York: Printed for the Author, 1815), 144–51, 167–206, 222–35; Bradford Perkins, Castlereagh and Adams (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1964), 165.

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  403 “an unlimited Armistice”: Bradford Perkins, Castlereagh and Adams (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1964), 130.

  404 The reduction of the public expenditures: Jack N. Rakove, James Madison’s Writings (New York: Library Classics of the United States, 1999), 708; 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), 466–67.

  404 “the war has laid”: Albert Gallatin, May 7, 1816, in Alfred T. Mahan, Sea Power in Its Relations to the War of 1812 (Boston: Little, Brown, 1905), 2:436.

  405 “open and direct warfare”: Irving Brant, James Madison, vol. 6: Commander in Chief, 1812–1836 (Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill, 1961), 381.

  407 after receiving assurances: Perkins, Castlereagh and Adams, 162–63.

  407 The American consul told: Frederick C. Leiner, The End of Barbary Terror: America’s 1815 War Against the Pirates of North Africa (New York: Oxford University Press, 2006), 91–92.

  407 “all the privileges: Bathurst to Baker, July 10, 1815, in Robert Stewart Castlereagh, Correspondence, Despatches, and Other Papers of Viscount Castlereagh, Second Marquess of Londonderry (London: H. Colburn, 1848–53), 10:268.

  407 Of course, the British: Perkins, Castlereagh and Adams, 165.

  407 The lull allowed: Decatur to Crowninshield, June 19, 1815, in American State Papers: Naval Affairs (Washington, DC: Gales and Seaton, 1834), 1:396; Spencer Tucker, Stephen Decatur: A Life Most Bold and Daring (Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 2005), 158.

  408 “been dictated at the mouth”: Decatur to Crowninshield, July 5, 1815, in American State Papers: Naval Affairs, 1:396.


  408 Decatur made these odd changes: American States Papers: Naval Affairs, 1:396.

  408 Sadly, the Epervier never: Tucker, Stephen Decatur, 163.

  408 Scurvy had now begun: Decatur to Crowninshield, July 31, 1815, in American State Papers: Naval Affairs, 1:397; Tucker, Stephen Decatur, 164.

  409 Decatur left Tripoli: Decatur to Crowninshield, Aug. 31, 1815, in American State Papers: Naval Affairs, 1:398.

  409 On the way he spotted: Leiner, The End of Barbary Terror, 123–39; Robert J. Allison, Stephen Decatur: American Naval Hero, 1779–1820 (Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 2005), 173–74.

  409 they informed Bainbridge of Decatur’s: Leiner, The End of Barbary Terror, 143.

  410 Secretary Crowninshield was even getting: Leiner, The End of Barbary Terror, 145.

  410 “The object of leaving this”: Bainbridge to Shaw, Oct. 1815, in Thomas Harris, The Life and Services of Commodore William Bainbridge, United States Navy (Philadelphia, 1837; reprint, Whitefish, MT: Kessinger, 2007), 203.

  410 Bainbridge stood out: Tucker, Stephen Decatur, 168. In 1816 the British sent twenty warships under Admiral Lord Exmouth to Algiers and mercilessly bombarded the place, ending the Barbary menace once and for all.

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  413 “The war has renewed”: Gallatin, May 7, 1816, in Alfred T. Mahan, Sea Power in Its Relations to the War of 1812 (Boston: Little, Brown, 1905), 2:436.

  414 “was the first British statesman”: Charles K. Webster, ed., Britain and the Independence of Latin America (London: G. Bell & Sons, 1938), 1:42.

  414 An augury of things to come: Irving Brant, James Madison, vol. 6: Commander in Chief, 1812–1836 (Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill, 1961), 376.

  415 the great powers unanimously: Wellington to Castlereagh, March 25, 1815, in British Diplomacy, 1813–1815: Select Documents Dealing with the Reconstruction of Europe, ed. Charles K. Webster (London: G. Bell & Sons, 1921), 316–17.