Perilous Fight

by Stephen Budiansky

  64. Chandler Price to William Jones, February 12, 1813, Jones Papers, HSP; Hickey, War of 1812, 135–36, 139–41; Ingersoll quoted in ibid., 141.

  65. Hickey, Don’t Give Up the Ship, 149–50; Hickey, War of 1812, 144–45.

  66. William Jones to Isaac Chauncey, January 27, 1813, NW1812, II: 419–20; Chauncey to Noah Brown, February 18, 1813, NW1812, II: 426–27; William Bainbridge to Jones, April 27, 1813, NW1812, II: 429–30.

  67. William Jones to James Madison, October 26, 1814, NW1812, III: 631–36.

  68. Parsons, Battle of Lake Erie, 12; Cox, “Eyewitness Account.”

  69. Hickey, War of 1812, 137–38.

  70. Monroe quoted in Stagg, Mr. Madison’s War, 467; William Jones to James Madison, October 26, 1814, NW1812, III: 631–36.

  71. Parsons, Surgeon of the Lakes, x; Evans, “Journal,” 152; Estes and Dye, “Death on the Argus,” 184.

  72. Parsons, “Surgical Account,” 314.

  73. Ibid., 315–16; NW1812, II: 561; Parsons, Surgeon of the Lakes, xiii.

  74. Estes and Dye, “Death on the Argus,” 186–89; Dye, Fatal Cruise, 137; Goddard, “Navy Surgeon’s Chest”; Smith, Frigate Essex, 282–87; Brodine, Crawford, and Hughes, Interpreting Old Ironsides, 61–62; NW1812, II: 616; Isaac Chauncey to William Jones, December 19, 1813, NW1812, II: 621.

  8. The Far Side of the World

  1. “Events of the War,” Weekly Register 4 (1813): 374; “Events of the War,” Weekly Register 5 (1813): 29.

  2. NW1812, II: 683.

  3. Long, Nothing Too Daring, 33–34.

  4. Paul Hamilton to David Porter, June 30, 1812, NW1812, I: 175–76; Long, Nothing Too Daring, 64.

  5. Porter, Journal, I: 222; Long, Nothing Too Daring, 38–39.

  6. Porter, Journal, I: 24–27. Porter omitted the “black hole of Calcutta” remark in the second, and much more widely available, edition of his book. Long, Nothing Too Daring, 74, quotes the original passage, and is elsewhere a useful source for other passages that appeared only in the now hard-to-find first edition.

  7. Porter, Journal, I: 21, 2–3, 18; David Porter to secretary of the navy, July 2, 1813, NW1812, II: 697–99.

  8. Journal of Midshipman William W. Feltus kept on board the U.S. frigate Essex, NW1812, I: 625–27; Jones, Journals of Yankee, 83–86; Browne, Yankee Privateer, 61–64; Porter, Journal, I: 15.

  9. Porter, Journal, I: 48–49.

  10. Ibid., I: 56–57.

  11. Ibid., I: 61–63.

  12. Long, Nothing Too Daring, 81.

  13. Porter, Journal, I: 64–67.

  14. Ibid., I: 74, 75–77; Farragut, Life, 20.

  15. Porter, Journal, I: 92–93; Salas, “First Contacts,” 220–22.

  16. Porter, Journal, I: 139–40, 95, 103.

  17. David Porter to the Viceroy of Peru, March 26, 1813, NW1812, II: 692.

  18. Porter, Journal, I: 115; Journal of Midshipman William W. Feltus, NW1812, II: 694.

  19. Porter, Journal, I: 128.

  20. Ibid., I: 142, 146–49

  21. Farragut, Life, 31.

  22. Porter, Journal, I: 148–49; David Porter to secretary of the navy, July 2, 1813, NW1812, II: 696; Farragut, Life, 23.

  23. Porter, Journal, I: 150.

  24. Ibid., I: 151–52, 160–61, 214.

  25. Farragut, Life, 26.

  26. Porter, Journal, I: 174, 188, 205, 213–14.

  27. Ibid., I: 195–96, 207–8, 240; Long, Nothing Too Daring, 100–103.

  28. Farragut, Life, 28; Porter, Journal, I: 237, II: 65.

  29. Porter, Journal, II: 3–4; Long, Nothing Too Daring, 110.

  30. Hickey, War of 1812, 118–23.

  31. William Jones to Eleanor Jones, July 14, 1813, Jones Papers, HSP; Eckert, “William Jones,” 176.

  32. William Jones to Eleanor Jones, September 17, 1813, Jones Papers, HSP.

  33. Rebecca Strong to Eleanor Jones, May 12, 1813; William Jones to Eleanor Jones, September 17, 1813, ibid.

  34. William Jones to Eleanor Jones, August 22, September 7, 1813, ibid.

  35. National Intelligencer, September 6, September 7, 1813; “To the Public,” Federal Republican, September 6, 1813; William Jones to Eleanor Jones, September 17, 1813, Jones Papers, HSP.

  36. James Barron to William Jones, July 22, 1813, NW1812, II: 190–91.

  37. William Jones to William Henry Allen, June 5, 1813, NW1812, II: 139–41; Dye, Fatal Cruise, 139–45, 264.

  38. Dye, Fatal Cruise, 276–78; NW1812, II: 217–24.

  39. Journal of the Frigate President, May 28, May 9, 1813, Rodgers Family Papers, LC; George Hutchinson to John B. Warren, September 24, 1813, WAR/70, NMM; John Rodgers to William Jones, September 27, 1813, NW1812, II: 250–54.

  40. William Jones to John Rodgers, October 4, 1813, NW1812, II: 254–55.

  41. John B. Warren to John W. Croker, October 16, 1813, ibid., II: 260–61; A Proclamation, John B. Warren, November 16, 1813, ibid., II: 262–63; Warren to Croker, November 13, 1813, ibid., II: 284; Dudley, Wooden Wall, 102.

  42. Dudley, Wooden Wall, 100–101, 139, 143–44; List of Vessels Brought into Bermuda, HUL/18, NMM; Vessels Captured and Detained, WAR/37, NMM.

  43. John B. Warren to John W. Croker, December 30, 1813, NW1812, II: 307–8; Hotham quoted in Dudley, Wooden Wall, 104.

  44. Dye, Fatal Cruise, 287–89.

  45. “Funeral Honors,” Portland Gazette, September 13, 1813; Forester, Age of Fighting Sail, 192–93.

  46. Forester, Age of Fighting Sail, 201–2; John W. Croker to Alexander Cochrane, January 25, 1814, pp. 95–97, ADM 2/1379, TNA.

  47. James Madison to William Jones, October 15, 1813, Jones Papers, HSP.

  48. William Jones to George Parker, December 8, 1813; Jones to John O. Creighton, December 22, 1813, NW1812, II: 293–97.

  9. “My Country I Fear Has Forgot Me”

  1. Hickey, War of 1812, 8, 96; Adams, Second Administration of Madison, I: 337; Coggeshall, American Privateers, 460; Garitee, Republic’s Private Navy, 89–98, 133–36.

  2. Coggeshall, American Privateers, 110–13; Adams, Second Administration of Madison, I: 316–23.

  3. Munro, “Most Successful Privateer,” 19; Coggeshall, American Privateers, 168–69.

  4. Dudley, Wooden Wall, 138–39; Mahan, Sea Power in 1812, II: 242; Hickey, War of 1812, 124, 165; Chapple, “Salem and War of 1812,” 55; Leavitt, “Private Armed Vessels,” 57–58.

  5. Garitee, Republic’s Private Navy, 191–92, 193–94; Little, Life on the Ocean, 196; Maclay, American Privateers, 273.

  6. Garitee, Republic’s Private Navy, 128–30, 193.

  7. Ibid., 152–53, 184, 186, 274.

  8. Little, Life on the Ocean, 197–99.

  9. Browne, Yankee Privateer, 20–21; Cobb, Green Hand’s Cruise, 42–44.

  10. Browne, Yankee Privateer, 21; Little, Life on the Ocean, 219–20.

  11. Jones, Journals of Yankee, 113; Munro, “Most Successful Privateer,” 47; Nelson, “Privateer Harpy.”

  12. Mouzon, “Unlucky General Armstrong”; William Jones to John Sinclair, June 7, 1813, NW1812, II: 68. This General Armstrong was a different ship from the much more famous and very successful New York privateer of the same name.

  13. Little, Life on the Ocean, 225; Cobb, Green Hand’s Cruise, 110–14, 122.

  14. Leech, Thirty Years, 135–36.

  15. Herbert Sawyer to John W. Croker, September 20, 1812, pp. 597–99, ADM 1/502, TNA; Sawyer to Croker, September 17, 1812, NW1812, I: 497–99; Giljie, ed., “Sailor Prisoner,” 60, 64, 67.

  16. Waterhouse, Journal, 17–19.

  17. Ibid., 19–21.

  18. Browne, Yankee Privateer, 82; Palmer, Diary, 13.

  19. Waterhouse, Journal, 34–35.

  20. “Reminiscences of Dartmoor,” 23: 358.

  21. Waterhouse, Journal, 50, 66–68, 104.

  22. Ibid., 121–22, 127–28.

  23. Ibid., 124–25, 130.

  24. Hickey, War of 1812, 165; George Cockburn to Alexander F. I. Cochrane, M
ay 10, 1814, NW1812, III: 63–66; Dye, “Maritime Prisoners,” 305–6; Andrews, Prisoners’ Memoirs, 76.

  25. Waterhouse, Journal, 151–52.

  26. Garitee, Republic’s Private Navy, 116–17, 132–33; Coggeshall, “Journal.”

  27. Coggeshall, American Privateers, 178–80, 182, 183, 186–87.

  28. Ibid., 186, 188–90, 192.

  29. Ibid., 215, 253, 261–62.

  30. Ibid., 263, 266.

  31. Ibid., 268.

  32. Ibid., 269–70.

  33. Ibid., 271–72, 276, 291.

  34. “Reminiscences of Dartmoor,” 23: 360.

  35. Waterhouse, Journal, 168–69.

  36. Browne, Yankee Privateer, 154–57, 168–71; Valpey, Journal, 12; Waterhouse, Journal, 170–74; “Reminiscences of Dartmoor,” 23: 360, 24: 520; Pierce, “Journal,” 25–26.

  37. “Reminiscences of Dartmoor,” 23: 517.

  38. Valpey, Journal, 12–13; Waterhouse, Journal, 175–76; Horsman, “Paradox of Dartmoor.”

  39. Andrews, Prisoners’ Memoirs, 33; Browne, Yankee Privateer, 258–59.

  40. Waterhouse, Journal, 190–91; Horsman, “Paradox of Dartmoor”; “Reminiscences of Dartmoor,” 23: 519; Little, Life on the Ocean, 235; Browne, Yankee Privateer, 208–9.

  41. Dye, “Maritime Prisoners,” 305; Browne, Yankee Privateer, 210–11.

  42. Horsman, “Paradox of Dartmoor”; “Reminiscences of Dartmoor,” 23: 518; Waterhouse, Journal, 144.

  43. Little, Life on the Ocean, 236–38.

  44. Waterhouse, Journal, 191; Browne, Yankee Privateer, 197–98, 223–24, 227–28; “Reminiscences of Dartmoor,” 23: 519.

  45. Andrews, Prisoners’ Memoirs, 38.

  46. Browne, Yankee Privateer, 181–83, 193–96, 240–41; Bolster, Black Jacks, 102; Pierce, “Journal,” 33–34.

  47. Pierce, “Journal”; Valpey, Journal; Palmer, Diary, 154.

  48. Valpey, Journal, 34, 37.

  49. Waterhouse, Journal, 215; Andrews, Prisoners’ Memoirs, 33.

  50. Dye, “Maritime Prisoners,” 300; Andrews, Prisoners’ Memoirs, 36–37.

  10. Fortunes of War

  1. William Jones to William Young, n.d. 1814, Jones Papers, HSP; Adams, Second Administration of Madison, I: 370; Jones to James Madison, May 18, 1814, Madison Papers, LC.

  2. Jones quoted in Hickey, War of 1812, 160.

  3. Stagg, Mr. Madison’s War, 375–79.

  4. William Jones to James Madison, April 25, 1814, Madison Papers, LC; Eckert, “William Jones,” 179; McKee, Honorable Profession, 334.

  5. James Madison to Cabinet, June 3, 1814, NW1812, III: 497; Hickey, War of 1812, 174; Adams, Second Administration of Madison, I: 370–71.

  6. William Jones to James Madison, May 25, 1814, NW1812, III: 495–97.

  7. William Jones to Isaac Chauncey, April 18, 1814, NW1812, III: 402; Jones to James Madison, October 26, 1814, NW1812, III: 631–36; Hickey, Don’t Give Up the Ship, 104; Jones to Madison, May 6, 1814, NW1812, III: 460–62.

  8. William Jones to James Madison, May 25, 1814, NW1812, III: 495–97.

  9. State and Stations of Vessels of War of the United States, William Jones to James Madison, June 6, 1814, NW1812, III: 785–87; Maloney, Captain from Connecticut, 216, 228.

  10. Long, Ready to Hazard, 174–76; Boston Daily Advertiser, June 29, 1814.

  11. Roosevelt, Naval War of 1812, 172–75, 178; William Jones to James Madison, May 10, 1814, Madison Papers, LC.

  12. James Monroe to Commissioners of the United States, June 27, 1814, ASP, Foreign Relations, III: 704–5.

  13. Farragut, Life, 48.

  14. “The Essex,” New York Columbian, July 8, 1814; “Capt. Porter,” New York Columbian, July 9, 1814.

  15. David Porter to William Jones, July 3, 1814, NW1812, III: 730–39; Carpenter’s Report of Damage to the Essex, NW1812, III: 742.

  16. Porter, Journal, II: 16–19.

  17. This passage appears in volume II, page 22, of the 1815 edition of Porter’s Journal but was omitted in the second edition.

  18. Porter, Journal, II: 24–25 (1815 edition); Porter, Journal, II: 61.

  19. Porter, Journal, II: 30 (1815 edition); Porter, Journal, II: 59.

  20. Porter, Journal, II: 23 (1815 edition).

  21. Farragut, Life, 27; Porter, Journal, II: 27, 62–63.

  22. Porter, Journal, II: 19, 34–36.

  23. Ibid., II: 87–93, 105–6.

  24. Ibid., II: 137–39; Farragut, Life, 29–30.

  25. David Porter to William Jones, July 3, 1814, NW1812, III: 730–39.

  26. Farragut, Life, 32–34; Porter, Journal, II: 145.

  27. James Hillyar to John W. Croker, February 28, 1814, NW1812, III: 714–15; Porter, Journal, II: 148; Crew of the Essex to Crew of the Phoebe, March 9, 1814, NW1812, III: 721.

  28. David Farragut, “Some Reminiscences of Early Life,” NW1812, III: 752.

  29. Ibid., III: 754–55; Farragut, Life, 41, 44.

  30. Porter, Journal, II: 175.

  31. David Farragut, “Some Reminiscences of Early Life,” NW1812, III: 757; David Porter to William Jones, July 9, 1814, NW1812, III: 764–65; John Mason to William Jones, August 10, 1814, NW1812, III: 767–77.

  32. John M. Gamble to Benjamin W. Crowninshield, August 28, 1815, NW1812, III: 774–80; Gamble, Memorial, 11–16.

  33. John B. Warren to Alexander F. I. Cochrane, March 23, 1814, WAR/53, NMM.

  34. Proclamation of Vice Admiral Sir Alexander F. I. Cochrane, April 2, 1814, NW1812, III: 60.

  35. Alexander F. I. Cochrane to George Cockburn, April 28, 1814, NW1812, III: 51–53.

  36. Alexander F. I. Cochrane to George Cockburn, July 1, 1814, NW1812, III: 129–30.

  37. George Cockburn to Alexander F. I. Cochrane, May 10, 1814, NW1812, III: 63–66; Cockburn to Cochrane, June 25, 1814, NW1812, III: 115–17; Cassell, “Slaves of Chesapeake,” 149–51.

  38. Alexander F. I. Cochrane to Lord Melville, July 17, 1814, NW1812, III: 132–35; Cochrane to Commanding Officers of the North American Station, July 18, 1814, NW1812, III: 140–41; John W. Croker to Cochrane, April 4, 1814, NW1812, III: 70–71.

  39. William Jones to Richard M. Johnson, October 3, 1814, NW1812, III: 311–18; Nourse quoted in Mahon, War of 1812, 291; Hickey, War of 1812, 196.

  40. William Jones to Joshua Barney, August 20, 1814, NW1812, III: 188; Codrington, Memoir, 315.

  41. William Jones to Richard M. Johnson, October 3, 1814, NW1812, III: 311–18; Joshua Barney to Jones, August 29, 1814, NW1812, III: 207–8; Mahon, War of 1812, 299; Hickey, War of 1812, 197–98.

  42. Mordecai Booth to Thomas Tingey, September 10, 1814, NW1812, III: 208–13; Tingey to William Jones, November 9, 1814, NW1812, III: 320–21.

  43. Cockburn quoted in Mahon, War of 1812, 301; “Naval Recollections,” 456.

  44. William Jones to John Rodgers, August 29, 1814, NW1812, III: 243–44; David Porter to Jones, September 7, 1814, NW1812, III: 251–55.

  45. Eleanor Jones to William Jones, September 1, 1814, Jones Papers, HSP.

  46. Alexander F. I. Cochrane to Robert Saunders Dundas Melville, September 3, 1814, NW1812, III: 269–70.

  47. William Jones to Eleanor Jones, September 30, 1814, Jones Papers, HSP.

  48. William Jones to Eleanor Jones, November 6, 1814, ibid.

  49. Alexander F. I. Cochrane to John W. Croker, September 17, 1814, NW1812, III: 286–88; Cochrane to Robert Saunders Dundas Melville, September 17, 1814, NW1812, III: 289–91.

  50. Coggeshall, American Privateers, 361–62.

  51. “II.—Further Papers Relating to the War with America,” ff. 103–6, CO 42/160, TNA.

  52. Naval Chronicle 32 (1814): 218–19; “III.—Further Papers Relating to the War with America,” ff. 109–10, COC 42/160, TNA.

  53. Collection of Sundry Publications, 3–13; U.S. Court of Claims, General Armstrong, 1–12.

  54. “Successful Cruize—Gallant Affair,” Rhode-Island Republican, October 19, 1814.

  55. Wellington quoted in F
orester, Age of Fighting Sail, 195.

  56. Brodine, Crawford, and Hughes, Against All Odds, 53–72; Macdonough quoted in Hickey, War of 1812, 193.

  57. Alexander F. I. Cochrane to John W. Croker, March 8, 1814, pp. 635–44, ADM 1/505, TNA; Dudley, Wooden Wall, 156.

  58. Napier, Journal, 22, 23; entry for July 5, 1814, William Begg Journal, HSP.

  59. Hickey, War of 1812, 287–94.

  60. AC, 12th Cong., 1st sess. (May 16, 1812), 2300; Hickey, Don’t Give Up the Ship, 164; Bainbridge quoted in McKee, Honorable Profession, 266, and Long, Ready to Hazard, 173.

  61. Morris, Autobiography, 75–83; Bainbridge quoted in Maloney, Captain from Connecticut, 252.

  62. Sketch on Financial Means, William Jones to James Madison, October 1814, Madison Papers, LC; Bainbridge quoted in Long, Ready to Hazard, 178; Jones to Treasury Secretary Alexander J. Dallas quoted in Hickey, War of 1812, 222–23, and Eckert, Navy Department, 67; Adams, Second Administration of Madison, II: 213–15, 245.

  63. “Events of the Useless War,” Columbian Centinel, August 10, 1814; Long, Ready to Hazard, 181–84; Boston Daily Advertiser, September 17, 1814.

  64. Murdoch, “Reports of British Agents,” 191–98; “Copy of intelligence obtained from a Gentleman lately of Boston,” pp. 185–83, 193, ADM 1/508, TNA.

  65. Dunham, Oration, 10.

  66. Mason, “Federalist Agitation,” 548–49; Wirt and Madison quoted in Stagg, Mr. Madison’s War, 472–73.

  67. Adams, Second Administration of Madison, II: 309; Federal Republican, December 6, 1814; NW1812, III: 329–30.

  68. Mahon, War of 1812, 362, 365–68; Andrew Jackson to secretary of war, January 13, 1815, Brannan, ed., Official Letters, 458–59.

  69. “New Orleans,” Daily National Intelligencer, February 7, 1815; “Capture of the President,” Daily National Intelligencer, February 1, 1815.

  70. Murdoch, “Reports of British Agents,” 195n43.

  71. Tucker, Stephen Decatur, 140–49.

  72. Latta, Sermon, 9, 15, 18.

  73. “Glorious News,” Commercial Advertiser, February 12, 1815; “Peace,” Connecticut Courant, February 14, 1815; “Illumination,” Albany Argus, February 24, 1815; Hickey, War of 1812, 298; “The Illumination, &c.,” Daily National Intelligencer, February 20, 1815; Connecticut Journal, February 27, 1815.

  11. “Praise to God for the Restoration of Peace”