by Ian W. Toll
“the ardent desire”: Talleyrand, French Minister of Exterior Relations, to Robert Livingston, January 17, 1804, BW III:335.
“The Bashaw’s pretension”: Captain Edward Preble to M. Beaussier, June 12, 1804, BW IV:180–81.
“Through these instruments”: William Eaton to Secretary of the Navy, September 6, 1804, BW IV:525–26.
five hundred barrels: Captain Edward Preble to Secretary of the Navy, January 17, 1804, BW III:337.
“Although it does not accord”: Secretary of State to William Eaton, August 22, 1802, BW II:245 (emphasis in the original).
“without means”: M. Beaussier to Captain Edward Preble, March 28, 1803, BW III:542.
“constructed and rigged”: Captain Edward Preble to Secretary of the Navy, July 16, 1803, BW II:488.
“If you will allow”: Captain Edward Preble to Secretary of the Navy, January 17, 1804, BW III:337.
“I am clearly of Opinion”: Captain William Bainbridge to Captain Edward Preble, March 26, 1804, BW III:525.
“Sails, Oars, Anchors”: James Cathcart to Captain Edward Preble, January 30, 1804, BW III:373.
“We were no sooner”: Melancthon Woolsey Journal quoted in McKee, A Gentlemanly and Honorable Profession, p. 128.
“I was so much engaged”: Preble quoted in ibid., p. 238.
The kingdom would provide: Lord Acton to Captain Edward Preble, May 13, 1804, BW, IV:97.
Preble’s force now numbered: Captain Edward Preble to Secretary of the Navy, September 18, 1804, BW IV:293–310.
“the wind blowing…rough sharp sea”: McKee, Edward Preble, pp. 250–65.
“The Bashaw is ready”: M. Beaussier to Talleyrand, March 1, 1804, quoted in ibid., p. 206.
“a Sandy Desert”: Logbook of Sailing Master Nathaniel Haraden, March 27, 1804, BW III:539.
“in an Instant”: Captain Edward Preble’s Journal, August 4, 1804, BW IV:336–38.
“was kept entirely”: Narrative of Attacks on Tripoli by Richard O’Brien, BW IV:341–43.
As Decatur’s vessel collided: McKee, Edward Preble, p. 257.
“I find hand-to-hand”: Decatur quoted in ibid., p. 259.
“a remarkably athletic”: Captain Edward Preble to Secretary of the Navy, September 18, 1804, BW IV:296.
“20 Turks lay weltering”: Midshipman Robert T. Spence to Mrs. Keith Spence, November 12, 1804, BW IV:351–53.
From the deck of the Constitution: McKee, Edward Preble, p. 260.
As the flagship passed to the west: Captain Edward Preble to Secretary of the Navy, September 18, 1804, BW IV:297.
“I was ordered”: Cowdery, American Captives in Tripoli, in Baepler, ed., White Slaves, African Masters, p. 171.
“The wind to the Northward”: Purser Noadiah Morris to unknown recipient, September 7, 1804, BW IV:353–59.
“have dreadful Ideas”: Captain William Bainbridge to Captain Edward Preble, June 22, 1804, BW IV:213–14.
But the bomb ketches: See McKee, Edward Preble, pp. 250–65.
“I think a blow”: O’Brien quoted in ibid., p. 272.
“Advance in a line”: Ibid.
“almost totally destroyed”: Captain Edward Preble’s Journal, August 8, 1804, BW IV:376–77.
“I saw the mangled bodies”: Cowdery, American Captives in Tripoli, in Baepler, ed., White Slaves, African Masters, p. 171.
“I went up some distance”: Midshipman Robert T. Spence to Mrs. Keith Spence, November 12, 1804, BW IV:351–53.
“ignorant of the art”: Captain Edward Preble to Secretary of the Navy, September 18, 1804, BW IV:299n.
but it is more likely: Nathaniel Haraden and Richard O’Brien each advanced the “flaming wad” theory. See McKee, Edward Preble, pp. 271–77.
During the day’s action: Captain Edward Preble to Secretary of the Navy, September 18, 1804, BW IV:300.
Tribesmen from the backcountry: Cowdery, American Captives in Tripoli, in Baepler, ed., White Slaves, African Masters, p. 173.
“in a state of putrefaction”: Ibid., p. 175.
“Strange ships in sight”: McKee, Edward Preble, p. 276.
The letters were written: See Smith to Preble, May 7, 1804, BW IV:88, and Smith to Preble, May 22, 1804, BW IV:114.
“How much my feelings”: McKee, Edward Preble, p. 282.
Preble elected to try: Ibid., pp. 284–85.
“He said that for two dollars”: Cowdery, in Baepler, ed., White Slaves, African Masters, p. 172.
the Constitution had 14,000 gallons: Logbook of Sailing Master Nathaniel Haraden, August 18, 1804, BW IV:430.
Preble ordered a short water ration: Captain Edward Preble to the Commanding Officer of each Ship of War in the Mediterranean Squadron, August 20, 1804, BW IV:438.
“Our Water is nearly exhausted”: Captain Edward Preble to William Higgins, U.S. Navy Agent, Malta, August 15, 1804, BW IV:417.
On the night of August 18: Captain Edward Preble’s Journal, August 18, 1804, BW IV:429.
“considerable damage”: Journal of Midshipman F. Cornelius DeKrafft, August 24, 1804, BW IV:456.
“such attempts served”: Cowdery in Baepler, ed., White Slaves, African Masters, p. 173.
“The Commodore’s ship”: Purser John Darby’s Journal, August 28, 1804, BW IV:475–76.
“At every Broadside”: Logbook of Sailing Master Nathaniel Haraden, August 28, 1804, BW IV:472–74.
The Constitution took heavy fire: McKee, Edward Preble, pp. 289–94.
“a heavy and incessant fire”: Cowdery in Baepler, ed., White Slaves, African Masters, p. 174.
“you have injured”: Sailmaker Joseph Douglass and Carpenter William Godby to Captain Edward Preble, August 29, 1804, BW IV:479–80.
“a cannon hit”: Zuchet quoted in Zacks, The Pirate Coast, p. 105.
“passed within a few inches”: Naval Chronicle, vol. 1., footnoted in letter from Captain Edward Preble to Secretary of the Navy, September 18, 1804, BW IV:302.
“I cannot but view”: M. Beaussier to Captain Edward Preble, August 29, 1804, BW IV:481–83.
Carpenters from several different vessels: Captain Edward Preble to Secretary of the Navy, September 18, 1804, BW IV:305.
“The men, women and children”: Cowdery in Baepler, ed., White Slaves, African Masters, p. 175.
At eight o’clock the next evening: The blowing up of the U.S. ketch Intrepid as described by Midshipman Charles G. Ridgeley, BW IV:507–10.
“How awfully grand!”: Midshipman Robert T. Spence to Mrs. Keith Spence, November 12, 1804, BW IV:351–53.
Several of the mortars detonated late: Logbook of Sailing Master Nathaniel Haraden, September 4, 1804, BW IV:506–7.
had “put a match”: Captain Edward Preble to Secretary of the Navy, September 18, 1804, BW IV:306.
“What a Noble Death”: Midshipman Robert T. Spence to Mrs. Keith Spence, November 12, 1804, BW IV:351–53.
“The explosion caused”: Beaussier quoted in McKee, Edward Preble, p. 306.
“was fatal only to yourselves”: Ibid.
it “did but little damage”: Cowdery in Baepler, ed., White Slaves, African Masters, pp. 175–76.
“[We] there saw six persons”: Bainbridge quoted in McKee, Edward Preble, p. 306. Original quote from James Fenimore Cooper, History of the Navy, I:411–12.
“amused himself”: Zacks, The Pirate Coast, p. 105.
“the weather wore”: Captain Edward Preble, to Secretary of the Navy, September 18, 1804, BW IV:307.
The commodore ordered the gunboats: McKee, Edward Preble, pp. 306–8.
The four frigates: Captain John Rodgers to Secretary of the Navy, August 12, 1804, BW IV:402.
“uncommonly smooth”: Journal of William Eaton, U.S. Navy Agent for the Barbary regencies, August 20, 1804, BW IV:440.
“a violent shock”: Captain Samuel Barron to Sir Alexander John Ball, Governor of Malta, September 7, 1804, BW V:1.
“Discovering strange ships”: McKee, Edward Preble, p. 307.
“Commodore Barron�
�s arrival”: Quoted in ibid., p. 308.
whose “reputation as a fighting man”: Noadiah Morris quoted in McKee, Edward Preble, pp. 309–10.
“Sir: A respect I owe”: Rodgers papers quoted in ibid., p. 310.
“In memory of”: Lovette, Naval Customs, Traditions, and Usage, p. 58.
in “the contempt”: Nathaniel Bowen, sermon preached in Charleston, 1807, quoted in Williams, Dueling in the Old South: Vignettes of Social History, p. 130.
“Immediately upon Receipt hereof”: Secretary of the Navy to F. Cornelius DeKrafft, February 28, 1805, BW V:377.
Citing the “prevalent Example”: Honorable Joseph Hopper Nicholson, Representative from Maryland, to Secretary of the Navy, February 28, 1805, BW, V:376.
PART THREE: ENGLAND AGAIN
“I cannot but be”: McKee, Edward Preble, p. 312.
“an American is no longer”: William Eaton to Colonel Dwight, September 20, 1804, BW V:42.
“the most bold and daring”: Tucker, Dawn Like Thunder, p. 283.
“the energy and judgment”: President Thomas Jefferson, Message to Congress, February 20, 1805, BW IV:293.
During the two weeks: McKee, Edward Preble, pp. 314–15.
Preble sent a hogshead: Edward Preble to Robert Smith, May 18, 1805, TJP.
“It is really a painful”: TJ to Robert Smith, May 31, 1805, TJP.
a polygraph, or “portable secretary”: Malone, Jefferson the President: Second Term, pp. 38–44.
“I have used one”: TJ to Edward Preble, July 6, 1805, TJP.
“I beg leave to assure”: Edward Preble to TJ, July 30, 1805, TJP.
With the reinforcements: McKee, Edward Preble, p. 329.
“he had heard that [Rodgers]”: William Bainbridge to David Porter, July 10, 1805, NYHS.
“I shall impute”: William Bainbridge to David Porter, July 10, 1805, NYHS.
The 1805 campaign: The material that follows is based on McKee, Edward Preble: A Naval Biography, pp. 329–35.
“I must say I had expected”: McKee, Edward Preble, p. 329.
“ignominious…sacrifice of national honor”: Ibid.
American exports (including re-exports): Historical Statistics of the United States, Colonial Times to 1970, U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census, Part 2, 1976, series Q 518–523, “Value of Waterborne Imports and Exports,” pp. 761, 751. See also Hickey, War of 1812, p. 297.
Booming traded filled the treasury: See Adams, HUSJ, pp. 393–98.
“I think myself”: William Plumer’s Memorandum of Proceedings in the U.S. Senate, 1803–1807, ed. Everett Brown (New York: The Macmillan Company, 1923), pp. 198–99.
Jefferson was seen: Sir Augustus John Foster, “Notes on the United States, 1804–1812,” William and Mary Quarterly, 3rd ser., 8(1) (January 1951):72.
“as real a revolution”: TJ to Spencer Roane, September 6, 1819, TJP.
“His Highness the President”: Koch, Jefferson and Madison, pp. 101–2.
“all are perfectly equal”: Adams, HUSJ, p. 549.
“Levees are done away”: TJ to Nathaniel Macon, May 14, 1801, TJP.
a “crowd of ladies and gentlemen”: T. J. Randolph quoted in Rosenberger, ed., The Jefferson Reader, pp. 64–65.
“That day buried leaves”: TJ, February 1804, Response to Etiquette of the Court of the U.S., TJP.
“a few moments after”: Senator William Plumer, Life of William Plumer, p. 242.
“He wore a blue coat”: Foster, “Notes on the United States,” p. 72.
“dressed in long boots”: Quoted in Adams, HUSJ, p. 550.
“flattered the low passions”: Foster, “Notes on the United States,” pp. 78–79
“Mr. Jefferson entered”: Larus, “Pell-Mell Along the Potomac,” William and Mary Quarterly, 3rd ser., 17(B) (1960): 349–57.
“actually standing in slippers”: Edmund Quincy, Life of Josiah Quincy, p. 92.
“without Mr. Jefferson’s using”: Anthony Merry to Lord Hawkesbury, December 6, 1803, Foreign Office 5/41.
a “virago”: TJ to James Monroe, January 8, 1804, TJP.
American diplomatic protocols: Adams, HUSJ, p. 558.
“we might as well attempt”: TJ to James Monroe, January 8, 1804, TJP.
“no law of the United States”: Adams, HUSJ, p. 567.
“Every port in the island”: Secretary of State to Anthony Merry, December 24, 1803, BW III:290.
Merry countered with complaints: Adams, HUSJ, pp. 569–73; Secretary of State to Anthony Merry, June 25, 1804, BW IV:224.
“impressment”: See Tucker and Reuter, Injured Honor: The Chesapeake-Leopard Affair, pp. 62–66.
“indefeasible allegiance”: James Biddle letter book, vol. 2: Analusia Foundation collection.
Impressment was also carried out: NW1812 I:61–62 (editorial note); see also Zimmerman, Impressment of American Seamen, pp. 246–75.
Gallatin estimated: See Tucker and Reuter, Injured Honor, pp. 62–66.
“[T]he flagrant and undeniable”: Hickey, The War of 1812, p. 11.
“It is my duty”: Spencer and Reuter, Injured Honor, p. 63.
“the place occupied”: TJ to Robert R. Livingston, September 9, 1801, TJP.
This “re-export” trade: Albion and Pope, Sea Lanes in Wartime, p. 70.
“solely to colour”: Text of the Essex decision, rendered by the Vice Admiralty Court of Nassau, New Providence, June 22, 1805, NW1812, I:17–20.
“broke open my trunks”: Norfolk Gazette and Ledger, October 23, 1805, quoted in Wertenbaker, Norfolk: Historic Southern Port, p. 98.
“Hatred of America”: Orders in Council; or, An Examination of the Justice, Legality, and Policy of the New System, etc. (London, 1808), quoted in Adams, HUSJ, p. 977.
“The winds and seas”: Quoted in Niles’ Register, vol. 2, p. 219.
“sensation and clamour”: Anthony Merry to Lord Mulgrave, September 30, 1805, quoted in Adams, HUSJ, p. 666.
“producing the most ruinous”: TJ to House and Senate, January 17, 1806, ASP, Foreign Affairs, vol. 2, p. 727.
“The love of peace”: TJ to Judge Cooper, February 18, 1806, quoted in Adams, HUSJ, pp. 679–80.
“a shilling pamphlet”…and the quotes that follow: John Randolph quoted in ibid., pp. 679, 712, 714.
“Every morning at daybreak”: Midshipman Basil Hall quoted in Albion and Pope, Sea Lanes in Wartime, p. 91.
Even if the case was decided: Adams, HUSJ, pp. 665–67.
An incident on April 24: See Albion and Pope, Sea Lanes in Wartime, p. 92.
“I well remember”: Clinton speech in Congress, January, 1807, Annals, House of Representatives, 9th Congr., 2nd Sess., p. 386.
Jefferson issued: TJ, May 3, 1806, Henry Whitby Proclamation, TJP.
“an atrocious violation”: TJ to Jacob Crowninshield, May 13, 1806, TJP.
“England may”: TJ to James Monroe, May 4, 1806, TJP.
“under the immediate eye”: TJ to Samuel Smith, April 17, 1801, TJP.
By mid-December 1805: Secretary of the Navy to Chairman of Committee on Naval Peace Establishment, December 16, 1805, NW1812 I:7.
He proposed to return: Albert Gallatin to TJ, May 30, 1805, quoted in Adams, HUSJ, p. 649.
“by encouraging wars”: Adams, The Life of Albert Gallatin, p. 335.
“loose demands”: Cunningham, The Process of Government Under Jefferson, pp. 61–62.
funds for seaport fortifications: NW1812, I:2.
The navy was to sell: Fowler, Jar Tars and Commodores, pp. 142–43.
“I have obtained”: Chauncey to Preble, March 25, 1806, NYHS, Isaac Chauncey Letterbooks; NW1812 I:1iii.
Even during periods: See McKee, A Gentlemanly and Honorable Profession, pp. 40–53.
“was particularly happy”: Quoted in Cunningham, The Process of Government Under Jefferson, p. 133.
A successful campaign was mounted: McKee, A Gentlemanly and Honorable Profession, pp. 40–41.
“Though sixteen years old”: Charles Boa
rman to Robert Brent, August 13, 1811, quoted in ibid., p. 41.
the median age: Ibid., p. 179.
Several of the leading figures: Ibid., pp. 288–89.
For Lieutenant Andrew Sterrett: Sterrett to Smith and Smith to Sterrett, quoted in ibid., p. 298.
“In Mr. Fox”: TJ to James Monroe, May 4, 1806, TJP.
the “Fox Blockade”: See Hickey, The War of 1812, p. 10.
no vessel could sail: Order in Council dated January 7, 1807, quoted in Adams, HUSJ, p. 889.
On September 8, 1804: Résumé, presumably prepared in Navy Department ca. 1806–07, concerning U.S. Gunboat No. 1, BW IV:279.
“grow into a ship of the line”: Connecticut Courant quoted in Tucker, “The Jeffersonian Gunboats in Service, 1804–1825,” American Neptune 55(2) (1995):97.
“become an excitement”: President Thomas Jefferson, Special Message to Congress on Gun-Boats, February 10, 1807, NW1812 I:13–15.
The Republican majority in Congress: See Silverstone, The Sailing Navy, 1775–1854, pp. 57–60.
“What would be”: Decatur quoted in Gene Smith, “A Means to an End: Gunboats and Thomas Jefferson’s Theory of Defense,” American Neptune, 55(2) (1995): 118.
a “wasteful imbecility”: Washington Federalist, March 11, 1807, in TJP.
Over time, the critics: See Silverstone, The Sailing Navy, 1775–1854, pp. 57–60.
The cost per vessel: Editor’s Note, NW1812 I:12–13.
“The Chesapeak as a Vessel”: Captain Stephen Decatur to Secretary Smith, September 6, 1808, NA RG 45, Captains’ Letters.
“All ships have accidents”: Beach, The United States Navy: A 200-Year History, p. 32.
“I have long known”: Quotations from James Barron court-martial, a letter from Barron to Charles Gordon dated May 1, 1807, and court-martial documents, all quoted in Adams, HUSJ, p. 932.
“was struck with astonishment”: Captain Charles Gordon to the Secretary of the Navy, June 22, 1807, quoted in ibid., p. 933.
to “suffer death”: De Gast, The Lighthouses of the Chesapeake, p. 41.
“from the extreme cleanliness”: James Barron to Secretary of the Navy, June 6, 1807, and Charles Gordon to Barron, June 19, 1807, quoted in Adams, HUSJ, p. 933.
The commander of the Halifax…and the story and quotes that follow: Tucker and Reuter, Injured Honor, pp. 64, 68–79.