Perilous Fight
Page 48
52. Secretary of the navy to James Barron, March 23, 1807, James Barron Papers, WMSC.
53. Heintze, “Gaetano Carusi,” 75–77, 81, 85–90. Carusi never did get back to Italy. He eventually settled in America, opening music stores in Philadelphia and Baltimore and later running a concert hall in Washington; he spent his final years unsuccessfully petitioning Congress for $4,992 he claimed as unpaid salary and compensation for a trunk containing all his valuable possessions that was thrown overboard during the Chesapeake’s battle.
54. Dye, Fatal Cruise, 48–51; Tucker and Reuter, Injured Honor, 70–71. All five of the Halifax deserters initially enlisted on the Chesapeake, but four quickly thought better of their action and promptly deserted from her.
55. Tucker and Reuter, Injured Honor, 78.
56. Dye, Fatal Cruise, 59.
57. Quoted in Tucker and Reuter, Injured Honor, 4–5.
58. “The Chesapeake and the Leopard,” unidentified newspaper clipping, 1851, James Barron Papers, WMSC.
59. “Occurrences and remarks, on board the United States Frigate Chesapeak … Tuesday the 23 day of June year 1807,” Allen, “Letters,” 209–13; Tucker and Reuter, Injured Honor, 6–12, 151.
60. Dye, Fatal Cruise, 70; Tucker and Reuter, Injured Honor, 113–14.
61. Thomas Jefferson to Pierre S. Dupont de Nemours, July 14, 1807, Jefferson Papers, LC; Bond quoted in Tucker and Reuter, Injured Honor, 124.
62. Cray, “Remembering the Chesapeake,” 445–46; Dye, Fatal Cruise, 68; Horsman, Causes of War of 1812, 103.
63. Thomas Jefferson to James Madison, August 25, 1807, Jefferson Papers, LC; Leiner, “Norfolk War Scare.”
64. Canning quoted in Tucker and Reuter, Injured Honor, 130–31.
65. McKee, Gentlemanly Profession, 403–6, 498; De Kay, Rage for Glory, 32–34.
66. Tucker and Reuter, Injured Honor, 15.
67. Officers of the late U.S. Ship Chesapeake to secretary of the navy, June 23, 1807, James Barron Papers, WMSC.
68. William Henry Allen to William Allen, June 24, 1807, Allen, “Letters,” 213–16; William Henry Allen to William Allen, July 17, 1807, quoted in Tucker and Reuter, Injured Honor, 152.
69. James Barron to Dr. Bullus, July 3, 1807, James Barron Papers, WMSC.
70. Tucker and Reuter, Injured Honor, 142.
71. Ibid., 163, 181.
72. Durand, Life and Adventures, 32–36; McKee, Gentlemanly Profession, 259–61.
73. Martin, Most Fortunate Ship, 88.
3. “A Defence Worthy of Republicans”
1. Joshua Humphreys to Robert Morris, January 6, 1793, letterbook, 1793–97, Joshua Humphreys Papers, HSP. Humphreys appears to have misdated this letter, which was probably written in January 1794.
2. Chapelle, American Sailing Navy, 5, 24–27.
3. Ibid., 57–58; Eddy, “Joshua Humphreys,” 177.
4. Chapelle, American Sailing Navy, 13–19.
5. Lavery, Nelson’s Navy, 228–29.
6. Otton, “Constitution Reborn”; Tucker, Arming the Fleet, 134, 139.
7. Chapelle, American Sailing Navy, 119–27; Fox quoted in ibid., 121.
8. Wood, Live Oaking, 3–4, 9–15, 40–41.
9. ASP, Naval Affairs, I: 11–13; Tucker, Arming the Fleet, 41, 124. According to Tucker, a thirty-two-pound shot requires a velocity of 1,090 feet per second to penetrate thirty inches of oak; the initial muzzle velocity of a thirty-two-pound carronade was 750 feet per second.
10. Wood, Live Oaking, 26–28, 55; John T. Morgan to Joshua Humphreys, October 21, 1794, letterbook, 1793–97, Joshua Humphreys Papers, HSP.
11. ASI, Naval Affairs, I: 8–9.
12. Dodds and Moore, Wooden Fighting Ship, 44; Brodine, Crawford, and Hughes, Interpreting Old Ironsides, 6.
13. ASP, Naval Affairs, I: 17–19.
14. “Principal Dimensions” Book, Joshua Humphreys Papers, HSP; William Jones to Joshua Humphreys, June 11, 1799, correspondence, ibid.; Joshua Humphreys to Thomas Truxtun, “On the Proportion of Masts and Spars,” letterbook, 1793–97, ibid.
15. “To the Frigate Constitution,” Time Piece, October 18, 1797.
16. John Barry to Joshua Humphreys, September 19, 1798, correspondence, Joshua Humphreys Papers, HSP.
17. Toll, Six Frigates, 95.
18. Chapelle, American Sailing Navy, 153–54, 161; Leiner, Millions for Defense, 24–27.
19. Randolph quoted in Perkins, Prologue to War, 163; Bentley, Diary, III: 414; Bainbridge quoted in Long, Ready to Hazard, 113.
20. Perkins, Prologue to War, 161–63.
21. ASP, Foreign Relations, III: 584.
22. Perkins, Prologue to War, 305–6.
23. Lowell, Mr. Madison’s War, 11; Zimmerman, Impressment, 173.
24. ASP, Naval Affairs, I: 184–87, 193; Gallatin quoted in Adams, Second Administration of Jefferson, II: 428.
25. ASP, Naval Affairs, I: 194.
26. Bainbridge quoted in McKee, Gentlemanly Profession, 9.
27. John Rodgers to Isaac Hull, June 19, 1810, NW1812, I: 39–40.
28. Gilliam, “Letters,” 54; Decatur quoted in Tucker, Stephen Decatur, 102.
29. NW1812, I: 40–50; the complete diplomatic correspondence over the Little Belt incident, including statements of the captains and a full transcript of the American court of inquiry, are reprinted in ASP, Foreign Relations, III: 476–500.
30. Clark, Dolly Madison, 136.
31. Wills, James Madison, 3–7; Smith, First Forty Years, 63; Gallatin quoted in Perkins, Prologue to War, 161.
32. Madison, Letters and Other Writings, IV: 491–92.
33. Stagg, Mr. Madison’s War, 69; “Our Relations with G. Britain,” National Intelligencer, April 16, 1811.
34. Foster, “Caviar Along Potomac,” 78, 79, 89; Perkins, Prologue to War, 274–79, 354; Horsman, Causes of War of 1812, 203.
35. Stagg, Mr. Madison’s War, 144; Stephen Decatur to Paul Hamilton, June 10, 1811, quoted in Tucker, Stephen Decatur, 104; David Porter to Hamilton, August 31, 1811, Madison Papers, LC; Perkins, Prologue to War, 291; Hamilton to James Madison, September 17, 1811, Madison Papers, LC.
36. Stagg, Mr. Madison’s War, 59–61, 69, 74.
37. James Madison to John Quincy Adams, November 15, 1811, quoted in Horsman, Causes of War of 1812, 227; ASP, Foreign Relations, III: 405; Perkins, Prologue to War, 281–82.
38. Perkins, Prologue to War, 287–88; Taylor, “Agrarian Discontent,” 498–99.
39. Jackson quoted in Horsman, Causes of War of 1812, 234–35.
40. Albert Gallatin, “Notes on President’s message,” n.d., Madison Papers, LC.
41. Paul Hamilton to Langdon Cheves, Chairman of the Naval Committee, December 3, 1811, NW1812, I: 53–60.
42. AC, 12th Cong., 1st sess. (January 18, 1812), 825–26, 840, 842; (January 21, 1812), 878.
43. Ibid. (January 18, 1812), 830–31, 833.
44. Ibid. (January 27, 1812), 999; (January 28, 1812), 1002–4; Tucker, Stephen Decatur, 101.
45. Long, Ready to Hazard, 126–29.
46. Maloney, Captain from Connecticut, 131.
47. Ibid., 134, 145.
48. Ibid., 46–47, 71.
49. Porter, Constantinople, I: 11.
50. Maloney, Captain from Connecticut, 140–42; Martin, Most Fortunate Ship, 91.
51. Maloney, Captain from Connecticut, 139, 143–44.
52. Ibid., 153.
53. Maloney, Captain from Connecticut, 156–57; Hull quoted in Smith, Naval Scenes, 18.
54. Morris, Autobiography, 47–48.
55. Maloney, Captain from Connecticut, 162–64.
56. Carden, Curtail’d Memoir, 8–13.
57. Littleton Waller Tazewell to James Monroe, February 27, 1812, reel 2, Monroe, James Monroe Papers; Hickey, War of 1812, 34–35; Forester, Age of Fighting Sail, 83–84.
58. Stagg, Mr. Madison’s War, 146; Harris, Commodore Bainbridge, 135; Long, Ready to Hazard, 129–30.
59. Brant, “Timid President?”
60. Paul Hamilton to Morton A. Waring, October 17, October 19, November 30, 1810; May 11, 1812, Hamilton Papers, SCL.
61. Paul Hamilton to John Rodgers, May 21, 1812, NW1812, I: 118–19.
62. John Rodgers to Paul Hamilton, June 3, 1812, NW1812, I: 118–22; Stephen Decatur to Hamilton, June 8, 1812, ibid., I: 122–24.
63. Mahan, Sea Power in 1812, I: 315–18, 321–22.
64. Stephen Decatur to Paul Hamilton, June 8, 1812, NW1812, I: 122–24.
65. Agenda, Albert Gallatin, July 12, 1812, Madison Papers, LC.
66. Hickey, War of 1812, 40–44.
67. Albert Gallatin to James Madison, June 20, 1812, Madison Papers, LC.
68. Paul Hamilton to John Rodgers, June 22, 1812, NW1812, I: 148–49.
69. Paul Hamilton to Morton A. Waring, July 25, 1812, Hamilton Papers, SCL.
4. “The Present War, Unexpected, Unnecessary, and Ruinous”
1. Hickey, Don’t Give Up the Ship, 42; Foster quoted in Perkins, Prologue to War, 416.
2. Perkins, Prologue to War, 316, 332–33; Horsman, Causes of War of 1812, 256–57; Brougham quoted in Perkins, Prologue to War, 340.
3. Naval Chronicle 28 (1812): 157–58, 246–47.
4. William Jones to Eleanor Jones, July 12, 1812, Jones Papers, HSP.
5. William Bainbridge to Paul Hamilton, July 11, 1812, NW1812, I: 190–91.
6. Martin, Most Fortunate Ship, 100–101.
7. Isaac Hull to Joseph Hull, July 5, 1812, quoted in Maloney, Captain from Connecticut, 170.
8. Isaac Hull to Paul Hamilton, July 2, 1812, NW1812, I: 160–61; Martin, Most Fortunate Ship, 103; Smith, Naval Scenes, 24.
9. Maloney, Captain from Connecticut, 170–71; Martin, Most Fortunate Ship, 104.
10. Smith, Naval Scenes, 25.
11. The account of the Constitution’s escape that follows is drawn from several eyewitness accounts: Hull’s official report, Isaac Hull to Paul Hamilton, July 21, 1812, NW1812, I: 161–65; Morris, Autobiography, 56–61; Evans, “Journal,” 153–56; Smith, Naval Scenes, 25–28. In addition, Roosevelt, Naval War of 1812, 47–50, and Forester, Age of Fighting Sail, 48–56, provide very helpful explanations of the seamanship and maneuvers employed.
12. Brown quoted in Coggeshall, American Privateers, 8–9, 12.
13. NW1812, I: 165.
14. Evans, “Journal,” 158–60.
15. “Business and the Coffee House,” 11–13.
16. Columbian Centinel, August 1, 1812.
17. Evans, “Journal,” 161.
18. “Old and New Times,” Columbian Centinel, August 1, 1812.
19. Lathrop, Present War, 5, 10–11, 13.
20. Hickey, War of 1812, 53.
21. “Address … to their respective constituents,” AC, 12th Cong., 1st sess. (Appendix, 1812), 2219.
22. Ibid., 2196.
23. “Whoever Is Not for Us, Is Against Us,” Boston Gazette, May 21, 1812.
24. Wright quoted in Hickey, War of 1812, 56–57; Thomas Jefferson to James Madison, June 29, 1812, Madison Papers, LC.
25. Hickey, War of 1812, 56–59.
26. “Effects of the War,” Federal Republican, December 31, 1812.
27. Hickey, War of 1812, 60–67; “The Narrative of John Thomas,” Hagers-Town Gazette, August 18, 1812.
28. John Adams to John Adams Smith, June 15, 1812, reel 118, MHS, Adams Papers.
29. Blake and Lawrence, Nelson’s Navy, 49.
30. Lavery, Nelson’s Navy, 241–44.
31. Ibid., 94.
32. Elias, “Naval Profession,” 294, 307–9.
33. Lewis, Social History, 223.
34. Ibid., 206.
35. Lavery, Nelson’s Navy, 93; Lewis, Social History, 222.
36. Collingwood quoted in Lewis, Social History, 222–24.
37. Long, Ready to Hazard, 133; Lewis, Social History, 369–71.
38. James, Naval History, VI: 96; Roosevelt, Naval War of 1812, 248; Nelson quoted in Tucker, Arming the Fleet, 37.
39. Adams, First Administration of Jefferson, I: 219–22; Jefferson quoted in Balinky, “Albert Gallatin,” 302.
40. Smith quoted in McKee, Gentlemanly Profession, 285, 304.
41. Ibid., 282.
42. Smith quoted in ibid., 277.
43. William Jones to Joseph Anderson, July 30, 1813, NW1812, II: 208; Jones to James Renshaw, September 15, 1813, ibid., II: 209–10; Jones to Robert T. Spence, July 26, 1813, quoted in McKee, Gentlemanly Profession, 277–78.
44. Nicholas Brewer quoted in McKee, Gentlemanly Profession, 113.
45. Truxtun quoted in ibid., 159.
46. Valle, Rocks and Shoals, 43–46; Truxtun quoted in McKee, Gentlemanly Profession, 225–26.
47. Lewis, Social History, 124, 139.
48. List of Punishments, 1812–14, WAR/21, NMM.
49. Isaac Hull to Paul Hamilton, July 28, 1812, NW1812, I: 206–7.
50. Maloney, Captain from Connecticut, 180.
51. Isaac Hull to Paul Hamilton, August 2, 1812, NW1812, I: 207–9.
52. Isaac Hull to Joseph Hull, August 1, 1812, in Maloney, Captain from Connecticut, 181.
53. Evans, “Journal,” 163, 165, 166.
54. Entry for August 15, 1812, Private Journal Kept on Board the U.S. Frigate Constitution, Amos A. Evans Papers, LC. This passage is not included in the published version of Evans’s journal.
55. Evans, “Journal,” 168–69; Isaac Hull to Paul Hamilton, August 28, 1812, NW1812, I: 230–33.
56. “Shipping News,” New-England Palladium, September 1, 1812; Coggeshall, American Privateers, 25.
57. “Captain Dacres’ Challenge,” Weekly Register 3 (1812): 31.
58. Smith, Naval Scenes, 30.
59. Coggeshall, American Privateers, 26; William B. Orne to Phineas Sprague, April 27, 1813, George H. Stuart Papers, LC; “British Account,” Weekly Register 3 (1812): 109; Smith, Naval Scenes, 34; “The Capture of the Guerriere by the Constitution,” New York Times, January 31, 1852. The last, an anonymous account subsequently republished in several newspapers and magazines under the byline “Octogenarian” (see e.g., Orne, “Reminiscence”), appears to match other recollections definitely written by Orne, including the letter published in Coggeshall cited above.
60. “Captain Hull,” Weekly Register 3 (1812): 159; Smith, Naval Scenes, 31–32; Coggeshall, American Privateers, 26–27; Wilson, “Commodore Hull,” 106.
61. Morris, Autobiography, 62–63; John Contee to Franklin Wharton, August 31, 1812, NW1812, I: 246.
62. Smith, Naval Scenes, 36.
63. Maloney, Captain from Connecticut, 189–90.
64. Coggeshall, American Privateers, 27; “The Capture of the Guerriere by the Constitution,” New York Times, January 31, 1852; “British Account,” Weekly Register 3 (1812): 109.
65. Gilliam, “Letters,” 60–61.
66. Adams, “Birth of a World Power,” 519–20.
67. Maloney, Captain from Connecticut, 192; Gilliam, “Letters,” 61; Morris, Autobiography, 63; “The Capture of the Guerriere by the Constitution,” New York Times, January 31, 1852; Evans, “Journal,” 376.
68. Isaac Hull to Paul Hamilton, August 28, 1812, NW1812, I: 237–42; James R. Dacres to Herbert Sawyer, September 7, 1812, NW1812, I: 243–45; Smith, Naval Scenes, 36; Evans, “Journal,” 376.
5. Love of Fame Is a Noble Passion
1. John Rodgers to Paul Hamilton, September 1, 1812, NW1812, I: 262–66; Maloney, “War of 1812,” 48–49; Essex Institute, American Vessels Captured, 96, 99, 100; Philip Broke to Sarah Louisa Broke, August 9, 1812, LBK 58/2, NMM.
2. Smith, Naval Scenes, 38; Maloney, Captain from Connecticut, 195–96.
3. “Tribute to American Gallantry,” Connecticut Herald, September 15, 1812.
4. Gafford, “Boston Stage,” 329–30; Evans, “Journal,” 384–85.
5. Columbian Naval Melody, 15–16.
6. American Patriotic Song-Book, 141.
7. Gillespy, Columbian Naval Songster, 16.
8. “The Naval Victory,” Repertory, September 1, 1812.
9. “Progress of the War,” Repertory, September 1, 1812.
10. “British Account of the Capture of Detroit,” Boston Gazette, September 3, 1812; Evans, “Journal,” 379; Hickey, War of 1812, 82–84.
11. Evans, “Journal,” 380.
12. Isaac Hull to Paul Hamilton, September 1, 1812, quoted in Maloney, Captain from Connecticut, 196.
13. Maloney, Captain from Connecticut, 192, 194, 196–97; Smith, Naval Scenes, 35.
14. Evans, “Journal,” 382, Smith, Naval Scenes, 38; Maloney, Captain from Connecticut, 200.
15. Smith, Naval Scenes, 38–39; Martin, Most Fortunate Ship, 129; Long, Ready to Hazard, 143.
16. Maloney, Captain from Connecticut, 207–8; Wilson, “Commodore Hull,” 109.
17. A List of Ships and Vessels on the West Indian and American Stations, August 7, 1812, HUL/18, NMM; The Present Disposition of His Majesty’s Ships and Vessels in Sea Pay, July 1, 1812, ADM 8/100, TNA; “Naval History of the Present Year, 1812,” Naval Chronicle 28 (1812): 159.
18. Warren, Sir John Borlase, Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online, www.biographi.ca; Lohnes, “British Naval Problems at Halifax,” 324.
19. John Borlase Warren to the secretary of state, September 30, 1812, ASP, Foreign Relations, III: 595–96.
20. List of Punishments, WAR/21, NMM; Weekly Return of the Sick and Wounded, WAR/25, NMM; Disposition of Squadron, State and Condition of Ships, WAR/32, NMM.
21. Flag Officers Accounts, Sir John Borlase Warren, Account No. 1, October 31, 1813, HUL/33, NMM; Letters and Papers Relating to Prize Money, Sir John Borlase Warren, No. 2, May 24, 1815, WAR/33, NMM.
22. Lohnes, “British Naval Problems at Halifax,” 319–22; Philip Broke to Sarah Louisa Broke, October 10, 1812, LBK/58, NMM.
23. Orders No. 1 (October 4, 1812), No. 2 (October 10, 1812), No. 3 (October 14, 1812), Orderbook of Adm Sir J Borlase Warren, HUL/1, NMM.
24. John Borlase Warren to John W. Croker, October 5, 1812, NW1812, I: 507–9.
25. Dudley, Wooden Wall, 69.
26. John Borlase Warren to Edward P. Brenton, November 5, 1812, Orderbook of Adm. Sir J. Borlase Warren, HUL/1, NMM.