Our current first lieutenant, Mister Rowe, had not been aboard during the disastrous and short lived cruise in June, having been assigned aboard only when we were well into November. The sentiment throughout the gunroom and the cockpit ran that since we were well secured to the pier and unlikely to be heading out anywhere with a court martial hanging over us, the need for a first lieutenant had been scant. And we did, in fact, manage just fine without one for those several months. Of course, the Secretary of the Navy had wasted no such time at all assigning Captain Decatur to relieve both Captain Gordon and Commodore Barron. We barely had set our best bower in the Roads when that had happened!
Rodgers’ gavel halted our, and several other, conversations, as he called for silence in the courtroom and announced that no further witnesses would be heard and we would adjourn for the rest of the day.
“Since Commodore Barron’s testimony will be crucial to the outcome of this, and the subsequent court’s, we would prefer to hear it in an uninterrupted fashion, at least so far as we can. We will reconvene on the morrow at two bells in the forenoon watch. We are adjourned.”
Bang! The gavel ended the session and we all stood, grateful for the early respite from the tedium of the trial. At least, I was. And Henry and I were among the first of the spectators to gain the spar deck; we moved quickly to the rail to discuss the proceedings thus far. While we both held differing opinions as to the ultimate outcome, neither of us would accept a wager from the other on our surmises. Henry had, in his opinion, seen or heard little over the past twenty and more days of testimony that might change his earlier prognostication. I, on the other hand, thought the evidence and testimony offered thus far might find some favor with the panel, even with the well-known partisanship of several of it’s members, and perhaps Barron would simply be reprimanded instead of being hanged as Henry had prophesized. Surely Captain Gordon would bear a goodly portion of the blame for the condition of the ship when that fateful meeting took place, even if the commodore was proven guilty of infamous surrender. Time would tell.
CHAPTER FIVE
“May it please the court, Commodore Barron has prepared a statement in his defense and we pray the court that he might be permitted to read it himself.” Taylor rose from his table after the usual preliminaries had passed.
The Cabin was packed; additional chairs had appeared and there were even a few men, mostly in naval uniform, standing along the walls on either side of the door. The morning sun streamed in undiminished brilliance through the quarter gallery windows and caused the brass and silver lanterns, of which only a few in the darker corners were lit, to glisten and shoot dazzling reflections around the dark walls. Candelabra of plate, their tapers fresh, remained unlit and likely would remain so until later in the day when the sun had passed its meridian and cast the aftermost part of the frigate into shade.
The commodore, his full dress uniform crisp and freshly brushed, sat with perfect posture at his table. For the first time since early in the court martial, that table was not covered with loose papers, pen stands, and ink pots; only a neat sheaf of pages was stacked carefully in front of him, papers to which his eyes dropped often during the beginning of the day’s events.
“Very well, Mister Taylor. There can be no objection to his doing so if that is his wish. Commodore Barron may have the floor.” Captain Rodgers raised his deep voice to carry over the startled expressions and comments which had instantly filled the room.
Quiet was restored immediately Barron rose and, with the stack of papers clutched in his fist, took a position in the middle of the floor, facing the panel of his peers, his judges. His gaze steadied on Captain Rodgers and, save for a brief glance at the papers he held, remained there as he began to speak, his stentorian tones filling the Cabin.
“Mister President and gentlemen of the court. After serving in the Navy for ten years, usefully, and with the approbation of the government, I consider it my good fortune to be brought before you on charges implicating my honor and my life. After six months and more of silent, and not so silent, misrepresentation and misconception, I view this day as my opportunity to vindicate my honor before an intelligent and impartial tribunal. I shall use no unmanly attempt to interest your feelings or influence your generosity; my case shall be such as one officer may make to another without reproach and the officers receive without a blush. I shall direct my remarks entirely to your judgment, reason, and professional experience.” He paused and glanced down again at his papers.
There was not a sound in the room. No chairs shifted, no feet scuffled, and, it seemed, even our breathing was subdued; even the scribe, who would normally be scratching away with his pen as a witness spoke, was still, knowing he would have a fair copy of the commodore’s speech at its conclusion.
I stole a glance at the panel. Captain Rodgers studied Barron impassively, has face giving no clue to his feelings. Captain Decatur was not quite so neutral; his eyes were hard and his mouth, often so quick to break into a ready smile, made a thin line in his face. The others, Lawrence, Bainbridge, Porter, et al, showed little emotion or indication of their true feelings, if indeed any had reached a determination in their own minds of Barron’s guilt or innocence.
After looking up and receiving a nod from Captain Rodgers, Barron continued his monologue, referring to his script only infrequently, and holding his eye contact with the judges as, I assume, he gauged from their expressions how they heard his comments.
“There are numerous charges against me, each with several specifications underlying it. I shall, for clarity and simplicity, enumerate each charge and specification, answer it, and move to the next. If I should seem to belabor a particular point, I would beg your indulgence as my defense is made not just for this court, whose members are well familiar with the duties and responsibilities of a naval officer, but for a reviewing authority who will surely not have enjoyed the same opportunities of being informed on those intricacies.
“The first charge against me is for ‘negligently performing the duty assigned me’ and of the specifications, there are two: that I ‘did not visit the frigate Chesapeake during the period she lay in Hampton Roads before proceeding to sea as often as I was bound to’ and that ‘when I did visit her, I did not, as was my bounden duty to do, examine particularly into her state and condition.’
“These presuppose that it was, in fact, my duty to visit the ship often, to personally superintend her equipments, and to examine into her condition. I ask you, sirs, were these duties within my province? Was it, as a matter of fact, my duty, or the duty of another officer, to see to these concerns? It was designed by the Secretary that I should proceed in the frigate, following her re-commissioning, to the Mediterranean to take command of a squadron in that sea. Master Commandant Charles Gordon was appointed in command of the ship while she lay, dismantled, in the Navy Yard in Washington. Captain Gordon held the responsibility of overseeing her reconstruction, superintending her equipment, and conducting her thence to Hampton Roads. He continued in that station until the day of his arrest.
“It is apparent that the duties attached to me by this charge exclusively pertained to him, not to me, based on our respective ranks and commands. The President of the United States has established rules and regulations for the government of the Navy; a copy of them is supplied to all officers and midshipmen in our service. Those rules embrace all ranks from commodore to the cook and define quite clearly the respective duties of each in minute detail.”
Barron stopped for a moment, turned to his table and retrieved a leather-bound volume I had not before seen there. Opening to a predetermined page, he proceeded to read the “duties of a commander or captain,” poiting out again that Gordon held that rank. Of particular interest to all was the ninth article in that list of duties: “… at all times, whether sailing alone or in a squadron, he shall have his ship ready for an immediate engagement, to which purpose he shall not permit any thing to be on deck that may embarrass the management of the guns, an
d not readily be cleared away.”
I know that I was not the only person in the room guilty of the sharp intake of breath that followed these words. It wasn’t Gordon’s trial, but it looked to me that here was the indictment that would seal his fate when the time came.
I nudged Lieutenant Allen and whispered, “Sounds more like Gordon’ll be the one hanged, not the commodore.”
He whispered back into my ear, “That’s only one of the charges. I don’t reckon the book says anything about surrendering when there’s a fight to be made!” His whisper was as sharp as possibly a whisper might be.
I could not respond as the commodore was continuing to list more duties ascribed to the ship’s commander, each representing an area in which Captain Gordon appeared negligent: “muster the crew at drills whether in port or at sea, examining the ship’s company to ensure each is qualified to perform the duties assigned to him, ensuring that all hands are distributed to stations for quarters including the rigging, the great guns, and the powder magazine, and overseeing the whole conduct and good government of the ship.”
Henry and I exchanged looks at this litany of Gordon’s omissions, each of which appeared sufficient by itself to bring the captain to grief. Henry’s smile was not so broad as before; perhaps he felt Barron was making a good case for his own exoneration, to the detriment of the commander of Chesapeake. The commodore continued reading his remarks in a tone quite neutral, considering the emotion that had attached to the whole affair right from the start.
“That a commodore is ordered to hoist his flag in any ship does not reduce in rank the commander of that ship; indeed, each has their own responsibilities, unaffected by the presence of the other. If it is insisted that the regulations do not apply to a commander in whose ship is embarked a commodore, I must then ask which regulations do apply? There are none, other than those I have read to you. And I might also ask, what duties do befall the commander of a ship with a commodore embarked? According to the charges against me, apparently none. The conclusion can only be inescapable: all captains, whether or not there is a commodore in his ship, are intended to be bound by the same regulations.” Barron paused and looked at the panel. His gaze shifted from one member to the next as he studied their reactions to the first salvo in his defense.
During this pause in his recitation, the silence within the room remained unbroken. From without the Cabin, muted sounds of the ship, the cry of seabirds, and occasional shouts of men working above drifted into the silence with no more notice than the smell of the air we inhaled.
After shifting the pages he held to produce a new one for his continuing statement, the commodore then enumerated the duties assigned by the regulations to his rank, each of which were broad in scope and related, not just to one ship, but to all under his command.
“‘He is obliged to inform himself of the properties of each vessel in his squadron, that he may make use of them to advantage as occasion may require.’ Obviously this pertains to the qualities each ship may display so that, for example, the commodore, in appreciation of their respective qualities, might not send a dull sailer in chase. It does not require that the commodore examine into the minute detail or the arrangement of their interior as might be assumed by the first specification against me.
“The regulations also call for the commodore to visit the ships of his squadron or division and view the men on board, seeing them mustered, as often as he shall think necessary. I would call your attention, gentlemen, to that last expression, ‘ …as often as he shall think necessary.’ You will also note, I am sure, that nowhere does the regulation require a commodore to rummage through storerooms, overhaul the rigging, pry into the magazines, or inspect the mounting of each gun. Those responsibilities derive to the captain of the vessel.
“It is apparent to me, and by now, I am sure, to you, that the framer of this charge demonstrated a want of clear conception of the relative duties of Captain Gordon and myself, or a most anxious desire to supply, by the number of charges, the want of individual force.”
I noticed several of the judges nodding in apparent agreement with Barron’s statement, including Captain Decatur and President Rodgers. I shoved my elbow, more sharply this time, into Henry’s ribs and received an unfriendly look in response. His earlier assessment of nothing short of a hanging for the commodore appeared to be unraveling!
“If this is to be the tenor of his entire defense, I should not be surprised were he only to be given a slap for his disgrace and the shame he put on us, the ship, and indeed, the Navy at large. He’s showing himself to be nothing more than a damn sea-lawyer!” Henry’s whisper was some louder than necessary and I gauged from the looks he received from those in our immediate quarter that some were shocked he should speak thus, while others, nodding, appeared in silent agreement with his position. For my own self, I preferred to reserve my judgment to hear more of Barron’s statement.
“Further, I would add,” Barron was continuing to read from his papers, “that even though I have disproved in its entirety the first charge and its respective specifications, that fact of omission, that I did not attend the frigate prior to her departure from Norfolk, is entirely without merit. Between the dates of 6 June and the 21st of that month (when I ultimately went on board to stay), I paid two visits to the ship. As you heard in the regulation from which I read previously, it was my decision, and my decision only, when and with what frequency I should visit the vessels in my command. On my first visit, the crew were mustered and reviewed by me. I did more, though. I examined all her decks, looked into the state of some of her stores rooms, and inquired into her general condition to the extent I deemed necessary. Could I have done more without usurping the authority and responsibility of Captain Gordon? Would it not have displayed a lack of confidence in the man to have inquired further into details of his management? No, I did not clamber into the rigging, handle ropes, or inspect the yards; nor was I required to. A seaman’s eye can determine the state of a vessel’s rig merely by observing from the deck. This I did and found nothing to arouse dissatisfaction in its condition.
“On my second visit, which was cut short by plans made by Captain Gordon to hold a ball on board, I personally superintended the mounting of one of the quarterdeck gun carriages, gave instructions to several officers (who seem, in their own testimony, to have conveniently forgotten that fact) and quickly inspected the spar deck.
“And finally, gentlemen, on the day we sailed, I ordered the crew to be mustered and gave a general examination of the ship. Captain Gordon had reported his ship ready for sea; ought I to have doubted him?”
He stopped speaking, shifted the order of his pages again, and looked up, his gaze again taking in the whole panel. Some rustling of chairs, scuffling of feet, and a few murmurs of conversation filled the silence.
Henry seized the opportunity to make his escape, saying to me as he did so, “Stay if you will, but I can not bear to hear anymore of this. Next will come, should he hold to this course, the request for a medal to be struck, memorializing his gallantry in the action!”
I looked up into his face as he moved in front of me on his way to the door. His eyes were hard, his mouth a thin line and his jaw set. He had made no effort to lower his voice and most of those in attendance were able to discern his words and tone. Everything from serious nods to horrified gasps ensued and a few hateful looks followed my friend as he made his way to the door.
Barron either did not hear the comment or chose to ignore it and the resulting ripple of comment, as he launched quickly into the second charge against him and its six specifications. They all dealt with his neglecting to clear the ship for action in the face of a probable engagement.
“One of the more difficult tasks before you gentlemen is determining the operation of the human mind and its ability to review, after an event has occurred, the prognostics which might have foretold it, giving each its due weight. It is most common behavior and, indeed, human nature in its very essence, to att
ach a weight and importance to a prior event in the light of it’s aftermath which it would not have had at the time. Even a feeble mind will make this connection, one which would have defied even the highest intellect without knowledge of the result.
“On this subject, gentlemen, you have the benefit of history; I, at the time of the incident, could only speculate on the aftermath of a series of seemingly unconnected actions. That which has become fact for you could only, for me, have been inference. To judge me, you must remove yourself to the position in which I was placed on that morning and ask yourselves whether or not those circumstances would have led you to the conclusion that an attack was probable.
“Until the moment the Leopard’s officer came on board Chesapeake, I most solemnly affirm to you that I had absolutely no suspicion of an attack. After he left, I gave orders to clear for action. That fact has been reported accurately by every witness.”
I had to admit, the commodore made a most credible point: none of us who had been on deck and observing had any idea that we might be attacked. Only that the British ship was displaying rude behavior unjustified by any action of our own. I leaned forward, the better to hear Barron as he listed the reasons why none of the supposed “warnings” held any significance to him. Including the constant inferences that we had sailed with deserters from the British navy in the ship.
“It has been alleged by several witness that I knew, along with Captain Gordon, that we carried British deserters. That is, in part, true. I believe, gentlemen, that it is safe to conjecture that every ship sailing under an American flag, merchant or Navy, carries several deserters from the Royal Navy; in most cases, I believe it is equally safe to conjecture that that Royal Navy has abandoned all pretensions to these alleged deserters. That they stop our merchants to press American and, in some cases British, sea-men can not be interpreted as any attempt to regain their own deserters in spite of their claims to the contrary. All too often it is proven that the very men they remove are, in fact, Americans, born and bred, who had never set foot upon the decks of a British man-o’-war.
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