There were three important and epoch-making events in the war: the
victory of the _Constitution_ over the _Guerrière_, the battle of Lake
Erie, and the battle of Lake Champlain. Each of these was of such
immense importance that they overshadow all others, picturesque and
striking as others were.
The administration had at first only considered the laying up of our
ships, but the indignant protests of our naval officers caused another
course. The first ships to get to sea were those at New York: the
_President_, 44, Commodore Rodgers; the _Essex_, 32, Captain David
Porter; and the _Hornet_, 18, Master Commandant Lawrence. These were
joined down the bay on June 21st by the _United States_, 44, Commodore
Decatur; and the _Congress_, 36, Lieutenant Commandant Sinclair from
Norfolk. All except the _Essex_, which was overhauling her rigging, got
to sea on the 21st, immediately after the reception of the declaration
of war, and stood southeast to intercept a reported fleet of West
Indiamen. On June 23d, however, a frigate, later known to be the
_Belvidera_, was sighted and chased. On nearing her, Rodgers himself
went forward to direct the firing, and at 4:30 he fired the starboard
forecastle gun, the first shot of the war. The next gun was fired from
the main deck by the officer of the division, and a third was fired
by Rodgers. The three shots had all struck the chase, killing and
wounding seven men. A fourth was now fired from the main deck. This
gun burst, lifting the forecastle deck, killing and wounding sixteen
men. Among the latter was Rodgers, who was thrown into the air and in
falling broke his leg. The forward guns being thrown out of action, the
_President_ was obliged to yaw from time to time to bring her broadside
guns to bear. This gave the chase an advantage which was added to by
her throwing overboard boats and anchors and fourteen tons of water. By
midnight she was out of danger. The _President_ does not seem to have
been handled as well as she might have been, but account must be taken
of the very serious accident aboard and of the injury to the commodore.
The _Belvidera’s_ fire killed and wounded six of the _President’s_
crew. She was well handled and her captain, Richard Byron, deserves
marked credit for his escape. Rodgers continued his cruise in pursuit
of the West Indiaman as far as the entrance to the English Channel,
but by August 31st was in Boston, having made but seven prizes and one
recapture.
The _Essex_ did not leave New York until June 23d. The ship carried,
mostly, only carronades which were totally inefficient except at close
quarters. This fact placed her at a great disadvantage when in meeting
a convoy of troops she was unable to bring to action the convoying
frigate. She cut out, however, one ship with 197 soldiers aboard.
But on August 13th she captured the sloop-of-war, _Alert_, of twenty
18-pounder carronades, the first man-of-war prize of the war. The
_Essex_ returned to New York on September 7th, having taken ten prizes
and 423 prisoners.
The _Constitution_, Captain Hull, had returned, just before the
outbreak of the war, from Europe where she had been sent to pay the
interest on our Dutch loan. She shipped a new crew, and on July 12th
sailed from Annapolis. On the 17th when off the Virginia coast, and
barely out of sight of land, six vessels were discovered, one of which,
as it turned out, and much the nearest, being the _Guerrière_. The
next morning, the weather almost calm, there were four frigates, a
ship-of-the-line, and a brig and a schooner just out of gunshot; the
two last were prizes. There then ensued a chase famous in American
naval annals for the admirable way in which the _Constitution_ was
handled, and for her success. She hoisted out her boats in the calm
and towed; the enemy put the boats of two ships to tow the headmost.
Their advantage was overcome by Hull’s using all the cordage of the
ship available for such a purpose in running a kedge ahead nearly
half a mile and hauling in upon the hawser. The kedges thus employed
caused the _Constitution_ to gain largely until the enemy discovered
the method and himself applied it. For two days this most exciting and
exhausting chase continued. On the evening of the 20th there was a
heavy squall, which was utilized by Hull with the utmost judgment and
during which a large gain in distance was made. On its clearing away
all apprehension ended; all but two of the frigates were far distant
and most of the fleet hull down. At 8:15 next morning the English gave
up the chase, thus ending as exciting three days and nights as any of
the war. The admirable manner in which the _Constitution_ was handled
has ever been the admiration of seamen.
The _Constitution_ went into Boston, but Hull, fearing orders for
detachment, which in fact were on the way from Washington, hurried
to sea again on August 2d. On the 19th, at a point some 400 miles
southeast of Halifax, he met the British frigate, _Guerrière_, Captain
Dacres. The latter on the _Constitution’s_ near approach lay-to with
her maintopsail to the mast, showing her willingness to engage. The
battle began a little after 6:00 P.M., and before seven the _Guerrière_
was dismasted and in a sinking condition. Her crew was taken off; she
was set afire, and in a quarter of an hour blew up. The _Constitution_
was practically uninjured and in a few hours could have gone into
action again. She was, it is true, the heavier ship, with thirty
24-pounders against the _Guerrière’s_ thirty 18’s, and twenty-four
32-pounder carronades against the _Guerrière’s_ sixteen; and a total
of 55 guns and 468 men against the _Guerrière’s_ 49 guns and 272 men,
but the injury was entirely disproportionate. The _Guerrière_ had
seventy-nine men killed and wounded. The _Constitution_ had seven
killed and seven wounded. The _Guerrière_ lost every mast and her hull
was so riddled that she could not be carried into port. So little was
the _Constitution_ injured that in the same evening all damage was
repaired and another ship, supposedly an enemy, which appeared at 2:00
A.M., sheered off.
The ships were not markedly different in size, the _Constitution_ being
1,576 tons American measurement, the _Guerrière_ 1,338 British. But by
the latter the _Constitution_ would have been but 1,426. The difference
in size and force, however, was a small matter considering the fact
that before the outbreak of the war it was confidently affirmed that
British sloops-of-war would lie alongside American frigates with
impunity.
The capture of the _Guerrière_ by the _Constitution_ is a great
landmark in our history--a second “shot heard round the world.” It was
not simply the taking of a British frigate; it was a second declaration
of American independence. We had so long been called spaniels and curs
in the British press; we had so long submitted basely (the word is none
too strong to describe our administration of the Jeffersonian period);
there had become so strongly entrenched in the British and French mind
that we would submit to any insult so long as our ships might sail,
even at the cost of the immense toll they took of them, that our going
to war was considered impossible. New England, the chief sufferer, was
in a dangerous spirit which threatened secession. All this changed
instantly when the news spread from town to town, from farm to farm.
The Americans became another people. It revived the dormant spirit
of nationality and gave a deathblow to the disunionist spirit of
the period. How it permeated the soul of the country was shown in a
remarkable way at the death of a lady of the Adams family in 1903.
Born in 1808, she was but four years old at the time of the battle,
but so vividly had the exultation of her elders been impressed upon
the child’s mind, that on the day of her death, more than ninety years
after, her mind reverted to but one thought, the most deeply impressed
of her childhood. In tremulous tones, though otherwise apparently
unconscious, she kept repeating through this last day of her life the
expression of her elders in 1812: “Thank God for Hull’s victory.”[30]
Nothing could show more strongly the immensity of exultation and
relief. The _Constitution_ was to have other victories, was to come
unscathed through the war, and was for many years to carry our flag
in honor in many seas; but this victory alone should enshrine the ship
in the hearts of all true Americans as an instrument which went far to
preserve this Union and its government. Fortunately, through Oliver
Wendell Holmes’s noble poem, she still remains, honored in her old age,
a glorious memory of victory in a noble cause.
* * * * *
On October 18th the sloop-of-war _Wasp_, of 18 guns and 135 men,
commanded by Captain Jacob Jones, captured the British brig _Frolic_,
of 19 guns and 110 men. The first lieutenant, Biddle, who had gallantly
led the boarders, hauled down the _Frolic’s_ flag at 12:15, forty-three
minutes after the beginning of the action. Almost at once afterward
both of the _Frolic’s_ masts went by the board. Not twenty of her men
had escaped unhurt. Every officer was wounded, and the first lieutenant
and master died soon after. Her total loss was thus ninety killed and
wounded. Says the distinguished French Admiral Jurien de la Gravière,
commenting on this action: “On occasions when the roughness of the
sea would seem to render all aim excessively uncertain the effects
of [the American] artillery were not less murderous than under more
advantageous conditions.” Unfortunately, a little later, the British
_Poictiers_, 74, came in sight, and the _Wasp_ not only had to yield
her capture but was herself carried a prize into Bermuda, where Jones
and his men were later exchanged. Captain Jones was promoted to the
command of the _Macedonian_, which had been captured by the _United
States_ only a week after the _Wasp’s_ own brilliant action.
The _United States_ and _Argus_, under Commodore Decatur, had left
Boston on October 8th in company with Commodore Rodgers, commanding
the _President_ and the _Congress_. The latter was successful in
making one valuable prize and eight others of but small value, and
reëntered Boston on December 31st. Decatur had separated from Rodgers’s
command on October 12th, and on the 18th, about 500 miles south by
west of the Azores, he met the frigate _Macedonian_, of 49 guns and
301 men, commanded by Captain Richard Carden. There was about the same
difference in force as between the _Constitution_ and _Guerrière_ and
about the same in destruction. The _Macedonian_ had forty-three killed
and mortally wounded, and sixty-one wounded; the _United States_ had
a lieutenant and six seamen killed or mortally wounded, and five
wounded. The action lasted an hour and a half. The _Macedonian_ had
received over a hundred shot in the hull, her mizzenmast had gone by
the board, and her fore and maintopmasts at the cap. Her rigging was
badly cut and many of her guns had been dismounted. On the other hand,
the _United States_ had suffered no injuries which could not at once
be repaired. It was clear that the American gunnery was immensely
superior, though the _Macedonian_ had been regarded a crack ship. The
British ship had on board eight impressed Americans. These, though
objecting to fighting their countrymen, were obliged to stay at the
guns, and three were killed.
Fortunately the damages to the _Macedonian_ were not so severe that she
had to be destroyed; convoyed by the _United States_, she was carried
into New London, reaching there on December 4th.
On October 26, 1812, Commodore Bainbridge sailed from Boston with the
_Constitution_, which he personally commanded, and the _Hornet_, 18,
Captain Lawrence. The _Essex_, under Captain David Porter, was also
to be part of Bainbridge’s squadron, but she was in the Delaware and
did not get to sea until two days after Bainbridge left Boston. In
anticipation of a long cruise, the ship carried an unusual number of
both officers and men. Very unfortunately, she had to retain, against
Porter’s protest, a battery of short-range carronades with but six
long 12-pounders. She was given the island of Fernando de Noronha, off
Brazil, as a rendezvous. She was not to meet her consorts, but to have
adventures of her own of a very remarkable character.
Bainbridge, touching at Fernando de Noronha, went into Bahia, Brazil,
and found there a British sloop-of-war of the same force as the
_Hornet_. Lawrence challenged her captain to a fight, pledging that
the _Constitution_ would not interfere. The challenge, however, was
not accepted, among the reasons being that the _Bonne Citoyenne_
had on board £500,000 in species. Bainbridge, leaving the _Hornet_
to watch the British ship, went to sea. December 29th, being still
near Bahia, he sighted two ships: one turned out to be the frigate
_Java_; the other a captured ship, the _William_, in company. The
latter was directed to go into Bahia and the _Java_ stood toward the
_Constitution_. The latter stood off to get clear of the land, in
plain view, and thus get out of neutral waters. There was a mutual
readiness to engage. The _Java_ came down with a light free wind,
furling her mainsail and royals. The _Constitution_, with royal yards
aloft, and which she carried throughout the battle, was under about
the same canvas. The firing began at 2:00 P.M., with a shot at long
range from the _Constitution_, but the two ships quickly neared to
pistol range. They approached so near that they were less than 600
feet apart. The _Java_ was being so much cut up aloft that an attempt
was made to board, but during this the _Constitution_ poured in a most
destructive raking fire (i. e., lengthwise of the enemy), bringing down
the _Java’s_ maintopmast and cutting away the foremast just under the
foretop. The attempt to board failed, the ships fell apart and began
anew as furiously as ever. Captain Lambert of the _Java_ was killed
and the ship continued to be fought gallantly by her first lieutenant,
Chads, who was already wounded. But the British, with the wreck of the
maintopmast with its hamper over the side, the foretopmast gone, and a
little later the mizzenmast and what remained of the foremast, could
do no more; the _Java’s_ guns were completely silenced. At 4:05, the
_Java’s_ flag being shot away, Bainbridge thought she had struck. He
then hauled by the wind and crossed the _Java’s_ bows. The latter’s
mainmast fell, leaving her a complete wreck. The _Constitution_ went
to windward, spent an hour in repairing the very moderate damages to
her rigging, and then again stood down for her enemy, whose flag had
again been shown. This, of course, meant nothing in such circumstances,
and as soon as the _Constitution_ stood across her bows it was struck.
The _Constitution_, after her repairs of an hour, was now again, in
naval language, all ataunto. Her loss had been eight seamen and one
marine killed; the fifth lieutenant, John C. Aylwin, and two seamen
mortally wounded; Commodore Bainbridge and twelve seamen severely
wounded; seven seamen and two marines slightly wounded; a total killed
and wounded of thirty-four.
The _Java_ had been cut to pieces; “she was a riddled and entirely
dismasted hulk.” She lost her captain and five midshipmen killed or
mortally wounded, and six officers and four midshipmen wounded. Her
total loss was forty-eight killed and one hundred and two wounded.[31]
The two ships were not very unequal in force, the _Constitution_ being
about 10 per cent. stronger in weight of gunfire and with about 10
per cent. more men. The larger number of men aboard the _Java_ than
she usually carried was due to her having on board men for some other
ships. Both ships were handled with remarkable skill and coolness, but
the American gunnery had shown itself enormously superior. It had so
wrecked the _Java_ that Bainbridge, now 5,000 miles from home and on
an unfriendly coast, gave up the idea of attempting to save the ship.
He lay by for several days removing the wounded and saving the effects
of the crew. The _Java_ was then blown up, and the _Constitution_ went
into Bahia and paroled the _Java’s_ officers and crew.
“Our gallant enemy,” reported Lieutenant Chads, “has treated us most
generously,” and Lieutenant-General Hislop who with his staff were
passengers in the _Java_ for the East, presented Commodore Bainbridge
with a very handsome sword as a token of gratitude for the kindness
with which he had treated the prisoners.[32]
Bainbridge, his ship needing repairs after a long period of service
which had begun before the war, sailed from Bahia on January 6, 1813,
and reached Boston February 27th, having been absent 119 days. The
_Hornet_ had been left at Bahia observing the _Bonne Citoyenne_, but
the arrival of the _Montagu_, 74, relieved the captain of the British
sloop-of-war from risking his ship and treasure. The _Hornet_, on the
_Montagu’s_ arrival, put to sea late in the evening unmolested.
The war had now lasted six months, and instead of the little American
navy being swept from the sea, it had been a David to smite a Goliath.
The capture of three British frigates in the three successive combats
stirred Britain to the quick. Said the _Pilot_ of London: “Five hundred
merchantmen [taken] and three frigates! Can this be true? Will the
English people read this unmoved? Any man who foretold such disasters
this day last year would have been treated as a madman or a traitor. He
would have been told that ere seven months had gone the American flag
would have been swept from the ocean, the American navy destroyed, and
the maritime arsenals of the United States reduced to ashes. Yet not
one of the American frigates has struck. They leave their ports when
they choose, and return when it suits their convenience. They cross the
Atlantic, they visit the West Indies, they come to the chops of the
Channel, they parade along the coast of South America. Nothing chases
them; nothing intercepts them--nay, nothing engages them but to yield
in triumph.”[33]