The war had no more than begun when the question of peace was being
considered. The United States had gone to war for two causes: the
“Orders in Council” which bore so heavily upon our shipping; and the
impressment of our seamen. The former were revoked on June 23d, five
days after the declaration of war by Congress; peace was to be made
without even a mention of the latter.
Actual steps toward peace were taken through Russia even as early as
September, 1812. The whole is a long story, but on November 4th a
direct negotiation was offered by England which was accepted by the
United States on January 5, 1814, and commissioners were appointed,
with Ghent as the place of meeting. It is well that action was thus
early, for by April Great Britain’s hands were largely free in Europe,
and she could turn her efforts more freely upon America, and this
she did in the expedition against Louisiana (which was to end in
almost unequalled disaster), and in the abortive invasion turned back
by Macdonough’s victory. The British state of mind was expressed in
a letter from Gallatin, then in London, to Monroe, the Secretary of
State: “You may rest assured,” he said, “of the general hostile spirit
of this nation, and of its wish to inflict serious injury upon the
United States; that no resistance can be expected from Europe; and that
no better terms will be obtained than the _status ante bellum_.” And
so it turned out. On Christmas Eve, 1814, peace was signed, and though
impressment was ignored, it was never again to be attempted. Nor was
there cause, for there was not to be a naval war upon the ocean in
which Britain was to be engaged for a hundred years.
Before hostilities on the water came to an end there were, however, to
be several notable naval events, one of the most remarkable being the
defence on September 26, 1814, of the privateer _General Armstrong_,
Captain Reid, at Fayal, Azores, against a boat attack from three
British ships, the _Plantagenet_, 74; _Rota_, 38; and _Carnation_, 18.
The British were repulsed with the loss of 34 killed and 86 wounded.
The next day the _Carnation_ stood in to attack alone, and was driven
off; but with a 74 present besides two other ships, the question of
saving the little vessel was hopeless, and she was scuttled, the crew
escaping ashore.
In those days news travelled slowly, and thus it was that after the
peace the _President_, one of a squadron under Commodore Decatur,
separated from her consorts, was captured, after she had driven off
the _Endymion_ frigate, by the squadron accompanying the latter.
On February 20, 1815, the _Cyane_ and _Levant_, sloops-of-war,
were captured in a night action, 300 miles from Madeira, by the
_Constitution_, Captain Stewart, who was to be the instrument of
trouble many years after to Britain, through his grandfatherhood of
Charles Stewart Parnell.
This action was remarkable for the brilliant handling of Stewart’s
ship. The _Levant_ was recaptured by a British squadron at Porto Praya,
in the Cape Verdes, where she had taken refuge against the British
squadron, which had vainly chased the _Constitution_. It was another
instance, added to those of the _Essex_ and the _General Armstrong_,
of the disregard of the English of a neutrality so highly esteemed in
these latter days.
The capture, on March 23d, of the British _Penguin_ by the _Hornet_,
Captain Biddle, of equal force, was the last real action of the war,
that of the _Peacock_ and British _Nautilus_ in the Indian Ocean on
June 30th, on account of the former’s superiority in force, not calling
for any but mere mention.
But the history of the War of 1812 cannot close without mention of
the crowning victory on land, New Orleans, on January 8, 1815. In
this, perhaps the severest and completest repulse ever suffered by a
British army, the navy bore a most important part, for by its efforts
was prevented the flanking of General Jackson’s force from the river.
The naval vessels, the _Louisiana_, with Commodore Patterson, and the
_Caroline_, Lieutenant J. D. Henley, controlled the river situation on
the British left flank until the latter was burned by hot shot from
the British trenches. The _Louisiana_ then shifted to cover Jackson’s
right. The situation forced the British to transport siege pieces from
the fleet, seventy miles away; this gave time for Jackson to strengthen
his position and time for reinforcements to join him. The _Louisiana’s_
guns were now landed and a battery established which would flank the
newly established British battery as well as their attacking columns;
the result was the destruction of the British battery soon after it
had opened fire. The British move, on the day of the main attack, to
capture the _Louisiana’s_ battery on the right bank of the river, was
finally successful through the flight of the supporting militia, but
it was too late; the naval battery had already assisted in the bloody
repulse of the main body, and there was nothing left to the capturing
party but withdrawal.[43]
The war was now ended. It had been a second War of Independence, which
had released America from the strong British influence which had
still obtained and had established a real national spirit. The world
recognized the birth of a new power upon the ocean, which the future
was to reckon with, though America herself was slow to accept her new
situation. We had, however, afloat in 1815, three line-of-battle ships,
the _Washington_, _Independence_, and _Franklin_, and in this year
we were to end, as has already been mentioned, our Barbary troubles
forever by the action of Decatur in command of the largest fleet
we were to have at sea for many years. We began a new life with a
self-respect which had needed a war for its revival.
There was one note at least of dissatisfaction over the peace. The
London _Times_, commenting in its issue of December 30, 1814, said:
“We have retired from the combat with the stripes yet bleeding on our
backs. Even yet, however, if we could but close the war with some
great naval triumph, the reputation of our maritime greatness might be
partially restored. But to say that it has not hitherto suffered in the
estimation of all Europe, and, what is worse, of America herself, is to
belie common sense and universal experience. ‘Two or three of our ships
have struck to a force vastly inferior!’ No; not two or three, but many
on the ocean and whole squadrons on the lakes; and the numbers are to
be viewed with relation to the comparative magnitude of the two navies.
Scarcely is there an American ship-of-war which has not to boast a
victory over the British flag; scarcely one British ship in thirty or
forty that has beaten an American. With the bravest seamen and the most
powerful navy in the world, we retire from the contest when the balance
of defeat is so heavily against us.”[44] And more defeats were yet to
come. Perhaps yet more would have come, for just as the war closed,
the first war-steamer to be built for over ten years, the _Fulton_,
was ready for sea. With a double hull of such thickness as to be
impervious to harm from any but the heaviest guns, moved by a wheel in
the middle which was protected from shot, it seems almost a pity that
she should not have been tried with her two 100-pound guns upon the
ships blockading New York. But even as it was America had good reason
to be well satisfied with the work of her navy.