A Hero of the Olden Days--Cruise of the _Constitution_--Her Capture of
the _Cyane_ and _Levant_--Reminiscences of Admiral Stewart--His Last
Days.
During the early days of President Lincoln's administration, before the
firing upon Fort Sumter by the Confederates, the all-absorbing question
was as to whether or not the fort should be reinforced by the
Government. A good many opposed, because it was known that the attempt
would bring on a conflict, and, if war was to come, each was anxious
that the other side should strike the first blow.
It was amid those times of excitement, doubt and trouble that Commodore
Charles Stewart left his modest home near Bordentown, N.J., and went by
train to Washington. From the station he made his way straight to the
White House and sent in his name to President Lincoln. As usual, the
Executive had a swarm of visitors, but he directed the distinguished
caller to be admitted at once. As the tall, sad-faced man rose from his
chair he towered fully two feet above the diminutive form of the naval
officer in his blue swallow-tail, who took the proffered hand, and,
after a few conventional words, looked up and said in his brisk manner:
"Mr. President, I'll reinforce Fort Sumter."
"You, Commodore! We are just discussing the question."
"There's no need of discussing it; it must be done! Give me the men and
ships--there won't be many required--and I'll do it."
The President saw that his caller was in earnest, and he respected him
too highly to indulge in anything like jesting.
"I am inclined to think as you do, Commodore, but--"
"But _what_?" impatiently interrupted the veteran.
"You have already done so much for your country that it seems only fair
that we should give the younger men a chance."
"Younger men! What's the matter with me? I'm not old enough yet to need
a cane."
"I observe that; you are wonderfully spry for one of your years. Let me
see, what _is_ your age?"
"Not quite eighty-four."
"Why, you are still a young man; but the trouble is, Commodore, we have
so many that are still younger, that they are plaguing the life out of
me; I don't see how I can refuse them, but I shall be grateful to have
the benefit of your counsel any time you are willing to give it."
[Illustration: THE BOMBARDMENT OF FORT SUMTER.]
"Counsel be hanged! We have had too much _talk_; it's time for actions,
and I demand that you give me a chance with the rest."
With that inimitable tact for which President Lincoln was noted, he
succeeded in soothing the ruffled feelings of the Commodore (soon
afterward made an admiral), but the old gentleman was not quite
satisfied, when he bade the President good-by, without having obtained
the opportunity to re-enter the active service of his country.
This little anecdote, which is authentic, may serve to introduce my last
references to one of the most remarkable naval heroes of our country. If
his fire, vigor and patriotism burned so brightly in 1861, little need
be said in way of explanation of its nature when he was less than forty
years of age.
Captain Stewart came back from a cruise in the West Indies in the spring
of 1814, and found the _Constitution_, "Old Ironsides," closely
blockaded by a powerful British squadron. That remarkable frigate had
already won such a reputation that the enemy were determined she should
not get to sea again. They held her locked in the port for months, but
despite their unceasing vigilance, Captain Stewart, who was a consummate
seaman, slipped out in December and sailed away.
He made several captures, and the frigates of the enemy began an
industrious search for him, while all the lesser craft strained every
nerve to keep out of his way. On the 20th of February, 1815, when off
the coast of South America, he gave chase to two of the enemy's vessels,
one of which proved to be the _Cyane_ and the other the _Levant_. The
two together carried 55 guns and 313 men, while the _Constitution_ had
51 guns and a crew of 456 men. The _Cyane_ was properly a frigate, and
she being at the rear, Stewart opened fire from the long guns of his
port battery. The response from the starboard guns of the enemy was
prompt, and for a time the cannonade was deafening. The _Constitution_
gave most of her attention to the rear ship. The smoke around the
American becoming so dense as to cloud the vision, Stewart slipped
forward and quickly delivered a double-shotted broadside. Before it
could be repeated the other ship attempted to gain a raking position
across the stern of the _Constitution_. By a splendid manoeuvre,
Stewart defeated the purpose, and, placing himself abreast the rear
ship, delivered another destructive broadside before the more sluggish
enemy comprehended their danger. He maintained his tremendous fire for a
time, when he observed the other ship luffing across his course to
secure a raking position, whereupon, with the same unsurpassable
seamanship that he had shown from the first, he crossed the wake of the
foremost ship and obtained a raking position himself. Before the vessel
could extricate itself Stewart raked her twice. Then the second ship
repeated the attempt of its consort, but Stewart not only defeated her,
but again laid the _Constitution_ so as to rake her.
In the manoeuvring the two ships drew up side by side, and, the enemy
opening with the port battery, Stewart replied with his starboard guns.
The fire of the American was so amazingly accurate and effective that in
a short time the enemy hoisted a light and fired a gun in token of
surrender. The battle occurred in the early hours of evening.
Upon sending an officer to take possession, it was found that the
captured vessel was the English 32-gun frigate _Cyane_. It took an hour
to transfer and secure the prisoners, when the _Constitution_ started
after the other ship, which was some distance away, engaged in repairing
her rigging. Seeing the American approaching, and not knowing what fate
had befallen her consort, the Englishman gallantly bore down to meet his
formidable enemy. The two vessels passed each other and exchanged
broadsides, but with another display of masterly seamanship Stewart,
before the other was aware of her danger, crossed her wake and raked
her.
This startling experience convinced the Englishman that he had met his
master and he crowded on all sail in the desperate effort to escape. The
_Constitution_ was immediately after her, and by ten o'clock secured a
position from which to deliver another of her terrible broadsides,
seeing which the enemy surrendered. She proved to be the British sloop
of war _Levant_, of 21 guns.
In this battle the _Constitution_ had 4 killed and 10 wounded, while on
the _Cyane_ and _Levant_ 35 were killed and 42 wounded. Of all the
battles in which this famous ship was engaged, there was none more
remarkable than this. When Stewart advanced to the attack he believed
both his enemies were frigates. The manner in which he baffled every
effort of the two to rake him, while he repeatedly raked them, was one
of the many proofs that the American navy contained no finer seaman than
he. The grand old _Constitution_ seemed to anticipate every wish of her
commander and responded with a promptness that could not have been
surpassed. The discipline of the crew was perfect, and, after all,
therefore, it is little wonder that one of the last acts of the famous
ship was the most brilliant of them all.
It is stated by Richard Watson Gilder that when Captain Stewart was
talking with the respective captains of the _Cyane_ and _Levant_ in his
own cabin, the two fell into a dispute, each charging the other with
failing to do the right thing during the engagement, and insisting that
if it had been done they would not have been defeated. Stewart sat
amused and interested until he saw they were becoming angry, when he
interfered.
"Now, gentlemen," said he, "there's no need of your growing warm over
this affair; no matter what evolutions you made, or what you did, the
end would have been the same. If you don't believe it, I will put each
of you back on your ship with the same crews and we'll fight it all over
again."
Neither of the gentlemen was prepared to accept this proposal, and there
can be no doubt that Captain Stewart was warranted in his declaration,
and his prisoners knew it.
Stewart started for home with his prizes, and early in March anchored in
Port Praya. While there, three powerful British frigates approached,
which, through a series of singular coincidences, were blockading Boston
at the time the _Constitution_ made her escape some months before. They
were anxious, above everything else, to capture the most dreaded ship
in the American navy. Stewart knew that his only chance was to get away
before they shut him in, for the experience of the _Essex_ at Valparaiso
proved that the neutrality of no port would protect an American cruiser.
Accordingly, he lost no time in getting to sea, leaving with the utmost
haste and signalling to the _Cyane_ and _Levant_ to follow. They obeyed,
and were handled with such skill that all got to sea, with the squadron
in hot pursuit. The chase was continued for a long time, with the
remarkable result that both the _Constitution_ and _Cyane_ safely
reached Boston, while the _Levant_ was recaptured--a small reward for
the exertions of the British squadron.
Maclay says: "In this brilliant cruise Captain Stewart proved himself an
officer of rare ability. His action with the _Cyane_ and _Levant_, and
his masterly escape from the British squadron, called for all the
qualities of a great commander, while his unhesitating attack on what
appeared, in the heavy weather, to be two frigates, the beautiful style
in which the _Constitution_ was put through the most difficult
manoeuvres, and the neatness with which he captured a superior force,
have ranked him as one of the most remarkable naval officers of his day.
Congress awarded him a sword and gold medal."
It happened one day, when I was talking with Admiral Stewart at his
home, that he showed me a Toledo sword which had been presented to him
by the King of Spain, because of his rescue of a Spanish ship, drifting
helplessly in mid ocean, with the captain and all the crew dead or
prostrated by yellow fever.
The blade of the weapon, although quite plain and ordinary looking, of
course was very valuable, but the hilt was so rough and crude that I
expressed my surprise.
"I supposed that when a king makes a present of a sword," I said, "that
the hilt is generally of a more costly pattern than that."
"So it is," replied Stewart, accepting it from me and playfully making a
few lightning-like passes in the air just to show that he had not
forgotten how to handle the weapon; "that was a very handsome sword when
it came to me, and I could not accept it until authorized by Congress.
During my fight with the _Cyane_ and _Levant_ I was walking back and
forth with this sword under my arm, the hilt slightly projecting in
front of my chest, when a grapeshot slipped it off, as it grazed me. The
hilt which it now has was put there by my gunner."
"Were you ever wounded in battle?" I asked. "I was struck only once,
and it amounted to nothing. It was in the same battle. A pigeon became
so frightened by the smoke and racket that it flew hither and thither,
and finally perched on my shoulder. While there a musket ball struck its
claw at the junction of the toes with the leg, and entered my shoulder.
The resistance it met was so tough that it saved my shoulder from being
shattered; except for that, the hurt must have proved serious, but it
did not bother me at all."
The Admiral, still loosely holding the weapon in his hand, turned his
faded eyes toward the window and gazed out over the snow. Those eyes
seemed to look backward over the vista of forty, fifty, sixty, seventy,
eighty years, and must have recalled the many stirring scenes in which
he had taken part, as well as the faces of the brave fellows, like
himself, who had gone from earth long ago, leaving him alone. Then the
old veteran, still erect and with the fires of patriotism glowing in his
brave heart, softly murmured:
"I have been more fortunate than I deserve; strange that I should be the
only one left, but it cannot be for long."
And yet he lived for seven more years. Then, when a scirrhus cancer
appeared on his tongue, a skilful surgeon told him it could be easily
removed and need cause him no trouble.
"Oh," said the Admiral, who was then past ninety, "I've lived long
enough; let it alone."
He died a few months later, and, as has been stated, was in his
ninety-second year.