William Burrows was born at Kenderton, near Philadelphia, on the 6th
of October, 1785. His father was wealthy, and not wishing to confine
the genius of his son to any particular pursuit, apprehending that his
wealth was amply sufficient to the support of his son in the style and
character of a gentleman, he was accordingly left principally to his
own guidance, dallying with books as he would with toys, regarding them
rather as matters of amusement than as objects of serious concern.
Knowing how essential to the character of a gentleman it was to become
familiar with the living languages, his father warmly exhorted him to
turn his attention to them; in this he but partially succeeded. To
the French language he betrayed an insurmountable reluctance. In the
acquisition of German, Burrows was more successful, and at the age of
thirteen years he could converse in that language with great fluency.
This may be considered as the broad outline of his early years, as far
as regards those pursuits which often have an important bearing in the
formation of the future character of the man. In a boy so amiable, so
retiring and reserved, little did his parents dream that the flame of
ambition had ignited that bosom, and was burning strong and intense.
This passion, which he had guarded with such scrupulous and jealous
care, was discovered by his father by an incident which afforded an
outlet to those passions which had so long occupied his musing and
solitary hours. He was receiving instructions in drawing, but none
seemed to arrest the attention of Burrows but the delineation of a ship
of war. With astonishment and regret his father discovered the cause
of his contemplations in retirement, and that indifference which he
discovered to his allotted studies and pursuits. He labored to give
his ambition another turn, but so deeply rooted was his passion for
ocean chivalry, that his efforts were unavailing; he, therefore, found
it best to lend his aid towards the gratification of a passion he was
incapable of repressing, and accordingly seconded his application to
the Secretary of the Navy for an appointment, and Burrows was appointed
a midshipman in November, 1799. He now devoted his hours to the study
of navigation, but the requisite proficiency could not be made in so
short a time, for in January, 1800, he received orders to repair on
board the sloop-of-war Portsmouth, Captain McNeil, bound to France.
The Portsmouth did not return to the United States for nearly a year.
Burrows now became sensible of the necessity of becoming better
acquainted with his preparatory studies, and obtained a furlough
for the purpose of applying himself to the science of navigation
with renewed ardor. From 1800 to 1803, he served on board different
ships of war, in cruises, some of a longer and some of a shorter
date, unimportant as far as regards the glory of the navy. This was,
notwithstanding, a necessary school, which prepared him for more
important services.
In the year 1803 he was transferred to the frigate Constitution,
bound to the Mediterranean, commanded by Commodore Preble. This
officer, famous for his sagacity in the discernment of character,
soon discovered in our young midshipman, under a cold and repelling
exterior, a character of noble and intrepid daring, waiting only a
proper season to burst forth in all its resplendence. Under these
impressions, Burrows was appointed an acting lieutenant, in which
character he served during the war with Tripoli. In 1807, Lieutenant
Burrows returned from the Mediterranean, and in the following year he
was attached to the Philadelphia station, and employed in the bay and
river Delaware, as commander of gun-boat No. 119. It became then his
duty to enforce a rigid observance of the embargo law. In a service
at once so delicate and invidious, he exhibited traits of character
by which he was enabled to make a painful duty an amusement. The
inhabitants found, while the laws of the Union were enforced, that this
was done from higher and more honorable motives than personal hostility
towards them. His moments of relaxation from duty were sedulously
devoted to the acquisition of their confidence and good-will, and
to render the obligations imposed upon him, by duty, less painful,
irritating and severe. Alternately preventing the least infractions of
the law, and then becoming, at their tables, a hospitable guest, he
was enabled to conciliate the esteem, while he rigidly enforced the
duties of his office. In 1809 he joined the President under Captain
Bainbridge. From this ship he was transferred to the sloop-of-war
Hornet, as first lieutenant, under Captain Hunt. In a dangerous and
heavy gale, his brother officers have reported that, by his superior
skill and intrepidity as an officer, the ship and the crew were both
preserved from what they deemed inevitable destruction. In 1812 he
found his circumstances were embarrassed, and that it was indispensable
to extricate himself in the best possible way. He accordingly
applied for a furlough, which was granted, and he went on board the
merchant-ship, Thomas Penrose, from Philadelphia, bound to Canton,
under the command of Captain Ansley. On the return passage the ship was
captured and carried into Barbadoes; Lieutenant Burrows arrived in the
United States in June, 1813.
Soon after his return, Lieutenant Burrows took the command of the
United States sloop-of-war Enterprise, and left the harbor of
Portsmouth, New Hampshire, on the 5th of September. On the following
day he fell in with his Britannic majesty’s brig Boxer, mounting
sixteen eighteen pound carronades and two long nine pounders. The Boxer
fired a shot as a challenge, hoisted English colors, and immediately
bore down upon the Enterprise. The American vessel was now employed
in tacking and making preparations for action. Having obtained the
weather-gage, she manœuvred for some time to try her sailing, and to
ascertain the force of her antagonist. At length she shortened sail,
hoisted three ensigns, and fired three shot in answer to the challenge.
The action now grew warm; the Boxer bore within half-pistol shot of the
Enterprise, and, giving three cheers, fired her starboard broadside.
She was answered by three cheers and a larboard broadside from the
Enterprise, and the action became general.
The Enterprise, having the advantage of the wind, ranged ahead of
her enemy, rounded to on the larboard tack, and commenced a raking
broadside. The enemy’s main-topsail and topsail yards came down, and
the Enterprise, taking a position on the starboard bow of the Boxer,
and opening a raking fire, compelled the enemy to cry for quarter.
Their colors were nailed to the mast and could not be hauled down.
This action lasted for forty-five minutes, during which time the Boxer
received much damage in sails, rigging, spars and hull. The Enterprise
had but one eighteen pound shot in her hull, one in her main-mast, and
one in her fore-mast. Her sails were much cut with grape shot, and a
great number of grape were lodged in her side. The Boxer had twenty
eighteen pound shot in her hull, most of them at the water’s edge, with
several stands of eighteen pound grape in her side. Lieutenant M’Call
states our loss to have been four killed, and ten wounded.
The number killed on board the Boxer is uncertain. The same officer
states, from the best information which he was able to procure, that
there were, of the enemy, between twenty and twenty-five killed, and
fourteen wounded.
At the very first fire, Lieutenant Burrows was mortally wounded by a
musket ball. He refused, notwithstanding, to be carried below, and
during the whole of the action his life’s blood was streaming on the
deck. With his dying lips he requested that the flag might never be
struck. When the sword of his gallant enemy was presented to him, he
clasped his hands together, and exclaimed, “I am satisfied! I die
contented!” He was then carried below, and expired shortly after. The
bodies of Captain Blyth of the Boxer, and of Lieutenant Burrows, were
conveyed to Portland and interred at the same time with all the honors
due to their rank and character. Having paid the debt which they owed
to their respective countries, they now slumber side by side, awaiting
the day of the resurrection together. The following resolution was
unanimously passed by both houses of Congress.
“_Resolved_, by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United
States of America, in Congress assembled:
“That the President of the United States be requested to present
to the nearest male relative of Lieutenant Burrows, of the brig
Enterprise, a _gold medal_, (_see_ Plate XI.,) with suitable emblems
and devices, in testimony of the high sense entertained by Congress,
of the gallantry and good conduct of the officers and crew, in the
conflict with the British sloop Boxer, on the 4th of September, 1813.”
It is rare to find a character more distinctly defined than that of
Lieutenant Burrows. He could accommodate himself to the circumstances
in which he was placed, and suspend the exercise of a darling passion,
when the season would not admit of its indulgence. His heroism
maintained a long and obstinate contest with the king of terrors, and
he was only cold and insensible to the charms of glory, when he was
invested with the coldness and insensibility of death. It is much to
be lamented that no likeness of this distinguished young officer now
exists. The mind, in cases like the present, labors to supply the
defect, and to form for itself a sort of sensible image, for we never
read of high and illustrious actions without associating them with a
body.