BROUGHT THE _MACEDONIAN_ INTO PORT
STORY OF THE SECOND FRIGATE DUEL OF THE WAR OF 1812--THE _MACEDONIAN_
WAS A NEW SHIP, AND HAD BEEN BUILT WITH A FULL KNOWLEDGE OF THE
YANKEE FRIGATES--WHIPPED, BUT NOT DESTROYED--ESTIMATING A CREW’S
SKILL BY THE NUMBER OF SHOTS THAT HIT--SUPPOSE THE ARMAMENTS OF
THE SHIPS HAD BEEN REVERSED--IMPRESSED AMERICANS KILLED WHEN
FORCED TO FIGHT AGAINST THEIR OWN FLAG--“THE NOBLEST SIGHT IN
NATUR’”--A FIRST-RATE FRIGATE, AS A PRIZE, BROUGHT HOME BY BRAVE
DECATUR--ENTHUSIASTIC CELEBRATIONS OF THE VICTORY THROUGHOUT THE
UNITED STATES.
Of all the battles between American and British ships there was none
so often discussed, and none so well remembered among American seamen,
previous to and even after the civil war, as that between the _United
States_, commanded by Captain Stephen Decatur, and the _Macedonian_,
commanded by Captain John Surnam Carden. And the reasons for this were
that it was a well-fought battle, the victory for the Americans was
well won, and the _Macedonian_ was brought into port, and for many
years she carried the Stars and Stripes proudly--flaunted the flag
in the faces of British officers in a hundred different parts of the
world, and at the last was sent to the Naval Academy at Annapolis,
where, as a practice ship for the midshipmen, she not only strengthened
their muscles and increased their knowledge, but she stirred their
patriotic souls in a way that no other ship could have done.
On October 8, 1812, Commander Rodgers sailed from Boston with the
_President_, the _United States_, the _Congress_, and the _Argus_,
but the squadron separated four days later, the _President_ and the
_Congress_ taking one course, and the _United States_ and the _Argus_
another. A little later still the _Argus_ held to an easterly course,
while the _United States_ headed away for a cruise between the Azores
and the Canary Islands.
Meantime the British frigate _Macedonian_, a ship that was built of
oak, and had been afloat less than two years, had sailed from England,
bound south, and in the course of her voyage put in at Madeira for a
supply of the wine that in those days was as popular among drinking
people as the sparkling French wine is in this. While there Captain
Carden heard that the American frigate _Essex_ was expected to cruise
between the Madeiras and the Canaries, to intercept British commerce,
and at this the _Macedonian_ was headed for that ground to capture the
audacious Yankee.
On Sunday morning, October 25, 1812, the _United States_ was cruising
along under easy sail about half-way between the Azores and the Canary
Islands. It was a beautiful day. A stiff southeasterly breeze swept
through the rigging. The sunlit sea was flecked over with racing
white-caps and purpled in broad fields wherever the shadows of the
fluffy clouds fell upon it. It was just the kind of a day when a good
seaman could handle a frigate as a yachtsman might handle a catboat.
Very early in the day a sail was seen broad off on the weather beam,
and it was not very long after this that the lookout observed that she
was making sail in chase of the _United States_. This stranger was the
_Macedonian_, and her master was coming down the wind with the hope
that he was to encounter the _Essex_ of which he had heard. As the
_Macedonian_ made sail in chase, the _United States_ made sail to meet
her. Private signals were made on the _Macedonian_, to see whether
it really was an enemy and as these were not answered, the crew were
called to quarters and the ship cleared for action.
[Illustration: Capture of the _Macedonian_.
_Victory obtained by the U. S. ship United States of 44 guns over
his Britannic Majesty’s ship Macedonian of 38 guns. The action
continued 90 minutes, in which the United States had 6 men killed, 7
wounded--the Macedonian had 36 killed, 68 wounded._
]
As the ships approached each other their manœuvres became of great
interest to seamen, but a landsman finds them hard to follow. This
much, however, is plain, the _Macedonian_ came down with the wind.
She could choose her own position. She might have closed with the
_United States_ and brought every gun into action. Her first lieutenant
wanted to do this, but her captain, either from the belief that he
was fighting the _Essex_, that had short guns only, or because he
was afraid the Yankee would luff up to windward of him, or both (the
accounts differ), chose to hold on a course almost parallel with the
_United States_, and fight at long range.
Meantime, Captain Decatur had been trying to get to windward, but found
the _Macedonian_ too swift and handy to permit that. So he spread his
colors from every peak, and prepared to fight where he must.
Soon after 9 o’clock, Captain Carden ordered three of his long guns
fired at the _United States_. The balls skipped over the long waves and
fell into the sea harmless. A manœuvre to close the interval between
the ships followed. A broadside from the _United States_ was fired
back. Most of these fell short, but one whistled over the Englishman.
Some minutes of silence followed, during which the Yankees luffed and
the Englishman sagged off from the wind, and then the range having been
found, the gunners stripped off their shirts, and bare-headed, or with
handkerchiefs tied to keep their hair from their eyes, they began to
work their long batteries.
For a half hour thereafter that was as hot a fight as two such frigates
ever made. So swiftly did the Yankees work their guns that, not only
did they envelope their ship in smoke faster than the smart wind
could blow it away, but they led the Englishmen to believe that the
_United States_ was actually on fire; and this word was passed along
the gun-deck of the _Macedonian_ to encourage the men. They cheered at
it--all but six or seven did--as they had cheered at every round of
their guns.
They thought they saw our ship in flame,
Which made them all huzza, sir;
But when the second broadside came
It made them hold their jaws, sir.
If the second broadside didn’t make them “hold their jaw” others did.
Their cheers were a mockery, and in a rapidly increasing number of
cases were turned to shrieks and groans. The Yankees, peering through
the sights of their long twenty-fours, were hulling the _Macedonian_ at
every round, in spite of wind and rocking waves.
[Illustration: Diagram of the BATTLE BETWEEN THE UNITED STATES AND
MACEDONIAN.
THE M.-M. CO.
NOTE.--The _Macedonian_ had the weather-gauge, and held it until
after losing her mizzen-mast at about 10.25 A.M., when the _United
States_ forged ahead, tacked about, and returned to find the
_Macedonian_ with fore and main top-masts gone, and ready to
surrender.
]
“Our men kept cheering with all their might,” said Samuel Leech
(quoted by Maclay) who was one of the _Macedonian’s_ crew. “I cheered
with them, though I confess I scarcely knew what for. Grape-shot and
canister were pouring through our port-holes like leaden hail; the
large shot came against the ship’s side, shaking her to the very keel,
and passing through her timbers and scattering terrific splinters,
which did more appalling work than the shot itself.
“The slaughter among the boys of the _Macedonian_ was one of the most
painful incidents of the battle. One of the lads supplying the sixth
and seventh guns had his leg taken off by a cannon-shot, while the
other was struck in the ankle by a grape-shot, and had to have the leg
amputated. A Portuguese boy who was supplying the quarter-deck guns had
nearly all the flesh on his face burned off by an accidental explosion
of the cartridge (bag of powder) he was carrying, and as the agonized
lad lifted both hands, as if imploring relief, a cannon shot cut him in
two.
“A man named Aldrich had his hand taken off by a shot, and the next
instant another tore open his bowels in a horrible manner. Two or three
of his ship-mates caught him as he fell, and threw him overboard while
he was yet alive.
“Some of the men were so dreadfully mangled with splinters that the
surgeon pronounced their cases hopeless, and they were taken on deck
and thrown into the sea, where their groans, prayers, or imprecations
were quickly hushed by the surging waters.”
Over on the _United States_, matters were in no wise gloomy. One of the
boys, the son of a sailor, who had died in the ship, who was so young
that his name had not been put on the register of the crew, went to
Captain Decatur before the battle began and asked that it be added to
the list, regardless of his age. When asked why he was so urgent, he
said:
“So as I can draw my share of the prize-money, sir,” he said. The
captain laughed at the lad’s confidence in the ship, and ordered it
done. His name was John Kreamer, and he eventually reached the rank of
lieutenant.
As the battle raged, Captain Decatur walked about the gun-deck to see
for himself how everyone was working. It is recorded that he stopped at
one gun, and said:
“Aim at that yellow streak along her side. Her spars and rigging are
going fast enough. She must have a little more hulling.”
[Illustration: Battle Between the _United States_ and the _Macedonian_.
_From an engraving by Duthie of the drawing by Chappel._]
A little further on he heard a gunner say to a crew-mate after the
_Macedonian’s_ mizzen-topmast fell:
“Hey, Bill. We have made a brig of her.”
“Take good aim, my lad, and she will be a sloop,” said Captain Decatur.
And a sloop she became very soon after, for her main-topmast followed
the mizzen.
The injury done to the British ship was in proportion to the number
of casualties among her crew. Hardly had the battle opened in earnest
before the mizzen-topmast was cut by a round shot, and came crashing
down before the wind, to fall with its weight of yards and rigging into
the maintop and so hold fast the braces of the main yards. But for
almost half an hour Captain Carden kept his ship off at long range. He
has been accused of “timidity or bad judgment” for doing so. Certainly
he was not timid, and as for his judgment it was simply that of the
British Lords of Admiralty. He and they really believed the long
eighteens of the _Macedonian_ were superior to the long twenty-fours
of the _United States_. When this belief was knocked out of him by the
twenty-four-pound arguments, so to speak, of the Yankees, he endeavored
to close in. This has been called rash, but that is not a fair word.
The case was desperate. He would surely be whipped where he was, and
there might be hope at short range. He grasped at this chance as his
duty demanded and the instincts of a brave man directed. Putting up his
helm, he headed for the _United States_, end on, and ordered boarders
to be called away. His men were as brave as he was. They responded with
cheers, and some who were wounded even came rushing forward. But their
courage was all in vain.
As the _Macedonian_ turned, the Yankees braced their main-yards aback
to hold the _United States_ in waiting for the enemy and blazed away
with a raking fire. The bow-guns of the _Macedonian_ were quickly
disabled and she luffed up and fired with her broadside guns as they
were brought to bear. But the Yankee filled away and luffed when she
did, and eased away again as she eased away, all the time delivering
a fire that was fearfully destructive to the British crew. Then, once
more the _Macedonian_ was luffed and this time a shot cut her lee
fore-brace and the yard at once swung around until the sails came
aback and threw the Englishman off to leeward in such a position and
at such close range that the Yankee gunners fairly swept her decks
with their projectiles from both short and long guns. Her fore-topmast
was cut away at the cap. The main-topmast followed. The lower masts
were slashed and splintered, and the rigging and sails were rendered
almost wholly useless. Only the foresail remained serviceable and that
was badly torn. Every gun on the forecastle was disabled, and all
but two on the quarter-deck were in like condition, while two of the
main-deck battery were destroyed. The _Macedonian_ had become a wreck,
wholly unable to continue the fight, and at 11 o’clock the _United
States_ ceased firing. She had lost her mizzen-topgallant-mast, but was
otherwise so little hurt that she had forged up across the bows of the
_Macedonian_ so far that no guns would bear.
At this Captain Decatur eased off to give his sails a good full, and
the British crew, seeing him do so, cheered. They supposed another
frigate might have appeared and that the _United States_ was running.
But their hopes were vain. The _United States_, having made swift
repairs to braces and other rigging, tacked about and came back to the
wrecked Englishman. Captain Carden called a council of his officers.
The impetuous Lieutenant David Hope urged that they fight till she
sank, but more sensible councils prevailed, and as the _United States_
ranged across the stern of the _Macedonian_ the Englishmen hauled down
their flag.
The battle had lasted one hour and a half all told, but the actual
fighting, excluding the earlier shots fired “more to test the distance
than to do injury,” lasted only an hour.
Seeing the enemy’s flag hauled down, Captain Decatur sent Lieutenant
John B. Nicholson to take charge of her, and afterward visited her
himself. It was a mournful state of affairs that they found, even
though they were flushed with victory. The officers and crews were
fairly well acquainted with each other, for the _Macedonian_ had been
in Norfolk before the war when the _United States_ was there and
several visits had been exchanged. Lieutenant Nicholson on going into
the ward-room found the surgeon at work there.
“How do you do, Doctor?” he said.
The surgeon looked up quickly at the sound of a familiar voice, and
then, recognizing the lieutenant, said:
“I have enough to do. You have made wretched work with us.”
And Captain Decatur, in writing of the scene when he first boarded her,
speaks of the “fragments of the dead scattered in every direction,
the decks slippery with blood, one continuous agonizing yell of the
wounded. A scene so horrible of my fellow-creatures, I assure you,
deprived me of very much of the pleasure of victory.”
[Illustration: The Battle Between the _United States_ and the
_Macedonian_.
(Drawn by a sailor who was on the _United States_.)
_From the original drawing at the Naval Academy, Annapolis._]
To add to the horror of the spectacle, some of the crew, taking
advantage of the inevitable disorder, broke into the spirits-room and
quickly got hilariously drunk. And so, singing and shouting and
screaming, they went reeling about the decks, falling and smearing
themselves with blood, and rising to sing and shout again in drunken
glee, until enough of the American crew had come to confine them.
Nor does that tell all that the victors found to stir their feelings.
Among the dead were two whose story must not be forgotten, for they
were impressed Americans. As the Stars and Stripes first fluttered
from the gaff of the _United States_ (before the battle began) seven
of the seamen of the _Macedonian_ asked permission to speak to the
captain. The following is a list of these men as literally copied
from the muster-roll of the _Macedonian_--copied after the battle,
of course--together with the name of one other man whose case was of
interest in like fashion:
“Christopher Dodge, American, aged thirty-two, prest by the _Thisbe_,
late _Dedaigneuse_, shipped in the _Macedonian_ July 1, 1810.
“Peter Johnson, American, aged thirty-two, prest by the _Dedalus_,
entered August 24, 1810.
“John Alexander, of Cape Ann, aged twenty-nine, prest by the _Dedalus_,
entered August 25, 1810.
“C. Dolphin, of Connecticut, aged twenty-two, prest by the _Namur_,
late _Ceres_, entered August 4, 1810.
“Major Cook, of Baltimore, aged twenty-seven, prest by the _Royal
William_, late _Mercury_, entered September 10, 1810.
“William Thompson, of Boston, aged twenty, prest at Lisbon, entered
January 16, 1811, drowned at sea in boarding an American.
“John Wallis, American, aged twenty-three, prest by the _Triton_,
entered February 16, 1811 (killed in action in the _Macedonian_).
“John Card, American, aged twenty-seven, prest by the _North Star_,
entered April 13, 1811 (killed in action in the _Macedonian_).”
John Card, “as brave a seaman as ever trod a plank,” was spokesman
for the seven men, and on going to the mainmast asked that he and his
countrymen be not compelled to fight against their flag.
Carden drove them back to their places. Then he stationed midshipmen
with drawn swords at intervals, and marines with loaded muskets around
every hatch, and these he ordered to kill every man who attempted to
leave the guns or to pass below without authority. And so it happened
that when the victorious Americans boarded the _Macedonian_ they found
John Card and John Wallis dead beside the guns.
James says that Captain Carden allowed the Americans to go below. If a
deliberately written falsehood is ever creditable to a man this one is
certainly to the credit of James.
After a brief inspection of the _Macedonian_, Lieutenant Nicholson
carried Captain Carden over to the _United States_. Decatur, “wearing
an old straw hat and a plain suit of clothes which made him look more
like a farmer than a naval hero,” met him at the head of the ladder.
Stepping to the deck Carden offered his sword to Decatur in the usual
form.
“No, sir,” said Decatur; “I cannot receive the sword of a man who has
so bravely defended his ship. But I will receive your hand,” he added,
and shook hands cordially with the defeated captain.
Decatur is described as a man “five feet ten inches high, and had a
somewhat slender figure, a long face, prominent, restless eyes, dark
skin, and black hair.”
When the captors came to reckon the losses, they found their own were
trifling. The _United States_ carried four hundred and seventy-eight
people all told, out of which number Lieutenant John Messer Funk and
six seamen were killed, and five only were wounded. The ship had
lost her mizzen topgallant-mast, and some of her yards were slashed
a little. Her rigging was cut up somewhat, but only three round shot
struck her hull.
On the _Macedonian_ forty-three were killed, including two lieutenants,
while sixty-one were wounded, of whom one was the undaunted First
Lieutenant David Hope, who was severely hurt. So more than one-third of
her crew were in the list of casualties, in spite of the long range.
As already told, the ship was practically dismasted and more than one
hundred round shot had struck her hull, passing through her side below
the water-line--an exhibition of marksmanship not to be forgotten by
any naval seaman.
Inevitably a comparison of the forces of the two ships must be made.
The _United States_ (according to Roosevelt) fired twenty-seven guns
throwing 786 pounds of metal at a full broadside; the _Macedonian_
fired twenty-five guns throwing 547 pounds of metal. The crew of the
_United States_ numbered four hundred and seventy-eight and that of the
_Macedonian_ three hundred and one. James asserts that the _Macedonian_
carried an unusual percentage of boys, and that the _United States_
carried but one boy who was seventeen years old. Now, what could have
been the state of mind of the English officers when they reported at
home that all of the dozen and odd twelve-year and thirteen-year old
powder-monkeys on the _United States_ were seventeen years old or older?
Because we know just how many of the shot of the enemy struck the
Yankee ship, and approximately how many of our shot struck the enemy,
it will be of interest to return once more to the stock argument of
the British historians who continuously assert that their frigates were
whipped by the superior size of the Yankee guns. They point to the fact
that the _United States_ fired 786 pounds of metal at a broadside,
while the _Macedonian_ fired only 547 pounds. Therefore, they say, the
_United States_ whipped because of this preponderance. It was by no
means, if they are to be believed, because the Yankees were abler naval
seamen. But an unbiassed student of history is likely to point to the
record of shots striking each ship as furnishing figures very much more
significant than those relating to the preponderance in weight of metal
thrown. The British hulled the Yankee but three times. Suppose she had
had twenty-four pounders instead of eighteens. Those three shots would
then have made three holes (allowing for “windage”) each 5.657 inches
in diameter. The aggregate areas of the holes was 72.66 square inches.
Suppose the _United States_ had carried eighteen-pounders, she would
have made more than 100 holes in the _Macedonian_, each 5.141 inches in
diameter. The aggregate area of the 100 holes in the _Macedonian_ would
then have been 2073.39 square inches. So the real damage inflicted,
even had the armament been reversed, would have been as 2,073 is to 73.
Surely, this computation of the areas of the holes made is quite as
pertinent, to say the least, as the weighing of the shot. The combined
holes made by the _Macedonian_ equalled one hole eight inches wide and
nine long. The aggregate of those made by the _United States_ almost
equalled a single hole four feet square.
The truth is, none of the figures of the defeated ones or of those who
strive to explain away the figures which the defeated bring forward,
are of more than trifling importance. If any one wants to know of how
little importance was the difference between the long eighteen and the
long twenty-four, let him consider whether a modern rifle of half the
bore of either would not have been more serviceable, say than ten of
either. It was not the size of a hole that a gun could make, but the
number of holes that the crew behind it could make with it in an enemy.
The crew of the _United States_ made more than one hundred holes in the
British hulk and got but three in return. With this hard fact in mind,
what must a candid student say was the relative efficiency of the two
crews as naval seamen?
To make this matter of the relative efficiency in that day of
the English and American naval seamen still clearer, it is worth
considering the size of the target at which the Englishmen fired and
missed so often. The _United States_ stood as high out of water as
the second-story windows of ordinary dwellings in any of the large
American cities. She was as long as the combined fronts of, say seven
houses, standing in a solid row. Incredible as it may seem, it is
really a fact, that although the _Macedonian_ was no further away than
across the street from this big target, and fired repeatedly at that
range with the whole broadside, she only landed three shot in the
target. Now what kind of gunners were they that they couldn’t hit a
two-story house when firing at “half pistol-shot” range?
It was not for lack of practice either, for Executive Officer David
Hope, under the date of June 22, 1824, wrote that “in no ship in
the British service could there have been more attention paid to
the practical part of gunnery than was done to the crew of the
_Macedonian_. The men were not only well trained, but the greatest
attention was paid to every department relating to the guns.” That was
in 1812. They do things in different fashion in the British navy now,
and they know how to shoot guns and how to hit targets as well.
It is interesting at this point to recall a remark made by Captain
Carden of the _Macedonian_ when dining on board the _United States_ at
Norfolk before the war. He had been pointing out the superiority of
such frigates as the _Macedonian_ to any others afloat--had told how
much more rapidly and accurately their long eighteens could be handled
than the American’s long twenty-fours--how much more metal they would
drive into an enemy in a given time and how much handier in every way
the _Macedonian_ was than the _United States_, when he closed by saying:
“Besides, Decatur, though your ship may be good enough, and you are a
clever set of fellows, what practice have you had in war? There is the
rub!”
The truth is, as was said in telling of the _Constitution-Guerrière_
fight, the British Lords of Admiralty knew all about the size of the
_Constitution_, the _United States_ and all the rest of the American
ships. They knew the number and size of guns carried. The _United
States_ was launched at Philadelphia on July 10, 1797. She had been
afloat fifteen years when she whipped the _Macedonian_, and the
_Constitution_, her sister-ship, had been afloat but a few weeks less.
The British officers had often inspected them, and yet through their
obstinate faith in the superiority of their own knowledge they built
the _Macedonian_ in 1810, fully believing she was a fair match for any
frigate afloat! After the war of 1812 had taught them something they
built their frigates on “exactly the same plan” of the long-despised
model of Joshua Humphreys, the Philadelphia Quaker.
[Illustration: Stephen Decatur.
_From the portrait by Thomas Sully, at the Naval Academy, Annapolis._]
It is now proper to defend the British seamen as a class from a
charge made by every British historian--the charge that in this war
they deserted their flag in such great numbers to join the American
ships as enabled the American commanders to fill all the important
petty offices, such as that of gunner, or boatswain’s mate, etc.,
with experienced British men-o’-warsmen. They assert repeatedly that
from one-third to one-half of the crack American crews were British
subjects who had deserted from the British navy. They go further. They
quote from a letter written by Decatur who therein mentioned the fact
that many of his crew on the _United States_ had served under Nelson
and other famous British officers. This quotation is made to prove
conclusively to their minds that the efficient members of the American
crews were British subjects.
When the American student comes to examine the facts in this matter he
is sure to be either indignant or amused, but most likely he will be
amused. For the truth of the matter shows the most remarkable condition
of affairs known to the history of navies. It is literally true that
in some of the American crews from one-third to one-half the men had
served in British ships; _they were the American citizens who had
been made the victims of the British press-gangs_. What the British
writers call deserting was the escape of the slave to his own country.
The greatest number of British-born men in any American crew was
thirty-two. That number was in the _Chesapeake_ the day she was whipped.
But not to prolong this matter, the spirit of the British writers can
best be illustrated by a quotation from Allen’s “Battles of the British
Navy,” regarding the five impressed Americans who survived the battle
when the _Macedonian_ was captured. These men were invited to sign
articles on the _United States_, and they did so. Not another soul of
the captured crew was asked to do so. But Allen says:
“Every temptation, and even threats were used to induce the crew to
enter the American service, but the overtures were treated with the
_disdain they merited_.”
And this in the face of the fact that the _Macedonian_ had sailed with
eight “prest” American seamen.
As to the prize, she was a long way from her new home and she was
almost a wreck. How bad her condition was shall be told by quoting
the words of the Yankee-hating James when he says that “with the
profusion of stores of every sort which was to be found on board the
American frigate, with so many able seamen that could be spared from
her numerous crew, and with all the advantages that a fortnight’s calm
weather gave, it took the whole of that time to place the prize in
a seaworthy state--a clear proof how much the _Macedonian_ had been
shattered.”
The picture of the two ships rolling to the long, low swell of the
sunny sea while the Yankee tars hove up new spars, and set up new
back-stays and shrouds, and rove off new running gear, and bent on new
sails--while they knotted and spliced, parcelled and served, hoisted
and fitted, and whistled and sang at their work--that is something to
remain long in the mind of a sailor-man.
When, after two weeks of such work, the _Macedonian_ was put in charge
of First Lieutenant W. H. Allen (he who with a live coal snatched
from the galley-stove fired the only gun on the _Chesapeake_ when the
_Leopard_ attacked her) and on December 4, 1812, they anchored in New
London, after which they proceeded to New York by the Hell Gate passage.
Then quickly met our nation’s eyes
The noblest sight in natur’--
A first-rate frigate as a prize
Brought home by brave Decatur.
If the American people had heard of the triumph over the _Guerrière_
with enthusiastic delight, how shall we tell of their feelings when
Decatur brought a new British frigate into port. The full story of the
welcome extended to the Yankee crew would fill a decent volume. Among
the midshipmen was a son of Secretary of the Navy Paul Hamilton. He
had “served with signal bravery” and was sent with the _Macedonian’s_
flag to Washington. He arrived in the evening when, as it happened,
the official society people of the capital were attending a grand ball.
Going directly from the stagecoach to the place where the dancing was
going on, the lad wrapped the captured colors about his shoulders and
marched into the midst of the brilliant throng. The people went wild at
his coming with the news that he brought, and the men gathered him up
on their shoulders and cheered till the hall trembled. And then they
put him down on the floor and let him run, as he had wished to do all
the time, to the arms of his mother, who was there in the room. The
flag was handed to the wife of President Madison, who had been present
at the ball all the evening.
A ball was given at the “swellest hotel in New York,” Gibson’s, to
Decatur and his officers on the night of January 2, 1813, and on the
night of the 7th a banquet was given to the crew. The decorations at
the banquet were all wonderfully nautical, one feature being a model of
the _United States_ floating in a tank of grog. The men filed in and
took their places to the pipe of the boatswain’s whistle, while the
band played “Yankee Doodle.” The men cheered the band. An alderman made
“a handsome address” and the men cheered the alderman. The boatswain
replied and they cheered the boatswain. And then came the event of
the night. As the boatswain sat down, a ship’s sail forty-six by
thirty-six feet large, that had been spread at one end of the room, was
suddenly brailed up, revealing a huge picture of the three victories
that American ships had so far won. The crew gave one look, recognized
their own ship triumphant over the _Macedonian_, and leaping to their
chairs, and even upon the table before them, “they gave vent to three
savage yells of victory.”
[Illustration: Medal Awarded to Stephen Decatur, after the Capture of
the _Macedonian_ by the _United States_.]
The Congress gave Decatur a gold medal and each of his officers a
silver medal. States and municipalities hastened to vote swords,
resolutions and receptions. Lieutenant Allen was promoted. Eventually
the _United States_, the _Macedonian_ and the _Hornet_ were fitted
for sea and sailed through the Sound, but they met a British squadron
of two seventy-fours and a frigate, and were obliged to take refuge
in New London. Only the _Hornet_ succeeded in escaping the blockade
thereafter maintained, and what she did will be told further on.
As for the rest of the American squadron that sailed under Commodore
Rodgers with the _United States_, it should be said that Rodgers in
the _President_, with the _Congress_ as a consort, chased the British
frigate _Nymphe_ on October 10, 1812, but failed to catch her. The
Yankee frigates, it will be observed, did not prove faster than all
of the British frigates, as it had been hoped they would do. The two
captured a prize on the Banks of Newfoundland on October 18th that had
$200,000 in coin on board. Then they chased the frigate _Galatea_, and
failed to catch her, and eventually, on December 31st, came into Boston
after having taken nine prizes.
The _Argus_, next to the _United States_, won most glory. After parting
from the _United States_ she cruised eastward and captured six prizes,
one of which she took and manned while a British squadron was in chase
of her. The enemy arrived so near that they opened fire, but by cutting
away anchors and boats and starting some water, she escaped, although
the chase lasted during three days and three moonlight nights. She
reached home on January 3d.