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THE YANKEE NAVY By

TOM MASSON ILLUSTRATED

New York

LIFE PUBLISHING 19

and

21

COMPANY

West Thirty-First

Street

1898

&s*>

#

sP

.IA"37

Copyright.

1898, by LiFE

PUBLISHING COMPANY

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

By

Transfer

D. C, Public Library

DE,C 2 2 1938

149*79

WITHDRAWN CONTENTS. CHAPTER

I.

The Revolution. Navy — Comparative English and American — Operations of Privateers —John Paul Jones— Lake Champlain — Operations in British Waters Bonhomme Richard and Serapis— American and British Losses.

Birth of the American

Forces

CHAPTER

II.

Millions for Tribute, but not One Cent for Defense. Congress and the Navy

Navy

— The

War

— The

Dey

with France

of Algiers — Construction of the — Bainbridge and St. Laurent

Captain Truxton and the Constellation.

CHAPTER

III.

War

with the Barbary States. The Dey, the Bey and the Bashaw — Captain Bainbridge and His Visit to Constantinople — Defiant Attitude of the Bashaw of

—

—

Operations in the Mediterranean Capture of the Philadelphia Decatur's Daring Feat Reduction of Tripoli Tripoli

—

—

Richard Somers

— The

Bey

of Tunis.

CHAPTER

IV.

The War of 1812. Causes Leading to the War Chesapeake and Leopard— President and Little Belt— Constitution in Portsmouth — Opening of the War President and Belvidera

— Escape of the Constitution — Hull

and

Dacres.

CHAPTER The War of

1812

—

V.

(Continued.)

—

David Porter's First Cruise Wasp and Frolic United States and Macedonian Constitution and Java Capture of Chesapeake by Shannon Career of Argus Boxer and Enterprise.

—

—

—

—

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER VI. The War of 1812— (Continued.)

—

— —

Lieutenant Woolsey at Sackett's Harbor Perry and Chauncey On Lake Ontario Battle of Lake Erie Perry's Great Victory

—

On Lake Champlain — Thomas MacDonough —-An Attempt

that

Failed.

CHAPTER

VII.

The War of 1812— (Continued.)

—

—

Young Farragut and the Pig Rodgers and Hutchinson Minor Engagements Career of the Wasp Constitution, Levant and Cyane and Her Disappearance Last Shot of the War Once More the Dey of Algiers Decatur before Tunis, 1815-1861 Minor Exploits.

Porter's Cruise in the Essex

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

CHAPTER The Object of the North

Civil

— Depleted

VHI.

War.

Condition of the Navy

Savannah and Petrel— Port Royal

CHAPTER The On

the Mississippi

Bay

Civil

— Battle

of

of the

IX.

War— (Continued.) New

— Lieutenant Cushing's

Kearsarge

— Loss

— The Merrimac and Monitor,

— The Alabama

Orleans

— Farragut Enters Mobile — The Alabama and

Glorious Deed

Claims.

CHAPTER X. War with Spain. The

— Attitude of Spain — Causes of the War —The Maine Disaster— Opening of the War Manila — Hobson's Deed — Destruction of Cervera's

Affair of the Virginius

The New Navy Battle of Fleet.

OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

LIST

A

Sea Fight

........ ........ ........ ........ ........ ........ ...... ....... ........ Revolutionary Times.

in

Frontispiece

Esek Hopkins.

13

John Barry.

15

Nicholas Biddle.

17

John Paul Jones.

19

The

between the Bonhomme Richard and the Serap

fight

Richard Dale.

Joshua Barney.

"If necessary,

I

would have

Medal presented by Congress

told

you twice as big a

to Capt.

Truxton

William Bainbridge.

"Spread

Edward

before the astonished eyes of the Dey."

it

Preble.

21

27

29 li

3i

33

37 39 4i

Taking aboard the freight of the Tripolitan ketch

43

Decatur's conflict with the Algerian at Tripoli.

45

Isaac Hull.

52

The Guerriere being raked by The '"

Constitution bears

the Constitution.

down upon

trouble you for that hat."

I'll

Wasp and

Frolic.

Stephen Decatur.

.... .... .... —

the Guerriere.

Lawrence.

Death

of

Lawrence

Oliver Hazard Perry.

62 63 65

67

up the ship

......

" Don't give

Sergeant Spier catching the British out.

"Are you ready, boys?"

58

59

.

United States and Macedonian. Jas.

55

"All ready,

.

sir."

70 73 75

77

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

..... ...........

PAGE.

........... —

81

Perry leaves the Lawrence for the Niagara.

79

Perry's Victory

80

Battle of Erie.

MacDonough.

T.

Battle of Battle of

"

The

MacDonough pointing Lake Champlain — From the land.

Lake Champlain

sir,

Rodgers."

Constitution,

Levant and Cyane. of

Bombardment

.

93

Lawrence,

ior

.....

105

95

St.

103

of the Mississippi.

.......... ....... ........

Manassas as she appeared after receiving a

the Alississippi. Battle of

92

.

of Port Royal.

Gun and Mortar Boats

New

Mississippi River Ironclad.

Virginius.

George Dewey. T.

Sampson.

.

.

.

.

.

109

in 112

American Steamer

the

.116

...... ...... .... ........ .......... .

.

108

broadside from

Orleans.

The Spanish Man-of-War Tornado chasing

W.

84 85

.

Confederate Privateer Petrel by the

Action between the Merrimac and the Monitor.

A

83

went

sailor

.

Destruction

The

.

......... .90 ....... ........ ........ ....

am Commodore

Johnston Blakely.

Ram

.

89

David Porter. "I,

.....

American boy and the English

thirteen-year-old

at it."

the gun.

.

.

.

.

.

irg 121

Richmond Pearson Hobson.

122

Winfield Scott Schley.

123

The Yankee Navy

CHAPTER

I.

The Revolution. American Navy— Comparative English and American Forces— Operations of Privateers—John Paul Jones— Lake

Birth of the

Champlain— Operations and Serapis

P*HE

battle of

and the

-*-

— American

in British

Waters—Bonhomme Richard

and British Losses.

Lexington was fought on April

first

19, 1775,

treaty of peace with Great Britain

consummated on September

3,

During

1783.

was

this period the

American Navy was born and cut its milk-teeth. This baby was extremely restless from the time of his birth, kept everybody up night and day, and made endless trouble for his blood relations,

him out

of the way.

and reputation.

In the

who were

very, anxious to put

end he cost them a

lot of

money

This baby was troubled with seasickness

from the beginning, and not having anyone to train him, he just

came up

himself.

But he proved

to be a useful child

and

a good fighter. I

n

T

775»

w h en

this

baby was born, every respectable farmer,

mechanic, shoemaker and tradesman either

A

commanded

who

didn't join the army,

a privateer or shipped before the mast.

great proportion of them didn't

know a capstan bar from a and the commanders themselves had had little or no training. Most of them had been captains of merchant vessels, and Esek Hopkins, the first American Commodore, royal truck,

11

THE YANKEE NAVY.

12

had been a then that

it

developed the same

traits

and made no systematic

effort

Congress

soldier.

exhibits to-day,

There was no ranking system, and

to establish a navy.

if

a

naval officer did anything signally brave, he was usually

turned out of his ship to remain

The exasperating methods

of

or given a smaller one.

idle,

Congress made a traitor of

Benedict Arnold, one of the best soldiers

Army, who sulked,

When October

the

like Achilles,

British

17, 1775,

but to no good purpose.

burned Falmouth (now Portland) on

the nation was aroused, and a naval com-

The character

mission appointed.

of

it

this

commission was

As soon

changed constantly during the war. working shape

American

the

in

as

got into

it

was tampered with and reorganized, and In consequence, what-

the useful elements carefully removed.

ever the navy did was done in spite of Congress.

The

first

the winter of

was raised over an American warship 1775-6 at Philadelphia. To this day there

flag

some doubt about yellow the

silk flag,

design, but

its

it

was supposed

On

that occasion there

were present Esek Hopkins, Commander-in-chief

Abraham Whipple, Nicholas

Hopkins, captains, and John Paul Jones, is

said to have raised the flag.

This

this time the

the Alfred, the Columbus, Reprisal,

vessels

lieutenant,

B.

who

however, a small

flag

the Andrea Doria, the

Hamden, Lexington, Providence, and bought

into

is

down.

American American navy had eight men-of-war

that he never hauled an

At

Biddle, John

first

is,

Dudley

;

The most important thing about John Paul Jones

matter.

is

to be a

with a coiled rattlesnake, and underneath

motto, " Don't tread on me."

Salstonstall,

in

the

service

.sixteen

— twenty-five

in

:

Cabot, the

all,

other

and

Esek Hopkins. First

Commodore

of the United States

Navy.

THE YANKEE NAVY.

14

mounted 422 guns.

The

of-war stationed

American waters, mounting

in

British

navy had seventy-eight men2,078 guns.

Put some rapid-fire guns on a steam yacht of to-day, go along the American coast and capture twenty-five lumber schooners as they come, of

place

all sizes,

some old muzzle-

loading twelve and eighteen pounders on their decks, and

you

Such

have something akin to the Revolutionary Navy.

will

under

a navy,

modern

fire of a

battleship,

This navy during the war,

only a few minutes.

would in

last

spite of

the additions made, was nearly demolished, there being only

two or three ships privateers,

owned by

But with the aid of

the tale.

left to tell

individuals or the colonies, this

When

captured 800 British vessels.

the

navy

war broke out noth-

ing could have pleased the British merchants better, because

they confidently predicted the complete annihilation of their

formidable American competitors, but when they saw their

own merchant

melting away before their eyes they

vessels

sang a different tune.

Most

of

the battles fought by the

Americans were fought with implements captured from the British vessels.

The naval war

of the

lasted nearly ten years,

American Revolution

from June

17, 1772,

when

reality

in

the British

Providence harbor by Abra-

schooner Gaspe was captured

in

ham Whipple

men armed with paving Monk

surren-

The naval

battles

to April

8,

with sixty-four

1782,

when

the English ship General

dered to the American privateer Hyder fought between these two dates would in

itself,

and though each

them would be monotonous. fore,

with

a brief

is

Ally. fill

a

good

sized

stones,

volume

interesting enough, a recital of

We shall content ourselves,

there-

sketch of the more important engagements.

THE YANKEE NAVY.

The

principal things the Continental

guns, ammunition, clothes and money. the

soldiers with luxuries of

capture them from the enemy.

this sort,

15

Army

lacked were

In order to it

pamper

was necessary

to

So Commodore Esek Hopkins

John Barry.

sailed

away

in his fleet in

February, 1776, to the

Bahama

March took New Providence and secured a hundred cannon and some valuable stores. On his return with these spoils, after taking two vessels, the British sloopIslands,

and

in

THE YANKEE NAVY.

l6

of-war Glasgotc got mixed up with

and after doing a

fleet,

For

this

this time

Captain Nicholas Biddle,

Hinman,

the

in

Commodore Hopkins's

damage, succeeded

Commodore was

the

About

service.

lot of

afterwards retired from the

Captain John Barry, in the

in escaping.

in the Lexington,

Andrea Dona, Captain Elisha

Captain Abraham Whipple,

Cabot,

Columbus, and later in the Andrea Doria,

made

the

in

things lively

In the year 1776, 342 English mer-

for the British vessels.

chant vessels were taken.

Perhaps the most valuable captures, attended as they were by such uniform success, were made by John Paul Jones.

As

first

his

voyage

lieutenant he accompanied to

New

Commodore Hopkins on

Providence, and upon his return he was

placed in charge of the 12-gun brig Providence, and

October

10, 1776,

Cruising

off

later,

on

he was promoted to the rank of captain.

Bermuda

in the Providence,

British frigate Soleboy for a

merchant

Jones mistook the

and didn't

vessel,

dis-

Then when Jones suddenly put about,

cover his mistake until the latter was close aboard. followed a four hours' chase,

passing the Soleboy within gunshot before the Englishman

could recover himself, and got away.

many

of the escapes of

This was one

John Paul Jones, and

is

among

illustrative of

the daring and successful qualities of American seamanship.

Not many weeks

after this Captain Jones, in

command

of

the Alfred, captured three British vessels off Block Island, and in

one of them, the 10-gun transport Mellish, was discovered

10,000 British uniforms.

It is

needless to say that these were

very welcome to our impoverished army.

The next night

Jones with his prizes was discovered by a British frigate,

but

by the clever use of

false

signals

he

succeeded

in

THE YANKEE NAVY saving them,

17

only one vessel, a letter of

marque, being

captured.

Historians have rarely done justice to the services of our

Nicholas Biddle.

navy during the war

of the Revolution.

In addition to the

government ships of war, hastily improvised and

in

great part

recruited from the merchant vessels, the colonies fitted out

THE YANKEE NAVY.

IS

privateers of their own, aided in citizens,

many

instances by private

and there can be no doubt that our success

in the

war could not have been accomplished except by the cooperation of these daring navigators. They kept the army supplied with

arms, ammunition and

clothing

enemy, and many a time when the the lowest ebb,

from

captured

spirit of

the

our troops was at

some bold naval exploit served

to revive their

courage. In the

autumn

of 1776

was fought the

Champlain, on which so much depended.

who had been despatched from England

battle

Sir

Guy

Lake

of

Carleton,

for the purpose of

opening up Lake Champlain, brought over three

ships, which,

having been taken apart, were put together again on the Lake, and augmented the British

fleet

with which

intended to sweep, the Americans from the water.

was

not,

11, 1776,

however, as the British had planned. the American

fleet

British fleet under Captain

was fought.

The

fleet,

was

result

On October

under Benedict Arnold met the Pringle and a desperate battle

British fleet

by savages stationed on shore. with his

it

The

was superior, and was aided That night Arnold escaped

and the next day the chase began, and Arnold

was compelled

to destroy his vessels.

temporary disadvantage was with our

While the apparent forces, Arnold's des-

perate resistance convinced the British that they had a deter-

mined enemy, and they were permanently thwarted

in their

attempt to break down the barriers between Canada and the

United Colonies.

Shortly afterward Sir

Guy Carleton

retired

to his winter quarters.

From in the

the British standpoint, the most annoying character

Revolution was John Paul Jones.

Jones was a Scotch-

THE YANKEE NAVY. man, and

it

seemed

like the irony of fate that, as

citizen (although not

19

an American

admitted to be such by the British), he

John Paul Jones.

should afterward return to his

avenging

spirit.

own

native coast, like an

After his adventures on the American coast,

THE YANKEE NAVY.

20 in

which he made so many valuable additions

sea

force,

he proceeded

to France, as a

Previous to his appearance

Lambert Wickes,

Connygham,

American

the shores of England, Captain

off

in the Reprisal

in the Surprise

to the

base of operations.

and Lexington, and Captain

and Revenge, had played havoc with

the English merchant marine, the latter on one occasion, with

becoming modesty, actually disguising her out

in a British port.

never been equaled. first

this

circuit of the

his vessel

But Paul Jones

set a

and

made

In the early part of 1778 he

Islands

British

in

fitting

pace that has

During

the Ranger.

voyage he captured the English Drake, a superior

and terrorized the inhabitants along the Jones was

idle.

coast.

Having proved himself the

it

him with a

ship.

At

last, in

vessel,

After this

best captain in

was natural that Congress should

the service,

his

fail to

provide

February, 1779, he succeeded in

condemned hulk that had formerly been an Indian trader. He put some guns on her decks, shipped a crew of all nations, that was afterwards reinforced by some American exchanged prisoners", and sailed away to fight one of the most famous naval battles of history.

getting the Bonhomme Richard, a

Shortly after receiving his

greeted Richard Dale, first

lieutenant.

who

reinforcements, Captain Jones

offered his services

and was made

Richard Dale had a remarkable history.

Early in 1776, the Reprisal, Captain Lambert Wickes, the

American cruiser which appeared across the Atlantic. Lexington,

British waters,

In April, 1777, she

first

was sent

was joined by the

Captain Henry Johnson, and the 10-gun cutter

Dolphin, Lieutenant Nicholson.

prizes

in

which were disposed

After capturing a of

in

French

number

ports,

of

thereby

causing a protest from the British Government, the Lexington

The

fio-lit

between the

Bonhomme Richard and

the Serapis.

THE YANKEE NAVY.

22

sailed

from Morlaix

by a superior

in

vessel,

September, 1777, and was captured the

Alert.

The crew was taken

to

Plymouth, thrown into prison, and treated with great brutalRichard Dale was at

ity.

this

time master's mate of the

and was imprisoned with the

Lexington,

One day he

rest.

secured a British uniform by some extraordinary means which

he would never reveal, and putting of prison,

made

his escape

On September

22, 1779,

it

walked out

on, boldly

and joined the Bonhomme Richard. Jones ran across the Serapis, and

occurred that remarkable moonlight engagement

then

which the Bonhomme Richard,

in a

in

sinking condition, compelled

the Serapis to strike her colors.

"Have you struck?" asked the

the British

commander, when

Bonhomme Richard came alongside. "

I

have not yet begun to

ship Alliance,

critical

accompanied Jones on deliberately

fight," replied Jones.

moment in commanded by Captain

Then, at a

fired

a

the

the

battle,

French

Landais, and which had

his cruise as a consort,

drew

up,

and

broadside into the Bonhomme Richard.

The only excuse for this, aside from the apparent jealousy of the French commander, was that he was crazy. His actions, both before this.

and after the

battle,

After three hours and a half of

persistence

seemed

to indicate

fighting,

which for

and dogged determination on both

sides

has

never been equaled, the Serapis struck her colors, and John

Paul Jones became the foremost naval hero of his time,

if

not

of all time.

The

last

naval action of the war took place between the

Hyder Ally and the General Monk, Captain Rodgers. former was a Pennsylvania State cruiser of

16

guns and

The

no

THE YANKEE NAVY.

23

men, commanded by Lieutenant Joshua Barney, and the latter a British cruiser of 20 guns

was convoying a

fleet

of

and 180 men.

merchant vessels

when attacked by the General Monk, and

The Hyder Ally off Cape May

in thirty

minutes had

captured the British vessel.

During the Revolution the American 24,

loss in vessels

was

while the British was 102 ships of war, and about 800

merchant

vessels.

CHAPTER Millions for Tribute, but not

—

II.

One Cent

for Defense.

—

Congress and the Navy The Dey of Algiers Construction of the Navy The War with France Bainbridge and St. Laurent Captain Truxton and the Constellation.

—

—

THE

naval part of the Revolution

The

itself.

ships, as characters,

the last act those that remained were

curtain went

down on an empty

the three ships of

war

is

a complete play in

had their all

stage.

parts, but in

killed

off,

and the

In the last scene,

were promptly disposed

left

order to rid the country of any semblance of a navy. all

that

was

left of it

who had

survived,

merchant

service.

measure

of,

in

In 1785,

were some memories and a few

officers

them promptly taking

to the

most

of

Congress had not then reached

of stupidity, but

it

had made a

fair

its fullest

beginning.

The

history of the United States might be termed a continuous series

of

moral victories won by her best men over her

legislators.

their

At that time, the thirteen colonies having won

independence over the mother country,

Nothing further was necessary.

home and talk about what The navy was a relic of the of

no further consequence.

heart, pure 24

all

well.

The army might return

glorious deeds had past,

was

good while

it

been done. lasted, but

Every other nation had a kind

and unselfish motives, and would gladly welcome

THE YANKEE NAVY. and allow us

us on the high seas,

25

to help ourselves to

as

we could conveniently carry. Beautiful speeches were made in Congress, showing that systems of defense were needed only by monarchies. Young republics had no need of them. We were now free and much

commerce

of their

would remain

A

of others.

so,

as

through Divine Providence and the love

prominent Senator from Pennsylvania (Maclay) " This when he said among our members all

voiced the sentiments of the majority

thing of a

fleet

the session.

I

have heard

the

meantime our disinterested

became aware

the Sultan of Turkey, his

of

it

friend,

our existence.

came

American

the

another

Dey

of

Being a vassal of nature,

at the entrance of the Mediterranean,

a great source of profit to himself and con-

solation to the Sultan to gather in all the

that

It is

who was somewhat grasping by

kingdom lying

Dey found

the

break out often.

it

our republican institutions."

Algiers,

and

:

to

menace In

has been working

into his

Up

net.

to

commerce, which was

merchant ships

year 1793, however,

the

rapidly

assuming great

proportions, had been comparatively safe from the pirates of the Dey, because Portugal, raltar,

had agreed

that in 1785 a

number

of

who kept

to protect

a strong fleet at Gib-

American

vessels.

It

is

true

two of our ships were captured by pirates and our sailors made

slaves,

but at the time

our

patriotic legislators did not consider this of sufficient impor-

tance to act.

"

Eleven unfortunate

Algiers," sneered Maclay,

men now

"is the pretext

in

slavery in

for fitting out a

fleet."

As a means istic

to secure

manner, concluded

an end, England,

in 1793 that

in

her character-

our commerce must be

THE YANKEE NAVY.

26

wiped the

So her agent arranged a secret truce between

out.

Dey and

Portugal, forced the latter to recognize

it,

and

without warning our merchant marine was pounced upon.

One hundred and twelve Of

course,

Dey.

England continued

to

do

this,

chance to wipe out her one competitor.

Congressmen urged

because John Bull did

Not having

pened.

sailors back.

the

ship,

It

we ought

that

And

it.

a navy,

this

is

And our

what hap-

precisely

it.

to

buy our

A

beautiful

presents for the Dey, and

loaded with

were sent by the Yankee

In 1795 a peace

tribute.

brilliant

do the same thing

cost about one million to do

Crescent,

as a

to

to the

and give him the

we were obliged

several barrels of silver dollars,

nation

sent into slavery.

pay a small tribute

to

was more economical

It

men were

of our

was arranged with

Algiers by the annual payment of about $22,000. This, however, their

was thought by some bigoted

lovers

of

country to be a base and servile surrender of our

To knuckle down

independence. pirate, the

willing tool

thus to a

of England,

was considered hardly

compatible with our boasted freedom. started,

and the

result

was

Mohammedan

An

that a bill for a

agitation

was

new navy was

actually passed through Congress by a majority of two votes.

George Washington had urged

it

long before, but having

saved his country, his advice was not considered good.

because Congress didn't personally build the new

Just

navy

it

was a good one.

If

they had,

consisted of mutton-legged flatboats,

it

would probably have

armed with popguns.

But Joshua Humphreys, an old shipbuilder, supervised construction, structed.

and under

They were

his advice six frigates

its

were con-

the Constitution, the President, the United

THE YANKEE NAVY. States,

the

sister

Congress

ships

of

and

the

Humphreys's idea was better

and

27

forty-four guns, and the Chesapeake, Constellation,

to

thirty-six

guns

have the navy small, but

faster ships than

any

afloat.

This idea,

each.

to contain it

may

be

Richard Dale.

stated, has

Our

been steadily adhered to from that time to

this.

war have always been singly better than any afloat. These six frigates were soon augmented by sixteen other smaller vessels, so that in 1798, when the war with ships of

./

THE YANKEE NAVY.

28

France broke out, It

is

related that

tain Nicholson,

the.

United States had a respectable navy.

when

who had charge

honor of raising her

was launched, Cap-

the Constitution

instructions to this effect and went

away

During

his absence, however, the flag

wright,

Samuel

When

Bently.

wished to have the

of her,

so on her launching day he gave

flag,

to get his breakfast.

was raised by the

ship-

Captain Nicholson got back

and discovered what had been done he

is

said to have been

beside himself with anger.

Common

tradition has

it

that the

Lord looks out

children and the United States of America, and

seem

in this

instance as

posed to render

it

if

the

Dey

of Algiers

had been

It

is

were not for the Dey no navy would have been costly than they really were.

ruler,

other,

tribute

if

built,

it

and

much more

Although we had bought

off

and established peace with that potent

our ships were not

launched.

inter-

equally certain that

the few years from 1798 to 1801 would have been

Dey by

would

imperative upon us to have a navy to cope

with France and England.

the

for little it

idle

from

the

France and England being

time

at

they were

war with each

and the United States a nonentity on the seas— as they

both thought

— they did not go out of

our flag or our feelings.

their

They made fun

way

to respect

of the ships

building, and while England began her system

we were

of impressing

our seamen into her service wherever they were found, France

committed depredations on our floating property.

Our new

ships proved later that they were the best afloat

of their size,

and they were manned by our best blood, so

that in 1798,

when

much

hostilities

with France began, we were

in

better condition to meet her on the ocean than she

THE YANKEE NAVY. wotted

of.

Among

k

-9

the most prominent captains at this time

were John Barry, Samuel

Nicholson, Silas Talbot, Joshua

Barney, Richard Dale, Stephen Decatur,

Sr.,

Thomas Truxton,

and Lieutenant Bainbridge, afterwards captain.

Richard Dale

Joshua Barney.

will be

remembered

as the

first

lieutenant of the

Bonhomme

Richard when John Paul Jones fought his famous fight with the Serapis. ]

Truxton was born on Long

the Revolution

commanded

a privateer.

Island,

and during

THE YANKEE NAVY.

30

The

first

French vessel captured during

France was the privateer

this trouble

with

which was carried into

Croyable,

Philadelphia, refitted, renamed the Retaliation, and immediately

went In

under the command

to sea

of Lieutenant Bainbridge.

company with two other American

and the Norfolk, on the morning

Montezuma

vessels, the

November

of

20,

1798,

Bainbridge ran into the arms of two French frigates fnsurgente,

Laurent

Captain Barreaut, and the

— and

defend

St.

Voluntaire,

who

refused to

"You

it.

Captain

Voluntaire,

was captured and taken aboard the

where he offered take

— the

his

sword

had,

yourself.

sir,"

he

therefore

I

Laurent,

to St.

said,

beg

"no you

opportunity to

retain

to

your

sword."

meantime the other French frigate, the Insurgents chasing the two American vessels, and would have

In the

was

undoubtedly captured them had not Captain

Laurent

St.

suddenly turned to Bainbridge and asked him what their

armament was. "Oh," said Bainbridge, innocently, "the ship has twentyeight twelve-pounders and the brig twenty nine-pounders."

This was more than signaled the Insurgente Barreaut's disgust, who,

shouted out

:

" If

St.

to

Laurent bargained haul

off

when he

and

for,

return,

hailed his senior

you had not signaled me,

sir, I

and he

much

to

officer,

would have

taken those ships."

"Your

ship was

not heavy

sternly replied St. Laurent.

"

enough, Citizen Captain,"

Those

vessels are

armed with

twelve and nine-pounders."

"There

isn't a

gun on

than a six pounder.

I

either,"

howled Barreaut, "heavier

was near enough

to see."

THE YANKEE NAVY. St.

in his

Laurent turned to Bainbridge, who had a large laugh

elbow regions.

"Didn't you

tell

me," he sputtered, "those vessels had

twelve and nine-pounders

" If necessary, I

" ?

would have told you twice as big a

"I did," said Bainbridge, told

31

you twice as big a

lie."

"and

if

necessary,

lie.

I

would have

THE YANKEE NAVY.

32

meantime the American

In the

vessels were

beyond reach.

The moral of this is that when you lie, tell one that is big enough to answer the purpose. On the 16th of this same month, Captain Isaac Phillips in, the Baltimore, while convoying some merchant vessels from' L Charleston to Havana, was sighted by a British squadron of; five frigates and the seventy-four gun Camatie, Captain 1

Loring.

Loring ordered Phillips aboard, proceeded

to take'

fifty-five

men

fifty

out of his ship, afterwards returning

them, and seized

made

Phillips

a

three of the American

vigorous

merchant

was

but

protest,

of

vessels.

powerless.

Congress not only censured him, but he was dismissed from the service because he couldn't help himself.

Our naval war with France February

3,

1801,

and the scene

in the vicinity of the

West

and

previously taken.

the

Experiment,

of

Indies.

from us by the French was the

we had

lasted from

Two

fitted

most

May

28, 179S, to

of the battles

was

The only warship captured

Retaliation, which, as

related,

of our schooners, the Enterprise.

out expressly for this

service,-,

captured a great number of French vessels, and on October 12,

1800,

inferior

the Boston, vessel,

after

Captain

Little,

took the Berceau, an Bainbridge, after

a valiant defense.

being captured by the Voluntaire, was taken to Guadeloupe,;

where he and

his sailors

were nearly starved until they were

finally released.

But by far the most important work accomplished by Captain Truxton, Constellation.

On February

French frigate Insnrgente

9,

in his

of

this

war was

famous cruise

in the

1799, the Constellation took the

The Constellation was One year later Captain

off St. Kitts.

slightly superior to the Insurgente.

THE YANKEE NAVY.

33

Truxton,

in

the

Constellation,

had

his

famous

with the

Vengevessel

a

ance,

fight

slightly superior to

the Constella-

The

tion.

began

action

eight

at

o'clock at night,

and for

continued hours,

five

when

the Venge-

ance

succeeded

in

escaping.

During the en-

her

gagement

colors were twice struck,

butTrux-

ton was unable to see this.

The

Vengeance

was

badly as

the

had

crippled,

the

fire

of

Constellation

been

liberate

deand

direct.

Medal Presented by Congress to Capt. Truxton.

ent and exultation

was created by

this

Much Our battle.

excitesailors

THE YANKEE NAVY.

34

were lauded

to the skies, and,

under the extraordinary pressure

of public opinion, Congress actually voted Truxton a gold

medal and gave him command

Many

of the President.

war were afterwards to achieve celebrity, among them being Midshipmen Stephen Decatur and David Porter, and Lieutenant Isaac Hull, the of the

minor

famous Commander

officers

in this

of the Constitution in the

War

of 1812.

CHAPTER War

III.

with the Barbary States.

The Dey, the Bey and the Bashaw

—

Captain Bainbridge and His Constantinople Defiant Attitude of the Bashaw of Tripoli— Operations in the Mediterranean Capture of the Philadelphia Decatur's Daring Feat Reduction of Tripoli Richard Somers The Bey of Tunis.

—

Visit to

—

THE

Dey

of

Bashaw

—

—

Algiers was an avaricious and

So also was the Bey of Tunis.

ruler.

the

—

of Tripoli.

insatiable

Likewise was

This piratical triumvirate ruled over

the northwest corner of Africa, on the southern shores of the

Mediterranean.

them was not

Piracy with occupation.

Being vassals

so

much

to the Sultan of

a

pastime as an

Turkey, they were

obliged to reimburse him at frequent intervals, and they hesitated

not

to

rob

when

there was any vessel

in

sight.

Plunder was a state institution, the only difference between

them and other

rulers of the present

day being that they

preferred to rob other countries, while the rulers prefer to

rob their own.

When,

the Bey of Tunis and his next-door Bashaw of Tripoli, beheld the success of the Dey Algiers; when they saw the noble ship Crescent loaded therefore,

neighbor, the of

with silver dollars which had been sent as a bribe from the

Yankee nation 35

to the

Dey, they exclaimed with one voice,

THE YANKEE NAVY.

36

"What

are

"Where do we come in?" and

here for?"

ive

other expressions indicating their displeasure.

a case as urgent as

Of

by George Washington and others

influenced

course, in

had Congress previously not been

this,

navy, the Bey of Tunis, and likewise the

to

Bashaw

create a

of Tripoli,

would no doubt have been similarly placated. Then they would have asked for more, and still more. Eventually they

would have come over their ancestors might,

to the

through inherited

more successful to-day our present

United States and gifts,

and

have been even

robbing the country than some of

in

politicians.

Their dreams, however, were knocked

new

settled,

navy, and

so

it

head by our

in the

happened that through

a

few

ships,

which our legislation had almost tabooed as being monarchical

and unnecessary, we were ence, although this

the annual tribute

The

ship

still

able to preserve our independ-

had already been given a severe shock by

we paid

George

to a

barbarous power.

Washington,

commanded by Captain

William Bainbridge, sailed to the Mediterranean of i8co to convey our annual tribute to the

Captain Bainbridge was a spirited naval

in the

Dey

officer,

spring

of Algiers.

and

it

may

well be imagined that this duty was not a pleasing one in itself,

but his stern sense of discipline carried him through

the ordeal that was to come.

After Captain Bainbridge had anchored his ship

harbor of Algiers, under the guns of the practically helpless, the

Dey proceeded

fort, so that

to

in the

he was

inform him that

he considered the Americans his slaves, and they must do his bidding.

He

therefore

commanded him

to

go on an errand

to Constantinople, taking a present to the, Sultan,

and also

to

THE VANKEE NAVY.

i

37

convey some Mussulmans to that potent Turk. he directed that Bainbridge

fly

Moreover,

the Algerian flag over the

George Washington as an acknowledgment of vassalage.

William Baijjbkidge.

This

is

a delightful incident, and that

the

Dey should

have selected a ship named the George Washington as a peculiar

THE YANKEE NAVY.

38

mark of his pleasure has a tinge of irony. Particularly is this so when we consider that three years before George Washington himself,

in

that " to

a speech before Congress, said

secure respect to a neutral flag requires a naval force organized

and ready

to vindicate

flag until he got

from insult and aggression."

it

Bainbridge did as he was

He

told.

But he got even,

Constantinople.

hoisted the Algerian

beyond gunshot, and then proceeded in a

to

measure, with the Dey.

The Sultan took a great fancy to him and his ship, and gave him a firman, a document which, displayed in the Sultan's dominions, means that the bearer can do as he pleases. Bainbridge sailed back to Algiers, taking care this time to

anchor out of reach of the guns, and paid his respects

once more to the Dey.

That

ruler,

He made

however, was not

Bainbridge into being

in

It

jail.

He was about

and spread

had an instant

it

to

make good

his threat,

before the astonished eyes of the

The barbarian shrank back,

effect.

and after that Bainbridge had lot of

more.

an ungovernable rage, when Bainbridge produced

his firman

Dey.

He wanted

satisfied.

not only further demands, but threatened to throw

his

own way.

French prisoners and landed them

in

He released a his own ship in

France, although that country was at war with us at the time,

and then proceeded home, wild with rage

at the treatment

he had received.

wildfire,

Yankee

spirit

In the

was

His story spread

like

and the

fully aroused.

meantime the Bashaw

of Tripoli,

having written

over to the President of the United States that he expected as

much

if

not more than the

Dey

of Algiers,

and being impatient

of delay and rapacious to a degree, early in

180

r

declared

THE YANKEE NAVY.

40

war on the United done

to

Up

States.

nothing had been

to this time

defend ourselves from these pirates. Thomas Jefferson,

who became

President in 1801, was pledged to rigid economy,

and immediately a disposed

lot of vessels

belonging to the navy were

but the imperative necessity of greater naval

of,

strength becoming apparent, the available force was afterwards

augmented and a the pirates.

fleet

sent to the

Jefferson's idea of

Mediterranean to quell

an adequate protection of

our coasts, and as a measure of self-defense, consisted of a small

of diminutive

fleet

gunboats stored on land

dockyards, and ready to be launched

if

in

neat

enemy hove

the

in

They would scarcely live in a twenty-knot breeze, and the "enemy" would have had to look for them with a sight.

microscope.

The nation now being aroused over the defiant Bashaw of Tripoli, a fleet was dispatched Atlantic with Captain Richard Dale in command.

attitude of

comprised the President, Captain James Barron

the Essex,

the

Captain Bainbridge

and the schooner

When

the

most

violent

Bashaw

Dey

;

the Philadelphia, Captain

;

Lieutenant Andrew

Enterprise,

of Tripoli.

of

He had

The

friendship

;

fleet

Samuel Barron,

of Algiers beheld these vessels he

protestations

across the

Sterrett.

made

the

but not so the

yet to learn something, and so

was given him by Sterrett, who, on August 1st, captured off Malta the war polacre Tripoli, fourteen guns and eighty men. Twice the Tripoli's flag was lowered, and the

first

lesson

when Lieutenant Porter put murderous There proceeded

fire is

a

off in

a

boat to board her a

was opened on him. limit

to

all

things,

to rake the polacre fore

however, and

and

aft,

Sterrett

and would have

THE YANKEE NAVY sunk the vessel with every man on board of her

had not begged on

41

the

commander

his knees for quarter

and thrown

if

his flag in the sea.

This was the

first

engagement, and there being few vessels

Edward Preble. in

the Tripolitan Navy, a desultory warfare continued until

the 31st of October, 1803,

when

the Philadelphia, under Bain-

bridge, in chasing a corsair into Tripoli, struck a reef, and the

captain and crew were captured and thrown into

while the ship was rescued by the Tripolitans.

jail,

THE YANKEE NAVY.

42

With one

and

of our captains

his

crew

Bashaw, and one of our best ships

the

things were not the

confinement,

his

same

however,

Danish Consul, wrote a then

commanding our

Philadelphia might be

through

letter to fleet,

in

had been.

as they

power

in the

of

possession,

his

Bainbridge from

the assistance

the

of

Commodore Edward

Preble,

suggesting a plan whereby the

The only way

blown up.

could

this

be done was to secure some vessel of the enemy, and, disguised thus, enter the harbor at night. It

happened that

our hands. set sail

just such a vessel as

December,

In

from the Barbary

for the Sultan's harem. for Constantinople, prise,

coast, filled with sprightly

was sighted by the lookout

all

into

fell

maidens

This siren deep-laden vessel, bound

commanded by Lieutenant

captured her with

was needed

1803, a Tripolitan ketch, the Mastico,

was supplied, and one night

in

Decatur, who, giving chase,

Thus the very

on board.

of the Enter-

vessel

needed

February Lieutenant Decatur

with a picked crew, some of them disguised as Turks, entered the harbor of Tripoli in the ketch, ran up alongside of the Philadelphia,

time

before

enterprise

deeds

in

boarded she

may

her, set her

blew

up.

on

This

fire,

and escaped a short

daring

and

successful

well be classed as one of the most courageous

naval warfare.

Following the destruction of the Philadelphia, for which

Decatur was made captain, came a Tripoli,

series of five attacks

which culminated, on the 27th

on

of April, 1805, in the

Hamet Karamauli, an elder who had been deposed, and the

capture of Tripoli, with the aid of brother of the Bashaw, Stars

and Stripes waved over the

Commodore

Preble was entitled

to

city.

For

this

result

the chief honors,

and

THE YANKEE NAVY.

44

upon

United States he was appropriately

his return to the

honored.

While the American Tripoli, there

fleet

was thus engaged

was not lacking the

grit,

subduing

in

gumption and gunnery

which has always distinguished our naval heroes, and there occurred an act of bravery unsurpassed

in

naval history, and

a dire tragedy. In the

first

of the attacks,

not being of service

fleet

among the dangerous

3,

1804, the

reefs,

gunboats

them were dispatched

were used, and

six of

enemy's

the harbor.

fleet in

made on August

One

to attack the

was com-

of these boats

manded by Stephen Decatur and another by Stephen led the way, and, after a desperate

his

brother.

fight,

captured

one of the enemy's gunboats.

meantime

In the

the fact

her

his brother,

James Decatur, deceived by

that another gunboat had treacherously hauled down

flag,

stepped on board to take possession, and was shot

dead by the commander, a swarthy Tripolitan. Stephen heard that his brother was he cast

off

some way

In

killed, and, losing

no time,

the gunboat he had in tow, boarded the boat which

held his brother's murderer, and, after a desperate hand-to-

hand

conflict, shot

him

to death.

While thus engaged, a Turk

back of Decatur raised his scimiter James,

a

interposed

saved

common his

Decatur's

sailor,

own body, life.

to strike him.

perceiving received

the

the

Turk's

Reuben design,

blow himself, and

Reuben James, though badly

hurt,

afterwards recovered.

The tragedy of the war occurred on the night of September Somers, in the 4th, when Master Commandant Richard identical ketch Intrepid that

had been so useful

in

destroying

j

i

THE YANKEE NAVY.

45

the Philadelphia, after loading her with

gunpowder, took her

into the afire

i

harbor of Tripoli with the intention of setting her

among

the enemy's fleet and returning in swift rowboats.

Decatur's Conflict with the Algerian at Tripoli. his body to save the life of his Commander.

Reuben James interposes

crew went, but never came back.

The ketch

was prematurely blown up, but no one knows how

to this day.

Somers and In the

his

meantime the Bey

of

Tunis got impertinent, and,

THE YANKEE NAVY.

46

encouraged by England, announced war.

Our

fleet,

then under

his intention of declaring

Commodore Rodgers, had grown

formidable by

reinforcements, and appearing before Tunis

compelled

Bey

the

to

Congress had known

its

sue for peace, a method which, business,

years before, and saved a great

can dollars.

if

would have been pursued

many men,

ships,

and Ameri-

of our prisoners.

Peace

in the

Barbary States having been

fully dictated at

the muzzles of our guns, the next naval event of importance

was the War

\>

Even after Tripoli had practically capitulated,

however, we paid them $60,000 for the privilege of returning

some

;

J

of 181 2.

j

CHAPTER The War

IV.

of 1812.

—

Causes Leading to the War Chesapeake and Leopard President and Little Belt Constitution in Portsmouth Opening of the War President and Belvidera Escape of the Constitution Hull and Dacres.

—

—

—

THEwere

numerous and well sustained.

the United

States

—

War

events and causes leading up to the

a

of 1812

There were

in

considerable body of Tories, not yet

thoroughly weaned from the parent government, and their

upon public opinion was pronounced. It might be said that public opinion was at one time pretty evenly divided. On the one side were the large body of citizens who had fought and bled for their country's independence, and on the influence

other side the justice

mitted

still

active Tories,

who

believed that any in-

which England might force upon us should be subto.

The

influence

of

this

latter

body

citizens

of

enabled England to exercise an undue aggressiveness, and

was only when this was pushed to the extreme

limit,

impressment of our sailors and by wanton

on our

that the tide of to

make England

firing

resentment waxed strong.

It

was

it

by the ships,

difficult

perceive the exact difference between an

American and an English subject, and where the two countries had been only so recently severed, much confusion mining the nationality of 47

sailors

was bound

to arise.

in deterIt

was

THF.

48

YANKEE NAVY.

natural that England, at that time sorely in need of

her

all

should endeavor to impress every available man, and

sailors,

her naval

were not always nice

officers

in

their efforts to

secure this result, or just in their demands.

The naval War

of

1812

was a curious combination

of

insolent aggression on one side and legislative incompetence

and individual superiority on the other. The period from the peace with the Barbary States to the outbreak of the war was employed by our able legislators in doing what they could to leave us unprepared, while

war was an

plainly revealed that

we had

of the lesson

every

possible sign

inevitable result.

On

top

received from a lot of pirates, and in the

face of the most humiliating insults from a greater power,

our navy was allowed

to

go by the board, so

to speak.

place of building a few efficient ships of good

proposed already

add 188 gunboats

1807 to

in

built,

making

257 in

all.

our coast from English squadrons

size,

it

In

was

to the fleet of those

These boats were to protect !

Congressman Williams, of South Carolina, declared that the navy was "a curse to the country, and never had been anything else." When the war came, however, something had

to

be done, and

all

the available ships were put

in

commission, although Congress was of the firm conviction that

it

would be

of very little use,

and timidly tried

to

keep

the vessels in port for fear they would be forthwith grabbed

up by the enemy, whose prowess on the sea had terrorized The following vessels were in the whole maritime world. the

American Navy

The peake

at the

beginning of the war

:

President (44), Constitution (44), United States (44), Chesa(36),

Congress

(36),

Constellation

(36),

Essex

(32),

John

THE YANKEE NAVY.

Adams

(28),

Hornet

Wasp

(18),

49

Argus

(r8),

Enterprise (12), Nautilus (12), Vixen (12),

Siren

(16),

and Fz)Vr

(10).

(16),

In

all,

seventeen ships, while Great Britain had over one thousand.

Of course, England, as

at the present day,

had a vast mari-

time commerce, and a system of dependent colonies so world-

wide that

in fighting a single foe

for her to

have concentrated

it

all

would have been impossible of her ships at

That her naval superiority was manifest, however, necessary to state that,

ships,

in

one point. it

is

only

England had stationed,

from Halifax to the West Indies, over seven times the arma-

ment

of the

As

whole American Navy.

illustrations of the

methods employed by England, a

few incidents which occurred previous to the actual outbreak

Of these, the unfortunate Chesapeakewas the most prominent, and had the greatest

of hostilities will suffice.

Leopard

affair

bearing on our navy subsequently, teaching as that

it

did a lesson

was not soon forgotten.

On

the 22d of June, 1807, the United States frigate Chesa-

peake (36) dropped

down

to

Hampton Roads,

and started on her voyage

to the

got under way,

Mediterranean, to relieve

Commodore Barron had come

the Constitution at that station.

on board a short time before she started, after receiving a

commander

report from Captain Gordon, that she

was

in

readiness.

As the ship

was as unshipshape as

A squadron One fleet,

it

out to sea,

Her crew was new, her decks

everything was in confusion.

were strewn with truck of

of the Chesapeake y

sailed

all

descriptions,

ought not

of British ships

of them, the Leopard (50),

to

and everything

have been.

was lying

in

Lynnhaven Bay.

had detached herself from the

and, standing out in the offing, was quietly awaiting the

THE YANKEE NAVY.

50

She was observed by Commodore

approach of the Chesapeake.

Barron, who, turning to Captain Gordon, remarked

"I distrust that fellow's movements.

I

:

wonder what he

is

after?"

He I

the Chesa-

Captain Berkley of the Leopard hailed.

peake. "

The Leopard bore down on

soon found out.

have a dispatch for you."

The

Chesapeake lay

•

to.

came aboard with

In a short time a British officer

a note

and the information that the Leopard had been instructed

Commodore Barron commander crew to any but its own

to search the Chesapeake for deserters.

replied of

" Sir,

:

any

of its vessels to

Here

officers.

"

my government

Very

is

my

will not

muster

its

permit the

reply."

the

British

own

ship, the

well, sir," replied

lieutenant, with

a

smile.

After he had boarded his

Commander

hailed

once again.

"On

You must be aware,

board the Chesapeake !

the orders of the Vice-Admiral

No

reply

was given, but the

the short time they had, for

action.

It

made

sir,

that

must be obeyed." officers of the Chesapeake, in

every effort to clear the ship

was not believed up

however, that the Leopard would

fire,

to

the

last

although

it

moment, had been

observed that her ports were triced up.

came across the Chesapeake's bow. Then The cry to quarters was given. the guns were defective. No ammunition could be

Suddenly

Some

a shot

Then

another. of

found for others.

poured

in

a broadside.

Broadside after broadside from the Leopard

upon the helpless

Chesapeake.

Not a single shot

THE YANKEE NAVY. would have been had not seized a

gun with hauled killed

his

fired in return

I

Lieutenant Henry Allen

from the galley and discharged a

live coal

own

if

5

Then

the American

flag was Twenty-one men had thus wantonly been

down.

fingers.

and wounded.

Of course the British Government deprecated this little The Vice-Admiral was censured for his ungallant act, and shortly afterwards promoted. Commodore Barron was affair.

suspended for

five years,

the whole, however,

without pay, for his negligence.

On

proved a good lesson for the American

it

Our ships were

Navy, and very useful afterwards.

not caught

napping again.

About four years the British in their

after this,

own

it

happened that we paid back

coin for the Chesapeake

The

affair.

impressment of American seamen had, of course, gone on the interval,

until

was getting

it

Commodore Roagers was encroachments on our English frigate,

American of

her.

letters, j

!

sailor,

On

to

in

be a serious matter.

not disposed to submit to such

rights,

and when he heard that an

presumably the Guerriere, had seized an he hurried to sea

in

the President in search

conspicuous

the topsails of the President, in

was painted her name, that the British

know who she was. On the evening

of

May

vessels

14, 181

1,

might

Rodgers

hailed a strange ship that he took to be a frigate.

"What sail is that?" " What sail is that " came the answer. " What sail is that ?" repeated Rodgers. A shot came in reply. Whereupon the ?

1

with a broadside, and kept

badly damaged,

many

it

of her

up

President opened

until the other vessel

crew being

killed

was

and wounded.

THE YANKEE NAVY

52

The next morning Commodore Rodgers discovered that she was the British sloop-of-war Little Belt. A dispute afterwards arose as to who fired the first shot, and the whole matter was

*

r

'

eventually dropped, but there can be no doubt as to what i

Isaac Hull.

would have happened

if

the Little Belt had been a superior

ship.

Not many months Isaac Hull

was

called

after this

upon

harbor of Portsmouth, England. tain Hull

it

happened that Captain

to assert his

The

independence Constitution,

commanding, had been dispatched

to

in

the

with Cap-

Holland

to

THE YANKEE NAVY.

53

pay that country the interest on our debt, and she proceeded from thence to Portsmouth, where there was stationed a large force of English frigates.

and the

Captain Hull was ashore one night,

was in command of First Lieutenant when he was informed by an officer from the man-o'-war Havana that an American deserter was Constitution

Charles Morris, British

aboard that tain

vessel,

and might be had upon application.

Hull being away, Lieutenant Morris made

Cap-

efforts to get

The next day he applied to the Commander of the Havana, and then to the British Admiral, but was met with frigidity and innuendoes. While this was happening a stroke of good fortune enabled Lieutenant

the deserter back.

One

Morris to turn the tables.

Havana, with a rich

Irish brogue,

night a deserter from the

came aboard the

Constitution.

This enabled Lieutenant Morris to employ the same tactics that the British officer the

Havana

that he

him up.

stitution

was practically

Signals were rapidly

anchored close

came aboard,

sent

word

to

had a deserter, and then promptly refused

Here was a

to give

frigates

He

had used with him.

state of things at once.

at the

mercy

made from

The

Con-

of the British squadron.

the British flagship.

to the Constitution.

Two

Captain Hull then

the crew was sent to quarters and she put out

Then the Constitution was hove to and waited for one of them to come up. There was great excitement on board. The men w ere stripped for The frigate rapidly came within hail, and, to the action. to sea,

followed by the two frigates.

T

surprise of

all

on board the

Constitution, hailed her,

a few remarks, and bore away.

wait for another opportunity to

War was

exchanged

Thus Captain Hull had to show the power of his ship.

formally declared on June

18, 1812,

and the

first

THE YANKEE NAVY.

54

Rodgers put

sea

to

United States, the

had

A

was not encouraging.

battle

the

in

few days

President,

after,

accompanied by the

Hornet, and- the Argus, and

Congress, the

his unfortunate fight with the Belvidera,

more

dissatisfaction than

Commodore

The

ever.

which caused

President sighted

and drawing away from the

Belvidera off Nantucket,

the

rest of

the

fleet, chased that vessel unsuccessfully. During the engagement one of the President's guns burst, killing sixteen men. The Belvidera escaped, and the American squadron

continued on a long cruise, returning to port on August

without

29th,

accomplishing

anything.

This was a

bad

beginning, and the effect on Congress and the country at

Our

large very dispiriting. often

enough

in

navy had been decried

little

the halls of Congress, and timid legislators

inveighed against the policy of allowing our ships to put to sea

in

the face of

enemy.

formidable and hitherto invincible

so

But subsequent events proved that we were always

able to hold our

own and

many

in

instances to

whip forces

greatly superior, opposed to us on the ocean.

The

Constitution,

peake on July

with a new crew, sailed from the Chesa-

12, 1812,

and on the 17th began that famous

chase which showed Isaac Hull's great ability.

along

the

he

coast,

attempted to close

in

sighted

a

British

Heading up which

squadron,

For three days and nights the

on him.

enemy were close in his wake, and every device to make a ship move through water was tried by Hull and immediately imitated

by the British

frigates.

Guerriere, that the Constitution

conditions.

and her

The

sails

Constitution

met

Among them was later on

was towed by

the

under different boats, kedged,

soused with water, and thus inch by inch was

,

THE YANKEE NAVY.

56

contested, until finally, availing herself of a favorable squall,

away from her

she slipped

The

pursuers.

British captains did not recover for

many

a long

from their surprise and chagrin over the manner the Constitution

Yankee

— which flying

frigate,

masthead

they had referred to as a a

piece

Captain Hull, after put into Boston, and

began

to look as

to

meet Dacres

both met

at

an entertainment.

your ship

Look money on "

"

if I

the imbecility of

to sea again.

He

to his fancy.

the Guerrihre.

Dacres was

Hull.

ability of a war, Hull said:

of

of

if

was not

was instructed to wait orders, but this

He wanted

bunting at her

them.

Congress would prevent him from going

also anxious to run across

which

" fir-built

from the British squadron,

his escape

it

striped

of

— finally got away from

"

in

day

In

Before the war they had joking about the prob-

"Well, Dacres, take good care

when she is alone." Dacres, "would you like to bet

ever run alongside of her

here, Hull," replied

the outcome ?"

No," said Hull,

"

I

don't care to bet money, but

I'll

go a

hat." "

Done

" said

!

Dacres.

Hull was therefore anxious to bring about a

result,

and

own hands, he sailed out of Boston Harbor on August 2d. He cruised south of Cape Sable, then east of Halifax, around Nova Scotia to the Gulf of St.

taking matters into his

Lawrence, taking a few

prizes,

and then south again.

On

August 19th he sighted a British frigate. " Good " said Hull. " I hope it's Dacres." !

The drew

frigate hoisted the British colors,

near,

when

the

enemy opened

fire.

and the two

vessels

'

THE YANKEE NAVY.

we

" Shall "

Not

The "

return the

fire

?

"

asked Lieutenant Morris.

yet," said Hull.

then bore upon the stranger's quarter.

Constitution

Let her have

it

" !

shouted Hull.

Commander

So excited was that able

and down on the quarterdeck, and fit,

he

I

them up the

split

" If

57

his trousers

jumped up

being a tight

side.

Dacres," he muttered

that's

that he

to

himself, "

wish

I

I

had bet him a whole uniform."

The "

fire

between the two frigates was now

Hull her

!

"

terrific.

sang out Lieutenant Morris.

In their excitement the crew, not yet so far separated from I

old England that they didn't "

Hull her

know

a pun, repeated the cry,

" !

In fifteen minutes the enemy's

mizzenmast went,

in a

few

minutes more the foremast and mainmast followed, and the Guerricre was a hopeless wreck, having been raked fore and

by the terrible

aft

made, prepared colors

fire

then hauled

stitution

came down

to

the Constitution

of

off

for

continue

the

in a

boat and ran up alongto

her

Dacres poked his head over the after-bulwarks.

"

Have you struck

" ?

Well," replied Dacres, " our mizzenmast, foremast and

mainmast have gone.

We're not

in

good condition

tinue." "

but the British

Captain Hull's compliments to Captain Dacres," shouted

Read. "

;

the Guerricre, for then there was no doubt as

identity. "

action

guns. The Conwhen they were

just in time.

Third Lieutenant Read got side

s

repairs, and,

Have you

struck ?" asked

Read

again.

to con-

THE YANKEE NAVY. I

— don't — know," said Dacres.

"

I

59

—

You'd better made up your mind pretty quick," roared

"

Read.

"

This

is

I'll

trouble you for that hat."

no time for parley.

I

ask you again

have surrendered." " Well," replied Dacres, "

I

suppose

I

have."

if

you

THE YANKEE NAVY.

60

"Do you

"All right," said Read.

need a surgeon ?"

"Don't you need him yourself?"

"Why,

no," replied Read.

and they've been attended

"

We have only seven

wounded,

i

to."

Captain Dacres was wounded himself, but he was transferred to the Constitution. "

Let

me

gangway " " Thank ;

came over

help you, Dacres," said Hull, as he

the

you're hurt." you," said

Dacres, despondently.

"

my

Here's

sword."

"Keep

it,"

said Hull

"you deserve

;

to

keep

it

;

but

I'll

trouble you for that hat."

r

In this action the Constitution

the Guerriere, but there of the

two

Guerriere

vessels

was

is

was somewhat superior

toj

no comparison between the force,

and the amount

of

damage

so badly shattered that she

had

inflicted.

to be

blown

The^ up,

while the Constitution was practically unhurt.

This victory on the part of the United States frigate was,

due

to three things

:

grit,

gumption and gunnery.

Nothing could exceed the universal joy over Hull's

victory.

Hitherto defeat had perched on our banners both by land

and

sea,

but this showed that the war was not going to be

altogether a one-sided

affair.

CHAPTER The War

of 1812

V.

— (Continued.) —

Wasp and Frolic United States and Macedonian Constitution and Java Capture of Chesapeake by Shannon Career of Argus Boxer and Enterprise.

David Porter's First Cruise

—

—

—

DAVID

PORTER

war broke

out,

—

was commander and did not get

when the

of the Essex

to sea

with the squadron

under Rodgers that allowed the Belvidera to escape.

But

shortly before the Constitution took the Guerriere he did sail

from

New

York, and, cruising at random, took several prizes.

Then on August

13, 1812,

man, and succeeded

in

he disguised the Essex as a merchantfouling the

English sloop Alert, so

that vessel fell into his hands.

And

here

we

are introduced for the

Glasgow Farragut, who,

later, in the Civil

first

time to David

War, was heard from

with such great results.

The Essex was crowded with prisoners from the Alert and other prizes captured, and a conspiracy was formed among them

to

capture her.

But Captain Porter had been

in the habit of training his

crew to meet emergencies, and delighted to spread a sudden alarm of

fire,

to

accustom them to act quick.

Midshipman Farragut, feigning

He

quietly notified Porter. 61

sleep, discovered the plot.

Porter shouted

"

Fire

" !

and the

THK YANKEE NAVY,

62

responded

crevv

in

double-quick time.

Then

the prisoners

were quickly secured.

The Essex succeeded

made

a

in

sent her prisoners to Halifax under parole, and

getting back to the Delaware.

famous

cruise,

which

will

Wasp" and

was great fun

It

on the high

to.

"Frolic.

to beat the English at their

No

nation had ever done

it

own game before, and

the Constitution took the Guerricre John Bull opened his

when eyes

seas.

be referred

Later on she

;

In

but this was only a small beginning.

October, the sloop

Wasp,

18

guns,

commanded by

Captain Jacob Jones, started out to pick up prizes from the

Stephen Decatur.

H

THE YANKEE NAVY.

6\

West

In a

Indies.

heavy gale she sighted a

fleet of

merchant

by a sloop-of-war.

vessels protected

Moreover, the sloop seemed anxious to

fight.

Jones gave her the opportunity, and

wasn't long before

it

men

the superior gunnery of the Wasp's

disabled the enemy.

She was rapidly dismantled, and, the two vessels fouling" each other, the crew of the Wasp boarded her, and found only one

were

left,

man on deck at the wheel, and a few and who promptly surrendered. The

officers

who

majority of

her crew were killed or wounded.

This vessel proved to be the British sloop

by the British frigate It

was a grand

Poicters.

victory, however,

and proved that we could

even capture British vessels superior

own.

Frolic, of 20

Shortly after the engagement, both vessels were taken

guns.

All on account of grit,

The capture

of

armament

in

our

to

gumption and gunnery.

the Frolic was followed by a

more

still

important victory. In October, his

Commodore Rodgers

squadron on a second

with the

sailed

from Boston with

cruise, in the President, in

United States and Argus.

The

company

United States soon

parted company with the others, however, and stood the southward.

This vessel was at that time

Stephen Decatur, famous

On Sunday sighted. "

Here

in the.

war with

commanded by

morning, October 25th, a strange

my chance,"

said Decatur,

to

Tripoli.

Decatur saw that she was an English is

off

sail

was

frigate.

and he called the crew

to quarters. ;

There was

in the ship a

boy who had been considered too

small to be enrolled, but was allowed to accompany the ship.

THE YANKEE NAVY. This boy

now came

aft,

65

and attracted Captain Decatur's

attention. " Well,

The " If

I

muster

what do you want

?

"

he asked.

boy, Jack Creamer by name, took

you please,

he

sir,"

said, "

I

would

off his hat.

like to

"United States" and "Macedonian." ''

What

"

So

Jack.

be put on the

roll."

I

for

?

"

From an

old print.

said Decatur.

can get

my

share of the prize money," responded

So much for Yankee foresight.

His

request was

granted.

The two At

first

ships were

now

rapidly approaching each other.

the stranger kept at long range, but the guns of the

THE YANKEE NAVY.

66

United States reaching him easily, he began to close up.

was shown the good marksmanship

may

be remarked,

played

It

mizzenmast with a smile

we

havoc fell,

are as proud of to-day as

with

and one

enemy's

the

of the

''We have made

:

Here

of the Yankees, which,

top

we were

it

then.

The

hamper.

American gunners remarked a brig of her."

Decatur, standing near, heard him. "

Try again,"

said he,

"and

After nearly two hours'

be a sloop."

she'll

stiff

fighting, the Macedonian, for

such she proved to be, struck her colors.

She was com-

manded by Captain Carden, one of the most successful commanders in the English navy, and was admitted to be a fine frigate in

United States's 54, and had a

was 104

killed

She mounted 49 guns

every respect.

much

and wounded, that

loss

of the United States only

Captain Carden firmly believed up to the

12.

that he

to the

Her

smaller crew.

last

moment

would win, such was British confidence.

But he made the mistake of Decatur got back

to

his life.

New York

with his prize, and was

Our

greeted with the plaudits of the whole nation.

were very much alive

at that time.

One

of

them wrote

poets :

" Bold Carden thought he had us tight,

Just so did Dacres too, sirs, But brave Decatur put him right With Yankee doodle-doo, sirs. They thought they saw our ship in flame, Which made them all huzza, sirs, But when the second broadside came It made them hold their jaws, sirs."

Not able

poetry, but

it

conveyed the

At the precise hour in which 500 to a

banquet

at Gibson's City Hotel,

i

idea.

men were

New

sitting

down

York, to celebrate

'

THE YANKEE NAVY :j

the victories of

Hull

Isaac

event was taking place

was to be celebrated

off

in

67

and Stephen Decatur, another

the coast of South America, which

history to

the discomfiture of the

over-confident Briton.

On

the 26th of October, 181 2, Captain William Bainbridge

set sail

from Boston

in

the Constitution, accompanied by the

Jas.

Hornet, Master

West

Indies.

the Essex,

meet in the

and

later,

Lawrence.

Commandant James Lawrence,

Two it

to cruise in the

days before Captain Porter had sailed in

was the intention

to

have these three vessels

and, by proceeding to the Indian Ocean, to cruise

East Indies, and thus draw some of the English frigates

THE YANKEE NAVY.

68

away from our

coast.

out, as the Constitution

This design, however, was not carried

and the Hornet

Essex at the appointed rendezvous.

own way, rounding

his

The

Constitution

the

Horn

failed

meet the

to

Porter proceeded on

'

into the Pacific.

and Hornet, after touching

at Port Praya,

proceeded to the coast of Brazil, and on December 13th the Hornet, with the Constitution discreetly out of sight, appeared

Bahia,

off

St.

Salvador, and, after vainly trying to induce a

come out

British sloop-of-war there, the Bonne Citoyenne, to

and give

battle,

so ready to

blockaded that

vessel,

her captain being not

engage an American vessel

of

weight as the boasts of the British might lead one

The to sea,

Constitution,

?

about the same to believe.

then leaving the Hornet off Bahia, proceeded

and on December 29th ran across the English

I

frigate

Java.

was a one-sided

It

from the

affair

about two hours was a good job and

make

took the

It

a wreck of the enemy,

Constitution

to

and

well done.

it

start.

Indeed, she was so

badly damaged that the next day she had to be blown up.

On board

the

Java were

British naval officers.

Thomas

Lieutenant-General

Hislop, recently appointed Governor of India, and

some extra

Her captain (Lambert) died

shortly

after from his injuries.

Bainbridge sailed for Boston with the news of his victory, arriving there on February 27th, and

it is

needless to say that

he got a lively reception.

Fifty thousand dollars were voted

by Congress to the

and crew.

In

officers

commenting on

these successive victories, the London

Times had occasion to remark dissolved

!"

:

"

Oh, what

a

charm

is

hereby

\

THE YANKEE NAVY.

One

of our poets

sang

69

:

" Come, lads, draw near, and you shall hear, In truth as chaste as Dian, O How Bainbridge, true, and his bold crew !

Again have trained the lion, 'Twas off Brazil he got the pill

Which made him

O

cry, Peccavi,

!

O

But hours two the Java, new, Maintained the battle bravely,

!

" !

Etc.

Nearly a year of war and not an American frigate had struck

!

Grit,

gumption, and gunnery

In the meantime, Lawrence, at

!

the Hortiet, had remained

in

Bahia until he was chased by an English

frigate, and,

making off, he came across the English sloop-of-war Peacock, and made short work of her, the engagement lasting about fifteen

She then returned

and they had

1813),

Of to

minutes.

to

New York

(in

March,

another celebration.

course, after these brilliant victories,

have one disaster.

The

Chesapeake,

she was launched, was the victim.

it

was necessary

unlucky from the time

She was

in

Boston

and Captain Lawrence, her commander, decided

to

in

May,

go out and

meet the English Shannon, Captain Broke, who was cruising around outside, daring an American vessel

On

the

1

st of

to

meet him.

June, Lawrence sailed out in the Chesapeake

with a raw crew and met his

fate.

Early in the fight he was wounded and carried below to die;

but his last words, "Don't give up the ship!" are a

battle-cry even to this day.

In this action

were reversed.

it is

well to observe that the usual conditions

In every

American naval victory our success

THE YANKEE NAVY.

71

has been due to the high state of discipline and the extra-

Captain Broke of the

ordinary regard paid to gun practice.

Shannon had studiously employed these methods.

His crew

was not only well trained, but they had been practiced frequently at the guns.

On

the contrary, the Chesapeake,

new crew, most

fated from the start, had only just shipped a of

them

inefficient

and landlubberly.

The Shannon took British rejoicings,

ill-

the Chesapeake into Halifax harbor amid

and correspondent American despondency.

Shortly after this happened, the sloop-of-war Argus, under

Lieutenant

Commander

Allen, sailed for British waters with

the intention of repeating the exploits of John Paul Jones.

After destroying twenty British

merchantmen, the Argus

captured a ship loaded with wine. for the

crew.

While they were

intoxication, the

Alas in

a

!

It

was too much

condition of partial

Argus was taken by the English Pelican.

Allen died the next day, and on

August

21,

1813,

he was

buried at Plymouth.

There was a compensation for capture of the

September

4th.

this

loss,

however,

in the

Boxer (Blyth) by the Enterprise (Burrows), on

Both commanders were

and their remains are

in

killed in this action,

Portland, Me.

These vessels were equally matched, and the American victory

was a source

of great mortification to British minds.

CHAPTER The War

of 1812

VI.

— (Continued.) —

—

Lieutenant Woolsey at Sackett's Harbor Perry and Chauncey On Lake Ontario Battle of Lake Erie Perry's Great Victory

—

— On

Lake Champlain

— Thomas

—

MacDonough — An Attempt

that Failed.

WHILE

our navy was gaining laurels on the

On

events were happening on the great lakes. 30, 1S12,

that lake. after

It

July

Lieutenant Melancthon Woolsey, at Sackett's Harbor,

Lake Ontario, was

came

ocean,

It

in

charge of the entire American force on

consisted of the brig

with a squadron of

it

five

and the British

Oneida,

armed

vessels.

would be an easy matter, thought the

British, to

run

Harbor and capture the

Word was

sent

into Sackett's

ashore that

if

Oneida.

she were given up, the town

itself

would be

mercifully spared.

Woolsey thought

He

stationed

differently.

the Oneida at the entrance

to

the

harbor,

where her broadside would bear on the enemy, and removed the remaining guns to the shore, forming

them

While these preparations were being made, that on the shore nearby

it

into a battery.

was discovered

was an old thirty-two-pound gun,

that had been lying there for years, covered with rust.

wallowed so long that

Woolsey got 72

this

it

It

had

had been nicknamed "The Sow."

gun up and placed

it

in the battery.

'

THE YANKEE NAVY.

"We

haven't any shot to

fit it,

sir," said

73

one of

his

men.

"Never mind," said Woolsey, "take some twenty-fourpound shot and wrap some old carpet around them, and let her go."

This

is

why

the American always has the weather gauge

Oliver Hazard Perrt.

He

over others.

uses his brains to accomplish the best result,

regardless of custom or tradition.

Amid

the jeers on the British vessels, Royal George and

Prince Regent,

loaded and

now

fired.

rapidly approaching, the "old

sow" was

THE YANKEE NAVY.

74

At

moment

this

a thirty-two-pound shot from the Roxal

George came over the embankment, and bounded along until it

was caught by Sergeant

was

It

"

now

just

Here we are I'll

So

give

it

saying,

Spier.

what was most needed. " !

back to 'em. he

" I've

said Spier.

One good

rammed

taking deliberate aim,

let

it

fly.

into

At

caught 'em

out,

and

.,

turn deserves another." " old

sow,"

and,

moment

the

Royal

the this

George happened to be wearing to bring her broadside on.

The shot struck her stern, and raked her fore and aft. It killed fourteen men and wounded eighteen. That was enough. The British squadron put about and sailed away, while the boys on shore struck up "Yankee Doodle." This was the "opening gun

were

lively times there

On Albany

up

"

on the great lakes, and there

to the close of the

war

Washington's birthday, 181 2, two men to the lakes.

in 1815.

set out

from

They were Master Commandant Oliver

Hazard Perry and Captain Isaac Chauncey. These men were to create ships of war out of trees that lined the shores of Lakes Erie and Ontario. They were to rely

upon guns and men wherever they could be picked up or

sent through a trackless wilderness.

'

Against them was an

organized force of the enemy equipped with

fleets,

already afloat, and others in the process of building.

some They

*

both went to Sackett's Harbor, prepared to defend that point against the enemy, and Perry stayed there with Chauncey for

two weeks

;

but the enemy's attack was postponed, and he

started for the southern shore of

there

Lake

— a work that we are enjoying

Erie, to begin his

work

the fruits of to this day.

'

THE YANKEE NAVY.

75

What Chauncey accomplished on Lake Ontario up close of the

August

war

is

too long a story to be told in detail.

he was given

31, 1812,

the great lakes, but his to

Lake Ontario.

to the

own

command

of operations

On

on

all

war was confined James Yeo, whose

active part in the

Opposed

principal occupation while in

to

him was

command

Sir

of the English

squadron

Sergeant Spier catching the British out.

was dodging the enemy, and

at this

work he was a grand

success.

In 1813, on April

Toronto).

On May

25th, 27th,

Captain Chauncey took York (now with Perry's assistance, he took

Fort George, and on October 5th captured filled

five

gunboats

with troops and released 200 American prisoners.

number of other engagements took place on Lake Ontario

A in

1813 and 1814, but they were not important as affecting the final result.

THE YANKEE NAVY.

76

On

the 10th of September, at half-past ten in the morning,

Oliver Hazard Perry stood on the deck of the brig Lawrence, the flagship of his squadron, and unfolded a blue battle-flag.

Turning

to the crew,

who were ranged

" Boys, this flag has

on

give up the ship

Shall

"Ay, went

! '

The enemy's in all,

hoist

I

was

fleet

in

at Trafalgar.

-

Don't

'

"

a

hundred

throats,

and up

it"

There were

sight.

six vessels

Barclay, who had been wounded The American fleet consisted of

— in

all

fifty-four

The

guns and 490 men.

squadron consisted of the flagship

Detroit, the ship

Queen Charlotte, the brigs Lady Prevost and Hunter, the schooner Chippewa and the schooner 502 men.

Little Belt

— sixty-three

fight.

As the youthful Commander stood on the deck brig, his

guns and

Nearly 200 of Perry's men, however, were sick and

unable to

mind reverted

In the face of

of his little

to the events of the preceding year.

immense odds, he had succeeded

in

getting his

Then, when two of his vessels

little

fleet

together at Erie.

were

built,

he was unable to get them out into the lake, as they

drew too much water, them

his necessities

over with barges.

Then he was taken fleet

compelling him to

Then he had no men

sick with lake fever,

condition, he had written to

The enemy's

%

it ?

schooners Ariel, Tigress, Porcupine, Scorpion and Somers, and

British

)

:

nine vessels, the brigs Lawrence, Niagara and Caledonia, the

the sloop Trippe

"

masthead.

commanded by Robert

under Nelson

him, he said

the words of James Lawrence,

came from

ay, sir!"

to the royal

it

in front of

.

are

now

off

An enemy within striking men enough to man them ings.

!

Chauncey

and

to

man

in Jury,

float

them. in

this

my

feel-

:

the bar.

.

distance,

my

.

.

Conceive

vessels

ready, and

not

"

O

=3

<X>

-

THE YANKEE NAVY.

78

meantime the enemy had

In the

and Perry, and

finally

succeeding

in

to

Maiden,

his fleet, stationed at Put-in Bay, waited for the British.

Now

He

they were in sight, and his opportunity had come.

walked around by the guns and encouraged "

away

sailed

getting crews, had followed,

Are you ready, boys

"All ready,

Then the

sir,"

?

"

he asked

was the cheerful

his

men.

in turn.

reply.

battle began.

Perry, in the Lawrence, soon found himself in the midst of it,

and

his other vessels

having lagged behind, his ship bore

the brunt of the enemy's time, with three to one

mind

to leave

fire.

It

was an uneven

against him, so Perry

his flagship

and take chances

fight for a

made up

his

in getting to the

Niagara.

Shielded somewhat by the smoke, he jumped into a

boat, and,

rowed by four men, accompanied by

his fourteen-

year-old brother, and bearing his pennant and battle-flag, he

shoved

off.

That was a great sculling match

for Perry

and

his crew.

The British knew if they could pick him off they would win. One of the British gunners aimed so well that he put a hole through the boat, and Perry promptly took off his coat

and stopped

From Detroit

and

— ran

aft.

up.

moment

the

Two

won.

it

of the

he reached the Niagara the day was

enemy's ships

foul of each other,

— the

Queen Charlotte arid

and Perry raked them fore

In a short time they were

all

hors de combat,

and

surrendered.

The Lawrence in the meantime had been obliged to haul down her flag, and had drifted to leeward. Perry went back to her, hoisted

it

again, and prepared to receive his prisoners.

|

THE YANKEE NAVY.

8o

He had on of

an old suit during the engagement

the pictures to the contrary), and

(in spite

looked more like a

farmer than a naval hero.

But now he put on

his uniform,

came on board and gave

and the British

From, an old print.

Perry's Victory.

And then Perry wrote on

it

officers

up.

took an old letter from his pocket, and

in pencil to

General William Henry Harrison

:

—

We have met the enemy and they are ours two ships, two brigs, one schooner and one sloop. Yours, with great respect and esteem, O. H. Perry. The on the

British lakes, to

had intended, after making themselves masters push on and cut

off

the

West from the

East,

THE YANKEE NAVY.

82

from Lake Erie down their little

New

to

What he

however,

did,

is

extraordinary only from other

There were any number

standpoints than the Yankee. officers in the

the

same

But Perry blocked

Orleans.

game.

result.

Perry was American, uncongressional did things.

When

he was at Erie

in his

the

over the bar.

methods, and

British

blockaded him and prevented him from getting

at

of

navy at that time who would have accomplished

his

But one day Barclay got an invitation to dinner

another point on the lake, and sailed away to eat

seized his opportunity and floated his vessels.

the other side calls luck.

which, added

squadron

two brigs

to

grit,

It

is

Perry

it.

That

is

what

in reality eternal vigilance,

gumption and gunnery, make the

average American naval hero. It

remained for Thomas MacDonough

to put the finishing

touches to the British on Lake Champlain.

was one in

of the heroes of the expedition that

burning the Philadelphia

was well qualified

in the

man

had succeeded

harbor of Tripoli, and he

for his task.

His famous battle

and a day

The

This young

off

Plattsburg took place just a year

later than Perry's great victory.

English,

having practically

lost

control

of

Lakes

Ontario and Erie, made great preparations to capture Lake

Champlain, and Sir James Yeo sent Captain Downie with a

squadron

to obtain possession.

George Provost was also sent with a force of 15,000 men to take Plattsburg, which was defended by about 3,000 Sir

Americans.

MacDonough,

after the usual delays

and discouragements,

THE YANKEE NAVY. finally

succeeded

in

building a

and on September

83

to

fleet

the enemy's

repel

flagship

the

Saratoga, he lay off Plattsburg with three other vessels

and

attack,

11,

1814,

in

his

ten galleys.

Downie,

in his flagship Confianct,

and twelve gunboats, appeared

T.

It

is

unnecessary to

with two other vessels

in sight at 8 a.

m.

MacDonough.

state that

the

British

force

was

superior to ours, not only in guns, but in men, and the result

was what might have been expected. The battle was decided by the two As the

Confiance approached,

flagships.

MacDonough kneeled on

the

THE YANKEE NAVY. Saratoga's deck

moment

and took careful aim with a twenty-four

The shot raked

pounder.

the

a cock on the Saratoga's deck

guns and crowed with

all his

and they went

at

it

Almost

Confiance.

coop by a shot from the enemy.

the men,

85

He

might.

this

at

was released from flew

up on one

This incident inspired

hammer and

tongs.

js

Battle of Lake Champlain.

The day was won, however, as

— From

not so

his

of the

-.

the land

much by pure

bravery,

by MacDonough's seamanship and foresight. These qualities have won more of our battles than any-

thing

else.

See Hull, Decatur, Bainbridge, Truxton, Porter,

Dewey and Sampson. MacDonough not only carefully arranged

Farragut,

'but

he provided kedges

in

his line of battle,

advance, so that

if

the Saratoga

THE YANKEE NAVY.

86

should lose the use of her starboard broadside, he could swing her around and bring her port broadside to bear.

The enemy's

fire

happened, and then

was so hot that at the critical

this

is

precisely

what

moment MacDonough, by

the use of a stream anchor and hawser, brought the Saratoga

around, and poured in such a deadly quickly brought to terms. his

example, but her

The

fire

that the

enemy was

Commander had

not thought far enough

ahead.

The result was Lake Champlain.

a complete victory, Sir

Plattsburg with his

to retreat,

and MacDonough became,

15,000

most prominent naval commanders

Although the British attempted lost,

and the possession

George Provost, who

attacked

they

at

at the

of

same time

men, was compelled one bound, one of the

of the time.

after this to regain

what

they did not succeed, and early the next year peace

was declared.

I

British ship tried to follow '

CHAPTER The War

of 1812

VIT.

— (Continued.) —

Essex— Young Farragut and the Pig Rodgers and Hutchinson Minor Engagements Career of the Wasp and Her Disappearance The Constitution, Levant and Cyane Last Shot of the War Once More the Dey of Algiers Decatur before Tunis, 1815-1861 Minor Exploits.

Porter's Cruise in the

—

—

•

—

—

—

DAVID

PORTER

on October

—

sailed in the Essex 1812,

from the Delaware

and did not return

until July,

Moreover, he did not bring his ship with him, but he

'1814.

'did

28,

—

bring a large

added

to later

slice

of

imperishable glory, which was

on by his descendants.

The Essex had been ordered to join the Constitution and them in the South Atlantic, he was instructed to use his own judgment. This he proceeded to do, and made up his mind to go off on his own hook. So he started around Cape Horn into the Pacific, and until March, 1814, when the Essex was finally destroyed by Hornet, but not meeting

two English men-o'-war sent out for that express purpose, Porter cruised, supplying his captured. tically

He

men and

ship from the prizes he

captured whale ships, privateers, and prac-

every English vessel he came across, until on the 19th

of June, 1813,

he entered the harbor of Guayaquil and found

himself in possession of a squadron of nine vessels,

and flying the American 87

flag.

all

armed

THE YANKEE NAVY.

88

I

One

of the

midshipmen on

Porter's ship

some

prizes that he determined to send

and young Farragut was placed this didn't

Soon after

happen by act

when he

of

his

them

to Valparaiso,

charge of one of them.

in

•

of Congress.

this Porter sailed for the

and made Nooaheeva

afterwards an

Porter was so burdened with

Admiral, as everyone knows.

But

He was

His name was Farragut.

of twelve.

was a youngster

Marquesas

Islands,

headquarters until February, 1814,

sailed for Valparaiso.

He had some difficulty in getting away from the Islands with his crew, who had become enamored of the dusky female But he

inhabitants.

away

to the tune of

finally succeeded,

"The

Girl

I

and the Essex sailed

Left Behind Me."

At Valparaiso he was blockaded by two English men-o'war, the Phivbe and the Cherub.

The Essex attempted to run the blockade, and would proba" away if it had not been for an untimely squall,

bly have got

and she was disabled and compelled

Here a desperate defense,

fight ensued,

was compelled

When

to seek safety in a bay.

and the

Essex, after a gallant

to surrender.

the crew of the Phoebe

came on board to take named "Murphy," and

possession they found on her a pig

one of the sailors brought her on board the Phoebe

"That pig belongs

"Go and so "

to

is

triumph.

me," said young Farragut.

on with you," said the

This

in

sailor.

"You

are a prisoner,

the pig." is

private property," replied Farragut.

Whereupon

was formed, and the thirteen-year-old American boy and the English sailor went at it.

A

a ring

desperate encounter ensued, but

Farragut, although

*

THE YANKEE NAVY. only a boy, succeeded pig

in

off

in

whipping

89

his adversary

Porter and the remainder of his crew, I

u.

and bore the

triumph.

now

prisoners of

war, were sent to the United States in a cartel-ship, and after

many adventures he

arrived

story of his cruise.

"We

Porter,

'

home

in July, 1814,

bringing the

have been unfortunate," wrote

"but not disgraced."

The thirteen-year-old American boy and the English

The value

of the prizes Porter took

to millions of dollars.

He was

on

sailor

went

his cruise

at

it

"'

amounted Hero

thereafter hailed as the "

of the Pacific."

Somewhat

similar

to

Porter's

smaller scale, was the cruise of President,

cruise,

but on a

Commodore Rodgers

much in

the

during the summer of 1813.

After sailing towards the West Indies and meeting with no luck, the President

headed up into the North Sea, sailed near the

THE YANKEE NAVY.

9°

Shetland Islands, put into Norway, and failing to get supplies,

Rodgers began

to capture prizes

and replenish

his stores.

David Porter.

Lieutenant Hutchinson, commanding the English High Fixer, tender to the English ship of the line

San Domingo, had

been especially warned to beware of Rodgers.

THE YANKEE NAVY. Hutchinson himself was a

trifle

uneasy

meeting that astute Commodore, for before that he had appeared at

home, plundered

at the

thought of

was only a short time Havre de Grace, Rodgers's it

and actually stolen a sword from the

it,

Commodore's house. " If Rodgers gets hold "

91

of you," said

Warren

to

Hutchinson,

he will carry you into Boston on the end of his jibboom."

On

the afternoon of September 23d, as Hutchinson was

walking the quarter-deck of the High Flyer with the sword he had stolen clanking

at his side, a strange vessel

The reason why Hutchinson

didn't

was because Rodgers happened to

Hutchinson hoisted a private signal and Rodgers

signals.

promptly

replied, at

the

same time running up the

Then Rodgers put

ensign. officers

was sighted.

know it was the President know some of the English British

a British uniform on one of his

and sent him aboard the High

Flyer, deceiving

Hutch-

inson so that the officer was soon in possession of the whole code.

He was

and induced as a brother,

told that the other vessel

was the Sea Horse

to come on board, where he greeted Rodgers and told him about the President and how much

she was wanted.

"They fish,

u

and I

like to

say," said

slips

Hutchinson, "that Rodgers

imagine

an odd

so," replied

Rodgers.

"

I

suppose you would

meet him."

"Wouldn't

I!"

exclaimed

Hutchinson;

added, thoughtfully, "in a vessel of equal

"You shall have the pleasure," know what vessel this is?" "

is

through one's fingers."

Why,

"that

is,"

he

size."

said Rodgers.

"

the Sea Horse, of course," said Hutchinson.

Do you

THE YANKEE NAVY.

92

"It happens

be the United States

to

chuckled the wily Commodore, "and

I,

j

rigate President"

"mmodore

Rodgers."

Then

the band played "

'

I, sir,

Yankee Do

am Commodore

Rodgers " :

Hutchinson was well treated by Rodgers, and three days afterwards the President and her prize reached Newport.

During the year 1814, and early in 1815, a number of minor engagements took place between our ships and the English, and

the

blockade

which

England endeavored

to

THE YANKEE NAVY. establish battles

to

^3

along our entire coast was provocative of

and much

many

loss of property, the British not hesitating

plunder where they had an opportunity.

In

July,

the

John Adams was burned on the Penobscot. Shortly before this the new sloop-of-war Wasp, under Captain Johnston

Johnston Blakely.

Blakely,

English channel, created

much

captured the British sloop Reindeer.

This

appeared

excitement, and

in

the

action lasted only thirty minutes, and on his return Blakely

was presented by Congress with a gold medal.

THE YANKEE NAVY.

94

August he went on another cruise

In

Wasp, took

in the

the Avon, which the approach of three other vessels compelled

him

abandon, and

to

captured

Brothers, took the Bacchus,

eight-gun

The

Atlanta.

Midshipman

David

and

Three

the

scuttled

and on September 12th took the

Atlanta was placed

Geisinger,

who

charge

of

October

at

in

arrived

in

Savannah, and reported the various victories of the Wasp.

From

that

day

heard from.

manner

to this, however, the

Whether she foundered

of her disappearance,

is

Wasp has never been at sea, or the precise

one of the mysteries of the

deep. In April, 1814,

Peacock,

chased

Captain Warrington,

captured the English

by two

English

in the

eighteen-gun

though

brig Epervier, and,

frigates,

escaped

with

his

prize.

Early in 1815 the President was taken by an English squadron. In March, 1815, Captain

James Biddle,

in the Hornet,

the eighteen-gun Penguin in just twenty minutes.

captured This was

considered one of the most brilliant minor engagements of the war.

But one of the most glorious battles after peace

Captain Charles Stewart 1814-15,

and on February

gave chase

at sea took

place

had been declared.

to a strange sail.

Running up

to

both

commanded when

20, 1815,

Soon

vessels,

the Constitution in off St.

Vincent, he

after he sighted a second.

the

Constitution

them together, and, securing an advantageous

engaged

position,

things so lively that in a short time one of them

made

— the Cyane—

struck.

The other vessel — the Levant— had retired, now went after her, and captured her also.

but Stewart

THE YANKEE NAVY.

96

Combined, the two were

easily superior to the Constitution.

The last shot of the War of 181 2 was fired from the Peacock, when she captured the Nautilus in the Straits of Sunda, on June 30, 1815. The Nautilus was also the first vessel taken war, having been captured by the British soon after

in the

hostilities began.

The

had informed the Dey of Algiers

British Minister

American Navy, which had proved so disastrous to country's piratical aspirations, would be swept off the

that the his

ocean by John Bull

in the

second war for our independence.

John Bull had, furthermore, assisted the effective navy,

Dey

in

acquiring an

by sending him guns and ammunition and renewed ;

the Dey, relying upon the statement, immediately

and while our navy was engaged with England

hostilities,

he

lost

no means of making

When,

therefore,

in the

unpleasant for

it

summer

squadron appeared before Algiers, and with

— the

Guerriere, the Cyane

captured flag,

was

from

and the Epervier

England

that potentate

was greatly surprised.

the it

American

three vessels

— which had been

now waved

and

us.

of 1815,

the

American

When,

also,

he

informed that the Algerian flagship, the Mashonda, and

another vessel, had already been captured by the Americans only a few days before, his surprise grew. Likewise,

when he was

notified

that all the other vessels in his

and Algiers surprise

itself

subjected

knew no bounds.

and agreed

to

Decatur then appeared result,

much

unpleasantness, his

He immediately backed

to everything that

accomplished the same

by Captain Stephen Decatur

navy might also be captured water,

Decatur demanded.

before Tunis and

Tripoli

and

and although shortly afterward

THE YANKEE NAVY. it

became necessary

another squadron

for Oliver

in

the

97

Hazard Perry

to

appear with

Mediterranean and emphasize our

attitude toward the three rulers, this practically settled the

matter, and the presence of a small squadron

was enough

to

keep peace with these barbarians.

From Civil in

the close of the second

war with England

many minor and there were many

War, our navy was engaged

various parts of the world,

of his naval experience.

Captain David Porter was actively engaged

and

brilliant

from the waters around the West Indies (1821-1825)

young Farragut received much

the

to the

exploits

In the extermination of the

instances of bravery recorded. pirates

in

in the

Foxardo

affair in 1824

the authorities at that

and resigned

in

this warfare,

acted so aggressively with

place that he was court-martialed,

to enter the service of the

Mexican Navy.

He

was afterwards appointed Consul-General to Algiers, and became later Minister to Turkey, where he died March 28, In 1832 an effective lesson was given to the Malay town 1843. of

Qualla

Battoo,

merchant

vessels,

vessels did

most

Sumatra, for treachery to one of our

and during

effective

the

war with Mexico

work on the

Pacific coast

our

and the

coast of Mexico.

Then,

in 1853-4,

occurred a triumph of diplomacy which

could have only been so well done by an American officer.

Commodore Matthew

naval

Calbraith Perry appeared at

Tokio, Japan, with a squadron, and succeeded by immense tact

in

opening Japan to our trade.

The Japanese had

hitherto remained obstinate in their exclusion, but to

modore Perry's successful overtures they

yielded,

Com-

and the

THE YANKEE NAVY.

98

friendliness of that country to the United States to this day

may

be traced to the astute Perry.

After this the navy was principally occupied in scientific expeditions, and had

a long

called into service to fight

family.

breathing

some

of the

it

was

of its

own

spell, until

members

CHAPTER The Object of the North

Civil

VIII.

War.

— Depleted Condition of the Navy — Loss of the — Port Royal —The Merrimac and Monitor.

Savannah and Petrel

THE

Civil

War

takes us

away from

the open sea, and

we

leave those stirring encounters between frigates on

the broad ocean, and have instead a continuous four-year

on the part of the North to establish a blockade of

effort

the entire Atlantic Mississippi,

and Gulf coast and the command

and on the other side a continuous

prevent this from taking place. as everyone knows,

made

it

to

It

did take place, however,

in

accomplishing this

result,

possible for the United States Constitution to continue

to be issued in

hoped.

and the navy,

of the

effort

one volume and not two, as

Jeff

Davis fondly

Previous to the opening of the war, our navy,

ence to Congress, had been reduced

to a

in obedi-

peace footing, which

means that we practically had no navy at all. All vessels on which it would be necessary to spend twenty per cent, of their value in repairs were condemned. Hence it followed that in i860 we were reduced to a nonentity upon the sea. But upon the approach of hostilities the most extraordinary efforts were

made, and the result proved that

in

swiftness of preparation

The first thing the Confederates did was to start out a number of privateers, and their blockade runners soon became extremely numerous. the United States led the world.

THE YANKEE NAVY.

IOO

Early

1861 the Savannah

in

by the Confederacy

to

and the Petrel were sent out

do what harm they could, but they

both speedily met with the same across the United

merchant

The Savannah

brig Perry and

States

took

her for a

afterward paroled as prisoners of war.

In July, 1861, the Petrel

was ordered

to sea

by the Con-

federate Government, and soon sighted a strange

happened

ran

She was captured and her crew held as

vessel.

pirates, but

fate.

to

be the United States frigate

The Captain

St.

sail,

which

Lawrence.

of the St. Lawrence, however,

had taken the

precaution to disguise his vessel as a merchantman, an old trick in

our navy, and one which the Captain of the Petrel

should have seen through.

he ran up

close,

Believing her to be a rich prize,

and when within range he was about to

when suddenly the appearance of the St. Lawrence changed. Her ports opened and three guns were let go. The Petrel was struck by an eight-inch shell and a thirty-two-pound shot, and in a few moments she was a total wreck and rapidly sank. These experiences made the privateers more careful. The object of the North was to gradually blockade all take an easy capture,

the Southern ports and prevent English blockade vessels from

entering

with

supplies,

and

to

accomplish

this

available vessels in the navy were brought into play. the

war opened

this

navy was scattered

and great exertions were made fighting trim.

them did good

Among at the

m.

the

all

all

the

When

over the world,

to get every available vessel in

Even ferryboats were

utilized,

and some of

service. first

things done was to capture the two forts

entrance of Hatteras inlet (July, 1861), and in October

THE YANKEE NAVY.

102

a

down

powerful force sailed

the coast

to

reduce

Port

Royal.

Commodore

Dupont, who commanded the squadron

S. F.

that took Port Royal, arranged his ships at

first in

and steaming past Fort Beauregard

to his

line,

turned beyond, and, describing a

circle,

a straight right,

he

came back past Fort

Walker, his ships following, keeping this up until both forts This was a glorious victory, and the North

surrendered.

cheered up

but

;

in

a

few months more the

Union was

confronted by a formidable monster, and despondency reigned

throughout the Northern States,

until

there occurred

the

famous battle between the Monitor and the Merrimac. In April,

United States vessels

1861, the

at

the Norfolk

Navy Yard had been destroyed to prevent their capture by the Confederates, and among these was the steam frigate Merrimac.

She was

raised,

however, by the Confederates, and

constructed into a terrible engine of destruction. 8th

March,

of

slowly

down

1862,

the Merrimac

left

Norfolk,

On

the

steamed

the Elizabeth River past Sewell's Point into the

south channel, and, heading for Newport News, she began her work of destruction. Off Newport States frigate

Congress

Hampton Roads

News were the United and sloop Cumberland, and down in

lay the frigate

St.

Lawrence and the steam

The Merrimac opened with her guns on the Cumberland first, then rammed the Congress and then the Cumberland. The Cumberland began to sink frigates Minnesota

and Roanoke.

but Lieutenant Morris on board refused to surrender. the ship settled, the

As

wounded were brought up on deck while The " no quarter " flag was

the battle was being fought. hoisted,

and the Cumberland sank,

firing

her guns

at

the

THE YANKEE NAVY.

104

Merrimac

to the last.

was one

It

most gallant defenses

of the

The Merrimac then turned her attention to the Congress, and after a desperate battle she was compelled to surrender. Lieutenant Smith, commanding the Congress, was killed early in the engagement. It is related that his our history.

in

father,

Capt. Joseph Smith, was attending church in Wash-

when he was informed of the loss of the Then Joe is dead," exclaimed his father.

ington "

In the meantime, the Minnesota,

endeavored to come of

them grounded

St.

Lawrence and Roanoke

to the assistance of the Congress,

They were

in shoal water.

at

by the Merrimac, assisted by some light draught this precarious position

dark,

when

Congress.

we

vessels,

subjected to a heavy

e

and

all

once attacked

and

fire

in

until

the Merrimac turned back up stream, with the in-

tention of completing her

work

of destruction the next day.

But the genius of one man prevented

this.

In

October of

the previous year, John Ericsson had begun the construction of his Monitor at

New

York.

It

seems remarkable that after

the long years of study, delay and almost insurmountable obstacles to be overcome, in

getting

Ericsson should have succeeded

his Monitor ready

for

action

before the Merrimac created such havoc. the 4th of 6th

March

she was on

unfinished

experiment.

on the very day It

was not

until

that her guns were mounted, and on the

her

condition,

way out of New York harbor in an and in many minds a most doubtful

She carried a volunteer crew of

men, and after a tempestuous voyage, foundering, she appeared evening, only a few

off

in

officers

and

which she came near

Fort Monroe at 9 o'clock

in

the

hours after the Merrimac had com-

placently left the scene of her triumph.

THE YANKEE NAVY.

106

The next day was an eventful one A new idea had been hatched and was

Two

wooden

fighting ship had passed away.

iron versus iron,

and the whole system

The crew

to be revolutionized.

their long fight with

American

the

The day

sailor,

the elements.

and

although

was now

It

of naval warfare

of the Monitor

were possessed by that indomitable

history.

to be demonstrated.

iron ovals were to be opposed to each other.

of the

by

American

in

Nevertheless, they

spirit in

was

were exhausted that

permeates

a hitherto

untried

The next day was Sunday, rest. All night long they worked time to but there was no making repairs, and in the morning they steamed out to meet The Monitor had a revolving their hitherto invincible foe. engine, they remained undaunted.

would swing

turret that did not revolve with

any

ease.

so rapidly that the gunners had to

fire

the guns on the

It

fly,

as

it were, and although chalk marks were made on the floor inside to indicate which way the vessel was headed, these

were soon obliterated, so that porthole above

the

it

was only through the narrow

guns that they could catch an occaOnce, indeed, they came

sional glimpse of outside objects.

near firing at their

own

pilot house.

For two hours there was a battle the news went around the world.

ammunition

failed,

and she

retired,

A

few days later the

Merrimac was blown up, and on the morning

this

which

but her success in repuls-

ing the Merrimac was undoubted.

31st

of

At the end of that time the Monitor s

the Monitor sank on

her

way

of

December

to Beaufort, N. C.

In

famous action between the two ironclads, the Monitor

was commanded by Lieutenant John Larimar Worden, and the Merrimac by Captain Franklin Buchanan.

CHAPTER The On

IX.

War — (Continued.)

Civil

— Battle of New Orleans — Farragut Enters Mobile — Lieutenant Cushing's Glorious Deed —The Alabama and Kearsarge— The Alabama Claims.

the Mississippi

Bay

IT

a long way from the good old

is

modern

ironclad,

seem

it is

Constitution to the

a stirring satisfaction to

was made by American invention.

that the leap erates

and

wooden

to

know

The Confed-

have put the idea into practice at

first,

and the

Yankees quickly followed and produced better boats.

When

the

war broke out

in

i86t

steamers plying the Mississippi and

there were

its tributaries,

They were covered with

were quickly

utilized.

and made

do service as gunboats, and very

proved to river,

to be.

Then began

numerous and these sheet-iron

effective

they

the conflict for the control of the

which the Confederates quickly

from below

fortified

down

Little by little they were obliged to it? mouth. w ay, with Farragut pushing up from the south and Foote pushing down from the north, until finally Vicksburg

Cairo

to give

r

was captured and the

"

backbone of the Rebellion

In this warfare between

with iron our naval

which

is

a great 107

officers

was broken.

paddle-wheel steamers covered

gained a

operative even to this day.

many

"

lot of

valuable experience,

Our own Dewey

learned

things during this war, and not the least

was

THE YANKEE NAVY.

IIO

when he was on

New

battle of

the United States steamer Mississippi at the

Orleans.

In order to gain control of the Mississippi

the Gulf ports,

was necessary

was given

this task

How

it

to capture

and

New

to blockade

Orleans, and

to Farragut.

he accomplished his purpose

an old story, but to

is

run the formidable batteries of Forts Jackson and

St.

Philip,

to say

nothing of encountering the various rams and the

fleet of

gunboats the Confederates had gathered together, was

something of a new idea

The thing was done is

it

said

Hartford,

followed

forts,

floated

shot

down

to

by

and

and as a pyrotechnic display

As Farragut's

have no equal.

to

Richmond,

the

Mississippi, Oneida, Varuna,

the

naval tactics.

in

at night,

Brooklyn,

and other ships of

it

was

literally

the

Pensacola,

his fleet,

down on them,

rained

shell

meet them, and

flagship,

passed

fireships

a hot time

that night on the Father of Waters.

George Pacific, as

Dewey, who

gained

later

he stood on the deck of the

the fate of the formidable

making an end

such laurels Mississippi,

in

the

witnessed

ram Manassas, which came near

of the Mississippi.

The Manassas suddenly shot through

the darkness and

struck the Mississippi on her port quarter, and in return she received a broadside and steamed

ran into the Brooklyn.

Then

down

the river,

where she

the Mississippi encountered her

again, and she ran ashore.

This was on April 24th, and the next day Farragut anchored in

front of

New

Orleans.

In July he captured Port

Hudson,

and the Mississippi was under control of the Union

forces.

Later on Farragut captured Mobile and damned the torpedoes.

THE YANKEE NAVY.

Resuming command

Ill

Gulf squadron,

of the

January,

in

he determined to enter Mobile Bay, and made his

1864,

preparations accordingly.

wooden

vessels

With a squadron

of

twenty-one

and four ironclads he made ready

for the

attempt, and on the 5th of August he succeeded.

In the

rigging of his flagship Hartford Farragut stationed himself,

and scorned

to

move out

of danger.

torpedoes ahead, he replied

The

ahead

Ahead

!"

:

Battle of

"

Damn

New

When the

told there

torpedoes

were

!

Go

Orleans.

of the Hartford, the

Tecumseh had struck

one of these deadly machines and had sunk, but Farragut did

not

stop.

Once

inside

the

bay he encountered

formidable ram Tennessee, but atter a desperate

was compelled

to

surrender, and Farragut's

conflict,

the

she

triumph was

complete.

Among

the most

daring exploits of

the

war was the

THE YANKEE NAVY

The Confederates had, after great difficulty, completed the ram Albemarle at Edwards Ferry on the Roanoke River. This ram one performed by Lieutenant William Barker Cushing.

proved to

be a

attempts were

source of

made

to

great

annoyance, and

several

destroy her, but Lieutenant Cushing

has the imperishable glory of accomplishing this result. the night of October

A

27, 1864,

he

set

out

in a

On

picket boat, his

Mississippi Kiver Ironclad.

intention being to land below the wharf where the Albemarle

was moored, and board and capture

In front he carried

her.

a spar with a torpedo on the end, in case he should be obliged to

blow up the ram.

discovered by a dog, intrepid crew,

made

As he approached the

who began

he was

Cushing, with his

to bark.

a dash for the ram,

vessel

and right under the

muzzle of her ten-inch gun he lowered

his

torpedo spar,

THE YANKEE NAVY. and blew her

At

up.

II3

gun was

this instant the

fired,

the daring attackers found themselves in the water.

and

Most of

them were captured, but Cushing escaped by swimming away, and succeeded in getting back to the Union squadron. His success had been complete.

Among the

War was commanded by Captain Raphael Semmes.

the most famous privateers of the Civil

Alabama,

Fostered by the British Government, and built

in

the

first

place in England, she did a great deal of damage, and from

her depredations on the high seas resulted the celebrated

Alabama claims.

On

the

19th of June she

Cherbourg by the Kearsarge and sunk. to

was caught

at

The Alabama went out

meet the Kearsarge, accompanied by an English yacht,

confident of victory. the Alabama officers

battle lasted about one hour and

was sunk by the Kearsarge.

Semmes and

his

were picked up by the English yacht and taken

England. States

The

and

The

to

arbitration tribunal appointed by the United

Great

Britain

declared that Great Britain

to

settle

owed

the

Alabama claims,

the United States fifteen

and one-half million of dollars, as a damages inflicted by the Alabama during was rather a costly experiment.

direct

result of

the Civil War.

the

This

CHAPTER War The

Virginias

Affair of the

X.

with Spain.

— Attitude

of

Spain

— Causes

of the

War — The New Navy — The Maine Disaster — Opening of the War — Battle of Manila — Hobson's Deed — Destruction of Cervera's Fleet.

THE war one able.

the

with Spain might have taken place

seemed

at

time

In the

autumn

it

American

in

the

flag.

though

in

this result

1873,

was

of this year, the ship Virginius

Island of Jamaica.

tember 26th

as

New

was

York Custom House, and flew the

She carried a number of passengers, and

General Pedro Cespedes, Lieutenant-Colonel Jesus Del

and General W. A. Ryan, a Spanish man-o'-war

when

On that

New

Tornado was cruising

vessel

was attempting

Santiago de Cuba, and captured

four

Sol,

At that time the

Yorker.

in

West Indian

the 31st of October she intercepted the Virginius

crew were taken the

off

This vessel was registered on Sep-

prominent Cuban leaders, General Bernabe Varona,

also four

waters

and

inevit-

to

to her.

make a landing near The passengers and

Santiago de Cuba, and a few days after

Cubans were taken out and shot. This in itself to make trouble. A protest was at once filed

was enough

with the Spanish Government, and the immediate release of the Virginius and her crew was demanded.

then

in 114

President Castelar,

charge of the Spanish Government, outdid himself

THE YANKEE NAVY. in

His communications were couched

rejoinders.

polite

the most unctious language, and the

would

affair

at

115

made

promises were

once be looked

in

that

In the

into, et ccetera.

meantime, while Spain was dallying with our Secretary of State

Fish,

members

Captain

of

his

were

passengers,

Fry,

of

De

Captain-General

President

Castelar learned

He

polite than ever. to

stay

the

thirty-six

twelve of the ship's

out and mercilessly slaughtered,

led

of

order

and

the Virginias,

together with

crew,

of this

course,

protested that he had sent an order

but that

proceedings,

had arrived

it

too

late.

This excuse, however, was not sufficient to bring back to

Americans who

the

had

been

Spanish restitution consists

for a time,

released

so

promises

the result

prevailed throughout

excitement

and that Spain, after backing and

the

remaining survivors of the

incident was closed. As a measure Government at first demanded that Spain flag,

but afterwards,

the Virginias had

it

?

made

after

Simply

this,

the country filling,

Virginias,

of

life

slaughtered.

ruthlessly

in specious

What was

the deed has been done. that intense

by

when sad news, he was more Of

Rhodas.

finally

and the

conciliation,

salute the

our

American

having been conceded by us that

no right to

our

fly

flag,

this

was

not

insisted upon.

To many thoughtful persons this incident, not forgotten

will

it

it

confession of guilt. in the

its

was a mistake that the men

should have been murdered.

That

it

to this

day that

upon the The Spanish Government

subsequent action of that country.

admitted that

seem

by Spain, had

effect

of the Virginias

This admission was a practical

was

machinery of government,

possible, through to

any error

hurry two-score of men

n6

THE YANKEE NAVY.

into their graves,

is

bad enough

But our subsequent

in itself.

submission so readily to the crime undoubtedly produced the belief in

Spain that they might go to almost any length be-

fore provoking us to actual resentment.

It

thus happened

two countries, the

when war was declared between the Spanish Government could scarcely believe

that such a result

was probable.

that

up

Up down

to April, 1898,

to the year 1881 our

navy had been allowed

into innocuous desuetude, so far as our

to settle

own Govern-

ment was concerned. After the Civil War,

many were wrecked and

many

of

our ships were

retired,

and

not replaced.

The Spanish Man-of-War Tornado chasing the American Steamer Virginiw.

The ebb dition to

a

result was, that in

1881 our

navy was

at its lowest

some was awakened, and Secretary Hunt appointed a board

In this year

investigate

number

of

its

interest in

requirements.

its

It

almost hopeless con-

was proposed

to build

armored and unarmored vessels together with of to-day then had its

rams and torpedo boats, and the navy

THE YANKEE NAVY.

Among

birth.

ducing

The

this

those

happy

who were most

other

instrumental in pro-

was Secretary William C. Whitney. Boston and Dolphin having been con-

result

Chicago, Atlanta,

structed,

II7

rapidly

vessels

Benjamin Tracy and Hilary

followed

under Whitney,

A. Herbert.

Public interest and pride

in

the navy were aroused, and

the appearance of the White Squadron produced the greatest

The splendid showing

enthusiasm.

of our ships

provoked

new navy became firmly On March 15, 1889, when

universal applause, and the idea of a fixed in the

minds of the people.

the Vandalia, Nipsic and Trenton

were blown ashore

the

in

harbor of Apia, the utmost consternation prevailed, and this disaster undoubtedly served to bind

which the people were bound

On March

16,

1898

— just

more

closely the tie

by

to the navy.

nine years after

— the entire nation

was overwhelmed by the startling news that the battleship

Maine (Captain Sigsbee) had been blown up the night previous in the

harbor of Havana.

public should

Sigsbee's brief telegram that the

suspend judgment was a masterly piece of

diplomacy, and showed well the

Board of Inquiry appointed

spirit

of our

ed on March 28th that the cause was unknown. sal belief,

The

The

univer-

however, was that the Maine had been deliberately

blown up through Spanish treachery. the

navy.

to investigate the disaster report-

Maine!"

was

echoed

The

everywhere.

cry,

"Remember

Congress

voted

$50,000,000, to be used at President McKinley's discretion, to

prepare the country for war.

On

came reports Cuba under Spanish to Spain that her rule in Cuba war was declared by Congress top of this

of the intolerable conditions prevailing in rule.

must

An ultimatum was cease,

sent

and on April 25th

THE YANKEE NAVY.

Il8

having existed since April

as

accept the conditions laid

when Spain refused

21st,

down by

to

the United States Govern-

The most extraordinary efforts were at once taken to place the navy on a war footing, and under the supervision of Secretary John D. Long and Assistant-Secretary Theodore Roosevelt, a great number of vessels was purchased by the Government and refitted with great rapidity. ment.

Captain William T. Sampson, appointed Rear Admiral, was placed

in

charge of the

which was rapidly assembled

fleet,

Commodore

Key West.

Winfield

go out and meet the Spanish

that

was expected

Schley was placed

Hampton Roads,

charge of the flying squadron at to

S.

fleet

at in

in readiness

under Admiral Cervera,

to sail across the Atlantic for the defense of

Havana.

Hong Kong was the Commodore George Dewey. At

Asiatic fleet under

This

fleet

command

of

consisted of the flag-

ship Olympia, Raleigh, Baltimote, Boston, Monocacy, Concord and

The

Petrel.

the Asiatic

and the

battleship Oregon, having

fleet,

was ordered

join the Atlantic

to

squadron.

longest ever undertaken

been detached

This remarkable voyage,

by a modern battleship, was

accompanied without accident, and the Oregon at

many

from

proceed around Cape Horn

safe arrival of

the

Key West was the occasion of much rejoicing and comments from the Continental press. This much to impress the nations of the world with the

favorable

feat did

manifest superiority of our ships of war. As soon as the war opened Commodore Dewey proceeded from Hong Kong to Manila. On Sunday morning. May 1, 1898, Commodore

Dewey

entered the harbor of Manila at daybreak, taking the

Spaniards by surprise.

Inside the harbor was the Spanish

THE YANKEE NAVY. fleet,

the Reina

Austria Elcano,

,

Don

Maria

Cristina, the

Castilla,

II 9

the

Don Juan

de

Antonio de Ultoa, Felaseo, General Lezo, Genera/

Marques

del Duero, Isla de

In this battle the

American

Cuba and Isla de Mindanao.

vessels

were superior

to those of

THE YANKEE NAVY.

120 all

the Spanish ships, and had silenced the batteries at Cavite,

The Spanish

compelling them to surrender. 700.

The most concise

many navy

report to his

first

was nearly

the most pronounced and

experts to be one of

perfect victories in naval history,

Dewey's

loss

history of this battle, considered by

is

best told in

Government

Commodore

:

Manila, May 1st. The squadron arrived at Manila at daybreak this morning. Immediately engaged enemy and destroyed the following Spanish vessels Reina Crislina, Castilla, Ulloa, Isla de Cuba, General Lezo, Duero, Eicano, Veiasco, Mindanao, one transport, and one water battery The squadron is uninjured, and only a few men slightly at Cavite. wounded. :

The thanks

of the nation were tendered to

Dewey, and Congress promoted him

The

result of this great victory

Spain, but great.

it

was

to be followed

to be

Commodore

Rear Admiral.

produced consternation

in

by another one equally as

Spain had despatched Admiral Cervera, with four of

her finest and fastest warships and two torpedo destroyers, across the Atlantic to Cuba.

United States vessels

in

For a time

the Caribbean

Schley, with his flying squadron,

Sampson, and Finally,

located in

every effort

May

on

30th,

the

was made

to join

corner

Admiral Cervera.

Spanish vessels were definitely

has a narrow neck

4th of June Naval Constructor

having conceived the

to

evaded the

Commodore

Sea.

was ordered

the harbor of Santiago

like a bottle,

this fleet

idea of

de Cuba.

This harbor,

difficult of access,

and on the

Richmond Pearson Hobson, blocking the mouth of the

harbor, by sinking there a steam collier, the Merrimac, carried his plan into execution.

With a crew

of seven volunteers he

took the Merrimac into the harbor, under a most

from the Spanish

batteries,

and sunk

her

in

terrific fire

the

narrow

THE YANKEE NAVY. channel, escaping to the Spanish vessels, where he and his gallant crew were taken prisoners. of the

most daring ever attempted.

Hobson's feat was one

There was

however, for the Spanish vessels to get out. of July 3rd, Cervera r

made

On

still

the

room,

morning

his attempt to escape, our

army

THE YANKEE NAVY Three of the Spanish

Maria Teresa Colon

made

ships, the Almirante Oquendo, Vizcaya

(flagship),

were quickly destroyed.

The

and

Cristobal

a desperate attempt to escape, but she was finally

Richmond Pearson Hobson.

caught after an exciting chase of nearly coast,

and beached.

fifty

miles along the

The two torpedo boat destroyers were

quickly despatched, one by

the battleship

Texas,

and

the

other by the former pleasure yacht Corsair, converted into

THE YANKEE NAVY. the

Gloucester.

This

little

boat,

in

123

charge of Lieutenant-

Commander Wainwright, who had been second

in

command

Winfield Scott Schley.

on the Maine when she was blown up, accomplished wonders, being right

in

the thick of the battle and escaping with but

THE YANKEE NAVY.

124

our loss was one man killed, One thousand three hundred Spanish were taken, among them being Admiral Cervera.

little damage. In and two injured.

prisoners

The

result

world.

of

this battle

this

battle

aroused the admiration of the

At the time Admiral Cervera attempted

escape, the flagship

eight miles away.

New

York, with

Commodore

to

make

his

Admiral Sampson, was

Winfield

S.

Schley, on

the

Brooklyn, was therefore in immediate charge of our squadron,

consisting of the Brooklyn, Ioiva, Massacnusetts, Indiana, Texas,

and the converted yacht Thus,

two such

in

Gloucester.

the short space of two months, Spain had received

telling

blows on the sea that the utter

futility of the

war she was carrying on with the United States was brought into bold relief. The Spanish home fleet, under Admiral Camara, made a start for the Philippines, but got only as far as the

Suez Canal, and upon the widely circulated news that

this country was about to send a squadron, under Commodore Watson, to appear along the coast of Spain, Admiral Camara was quickly ordered to return.

On July 26th a message from Spain was handed to our Government at Washington, through the French Embassador, embodying a request to know upon what terms the United States would consider peace. This result was brought about by the personnel of the

American navy and the demonstrated ships of war.

It

was due

to grit,

FINIS.] I

effectiveness

of

gumption and gunnery.

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