USA > Massachusetts > Suffolk County > Boston > The memorial history of Boston : including Suffolk County, Massachusetts, 1630-1880, Vol. III > Part 49
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served !' the Hon. J. N. Poinsett, of South Car- olina, the State in which her timbers grew; the Hon. Levi Lincoln, of the Commonwealth in which she received her architectural construc- tion ; and Commodore Hull and the brave officers and men who had gloriously sustained her amid the battle's rage."
The old frigate, when in the dock, presented a most venerable appearance, her bottom being en- crusted with mussels, and her ornamental work being all stripped off. She was rebuilt under the superintendence of naval constructor Josiah Barker, and emerged from the dock June 21, 1834, virtually a new ship, having been three days short of a year in it. While care was taken to preserve her model and dimensions, scarcely a timber of her frame above the keel and floor timbers was retained.
[ Josiah Barker, who was born in Marshfield, in 1763, had served in the Revolution, both in the army and navy, sailing with Manly in the " Hague," among the West Indies. He had be- gun a shipyard as early as 1795, where now the Navy Yard is, and later he built vessels near the old State-prison He built the "Independence," " Virginia," " Vermont," " Frolic," "Marion," "Cyane," and " Bainbridge," and subsequently the " Portsmouth" at the Kittery yard. (Drake's Landmarks of Middlesex, 41. H. H. Edes's Me- morial of Josiah Barker, privately printed, 1871.) It should be remembered that while a Charles- town mechanic rebuilt her, it was a Boston poet who so led and sustained public opinion in a protest against breaking her up, that the order for her destruction was reversed; and this adds another claim for the old craft to be considered peculiarly a Boston ship. The reader will recall Holmes's " Ay, tear her tattered ensign down," and his indignant dread lest " The harpies of the shore shall pluck the eagle of the sea." - ED].
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THE NAVY, AND THE CHARLESTOWN NAVY YARD.
The day after he had assumed the command he informed the Department that the young gentlemen (midshipmen) were without an instructor, and in consequence Mr. Duncan Bradford was immediately appointed a teacher of mathematics and languages ; but the school was not organized until the middle of August. The school proved such a success, that by a general order issued a few months later similar schools were established at the navy yards near Norfolk and New York. This order was followed by a series of regulations, drawn up by the Navy Commissioners, for the gov- ernment of the midshipmen and the school, which seemed to be the re- sult of measures taken on board the " Independence," in Boston Harbor, in 1815, and out of which has finally come the present naval academy at Annapolis.1
The event of Elliott's administration which occasioned the most excite- ment was his placing a figure of Jackson on the bow of the " Constitution " when she was rebuilt. His intention becoming known, the people very soon manifested symptoms of indignation that the historic frigate should be made to serve what was thought to be a partisan purpose. Com- modore Elliott informed the Secretary of the Navy, in a letter dated Feb. 24, 1834, enclosing an obnoxious handbill, that the image was ordered in the summer of 1833, under the following circumstances : -
" Shortly after the President had left Boston, I conversed with the architect (Mr. Barker) who was to superintend the repairs of the 'Constitution,' about the propriety of putting a figure on her for a head, and concluded to do so, as she had been thus or- namented originally.2 The person who had been in the habit of carving the orna- ments for our vessels of war (Laban S. Beecher) was therefore directed to make for her a figure of the President of the United States, dressed as represented at the Her- mitage, holding in his hand a scroll with this motto, 'The Constitution, it must be preserved !' taken from the remarks which you made on her deck at the time she was received into dock, under direction of the officer (Commodore Hull) who com- manded her when she took the 'Guerrière.' I furthermore directed him to carve
! Having set the midshipmen at their studies, the Commodore next turned his attention to the religious instruction of the officers and men un- der his command, in which he was not quite so successful. His attempt to coerce the officers of differing beliefs into one and the same manner of worship created a commotion ; but of these and other aggressive measures there is no space to speak here.
2 The original figure-head of the "Constitu- tion " was a bust of Hercules, with uplifted club, carved by the Messrs. Skilling, of Boston. This was shot from her bow and mutilated in the action before Tripoli, but was long worn in its mutilated condition. It was replaced by a bil- let head, which was worn throughout the war of 1812. Taken from her bow in 1834 this billet head occupied a conspicuous position attached to a lamp post, until 1876, on one of the principal avenues in the Boston Yard. The statue of Jack-
son remained on the ship until she was hauled up for repair in Philadelphia, in 1874, when it was taken off and set up in the Philadelphia Yard; when that yard was abandoned in 1876, it was sent to the naval academy at Annapolis, Md., and set up in the grounds, where it now is. This full-length figure was much too large for the ship, to be symmetrical. A little boy, criti- cising the statue when it was in the Philadelphia Yard, said that General Jackson must have been run into his pantaloons, for there was no seam or buttons to them. The billet head of 1812 was sent to Philadelphia to be replaced on the bow of the old ship, but was found to be so decayed that another of like shape was substituted for it, which is now on her. See Life of Commodore Elliott, by a citizen of New York, published for the author in Philadelphia, 1835, for a "History of the Figure Head of the United States frigate 'Constitution.'"
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THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.
the busts of Hull, Bainbridge, and Stewart for her stern ornaments, thus presenting our chief magistrate, and the three successful commanders of that favorite ship, in an attitude which I deemed highly honorable to the navy and the nation. Prompted by my own feelings of respect, ... and aware of the honors conferred upon General Jackson during his late tour of the State of Massachusetts, and her literary institu- tions, and more particularly by the inhabitants of Boston and the neighboring towns, I considered that in putting his figure upon the stem of the 'Constitution,' I would be uniting with them in their demonstration of respect, and doing an act which would be acceptable to our whole corps. . .. I have never heard the fitness of the orna- ment questioned until this week. . . . There is no question this handbill is gotten up for present political purposes ; and had the figure-head been put on the frigate at the time of the President's visit, many who now express such intemperate opinions would have been equally zealous in raising it with acclamations to its appropriate place. I had no political motives whatever in placing the figure there, as politics are not suffered to be the subject of communication or action within the Yard. I did not bring the sub- ject to you before, as I knew that custom furnished me a precedent, my predecessors having ornamented ships with figures, eagles, and billet heads at their option." 1
Two days later we find the commodore writing to the secretary :-
" I have further satisfied myself that the excitement got up at that time was only for political effect. The enclosed letter 2 will show the disposition of the raisers of this excitement. . .. If the figure-head of the 'Constitution' should be changed to please them, there is no telling what they will ask next, as they now demand the re- moval of the inscription from the head of the dry dock. The excitement has nearly passed away since it has become known that the figure-head was ordered by myself six months ago, unbeknown to the Government, yet fully known to one of the most active movers in the excitement."
The Navy Commissioners wrote to the commodore in answer that he might carry out his intentions regarding the figure-head, or place it on the
1 The handbill referred to by the Commo- dore was as follows : -
"FREEMEN, AWAKE! or the Constitu- tion will sink. It is a fact that ' the Old Glory* President' has issued his special order for a colossal figure of his royal self, in Roman cos- tume, to be placed as a figure-head on Old Iron- sides !!! Where is the spirit of '76? where the brave tars who fought and conquered in the glorious ship? where the mechanics, and where the Bostonians, who have rejoiced over her achievements? Will they see the figure of a land lubber at her bows? No! let the cry be, ' All hands on deck!' and save the ship by a time- ly remonstrance, expressing our indignation in a voice of thunder ! Let us assemble in the cradle of liberty ! all hands up for the Constitu- tion. Let the figure-head (if mortal man be worthy) be that of the brave HULL, the immortal
* Is not this the earliest allusion to "Old Glory," a name so often associated during the war of the Rebellion with our flag, by its defenders ?
DECATUR, or the valiant PORTER, and not that of a tyrant. Let us not give up the ship, but nail the flag of the Union to the masthead, and let her ride the mountain wave triumphant, with none aboard but the sons of liberty, all flesh and blood, having the hearts and souls of Free- men.
"North Enders! shall this Boston-built ship be thus disgraced without remonstrance? Let this wooden god, this old Roman, building at the expense of $300 of the people's money, be presented to the office-holders, who glory in such worship; but for God's sake SAVE TIIE SHIP from this foul disgrace !
"A NORTH ENDER."
2 NORTH END, 24th.
We have made you abandon the Constitu- tion ; lake Jackson's name off the Dock, or in forty-eight hours you breathe no more.
MANY NORTH ENDERS.
Commodore Elliott, Navy Yard.
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THE NAVY, AND THE CHARLESTOWN NAVY YARD.
bow of one of the seventy-fours building, as he saw fit, believing the latter most appropriate; but the busts of the naval heroes for the stern, if not too far advanced, might be dispensed with.1
On March 20, the carver informed the commodore that three respect- able citizens had offered him $1,500 to be allowed to carry away the image in the night, and added he could, if disposed, realize $20,000 for it; and further, so great was the excitement, " the head" was not safe in his shop.2 In consequence the commodore sent a boat the next morning in charge of Sailing-Master Hixon, who received the figure in a box and conveyed it to the Navy Yard, where it was completed, and placed, April 28, upon the ship while still in the dock.
Of what happened after the ship left the dock, and was hauled into the stream, the commodore makes report : -
" Some one last night, in spite of the sentinel and watch on board the 'Colum- bus,' seventy-four, found means to mutilate the statue of Jackson upon the bow of the ' Constitution,' during a severe storm of wind and rain. Suspicion at first rested. upon the marine on post and the ship keeper ; but it seems to me at present more probable that some person from outside the yard concealed himself on board ship dur- ing the day, and at night when the storm raged at its highest accomplished his work and made his escape. Immediately upon learning the outrage this morning, I sent for the carver of the head and demanded the names of the individuals who offered him the bribe previous to its removal from his charge. These he declined giving me until compelled to do so in due course of law, as he was under a charge of secrecy. From this and other circumstances I am satisfied that the head was removed by some person who was acting under the influence of a bribe ; but a small part of the head, however, was mutilated, and that part will be replaced immediately. I am sorry to say that I perceive a hostile feeling existing against the continuance of this ornament in the highest circles of those opposed to the Administration." 3
It is now known that the daring deed was committed by one unaided, enthusiastic young man, - Samuel P. Dewey, - who I believe still lives, in hale old age, to repeat the story, and to tell what he did with the trophy of his exploit. His story, as he gave it to Mr. Drake,4 in 1874, is as follows :
1 The busts, however, were made, and did doing it for nothing. The plaster bust which until recently, and I believe do still, ornament her stern.
2 In an address at Hagerstown, Md., in 1843, Commodore Elliott said he received orders to repair the ship "as she originally was; " and the impression being still upon .his mind of her mutilated figure of Hercules when in the Medi- terranean, he proceeded to have a figure made of that classic hero, and the artist was at work upon it when he (the commodore) was frequently and earnestly importuned by prominent citizens of Boston to place the head of Jackson upon their favorite ship. Yielding lo their solicita- tions, he asked the artist if he could change the head to a likeness of Jackson, and the artist was so delighted with the idea that he proposed
the carver took as his model for the head, is preserved in the Museum of the Naval Library and Institute at the Navy Yard.
8 The Ilon. Mahlon Dickenson, who had succeeded the lon. Levi Woodbury as Secre- tary of the Navy, visiting the Yard soon after this occurrence, in company with the Commis- sioners, ordered the canvas covering over the mutilated head continued upon it, saying no re- pairs or alterations should be made while the ship remained in Boston Several of the "solid " merchants of Boston gave Commodore Elliott to understand that if he would remove the ob- noxious figure from the ship, any substitute he might order would be paid for by them
4 Landmarks of Old Middlesex, p. 41.
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THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.
""'Old Ironsides' was moored with her head to the west, between the 74's ' Columbus' and ' Independence.' 'The former had a large number of men on board, and a sentinel was placed where he could keep the figurehead in view ; an- other was posted on the wharf near at hand, and a third patrolled the forecastle of the 'Constitution.' From an open port of the 'Columbus,' the light fell upon the graven features all these precautions were designed to protect. On the night of the 2d of July occurred a thunder-storm of unusual violence. The lightning played around the masts of the shipping, and only by its lurid flash could any object be distinguished in the blackness. Young Dewey - he was only twenty-eight - un- moored his boat from Billy Gray's wharf, in Boston, and, with his oar muffled in an old woollen comforter, sculled out into the darkness. He had reconnoitered the position of the ships by day, and was prepared at all points. - At length he found himself alongside the 'Independence,' the outside ship, and worked his way along her big, black side, which served to screen him from observation. Dewey climbed up the 'Constitution's' side by the man-ropes, and ensconced himself in the bow, protected by the head-boards, only placed on the ship the same day. He extended himself on his back, and in this position sawed off the head. While here he saw the sentry on the wharf from time to time looking earnestly towards the spot where he was at work; but the lightning and the storm each time drove the guard back to the shelter of his box.
" Having completed his midnight assassination, Dewey regained his boat, to find her full of water. She had swung under a scupper of the ship, and had received the torrent that poured from her deck. In this plight, but never forgetting the head he had risked his life to obtain, Dewey reached the shore. . . . After the excitement caused by the affair - and it was of no ordinary kind - had subsided, Dewey packed up the grim and corrugated features he had decapitated, and posted off to Washing- ton. At Philadelphia his secret leaked out, and he was obliged to exhibit his prize to John Tyler and Willie P. Mangum, afterward President and acting Vice-President of the United States, who were then investigating the affairs of the United States Bank. These grave and reverend seigniors shook their sides as they regarded the colossal head now brought so low, and parted with Captain Dewey with warm and pressing offers of service.
" The Captain's intention to present the head to General Jackson himself was frustrated by the dangerous illness of the President, to whom all access was denied. He, however, obtained an audience of Mr. Van Buren, the Vice-President. Upon Dewey's announcing himself as the person who had taken off the 'Constitution's ' figure-head, Mr. Van Buren gave a great start, and was thrown off his usual balance. Recovering himself, he demanded the particulars of the exploit, which seemed to afford him no small satisfaction. Captain Dewey wished him to receive the head. 'Go to Mr. Dickenson,' said the Vice-President ; ' it belongs to his department ; say you came from me.' To Mahlon Dickenson, Secretary of the Navy, Dewey accord- ingly went. The venerable secretary was busily engaged with a heap of papers, and requested his visitor to be brief. This hint was not lost on the captain, who said : ' Mr. Dickenson, I am the person who removed the figure-head from the " Constitu- tion," and I have brought it with me for the purpose of returning it to the Govern- ment.' The secretary threw himself back in his chair, pushed his gold-bowed spectacles with a sudden movement up on his forehead, and regarded with genuine astonishment the man who, after evading the most diligent search for his discovery,
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now came forward and made this voluntary avowal. Between amazement and choler, the old gentleman could scarce stutter out : 'You, sir ! You ! What, sir ! Did you have the audacity to disfigure a ship of the United States Navy?'-'Sir, I took the responsibility. - ' Well, sir, I'll have you arrested immediately ;' and the secretary took up the bell to summon a messenger. 'Stop, sir !' said the captain, 'You can- not inflict any punishment. I can only be sued for a trespass, and in the county where the offence was committed. Say the word, and I will go back to Charlestown, and await my trial ; but if a Middlesex jury don't give me damages, my name is not Dewey.' The captain had explored the ground, and there was no statute at that time against defacing ships of war, and he knew it. Mr. Dickenson, an able lawyer, reflected a moment, and then put down his bell. 'You are right, sir,' said he ; ‘and now tell me all about the affair.' The captain remained some time closeted with the secretary, of whose treatment he had no reason to complain." 1
Commodore Elliott sailed in the " Constitution" on the 3d of March for New York, and so concluded his stormy command of the Boston Yard. His successor, Commodore John Downes, assumed charge on the 16th of March. Commodore Downes continued the commandant for seven years and three months, until May 31, t842, - a longer continuous com- mand of the station than has ever been held by any one, except the first Superintendent, Commodore Samuel Nicholson, whose command extended from 1800 to t812. Commodore Downes was also the commandant from March, 1849, to May, 1852, another period of three years; so that his administrations cover a greater time than any other commandant's before or since.
The "Independence," 74, the second vessel that was docked, having been razeed to a fine frigate,2 took on board the United States Minister
1 A nephew of Mr. Dewey, in a communica- tion to the Boston Evening Transcript, Feb. 16, 1875, confirmed Mr. Drake's account, and added: " The morning after the figure-head was gone, - all Boston was in commotion, and Sam Dewey was missing. The boots he wore the day before were hanging on a line in the back-yard, and his mother, having a strong suspicion that she knew who did the deed, confirmed the same by touch- ing her tongue to the boots, and ascertained that they had been wet by salt water."
After the deed, Commodore Elliott posted a marine sentinel, with an officer constantly by his side at night, to defend the figurehead from further mutilation ; and Commodore E. reported to the Secretary of the Navy "that on the 5th of July [he was probably mistaken] a second attempt was made to carry off a larger portion of the figure, which was discovered, one of the actors being probably drowned in attempting to escape, while the other succeeded in passing the wall. The boat [he adds] in which the attempt was made was captured, and is now at the yard." The excitement, and how far it extended, may be realized by stating the fact that when the news of the mutilation of the figure was re-
ceived in Wheeling, Va., the bells were rung, and the people, in a public meeting, passed resolutions approving the act.
The " Constitution " finally sailed from Bos- ton for New York with its mutilated figure of Jackson on her bow covered with canvas, painted to represent the American flag. At New York the head was replaced; and, in order to secure it against similar assaults, a copper bolt was driven perpendicularly through it into the body of the figure.
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? " The 'Independence,'" says the Boston Post of that day, "is now one of the most elegantly-modelled, commodious, and efficient ships in the navy. She has a battery of sixty 32-pounders, thirty long guns on her main- deck, and an equal number of medium guns on her spar-deck. She is pierced for sixty-four guns, and her stern ports may in an exigency be converted into a battery, by changing the position of the afi and bow guns. The aggre- gate weight of the guns on the main-deck is 1,767 cwt , and on the spar-deck, 1,505 cwt. Her length, 200 feet ; beam, 52; depth from spar- deck to hold, 30; depth between the beams and main-deck, 6 ft. 1 inch, an amount of space
VOL. 111. - 46.
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THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.
to Russia, Hon. George M. Dallas and suite, and May 20, 1837, sailed, under the command of Commodore John B. Nicholson, from Boston.
There can be no doubt that the change made this ship the finest and heaviest frigate-built vessel of her time. On her arrival at Portsmouth, England, she was visited by the chief naval authorities, who expressed their admiration of her fine proportions and size; and the Admiralty soon after issued orders to lay down vessels of like character and capacity, and to razee several ships of the line to vessels of the same class.1
Another historic vessel was launched from the Yard when, on May 24, 1842, the frigate "Cumberland" slid from her ways.2 She was a fine frigate of one thousand seven hundred and twenty-six tons, rated as a forty- four, but mounting sixty guns, and was built at a cost of $357,475. She served two cruises in the Mediterrancan as Commodore S. H. Stringham's and Commodore Joseph Smith's flag-ship, and in 1846 as Commodore D. Connor's flag-ship in the Gulf of Mexico, and saw other service. She was afterward razeed into a decked sloop-of-war, or corvette, mounting twenty- two heavy guns, and was finally sunk by the rebel ironclad "Virginia" (Merrimac), in the memorable conflict in Hampton Roads, March, 1862.3
On Oct. 29, 1852, the United States steamer " Princeton No. 2" was launched. It is interesting to note that she was the successor of " Prince- ton No. 1," broken up in the Yard, and was built to contain her engines. The first "Princeton " was not only the first screw steamship added to our navy, but was also the first man-of-war screw steamship in the world.
Mention should be made of still another famous craft. On July II, 1854, the keel was laid of a steam frigate, which was named the "Merrimac; " she was launched June 14, 1855, in the presence of many thousands of spectators, and towed to the upper shears to be masted. The National Lancers, of Boston, were present, and a salute of thirty- one guns was fired. The "Ohio," 74, and "Vermont," 74, in the stream, were thronged with people. She was modelled by Chief-Constructor John Lenthall, and built under the superintendence of Naval Constructor Edward H. Delano. She was of three thousand two hundred tons bur- den, was built to carry forty heavy guns, and cost complete $879,126.
which will be of the greatest utility during an engagement. Mainmast, 115 feet, and main- yard 105, and the same suit of sails she carried when a 74. Her draft at present is 22 feet 5 inches; and she carries 600 men, including the marines. She is probably the finest ship of her class in the world."
1 On her arrival in Russia, she was visited incognito by the Emperor Nicholas; while he was inspecting the ship, the character of the royal visitor was discovered, when the imperial standard was hoisted at her main and a national salute fired, -a signal for all the surrounding ships of the Russian navy to hoist the Impe- rial standard, and to thunder out salutes of wel- come.
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