USA > North Dakota > Early history of North Dakota: essential outlines of American history > Part 16
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Sloop "Trippe"-I gun, I long 24, pivot.
Guns 54, metal; total, 1,480. Average as to guns, 271/2 pounds each gun ; or about double that of the British.
"Such," writes Cooper, "is Captain (Robert H.) Barclay's account of the force. That he has not diminished his own is probable, as he has certainly not exaggerated the American. The 'Trippe' had a long 32, instead of the 24 he has given her, while the 'Scorpion' is believed to have had a long 24 and a 32-pound carronade. The remainder of the American metal is thought to be correctly given. * *
* An officer of great experience, one friendly to Perry, who had seen much service in battle, visited the squadron on Lake Erie and Lake Champlain, before they were separated, and he told me that he thought the 'Lawrence' and 'Niagara,' could they have got within effective distance immedi- ately, sufficient to have defeated all of Barclay's force united, especially with a stiff breeze."
OFFICERS OF THE OPPOSING FLEETS
The commodore of the British fleet was Sir James Lucas Yeo, and of the American fleet Isaac Chauncey, but there were no officers of that rank at the battle of Lake Erie. There were two commodores on the side of the British, Capt. R. H. Barclay and Capt. R. Finnis, opposed to two commanders on the American side, Lieut. O. H. Perry and Lieut. J. D. Elliott.
Master-Commandant Oliver H. Perry was in command of the American squadron. The other officers were :
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Brig "Lawrence" (flagship)-Lieut. John J. Yarnall.
Brig "Niagara"-Master-Commandant Jesse D. Elliott.
Brig "Caledonia"-Lieut. Daniel Turner.
Schooner "Ariel"-Lieut. John H. Packett.
Schooner "Tigress"-Lieut. Augustus H. N. Conckling.
Sloop "Trippe"-Lieut. Thomas Holdup.
Schooner "Porcupine"-Midshipman George Senate.
Schooner "Scorpion"-Sailing-Master Stephen Champlin, who fired the first American shot.
Schooner "Somers"-Sailing-Master Thomas C. Almy.
The "Ohio," Capt. Daniel Dobbins, was not in the battle, having been sent to Erie for provisions and supplies, and was at Erie during the action.
Capt. Robert Heriot Barclay, thirty-six years of age, commanding the British squadron, had fought with Nelson at Trafalgar, had lost one arm fighting the French, and was destined to lose the other in this battle.
THE ACTION
(From the American Point of View)
The date of the battle is September 10, 1813. Perry, in his report, calls it a three hours' engagement. It was a cloudless autumn day with a light breeze blowing and a smooth sea. The ships of the British squadron had been freshly painted in the harbor of Malden, and presented a gallant appearance as they swung into action, flying the red cross of St. George at the masthead.
At 11:45 A. M. the squadrons were a mile apart. The "Detroit" fired a 24-pounder, the shot passing beyond the "Lawrence." At 12:15 Perry made sail with the "Lawrence," the "Ariel" and the "Scorpion," to get at close quarters and to engage the "Detroit," the "Hunter," the "Queen Charlotte" and the "Lady Prevost." There were but seven guns of long range on the American vessels to thirty-one on the British vessels. Perry's guns were of heavy calibre, Barclay's were of longer range. The roar of the guns was heard at Erie.
The total number of men and boys engaged on the American side, according to the roll that drew prize money, was 532; of these 432 were on deck, one-fourth being regular naval seamen. The official report of the British shows that they had 450 men on deck, 150 of whom were picked men from the British navy, and 240 soldiers from the Forty-first Regiment of the Line and the Newfoundland Rangers.
At 2:30 the "Lawrence," the "Ariel" and the "Scorpion" had been in action two hours and forty-five minutes.
A broadside from the enemy carried away the bowsprit and masts of the "Lawrence," riddled her hull and silenced her guns. Perry transferred his colors to the "Niagara," crossing the half-mile of intervening space in a small boat under a heavy fire, continued his firing from her decks, and signaling his fleet for close action, opened a cross fire upon the British flagship, which example was followed by the rest of the American squadron.
At 2:45 the British squadron's line was broken. According to John Chapman, a gunner on the "Queen Charlotte," by the carrying away of one of her sails she was at the mercy of the wind, and ran afoul of the "Detroit," becoming entangled
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with her. It is certain that the "Niagara" ran across the bow and stern of the two British ships, raking them fore and aft with her starboard broadside, and continuing her course, poured raking fires into the "Lady Prevost" and the "Hun- ter" with her port battery, and the remaining vessels of the American squadron followed his lead upon their British opponents for eight minutes.
At 3 P. M., or fifteen minutes from the time the wind was fair for the attack, an officer appeared on the taffrail of the "Hunter," waving a white handkerchief as a signal of surrender. The "Chippeway" and the "Little Belt" crowded on every inch of canvas in the endeavor to escape, but were overhauled by the "Trippe" and the "Scorpion."
(From the British Point of View)
The sources of information for the observations which follow are the letters of Lieut. Gen. Sir George Prevost, headquarters at Montreal, from whence dispatches containing reports were transmitted to Downing Street, London. Captain Barclay thus describes the opening of the battle from the time he perceived the American fleet in motion in Put-in Bay :
"The wind, then at southwest and light, giving us the weather-gage, I bore up for them, in hopes of bringing them into action among the islands, but that intention was soon frustrated by the wind suddenly shifting to the southeast, which brought the enemy directly to windward. The line was formed according to a given plan, so that each ship might be supported against the superior force of the two brigs opposed to them. About 10 the enemy had cleared the islands, and immediately bore up, under easy sail, in a line abreast, each brig being also supported by the small vessels. At 11:45 I commenced the action by firing a few long guns; about 12:15 the American commodore (reference to Perry), also supported by two schooners, one carrying four long 12-pounders, the other a long 32 and 24 pounder, came to close action with the 'Detroit'; the other brig of the enemy, apparently destined to engage the 'Queen Charlotte,' supported in like manner by two schooners, kept so far to windward as to render the 'Queen Charlotte's' 24-pound carronades useless, while she was, with the 'Lady Prevost,' exposed to the heavy and destructive fire of the 'Caledonia' and four other schoon- ers armed with long and heavy guns like those I have already described. * * The action continued with great fury until 2:30, when I perceived my opponent drop astern, and a boat passing from him to the 'Niagara,' which vessel was at this time perfectly fresh. The American commander bore up, and supported by his small vessels, passed within pistol-shot, and took a raking position on our bow ; nor could I prevent it, as the unfortunate situation of the 'Queen Charlotte' prevented us from wearing ; in attempting it we fell on board her. My gallant First Lieutenant Garland (J. Garland) was now mortally wounded, and myself so severely that I was obliged to quit the deck. * * * Never in any action was the loss (of officers) more severe; every officer commanding vessels, and their seconds, were either killed or wounded so severely as to leave the deck. The weather-gage gave the enemy a prodigious advantage, and enabled him to choose both his position and distance ; so that his long guns did great execution, while the carronades of the 'Queen Charlotte' and 'Lady Prevost' were prevented having much effect."
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In a letter of the officer who took command of the "Detroit" on Captain Bar- clay's being wounded, he describes the deplorable situation of that ship, which "was unmanageable, every brace cut away, the mizzen topmast and gaff down, all the other masts badly wounded, not a stay left forward, hull shattered very much, a number of guns disabled, and the enemy's squadron raking both ships ahead and astern, and the squadron not in a situation to support ; in consequence of which the 'Detroit' struck ; the 'Queen Charlotte' having previously done so."
THE SURRENDER
The defeated officers were received by Perry on the deck of the "Lawrence," to which his colors had been returned when the fleet ceased firing. It was at the close of this battle, in the first flush of victory, that Perry sent by Midshipman Dulany Forrest of the "Lawrence" the penciled dispatch to General Harrison : "We have met the enemy, and they are ours. Two ships, two brigs, one schooner and one sloop," and to the secretary of the navy, William Jones of Pennsylvania, the following :
"It has pleased the Almighty to give to the arms of the United States a signal victory over their enemies on the lake. The British squadron, consisting of two ships, two brigs, a schooner and a sloop, have this moment surrendered to the forces under my command, after sharp conflict."
At 9 o'clock the United States fleet rendezvoused at Put-in-Bay, north and west of what is now the City of Sandusky, Ohio, on the west border of Lake Erie, which was one of the best harbors on the lake. The captured ships were valued at $225,000, and the victory established the supremacy of the United States on the lake, and by co-operation with General Harrison the release of Michigan from British occupation.
"'Twas a victory-yes ; but it cost us dear ; For that company's roll, when called at night, Of a hundred men who went into the fight, Numbered but twenty that answered 'Here!'" -Nathaniel Graham Shepard, "Roll Call."
The loss to the United States in the battle of Lake Erie was twenty-seven dead, ninety-six wounded; of which number twenty-one were killed and sixty- two wounded on board the "Lawrence," whose whole complement of able-bodied men before the action was about one hundred.
The total loss to the British was three officers, thirty-eight men killed, nine officers, eighty-five men wounded. Among the killed was Capt. R. Finnis of the "Queen Charlotte," who fell soon after the commencement of the action, "and with him," reports Captain Barclay-with both arms gone he could not have written- "fell my greatest support."
The "Lawrence" carried the wounded of both fleets to Erie. The dead on board the vessels of both squadrons, with the exception of five officers, were buried at sea. Each form was sewed in a canvas shroud, with a cannonball for weight, and at the rising of the moon on a clear September evening, they were lowered over the side, describing circles as they sank slowly out of sight in the clear water.
The British, with Tecumseh as ally, were at Malden with 5,000 men, ready
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to cross the frontier, and September 23d Perry conveyed 1,200 troops up the lake and took possession of Malden. When the army in co-operation with the fleet reached that point, they found the fort had been evacuated by the British, and Tecumseh's Indians, who had retreated along the Thames River-which flows between Lake Huron and Lake Erie, discharging into Lake St. Clair-and Harrison followed in pursuit.
On the 27th Perry reoccupied Detroit in conjunction with the army, and on the 2d of October Master-Commandant Elliott ascended the Thames River with the "Scorpion," the "Porcupine" and the "Tigress." On the 5th the battle of the Thames River was fought, with Harrison, who had been promoted to major general, in command. The allied British and Indians were defeated, and Tecum- seh was killed. The battlefield was near the.site of the present city of Chatham, Ont. The British loss was nineteen regulars killed and fifty wounded, and about six hundred prisoners. The American loss in killed and wounded amounted to upwards of fifty. General Harrison died in the Executive Mansion at Washington, April 4, 1841, after an illness of eight days, at the close of a month's administration as President of the United States.
AFTER THE WAR
American territory having been recovered, Perry's fleet rendezvoused at Erie, and the "Lawrence," the "Niagara," the "Ariel," the "Caledonia" and "Scorpion" were at the conclusion of the war dismantled and laid up in Erie and all subse- quently condemned and sold. The colors of the British "Detroit," "Lady Prevost," "Hunter," "Little Belt" and "Chippeway" were sent to the Naval Institute Build- ing at Annapolis.
Master-Commandant Perry was promoted captain, his commission bearing date of the victory, and reaching him on the 29th of November, 1813. He con- tinued in active service until his death of fever in 1819, at the age of thirty-four.
COLUMBIA THE GEM OF THE OCEAN
The United States, in the War of 1812, had only twenty ships equipped for warfare on the open sea, and of these three were antiquated, while England had between six and seven hundred armed vessels, many of them line-of-battle ships, of which the American navy was entirely destitute. It was Britain's proud boast that she not only "swept the surface of the vast Atlantic," but was "mistress of the seas ;" yet when the opportunity came to prove it in this war her great ships had not men enough to work them or their guns. Out of fifteen sea com- bats with very nearly equal forces the United States was victorious in twelve, and more than five hundred prizes were made by the Americans during the first seven months of the war. In the War of 1812, as in the recent war with Spain, American gunnery showed its superiority. Sir Howard Douglas, in his "Treatise on Gunnery," thus gives his reasons for British failure : "The danger of resting satisfied with superiority over a system so defective as that of our former oppo- nents has been made sufficiently evident. We became too confident by being feebly opposed ; then slack in warlike exercise, by not being opposed at all; and lastly, in many cases inexpert for want of drill practice, and herein consisted the great disadvantage under which, without suspecting it, we entered in 1812
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with too great confidence into a war with a marine much more expert than that of any of our European enemies."
It was not for any special regard for the United States that Napoleon parted with Louisiana, but after it had passed out of his hands, this was what he realized that he had done: "I have given," he said, "to England a maritime rival that will sooner or later humble her pride."
At least the outcome of the war was sufficiently convincing, for as President Woodrow Wilson says in his work, entitled "History of the American People" : "The war, itself, was no doubt sufficient guarantee that another for a like purpose would never be necessary."
It was Britannia's ambition to "rule the waves," but Columbia became the "gem of the ocean."
THE TREATY OF PEACE
Early in the year 1814, the British government had indicated to the United States its willingness to end the war, which was costing the empire, it was esti- mated, ten million pounds sterling a year, with no perceptible gain. The "orders in council" had been repealed five days after war was declared. In the three years' conflict, by the assertion of our rights on the high seas, our sailors had been freed from impressment, which had lasted more than twenty years, and the situation resolved itself into the defining of boundaries and the terms of peace greatly to be desired on both sides.
Among the most salutary results of the war were the recognition by the world of the rights of the United States on the ocean and on the American continent, and owing to the necessity of doing without foreign importation, the introduction into this country of the power loom in order to supply the increasing demand for the manufacture of cotton and woolen goods.
. The treaty of peace was signed on Christmas eve, 1814, and two weeks after this important event, of which the country was as yet unaware, had taken place in Belgium, the War of 1812 was closed by a battle in the South. There the British sent Maj. Gen. Sir Edward M. Pakenham, brother-in-law of the Duke of Wellington, with 12,000 men, veterans for the most part from the battlefield of Spain, to take New Orleans, and on the 8th of January, 1815, the American gen- eral, Andrew Jackson, received him at an entrenched line, which had been thrown up across a strip of land below the city, and repelled him, sending him back with a loss of 2,500 men. General Pakenham was killed. The American loss was eight killed and thirteen wounded.
"Now fling them out to the breeze,- Shamrock, thistle and rose,- And the star-spangled banner unfurl with these, A message to friends and foes, Wherever the sails of peace are seen and Wherever the war wind blows." -Alfred Austin, "To America."
THE ERIE SQUADRON'S SLOW DECLINE
The brig "Niagara" was never sunk, but simply settled in the mud. July 20, 1820, Commander D. Deacon reported to the navy department from the Erie
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station : "Heretofore the seamen and marines have been quartered on the brig 'Niagara,' but she has become so rotten and leaky in her upper works and decks that I have been obliged to prepare a large workshop in the navy yard for their * accommodation. * * I have hauled the brig into the basin and inoored her to the shore. She is so rotten that it will be impossible to caulk her for sinking."
November 23, 1823, Master-Commandant George Budd reported: "The 'Niagara' lies in the little bay, beached; she lies in about four feet water. She is rotten and in a complete state of decay, totally unfit to be repaired. I would suggest the propriety of tearing her to pieces."
This was not done, for in the reports of the secretary of the navy for 1824, and 1825, both the "Niagara" and "Lawrence" are mentioned as much decayed and sunk in the mud, and it is recommended that they be broken up or sold. They were sold August 6, 1835, at Erie.
The "Lawrence" and "Niagara" both settled in Misery Bay, an arm of Presque Isle Bay, Erie harbor, the uppermost part of the "Lawrence" only two or three feet below the surface of the water. It was so near the surface that pieces were sawed off and made into souvenirs. The "Niagara" was six or seven feet below the surface.
Thirty-five years after the last date given in the Government reports for the sale of the "Niagara" and "Lawrence." Leander Dobbins, son of Captain Dobbins, is known to have had an ownership in the "Lawrence," which seems to have claimed more public interest at that time as Perry's headquarters during the bat- tle; Perry, according to the detailed reports of both combatants, not having been more than a half hour on the "Niagara," and yet it is to her guns and the change of the wind in her sails to southeast that we owe the turn of the tide from defeat to victory.
In 1876, the "Lawrence" was raised by Leander Dobbins and Thomas J. Viers of Erie, and taken to the Centennial Exposition at Philadelphia, where it was housed, put on exhibition and entirely destroyed by fire.
In the winter of 1912-13, amid snow and ice, the "Niagara" was lifted from Misery Bay, rebuilt and rerigged for exhibition at the celebration of the centen- nial of the battle of Lake Erie. It was launched June 7, 1913, and towed across the bay about 11/2 miles, where it was moored at the foot of Sassafras Street in the city of Erie. An eye-witness says: "The ribs seemed to be in a good state of preservation, and were used in the rebuilt vessel. Some of the inside planking of the original Niagara was also used. Under the deck floor all around the vessel the original planks were used, three in width, each about twelve inches wide."
On the Fourth of July, 1913, the celebration of the centennial of Perry's vic- tory, the commemoration of 100 years of peace between the two English-speaking nations, and the campaign of Gen. William Henry Harrison, was opened in Put-in-Bay by the firing of a salute at dawn. The graves of the officers, both British and American, who are buried on the island were decorated with flowers, and the cornerstone of a monument to be erected there was laid by the Grand Lodge of Ohio Masons. Addresses were made by Col. Henry Watterson of the Louisville (Ky.) Courier-Journal and by ex-Senator John M. Whitehead of Wisconsin. Referring to the dying words of another naval hero, for whom the "Lawrence" was named, which Perry nailed to his masthead, Colonel Watterson, at the close of his peroration, proposed the following sentiment: "On land and
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sea, in glory and in peril, whenever the republic rides the waves too proudly, or is threatened by foes within or without, let us take them as a message from heaven and pass them on to our neighbors and teach them to our children, 'Don't give up the ship.'"
SONGS OF THE ALLIES
It is well known that the "Star-Spangled Banner," now translated into French and sung in the French trenches and wherever the Marseillaise is sung, was an incident of the War of 1812, written during the Battle of Fort McHenry.
THE STAR-SPANGLED BANNER
Words by Francis Scott Key (1780-1848). Music by John Stafford Smith (1750-1836).
Oh! say, can you see by the dawn's early light, What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming? Whose broad stripes and bright stars, through the perilous fight, O'er the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly streaming? And the rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting in air, Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there. Oh! say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave,
O'er the land of the free, and the home of the brave?
On the shore, dimly seen through the mists of the deep, Where the foe's haughty host in dread silence reposes, What is that which the breeze o'er the towering steep, As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses? Now it catches the gleam of the morning's first beam, In full glory reflected, now shines on the stream; 'Tis the star-spangled banner, Oh, long may it wave O'er the land of the free, and the home of the brave.
Oh! thus be it ever when free men shall stand Between their loved homes and the war's desolation ; Blest with victory and peace, may the heaven-rescued land Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation! Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just, And this be our motto, "In God is our trust!" And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave O'er the land of the free, and the home of the brave!
THE MARSEILLAISE [Translated from the French] Words and music by Rouget de L'isle.
Ye sons of France, awake to glory, The sun of victory soon will rise; Though the tyrant's standard all gory Is upreared in pride to the skies, Is upreared in pride to the skies ! Do ye not hear in every village Fierce soldiers who spread war's alarms? Who even in our sheltering arms Slay our sons and give our homes to pillage !
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And would that horde of slavish minions Conspire our freedom to o'erthrow? Say for whom those gyves were intended Which their craft prepared long ago, Which their craft prepared long ago? What righteous rage now should excite us? For Frenchmen what shame is so great?
They even dare to meditate- To enslave, but thus they'll unite us !
Chorus
To arms,-ye brave, to arms ! We'll form battalions strong ! March on! March on! Their blood impure Shall bathe our thresholds soon !
TREATY OF PEACE AND AMITY-TREATY OF GHENT
"Concluded at Ghent, December 24, 1814; ratification advised by the Senate, February 16, 1815; ratified by the President, February 17, 1815; ratifications exchanged, February 17, 1815 ; proclaimed February 18, 1815."
This treaty was composed of a preamble and eleven articles. Five of these articles, relating to boundaries, were left to the decision of commissioners, who disagreed, and they were finally determined by the convention of August 9, 1842, which concluded the Webster-Ashburton Treaty-Daniel Webster, Secretary of State, for the United States, and Alexander, Lord Ashburton, Her Majesty's Minister Plenipotentiary to the United States.
The remaining articles were on the declaration of peace, the cessation of hos- tilities, the release of prisoners, cessation of hostilities with Indians, abolition of the slave trade, and ratification.
The preamble sets forth that :
"His Britannic Majesty and the United States of America, desirous of ter- minating the war, which has unhappily subsisted between the two countries, and of restoring, upon principles of perfect reciprocity, peace, friendship and good understanding between them, have for that purpose, appointed these respectivc plenipotentiaries, that is to say :
"His Britannic Majesty, on his part, has appointed the Rt. Hon. James Lord Gambier, late admiral of the White, now admiral of the Red Squadron of His Majesty's fleet ; Henry Goulburn, Esq., a member of the Imperial Parliament, and under secretary of state, and William Adams. Esq., doctor of civil laws ; and the President of the United States, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate thereof, has appointed John Quincy Adams, James A. Bayard, Henry Clay, Jonathan Russell and Albert Gallatin, citizens of the United States, who, after a reciprocal communication of their respective full powers, have agreed upon the following articles :
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