USA > New York > New York City > The Memorial History of the City of New York: From Its First Settlement to the Year 1892, Volume III > Part 28
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Hull, immediately after his two exploits, gave up his command, in order that others might reap their share of laurels. At this time there were a number of gallant officers without a ship to command. He was succeeded in the Constitution by Captain William Bainbridge, one of the heroes of the Tripoli war. Raised to the rank of com- modore, Bainbridge was transferred from the frigate Constellation,
1 Major William J ckson was aide and secretary to Washington during his residence, as president, in New-York. Later he was assistant secretary of war, and for more than a quarter of a century
secretary of the Society of the Cincinnati. The portrait is copied from a miniature by Charles Willson Peale. His picture was also painted by Trumbull. EDITOR.
NEW-YORK IN THE SECOND WAR WITH GREAT BRITAIN 249
38 guns, then fitting for sea at Washington, and placed in command of a squadron consisting of the Constitution, which was thoroughly refitted at Boston; the Essex, 32, Captain Porter; and the Hornet, 18, Captain Lawrence. Bainbridge hoisted his pennant on the Con- stitution on September 15 at Boston harbor, where the Hornet was also lying. The two ships sailed to the southward on October 26; Porter, who was with the Essex on the Delaware, receiving orders to rendezvous at the island San Jago.
Before Commodore Bainbridge was ready for sea, Commodore Rodgers, whose squadron was also in Boston, left that port on October 8 with the President, United States, Congress, and Argus. On October 12 the frigate United States, which, like the President and the Constitution, carried forty-four guns, separated from the squadron,-Captain Decatur, who commanded, taking an eastward course. On October 25 she fell in with the British thirty-eight- gun frigate Macedonian, Captain John S. Carden. The English ship was in admirable order: so well manned and armed that when the news of the capture of the Guerrière was known in England she was pronounced to be the one British frigate of a force to cope with the American forty-fours. Captain Carden, among the brav- est and ablest of English seamen, believed in her superiority. His men were in high discipline, and had been constantly engaged in action before this cruise. Though rating thirty-eight, she carried forty-nine guns, and was a much faster vessel than the United States. Notwithstanding these advantages, if not superiority, in an action the closing incidents of which did not take more than seventeen minutes, and during which the ships were never close enough for the effective use of grape or musketry, the Macedonian, by the better gunnery of the United States, received nearly one hundred shots in her hull, and, being reduced to a complete wreck, struck her colors. Eight American seamen were found on her rolls. They had been compelled to fight, and three were killed. The others joined the American service, as did also a fine French band which had been captured from a French frigate and had been duly impressed after English fashion. So little injury was done the United States that she was ready for action again in half an hour. The Macedonian was refitted with jury-masts, was safely brought in through the fleets which blockaded our coasts, put in to Newport, but soon after joined the United States, which Decatur took in to New London on December 4.
Following so closely upon the triumph of the Constitution, the joy in America and the mortification in Great Britain were equally intense. Canning said in parliament that it was a matter "that could not be thought too deeply of. . . . The spirit of our [the English] seamen had been unconquerable, and any diminution of the popular opinion with
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respect to that glorious and triumphant spirit was to his mind a dread- ful and alarming consideration." The State legislatures of New-York and Massachusetts passed resolutions of compliment to Decatur and his officers. Those of Pennsylvania and Virginia each voted him a sword, as did the city of Philadelphia. The city of New-York, from whose port Decatur had sailed and where he was daily expected to arrive with his prize, was greatly excited, and prepared for him triumphal honors. The corporation of the city, as in the case of Hull, tendered him the freedom of the city in the usual gold box, ordered his portrait for their gallery, named a committee - Aldermen Fish, Peter H. Wendover, and Lawrence- to arrange for a dinner to all the naval heroes, directed the display of the national flag from the City Hall, requested General Morton, the military TOWER, HALLETT'S POINT. commander, to order a national salute, the captains of vessels in the harbor to hoist their colors, and that all the bells in the city be rung for one hour. Nor were the warrant officers forgotten. The corporation voted to give them and the crew of the United States a dinner on board the ship, should Commodore Decatur consent.
While the senior officers with the large ships were winning glory, there occurred one lesser affair which rivaled either of the more im- portant actions in dash and seamanship. On October 13 Captain Jacob Jones sailed from the Delaware in the sloop of war Wasp, 18 guns. Her object was to overhaul a fleet of fourteen merchantmen which left the bay of Honduras in September, bound for England, under convoy of the British sloop Frolic, 19 guns. On the 18th the fleet was in sight. A sharp action ensued, which ended in the vessels coming together, when the Wasp's crew boarded the Englishman without op- position. Of the Frolic's crew of one hundred and nineteen men not twenty were unhurt. The flag was lowered by Lieutenant Biddle of the Wasp with his own hand. This was an even contest, and the success of the Americans was again due to their superior gunnery. Unfortunately, Captain Jones could not bring his prize into port. Fallen in with a few hours later by the Poictiers, a British seventy- four, Captain Jones, with the Wasp and her prize, was taken into Bermuda. The merit of the action was none the less. The officers were promoted; Congress voted gold and silver medals to the captain and officers, and two thousand five hundred dollars prize-money. The State of Delaware voted Captain Jones a sword and a piece of plate. The corporation of the city of New-York, on November 3, on the
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motion of Alderman Lawrence, voted him a sword and the freedom of the city.
Lieutenant Hamilton, son of the secretary of the navy, carried Decatur's report of his victory to Washington. He reached there on the evening of a grand ball to the officers of the navy. Commodore Hull was present, and Captain Stewart of the Constellation. The ball-room was decorated with the colors of the Guerrière and the Alert, which were presented to Mrs. Madison, the wife of the presi- dent, by Captains Hull and Stewart. The president sent a message to Congress, which on its receipt voted gold medals to Hull, Decatur, and Jones, and, in more effective compliment to the navy, authorized the construction of four ships of the line and six frigates like the Constitution and United States. The arrival of the United States and Macedonian in New-York was delayed by the difficult passage of Hell Gate. The city authorities, impatient of the delay, while the press of the country was ringing the praises of the victors, induced Decatur to leave his vessels in Long Island Sound and come up to the city on Tuesday, December 29, 1812, to the entertainment pre- pared. This banquet was given at the City Hotel, which stood at the corner of Broadway and Thames street, on the site of the Old Province and State Arms, and was now kept by Gibson. Hull, who had received the freedom of the city the day before, was also present.
At five o'clock five hundred gentlemen sat down. The mayor pre- sided. The room was decorated as a "marine palace." It was "col- onnaded round with the masts of ships entwined with laurels and bearing the national flags of all the world. Every table had on it a ship in miniature with the American flag displayed. In front, where the president sat with the officers of the navy and other guests, and which was raised about three feet, there appeared an area of about three feet by ten covered with green sward, and in the midst of it was a lake of real water in which floated a miniature frigate. Back of all this hung the main-sail of a ship twenty-three feet by sixteen feet." Decatur and Hull sat respectively on the right and left of the president. At the toast "To our Navy" the great mainsail was un- furled, and displayed an immense transparency representing the three recent naval victories in honor of which the magnificent dinner was given.
The Macedonian was brought into port on January 1, 1813, where the citizens greeted her with great joy as a New Year's gift. New Year's was always the whitest of white days in the calendar of the New-Yorker of earlier days. On Thursday, January 7, the corpo- ration of the city entertained the crew of the United States in the same banquet-room, the decorations of which had been retained. This interesting feast was directed by Aldermen John Vanderbilt,
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Buckmaster, and King. Alderman Vanderbilt delivered the address of welcome to the sailors, of whom there were about four hundred present. They had marched to the hotel in a sort of popular tri- umph. After dinner Decatur brought in an invitation to attend the theater. The drop-curtain represented the fight of the United States and the Macedonian; the orchestra played national airs, and a band of children bore transparencies with the letters of the alphabet which, grouped, formed the names of Hull, Jones, and Decatur.1
Yet another was to be added to the glories of this opening of what is sometimes called the second war of American independence. Commodore Bainbridge, in the Constitution, accompanied by Law- rence in the Hornet, sailed from Boston on October 20. Leaving the Hornet off San Salvador to lie in wait for the British sloop of war Bonne Citoyenne, which was about to sail for England with a large freight of specie,-one half million pounds,-Commodore Bainbridge, on the 29th, fell in with the British frigate Java, 38 guns, bound for the East Indies with a number of officers. A hot action en- sued, which lasted nearly two hours- an action of manœu- ver within musketry range, in which the Constitution, suffering little herself, delib- erately silenced all of the en- emy's guns by her own su- perior handling and gunnery. At the end of the action the WASHINGTON HALL. BROADWAY. Java was "a riddled and en- tirely dismasted hulk." Ow- ing to his long distance from port and the badly disabled state of the prize, Bainbridge destroyed the Java on January 3, and, first making San Salvador, where he landed and paroled his prisoners, sailed on January 6, 1813, and reached Boston on February 22. At San Salvador he left Lawrence in the Hornet. That gallant officer had sent a challenge to the British commander of the Bonne Cito- yenne, pledging non-interference, with the fight he proposed, by the Constitution. But the combat was declined.
Lawrence continued the blockade until the arrival of the British man-of-war Montagu on January 24 drove him into port. As night came on he wore ship and stood out unmolested into the open sea, taking prizes. On February 24, off the mouth of the Demerara River, he fell in with two British brigs of war-the Espiègle. 18 guns, at
1 The Macedonian was placed under the command of Captain Jones, while still under the orders of Captain Decatur.
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anchor; the Peacock, 24 guus. Colors were hoisted on both sides, and a hot fire was begun by broadsides at half pistol-shot and musketry from the tops. In just fourteen minutes the Peacock surrendered, hoisting her ensign union down as her mainmast went by the board. Lieutenant William B. Shubrick, sent on board, re- ported her sinking. A second boat's crew from the Hornet endea- vored to save the vessel, but she suddenly settled and sank, carrying with her some of her hands who were rummaging below. The Hornet's victory again was due to the superior handling of the guns. The Espiègle lay in sight, but did not come out, and Captain Lawrence, crowded with his prisoners and short of water, HENRY ECKFORD'S HOUSE.1 stood for home, and anchored in Holmes' Hole at Martha's Vineyard on March 19. It may here be said that the officers of the Peacock, on their arrival in New-York, published a card of thanks to the officers of the Hornet. In every one of these four victories the conquered Eng- lishmen bore testimony to the courteous consideration of their captors.
The same honors paid to their predecessors in victory were voted to Bainbridge and Lawrence. On the arrival of the Constitution, Captain Bainbridge, on February 15, was received with tumultuous applause by the citizens of Boston. Rodgers and Hull accompanied him in the procession to the Exchange Coffee House. Thanks were voted by the legislature, then in session, and a grand banquet given on March 2 at the Exchange Coffee House. March 1, 1813, the com- mon council of New-York presented to Commodore Bainbridge the freedom of the city and ordered his portrait for their gallery, and on March 29 paid the same honors to Captain Lawrence. Other States joined in these demonstrations, and Congress voted thanks, medals, and prize-money because of the necessary destruction of the prizes.
During all this period the harbor of New-York was closely block- aded by the British men-of-war; even our frigates could not run the gauntlet, availing themselves of the narrow and dangerous strait of Hell Gate to the Sound. Once in the open sea beyond Montauk, they had opportunities to find or force an offing. It was fortunate for the administration of Mr. Madison that these naval successes occurred at the beginning of the contest. They inspirited the war party in the
1 Henry Eckford was an eminent ship-builder, at whose house in Love Lane, near the present Twenty-first street, De Kay, Drake, Halleck, and
other literary men were frequent guests during the second decade of the century. Drake married Mr. Eckford's daughter. EDITOR.
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very places which Madison's cabinet and the Western politicians had ignored, disregarded, and even insulted in their declarations. The ships they proposed to shut up in port as unable to defend them- selves had humbled British pride, while the land forces had made but a sorry beginning in the proposed conquest of Canada. In the first six months of the war there had been as many encounters with British cruisers, in every one of which the United States were the victors. Moreover, over three hundred British merchantmen had been captured and brought into port, including those taken by New-York and other American privateers.
The Veteran Corps of Artillery was the first organization to volun- teer in New-York. They were commanded by John Delamater, who had served in the militia during the Revolution. They were invited by notice to meet at the new arsenal in Hubert street, and to take their station at the North Battery at the foot of that street. They assembled and took possession of the fort, by permission of General Bloomfield. The uniformed corps of militia, in April, 1812, consisted of ten regiments in two brigades, one battalion of riflemen, three regiments of artillery, one squadron of cavalry, one company of fly- ing artillery, and the company of veteran artillery already mentioned -in all about three thousand men. The population of the city was about ninety-eight thousand persons, of whom fifteen hundred were slaves. The number subject to military duty was about twelve thousand men. The two brigades were commanded by General Peter P. Van Zandt and General Gerard Steddiford; the artillery, by General Morton - all three veterans of the Revolution. Major James Warner commanded the city cavalry, and Lieutenant-Colonel Francis McClure the riflemen. On April 21, 1812, Governor Tomp- kins issued his orders for the State military formation from his headquarters in New-York city.
There were four arsenals in the city in 1812-the State arsenal, corner of Elm and Franklin streets; the United States arsenal on Bridge street near the South Battery; the United States magazine and arsenal at the foot of West Twelfth street; and the United States arsenal on the Parade, now Madison Square, at the junction of the old Boston Road and the Middle Road. These buildings were two or three stories high, of stone and brick, well constructed, and inclosed by high walls. There were two forts, one about one hun- dred yards in front of the Parade at the Battery, connected with it by a drawbridge. Officially known as the Southwest Battery, it was called, after the war, Castle Clinton. It was built about the year 1811, on the plans of Lieutenant Joseph G. Totten, of the United States Engineers. This was the military headquarters. Off Hu- bert street, in the Hudson, was the North Battery, about two hun-
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dred yards from the shore, to which there was a drawbridge thirty feet wide. It could carry twenty heavy guns in one tier. Its fire crossed with that of the Southwest Battery. Later it was called the "Red Fort."
Outside of the city were several works-Castle Williams, on Gov- ernor's Island (on its westward projection); Fort Columbus, on the middle of the island; Fort Wood, on Bedlow's Island (a mortar-bat- tery); on Ellis or Oyster Island, a circular battery mounting four- teen heavy guns. On the eastern shore of Staten Island there were three batteries ready for garrison - Fort Richmond, Fort Morton, and Fort Hud- son. All three would be later commanded by Fort Tompkins, not yet above the founda- tion. These works had all been built by Col- onel Jonathan Wil- liams, of the Second United States Artil- lery, and chief engineer of the United States. SPUYTEN DUYVIL. Together they carried two hundred and eighty-four guns, and re- quired a force of three thousand seven hundred gunners. The forts in the harbor were under command of Colonel Henry Burbeck, and the navy-yard and flotilla were commanded by Captain Isaac Chaun- cey. On July 12, 1812, the common council received a report from the governor of the State and the secretary of war favoring further fortifications. On June 27 the governor directed General Stevens, by division orders, to require General Morton to order out such part of the artillery not already called for upon the requisition of Gen- eral Bloomfield. In this order the governor says: "His Excellency confidently hopes that the General [Stevens] will exert his talents, his influence, and his official authority to produce a vigorous prose- cution of the war."
The Fourth of July was celebrated with "a degree of splendor," says the "Columbian," "never witnessed at any former period on the occasion." There was a review before noon by Generals Bloomfield, Stevens, and Morton, and a parade on the Battery, followed by an address in the evening by John Anthon, before the Washington and
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Hamilton societies at Washington Hall. On July 8 arrived news of Napoleon's decree from St. Cloud, April 26, 1812, declaring "the de- crees of Berlin and Milan are definitely (from the first of November last) considered as no longer in force as far as regards American vessels," destroying the last cause of complaint against France, and the one strong argument of the Federal- ists against the war with Great Bri- tain as one of the aggressors on American rights.
It is curious to read in the " Co- lumbian" of July 9 a proposal by "one of '76" to place cannon on every wharf within a covered way protected by cotton-bales, the device. abandoned by Jackson at the close of the war. July 3 was observed as a day of fasting and prayer by recommendation of Governor Tomp- kins. In August the first double steamboat was put on the Powles I'veninfetas Hook ferry, and excited great ad- miration. On August 14 there was artillery practice in the harbor, the target being a hulk provided by Governor Tompkins. The practice showed that 254 out of 314 shot took effect, the hulk being fired by hot shot from one of the militia commands. On the same day Gen- eral Bloomfield was relieved from the command at New-York by the secretary of war, and General John Armstrong appointed to the post. Notwithstanding the blockade of New-York by a British squadron of five vessels carrying two hundred and ten guns, besides many smaller armed craft, there arrived between April 6 and August 22, 1812, no less than one hundred and forty-two ships, eighty-four brigs, and forty schooners, some with British licenses. The first privateer, the Bunker Hill, left the port on July 6, 1812. Before the middle of October, twenty-six privateers, carrying two hundred and . twelve guns and two thousand two hundred and eighty-nine men, had left the port, taking their course through Long Island Sound toward the British cruisers. Of these the largest was the General Armstrong, which carried eighteen long nines and a twelve-pounder, and was manned by one hundred and fifty men. These vessels were chiefly built in New-York, where there were three large ship-yards: that of Adam and Noah Brown, on the East River at Houston street; that of Christian Bergh, on the East River near Gouverneur's Slip,
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where the President was built; and that of Henry Eckford, on the East River near that of Bergh, who built the fleet on the lakes. The Oneida, Commodore Chauncey's flag-ship, was also built by him. Napoleon greatly assisted the privateers by an order that all prizes taken by Americans should be received in French ports on the same terms as though captured by French vessels. Soon the British Channel swarmed with American privateers, who had a close shelter in the French ports near by. There were numerous militia reviews during the year, the most notable of which was on the anniversary of the evacuation of the city by the British. There was a general parade, and in the evening a large company, including Governor Tompkins, Generals Armstrong, Morton, and Paulding, dined at Mechanics' Hall, corner of Park Place and Broadway.
When Congress met on November 2, 1812, in conformity with the act passed at the preceding session providing the time for the next meeting, President Madison sent in a message which gave but sorry satisfaction to the hopes of the military party. He announced that prior to the declaration of war a force had been sent to the Michigan territory " to intercept the hostile influences of Great Britain over the savages and obtain the command of the Lake in that part of the Canada borders." This force, under command of William Hull, Gov- ernor of the Territory of Michigan, who had been made a brigadier- general, consisted of regulars and volunteers, in number about two thousand men. By some blunder in the war department the decla- ration of war was nearly two weeks on the way to him, and was known in Canada some days earlier. His orders to take possession of Malden, fifteen miles below Detroit on the Canada side of the river, reached him at Detroit on July 9. He crossed on the 12th and issued a proclamation to the Canadians, which was of no effect. Being without artillery, the capture was decided to be too hazardous an undertaking, and he recrossed the river on August 7. The enemy had already anticipated his attempt at invasion by the seizure of the American post at Mackinaw, commanding the strait between Lakes Huron and Michigan, which capitulated on July 10: an affair doubly important because of its influence on the Indian tribes. The British colonel, Henry A. Proctor, receiving reinforcements, and joined by the savages, defeated Hull's detachments, and Hull, disheartened, re- treated to Detroit. Meanwhile Fort Dearborn, which stood at the mouth of the Chicago River, on ground which is now within the limits of the city of Chicago, was abandoned by Hull's orders, and the captain commanding the small garrison was on his retreat when his force was ambushed by the Indians and compelled to surrender, many of the women and children being mercilessly scalped, and the savage trophies carried to Colonel Proctor, who had offered a pre- VOL. III .- 17.
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mium for American scalps. On August 15, the British general, Isaac Brock, who had assumed command at Fort Malden, with his force, in which were six hundred savages under the lead of Tecumseh, the famous Indian chieftain, marched on Detroit. On Brock's arrival before the fort the white flag was hung out, and Hull surrendered the fort and garrison and the whole Territory of Michigan, of which he was governor. This occurred on August 16, and terminated the miserable campaign. Three days later the naval commander of the Constitution redeemed the honor of the flag and the name of Hull, which had otherwise become a byword in American history for in- competency or cowardice.
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