History of Erie county, Pennsylvania. Containing a history of the county; its townships, towns, villages schools, churches, industries, etc, Part 38

Author: Bates, Samuel P. (Samuel Penniman), 1827-1902; Whitman, Benjamin, 1940-; Russell, N. W. (Nathaniel Willard); Brown, R. C. (Robert C.); Weakley, F. E; Warner, Beers & Co. (Chicago, Ill.)
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: Chicago : Warner, Beers & co.
Number of Pages: 1280

USA > Pennsylvania > Erie County > History of Erie county, Pennsylvania. Containing a history of the county; its townships, towns, villages schools, churches, industries, etc > Part 38

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On the 23d of July, notice was sent to William Clark, of Meadville, Bri- gade Inspector, that 505 muskets had that day been forwarded from Harris- burg, with a supply of flints, lead and powder. August 13, a detachment of 2,500 of the Northwestern militia-increased in September by 2,000 more- were ordered to march to Buffalo, which was menaced by the enemy. Their places of rendezvous were fixed at Meadville and Pittsburgh, and they were re- quired to be at the scene of hostilities by the 25th of September. The division elected Gen. Tannehill Commander-in- chief, who remained in charge during the campaign. They continued at Buffalo the winter through, and it is re- lated to the credit of Erie County, that while many others deserted not one man of Col. Wallace's command shirked his duty. When 4,000 New York militia refused to cross into Canada to attack the foe, the gallant Pennsylva- nians under Tannehill promptly obeyed the order, although not obliged to by the terms of their enlistment. Among those who were called out for the emergency, were Capt. Thomas Foster's company of the "detached volunteer corps." The following in relation to intermediate events is from official sources :

" August 25-Expresses were sent over the country saying a number of the enemy's vessels had been seen, and that a descent would be made on Erie.

" September 4-The Governor directed that the State field pieces be sent to Erie.

"September 15-The Secretary of War was notified by the Governor that Gen. John Kelso had transmitted him a communication, signed by gentlemen of the first respectability at Erie, requesting that some efficient measures for the protection of the frontier may be speedily taken.

"September 16-Gen. Kelso was notified that one brass field-piece, and four four-pounders were on the way to Erie.

" September 18-Wilson Smith, of Waterford, was appointed Quarter- master General of the State.

"October 21-Gen. Snyder ordered Gen. Kelso to employ volunteers, if practicable, for the defense of Erie, not exceeding a Major's command."

The summer's campaign along the lake was a series of disasters to the Americans. The surrender of Detroit by Hull, the defeat of Van Rensselaer at Niagara in October, and the capture of the Adams, the only armed vessel that had been left to us, gave the British full control upon the lake, and it be . came apparent to those who looked at the situation intelligently that without a fleet to cooperate with our Western and New York armies, the cause of our country in this direction was hopeless.

A FLEET ARRANGED FOR.

When Capt. Dobbins reached Erie from his unfortunate trip to Mackinaw,

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he found Gen. David Mead, of Meadville, in immediate command of the post. After spending a few days with his family, he was sent by that officer lo Washington City as a bearer of dispatches, and was the first person who gave the Government reliable information of the loss of Mackinaw and Detroit. At a meeting of the Cabinet called immediately after his arrival, the Captain was asked to give his view of the requirements on Lake Erie. He earnestly advocated the establishment of a naval station and the building of a fleet pow- erful enough to cope with the British upon the lake. These suggestions were adopted. A Sailing Master's commission in the navy was tendered to him and accepted, and he was ordered to proceed to Erie, begin the construction of gunboats, and report to Commodore Chauncey, at Sackett's Harbor, for further instructions. He returned home, and late in October commenced work on two gunboats .*

Soon after Dobbins' arrival at Erie, he received a communication from Lieut. J. D. Elliott, through whom his correspondence with Commodore Chauncey had to pass, dated at Black Rock, deprecating the adoption of Erie as the place for building the fleet, alleging that there was not a sufficient depth of water on the bar to get the vessels out of the harbor into the lake, and claiming that should there be water the town was "at all times open to the attacks of the enemy." To this Dobbins replied that there was "a sufficiency of water on the bar to let the vessels in the lake, but not a sufficiency to let heavy armed vessels of the enemy into the bay to destroy them," a conclusion in which he was signally sustained by later occurrences. Nothing further be- ing heard from Elliott, Dobbins went to Black Rock, intending to employ skillful ship carpenters, but only succeeded in finding one, with whom he came back to Erie, determined to do the best he could with house carpenters and laborers. The winter was severe and retarded his operations to a provok- ing extent.

Commodore Chauncey visited Erie officially about the 1st of January, 1813, accompanied by a United States naval constructor, and, after approving what Dobbins had done, ordered him to prepare for the building of two sloops of war in addition to the gunboats. The keels of these vessels were ready to lay and much of the timber on hand about the 10th of March, when a gang of twenty-five carpenters, in charge of Noah Brown, a master ship builder from New York. reached Erie. In a letter to the Navy Department, under date of March 14, Dobbins stated that " the gunboats are ready for calking, and every- thing looks encouraging in that respect," but the absence of a sufficient guard led him to fear that his labor might be destroyed by " the secret incendiary." To obviate this danger as nearly as he could, a temporary guard was impro- vised, consisting of Capt. Forster's voluntary military company, who had got back from Buffalo, and the workmen at the station. This small force was, for some weeks, the sole protection for the fleet and the town.

PERRY REACHES ERIE.

The Government had in the meantime assigned the command on Lake Erie to Lieut. Oliver Hazard Perry, who arrived at Erie on the 27th of March, ac- companied by his brother, a lad of thirteen, making the trip from Buffalo in a sledge on the ice. f Perry had served as a midshipman in the war with Trip-

*Capt. Daniel Dobbins was born in Mifflin County, Penn., July 5, 1776. He came to Erie with a party of sur- veyors in 1796. After Perry's victory, he rendered efficient service in the expedition against Mackinaw. He re- signed from the navy in 1826. In 1829, he was appointed by President Jackson to the command of the United States revenue cutter Rush, on Lake Erie. He left active service in 1849, and died in Erie February 29, 1856. His marriage took place at Canonsburg, Penn .. in 1800. Mrs. Dobbins was the mother of ten children. She died in her one hundredth year, on the 24th of January, 1879.

¡ Perry's headquarters were established at Duncan's Hotel, at the corner of Third and French streets, Erie

Feine, Pal to Philadelphia

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oli, and had recently been in charge of a flotilla at Newport, R. I. He was but twenty-seven years of age, and was full to the brim with energy, enthusi- asm and patriotism. His first step was to provide for the defense of the posi- tion. To that end he sent immediately for Gen. Mead. Their consultation resulted in a thousand militia being ordered to rendezvous at Erie on or be- fore the 20th of April. Among the number that responded was an artillery company from Luzerne County, who were authorized to take charge of the four brass field-pieces belonging to the State, which had been stored at Water- ford. Reese Hill, of Greene County, was constituted Colonel by the Governor, and given command of the regiment. The old American block-house of 1795, which had nearly gone to ruins, was hurriedly restored, as was also the one on the point of the peninsula.

With the facilities of the present day, it is scarcely possible to conceive of the embarrassment that attended Dobbins and Perry in their work. Of practi- cal ship-builders there were very few in the country, and their places had to be taken by house carpenters and blacksmiths gathered from every part of the lower lake region. The timber for the vessels had to be cnt in the for- ests near by and used while yet green. Iron was scarce, and had to be picked up wherever it could be found-in stores, warehouses, shops, farm buildings and elsewhere. A considerable stock was brought from Pittsburgh by flat-boats up French Creek. and some from Buffalo by small boats creeping along the south shore of the lake. Perry wrote to Washington that more mechanics were needed, and Dobbins was dispatched to Black Rock for seamen, arms and ordnance. The transportation of the latter was extremely slow, owing to the miserable roads. Some of the cannon were brought up in sail boats, mov- ing at night only, to avoid the enemy's cruisers.

Fortunately for the Americans, the Allegheny River and French Creek continued at a good boating stage until August, an occurrence so unusual that it would seem to imply that Providence was on their side. Had these streams become low at the ordinary time, the fleet could not have been rigged in season to meet the enemy under advantageous circumstances.

Sailing Master W. V. Taylor having arrived on the 30th of March with twenty seamen, he was left in command in the absence of Dobbins, while Perry proceeded to Pittsburgh to arrange for supplies, and hurry forward a gang of carpenters who had been promised him from Philadelphia. While there, he purchased canvas, cables, anchors, and other necessaries, procured four small field-pieces and some muskets, and employed an ordnance officer to oversee the casting of shot and carronades. Returning to Erie abont the middle of April, by the aid of the land forces he threw up redonbts on Garrison Hill, and on the bank of the lake, where the land light-house stands, built a block house on the bluff overlooking the place where the sloops of war were building, and con- structed another redoubt above the yard where the gunboats lay upon their stocks. The Lawrence and Niagara, sloops of war, and the pilot boat Ariel, schooner-rigged, were built on the beach at the mouth of Cascade rnn, now occupied by the Erie & Pittsburgh docks, and the Porcupine and Tigress, gun- boats, on a beach that jutted out from the mouth of Lee's Run, afterward the terminus of the canal. On the light-house redoubt, two twelve-pounders were placed that had been forwarded by Dobbins from Black Rock, and the four field-pieces which Perry had brought on from Pittsburgh were mounted upon the one on Garrison Hill. The main body of the troops was encamped at the mouth of Cascade Run. Carpenters, blacksmiths, sail makers, riggers, and other workmen soon came on from New York and Philadelphia, infusing new energy into the operations, and from this time forward matters were more en-

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couraging. It would appear that the call for the militia to report was not obeyed with alacrity, for we learn from official sources that on the 18th of May complaint was made to the Governor by Gen. Mead that some of the men had refused obedience to his orders.

THE FIRST STEP TO VICTORY.

Perry departed in a four-oared boat, on the evening of the 23d of May, to participate in the contemplated attack on the Canadian Fort George, at the foot of the Niagara River, in which he was to lead the seamen and marines. He took Dobbins with him as far as Fort Schlosser, at the head of the Niagara Rapids, on the American side, where a detachment of officers and men arrived on the 28th, fresh from the capture of the first-named fortification on the pre- vious day. Perry, who had borne a gallant part in the fight, proceeded thence to Black Rock, while Dobbins escorted the detachment to the same place. Their defeat at Fort George compelled the British to abandon the Niagara frontier, and afforded an opportunity to get the vessels up to Erie that had been purchased and prepared for war by the Government, and which had been blockaded in Gonjaquades Creek by the batteries of the enemy on the opposite shore. These consisted of the brig Caledonia, the sloop Trippe, and the schooners Ohio, Amelia and Somers, five in all. They were drawn up the rapids hy ox teams, assisted by some two hundred men, including the detach- ment of Dobbins and a detail for the purpose from Gen. Dearborn's army, an operation that required six days of hard work. The soldiers. by Perry's re- quest, were allowed to remain on board to assist in navigation and defense on the way to Erie. The British fleet, consisting of five vessels much superior to the American squadron, were cruising the lake, and the utmost vigilance was necessary to elude them. By good fortune, Perry reached Erie on the morn- ing of June 17, having sailed from Buffalo on the 13th, and being detained on the way by head-winds, without having been seen by the British. How nar- row an escape the Americans made will be understood when it is stated that while they lay in the offing at Dunkirk, a man came on board who notified Perry that the British had been at anchor off Twenty mile Creek the night before, and that from a neck of land which jutted into the lake he had both fleets in sight at the same time. The British rendezvous at the lower end of the lake was usually in Mohawk Bay, on the Canada side, where they could readily watch the movements of the Americans. They felt sure of nabbing Perry's squadron on its upward voyage, and when they learned that they had been given the slip, were extremely surprised and mortified .*

SAFELY CONCENTRATED.

The entire fleet with which Perry was expected to humble British pride on the lake was now concentrated in the harbor of Erie. It consisted of the Law- rence and Niagara, both sloops of war, built after the same model, being 100 feet straight rabbit, 100 feet between perpendiculars, 30 feet beam, 9 feet hold, flush deck, and pierced for 20 guns, with two stern ports; the schooners Ariel and Scorpion, each of 63 tons; the Porcupine and Tigress of about 50 tons; the British brig Caledonia, which had been taken by Lieut. Elliott from under the guns of Fort Erie, of 85 tons; the sloop Trippe, of 63 tons, and the schooners Amelia, Somers and Ohio, of 72, 65 and 62 tons respect- ively. Considering the national importance of the victory gained, the size of these vessels, compared with the war vessels of this day, seems absurdly small. The Lawrence and Niagara, however, were immense vessels for the

*The British hove in sight as the last of Perry's fleet crossed the bar of Erie Harbor. Their cruising squadron consisted of five vessels.

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time. They had been given a shallow depth of hold by Mr. Brown, the master builder, so as to secure a light draught of water and avoid showing a high side to the enemy's marksmen.

" The frames of all the vessels built at Erie were of white and black oak and chestnut, the outside planking was of oak and the decks were of pine."

Though stoutly put together, there was no attempt at ornament, Mr. Brown having prophetically remarked: "Plain work is all that is required; they will only be wanted for one battle. If we win, that is all that will be wanted of them; if we lose, they are good enough to be captured." The Lawrence was named after the heroic Capt. James Lawrence, who was killed in the en- counter between the Chesapeake and Shannon, and whose last words, "Don't give up the ship," were inscribed by Perry on his fighting flag. One of the schooners brought up from Black Rock, the Amelia, was condemned as worth- less and sunk in the harbor. The Porcupine and Tigress, which had been launched about the 15th of June, were now equipped, and, with the other boats, sailed to the vicinity of Cascade Run to defend the sloops of war, which still remained on the stocks, in case of an attack. The Lawrence was launched on or about the 25th of June, and the Niagara on the 4th of July.

The essential business now was to man the vessels. Up to the 25th of June something like a 150 men and officers had arrived for service on the fleet of whom many were on the sick list .* To make the situation more perplex- ing, the 200 soldiers of Dearborn's command who had come from Black Rock, and whom Perry desired to retain as marines, were ordered to return, and act- ually did leave in small boats, with the exception of Capt. Brevoort, who had seen service upon the lake in command of the United States brig Adams. While thus embarrassed, the Navy Department was constantly urging Perry to expedite matters in order that he might act with Gen. Harrison, who led the Western army in a combined move by land and water against the enemy. After many urgent appeals for men, the welcome tidings came, about the middle of July, that a draft had been forwarded. Mr. Dobbins, who pos- sessed the whole confidence of Perry, was again dispatched to Buffalo to bring them on. They reached Erie in boats collected in Buffalo Creek, on or about the 25th of July. About this date, Perry received word from Gen. Harrison that the British would launch their new ship, the Detroit, in a few days. This added to his anxiety, as the Detroit would be more than equal to any sin- gle vessel of his fleet, and he redoubled his energies in the hope of getting out and meeting the enemy before they could have her powerful aid.

The Government made a grave mistake in not giving Perry an independent command, instead of obliging him to act under the instructions of Commodore Chauncey, who was hundreds of miles away, and in not investing him with full power, and granting him ample means to prosecute his purposes to the utmost of his skill and energy. Had this been done, the fleet would have been ready to sail two months before it did, the risk of fighting a superior vessel like the Detroit would have been avoided, Perry and Harrison could have co-operated at an earlier date, the British would have been compelled to abandon the frontier, and the war in the West would have ended long before it did, at a great saving of life and money. It is not generally known that at one period Perry's pa- thetic calls for re enforcements drew from Commodore Chauncey a sarcastic letter, which led the former to ask to be " detached from the command on Lake Erie," for the reason that it was unpleasant to serve under a superior who had so little regard for his feelings. This brought back an appeal to his patriot-

* There were three hospitals -- in the court house, on the point of Misery Bay and near the site of Wayne's hlock-house.

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ism from the department, and the matter was eventually arranged so that kindly relations were restored between Chauncey and Perry.

MENACES OF THE ENEMY.

It must not be supposed that the construction and equipment of Perry's fleet was allowed to progress in Erie Harbor without an endeavor to check them by the enemy. The latter anchored in the roadstead several times, and would have entered the bay but for the shallow water on the bar, thus confirming Capt. Dobbins' argument to Lieut. Elliott. Sometimes the Queen Charlotte, the British flagship, would appear alone, and at others the whole squadron. On the 15th of May, the wildest alarm was created by a false report that 600 or 700 British and Indians had landed on the peninsula under cover of a thick fog, and got off again without being seen by the American forces. July 19, six of the enemy's vessels were in sight outside the harbor, where they lay be- calmed for two days. Perry went with three gunboats to attack them, and a few shots were exchanged at a mile's distance. A breeze springing up, the enemy sailed away, evidently desiring to avoid a fight. All this time the meager land force at Erie was kept busy parading the bank of the lake, to give the impression to the enemy of a much larger army than was really the case. Perry does not seem to have had an apprehension at any time of danger from the British while his fleet lay in the harbor. He knew that the enemy's vessels could not cross the bar with their heavy armament, and he informed the de- partment that even if a force should land and capture the village, he could easily defend the fleet from its anchorage in the bay.

The troubles experienced by Perry were shared, to some extent, by the offi. cers of the land forces. The State Archives contain a letter seut by Gov- Snyder to Col. John Phillips, paymaster of Col. Hill's regiment, in which he regrets that no provision had been made for paying the Pennsylvania militia then in service at Erie, and that it could not be remedied by any constituted State authority. On the 2d of Angust, the Governor's Secretary wrote that some men in Mead's division had at first refused to obey orders, but subse- quently marched to the defense of Erie. The difficulty about the pay of the troops seems to have been at least partially arranged, for, on the 16th of Au- gust, we find that Wilson Smith was appointed paymaster of the militia called into service by Gen. Mead for the defense of Erie, before the arrival of Col. Hill's commaud, and that a warrant for $2,500 had been forwarded to him. This gentleman had previously been Quartermaster General of the State. On the 27th of August, Brigade Inspector Clark reported that upward of sixteen hundred men had rendezvoused at Erie in pursuance of the more recent orders of Gen. Mead. So little has been preserved in regard to the land operations of the day, that auy account of them must necessarily be brief and disconnected.

GETTING OVER THE BAR.

Meanwhile Perry had received one hundred landsmen from the militia, and enlisted some forty marines, making a total force of about three hundred. On Sunday, the 1st of August, the vessels were moved to the mouth of the bay, then free from piers, and preparations were made for getting them over the bar and for defending them in case of an attack while the operation was in progress. Gen. Mead and staff visited Perry in the afternoon of the same day, and the latter took occasion to thank the commander of the land forces for the valuable assistance he had rendered him. The guns, ballast and other heavy material were removed from the Lawrence to the sand beach, being so adjusted as to be readily replaced, and the ship was lifted over the bar by the aid of

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" camels" invented by Mr. Brown. One " camel " was floated on each side of the Lawrence and sunk to the level of the port holes. Timbers were thrust through, on which the vessel rested, the plugs were re-inserted in the bottoms of the "camels," and the water was pumped out of them, raising the Lawrence as it was discharged. This proceeding was considerably delayed by an un- favorable wind, and it was not until the morning of the 4th, after two nights and days of wearisome labor, that the Lawrence was floated to her anchorage in the roadstead. The Niagara was lifted over by the same process a few days after, the smaller vessels crossing without serious trouble.

Before the work of moving the Niagara over the bar was completed, the enemy appeared early one morning, and hove to about eight miles out for the purpose of reconnoitering. Fearing they might attack him while in this posi- tion, Perry made hasty arrangements for defense, purposing, if necessary, to run the Lawrence ashore under the guns of the redoubts on the light-house grounds and Garrison Hill. For some reason, after looking over the situation for an hour or so, the British bore up and stood across the lake. The efforts to get the Niagara across the bar were redoubled, and the Ariel and Scorpion were sent to follow the course of the enemy, her commander reporting ou his return that they had gone to Long Point. From there, after landing a cou- rier to notify the commander of the British land forces of what had been dis- covered, they bore up the lake for Detroit River. The Niagara was got afloat in the open lake the day after the enemy left. It is a part of the tradition of the time that when the British squadron was at Port Dover, a complimentary dinner was given to her officers, at which Commodore Barclay, in response to a toast, said: "I expect to find the Yankee brigs hard and fast aground on the bar at Erie, in which predicament it will be but a short job to destroy them." The enemy were at this time endeavoring to concentrate an army at Port Dover, to act in conjunction with the fleet in a move upon Erie, but failed be- cause the troops could not be got up in season.

THE FIRST CRUISE.

Smarting under the frequent complaints of delay from official quarters, Perry resolved to make a cruise rather than wait for re-enforcements, in the hope that he might encounter the foe before the Detroit could be made ready for service. He set sail at 4 o'clock on the morning of the 6th of August, with all the vessels of the fleet except the Ohio and Trippe, which were left behind for want of crews. A cruise was made to Long Point and the main- land near by, and nothing being seen of the British, the fleet returned to Erie on the 6th. On the 9th, to the joy of all, the little band of volunteers was joined by Lieut. Elliott * with some officers and ninety men, most of whom were experienced sailors. The squadron, though still lacking a proper equipment, was now thought to be ready for active service, and, on the morn- ing of the 12th of August sailed up the lake in search of the enemy. A din- ner was given to Perry, just before his departure, by the citizens of Erie, at which he expressed a desire to return a victor or in his shroud. The fleet consisted of nine vessels, officered and armed as follows: Flagship Lawrence, Master, Commander Perry, eighteen 32.pounder carronades and two long 12-

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History of Erie county, Pennsylvania. Containing a history of the county; its townships, towns, villages schools, churches, industries, etc, Part 38

Author: Bates, Samuel P. (Samuel Penniman), 1827-1902; Whitman, Benjamin, 1940-; Russell, N. W. (Nathaniel Willard); Brown, R. C. (Robert C.); Weakley, F. E; Warner, Beers & Co. (Chicago, Ill.) Publication date: 1884 Publisher: Chicago : Warner, Beers & co. Number of Pages: 1280

Author: Bates, Samuel P. (Samuel Penniman), 1827-1902; Whitman, Benjamin, 1940-; Russell, N. W. (Nathaniel Willard); Brown, R. C. (Robert C.); Weakley, F. E; Warner, Beers & Co. (Chicago, Ill.)
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: Chicago : Warner, Beers & co.
Number of Pages: 1280