James Barnes
The Naval Actions of the War of 1812
Illustrated
Published by
Books
- Advanced Digital Solutions & High-Quality eBook Formatting -
2018 OK Publishing
ISBN 978-80-272-4768-4
Table of Contents
I THE THREE-DAYS CHASE OF THE “CONSTITUTION” [July 17th, 18th, 19th, 1812]
II THE “CONSTITUTION” AND THE “GUERRIÈRE” [August 19th, 1812]
III THE “WASP” AND THE “FROLIC” [October 18th, 1812]
IV THE “UNITED STATES” AND THE “MACEDONIAN” [October 25th, 1812]
V THE “CONSTITUTION” AND THE “JAVA” [December 29th, 1812]
VI THE “COMET” — PRIVATEER [January 14th, 1813]
VII THE “HORNET” AND THE “PEACOCK” [February 24th, 1813]
VIII THE “CHESAPEAKE” AND THE “SHANNON” [June 1st, 1813]
IX THE “ENTERPRISE” AND THE “BOXER” [September 5th, 1813]
X THE BATTLE OF LAKE ERIE [September 10th, 1813]
XI THE DEFENCE OF THE “GENERAL ARMSTRONG” [September 26th, 1814]
XII THE LOSS OF THE “ESSEX” [March 28th, 1814]
XIII THE “PEACOCK” AND THE “EPERVIER” [April 29th, 1814]
XIV THE CRUISE OF THE “WASP” [1814]
XV THE BATTLE OF LAKE CHAMPLAIN [September 11th, 1814]
XVI THE LOSS OF THE “PRESIDENT” [January 15th, 1815]
XVII THE “CONSTITUTION,” THE “CYANE,” AND THE “LEVANT” [February 20th, 1815]
XVIII THE “HORNET” AND THE “PENGUIN” [March 23d, 1815]
XIX THE ESCAPE OF THE “HORNET” [April 29th, 1815]
TO
MY FATHER
WHOSE ENCOURAGEMENT AND ASSISTANCE ARE HEREBY
ACKNOWLEDGED WITH AFFECTIONATE GRATITUDE
I HAVE THE HONOR TO DEDICATE
THIS BOOK
PREFACE
The country that has no national heroes whose deeds should be found emblazoned on her annals, that can boast no men whose lives and conduct can be held up as examples of what loyalty, valor, and courage should be, that country has no patriotism, no heart, no soul.
If it be wrong to tell of a glorious past, for fear of keeping alive an animosity that should have perished with time, there have been many offenders; and the author of the following pages thus writes himself down as one of them. Truly, if pride in the past be a safeguard for the future in forming a national spirit, America should rejoice.
There exists no Englishman today whose heart is not moved at the word “Trafalgar,” or whose feelings are not stirred by the sentence “England expects every man to do his duty.” The slight, one-armed figure of Admiral Nelson has been before the Briton’s eyes as boy and man, surrounded always with the glamour that will never cease to enshroud a nation’s hero. Has it kept alive a feeling of animosity against France to dwell on such a man as this, and to keep his deeds alive? So it may be. But no Englishman would hide the cause in order to lose the supposed effect of it.
In searching the history of our own country, when it stood together as a united nation, waging just war, we find England, our mother country, whose language we speak, arrayed against us. But, on account of this bond of birth and language, should we cease to tell about the deeds of those men who freed us from her grasp and oppressions, and made us what we are? I trust not. May our navy glory in its record, no matter the consequences! May our youth grow up with the lives of these men — our Yankee commanders — before them, and may they profit by their examples!
This should not inculcate a hatred for a former foe. It should only serve to build up that national esprit de corps without which no country ever stood up for its rights and willed to fight for them. May the sons of our new citizens, whose fathers have served kings, perhaps, and come from other countries, grow up with a pride in America’s own national history! How can this be given them unless they read of it in books or gain it from teaching?
But it is not the intention to instruct that has caused the author to compile and collate the material used in the following pages. He has been influenced by his own feelings, that are shared by the many thousands of the descendants of “the men who fought.” It has been his pleasure, and this alone is his excuse.
Mr. Carlton T. Chapman, whose spirited paintings are reproduced to illustrate this volume, has caught the atmosphere of action, and has given us back the old days in a way that makes us feel them.
INTRODUCTION
To study the condition of affairs that led up to the declaration of the second war against Great Britain we have but to turn to the sea. Although England, it must be confessed, had plenty of fighting on her hands and troubles enough at home, she had not forgotten the chagrin and disappointments caused by the loss of the American colonies through a