The Naval War of 1812: A Documentary History Volume II 1813 Part 5 of 8 Naval Historical Center Department of the Navy Washington, 1992 Electronically published by American Naval Records Society Bolton Landing, New York 2011 AS A WORK OF THE UNITED STATES FEDERAL GOVERNMENT THIS PUBLICATION IS IN THE PUBLIC DOMAIN. 402 CHESAPEAKE BAY THEATER her main breadth so far aft that the water thrown off by it does not unite till it passes the rudder which is left to the action of an eddy viole~t in proportion to the Ship's velocity-This opinion is strengthened by the Clrcu.mstance o~ the Chapter Three motion ceasing when she goes less than four knots and becommg exceedmgly violent when going ten which is the most we can get out of her- The Northern Lakes Theater: For myself although I should prefer almost every other vessel yet I trust my sense of duty will always secure my exertions to ~ake the best use of such ~eans January-December 1813 as may be placed in my power- I should feel dIsposed to expose the ShIp and crew to greater hazard if I believed they would be able to perf?rm g:eater serv­ ice when at sea- As it is I certainly shall neglect no opportumty WhICh offers a The first campaign season oj the War oj 1812 demonstrated that successJul reasonable hope of eluding the vigilance of the Enemy I have ever felt a confidence that you would favor my wishes when the interest military operations contiguous to the eastern Great Lakes and Lake Champlain of the service would allow you to do it with propriety, and in this confidence shall required naval control oj those lakes. Land transportation was laborious, slow, wait such oppertunity, and am Sir with Esteem and respect your Obd. Servant and expensive. Neither the United States nor Great Britain had made adequate preparations to use sea power efJectively on the northern lakes. As military opera­ C: Morris. tions progressed, leaders on both sides realized that they must either exert them­ ALS, DNA, RG45, CL, 1813, Vol. 8, No. 120 (MI25, Roll No. 33). selves to establish competent naval Jorces on the lakes or risk military Jailure. 1. Morris, unhappy with Adams's seaworthiness, had asked Char~es Stewart to relinquish the command On the Canadian side of Lake Erie, the British Army Quartermaster General's of Constitutiun to him, leaving one of the new fngates bemg bUIlt for Ste~rt. The l~tter refused th~ Department controlled the Provincial Marine vessels Queen Charlotte, 16 proposition. Stewart's letter to Morris of 17 December 1813 was enclosed With Morns s letter to Jones. guns, and General Hunter, 6 guns. The American army had purchased and armed the brig Adams on Lake Erie. General William Hull had used Adams to carry his personal possessions and papers in attacking Detroit but lost all with the vessel when he surrendered in August 1812. Adams, captured without a contest, was taken into the Provincial Marine and renamed Detroit. On Lake Ontario, the Provincial Marine corvette Royal George, 22, the sloop oj war Earl of Moira, 14, and the schooner Duke of Gloucester Jaced the lone American naval vessel, the brig Oneida, 16, stationed at Sackets Harbor. With these sparse naval resources, the contestants had begun the war on and around the lakes. During September 1812, Commodore Isaac Chauncey, newly appointed com­ mander on Lakes Ontario and Erie, took charge of building a naval squadron on Lake Ontario, combining purchased schooners and the corvette Madison, built IJy shipwright Henry EckJord and a team oj skilled ship carpenters Jrom New York City. At the same time, Daniel Dobbins, a lake mariner Jrom Presque Isle (Erie), Pennsylvania, visited Washington to report on British naval activity in that area. Secretary oj the Navy Paul Hamilton sent him back to Erie as a sailing master with gunboat plans and orders to construct the vessels at that place under Commodore Chauncey's command. Later that month, Navy Secretary Paul Hamilton gave Lieutenant Thomas Macdonough an independent command on Lake Champlain, a strategically vital link in the United States' line oj defense. American control oj this lake would give access to the St. Lawrence River via the Richelieu River that flows northward Jrom the lake. If the British were to gain control oj Champlain, they would have a way oj striking at the heart oj New York State and oj severing the disaJJected New England states Jrom the rest oj the country. At Macdonough's disposal were two decaying navy gunboats aground near Burlington, Vermont, to which would be 403 -- 404 NORTHERN lAKES THEATER JANUARY-DECEMBER 1813 405 added four that had been purchased lJy the army. Macdonough arrived at Platts­ in the action, it was a successful raid, resulting in the destruction of British ord­ burg lJy mid-October to confer with his counterpart, Major General Henry Dear­ nance stores and naval supplies intended for the Lake Erie squadron at Amherst­ born. Afterwards, he crossed Lake Champlain to Burlington to commence wor~ burg. From York the joint American force returned to Sackets Harbor, then sailed to on his squadron. By December he had equipped and armed three sloops, PreSI­ Fort Niagara; after some weeks delay, Dearborn and Chauncey landed troops before dent, Growler, and Eagle and two gunboats. He reported the enemy in posses­ Fort .George and succeeded in pushing British troops out of the immediate area, in­ sion of three armed sloops and a schooner being fitted out at Isle aux Noix. His cludzng Fort Erie on the upper Niagara Rivf>r. The victory was short lived because pleas for additional ordnance and ship carpenters were heeded. In early May of the mish~n.dling of American troops advancing westward toward Burlington. 1813, Macdonough's vessels were ready, yet he still lacked a sufficient number of After !he Bnt~sh captured two American generals and a number of their men, the ordinary seamen to commence operations. In the coming months, Macdonough's Amerzcans wzthdrew to the banks of the Niagara. force encountered several setbacks. In june Lieutenant Sidney Smith was captured The British Admiralty in March sent naval reinforcements to the lakes in the along with the two armed sloops under his command, Eagle and Growler. The tr?opshiP Woolwich. These reinforcements, under the command of Commodore British soon embarked with a joint force from Isle aux Noix and staged attacks at Szr james L. Yeo, were officers and seamen destined for operations on Lakes On­ Plattsburg and Burlington, destroying warehouses, naval stores, and gunboats. tario, Erie, and Champlain. Yeo's Royal Navy contingent reached Kingston in Owing to this enemy activity, Macdonough was confined to the defensive and to ~ay and replaced the Provincial Marine and took control of naval operations, preparing for a joint action with Major General Wade Hampton's army, which wzth order:s to remain on the defensive and to cooperate closely with Governor­ was intended for a thrust against Montreal. General Szr Ge~rge P:evost. Within: u:eeks Yeo and Prevost had placed Chauncey By late November 1812, Chauncey had achieved dominance over the Provin­ on the defenszve wzth an amphzbzous attack on his Sackets Harbor base. cial Marine's Lake Ontario force and had fortified his ice-locked vessels at Sackets Chauncey, who had just completed the attack on Fort George, raced for Sackets Harbor for the winter. At Erie, Dobbins had still not received Chauncey's autho­ Harbor and remained there until the General Pike was ready for sea. For several rization to begin work, though he had obtained men and materials. Finally, in weeks in late summer, with the opposing armies stalemated at Niagara, the two late December 1812, Chauncey made a tour of inspection to Buffalo, Black Rock, squadrons maneuvered for position at the western end of Lake Ontario. and Erie that demonstrated the urgency of commencing construction. From New­ Chauncey, who had an initial numerical advantage, lost four schooners in this port, Rhode Island, Master Commandant Oliver Hazard Perry applie~ f~r duty skir:mishing. Hamilton and Scourge capsized and sank during a severe squall; on the lakes, fearing that he might be retained for coastal gunboat servzce znstead Juha and G~o,:ler were captured after Yeo's squadron cut them oJf from the rest of seeing action at sea. In january the newly appointed secretary of the navy, oj C~auncey s ~zne of battle. After these events, the American commodore grew ex­ William jones, approved and placed Perry under Chauncey's command. Mean­ ceedzngly cautzous about venturing out of Sackets Harbor without knowing in while, the British government, recognizing that the weak and ineffective Provin­ advance the location of Yeo's squadron. cial Marine would be no match for newly built American naval squadrons, de­ A meric~n plans for the r~st. of the military campaign had depended on the cap­ cided to dispatch Royal Navy officers, men, and materiel to Upper Canada. ture oj Kzngston aft~ obtaznzng command of the lake and defeating the British In Canada and the United States, preparations went ahead for the 1813 cam­ fo~ces on land at Nzagara. Although the two preliminary steps were not accom­ paign that would commence as soon as the ice broke up on the lakes. Chaunc~ au­ plzshed, Secret,:,,? oj War john Armstrong insisted on carrying out the plan. He thorized Dobbins to construct two brigs and to arm several schooners at Ene. At replaced the azlznlJ. a~d aged Dearborn with the equally aged but mercurial Major Sackets Harbor, Eckford and his men labored to build a large sloop of war, a light General james Wzlkznson and ordered him to prepare an attack on Kingston or dispatch schooner, and strengthen the armed schooners purchased the previous y~ar.