“NOW LADS,” THE STERN FACED CAPTAIN OF THE USS PRESIDENT BEGAN AS HE addressed his crew, “we have got something to do that will shake the rust from our jackets. War is declared! We shall have another dash at our old enemies.” Thus, on June 21, 1812, Commodore John Rodgers, United States Navy, announced to his men that war existed between their country and Great Britain. To the spontaneous cheers of the President's complement, he promised that the United States would teach John Bull a lesson, and that he expected every man who sailed with him to spare no effort in administrating that lesson.
A Marylander, Rodgers was born on July 11, 1772. For 11 years, he was part of the merchant marine before joining the fledging United States Navy in 1798 as a lieutenant. In America's Quasi-War with France he saw action, most notably during the famous 1799 sea encounter between the Constellation and the French frigate L'nsurgent. That same year, he was promoted to captain. He left the navy in 1801 for the merchant marine service.
In 1802, Rodgers returned to duty and commanded the light frigate USS Adams, then the USS Constitution during the war against the Barbary pirates. In 1805, as de facto leader of all US warships in the Mediterranean, he was able to conclude peace treaties with Tripoli and Tunis, bringing the Barbary conflict to a close. He next led the US Navy's New York station and then, just before the war with Britain, the nation's northern squadron. Although a harsh disciplinarian, he was no martinet and was a master when it came to managing a warship.
With the outbreak of war, the US Navy Department ordered Rodgers to join with Commodore Stephen Decatur's three warships which had just come north from Norfolk, Virginia, at Sandy Hook, New Jersey. Decatur, born in Maryland on January 5, 1779, was renowned for his part in the war against Tripoli. In 1798, he joined the navy as a midshipman. During the Barbary War, as a lieutenant, Decatur led an American raiding party that destroyed the USS Philadelphia which had been captured by the pirates of Tripoli; later in the same year, he led an attack on that city's defenses. The years leading up to the conflict with Britain found Decatur promoted to captain and tasked with patrolling the nation's territorial waters. Decatur exemplified the heroic warrior, but was also cursed with a hair-trigger temper when it came to matters of personal honor and prerogatives. He was also able of being utterly ruthless toward those who did not measure up to his standards, or stood in the way of his ambition.
Legendary US naval commander Stephen Decatur enjoyed his own victory over HMS Macedonian in October 1812.
With conflict between America and Great Britain imminent, the US Secretary of the Navy, Paul Hamilton, consulted Rodgers and Decatur for their ideas regarding naval strategy. Rodgers favored dispersion of the ships, with the proviso that in the right circumstances all the frigates, and at times the entire fleet, should be assembled as a single strike force for particular missions. Decatur had a similar take on the matter but saw no reason why more than one, or at most a pair of frigates, should be sent out on any one long-range commerce raid.
While Rodgers and Decatur thirsted to “annoy” the British by attacking their merchantmen and keeping their warships running all over the ocean looking for the fast, phantom-like American frigates, the Secretary of the Navy was less sanguine about the outcome of the naval war. After Rodgers and Decatur put to sea in late June 1812, the Secretary noted his officers' confidence in their ability to beat the British, but wrote, “When I reflect on the overwhelming force of our enemy my heart swells almost to bursting, and all the consolation I have is, that in falling they [the American ships and crews] will fall nobly.”
Paul Hamilton was born October 16, 1762, in South Carolina. He fought as a militiaman in the Revolutionary War battles in the South. He became governor of the Palmetto State in 1804, going on to become Madison's Secretary of the Navy in 1809, despite the fact that other than being a Republican he possessed no qualifications for the job. After war was declared, he failed to define a clear strategy for the Navy, vacillating between keeping the ships concentrated close to the American coast to protect US merchant vessels, having them hide in port to prevent their destruction by the Royal Navy, and ranging the oceans in ones or twos to ravage enemy trade. Like his counterpart, William Eustis in the War Department, Hamilton was out of his depth running a military machine. Fortunately for the country, his subordinates at sea knew how to fight their ships and operate independently from the bureaucrats in Washington.
“If, on your way thither,” en-joined the letter from Secretary Hamilton to the Captain of the USS Constitution, “you shall fall in with an enemy vessel, you will be guided in your proceeding by your own judgment, bearing in mind however, that you are not, voluntarily, to en counter a force superior to your own.” This missive, written on July 3, was received onboard the American frigate as it was making its way from Chesapeake Bay to the sea. When war between America and Britain was declared, the 44-gun Constitution was undergoing refitting at the Washington Navy Yard, and she and her captain, Isaac Hull, were ordered to join Rodgers and Decatur at New York as quickly as possible. Hamilton's cautionary message must have irked the Constitution's skipper since he was an experienced sailor and roaring for a fight.
Connecticut-born Isaac Hull, commander of the USS Constitution during a string of victorious naval combats in 1812. Portrait by Gilbert Stuart in 1807.
Isaac Hull was a Connecticut Yankee born on March 9, 1773. Already a qualified ship's master, he joined the US Navy in 1798, rising to first lieutenant on the USS Constitution. He served on her during the Quasi-War. After commanding several smaller warships in the Navy, he gained his captaincy as a result of his prior command assignments and participation in the war with Tripoli. Prior to the struggle against Britain, he held command of the frigates Chesapeake and President before taking over Constitution in 1810. Now, during that hot July of 1812, the bold and testy Hull raced north to combine with the other American frigates in a mission not yet clearly defined.
USS Constitution escaping from British warships in July 1812. Becalmed, she had to be towed away before the pursuing vessels. Painting by J.O. Davidson.
On July 16, at Egg Harbor, near present day Atlantic City, New Jersey, the Constitution's lookouts sighted four ships far off to the north and close to the shore. Hull headed for the nearest stranger to ascertain its nationality. By 10:30pm, after a two-hour approach, the American was certain the mystery vessel was British. Hull hauled off into the wind to the south and east and prepared to do battle the next day. The British ship followed. He confidently declared to his officers that they could “flog” the foe in two and a half hours.
The predawn light revealed to the crew of the US frigate that they were being dogged by not only the British ship spotted the day before but an enemy squadron consisting of the Guerriere, Shannon, Belvidera, Aeolus, and Africa, strung out in line about six to ten miles astern of the American. The nearest British craft, HMS Guerriere, under Captain James R. Dacres, was closing fast until her chief, fearing he had stumbled into the American squadron led by John Rodgers instead of his own comrades, veered off—wasting 10 minutes—before returning to the pursuit. But Dacres' momentary lapse was cancelled out when the wind fell completely away from Constitution's sails while continuing to fill those of the British. The American slowed so much that her bow started to turn toward her pursers! Hull immediately ordered all the ship's boats lowered to tow Constitution into the wind toward the south.
Fierce broadsides unleashed in the 25-minute battle between the USS Constitution and HMS Guerriere in August 1812, chopping down one of the masts of the British vessel.
HMS Shannon overtook the Guerriere in the pursuit, but like the Constitution, was suddenly becalmed and had to deploy oar-driven longboats in the same fashion. Meantime, apertures in the Constitution's aft were made so that four of her 24-pounder guns could fire at the enemy. At 7:00am, Hull fired one of these pieces at the frigates on his tail. No American or British return fire struck its mark, but with HMS Shannon leading the pack, it appeared that the US vessel was doomed. In fact, Captain Philip B.V. Broke, in charge of the squadron and commander of the Shannon, was so confident of the American's capture that he had earlier that morning selected an officer and crew to man what he was certain would be his prize before the day was out.
About to turn his ship broadside to engage the entire force descending on his ship, Hull was alerted to a maneuver by one of his officers that saved the Americans. The technique referred to as kedging called for rowing out an anchor ahead of the ship on a long line, dropping it, and then having the crew haul it in to move the ship forward. If done correctly, speeds of up to three knots could be achieved. A launch and cutter were sent ahead of the ship with two anchors and two lines which were worked alternately. The distance between Constitution and her hunters started to widen, but not before the Guerriere was able to deliver an ineffective volley at “Old Ironsides.”
The race over the water between the opposing warships continued all day with Hull dumping drinking water from the hold to lighten his ship. Meanwhile, another British frigate, HMS Belvidera, towed by ten longboats, converged on the American prey hoping to send the latter a broadside strong enough to slow the Yankee's progress so the rest of Belvidera's comrades could catch up. The Constitution replied with its own fire and one round shot scattered a group of British officers standing on Belvidera's forecastle, but both sides' long-range gunnery had little effect. The chase continued all night.
July 18 dawned with enemy warships on Constitution's lee bow, beam, and eastward of her. The British capital ship, brig, and schooner trailed two miles behind. After avoiding being cut off by Belvidera, and soon thereafter by the frigate HMS Aeolus, the American started to pull away from her followers using another unique sailing trick: spraying water on the sails to keep them wet and tight and thus better able to catch the wind. As the hunted and the hunters continued throughout the day, they came upon a single US merchantman. One of the British frigates raised an American flag in order to deceive and capture her. Seeing this, Hull responded by hoisting a British flag, thus scaring the freighter away from the scene.
By 2:00pm the United States man-of-war was making over 12 knots before a strengthening wind, giving her an eight-mile lead. July 19 saw the British give up the chase. Constitution's crew had been at general quarters for 60 continuous hours and were exhausted by their ordeal. On the 26th, the Constitution entered Boston harbor. Hull sent communications to Hamilton explaining that due to the presence of a superior number of enemy warships in the area, it had been impossible to obey his orders to reach New York, and that he wished to put to sea again as soon as possible to avoid being penned in Boston harbor by the Royal Navy.
Final moment of the battle between the USS Constitution and HMS Guerriere as the British ship is completely crippled and her crew forced to surrender.
Besides the USS Constitution, the start of war saw another American warship not ready for action. The USS Essex, a 32-gun frigate under Captain David Porter, was undergoing repairs at the New York Navy Yard in Brooklyn. Porter put to sea on July 3rd, just one day after he was promoted captain; his orders were to join with Rodgers as soon as possible. The Massachusetts native, born on February 1, 1780, entered the navy in 1798, served in the Quasi-War as well as the fight against Tripoli, going on to command the US naval forces at New Orleans. In 1811, he was assigned master of the Essex.
Failing to find Rodgers off Sandy Hook, Porter reverted to his contingency orders, which directed him to patrol between Bermuda and Newfoundland's Grand Banks. On July 11, he spotted an enemy convoy of seven transports escorted by a lone frigate. He quickly captured the rearmost carrier with its crew and 197 soldiers on board, and waited for the British warship to engage him. To Porter's surprise, the enemy frigate, HMS Minerva, chose not to do so but instead gathered the rest of the convoy around her and proceeded on. Porter felt he could not fight the entire group of enemy ships (the transports were armed) and so allowed the British to go unmolested. Regardless, Porter had made the first capture of an opposing ship in the War of 1812. Over the next 39 days he would take eight more prizes. On August 13, the Essex scored another first by defeating, in eight minutes, the 18-gun British sloop Alert, the first time a British man-of-war struck her colors to an American. In early September, Porter returned to the Delaware River.
While Porter made the most of his cruise, and Hull made his daring escape from the British Halifax Squadron, Rodgers and Decatur embarked on a hunt for a reportedly huge enemy convoy sailing from Jamaica to England. On this futile 70-day mission, which saw them sail from the United States to near the English Channel, then to the Azores, then Boston, they captured nine stray British merchantmen and privateers, and recaptured an American ship, but failed to locate the intended prize. For Rodgers and Decatur, the first months of the war were barren of any significant results. Rodgers was especially bitter at a missed opportunity to capture an enemy frigate that presented itself at the very beginning of his cruise.
On June 23, two days after leaving New York and 100 miles southwest of Nantucket Sound, Rodgers' little fleet stumbled upon HMS Belvidera under Captain Richard Byron. The 36-gun English frigate was part of the British North American Squadron based at Halifax. When the Americans were six miles away, Byron realized who was approaching him and that war with the United States had most likely been declared. He sailed for the northeast with Rodgers' USS President in hot pursuit, the other American ships falling well behind. Eight hours after the first sighting, Rodgers' ship opened fire, at half a mile distance, with her two starboard bow chaser cannon hitting the British craft in the rudder cover and one of her guns.
The two ships exchanged fire for a few minutes until one of the Yankee chase guns exploded, breaking Rodgers' leg and shattering the main and forecastle decks, killing or wounding 14 American crewmen. To slow the enemy down, Rodgers swung his ship to the right and fired a broadside in hopes of so damaging Belvidera's rigging that she would be crippled and captured. But the American fire had little effect, and maneuvers to cut off the British vessel proved to no avail. Coming up to pointblank range a little later, and not drawing alongside his enemy but instead moving to the right and firing another broadside, did not stop Byron either. As the chase continued, the British captain lightened his ship by dumping water and other items over the side. He slowly started to outdistance his pursuers, and the American gave up the race. The British frigate entered Halifax harbor on June 27 after capturing three surprised American merchantmen along the way.
Losses on the President were three killed and 19 wounded; Belvidera lost two killed and 22 injured. Decatur summed up the entire humiliating affair when he recorded that “We have lost the Belvidera; [she] should have been ours.” The first armed clash of the War of 1812 had been fought, and for the American Navy it had been a lost opportunity.
On August 2, USS Constitution weighed anchor and left Boston harbor, planning to join USS President. She cruised northeast along the coast of Maine and then headed for Newfoundland, taking station off the Gulf of St. Lawrence to intercept enemy ships bound for Halifax and Quebec. On the 19th her commander, Isaac Hull, spotted HMS Guerriere, detached from Broke's flotilla and ordered for duty at Halifax. Hull immediately raced toward her. British Captain James R. Dacres saw the American ship at the same time and eagerly prepared to engage. Dacres was born on August 22, 1788. The son of a Royal Navy admiral, he had commanded two warships prior to being named in 1811 master of the Guerriere—a captured French frigate. Prior to the war he had been especially active in recovering British deserters from US merchant ships. After war was declared, he reputedly issued a challenge to any and all American frigates to meet him in one-to-one combat.
As the two warships closed the range between them, Constitution held the weather gauge. This allowed her to better maneuver than her opponent, giving her the opportunity to either haul away and avoid a fight, or use the wind to directly make for the enemy. That posed its own risks since a direct approach exposed the oncoming ship to the other's full broadside while unable to respond with return fire. Nevertheless, Hull chose to attack head-on.
As Constitution sped forward, she was met by several of Guerriere's broadsides, which fell too short or too high. Hull ordered more sail put on so he could more rapidly bring Constitution right alongside her opponent. The stern-most guns from the British vessel started to fire at the fast approaching adversary, cutting down several of the American crew. At 6:00pm, Constitution drew alongside her opponent and loosed a shattering starboard broadside, fired from double-shotted cannon, into the deck and gun ports of the enemy frigate. The impact shook the British ship “as though she had received the shock of an earthquake.” Seconds later, Guerriere's mizzenmast crashed into the water.
Hull ordered his ship to forge ahead of the stricken enemy, then turned hard to port in order to cross her bow. Guerriere tried to turn with Constitution, but her fallen mizzenmast, dragging in the sea, slowed her too much to match Constitution's speed. The Yankee completed her maneuver and poured two massive broadsides into the bow of the British vessel, mowing down men and damaging her remaining masts. At this time, the Guerriere's bowsprit and jibboom became entangled in Constitution's mizzenmast rigging. Both crews, in reaction, prepared to board each other's ship or repulse boarders. As the crews gathered on deck, United States Marines firing down from their ship's mizzenmast hit enemy sailors below. One of them was Dacres who was wounded in the back. Then Guerriere's mainmast toppled over, and Hull moved away from his crippled enemy.
For the next half hour, the Constitution kept her distance and affected battle repairs, while the Guerriere rolled “like a log in the trough of the sea,” her main deck awash with water, having suffered 30 holes punched below her waterline. After coming forward and standing across Guerriere's bow, Hull sent a boat over, demanding her surrender. Dacres came aboard Constitution to formally give up, and in a voice of wonderment exclaimed to Hull, “Your men are a set of tigers.”
The sea battle, 600 miles from Boston, had lasted just 25 minutes. American losses were seven dead and seven wounded; the British sustained 15 dead and 62 wounded, with 25 more missing. The British ship was a total wreck and could not be safely towed. “Old Ironsides” was not hulled by a single shot. Next day the Americans set Guerriere ablaze with explosives, sinking her. Hull then set a course for Boston harbor, reaching there on August 29.
After reaching Boston, Hull was transferred from the Constitution to command the Navy Yard there, and William Bainbridge was assigned the stewardship of the Constitution in his place. Born May 7, 1774, in Princeton, New Jersey, he joined the US Navy in 1798 as a lieutenant. He commanded a schooner in the Caribbean that year but was forced to surrender his ship to the French during the Quasi-War. The impetuous and exacting officer's hard luck did not change when he was made to use his next command, USS George Washington, as a courier for the Ottoman Turks. The nadir of his career occurred in 1803 when he ran his latest charge, USS Philadelphia, aground, allowing it to be captured by the Bey of Tripoli. He spent the next 19 months a prisoner.
Commodore William Bainbridge took over from Hull as commander of USS Constitution. Portrait by Gilbert Stuart in 1813.
Bainbridge was never blamed for the mishaps that befell his ships in the early 1800s, and due to his political influence was promoted captain and served as commandant of the Boston Navy Yard. In 1812, after lobbying for command of one of the navy's big frigates, his politicking got him command of Constitution. Imbued with a killer's instinct and boastful drive, he proved an adequate if not a brilliant naval officer.
Constitution's victory over Guerriere prompted Secretary of the Navy Hamilton to let loose Stephen Decatur and his USS United States on a cruise to the Canary Islands to raid British shipping. Decatur hoped to also tangle with a British frigate and equal Hull's success over the Guerriere. He got his chance on October 25, 1812.
On that date, halfway between the Azores and the Cape Verde Islands, Decatur spotted HMS Macedonian, a 38-gun frigate with 18-pounders, under the leadership of Captain John S. Carden. Born on August 15, 1771, Carden, already a veteran sailor, had been badly wounded at the battle of the Glorious First of June. Through 1809 he commanded four warships in the contest against Napoleon, gaining command of the Macedonian in 1810. In late September 1812, after completing convoy duty near Madeira, he was freed to sweep the western Atlantic for French and American shipping.
Spotting each other at a distance of three miles, the two warships closed the range steadily, passing one another on opposite tracts. As the vessels ran past, United States let off a broadside at her British counterpart, but all the 24-pounder cannon balls fell short. Carden turned in pursuit, but the resulting long angling approach to his target put him under brutal American fire from guns which out-ranged his own.
A half hour into the battle, the British ship came within 100 yards of its foe, but by then all Macedonian's topmasts were shot away, and the starboard close-in fighting carronades were disabled. The American crossed Macedonian's bow and, without firing a shot, retired a short distance to affect minor repairs. Soon the mizzenmast of the Royal Navy ship collapsed and she, as her captain later wrote, looked like “a perfect wreck, an unmanageable log.” An hour later, United States returned and took up a raking position as the Macedonian hauled down her colors.
Macedonian lost 43 killed and 61 wounded; the Americans killed and wounded were seven and five respectively. Both ships had fired over 1,200 rounds each, the British vessel receiving 95 hits, the American only five. Decatur was able to sail his capture to New London, receiving the nation's thanks as well as $30,000 in prize money for his feat.
After leaving Boston on October 26, William Bainbridge sailed to the coast of Brazil in USS Constitution, hoping to meet up with the Essex. On December 29, 30 miles offshore near Sao Salvador, Bainbridge encountered HMS Java, which immediately made for the US frigate.
Captain Henry Lambert was Java's skipper, and when he encountered Constitution he was headed for Bombay. Lambert had joined the Royal Navy in 1795, made lieutenant in 1801 and spent his first eight years in that service in the Mediterranean Sea and Indian Ocean. He commanded three other warships before coming to the Java in 1812
Four miles from his opponent, Bainbridge veered away, fearing he was too close to Brazil's neutral shore. Lambert gave chase, realizing his was the faster ship, and also held the weather gauge, which would normally give him the advantage in single ship-to-ship combat. As the two came alongside each other, the American fired a broadside, but the British ship did not answer and tried to use her speed to cross the Constitution's bow and then rake her. Increasing Constitution's speed, Bainbridge thwarted the enemy move. The two craft then commenced exchanging repeated thunderous broadsides.
Bainbridge was at first hit in the left hip by a musket ball, then his leg was badly torn by a piece of flying iron, but he refused to relinquish command. For the next two hours, the frigates fought it out until Java, having lost most of her running rigging, could barely maneuver. Bainbridge seized his advantage, and moved to rake his opponent's stern with two powerful broadsides. Clearly losing the artillery contest, Lambert sought to bring his ship closer in order to board his enemy. Java's main topmast and foremast were then shot away, and soon after Lambert was critically wounded by a musket ball through the chest.
With her guns silent, and her mizzenmast gone, Java still refused to surrender. Constitution, which had moved away to repair her own damage, came back after an hour ready to finish off her foe. She moved in position to rake the Java's bow. Seeing the impending holocaust about to unfold, Java's crew took down her colors and gave up. She had lost 57 killed and 83 wounded; the American loss was nine killed and 26 wounded. Lambert died January 4, 1813 from his injuries. Thus ended the most brutal and bloody frigate-to-frigate action of the entire war.
Close-up of gundecks of USS Constitution.
USS Constitution, the world's oldest floating commissioned naval vessel, now a museum ship anchored at the Charlestown Navy Yard Pier in Boston.
While warships of the United States Navy were racking up high seas victories and filling the nation with pride, enterprising American businessmen were counting up profits from privateering and filling their pockets with money. Some of the earliest successes, and a perfect example of the practice, came from a group of Baltimore entrepreneurs who outfitted a schooner, the Rosie, mounting 10 cannon, under legendary Revolutionary War hero Joshua Barney. Starting on July 11, and for the next 90 days, Barney and the Rosie captured 18 British merchantmen worth $1.5 million.
“The Public will learn,” lamented the London Times on March 13, 1813, “that a third British frigate has struck its flag to an American … three frigates! Anyone who predicted such a result in an American war this time last year would have been treated as a madman or a traitor.” British commentators pondered whether the enemy had a secret weapon; that is, better gunpowder or ships-of-the-line disguised as frigates. Some pointed out, correctly, that American success was due to “the superior strength of their vessels, their picked crews, their practiced and murderous mode of firing, and the almost uniform advantage they have in sailing.”
In December 1812, USS Constitution clashes with and defeats HMS Java off the coast of Brazil. Painting by CR Patterson.
The British Admiralty sought to redress the imbalance between its frigates and those of the enemy by ordering its frigates not to engage the bigger United States vessels alone, but wait until a capital ship arrived on the scene. More gunnery practice was also urged.
Concerning the rash of American privateer activity, the British intended to establish a “wooden wall” off the coast of the United States to prevent those “pirates” from putting out to sea and threatening His Majesty's ocean-going commerce. But this would take both time and more ships, which were not yet available for the task.
If the war at sea had not gone according to British plans in 1812, that year had seen remarkable success for their forces on land, considering the limited resources available to the British in North America. There was no question that the United States would launch new attacks on Canada in 1813, but would America be more successful in that endeavor in the coming year than she had been in the one preceding?
