From May 13, 2014, Vermont Public Radio "Coffin: Fort Cassin" by Howard Coffin.
Two hundred years ago, there was no busier place than Vergennes, Vermont, where the U.S. Navy was shipbuilding at a fever pace.
One of the many battlefronts of the War of 1812 was on the 120 mile long Lake Champlain. For the past two years there had been minor clashes as British ships prowled the lake from the Richilieu River and Ile aux Noix in the northern part.
In December 1813, the U.S. navy department ordered a massive increase in its Lake Champlain fleet. The flotilla was commanded by Thomas Macdonough, 29, and already a veteran of Tripoli. He chose Vergennes because of its surrounding supply of timber and iron. The place already had forges, furnaces and sawmills powered by the falls of Otter Creek.
Knowing that the British were busily strengthening their fleet, he ordered non-stop work on his. One of his projects was the 140-foot long, 26-gun USS Saratoga. He also built six 75-foot row galleys mounting two cannons each.
--Brock-Perry
2012 marks the 200th anniversary of America's "Forgotten War," the War of 1812 that took place over three years, 1812 to 1815.
Battle of New Orleans.
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