From the March 28, 2009, Syracuse (NY) Post-Standard "USS Oneida, first warship on the Great Lakes, was completed 200 years ago in Oswego" by John Doherty.
Again, a ship I had never heard of before, but very much involved in what I have been writing about of late, some action around Lake Ontario. The Oneida was one of the ships after the HMS Royal George that I wrote about yesterday.
Two hundred years ago, Oswego was getting ready to celebrate the launch of the USS Oneida, built from area hardwood. At that time, Oswego really wasn't much, consisting of just a few buildings, two old forts and a few people. It was so bad that the people had to go out and look for women to dance at the ball they had planned.
Throughout the early 1800s, tension between the new nation, the United States, and Britain and France had been increasing. In 1808, the federal government had decided to build a warship for duty on the Great Lakes and assigned Lt. Melancton Taylor Woolsey to do it.
He negotiated a $20,500 contract with New York City shipbuilders Henry Eckford and Christian Burgh and gathered carpenters and blacksmiths and headed to Oswego.
Out Into the Wilds to Build a Ship. --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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