U.S. Navy in the War of 1812-- Part 2: Impressment and the Chesapeake-Leopard Incident

After the Quasi War with France was settled in 1800 and the situation with the Barbary States was normalized in 1805, the major remaining threat to the U.S. Navy was clearly the British Navy.  The biggest thing the weak U.S. Navy had going for it was the almost uninterrupted war between Britain and France ever since the French Revolution.

This conflict intensified after Napoleon took over France in 1803.  To keep their ships manned, the British relied on impressment.  American sailors became a prime source for this.

In 1807, the British government increased their blockade on France, resulting in the stopping of American ships and the impressment of American sailors.  Then, on June 22, 1807, the British frigate HMS Leopard stopped the American frigate USS Chesapeake and opened fire when the American commander, James Barron, refused to let them come on board.  The British forced their way on board after a very one-sided fight with three American  dead and eighteen wounded and four sailors taken off for impressment.

Thomas Jefferson always believed that war between the two countries might have been declared right then had Congress been in session.

--Brock-Perry