The battle between the Boxer and Enterprise would be the only major sea engagement of the War of 1812 witnessed by people on land, and, though it lasted less than an hour, was a brutal contest whose outcome was uncertain. When the cannon smoke cleared, good men had been lost, and the U.S. Navy's position in the war had changed.
"On 'Knights of the Sea,' David Hanna brings to vivid life a lost era -- a time when sailing vessels exchanged broadsides and naval officers considered it the highest honor to harness the wind to meet their foes. This history pays tribute to the young commanders on either side, a vanishing breed who would come to be standard bearers of courage and fortitude, and would be immortalized in words by the poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.
"The battle between the Boxer and Enterprise came to represent for those who witnessed it, lived through it, and remembered it, something more than a military turning point -- it became emblematic of a maritime era that would soon be gone forever."
Sounds like a good read.
--Brock-Perry
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