U.S.Navy in War of 1812-- Part 6: Three Objectives in the War

The U.S. Navy began the War of 1812 with three objectives:  defend the maritime frontier,  capture enemy warships and merchantmen,  and maintain naval superiority on the Great Lakes.

Defending the maritime frontier meant defending American ports with gunboats, barges or other small craft.  This consumed about half of the Navy's personnel, even that was not adequate to man every vessel.

Early in the war, Congress authorized another $2 million to this area of operations.  These warships, however, were entirely ineffectual against the British unless supported by land-based defenses.  They would occasionally discourage small British vessels from entering harbors or landing.  But, if an entire British squadron attacks, they were useless.

--Brock-Perry

U.S. Navy in War of 1812-- Part 4: Woefully Unprepared to Take on Britain

To say the U.S. Navy was in no shape to fight the British Navy is a huge understatement.  In 1812, the British Navy included 130 ships of the line mounting 60-120 guns and 600 frigates and smaller warships.

The U.S. Navy at the time had 7 frigates fit for the sea, 3 frigates needing repairs, 8 brigs, schooners or sloops, and 165 gunboats (of which 103 were in ordinary or in need of repairs).  The Navy was never large at any time and almost evaporated after hostilities ended with Tripoli in 1805.

Further cuts continued even after the Chesapeake-Leopard Affair and even up to 1810, despite worsening tensions with Britain.

Naval historian Charles O. Paullin described the shape of the U.S. Navy when war was declared being "unprepared in every essential means, instrument, and material of naval warfare.  It had no dry docks.  It had few ships.  With the exception of the naval establishment at Washington, the navy-yards were in a state of neglect and decay."

Thankfully for our Navy, Napoleon in France had the British attention, nor had they expected a declaration of war.    Of all the British ships, just one ship of the line, 7 frigates and a dozen smaller warships were operating out of the main base in Halifax, Canada.

--Brock-Perry

Hurricanes: 1813 St. Marys, Georgia-- Part 3: Damage to Gunboats

Commodore Hugh Campbell continued with his damage report:

"(Gunboats) Nos. 160, 158, 63 and 165 are on shore above high water mark and should be gotten off with little damage.

"160 and 158 in ordinary.

"No. 3 Hospital Vessel parted her cable and drifted over a body of marsh about three miles and is now on Florida shore and hope to get her off.

"No. 168, John Hulbert, cmdr, is laying off the south end of Cumberland when hit ran for harbor at Fernandina and anchored above it but driven over a marsh about 7-7 miles from this place with loss of its mainmast."

And, There Was Still More to report.  --Brock-Perry

Battle Off Newport News-- Part 4

On Gunboat No. 139, a master's mate from the USS Constellation was killed by a cannonball.  Several of the other boats reported wounded as well as damaged oars and rigging.

Norfolk residents were awakened by this dawn battle and went to the waterfront to watch the action.

Having regular Navy men on the gunboats made a big difference in their handling and firing. (Evidently, the gunboats were usuallu manned by militia.)

Captain Joseph Tarbell broke off the action at 6 a.m..

On the British side, one Royal Marine was killed and several sailors wounded.  American newspapers reported 70 casualties.  The HMS Junon had several hull hits and its sails and rigging cut up.  Its commander, James Sanders ordered a pursuit, but the American gunboats got over the shoals and the British ship stopped.

--Brock-Perry

Battle Off Newport News Point-- Part 3

Meanwhile the HMS Junon had become separated from the other British ships by a mile.  On the 19th, Cassin sent his gunboats out again, this time under the command of Captain Joseph Tarbell.

The gunboats split into two divisions and struggled against squalls, adding hours to the operation.  By the next morning, Tarbell was 3/4 mile from the Junon and opened fire, hitting the British ship four times in its hull.  The British ship was caught completely by surprise.

It slipped its cable to escape, but became becalmed, but the wind returned, turning the tables and the rest of the British fleet began sailing to aide the Junon.  The gunboats were outgunned, but fought on valiantly for more than an hour.

One American said his boat was hit three times and he counted "six or seven hundred shot" from the enemy guns.

--Brock-Perry

Battle Off Newport News Point-- Part 2

The American gunboats were shoal draft coastal ships (so they could go in shallow water) about 65-feet long and mounted 2-3 guns.  The use of oars enabled them to maneuver even in calm winds.  When Thomas Jefferson started to go with these ships to do the Navy's fighting, he started mothballing our super frigates.

Even so, Jefferson's gunboats were called "Bulldogs" and were poorly regarded.  Even militia refused to serve on them.  Many of the USS Constellation's men were reassigned to the gunboats after that frigate was bottled up behind the guns of Fort Norfolk and Fort Nelson by the British.

On June 18,  1813, the commandant of Gosport Navy Yard, John Cassin,  ordered 15 gunboats to go out past Craney Island where they drove off a flotilla of British attack barges that threatened two American sloops and a schooner.

--Brock-Perry

Battle Off Newport News Point-- Part 1

From the June 19, 2013, Hampton Roads (Va.) Daily Press "War of 1812: Gunboats attack off Newport News Point" by Mark St. John Erickson.

Just one British ship of the line with 74 guns in Chesapeake Bay and even that had more firepower than all the American batteries defending the Elizabeth River.  At peak strength, the British had nearly a dozen of these ships as well as frigates, sloops and smaller ships.  Altogether there were nearly 100 British warships for the Americans to fight.

The small American fleet had 20 gunboats and the 38-gun frigate USS Constellation.

The frigate HMS Junon, 38 guns, ran aground and, seeing a target of opportunity, 15 gunboats left the James River on the night of June 19, 1813, using oars.

The small gunboats were ordered by President Thomas Jefferson and modeled after the small North African gunboats that had captured the frigate USS Philadelphia off Tripoli in 1803.

--Brock-Perry

Black War of 1812 Veteran Honored-- Part 2

The new gravestone was paid for by the federal government. Richard Hill's grave is located alongside Portland's black Revolutionary War veterans at the cemetery located at Congress and Montfort streets.

Larry Glatz said that 20,000 white Mainers in the state militia were called upon to defend Portland in 1814. Another 5,000 served in the U.S. Army. Most of the federal troops were buried in unmarked graves.

Hill was born around 1792 and they're not sure if he was born in Portland or moved there later. Records show him in service in 1812 on Gunboat 47 with the New York Flotilla. It is believed that he was at Baltimore Harbor on September 14, 1814, when Fort McHenry was attacked.

After the war, he returned to Portland and worked as a common laborer. He was one of the city's 400 blacks who lived in neighborhoods at the foot of Munjoy Hill. At one point, he applied for and got 160 acres of government land in Ohio as a War of 1812 veteran. He never moved there and probably sold it to a land speculator at a fraction of its cost.

His son, Richard L. Hill, was a troubled young man. He robbed a boot store as a teenager and went to jail. After his release, he killed his father.

An Interesting Story. --Brock-Perry

Mr. Jefferson's Gunboat Navy-- Part 3

Continued from June 17th.

Republicans liked the savings of the gunboats.  Instead of spending $302,000 for a ship like the USS Constitution, the first estimates for the gunboats were put at $5,000, but actually ended up costing around $10,000 apiece.  And, of course, finding names for them was not necessary as they went by numbers.

In 1805, Congress authorized the construction of 25 gunboats, followed by 50 in 1806 and 188 in 1807.  They were built at different ports to spread the money and labor around.

Everyone knew the gunboats were no threat to the Royal Navy and could not ever launch a pre-emptive strike.

More to Come.  --Brock-Perry