President-Little Belt Affair, 200th Anniversary

As we approach the 200th anniversary of the War of 1812, it is important remember the incidents that precipitate the war. May marks the 200th anniversary of one of the more inflammatory incidents.

Upon hearing that the British frigate HMS Guerriere had stopped the American warship Spitfire and impressed one of her sailors, Commodore John Rodgers and the frigate President sortied from Hampton Roads in search of the British warship. With the humiliation of the 1807 Chesapeake-Leopard affair still fresh in the American psyche, Rodgers had every intention of properly upholding American honor.

After a few days of searching, watches aboard President spotted a sail and Rodgers ordered a pursuit. According to Rodgers, his ship pursed the unknown sail for several hours until the two vessels closed to within a hundred yards. Rodgers hailed the unknown ship several times with the question "What ship is that?" The unknown ship, again according to Rodgers, replied with gunfire.

The American commodore ordered an immediate response. His ship, one of the most heavily armed frigates in the world, unleashed five minutes of devastating fire. After a short ceasefire, the unknown ship fired two more shots. Rodgers ordered a second broadside, which lasted another five minutes. The unknown ship struck and identified itself as the sloop-of-war HMS Little Belt.

Over the next several months, public investigations were held and diplomatic notes passed. Both sides claimed the other fired first and both sides claimed the other failed to identified itself. Both sides praised their commanding officers for upholding their respective flags. The British government asked for reparations. The Madison administration responded that when His Majesty's Government was willing to pay for damages to Chesapeake, he would be willing to talk about Little Belt.

Niles' Register, a Baltimore-based newspaper, labeled the incident an "affair." The editor quickly added the sarcastic, but prophetic comment "everything is an affair nowadays."

Read first hand accounts of the action here.

Guns of Gosport-Where They Ended Up

On April 19, 1861, Commandant Charles Stewart McCauely ordered the Gosport Navy Yard's buildings to be torched, the dry-dock destroyed, the guns spiked, and the ships scuttled. The job of spiking the guns fell to the ship's company of USS Cumberland. With only a few hours and two hundred men to complete the task, the operation was a failure. When the Virginia state forces moved to occupy the Yard, they found several hundred guns in operating order.

Norfolk-native Samuel Barron, officer-in-charge of Virginia's newly established state navy (much like his grandfather was during the American Revolution) and French Forrest, the new commandant of the Gosport Navy, quickly ordered the treasure trove to be deployed throughout the South. In a June 10 memo to Virginia Governor John Letcher, Barron reported on where the guns were sent. In all, they distributed 412 guns with about half remaining in Virginia.

James River Defenses:
-Fort Powhatan: Eight 32-pounders
-Jamestown Island-Three IX-inch Dahlgrens, nine 8-inch Columbiads, six 32-pounders, two 12-pounders
-Pig Point: Four VIII-inch Dahlgren, four 32-pounder

York River Defenses:

-West Point: Two IX-Inch Dahlgrens, one 32-pounder
-Gloucester Point: Eight IX-Inch Dahlgrens, four 32-pounders
-Yorktown-Eight 8-inch Columbiads and barbette guns

Potomac River defenses
-Potomac Creek: Two VIII-inch Dahlgrens
-Aquia Creek: One VIII-inch Dahlgren, one Parrot Rifle field piece
-Simms’ Point: One VIII-inch Dahlgren, three Parrot Rifle field pieces
-Harpers Ferry: Two 32-pounders Elizabeth River defenses:
-Fort Norfolk: Twelve IX-inch guns, four 32-pounders
-Craney Island: One X-inch Dahlgren, sixteen VIII-inch Dahlgrens, four 32-pounders
-Fort Nelson (Naval Hospital): Two VIII-inch Dahlgren, five 32-pounders
-Bush Bluff: Five 32-pounders
-Pinner’s Point: Twelve 32-pounders
-Sewell’s Point: Six IX-inch Dahlgrens, four 32-pounders
-Lambert’s Point: Six 32-pounders
-Barrett’s Point: Six 32-pounders

Ships
-Frigate United States (in Norfolk)-Three IX-inch Dahlgrens, Sixteen 32-pounders
-Steam Tug Teaser (in Norfolk)-Two 32-pounders
-Steamer Yorktown (in Richmond)-One X-Inch Dahlgren, Six VIII-inch Dahlgrens, One 64-pounder

Shipped Out of Hampton Roads
For the City of Richmond-Sixty guns of unspecified calibers
For the State of North Carolina-Ten VIII-inch Dahlgrens, seventy 32-pounders
For the State of Tennessee-Fifty-two 32-pounders
For the State of Louisiana-One IX-inch Dahlgren, Eight VIII-inch Dahlgrens, twelve 32-pounders
For the State of Georgia-Two 32-pounders

Union Jacks: Yankee Sailors in the Civil War

Historians have given a great deal of attention to the lives and experiences of Civil War soldiers, but surprisingly little is known about navy sailors who participated in the conflict. In our second luncheon lecture of 2011, Michael J. Bennett will be discussing his book, Union Jacks: Yankee Sailors in the Civil War.

Through his research, Bennett has found that sailors differed from their counterparts in the army in many ways. They tended to be a rougher bunch of men than the regular soldiers, drinking and fighting excessively. Those who were not foreign-born, escaped slaves, or unemployed at the time they enlisted often hailed from the urban working class rather than from rural farms and towns. In addition, most sailors enlisted for pragmatic rather than ideological reasons.

Come and join us on Thursday, April 28, as Michael J. Bennett describes the lives of the enlisted sailors in the Union Navy. The luncheon begins at 11:30am at the Crowne Plaza in downtown Norfolk (700 Monticello Avenue, Norfolk, VA). It costs $15 for members of the Hampton Roads Naval Historical Foundation and $20 for non-members to attend. To attend just the lecture, there is no cost (though you must still RSVP).

RSVPs are required by Saturday, April 23. Please call 757-322-3109 to leave a message with your reservation, or contact Laura at 757-322-3108 or laura.l.orr@navy.mil with any questions.

We hope to see you there!

Builder's Half-Model-USS Delaware

This is the builder's half-model of the Gosport-built 74-gun ship-of-the-line USS Delaware. Designed shortly after the War of 1812, the model is one of the oldest artifacts in the museum. While it looks very simple, the ship’s architect built the model with the intent of it being used by the shipyard’s workers as a construction guide.
The ship builder would take a model like this, put it on the floor, and start making drawings on the floor in proportion to the actual size of the ship. If the builder found any errors in the ship designer’s original calculations, he could then make corrections to the math before the keel was laid and heavy construction began.

As many half-models ended up in the fireplace once workers finished, these type of models are rare. The museum is very appreciative to the Navy's Curator of Ship Models (the legal custodian for all Department of the Navy ship models) for loaning and allowing us to display models like this.