USS Essex in the War of 1812: Victory and Defeat in Two Oceans

By William Clarkson
HRNM Educator

USS Essex under sail (NHHC)

The War of 1812 saw the rise of the United States Navy through the actions of many famous ships and captains. The actions of USS Essex, its crew, and Captain David Porter stand out as exemplars of the importance of the war in developing the U.S. Navy and placing it on the world stage. Largely funded by the people of Salem, Massachusetts, Essex was launched September 30, 1799. The ship was approximately 140 feet long with a 36-foot beam, displacing 860 tons. Essex was originally armed with twenty-six 12 pound long guns and ten 24 pound carronades. Many regarded shipbuilder William Hackett’s design of Essex as one of the finest sailing ships in the U.S. Navy. USS Essex participated in the Quasi-War with France, as well as the First Barbary War. Notably, in 1800, Essex became the first U.S. warship to sail around Cape Horn, crossing into the Pacific Ocean to escort merchant vessels back into the Atlantic under the command of Edward Preble. However, it is Essex’s performance during the War of 1812 that makes the ship and crew one of the most successful of the early U.S. Navy.

Captain David Porter, circa War of 1812 (NHHC)

In the summer of 1811, USS Essex received its latest commanding officer in Captain David Porter at Gosport Navy Yard in Portsmouth, VA.[i] Captain Porter immediately wrote to Secretary of the Navy Paul Hamilton, complaining that a previous captain had swapped most of the long guns for carronades. He wrote, “Was this ship to be disabled in her rigging in the early part of an engagement, a ship armed with long guns could take a position beyond the reach of our carronades and cut us to pieces.” By some accounts, the change in the ship’s armament also reduced the ship’s sailing qualities, negating the advantages of William Hackett’s balanced design. Despite Porter’s disdain for carronades, he spent the following months drilling Essex’s crew so if they were called upon, they would be ready and capable. When the U.S. declared war with Great Britain on June 18, 1812, the Navy sent Essex to the Caribbean waters off Florida to hunt for an English convoy allegedly carrying specie and supplies. Failing to locate this convoy, Essex spotted a different flotilla and succeeded in isolating and taking a ship named Samuel and Sarah, which was loaded with British troops. Without the means of taking the soldiers, Porter confiscated $14,000 worth of goods and specie. This capture marked the beginning of Essex’s seizure of prizes in the Caribbean over the span of its eight-week cruise.

USS Essex briefly engages with and captures HMS Alert on August 13, 1812 (NHHC)

Merchants and cargo vessels were not the only prey for David Porter and USS Essex, however. On the morning of August 13, 1812, Essex spotted the 20-gun sloop of war, HMS Alert. The crew’s training paid off in this encounter. In a planned maneuver, Porter ordered the gun ports to remain closed and his crew took steps to make Essex appear to be a slow-sailing merchantman. Captain Thomas Laugharne took the bait. Only too late did he realize that the ship he was approaching was a military vessel. After just eight minutes of combat, unable to match the overwhelming firepower of Essex’s carronades at close range, Laugharne ordered Alert’s colors struck and surrendered to Porter. This marked the first British warship taken by a U.S. warship in the War of 1812. Porter ordered Laugharne to take his ship to Newfoundland and disembark his crew before taking it to New York and surrendering the ship to U.S. authorities there. Bound by tradition and honor, this is exactly what occurred. On September 7, 1812, Essex evaded the British blockade and entered Delaware Bay to reprovision and prepare for its next foray, with David Porter writing, “I have the satisfaction to reflect that I have been a great annoyance to the enemy. The injury I have done them in less than two months may be fairly estimated at $300,000. I hope, however, to have another slap at them ere long that will gall them still more.”

Essex and prizes in a U.S.-controlled bay in the Marquesas Islands c. 1813 (NHHC)

Following this successful first cruise, Essex set sail once more. After spending some more time in Atlantic waters, Essex made its way to the Pacific, where the ship took prizes from the British whaling fleets. Essex’s success continued until February 1814. On February 3, 1814, Essex, along with a captured and converted whaler (Essex Junior) arrived at Valparaiso, Chile.[ii] Five days later, two British vessels, HMS Phoebe (36-gun frigate) and HMS Cherub (28-gun sloop), appeared at the port. They were both under the command of veteran Captain James Hillyar. Essex was effectively trapped. While none of the belligerents dared to break the neutrality of the port, several weeks of challenges, insults, and saber rattling followed. Finally, on March 28, 1814, Captain Porter decided to make a run for open water and ordered the ship to get underway. Phoebe and Cherub quickly gave chase. Then, as if by fate, Essex’s main topmast broke and fell into the ocean, ensuring that Essex would not be able to escape the British pursuit. Porter ordered Essex into a small nearby bay and prepared his crew for the inevitable engagement. After some initial close-range combat between Cherub and Essex, Captain David Porter’s prediction from three years earlier now occurred. With Essex’s mobility limited as the battle unfolded, Phoebe and Cherub stayed just out of range of Essex’s carronades and blasted the ship with their long guns. Between 4 and 6pm the battle raged, until finally Porter gave the order to strike Essex’s colors. Of Essex’s 255-man crew, 58 were dead and 65 wounded. Aboard the British vessels, only five crewmen were killed and 15 wounded. Porter and Essex’s crewmembers were paroled[iii] and released to sail back to the United States aboard Essex Junior.

Battle between USS Essex, HMS Phoebe, and HMS Cherub on March 28, 1814 (NHHC)

Despite having lost USS Essex, when David Porter and his surviving crew arrived back in the U.S., they were welcomed and celebrated. The American Advocate, a New York newspaper, reported, “It was really pleasant to see the joy which animated the American citizens of New York where he [Porter] was received with six hearty cheers. This is the way Americans receive their heroes, tho’ they may have been unfortunate.” Porter went on to dine with President James Madison, and Secretary of the Navy Paul Hamilton wrote that USS Essex had “elevated the naval character of our country even beyond the towering eminence it had before attained.” Over the course of nearly two years, Porter and USS Essex had sailed both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, captured 22 ships, and managed to evade superior British forces for a substantial period. Although eventually cornered and defeated, the story of USS Essex during the War of 1812 is one of determination, resilience, courage, and ultimately sacrifice.



Notes:
[i] David Porter was the son of Revolutionary War naval officer David Porter Sr., and father to Civil War Admiral David Dixon Porter.
[ii] Valparaiso was a neutral port during the war, and both U.S. and British ships often stopped there to refit, resupply and rest. Porter used the port for this purpose several times while Essex was sailing in Pacific waters.
[iii] “Paroling” captured soldiers or sailors was a common practice of the period, whereby prisoners were released to return home on the condition that they will not take up arms once again to participate in the conflict. These paroles, however, were not always honored.

Artifact of the Month: Our Bicentennial Chart

This chart, complete with the Old Point Comfort Light (which began operating in 1803) was completed by Chaplain David P. Adams in 1816 from surveys he conducted throughout Hampton Roads during the latter half of 1815. (Photograph by M.C. Farrington, HRNM)

From deep in our archives comes an extraordinarily precise rendering of what Hampton Roads looked like two hundred years ago.  Normally, the chart is behind several layers of physical security and is available by appointment only.  As our featured Artifact of the Month, however, it can now be seen by any visitor to the Hampton Roads Naval Museum.

During the construction of the current Naval Station Norfolk Chapel in 1941, then-Command Chaplain William W. Edel discovered the chart.  He taped it together and had it framed for display, subsequently obtaining permission from then-Secretary of the Navy Frank Knox to name the chapel for Adams.  The chart remained mounted to a wall to the right of the sanctuary until 2013. (Photograph by Diana Gordon, HRNM)

Ironically enough, for three-quarters of a century the chart was available for viewing to anyone who chanced upon it, mounted upon a wall at the David Phineas Adams Chapel at Naval Station Norfolk.  Unfortunately, it was also exposed to a host of threats to its existence during that long period, including ultraviolet light and every barometric and humidity change, with nothing to protect the chart except for the ordinary glass covering the ordinary frame enclosing it.  That all changed in 2013 after Commander Denis Cox, who was command chaplain at the time, made it his mission to save the chart.  Through the assistance and support of the Hampton Roads Naval Museum, the Hampton Roads Naval Historical Foundation, and Conservator Pamela Young, the chart has been conserved and now has an infinitely greater chance at surviving for centuries to come.

The 1816 Hampton Roads Chart as it now appears inside a display case at the entrance to the Hampton Roads Naval Museum. (Photograph by Michele Levesque, HRNM)

It took thirty hours of meticulously removing adhesive tape that had been indiscriminately applied to the chart.  New “rag stock” paper also had to be created from scratch to replace its missing cotton fibers.  The efforts brought the chart back from the brink of destruction, yet the restored artifact is faithful to the original.    

The chart's creator, David Phineas Adams, was a man of numerous talents.  He had risen from humble origins in Lexington, Massachusetts to graduate from Harvard University and for a time edited a literary magazine in Boston. He had also been a professor of mathematics and astronomy at Columbia College (now Columbia University) in New York before serving under Captain David Porter aboard the frigate Essex as chaplain on his epic voyage to the Pacific during the War of 1812.  When not battling the Royal Navy or capturing British merchant vessels, Essex and her small squadron of prize vessels engaged in exploration and discovery, and Adams became one of the first Americans to explore and chart the Galapagos Islands, decades before Charles Darwin and HMS Beagle would make them famous.   


After USS Essex was ultimately cornered and captured by the British on March 28, 1814, Adams was sent by his captors on an arduous journey from Chile all the way to England bearing affidavits concerning the capture. It was not until February 24, 1815, that Adams finally reached home soil here in Norfolk.  


Although the war was over, Adams stayed in the Navy as a chaplain, taking up an assignment by then-Captain Stephen Decatur later that year to undertake a survey of Chesapeake Bay for the Board of Naval Commissioners.  "The well known talents and precision of this gentleman leaves no doubt of the accuracy of his lines of bearing, distance, and soundings," wrote Decatur of the completed chart.


We think you will agree.  

Fort Norfolk and the U.S. Navy

Fort Norfolk was one the original coastal fortifications Congress approved funding for and President George Washington signed into existence, and the only one still around. In 1794 Washington signed the bill Congress had passed for the construction of 19 coastal fortifications to protect the fledgling nation. Like most fortifications of the time it was small and made mostly of trenches and earthwork mounds to protect the troops and guns. Personnel duties during its early years consisted of stopping and checking ships heading into port, for contraband and, more importantly, yellow fever. By 1802, the fort had been abandoned and stripped of anything useful, but tensions with Great Britain would see its rebirth.

By 1810, tensions with Great Britain had reached the point where the United States government decided to reinvest in coastal defense.  This next round of construction would see masonry defenses as well as officer and enlisted quarters built on the fort. Although it did not play a very active role during the War of 1812, Fort Norfolk’s presence protected the area by discouraging British ships from trying to penetrate further up the Elizabeth River. With the completion of Fort Monroe in the 1830s, and the protection it rendered at the entrance to Hampton Roads, Fort Norfolk would once again be seen as unneeded. This time it would be the Navy that saved it.

The rapidly degrading condition of Gosport Navy Yard (later named Norfolk Naval Shipyard) would prove to be Fort Norfolk’s salvation. The Navy got control of Fort Norfolk in 1849 as an annex to Gosport Navy Yard.  By 1852, Gosport was in bad shape from neglect, and it was too small for the expanded fleet.   More importantly, its magazine was too close to where the fleet anchored. To solve this latter problem, by 1854, the Navy built a powder magazine at Fort Norfolk and converted some of the existing buildings to produce munitions.  Although the fort would continue as an ordnance depot until the 1880s, its biggest contribution may have happened during the Civil War.

The Confederacy took control of Gosport Navy Yard in 1862, and Fort Norfolk may have been the biggest beneficiary.  Union troops had tried to destroy as much of the yard as it could, particularly the equipment and naval stores, but a lot was left behind.  Many of the guns at Gosport were moved by the Confederacy to other points across the south, including neighboring Fort Norfolk.  Fort Norfolk played a key role in the ironclad battle between USS Monitor and CSS Virginia (formerly USS Merrimack).  The fort operated as a supply point for the Confederate ironclad, and supplied troops from the state militia unit, which had been manning the fort, to supplement Virginia’s crew and man her guns.  After Union troops took control of Norfolk, the Army used the fort as a prison for the remainder of the war.  After the Civil War, Fort Norfolk transferred back to the Navy until the 1920s, when the Army Corps of Engineers took control.  From the 1880s until its transfer to the Corps, the fort served little purpose for the Navy.

Fort Norfolk now stands on the grounds of the Army Corps of Engineers Norfolk District Headquarters.   The Corps of Engineers used the fort’s buildings until the current headquarters building was completed in 1983.  Over the last several years, restoration work has been done to preserve the buildings and grounds, and now much of it is preserved to its nineteenth century condition.  Now officially on the National Register of Historic Places, the grounds and building exteriors of Fort Norfolk are open to the public.  For access, the general public needs to first check in at the front gate to the Corps headquarters.  The Norfolk Historical Society conducts guided tours during the summer every Sunday from noon to 4 p.m.  For more information about visiting the fort, go to the Historical Society’s website.

Fort Norfolk was around long before it became a naval ordnance depot.  It’s still here, long after the depot closed, and efforts continue to keep it around for decades into the future.

Story by Hampton Roads Naval Museum Educator Jerome Kirkland

Saved: A Chaplain's Two-Century-Old Chart

"It’s just been sitting here for 75 years next to the door next to the weather under this light, and I thought, 'I’ve got to do something about this.'"

Chaplain Denis Cox

"There is a point of no return.  Fortunately... Chaplain Cox found it in the nick of time."

 Conservator Pamela Young


Nearly 75 years have passed since a chart made 199 years ago by the most famous Navy chaplain of the War of 1812 came to adorn a wall of the Naval Station Norfolk Chapel.  After the rededication of the chart and its official transfer to the Naval History and Heritage Command on April 29, 2015, this restored artifact, one of the earliest of the U.S. Navy in Hampton Roads, made a short but substantial journey to the archives of the nearby Hampton Roads Naval Museum.  

The talent of its creator, David Phineas Adams, was on full display as dozens of Chaplain Corps members, most notably Deputy Chief of Navy Chaplains Rear Admiral Brent W. Scott; members of the Naval Station Norfolk community, led by Captain Robert E. Clark; and members of the Hampton Roads Naval Museum, itself part of the Naval History and Heritage Command led by Director of Naval History Sam  J. Cox, gathered in the David Phineas Adams Memorial Chapel to commemorate the event.   

During the construction of the current Naval Station Norfolk Chapel in 1941, then-Command Chaplain William W. Edel discovered this chart made by Chaplain David P. Adams in 1816.  He taped it together and had it framed for display, subsequently obtaining permission from then-Secretary of the Navy Frank Knox to name the chapel for Adams.  The chart remained mounted to a wall to the right of the sanctuary until 2013, when oncoming Chaplain Denis Cox took notice of it.  "I... thought, there's no way that this could be the original 200-year-old chart," said Cox, who discovered that it indeed was the genuine article. "It’s just been sitting here for 75 years next to the door next to the weather under this light, and I thought, 'I’ve got to do something about this.'" (Hampton Roads Naval Museum Collection)     

 

Chaplain Denis N. Cox discusses the significance of Chaplain Adams' chart during its rededication ceremony at the Naval Station Norfolk Chapel on April 29, only about 30 feet from where the chart was mounted for nearly 75 years.  A duplicate chart has now taken its place on the wall, and the original seen here on an easel now resides at the Hampton Roads Naval Museum. (Photograph by M.C. Farrington, HRNM)  

“I learned of David Phineas Adams when I was in Chaplain’s School, on what not to do as a chaplain” said Commander Denis N. Cox, Chaplain of Naval Station Norfolk, and the man whose interest in the chart led him on a two-year journey culminating in the ceremony.  "But it wasn’t until I came to this chapel, saw his chart, read that plaque, and instantly fell in love with Chaplain David Phineas Adams.  I fell in love with who he was.  I fell in love with what he accomplished.  I fell in love with what he was able to do.  As a chaplain.  As a man."

A one-time professor of mathematics and astronomy at Columbia College (now Columbia University) in New York, the Harvard-trained Adams was appointed by President James Madison as a  Navy chaplain on May 10, 1811.  Although he performed the duties expected of chaplains today, the exigencies of war demanded much more of him.  His most famous exploits during the War of 1812 came from serving under Captain David Porter on the frigate Essex; not for ministering to the crew, but for taking command of three of Porter's prizes on his famous cruise around Cape Horn to the Galapagos Islands, where Adams became arguably the first American to conduct topographical surveys, decades before the arrival of HMS Beagle on her own history-making mapping mission.  

After the war, Adams was assigned by Captain Stephen Decatur to utilize his skills once again, undertaking a survey of Hampton Roads for its suitability for future use by the Navy.  The resulting chart was completed in 1816.  "[Adams spends] all year out here in Hampton Roads and charts all the shoal waters and does an incredible job," said Chaplain Cox.  "[Adams] submits it back to the Navy.  And then the chart just goes dormant.  David Phineas Adams goes dormant.  We don’t read anything about David Phineas Adams after that.  Nobody knows about him.  He just falls off the charts."

"Until 1938," Cox added, after another chaplain succeeded in securing funding from Congress for the naval station's Protestant and Catholic chapels, as well as Frazier Hall.

Director of Naval History Sam Cox listens to Commander Denis Cox as he describes his realization shortly after becoming command chaplain of Naval Station Norfolk in September 2013 that the original 1816 chart made by David Phineas Adams, hanging at a corner of the chapel since 1941, had to be saved and preserved.  It has now been replaced with a high-resolution copy provided by the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency.  (Photograph by M.C. Farrington, HRNM)  

Commander William Wilcox Edel discovered the chart sometime during the construction of the new chapels, which were completed in 1941.  "It’s kind of falling apart because it’s 125 years old at this point," said Cox.  "[Edel] takes out Scotch tape and tapes this thing together, and then he puts it on acidic paper, and he puts it right next to the door.  God bless him.  He [was] a chaplain; not a preservationist."  

"So I am walking around here wondering what am I going to do," said Cox as he described his first encounter with Adams' chart shortly after taking over as command chaplain of Naval Station Norfolk in 2013.  "And I look over here and I see this chart that’s sitting on the wall. And I go, 'What is this?'  And I started reading and thought, there’s no way that this could be the original 200-year-old chart.  There’s no way.  [But] yeah, it’s the original 200-year-old chart.  Unbelievable.  It’s just been sitting here for 75 years next to the door next to the weather under this light and I thought, 'I’ve got to do something about this.'  So I called up [Hampton Roads Naval Museum Curator] Joe Judge, and Joe Judge says, call [conservator] Pamela Young, and I called Pamela Young and instantly fell in love with another great American."

 

As Director of Naval History Sam Cox looks on, Chaplain Denis Cox greets Pamela Young, the conservator who restored the original 1816 Adams Chart, just before the ceremony commemorating the chart's official transfer to the Naval History and Heritage Command on April 29, 2015.  A reproduction provided by the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency has now taken its place on the chapel wall.  (Photograph by M.C. Farrington, HRNM)

Young subsequently spent about 30 hours over the next nine months painstakingly removing the adhesive tape Edel applied in 1941 and fabricating new "rag stock" paper to replace the cotton fibers that had leached away from the chart over the past 199 years.  "This organic material is prone to deterioration," said Young, "and there is a point of no return.  Fortunately... Chaplain Cox found it in the nick of time."

"We will make sure that it is taken care of," said Sam Cox, director of the Naval History and Heritage Command and Curator of the Navy, adding that the chart would also be protected from, in his words, "the ravages of ultraviolet light that are as bad as the ravages of time on memory."

Sam Cox, Director of the Naval History and Heritage Command (NHHC) as well as the Curator of the Navy, signs the official form accepting the 1816 David Phineas Adams Chart into the NHHC collection as Hampton Roads Naval Museum Curator Joe Judge looks on.  (Photograph by M.C. Farrington, HRNM)  

"This chart was used by the Navy as a reason to bring the United States Navy down here to Hampton Roads," said Chaplain Cox.  "This [was a] backwater area.  Nobody lived out here in the 1700s and 1800s.  Nobody but tobacco farmers and corn farmers...  There was nothing but swampland until the Navy came here to Hampton Roads.  And now we have millions," Cox added.  "Blame a 'chap' for that." 

Just before the rededication ceremony for the 1816 David Phineas Adams Chart, Hampton Roads Naval Historical Foundation member Channing Zucker, who spent a career at the Defense Mapping Agency (now known as the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency), traces the lines around what was then known as "Willoughby's Point" on the 1816 Adams Chart of Hampton Roads as fellow attendee Elizabeth M. Dietzmann looks on.  (Photograph by M.C. Farrington, HRNM)

 

 

 

Commemorating an Enduring Peace

 

Our "Make Tea not War: A Tea Commemorating the Treaty of Ghent" was a grand event hosted by eight members of the Regency Society of Virginia from all over the state, drawing in 55 visitors from across the Hampton Roads area, and supported by over a dozen HRNM staff members and volunteers from the Hampton Roads Naval Historical Foundation.  In particular, 14 NATO Youth Ambassadors hailing from Canada, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, and the Netherlands helped keep the tea, and the schedule, flowing smoothly.  The success of the event would have not been possible without the generous financial support of the Hampton Roads Historical Foundation and the Daughters of the War of 1812.   

 

Kate Melhuish welcomes Jeanine and John Paul Lindberg at the Nauticus main entrance as "Make Tea not War" gets underway.

Hampton Roads Naval Museum Director Becky Poulliot confers with Hampton Roads Naval Historical Foundation volunteers Connie Kellam, Anne Brockenbrough, and Joanne Berkley at the event registration desk.

Using her Irish Harp, Kathleen Kennedy provides musical accompaniment.

Stacy Weissner instructs Leia Palmer, 3, on the finer points of using teaspoons while Jeraldine McDowell, 97, listens as Heather Hufton describes life in 1815.

 

Ann Maliniak of the Virginia Regency Society hosts a discussion with "Make Tea not War" attendees Sunday.

Historical Interpreter Matthew Krogh explains the tasks and challenges of US Navy life two centuries ago to visitors at the Hampton Roads Naval Museum.   

Jacqueline Smith, as "Eliza Smith," answers a question from attendee Diane Newton (right) as Katherine Spivey, as "Dolly Madison" (center), looks on. 

Captain Arthur Sinclair II, Early American Naval Hero

This historic painting depicts Virginia native Arthur Sinclair II (1780-1831), a man who became known for his naval exploits around the globe. As one of the Commonwealth’s most decorated naval war heroes, Sinclair served aboard USS Constellation in several of its important early engagements and was a Commanding Officer Afloat at Gosport Navy Yard from 1819 to 1830. Sinclair served during three wars: the Quasi-War with France, the Barbary Wars, and the War of 1812. His three sons also served in the U.S. Navy, but all three resigned in 1861 to fight with the Confederacy.

USS Constellation model 

For much of the War of 1812, Sinclair was assigned to the Great Lakes as part of Commodore Isaac Chauncey’s squadron, where he commanded the warship General Pike in an engagement on Lake Ontario in September 1813. For his valor during another engagement on Lake Erie in 1813, Sinclair received a presentation sword from the Commonwealth of Virginia (now in the Virginia Historical Society’s collection). In 1814, Sinclair commanded the Niagara on Lake Huron and Lake Superior, during which time he directed actions against Fort St. Mary’s and Fort Nautauwassauga. In September of 1818, under the direction of Captain John Cassin, Sinclair superintended the construction of a seventy-four-gun ship at Gosport Navy Yard in Portsmouth, Virginia. The following year, Sinclair was ordered to take over the commanding duties of Captain John Shaw at Gosport and became Commanding Officer Afloat there from 1819 until 1830. In addition to these duties, Sinclair was instrumental in the establishment of a nautical school for young officers of the Navy on the frigate USS Guerriere in 1821 (the Naval Academy would not open until 1845).  The school operated until 1828, when Guerriere was ordered to duty in the Pacific.

The painting of Arthur Sinclair is currently in the Hampton Roads Naval Museum’s collection.

(This blog post was written by HRNM's Public Relations Coordinator, Susanne Greene.)

The Trial of USS Chesapeake's Lieutenant Cox

The newest issue of The Daybook is now online. In this issue, Lieutenant Cox is put on trial for losing the frigate USS Chesapeake. Fair trial or convenient scapegoat for one of the Navy's worst defeats? Read it and decide for yourself. This issue also introduces readers to William Brown, Chesapeake's African American sailor who was put on trial before Cox. In addition, this issue discusses the connection between sci-fi master Robert Heinlein and the frigate Chesapeake!

If you want to receive a paper copy of this issue and future issues, you must become a member of the Hampton Roads Naval Historical Foundation. Go to its website or call Captain Tom at 757-445-9932!

Battle of Craney Island Weekend

Editor's Note: HRNM summer intern Brian Sagedy composed this article
Over the weekend, the 200^th Anniversary of the Battle of Craney Island was celebrated in Norfolk and Portsmouth. The event took place inside of Fort Norfolk which included officer quarters and Civil War ordinance building. Other events were held at Hoffler Creek Wildlife Preserve, and Portsmouth Naval Shipyard.

The weekend included reenactments in period uniform by both American and British soldiers. The reenactors fired cannons and muskets to demonstrate how the battle would have been fought back in 1813. The big event of the weekend was the Victory Ceremony with a twenty-one gun salute, three minute victory bell peal from Norfolk and Portsmouth churches, wreath laying, and mayoral Victory Proclamation. There were exhibits by the Hampton Roads Naval Museum, National Museum of Marine Corps, Coast Guard, and Army Corps of Engineers.

The Hampton Roads Naval Museum exhibit was a fun, exciting, and interactive exhibit that appealed to all ages. It included puzzles with questions on the back that people could find the answer by using a spy scope to find the answer in the exhibit. The exhibit also covered the War of 1812, the Battle of Craney Island, Craney Island today, and what the Army Corps of Engineers plans to do with it today. The exhibit also included a small cannon that people could practice swabbing out. Parent, kids, and the boy scouts all enjoyed the exhibit and the festivies that were on Fort Norfolk on June 21 and 22. The bicentennial of the Battle of Craney Island represented the collaborative efforts of the Portsmouth History Commission and the Norfolk Historical Society. Both cities that were saved by the forces on Craney Island joined together to celebrate the 200^th Anniversary. It was a great weekend with high spirits that celebrated the Battle of Craney Island.

Battle of Craney Island Exhibit

As a final follow up to the 200th commemoration of the Battle of Craney Island, we've posted the three panels that made up the traveling exhibit that museum staff have taken to different regional events.  The panel discuss the participants in the battle, the battle itself, the future of Craney Island, and interesting little pieces of trivia (like why Craney Island is called Craney Island?).Click to enlarge each panel.

We would like to thank the Royal Marine Museum, the National Maritime Museum, the Norfolk District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and the Society for the War of 1812 in Virginia for their assistance with this exhibit.

Battle of Craney Island Watercolor

(click image to enlarge)

The 200th anniversary of the Battle of Craney Island is this Saturday.  We invite you to both read the very good articles on the War of 1812 in Hampton Roads by Mark Erickson of the Daily Press and attend this weekend's live festivities.

Shown above is a modern day watercolor by Gerry Embleton, a veteran artist who has illustrated many military history publications.  The Maryland Historical Society commissioned this work for its book The Full Glory Reflected: Discovering the War of 1812 in the Chesapeake and have given us permission to use it here.

The watercolor is among the most accurate illustrations of the battle ever produced.  It shows the British assault barges attempting to launch an amphibious attack on Craney Island.  This attack was in conjunction with a land assault force headed up by General Syndey Beckwith that attacked Craney Island from the west.

In the forefront is the green  hulled assault barge called Centipede .  The illustration accurately portrays the moment in the battle when the British sailors on the barges realized that the water was too shallow to row with oars.  While under deadly accurate fire from cannons manned by Constellation's sailors and Virginia militia at Carney Island (in the distance, right) and Isle of Wight County riflemen wading out from shore to engage the enemy (in the distance, center), the barges began to withdraw. 

In the forefront of the illustration is a  man standing at the back of the boat with an umbrella in one hand and pointing out orders with his other hand.  This is Royal Navy Captain J.M. Hanchent.  He carried the umbrella into combat because he believed the climate was too hot.  He also brought along his small dog into the battle. Hanchent came from royal stock as he was one of King George III's many illegitimate children.  His status forbade him from ever claiming the throne, but it still allowed him be an officer of high status in the Royal Navy.  Hanchent was one of the few casualties in this engagement.  A piece of shrapnel struck him the thigh.  He later died from blood loss.

Another loss was Centipede.  Unable to get free of the muddy, shallow flats, the militia captured the boat and all of the sailors manning it.  Hanchent's dog was among the prisoners. 

USS Constellation-Ship Model

The 200th anniversary of the Battle of Craney Island is this Saturday.  We invite you to both read the very good articles on the War of 1812 in Hampton Roads by Mark Erickson of the Daily Press and attend this weekend's live festivities.

One of the central reasons for the battle was the presence of the frigate USS Constellation.  Shown here is the museum's model of the frigate.  Assembled by Sea Classics, the museum acquired the 1/8" to a foot scale model in 1982.

The warship was one of the "original six" frigates authorized by Congress in 1794.  Originally designed by Joshua Humphreys and Josiah Fox, Colonel David Stodder and Captain Thomas Truxtun altered the plans during her construction in Baltimore at Sterret Shipyard. Launched on September 7, 1797, her final dimensions were 164 feet in length and had a 13-foot draft. The Navy armed with her 18-pounders long guns and 24-pounder cannonades (though this varied based on captain's preference and available weapons). 

The warship made a name for herself under Truxtun's leadership during the Quasi-War With France. During this conflict, she defeated two French frigates, L'Insurgent and La Vengence.  During the War of 1812, Constellation attempted to break out in to the Atlantic Ocean via the Virginia Capes, only to find several British warships in her path.

Captain Charles Stewart took the "Yankee Racehorse," as she was nicknamed, to Hampton Roads and down the Elizabeth River.  The ship anchored below the guns of Fort Norfolk and where she remained for the rest of the war. 

Shown above is a contemporary British map of South Hampton Roads.  It shows where the enemy believed Constellation to be at anchor and their plans to either capture or destroy the American frigate. This map comes courtesy of the Barrie Papers at Duke University's Rubenstein Library.

Unfortunately, while the ship was at anchor, somebody helped themselves to the ship's stores.  When Captain Charles Gordon came to Norfolk take command of the frigate, he found that "the ship is entirely stripped and everything landed with a swept hold." Missing were over 200 pieces of the ship's dinning and cooking ware, along with all the ship's furniture.  He also found the ship in a general state of disrepair.  Thus, even if the British lifted the blockade of Hampton Roads, it is possible that Constellation never could have put to sea.

HRNM intern Brian Sagedy contributed to this article.

USS Gunboat 135-Ship Model

Editor's Note: HRNM summer intern Brian Sagedy composed this article.

Shown here is the museum model of USS Gunboat 135. It is located in the museum’s War of 1812 gallery.   Built by Tom Hershey, he formerly worked for Department of the Navy as a master ship model builder. Specifically, his job was to build models of proposed new Navy ships and also built models as a hobby.

Gunboats were to be the mainstay of the U.S. Navy from 1803 to 1812.  Rather than spend money on frigates and sloops, President Thomas Jefferson believed that gunboats were more economical to build and maintain.  He also believed that it fit his agrarian outlook of the United States.  This outlook was decidedly against a large, permanent fleet. 

Congress authorized the construction of over 180 gunboats beginning in February 1803.  They were built at various points along the Atlantic Coast and Lakes Ontario and Champlain. Naval officers oversaw construction of the gunboats, and Naval agents dispersed funds and supplies. Most gunboats were form 45’ to 70’ in length, 16’ to 18’ in beam, and sloop- or schooner-rigged and were designed more for fighting not for sailing. They relied on sails or oars for propulsion in the water.

Master ship designer Josiah Fox designed 135 and workers in Philadelphia constructed her.  She was a small galley fitted with a sloop rig and two guns. The type of guns varied, between two 24-pounders and/or 32-pounder smooth bore cannons.  The gunboat's hull dimensions were sixty feet on deck, sixteen feet, six inches at the beam, and six feet, six inches in depth. 

Once finished, the Navy stored 135 at the Philadelphia Navy Yard, since gunboats deteriorated quickly once put into service. Secretary of the Navy Paul Hamilton in 1809 reported to Congress saying, “the sails, and standing and running rigging, at present belonging to those laid up will, probably, at the end of one year, be so much injured as to be unfit for use.” Naval officers and men aboard them disliked gunboats. They were sluggish in their movements and utterly useless except in perfectly calm waters.

The Navy commissioned the vessel for the upcoming war with Britain and assigned her to join the gunboat flotilla already present in Hampton Roads. During the War of 1812's Battle of Craney Island , the Navy’s sixteen gunboats placed themselves across the Elizabeth River, with 135 anchoring the line on the far right side.