200 Years Ago Today

[Sailor Steve]

BRITISH OUTRAGE!!!

On June 22, 1807, an incident occurred which started the United States and Great Britain on the path to their second war, which would not actually begin for another five years. Britain was at war with Napoleon's France, and both countries were treating neutrals almost as enemies. Britain was blockading France, and stopping neutral ships from entering French waters. France retaliated by seizing ships which stopped in Continental Europe after leaving Britain.

One of the British methods for supporting the Royal Navy was impressment. Much has been written of this practice, but there has also been much misunderstanding of it over the years. During wartime the Royal Navy would recruit sailors with prize money and adventure. Once the war ended, officers were put ashore on half-pay and regular sailors were turned loose to fend for themselves. Many would find jobs in cities; others would return home to family farms, and still others, who enjoyed life at sea, would join the merchant fleet, where conditions were mild and pay was good. When the next war broke out, press gangs were sent to bring these sailors back into service. If they no longer wanted to serve, that was too bad; after all, they had signed on for a full career. What is sometimes misunderstood is that the press gangs were not authorized to take just anybody. Civilians were off-limits, and there were several cases of impressed civilians taking the RN to court for their freedom and winning. On the other hand, men who had joined the merchant service in the first place were often considered fair game, and naval captains had no compunctions about taking merchant sailors to fill out their crews.

During the Napoleonic wars it became common for British sailors to jump ship and sign on with American merchant vessels. The Americans accused the British of boarding and capturing Americans to serve in the RN, and the British countered that America was freely allowing British seamen to join the American merchant ships without asking too many questions. One of the problems was that some American businessmen were making money by supplying papers 'proving' American citizenship. Courts were tied up for years in both countries trying to sort out these cases.

In February 1807 a group of British sailors escaped from HMS Melampus, then anchored in Hampton Roads, Virginia. The ship fired upon the escaping boat, but the men escaped. Three of them then joined the United States Navy aboard the frigate USS Chesapeake. The British consul asked for their return. British ambassador David Erskine them demanded their return of US Secretary of State James Madison. Madison refused, stating that he believed the deserters to be American citizens. Affidavits were produced which proved that two of them, William Ware and John Strahan, were born in Delaware. The third, Daniel Martin, had been brought from South America as an indentured servant. Martin and Ware were both of African descent. Madison finally contested to Erskine that it was against American law for US citizens to enlist in a foreign belligerent service while America was neutral, so they had to remain in US custody. There was also a real British deserter aboard the Chesapeake, Jenkin Ratford, alias John Wilson, who had deserted from HMS Halifax. Wilson was known to have laughed at his former officers on the streets of Norfolk, and dared them to try to get him back.

On June 22, 1807, USS Chesapeake, under the command of Commodore James Barron, was approached by HMS Leopard, commanded by S.P. Humphreys. Humphreys demanded that Chesapeake hand over the four men. Barron refused, saying there were no such persons on his ship. Humphreys opened fire, and Barron, taken by surprise, lowered his flag and surrendered. Three of Chesapeake's crew were killed and fourteen wounded. Barron told Humphreys that the ship was his prize, and he was ready to hand her over. Humphreys refused, but American officers started referring to her as the "late United States Frigate Chesapeake".

Americans were outraged, but were in no position to prosecute a war against Britain at that time. President Thomas Jefferson and the US Congress finally settled on an embargo. This hurt America as much as it did Britain, and with opposition to it very strong, Jefferson's approval ratings (yes, they had them even then), fell and continued to fall until he left office. Part of the problem was open trading between the New England states and Canada. Some historians believe that Jefferson would have been better off giving lip service to the embargo while making his country rich trading with the Canadians himself.

As to the four captured sailors, the three Americans were finally released unharmed, while John Wilson was tried and hanged. Commodore Barron was court-martialled for losing his ship and suspended from service for five years. It was determined that he should have been aware of what the British were up to and been better prepared.

The United States managed to stay neutral until 1812, when they finally went to war with Britain under President James Madison.

[P_Funk]

And then Canada kicked you biatches back to where you belong!

One thing I've heard from a few people is that inside the USA it is taught that America won the war of 1812. I wonder if thats actually true.

[Sailor Steve]

People are taught all kinds of weird things. We won and we didn't. It's a mess.

[Heibges]

In 1814 we took a little trip,
Along with General Jackson,
Down the Mighty Mississipp',
We took a little bacon,
And we took a little beans,
And we beat the Bloody British,
At a place called New Orleans

[P_Funk]

Originally Posted by Heibges

In 1814 we took a little trip,
Along with General Jackson,
Down the Mighty Mississipp',
We took a little bacon,
And we took a little beans,
And we beat the Bloody British,
At a place called New Orleans

I believe that that is the one that I was told about. One battle won used as a victory marker. So far as I was taught it was a war that nobody really won. It was just over.

The real fun bit is that the Treaty of Ghent was signed before the battle of New Orleans. So the war was already over. But even so the British still won the last battle at Fort Bowyer after New Orleans. But all that is moot since the treaty returned the borders to their original lines.

In the end it was just a silly silly war that changed very little.

[Heibges]

Originally Posted by P_Funk

I believe that that is the one that I was told about. One battle won used as a victory marker. So far as I was taught it was a war that nobody really won. It was just over.

The real fun bit is that the Treaty of Ghent was signed before the battle of New Orleans. So the war was already over. But even so the British still won the last battle at Fort Bowyer after New Orleans. But all that is moot since the treaty returned the borders to their original lines.

In the end it was just a silly silly war that changed very little.

Except for some buildings in Washington DC which were burned to the ground.

[P_Funk]

Originally Posted by Heibges

Except for some buildings in Washington DC which were burned to the ground.

I'm glad you said it and not me.:p But as much as I'd love to go rah rah Canada, we really didn't do anything. It was British troops. Though there is a really good song written by a Maritimer about that. I'll see if I can find it.

EDIT. The best I can find is this video of Red vs. Blue that they added the song on top of for some reason.

[August]

Originally Posted by Heibges

Except for some buildings in Washington DC which were burned to the ground.

Did you know the British troops who did that were hit with a hurricane AND a tornado while they were withdrawing?

[Heibges]

Originally Posted by August

Did you know the British troops who did that were hit with a hurricane AND a tornado while they were withdrawing?

No, but that is fascinating. Kind of like God parting the Red Sea thing.

[Heibges]

Originally Posted by P_Funk

I'm glad you said it and not me.:p But as much as I'd love to go rah rah Canada, we really didn't do anything. It was British troops. Though there is a really good song written by a Maritimer about that. I'll see if I can find it.

EDIT. The best I can find is this video of Red vs. Blue that they added the song on top of for some reason.

OH NO! Red vs Blue. It's everywhere!

[U-533]

Originally Posted by P_Funk

And then Canada kicked you biatches back to where you belong!

One thing I've heard from a few people is that inside the USA it is taught that America won the war of 1812. I wonder if that's actually true.

I do not see a British flag hanging over the White house...

Nor is there a Canadian flag...

:hmm:

Sure seems to me us 'biatches' have at least what we started with...maybe a wee bit more.

[DAB]

Originally Posted by U-533

I do not see a British flag hanging over the White house...

Nor is there a Canadian flag...

:hmm:

Sure seems to me us 'biatches' have at least what we started with...maybe a wee bit more.

Maybe I'm wrong (here in Britain the war of 1812 is considered a campaign in the Napolionic wars rather then as a seperate war) but I have never heard that the aim of the Empire in the war was to annex the United States but rather to secure Canada and prevent the United States becoming a threat to further British interests in the New World.

And as I recall it ended in stalemate with both sides unwilling to allow further suffering to continue.

[August]

Originally Posted by Heibges

No, but that is fascinating. Kind of like God parting the Red Sea thing.

Yeah the same storm put the fires out in DC as well. At the time it was billed by some as divine retribution.

[Sailor Steve]

The whole Johnny Horton song (from memory):

In 1814 we took a little trip,
Along with Colonel Jackson down the mighty Mississipp'.
We took a little bacon and we took a little beans,
And we fought the bloody British near the town of New Orleans.

(Chorus) We fired our guns and the British kept a comin'.
There wasn't nigh as many as there was a while ago.
We fired once more and they began a'runnin'
On down the Mississippi to the Gulf of Mexico.

We looked down the river and we seen the British come,
There must have been a hundred of 'em beatin' on the drum.
They stepped so high and they made their bugles ring
While we stood beside our cotton bales and didn't say a thing.

(chorus)

Old Hickory said we could take 'em by surpise
If we didn't fire a musket 'til we looked em in the eyes.
We held our fire 'til we seen their faces well
Then we opened up our squirrel guns and really gave 'em...well, we

(chorus)

We fired our cannon 'til the barrel melted down
Then we grabbed an alligator and we fought another round.
We filled his head with cannonballs and powdered his behind,
And when we set the powder of the 'gator lost his mind!

(chorus)

Yeah they ran through the briars and they ran through the brambles
And they ran through the bushes where a rabbit couldn't go!
They ran so fast that the hounds couldn't catch 'em,
On down the Mississippi to the Gulf of Mexico!

Words by Jimmy Driftwood, Copywrite 1957. Music "The Bonaparte Retreat".


Anyway, who won the war depends on what goals you set. The Americans thought the Canadians would welcome the chance to throw off the "chains of bondage" and be free, but of course Canada had not had the same experience as their southern cousins; the American Revolution came out of attempts by the mother country to force the colonists to help pay for the Seven Years' (French and Indian) War, whereas Canada had been aquired by Britain during that same war. Canadians were very happy to be British, and had no desire to become American.

There were several factions, or philosophies, in Britain at the time. One segment actually believed that America should rightfully become British again. Some others were offended that the Americans didn't want to join forces against the monster Napoleon, who they believed could and would subjugate Britain and make her his slaves. Some members of parliament actually didn't want war at all, believing that with all their land it was inevitable that America would eventually become more powerful than any European nation, and it was best to not only cultivate friendship but actually aid that goal.

As to the land battles, it's true that Washington was burned and the British won all the major engagements, but, as the Duke of Wellington said when asked for his advice, the most important factor was naval superiority on the inland lakes, and that fell to the Americans:

But even if we had that superiority, I should doubt our being able to do more than secure the points on those lakes at which the Americans could have access. In such countries as America, very extensive, thinly peopled, and producing but little food in proportion to their extent, military operations by large bodies are impracticable, unless the party carrying them on has the uninterrupted use of a navigable river, or very extensive means of land transport, which such a country can rarely supply.

He then went on to explain that the same problem applied to coastal operations, ending with a telling quote:

I do not know where you could carry on such an operation which would be so injurious to the Americans as to force them to sue for peace.

Late in the war the British parliament tried to get Wellington to accept command of the armies in America. His reply:

That which appears to me to be wanting in America is not a General, or General Officers and troops, but a naval superiority on the Lakes; without it I could do little more than sign a peace treaty which might as well be signed now.

As to nothing being changed, some people thought differently. When some British observers said that the Americans had accomplished nothing, Englishman William Cobbett wrote

Is it nothing to have proved that her Government, though free as air, is perfectly adequate to the mose perilous of wars? Is it nothing to have thus entitled herself to the confidence of other nations, and made her friendship an object to be sedulously sought after by every Power in Europe? Is it nothing for her Chief Magistrate; for that very Mr. Madison, whom our malignant and insolent writers and others marked out to be DEPOSED; is it nothing for Americans to have seen this their plain fellow citizen, with a salary of less than six thousand pounds a year, with no heralds, guards, or gilded coaches, conducting her affairs, through this trying season, with so much ability, so much firmness, and, at the same time, with such tenderness for liberty, as to refrain from a resort even to the mild law of his country against those who have made use of that liberty for purpose of the blackest and basest treason?

The last part refers to the attempt by certain New England assemblies to secede from the Union in protest against the war.

The Battle of New Orleans was indeed fought after the treaty was signed, but before the news reached the American continent. Also fought at that time was the last sea battle, in which the British captured USS President, sister ship of the Constitution and United States.

Also the war forced the Americans to start looking at themselves as a single entity rather than a collection of independent states, a process which would not be truly complete until after the American Civil War ended in 1865.

Quotes are from the book The Twilight's Last Gleaming, by Kate Caffrey.

[Mush Martin]

@ Steve , Wow nice Presentation. As for the results. we like to think
up here in Canookie land that we won however, there were a lot more
British Regulars involved in that claim than Canadian irregulars.

It is a mess. We love to tell the story of "How the Whitehouse became white"
and there is some merit to the debate that the withholding of the
return of the michigan territories was something of the mark of who did
or didnt win. We feel that your history is often skewed. However I feel
the candor and clarity of your first post puts the lie to that assumption.
And we are no less prone to Skewed memory.

When I look at 1812 it isnt to debate strategic victory. Its to study
Brilliant Unconventional Tactical and Strategic Warfare. its a wonderful
study. and Brocks Campaign Was Arguably Brilliant.

I think the debate will Rage on. but were neighbors and neighbors debate
and often remember results from different perspectives.

Good Post.
M

[edit] btw Nice 50bmg in the blowup of your avatar the other day. (needs ammo though)