LITMIR.BIZ

      Chapter VIII.

       On the Lakes (1814)

       Table of Contents

       ONTARIO-The contest one of ship-building merely—Extreme caution of the commanders, verging on timidity—Yeo takes Oswego, and blockades Sackett's Harbor—British gun-boats captured—Chauncy blockades Kingston—ERIE—Captain Sinclair's unsuccessful expedition—Daring and successful cutting-out expeditions of the British—CHAMPLAIN—Macdonough's victory.

      ONTARIO.

      The winter was spent by both parties in preparing more formidable fleets for the ensuing summer. All the American schooners had proved themselves so unfit for service that they were converted into transports, except the Sylph, which was brig-rigged and armed like the Oneida. Sackett's Harbor possessed but slight fortifications, and the Americans were kept constantly on the alert, through fear lest the British should cross over. Commodore Chauncy and Mr. Eckford were as unremitting in their exertions as ever. In February two 22-gun brigs, the Jefferson and Jones, and one large frigate of 50 guns, the Superior, were laid; afterward a deserter brought in news of the enormous size of one of the new British frigates, and the Superior was enlarged to permit her carrying 62 guns. The Jefferson was launched on April 7th, the Jones on the 10th; and the Superior on May 2d,—an attempt on the part of the British to blow her up having been foiled a few days before. Another frigate, the Mohawk, 42, was at once begun. Neither guns nor men for the first three ships had as yet arrived, but they soon began to come in, as the roads got better and the streams opened. Chauncy and Eckford, besides building ships that were literally laid down in the forest, and seeing that they were armed with heavy guns, which, as well as all their stores, had to be carried overland hundreds of miles through the wilderness, were obliged to settle quarrels that occurred among the men, the most serious being one that arose from a sentinel's accidentally killing a shipwright, whose companions instantly struck work in a body. What was more serious, they had to contend with such constant and virulent sickness that it almost assumed the proportions of a plague. During the winter it was seldom that two thirds of the force were fit for duty, and nearly a sixth of the whole number of men in the port died before navigation opened. 321

      Meanwhile Yeo had been nearly as active at Kingston, laying down two frigates and a huge line-of-battle ship, but his shipwrights did not succeed in getting the latter ready much before navigation closed. The Prince Regent, 58, and Princess Charlotte, 42, were launched on April 15th. I shall anticipate somewhat by giving tabular lists of the comparative forces, after the two British frigates, the two American frigates, and the two American brigs had all been equipped and manned. Commodore Yeo's original six cruisers had been all renamed, some of them re-armed, and both the schooners changed into brigs. The Wolfe, Royal George, Melville, Moira, Beresford, and Sydney Smith, were now named respectively Montreal, Niagara, Star, Charwell, Netly, and Magnet. On the American side there had been but slight changes, beyond the alteration of the Sylph into a brig armed like the Oneida. Of the Superior's 62 guns, 4 were very shortly sent on shore again.

      CHAUNCY'S SQUADRON.

      This is considerably less than James makes it, as he includes all the schooners, which were abandoned as cruisers, and only used as transports or gun-boats. Similarly Sir James had a large number of gun-boats, which are not included in his cruising force. James thus makes Chauncy's force 2,321 men, and a broadside of 4,188 lbs.

      YEO'S SQUADRON

      This tallies pretty well with James' statement, which (on p. 488) is 1,517 men, and a broadside of 2,752 lbs. But there are very probably errors as regards the armaments of the small brigs, which were continually changed. At any rate the American fleet was certainly the stronger, about in the proportion of six to five. The disproportion was enough to justify Sir James in his determination not to hazard a battle, although the odds were certainly not such as British commanders had been previously accustomed to pay much regard to. Chauncy would have acted exactly as his opponent did, had he been similarly placed. The odds against the British commodore were too great to be overcome, where the combatants were otherwise on a par, although the refusal to do battle against them would certainly preclude Yeo from advancing any claims to superiority in skill or courage. The Princess Charlotte and Niagara were just about equal to the Mohawk and Madison, and so were the Charwell and Netly to the Oneida and Sylph; but both the Star and Magnet together could hardly have matched either the Jones or the Jefferson, while the main-deck 32's of the Superior gave her a great advantage over the Prince Regent's 24's, where the crews were so equal; and the Pike was certainly too heavy for the Montreal. A decided superiority in the effectiveness of both crews and captains could alone have warranted Sir James Lucas Yeo in engaging, and this superiority he certainly did not possess.

      This year the British architects outstripped ours in the race for supremacy, and Commodore Yeo put out of port with his eight vessels long before the Americans were ready. His first attempt was a successful attack on Oswego. This town is situated some 60 miles distant from Sackett's Harbor, and is the first port on the lake which the stores, sent from the seaboard to Chauncy, reached. Accordingly it was a place of some little importance, but was very much neglected by the American authorities. It was insufficiently garrisoned, and was defended only by an entirely ruined fort of 6 guns, two of them dismounted. Commodore Yeo sailed from Kingston to attack it on the 3d of May, having on board his ships a detachment of 1,080 troops. Oswego was garrisoned by less than 300 men, 322 chiefly belonging to a light artillery regiment, with a score or two of militia; they were under the command of Colonel Mitchell. The recaptured schooner Growler was in port, with 7 guns destined for the Harbor; she was sunk by her commander, but afterward raised and carried off by the foe.

      On the 5th Yeo appeared off Oswego and sent in Captain Collier and

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