The Naval War of 1812

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The Naval War of 1812 [with accents]

The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Naval War of 1812, by Theodore Roosevelt #4 in our series by Theodore Roosevelt
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Title: The Naval War of 1812 Or The History of the United States Navy during the Last War with Great Britain to Which Is Appended an Account of the Battle of New Orleans
Author: Theodore Roosevelt
Release Date: October, 2005 [EBook #9104] [Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] [This file was first posted on September 6, 2003]
Edition: 10
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE NAVAL WAR OF 1812 ***

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The Naval War of 1812
or the History of the United States Navy during the Last War with Great Britain to Which Is Appended an Account of the Battle of New Orleans
By Theodore Roosevelt
With an Introduction by Edward K. Eckert

CONTENTS
List of Illustrations
Acknowledgments
Introduction
_The Naval War of 1812_
Index

ILLUSTRATIONS
Captain Isaac Hull
Constitution vs. _Guerrière_: "The Engagement"
Constitution vs. _Guerrière_: "In Action"
Constitution vs. _Guerrière_: "Dropping Astern"
Constitution vs. _Guerrière_: "She Fell in the Sea"
Wasp vs. Frolic Captain Stephen Decatur
Captain William Bainbridge
Constitution vs. Java Captain James Lawrence
Chesapeake vs. Shannon Argus vs. Pelican The Battle of Lake Erie
The Essex Captain David Porter
Master Commandant Lewis Warrington
Captain Samuel C. Reid
The Battle of Lake Borgne
Commodore Thomas Macdonough
Capture of the President Captain Charles Stewart
Constitution vs. Cyane and Levant Master Commandant James Biddle
Hornet vs. Penguin
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
For their amiable and expert assistance in the selection of the illustrations in this volume, thanks are due to Mr. James W. Cheevers, curator of the U.S. Naval Academy Museum; Ms. Sigrid Trumpy, curator of the museum's Beverley R. Robinson Collection of naval prints; and Mrs. Patty Maddocks, director of the Naval Institute Library and Photographic Service.
JS

PREFACE
The history of the naval events of the War of 1812 has been repeatedly presented both to the American and the English reader. Historical writers have treated it either in connection with a general account of the contest on land and sea, or as forming a part of the complete record of the navies of the two nations. A few monographs, which confine themselves strictly to the naval occurrences, have also appeared. But none of these works can be regarded as giving a satisfactorily full or impartial account of the war--some of them being of he "popular" and loosely-constructed order, while others treat it from a purely partisan standpoint. No single book can be quoted which would be accepted by the modern reader as doing justice to both sides, or, indeed, as telling the whole story. Any one specially interested in the subject must read all; and then it will seem almost a hopeless task to reconcile the many and widely contradictory statements he will meet with.
There appear to be three works which, taken in combination, give the best satisfaction on the subject. First, in James' "Naval History of Great Britain" (which supplies both the material and the opinions of almost every subsequent English or Canadian historian) can be found the British view of the case. It is an invaluable work, written with fulness and care; on the other hand it is also a piece of special pleading by a bitter and not over-scrupulous partisan. This, in the second place, can be partially supplemented by Fenimore Cooper's "Naval History of the United States." The latter gives the American view of the cruises and battles; but it is much less of an authority than James', both because it is written without great regard for exactness, and because all figures for the American side need to be supplied from Lieutenant (now Admiral) George E. Emmons' statistical "History of the United States Navy," which is the third of the works in question.
But even after comparing these three authors, many contradictions remain unexplained, and the truth can only be reached in such cases by a careful examination of the navy "Records," the London "Naval Chronicle," "Niles' Register," and other similar documentary publications. Almost the only good criticisms on the actions are those incidentally