The Defence of Stonington (connecticut) Against a British Squadron, August 9th to 12th, 1814

Part 1

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THE

Defence of Stonington

(CONNECTICUT)

AGAINST A BRITISH SQUADRON,

AUGUST 9TH TO 12TH, 1814.

"Vixere fortes ante Agamemnona."

HARTFORD: 1864.

ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY-FIVE COPIES PRINTED.

FOR PRIVATE DISTRIBUTION.

CONTENTS.

INTRODUCTORY NOTE, page v

RECORD OF THE EXTRAORDINARY ATTACK ON STONINGTON, 9

NAMES OF VOLUNTEERS, FROM THE CONNECTICUT GAZETTE, 20

MUSTER-ROLL OF CAPT. WM. POTTER'S COMPANY, 22

ACCOUNT OF THE ATTACK, PUBLISHED BY THE BOROUGH AUTHORITIES, 24

LETTER FROM CAPT. AMOS PALMER TO THE SECRETARY OF WAR, 33

EXTRACT FROM GEN. ROOT'S SPEECH IN CONGRESS, 1817, 37

THE BATTLE OF STONINGTON, BY PHILIP FRENEAU, 38

CELEBRATIONS OF THE ANNIVERSARY, 42

NOTES, 47

INTRODUCTORY NOTE.

The repulse of a British squadron, at Stonington, by a few undisciplined volunteers, having only two effective guns, imperfectly protected by a low earth-work,--and this repulse accomplished without the loss of a single life,--was not the least glorious achievement of the War of 1812-14. The fiftieth anniversary of the action is close at hand. Few who witnessed,--only three or four who participated in it, survive. In this day of great events, when armies and navies are gathered on a scale of magnitude of which our fathers never dreamed,--when from the heights of modern science, we look back to the guns and the ships of war of the last generation, as to the toys of childhood,--when we are in the very crisis of a war greater in itself, and waged for a grander issue, than the world has hitherto witnessed,--it is not surprising that so few find leisure or inclination to look from the present to the past, or to recall to memory the heroism of their fathers.

Yet there are some for whom the story of The Attack has not yet lost its interest. They learned it in childhood, from the lips of those who shared the perils and the glory of the action. They grew up, amid associations which could hardly fail to kindle an honest pride in their birth-place. To them, the "Tenth of August" was not merely a school-holiday, but an anniversary entitled to equal honors with Independence Day itself. They have helped draw the "old Eighteens," through the streets of the Borough, in solemn procession to the site of the demolished Battery. They have seen the cherished Flag--pierced and torn in a dozen places by the enemy's shot,--float again from the flag-staff, in honor of the day: and some of them were standing by when "Old Hickory" bared his head to salute it, and bade the citizens preserve, with all care, this precious memorial of the courage and patriotism of their townsmen.

It is for these--the companions of my own school-days,--and in honor of the volunteers of 1814, that I have reproduced some of the contemporary accounts of the attack and defence of Stonington. The first (pp. 9-20) was written by Col. Samuel Green, the publisher of the Connecticut Gazette, who visited the Borough during the action, and obtained his knowledge of facts of which he was not an eye-witness, from the actors themselves and from official sources. This account, printed in the Gazette, of August 17th, was copied into many of the newspapers in the northern states, and appeared in Niles's Weekly Register, November 5th, with some additional particulars.

Following this, are copies of the muster-roll of the Borough company of militia; the official account furnished for publication by the magistrates, warden and burgesses (pp. 24-32); and a letter from Capt. Amos Palmer, chairman of the citizens' committee of defence, to Mr. Crawford, secretary of war, containing a concise narrative of the action. Philip Freneau's Battle of Stonington,--though not of the highest order of lyric excellence,--challenges favorable comparison with many of the loyal effusions which have found their way to the public, during the present war; and will be welcomed as an old friend by some who value patriotism more than poetry. T.

Hartford, Conn., July 28th, 1864.

THE DEFENCE OF STONINGTON.

Part 2

RECORD OF THE EXTRAORDINARY ATTACK ON STONINGTON.

NEW LONDON, AUGUST 17, 1814.

On Tuesday the 9th instant, at 5 P. M. the Ramilies, 74, Pactolus, 38, a bomb ship, and the Dispatch, 22 gun brig, arrived off Stonington, and a flag was sent on shore with the following note--

"On board his Majesty's Ship, Ramilies, Stonington, Aug. 9. TO THE MAGISTRATES OF STONINGTON.

Gentlemen--One hour is allowed you from the receipt of this communication, for the removal of the unoffending inhabitants.

THOMAS M. HARDY.

This notification was received by two magistrates and Lieutenant Hough of the drafted militia, who went off to meet the flag. The officer was asked whether a flag would not be received on board. He said no arrangements could be made. They inquired whether Com. Hardy had determined to destroy the town. He replied that such were his orders from the Admiral, and that it would be done most effectually.

When the gentlemen reached the shore, a crowd waited with great anxiety for the news; which being stated, consternation flew through the town. An express was despatched to General Cushing, at New London. A number of volunteers hastened to collect ammunition; others ran to the battery, which consisted of two 18 pounders and a 4 pounder, on field carriages, with a slight breast work, 4 feet high. The sick and the aged were removed with haste: the women and children, with loud cries, were seen running in every direction. Some of the most valuable articles were hastily got off by hand, others placed in the gardens and lots, or thrown into wells, to save them from the impending conflagration. The sixty minutes expired, but the dreaded moment did not bring the attack. Nelson's favorite hero and friend was seized with the compunctions of magnanimity;--he remembered what ancient Britons were; he remembered that something was due to the character of Sir Thomas M. Hardy. Three hours in fact elapsed, when at 8 in the evening the attack was commenced by a discharge of shells from the bomb ship. Several barges and launches had taken their stations in different points, from whence they threw Congreve rockets, and carcasses. This mode of attack was continued incessantly till midnight; and the fire was returned occasionally from the battery, as the light of the rockets gave opportunity with any chance of success.

The few drafted militia which had been sometime stationed there, under command of Lieutenant Hough, were placed in the best directions to give an alarm in case a landing should be attempted. During the night the volunteers and militia had assembled in considerable numbers; and the non-combatant inhabitants had generally removed to the neighboring farm-houses, in the momentary expectation of seeing their abandoned dwellings in flames. It was a night of inexpressible anguish to many a widow and orphan, to many aged and infirm, whose little pittance they were now apparently to lose forever. But Providence directed otherwise. This compact little village of 100 buildings had been for four hours covered with flames of fire and bomb shells, and not a single building was consumed nor a person injured.

At the dawn of day on the 10th, the approach of the enemy was announced by a discharge of Congreve rockets from several barges and a launch, which had taken their station, on the east side of the town, and out of reach of the battery. Several volunteers, with small arms and the four pounder, hastened across the point, supposing the enemy were attempting a landing. Colonel Randall of the 13th regiment, who at the time was moving towards the battery with a detachment of militia, ordered them to assist the volunteers in drawing over one of the 18 pounders to the extreme end of the point; the fire of which in a few minutes compelled the barges to seek safety in flight. During this time the brig was working up towards the Point, and soon after sunrise came to anchor, short of half a mile from the battery, (or more correctly, the breastwork). Our ammunition being soon exhausted, the guns were spiked, and the men who fought them, being only about 15 or 20, retired, leaving them behind for want of strength to drag them off.

The brig now continued deliberately to pour her 32 pound shot and grape into the Village, without our having the power of returning a shot, for an hour, and the bomb ketch occasionally threw in shells. A fresh supply of ammunition being obtained, the 18 pounder was withdrawn from the breastwork, the vent drilled, and the piece taken back again, when such an animated and well directed fire was kept up, that at 3 o'clock the brig slipped her cable and hauled off, with her pumps going, having received several shots below her water line, and considerable damage in her spars, &c. During this action between the eighteen pounder and the brig, Mr. Frederick Denison was slightly wounded in the knee, by a fragment of a rock, and Mr. John Miner, badly burnt in his face by the premature discharge of the gun. The flag, which was nailed to the mast, was pierced with seven shot holes, the breast-work somewhat injured, and 6 or 8 of the dwelling-houses in the vicinity essentially injured. At this time a considerable body of militia had arrived, and Brigadier-General Isham had taken the command; the inhabitants had recovered from the consternation of the first moments; and were deliberately moving off their furniture and goods. At 1 o'clock the Ramilies and Pactolus had taken stations about two and a half miles from the town, when resistance appearing hopeless, the Magistrates as a last resort applied to the General for permission to send a flag off, being impressed with the opinion that there must exist some latent cause of a peculiar nature to induce a commander who had heretofore distinguished himself for a scrupulous regard to the claims of honorable warfare,--to induce him to commit an act so repugnant to sound policy, so abhorrent to his nature, so flagrant an outrage on humanity. The General, we understand, would not sanction, nor did he absolutely prohibit, a flag being sent. They, therefore, on their own responsibility, sent on board the Ramilies, Isaac Williams and Wm. Lord, Esquires, with the following letter.

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