thedrifter
02-17-04, 06:54 PM
Issue Date: February 23, 2004
The Lore of the Corps
Americans bagged British fleet in Lake Erie action
By Don Burzynski
Special to the Times
With the fall of three American forts during the War of 1812 — Chicago, Detroit and Mackinac — President Madison and his war council decided that supremacy of the Great Lakes was paramount to stem the British onslaught. If British dominion of the lakes could be stopped, then enemy supplies, war material and troops would not be able to reach the Western frontier and British incursions would cease.
On Lake Erie, it would fall to a young American Navy squadron, under Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry, and Marine squads formed largely of Army militia to meet the British fleet.
Marine Lt. John Brooks was the son of John Brooks, a Massachusetts delegate to the convention that ratified the Constitution in 1788 and a future governor of his state. The younger Brooks was considered a firebrand but a good officer. He had been shipped west to cool off after a near-duel — a practice strictly forbidden by the Corps — with another Marine officer over gambling.
Brooks brought with him to Lake Erie 18 Marines from the Washington Navy Yard. Hundreds more were expected from Chauncey but, as it turned out, it was the Army under Gen. William Henry Harrison — especially the 137th and 147th Pennsylvania regiments — who would flesh out the Marine ranks on Erie. These frontiersmen were expert shots with their Pennsylvania long rifles — which the British called “the best widow maker in North America” — and they would add devastating firepower to the Marine detachments.
Brooks’ plan for the nine American ships was to have full Marine units on the two brigs — the Lawrence and the Niagara — and Marine noncommissioned officers on the other ships directing the militia marksmen. Normally, a ship would have 50 Marines on board, including an officer, a fifer and a drummer.
Marines on board would fight as six-man squads on the “tops” (platforms on the mast), with one marksman firing and five loading and passing the loaded rifle forward. They also were trained to replace cannon crews that were disabled, lead boarding and landing parties and deter mutinies.
Marines were equipped with a .75-caliber sea-service musket, a British “Brown Bess” shortened for easier loading among the rigging. A Marine was expected to load, ram and fire three rounds a minute and, unlike the British, they kept their eyes open when firing. They also carried a 16-inch bayonet, a battle axe and grenades that, from their place on the tops, they would throw down on enemy sailors and their open magazine hatches.
The Lawrence and the Niagara each had 20 cannons, the Caledonia three, the schooner Ariel four, Scorpion two, Somers two, the sloops Tripe and Porcupine one each, for a total of 54 guns. Most of these cannons were newly invented carronades or “smashers” that were devastating but only at close range. The Americans positioned their ships at Put-in-Bay, Ohio.
When the British squadron appeared northeast of Put-in-Bay, its six ships carried a total of 63 guns — 19 on the Detroit, 17 on the Queen Charlotte, 13 on the Lady Prevost, 10 on the brig Hunter, three on the sloop Little Belt and one on the schooner Chippewa — and 460 pounds of iron power, but very few carronades. Their crews and provincial marines were hastily assembled and had no gunnery practice, while the American gun crews were experienced, some having fought on the frigate Constitution and other ships.
The two fleets closed for battle on Sept. 10, 1813. The British pounced on the flagship, the Lawrence, first, where Brooks and most of the Marines were stationed. Three ships, the Detroit, Queen Charlotte and Hunter, formed a crescent around the Lawrence as the Hunter moved behind and fired broadsides along her length.
Brooks, standing next to Perry, was hit by a 32-pounder cannonball that ripped away his hip and hurled him across the deck. He asked Perry to kill him because the pain was excruciating. Perry refused and ordered the Marines to carry him below — to a cockpit above the waterline that British cannoneers continued to pound with broadside, killing already wounded men — Brooks among them.
The Lawrence was a wreck in two hours and its guns manned by walking wounded until they, too, were dead or unable to carry on. At last, with only one gun left and Perry helping to aim it, the brig Niagara, which had been lagging behind untouched — fresh with full cannons and Marines — broke the British line, firing at two ships on larboard and three on starboard. Marine marksmen poured volleys and grenades at the Lady Prevost until Perry ordered them to cease fire because its resistance was over.
The Niagara’s bold example brought all the American ships into the heat of the battle and, in eight minutes, four British ships surrendered and two tried to flee but were overtaken. Victory was complete, and for the first time in history, an entire British fleet was captured.
The author is commander of an 1812 Marine Corps re-enactment group. He can be reached at dburzynski2003@yahoo.com.
http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/story.php?f=0-MARINEPAPER-2631969.php
Sempers,
Roger
:marine:
The Lore of the Corps
Americans bagged British fleet in Lake Erie action
By Don Burzynski
Special to the Times
With the fall of three American forts during the War of 1812 — Chicago, Detroit and Mackinac — President Madison and his war council decided that supremacy of the Great Lakes was paramount to stem the British onslaught. If British dominion of the lakes could be stopped, then enemy supplies, war material and troops would not be able to reach the Western frontier and British incursions would cease.
On Lake Erie, it would fall to a young American Navy squadron, under Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry, and Marine squads formed largely of Army militia to meet the British fleet.
Marine Lt. John Brooks was the son of John Brooks, a Massachusetts delegate to the convention that ratified the Constitution in 1788 and a future governor of his state. The younger Brooks was considered a firebrand but a good officer. He had been shipped west to cool off after a near-duel — a practice strictly forbidden by the Corps — with another Marine officer over gambling.
Brooks brought with him to Lake Erie 18 Marines from the Washington Navy Yard. Hundreds more were expected from Chauncey but, as it turned out, it was the Army under Gen. William Henry Harrison — especially the 137th and 147th Pennsylvania regiments — who would flesh out the Marine ranks on Erie. These frontiersmen were expert shots with their Pennsylvania long rifles — which the British called “the best widow maker in North America” — and they would add devastating firepower to the Marine detachments.
Brooks’ plan for the nine American ships was to have full Marine units on the two brigs — the Lawrence and the Niagara — and Marine noncommissioned officers on the other ships directing the militia marksmen. Normally, a ship would have 50 Marines on board, including an officer, a fifer and a drummer.
Marines on board would fight as six-man squads on the “tops” (platforms on the mast), with one marksman firing and five loading and passing the loaded rifle forward. They also were trained to replace cannon crews that were disabled, lead boarding and landing parties and deter mutinies.
Marines were equipped with a .75-caliber sea-service musket, a British “Brown Bess” shortened for easier loading among the rigging. A Marine was expected to load, ram and fire three rounds a minute and, unlike the British, they kept their eyes open when firing. They also carried a 16-inch bayonet, a battle axe and grenades that, from their place on the tops, they would throw down on enemy sailors and their open magazine hatches.
The Lawrence and the Niagara each had 20 cannons, the Caledonia three, the schooner Ariel four, Scorpion two, Somers two, the sloops Tripe and Porcupine one each, for a total of 54 guns. Most of these cannons were newly invented carronades or “smashers” that were devastating but only at close range. The Americans positioned their ships at Put-in-Bay, Ohio.
When the British squadron appeared northeast of Put-in-Bay, its six ships carried a total of 63 guns — 19 on the Detroit, 17 on the Queen Charlotte, 13 on the Lady Prevost, 10 on the brig Hunter, three on the sloop Little Belt and one on the schooner Chippewa — and 460 pounds of iron power, but very few carronades. Their crews and provincial marines were hastily assembled and had no gunnery practice, while the American gun crews were experienced, some having fought on the frigate Constitution and other ships.
The two fleets closed for battle on Sept. 10, 1813. The British pounced on the flagship, the Lawrence, first, where Brooks and most of the Marines were stationed. Three ships, the Detroit, Queen Charlotte and Hunter, formed a crescent around the Lawrence as the Hunter moved behind and fired broadsides along her length.
Brooks, standing next to Perry, was hit by a 32-pounder cannonball that ripped away his hip and hurled him across the deck. He asked Perry to kill him because the pain was excruciating. Perry refused and ordered the Marines to carry him below — to a cockpit above the waterline that British cannoneers continued to pound with broadside, killing already wounded men — Brooks among them.
The Lawrence was a wreck in two hours and its guns manned by walking wounded until they, too, were dead or unable to carry on. At last, with only one gun left and Perry helping to aim it, the brig Niagara, which had been lagging behind untouched — fresh with full cannons and Marines — broke the British line, firing at two ships on larboard and three on starboard. Marine marksmen poured volleys and grenades at the Lady Prevost until Perry ordered them to cease fire because its resistance was over.
The Niagara’s bold example brought all the American ships into the heat of the battle and, in eight minutes, four British ships surrendered and two tried to flee but were overtaken. Victory was complete, and for the first time in history, an entire British fleet was captured.
The author is commander of an 1812 Marine Corps re-enactment group. He can be reached at dburzynski2003@yahoo.com.
http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/story.php?f=0-MARINEPAPER-2631969.php
Sempers,
Roger
:marine: