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In the late 1790s, the United States and Revolutionary France
began fighting an undeclared naval war known as the “Quasi War.”
With only a small naval force available at the time, U.S.
authorities called on the U.S. Revenue Cutter Service to protect
American merchantmen and defend them against French privateers.
In the early 1790s, the nation's revenue cutters were small
lightly armed vessels, cruising for only days at a time out of their
homeports. The service quickly built a class of small warships, or
super-cutters, which matched or exceeded the speed and armament of
enemy privateers. This new class of cutters included Eagle,
Pickering, and Scammel, which all participated in combat operations
during the Quasi War. Pickering was one of the standouts of this
class, capturing nearly 20 prizes and privateers, including l'Egypte
Conquise. The French privateer carried almost double Pickering's
weapons and crew, and surrendered only after a brutal 9-hour gun
battle. However, sailing under Master Hugh George Campbell, Eagle
commanded the best wartime record of captures for any U.S. vessel.
In August 1798, Campbell arrived in Philadelphia to take
possession of Eagle for the Revenue Cutter Service and prepare her
for sea. The 187-ton vessel measured 58 feet on the keel, with a
20-foot beam and 9-foot hold. Eagle carried 14 6-pound carriage guns
on her main deck. At about 6 feet in length and weighing around 700
pounds apiece, these 6-pounders required a high degree of skill,
training and physical strength to maintain and operate. The cutter
was likely pierced with 16 gun ports, two extra for ranging cannon
forward and handling anchor lines through the bow.
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Based on records and documents, this modern profile view shows the
US Revenue Cutter (USRC) Eagle, which fought in the Quasi-War with France.
(Coast Guard Collection 1799)
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Problems had emerged before Campbell arrived in
Philadelphia adding weeks to Eagle's departure on her first war
cruise. The large cutter required a complement of no less than 70
men to sail her, man her guns, board enemy ships and supply prize
crews for captured vessels. A yellow fever epidemic had struck the
city and regulations forbidding enlistment of black seamen both
delayed recruiting. Under orders from Navy Secretary Benjamin
Stoddert, Campbell did his best to “Enlist none but healthy white
men, and give preference to Natives if they are to be had.” The
cutter's crew ultimately included Campbell, mates (first, second and
third), boatswain, carpenter, gunner, able seamen, ordinary seamen,
cook, steward, boys and a contingent of 14 marines.
Local
shortages of war material also delayed Eagle's deployment. Before
sailing for the theater of operations, Eagle required four months'
worth of provisions and two months' supply of water. Philadelphia's
naval suppliers had to provide military stores, such as powder,
flints, cutlasses, pistols, blunderbusses and gun carriages. Eagle
required 40 cannon balls per 6-pound gun, or 560 cannon shot, which
required additional time to acquire. By late November, Campbell was
fully provisioned and ready to go in harm's way with the swiftest
vessel in the American fleet.
Eagle's deployment came none
too soon as rumors spread that French privateers were cruising in
southern waters, causing concern among American merchants and
shippers. Campbell received orders to patrol off South Carolina and
Georgia coasts, so he raised anchor and set a course down the
Delaware River. Campbell's mission showed the U.S. flag along the
coast and proved a success in the eyes of nervous merchants, but
Eagle encountered no enemy cruisers during her deployment. In
January 1799, Campbell received new orders to rendezvous with the
American naval squadron based at Prince Rupert's Bay, Dominica.
Campbell set sail for the rendezvous, initiating a 2-year
rampage against enemy shipping and privateers. On March 2,
before falling in with the American squadron, Eagle re-took
from a French prize crew the captured American sloop Lark.
As was the custom at the time, cutters and Navy ships
received prize money for capturing enemy vessels, or a
smaller amount of salvage money for re-capturing prize
vessels. Lark proved the first of many re-taken vessels to
line the pockets of Campbell and his men with salvage money.
Also in March, Congress enacted legislation that brought the
Revenue Cutter Service under the control of the U.S. Navy.
After this legislation became law, revenue cutters would
forever serve as part of the Navy during armed conflicts, as
modern Coast Guard cutters do today.
In mid-March
1799, Campbell reported for duty to squadron commander John
Barry, captain of the 44-gun frigate USS United States.
Eagle fell in with the rest of the squadron, including her
sister ship Pickering, en route to Prince Rupert's Bay. By
this time, Caribbean waters had become a lawless place of
privateers and their prey; and, within weeks of the
rendezvous, Campbell had re-captured a second prize ship and
run ashore a French privateer at Barbuda.
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This painting of the US Revenue Cutter Eagle capturing privateer Le Bon Pierre
in 1799 illustrates the activities carried out by revenue cutters during the Quasi-War.
(Coast Guard Collection)
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At the time of Eagle's entry into the war, enemy privateers
operated out of French possessions, such as Guadeloupe and St.
Martin. On Friday, April 5, Eagle gave chase to the Guadeloupe-based
privateer Le Bon Pierre, pierced for 10 cannon, but mounting only
four with a 55 man crew. The sloop fled and dumped two guns
overboard to speed her escape. However, after a five hour chase,
Eagle overhauled the privateer, whose crew offered no resistance.
Campbell placed aboard the privateer a prize master and prize crew
who sailed Le Bon Pierre to Savannah for adjudication. The Revenue
Cutter Service purchased the sloop and converted her into the cutter
Bee to serve the Savannah station, giving Campbell and his men
shares of the privateer's handsome $2,000 adjudication value.
In mid-April, Eagle joined the 44-gun frigate USS Constitution
(a warship Campbell would one day command) to escort 33 British and
American merchantmen out of the Caribbean. During such convoy
operations, it was Eagle's duty to fend off privateers and cruisers
attempting to “cut out” merchantmen from the convoy. Eagle
encountered at least one “strange sail” during the mission, but no
merchantmen were lost. At the end of April, Eagle patrolled with
revenue cutter Virginia and the 18-gun brig USS Richmond. Together,
they captured the French schooner Louis before Eagle returned to
base at Prince Rupert's Bay.
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Image of marine artist Peter Rindlisbacher's painting of the
USRC Eagle and USS Constitution escorting a convoy out of the Caribbean
during the Qqasi War with France in the 1799. (Image provided by U.S. Coast Guard Academy Library)
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Early in May, Eagle arrived at the squadron's new base at
Basseterre, St. Kitts, located north of Guadeloupe. From there, she
re-joined USS Richmond and patrolled windward of Barbuda and
Antigua. On May 15, the two brigs encountered the French privateer
Reliance of 14 guns and 75 men in consort with two prize ships.
These prize ships were the Massachusetts brig Mehitable, sailing
home to Newburyport from Suriname; and the New Bedford whaler Nancy
returning home from a one year voyage to the South Pacific.
Outnumbered and outgunned, Reliance fled, leading the Richmond on a
14-hour chase, after which the privateer escaped under cover of
darkness. Meanwhile, Eagle re-captured both Mehitable and Nancy,
taking prisoner their French prize crews. Nancy alone carried tons
of spermaceti oil valued at $50,000, a large fortune whose salvage
value was shared out to her captors.
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This painting held by the U.S. Coast Guard Academy shows the
USRC Eagle
re-capturing prize ships Nancy and Mehitable in May 1799. (Image
provided by U.S. Coast Guard Academy Library)
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May 1799 proved lucrative for Campbell, including the final days
of the month. On Wednesday, May 29, Eagle partnered with the 20-gun
ship USS Baltimore to capture the privateer schooner Syren of four
guns and 36 men. Later that day, Eagle and frigate USS United States
re-captured the American sloop Hudson. These captures added to
Campbell's reputation as a combat commander and his net worth,
greatly padding the wealth he would amass over the course of the
war.
Spring 1799 had been a successful season for Campbell, but summer
brought new missions. On June 13, Eagle and Richmond served as
escorts for a convoy sailing from St. Kitts north toward Bermuda.
The two warships left the convoy near the Virginia coast and July
saw Eagle laid up in Norfolk, undergoing repairs and replacing
personnel. Meanwhile, American squadron commodore Thomas Tingey
wrote dispatches from St. Kitts to the Secretary of the Navy begging
for the speedy return of his top combat commanders, including
Campbell. On July 27, Campbell received a U.S. Navy commission as
master and commandant. On August 2, the Treasury Department
transferred official control of the cutter and its crew to the Navy.
In early August, Campbell received orders to sail south from
Norfolk and rejoin the American squadron. By early September, Eagle
had returned to St. Kitts and set sail with the 20-gun ship USS
Delaware, capturing the French merchant sloop Reynold, laden with
sugar and molasses. On September 19, Eagle encountered a French
privateer towing the American brig North Carolina. Eagle drove off
the privateer and retook the brig. On October 2, in company with
Commodore Tingey's 24-gun sloop USS Ganges, Eagle captured the
French merchant schooner Esperance, carrying sugar and coffee.
Two days after capturing Esperance, while anchored at St.
Bartholomew's, Campbell became party to one of the most notorious
mutinies of the day. Two weeks into a voyage to St. Thomas, three
seamen took control of the schooner Eliza of Philadelphia. The
mutineers murdered the mate, a seaman and the supercargo; however,
they failed to kill the captain, who kept the ship's only firearms
locked in his cabin. Armed with his pistols, the captain managed to
entrap the three men below decks, retake the ship and sail
single-handed for 13 days before encountering the Eagle. Campbell
assisted the merchant captain and put the three mutineers in irons.
He later transferred the men to the USS Ganges bound north for
Philadelphia. Upon the American warship's arrival, local authorities
tried and convicted the men on charges of murder and piracy, and
hanged them on Wind Mill Island across the Delaware River from the
city.
Over the next six months, Campbell enjoyed a string of
successes: December 5, the Eagle crew retook the brig George;
January 2, they recaptured the brig Polly; the 10th, Eagle together
with the 28-gun frigate USS Adams, captured the French privateer
Fougueuse, of two guns and 50 men, and recaptured the American prize
ship Aphia; February 1, Eagle captured the French schooner
Benevolence; on March 1, it recaptured the American schooner Three
Friends; on April 1, it captured the French privateer Favorite; on
May 7, Eagle retook the American sloop Ann; and, three days later,
she recaptured the American schooner Hope.
Campbell's combat
record rested on his sound leadership, the proper maintenance of his
ship, and care of his crew. But combat also required good judgment.
Campbell had to take risks and know when to press an attack and when
not to. In early February 1800, he spotted two strange vessels,
pursued them, and found the ships to be French privateers with a
fighting strength twice his own. He outsailed the privateers, but
suffered numerous hits from their guns while making good his escape.
In June, Eagle encountered an enemy privateer with three prize ships
off St. Bartholomew's. Campbell attacked and Eagle received severe
damage to its sails and rigging before the privateer fled.
Meanwhile, the three prize ships ran ashore, robbing Campbell of
their salvage value.
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Campbell's faded headstone at the Congressional Cemetery, near the Washington Navy Yard, is the only memorial to his heroic exploits and service to his country.
(Image courtesy of Historic Congressional Cemetery, Washington, D.C.)
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In June 1800, Eagle captured two French ships and a third in
August. These vessels would be the last captures of Campbell's
two-year campaign in the Caribbean. Despite spending considerable
time escorting convoys and refitting at home, Campbell's Eagle had
captured, or assisted in the capture, of 22 privateers, prize ships
and enemy merchantmen.
Campbell not only had command presence and seafaring ability, he
was lucky. By September 1800, Eagle was in bad shape with half her
copper sheathing gone and much of her wood planking infested with
shipworms. Campbell received orders to escort a convoy north,
together with the 26-gun sloop USS Maryland, and then sail home for
refitting and hull maintenance. While Eagle rode at anchor awaiting
her convoy's 50 merchantmen to assemble at St. Thomas, a major
hurricane swirled to the north, forcing a number of American
warships to fight for their survival. Top heavy with thick masts and
spars, and dozens of large cannon, the frigate USS Insurgent was
probably the storm's first victim. She vanished from the sea's
surface with her entire crew of 340 men. The next victim must have
been Eagle's sistership Pickering, which had recently triumphed over
the privateer l'Egypte Conquise.
But the victor became the vanquished as the heroic cutter lost
her battle with Mother Nature. A day later all that remained of
Pickering was an overturned hull afloat in the calm seas. Another of
Eagle's sisterships, Scammel, survived the storm only by dumping her
cannon and excess gear. What the enemy had failed to do against the
American squadron in months of naval warfare, the violent storm
executed in just hours. After the hurricane passed, Campbell and his
crew raised anchor and sailed north with the convoy not knowing
their course took them over the watery graves of 400 American souls
lost with the Pickering and Insurgent.
After Campbell completed this final escort mission, he set a
course for Delaware Bay. On Sunday, September 28, Eagle dropped
anchor at Newcastle, Delaware, and Campbell's command of the cutter
came to an end. After refitting in Philadelphia, Eagle served a
final tour in the Caribbean under another captain.
But, with the conflict nearing an end, the brig saw little
action. After the war ended, the Navy scaled back the fleet to its
larger warships in the interests of economy. Eagle sailed for
Baltimore to be decommissioned and on Wednesday, June 17, the Navy
sold her for the sum of $10,585.73. Five more cutters named “Eagle”
would serve in the Revenue Cutter Service and modern Coast Guard,
including the Barque Eagle, the Coast Guard's training vessel and
America's tall ship.
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With Hugh George Campbell's wartime record of captures,
commodores Thomas Tingey and Thomas Truxton saw him as their most
aggressive combat commander. Out of the hundreds of casualties
suffered aboard the American squadron's warships, Campbell's Eagle
reported not one case of illness, disease, injury, drowning, combat
wounds or men killed in action.
This record attests not only to Campbell's good fortune, but his
care and oversight of his ship and crew. On October 16, Campbell
received promotion to captain in the U.S. Navy and would rise to
become a prominent officer in the Navy during the early 1800s. He
was a member of the long blue line and one of America's finest
combat captains in the Age of Sail.
By William H. Thiesen, Atlantic Area Historian, USCG
Provided
through
Coast
Guard
Copyright 2016
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