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 During the War of 1812, the Treasury Department required revenue
cutters, such as the Connecticut-based Eagle, to enforce tariffs and
trade laws, and protect American maritime commerce. Connecticut
native Frederick Lee (left), one of the most noted revenue cutter captains
at the time, commanded Eagle out of her homeport of New Haven.
Born
in 1766, Lee was too young to see action in the Revolution. Instead,
he became a shipmaster and received a cutter master's commission in
1809, at the ripe age of 43.
Built in New Haven in 1809, the topsail schooner-rigged Eagle was
the third revenue cutter to bear that name. She had dimensions of 60
feet in length on deck and 18 feet wide, with small arms of muskets,
pistols and cutlasses, and ordnance of four 4-pound and two 2-pound
cannon. During the War of 1812, her primary mission was to apprehend
British merchant ships as well as American merchantmen carrying
illegal British cargoes. In August 1812, Lee's Eagle seized the brig
Harriot of Bristol, England, and a brig from Liverpool, both bound
for New York, and sent them into New London for adjudication. In
October 1813, Eagle also apprehended American brigs Patriot, Harriet
and Ann McLane and sent them into New Haven for carrying illegal
British cargoes.
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A profile view of the War of 1812 Revenue Cutter Eagle, showing hull lines and sail rig. Coast Guard Collection. (U.S. Coast Guard courtesy
photo)
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With U.S. Navy warships cruising far off shore and Navy
gunboats often moored in port cities, the speedy revenue
cutters became effective maritime intelligence gathering
tools. They monitored enemy naval movements, identified
British privateers, and provided the latest news regarding
Navy vessel movements. Master Lee's cutter gathered and
shared this information with customs collectors, local
officials, and military leaders. For example, on Tuesday,
July 14, 1812, Eagle sighted a British squadron of four
large warships patrolling off Montauk Point, Long Island,
and transmitted their location by letter to the Navy agent
at New York City. On July 24, Lee also notified the New York
Navy agent that famed frigate USS Constitution had narrowly
escaped a British squadron of nine warships after a four-day
chase.
During the war, cutters also enforced over half-a-dozen trade
restrictions passed by Congress. Revenue cutter officers and crew
were well versed in these numerous laws, for American merchants and
ship captains would often challenge in court any seizures,
forfeitures or detentions of U.S. ships they believed to be illegal
or wrongful. These restrictions included the Non-Intercourse Act,
which was in force throughout the war. In October 1813, Eagle
apprehended the fast-sailing Boston to New York packet for “Breach
of the Sabbath.” Federal authorities indicted, incarcerated, and
fined the crew and passengers according to the law.
Eagle
also escorted convoys of American merchantmen, a revenue cutter
tradition established during the Quasi War with France in the late
1790s. Between 1813 and 1814, Eagle regularly served as escort for
convoys of merchantmen between Connecticut and New York that ranged
in size from three vessels to as many as 20. On June 17, 1814, a New
York newspaper noted, “Yesterday at 4 P.M. Passed the New-Haven
Revenue Cutter Eagle, Lee, from New York, with 20 sail of coasters
under convoy, standing into New-Haven.”
Eagle's ability to protect American commerce was put to
the test in October 1814. On Monday, October 10, news
arrived from Long Island Sound that a privateer had captured
an American merchantman. Despite the threat of Royal Navy
vessels patrolling the Sound, Lee showed no hesitation in
pursuing the enemy. He assembled local militia to join his
cutter and sailed into the night to re-capture the American
vessel and take the British privateer. At daybreak, Lee
found his cutter dangerously close to the 18-gun brig HMS
Dispatch and an armed tender; and he narrowly escaped
capture from deployed armed barges by running Eagle onto the
northern shore of Long Island. The cutter's crew stripped
the cutter of her sails and dragged her cannon up the bluffs
to duel with the British warships and armed barges.
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Painting of Cutter Eagle on patrol in Long Island Sound during
War of 1812 by marine artist Patrick O'Brien. (U.S. Coast Guard courtesy photo)
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With only six cannon, and 50 men armed with muskets, Lee
managed to fend off the two ships and their barges for
another day. Of the battle, a contemporary newspaper account
stated that:
Having expended all the wadding of the
four pounders on the hill, during the warmest of the firing, several
of the crew volunteered and went on board the cutter to obtain more.
At this moment the masts were shot away, when the brave volunteers
erected a flag upon her stern; this was soon shot away, but was
immediately replaced by a heroic tar, amidst the cheers of his
undaunted comrades, which was returned by a whole broadside from the
enemy.
In all, the British shot away Eagle's flag three times, but
volunteers from Lee's crew replaced it each time. After they had
exhausted their cannon shot, Eagle's gun crews tore up the cutter's
logbook to use as wadding and fired back enemy small shot that
lodged in the hill.
By Wednesday, October 12, the Royal Navy warships departed to
locate reinforcements while Lee patched up and refloated the damaged
Eagle. Early the next day, at low tide, the British gun brig and her
tender returned bringing with them the 32-gun frigate HMS Narcissus.
Lee's men ran the damaged cutter into shallow water again. Later
that morning, the Royal Navy ships launched a boarding force of
seven armed barges with covering fire from the three warships. Lee's
men kept up a brisk musket fire against the barges and, according to
Lee, “Our guns were loaded nearly to the muzzle with grape and
canister, and the fire reserved until they were within a handsome
distance, and then discharged.”
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Painted by Aldis Browne, this mural image in the Henriques Room of the Coast Guard Academy's Chase Hall depicts the heroic battle for Cutter Eagle by Capt. Frederick Lee, his crew and militia forces
during The War of 1812. (U.S. Coast Guard courtesy photo)
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The Americans fended off the British with withering cannon and
musketry fire for nearly an hour. After that, the incoming tide
re-floated Eagle and an enemy barge secured a line to the cutter. At
around noon October 13, the British finally towed Eagle away from
shore and the range of Lee's cannon and riflemen. Lee's men survived
to fight another day prompting him to write, “The officers and crew,
together with the volunteers, on board the cutter, have done their
duty as became American sailors.”
During the War of 1812,
five cutters were lost, including one whose magazine exploded,
another lost in a hurricane, and three captured by the enemy. Eagle
was the last cutter lost in the war. In November 1814, a month after
the Royal Navy flotilla captured her, a Boston newspaper reported,
“American revenue cutter, the Eagle, prize to H.M.B. Dispatch,
sailed under convoy of the Narcissus.” Two more revenue cutters
named “Eagle” later served out of New Haven, one built in 1816 and
another constructed in 1824. Frederick Lee would remain a cutter
master until 1829. He was a member of the long blue line and served
honorably for 20 years before retiring from the Service at the age
of 63.
By William H. Thiesen, Atlantic Area Historian, USCG
Provided
through
Coast
Guard
Copyright 2017
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