“I have been detained several days by a severe rheumatic attack, but I shall, by the aid of Dr. Mann, be able to set off this day toward Lake Champlain, where I trust General Bloomfield will be able to move toward Montreal, and with the addition of three thousand regular troops that place might be carried and held this winter; but I cannot consent to crossing the St. Lawrence with an uncertainty of being able to remain there.”
Whatever were Dearborn’s motives for undertaking the movement, his official report[319] explained that on arriving at Plattsburg he found General Bloomfield ill, and was himself obliged to take command, November 19, when he marched the army about twenty miles to the Canadian line. At that point the militia declined to go further, and Dearborn as quietly as possible, November 23, marched back to Plattsburg. His campaign lasted four days, and he did not enter Canada.
Whether Dearborn, Smyth, or William Hull would have improved the situation by winning a victory or by losing a battle was a question to be answered by professional soldiers; but the situation at best was bad, and when the report of Smyth’s crowning failure reached Dearborn it seemed for a moment to overcome his sorely tried temper. “I had anticipated disappointment and misfortune in the commencement of the war,” he wrote to Eustis,[320] “but I did by no means apprehend such a deficiency of regular troops and such a series of disasters as we have witnessed.” He intimated his readiness to accept the responsibility which properly belonged to him, and to surrender his command. “I shall be happy to be released by any gentleman whose talents and popularity will command the confidence of the Government and the country.” To the President he wrote at the same time:[321] “It will be equally agreeable to me to employ such moderate talents as I possess in the service of my country, or to be permitted to retire to the shades of private life, and remain a mere but interested spectator of passing events.”
CHAPTER XVII.
Culpable as was the helplessness of the War Department in 1812, the public neither understood nor knew how to enforce responsibility for disasters which would have gone far to cost a European war minister his life, as they might have cost his nation its existence. By fortune still kinder, the Navy Department escaped penalty of any sort for faults nearly as serious as those committed by its rival. The navy consisted, besides gunboats, of three heavy frigates rated as carrying forty-four guns; three lighter frigates rated at thirty-eight guns; one of thirty-two, and one of twenty-eight; besides two ships of eighteen guns, two brigs of sixteen, and four brigs of fourteen and twelve,—in all sixteen sea-going vessels, twelve of which were probably equal to any vessels afloat of the same class. The eight frigates were all built by Federalist Congresses before President Jefferson’s time; the smaller craft, except one, were built under the influence of the war with Tripoli. The Administration which declared war against England did nothing to increase the force. Few of the ships were in first-rate condition. The officers complained that the practice of laying up the frigates in port hastened their decay, and declared that hardly a frigate in the service was as sound as she should be. For this negligence Congress was alone responsible; but the Department perhaps shared the blame for want of readiness when war was declared.
The only ships actually ready for sea, June 18, were the “President,” 44, commanded by Commodore Rodgers, at New York, and the “United States,” 44, which had cruised to the southward with the “Congress,” 38, and “Argus,” 16, under the command of Commodore Decatur. Secretary Hamilton, May 21, sent orders to Decatur to prepare for war, and June 5 wrote more urgently:[322] “Have the ships under your command immediately ready for extensive active service, and proceed with them to New York, where you will join Commodore Rodgers and wait further orders. Prepare for battle, which I hope will add to your fame.” To Rodgers he wrote on the same day in much the same words:[323] “Be prepared in all respects for extensive service.” He asked both officers for their advice how to make the navy most useful. Rodgers’s reply, if he made one, was not preserved; but Decatur answered from Norfolk, June 8,[324]—
“The plan which appears to me to be the best calculated for our little navy ... would be to send them out with as large a supply of provisions as they can carry, distant from our coast and singly, or not more than two frigates in company, without giving them any specific instructions as to place of cruising, but to rely on the enterprise of the officers.”
The Department hesitated to adopt Decatur’s advice, and began by an effort to concentrate all its ships at New York,—an attempt in which Secretary Hamilton could not wholly succeed, for the “Constellation” and the “Chesapeake,” 38-gun frigates, and the “Adams,” 28, were not in condition for sea; the “Essex,” 32, was not quite ready, and the “Wasp,” 18, was bringing despatches from Europe, while the “Constitution,” 44, detained at Annapolis by the difficulty of shipping a new crew, could not sail within three weeks. The secretary ordered Captain Hull, who commanded the “Constitution,” to make his way to New York with the utmost speed, and if his crew were in proper condition, to look for the British frigate “Belvidera” on the way. The only ships that could be brought to New York without delay were those of Decatur at Norfolk. To him the secretary, on the declaration of war, sent orders to proceed with all despatch northwards, and “to notice the British flag if it presents itself” on the way. “The ‘Belvidera’ is said to be on our coast,” added the secretary.[325] Before this letter reached Norfolk, Decatur and his squadron sailed from the Chesapeake and were already within sight of Sandy Hook; so that the only orders from the Navy Department which immediately affected the movement of the frigates were those sent to New York for Commodore Rodgers and the frigate “President,” but which included Decatur’s squadron when it should arrive.
“For the present,” wrote the secretary to Rodgers,[326] “it is desirable that with the force under your command you remain in such position as to enable you most conveniently to receive further more extensive and more particular orders, which will be conveyed to you through New York. But as it is understood that there are one or more British cruisers on the coast in the vicinity of Sandy Hook, you are at your discretion free to strike them, returning immediately after into port. You are free to capture or destroy them.”
These orders reached New York June 21. Rodgers in his fine frigate the “President,” with the “Hornet,” 18, was eager to sail. The hope of capturing the “Belvidera,” which had long been an intolerable annoyance to New York commerce, was strong both in the Navy Department and in the navy; but the chance of obtaining prize money from the British West India convoy, just then passing eastward only a few days’ sail from the coast, added greatly to the commodore’s impatience.[327] Decatur’s squadron arrived off Sandy Hook June 19. June 21, within an hour after receiving the secretary’s orders of June 18, the whole fleet, including two forty-four and one thirty-eight-gun frigates, with the “Hornet” and the “Argus,” stood out to sea.