"My answer was," Barry told Congress, "Damn you! I don't value you more than my duty requires."
"Sir! You never minded your duty," retorted Hopkinson.
"I immediately told him he was a liar and that the Continental Congress knew I had minded my duty, and added that had he minded his duty as well the ship would not be in its present condition."
The Navy Board, on December 11, 1777, complained to Congress of the "disrespect and ill treatment which Hopkinson had received from John Barry, commander of the frigate 'Effingham.'"
Barry was summoned to York, Pa., where Congress was in session. On January 10th he attended and made defense, concluding by saying that he considered himself "unworthy the commission of Congress if he tamely put up with treatment other than that due to all Captains of the Navy as gentlemen."
On February 27th the Marine Committee reported to Congress that "Captain Barry ought, within twenty days, make full acknowledgment to the Navy Board of having treated Mr. Hopkinson with indecency and disrespect." Nothing further appears on record, so it is presumed Captain Barry complied and the case closed. At this time Barry was, by order of the same Committee, actively at work destroying British supplies in the lower Delaware from Mantua Creek to Port Penn and Bombay Hook.
Congress was equally divided on a resolution that Captain Barry be not, in consequence of his conduct towards Hopkinson, "employed on the expedition assigned to his conduct by the Marine Committee with the approbation of Congress until the further order of Congress." Had he not been employed, Washington might not, later, have been cheered by the results which Captain Barry achieved in "the expedition" against the British supply vessels coming up the Delaware.
Washington, amid the desolation of Valley Forge, had his heart torn by the suffering of his Patriot soldiers who bore all, suffered all, hoped all, determined to brave all that their country should be free. From amid that distress Washington sent his thanks for "the good things" Barry sent to the camp.
While the controversy with Hopkinson was being considered and Barry was in the upper Delaware, he projected the plan to attempt the destruction of some of the enemy's vessels lying off Philadelphia by floating down machines in form of ships' buoys filled with powder. These, as they floated past the city, were fired at by the British batteries. This event is known in history as "The Battle of the Kegs."
Singularly, too, Francis Hopkinson, Barry's accuser of want of respect for him made the event memorable by a humorous ditty reflecting upon "British valor displayed."