| Chesapeake–Leopard affair | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of theevents leading to theWar of 1812 | |||||||
 HMS Leopard (right) fires uponUSS Chesapeake | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
 United Kingdom |  United States | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
| Salusbury Humphreys | James Barron | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| 4th rateLeopard | FrigateChesapeake | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| None |
| ||||||
TheChesapeake–Leopard affair was a naval engagement off the coast ofNorfolk, Virginia, on June 22, 1807, between the Britishfourth-rateHMS Leopard and the AmericanfrigateUSS Chesapeake. The crew ofLeopard pursued, attacked, and boarded the American frigate, looking for deserters from theRoyal Navy.[1]Chesapeake was caught unprepared and after a short battle involvingbroadsides received fromLeopard, the commander ofChesapeake,James Barron, surrendered his vessel to the British.Chesapeake had fired only one shot.
Four crew members were removed from the American vessel and were tried for desertion, one of whom was subsequently hanged.Chesapeake was allowed to return home, where James Barron wascourt martialed and relieved of command.
TheChesapeake–Leopard affair created an uproar among Americans. There were strident calls for war with Great Britain, but these quickly subsided. PresidentThomas Jefferson initially attempted to use this widespread bellicosity to diplomatically threaten the British government into settling the matter. The United States Congress backed away from armed conflict when British envoys showed no contrition for theChesapeake affair, delivering proclamations reaffirmingimpressment. Jefferson's political failure to coerce Great Britain led him toward economic warfare: theEmbargo of 1807.[1]
On June 22, 1807, during theNapoleonic Wars, several British naval vessels were on duty on theNorth American Station, blockading two Frenchthird-rate warships inChesapeake Bay.[2] A number ofRoyal Navy seamen had deserted from their ships and local American authorities gave them sanctuary. One of the deserters, a Londoner named Jenkin Ratford, joined the crew ofUSS Chesapeake. Ratford had made himself conspicuous to British officers by shouting at them on the streets ofNorfolk, Virginia.[3]
Other deserters were reported to be at theGosport Navy Yard, then commanded byStephen Decatur. Decatur received a letter from the British consul ordering him to turn over three men alleged to have deserted fromHMS Melampus. The consul claimed the men had enlisted in the U.S. Navy, which was recruiting a crew forChesapeake, then at theWashington Navy Yard outfitting for a voyage to theMediterranean.[1][4]
Vice-AdmiralSir George Berkeley dispatched his flagship, thefourth-rate warshipHMS Leopard, with written orders authorizing him to board and search the United States warship to recover any deserters.[3] Berkeley orderedLeopard's captain to search for deserters fromHMS Belleisle,HMS Bellona,HMS Triumph,HMS Chichester,HMS Halifax, and thecutterHMS Zenobia.[5]
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Chesapeake was off the coast of Norfolk, Virginia, commanded by CommodoreJames Barron, whenLeopard, under CaptainSalusbury Pryce Humphreys, encountered and hailed her. Barron was not alarmed, and received Lieutenant John Meade on board, who presented Barron with the search warrant. After an inconclusive discussion, Meade returned toLeopard. Captain Humphreys, using a hailing trumpet, ordered the American ship to submit. WhenChesapeake did not, Humphreys fired a round across herbow. This was followed immediately byLeopard firingbroadsides into the American ship.[6] Her guns unloaded and her decks cluttered with stores in preparation for a long cruise,Chesapeake managed to fire only a single gun in reply. The humiliated Barronstruck his colors and surrendered. Three ofChesapeake's crew had been killed and 18 wounded, including Barron, by the attack. However, Humphreys refused the surrender and sent a boarding party toChesapeake to search for deserters.[7]
Scores of British nationals had signed on as crewmen ofChesapeake,[6] but Humphreys seized only the four Royal Navy deserters: Daniel Martin, John Strachan and William Ware all from HMSMelampus, and Jenkin Ratford, formerly onHMS Halifax. Only Ratford was British-born. The others were American residents,[8] but had been serving on British warships.[6] Daniel Martin, for instance, claimed he was born inWestport, Massachusetts; he was described as age 24, 5 feet5+1⁄2 inches (166 cm) high with "woolly hair", black eyes and dark yellow complexion and a small scar over his right eyebrow. Prior to serving onChesapeake, Martin served on the merchant vesselCaledonia and was described as "acolored man." Newspaper accounts of the time state Martin was not born in the United States but brought to Massachusetts, (possiblyenslaved)[dubious –discuss] when he was six years old by mariner William Howland, fromBuenos Aires.[9][10]
ThebrigColumbine brought the first dispatches toHalifax in early July.Leopard followed with her prisoners for trial.[11] Jenkin Ratford, the sole British citizen, was sentenced to death and was hanged from theyardarm ofHalifax on August 31, 1807.[12][13] The three American deserters received sentences of 500 lashes each, but the sentences were later commuted.[13]
The bloody encounter caused a storm of protest from the U.S. government, and theBritish government eventually offered to return the three American residents[8] and to pay reparations for the damage toChesapeake.[14] After over 5 years spent in bonded service with the Royal Navy, the last two deserters were returned toBoston, Massachusetts by theschoonerHMS Bream, one month after the outbreak of the War of 1812.[15]
The incident outraged American public opinion, and many felt the country's "sense of honor" had been violated.[16] Americans of every political stripe spoke of the need to uphold national honor, and to reject the dismissal of the United States by Britain as a third-class nonentity. Americans talked incessantly about the need for force in response.[17] PresidentThomas Jefferson noted: "Never since theBattle of Lexington have I seen this country in such a state of exasperation as at present, and even that did not produce such unanimity."[18][19]James Monroe, then a foreign minister acting under instructions from U.S. Secretary of State James Madison, demanded British disavowal of the deed, the restoration of the four seamen, the recall of Admiral Berkeley, the exclusion of British warships from U.S. territorial waters, and the abolition ofimpressments from vessels under the United States flag.[20]
The event raised tensions between the two countries and, while possibly not a direct cause, was one of the events leading up to theWar of 1812. Many Americans demanded war because of the attack, but President Jefferson turned to diplomacy and economic pressure in the form of the ill-fatedEmbargo Act of 1807.[citation needed]
TheFederal government began to be concerned about the lack of war material. Their concerns led to the establishment of a tariff protecting the manufacturers of gunpowder, which helped ensure the fortunes of theDuPont company.[21][better source needed]
The incident had significant repercussions for the U.S. Navy. The public was shocked thatChesapeake had not been able to put up any resistance and surrendered so quickly, questioning the ability of the Navy to defend the country in the case of a war with Great Britain, despite the expensive and controversialfrigate-building program. Acourt-martial blamed Barron and suspended him from service for five years as punishment.[22]
In 1820, Commodore Barron challenged and mortally wounded CommodoreStephen Decatur in aduel over remarks Decatur had made about Barron's conduct in 1807 (Barron was also wounded). Decatur had served on the court-martial that found Barron guilty of being unprepared and barred him from command for five years.[23]
Chesapeake herself was captured during the War of 1812, when on June 1, 1813, after a series of naval engagements with the Royal Navy, the British frigateHMS ShannoncapturedChesapeake in asingle-ship action near Boston. The Royal Navy commissionedChesapeake, but put her up for sale atPortsmouth in July 1819.[24] Her timbers are now part of theChesapeake Mill inWickham, England.[25]
The fallout from theChesapeake–Leopard affair features prominently in two novels of theAubrey–Maturin series byPatrick O'Brian. It is first mentioned in the fifth novel,Desolation Island, when the fictional CaptainJack Aubrey is given command ofLeopard (which he privately refers to as the "horrible oldLeopard") a few years after the incident. Though the United States and Great Britain are at peace at the time, and neither he nor any member of his crew had any direct involvement with the affair, he is met with mistrust and hostility from American whalers due to their negative association with the ship.[26] The subsequentcapture ofChesapeake during the War of 1812 features prominently in the sixth Aubrey–Maturin novel,The Fortune of War, as Aubrey is aboardHMS Shannon during the engagement.[27]
TheChesapeake–Leopard affair is mentioned in theBoston Jacky novel of theBloody Jack adventures series byL.A. Meyer.[28]
{{cite book}}:|work= ignored (help){{cite book}}:|work= ignored (help)[N]ever, since the battle of Lexington have I seen this country in such a state of exasperation as at present: and even that did not produce such unanimity.
{{cite book}}:|work= ignored (help){{cite book}}:ISBN / Date incompatibility (help)
