Except for the Civil War, the second war with Great Britain, declared on June 18, 1812, was the most divisive in American history. Its stated purpose was to combat British interference with American trade, but New England commercial

British Forces Attack Essex, Connecticut Source: Connecticut River Museum

interests, including the Connecticut state government, believed the war would only make a bad situation worse and fervently opposed both the war and the Madison administration. This underlying political conflict helps explain the variable and uneven response of Connecticut residents to the naval conflict that soon reached our shores.

While the land war on the Canadian frontier started out (and largely continued) poorly, the naval war began in a blaze of glory for the Nutmeg State when native son Isaac Hull of Derby captained the U.S.S. Constitution ("Old Ironsides") in her victory over the British frigate Guerriere. Shortly thereafter, a second British frigate, the Macedonian, was brought into New London by her captor, the U.S.S. United States. However, after refitting in New York, the United States and the Macedonian (now part of the U.S. Navy), sought to escape to the open sea but were chased back into New London by the British fleet. The inhabitants of New London were then far less welcoming of the Navy's presence than they have been in recent years, and in some cases opposition to the war verged on active sympathy for the British. The two American frigates tried several more times to slip out of the Sound but were always blocked by the British, who had been guided by mysterious blue lights signaled from shore. From that time, the term "Blue Light Federalist" became a standard political insult leveled at President Madison's political opponents.

Nonetheless, the United States and Macedonian were blockaded in the Thames River for the rest of the war, creating apprehension and resentment on the part of New Londoners who feared a naval attack. The blockading squadron never attempted to assault the city, but it did actively interfere with Connecticut's vital coastal trade and commerce. As the larger British warships loomed menacingly offshore, local sloops and schooners were subject to constant danger of interdiction by boats and small craft from the King's fleet. Navy gunboats from New York as well as Connecticut-based revenue cutters (precursors of the Coast Guard) occasionally convoyed coastal traffic, they could not be everywhere, and many a Connecticut mariner found his vessel and cargo seized and himself detained by British sailors. Indeed, some locals turned the blockade into a business opportunity by selling produce and provisions to the Royal Navy. Others sought to profit from the war in more patriotic fashion, building and fitting out privateers (government-licensed private warships) to prey on British commerce.

The Connecticut River town of Essex, then known as Pettipaug, was a center for building privateers and other vessels, which the British well knew. During the night of April 7, 1814, 136 Royal marines and sailors rowed up the river, guided by an anonymous local who was either coerced, volunteered or bribed into helping, and landed at the current site of the Connecticut River Museum. The raiding party promised to spare the unprepared and defenseless town if they were undisturbed in their burning and plundering, and went about their destructive business. The next night, defying the efforts of the local militia who had belatedly gathered to man riverside batteries and fortifications, the British returned to their ships with minimal casualties and a score of 27 privateers and other vessels burned. While this episode is little known today, it constituted the largest single loss of American shipping during the war. The event has never been forgotten in Essex, though, where each year it is celebrated with a parade, festivities and the lament, "They burned our ships and stole our rum!"

Connecticut's other major engagement of the war took place in August of 1814, when the commander of the British squadron, Sir Thomas M. Hardy, who had been Admiral Lord Nelson's flag captain at the Battle of Trafalgar, issued an ultimatum to the little port of Stonington to surrender or be destroyed. Thus alerted, the Stonington men sent away their women and valuables, summoned the militia, and improvised a three-gun battery to challenge the overwhelming force facing them. For three days the British ships bombarded Stonington with an estimated 50 tons of explosive shells, solid shot, and rockets, causing some property damage but wounding only one defender. The defenders fired back, hitting some of the ships and repulsing several landing attempts by boatloads of sailors and Marines. Finally, on August 12, the attack was called off and the British ships simply sailed away.  As a brief bit of good news in an otherwise calamitous summer for the American cause (the Capitol and White House in Washington, DC would be put to the torch on August 24) the Battle of Stonington was heralded as a triumph of heroism and commemorated in a poem by Philip Freneau. Today, visitors to Cannon Square in Stonington Borough can still see the two 18-pounders that fought off Hardy's men, but it remains unclear why the otherwise gentlemanly Hardy, respected by friend and foe alike, would assault a seemingly harmless village and then fail to press the attack to a conclusion. For an explanation of these mysteries, check out The Battle of Stonington: Torpedoes, Submarines and Rockets in the War of 1812, by Stonington author James Tertius deKay.

Unlike the non-human invaders described elsewhere in this issue, the Royal Navy eventually left Long Island Sound--although not before attending a grand ball in New London to celebrate the peace treaty. Their unwelcome incursion demonstrated that, if we want to protect Long Island Sound, we need to be constantly prepared, since it's easier to repel invaders than to avert their destruction after they've gained a foothold. Fortunately, the next set of visiting sails to be seen off New London will be friendly, as OpSail 2012 visits the area in July.  

For information on other War of 1812 Bicentennial events and activities, see the website  www.ourflagwasstillthere.org, and be sure to read future issues of Sound Outlook through 2014.