The Naval War of 1812: A Documentary History. Vol. 3: 1814-1815

The Naval War of 1812: A Documentary History. Volume III: 1814-1815, Chesapeake Bay, Northern Lakes, and Pacific Ocean. Edited by Michael J. Crawford and others. Foreword by William S. Dudley. (Washington, D.C.: Naval Historical Center, Department of the Navy, 2002. Pp. xlviii, 874. $70.00, ISBN 0-16-051224-7.)

This is the third of four volumes of documents assembled by the Naval Historical Center in Washington treating naval aspects of the War of 1812. The first volume covered the origins of the war through December 1812, while the second dealt with events in 1813. The remaining period of the war (January 1814-May 1815) is to be covered in two volumes, proceeding by theater of war rather than chronologically. Thus, the volume reviewed here is divided into three sections that treat the Chesapeake Bay, northern lakes, and Pacific Ocean theaters. Volume IV will cover the same time frame for the Atlantic Ocean, Gulf of Mexico, and Indian Ocean.

Volume III opens with a discussion of the period by Director of Naval History William S. Dudley. In his preface, the general editor of the volume, Michael J. Crawford, head of the Early History Branch, discusses the general approach and sources utilized. This is followed by a list of documents and page numbers, lists of illustrations and maps, a discussion of the editorial method, and lists of repository symbols and abbreviations used to describe documents. The vast majority of the documents are of an official nature, such as letters to and from the secretary of the navy and captains, entries from logs and journals, and letters from private citizens to the secretary of the navy. In an effort to provide greater balance, Crawford has included more documents from the British perspective than were contained in the two previous volumes. In the presentation of the documents, numbered footnotes provide clarification or additional information about people, places, and events mentioned in the text.

In each of the three theaters of war covered here, attention centers on a major action. In the Chesapeake Bay, Captain Joshua Barney assembled a flotilla of gunboats and fought a series of small engagements with the British before his men were forced to destroy his vessels when they were blockaded in the Patuxent River. Barney then led his forces overland to help defend Washington. In sharp contrast to most of the other U.S. forces involved, his seamen fought with distinction in the subsequent Battle of Bladensburg. Other documents in this section pertain to the British naval blockade in the Chesapeake; the destruction of the Washington Navy Yard; the British assault on Baltimore; and preparations by the Americans to resist a British assault against the Gosport Navy Yard.

Documents for the northern lakes theater discuss strategies on both sides, ship construction, and events on Lakes Erie, Ontario, and Huron, but the battle for control of Lake Champlain dominates. Here Master Commandant Thomas Macdonough's flotilla defeated a British squadron, putting the British supply route down the lake in jeopardy and leading to the withdrawal of the British land force of over ten thousand men that had invaded the United States from Canada.

The smallest section of documents in the book is the third, treating the Pacific theater of war. These discuss only the events surrounding the March 28, 1814, battle between the U.S. Navy frigate Essex and British frigate Phoebe and sloop Cherub off Valparaiso, Chile. The Americans under Captain David Porter lost that battle, one of the most sanguinary of the Age of Fighting Sail, but in the fight brought much glory to themselves.

Crawford and his several assistant editors have done an admirable job. With its previous volumes, this collection will be of considerable value to scholars studying the period.

SPENCER C. TUCKER

Virginia Military Institute