The Ohio Democrat. (Logan, O. [Ohio]) 1886-1906, 1894-06-23


would surpass other ships OF their
class, both in speed and battery power.
Three of them had been built-the
| others being abandoned-when the
seizures by the French not only Of
British vessels in American waters,
but even of American merchantmen,
brought on war. Vessels were hur-
ridly procured from various sources,
| and the Delaware seized the French
privatecr Croyable, which was after
ward recaptured by the Insurgente.
The Sans Farrell, the Jaloux, and other
|sFrench privateers. were subsequently
taken. -f
The most famous duel of the war
was the one in which the Constella-
tion. under Truxton, captured the In
surgente, of forty guns, throwing
seven hundred and ninety-one pounds,
against our frigate's forty-eight guns
| with eight hundred and forty-eight
pounds. The Insurgente lost seventy
killed and wounded, and the Constel-
lation but five. Superior armament
and superior gunnery even at that
early date distinguished our war
| ships. Afterward the Constellation
had sharp conflict with the Ven
| geance, which escaped after a battle
of five hours, in which she lost one
hundred and sixty killed and wounded,
or nearly half her crew, against the
CONSULTATIONS thirty-nine. The cap
ture of the Derceau by Capt. Little, in
the Boston, was another notable
event. After two and a half years the
war was ended early in 1901. Eighty.
four armed French vessels, nearly all
privateers, mounting over five hun
dred guns, had been captured, most of
them b. our government cruisers,
The French had captured no vessel ex-
cept merchantmen and their own
Croyable, rechristened the Retaliation.
Meanwhile our exports under the pro-
lection of the war ships increased
from fifty-seven million dollars. in 1897
to 7s,66552s in 1899, so that 1T paid"
to build up the navy.
Many persons can still rememb ber the
copper coin, or rather uncurrent token
which bore the legend: Millions for
Defense, Not One Cent for Tribute" I"
That sentiment goes back nearly CEN
tury, to the time when our country,
after yielding, at first, to the European
custom of paying tribute to the Bar
barry powers, broke away from it. The
bashaw of Tripoli, on learning that his
neighbors received larger tributes than
he, demanded more, and, on being re-
fused, in June. 1901, declared war
against the United States. Capt Rich
ard Dale had then already been sent
out to the Mediterranean with squad
ron, and reinforcements followed. The
Enterprise began operation by captur-
ing a polacre of fourteen guns after an
action in which the Tripolitans had
twenty killed and thirty wounded out
of crew of eighty.
Boat attacks on the enemy followed,
but great disaster occurred when the
Philadelphia, while chasing xebec.
grounded and was compelled to sur
render with all her officers and crew.
However, her commander Capt. Balm
bridge, in a letter written with lemon
juice, which on being held to the fire
became legible. suggested to Capt.
Preble the plan of destroying the Phila-
delphia at her anchorage. This feat was
splendidly accomplished by picked
ing the vessel and clearing her of the
| Turks who guarded her. The capture
of a felncca followed, and then series
of bombardmcnts of Tripoli, together
with desperate hand-to-hand fights
with the Tripolitan gunboats. A sad
but heroic incident was the blowing
up of the ketch Intrepid, in which
Richard Somers. Henry Wadsworth and
Joseph Israel, three brave young Off
| GERS. perished with their men while en-
deavoring to destroy the enemy's fio-
tilla. Finally, the brother and rival of
the bashaw was induced by. our consul,
Eaton. to take up arms against him,
and Eaton himself, picking twelve
hundred men from a rabble of many
thousands, and reinforcing them with
body of marines, captured Derne,
three of our vessels meanwhile silenc.
ing the shore batteries. Then, for the
first time, the flag of the United States
fioated over fortress of the Old
World. About five weeks later the
bashaw signed a treaty by which he
relinquished all claims to tribute
and agreed to release our captive coun
trymen for sixty thousand dollars
This was in June, 1905, and thus after
four years the war ended in throwing
off an ignoble yoke of piratical states
while our young navy had gained
great prestige by brilliant deeds o.
daring. nfst
The war of 1912 brings us to more
familiar story, opening with thu
causes of the conflict, the affair of th'
Chesapeake and the Leopard, and tina
of the president and the Little Belt
and then depicts the capture of TIN
Alert by Porter in the Essex, and TIN
: famous race inswhich the Constitution
showed her heels to Broke's squadron
Very soon, too, we get a spirited &C
count of the brilliant victory of tn
Constitution over the Guerriere. Mr.
: Macl,>y tells us that three times Lieut.
Morris asked Capt. Hull il he shoul
, return the encmy's fire, which ha
, made havoc in the American frigate
; and three times received Capt. Hull
calm Not yet, SIR" But when the de
, sired position was gained, of the enc
ny's port quarter, the order aame an
a terrific broadside crashed into tn
! Guerriere. At the end Of forty mir
: utes she was a wreck. Ma. Maclay say
that Hull and the gallant Dacres ha
!. often exchanged visits before the wal
! and that Dacres once bet him a hat o.
2 the result of fight between their re
. spective vessels, SO that when Dacre