Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-06-09

the general to spend the remainder Of his
life in his home at Newton, Mass.
.*
The navy was the brilliant arm of the
government. The magnificent victories
won by Capts. Isaac Hull, Decatur, Balm
bridge, Lawrence, Perry and others gave
the United States Navy a prestige which
it has never lost, and impaired a fame
to these gallant sea fighters in marked
contrast to the oblivion into which most
of the army leaders of the war of 1872
have sunk. With the exception, however.
of the victories of Perry on Lake Erie
and Marlborough on Lake Champlain,
when, in each case, a British feet was
partially destroyed and captured, there
by giving the Americans control of the
lakes and a great stretch of frontier ter
ritory, the other naval engagements were
of no vital Importance as a determining
factor in the war. But they were I'M
portant as showing to the world the cali
Der of American naval officers and in
shattering the tradition of nyulnera bilty
clinging 10 the English navy.
John Bach McMaster, in his History
of the People of the United States" pre-
sents this phase of the war with a clear
ness which has not been excelled by any
historian writing of this period.
was not man in England who did not doom
the United States Navy to destruction within
month But when six months had passed and
England a series OF reyerses without parallel
In her annals. when frigate after frigate had
clear 10 all the world that England had COM
mitted the most foolish. the most ruinous of all
mistakes-that she bad despised the enemy. To
her the loss OF i've ships was not a matter Of
the slightest moment but the loss Of her naval
prestige. which the destruction Of these five
est moment to the whole civilized world.
And this Is the lasting value OF the victories Of
Hull and Decatur, cambridge. Lawrence and
Jones'
The first naval victory of the war
came SO soon after the Detroit fiasco
as to soothe to a large extent the
evaporation Of that disaster. Capt
Isaac Hull, a nephew of Gen. Hull. in
command of the frigate Constitution,
was the hero. his opponent being the
British frigate Guerrero, commanded
by Capt. Dacres. They had met be-
fore. in July. 1912. in the memorable
escape of the Constitution from a
British squadron of five vessels. The
latter pursued the lone American for
three days. but by clever handling.
combined with towing and hedging,
the Constitution outsailed the enemy
in what has been called the most ex-
citing chase recorded in naval annals"
Hull returned to Boston and set out
again on August 2. On August 10 when
many miles off Halifax, he met his old
foe the Guerrero and one of the fiercest
naval battles of the war ensued. Hull
reserved his fire until the vessels We're
within fifty yards of each other. At the
first broadside the Guerriere's mizzen-
mast fell. Soon after her fore and main
masts went by the board and Capt. Da-
cres was forced to surrender. 1t was
from this encounter that the Constitution
got her familiar name of Old Ironsides.
so little was her wooden hull injured.
The Guerriere was so badly cut up that
she was burned, and Hull returned in
triumph to Boston with his prisoners.
He was greeted with urroarious enthu-
siasm and Toasted by the citizens. New
York gave him the freedom of the city
in a gold box, and the citizens raised q
purse to purchase swords for him and his
officers.
Just two months later. October 1S, came
the conflict between the sloop-of-war
Wasp. Capt. Jacob Jones. and the Brit
ish sloop Frolic. which inspired the tropi-
cal ballad beginning:
And long shall John Bull rue the terrible day
He met the American Wasp on a Frolic.
Only twenty men Of the Frolic's crew