The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1914-09-06
Macombs struggle the battle of Plattsburg
Hero's Achievement, Which Brought
End to War, Outclassed That of
Perry's ON Lake Erie

SO far the British flagship had not
fired a shot. but Capt. Downic handled
her supcrhly and brought her to an
Choir abreast of tho Saratoga at a dis
lance of about 400 yards as If uncpn-
rern,d 10y the turmoil about him. When
his ship had been satisfactorily mpor,d
and lines run out SO that she, too, might
be turned while still anchored, then his
first bruadsde of sixteen long us,
double shptted and carefully aimed.
was fired in perfect unison The sara
toga shivercd with the shock of that
awful onslaught. 'and when the crash
subsidized nearly half OF her people were
seen stretched on her deck" and forty
Of these were unable to rise.
The British used red hot shot and
twice the Cuniilnce thus set the sara
tuga on fire. Mlcdonough soon realized
that he had not a single gun left to work
on the original fighting side of his flag
hip. The critical moment of tn" la tie
had arrived and then it was that he
showed the WIS lum of hts preparations.
f this crucial period spears says:
calling his men from their useless guns
MaCdonough ordered them to drop the
| anchor that had been provided at the
| stern and then to clap on the spring
| hat led in at the forcCastlc. In a mo-
mcnt the ship. mpellcd by the breeze
| ana drawn by the spring hawscr, began
to swing a if on a pivot. Her stern
was soon pointed at the enemys frgatc.
| AT that the British seamen on the
! Coniiancc were called from their guns
and set to work on spring and cable 10
| wind her aApund and bring a fresh bat
| terry to bear also, for while she had suf-
fcred less than the Saratoga the Conf
ance had lost perhaps twO-thrds of her
battery 10y the accurate shooting y
Macdonough's long guns.
"No sooner did the British try to
WIND their ship than 10" superior ~ of
Yankee forcthought and seamanship be-
came manifest. For while the Yankee
| Saratoga swung into position with
scarce a break or stop the British Con-
hiucc got 50 far around % the Yankees
that not one of her guns could bear,
and there she stuck. With vervc
| that made the side tackle rattle the
| Yankees brought their fresh guns to
bear on the unprotected stern of the
British frgate and thereafter their shot
! ripped up her deck from stern to anchor
bits. They filed the air with spl ntcrs.
They splashcd the guns and beams with
blood, They drove the men from tn"
guns and left her a wreck
No one could stand up in such fight,
ana two hours after firing her first
hroadsidc the British frigatc struck her
flag To- the Yankee corvette" with the
Conhance disposed of, the Saratoga
could turn her attention to the next
largest ship the troublesome l.inn"t,
and in few minutes she was shat
tered hulk. with her sCuppers literally
running blood There was moth NJ for
her brave commander, Captain pring to
de- but to surrender. This substantially
ended the battle.
Macdonough's loss totaled 30 killed
and IS wounded. The total British loss
was between 300 and 400. Macdonough 5
vlctory bore the same relation to the
War of 1872 as did our navy's work at
Santiago ON that memorable 81 of July,
1885 Each of these successes subsian-
TALLY brought their respective wars to
an end and made the making of an
honorable peace possible.