HISTORY

Chesapeake 1807

There was some disagreement in 1812 over exactly how many seamen had been impressed into the English Royal Navy. But all parties in the US could agree to be outraged over two events:

• Chesapeake-Leopard Affair 1807
• English made Brown Bess Muskets at Tippecanoe in 1811

Of the two the Chesapeake-Leopard affair has some very interesting side points.

• The Leopard opened fire on a warship belonging to a country that it was not currently at war. Even today this would be considered an act of war.
• The Leopard did so inside the territorial waters of that country
• The Leopard fired on a vessel that was obviously not geared for war (its decks were covered with supplies and it gun ports were closed.)
• The Leopard removed four seamen from the Chesapeake. One, Jenkins Ratford, never claimed to be a US citizen and was hanged as a deserter on August 31, 1807. The other three Daniel Martin, John Strachan and William Ware all had protection papers (an early version of the US Passport) showing they were American citizens. But the really odd bit about these three sailors … they were African Americans. Although blacks made up to 33% of the sailors in the Royal Navy, the likelihood that they were English subjects still seems low. It is quite possible that realizing their mistake, officers of the Leopard removed one real deserter and three African Americans that the English assumed, based on our current prejudices, we wouldn't care about.

During the war the unlucky ship USS Chesapeake was captured by the British and broken up and sold for lumber in 1820. The lumber was used to build a mill in Wickham . . . which still stands.