202 Naval War of 1812 



As New England's loyalty to the Union was, not 

 unreasonably, doubted abroad, her coasts were at 

 first troubled but little. A British squadron was 

 generally kept cruising off the end of Long Island 

 Sound, and another off Sandy Hook. Of course 

 America had no means of raising a blockade, as 

 each squadron contained generally a 74 or a razee, 

 vessels too heavy for any in our navy to cope with. 

 Frigates and sloops kept skirting the coasts of New 

 Jersey, the Carolinas, and Georgia. Delaware 

 Bay no longer possessed the importance it had 

 during the Revolutionary War, and as the only war 

 vessels in it were some miserable gunboats, the 

 British generally kept but a small force on that sta 

 tion. Chesapeake Bay became the principal scene 

 of their operations; it was there their main body 

 collected, and their greatest efforts were made. In 

 it a number of line-of -battle ships, frigates, sloops, 

 and cutters had been collected, and early in the sea 

 son Admiral Sir John Warren and Rear-Admiral 

 Cockburn arrived to take command. The latter 

 made numerous descents on the coast, and frequent 

 ly came into contact with the local militia, who gen 

 erally fled after a couple of volleys. These expedi 

 tions did not accomplish much, beyond burning the 

 houses and driving off the live-stock of the farmers 

 along shore, and destroying a few small towns one 

 of them, Hampton, being sacked with revolting 

 brutality. 2 The Government of the United States 



8 James (vi, 340) says: The conduct of the British troops 

 on this occasion was "revolting to human nature" and "dis 

 graceful to the flag." 



