USS Constitution and the Battle that Earned her Nickname

September 30, 2010 by Ben Edwards · Leave a Comment 

© iStockphoto.com/3Djml

No trip to Boston’s Freedom Trail is complete without a visit to the Charlestown Navy Yard to tour USS Constitution – one of the first vessels in the United States Navy and the oldest commissioned warship afloat in the world. Built at Edmund Hartt’s shipyard in Boston and launched in the fall of 1797, the USS Constitution is two hundred four feet in length, has fifty-five guns, and carried a crew of 450 men. Her 24” thick hull was built of live oak sandwiched between two layers of white oak. Live oak, a rare wood, is five times stronger than white oak and made the hull of the ship incredibly strong. She first saw action in the Quasi War with France, and then fought against the Barbary Corsairs – pirates from North Africa who attacked American merchant ships in the Mediterranean Sea. During the War of 1812, Constitution was commanded by Captain Isaac Hull. One of her most famous battles, against the British frigate HMS Guerriere, occurred during this time off the coast of Nova Scotia. At the bottom of this post, is a great primary source – Captain Hull’s official account of that battle as it appeared in a newspaper called the Connecticut Mirror on September 21, 1812.

On the afternoon of August 19, 1812, the crew aboard the Constitution spotted a sail in the distance and started to give chase in an effort to determine the ship’s identity. They soon realized it was the HMS Guerriere – a 38-gun British frigate then armed with 49 guns. Captain James Dacres, commander of the Guerriere, raised three British ensigns to signal he was ready for a fight and Captain Isaac Hull aboard USS Constitution responded by raising four American ensigns to accept the challenge. Both warships began to maneuver for position with the Guerriere firing a number of broadsides from long distance that fell harmlessly into the sea. As the ships drew closer, the gun crews aboard Constitution stood ready, anxiously awaiting orders from Captain Isaac Hull. The Guerriere continued to fire on USS Constitution and this time her guns were well within range. At that moment, some of her 18-pound cannonballs bounced off the hull of the Constitution – thanks to its live oak construction. Seeing this, a seaman aboard USS Constitution cried out “Huzzah! Her sides are made of iron!” When the Constitution drew within less than a pistol shot, Captain Hull gave the order to fire a broadside and in only 35 minutes the Guerriere was completely dismasted and had surrendered. After the battle, crewmen aboard the Constitution began calling her “Old Ironsides” and the nickname stuck.

The USS Constitution was undefeated in 33 engagements. Because she was made of wood, the Constitution eventually began to deteriorate, and by 1830 she had become unseaworthy. Rumors spread that she would be scrapped, but a poem “Old Ironsides” by Oliver Wendell Holmes rallied public support and soon Congress appropriated funds to restore her. During the mid 1800s the Constitution, now obsolete in warfare, played a symbolic role for the nation. She sailed around the world in 1844-46. By 1905, the ship was in need of serious repair once again. Congress passed a bill to refurbish the vessel but provided no funds. In 1925, public fundraising efforts began and school children from across the United States donated $148,000 in pennies to save the ship. Congress finally provided additional funds to complete the restoration of “Old Ironsides.”

After her restoration, USS Constitution was towed to many U.S. ports in the Pacific during the years 1931-34. After the journey, she returned to her home port of Boston where she would remain. The ship received a complete overhaul from 1992-97, just in time for her 200th birthday. On July 21, 1997, USS Constitution celebrated that birthday by setting sail for the first time in 116 years! On that historic day, the seamen aboard her hoisted a partial set of six sails on her masts, and the citizens of Boston cheered as their beloved ship sailed once again off the coast of Massachusetts. Today, a three-year $6 million restoration of the Constitution that began in the fall of 2007 is nearing completion. The spar deck has been replaced and the pitch adjusted so water will run off properly. The latest work brings the ship very close to the way it looked during the War of 1812 – and well in time for that War’s 200th anniversary.

Wonderful tours of USS Constitution are given by active duty members of the US Navy and include visits to the spar, gun and berth decks. Hours of operation can be found on the USS Constitution website. During these tours you’ll learn how sailors lived aboard ship, hear tales of her battles and discover fascinating facts about the vessel. Two of the facts I found most interesting related to the mainmast and long guns. The ship’s mainmast is 210 feet high – that’s a mere 13 feet shorter than the Bunker Hill Monument! Her long guns weighed 6,000 pounds each, could fire a 24-pound shot 1,200 yards, and the gun crews consisted of a minimum of 7 men.

While you’re at the Charlestown Navy Yard, be sure to check out the excellent USS Constitution Museum. The Museum offers exhibits, programs and lectures about USS Constitution and America’s proud naval heritage.

Captain Isaac Hull’s Official Account of USS Constitution vs HMS Guerriere

The Connecticut Mirror – September 21, 1812

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3

Complete Transcript of Press Coverage from the Connecticut Mirror September 21, 1812

Classroom exercise:

Compare the above newspaper transcript to Captain Isaac Hull’s original letter in the National Archives. Transcript here. What did the Connecticut Mirror account leave out or have incorrect and what can this teach us?

Filed under: Colonial Newspapers, Primary Sources
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Who Lies in the Edwards Family Tomb at Copp’s Hill?

September 22, 2010 by Ben Edwards · Leave a Comment 

When I was 2 ½ years old, I traveled to Boston with my family and walked along the Freedom Trail for the very first time. During that trip, we visited Copp’s Hill Burying Ground and one incident that occurred there is forever etched in my memory. I recall all the fuss that was made over getting one photo in particular and remember being a bit confused as I was positioned next to a strange rock while my father held my hand and the sun glared in my face. The image captured that day is shown at left. We were standing by the marker of Captain Benjamin Edwards who I later learned was a sea captain and my sixth great grandfather. I had no way of knowing it then, but this simple photo would have a major impact on my life. It helped instill in me a lifelong interest in both family history and American history. As the years passed, I would come to discover much more about my early Boston ancestors and the family tomb.

Edwards Tomb #5 is in the first row of tombs constructed at Copp’s Hill in 1717. Five generations of my family are here, including my 7th great grandmother Sarah Edwards and 6th, 5th, 4th and likely 3rd great grandparents. Their names are listed at the end of this post. It is also the final resting place of Paul Revere – not the famous midnight rider, who died in 1818 and lies in Granary Burying Ground, but his firstborn son Paul Revere Jr. (1760-1813). Paul Jr. was 15 years old on April 18, 1775 when his father made the Midnight Ride and he later stayed behind to guard the family property during the siege of Boston. Paul Jr. was apprenticed to his father as a gold and silversmith; handled the day-to-day operations of the Revere silversmith shop in the 1780s; and after the war made church bells with his father and brother Joseph Warren Revere. So why would Paul Revere Jr. be buried in the Edwards family tomb and what evidence is there to support it?

Paul Revere Jr. married Sally Edwards (1761-1808) on July 25, 1782. Sally was the older sister of my fourth great grandfather Benjamin Edwards (1765-1808). Paul Jr. and Sally had 12 children between 1783 and 1803 and five of them died young. Paul never remarried after Sally died on August 23, 1808. It is believed that Sally was buried in the Edwards tomb where she joined her five young children, her parents, grandparents and her brother Benjamin who had died just a few months prior on June 9, 1808. Oral family tradition says that members of the Revere family rest here but there was no written record of any sort to support that claim until late 1999. At that time the Paul Revere House received some interesting correspondence from a genealogist doing research for someone with the surname Edwards in their family tree. The family held in their possession a letter from an older female relative dated Gordonsville, VA October 3, 1969. That letter contained the following line: “I did visit Boston when I was about twelve years old and Aunt Sue took me around, such as to the old family tomb where great, great ???? grandmother Elliot is resting (?) with Paul Revere’s casket on top of hers…” Paul Revere House staff contacted me to see if I might help them make some sense of this clue. From the moment I read that line, I knew what it meant. The answer to the mystery was hidden in the pages of a treasured book my family owned.

I had grown up with an Edwards family Bible from 1812, passed down through five generations. Ever since I was 10, the handwritten family records it contained had captured my imagination. Those records included the death of my fourth great grandfather Benjamin Edwards (1765-1808) and the births of his five children in Boston between 1793 and 1803. Directly beneath the birth records was an entry that had never made sense to me. It was for a Helan (Helen) Mariah Elliot born on April 8, 1811. I would come to learn that after my fourth great grandfather Benjamin Edwards died his wife Polly (Mary) Bangs Edwards remarried to Samuel Elliot in 1810. Helen Mariah Elliot would have been their daughter and I believe Polly (Mary) Bangs Edwards Elliot, my fourth great grandmother, would have been the “great, great ??? grandmother Elliot” in the letter mentioned above. I have not been able to locate a death record for Polly, but if she died between 1811 and 1813 then Paul Revere’s casket certainly could have “rested on top of hers” in the family tomb (as the letter states) because Paul Revere Jr. died on January 16, 1813.

There are no paintings I am aware of that show what Sally Edwards or Paul Revere Jr. looked like but there is a painting of their son Paul Revere who was born on February 2, 1789. I obtained this image from a family who is a direct descendant of the midnight rider Paul Revere through his grandson George Revere – one of Paul Revere Jr. and Sally Edwards 12 children. When I first saw it I was struck by how much this Paul Revere’s nose resembled that of his great grandfather Captain Benjamin Edwards. Here’s a side by side comparison.

By the 1980s, the Edwards marker was in a serious state of disrepair. In 1989, only two pieces of it remained and neither contained any words. After obtaining the proper permission, my family had the marker replaced in 1998. The new marker was hand carved by Nicholas Benson of the John Stevens Shop of Newport, Rhode Island, founded in 1705. Two years later, in 2000, I wrote a children’s book One April in Boston that pays tribute to my early Boston ancestors. This photo, taken by the family marker in the summer of 2010, celebrated the book’s 10th anniversary.

Here is a list of my direct ancestors believed to be in the Edwards Tomb.

Sixth Great Grandparents

  • Captain Benjamin Edwards (1685-1751), sea captain and merchant, his mother Sarah, his first wife Hannah Harrod, and second wife Bathsheba Evans Edwards (1701-1738).

Fifth Great Grandparents

  • Dolling Edwards (1737-1773), mastmaker, and his wife Rebecca Christie Edwards (1739-1771).

Fourth Great Grandparents

  • Benjamin Edwards (1765-1808), cooper, and his wife Polly Bangs Edwards (Elliot).

Third Great Grandparents

  • Joseph B. Edwards (1799-1852), paver, and possibly his wife Sarah Mace Edwards (1806-1872).

Here is a list of other ancestors believed to be in the Edwards Tomb.

  • Alexander Edwards (1733-1798), patriot, cabinetmaker and member of the Sons of Liberty.
  • Sally Edwards Revere (1761-1808), wife of silversmith Paul Revere Jr. and mother of their 12 children.
  • Paul Revere Jr. (1760-1813), silversmith, bell founder and firstborn son of patriot Paul Revere.
  • Jedediah Lincoln (1760-1820), Revolutionary War soldier and ancestor of Abraham Lincoln; his wife, Elizabeth (Betsey) Edwards Lincoln (1765-1796), and their son Alexander Edwards Lincoln.
  • Robert Edwards (1732-1770), tailor, and his wife Mary (White) Clark Edwards (?-1774).

Filed under: Books, Colonial Newspapers, Primary Sources, Tours
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