Prelude to the War of 1812
15 MAY 1812
PRELUDE TO THE WAR OF 1812
At the turn of the 19th century the territory that is now Florida was Spanish. This fact was of no reassurance to the administration of President James Madison in 1811. Spain was in decline as a colonial power and worse, British influence was strong in the region, having themselves briefly possessed Florida before our Revolution. With Anglo-American tensions heating up in the early 19th century, little did Madison want the British in Florida, to say nothing of a rumored Royal Navy base in St. Augustine! Thus, on 15 January 1811, Congress secretly resolved to acquire the Spanish territory, by force if necessary. Revolutionary War veteran and former Georgia governor George Mathews was quietly commissioned to carry out a seizure of East Florida, supported by several US Navy gunboats, each mounting 2-3 guns, under the command of CAPT Hugh G. Campbell. In May of 1812 Mathews and his band captured Amelia Island, just a mile from the Georgia/Florida border. The next day a naval engagement unfolded that foreshadowed the coming War of 1812.
The British had been encouraging violation of the Embargo and Non-Importation Acts the US Congress created to counter Continental harassment of American trade. Indeed, on this morning in Amelia Island’s Fernandina harbor, HMS SAPPHO, 18, let fall her foretop sail and fired a gun. This signaled the Spanish-flagged Fernandeno to make for the bar. Fernandeno had arrived earlier as the American merchantman Amelia, and the US Navy GUNBOAT NO. 168 standing by was not fooled. Sailing Master John Hulburd hove the trader to about a mile from the harbor. At this SAPPHO got underway claiming she protected the neutral-flagged freighter. An exchange of hails only entrenched the positions of both captains. When Fernandeno again attempted to make sail at 1045 Hulburd fired 6-pound shot and canister–first across her bows, then into her quarter and rigging. This only incensed the Briton further, and for the next several hours Hulburd chased the trader while SAPPHO chased Hulburd. Twenty miles to sea, the American fired several more times, striking Fernandeno yet again. CDR Hayes O’Grady, RN, would tolerate no more! He opened his 32-pounder carronades and grape which passed through Hulburd’s rigging. The heavily outgunned American turned to leeward with SAPPHO in hot pursuit. Hulburd escaped, but so did Fernandeno.
A month later, on 18 June, the US declared the War of 1812. Now facing simultaneous Spanish ire, Madison officially disavowed the secret East Florida actions. Mathews and Campbell were painted as over-zealous reactionaries, the careers of both being sacrificed for the greater good. Florida would remain Spanish until 1819.
Watch for more “Today in Naval History” 20 MAY 22
CAPT James Bloom, Ret.
Cusick, James G. The Other War of 1812: The Patriot War and the American Invasion of Spanish East Florida. Athens, GA: Univ. of Georgia Press, 2003, pp. 172-73.
Dudley, William S. (ed). The Naval War of 1812: A Documentary History Vol I. Department of the Navy, Navy Historical Center, Washington DC: GPO, 1985, pp. 112-15.
