A Craney Island Report

From the Report of the Select committee... [previous blog post here]:

Source

General Robert B. Taylor's Official Report to the Secretary of War:

'The courage and constancy with which this inferior force, in the face of a formidable naval armament, not only sustained a position in which nothing was complete, but repelled the enemy with considerable loss, cannot fail to inspire the APPROBATION of their GOVERNMENT and the APPLAUSE of their COUNTRY.'

Attack Upon Coastal Virginia

Hampton Creek

From Stuart Lee Butler's Virginia Militia Units in the War of 1812 [links added]:

On June 22, 1813, a British force of some 2,500 attempted to storm the heavily defended Craney Island."

"Four days later the British attacked Hampton which lay across the channel, and this time their efforts were more successful.  They...threw the Virginia militia back in flight towards Williamsburg." 

"The British ransacked the town (Yorktown), killing civilians, and ravaged a number of women.  The British blamed the rapine on the French chasseurs and recently liberated slaves from earlier coastline incursions."

A summary of the situation:

Source

Noxious Climate Of Craney Island

From the Report of the Select committee...:

'It is marvellous that any doubt or obscurity should ever have been cast upon the incidents of that battle, or upon the fact as to who were the prominent and conspicuous actors in it.  It is true that the insidious effects of a noxious climate, more fatal than the arms of their British foes, carried off some of them to their eternal repose very shortly...'.

The Battle of Craney Island took place 22 June 1813.

Did my presumed ancestor, William Hinds, succumb to the effects of a noxious climate?

Statement Regarding Craney Island

The Earl Gregg Swem Library at William and Mary included the Statement by Theo Wallauven about attack on Craney Island by the British on June 22, 1813, in its online collection. See excerpted portion below:

See earlier blog posts, Battle Of Craney Island, Fortifications On Craney Island, Report On Craney Island and Defence Of Craney Island.

Report On Craney Island

Report of the Select committee, in obedience to ... . Virginia (courtesy of Hathi Trust digital library):

Source

"About five miles west of Norfolk, near the mouth of Elizabeth river, and commanding the approach from Hampton Roads to that city, lay CRANEY ISLAND, a small island, nine hundred yards in length and two hundred and thirty-three in width, without a house and with but a single tree (cedar) upon it, and separated from the main land by a narrow inlet, fordable at low or even half tide."

The British force:

Source

The American force:

"The whole force upon that morning, on the island, consisted of two companies of artillery, Capt. Emerson's and Capt. Richardson's, under the command of Maj. Faulkner of the state artillery; Capt. Roberts's company of riflemen and 416 militia infantry of the line, commanded Lieut. Col. Beatty of infantry, assisted by Maj. Andrew Waggoner, also of the infantry."

The defence of Craney Island was regarded during the war, and by all historical writers who undertook to embody the events of that period, as amongst the most striking and important achievements of our arms, there is most abundant evidence to shew.

Defence Of Craney Island

Note:  The 200th Anniversary of the Battle of Craney Island will be commemorated this weekend.

A critique of an historical account from the Virginia Historical Register, in an article entitled The Defence Of Craney Island:

"Mr. Editor, — In looking into Howison's History of Virginia, I have been surprised to see what a slight and incorrect account he has given of the Defence of Craney Island, which I have always regarded as a very brilliant affair, and highly honorable to our State; and I cannot help feeling it to be a duty which I owe to the Commonwealth, and to the memory of a gallant man who has been strangely overlooked by this narrative, to point out its errors and defects."

"Mr. H.'s account is in the following words:" 
" Craney Island lies near the mouth of Elizabeth river, and commands the approach from Hampton Roads to Norfolk, Its defence, therefore, became all important; and Commodore Cassin resolved that it should not be taken without a desperate conflict."

"Now it is really curious to see how many errors, both of omission and commission, Mr. H. has contrived to make in this short passage; and I will briefly indicate them for his correction in his next edition.

1. "Commodore Cassin resolved that it should not be taken without a desperate conflict."  "This implies that Com. C., was the commanding officer on the occasion, and the hero of the day; but the fact is, that General Robert B. Taylor, was the commander-in-chief of the military district in which the island was situated, and of all the land forces within it ; and of course ordered and directed the defence of the position on that day."

Fortifications On Craney Island

Source

The Battle Of Craney Island and also a map of the area of Craney Island.

General Thomas Sydney Beckwith

Lieutenant-General Sir Thomas Sydney Beckwith (1772 - January 15, 1831); married Mary, eldest daughter of Sir William Douglas, sister to Charles, Marquis of Queensbury; Governor of Bombay.

From the Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online:

 In January 1813...Beckwith was named an assistant quartermaster general in North America.

Source at Hampton, Virginia

At the same time he was given command of the landing forces in an amphibious operation intended to harry the Chesapeake Bay area and reduce American pressure on the Canadas. The expedition was troubled by a command that was shared among Beckwith and admirals Warren and George Cockburn. Captain Charles James Napier, Beckwith’s second in command, blamed this “republic of commanders” for a failed attack on Craney Island, Va. Napier felt that Beckwith had “wanted neither head, nor heart, nor hand for his business; but he was not free to do what he thought wise, and run sulky when required to do what he deemed silly. . . . He is certainly a very clever fellow, but a very odd fish.” The expedition went to Halifax in September 1813.

In The Battle Of Craney Island

Stephen Thompson Neill was born in Lee county, Va., April 9, 1795. When eighteen years old he enlisted in the war of 1812.  He entered as a private in Lieut. James Graham's company of infantry, 94th regiment of Virginia militia.

He took part in the Battle of Craney Island and for some months was in a camp to the rear of Fort Norfolk.  In memory of the soldiers who fought and died in the Battle of Craney Island a monument is to be erected by the Dorothy Payne Madison Chapter of Richmond Virginia.

From the Family History Compiled by Lucy Henderson Horton... .

Battle Of Craney Island

Originally I thought that my ancestor, William Hinds, was wounded in the Battle of Craney Island, because it took place on June 22, 1813, and he died on June 25, 1813 (now I have my doubts, but haven't ruled out that scenario).  He was from Virginia and served in the 2nd Reg. artillery.

See the Craney Island historical marker here.

According to this article:
Craney Island also has suffered from historical neglect, even though it was the scene of Virginia's only land battle during the War of 1812.

Map of Craney Island in Virginia and surrounding area from Campaigns of the war of 1812-15