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.'

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?

Magazine On Craney Island

Source

Also see Report On Craney Island.

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."

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.

Portsmouth Historical Sites, Part I

War of 1812 Portsmouth Historical Sites, Part I from YouTube (excerpts below):

Forts Nelson And Norfolk

Fort Nelson, Fort Norfolk and the Marine Hospital:

From The American State Papers

Norfolk in 1813 was covered by Fort Norfolk on the right and Fort Nelson on the left bank of the Elizabeth River. These two feeble works and two small redoubts, called Forts Tar and Barbour, protecting the land approaches, being entirely insufficient for a good defense, Armistead threw up some additional intrenchments on Craney Island... .

Portsmouth, Virginia's Historical Sites On YouTube

War of 1812 Portsmouth Historical Sites on YouTube:

...[An] overview of nine Portsmouth historical sites, including Ft. Nelson Park, Battle of Craney Island, Ball House, Portsmouth Naval Shipyard Museum, Hoffler Creek, Ft. Lane, Cedar Grove Cemetery, Trinity Church, and Norfolk County Court House.