Veterans

Captain George Coggeshall: Commander of Letter of Marque Schooners
Captain George Henry Coggeshall’s antipathy for the English developed at a young age. His father, William Coggeshall, was a Revolutionary War veteran who was a sailing master’s mate on the brig New Defence. In late 1779, the New Defence, after an extensive engagement with a larger British brig, was forced to surrender and the crew was transferred to the prison-ship Jersey, which was lying in Wallabout Bay on the East River off New York City. During this time, William Coggeshall not only lacked for food and clothing, but eventually contracted smallpox.

Surviving the imprisonment and after the conclusion of the war, William Coggeshall became a captain and owner of commercial vessels that carried cargo from Connecticut to the West Indies. On one such trip, one of William Coggeshall’s vessels, the Laura, was leaving Martinique and was captured by a British cruiser for trading at a French island. Its cargo, sugar and coffee, and the vessel were condemned. As George writes, "These [types of] losses soon stripped my father of his fortune, and threw those dependent on him almost penniless upon the world, to gain their bread the best way they could."

George, born in Milford, Connecticut, came from a seafaring family and, in 1799, at the age of fifteen, began his life at sea as a cabin boy. By the time of the War of 1812, George was a commercial vessel captain. He writes, "there were but three ways for captains of merchant ships to find employment in their ordinary vocations: namely, enter the United States Navy as sailing masters, go privateering, or command a letter of marquee -- carry a cargo and as it were, force trade and fight their way or run, as the case may be; and as an alternative, I chose that of letter of marque."

George first commanded, and was half owner of the letter of marque schooner David Porter. His voyage originated on October 1813 from Providence, Rhode Island, initially to Charleston, South Carolina, and then to France. The schooner had been outfitted, "having a long 18-pounder on pivot amidships, four 6-pounders, with muskets, pistols, etc." The David Porter, under command of Captain Coggeshall, left Providence to Newport, Rhode Island, and under cover of night and a snowstorm, departed Newport avoiding the British blockade. Ten days out, off Cape Romain, South Carolina, a British man-of-war brig, Dotterall, initiated chase. As the David Porter neared Charleston, Captain Coggeshall engaged the enemy and shortly thereafter, two schooners, the privateer, Decatur, and the letter of marque, Adaline, came over the Charleston Bar bearing down on the brig who "squared his yards and ran away to leeward." Captain Coggeshall traded his cargo in Charleston and then embarked for the western coast of France as near to Bordeaux as possible; a voyage he successfully concluded with a landing at La Teste.

Due to the La Teste’s vulnerability to the English advance (a portion of Lord Wellington’s army was nearing Bordeaux), Captain Coggeshall set sail and was soon being chased by a British frigate. He eventually came upon a group of British merchant ships, which he took as prizes and, subsequently, during the night had them hoist their lanterns, which he used to cover his escape. He landed the David Porter at l’Île d’Yeu, an island near the mouth of the Loire River. At the end of March 1814, Captain Coggeshall decided to turn the command of the David Porter over to his first officer for the return voyage to the United States, with the cargo from the prizes. Captain Coggeshall spent the next few months in Paris and Bordeaux attending to his commercial affairs.

In November 1814, Captain Coggeshall took command of the Leo, an American owned letter of marque schooner that was lying in L’Orient, France. The intent was to capture a few British prizes and then proceed to Charleston for a cargo of cotton. The schooner was outfitted with one 12-ounder and four small 4-pounders and some 50-60 old muskets. All but the 12-pounder was required to be removed by the public authorities, but Captain Coggeshall had another 20-30 muskets smuggled on board during the night.

Over the next few weeks, Captain Coggeshall took a number of British prizes, which he ordered his prize masters to sail to the United States. He also engaged an English brig-of-war of sixteen guns using his ‘long twelve.’ The Leo received thirty or forty shot, only one of which hulled the schooner; passing through the bends amid-ships and lodging in the hold.

Without a long, well-mounted center gun, Captain Coggeshall chose to haul off from the engagement. Less than two weeks later, the Leo encountered a strong wind in squally weather, suddenly pitched, and a defective foremast broke, making the ship vulnerable. To avoid capture, Captain Coggeshall decided to go to Lisbon under the cover of night. Four miles short of the port, the 38-gun British frigate, Granicus, captured the Leo, and the schooner was taken in tow to Gibraltar.

The officers and men were sent to England, except Captain Coggeshall and his first and second lieutenants. The latter officers were to undergo examination at the admiralty court at Gibraltar. An attempt to obtain parole from the governor was unsuccessful even after Captain Coggeshall explained the numerous paroles he had provided to their countrymen. The officers of the Leo were to be shipped to England; thereby, necessitating an attempt at escape.

Under guard and waiting questioning at the admiralty office, Captain Coggeshall asked the sergeant whether he “would go a short distance up the street to take a glass of wine.“ The sergeant complied; Captain Coggeshall hastily drank the wine and slipped out of the shop. Removing the eagle from his black cockade, Captain Coggeshall gave the appearance of an English naval officer and successfully passed the sentinel at the gate. He made his way to a Norwegian ship in port at Gibraltar and asked the captain if he “was willing to befriend a man in distress.” After Captain Coggeshall explained his story, the Norwegian captain, having at one time been imprisoned in England, came to Captain Coggeshall’s aid. The captain coordinated with a group of smugglers to take Captain Coggeshall to Algeciras, Spain. Thereafter, Captain Coggeshall made his way to Cadiz; two months later, he sailed to Lisbon and returned to the United States aboard a Portuguese brig in May 1815.

Captain Coggeshall continued to command and own commercial vessels after the War of 1812. By 1841, he began writing books of his voyages and published other books on naval and maritime history. He writes that with the War of 1812 "British invincibility and British supremacy were at an end. The stars and stripes were no longer a theme of ridicule-our commerce was no longer at the mercy and conducted by the permission and sufferance of England." Captain George Coggeshall died in Brooklyn, NY, on 23 August 1861. He was an American patriot in a family of patriots.

Simeon North
Simeon North (1765-1852), the first official pistol manufacturer of the United States Government, made arms for the government for over fifty years. In 1799 he received his first contract and filled the order at his factory on Spruce Brook in Berlin. After President Madison requested him to enlarge his output during the War of 1812, he built a factory at Staddle Hill about a mile and a half southwest of Middletown. At the close of the War of 1812, the State ordered him to make two pairs of gold-mounted pistols: one for Capt. Issac Hull of the frigate Constitution; and the other for Commodore Macdonough, the victor at Lake Champlain.

Jonathan Squire, Jr.
Jonathan Squire, Jr. (1763-1842) was born in Fairfield, Connecticut. He was the son of Jonathan Squire and Elizabeth Morehouse. His father was a veteran of the American Revolution who served as a Captain in the Connecticut Militia. Jonathan, Jr., himself, was also a veteran of the War of Independence. He served as a private in the First New York Regiment Continental Line, and in Col. John Lamb's Continental Artillery. Following the Revolutionary War Jonathan, a farmer, lived in Putnam County, New York. Jonathan married Elizabeth Truesdell (Trusedale) in 1786. At the outbreak of the War of 1812, he volunteered and served in the New York State Militia at Oswego and Plattsburgh. He received a pension of $19.00 per annum. Jonathan Squire died in Matteawann, New York on 10 March 1842.

Jonathan Squire is the fifth great grandfather of Connecticut Society member Robert G. Carroon.

Issac Hull
Issac Hull (1773-1843), a son of Capt. Joseph and Sally Bennett Hull, was born at Derby Landing on Commerce Street. At twenty-five he was appointed a lieutenant in the United States Navy and was detailed to the frigate Constitution, then under command of Samuel Nicholson. He was later transferred to the Nautilus and Argus in the Tripolitan War (1802-1805). At the outset of the War of 1812, he was in command of the Constitution and on August 19, 1812, made his brilliant capture of the Guerrière.

Stephen Decatur, Jr
Commodore Stephen Decatur, Jr (January 5, 1779 – March 22, 1820) was an American naval officer notable for his heroism in the Barbary Wars and in the War of 1812. He was the youngest man to reach the rank of captain in the history of the United States Navy, and the first American celebrated as a national military hero who had not played a role in the American Revolution. He was responsible for the capture of two British ships, the Mandarin and HMS Macedonian.

Isaac Nichols
Isaac Nichols (1779-1868) was born on April 15th, 1779, in Waterbury, CT. He was the 2nd child born to Joseph and Mary Winter(s) Nichols. Isaac's 4th great-grandfather; Sgt. Francis Nichols was the progenitor of this American line of the Nichols family. He was on the records in Stratford, CT in 1639. His father was a patriot of the American Revolution; involved in the capture of the robbers of Capt. Ebenezer Dayton and kidnappers of Chauncey Judd in 1782. Isaac and his wife, Esther (Sperry) Nichols had 12 children.

Isaac mustered to defend New London and was there from September 8th through October 20th, 1814. He served in Lt. Joseph Bellamy's Detachment, Connecticut State Troops. For his service, he was awarded a land bounty. He lived to the age of 89 and died on August 3rd, 1868, in Naugatuck, CT. He is interred at the Gunntown Cemetery, Naugatuck, CT. Isaac Nichols is the 4th great grandfather of Connecticut Society member Christopher M. Nichols.

Frederick Lee
Frederick Lee received his commission as a Master in the State of Connecticut on September 14, 1809, and he took command of the Revenue Cutter Eagle two days later. During the War of 1812, Lee’s Officers included Daniel P. Augur, first mate; John Hall, second mate. Lee remained a revenue cutter master through 1829. The Eagle was a foretopsail schooner that carried four four-pound cannon, two two-pound cannon and a crew of 25 and was based out of New Haven. Connecticut.

During the War of 1812, the Eagle under Lee’s command carried out a variety of missions. Despite several orders from the Treasury Secretary to the contrary limiting the cutter to “protection of the Revenue”, Lee provided valuable service to the US Navy by relaying intelligence of British and American naval movements, escorting American vessels to safe harbor, and serving as a prisoner transfer platform with the British paroling 38 Americans. Lee all the while conducted revenue service duties, most notably apprehending vessels carrying illegal British goods.

On October 10, 1814, a British sloop captured an American merchantman near New Haven. Lee took on extra volunteer crewmembers and attempted to intervene. The next morning, Lee found himself dangerously close to the gun brig HMS Dispatch (18 guns) and a tender. Lee managed to escape capture and ran the cutter ashore on Long Island’s north shore. The cutter’s crew and militia men dragged the Eagle’s cannon on shore and dueled with the British warship without a decisive outcome. After fighting for two days the HMS Dispatch departed. Lee then patched up and refloated the damaged Eagle. On October 13 the Dispatch and its tender returned with HMS Narcissus (36 guns) and after fighting off Lee’s men they captured the damaged Eagle on October 14.

The British sailed in convoy with the revenue cutter as a prize to Halifax, Nova Scotia. New Haven did not have a replacement cutter until a new cutter named Eagle was commissioned in 1816.