There were many memorable battles during the War of 1812 that have become part of the American legend; Perry's great naval victory on Lake Erie and Jackson's coup de grace at the Battle of New Orleans immediately come to mind. But one of the more compelling stories of the war was an engagement between USS Chesapeake and HMS Shannon, a single-ship duel fought roughly twenty miles northeast of Boston near Cape Ann in the late spring of 1813. Known as the Battle of Boston Harbor, it was fought by two courageous Captains with a spirit of chivalry for the glory of their country.

Besides the much-heralded frigates, of which the United States Navy was justifiably proud, there were eight smaller vessels that also contributed to the growing respect for our country’s Navy. These were sloops-of-war and roughly half the size of frigates, carrying eighteen to twenty guns and about one hundred thirty sailors. Like their larger brothers, they too went to sea as soon as war was declared on Great Britain and, in the first six months of the year, recorded two notable victories.

At the start of the War of 1812, there was little confidence outside American naval circles that the United States Navy could hold its own against Great Britain’s vaunted fleet. Politicians both within and without the Madison administration fully recognized that woeful defense funding practices for the previous twelve years had left the navy in a disreputable state. But the next six months would demonstrate that ship for ship and man for man, American sailors were more than a match for the Brits.