rward, the cock-pit was filled with wounded men. After the
firing had ceased I went on deck and there beheld a scene which it
would be difficult to describe: all the _Guerriere's_ masts were
shot away and, as she had no sails to steady her, she lay rolling
like a log in the trough of the sea. Many of the men were employed
in throwing the dead overboard. The decks had the appearance of a
butcher's slaughter-house; the gun tackles were not made fast and
several of the guns got loose and were surging from one side to the
other.
Some of the petty officers and seamen, after the action, got liquor
and were intoxicated; and what with the groans of the wounded, the
noise and confusion of the enraged survivors of the ill-fated ship
rendered the whole scene a perfect hell.
Setting the hulk of the _Guerriere_ on fire, Captain Hull sailed for
Boston with the captured crew. The tidings he bore were enough to amaze
an American people which expected nothing of its navy, which allowed its
merchant ships to rot at the wharves, and which regarded the operations
of its armies with the gloomiest forebodings. New England went wild with
joy over a victory so peculiarly its own. Captain Hull and his officers
were paraded up State Street to a banquet at Faneuil Hall while cheering
thousands lined the sidewalks. A few days earlier had come the news of
the surrender of Detroit, but the gloom was now dispelled. Americans
could fight, after all. Popular toasts of the day were:
OUR INFANT NAVY--_We must nurture the young Hercules in his cradle, if
we mean to profit by the labors of his manhood._
THE VICTORY WE CELEBRATE--_An invaluable proof that we are able to
defend our rights on the ocean._
Handbills spread the news through the country, and artillery salutes
proclaimed it from Carolina to the Wabash. Congress voted fifty thousand
dollars as prize money to the heroes of the _Constitution_ and medals to
her officers. The people of New York gave them swords, and Captain Hull
and Lieutenant Morris received pieces of plate from the patriots of
Philadelphia. Federalists laid aside for the moment their opposition to
the war and proclaimed that their party had founded and supported the
navy. The moral effect of the victory was out of all proportion to its
strategic importance. It was like sunshine breaking through a fog. Such
rejoicing had been unknown, even in the decisive moments of
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