New Orleans Squadron
Encyclopedia
The New Orleans Squadron or the New Orleans Station was a United States
Navy
squadron
raised out of the growing threat the United Kingdom
posed to Louisiana
during the War of 1812
. The first squadron consisted of over a dozen vessels and was mostly defeated during the war. After, new ships were stationed at New Orleans which engaged in counter-piracy operations for over twenty years. The New Orleans Squadron was eventually merged with the Home Squadron
.
in 1814, the squadron consisted of fifteen vessels, including the schooner
s USS Carolina
and USS Sea Horse
, the two small sloops-of-war
USS Alligator
and USS Tickler
along with several Jeffersonian class gunboat
s. On December 13, 1814, the Sea Horse fought off two attacks
from a British boat expedition which was heading to Lake Borgne
. The next day, the expedition defeated five of the squadron's gunboats under Thomas ap Catesby Jones
at the Battle of Lake Borgne
, USS Tickler and USS Alligator were also scuttled or captured. As result of this action, the British gained control of the lake which was then used as the landing zone for their army that marched on New Orleans. On December 27, as part of the Battle of New Orleans
, the Carolina was badly damaged by enemy artillery fire and abandoned by her crew. She later exploded when fire reached her powder magazine. Although Jean Lafitte
fought for America at New Orleans, the squadron operated against his pirates until ultimately being evicted from their base at Barataria
on September 16, 1814 by Commodore Patterson. Six of his pirate ships were captured without a fight and around $500,000 worth of valuables were taken as prize.
so the New Orleans Squadron began operations against him. Around this time Lafitte suffered a significant distraction from his work, a hurricane hit Galveston in the summer of 1818, leaving his base in ruins and one of his newest ships was captured by the squadron. That same year, USS Enterprise
, under Lieutenant
Lawrence Kearny
, arrived at Galveston and demanded his leave which was done so without bloodshed. The revenue cutters
USRC Alabama
and USRC Louisiana
captured
another one of his ships in 1819. Both of the cutters were temporarily serving with the New Orleans station at the time. Meanwhile, on the other side of the Gulf of Mexico, and in the Caribbean, attacks on American merchant ships by Spanish and Central America
n pirates increased.
Over the course of the next decade, thousands of attacks on merchant vessels by West Indies pirates were reported, many of the victims were American ships. In 1821, the first United States Navy fleet created specifically to fight piracy in the Caribbean became known as the West Indies Squadron
. When this squadron was deployed, piracy in the New Orleans region began to decline for good. By 1838 the Home Squadron was created and was used for protecting the American coastline until the outbreak of civil war
in 1861.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
Navy
United States Navy
The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...
squadron
Squadron (naval)
A squadron, or naval squadron, is a unit of 3-4 major warships, transport ships, submarines, or sometimes small craft that may be part of a larger task force or a fleet...
raised out of the growing threat the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
posed to Louisiana
Louisiana
Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...
during the War of 1812
War of 1812
The War of 1812 was a military conflict fought between the forces of the United States of America and those of the British Empire. The Americans declared war in 1812 for several reasons, including trade restrictions because of Britain's ongoing war with France, impressment of American merchant...
. The first squadron consisted of over a dozen vessels and was mostly defeated during the war. After, new ships were stationed at New Orleans which engaged in counter-piracy operations for over twenty years. The New Orleans Squadron was eventually merged with the Home Squadron
Home Squadron
The Home Squadron was part of the United States Navy in the mid-19th century. Organized as early as 1838, ships were assigned to protect coastal commerce, aid ships in distress, suppress piracy and the slave trade, make coastal surveys, and train ships to relieve others on distant stations...
.
War of 1812
Originally commanded by Daniel PattersonDaniel Patterson
Daniel Todd Patterson was an officer in the United States Navy during the Quasi-War with France, the First Barbary War and the War of 1812.-Biography:...
in 1814, the squadron consisted of fifteen vessels, including the schooner
Schooner
A schooner is a type of sailing vessel characterized by the use of fore-and-aft sails on two or more masts with the forward mast being no taller than the rear masts....
s USS Carolina
USS Carolina (1812)
USS Carolina, a schooner, was the only ship of the United States Navy to be named for the British colony that became the states of North Carolina and South Carolina. Her keel was laid down at Charleston, South Carolina. She was purchased by the Navy while still on the stocks, launched on 10...
and USS Sea Horse
USS Sea Horse (1812)
The first USS Sea Horse was a one-gun schooner that the Navy purchased in 1812 for service on Lake Borgne, near New Orleans, Louisiana. She saw action as part of a squadron of gunboats, under the command of Lieutenant Thomas ap Catesby Jones, which opposed the British advance on New Orleans in...
, the two small sloops-of-war
Sloop-of-war
In the 18th and most of the 19th centuries, a sloop-of-war was a warship with a single gun deck that carried up to eighteen guns. As the rating system covered all vessels with 20 guns and above, this meant that the term sloop-of-war actually encompassed all the unrated combat vessels including the...
USS Alligator
USS Alligator (1813)
The second USS Alligator was a sloop in the United States Navy during the War of 1812. The vessel was purchased by the U.S. Navy in 1813 at New Orleans, Louisiana, for conversion to a gunboat. Commissioned as a tender at New Orleans, she served on that station under the command of Sailing Master...
and USS Tickler
USS Tickler
The USS Tickler was a one gun dispatch sloop used as a bomb ketch by the United States Navy. Purchased in August 1812, she weighed fifty tons, but further dimensions and its builder are not known. Tickler was captured by the British in the Battle of Lake Borgne and returned after the war. She was...
along with several Jeffersonian class gunboat
Gunboat
A gunboat is a naval watercraft designed for the express purpose of carrying one or more guns to bombard coastal targets, as opposed to those military craft designed for naval warfare, or for ferrying troops or supplies.-History:...
s. On December 13, 1814, the Sea Horse fought off two attacks
Action of 13 December 1814 (Louisiana Campaign)
The Action of 13 December 1814 was a naval action during the War of 1812. A flotilla of British longboats were on their way to fight the Battle of Lake Borgne. Before reaching the lake, they would encounter an American schooner of the United States Navy....
from a British boat expedition which was heading to Lake Borgne
Lake Borgne
Lake Borgne is a lagoon in eastern Louisiana of the Gulf of Mexico. Due to coastal erosion, it is no longer actually a lake but rather an arm of the Gulf of Mexico. Its name comes from the French word borgne, which means "one-eyed".-Geography:...
. The next day, the expedition defeated five of the squadron's gunboats under Thomas ap Catesby Jones
Thomas ap Catesby Jones
Thomas ap Catesby Jones was a U.S. Navy officer during the War of 1812 and the Mexican-American War.-Early life:Jones was born in 1790 in Westmoreland County, Virginia. Thomas ap Catesby Jones means Thomas, son of Catesby Jones in the Welsh language. His brother was Roger Jones, who would become...
at the Battle of Lake Borgne
Battle of Lake Borgne
The Battle of Lake Borgne was a naval battle between the Royal Navy and the United States Navy in the American South theatre of the War of 1812. It occurred on 14 December 1814 on Lake Borgne and was part of the British advance on New Orleans.-Background:...
, USS Tickler and USS Alligator were also scuttled or captured. As result of this action, the British gained control of the lake which was then used as the landing zone for their army that marched on New Orleans. On December 27, as part of the Battle of New Orleans
Battle of New Orleans
The Battle of New Orleans took place on January 8, 1815 and was the final major battle of the War of 1812. American forces, commanded by Major General Andrew Jackson, defeated an invading British Army intent on seizing New Orleans and the vast territory the United States had acquired with the...
, the Carolina was badly damaged by enemy artillery fire and abandoned by her crew. She later exploded when fire reached her powder magazine. Although Jean Lafitte
Jean Lafitte
Jean Lafitte was a pirate and privateer in the Gulf of Mexico in the early 19th century. He and his elder brother, Pierre, spelled their last name Laffite, but English-language documents of the time used "Lafitte", and this is the commonly seen spelling in the United States, including for places...
fought for America at New Orleans, the squadron operated against his pirates until ultimately being evicted from their base at Barataria
Jean Lafitte National Historical Park and Preserve
Jean Lafitte National Historical Park and Preserve protects significant examples of the rich natural and cultural resources of Louisiana's Mississippi River Delta region. The park, named after Jean Lafitte, seeks to illustrate the influence of environment and history on the development of a unique...
on September 16, 1814 by Commodore Patterson. Six of his pirate ships were captured without a fight and around $500,000 worth of valuables were taken as prize.
Anti-Piracy Operations
Between the War of 1812 and 1830, piracy in the West Indies flared up again, prompting the United States to take more serious action against the outlaws. By 1818 Jean Lafitte commanded a fleet of ships pirating out of Galveston, TexasTexas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
so the New Orleans Squadron began operations against him. Around this time Lafitte suffered a significant distraction from his work, a hurricane hit Galveston in the summer of 1818, leaving his base in ruins and one of his newest ships was captured by the squadron. That same year, USS Enterprise
USS Enterprise (1799)
The third USS Enterprise, a schooner, was built by Henry Spencer at Baltimore, Maryland, in 1799, and placed under the command of Lieutenant John Shaw...
, under Lieutenant
Lieutenant
A lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer in many nations' armed forces. Typically, the rank of lieutenant in naval usage, while still a junior officer rank, is senior to the army rank...
Lawrence Kearny
Lawrence Kearny
Commodore Lawrence Kearny was an officer in the United States Navy during the early nineteenth century. In the early 1840s he began negotiations with China which opened that country to U.S. trade and pointed the way toward the American Open Door Policy a half century later...
, arrived at Galveston and demanded his leave which was done so without bloodshed. The revenue cutters
United States Revenue Cutter Service
The United States Revenue Cutter Service was established by Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton in 1790 as an armed maritime law enforcement service. Throughout its entire existence the Revenue Cutter Service operated under the authority of the United States Department of the Treasury...
USRC Alabama
USRC Alabama (1819)
USRC Alabama, was a wood hull topsail schooner designed by William Doughty that served in the United States Revenue Cutter Service from 1819 to 1833. Although her homeport was Mobile, Alabama, she was stationed temporarily with her sister ship, the USRC Louisiana. The two cutters were successful in...
and USRC Louisiana
USRC Louisiana (1819)
USRC Louisiana, was a wood hull topsail schooner designed by William Doughty that served in the United States Revenue Cutter Service from 1819 to 1824. Assigned the homeport of New Orleans, Louisiana, she sailed the Caribbean extensively and was used mainly in antipiracy activity...
captured
Action of 31 August 1819
The Capture of the Bravo was a naval battle between United States Revenue Cutter Service cutters and one of Jean Lafitte's pirate ships.In early 1819 the two ships USRC Alabama and USRC Louisiana were finished being built in New York and fitted with one pivot gun each. The sister ships cost $4,500...
another one of his ships in 1819. Both of the cutters were temporarily serving with the New Orleans station at the time. Meanwhile, on the other side of the Gulf of Mexico, and in the Caribbean, attacks on American merchant ships by Spanish and Central America
Central America
Central America is the central geographic region of the Americas. It is the southernmost, isthmian portion of the North American continent, which connects with South America on the southeast. When considered part of the unified continental model, it is considered a subcontinent...
n pirates increased.
Over the course of the next decade, thousands of attacks on merchant vessels by West Indies pirates were reported, many of the victims were American ships. In 1821, the first United States Navy fleet created specifically to fight piracy in the Caribbean became known as the West Indies Squadron
West Indies Squadron (United States)
The West Indies Squadron, or the West Indies Station, was a United States Navy squadron that operated in the West Indies in the early nineteenth century. It was formed due to the need to suppress piracy in the Caribbean Sea, the Antilles and the Gulf of Mexico region of the Atlantic Ocean...
. When this squadron was deployed, piracy in the New Orleans region began to decline for good. By 1838 the Home Squadron was created and was used for protecting the American coastline until the outbreak of civil war
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
in 1861.