> On page 368 of Benson Lossing’s Pictorial Field Book of the War of 1812, > regarding the first battle of Sackets Harbor, he mentions a 32-pounder which > “had been lying near the shore, partly embedded in the mud for some time, > and from the circumstance had acquired the name of The Old Sow.” The rest of > his account confirms the story from Steve Benson. Lossing’s book is not a > primary source, but he is a very good early secondary source. His original > book published in 1869 is based on primary sources he found and many oral > histories he solicited from survivors of the war. This story comes from > Lossing’s interview with the widow of Captain William Vaughan, a Navy > sailing master and lake pilot who assisted LT Woolsey at the time of the > battle. It was apparently Vaughan who commanded the 32-pounder in action > from the shore. A scan of this page at the Internet Archive may be found at: <http://archive.org/stream/fieldbookswar181200lossrich#page/368/mode/1up> -- Bob Sullivan Schenectady Digital History Archive <http://www.schenectadyhistory.org/> Schenectady County (NY) Public Library