Dear Mr. Benson,

Thank you for posting an inquiry about the War of 1812.  I forwarded this message to a couple of our trustees with the National Maritime Historical Society and received some information from Dr. William S. Dudley in Maryland:

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.  

I hope this helps. Please post anything you find to the Listserv, and you are welcome to e-mail me directly at [log in to unmask]

Suzanne Isaksen
Communications Director
National Maritime Historical Society


________________________________
From: Steve Benson <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask] 
Sent: Sunday, December 9, 2012 1:53 PM
Subject: [NYHIST-L] Sackets Harbor War of 1812

Hi, there,
I'm wondering if anyone can point me in the direction of any primary sources that might substantiate 
the story of the "Old Sow", a 32-pound cannon used in the first battle at Sackets Harbor on July 19, 
1812.  Several nineteenth-century histories say that the residents of Sackets came up with the name 
after seeing the cannon lying half-submerged in mud along the shoreline.  Originally destined for 
the Oneida, the cannon was set aside in 1810 by Lieutenant Melancthon Woolsey as too cumbersome 
and unwieldy aboard that vessel.  Resurrected as part of a shore battery in 1812, but without 
appropriate shot available, the defenders of Sackets wrapped 24-pound cannonballs in carpeting to 
make it fit.  When a 32-pound ball arrived on shore from a British gun, it was picked up, loaded and 
fired back, raking the Royal George and inflicting calamitous damage and many casualties and 
convincing the Brits to flee the scene.  Accounts include references to British sailors laughing at the 
incompetence of American artillerymen in the early stages of the battle and a band on shore sending 
off the Brits to the tune of Yankee Doodle.

The stories have been labeled apocryphal by some, and I'd like to be able to determine exactly what 
was fact and what was fiction about the encounter.

Steve Benson