North Carolina booklet : great events in North Carolina history

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tbe nortb earolina Booklet
GREAT EVENTS IN
NORTH CAROLINA HISTORY.
U }m
31 north Carolina Haoal dero
and Bis Daughter.
-BY-Dr.
K. p. Battle.
PRICE 10 CENTS. ^ ^ ^ $1.00 THE YEAR.
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Entered at the Postoffice at Raleigh, N. C, as second-class matter—^June 24, 1901.
ZU north Carolina Booklet
GREAT EVENTS IN NORTH CAROLINA HISTORY.
The Booklets will be in the following order
:
1. Virginia Dare,
Maj. Graham Daves.
2. Colonial New Bern,
Mrs. Sara Beaumont Kennedy.
3. Liberty, Property and no Stamp Duty.
Col. A. M. Waddell.
4. Edenton Tea Party,
Dr. Richard Dillard.
5. Betsy Dowdy's Eide,
Col. R. B. Creecy.
6. The Hornets Nest,
Hon. Heriot Clarkson.
7. Green's Ketreat,
Prof. D. H. Hill.
8. Monsieur Le Marquis de LaFayette,
Maj. E. J. Hale.
9. An Admiral and His Daughter, ,
Dr. K. P. Battle.
10. Pettigrew's Charge,
Capt. S. A. Ashe.
11. Eeminiscences of a Blockade Eunner,
Mr. James Sprunt.
12. Ku Klux,
Mrs. T. J. Jarvis.
One Booklet a month will be issued by the North Carolina
Society of tbe Daughters of the Revolution, beginning
May 10th, 1901. Price $1.00 a year.
EDITORS.
Miss Martha Helen Haywood, Mrs. Hubert Haywood,
raleigh, n. o.
NORTH CAROLINA BOOKLET.
VOJL. I. JANUARY, 10, 190JDL- No. 9.
Jl north Carolina Daval B^^o
and J5/S Daughter.
CAPTAIN JOHNSTON BLAKEIjY.
BT
DR. K. P. BATTIiE.
RALEIGH
:
Capitai, Printing Company,
1902.
WMU we IIw we win iWHln, protect a«« fiefeiMl frer,"
A NORTH CAROLINA NAVAL HERO AND HIS
DAUGHTER,
CAPTAIN JOHNSTON BLAKELY.
Johnston Blakely, cut oS in the midst of a glorious ca-reer,
by a mysterious fate, in the flower of his manhood and
of his reputation, was one of those' heroes of the seas in our
war of 1812, whose character and deeds demonstrated to the
world that a new nation of present strength and future po-tency
had taken its place among the foremost of the civil-ized
peoples of the earth.
He was born in October 1781. His birth-place, Seaforth,
County Down, Ireland, and his first name, that of a great
family of South Scotland and North England, suggest that
he belonged to the Scotch-Irish race which has been con-spicuous
in the old world and the new for intelligence,
pluck and all manly virtues. His father, John Blakely, em-igrated
to America at the close of the war of the Revolu-tion,
in the fall of 1783. His mother, with an infant son,
died on the voyage, or soon after landing at Charleston,
South Carolina. The father within a year removed to
Wilmington with his two-year old boy. Here he was cor-dially
received by a countryman, who was a descendant of
the eminent Jeremy Taylor, Edward Jones, afterwards So-licitor
General of North Carolina. A warm-hearted, gen-erous
man, Jones met his countryman at the wharf, and
welcomed him to his home, carrying the motherless boy in
his own arms.
John Blakely engaged in merchandise and, being suc-cessful,
invested his gains in buildings in Wilmington. He
sent young Johnston to a widely patronized school at Flat-bush,
on Long Island, New York, where he was prepared
to enter the University of North Carolina. Before his ma-triculation
the father died, in 1796, leaving Edward Jones
executor of his will and guardian of his son, duties per-formed
with conspicuous faithfulness. In fact the guar-dian
and his excellent wife, born Mary Curtis Mallett, were
second parents to the boy, took him as an inmate of
their family, and treated him so kindly and cordially that
their Chatham county home, Rock Rest, was likewise a
home to him. Intimacy with this accomplished couple
and their equally accomplished children, among whom
were Mrs. Dr. Wm. Hooper, Mrs. Wm. H. Hardin, Mrs.
Abram Rencher, and the late very able Dr. Johnston
Blakely Jones, of Chapel Hill and Charlotte, N. C, had a
marked effect in moulding his character.
Young Blakely entered the University in 1797 and was
distinguished in all his studies, the chief of which were
mathematics and its applications to navigation, surveying
and the like. He refused to join in the riots and disorders
so prevalent while he was a student that the Principal Pro-fessor,
Gillespie, was forced to resign, yet lost no populari-ty
with his fellows. In the Philanthropic Society, of which
he was a member, he was elected to every office, from the
Presidency down, and was placed on all the important com-mittees.
Ivike his father he was of a genial, agreeable
temperament, and the only exception I find to his uniform
faithfulness to duty, was laughing three times while the
Society was in session. For these offences, which certainly
were not of a very serious nature, the future autocrat of the
quarter deck was mulcted a grand total of fifteen cents.
He was punctual in debating, ou one occasion winning as a
leader the question, "Is luxury always the cause of the
downfall of nations?." the Society voting in his favor, the
negative. He lamented in after life the paucity of good
books in the University and Society libraries, and feelingly
spoke of the injury he received in reading Paine's Age of
Reason.
While Blakely was an exemplary student he was im-movable
in standing to his rights. Professors in his day
and long afterwards in enforcing discipline felt it their du-ty
to invade the rooms of students and question them rig-idly
in regard to their participation in disturbances. Once
Presiding Professor Caldwell entered the room of Blakely,
and when he denied any knowledge of the disorders then
raging, questioned the veracity of his statement. This was
resented with such heat as to provoke the Professor into
threatening to throw him out of the window. With a man-ner,
firm but respectful, the answer was, "I beg sir, you will
not attempt it, as it will necessitate my putting you out."
As Caldwell was never known to be intimidated when he
deemed himself in the right, the presumption is that
he recognized the impropriety of his language. Certainly
he did not pursue the matter further. Ten years after-wards,
during his last furlough from his active duties on
the sea, having become from experience fully aware of the
evil of want of respect by an inferior to his superior officer,
the naval lieutenant asked the pardon of Dr. Caldwell for
his rudeness, which was freely granted, and cordial friend-ship
thenceforward existed between the two.
Blakely's career as a student was cut short by the burn-ing
of his uninsured buildings in Wilmington, the rents of
which were his income. His guardian urged him to ac-cept
a loan, to be repaid only when convenient, and thus
continue his education. This he declined, left the Univer-sity
in the fall of 1799 and the next year joined the United
States navy, as midshipman, owing his appointment doubt-less
to the influence of his guardian, then very influential.
His acceptance was dated March 5th, 1800, and two months
thereafter he was ordered to the frigate, the President, the
flagship of Commodore Richard Dale, in the Mediterrane-an.
This gallant old seaman, who as Lieutenant on the
Bonhomme Richard, and a favorite of Paul Jones, had
helped gain the desperate battle with the Serapis, then
about to engage in the Tripolitan war, was an excellent in-structor
of aspiring youths.
Two years afterwards Blakely was assigned to the John
Adams under the able command of Capt. John Rodgers,
who was likewise fighting against Tripoli. He was after-wards
in the brig Congress under the same commander, and
then under Commodore Decatur. Returning from the
Mediterranean on the President, he was in 1805 attached
to the Hornet, which was used mainly as a transport, un-der
Lieutenant S. Evans. His next service was in the Ar-gus
in 1806 along the Atlantic coast, under Captain Jacob
Jones, an experienced ofiicer, afterwards to become famous.
On the loth of February, 1807, he received his Lieuten-ant's
commission. He was then for two years in service at
the Navy Yard at Norfolk, and then was attached success-ively
to the Essex and John Adams. On March 4th, 181 1,
he was placed in command of the small but lucky vessel,
the Enterprise, and so well acquitted himself that on July
24th, 1813, he was commissioned a Master Commandant.
The foregoing statement shows that Blakely had the
best practical instruction in seamanship under able and
distinguished officers, in times of peace enforcing the block-ade
declared by Congpress, together with a short war with
the insolent Tripoli. He acquired thoroughly the knowl-edge
how to handle a vessel in the calms and storms of the
Atlantic and the Mediterranean. He learned the potency
of strict discipline and rapid and accurate firing.
Mrs. Charlotte Hardin, a daughter of Col. Jones, from
her own recollection and that of her mother, has left a des-cription
of the person of Blakely, which enables us to look
on him with the eyes of our mind. "His face was handsome
and kindly; his eyes black and sparkling, his teeth, when
displayed by his frequent winning smiles, of exceeding
whiteness. His hair was coal black in youth, but even at
the age of twenty-six turning rapidly gray. His person
was small but strong and active, and his motions easy and
graceful. He was grave and gentlemanly in his deport-ment,
but at the same time cheerful and easy when at home;
among strangers rather reserved." Considerate of and po-lite
to old and young, equals and inferiors, he had the re-spect
and affection of all. When a boy he often preferred
the study of books and conversation with his adopted mo-ther
to the sports of those of his own age. There is no tra-dition
to show that he ever indulged in gambling and
drinking and other vices and practices so fashionable among
students and naval ojB&cers, in fact among all classes, in his
day. On the contrary, it is known that he spent his time
on sea and on shore in diligent study and preparation for the
duties of his calling, and the instrucdon and rigid discip-line
of the men under his charge. His reputation as a
skilled oflficer gained by the manner in which, as Lieuten-ant,
he handled the petty cruisers engaged in enforcing the
Embargo and Non-intercourse segulation?, marked him as
an expert, fit to be entrusted with vessels of war on inde-pendent
cruises.
Before war was declared however, he became thoroughly
dissatisfied with the disposition of the government to sub-mit
to any grievance and insult rather than resort to hos-tilities.
Nothing brt the hope of a firmer stand and the
triumph of the war party prevented his throve ing up his
commission in disgust. When it was resolved to fight,
such had been the want of preparation, that against one
thousand and sixty vessels, over eight hundred effective,
which sailed the British flag, the United States had only
seventeen effective cruisers, of which nine were of a class
less than frigates. And yet the skill and bravery of their
officers and men gained victories which filled Americans
with newborn enthusiasm, intensified their patriotism and
taught England that the young nation of the West must
thenceforth be treated as an equ il.
Among these commanders none had a greater combina-tion
of daring, prudence and skill than Johnston Blakely. It
has been mentioned that he commanded the fourteen-gun
brig, the Enterprise. Before sailing, many mouths were
spent in superintending alterations in the vessel, supplying
its armament and drilling and disciplining his men. Af-ter
sailing he was vigilant and efficient in cruising along
the Atlantic coast in search of British privateers. On Au-gust
2oth, 1813, he reported the capture of the privateer
schooner, the Fly, and on the Sdme day was promoted to
the command of the new Wasp, then being built at Ports-mouth,
N. H., to replace a first vessel of the same name,
which had gallantly under Captain Jacob Jones, captured
the Frolic, and then herself been taken by a line-of-battle
ship. Sixteen days after he left the Enterprise, his suc-cessor,
Captain Burrows, captured the Boxer, a victory
largely due to the excellent crew trained by Blakely.
The building and equipment of the Wasp and the drill-ing
the crew required Blakey's residence on land until she
was thoroughly sea-worthy. This required several months.
While engaged in this work of preparation he found time
to marry in Boston, Jane Ann Hooper, (one authority has
this name Hoope) daughter of a former merchant of New
York, who had been a friend and correspondent of his fa-ther
while residing in Wilmington.
Captain Blakely set sail on May ist, 1814. He had a
crew of 173, officers, men and boys included, most of
them acquainted with the sea in fishing voyages and tra-ding
with the West Indies, and some having smelt gun-powder
in encounters with privateers, and pirates, Spanish,
Frenchmen, British or Malays. They were all cool-headed
and resourceful New Englanders. Roosevelt truly says in
Ms "Naval War of 181 2" that "during the whole war no
vessel was ever better manned and commanded than this
10
daring and resolute cruiser." In a letter to the Secretary
of War, written at sea May ist, 1814, Blakely says of his
vessel, "From the speed of this ship since leaving port I en-tertain
most favorable presages of her future performances."
The prediction was justified.
His cruising area was near the western entrance of the
English Channel in the track of English commerce. On
July 28th he encountered the brig-sloop, Reindeer, com-manded
by one of the most gallant seamen England had.
Captain William Manners, a scion of the Ducal house of
Rutland. The Reindeer was able to fire her shifting 12
pound carronade five times at the distance of sixty yards
before the Wasp could bring a gun to bear, an ordeal which
her sailors bore for nine minutes without flinching. When
Blakely put his vessel in proper position for returning the
fire, in nineteen minutes her adversary was cut to pieces.
Captain Manners, after a grape-shot had passed through
both thighs, gave the order to board and sprang to lead his
men in person. A ball through the brain brought him
down, the efiEort was repulsed and the Americans swarmed
over the Englishman's bulwarks. After a fierce fight the
Captain's clerk, the highest officer left, surrendered the brig.
Of her crew of 118, 33 were slain and 34 wounded. The
Wasp lost II killed and 15 wounded.
Cooper says "It is difficult to say which vessel behaved
the best in this short but gallant combat. The officers and
people of the Wasp displayed the utmost steadiness, a cool
activity, and an admirable discipline. * * Througout the
whole affair, the ship was conspicuous for the qualities
that most denote a perfect man-of-war, and the results of
11
her efforts were in proportion." "On the other hand the
attack of the Reindeer has usually been considered the
most creditable to the enemy of any that occurred in this
war." Roosevelt is equally emphatic. "I doubt if the war
produced two better single-ship commanders than Captain
Blakely and Captain Manners, and equal degree of praise
attaches to both crews."
On the day after the victory the prize was found to be so
damaged that it was necessary to burn her, the crew being
carefully removed.
Blakely in his official report, while saying nothing in
praise of himself, pays this tribute to his officers and crew,
" The cool and patient conduct of every officer and man,
while exposed to the fire of the shifting gun of the enemy,
and without an opportunity of returning it, could only be
equalled by the animation and ardor exhibited when actually
engaged, or by the promptitude and firmness with which
every attempt of the enemy to board was met and success-fully
repelled."
The victorious Captain took his battered ship to L'Orient
in France, and having thoroughly repaired her and filled
out his crew, sailed again on August 27th. Within three
days two prizes were taken, and he then cut out from a con-voy,
protected by a 74 line-of-battleship, a very valuable
transport laden with cannon and military supplies. On
the same day he attacked the British sloop, Avon, of 18
guns and captured her after a furious fight of thirty-one
minutes. A second brig of the enemy coming up, the
Wasp was again cleared for action, but the vessel, the Gas-tiliam,
although showing her willingness to engage, was
12
obliged to rescue the people of the Avon, which began to
sink. Seeing other enemy ships of vastly superior force
approaching Blakely sailed away. As Cooper says of this
day's work, "The steady, officerlike way in which the
Avon was destroyed, and the coolness with which he pre-pared
to engage the Castilian within ten minutes after his
first antagonist had struck, are the best enconiums on this
officer's character and spirit, as well as on the school in
which he had been trained."
The Wasp next steered to the South-West and cap-tured,
besides one or two prizes, the brig Atlanta, eight
guns, which was sent to Savannah, with his oldest mid-shipman,
Geisinger, as prize-master. She next spoke the
Swedish brig, Adonis, on October 9th, in lat. 18° 35 N. and
long. 30° TO W. Finding on board as passengers I/ieut.
McKnight and Mr. Lyman, a Masters mate, both captured
by the British with the Essex and exchanged, they were
induced to throw in their lot with the ship of their own
flag.
This is the last authentic intelligence of the victorious
Wasp and of her gallant commander and crew. Their fate
is one of the dark mysteries of the devouring ocean. Va-rious
rumors and conjectures are extant in regard to it.
One is that an English frigate, much crippled, reported at
Cadiz that in a severe fight with a large American at night,
the latter suddenly disappeared ; another that the Wasp
was wrecked on the African coast and that her crew were
prisoners among the Arabs ; a third that she reached the
coast of South Carolina and on the 21st of November was
attacked by an English frigate of superior strength, beat
13
off her adversary but was herself sunk. The English records
do not sustain the first of these stories and there is no evi-dence
at all of the second. With regard to the third it is
certain that an engagement between two vessels occurred
at the time designated off the South Carolina coast, but
the Raleigh Register of that date states that it had been
ascertained that it was between a British brig and an
American privateer. Dr. Wm. Johnson in the N. C. Uni-versity
Magazine of February 1854, contends that one of
the combatants was the Wasp, but it is generally thought
that the noble ship went down in a tornado, or by the acci-dental
explosion of her magazine, or other casuality, always
threatening those who go down to the seas.
The foregoing sketch of a worthy life amply corrobo-rates
the judgment of Fenimore Cooper, that " this gentle-man
enjoyed a high reputation in the service, which his
short career as a commander fully justified. There is little
doubt, had he survived, that Capt. Blakely would have
risen to the highest consideration in his profession. As it
was, few officers have left better names behind them." This
high praise was won in a life of thirty-three years.
While the fate of her father was still in doubt, when her
mother was listening anxiously for reports brought by
homeward bound cruisers and privateers of tidings of the
gallant Wasp and her crew, in January, 1815, the little
daughter of the lost hero was born, and named Maria
Udney* Probably no child in all America was the centre
of so much interest and sympathy as she. Nor did this
*I have endeavored in vain to find the origin of this singular name.
14
sympathy evaporate in empty words and fruitless tears.
The representatives of the people of North Carolina, in
those days economical to the verge of parsimony, not from
personal stinginess, but because they were as a rule Jeff-ersonian
Democrats and believed that governments should
not engage in any work except protection of life, liberty
and property, departed from their rule and resolved that
she should be the ward of the State.
The General Assembly of North Carolina, and the United
States Congress, both voted swords to Blakely as soon as
the tidings of the capture of the Reindeer was officially
reported. Two years afterwards on motion of Senator
Archibald D. Murphey, the General Assembly unanimously
passed a resolution requesting the Governor to forward to
Mrs. Blakely the sword, and to express to her the deep
interest which the legislature would always take in her
happiness and welfare. It was further resolved that Cap-tain
Blakely's child be educated at the expense of the State,
and that his wife be requested to draw on the Treasurer of
the State for the required sums. Six hundred dollars per
annum was agreed on as a reasonable sum and it was regu-larly
paid until 1829 iiiclusive. No reason is given for the
withdrawal but it was probably because the mother married
a second time, and became a resident and probably a citizen
of a Danish island.
Mrs. Blakely in addition to this annuity, and as guardian
of her child, received for the share of her husband in the
prize money for his captures, $7,500, and also his share of the
Atlanta. Besides, there was paid to her, $900 his uncol-lected
pay.
15
There is a good portrait of Captain Blakely belonging
to the Philanthropic Society of the University of North
Carolina. There was once a miniature of his daughter but
it has been lost, and I cannot find anyone who remembers
seeing her. Tradition has it that she was rather petite,
with black eyes and hair, very pretty, pleasing and viva-cious.
In the course of time Mrs. Blakely married Dr. Abbott,
of Christiansted, the capital of the island of St. Croix, in
the West Indies, belonging to Denmark. Her daughter
accompanied and resided with her until 1841. Then she
was woed and won by a member of the Danish nobility.
On the Marriage Register of St. John's Episcopal Church
of the island, is the following entry:
"May 19, 1841, Barron Joseph von Bretton (M. D.) and
Maria Udney Blakely, both of this jurisdiction, by license."
The union was of short duration. On the Burial Regis-ter
of the same Church is the following.
" March 2nd, 1842. The body of Maria Udney Von
Bretton. Aged Parish C. [Church] yard. Childbirth."
The blank should have been filled with " twenty seven."
The child did not live and the blood of the famous sea
captain became extinct.
• \
S. T. MORGAN, Pres. F. WHIHLE, 1st VIce-Pres. E. B. ADDISON, 2nd Vice-Pres.
S. W. TRAVERS, Treas. S. D. CRENSHAW, Sec. E. THOS. ORGAIN, Auditor.
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