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The defense of the cutter Eagle is the name used in the United States to refer to a battle on and around Long Island which took place from October 10 to 13, 1814 between the United Kingdom's Royal Navy and the United States' Revenue Marine. Early on in the engagement, the United States' only involved vessel, USRC Eagle, was beached near Negro Head. Despite the loss of their ship, her crew continued fighting the Royal Navy vessels from shore using cannon recovered from their wrecked vessel. Eagle 's crew was ultimately unsuccessful in their attempts to drive the British ships away and, after three days of fighting, the wreck of the Eagle was taken under tow by the Royal Navy.

USRC Eagle, along with two of the involved British ships HMS Narcissus and HMS Dispatch, are among six vessels celebrated in the lyrics of "Semper Paratus", the service march of the Revenue Marine's successor force, the U.S. Coast Guard.

Background
At the outset of the War of 1812, the United States' diminutive naval forces consisted of 30 armed ships, 16 of which were sailed by the United States Navy with the remainder operated by the United States Revenue Marine. On 26 May 1813, the United Kingdom announced the closure of New York harbor and Long Island Sound to almost all outgoing shipping, the closure to be enforced by means of a blockade. The blockade was not total; American merchantmen carrying certain foodstuffs to Europe were issued transit passes by the Baron Hotham due to the British Army's provisioning needs for its forces engaged in Spain during the concurrent War of the Sixth Coalition. Nonetheless, by 1814, according to historian Melvin Jackson, the entire American seaboard "lay all but deserted" to maritime traffic.

The American cutter Eagle, the second Revenue Marine ship to bear that name, was a 130-ton schooner outfitted with six cannon and sailing with a normal complement of twenty-five. Home ported in New Haven, Connecticut, she was under the command of Frederick Lee.

Prelude
On 9 October 1814 the American packet ship Susan left New York bound for New Haven, Connecticut, hugging the coast so as to avoid violating the British blockade. The next morning she was approached by a similarly sized vessel which – once within gun range – ran up the British colors and ordered Susan to surrender, which she promptly did. This vessel, the Liverpool Packet, was a British privateer operating under command of the nearby frigate HMS Pomone. The seizure of Susan was witnessed by another ship in the area which made for land to raise the alarm.

Engagement
Upon being informed of the seizure of Susan, Lee ordered USRC Eagle to put to sea to find and rescue the American packet boat. Several volunteers from local companies of the Connecticut State Militia offered to join the voyage and were taken aboard. By this point, five hours had passed and Eagle left the port of New Haven as dark was settling. As the sun rose the next day, Eagle found herself "dangerously close" to the 18-gun brig HMS Dispatch, which launched its barges in an apparent attempt to board the smaller Eagle. Eagle opened fired on the barges while attempting to withdraw, but the cutter was unable to pick-up enough wind to outsail the approaching Royal Navy vessels.

By or before 8:15 a.m., according to HMS Dispatch's log, Lee had maneuvered Eagle towards Negro Head on Long Island and beached her, his intent as later explained being to put the ship in shallow enough water that the larger Dispatch could not follow. However, Dispatch and her barges continued their advance and, at 9:00 a.m., the British ship dropped anchor and began firing on the beached American cutter. To protect the ship, Lee ordered his crew to salvage Eagle 's guns, which were hauled to the top of a nearby bluff and – from there – began returning fire against Dispatch in an effort to drive her away. Eagle 's crew were joined by civilian volunteers from Wading River, New York.

Over the course of the next day HMS Dispatch continued to trade fire with Eagle 's crew. According to a popular account of the battle, Eagle 's crew, having exhausted all available ammunition, began scavenging Dispatch 's spent cannonballs to fire back at her. Another account of the battle, published in the New York Evening Post, reported that:

"Having expended all the wadding of the four-pounders on the hill, during the warmest of the firing, several of the crew volunteered and went on board the cutter to obtain more. At this moment the masts were shot away, when the brave volunteers erected a flag upon her stern; this was soon shot away, but was immediately replaced by a heroic tar, amidst the cheers of his undaunted comrades, which was returned by a whole broadside from the enemy. When the crew of the cutter had expended all their large shot and fixed ammunition, they tore up the log book to make cartridges and returned the enemy's small shot which lodged in the hull."

On 12 October Dispatch abandoned the battle and left the area to find reinforcements. The temporary respite allowed Lee the opportunity to repair and re-float the damaged Eagle. Barely had the ship made open water, however, than it again encountered Dispatch which had returned with the Liverpool Packet and the 33-gun frigate HMS Narcissus. Again, Eagle retreated and was beached, her crew moving to the shore to direct musket fire against British barges attempting to attach tow cables to the wrecked hulk. By noon on 13 October, the Royal Navy had managed to take Eagle under tow and – with her – withdrew from the area.

Aftermath
Despite the United States loss, Frederick Lee and the Eagle's crew were celebrated in American newspapers of the day.

Lee returned to military service as captain of a new cutter also named Eagle, the third Revenue Marine ship to bear that name. After retirement, he was elected to the Connecticut General Assembly.

Legacy
"The Defense of the Cutter Eagle" is one panel in a larger mural depicting the Revenue Marine and Coast Guard's battles displayed inside Hamilton Hall at the United States Coast Guard Academy.

In 2014, during bicentennial observances of the War of 1812, the Hallockville Museum Farm in Riverhead, New York organized a reenactment of the battle.

As of 2019 USCGC Eagle (formerly the Kriegsmarine ship Horst Wessel), a Gorch Fock-class barque, perpetuates the name Eagle on the Coast Guard ship register.

Three of the ships involved in the battle, Eagle as well as Narcissus and Dispatch, are among the six legendary vessels celebrated in the second verse of the Coast Guard march "Semper Paratus" :


 * Surveyor and Narcissus,
 * The Eagle and Dispatch,
 * The Hudson and the Tampa,
 * These names are hard to match;
 * From Barrow's shores to Paraguay,
 * Great Lakes or Ocean's wave,
 * The Coast Guard fights through storms and winds
 * To punish or to save.

External link

 * A line sketch of USRC Eagle