Twelve Naval Captains: Being a Record of Certain Americans Who Made Themselves ImmortalSeawell, Molly Elliot
History
Twelve Naval Captains: Being a Record of Certain Americans Who Made Themselves Immortal
Seawell, Molly Elliot
United States. Navy -- Biography
The funeral was arranged for the 8th of June, and was one of the
most affecting ever witnessed. The British naval and military
authorities omitted nothing that could show their esteem for a brave
and unfortunate enemy. The garrison and the fleet turned out their
whole force, the officers wearing crape upon the left arm. The coffin,
wrapped in the Chesapeake's flag, with the dead officer's sword upon
it, was brought ashore in an admiral's barge, the men rowing minute
strokes, and amid the solemn booming of minute guns. It was followed by
a long procession of man-of-war boats. It was landed at King's Wharf,
where six of the oldest British captains acted as pall-bearers. The
procession to the churchyard of St. Paul's was very long. The American
officers were chief mourners, followed by the officers of the Shannon;
and the presence of the wounded among both the American and English
officers was touching in the extreme. Admiral Sir Thomas Saumerez, one
of Nelson's captains, and the officers of the fleet, and the general
of the forces, with the officers of the garrison, came next in the
procession, followed by a large number of the most respectable citizens
of Halifax. The route was lined with troops, and the funeral was like
that of a great and distinguished British admiral,--so great is the
respect all generous minds must feel for a character like Lawrence's.
His young first lieutenant, Ludlow, survived several days after
landing; but he, too, soon followed his captain to a hero's grave.
Great honors were also paid him at his interment.
The Americans, however, could not allow the British to pay all the
honors to the dead Lawrence, and in August his remains and those of
his faithful lieutenant were transferred to Salem, in Massachusetts,
where they were temporarily buried until they could be transferred to
New York. Lawrence's pall was carried then by six American captains,
among whom were Hull, Stewart, and Bainbridge,--all men who had known
Lawrence, and served with him when he was a dashing and brilliant young
midshipman. Eventually, both Lawrence and Ludlow were buried in Trinity
churchyard, New York, where they still rest. Lawrence left a young wife
and two children, for whom the country provided.
A poignant regret for Lawrence's misfortunes and death was felt by the
country generally. His youth,--he was but thirty-one years of age,--his
brilliant career, the charming generosity of his nature, and the graces
of his person and manner made him beloved and admired. His fault--if
fault it was--in seeking an action when his ship was new to him and ill
manned and scantily officered, was that of a high and daring spirit,
and was readily condoned; while to this day the story of the Chesapeake
is painful to a true American.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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