“No! That flag shall never come down while I am alive!” – Connecticut Tercentenary Commemorative Silver Half Dollar Coin

Today, the Connecticut Tercentenary Commemorative Silver Half Dollar Coin remembers the Battle of Stonington, begun on August 9 and ended on August 12, 1814.

An excerpt from The Pictorial Field-book of the War of 1812 by Benson John Lossing, published in 1869, provides a summary of the Battle of Stonington:

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When Commodore Hardy left Eastport he rejoined the blockading squadron off New London. He was not long inactive.

He was charged with a part of the duty enjoined in the terrible order of Admiral Cochrane, to destroy the coast towns and ravage the country, and on the 9th of August he appeared off the borough of Stonington, in Connecticut, for that purpose, with the Ramillies, 74, Pactolus, 44, bomb-ship Terror, the brig Dispatch, 22, and barges and launches.

He anchored his little squadron within two miles of the town at four o’clock in the afternoon, a mile and a half being the nearest point to the village which the depth of water would allow the flag-ship to approach.

He then sent a flag of truce ashore, bearing to the selectmen of the town the following message, dated half past five o’clock P.M.:

“Not wishing to destroy the unoffending inhabitants residing in the town of Stonington, one hour is granted them from the receipt of this to remove out of the town.”

“Will a flag be received from us in return?” inquired the magistrates of the bearer of Hardy’s letter.

“No arrangements can be made,” was the reply; and in answer to a question whether it was the commodore’s intention to destroy the town, they were assured that it was, and that it would be done effectually.

Satisfied that no accommodation could be effected, the magistrates returned the following answer:

“We shall defend the place to the last extremity; should it be destroyed, we will perish in its ruins!”

The inhabitants were now in a state of great consternation. The sick and infirm, the women and children — all who were incapable of bearing arms, left the village, and the most valuable articles were immediately removed or concealed.

A few militia under Lieutenant Hough were stationed on the point of the narrow peninsula on which Stonington stands, to watch the enemy and give notice of his nearer approach; a precaution adopted none too soon, for toward sunset they reported the Terror moving nearer the town by warping, accompanied by barges and launches each carrying a carronade.

At eight o’clock the bomb-ship commenced throwing shell from a 13 and a 15 inch mortar, and the launches hurled rockets.

This assault, grand in appearance but terrible in fact, was kept up until midnight, when it ceased, and it was ascertained that no life had been lost, and no serious damage inflicted on the shore.

In the meantime an express had been sent to General Cushing, the United States commander of the district, who regarded the movement as a feint to cover a real attack on Fort Griswold, at Groton, and an attempt to seize Decatur’s frigates in the Thames above New London.

He made corresponding arrangements with General Williams, the commander of the militia of the district.

A regiment was ordered to Stonington; another to the head of the Mystic, to oppose the landing of the enemy there; a company of artillery and one of infantry were sent to a point on the Thames above the frigates; and another company of artillery and a regiment of infantry were ordered to re-enforce the garrison of Fort Trumbull, for the protection of New London.

These prompt dispositions of troops disconcerted the enemy’s movements toward the Thames, if he ever had a design of making any.

During the bombardment on the evening of the 9th, some bold spirits at Stonington took measures for opposing the landing of the enemy.

The only ordnance in the place consisted of two 18, one 6, and one 4 pound cannon.

They dragged the 6 and one 18 pounder down to the extreme point of the peninsula, cast up some breastworks, and placed them in battery there.

The other 18-ponnder was left in a slight battery on the southwest point, near where the present breakwater leaves the shore.

By the streaming light of the rockets they watched the approach of the enemy, reserving their fire until the barges and a launch came in a line near the southeast point of the peninsula, when they opened upon them with serious effect.

The guns, loaded with solid balls, were double-shotted, and these so shattered the enemy’s vessels that the little flotilla retreated in confusion toward the larger warriors.

From midnight until dawn quiet prevailed, and during that time considerable numbers of militia and volunteers assembled in the neighborhood.

At daylight on the morning of the 10th the frigate Pactolus and brig Dispatch were seen making their way up nearer the town, and at the same time the barges and a launch had approached the eastern side of the peninsula, out of reach of the battery, and commenced throwing rockets.

A number of volunteers, with muskets and the 4-pounder, immediately crossed the peninsula to oppose an expected landing of the enemy, but they could effect little.

The Dispatch came beating up, the Terror hurled her shells, and the rocketeers of the barges were industrious.

The Pactolus grounded too far distant to hurt or to be hurt, and she was not engaged in the fight that ensued.

So severe was the bombardment of the Terror that the militia and volunteers who had assembled dared not enter the town.

Most of the missiles went over the borough, but some of them went crashing through the village.

One of them, called a carcass, unexploded, may still (1867) be seen on a granite post on the corner of Main and Harmony Streets, in Stonington. It weighs two hundred and fifteen pounds.

At about six o’clock in the morning some bold volunteers came over from Mystic, among whom was the now (1867) venerable Captain Jeremiah Holmes, who had been a prisoner in a British war-ship some years before, and had learned the art of gunnery well.

He and his companions made their way to the battery on the point, when Holmes took charge of the old 18-pounder.

At that moment the Dispatch was making her last tack preparatory to anchoring.

Holmes sighted the gun, which was double-shotted with solid round balls, and at a favorable moment gave the word to fire.

Both shots struck the hull of the brig. She at once cast anchor, with springs on her cable, and opened fire with 24-pound shot.

The Terror sent shells in quick succession, while Holmes and his companions kept the old iron cannon busy.

The fight was now fairly opened, and it continued briskly for about an hour, when Holmes’s ammunition gave out, and the borough was searched in vain for more.

At eight o’clock he ceased firing; and to prevent the great gun, which they could not drag away, being turned upon the town by the enemy, he had it spiked.

Stonington was now wholly defenseless, for the militia were at a respectful distance from danger.

It was at the mercy of the invaders, and a timid citizen, who was at the battery, proposed a formal surrender by lowering the color that was floating over their heads.

“No!” shouted Captain Holmes, indignantly, “that flag shall never come down while I am alive!”

And it did not, in submission to the foe.

When the wind died away, and it hung drooping by the side of the staff, the brave captain held out the flag on the point of a bayonet that the British might see it, and while in that position several shots passed through it.

To prevent its being struck by some coward, Holmes held a companion (J. Dean Gallup) upon his shoulders while the latter nailed it to the staff.

It was completely riddled by the British balls fired at the battery.

The old cannon was not long silent. Six kegs of powder, taken from the privateer Halka, and belonging to Thomas Swan, had been concealed by sea-weed behind a rock.

Their hiding-place was revealed by a lad, and at about nine o’clock the powder was placed in care of Captain Holmes.

The cannon was dragged by oxen to the blacksmith-shop of Mr. Cobb, the spiking taken out, and then it was drawn back again to the little redoubt and placed in position.

To the astonishment of the British, it reopened fire vigorously.

The gun was always double-shotted, and so telling were its missiles that by noon the Dispatch was so much injured that she slipped her cables and hauled off to a place of safety.

The Terror kept throwing shells until night, but she was out of reach of the little battery.

During the day quite a number of militia assembled at Stonington, and General Isham took chief command.

Order was soon restored, and many of the inhabitants, somewhat reassured, came back to their homes.

During the afternoon, a deputation, consisting of Colonel Williams and William Lord, went with a flag to the Ramillies as bearers of a note from the authorities of the borough (signed Amos Denison, burgess, and William Lord, magistrate), in which Hardy was informed that all unoffending inhabitants had left the village, and asked what was to be the fate of the place.

They gave him assurances that no torpedoes had been fitted out from that port, and that none should be in the future; and he agreed to cease hostilities and spare the town on condition that they should send on board the flag-ship, by eight o’clock the next morning, Mrs. Stewart, a resident of New London, and wife of James Stewart, the late British consul at that place, who was then in the squadron.

The deputation returned, and the Ramillies and Pactolus took station within cannon-shot of the village to await an answer, Hardy having threatened, in the event of noncompliance with his demand, to lay the village in ruins.

At eight o’clock on the morning of the 11th, the authorities, under the direction of General Isham, sent a message to Commodore Hardy, saying (what he already knew) that the borough of Stonington had no power to comply with the requisition.

“I will wait till twelve o’clock to-day,” said Hardy, “and if the lady shall not be on board my ship at that hour I shall renew the assault on the town.”

At three o’clock the Terror resumed the bombardment, and threw shells until evening.

A sufficient military force had now arrived to prevent the landing of the enemy, but they could do his shipping no harm.

The night of the 11th was an anxious one for the inhabitants of Stonington.

There was an ominous quietude on the water. It was broken at sunrise, when the Terror opened her mortars again.

The Ramillies and Pactolus warped up near the town, and at eight o’clock opened fire.

At this time an order was given by General Isham for the cannon on the Point to be removed to the north end of the town, where it was supposed the enemy would attempt to land.

About twenty of the Norwich artillery, under Lieutenant Lathrop, volunteered to perform that perilous service. They did so without the slightest accident.

In the mean time the Ramillies and Pactolus had given three tremendous broad sides with spiteful vigor, which proved to be a parting salute, and quite harmless.

They then withdrew, but the Terror kept up a bombardment until past noon.

At four o’clock the assailants all withdrew, and the little squadron anchored far away toward Fisher’s Island.

During this whole series of assaults not a single life was lost. One person was mortally wounded, and five or six slightly.

Among the latter was Lieutenant Hough.

About forty buildings were more or less injured, and two or three were nearly ruined.

The rockets and shells set several of them on fire, but the flames were extinguished.

The repulse of the British at Stonington was one of the most gallant affairs of the war, and the spirit there shown by the few who conducted the defense caused Hardy and his commanders to avoid all farther attempts to capture or destroy Connecticut sea-port towns.

The assailing squadron had about fifteen hundred men, while the number actually engaged in driving them away did not exceed twenty.

It was computed that the British hurled no less than fifty tons of metal on to the little peninsula during the three days.

The loss to the British was twenty lives, over fifty wounded, and the expenditure of ten thousand pounds sterling.

The affair spread a feeling of joy throughout the whole country, and the result was a deep mortification of British pride.

The impotence of the attack was the point of many a squib and epigram.

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The Connecticut Tercentenary Commemorative Silver Half Dollar Coin shows with an image of Stonington, circa 1940.

Connecticut Tercentenary Commemorative Silver Half Dollar Coin