Defense of the cutter Eagle

On October 9, 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.[3]

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, the senior officer among them being Captain John Davis. 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.[3][5][1]

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.[lower-alpha 1][3]

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.[3][6] 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.[7]

On October 12 Dispatch abandoned the battle and left the area to find reinforcements. The Connecticut State Militia troops, meanwhile, having run out of powder for their muskets and deciding they could be of no more assistance to the Revenue Marine, left to book passage on a schooner returning to Connecticut.[1]

The temporary respite in the fighting allowed Lee the opportunity to repair and re-float the damaged Eagle. Barely had the ship made open water, however, when it again encountered Dispatch, which had returned with the Liverpool Packet and the 32-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 her. By noon on October 13, the Royal Navy had managed to take Eagle under tow and withdrew from the area after first sailing back past Negro Head for a victory lap, or what Jackson describes as an attempt "to mock the efforts of the late defenders of the Eagle".[3]