An 1813 O-102 Capped Bust half dollar... maybe Oliver Hazard Perry held this!

These photos are of an 1813 Capped Bust half dollar in my collection, an example of the O-102 variety, which is an R4 in rarity.  Note the subtle raised bars through and below Liberty's ear.  These are clash marks, which were caused when the obverse and reverse dies banged together harshly (clashed) at one  point or more in time, probably repetitively, because someone forgot to put a silver planchet (the "blank" that becomes the coin) in between the two dies in the hand-operated screw-down coin minting press.  The bars are from where the vertical bars on the shield (in front of the eagle on the reverse) of the reverse die clashed into the obverse die. Similarly to the 1794 large cent I posted earlier, the Capped Bust half dollars from 1807 through 1836 have a "third side", which is the edge, with its incuse lettering stating the value "FIFTY CENTS OR HALF A DOLLAR".  It is not unusual for this edge lettering on capped bust half dollars to be blundered, and some of these edge lettering errors can be highly collectible in their own right. 

1813 O-102 Capped Bust half dollar obverse

1813 O-102 Capped Bust half dollar reverse

The year 1813 was of great importance in U.S. history and particularly in Northwest Ohio, due to a pivotal naval battle during the War of 1812 which occurred in western Lake Erie about 5 miles northwest of Put-in-Bay, Ohio (on South Bass Island) on September 10, 1813.   

U.S. Secretary of the Navy Paul Hamilton had charged Daniel Dobbins with building the American fleet on Presque Isle Bay at Erie, Pennsylvania, and 28 year-old Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry was named chief naval officer.   Timber from near present-day Erie was used to build the ships, and the ships were outfitted and armed via an overland route from the federal arsenal in Pittsburgh.  From the start of the war to the end of July 1813,  British Royal Navy ships, which since May 5, 1813 were led by Commander Robert Heriot Barclay (operating out of Amherstburg near Detroit), had maintained control of Lake Erie, and kept the American squadron under Perry confined by blockade to Presque Isle harbor.  

Barclay had then been forced by shortage of supplies to lift the blockade for two days, allowing Perry to get his ships across the sandbar at the entrance to the harbor.  Once it was fully armed and manned, Perry's superior squadron instituted a counter-blockade of Amherstburg, and supplies of food there rapidly ran short. Finally, with supplies almost exhausted, Barclay put out to seek battle with Perry.

On September 10, 1813, Perry's command met and successfully fought against a  Barclay's task force  in the Battle of Lake Erie.  At the outset of this battle Perry declared, “If a victory is to be gained, I will gain it.”  The initial  exchange of cannon volleys were quite disastrous for the Americans and the British took an early advantage. Perry's flagship, the USS Lawrence, was so severely raked with cannon fire in the encounter that the British commander, Robert Heriot Barclay, assumed that Perry would surrender it, and sent a small boat to request that the  crippled American vessel lower its flag.  Faithful to the words of his battle flag, "DON'T GIVE UP THE SHIP" (a paraphrase of the dying words of Captain James Lawrence, Perry's friend and the ship's namesake), Perry ordered the splintered Lawrence to fire a final salvo, then ordered his men to row him about a half-mile through heavy grape- and canister- shot cannon fire and rifle fire from British marine snipers to transfer his command to the brig USS Niagara. 

Oliver Hazard Perry with Don't Give Up The Ship battle flag

Battle of Lake Erie, by William Henry Powell

Once aboard, Perry ordered the Niagara's commander, Captain Jesse Elliot, to bring the other schooners into close action while he steered the Niagara toward the damaged British ships.  Breaking through the British line, the American force pounded Barclay's ships at close range with carronades (cannons optimized for short range and more massive cannonball weight) until they could offer no effective resistance and surrendered. Although he had won the battle aboard the Niagara, he received the British surrender on the deck of the devastated Lawrence to allow the British to see the terrible price his men had paid. Perry's battle report to General William Henry Harrison was famously brief: "We have met the enemy and they are ours; two ships, two brigs, one schooner and one sloop."

Perry's victory was the first time in history that an entire British naval squadron had surrendered, and every captured ship was successfully returned to Presque Isle. Although the engagement was small compared to Napoleonic naval battles such as the Battle of Trafalgar, the victory had disproportionate strategic importance, opening Canada up to possible invasion, while simultaneously protecting the entire Ohio Valley. The loss of the British squadron directly led to the critical Battle of the Thames, the rout of British forces in Detroit by Harrison's army, the death of Tecumseh at the Battle of the Thames, and the breakup of his Indian alliance. Along with the Battle of Plattsburgh, it was one of only two significant U.S. naval victories of the war.

The Perry's Victory and International Peace Memorial, a 352-foot doric column rising over Lake Erie located at Put-in-Bay on South Bass Island, was built in 1913 and is about 5 miles southeast of the battle site.  

Perry's Victory and International Peace Memorial 

A story for Halloween: a blood-curdling scream near where Colonel Crawford was burned at the stake

Since Halloween is right around the corner, here's a true anecdote that I can't tie in with an early U.S. coin as I have in the last posts, but this is something I find very interesting and relevant to northwest Ohio history just a bit south of the Great Black Swamp region.

One dark night about 7 years ago, when our daughter was a little toddler, we were traveling in our minivan with my parents on U.S. 23 just north of Upper Sandusky in Wyandot County, Ohio, keeping mainly quiet as she was sound asleep after a tiring day.  We traveled northwest and crossed the Sandusky River (actually the tributary Tymochtee Creek)- knowing the area and its dark history quite well, my mind wandered a bit and I shuddered as I looked off to the east.  Immediately north of the river is a roadside rest area, and when we passed it, our peacefully sleeping daughter emitted a huge scream (which nearly scared me out of my wits as I was the driver) and wailed inconsolably for a good five minutes at least until her mommy got her calmed down.  This was before she could speak, so we have no idea what kind of disturbing nightmare shook her from her slumber.   But the thing that made the biggest impression on me was what happened just a few hundred yards to the east, back in 1782.  It was a story we learned in all of its gory detail in 7th grade Ohio history class -- and, my grandfather owned a farm that is within a mile of this historical site, so this made an impression on me as a youngster.

The site is referred to as the Colonel Crawford Burn Site, as he was tortured, tied, and burned at the stake. It is about 4 miles northwest of where Colonel William Crawford's forces were routed by Indians in 1782 at a site called "Battle Island" (not an island in the river, but rather an "island" of hardwood trees in plain within the Sandusky Valley) just slightly north of what is now the town of Upper Sandusky .    The  Ohio Historical Society's marker at the Colonel Crawford Burn Site Monument in Wyandot County reads as follows:

"Colonel William Crawford, a lifelong friend of George Washington, was born in Virginia in 1722. He was married twice, first to Ann Stewart and later to Hannah Vance. In 1755, he served with Colonel Edward Braddock in the French and Indian War. In 1767, he moved to Stewart's Crossing, Pennsylvania, near the Youghiogheny River. During the American Revolutionary War he raised a company of men, commanded the 5th and 7th Regiments, fought in battles in Long Island, Trenton, and Princeton, and built forts along the western frontier. In 1782, he led the Sandusky Campaign into the Ohio country and was subsequently captured by Delaware Indians after the battle of 'Battle Island.' On June 11, 1782, he was tortured and killed near the Tymochtee Creek near this marker. A monument dedicated to his memory is located about a quarter of a mile north of here. Counties in Ohio and Pennsylvania are named for Colonel Crawford."

"At the twilight of the American Revolutionary War, British forces hired American Indians to conduct attacks on pioneers living along the Ohio and Pennsylvania border. In response, the 13th Virginia Regiment, an over 400-man mounted unit formed by General William Irvine, was led by Colonel William Crawford to destroy the Sandusky towns of the Wyandots and Delawares. This volunteer army departed Mingo Bottom on May 25, 1782, and headed west into the Ohio country. On June 4, they met an Indian force at an area called "Battle Island," located between Carey and Upper Sandusky. The Americans held the field, but withdrew when the British reinforced the Indians with Butler's Rangers and Shawnee Indians. Crawford was ultimately captured, tortured, and killed by Delaware Indians."

Well, "tortured" is probably a bit of an understatement.  If you want the full gory details, there are several contemporary eyewitness accounts that have been published, and which are easily Googled with the search terms "torture" or "burning" of William Crawford".  I've included a sample of one of the artistic depictions (public domain), as well as one depicting the battle.  

Battle of the Sandusky at 'Battle Island'

                            

Colonel Crawford burned at the stake

Crawford became an early friend of George Washington, and in addition to surviving Braddock's Defeat during the French and Indian War, he served in Dunmore's War and was an American commander involved in numerous engagements during the Revolution. In May of 1782, he was appointed to lead an expedition against the Indians of the Sandusky Plains, an area which is now in Wyandot County, Ohio. The American forces were defeated at the Battle of Sandusky on June 4 and 5 (at Battle Island about a half mile northeast of the intersection of U.S. 30 and SR 53 just north of Upper Sandusky), by Indians and British rangers from Fort Detroit.  Separated from his men and taken captive by the Indians a short distance west of what is now Crestline Ohio,  Colonel Crawford was taken back west to the burn site just a short distance east of what is now the village of Crawford, Ohio, and tortured and burned.  By the way, I just found out on Wikipedia that the Butler's Rangers referred to in the quote from the Ohio Historical Society sign above were comprised to a large degree from British loyalist "Tories" from upstate New York. 

It may have just been a coincidence, but my daughter's disturbed slumber and harrowing scream at rattled me just a bit.  I have never since heard her awake in a "night terror" like that, nor do I wish to again.  Not that I believe in ghosts, but I wonder if there are any local accounts for the "Haunted Ohio" type books... numerous other of Crawford's men were slaughtered and tortured in the area or at the Battle Island site in retribution for the earlier Gnadenhutten massacre of innocent Moravian Christianized Indians.