Excerpt
The unfortunate death of captain James Lawrence, and lieutenant Augustus C. Ludlow, has rendered it my duty to inform you of the capture of the late United States' frigate Chesapeake.Historical wording and forms retained where stated.
“Old Ironsides” and the War at Sea
Documentary edition · packet 05
Report of the capture of Chesapeake
Budd's report records the action and the collapse of command after Lawrence and the other senior officers were wounded. It replaces a famous attributed utterance with a named participant's formal account.
15 June 1813Official naval reportRead the chapter →
Modernized reading
Budd reported Chesapeake's capture because Lawrence and Ludlow had died from their wounds.Plain-language reading; not a substitute for quotation.
Editorial method: The opening sentence is reproduced from the 1823 printed witness; capitalization is reduced.
Annotations
- lateHere meaning the former United States frigate after its capture.
- George BuddChesapeake's surviving third lieutenant and the officer who submitted the report.
Witness and provenance
- Creator
- George Budd
- Witness used
- Budd's report as printed in John Brannan's 1823 compilation, pages 165–167.
- Repository or edition
- Internet Archive
- Collection
- John Brannan, Official Letters of the Military and Naval Officers of the United States
- Identifier
- George Budd to the Secretary of the Navy, Halifax, 15 June 1813, pp. 165–167
- Transmission
- Budd sent the report from Halifax; Brannan printed it in the 1823 documentary compilation. The linked scan is the cited witness.
- Rights
- Public-domain naval correspondence and printed edition.