The Escape of Daniel Dobbins, Frontier Mariner
He was at
Mackinaw (spelling of that day) with the Salina, July 16, 1812, when he heard that war had
been declared, and was made a prisoner of war. When
the American force at the fort, fifty-six in number, were captured, Capt. Dobbins and all
his crew were summoned to take the oath of allegiance, or give their word of honour, not
to take up arms against Great Britain during the war.
This Capt. Dobbins refused to do. Through
the intercession of Mr. Wilmoth of the British Northwest Fur Co., he was allowed to depart
with his vessel as a cartel, to take his fellow prisoners to Malden. Among them were Rufus Seth Reed and William W.
Reed of Erie, and twenty-nine others.
At Detroit,
he found General Hull and troops encamped on the Canadian shore. A ball was fired across the Salina’s bow to
bring her to, and she was taken in charge by an American officer. Capt. Dobbins then joined a force under Colonel
Cass against a British scouting party; and on his return from this expedition joined
another force under Col. Miller, which met and defeated a party of British and Indians. He crossed with Hull’s army back to Detroit;
was enrolled in a company of City Guards under Capt. Sibley; and was in that company under
Col. Mack, which volunteered to take some mounted guns and drive the British ship Queen
Charlotte and brig Hunter from their moorings, off Spring Wells, where they were landing
soldiers to march into Detroit; but Hull refused to allow them to make the attempt.
After the
surrender of Hull, Capt. Dobbins was taken with other prisoners, to Malden. Some one told the British commanding officer,
General Brock, that Dobbins had broken his parole by taking up arms in defense of Detroit. He was in danger of being executed, but a friend,
a brother Mason whom Mr. Dobbins had known before the war, gave him private notice of the
information that had been laid before Brock, and supplied him with a pass to Cleveland. This pass, preserved among the Dobbins papers,
runs as follows:
“Permit Daniel
Dobbins and Rufus Seth Reed to pass from hence to Cleveland on board of boats dispatched
with prisoners of war.” Signed by: Robt. Nichols, Lieut. Col., Q. M. Gen., Detroit,
Aug. 17, 1812.
Soon after
reaching the American forces in Ohio Capt. Dobbins was sent off to Washington, to inform
the government of the military situation in this area.
After hearing from several sources President Madison exclaimed: “There
is one thing to be done. We must gain control
of the lakes. Therein lies our only
safety.”
It was
decided to give this brave fresh water sailor, who had shown such energy and aptitude for
affairs, charge of the preliminary war to gain control of the lakes. He was accordingly commissioned an officer in the
navy, and authorized to employ men, purchase supplies, etc.
He started at once on his return.
One morning
in December, 1812, after a gale had been blowing for several days from the northwest, a
vessel was seen opposite Erie, Ohio, about midway to the Canadian shore, fast in the
newly-formed ice. That day was intensely
cold, and the following morning the lake was frozen solid from shore to shore. Although the craft appeared to be abandoned, a
great deal of curiosity was naturally felt at Erie, as to what she was and where she came
from. Capt. Dobbins accordingly organized an
expedition to go out and examine her. Several
large sleighs drawn by horses, with a party of twenty men started from the shore. As the leader of the enterprise got alongside the
ice-bound derelict it was a great surprise to find it was his old schooner, the Salina. She had been loaded with a cargo of supplies for
Fort Erie, by the British at Malden, but it was late when she started, and bad weather
setting in, the crew had abandoned her. The
Americans loaded down their sleights with the best of the supplies; and fearing that
through a change in the weather or some accident of war, she might again fall into the
hands of the British, Capt. Dobbins set fire to her.
While the
fleet was building, he was employed in transporting guns, munitions of war and provisions
from Buffalo to Erie. He brought Commodore
Perry from Erie to Black Rock, in an open boat; and rendered other important services at
the eastern end of the lake, and on the Niagara. As
there was no sailor on Lake Erie who knew its ways, its winds and waters, better than he,
he was given command of the Ohio, serving Perry as a dispatch boat; and was with her at
Erie procuring stores for the fleet, when the battle of September 10th, at
Put-In-Bay, was fought. He rejoined the fleet
at Put-in-Bay, and was active in transporting prisoners, etc., until the end of the
season. During the remainder of the war he
was constantly in active, arduous and often dangerous service.
Severance, Frank H., Publications
of the Buffalo Historical Society Volume VIII, Buffalo Historical Society, Buffalo,
New York, 1905.
Photo of Daniel Dobbins courtesy of Erie County Historical Society, Erie, Pennsylvania.