Captain Hugh Nelson Page

Captain Hugh Nelson Page. War of 18 12. , The British preoccupied with fighting a war against Napoleon in Europe, desperate for sailors, stopped ships at sea, forced Americans into the Royal Navy, and supported hostile Indians in the Mid-Northwest. To retaliate, the US Congress declared war against Great Britain in June 1812, expecting to annex Canada and gain control of the Great Lakes. The Battle of Lake Erie, sometimes called the Battle of Put-in-Bay, off the coast of Ohio, began at noon, September 10, 1813 and finished after three horrific hours., A hero of the battle, Hugh Nelson Page, the son of John Page and Elizabeth Burwell, entered the US Navy as a midshipman in 1811 and was ordered to a gunboat protecting the Norfolk harbor. In August 1812, Page volunteered to serve with Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry building ships at Put-in-Bay and assigned to Lt. Commander Concklin, aboard the one-gun schooner, Tigress., Commodore Perry, commander of the flagship, Lawrence, flew a battle flag, emblazoned with his friend's dying words, "Don't Give Up the Ship!", British guns wrecked the Lawrence and nearly all the crew were dead or severely wounded. Perry rallied his laggard schooners into battle and stunned the English by winning the first complete capture of a British squadron. Page behaved with great gallantry. Wounded in the hand, he was placed in charge of prisoners and had the honor of bearing to General Harrison, Commodore Perry's victory dispatch, "We have met the enemy and they are ours." Page returned to patrol and convoy duty covering the landings at the mouth of the Detroit River and the US Army's advance in pursuit of the retreating British, destroying an English fort on the Saginaw River and burning a large schooner loaded with provisions. For his brilliant service, Page was honored with swords by both the US Congress and the Commonwealth of Virginia., Page sailed for several years, conveying dignitaries from Norfolk to South America. In 1838, he married Imogen Wheeler; Promoted to Commander, Page cruised the Pacific until the death of Imogen and the breaking out of the Mexican war in 1847, whence he was assigned to the command of the receiving ship Pennsylvania at Norfolk; His second marriage, in 1848, was to Elizabeth P. Wilson. In 1849, Page obtained the rank of captain, ordered to the command of the flagship Savannah and returned to Pacific waters. In 1855, he was retired. At the secession of Virginia, April 1861, age 74, he resigned his inactive status, and chose to stand with other Southern officers serving in the CS Navy.