Quasi-War
The
Quasi-War was an
undeclared war fought entirely at sea between the
United States and
France from 1798 to 1800. In the United States, the conflict is sometimes also referred to as the
Undeclared War with France.
France had been America's major ally in the
American Revolutionary War, and without its assistance the United States may not have won independence. But the new government of Revolutionary France viewed a 1794 commercial agreement between the United States and Great Britain, known as the
Jay Treaty, as a violation of France's 1778 treaties with the United States.
The French began to seize American ships trading with their British enemies and refused to receive a new United States minister when he arrived in Paris in December 1796. In his annual message to Congress at the close of 1797, President
John Adams reported on France's refusal to negotiate and spoke of the need "to place our country in a suitable posture of defense." In April of 1798, President Adams informed Congress of the infamous "
XYZ Affair," in which French agents demanded a large bribe for the restoration of relations with the United States.
Increased depredations by
privateers from Revolutionary France required the
United States Navy to protect the expanding merchant shipping of the United States. The
United States Congress authorized the President to acquire, arm, and man no more than twelve vessels, of up to twenty-two guns each. Under the terms of this act, several vessels were purchased and converted into ships of war.
The Quasi-War started on
July 7,
1798 when Congress rescinded treaties with France. United States Naval squadrons then sought out and attacked the French privateers.
The US Navy operated with a battle fleet of roughly 30 vessels (For a complete listing, see
:Category:Quasi-War American ships). The Navy patrolled the southern coast of the United States and throughout the Caribbean, seeking out French
privateers. Captain
Thomas Truxtun's insistence on the highest standards of crew training paid handsome dividends as the frigate
Constellation (36) captured
L'Insurgente (40), and severely punished
La Vengeance (54). Often, French privateers showed great audacity, as was the case with the privateer
La Croyable (20), which was captured on
July 7,
1798, by
Delaware (20) outside of Egg Harbor, New Jersey. The
Enterprise (12) captured over 20 French privateers.
Experiment (12) captured the
Deux Amis (8), and
Diane (14). A number of American merchantmen were likewise recaptured by the
Experiment. The
Boston summarily pounded
Le Berceau (24) into submission.
Silas Talbot engineered an expedition in the Puerto Plata harbor in St. Domingo, a possession of France's ally Spain, on
11 May,
1800, in which sailors and marines of the
Constitution (44) under Lieutenant
Isaac Hull cut out the French privateer
Sandwich from the harbor and spiked the guns in the Spanish fort. Of all of the vessels operating under command of the US Navy, only one vessel was captured by enemy forces:
Retaliation.
Retaliation was the captured privateer
La Croyable, recently purchased by the US Navy.
Retaliation departed Norfolk on
28 October,
1798, with
Montezuma (20) and
Norfolk (18) and cruised in the West Indies protecting American commerce. On 20 November, French frigates,
L'Insurgente and
Volontaire overtook
Retaliation while her consorts were away on a chase and forced commanding officer Lt.
William Bainbridge to surrender the hopelessly out-gunned schooner. However, even as a prisoner, the clever young American officer managed to serve his country. He saved USS
Montezuma and USS
Norfolk by convincing the senior French commander that those American warships were too powerful for his frigates and induced him to abandon the chase. Renamed
Magicienne by the French, the schooner again came into American hands on 28 June, when a broadside from
USS Merrimack forced her to haul down her colors.
Revenue cutters also assisted in capturing two others. The cutter
USRC Pickering, commanded by
Edward Preble, made two cruises to the West Indies and captured ten prizes, one of which carried 19 guns throwing 150 pounds of iron compared to
Pickering's 14 guns and total iron weight of only 56 pounds, and was manned by some 250 sailors, more than three times
Pickering's strength.
In total, the US Navy captured over 80 French ships.
Although they were fighting the same enemy, the
Royal Navy and the United States Navy did not cooperate operationally, nor did they share operational plans or come to mutual understandings about deployment of their forces. The British did sell the American government naval stores and munitions. And the two navies shared a system of signals by which to recognize each other's warships at sea and allowed merchantmen of their respective nations to join their convoys.
By October 1800, aggressiveness of the cruisers of the United States Navy, as well as those of the Royal Navy, combined with a more conciliatory diplomatic stance by the French toward America, produced a reduction in the activity of the French privateers and warships. In mid-December 1800 news reached Washington that a peace treaty with France (
the Treaty of Mortefontaine,
September 30,
1800) ended the Quasi-War.
* Alexander De Conde:
The quasi-war: the politics and diplomacy of the undeclared war with France 1797â€"1801. New York: Scribner's, 1966
* Nathan Miller:
The US Navy: An Illustrated History. New York: American Heritage, 1977
*
Naval History Bibliography
