The text is in polite language with echoes of phrases and thoughts found in Anacreontic songs, but put into the framework of a newsboy’s “New-Year greetings.” These were broadsides printed by newspaper editors for the delivery boys to give to their customers, hoping for a tip in return for their yearlong service.
These four broadsides are unusual in that they do not celebrate a glorious duel between two men-of-war, but rather the completion of war cruises that saw little serious combat, specifically, Commodore John Rodgers’s second, third, and fourth cruises.
Rodgers’s first cruise. . . had begun on June 21, 1812, three days after war was declared, and lasted until August 31. Cruising in company with frigates United States, President (his flagship), and Congress, sloop of war Hornet, and brig Argus, his primary objective was the interception of a large British convoy homeward bound from Jamaica. In his hunt, Rodgers chased but did not catch HM frigate Belvidera, never found the convoy, and captured but two privateers and six small British merchantmen with his powerful squadron. His arrival in Boston coincided with Captain Isaac Hull’s arrival and announcement of his victory over HMS Guerriere. To say that Rodgers, the senior American naval officer afloat, was chagrined is putting it mildly.
The commodore began a second cruise in early October, this time with just President, Congress, and sloop of war Wasp because the Secretary of the Navy had, in the meantime, reorganized the operating forces. Two days out, the British frigate Nymphe eluded him. On the fifteenth, his luck changed when they chased and took HM packet Swallow (ten guns). On board was found ten tons of gold and silver specie valued at about $175,000. The capture brought Rodgers little combat glory, but made him a rich man from his share of the prize money. Two weeks later, HMS Galatea (thirty-six guns) became the third frigate to avoid the squadron, a circumstance only slightly ameliorated by the capture of a whaler she had been escorting. It is the return of Rodgers’s squadron on December 31, 1812, that is recorded in two of these broadsides.
Rodgers’s third cruise began on April 30, 1813, and ended at Newport, Rhode Island, in late September (see Huzza for Commodore Rodgers). It was by far the most interesting of his voyages, for it took him into the waters north of the British Isles, and under his command USS President became the first American warship to visit a Norwegian port. This was the commodore’s most successful cruise, as he captured one Royal Navy schooner, a twelve-gun packet, a fourteen-gun privateer, and nine merchantmen, all unaccompanied by any squadron units.
The commodore’s final, and shortest, war cruise lasted from December 4, 1813, until February 18, 1814, when he returned to New York. Four merchantmen, including an American previously taken by a Briton, were captured. None of these pieces can have pleased Rodgers very much, although, if he knew of them, in public he must have put a good face on it. The authors of A Happy New Year to Commodore Rodgers included references to the thrilling combat successes of Hull, Jones, and Decatur before mentioning the taking of Swallow, which, they seem to say, was ‘almost as good.’ Indeed, in Cash In Hand one finds the lines ‘We told ’em then to save their chink [money], to send their frigates here, sirs.’ Clearly, ‘chink’ was not on a par with a gold medal, the thanks of the Congress, and the adulation given a victorious fighter. To his everlasting frustration and chagrin, Rodgers never got the glory. His long service to the country—he served until his death in 1838—led to four USN ships carrying his name. (Dudley, vol. 1; Paullin)
