Isaac McKeever (1791-1856)
http://losttosight.com/2014/07/commodore-isaac-mckeever/
deserves to be associated with Dauphin Island as much as any member of the U.S. Navy who has ever served in the Gulf of Mexico. As a part of Commodore Patterson's anti-piracy squadron in the Gulf, McKeever made his mark in the shallow water of the Mississippi Sound and the mouth of Mobile Bay. McKeever participated in the September 1814 U.S. Navy attack on Lafitte's headquarters on Grand Terre Island at the mouth of Barataria Bay. After Lafitte's headquarters were destroyed and he had received a pardon due to his assistance of the U.S. at the Battle of New Orleans, Lafitte relocated his pirate band to Galveston Island and ended most of the his activity around D.I.
http://www.historiaobscura.com/daniel-todd-pattersons-secret-visits-to-dauphin-island-in-1814/
Isaac
McKeever was commander of one of the two U.S. Navy gunboats that were
cruising off Dauphin Island in December of 1814 when he became one of the
first U.S. military men to witness the entire Royal Navy's North
American Invasion Force sail into view over the horizon and he immediately escaped by sailing into Mississippi Sound to Pass Christian to bring the word that the British had arrived for their attack on New Orleans.http://www.historiaobscura.com/pattersons-mistake-the-battle-of-lake-borgne-revisited/
A few days later, he commanded U.S. Navy gunboat #23 during the Battle of Lake Borgne and was the last American commander to surrender his ship.
From the
Military Hall of Honor:
The [U.S.] gunboats mounted collectively 23 guns, and were manned
by 182 men. The British expedition consisted of 42 large barges and
other boats, manned by over 1,000 seamen and marines. The engagement,
which was very severe, lasted more than three hours, and over 200 of the
British were killed and wounded. Lieutenant McKeever’s vessel was the
last one attacked, and he was severely wounded, together with most of
his officers, before he surrendered.
In the spring of 1818, McKeever headed a U.S. Navy convoy from New Orleans that sailed past Dauphin Island on its way to St. Marks to support Andrew Jackson's army during the First Seminole War. This was the first of many "Seminole Wars" which were unique in that the U.S. Navy played a significant role and slavery was a major cause of the fighting. When McKeever arrived in Apalachee Bay he encountered William Hambly, an employee of the John Forbes & Co. store on the Apalachicola River. Hambly had just escaped from captivity by the Seminoles and he informed McKeever that the Prophet Francis (a.k.a. Hillis Hadjo), the Red Stick religious leader most responsible for the outbreak of the Creek War of 1813-1814, was looking forward to the arrival of a British supply ship.
http://www.academia.edu/18033250/Milly_Francis_The_Life_and_Times_of_the_Creek_Pocahontas
McKeever then took one of the naval convoy's chartered schooners, the THOMAS SHIELDS, out past the horizon and then sailed it back into Apalachee Bay flying the British flag. The Indians took the bait and soon a canoe carrying the Prophet Francis paddled out to the THOMAS SHIELDS. The Prophet also brought the Seminole chief responsible for Scott's Massacre, Homothlimico
http://www.exploresouthernhistory.com/scottmassacre.html, along with him. McKeever immediately apprehended both men, turned them over to U.S. Army personnel at St. Marks and both Indians were hanged by Jackson's army without trial. McKeever doesn't mention them being hanged in his deposition where he described the events leading up to their arrest:
" I, Isaac McKeever, a lieutenant in the navy of the United States, on
oath declare, that the following narration contains a true statement of
facts, to the best of my knowledge. I commanded the naval force which
convoyed the store-ships, transports, &c. from New Orleans to Fort
Gadsden, and from thence to the bay of St. Marks, during the Seminole
war. I arrived in the said bay on the 1st of April, 1818, with British
colors flying at my mast head; on the next day I was visited by a
Spanish lieutenant, the second in command at Fort St. Marks. The
lieutenant was inquisitive as to the character of my vessels and the
nature of my visit, and wished to know whether I had any authority from
the Captain General of Cuba for entering the territories of His Catholic
Majesty. In reply, I asked him if he had seen my colors on entering the
bay of St. Marks, and intimated that the nature of my visit could not
be satisfactorily explained until the arrival of Captain Woodbine, at
the same time intimating that it was of an illicit character, and that
succor, aid, &c. to Hillishajo and his warriors, in their present
distress, was intended. At the mention of this he expressed much
satisfaction, stated that Captain Woodbine and the Spanish commandant of
St. Marks were good friends, and voluntarily gave me every information
as to the movements of General Jackson's force, and his strength; the
situation of the hostile Indians he detailed at length, and stated, what
rejoicing the reception of the long promised and expected succor would
occasion. He stated that Hillishajo and the Spanish commandant were on
intimate terms; that the former was then in the vicinity, and had
lately been at the fort of St. Marks, when he had urged, with
menaces.the commandant to send on board to ascertain to demonstration
the character of the strangers; and, having satisfied himself, he would
see Hillishajo that evening, after which we might expect a visit from
the latter, who accordingly came on board the following morning. He
likewise informed me that Arbuthnot, a friend to the hostile Indians,
and an acquaintance of Woodbine's, was in Fort St. Marks. On my
expressing to him some apprehension of being blockaded by an American
squadron reported to be on the coast, or of my retreat being cut off by
Jackson, he replied, that the latter was impossible; that Jackson had
but five pieces of artillery, and the impracticability of the swamp
would prevent his assuming any position below me; but that I need
apprehend no danger from any quarter; that, as allies, by anchoring
under the guns of the fort, protection would be afforded me. About this
time we were informed by the Spanish officers and Indians, who came on
board, that, on our arrival within the bay, the Indian camp demonstrated
much joy at the approach of their expected supplies of munitions,
&c. I. McKEEVER. New Orleans, June 5, 1819. Sworn this 5th June,
1819, DOM. A. HALL, Dial. Judge U. S. Lou. Dial."
After escorting the supply ships for Jackson's army to St. Mark's, McKeever sailed west to support Jackson's capture of Pensacola in May. The events in Pensacola would lead to years of litigation and would influence the Congress to pass laws which made the penalty for slave smuggling the same as for piracy: punishable by death.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Act_to_Protect_the_Commerce_of_the_United_States_and_Punish_the_Crime_of_Piracy
On June 18, McKeever ,captaining the USS SURPRISE, captured two American ships carrying Spanish slaves in the vicinity of Pensacola and then sailed these ships, along with their cargo and slaves to Mobile where everything was condemned and sold. It has been written that the 1818 seizure of these ships in Pensacola signaled "the start of a test of the American commitment to stopping the international trade of African slaves and an intense legal battle, foreign and domestic, over property rights to the slaves aboard these ships."
http://rrcaolt.weebly.com/uploads/8/4/7/0/8470429/olt_paper_sample.pdf
After McKeever captured the first two slave ships and sailed them to Mobile to have them condemned, the U.S. Army commander at Fort Barrancas, Colonel George W. Brooke, decided he would seize the next one that showed up so he could get the prize money. On June 21, the Constitution sailed into Pensacola Bay and Colonel Brooke seized it. The Constitution was carrying 84 African slaves and a valuable cargo of other goods. Brooke placed Captain A.L. Sands of the U.S. Army in charge of the ship and ordered him to sail it to Mobile for condemnation. As Captain Sands rounded Mobile Point he was boarded and claimed by Captain Curtis Lewis ( Lewis was captain of the U.S. Revenue Ship in Mobile Bay. He produced the famous map which the Federal government used in making its decision to build a fort on Dauphin Island. His wife's father, De Vaubercey
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSsr=281&GScid=22123&GRid=12774704& was the son-in-law of Major Robert Farmar (namesake of D.I.'s "Major Farmar Street") who had made a private land claim for Dauphin Island for the Farmar estate
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSsr=281&GScid=22123&GRid=12835704&.
De Vaubercey built a mortar factory on Dauphin Island using lime produced from the shell mounds. This mortar was used later in 1818 to build the foundation for the first American fort on Dauphin Island). Captain Lewis' claim to the Constitution was overruled by an Alabama court in 1822.
The owners of the slaves ships, slaves and cargo appealed the seizures to the U.S. Supreme Court where all the condemnations were upheld except for the 84 slaves on board the Constitutions. The Spanish owners of these slaves received restitution on the legal technicality that they had not been seized by an officer of a U.S. ship but by a U.S. Army officer. McKeever had to testify so many times that his expenses were greater than any prize money he ever received. Finally, after McKeever had to petition for his expenses, the Congress passed a bill nine years after the incident compensating McKeever for his trouble.
https://books.google.com/books?id=04mJJlND1ccC&pg=PA118&lpg=PA118&dq=constitution+african+slaves+1818+%22released+from+bond%22&source=bl&ots=s4OfsqtLWD&sig=wRHgf1jgck1vhXEeTtSTH2m1ETQ&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjkg9Oc2MjOAhVEPCYKHWGDAjkQ6AEIHjAA#v=onepage&q=constitution%20african%20slaves%201818%20%22released%20from%20bond%22&f=false
About 1822, Lt. McKeever became part of Commodore David Porter's WEST INDIES SQUADRON
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Indies_Squadron_(United_States)
which patrolled the Gulf and Caribbean for pirates and slave smugglers. In 1825, Lt. McKeever took over command of the USS SEA GULL, the second steamship in the U.S. Navy and lead expeditions along the coast of Cuba in search of pirates.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Sea_Gull_(1818)
He was commissioned commander in 1830 , captain in 1838 and ultimately attained the rank of commodore.
In 1849, McKeever again had an impact upon the Dauphin Island area when, as commandant of the Brooklyn Navy Yard, he confiscated two steamers loaded with supplies for the Cuban revolutionaries of General Narcisso Lopez.
http://www.latinamericanstudies.org/articles/Mississippi-Winter-02.pdf The revolutionaries had violated the Neutrality Law
of 1818, prohibiting armed enterprises against nations at peace with the
United States. Round Island north of Petit Bois off Pascagoula served as a staging area for the revolutionaries of this failed expedition. The revolutionaries' rendezvous on Round Island was broken up in the fall of 1849 by a blockade by the U.S. Navy but reorganized in 1850 and one of the revolutionaries' commanders was Theodore O'Hara, namesake of D.I.'s O'HARA LANE.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theodore_O%27Hara
Isaac McKeever continued to serve as an officer in the U.S. Navy up to the moment of his death in 1858. His naval career spanned 47 years.
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=5045
