Hawley is born into a Connecticut seafaring family in 1741. His parents were James and Eunice Hawley who lived in the Stratfield section of Stratford, Connecticut now Bridgeport. Hawley's grandfather was Gideon, his great-grandfather was Ephraim and his great-great-grandfather was Joseph Hawley, a shipbuilder and the first of the name in America.[1]
Career
Commission
Hawley was appointed a lieutenant on July 11, 1776, to serve on the state man of war Oliver Cromwell. At a meeting with the Governor of Connecticut and Council of Safety on August 16, 1776, it was voted to draw an order in favor of Captain David Hawley for 180 pounds to enable Hawley to raise a crew of seamen for the naval service of the United States on the Lakes to the northward, to which he was appointed Captain.[2]
Battle of Valcour Island
1925 watercolor painting showing Royal Savage run aground and burning while British ships fire on her during the Battle of Valcour Island near Lake Champlain, New York on October 11, 1776
He served under Benedict Arnold at the Battle of Valcour Island on Lake Champlain on October 11, 1776. The battle is generally regarded as one of the first naval battles of the American Revolutionary War, and one of the first fought by the United States Navy. Hawley commanded the two-masted schooner USS Royal Savage with a crew of 50 men. His cousin Ephraim Hawley (1746–1777) served as his lieutenant and his young nephew Samuel Hawley was also a seaman. The ship ran aground during the battle and was burned by the crew to prevent it from falling into British hands. The Royal Savage had been Arnold's flagship until he went aboard the USS Congress. All of Arnold's personal belongings were destroyed when the Royal Savage was burned. This naval battle delayed for one year the British attempts to cut the colonies in half.[3]
Revolutionary War service
He was taken prisoner several times, and after being taken with the State sloop USS Schuyler in 1777, he was again exchanged, and continued his service as a privateer in Long Island Sound, bringing several prizes into Black Rock Harbor. He commanded the USS Guilford, until she fell prey to the British in New Haven harbor in July 1779, when he escaped capture and fitted out a flotilla of armed boats by warrant authority, before being commissioned.[4][5]
Daring raid
In November 1779 he commanded a voluntary force of 20 men from Stratford, Connecticut and the vicinity, crossed the Sound in a daring raid and brought back from Long Island, Thomas Jones, Esq, of Suffolk County, one of the Judges of the Ministerial Supreme Court of the Crown, and delivered him up as a hostage to exchange for General Gold Selleck Silliman who had been taken prisoner earlier that year.[6] The daring raid and subsequent prisoner exchange were made into the film Mary Silliman's War produced by Heritage Films, under the auspices of The Institute for Early American History in Colonial Williamsburg, Virginia. It is based on the biography by Richard and Joy Day Buel, The Way of Duty (Norton, 1984).
Protecting the Connecticut shore
The next spring, on April 20, 1780, he went from Fairfield, Connecticut with three armed boats under his command to Blue Point, Long Island and captured eleven British and Tory vessels, all of which he either destroyed or ransomed, except four which he brought back to Fairfield and libeled. One of the latter was richly laden with West India goods. On April 6, 1780, in company with Capt. Ebenezer Jones, he took a Tory sloop commanded by Jared Bell. On October 15, 1780, he partook in the capture of the sloop Dorset. Under his last commission he was especially active in the Sound and performed important naval service in the prevention of illicit trade, seizing and libeling many boats and cargoes in the Fairfield Court. During his several exploits, first and last Captain Hawley is credited with the capture of over 20 sail of enemy craft during the AmericanWar for Independence.[7]
Personal life
It is believed by some that Captain Hawley built the first brick house within the city limits of Bridgeport, Connecticut from bricks that may have been supplied by Nero Hawley. The home was located at the corner of Water and Gilbert Streets and was used, after Hawley's death as a saddle factory by Seth B. Jones and was the arena of great theological discussions among the workmen, especially; Joshua Lord, William Wright, Edwin B. Gregory and Alexander S. Gordon.[8]
Notes
^A History Of The Old Town Of Stratford and City of Bridgeport, Connecticut, Reverend Samuel Orcutt, Fairfield County Historical Society, 1886, page 398 [1]
^The Public Records of the Colony of Connecticut 1636–1776, Charles Hoadly, Hartford, CT, 1890, page 503 [2]
^The gondola Philadelphia and the Battle of Lake Champlain, John Batten, 2002 page 60 [3]
^A Historical Collection from Official Records, Files & C. of the Part Sustained by Connecticut during the War of the Revolution, Royal Hinman, Hartford, CT 1842, page 83 [4]
^The History of Fairfield, Fairfield County, Connecticut, from 1700 to 1800, Mrs. Elizabeth Schenck, Vol. II, New York, 1905, page 380 [5]
^A Historical Collection from Official Records, Files & C. of the Part Sustained by Connecticut during the War of the Revolution, Royal Hinman, Hartford, CT 1842, page 598 [6]
Claghorn, Charles E. Naval Officers of the American Revolution: A Concise Biographical Dictionary. Metuchen, New Jersey: Scarecrow Press, 1988. ISBN0-8108-2096-X.
Connecticut Historical Society, Collections of the Connecticut Historical Society, Vol VIII, Hartford, 1901
William Richard Cutter, New England Families, Genealogical and Memorial, Lewis Historical Publishing, NY, 1914
Reverend Samuel Orcutt, History Of The Old Towns Of Stratford, Connecticut, Fairfield County Historical Society, 1886
Louis F. Middlebrook, History of Maritime Connecticut During the American Revolution 1775 – 1783, The Essex Institute, Salem, Mass, 1925
Jim Mathews, The Connecticut Society Of The Sons Of The American Revolution, East Haddam, CT
James Trumbull, Public Records of the Colony of Connecticut 1636–1776, Connecticut General Assembly, Lockwood & Brainard, 1890
United States
Continental Navy
