The New-York Historical Society again off Castle William with the final dispatch which decided Congress for war, declared June 18, 1812. Lawrence's renown in the War of 1812 rests principally upon two engagements of approximately fifteen minutes each. The first occurred February 4, 1813, off the north-east coast of South America, during which the Hornet captured the British sloop-of-war Peacock, which sank with her dead captain and thirteen of her crew a few minutes later. The chivalry which marked the naval duels of the great captains of this war was displayed by Lawrence toward the captured officers and crew of the Peacock in a manner as wholly exemplary as, in causing him to throw away his initial advantage of position over the Shannon four months later, it was fatally foolhardy. The letter from the surviving officers of the Peacock, in the exhibit, thanking Lawrence for treatment so generous that "we ceased to consider ourselves prisoners," is one of the bright spots in the bloody annals of wars. Lawrence arrived in New York Harbor, March 24, 1813, to find himself a hero, showered with honors, including the freedom of the city, election to the New York Marine Society, and honorary membership in the New York State Society of the Cincinnati.' When Lawrence was ordered on May 6th from his new command of the New York Navy Yard to the command of the frigate Chesapeake, he begged the Secretary of the Navv to allow him to remain in New York DO J J with his family, because "Mrs. Lawrence's health is so delicate and her situation at this time so very critical."8 The Secretary turned a deaf ear to this plea, and on May 18th Lawrence had arrived in Boston to assume his last command. We have already observed that his final thoughts for the care of his wife and children, born and unborn, were recorded by his hand on the morning of June 1, 1813, just before he sailed from Boston Harbor to death and glory. Lawrence's naval career was coterminous with that of the ship which carried him to his doom. Within six months of his commission as midshipman the Chesapeake was launched. "The real beginning of Lawrence's fighting career," as of the Chesapeake's, was the cruise in which he escorted her—then flagship of the Mediterranean squadron—along the 7 R. H. Guernsey states that Capt. Oliver H. Perry was the only other person admitted to honorary membership in that Society during the War (New York City and Vicinity during the War of 1812—1$, I, 208), but this appears to be in error for, in his description of the annual meeting of the Society, July 4, 1813, Guernsey writes (p. 261): "The honorary members admitted on that day were: Stephen Decatur, Jacob Jones, William Bainbridge and Oliver H. Perry. Capt. James Lawrence was to be admitted then, but his previous death rendered the action impossible." 8 Letter dated May 10, 1813, New York, published in Gleaves, James Lawrence, p. 147. His son James Montaudevert Lawrence, was born less than two months later (July 8, 1813). 84