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✅ 1814 | The Battle of Faial and the Sinking of the Brig Gen. Armstrong

Following growing tensions between Great Britain and its North American colonies, in February 1775, the British Parliament declared the colony of Massachusetts to be in a state of rebellion. British troops intervened to restore order and disarm the rebels. Other colonies along the East Coast of North America showed solidarity with Massachusetts, and so began the American War of Independence, in which these colonies fought to break free from British rule.

By the spring of 1776, France and Spain began supporting the American revolutionaries against their common rival, Britain. On July 4, 1776, the thirteen American colonies signed the Declaration of Independence in Philadelphia. However, the war would continue until 1783, ending with the Treaty of Paris, in which Britain recognized the independence of the United States and ceded territories to the new country, as well as to France and Spain.

Yet peace did not last. In 1812, a new conflict arose between Americans and Britons—what became known as the War of 1812, or the Second American War of Independence, during which Portugal declared neutrality.

The Battle of Faial

One of the most symbolic episodes of this war occurred in the port of Horta, known as the Battle of Faial.

On the afternoon of September 26, 1814, the American privateer brig General Armstrong, commanded by Captain Samuel Chester Reid, anchored in Horta’s inner harbor. The goal was to replenish water and supplies. Portugal’s neutrality and the declaration that the ship would depart by noon the next day were in line with international practice, so local authorities allowed the provisioning.

However, as night approached, a British naval force under Commodore Robert Lloyd appeared off the coast of Horta. It consisted of the HMS Plantagenet (74 guns), HMS Rota (38 guns), and HMS Carnation (18 guns).

At first, the crew of the General Armstrong assumed the British would respect Portugal’s neutrality. But this was not the case. According to an official report from September 28, 1814, British launches approached the American brig, supposedly to identify it.

When the British launches neared the ship, they were warned off by the crew. However, the British officer in command ignored the warnings, and a firefight ensued, resulting in casualties on both sides. The British were forced to retreat with heavy losses, and the American brig moved closer to the shore, anchoring near the Santa Cruz Fort and the Horta quay. The gunfire had drawn the attention of local townspeople, many of whom gathered to witness the confrontation.

The Midnight Assault

Just past midnight, a second wave of twelve British launches, each carrying a gun and about 400 men in total, approached and attacked the General Armstrong. The American brig responded with sweeping artillery fire. Despite heavy fire, several launches managed to get close enough for hand-to-hand combat aboard the brig.

The British were repelled, suffering enormous losses in under thirty minutes. Reports estimate 120 British dead and 130 wounded, while the Americans suffered only two dead and seven wounded.

Final Assault and Scuttling

The next morning, Commodore Lloyd ordered another attack, sending HMS Carnation to engage the brig. A prolonged and intense artillery exchange ensued, damaging 27 buildings in the town of Horta.

Realizing that continued defense was impossible and his ship severely damaged, Captain Reid made the decision to scuttle the General Armstrong. He and his crew swam to shore, where a crowd had gathered to watch the battle. The British then boarded the abandoned brig and set it on fire.

Diplomatic Fallout

On land, Captain Reid and his men were taken in by American Consul John Bass Dabney, who formally protested the violation of Portuguese neutrality by the British division under Commodore Lloyd.

"[The people of Faial] were forced to witness a scandalous insult committed in the Bay of Horta against the Portuguese flag by the commander of a British squadron who, without respecting the rights and duties of neutrality, and ignoring the wise warnings of the island’s governor—who conducted himself with the utmost dignity and energy—driven by an inconsiderate desire for revenge, dared to attack and set fire to an American schooner that had taken refuge under our artillery, which we were unable to defend as we should have, due to the miserable state of decay to which our government had allowed our fortifications to fall."

The Fate of the “Long Tom”

A unique curiosity from this battle was the fate of the General Armstrong’s main gun, nicknamed the "Long Tom." Later recovered from the bottom of Horta’s bay, it was eventually offered by King Carlos of Portugal to General Batcheller, the U.S. ambassador in Lisbon. He shipped it back to New York, where it remains a historical artifact of this extraordinary naval episode.

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