Poor fellow.

He little thought of losing his ship and his life in an engagement with a ship so much inferior to his own--with an enemy upon whom he looked with so much contempt." But most notable of all the battles fought by privateersmen in the War of 1812, was the defense of the brig "General Armstrong," in the harbor of Fayal, in September, 1814.

This famous combat has passed into history, not only because of the gallant fight made by the privateer, but because the three British men-of-war to whom she gave battle, were on their way to cooperate with Packenham at New Orleans, and the delay due to the injuries they received, made them too late to aid in that expedition, and may have thus contributed to General Jackson's success.
The "General Armstrong" had always been a lucky craft, and her exploits in the capture of merchantmen, no less than the daring of her commander in giving battle to ships-of-war which he encountered, had won her the peculiar hate of the British navy.

At the very beginning of her career, when in command of Captain Guy R.Champlin, she fought a British frigate for more than an hour, and inflicted such grave damage that the enemy was happy enough to let her slip away when the wind freshened.

On another occasion she engaged a British armed ship of vastly superior strength, off the Surinam River, and forced her to run ashore.