Existing comment:
Captain Stephen Decatur, USN (1779-1820)
By John Wesley Jarvis
This image of Decatur has often graced a wall in the main drawing room of Buchanan House. As a young lieutenant, he volunteered at Tripoli to lead a party under the cover of darkness to destroy the captured frigate Philadelphia in February 1804. So successful was he that Admiral Lord Nelson called it "the boldest deed of the age" and Congress presented him a special sword and promoted him to Captain, US Navy, at age 25. He visited Annapolis in 1809, shortly after taking command of the US Frigate United States. With this ship he would add to his glory during the War of 1812 in the defeat and capture of HMS Macedonian on October 25, 1812. For this victory, he was voted a gold medal by the Congress. Using sea power, Decatur brought the Barbary pirates of Algiers quickly to terms in 1815. Afterward, he served on the Board of Navy Commissioners until being mortally wounded in a duel with fellow naval officer Commodore James Barron. |