Federal army. In the Autumn of that year he was active and efficient on the banks of the St. Lawrence; and after the retreat of the American troops from Canada, in November, the illness of General Wilkinson made the chief command devolve upon General Brown. Toward the close of January, 1814, he was promoted to major-general, and he was assiduous during the few weeks preceding the opening of the campaign for that year, in disciplining the troops and giving them encouragement. He was ordered to the command on the Niagara frontier, in the Spring of 1814, and during the succeeding Summer and Autumn he won imperishable honors for himself and country. For his gallantry and good conduct in the successive battles of Chippewa, Niagara Falls, and Fort Erie, he received the thanks of Congress and a gold commemorative medal, and the plaudits of the nation. He was twice severely wounded in the battle at Niagara Falls, but he was in service at Fort Erie, a few weeks later.

At the close of the war General Brown was retained in the army, and was appointed to the command of the northern division. In 1821, he was appointed general-in-chief of the armies of the United States, and held that office until his death, which occurred at his head-quarters, in Washington city, on the 24th of February, 1828, at, the age of fifty-three years. His widow now [1855] resides at Brownsville, the place of their early settlement.

ENE

GEORGE CLINTON.

'NERGY, decision, courage, and purest patriotism, were the prominent features in the character of George Clinton, the first republican governor of New York, and afterward Vice-President of the United States. He was the youngest son of Colonel Charles Clinton, and was born in that portion of old Ulster county now called Orange, on the 26th of July, 1739. His education was intrusted to a private tutor, and at an early age his adventurous spirit yearned for the sea. He finally left his father's house clandestinely, and sailed in a privateer. On his return, he entered the military company of his brother James,1 as lieutenant, and accompanied him in Bradstreet's expedition against Fort Frontenac, at the foot of Lake Ontario, in 1758. At the close of the French and Indian war, he studied law under Chief Justice Smith, and rose to distinction in that profession. The troubled sea of politics was consonant with his nature, and he embarked upon it with great zeal. He was a zealous Whig, and was a member of the Colonial Assembly of New York, in the Spring of 1775. In May of that year he took a seat in the Continental Congress, where he remained until the following Summer, and voted for the Declaration of Independence on the 4th of July. Having been appointed brigadier-general of the militia of New York, his new duties called him away from Congress before that instrument was signed by the members, and thus he was deprived of the immortal honor of an arch-rebel.

In March, 1777, General Clinton was commissioned a brigadier-general, by Congress, and a month afterward he was chosen both governor and lieutenantgovernor of the State of New York, under its republican constitution. He accepted the former office, and the latter was filled by Mr. Van Cortlandt. Governor Clinton exercised the duties of chief magistrate for six consecutive terms,

1. James was born on the 9th of August, 1736. After the French and Indian war, he commanded four companies of provincial troops, in his native county, employed to bar the inroads of Indians. He accompanied Montgomery to Quebec, in 1775, and was an active officer, with the rank of brigadier, during a great portion of the Revolution. He returned to his estate near Newburgh, Orange county, New York, after the war, and there he died, on the 22d of December, 1812, at the age of seventy-five years. He was the father of Dewitt Clinton, the eminent governor of New York.

340

WILLIAM BAINBRIDGE.

or eighteen years, when, in 1795, he was succeeded by John Jay. Acting in his civil and military capacity at the same time, the energetic governor and general performed the most essential service during the whole war. He was in command of Fort Montgomery, in the Hudson Highlands, when it was captured, with Fort Clinton, in the Autumn of 1777; and he did more than any other man not in service with the army, in preventing a communication between the British in Canada and the city of New York. In 1788, he presided over the convention held at Poughkeepsie to consider the Federal Constitution. After retiring from office, in 1795, he remained in private life about five years, when he was again chosen governor of his State. He was succeeded by Morgan Lewis, in 1804, and the same year he was elevated to the station of Vice-President of the United States. He was reëlected, with Mr. Madison, in 1808, and was acting in discharge of the duties of that office at the time of his death. That event occurred at Washington city, on the 20th of April, 1812, when in the seventy-third year of his age.

THE

WILLIAM BAINBRIDGE.

HE first man who unfurled the American flag in the harbor of Constantinople, was Captain William Bainbridge, who was then in the unwilling service of the haughty Dey of Algiers, as bearer of that barbarian's ambassador to the court of the Turkish Sultan. That sovereign regarded the event as a happy omen of peace and good-will between his throne and the government of that faroff country (01 which, perhaps, he had never heard), for there seemed an affinity between his own crescent flag and the star-spangled banner of the new empire in the West.

William Bainbridge was born at Princeton, New Jersey, on the 7th of May, 1774, and at the age of fifteen years went to sea as a common sailor. Three years afterward he was promoted to mate of a ship engaged in the Dutch trade, and at the age of nineteen he was its captain. He became very popular in the merchant service; and when an anticipated war with France caused the organization of an American navy, Captain Bainbridge was offered the commission of a lieutenant and the position of a commander. His first cruise was in the schooner Retaliation, which was captured by two French vessels and taken to Guadaloupe. The governor of the island, desiring to remain neutral, offered Captain Bainbridge his liberty and his schooner, if he would promise to return to the United States without molesting any French vessel that might fall in his way. Bainbridge peremptorily refused to make any stipulation concerning his own conduct, yet the governor gladly allowed him to depart. On returning home, his conduct was approved, and he was promoted to Master and Commander.

In 1799, Captain Bainbridge was appointed to the command of a small vessel to cruise off Cuba. He behaved so well that he was promoted to post captain, the following year. He soon afterward took command of the frigate Washington, and was ordered to proceed to Algiers with the annual tribute which the United States had agreed to pay that power. The Dey compelled him to carry an Algerine ambassador to the Sultan, and in the harbor of Constantinople Bainbridge received honors awarded only to the Lord High Admiral of the Turkish navy. On his return to Algiers, he was instrumental in saving the French residents there, for the Dey had declared war with France, and would have imprisoned or enslaved the few French people in his dominions. For this generous

WILLIAM BAINBRIDGE.

341

act, Napoleon, then First Consul, thanked Captain Bainbridge, and his own government highly approved the act. In June, 1801, he was appointed to the command of the Essex frigate, and proceeded to the Mediterranean, to protect American commerce there against the piratical Tripolitans. He returned the following year; and in July, 1803, he sailed in the frigate Philadelphia, to join the squadron of Commodore Preble, in the Mediterranean. He captured a hos tile Moorish vessel, and at once cooled the war spirit of the Emperor of Morocco. Under the directions of Preble, Captain Bainbridge proceeded to blockade the harbor of Tripoli, where the Philadelphia, on the morning of the last day of October, ran upon a reef of rocks, and was captured by the gun-boats of the Tripolitans. Bainbridge and his crew were made captives, and suffered imprisonment and slavery until 1805, when they were liberated, by treaty. From that time until the commencement of war, in 1812, Captain Bainbridge was employed

1. See sketch of Decatur.

alternately in the public and the merchant service. Then he was appointed to the command of the Constellation frigate. He was transferred to the Constitution, after the destruction of the Guerriere, and off the coast of Brazil he captured the British frigate Java, late in December, 1812. In that action he was dangerously wounded. Among the prisoners was General Hislop, governor of Bombay, who was so pleased with the kind attentions which he received from Captain Bainbridge, that he presented him with a splendid gold-mounted sword. For his gallantry, Congress awarded him a gold medal. In 1813, he took command of the Navy Yard at Charlestown. After the war he went twice to the Mediterranean, in command of squadrons sent to protect American commerce. He was president of the Board of Navy Commissioners for three years; and he prepared the signals now in use in our navy. Commodore Bainbridge suffered from sickness, for several years, and his voyage of earthly life finally ended at Philadelphia, on the 27th of July, 1833, when he was about fifty-nine years of age.

COMMODOR the

ISAAC CHAUNCEY.

OMMODORE ISAAC CHAUNCEY ranks among the noblest of the naval heroes of the second War for Independence, notwithstanding his operations were confined during that war to the smallest of the great Lakes on our northern frontier. He was a native of Black Rock, Fairfield county, Connecticut, where he was born at about the commencement of the Revolution. His father was a wealthy farmer, and descendant of one of the earlier settlers of that colony. Isaac was well educated, and was designed for the profession of the law, but at an early age he ardently desired to try life on the sea, and was gratified by sailing with an excellent ship-master from the port of New York. He loved the occupation, very rapidly acquired a thorough knowledge of nautical affairs, and at the age of nineteen years was master of a vessel. He made several successful voyages to the East Indies in ships belonging to the late John Jacob Astor. In 1798, he entered the navy of the United States, with a lieutenant's commission, under Commodore Truxton. He behaved gallantly in the Mediterranean; and in actions off Tripoli he was acting captain of the frigate Constitution. For his gallantry and seamanship in that capacity, he received the highest praise from Commodore Preble, and Congress presented him with an elegant sword. He was also promoted to master commandant, in 1804; and, in 1806, he received the commission of captain.

When war with England commenced, in 1812, Commodore Chauncey was appointed to the highly-important post of commander of the naval forces to be created on Lake Ontario. A few months after his arrival at Sackett's Harbor, then in the midst of a wilderness, he had quite a fleet of merchant-vessels equipped for naval service; and in the following Spring he had a sloop-of-war and a frigate ready for duty. One was built in twenty-eight days, the other in forty-four, from the time of laying the keel. With these, and some other additions to his squadron, Commodore Chauncey performed very important services during the war, especially in the transportation of troops. He could never bring the British naval commander on the lake into action, and so failed of making any brilliant achievement.1

1. After the war, Commodore Chauncey and Commander Yeo were dining together, when the latter explained the reasons of his avoiding action. His government instructed him to do so, because all he would gain by a victory would be the destruction of the American fleet, while a defeat would be likely to lead to the entire loss of Canada.

STEPHEN DECATUR.

343

At the close of the war, Commodore Chauncey was appointed to the command of the Washington, of seventy-four guns; and, in 1816, he commanded a small squadron in the Mediterranean. There he assisted the American consul-general at Algiers, in negotiating a treaty with that power,' which continued in force until the French conquest of the province, in 1830. In every Mediterranean port that he visited, Commodore Chauncey left a most favorable impression of the Americans. He returned to the United States in 1818, and after reposing awhile upon his estate on the East River, near the city of New York, he was called to Washington city to perform the duties of Navy Commissioner. He remained in the Federal city, in that capacity, until 1824, when he was appointed to the command of the naval station at Brooklyn, New York. In 1833, he was again chosen one of the Board of Navy Commissioners, and continued in that service until his death, when he was president of that body. He died at Washington city, on the 27th of January, 1840, at the age of about sixty-five years.

STEPHEN DECATUR.

AMONG the naval heroes whom the Americans delighted to honor, the memory of no one is cherished with more affection than that of the gallant Decatur, who, like Hamilton, "lived like a man, but died like a fool." He was of French lineage, and was born on the Eastern Shore of Maryland, on the 5th of January, 1779. His father was a naval officer, who, after the establishment of the United States navy, in 1798, had command first of the sloop-of-war Delaware, and afterward of the frigate Philadelphia, in connection with whose fate his son gained immortal honors.

2

Stephen Decatur was educated in Philadelphia, and at the age of nineteen years entered the navy as a midshipman, under Commodore Barry. He was promoted to lieutenant, in 1799. Three times he sailed to the Mediterranean, while holding that subordinate commission. Just before his third arrival there, the Philadelphia frigate had struck upon a rock in the harbor of Tripoli, and had fallen into the hands of the Tripolitans. Lieutenant Decatur immediately conceived a plan for re-capturing or destroying the vessel. Commodore Preble gave him permission to execute it. At the head of seventy volunteers, in the ketch Intrepid, he entered the harbor of Tripoli at eight o'clock on a dark evening in February, 1804. The Philadelphia lay moored within half gun-shot of the bashaw's castle and the main battery, with her guns mounted and loaded, and watched by Tripolitan gun-boats. Nothing daunted, Decatur approached within two hundred yards of the frigate, at eleven o'clock, and was then discovered and hailed. His Maltese pilot misled the Tripolitans, and Decatur's intentions were unsuspected, until he was alongside. Decatur and Midshipman Morris sprang upon the deck of the frigate, followed by the volunteers, and soon the vessel was in complete possession of the Americans. She could not be borne away, so Decatur fired her in several places, and escaped without losing a man. Only four were wounded. For that daring achievement he was promoted to postcaptain. During the remainder of the war with Tripoli he performed many bold exploits, which gave him rank among the noblest spirits of the age.

After his return home, Decatur was employed in the superintendence of gun

1. The treaty which Commodore Decatur had previously negotiated had been violated immediately after that officer had left the Mediterranean. 2. See sketch of Bainbridge.