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ger. Decatur seized his arm and with his right arm brought a pistol in his pocket to bear upon him, firing through his vest, and killing him instantly. During this contest, a Tripolitan behind Decatur aimed a blow with a sabre at his head, which was rendered ineffectual by an American sailor stepping between them and receiving the blow. For this act of heroic devotion to his commander, which nearly cost him his life, the generous sailor was rewarded by the Government. The name of Decatur was upon every tongue, and his heroism rendered him the favorite of his countrymen.

In 1812 he captured the British frigate Macedonian, inflicting great loss upon her, with little on his own, the United States. His reception, on bringing his prize into New York, was of a most magnificent character.

His fight with the Endymion, with the President also, won éclat. When in 1815 the Algerines were induced by the British to demand tribute, Decatur was sent to require the restoration of prisoners and all property taken from Americans. He demanded a treaty in terms which he dictated; it was soon agreed to and signed.

He was, soon after his return, appointed a navy commissioner. A difficulty between Decatur and Barron resulted in a duel, in 1820, at Bladensburg, in which he was killed, and the latter badly wounded. He thus fell a victim to a barbarous code, which is now happily nearly extinct in the United States. No naval officer stood higher than Decatur, nor was the death of one more sincerely mourned. In boldness, energy, and fertility of expedients calculated to lead to success, no one could excel him. He was mild, gentlemanly, and most agreeable in his manners and intercourse, and popular almost beyond measure. He did much to build up and establish a high character for our navy.

27.-ISAAC HULL.

Commodore Hull was born in Connecticut, in 1775, and died at Philadelphia in 1843. Hull commenced his career on the ocean in the merchant service. Our difficulties with France, in 1798, induced our Government to seek officers for the navy in the

commercial marine. Fortunately, Hull was selected and commissioned as a lieutenant. Young Hull performed a gallant feat in cutting out a letter of marque at Porto Plata, St. Domingo, under circumstances of great peril. At the beginning of the War of 1812 he was placed in command of the Constitution, having been promoted to a captaincy. When off New York, he fell in with a British squadron of five frigates. In secking to escape, the wind was baffling, and he could not move. He resorted to the expedient of taking his spare rope, fastening it to a kedge, placing it in boats and rowing away a mile, and then dropping the anchor, drew his ship to the kedge without the cause of his motion being observed. He thus got away from his pursuers. This was a remarkable escape.

His fight with the British frigate Guerrière, mostly at halfpistol-shot distance, was one of a most masterly character. The Constitution made a perfect wreck of her and she was set on fire. This was the first naval action of the war, and produced a most thrilling effect throughout the Union. Hull took his prisoners to Boston, where he was enthusiastically received. Congress voted him a gold medal, and silver ones to the officers under him. After the war he had command of the Navy Yards at Charlestown and Washington and also took charge of a squadron in the Mediterranean, and also in the Pacific. Commodore Hull was a brave and skilful officer, and contributed largely to building up our navy and giving it a character for invincibility.

28.-OLIVER HAZARD PERRY.

Commodore Perry was born at Newport, Rhode Island, in 1785, and entered the navy as a midshipman in 1799. He died at the Island of Trinidad in 1819. His first service was on the frigate General Greene, under the command of his father. In 1802 he served on the John Adams, in the Mediterranean. In 1807 he was commissioned lieutenant, and in 1809 commanded the schooner Revenge. At the commencement of the war of 1812, he commanded a division of gunboats at Newport, R. I. At his own request, he was subsequently transferred, with some of his officers and men, to the lakes, under Chauncey, to super

intend the construction and equipment of a fleet on Lake Erie. At the head of a body of seamen, he assisted at the attack on Fort Erie. In 1813, when the vessels watching him were temporarily absent, he got his little fleet out of Erie, and sailed up the lake to Put-in Bay. On the 10th of September, 1813, he brought on an engagement with the British squadron, which resulted in its capture. During the battle, his flag-ship, the Lawrence, became disabled, and he proceeded to the Niagara, with some of his men, in an open boat, which was under a heavy fire during her passage. After an obstinate, bloody, and destructive fight, the British fleet surrendered. Perry's dispatch announcing his victory stands unparalleled for pith and brevity. It ran thus: "We have met the enemy, and they are ours." The news of this victory spread over the land, as if upon the wings of the wind, and produced a thrill of joy. It destroyed the British power on that lake. He afterward assisted Harrison in regaining Detroit. Congress voted him a gold medal, and he was made captain. The next year he was appointed to the command of the new frigate Java, which was so hemmed in by the enemy, he could not get to sea, but after the war he proceeded in her to the Mediterranean. While in command of a squadron on the coast of Colombia, he ascended the Orinoco in one of his small vessels to the capital of Venezuela. On returning, he was seized with the yellow fever, and died on board the schooner Nonesuch. Perry's victory tended much to revive the halting energies of the country, and aroused the people to unwonted action. The people began to believe, that on the water our naval officers were a match for the best in the world. All hands took fresh courage. The exploit of Perry contributed largely to our final success. His name stands high on our list of naval heroes.

29.-JOHN RODGERS.

Commodore Rodgers was born in Maryland in 1771, and entered the navy in 1798 as a lieutenant, and sailed the next year in the Constellation under Commodore Truxton. His skilful and energetic management of the French prize L'Insurgente caused him to be made captain in the same year. In 1802, he com

manded the John Adams in the Tripolitan War, and during the next assisted in taking an enemy cruiser in the bay. He continued to be employed in that service until the end of the war, and then proceeded to Tunis, where he accomplished his object by negotiation. In 1811, while in command of the President, he fought and nearly destroyed the British ship Little Belt, whose commander, when hailed, instead of giving the name of his ship, fired a shot. Within an hour after hearing of the declaration of war, Commodore Rodgers, with his flag flying at the head of the President, sailed from New York with his squadron, and in a cruise of seventy days, which followed, he captured seven merchantmen, and recaptured one American vessel. In other cruises he captured the Highflyer, and the Swallow, having on board a large quantity of specie. Toward the close of the war he was appointed to the command of the Guerrière, and had the defence of Baltimore. For nine years after the close of the war he was President of the Board of Navy Commissioners, and from 1824 to 1827 he commanded the Mediterranean fleet. After his return, until his declining health required him to relinquish it, he was again on the Board of Navy Commissioners. At his death, he was the senior officer of the navy. The services of the commodore were not only creditable to himself, but useful and honorable to his country. His reputation never suffered a stain. A son bearing his name, and now high in rank in the navy, performed gallant and most useful services during the late war, doing honor to the name.

30.-THOMAS MACDONOUGH.

Commodore Macdonough was born at Newcastle, Delaware, in 1783, and died in 1815 at sea. He entered the navy as a midshipman in 1800, and was attached to the frigate Philadelphia under Bainbridge, in Commodore Preble's squadron. He escaped being imprisoned when the Philadelphia was taken, with Bainbridge and his men, in consequence of being in charge of a prize she had made. He was with Decatur in some of his wonderful enterprises before Tripoli, and assisted in the recapture and destruction of the Philadelphia. He was promoted to a

lieutenancy in 1807, and to master-commandant in 1813. In 1814 he took command of our fleet on Lake Champlain, and on the 11th of September fought the ever-memorable battle of Lake Champlain, where he won for himself a reputation as brilliant as the result was advantageous to the country. He fought and conquered an able and 'experienced British officer in whom his government explicitly confided. He captured the whole British fleet, with slight exceptions, of some unimportant boats. He was immediately made a captain. Civic honors were showered upon him in various quarters. Congress gave him a gold medal, Vermont two hundred acres of land, which overlooked the scene of his engagement, and New York a thousand.

His character for cool firmness was remarkably illustrated when he was lieutenant of the Siren at Gibraltar. A British boat had taken, from a merchant-vessel lying near by, an American seaman. In the absence of the captain, Macdonough manned a boat and pursued and by force took the impressed man on board his vessel. The captain of the British vessel came in a furious mood, and demanded of Macdonough how he dared to take the man. Macdonough replied that he was an American seaman and entitled to his protection. The captain threatened to lay his ship alongside and sink the Siren. Macdonough said: "This you may do, but while she swims the man you will not have.” The captain then said: "If I had been aboard the boat, would you have dared to commit such an act?" "I should have made the attempt, sir, at all hazards." "What, sir, would you attempt to interfere if I were to impress men from that brig?" "You have only to try, sir." The English officer returned to his ship, manned a boat, rowed around, and returned, without making the attempt. This showed Macdonough to be true grit. His praises have been sung in songs that roused men to action, and his name has passed into history, filling a bright page.

31.-JAMES LAWRENCE.

Lawrence was born in 1781, in New Jersey, and died in 1813 of wounds received in the fight between the Chesapeake and British frigate Shannon. He entered the navy in 1798 as a

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