Stephen Decatur

The American naval officer Stephen Decatur (1779-1820) is best known for his daring exploits in the Tripolitan War and as a successful commander in the War of 1812.

Stephen Decatur was born on Jan. 5, 1779, at Sinepuxent, Md. He studied at the Episcopal Academy and then at the University of Pennsylvania. After working briefly in Philadelphia, Decatur accepted a midshipman's commission at the outset of the naval war with France (1798-1800). He won quick promotion to lieutenant in May 1799.

Decatur saw action in the war with Tripoli and, under Commodore Edward Preble, commanded the 12-gun schooner Enterprise. On Feb. 16, 1804, Decatur led the daring evening expedition that destroyed the captured frigate Philadelphiain the Tripoli harbor. He was quickly promoted to captain, and as such he commanded a division of gunboats in each of Preble's bombardments of Tripoli. In the first attack, on August 3, Decatur and his crew boarded and captured two Tripolitan gunboats; such feats made Decatur the most dashing figure of the war.

In 1806 Decatur married Susan Wheeler, daughter of a wealthy Virginia merchant. Two years later he was made commander of the southeastern naval forces. He also sat on the court-martial board in 1808 that suspended Capt. James Barron after the Chesapeake-Leopard affair. In 1811 he served as president of the court of inquiry following the President-Little-Belt affair.

In the War of 1812 Decatur was in command when the United States scored a victory over the British frigate Macedonian on Oct. 25, 1812, near Madeira off the Moroccan coast. When the United States was blockaded in New London, Conn., in 1814, Decatur and his crew were transferred to the President. In a violent storm on the night of Jan. 14, 1815, the President tried to run the British blockade but was grounded on a sandbar for 2 hours and somewhat damaged; the next morning it was sighted by the blockading fleet. After a lengthy chase and moderate casualties suffered in a brisk fight with the Endymion, the American ship surrendered. A court of inquiry credited Decatur's capture to un-foreseeable ship damage and praised him highly.

Following the War of 1812, Decatur led an expedition to the Mediterranean that successfully exacted payment from Algiers for damages inflicted on Americans during the war by the Barbary pirates. Fetes and dinners followed his return. Decatur gave the much-repeated patriotic response to one toast: "Our Country! In her intercourse with foreign nations may she always be in the right; but our country, right or wrong." From 1815 until his death Decatur served on the Board of Navy Commissioners. He died on March 22, 1820, in a duel near Bladensburg, Md., with Capt. James Barron, who held Decatur responsible for his own failure to be reinstated to command. First buried near Washington, D.C., Decatur's remains were transferred in 1846 to St. Peter's Churchyard, Philadelphia, beside his parents' grave.

Further Reading

A competent biography is Charles Lee Lewis, The Romantic Decatur (1937). The source materials for Decatur's participation in the Barbary Wars are available in Naval Documents Related to the United States Wars with the Barbary Powers (7 vols., 1939-1944). A critical evaluation of Decatur's participation in the War of 1812 is Alfred Thayer Mahan, Sea Power in Its Relation to the War of 1812 (2 vols., 1905). □

Decatur, Stephen (1779–1820) U.S. naval officer, born in Sinepuxent, Maryland. Decatur attended the University of Pennsylvania before joining a merchant shipping firm as a clerk. In 1798, he obtained a midshipman's warrant and sailed for the West Indies with Captain John Barry aboard the USS United States to hunt for French shipping. He was promoted to lieutenant in 1799 and distinguished himself during the Barbary War (1801–05), notably in sailing the captured Tripolitan ketch Mastico, renamed the USS Intrepid, into Tripoli harbor on February 16, 1804, in order to set fire to the USS Philadelphia which had run aground there. For this daring twenty-minute action Decatur was promoted to Captain, the youngest person to hold that rank up to that time. He subsequently commanded in turn the USS Constitution, the USS Congress, a gunboat flotilla in the Chesapeake Bay, the frigate USS Chesapeake, and the USS United States. His greatest naval victory came as commander of the USS United States during the War of 1812. On station between the Azores and the Canary Islands on October 25, 1812, Decatur engaged the thirty-eight–gun British frigate HMS Macedonian. The superior guns of the United States and Decatur's seamanship led to the surrender of the Macedonian. Forced to keep to harbor during 1813–1814, Decatur put to sea on January 14, 1815, in command of the USS President, but after an extended battle with four British warships, the President was captured and its captain and crew were interned in Bermuda. Decatur was later absolved of responsibility and served with distinction in operations in the Mediterranean against the dey of Algiers. From 1815 to his death, Stephen Decatur served on the Board of Navy Commissioners and was a prominent member of Washington society. In 1820 he was killed near Bladensburg, Maryland, in a duel with James Barron, a former naval officer on whose court-martial Decatur had served in 1808.

Stephen Decatur , 1779–1820, American naval officer, b. Sinepuxent, near Berlin, Md.; son of a naval officer, Stephen Decatur. After joining the U.S. navy in 1798, he rose to fame in the Tripolitan War . In 1804 he and his men stole into Tripoli harbor and destroyed the captured U.S. frigate Philadelphia. This daring exploit won Decatur promotion to captain. He helped in the bombardment of Tripoli and, after peace was concluded (1805), negotiated successfully with the bey of Tunis. In 1808 he was one of the judges at the court-martial of James Barron ; thereafter the two men were enemies. In the War of 1812 Decatur commanded three vessels, with the United States as his flagship. On Oct. 25, 1812, the United States met and captured the British frigate Macedonian. Afterward the British blockade held him powerless until Jan., 1815. Then (unaware that the war had ended) he put to sea in the President, outran three enemy ships and defeated the fourth, the Endymion, but the battle delayed him and he was forced to surrender to the other pursuers. In the so-called Algerine War in 1815 he used his squadron with vigor to force the dey of Algiers to sign the treaty that ended American tribute to Algeria. As one of the three navy commissioners (1815–20), he was powerful in naval affairs. His opposition to reinstating the unfortunate and disgraced James Barron led to bitter words. Barron challenged him, and in the ensuing duel Decatur was mortally wounded at Bladensburg, Md., on Mar. 22, 1820. Known for his reckless bravery and stubborn patriotism, he is also remembered for the toast, "Our country! In her intercourse with foreign nations may she always be in the right; but our country, right or wrong!"

Bibliography: See biographies by C. T. Brady (1900), C. L. Lewis (1937, repr. 1971) and H. Nicolay (1942).

Decatur, Stephen (1779–1820), U.S. naval officer.Raised in a seafaring and naval family, Stephen Decatur served as midshipman and acting lieutenant during the Undeclared Naval War with France (1798–1800) and as a first lieutenant and captain during the Tripolitan War (1801–05). In 1804, he commanded the party that burned the USS Philadelphia, which had fallen into enemy hands; then he led attacks on several Tripolitan vessels. Decatur's exploits, which entailed fierce hand‐to‐hand combat, won him great acclaim. After the Tripolitan War, he helped enforce the embargo. During the War of 1812 he took part in two notable engagements: the celebrated victory of USS United States over HMS Macedonian in 1812, and the 1815 surrender of USS President to a British squadron. He commanded the flagship Guerrière in the Algerine War (1815), capturing or destroying several enemy vessels before extracting treaties from Algiers, Tripoli, and Tunis. Upon returning to the United States, he served on the Board of Navy Commissioners.

Decatur had served on the court‐martial of James Barron after the Chesapeake affair of 1807, and enmity between the two led to a duel in 1820 in which Decatur was killed. A symbol of the reckless bravery and bold nationalism of the young Republic, Decatur was particularly remembered for his toast: “Our country! In her intercourse with foreign nations may she always be in the right; but our country, right or wrong!”

Bibliography

Alexander S. Mackenzie , Life of Stephen Decatur, A Commodore in the Navy of the United States, 1846.
Gardner W. Allen , Our Navy and the Barbary Corsairs, 1905.
Lewis, and Charles L. , Romantic Decatur, 1937; rpt. 1971.

Donald R. Hickey

Decatur, Stephen (1779–1820) US naval commander. He was promoted captain following his daring recapture of the frigate Philadelphia in the TRIPOLITAN WAR (1801–05). After the WAR OF 1812 he became a national hero by forcing the Bey (ruler) of Algiers to sign the treaty (1815) that ended US tribute to the Barbary pirates. He was killed in a duel with a suspended naval officer.