REUBEN JAMES SAVES DECATUR'S LIFE
The fleet had not been idle while we fought our way across the desert.
Letters awaited us at Bomba, brought us by one of the naval vessels.
A long epistle, with a thrill in every paragraph, was the combined
work of Samuel Childs and Reuben James. It gave an account of the
gallant way in which Reuben saved his idol Stephen Decatur's life in a
hand-to-hand conflict between the crews of our gunboats and those of
the corsairs. The part describing Reuben's part was written by Samuel,
and bore in the margin a sentence of protest scrawled by the modest
Reuben. Here is the story as I gleaned it:
The gunboats were sent in to attack the enemy's fleet in two divisions,
one led by Stephen Decatur and the other by Richard Somers. The Moslems
were past masters of this art of boarding. Decatur and Somers were
therefore leading their men to do battle with these ferocious fighters
under severe handicaps.
Our habit of boarding dismayed Joseph. He had thought that his men were
invincible in a fight on a ship's deck.
The mode of attack used by the corsairs was always by boarding. Their
vessels were so made that it was easy for them to go on board an enemy.
Their lateen yards were so long that they projected over the deck of
the vessel approached. The infidels used these as a passageway from
their vessel to the prize. Then, from all points of their riggings and
from all quarters of their decks, the pirates would leap on board the
attacked ship. That they might have free use of their hands in climbing
the gunwales of the vessel, they carried their sabres grasped between
their teeth, and had loaded pistols in their belts. As they swarmed
aboard, thus armed, they were a terrifying sight. They were taught
by their religion that if they died in battle with Christians their
salvation was assured, so they fought desperately. But Joseph, scornful
of America, without knowing what fighters her sons were, now found his
fiercest warriors slain by men who could board ship and give battle on
deck with even more strength and bravery than his own captains.
Decatur, who had charge of the foremost three boats, had to bear the
brunt of the fighting. Opposed to his three boats were nine Tripolitan
boats, well armed and crowded with men.
Reuben James was in Decatur's boat. The first gun Decatur fired was
loaded with a thousand musket balls in a bag. The shot wrought terrific
damage on board the vessel selected for the attack. The captain fell
dead with fourteen of the musket balls lodged in his body. Thus far
Captain Decatur had had easy work.
Lieutenant James Decatur, Stephen's brother, had commanded the second
boat. He had been treacherously slain. The Moor in charge of the boat
he attacked hauled down its flag at the first fire. James Decatur then
directed his men to board, but as his boat approached the Tripolitan
craft, the cunning captain shot Decatur dead, and while the dismayed
Americans gathered around their leader, the Moor hauled off his boat.
News soon reached Stephen of the loss of his brother and away he went
in vengeful pursuit of the slayer of James. He overhauled the boat and
led his men aboard in a fierce charge. Reuben was at his heels. The
Moorish captain was a powerful brute; he had all the weapons a man
could carry, and he was as desperate as a treed wildcat.
Stephen Decatur, however, went at his huge foe in a way that meant
death either to the Moor or himself. The infidel met Decatur's rush
with his pike, while Decatur depended on his sword. Reuben James was
busy disposing of an infidel. Before he tackled another, he looked to
see what headway the captain was making. Imagine how taken aback he
was to see Decatur staggering back from a pike stab in the breast. He
slashed his way towards his leader, but, as luck would have it, a shot
lodged in his right hand and a moment later a jab from a spear disabled
his left arm.
Meanwhile Decatur, nothing daunted by his wound, had brought his sword
into play. The blade, meeting a savage blow from the pike, broke off
at the hilt. Reuben saw Decatur dart in past the Moor's weapon, and
grapple with him. An Arab sneaked up in the captain's rear and aimed
a blow at his head. Reuben then threw his own disabled body between
Decatur and his second foe. The blow landed on his head, and he sank
to the deck crippled and half senseless. He could see Decatur and the
Moorish captain fall to the deck, with the infidel on top. The Moor had
one arm free and with it he drew a knife. Reuben closed his eyes. Then
he heard a shot and opened them again. In Decatur's hand was a smoking
pistol, and the slayer of his brother lay dead at the captain's feet.
From the rest of the letter I gathered facts that gave me a fair idea
of the progress of the campaign.
The third boat in Decatur's division was commanded by John Trippe,
sailing master. Trippe killed a Moorish captain in much the same manner
as Decatur slew his adversary. As he led his men across the side of a
Tripolitan vessel, his own boat was swept away from the side before all
of his party could board. Thus Trippe, with another officer and nine
men, was left to face thirty-six infidels. Trippe determined, as his
one hope of victory, to kill the captain, a man of great height and
strength. He came as near to death as did Decatur, receiving eleven
wounds. At last, when the Moor had forced him down so that he was
fighting with one knee on deck, he caught his foe off guard and stabbed
him to death with a pike. Fourteen of the infidels had been slain by
the Americans and the remaining twenty-two now surrendered. None of the
Americans were killed. Richard Somers, who commanded the other three
boats, was prevented from following Decatur along the inside route he
took, yet he found means to capture three Moorish gunboats and to sink
three others.
Reuben James passes out of my story here, but it is due him that I skip
several years and tell how when doctors were about to amputate, because
an old wound had diseased a bone in his leg, he exclaimed: "Doctor, you
are the captain, Sir. Fire away; but I don't think it is shipshape to
put me under jury masts when I have just come into harbor."
From other correspondence we learned how Commodore Preble, while
his gunboats were thus engaged, sailed into the harbor on board the
_Constitution_, with Captain Chauncey in command, and bombarded the
forts. The ship was excellently handled. Her crew tacked and made sail
under the guns of the enemy with as much coolness and skill as if there
were no guns trained on them. Several times the _Constitution_ passed
within three cables' length of the batteries on shore, and silenced
them. But the moment the frigate passed on, the silenced batteries were
manned again. The monarch had thousands of soldiers at his command and
continued to drive fresh gunners to the batteries.
On another day a Tripolitan fleet of five gunboats and two galleys came
out to attempt to capture or destroy certain gunboats of the American
fleet lying near the harbor. Commodore Preble signaled to the brigs and
schooners under his command to meet the raiders, and these ships poured
such a hot fire upon the Moslem flotilla that they were forced to turn
back.
The grape-shot fired by the Americans during these engagements swept
the enemy's decks of men, and worried the gunmen on shore so badly
that it spoiled their aim, so that the _Constitution_ was but slightly
damaged, and had none killed and only one man wounded.
THE DEATH OF SOMERS
Now, came news of the tragedy of the campaign. It was decided to use
the ketch _Intrepid_ as a fireship to destroy the enemy's shipping.
Captain Somers volunteered to take command of her, and Lieutenant
Wadsworth volunteered to go with him. Ten men went with them--six
volunteers from the _Constitution_ and four volunteers from the
_Nautilus_. Two small boats were taken, so that the party could escape
from the floating mine after they had lighted the fuses. The _Intrepid_
started upon her perilous duty on September 4th. Lieutenant Joseph
Israel of the _Constitution_ arrived at the moment of getting under way
and asked permission to go along. Somers consented.
The night was dark, and the other American ships soon lost sight of
the ketch. She was discovered, however, by the Tripolitans as she was
entering the harbor, and their batteries opened fire.
Suddenly, the night was lit by terrifying flashes. A series of
explosions shook land and water. A shower of sparks arose. The powder
on board the _Intrepid_ had prematurely exploded, and left nothing on
the face of the harbor but scorched fragments. All of her officers and
men were killed. Their mangled bodies floated ashore and were found by
the people of Tripoli.
What caused the explosion remains a mystery. Commodore Preble thought
that the _Intrepid_ had been attacked and boarded by a Tripolitan
gun-boat, and that Captain Somers, rather than be taken captive,
himself exploded the powder; or else that the fire from the batteries
caused so much damage that Somers saw that escape was impossible and
chose death to surrender. This reasoning was partly based on the fact
that Somers and his men had boasted that they would die rather than be
captured. The squadron was greatly affected by this tragedy. Decatur
had special reason to grieve, because Somers had been his schoolmate,
and had given Decatur, before sailing, tokens to remember him by if he
did not return.
I learned with amazement that Commodore Preble had been recalled.
Although he had conducted a fight that had won for the American navy
lasting glory, the navy department had thought it best to call him home
and to put Commodore Samuel Barron, who was his senior, in his place.
Commodore Preble was notified of this with much praise and apology. No
wonder was it that his going was lamented. His fifty-three officers
joined in a letter of regret. English officers praised his work. The
Pope said that "the American commander, with a small force and in a
short space of time, had done more for the cause of Christianity than
the most powerful nations of Christendom had done for ages."
The Commodore had labored under great handicaps. Congress had not
supported his requests for ships and supplies, and those that came
were long delayed. The food sent him was poor. He was forced to depend
largely on foreign seamen.
Commodore Preble was deeply regretful at not being able to carry the
campaign against Tripoli through to final victory, and also mortified
that, with success in sight, he should be recalled. He went home an
almost heartbroken man, although his record must stand out as one of
the most brilliant in our naval history.
If the bold Preble had continued in command of the squadron, there is
little doubt that when he saw what Eaton was doing at Derne he would
have begun an attack on Tripoli that would have brought Joseph Bashaw
to his knees.
The one good reason advanced as to why General Eaton's expedition
should have ended at Derne was that if it approached Tripoli, the
Americans held prisoners there might have been killed by Joseph Bashaw
when his city was attacked. He threatened that, in an extremity, he
would slay the prisoners. Several of the officers who were in captivity
held this fear. Yet Commodore Rodgers wrote afterwards to the Secretary
of the Navy:
"I never thought myself that the lives of the American prisoners were
in any danger." Lieutenant Wormely, a midshipman held in captivity,
also testified before a Senate committee that: "I do not believe that
there was any danger to be apprehended for our lives."