The subject of the following memoir, whose achievements shed a lustre
on the infant navy of his country, was the son of an eminent English
barrister of the state (then colony) of New York, and was born at
Long Island, on the 7th of February, 1755. Our hero, in consequence
of the death of his father, was placed under the guardianship of his
intimate friend, John Troup, Esq., of Jamaica, on Long Island. In a
short time, however, the kindling spark of that spirit, which has since
shone so conspicuously in his character, led him to the sea. At the
early age of twelve years, he embarked, on his trial voyage, in the
ship Pitt, Captain Joseph Holmes, bound to Bristol, England. In the
following year he was placed, at his own request, under the direction
of Captain James Chambers, a celebrated commander in the London trade.
During his apprenticeship, when the armament, in consequence of the
dispute respecting the Falkland Islands, took place, he was impressed
on board the Prudent, an English man-of-war of sixty-four guns; but was
afterwards released through the application of a person in authority.
While on board the Prudent, the Captain, pleased with his intelligence
and activity, endeavored to prevail on him to remain in the service,
and assured him that all his interest should be used for his promotion;
but notwithstanding the prospects thus opened to his youthful and
aspiring mind, he left the Prudent, and returned to his old ship. He
conceived that his engagements with his former commander would not
permit him with honor to indulge his wishes. In the early part of
1775, he commanded a vessel, and succeeded in bringing considerable
quantities of powder into the United Colonies. About the close of the
same year, when bound to St. Eustatius, he was seized off the Island
of St. Christopher by the British frigate Argo, and detained until the
general restraining bill came out, when his vessel and cargo, of which
he owned the half, were condemned. But what “ill wind” can wreck the
buoyant mind of the sailor? He made his way from St. Christopher’s
to St. Eustatius, and thence embarking in a small vessel, after a
short passage, arrived in Philadelphia. At this period the two first
private ships of war fitted out in the colonies, called the Congress
and Chance, were equipping for sea, and he entered on board the former
as lieutenant. They sailed in company early in the winter of 1776, and
proceeded off the Havana, where they captured several valuable Jamaica
ships, bound home through the Gulf of Florida. Of one of these he took
the command, and brought her safe into New Bedford. In June, 1777, in
company with Isaac Sears, Esq., he fitted out, at New York, a vessel
called the Independence. Of this he took the command, and passing
through the Sound, (Lord Howe having arrived with the British fleet at
Sandy Hook and blocked up that outlet,) he proceeded off the Azores,
where, besides making several other prizes, he fell in with a part
of the Windward Island convoy, and captured three large and valuable
ships. One of these was much superior to the Independence in both guns
and men. On his return, he fitted out the ship Mars, mounting upwards
of twenty guns, in which he sailed on a cruise in the English Channel.
Some of his prizes, which were numerous, he sent into Quiberon Bay.
The success of this cruise was, in a great measure, the cause of Lord
Stormont’s remonstrance to the French court, against the admission into
her ports of our armed vessels and the prizes which had been taken by
them.
He commanded, and in part owned, during the rest of the war, several
of the most important armed vessels built in Philadelphia; and brought
in from France and the West India Islands, large cargoes of those
articles, which, during the Revolution, our army most greatly needed.
While carrying out to France Thomas Barclay, Esq., our consul-general
to that country, he had a very close and severe engagement with a
British ship-of-war of thirty-two guns, (double his own force,) which
he obliged to sheer off; and she was afterwards towed into New York by
one of the king’s ships, in a very dismantled condition. The ship under
his command was called the St. James, and mounted twenty guns, with a
crew of about one hundred men--not half the number on board his enemy.
From this voyage he returned with the most valuable cargo brought into
the United States during the war. It would be impossible, within the
limits of this memoir, to recount the various instances of activity
and zeal displayed by this gallant officer during our struggle for
independence; but in all his actions with British vessels of war, many
of which were of force greatly superior to his own, he was invariably
victorious.
After the peace of 1783, at the commencement of our naval
establishment, he was one of the six captains selected by President
Washington. The frigate Constellation, of thirty-six guns, which he was
appointed to command, was built under his superintendence at Baltimore.
She was the first of the required armament that put to sea.
Appointed, with a squadron under his command, to the protection of
American commerce in the West Indies, Captain Truxtun had an arduous
duty to perform, at a time when our navy was scarcely yet organized;
but every difficulty yielded to the excellence of that discipline for
which he was ever celebrated. On this station, by his indefatigable
vigilance, the property of our merchants was protected in the most
effectual manner, and an enemy’s privateer could scarcely look out of
port without being captured.
At noon, on the 9th of February, 1799, the Island of Nevis bearing
W. S. W., five leagues distant, the Constellation being then alone,
a large ship was seen to the southward, upon which Captain Truxtun
immediately bore down. On his hoisting the American ensign, the strange
sail showed French colors and fired a gun to windward, (the signal of
an enemy.) At a quarter past three o’clock, P. M., the captain was
hailed by the French commander, and the Constellation, ranging along
side of the enemy’s frigate, who had declared herself to be such by
firing a gun to windward, poured in a close and extremely well-directed
broadside. This was instantly returned by her antagonist, who, after a
very warm engagement of an hour and a quarter, hauled down her colors,
and proved to be L’Insurgente, of forty guns and four hundred and
seventeen men; twenty-nine of whom were killed and forty-four wounded.
She was commanded by Captain Barreau, a distinguished officer, who
did not strike his colors until his ship was a perfect wreck. The
Constellation had only one man killed and two wounded.
A stronger instance of the strict and exemplary discipline preserved
on board the Constellation, cannot be given than this disparity of loss
in the two ships; and yet, during the whole time that Captain Truxtun
commanded, but one man was chastised for disorderly conduct. Scarce a
man in his crew had ever been in action before. The prize was taken
into Basseterre, St. Christopher’s, and after being refitted, added to
the American navy. This was the first opportunity that had offered to
an American frigate of engaging an enemy of superior force, and the
gallantry displayed by Captain Truxtun was highly applauded, not only
by his own countrymen, but by foreigners. He received congratulatory
addresses from all quarters, and the merchants of Lloyd’s Coffee-house,
London, sent him a present of plate, worth upwards of six hundred
guineas, with the action between the frigates elegantly engraved on it.
It is a relief to the horrors of war, to see those whom the collisions
of their countries have placed in hostile array, treat each other, when
the battle is over, with all the urbanity of accomplished cavaliers.
Captain Barreau, in a letter to Captain Truxtun, of which the following
is a translation, says, “I am sorry that our two nations are at war,
but since I unfortunately have been vanquished, I felicitate myself and
crew upon being prisoners to you. You have united all the qualities
which characterize a man of honor, courage, and humanity. Receive from
me the most sincere thanks, and be assured, I shall make it a duty to
publish to all my fellow-countrymen the generous conduct which you
have observed towards us.” The Constellation, in a short time, put to
sea again; and France saw the West Indies cleared of her bucaniers by
our infant navy on the station. While the different ships belonging
to it, were cruising separately, so as best to give protection to our
merchant vessels, Captain Truxtun, hearing that La Vengeance, a large
French national ship of fifty-four guns, with upwards of five hundred
men, including several general officers and troops on board, was lying
at Gaudaloupe, proceeded in January, 1800, off that port, determined,
if possible, notwithstanding the superiority of her force, to bring
her into action, should she put to sea. On the 1st of February, at
half-past seven, A. M., in the road of Basseterre, Gaudaloupe, bearing
E. five leagues distant, he discovered a sail in the S. E. standing to
the westward, which soon proved to be the long-sought La Vengeance.
The French commander, one would suppose, could have had no hesitation
in engaging an enemy so inferior in guns and men as the Constellation;
but this did not prove to be the case, for he crowded all sail to avoid
his foe, and it was not till after a most persevering chase for upwards
of twelve hours that the Constellation brought him to action.
The engagement began by a fire from the stern and quarter-deck guns of
the French ship, which was returned in a few minutes afterwards, by a
broadside from the Constellation, that had by this time got upon the
weather quarter of her antagonist, and a close and desperate action
commenced, which lasted from 8 P. M., until within a few minutes of 1
A. M., when the fire of La Vengeance was completely silenced. At this
moment, when the American commander considered himself sure of his
prize, and was endeavoring to secure his main-mast, which had been very
much injured, he had the misfortune to see it go by the board. A heavy
squall coming on at the same time, before the Constellation could be
completely cleared of the wreck, the French ship was enabled to effect
her escape. Indeed, so sudden was her disappearance in the squall,
that she was supposed by all on board the Constellation to have sunk.
Nevertheless, it appeared that five days after the action she got into
Curracoa, in almost a shattered condition, having had one hundred and
sixty men killed and wounded, and nearly all her masts and rigging shot
away.
It had required all hands at the pumps for several days, to keep her
from foundering.
Her captain had the candor to acknowledge that he had twice struck his
colors, but owing to the darkness of the night, this was not perceived
on board the Constellation, and he, finding that her fire continued,
and concluding that it was the determination of his enemy to sink him,
renewed the combat from necessity. When her mast went overboard, he
took the advantage of the accident, and got off. In this engagement,
the Constellation had fourteen men killed and twenty-five wounded.
Among the former was Midshipman Jarvis, a young man of great promise,
who commanded in the main-top. When told by one of the old seamen
of the danger of the mast falling, and requested, with his men, to
come down, he replied that if it went, they must go with it. In a few
minutes after it went over, and but one of the topmen was saved. For
the signal gallantry displayed in this action, Congress passed the
following resolution.
“_Resolved_, by the Senate and House of Representatives of
the United States of America, in Congress assembled, That
the President of the United States be requested to present
to Captain Thomas Truxtun a gold medal (_see_ Plate IX.,)
emblematical of the late action between the United States
frigate Constellation, of thirty-eight guns, and the French
ship-of-war La Vengeance, of fifty-four guns, in testimony
of the high sense entertained by Congress of his gallantry
and good conduct in the above engagement, wherein an example
was exhibited by the captain, officers, sailors, and marines,
honorable to the American name, and instructive to its rising
navy.”
THEODORE SEDGWICK,
_Speaker of the House of Representatives_.
THOMAS JEFFERSON,
_Vice President of the United States_.
JOHN ADAMS,
_President of the United States_.
_Approved, March 29th, 1800._
Captain Truxtun still continued to serve his country with all the
ardor of his temperament, and devoted all the energies of his character
to the promotion of her glory. In the beginning of 1802, he was ordered
to take the command of a squadron destined for the Mediterranean; he
immediately proceeded to Norfolk, where the frigate Chesapeake then
was, and made every preparation for the duty assigned to him.
It appears that it was customary in the navy for commanding officers
of squadrons, to have assigned to them during their command, an
officer who, being entrusted with the charge of the flag ship, could
relieve the commander-in-chief of this trust, and thereby enable him
to have more leisure to devote to the important duties of his station.
This additional officer was deemed necessary by Captain Truxtun, and
claimed by him of the secretary of the navy. A correspondence ensued,
the sequel of which was that Captain Truxtun wrote to the secretary,
informing him that “the task for the intended service would be too
severe without some aid, and if that aid could not be rendered, he must
beg leave to quit the service,” (meaning the intended service in the
Mediterranean.) In the conclusion of his letter, after recommending
some particular business to be attended to, he observes “if I do not
proceed on the expedition.”
Contrary to his intentions and to his just expectations, Robert
Smith, then secretary of the navy under the administration of Thomas
Jefferson, chose to construe this letter into a resignation of his
commission as a captain in the navy; and notwithstanding every
honorable effort that was then made to restore him to his just rights,
the administration of that day sacrificed at one blow the man who had
shed such lustre upon the infant navy of our country, but who had the
misfortune to belong to a different political school from those who
then wielded the destinies of America.
Thus at the early age of forty-seven years, in the prime of manhood,
at a period when his former life gave promise of much future
usefulness, after many years’ devotion to the navy in which he fondly
hoped to close his existence, was the subject of this memoir suddenly
cut short in that career in which he had won unfading laurels, both for
his country and himself.
He immediately retired to his farm, and like another Cincinnatus,
sought in the enjoyment of domestic happiness a solace to the injustice
he had met in public life. For many years he continued a citizen of
New Jersey, but towards the latter part of his life, he was induced
by the claims of his family, to resume his residence in Philadelphia,
where his fellow-citizens welcomed his return in the most grateful
manner, and as an appreciation of his services, spontaneously tendered
him the important office of high sheriff of the city and county of
Philadelphia, to which he was elected in the year 1816, by a very large
majority. Soon after the expiration of his term of office in 1819, his
health began to decline, until finally in May, 1822, he closed his
earthly pilgrimage.
Commodore Truxtun has left several children, but neither of his sons
now survives. The only grandchild bearing his name, is a midshipman
in the navy. The same service also numbers three other grandsons, one
of whom, Edward F. Beale, has recently proved, by his gallant conduct
under Commodore Stockton, that he inherits the blood of his illustrious
grandsire.