[129] There were so few that there were not enough to go the round of the captains. So the officers took turns in commanding, in order that each might get a chance to distinguish himself.
[130] Born in Connecticut, 1773; died, 1843. Served in merchant marine from 1784 to 1798, when he entered the navy; engaged in the Barbary War in command of the Argus; commissioned captain in 1806; given command of the Constitution in 1807; won great distinction by capturing the Guerrière with a loss of fourteen killed and wounded, while the enemy lost seventy-nine; commanded the Pacific and Mediterranean squadrons and served on the naval board at Washington.
[131] See O. W. Holmes’s Old Ironsides.
[132] Her brave commander, Captain Lawrence, was killed. The contest was practically a sea duel in answer to a challenge. The British were greatly elated over their victory. Lawrence was born in 1781, at Burlington, N. J. He was engaged in the Barbary War, having command of the Argus, Vixen, and Wasp; while commanding the Hornet, in 1813, captured the British brig Peacock, with a loss of only one killed and two wounded; while commanding the Chesapeake, was defeated by the Shannon, in consequence of having a new and undisciplined crew; was mortally wounded, and gave as his last injunction, “Don’t give up the ship.”
[133] Born in Rhode Island, 1785; died, 1819. Entered the navy in 1799 as midshipman; was in the war against Tripoli, and later became a careful student of gunnery; was appointed to command on Lake Erie, 1813; showed extraordinary energy and skill in building a fleet and in collecting and drilling his crews; got together nine rude vessels and captured all six British vessels, in the battle of Lake Erie, September 10, 1813; coöperated in Battle of the Thames, and served in defense of Baltimore.
[134] Several months previously the Americans had suffered a severe loss at the river Raisin, seven hundred troops under General Winchester of Tennessee having been overpowered and forced to surrender by Proctor and his Indians, and a part of them afterward basely burned and scalped by the savages. In consequence the name of Proctor was held in great abhorrence.
[135] Born in Delaware, 1783; died, 1825. Served against Tripoli; gained celebrated victory over British Commodore Downie at Plattsburg, 1814, the British having 16 vessels and 92 guns, the Americans 14 vessels and 86 guns, the British losing 300 men besides prisoners, the Americans 200.
[136] Born on border of North and South Carolina, March 15, 1767; died at the Hermitage, near Nashville, Tennessee, June 8, 1845. Scantily educated; became a lawyer in Tennessee, 1788; rose in his profession and in politics; elected congressman in 1796; senator, 1797–1798; judge in Supreme Court of Tennessee, 1798–1804; defeated Indians at Tohopeka, 1814; won battle of New Orleans, 1815; put down Seminoles in Florida, 1818; governor of Florida, 1821; elected United States senator, 1823; candidate for Presidency, 1824; President, 1829–1837; lived in retirement at the Hermitage, 1837–1845.
[137] The bank was soon mismanaged and was with great difficulty set straight. The numerous state banks continued to be badly managed also, and the years 1817–1820 were a period of great financial stringency.
[138] In the time of the Revolutionary War and for some years later, New York City was not larger than Boston or Newport.