In October following, Commodore Perry left the lake service, and Captain Elliott succeeded him in the command of the naval forces on Lake Erie. On this station he did not remain long, but at his own request, he obtained the command of the sloop-of-war Ontario. Peace with Great Britain being proclaimed, Captain Elliott, in the Ontario, joined the squadron which sailed in the spring of 1815 to the Mediterranean to exact reparation from the Barbary powers for injuries to our commerce. This service being performed, he returned to his own country and remained with his own family until 1817. From that time until 1824 he was employed as one of the commissioners to examine the coast of the United States. From 1825 to 1827, with a promotion to captain in the navy, he commanded the United States ship Cyane, cruising on the coasts of Brazil and Buenos Ayres, to protect our commerce in that quarter. Captain Elliott’s next appointment in 1829, was to the command of the squadron on the West India station, consisting, besides the Peacock, of five sloops-of-war and two schooners. On this station he remained three years. In 1833 he was appointed to the charge of the navy yard at Charlestown, Massachusetts. In 1835 he sailed for the Mediterranean to take command of the squadron there; and during the several years spent in that service, he visited some of the most interesting parts of the world, of Italy, Greece, Constantinople, Palestine, Egypt, &c. &c., at the same time making collections of such objects of curiosity as would add to the interest of our institutions. After several years’ absence from the United States, he returned, and in November, 1844, was appointed to the command of the Philadelphia navy yard. His health soon after began to decline, and he died on the 10th of December, 1845. Commodore Elliott was a strict disciplinarian, yet his personal friends can bear unequivocal testimony to the amiability of his deportment in his intercourse through life. The excellence of his private character was never called in question. His correspondence at different times with the functionaries of foreign governments, was highly creditable to him. He possessed much useful knowledge, the result as well of his own observation as of his reading.
DESCRIPTION OF THE MEDAL.
To Captain Jesse Duncan Elliott, of Baltimore, second in command, for gallantry in the action on Lake Erie. Decreed January 6th, 1814.
Occasion.—Victory on Lake Erie.
Device.—Bust of Captain Elliott.
Legend.—Jesse D. Elliott, nil actum reputans si quid supresset agendum.
Reverse.—A fleet engaged.
Legend.—Viam invenit virtus aut facit.
Exergue.—Inter class Ameri. et Brit. Die 10th Sept., 1813.