Stephen Decatur

American Naval Hero, 1779-1820

Robert J. Allison

• Publisher: University of Massachusetts Press
• Year: 2005
• eBook ISBN:
  9781613760611
• Print ISBN:
  9781558495838
• Subtopic: Military Biographies

Born to a prominent Philadelphia family in 1779, Stephen Decatur at age twenty-five became the youngest man ever to serve as a captain in the U.S. Navy. His intrepid heroism, leadership, and devotion to duty made him a perfect symbol of the aspirations of the growing nation. Leading men to victory in Tripoli, the War of 1812, and the Algerian war of 1815, and coining the phrase "Our country, right or wrong," Decatur created an enduring legend of bravery, celebrated in poetry, song, paintings, and the naming of dozens of towns—from Georgia to Alabama to Illinois. 

After the War of 1812, Decatur moved to Washington to help direct naval policy. His close friendships with James Madison, John Quincy Adams, and other political leaders soon made him a rising star in national politics. He and his wife Susan made their elegant home on Lafayette Square near the White House a center of Washington society. The capital and the entire nation were shocked in 1820 when Decatur died at the age of forty-one in a duel with a rival navy captain. 

In this carefully researched and well-written biography, historian Robert Allison tells the story of Decatur's eventful life at a time when the young republic was developing its own identity—when the American people were deciding what kind of nation they would become. Although he died prematurely, Decatur played a significant role in the shaping of that national identity.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Table of Contents
• Prologue: "The navy has lost its mainmast"
• Chapter 1 - “To raise his voice to defend the right”
• Chapter 2 - “You knew the French Republic were at war”
• Chapter 3 - “Those Yankees will never stand the smell of powder”
• Chapter 4 - “If it had not been for the Capture of the Philadelphia”
• Chapter 5 - “The great smoke cloud spreads its wings”
• Chapter 6 - “I find hand to hand is not child’s play”
• Chapter 7 - “The character of a great and rising nation”
• Chapter 8 - “I neglected the opportunities of improvement”
• Chapter 9 - “Give us a man to lead us to glory”
• Chapter 10 - “I cannot suffer men to be taken from me by force”
• Chapter 11 - “No ship has better men than she now has”
• Chapter 12 - “Aim at the yellow streak”
• Chapter 13 - “The trophies won by the Athenians”
• Chapter 14 - “A caged eagle”
• Chapter 15 - “To die well”
• Chapter 16 - “Every sword should be prepared”
• Chapter 17 - “Let us go down like men”
• Chapter 18 - “Emerging from the cloud”
• Chapter 19 - “Without the assistance of Bainbridge”
• Chapter 20 - “Honor to the Name of Commodore Decatur”
• Chapter 21 - “You will have to pass over my dead body”
• Chapter 22 - “A duty I owe to the service”
• Chapter 23 - “I never was your enemy, sir”
• Afterword
• Notes
• Acknowledgments
• Index
• Illustrations follow page
• Back Cover