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, 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 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 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, Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, 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 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 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. DESCRIPTION OF THE MEDAL.Occasion.—Capture of the French frigate La Vengeance. Device.—Head of Captain Truxtun. Legend.—PatriÆ patris filio digno ThomÆ Truxtun. Reverse.—Two ships of war, the French a two decker; both much shattered; the rigging of both much cut up. Legend.—The United States frigate Constellation, of thirty-eight guns, pursues, attacks, and vanquishes the French ship La Vengeance, of fifty-four guns, 1st of Feb. 1800. |