27-28 OCTOBER 1855 USS DECATUR vs. The Indians The Oregon Treaty with England in 1846 deeded that portion of British Columbia south of the 49th parallel to the United States–the area that would become our States of Washington and Oregon. Settlers Read More
20 SEPTEMBER 1776 PROVIDENCE vs. MILFORD On 10 May 1776, temporary CAPT John Paul Jones assumed command of the Continental Navy sloop Providence, armed with twelve 4-pounder guns. Jones received his permanent appointment on August 8th and departed the Delaware Capes Read More
TODAY IN NAVAL HISTORY 11 SEPTEMBER 1814 ACTION AT THE NORTHERN END The heavyweights concentrated at the northern end of the battle line. Here the headforemost approach of CAPT George Downie in the British flagship CONFIANCE, 37, allowed SARATOGA and Read More
TODAY IN NAVAL HISTORY 11 SEPTEMBER 1814 ACTION AT THE SOUTHERN END As MacDonough had correctly anticipated, HMS FINCH, 11, could not sail close enough to the wind to approach the southern American line. In falling to leeward however, she Read More
TODAY IN NAVAL HISTORY 11 SEPTEMBER 1814 BATTLE OF LAKE CHAMPLAIN To the British, our War of 1812 was only a distant theater of a more global war against Napoleonic France. And the defeat of Napoleon at Toulouse and his Read More
23 AUGUST 1819 DREADED YELLOW JACK On this date, 34-year-old Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry, hero of the War of 1812, died aboard the schooner USS NONSUCH, 14, in Trinidad. He and many of his crew had contracted yellow fever on a Read More
28 JULY 1861 CONFEDERATE PRIVATEER PETREL When South Carolina seceded from the Union on 20 December 1860, the State’s officials seized Federal property including the US Revenue Cutter Service schooner WILLIAM AIKEN, 2, who had operated out of Charleston since 1855. Read More
22-25 JULY 1797 NELSON’S ARM The Treaty of Lldefonso on 19 August 1796 allied Spain with France in Napoleon’s war against England. Now the combined French/Spanish navies of 38 ships-of-the-line threatened England’s Royal Navy’s control of the seas. A February 1797 Read More
12 JULY 1794 NELSON’S EYE The French Revolution in 1789 shocked the rest of Europe as existing monarchies feared the spread of republicanism. Dread intensified as the “Reign of Terror” unfolded, and French King Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette, prisoners in Read More
15 MAY 1812 PRELUDE TO THE WAR OF 1812 At the turn of the 19th century the territory that is now Florida was Spanish. This fact was of no reassurance to the administration of President James Madison in 1811. Spain was Read More