Publication

2005 - Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, Md, Maryland

Language

English

Word Count

61,250 words, Guess

Page Count

245 pages

Identifiers

and 2 more
  • Goodreads1151581
  • LibraryThing977223

Classifications

  • DDC973.4/7/092
  • LCCE353.1.D29 T83 2005

Description

Brave, energetic, intensely patriotic, Stephen Decatur is America's first great naval hero after John Paul Jones. His short and dramatic life is a story of triumph and tragedy told by the noted historian and author of some twenty books, Spencer Tucker. Decatur's raid into Tripoli Harbor in 1804 to burn the Philadelphia, a prized U.S. warship captured when it ran aground during the Barbary Wars, earned him international fame. An admiring Horatio Nelson described the feat as "the most bold and daring act of the age." Explaining the tremendous impact Decatur's action had on the early U.S. Navy, the author notes that it set a standard of audacity and courage for generations of future naval officers. In describing Decatur's life, the author also examines Decatur's relationship with James Barron, a Navy captain who fatally shot Decatur during a 1820 duel.

Subjects

Genres

  • Biography.

Series Statement

  • Library of naval biography

Other Editions

  • Stephen DecaturNaval Institute Press2005

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