Charles Stewart (28 July 1778 - 6 November 1869) was an officer in the
United States NavyThe United States Navy is the sea branch of the U.S. Armed Forces. It is one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. As of 31 December 2008, the U.S. Navy had about 331,682 personnel on active duty and 124,000 in the Navy Reserve. It operates 283 ships in active service and more than...
.
Born at Philadelphia,
PennsylvaniaThe Commonwealth of Pennsylvania , often colloquially referred to as PA by natives and Northeasterners, is a state located in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States...
, Stewart went to sea at the age of thirteen as a
cabin boyA Cabin boy or ship's boy is a boy who waits on the officers and passengers of a ship, especially running errands for the captain....
and rose through the grades to become master of a merchantman. He grew up with Captain Stephen Decatur and Richard Sommers. During the
Quasi-WarThe Quasi-War was an undeclared war fought almost entirely at sea between the United States and France from 1798 to 1800. In the United States, the conflict was sometimes also referred to as the Franco-American War, the Undeclared War with France, the Undeclared Naval War, the Pirate Wars, or the...
with
FranceFrance , officially the French Republic , is a country located in Western Europe, with several overseas islands and territories located on other continents. Metropolitan France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean...
, Stewart was commissioned a lieutenant in the United States Navy on 9 March 1798 and joined the
frigateA frigate is a warship. The term has been used for warships of many sizes and roles over the past few centuries.In the 17th century, the term was used for any warship built for speed and manoeuvrability, the description often used being "frigate-built"...
United StatesUSS United States was the first frigate in the United States Navy in 1797.United States was the first of the six original frigates authorized for construction by the Naval Act of 1794. It was designed by naval architect Joshua Humphreys and William Doughty. She was built at the shipyard in...
for a cruise in the West Indies. He took command of the schooner
ExperimentThe first USS Experiment was a schooner in the United States Navy during the Quasi-War with France.Experiment was built in 1799 at Baltimore, Maryland; and first put to sea late in November 1799, Lieutenant W...
on 16 July 1800 and soon captured two armed French vessels and freed several captured American ships.
After brief command of
ChesapeakeUSS Chesapeake was a 36-gun sailing frigate of the United States Navy and one of the original six frigates authorized for construction by the Naval Act of 1794...
in 1801 and service in
ConstellationUSS Constellation was a 38-gun frigate, one of the six original frigates authorized for construction by the Naval Act of 1794. She was distinguished as the first U.S. Navy vessel to put to sea and the first U.S. Navy vessel to engage, defeat, and capture an enemy vessel...
in 1802, Stewart sailed to the Mediterranean in command of the brig
SyrenUSS Syren was a brig in the United States Navy during the First Barbary War and the War of 1812.Syren was built for the Navy in 1803 at Philadelphia by Nathaniel Hutton and launched on 6 August 1803...
. There, he participated in the destruction of
PhiladelphiaThe second USS Philadelphia of the United States Navy was a 36-gun sailing frigate.Originally named City of Philadelphia, she was built from 1798–1799 for the United States government by the citizens of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She was designed by Josiah Fox and built by Samuel Humphreys,...
after her capture by
TripoliTripoli is the largest and capital city of Libya.Tripoli has a population of 1.69 million...
, helped to maintain the blockade of Tripoli, and distinguished himself in assaults on the enemy in August and September 1804. After the
First Barbary WarThe First Barbary War , also known as the Barbary Coast War or the Tripolitan War, was the first of two wars fought between the United States of America and the North African states known collectively as the Barbary States...
, he participated in a show of force at
TunisTunis is the capital of the Tunisian Republic and also the Tunis Governorate, with a population of 1,200,000 in 2008 and over 3,980,500 in the greater Tunis area...
and returned home as captain in 1806. On the outbreak of the
War of 1812The War of 1812, between the United States of America and the British Empire , lasted from 1812 to 1815. It was fought chiefly on the Atlantic Ocean and on the land, coasts and waterways of North America.There were several immediate stated causes for the U.S...
, Stewart commanded, successively,
ArgusThe first USS Argus was a brig in the United States Navy during the First Barbary War and the War of 1812.Argus was laid down as Merrimack on 12 May 1803 at Boston, Massachusetts, by Edmund Hartt; renamed Argus on 4 June 1803; and launched on 21 August 1803.-First Barbary War:Though no document...
,
HornetThe third USS Hornet was a brig-rigged sloop-of-war in the United States Navy. Later, however, she was re-rigged as a ship.Hornet was launched on 28 July 1805 in Baltimore and commissioned on 18 October...
, and
Constellation.
Since
Constellation was closely blockaded in Norfolk by the British, he took command of
ConstitutionUSS Constitution is a wooden-hulled, three-masted heavy frigate of the United States Navy. Named after the Constitution of the United States of America by President George Washington, she is the oldest commissioned naval vessel afloat in the world.
[ is the oldest commissioned vessel...]
at Boston in 1813. He made two brilliant cruises in her between 1813 and 1815. The frigate captured
HMS CyaneSeveral ships of the Royal Navy have born the name, HMS Cyane.*HMS Cyane was an 18-gun sloop built in 1796, recaptured from the French in 1806 , and sold in 1809....
and HMS
Levant on 20 February 1815.
Stewart's later service included command of the American
Mediterranean squadronThe Mediterranean Squadron, also known as the Mediterranean Station, was part of the United States Navy in the 19th century.As early as 1801, prior to the First Barbary War, ships serving in the Mediterranean Sea were organized into a squadron commanded by a captain who carried the title of Commodore...
from 1816 to 1820 and of one in the Pacific from 1820 to 1824. He served as a
Naval CommissionerThe Board of Naval Commissioners was a United States Navy administrative body in existence from 1815 to 1842, with responsibility for the Navy's material support. The three-member Board was created as part of an expansion of the U.S. Navy Department at the end of the War of 1812. The system was...
from 1830 to 1832 and commanded the Philadelphia Navy Yard from 1838 to 1841, in 1846, and again from 1854 to 1861. By a bill passed on 2 March 1859, Congress made Stewart “senior flag officer,” an office created for him in recognition of his distinguished and meritorious service. He became
rear admiral- Rear admiral :In the United States Navy, the United States Coast Guard, the United States Public Health Service Commissioned Corps and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Commissioned Corps, rear admiral is a one-star flag officer, with the pay grade of O-7. Rear admiral ranks...
on the retired list on 16 July 1862, and he died at Bordentown, New Jersey,
New JerseyNew Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It is bordered on the north by New York, and to the east by the Hudson River, Upper New York Bay, the Kill Van Kull, Newark Bay, the Arthur Kill, Raritan Bay, Sandy Hook Bay, Westchester County, New York City, Long Island, and...
, on 6 November 1869.
He is buried at Woodlands Cemetery in Philadelphia, PA.
Several nephews served in the Navy, including Commodore Charles Stewart McCauley.
His grandson,
Charles Stewart ParnellCharles Stewart Parnell was an Irish Protestant landowner, nationalist political leader, land reform agitator, Home Rule MP in the Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, founder and leader of the Irish Parliamentary Party...
, was a prominent Irish political leader who fought for Irish home rule until his death in 1891.
External links
Books
- Smethurst, David. Tripoli: The United States' First War On Terror. New York: Presidio Press, 2007. ISBN 0-89141-859-8.