DECATUR, STEPHEN American naval com mander, was born at Sinnepuxent (Md.) on Jan. 5, 1779, and entered the U.S.Navy as a midshipman in 1798. He was promoted lieutenant and saw service in the short naval war with France (1798-1800). In 1803 he commanded the "Enterprise," a part of Commodore Preble's squadron in the Mediterranean, and in Feb. 1804 led an expedition into the harbour of Tripoli to burn the U.S. frigate "Philadelphia," which had fallen into Tripolitan hands. He succeeded and made his escape under battery fire with only one man wounded. This exploit earned him his captain's com mission and a sword of honour from Congress. He was engaged in all the attacks on Tripoli during 1804 and 1805.
In the War of 1812 his ship the "United States" captured H.M.S. "Macedonian." In 1813 he was appointed commodore to command a squadron in New York harbour, soon blockaded by the British. In an attempt to break out in Jan. 1815 his flagship the "Pres ident" was forced to surrender to a superior force. Subsequently he commanded in the Mediterranean against the corsairs of Al giers, Tunis and Tripoli with great success. He was made a Navy commissioner (Nov. 1815), an office which he held until killed in a duel with Commodore James Barron at Bladensburg (Md.) on March 22, 1820. A toast of his has become famous—"Our coun try ! In her intercourse with foreign nations may she always be in the right ; but our country, right or wrong." See A. S. Mackenzie, Life of Decatur (Boston, 1846).