Washington District of Columbia
Biographies

Captain James Lawrence
1781 - 1813
Furnished by : John Sharp

Captain James Lawrence, was born in Burlington, New Jersey, Though educated in the field of law; he joined the United States Navy in September 1798 as a Midshipman and served in the ship Ganges and frigate Adams during the undeclared war with France. Commissioned in the rank of Lieutenant in 1802, he served in the schooner Enterprise during the War with Tripoli, taking part in a successful attack on enemy craft on 2 June 1803. In February 1804 he was second in command during the daring expedition to destroy the captured frigate Philadelphia. Later in the conflict he commanded the Enterprise and a gunboat in battles with the Tripolitans. He was also First Lieutenant of the frigate John Adams and, in 1805, commanded the small Gunboat Number 6 during a voyage across the Atlantic to Italy. He died in 1813 while in command of the frigate USS Chesapeake in battle against the HMS Shannon. As he died he attempted unsuccessfully to rally his men by exclaiming ’Don't give up the Ship” despite heroic resistance the USS Chesapeake fell to the Shannon. Although defeated Captain Lawrence's action was held up as model for naval officers and he was award public honors (See Letter of 29, June 1813 from Secretary of the Navy Jones to Commodore Thomas Tingey) and quickly joined the nation's pantheon of naval hero's.

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