TRANSCRIBER’S NOTE: A list of illustrations has been addedto the table of contents.
Plate 1.
1
2
W. L. Ormsby, sc.
MEMOIRS
OF THE
GENERALS, COMMODORES, AND OTHER COMMANDERS,
WHO DISTINGUISHED THEMSELVES IN THE
AMERICAN ARMY AND NAVY
DURING THE
WARS OF THE REVOLUTION AND 1812,
AND
WHO WERE PRESENTED WITH MEDALS BY CONGRESS,
FOR THEIR GALLANT SERVICES.
BY THOMAS WYATT, A.M.,
AUTHOR OF THE “KINGS OF FRANCE,” ETC. ETC.
ILLUSTRATED BY EIGHTY-TWO ENGRAVINGS ON STEEL
FROM THE ORIGINAL MEDALS.
PHILADELPHIA:
PUBLISHED BY CAREY AND HART
MDCCCXLVIII.
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1847, by
CAREY AND HART,
In the office of the Clerk of the District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.
T. K. & P. G. COLLINS, PRINTERS,
No. 1, Lodge Alley.
PREFACE.
Americans, proud of the achievements of their countrymen,who in the field of honor have fought with superiorvalor for the independence or glory of their native land, willlook with complacency on the decisive stamp of nationalitywhich a work of this kind necessarily possesses; while it is[iv]equally true, that the world will find, in the circumstances ofthe age, or period of the gallant deeds when LIBERTY was sonobly asserted, and when the invincibility of the proud “mistressof the seas” was so successfully contested, a bright pageof history on which our national pride may justly dwell.
Here, as in “Old Rome,” where the public honors are opento the virtue of every citizen, the lives of those heroes whohave been distinguished by their country’s highest rewards,will develop virtuous deeds, heroic exertions and patrioticefforts, when all now commemorated shall be no more. Noris it difficult to predict, that a like high pre-eminence of virtueand of public services will long perpetuate the gloriousannals of America. It has appeared to us that there has beenno publication in which the illustrious commanders of ourtwo wars, who have been signalized by the presentation ofgold medals, &c., have been singled out, and their lives illustratedin connection with graphic delineations of the beautifuland glorious emblems of their country’s gratitude. Thiswork is now offered to the public as a text-book of men whohave sealed their patriotic devotion with wounds and scars,as well as of historical incidents sacred to patriotism. Our planadmits of none of the embellishments of romance;