Archibald Hamilton (1790–1815)

Archibald Hamilton (c. 1790 – 15 January 1815) was the son of Secretary of the Navy Paul Hamilton, and an officer in the United States Navy during the War of 1812.

Black and white copy of portrait of Lieutenant Archibald Hamilton, killed in action 15 January 1815.

Hamilton was appointed Midshipman on 18 May 1809 and assigned to work with a new kind of hollow shot needed by frigate President. He next sailed for Europe in John Adams on 31 January 1811 carrying dispatches for American officers in the Mediterranean. On his return to the United States, Hamilton was assigned to United States on which he won high commendation from his commanding officer, Captain Stephen Decatur, for gallantry in action during the capture of British frigate Macedonian on 25 October 1812. Decatur selected him to bear the captured British flags to Washington.

Appointed Acting Lieutenant 21 December 1812 and Lieutenant 24 July 1813, Hamilton served with distinction throughout the War of 1812, only to be killed shortly after the Treaty of Ghent had formally ended the war. Because of the slow communications of the day, word of peace had not reached New York by 15 January 1815 when frigate President, commanded by Captain Decatur and having Hamilton as one of her lieutenants, ran the blockade out of that port. The next day British men-of-war Endymion, Pomone and Tenedos overtook and captured President after a long and bloody running fight in which Hamilton was killed. He was the last U.S. Navy officer to die in the War of 1812.

Namesake

USS Hamilton (DD-141) was named for him.

gollark: Are you being serious?
gollark: ~~Go is Not Good~~
gollark: Monoids.
gollark: ```Within the grove the mist thickened to a warm and bitter-tasting fog; from somewhere up ahead came the sound of bubbling water. The trees parted, and Djishin found himself in a clearing where four nuns in white robes sat contemplating a monolith of glistening black basalt. On its face were inscriptions such as the monk had never seen: (>>=) :: m a -> (a -> m b) -> m b return :: a -> m a“What is this stone, great ladies?” asked Djishin.“We call it the Monad,” said the first nun.“Why do you venerate it so?” asked Djishin.“Through it, we may touch the impure without being corrupted,” said the second nun. “We can fell a Maybe-tree with a Maybe-ax and always hear a Maybe-sound when it crashes down—even if the sound is Nothing at all, when the ax isn’t real or there’s no tree to fall.”```
gollark: …¿

See also

References

This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.