- Silas Talbot
Silas Talbot (
11 January 1751 -30 June 1813 ) was an officer in theContinental Army and in theContinental Navy . Talbot is most famous for commanding the USS "Constitution" from 1798 to 1801.Talbot was born in Dighton,
Massachusetts . He was commissioned acaptain in the Continental Army on1 July 1775 . After participating in the siege of Boston and aiding in the transportation of troops to New York, he obtained command of afire ship and attempted to use it to set fire to the British warship "HMS Asia (1764) ". The attempt failed, but the daring it displayed won him a promotion tomajor on10 October 1777 .After suffering a severe wound while fighting to defend Philadelphia, Talbot returned to active service in the summer of 1778 and fought in
Rhode Island . As commander of "Pigot", and later "Argo", both under the Army, he cruised against Loyalist vessels that were harassingAmerican trade betweenLong Island andNantucket and made prisoners of many of them. Because of his success fighting afloat for the Army, Congress made him a captain in the Continental Navy on17 September 1779 . However, since Congress had no suitablewarship to entrust to him, Talbot put to sea in command of theprivateer "General Washington". In it, he took one prize, but soon thereafter ran into the British fleet off New York. After a chase, he struck his colors to "Culloden", a 74-gunship-of-the-line and remained a prisoner until exchanged for a British officer in December 1781. [Mystic Seaport]After the war, Talbot settled in Johnstown,
New York , the county seat of Fulton County, where he purchased the former manor house and estate ofSir William Johnson , founder of Johnstown. [Decker, p. 31] He was a member of the New York State Assembly in 1792 and 1793 and served in theUnited States House of Representatives from 1793 to 1795. On5 June 1794 , President Washington chose him third in a list of six captains of the newly established United States Navy. Before the end of his term in Congress, he was ordered to superintend the construction of the frigate USS President at New York. In 1797, Talbot supervised the building of theUSS Constitution , "Old Ironsides," at theCharlestown Navy Yard in Boston,Massachusetts . He served as commander of the vessel from 1799 until his retirement from the Navy in 1801, sailing it to the West Indies where he protected American commerce from French privateers during theQuasi-War . He commanded theSanto Domingo Station in 1799 and 1800 and was commended by theSecretary of the Navy for protecting American commerce and for laying the foundation of a permanent trade with that country. It is said that Talbot was wounded 13 times and carried 5 bullets in his body. [Mystic Seaport]Captain Talbot resigned from the Navy on
23 September 1801 and died at New York City on30 June 1813 .References and external links
* [http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=T000019 Biographic sketch at U.S. Congress website]
* [http://www.mysticseaport.org/library/manuscripts/coll/coll018/coll018.cfm#head63744416 Mystic Seaport: biography of Silas Talbot]
* [http://www.pbs.org/georgewashington/collection/pres_1790jan31.html Letter from Silas Talbot to George Washington]
* Decker, Lewis G. "Images of America: Johnstown". Arcadia Publishing (an imprint of Tempus Publishing, Inc.); Charlestown, SC. 1999. ISBN 0-7385-0174-3.Additional sources
Fowler, William M. "Silas Talbot: Captain of Old Ironsides". Mystic, Conn.: Mystic Seaport Museum, 1995. ISBN 0-91337-273-0.
Footnotes
USS "Talbot"
The first USS "Talbot" (Torpedo Boat No. 15) was named for Lt.
John Gunnell Talbot ; the second and third Talbots ("Talbot" (DD-114) and "Talbot" (FFG-4), respectively) were named for Captain Silas Talbot.
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