- Title: Stephen Decatur
- Author: Johnson, Fry & Co.
- Date: c.1861
- Condition: A crisp steel engraving on a very clean sheet. Superb.
- Inches: 8 1/4 x 10 3/4 [Paper]
- Centimeters: 20.95 x 27.30 [Paper]
- Product ID: 308724
Daring Young Frigate Captain and Barbary War Firebrand
From the National Portrait Gallery of Eminent Americans, after a painting by Alonzo Chappel. A fine steel engraving printed on wove paper, issued as part of Johnson, Fry & Co.’s ambitious patriotic series celebrating notable figures in the nation’s political and cultural history.
Stephen Decatur (1779–1820) was one of the early U.S. Navy’s brightest stars, a War of 1812 hero whose daring actions in the Barbary Wars and against the Royal Navy made him a national celebrity. As a young officer he led the famed 1804 raid into Tripoli harbor to burn the captured frigate Philadelphia, a feat widely hailed at the time as one of the boldest naval exploits in American history.
During the War of 1812, Decatur commanded the frigate United States to a celebrated victory over HMS Macedonian, reinforcing American morale and proving that U.S. frigates could defeat British opponents in single‑ship combat. His charisma, personal bravery, and famous toast—“Our country! In her intercourse with foreign nations may she always be in the right; but our country, right or wrong”—cemented his image as the quintessential early American naval officer, making him a natural subject for 19th‑century patriotic portrait engravings and “eminent American” series.