born Jan. 5, 1779, Sinepuxent, Md., U.S.
died March 22, 1820, Bladensburg, Md.
U.S. naval officer.
He entered the navy in 1798. In the Tripolitan War , he led a daring expedition into the harbour of Tripoli to burn a captured U.S. ship. In the War of 1812 he commanded the USS United States and captured the British ship Macedonian . In 1815 he commanded a squadron in the Mediterranean that forced a peace with the Barbary states on U.S. terms. At a banquet on his return he gave a toast that included the words "Our country, right or wrong." In the same year he was made a navy commissioner, an office he held until he was killed in a duel.
Stephen Decatur, detail from an engraving by Henry Meyer after a portrait by John Wesley Jarvis.
U.S. Navy photo