The Louisiana Democrat. [volume] (Alexandria, La.) 1845-1918, 1878-04-24
AN OLD HISTORICAL VESSEL.


French exhibition. the old thirty
eight-gun frigate Constellation, and
our citizens will have the opportuni-
ty of seeing typical vessel, of a
type now alas! passed forever, quar-
ter galliried, and as strange to mod
ern eyes as a Queen Anne's ship
would be. But not merely on this
account will the Constellation be
worth inspection. Hallowed memo
ries are attached to her. She has
the credit of having fought the first
sea battle fought by our present
regular navy, and it was besides the
warmest fight of record between
frigates-a real baptism of fire!
The CONSULTATIONS keel was laid
In 1894. She was built under the
superintendent of Comm cd ore
Thomas Truxton, one of the first
sea captains of the regular navy
(appointed by Washington. In the
published official correspondence of
Colonel Pickering on the organiza-
tion of the Navy, he says "Truxton
made the Constellation a name of
terror" In the action between the
Constellation and the French 81 gun
frigate La Vengeance, lasting five
hours, within pistol shot, til e
Frenchmen losing 260 men, two in
cidents illustrate the character of
the lighting. One Of The Constella-
tion's men, on momentarily flinching
at gun, was instantly killed by his
lieutenant. Commodore David Por
ter, the elder Gather of our present
Admiral Porter, was one of Trux-
toms midshipmen and had charge Of
top. He, finding yard likely to
fall, repeatedly hailed the deck with
out being able to attract the least at
tention, and finally cut the spar away
on bis own responsibility.
For this celebrated battle Truxton
received not only the thanks of Con-
gress and a gold medal, but also a
service of plate valued at $4,000
from English underwriters showing
that the English retained no grudge
for the heavy disasters inflicten on
them by Truxton in the Revolution.
Very shortly after this Truxton,
still in the Constellation-emblem
of the nation and of victory-cap-
tured in severe fight the French
frigate L'Insurgente, which vessel
not long before had captured a ship
owned and commanded by the grand
father Of Samuel Warren-author Of
"Ten1 Thousand a Year. had
sent Warren's father, then boy,
and his grandfather to the dungeon
of Robespierre.
The war, known historically as
Truxton's war, closed gloriously for
US, thanks to the Constellation. On
Truxton's return to his home in
Philadelphia the mob repeatedly
took his horses from the carriage
and dragged it along the streets
themselves, an old-fashioned way Of
clarifying, to be sure.
1t has been mentioned that Porter
the elder, had been a midsbipman in
the Conste lation. Co I'm m o d ore
Rogers, the elder, Commodore Ste
phen Decatur and William Jones,
Secretary of the Navy, were once
TruxLon's lieutenants. Truxton was
a friend of Aaron Burr-the nephew
of the great Jonathan Edwards, a
cousin of Pierrepont Edwards, who
died in 1826-and yet, strange to
say, Truxton and Alexander Hamil-
ton were as brothersi AS paren-
thesis, it might be said that one of
the.most treasured relics on Staten
Island to-day is the portrait of
Aaron Burr, by the great artist
Vanderlyn.
Famous names and famous events
form halo around the old Constel-
lation, now verging on her seventy
fifth birthday. Under Stephen De-
catur she gave good accounts of her
self in Algiers; she was in the Trip
olitan war; she has served in every
quarter of the globe Her decks
have been trodden by men whose
names we read with ahectionate rev
eren e-Washington, cambridge,
Porter, the elder; Decatur, Perry and
Pickering. But her flag has never
waved over more glorious days than
when she was the flagship, on the
Guadalupe squadron, of her builder
and first commander, stout hearted
Truxton.
There are several great-grand
children of Truxton now living.