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Powhatan War
(1622–44), relentless struggle between the Powhatan Indian confederacy and early English settlers in the tidewater section of Virginia and southern Maryland.
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Tadeusz Kosciuszko
(born February 4, 1746, Mereczowszczyzna, Poland [now in Belarus]—died October 15, 1817, Solothurn, Switzerland) Polish army officer and statesman who gained fame both for his role in the American Revolution and for his leadership of a national insurrection in his homeland.
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Esek Hopkins
(born April 26, 1718, Providence, R.I.—died Feb. 26, 1802, Providence, R.I., U.S.) first commodore of the United States Navy in the period of the American Revolution (1775–83).
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Battle of White Plains
(Oct. 28, 1776), in the U.S. War of Independence, indecisive action forcing American withdrawal, part of the British campaign of 1776 to defeat American Gen.
(Born Jan. 5, 1779, Sinepuxent, Md., U.S.—died March 22, 1820, Bladensburg, Md.) U.S. naval officer who held important commands in the War of 1812. Replying to a toast after returning from successful engagements abroad (1815), he replied with the famous words: “Our country! In her intercourse with foreign nations may she always be in the right; but our country, right or wrong.”
Decatur entered the navy in 1798 and saw service in the quasi-war with France (1798–1800). In 1804 he led an expedition into the harbour of Tripoli to burn the U.S. frigate Philadelphia, which had fallen into Tripolitan hands. He succeeded in this objective and made his escape under fire with only one man wounded. This exploit earned him his captain's commission and a sword of honour from Congress.
In the War of 1812, his ship, the United States, captured the British vessel HMS Macedonian. In 1813 he was appointed commodore to command a squadron in New York Harbor, which was soon blockaded by the British. In an attempt to break out (January 1815), his flagship, the President, was forced to surrender to a superior force. Subsequently, he commanded in the Mediterranean area against the corsairs of Algiers, Tunis, and Tripoli with great success. He was made a navy commissioner in November, 1815—an office he held until killed in a duel.
Copyright © 1994-2011 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. For more information visit Britannica.com.
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This Day in History
May 28
Lead Story
Appeal for Amnesty campaign launches, 1961
On this day in 1961, the British newspaper The London Observer publishes British lawyer Peter Benenson's article "The Forgotten Prisoners" on its front…
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