Charles Stewart (28 July 1778 – 6 November 1869) was a United States Navy officer who commanded a number of warships, including . He saw service during the Quasi War and both Barbary Wars in the Mediterranean along North Africa and the War of 1812. He later commanded the navy yard in Philadelphia and was promoted to become the Navy's first flag officer shortly before retiring. He was promoted to rear admiral after he retired from the Navy. He lived a long life and was the last surviving Navy captain who had served in the War of 1812.

Early life

On 28 July 1778, Stewart was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to Charles and Sarah Harding (née Ford) Stewart, Scots-Irish immigrants from Belfast, only a month after British forces evacuated the city. His father died in 1780, leaving his mother little means to support him and his three siblings. She later remarried a former bodyguard of General Washington. Stewart attended Dr. Abercrombie's Episcopal Academy in Philadelphia where he met Stephen Decatur and Richard Somers. He went to sea at the age of thirteen as a cabin boy and rose through the grades to become master of a merchantman.

Early naval service

During the Quasi-War with France, Stewart was one of the first officers in the rebirth of the United States Navy. At the age of nineteen, he was commissioned a lieutenant on 9 March 1798 and joined the frigate , under the command of John Barry, as fourth lieutenant for a cruise in the West Indies to restrain French privateers. Stewart was in charge of the ship's outfitting and recruiting of crew.

On 16 July 1800 he assumed command of the schooner and captured two armed French vessels and recapturing several American ships. While anchored at the island of Dominica for water, he secured the release of an American citizen impressed onboard a Royal Navy warship. He later rescued approximately seventy people, mostly women and children from a vessel in distress at a reef near Saona Island, just before the schooner sank, for which the Governor of Santo Domingo sent a letter of thanks to President Jefferson.

War of 1812

thumb|USS Constellation

During the War of 1812, Stewart commanded, successively, , , and . Since Constellation was closely blockaded in Norfolk by the British, he took command of Constitution ("Old Ironsides") at Boston on 18 July 1813.

In the later years of his career, Stewart commanded the Philadelphia Navy Yard from 1838 to 1841, in 1846, and again from 1853 to 1861.

Senior officer

thumb|right|Stewart in the 1860s

Upon the death of Captain James Barron in 1851, Stewart became the most senior ranking officer in the Navy. By a joint resolution passed on 2 March 1859, Congress made Stewart "senior flag officer" on 22 April 1859, a rank created for him in recognition of his distinguished and meritorious service.

Stewart was placed on the retired list on 21 December 1861 after serving 63 years in the Navy. His age at the time of his retirement was 83 years, 4 months and 24 days – making him the second oldest officer on active duty in the history of the U.S. Navy (after William D. Leahy). He was promoted to rear admiral on the retired list on 16 July 1862. Stewart holds the all time records for the longest active duty career and longest time holding a single rank on active duty (52 years 10 months).

Shortly after his death, Stewart was elected a veteran companion of the Pennsylvania Commandery of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States – a military society of officers who had served the Union during the Civil War. He was assigned the Society's insignia number 1119, which was not issued to him. The register of the Pennsylvania Commandery states his date of election as November 6, 1869 (i.e. the actual date of his death) and, erroneously, his date of death as November 7, 1869.

Stewart died at Bordentown, New Jersey, on 6 November 1869 at the age of 91.

Dates of rank

  • Lieutenant, USN – 9 March 1798
  • Captain, USN – 22 April 1806
  • Senior Flag Officer, USN – 2 March 1859
  • Retired List – 21 December 1861
  • Rear Admiral, USN (Retired) – 16 July 1862

Personal life and legacy

He first married Delia Tudor. His grandchildren, by their daughter Delia Tudor Stewart Parnell (1816–1898) and John Henry Parnell, included Charles Stewart Parnell, a prominent Irish political leader who fought for Irish home rule until his death in 1891, and Anna Parnell and Fanny Parnell, Irish nationalists who co-founded the Ladies' Land League in 1880 to raise money in America for the Land League.

Secondly he married Margaretta W. Smith. Their daughter Julia Smith Stewart (1834–1910) married Harry Laguerenne, the son of Eliza Beauveau and Pierre Louis Laguerenne. He was a wine and spirits importer in Philadelphia.

Several of Stewart's nephews served in the Navy, including Commodore Charles Stewart McCauley.

In the late 19th century, his estate became the site of the Bordentown School, a residential high school academic and vocational training program.

Two U.S. Navy destroyers, DD-13 and DD-224, and one destroyer escort, DE-238, have been named in Stewart's honor.

See also

  • Bibliography of early American naval history

References

Bibliography

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Further reading

  • Smethurst, David. Tripoli: The United States' First War On Terror. New York: Presidio Press, 2007. .
  • Appleton's Cyclopaedia of American Biography, Vol. V, pp. 685-6, "STEWART, Charles, naval officer,..." by Wilson, James Grant, 1832–1914; Fiske, John, 1842–1901.
  • Letter of Don Joaquin Garcia, Governor of Santo Domingo to Pres. Thomas Jefferson commending Lt Stewart for his rescue of persons from a reef off Saona Island