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IV
John Paul Jones
Being Further Light on His Strange Career[1]
One hundred and eighteen years ago a little man who had attracted theattention of two continents, and who, in his comparatively brief careerof forty-five years, had won eternal fame for himself among the heroesof the world, died in Paris, alone in his room. He had been ill forsome time, and his physician, calling late in the evening, found himprone upon his bed, sleeping a sleep from which no call to battle wouldever arouse him. Like Warren Hastings, John Paul Jones was at rest atlast; "in peace after so many storms, in honor after so much obliquy."
He was buried in a Protestant cemetery in Paris, which was officiallyclosed in January, 1793. The exact location of his grave there wasforgotten. For many years even the fact that he was buried there wasforgotten. The other day the cable flashed a message which gladdenedevery American heart. Under the inspiration, and at the personalcharges, of General Horace Porter, United States Ambassador to France,{282} a search had been instigated and the body was found andcompletely identified. It is a service of sentiment that GeneralPorter has rendered us, but not the less valuable on that account. Tolove the hero, to recall the heroic past, is good for the future. Theremains of the great captain came back to the United States. On thedecks of such a battleship as even his genius never dreamed of,surrounded by a squadron that could have put to flight all thesea-fighters of the world before the age of steam and steel, the bodyof the little commodore was brought back to his adopted country torepose on the soil of the land he loved, for whose liberty he fought,whose honor he maintained in battle; and a suitable monument is to beraised by our people to commemorate his services, to inspire likeconduct in years to come.
Commodore John Paul Jones, the first of the great American fighters,and not the least splendid in the long line, was born of humble originin a southern county of Scotland. His family was obscure, hiscircumstances narrow, his advantages meagre, his opportunities limited.At the age of twelve he became a sailor. Genius rose, superior toadverse circumstances, however, and before he died he was one of themost accomplished officers who ever served the United States. Thegreatest men of America and France took pleasure in his society andwere proud of his friendship.
He progressed rapidly in his chosen career. At nineteen he was chiefmate of a slaver, a legitimate occupation in his day but one thatfilled him with disgust. At twenty-one he was captain of a trader. In1773 he came to America, forsook the sea and settled in Virginia.
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I. The Birth of the American Navy
He was still poor and still obscure when on December 7, 1775, he wasappointed a lieutenant in the new Continental Navy, In that capacity hewas ordered to the _Alfred_, a small converted merchantman, theflagship of Commodore Hopkins. He joined the ship immediately, and inthe latter part of December he had the honor of hoisting with his ownhands the first naval flag of an American squadron. This was thefamous yellow silk banner with a rattlesnake and perhaps a pine treeemblazoned upon it, and with the significant legend, "Don't tread onme!"
Hopkins made an abortive expedition to New Providence, in which Joneshad but one opportunity to distinguish himself. At the peril of hiscommission, when the regular pilots refused to do so, he volunteered totake the _Alfred_ through a difficult and dangerous channel. Needlessto say, he succeeded--he always succeeded!
His first independent command was the little schooner _Providence_, ofseventy men and twelve four-pound guns. In the Fall of 1775 he made anotable cruise in this schooner; he skirmished with, and escaped from,by seamanship and daring, two heavy frigates, the _Solebay_ and the_Milford_; in four months he captured sixteen vessels, eight of whichwere sent in as prizes, five burned, three returned to certain poorfishermen; and he destroyed property aggregating a million dollars.
Later, in command of the _Alfred_, with a short crew of one hundred andfifty, when he should have had three hundred, he made another brilliantcruise in {284} which he burned several British transports, capturedone store-ship, laden to the gunwales with priceless munitions of warand supplies, cut out three of the supply fleet from under the guns ofthe _Flora_ frigate, and had another smart brush with the _Milford_.
II. Jones First Hoists the Stars and Stripes
Commissioned captain on the 14th of June, 1777, in the same resolutionwhich established an American flag, he was ordered to the _Ranger_, alittle ship-rigged corvette of three hundred tons. In her, on the 4thof July of the same year, he hoisted the first stars and stripes thathad ever waved over a ship-of-war. In Quiberon Bay--famous as one ofthe battle-grounds of the world--on the evening of the 14th ofFebruary, 1778, in the _Ranger_, he received the first formalrecognition ever given by a foreign fleet to the United States in asalute to the American flag. As it was after sunset when the saluteswere exchanged, and in order that there should be no mistake about it,the next morning, the 15th of February, Jones transferred his flag tothe _Independence_, a small privateer, and deliberately sailed throughLa Motte Picquet's great fleet of towering line-of-battle-ships,saluting and receiving salutes again.
Still on the _Ranger_, on the 24th of April, he fought the Britishsloop-of-war _Drake_, of equal force and larger crew, to a standstillin an hour and five minutes. When the _Drake_ struck her flag, herrigging, sails and spars were cut to pieces. She had forty-two killedand wounded--more than one-fifth of her crew--and was completelyhelpless. The _Ranger_ lost two killed and six wounded.
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In 1779 Jones hoisted his flag on the _Duc de Duras_, a condemned EastIndiaman, which would have been broken up had he not turned her into amakeshift frigate by mounting forty guns in her batteries--fourteentwelve-pounders, twenty nines and six eighteens. This, in honor ofFranklin, he named the _Bonhomme Richard_. Accompanied by the finelittle American-built frigate _Alliance_ and the French ship _Pallas_,with the brig _Vengeance_, and the cutter _Cerf_, he cruised aroundEngland, taking several prizes, and striking terror all along the shore.
III. The Battle With the _Serapis_
On the evening of the 23rd of September he fell in with the Balticconvoy. He was accompanied at the time by the _Alliance_ and the_Pallas_. The Baltic convoy was protected by the _Serapis_ and the_Scarborough_. The _Serapis_ was a brand-new, double-banked frigate ofeight hundred tons, carrying twenty eighteen-pounders, twenty nines andten sixes. Inasmuch as the eighteen-pounders on the _Richard_ burstand were abandoned after the first fire, the _Serapis_ could and diddischarge nearly twice as many pounds' weight of broadside as the_Richard_, say three hundred pounds to one hundred and seventy-five.The _Pallas_ grappled with the _Scarborough_--a more equal match--andJones attacked the _Serapis_, which was not unwilling--quite thecontrary--for the fight.
The battle was one of the most memorable and desperate ever fought uponthe ocean. The _Richard_ was riddled like a sieve. Her rotten sideswere literally blown out to starboard and port by the heavy batteriesof the _Serapis_. Jones had several hundred English {286} prisoners onboard. The master-at-arms released them, but, with great readiness andpresence of mind, Jones sent them to the pumps, while he continued tofight the English frigate, his own ship kept afloat by their efforts.
Captain Pearson, of the _Serapis_, was as brave a man as ever drew asword, but he was no match for the indomitable personality of theAmerican commander. After several hours of such fighting as hadscarcely been seen before on the narrow seas, he struck his flag. The_Alliance_, accompanied by a jealous and incapable Frenchman, hadcontributed nothing to Jones's success. Indeed, she had twice pouredher broadsides into the _Richard_. The American vessel was so wreckedbelow and aloft that she sank alongside, and Jones had to transfer thesurvivors of his crew to the English frigate. The aggregate of the twocrews was nearly seven hundred, of which about three hundred and fiftywere killed or wounded.
It is the greatest pity that the poverty of America did not permitJones to get to sea in a proper frigate, or in a ship of the
line,before the close of the war. After the Revolution, in which he hadborne so conspicuous a part, so much so that his exploits hadelectrified both continents, he took service under Catherine of Russia,carefully reserving his American citizenship. In her service he foughtfour brilliant actions in the Black Sea, in which he had to contendwith the usual discouragement of indifferent personnel and wretchedmaterial, and in which he displayed all his old-time qualities, winninghis usual successes, too.
Worn out in unrequited service, disgusted with Russian court intriguesof which he was the victim, resentful of the infamous Potemkin's brutalattempts {287} at coercion, he asked leave of absence from Catherine'sservice and went to Paris, where, in the companionship of his friends,and in the society of the beautiful Aimee de Telison, the one woman heloved, he lived two years and died at the age of forty-five.
IV. A Hero's Famous Sayings
Besides the memory of his battles, Paul Jones left a collection ofimmortal sayings, which are the heritage of the American Navy and theadmiration of brave men the world over. When the monument which is tobe erected shall be ready for inscriptions, these may with propriety becarved upon it:
"_I do not wish to have command of any ship that does not sail fast,for I intend to go in harm's way!_" Brave little captain.
"_I have ever looked out for the honor of the American flag!_" It isthe truth itself.
"_I can never renounce the glorious title of a citizen of the UnitedStates!_" The title was one which Paul Jones signally honored.
Last, but not least, that curt phrase which comes ringing through thecenturies like a trumpet call to battle; the words with which hereplied to the demand of the astonished Pearson, who saw his enemy'sship beaten to a pulp, and wondered why he did not yield:
"_I have not yet begun to fight!_"
That was the finest phrase, under the circumstances, that ever camefrom the lips of an American sailor. "It was no new message. TheBritish had heard it as they tramped again and again up thebullet-swept slopes of Bunker Hill; Washington rang it in the ears ofthe Hessians on the snowy Christmas morning at {288} Trenton; thehoof-beats of Arnold's horse kept time to it in the wild charge atSaratoga; it cracked with the whip of the old wagoner Morgan at theCowpens; the Maryland troops drove it home in the hearts of theirenemies with Greene at Guilford Court House; and the drums of Franceand America beat it into Cornwallis's ears when the end came atYorktown. There, that night, in that darkness, in that still moment ofbattle, Paul Jones declared the determination of a great people. Hiswas the expression of an inspiration on the part of a new nation. Fromthis man came a statement of our unshakeable determination, at whatevercost, to be free! A new Declaration of Independence, this famous wordof warning to the brave sailor of the British king."
V. What Jones Did for His Country
Never in his long career did Jones have a decent ship or a respectablecrew. His materials were always of the very poorest. His officers,with the exception of Richard Dale, were but little to boast of. Whathe accomplished, he accomplished by the exercise of his own indomitablewill, his serene courage, his matchless skill as a sailor, and hisdevotion to the cause he had espoused. After his death, among hispapers, the following little memorandum, written in his own hand, wasfound:
"In 1775, J. Paul Jones armed and embarked in the first American shipof war. In the Revolution he had twenty-three battles and solemn_rencontres_ by sea; made seven descents in Britain, and her colonies;took of her navy two ships of equal, and two of superior force, manystore-ships, and others; constrained her to {289} fortify her ports;suffer the Irish Volunteers; desist from her cruel burnings in Americaand exchange, as prisoners of war, the American citizens taken on theocean, and cast into prisons of England, as 'traitors, pirates, andfelons!'"
Indeed a truthful and a brilliant record. Paul Jones was accused ofbeing a pirate. The charge was a long time dying, but it is to-daygenerally disavowed. When recently his bones were returned to Americanshores, may we not believe that from some valhalla of the heroes, wherethe mighty men of the past mingle in peace and amity, he saw and tookpride in the great if tardy outpouring of our fellow citizens to greetthis first sea-king of our flag?
Now, this story of the magnificent career of John Paul Jones, sobriefly summarized, has been often told, and its details are familiarto every schoolboy. There is one mystery connected with his life,however, which has not yet been solved. I purpose to make here anoriginal contribution toward its solution. No one knows positively--itis probable that no one ever will know, why John Paul assumed the nameof Jones. Of course the question is not vital to Jones's fame, forfrom whatever reason he assumed the name by which he is remembered, hecertainly honored it most signally; but the reason for the assumptionis nevertheless of deep interest to all lovers of history. There havebeen two explanations of this action.
VI. Why Did He Take the Name of Jones?
Five years ago two biographies of Jones appeared simultaneously. One Ihad the honor of writing myself. The other was from the pen of thatgifted {290} and able author, the late Colonel Augustus C. Buell. Ouraccounts were in singular agreement, save in one or two points, and ourconclusions as to the character of Jones in absolute harmony. InColonel Buell's book he put forth the theory--which, so far as I know,had not before been formulated--that John Paul assumed the name ofJones in testamentary succession to his brother William Paul, who hadpreceded him to America; and that William Paul had himself taken thename in testamentary succession to one William Jones, a childless oldplanter of Middlesex County, Virginia, who bequeathed to the saidWilliam Paul an extensive plantation on the Rappahannock, some ninemiles below Urbana, at a place called Jones's Wharf, on condition thathe call himself Jones. In 1805 this Jones property was owned bymembers of the Taliaferro family, who had received it from ArchibaldFrazier, who claimed to have received it from John Paul Jones, althoughthere are no records of transfer extant.
My theory, which Colonel Buell facetiously characterized--doubtless inall good humor--as "Tar-heel mythology," stated that John Paul assumedthe name of Jones out of friendship and regard for the justlycelebrated Jones family of North Carolina, and especially for Mrs.Willie Jones, who is not unknown in history, and who was one of themost brilliant and charming women of the colonies. Members of thisfamily had befriended him and assisted him pecuniarily, and hadextended to him the bounteous hospitality of the famous plantations,Mount Gallant and The Groves, near Halifax. It was through theirinfluence with Congressman Hewes that Jones received his commission asa lieutenant in the Continental Navy. {291} In further explanation itwas suggested that on casting his lot with the rebellious colonies JohnPaul, who was somewhat erratic as well as romantic and impulsive,determined to take a new name and begin life over again.
Here are two utterly irreconcilable theories. I at once wrote toColonel Buell asking him to inform me what was his authority for hisstatement. I quote, with his permission given me before his lamenteddeath, from several letters that he wrote me:
"My first authentic information on the subject was from a gentlemannamed William Louden, whom I met in St. Louis in 1873, when I wasattached to the _Missouri Republican_. Mr. Louden was a great-grandsonof Mary Paul Louden, sister of John Paul Jones. He was the onlysurviving blood-relative of Paul Jones in this country, being hisgreat-grandnephew. He told me substantially the history of the changeof names as related in my first volume.
"Two years later I met the late General Taliaferro of Virginia inWashington, and he corroborated the version, together with the historyof the Jones plantation.[2]
"One would naturally judge that the great-grandnephew of the manhimself, and the gentleman who had subsequently owned the property,ought to know something about the antecedents of both the man and theland. . . . I doubt whether documentary evidence--such as would beadmitted in court--can ever be found."
Colonel Buell also called my attention to the fact {292} that in noneof Paul Jones's letters to Joseph Hewes is there any reference to th
eNorth Carolina Jones family; and further, that Jones and Hewes becameacquainted in commercial transactions before Jones settled in America.
VII. Search for Historical Evidence
In an attempt to settle the matter I wrote to all the Virginia countyclerks on both sides of the Rappahannock River, asking them if any copyof the will of William Paul, or that of William Paul Jones, could befound in their records. Most of these Virginia county records weredestroyed during the Civil War. By great good fortune, however, thoseof Spottsylvania County, in which the city of Fredericksburg issituated, were preserved, and I herewith append a copy of the will ofWilliam Paul, in which he bequeathes his property, making no mention ofany plantation and no mention of the name of William Jones, to hissister, Mary Young, who afterward married Louden.
"In the name of God, Amen; I, William Paul, of the town ofFredericksburg and County of Spottsylvania in Virginia--being inperfect sound memory, thanks be to Almighty God, and knowing it isappointed unto all men to die, do make and ordain this my last Will andTestament in manner and form revoking all former will or wills by meherebefore made.
"Principally and first of all, I recommend my soul to Almighty God whogave it, hoping through the merits of my blessed Saviour and RedeemerJesus Christ to find Redemption, and as to touching and concerning{293} what worldly estate it has pleased God to bless me with, Idispose of it in the following manner:
"_Item_--It is my will and desire that all my just debts and funeralexpenses be first paid by my Executors hereafter named, who are desiredto bury my body in a decent, Christian-like manner.
"_Item_--It is my will and desire that my Lots and Houses in this Townbe sold and converted into money for as much as they will bring, thatwith all my other estate being sold and what of my out-standing debtsthat can be collected, I give and bequeath unto my beloved sister MaryYoung, and her two eldest children and their heirs in Arbiglon inParish of Kirkbeen in Stewartry of Galloway, North Brittain, forever.I do hereby empower my Executors to sell and convey the said land, lotsand houses and make a fee simple therein, as I could or might do in myproper person, and I do appoint my friends Mr. William Templeman andIsaac Heislop my Executors to see this my will executed, confirmingthis to be my last will and testament. In Witness whereof, I havehereunto set my hand and fixed my seal as my last act and deed this22nd day of March, 1772.
"WILLIAM PAUL (Seal)."
"William Paul having heard the above will distinctly read, declared thesame to be his last will and testament in the presence of us:
"JOHN ATKINSON,
"THOMAS HOLMES,
"B. JOHNSTON."
William Paul evidently died in 1774, instead of 1773, as all thebiographers of his famous brother {294} have it, and the will wasaccordingly probated, as will be seen from the following transcript ofthe court records:
"At a Court continued and held for Spottsylvania County, December the16th, 1774.
"The Last Will and Testament of William Paul, deceased, was proved bythe oaths of John Atkinson, a witness thereto, and ordered to becertified, and the Executors therein named refusing to take uponthemselves the burden of the execution thereof, on the motion of JohnAtkinson who made oath and together with John Walker, Jr., hissecurity, entered into and acknowledged their bond in the Penalty ofFive hundred Pounds as the law directs. Certificate is granted him forobtaining letter of administration on the said decedent's estate withhis will aforesaid annexed in due form."
In further support of these facts, the grave of William Paul wasrecently discovered in St. George's churchyard, Fredericksburg, and histombstone bears the date of 1774. This effectually disposes of ColonelBuell's contention. For whatever reason John Paul assumed the name ofJones it was not in testamentary succession to William Paul; forWilliam Paul kept his inherited surname to the last.
It occurred to me that John Paul might have been empowered to representhis sister in the settlement of his brother's estate. Apower-of-attorney which would have enabled him to attend to her affairswould not necessarily have been registered in the Scottish or Americancourts; yet, knowing the methodical habit of the Scottish bar, I causedsearch to be made in the {295} private papers and records of thoselocal advocates who might possibly have handled the business inScotland; but with no results so far.
I also had search made for any conveyance of the property mentioned inthe will by William Paul's administrators. I append a copy of a letterfrom Mr. J. P. H. Crismund, a county clerk of Spottsylvania County.
"SPOTTSYLVANIA, VA., June 7, 1901.
"I have made the matter of John Paul Jones and William Paul and WilliamJones a matter of most careful study and search, but have not been ableto find anything beyond the last will and testament of William Paul, acopy of which I send you. My first search was made to find theconveyance from William Paul's administration, with will annexed,conveying the houses and lots in Fredericksburg which are directed inWilliam Paul's will to be sold, but the records nowhere show this.This seems and is strange, because some disposition must have been madeof this property in some way, but I cannot find this here. I thenfollowed the fiduciary indexes to see if I could find anything aboutthe enlistment and service of John Paul to John Paul Jones--but thisalso was fruitless. William Paul could not have assumed the name ofJones, as he leaves his last will and testament in the name of Paul,nor is there any will of record in the name of Paul, nor is there anywill of record in the name of John Paul Jones. I have given thismatter such thought and attention and work, but I cannot find a clue toanything named in your letter to me and concerning which you makeinquiry.
"As William Paul's property was in Fredericksburg, it may be that thesettlement of his estate and the {296} account of the sale of hiseffects is of record there. If you desire to write to the clerk ofcorporation court of that city as to that, he will courteously attendto your matter of inquiry.
"Yours sincerely,
"J. P. H. CRISMUND."
I wrote as Mr. Crismund suggested, but could get no further information.
VIII. The Joneses of North Carolina
Now to revert to the North Carolina account. It comes down as straightas such a story could. Colonel Cadwallader Jones of North Carolina, ina privately printed genealogical history of his family, states that hewas born in 1812. His grandmother, Mrs. Willie Jones, died in 1828.He lived with her for the first fifteen years of his life. He declarespositively that she told him that John Paul had taken the name for thereasons mentioned. The matter was generally so stated and accepted inthe family. Mrs. Willie Jones was a woman of unusual mental force andcharacter, and preserved the full use of her faculties until her death.
The same statement is made independently by descendants of otherbranches of the Jones family. For instance, Mr. Armistead ChurchillGordon, of Staunton, Va., had it direct from his great-aunt, who was akinswoman of Mrs. Jones, and who heard from her the circumstancesreferred to. And there are still other lines of tradition which createa strong probability in favor of the credibility of the theory.
For one thing, if Jones did represent his sister in the {297}settlement of his brother's estate, it is probable that he would haveto give bond for the proper performance of his trust, and it issometimes stated that Willie and Allen Jones went on his bond for fivehundred pounds--just the sum required of the Executors, by the way. Itis also singular, in view of this will leaving property to hisgrandmother, that the Louden whom Mr. Buell knew--and who is said tohave died in New Orleans 1887--should have been so mistaken in hisstatements; but on this point the evidence of the will is absolutelyconclusive.
IX. Paul Jones Never a Man of Wealth
Colonel Buell claims that John Paul Jones had riches and influence inVirginia after the death of his brother, but the claim is not tenableaccording to an exhaustive review of his book in the _VirginiaHistorical Magazine_. In the face of the present exhibit, and in theview of the fact that Jones himself spoke of living for two years inVirginia on fifty pounds, the story of his wealth cannot be cred
ited.It is therefore entirely in harmony with the facts to accept the NorthCarolina tradition, in the absence of any evidence to the contrary.The direct statement coming to us in one instance through but onegeneration is entitled to respect. As a matter of fact both ColonelBuell's version of the matter and my own story rest upon traditionalone, with this difference--the evidence submitted absolutely excludedone of the accounts; the other, therefore, logically comes to the fore.
And thus, I think, I have contributed to clear up one mooted point inAmerican history.
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