Naval War College Review Volume 58 Article 22 Number 1 Winter

2005 A Rage for Glory: The Life and Times of CommodoreStephen Decatur, USN, Wade G. Dudley

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Recommended Citation Dudley, Wade G. (2005) "A Rage for Glory: The Life and Times of CommodoreStephen Decatur, USN,," Naval War College Review: Vol. 58 : No. 1 , Article 22. Available at: https://digital-commons.usnwc.edu/nwc-review/vol58/iss1/22

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Dudley: A Rage for Glory: The Life and Times of CommodoreStephen Decatur, BOOK REVIEWS 175

Board alongside Harry Hopkins. much weight to the man than to larger Having given so much to his country, international trends in naval aviation at Reeves died on 25 March 1948. the time, Reeves clearly pressed, with Although a powerful speaker and ora- single-minded determination, the exist- tor, Reeves published very little and left ing technological and doctrinal limits of behind no personal papers. In writing U.S. naval aviation and prepared his this biography, Wildenberg has done an forces accordingly. admirable job of detective work, col- The book, which offers interesting in- lecting together information from a di- sights into experimentation and inno- verse range of official and private vation for future warfare in peacetime sources. He uses a 1943 Princeton Uni- navies, is highly recommended for spe- versity undergraduate thesis based on cialist historians and interested general interviews with Reeves, but little re- readers. mains known of the admiral’s family CHRIS MADSEN and personal life, other than the im- Canadian Forces College pression that he was a lonely man de- Toronto, Ontario voted full-heartedly to the navy. A ruthless streak in Reeves’s character, however, comes out in his treatment of hapless Lieutenant Commander Robert Molten—an episode to be repeated De Kay, James Tertius. A Rage for Glory: The Life during a run-in with a Royal Navy ord- and Times of Commodore Stephen Decatur, USN. nance officer, Stephen Roskill, in Wash- New York: Free Press, 2004. 237pp. $25 ington, D.C., during the summer of Accomplished historian and author 1944. Wildenberg’s conclusions about James de Kay captures the essence of an Reeves’s attitude toward the British age, as well as the spirit of a man, in his might have been tempered by closer biography of Commodore Stephen study of his wartime work on the Com- Decatur. This finely written narrative, bined Munitions Assignment Board. aimed at a general readership, may lack No reference is made in the book to the scholarly apparatus expected of his- Reeves’s working files from the Lend- torical monographs, but it certainly does Lease Office of Record in Record Group not lack the scholarship and analysis 38 at the National Archive and Records that is the hallmark of de Kay’s work. Administration, or the diaries of Vice Yet if this book sometimes appears to Admiral James Dorling, his British naval be a cross between an action-thriller counterpart on the Combined Muni- and a hagiography, there is a reason. tions Assignment Board at Greenwich’s Decatur’s active quest for fame and National Maritime Museum. In Reeves’s glory, as well as the deep sense of honor second service tour, he facilitated that would clip short his thread of life American production behind the global at age forty-one, earned the commo- war effort at sea and actually excelled in dore a place in the hearts of his coun- office work and the numbers game. trymen perhaps more appropriate for a Even though biographies are somewhat saint. His name still echoes in those of out of fashion today and Wildenberg some forty-five towns, five warships, and shows a tendency to give a little too numerous other pieces of Americana.

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176 NAVAL WARNaval COLLEGE War REVIEWCollege Review, Vol. 58 [2005], No. 1, Art. 22

Born amidst the upheaval of the Ameri- using imagery appropriate to the con- can Revolution in 1779, Stephen cepts of glory, fame, and honor, central Decatur spent his youth steeped in the to the story. More importantly for gen- twin influences of a national hubris eral readers, naval jargon of the era is born of victory against the tyrannical minimized; thus they do not become British Empire and a family tradition of lost somewhere between the gudgeons seafaring, usually against that same en- and the mainsail clewlines. tity (Dutch and French ancestry, and The commodore spent his few remain- the master of a privateer as a father). ing years as a member of the Board of His time as a midshipman during the Navy Commissioners. Then, on 22 Quasi-War with France may have March 1820, Stephen Decatur paid the lacked in naval action, but it certainly ultimate price for his honor. Fellow imbued in Decatur the ethos of the captain and former mentor James quarterdeck, that almost mystical tri- Barron and he exchanged shots on a umvirate of glory, fame, and honor that traditional dueling ground outside not only defined a gentleman but all Washington. Mortally wounded, too frequently forced recourse to the Decatur died a few hours later. Wind- Code Duello. It is de Kay’s analysis and ing through de Kay’s last chapters in presentation of this triumvirate that is the life of this American hero is a fas- the strength of his study of Decatur. cinating conspiracy theory involving From 1801 through 1815, Decatur the “bad boys” of the early U.S. Navy: earned a place in the pantheon of naval Jesse Duncan Elliot, Captain William heroes. His part in the burning of the Bainbridge, and Captain James Barron. frigate Philadelphia at Tripoli in 1804 In de Kay’s mind, there exists little made him the darling of the nation. doubt that both Elliot and Bainbridge Further daring actions against the Bar- contributed as much as Barron to the bary corsairs catapulted the young lieu- death of Decatur. His arguments are tenant over the heads of other officers convincing. to the rank of captain. In October 1812, Historians, particularly those familiar Decatur steered his United States to vic- with the era, may be somewhat disap- tory over HMS Macedonian, then pointed with this book. De Kay presents fought an even harder battle with a narrative driven by specific events; Washington for prize money. Trapped thus, details such as Decatur’s contribu- in New London by a British blockade in tions to strategic planning during the 1813, he shifted his flag to the large War of 1812 are missing. On the other frigate President in 1814. Beset by a hand, those souls less knowledgeable of British squadron shortly thereafter, the U.S. Navy during the Age of Sail Decatur surrendered the largest Ameri- will have little to disappoint them and can warship lost during the War of much to gain from reading this exciting 1812. Exonerated by a court of inquiry, biography of a most famous American he proceeded to regain his lost honor naval officer. by leading a squadron to thrash soundly the Barbary corsairs in 1815. De Kay’s WADE G. DUDLEY East Carolina University portrayal of these actions is excellent,

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