204 HEREDITY AND DEVELOPMENT OF NAVAL OFFICERS. 



he then cruised for pirates for a time. In 1825 he married and settled at Prince- 

 ton on a furlough until 1838. Here he organized the New Jersey Colonization 

 Society, established a newspaper, promoted the building of the Delaware and 

 Raritan canal, largely with his own money, worked for the Trenton and New 

 Brunswick railroad, and took an active part in politics; he also imported and 

 raced thoroughbreds. In 1838, as captain, he commanded the Ohio on a cruise 

 to the Mediterranean, and about this time made a model of a steamship with 

 its machinery below the water-line. In 1841 he was offered the secretaryship 

 of the navy, but declined it. He now planned and supervised the building of our 

 first steam war-vessel, Princeton. On February 28, 1844, she was being dedicated 

 and a large wrought-iron gun was being fired in the presence of President Tyler, 

 Secretary of State A. P. Upshur, Secretary of the Navy T. W. Gilmer, and 

 others. Stockton stopped firing the gun and refused to continue, but was ordered 

 to fire once more. The gun burst and killed several, including Messrs. Upshur 

 and Gilmer. In 1844 he was sent by President Tyler to carry the annexation 

 resolutions to the government of Texas. In 1845, just before war broke out with 

 Mexico, he was sent in the Congress to convey Commissioner Ten Eyck to Hono- 

 lulu. While at Callao he found that an American merchant captain had been 

 imprisoned while trying to quiet a quarrel between some of his men and some 

 Peruvian sailors. Stockton demanded the release of the captain and was refused 

 in an overbearing manner. He then gave the authorities fifteen minutes to release 

 the man or he would train his ship's guns on the city. The captain was promptly 

 released. At Hawaii he composed the quarrel between the king and the American 

 representative, Brown. He then went to Monterey, California, and organized 

 the citizens of the United States who were in California into a battalion and 

 in 1846 issued a proclamation authorizing civil government in the State. He 

 attacked the Mexicans at Los Angeles and San Pedro, so that the troops fled and 

 the Mexican governor surrendered. Raising an army, he cleared Southern Cali- 

 fornia of the enemy, established a newspaper in San Francisco, and organized 

 schools. Having been superseded, he returned overland to the East, successfully 

 evading threatened Indian attacks en route. He was the recipient of distinguished 

 honors in Philadelphia and elsewhere. He resigned from the navy in 1850, to 

 devote himself to private interests and State matters. Elected to the United 

 States senate in 1850, he introduced a bill to abolish flogging in the navy and urged 

 coast defense. Resigning in 1853, he retired to private life. He was elected 

 president of the Delaware and Raritan Canal Company, was chosen a delegate 

 to the peace congress of 1861, and died at Princeton in 1866. 



Stockton represents the brilliant "frigate-captain" type a dashing hyper- 

 kinetic, who does various jobs well, but organizes no extensive naval campaign. 

 His interest in diplomacy was marked from the time of his youthful study of law. 

 He was intelligent and administrative. 



He married Harriet, daughter of John Potter, of Charleston, South Carolina, 

 and had 6 daughters and 3 sons, of whom none became sailors. (1) Richard be- 

 came a lawyer and treasurer of the Camden and Amboy railroad. (2) John was 

 a lawyer who went as United States minister to Rome, 1857. He was elected 

 United States senator in 1864, and again in 1868; as senator he advocated the 

 establishment of life-saving stations on the coast. He served as attorney general 

 of New Jersey. (3) Robert Field (1802-1898), was graduated at Princeton in 

 1851, admitted to the bar, became brigadier general in 1858, adjutant general 

 of the State until 1867, and comptroller of New Jersey, 1877-1888. He was 



