710 STOCKTON, ROBERT F. 



STRANAHAN, MARIAMNE F. 



the position of first lieutenant of the Spitfire, 

 one of f he squadron of Commodore Decatur. 

 To no one, probably, is more credit due than to 

 him in rebuking the arrogance of the British 

 officers in the Mediterranean, and establishing 

 the American character for courage, sensibility, 

 and honor. At the request of the American 

 Colonization Society, and with the consent of the 

 Navy Department, he undertook the acquisition 

 of an eligible site, on the African coast, adapted 

 to the settlement of colonists from America, 

 and sailed on this expedition in the fall of 1821. 

 The negotiations were conducted with great 

 fearlessness and ability, and resulted in the 

 cession of the country near Cape Mesurado, 

 on St. Paul's River, the foundation of the Repub- 

 lic of Liberia. His next services were rendered 

 in repressing the slave-trade, and checking 

 the depredations of the numerous pirates in 

 the neighborhood of the "West Indies. He 

 was ordered South with a party to survey the 

 Southern coast in 1823-'24, and while thus en- 

 paged he was married at Charleston, S. C., to 

 Miss Maria Potter, a daughter of John Potter, 

 Esq., who was subsequently largely identified 

 in the public improvements in New Jersey. 

 Mr. Stockton took great interest in the con- 

 struction of the Delaware and Raritan Canal, 

 and embarked his whole fortune and that of his 

 family in the enterprise; and it is mainly due 

 to his untiring energy and his consummate 

 ability that that great work of internal im- 

 provement was constructed. In 1838 ho again 

 Bailed for the Mediterranean, and in 1839 

 was promoted to be a post-captain, and re- 

 called. He refused the office of Secretary of 

 the Navy, which was tendered to and pressed 

 upon him by President Tyler, and in 1842 com- 

 menced the construction of the Princeton, a 

 steamship of war, which the Navy Department, 

 at his earnest solicitation, consented that he 

 should build. This was completed in 1844, and 

 was the first successful application of steam to 

 a national ship of war. Another innovation 

 was the introduction of guns of larger calibre, 

 there being two long 226-pound wrought-iron 

 guns in her armament. The unfortunate burst- 

 ing of one of these on February 28, 1844, on an 

 excursion by the President, Cabinet, and a large 

 number of members of Congress, caused the 

 death of Mr. Dpshur, the Secretary of State, Mr. 

 Gilmer, the Secretary of the Navy, and others. 

 Captain Stockton was selected by President 

 Tyler as the bearer of the celebrated annexa- 

 tion resolutions to the Government of Texas, 

 and performed the delicate and important duties 

 with which he was charged to the entire ap- 

 proval of the Government. On October 25, 

 1845, he sailed in the Congress for the Pacific. 

 The Rev. Walter Colton was chaplain of the 

 frigate, and in his book, " Deck and Port," has 

 testified to the executive and diplomatic abilities 

 of Captain Stockton. After touching at Hono- 

 lulu, where he succeeded in reestablishing 

 intercourse between the king's government 

 tmd the American commissioner, which had 



been suspended, he sailed for California, 

 and on July 23, 1846, succeeded Commodore 

 Sloat in the command of the Pacific squadron. 

 Hostilities had been commenced between the 

 United States and Mexico, and Commodore 

 Sloat had raised the flag of. the United States 

 at Monterey, and two other points. On July 

 4th the Americans assembled at Sonoma had de- 

 clared their independence, and elected Colonel 

 Fremont governor. Colonel Fremont repaired 

 to Monterey, to confer with the commander of 

 the squadron, and, on the succession of Com 

 modore Stockton to the command, he accepted 

 the offer of the services of Colonel Fremont in 

 carrying out his expressed intention of reducing 

 the whole of California to a state of complete 

 submission to the authority of the United States. 

 Commodore Stockton immediately commenced 

 the drilling of his sailors, to qualify them for 

 land service, and on August 12th, with his 

 sailor "army, attacked General Castro, and on 

 August 13th took possession of Ciudad de los 

 Angeles, the capital of California. On the ar- 

 rival of Col. Fremont, Stockton appointed him 

 military commander for the whole territory, 

 with a general superintendence over all the 

 departments. On the 8th and 9th of January, 



1846, Stockton fought the battles of San Gabriel 

 and the Mesa with his army of sailors and ma 

 rines, and effectually broke down resistance to 

 the authority of the United States in California. 

 In August, 1846, Commodore Stockton ap- 

 pointed Colonel Fremont civil governor of 

 California, who immediately entered on the 

 duties of his office, which gave rise to a dispute 

 between himself and General Kearney, result- 

 ing ultimately in the resignation by Colonel 

 Fremont of his commission in the army. Cali- 

 fornia is indebted to Commodore Stockton for 

 her first press and her first school-house, in 

 addition to his military services. On June 20, 



1847, Commodore Stockton, having been re- 

 lieved by Commodore Biddle, started for home 

 across the plains, and arrived in Washington 

 in December, 1847, and in 1849 resigned his 

 commission in the navy. Notwithstanding his 

 decided refusal to be a candidate for the posi- 

 tion, he was elected to the Senate of the United 

 States, to succeed Mr. Dayton, in 1851. He re- 

 signed his position in the Senate after his sec 

 ond session, having while a member secured the 

 passage of the bill abolishing flogging in the 

 navy. Although urged by his friends, and 

 widely named by the press, he refused to allow 

 his name to be used as a candidate for the Presi- 

 dency in 1852, but in 1856 was nominated for 

 President, with Kenneth Raynor for Vice-Pres- 

 ident, by the American party, which ticket was 

 subsequently withdrawn from the canvass. The 

 remainder of his life was devoted to the inter- 

 ests of the great works of internal improvement 

 in the State of New Jersey, whose prosperity 

 he had done so much to secure. 



STRANAHAN, Mrs. MARIAMNE FITCH, an 

 active and philanthropic lady of Brooklyn, 

 N. Y., born in Westmoreland, Oneida County, 



