STEWART, CHARLES. 



647 



in capturing several British vessels. On the 

 19th of February, 1815, he fell in with the 

 British ships-of-war Cyane, of 34 guns, and the 

 Levant, of 21 guns, and captured them after a 

 sharp combat of 40 minutes, having three men 

 killed and 13 wounded, while the British ves- 

 sels lost 35 killed and 42 wounded. The Le- 

 vant was subsequently recaptured by the British 

 squadron, but the Constitution escaped with 

 her other prize. On his return he was received 

 with the highest honors. The Legislature of 

 Pennsylvania presented him with a sword, and 

 a gold medal, commemorative of the capture 

 of the Levant and Cyane, was ordered to he 

 struck by Congress. The skill with which 

 Captain Stewart had managed his ship, so as 

 to rake both his antagonists without giving 

 them the opportunity of damaging him, was 

 indeed deserving of the highest praise. In 

 1817, Stewart, by this 'time a commodorej 

 was ordered to the command of the Mediter- 

 ranean squadron, which was almost in a state 

 of mutiny, the officers in command of the ves- 

 sels composing the squadron manifesting a 

 spirit of insubordination which was exceedingly 

 alarming. On his taking command, there was, 

 for a time, a somewhat. better spirit manifested, 

 though there were still occasional evidences of 

 a mutinous disposition. In June, 1819, how- 

 ever, these officers were guilty of an act of 

 gross insubordination which could not be over- 

 looked. A court-martial had been ordered to 

 meet on the Guerrie're to try a marine for some 

 offence ; but the officers preferred to meet on 

 shore at the comfortable Sun Tavern in Naples, 

 and there tried the culprit and found him 

 guilty. The papers were sent to the commo- 

 dore, and, as their proceedings had been en- 

 tirely illegal, he disapproved them, released 

 the prisoner, and called the court together to 

 inform them of his decision. "When they were 

 assembled, he addressed a communication to 

 them, stating what he had done, attributing 

 their conduct to inadvertence, saying that 

 therefore he should take no further notice of 

 it, and recommending greater carefulness in 

 the future. The officers, ready for a mutiny, 

 took offence at this very mild rebuke, and a 

 series of resolutions were offered which were 

 grossly insulting to the commodore; and, as 

 their vessels were getting under weigh for 

 another port of the Mediterranean, they ad- 

 journed to meet at the call of their president. 

 At their next meeting, the resolutions were 

 passed, and the commodore immediately sus- 

 pended from command, and sent home under 

 arrest, Captain Thomas McDonough, of the 

 frigate Guerriere, Master-Commandant Henry 

 E. Ballard, of the ship Erie, Master-Command- 

 ant 1. 1. Nicholson, of the brig Spark, Lieu- 

 tenant-Commandant John Gallagher, of the 

 ship Franklin, and Lieutenant Benjamin Page, 

 Jr., executive officer of the same ship. Lieu- 

 tenant (afterward Commodore) Stockton com- 

 manded the vessel in which these officers made 

 their unwilling voyage homeward. This sud- 



den blow had an excellent effect. There was 

 no more insubordination, and the Mediterranean 

 squadron, from being the worst, became the 

 best disciplined and most orderly squadron of 

 the navy. The President and Cabinet approved 

 Commodore Stewart's course, but, as the offi- 

 cers were deeply humbled and penitent, they 

 were let off from any further punishment with 

 a reprimand, the commodore himself interced- 

 ing in behalf of one or more of them. In 1821 

 Commodore Stewart was transferred to the 

 command of the Pacific squadron, another 

 position of great difficulty, owing to the revo- 

 lutions in progress in the South American 

 states, the Spanish blockades, and the frightful 

 piracies of the buccaneers. His administration 

 of affairs, and defence of our rights on this 

 coast, were able and satisfactory to all right- 

 minded men. There were, nevertheless, some 

 of those whose selfish a'nd nefarious projects 

 had been thwarted by his straightforward man- 

 agement, who filled the ears of the Government 

 with their clamors against him, and on his 

 return home, in 1824, the Naval Department 

 thought it best that these accusations should 

 be submitted to a court-martial. The result 

 was'eminently satisfactory to the commodore. 

 The court, not content with acquitting him from 

 all charges of mismanagement or dereliction of 

 duty, felt itself compelled to make this declara- 

 tion to the world : " So far from having vio- 

 lated the high duties of neutrality and respect 

 for the laws of nations so far from having 

 sacrificed the honor of the American flag, or 

 tarnished his own fair fame, by acting upon 

 any motive of a mercenary or sordid kind so 

 far from having neglected his duty, or betrayed 

 the trust reposed in him, by refusing proper 

 protection to American citizens and property, 

 or rendering such protection subservient to 

 individual interests, no one circumstance has 

 been developed, throughout the whole course 

 of this minute investigation into the various 

 occurrences of a three-years' cruise, calculated 

 to impair the confidence which the members 

 of this court, the navy, and the nation, have 

 long reposed in the honor, the talents, and the 

 patriotism, of this distinguished officer, or to 

 weaken in any manner the opinion which all 

 who know him entertain of his humanity and 

 disinterestedness. These virtues only glow 

 with brighter lustre from this ordeal of trial, 

 like the stars he triumphantly displayed, when 

 valor and skill achieved a new victory to adorn 

 the annals of our naval glory." From 1825 to 

 1837, Commodore Stewart was almost con- 

 stantly employed on naval boards and com- 

 missions, naval courts-martial, etc. In 1837 

 he succeeded Commodore Barron as command- 

 er of the Navy-yard at Philadelphia, and re- 

 mained there until 1861, when he was relieved 

 at his own request. In 1855 the retiring board, 

 created by act of Congress in that year, placed 

 him on the retired list. He was at this time sev- 

 enty-seven years of age, but he appealed in elo- 

 quent terms to Congress against this indignity, 



