Benjamin was born in 1751 in Charles County, Maryland, United States, the grandson of James Stoddert, a surveyor who emigrated from Scotland to La Plata, Maryland, about 1650. His father, Thomas Stoddert, was a lieutenant in the Maryland militia of the French and Indian War. His mother, Sarah (Marshall) Stoddert, was the daughter of Thomas Marshall of "Marshall Hall. "
The Revolutionary War began just as he was finishing his apprenticeship as a merchant, and he joined a Pennsylvania Regiment under Thomas Hartley in January 1777 with rank of captain.
When his regiment was united to John Patton's in 1779 he found himself outranked by the new officers. In consequence he resigned on April 16. On Sept. 1, he was unanimously elected secretary to the board of war. He held this arduous post until February 6, 1781, when he resigned.
With shrewd business instinct, he decided to begin his mercantile career in Georgetown, Maryland, at that time a small place with only one trifling retail shop. Because of its central location and shipping facilities Georgetown soon sprang into astonishing prominence as a port, and the firm that Stoddert had entered, Forrest, Stoddert, & Murdock, had a great share of the Potomac trade with branches established by Uriah Forrest at London and Bordeaux.
Jointly or singly he purchased great tracts of land in what is now the District of Columbia and erected a charming dwelling in Georgetown overlooking the Potomac. Soon he came to know General Washington, first in a business way by furnishing supplies to his nephews. Stoddert's sagacity and business sense were later employed by the president in the first delicate and critical moves toward establishing the federal capital.
With William Deakins, Jr. , he was asked to purchase, privately, blocks on important sites at a price lower than the government could command. After the site of the federal city had been fixed the business was made public, and these lands were ceded to the government. Stoddert's signature is found on the deed from the original proprietors.
In order to handle these extensive realty transactions, the Bank of Columbia was organized in January 1794 with Stoddert as an incorporator and, later, president. In the well known crash through excessive speculation, several years later, he probably lost heavily. It was his highly successful mercantile career and stanch Federalism that caused him to be made secretary of the navy.
Following the declination of George Cabot, President Adams appointed Stoddert on May 18, 1798, and three days later he was confirmed as the first secretary. The choice has been generally conceded as a most fortunate one in a critical time.
The so-called naval war with France was imminent, and the navy was pitifully weak. By heroic measures some fifty ships were acquired in the next two years, and a fleet was built up under celebrated commanders with about six thousand men in service.
After the "war, " he recommended reduction and replacement by thirteen frigates and twelve 74-gun ships. With characteristic thoroughness and foresight he also drafted the bill for the government of the marine corps, began construction of the naval hospital at Newport, and began the work of locating docks and of establishing navy yards. The latter were not contemplated by Congress but maneuvered by a masterpiece of loose-construction on the ground that the yards already rented were too small for the 74-gun ships Congress had authorized.
On the advice of Joshua Humphreys and of his captains, Stoddert purchased ground at Washington, Gosport, Virginia, Portsmouth, New Hampshire, Charlestown, Massachussets, Philadelphia, and Brooklyn. This was virtually all carried out in 1800 and early in 1801, before the new administration could rescind it. He stayed on at the request of Jefferson until April 1801.
Georgetown commerce was on the wane, owing, as he believed, to the European wars, which diverted to larger ports such a share of the carrying trade that it sucked in the local produce trade from smaller places.
Jefferson's embargo, and finally the War of 1812, seemed to him to cap the climax of his suffering, and he died on December 13, 1813 heavily in debt.
Benjamin Stoddert was well-known as the founder of a tobacco export business in Georgetown, with business partners Uriah Forrest and John Murdock. During the 1790s, he helped found the Bank of Columbia to handle purchases of land in the District of Columbia for the federal government. Stoddert as the Secretary of the Navy, established the Navy Department Library as a result of instructions received from President Adams.
On June 17, 1781, he married Rebecca Lowndes, the daughter of Christopher Lowndes, a merchant at Bladensburg, Maryland. She died about 1800 leaving eight children, one of whom became the mother of Richard Stoddert Ewell and Benjamin Stoddert Ewell.
