Charles Stewart was an officer in the United States Navy who commanded a number of US Navy ships, including USS Constitution.
Background
Charles was born on July 28, 1778 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. He was the son of Charles and Sarah (Ford) Stewart, who some years prior to the American Revolution emigrated from Belfast, Ireland, to Philadelphia. The elder Charles Stewart pursued a seafaring life, and at the time of his death, in 1780, appears to have been master of a merchant vessel. His widow, left with slender funds at her disposal, subsequently had great difficulty in providing for her eight children.
Career
Charles, the youngest, soon turned to the sea, securing, at the age of thirteen, employment as a cabin boy in the merchant service. During the next few years he rose through the successive grades until he became master of a merchantman. When the dispute between the United States and France occurred, young Stewart entered the navy.
On March 9, 1798, he was commissioned lieutenant and began a cruise in West Indian waters aboard the frigate United States. On July 16, 1800, he received command of the schooner Experiment, which soon captured two armed French vessels, recaptured a number of American merchantmen, and, through an error in identity, badly crippled a Bermudian privateer. The Experiment also provided convoy, and, near the end of the cruise, rescued a large number of women and children who had been shipwrecked after fleeing from the negro uprising in Santo Domingo.
After returning to Norfolk in 1801, Stewart was for a time in charge of the frigate Chesapeake, but in 1802 went to the Mediterranean as first officer of the frigate Constellation. At the end of a year he was again in America. Receiving command of the brig Siren, he returned to the Mediterranean, where he participated in the destruction of the Philadelphia after its capture by the Tripolitans; engaged in maintaining a strict blockade of Tripoli; and distinguished himself in the numerous assaults upon the enemy during August and September 1804.
At the close of the War with Tripoli he proceeded with the squadron under the command of Commodore John Rodgers, 1773-1838, to Tunis for the purpose of quieting that regency. The desired settlement was soon effected, and Stewart, commissioned captain, April 22, 1806, returned to the United States. During a portion of the years 1806 and 1807 he was engaged in supervising the construction of gunboats at New York, and until the outbreak of the War of 1812 participated in commercial enterprises which took him to the East Indies, the Mediterranean, and the Adriatic.
At the outset of the struggle with Great Britain he urged a vigorous use of the navy. He soon received command of the brig Argus and the sloop-of-war Hornet; then, in December 1812, became commander of the Constellation. A superior British force kept the frigate confined at Norfolk, and during the summer of 1813 Stewart took charge of the Constitution, then being refitted at Boston.
With her he subsequently made a brilliant record. On a cruise beginning in December 1813 he destroyed several British vessels, and in April of the following year returned to Boston after evading a strong blockading squadron. In December 1814 he again slipped out of the harbor. On this second cruise, while in the vicinity of the Madeira Islands, he separated and captured two British warships - the small frigate Cyane and the sloop-of-war Levant.
A British squadron eventually recaptured the Levant, but Stewart succeeded in bringing the Cyane to the United States.
In consequence of these achievements he received a great ovation from the people of New York, a sword of honor from the legislature of Pennsylvania, and a gold medal from Congress. Stewart's service during the remainder of his life was varied.
He subsequently served, until 1824, as commodore of a squadron in the Pacific; was a naval commissioner during the years 1830-32; and at various times (1838-41, 1846, 1854 - 61) had charge of the navy yard at Philadelphia. By act of Congress, March 2, 1859, he was made "senior flag officer".
In 1862 he became rear-admiral on the retired list, and thereafter lived in his country house, "Old Ironsides, " at Bordentown.
Stewart died at Bordentown, New Jersey on 6 November 1869 at the age of 91.
Achievements
Membership
He was a member of the Pennsylvania Society of the Cincinnati from 1816.
Personality
Stewart has been described as about five feet nine inches in height, well proportioned, and prepossessing in appearance. He has been unstintedly praised for his coolness and courage in times of stress; for his broad and vigorous mentality, for his fund of information on a wide range of domestic and foreign subjects; and for his conversational abilities, which made him a favorite at social gatherings.
Quotes from others about the person
Barry O’Brien describes him:
“Commodore Stewart was about five feet nine inches, and of a dignified and engaging presence. His complexion was fair, his hair chestnut, eyes blue, large, penetrating, and intelligent. The cast of his countenance was Roman, bold, strong, and commanding, and his head finely formed. His command of his passions was truly surprising, and under the most irritating circumstances his oldest seamen never saw a ray of anger flash from his eyes. His kindness, benevolence, and humanity were proverbial; but his sense of justice and the requisitions of duty were as unbending as fate. In the moment of great stress and danger he was cool and quick in judgment, as he was utterly ignorant of fear. His mind was acute and powerful, grasping the greatest or smallest subjects with the intuitive mastery of genius. “
Connections
On November 25, 1813 he married Delia Tudor, sister of Frederic Tudor, and a member of an affluent and socially prominent Boston family. Two children from this union survived their father: Delia Tudor and Charles Tudor Stewart.