Street Names of Old Montgomery
THE
PRESIDENTS
182
years later, most of us know that the town of Montgomery was formed
in 1819 by the merger of John Scott's East Alabama Town and Andrew Dexter's
New Philadelphia. We know that Dexter had named New Philadelphia's five
east-west streets for the first five presidents of the United States
and its six north-south streets for six naval heroes of the War of 1812,
but how much do we know about these leaders?
The presidents were George Washington (Washington Avenue), John Adams
(Adams Avenue), Thomas Jefferson (Jefferson Street), James Monroe (Monroe
Street), and James Madison (Madison Avenue). The naval heroes were Oliver
Hazard Perry (Perry Street) James Lawrence (Lawrence Street), Isaac
Hull (Hull Street), Thomas McDonough (McDonough Street), William Bainbridge
(Bainbridge Street), and Stephen Decatur (Decatur Street).
George Washington
Born in Westmoreland County, Va., on Feb. 22, 1732, George Washington
was the eldest son of Augustine Washington and his second wife, Mary Ball
Washington. His early education included the study of mathematics, surveying,
the classics, and "rules of civility."
His father died in 1743, and soon thereafter George went to live with his half brother Lawrence at Mount Vernon. Washington secured (1748) an appointment to survey Lord Fairfax's lands in the Shenandoah Valley. He helped lay out the Virginia town of Belhaven (now Alexandria) in 1749 and was appointed surveyor for Culpepper County. After Lawrence Washington died of tuberculosis, George inherited the Mount Vernon estate.
At the start of the American Revolution,Washington took command of the
troops surrounding British-occupied Boston on July 3. Early in March 1776,
Washington occupied Dorchester Heights, effectively commanding the city
and forcing the British to evacuate on March 17. He then moved to defend
New York City against the combined land and sea forces of Sir William
Howe.
Colonial morale was raised by the capture of Trenton, N.J., a brilliantly
conceived attack in which Washington crossed the Delaware River on Christmas
night 1776 and surprised the Hessian garrison. Advancing to Princeton,
N.J., he routed the British there on Jan. 3, 1777.
After holding his dispirited army together during the difficult winter
at Valley Forge, Washington learned that France had recognized American
independence.
After the arrival of the French army in 1780, he brilliantly planned and
executed the Yorktown Campaign against Charles Cornwallis, securing (Oct.
19, 1781) the American victory.
The Father of His Country
In May 1787, Washington headed the Virginia delegation to the Constitutional
Convention in Philadelphia and was unanimously elected presiding officer.
After the new Constitution was submitted to the states for ratification
and became legally operative, he was unanimously elected president (1789).
Washington was re-elected president in 1792. He refused to run for a third
term and, after a masterly Farewell Address in which he warned the United
States against permanent alliances abroad, he went home to Mount Vernon.
Washington contracted what was probably quinsy or acute laryngitis; he
declined rapidly and died at his estate on Dec. 14, 1799.
John Adams
John Adams was born in Braintree (now Quincy), Mass., on Oct. 30, 1735, in a small saltbox house which is still standing and open to visitors.
His father, John Adams and his mother, the former Suzanna Boylston, resolved to give bookishly-inclined John a good education. He became the first in his family to go to college when he entered Harvard in 1751.
In 1774-76, Adams was a Massachusetts delegate to the Continental Congress in Philadelphia. His speeches and writings articulating the colonial cause and his brilliant championing of American rights in Congress caused Thomas Jefferson to call him the "Colossus of Independence."
Adams helped draft the Declaration of Independence, secured its unanimous adoption in Congress, and wrote his wife on July 3, 1776, that "the most memorable Epoch in the History of America has begun."
In 1788 Adams was elected vice-president under the new constitution. He supported the efforts of George Washington to give the presidency an almost regal quality and to extend executive power.
Adams was elected president in 1797 and was forced out of office after one term.
When he and Abigail returned to Massachusetts, they moved into a comfortable but unpretentious house in Quincy. There, tending to his fields, visiting with neighbors, and enjoying his family, John Adams lived for 25 years. In his diaries, letters, learned tracts, and patriotic speeches he revealed himself as a quintessential Puritan, patriarch of an illustrious family, tough-minded philosopher, sage, and sometimes a vain, stubborn, and vitriolic partisan.
Like Jefferson, he died on July 4, 1826, the 50th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. Ninety years old at his death, Adams was revered by his countrymen not only as one of the founding fathers but also as a plain, honest man who personified the best of what the nation could hope of its citizens and leaders.
Thomas Jefferson
Thomas
Jefferson was born at Shadwell in what is now Albemarle County, Va., on
Apr. 13, 1743, the son of Peter Jefferson and Jane Randolph Jefferson.
Jefferson attended (1760-62) the College of William and Mary.
In 1770 he began building Monticello on land inherited from his father.
The mansion, which he designed in every detail, took years to complete,
but part of it was ready for occupancy when he married Martha Wayles Skelton
on Jan. 1, 1772. They had six children, two of whom survived into adulthood.
Elected to the Second Continental Congress meeting in Philadelphia, Jefferson was appointed on June 11, 1776, to head a committee of five in preparing the Declaration of Independence. He was its primary author, although his initial draft was amended
In June 1779, Jefferson was elected governor of Virginia. His political enemies criticized his performance as war governor mercilessly. In June 1781 he retired from the governorship.
The death of his wife, on Sept. 6, 1782, added to Jefferson's troubles, but by the following year he was again seated in Congress. There he made two contributions of enduring importance to the nation. In April 1784 he submitted Notes on the Establishment of a Money Unit and of a Coinage for the United States in which he advised the use of a decimal system. This led to the adoption, in 1792, of the dollar rather than the pound as the basic monetary unit in the United States.
Founder of the University of Virginia
After having served in the Continental Congress, as governor of Virginia, Secretary of State, and Vice-President, Jefferson was elected President.
Simplicity and frugality became the hallmarks of Jefferson's first administration. The Louisiana Purchase (1803) capped his achievements. During his second administration, he dispatched the Lewis and Clark expedition to explore the Louisiana territory. Lewis and Clark returned triumphantly after crossing the continent.
In the final 17 years of his life, Jefferson's major accomplishment was the founding, in 1819, of the University of Virginia. He conceived it, planned it, designed it, and supervised both its construction and the hiring of its faculty. On July 4, 1826, the 50th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, Jefferson died at Monticello.
James Madison
James Madison, fourth president of the United States (1809-17) and foremost
architect of the Constitution, was born at Port Conway, Virginia, into
a family that had been in Virginia since the mid 18th century.
Madison graduated from the College of New Jersey at Princeton in 1771.
Sponsor of the
Bill of Rights
In the Constitutional Convention in 1787, Madison worked with Alexander
Hamilton to win ratification of the Constitution.
In 1801, Madison was appointed Secretary of State by the new president, Thomas Jefferson. Madison adroitly guided the negotiations that resulted in the Louisiana Purchase in 1803.
Madison was easily elected President in 1808. In 1812, he asked for and received a declaration of war against Great Britain. He was elected to his second term the same year. After an eventful second term, Madison handed over the Presidency to another member of the so-called Virginia dynasty, James Monroe.
Madison retired to his Virginia estate, Montpelier, in 1817. Bedridden for the last years of his life, Madison died on June 28, 1836.
James Monroe
James Monroe, fifth
president of the United States (1817-25), presided over an era sometimes
called one of "Good Feelings" but actually filled with intense factional
strife. The Monroe Doctrine climaxed a series of brilliant foreign policy
successes during his administrations.
Monroe was born on Apr. 28, 1758, on his parents' small plantation in
Westmoreland County, Va. An orphan at age 16, he was fortunate to have
as his guardian a wealthy uncle, Joseph Jones. After 2 years at the College
of William and Mary, Monroe left in March 1776 to fight in the American
Revolution.
He was commissioned lieutenant in a Virginia regiment, fighting in the battles around New York that summer, being one of the conspicuous heroes of the Battle of Trenton.
Monroe
rose quickly in government, being a member of the Constitutional Congress
(1783-86), U. S. Senator from Virginia (1790-94), minister to France (1794-96);
and governor of Virginia (1799-1802). By 1800 he was among the half-dozen
national leaders of the Jeffersonian, or Democratic-Republican, party.
After the British capture of Washington in August, 1814, he became Secretary
of War, giving firm direction to the war effort and sharing in the military
and diplomatic triumphs. As Madison's heir apparent, and with the Federalists
in disgrace for having opposed and even hindered the war, Monroe was elected
president by an overwhelming majority in 1816.
The Last of the Cocked Hats
His unopposed reelection in 1820 ranks him with Washington as the least
partisan of American presidents. This apparent political harmony gives
some justification to the label "Era of Good Feelings," an expression
coined by a Federalist newspaper.
In domestic affairs Monroe was not especially successful. In foreign affairs,
however, Monroe's presidency was triumphant, thanks largely to the efforts
of the brillian secretary of state, John Quincy Adams. Monroe left the
presidency in 1825 and retired to his country estate in Virginia.
Less heroic than Washington, less brilliant than Madison, less creative
than Jefferson, less charismatic than Alexander Hamilton, and less learned
than the Adamses, Monroe was nevertheless the prototype of the public
servant vital to the new republic: honest, hardworking, self-sacrificing,
judicious, and trusting in democracy. His good judgment and conscientious
attention to the public welfare made him, like Washington, a trusted soldier
and a worthy president. He died in New York City on July 4, 1831, revered
by his countrymen as "the last of the cocked hats," that is, the last
revolutionary soldier and statesman to have served the nation in high
public office.
THE
NAVAL HEROES
Oliver Hazard Perry
Oliver Hazard Perry was born on August 23, 1785, at the old Perry homestead in South Kingston, Rhode Island, of "Fighting Quaker parents." His father was in the United States Navy and young Perry soon followed.
At the age of 13,
Perry entered the Navy as a midshipman, where his first assignment was
in the Caribbean under the command of his father aboard the sloop-of-war,
General Greene.
Perry's subsequent voyages took him to Europe and Africa during the Barbary
Wars. In 1805, at the age of twenty, Perry became a lieutenant, and was
given the command of the 14 gun vessel, Revenge, and cruised the
northern and mid-Atlentic waters of the eastern United States.
In February 1813, he was ordered to Commodore Isaac Chauncey's command at Sackett's Harbor, Lake Ontario. Perry reached Chauncey's headquarters on March 3. Because British attacks were expected momentarily, Chauncey kept Perry with him for two weeks.
The attacks failed to materialize and Chauncey decided that Perry would be of better use in Erie, Pennsylvania, where a fleet was being constructed to wrest control of Lake Erie from the British who already had a small squadron there.
Perry was fully briefed on the situation in Erie and was sent to command the project. Perry and his men successfully completed six vessels by July 1813. These six were joined by others from Buffalo. Two months later, on September 10, 1813, the American squadron under Perry fought a British squadron commanded by Captain Robert Barclay, R.N.
The Battle of Lake Erie began with Perry aboard his flagship Lawrence. In the early stages of the battle, however, Lawrence and her crew took most of the enemy's fire. Lawrence was severely damaged and over 80 percent of Perry's crew were killed or wounded by concentrated British gunfire. In an attempt to change defeat to victory, Perry transferred from Lawrence to the lightly damaged Niagara in a small boat. He took command of Niagara and sailed her into the British battle line. The British had also taken heavy casualties from the Lawrence's fire. Broadsides from the fresh Niagara compelled their surrender within 15 minutes of Perry's transfer.
"We have met the enemy and they are ours."
Immediately following his victory at the Battle of Lake Erie, Perry penned the famous words, 'We have met the enemy and they are ours..." in his report to General William Henry Harrison. Perry was the first in history to defeat an entire British squadron and successfully bring back every ship to his base as a prize Perry, at the age of 28, was hailed by the public as a national hero for his victory on Lake Erie.
After his victory in the War of 1812, Perry was promoted to the rank of Captain and given command of the new frigate Java. Then in 1819, as commander of John Adams, Perry was sent to Venezuela on a diplomatic mission. After completing his mission he contracted yellow fever and died at sea near Trinidad on August 23, 1819, his 34th birthday. He was buried at Port of Spain, Trinidad, with full military honors. In 1826, his remains were moved from Trinidad to Newport, Rhode Island, where a monument in his honor was erected by the state.
James Lawrence
The youngest of eleven children, James Lawrence was born in Burlington,
Vermont, on October 1, 1781. His parents were Tories who had entertained
the Hessian commander as a dinner guest at their home during the Revolution,
but when the war ended, they remained in America. James was permitted
to join the Navy as a midshipman in 1798, and gained experience in action
against the Barbary pirates.
During the War of 1812, Lawrence commanded the U.S.S. Hornet, which captured the H.M.S. Peacock, and was promoted to Captain as a result. On June 1, 1813, commanding a new and untrained crew on the 49-gun frigate U.S.S. Chesapeake off Boston, Lawrence accepted a challenge from Philip Bowes Vere Broke. Capt. Broke sent word to James Lawrence to "come out and fight." Capt. Lawrence had taken command of the Chesapeake only two weeks before. The opportunity to engage a British warship one-on-one as well as showing off his talents as a skipper was all the motivation Lawrence needed. At daybreak June 1, the Chesapeake left Boston Harbor and sailed into her final battle.
Alerted by the sounds of cannon and word of mouth, hundreds of people lined the shores from Nahant to Marblehead to see the battle. According to the Annals of Nahant, people stood on rooftops there to watch. Casualties were high; almost half of the American and a quarter of the British were killed or wounded in the 11 minute battle. Within minutes of firing the first shot, Lawrence was critically wounded. As crew members carried him below to the surgeon's quarters, Lawrence uttered the famous motto: "Don't give up the ship."
"Don't give up the ship."
Chesapeake was boarded by a crew from Shannon. Capt. Broke towed the crippled Chesapeake to Halifax. Lawrence died enroute at the age of 31. He was buried in Halifax, re-interred in Salem for a short time. and finally laid to rest in New York City. Known for bravery more than judgement, James Lawrence is distinguished as one of America's greatest naval heroes.
Thomas McDonough, Jr. was born in Trap (now McDonough), Delaware on December 31, 1783, the sixth child and second son of Thomas, Sr. & Mary Vance McDonough. On February 5, 1800, at the age of 16, he received a warrant as a midshipman in the navy. He was
ordered to the U.S. Ship Granges, a 24-gun corvette on May 15,1800. They sailed to the West Indies, where the U.S. and France were fighting. The Granges crew captured three French ships and sent them all back to the U.S.
McDonough was assigned to the Constellation on October 20, 1801, for its cruise of the Mediterranean sea. During this cruise they fought with Tripolitanian gunboats at Tripoli.
He later served in 1803 on the new ship Philadelphia, a 38-gun frigate.
In 1805 or 1806, McDonough was appointed a lieutenant of the Enterprise. In October of 1806, McDonough was ordered to Middletown, Connecticut, to work under Captain Isaac Hull superintending the construction of gunboats. It was here that he met and fell in love with his future wife, Lucy Ann Shaler. However it would be six more years before they finally wed. On June 18, 1812, the United States declared war on Great Britian. McDonough received orders to command a division of gunboats, this time in Burlington, Vermont. This division included 6 sloops and 2 gunboats. These vessels were located on Lake Champlain, between New York and Vermont. After repairs, he took his converted, patched-up warships down the lake to the Plattsburgh, N. Y. area to start patrols of Lake Champlain. After Lt. Sidney Smith lost the Growler and Eagle to the British on June 2, 1813, McDonough moved his fleet farther down the lake to Burlington, Vermont. On June 17th, after receiving a full report from McDonough, the new Secretary of the Navy, William Jones, sent the following orders to Macdonough: "... regain by every possible exertion the ascendancy which we have lost, for which purpose you are authorized to purchase, arm and equip two of the best sloops to be procured on the lake. You have unlimited authority to procure the necessary resources of men, material and munitions for that purpose. I rely upon your efficient and prudent use of the authority vested in you. The naval command is exclusively vested in you and for which you are held responsible." On July 24, 1813, Lt. Thomas McDonough was designated Master Commandant. He was thereafter called "Commodore" out of respect or courtesy even though that rank did not exist at that time.
The last of July 1813, a British flotilla landed at Plattsburgh's wharf with 1,000 soldiers. They promised the frightened citizens that they would not destroy private property. However, they started burning public property and stole the contents of many of the private homes in the area. They then sailed south and attacked McDonough at Burlington. After a small battle they sailed on and continued to raid villages. The American fleet was not ready to battle on the open lake at this time. After repairs were completed on his fleet, he moved the fleet to Vergennes, Vermont for the winter. There he received authorization in January, 1814 from Secretary Jones to construct a new ship. On April 11, 1814, Lucy Ann McDonough, Thomas' wife, christened the 26-gun ship Saratoga. McDonough was now ready to do battle with the enemy. Commodore McDonough anchored his fleet in Plattsburg Bay in a line northeast to southwest. The Eagle was at that north end, then McDonough's flagship Saratoga; next the Ticonderoga and last the Neble at the south end. While McDonough prepared his fleet, General Alexander Macomb prepared his small army to defend Plattsburgh from the British Army. About nine o'clock Sunday morning, September 11, 1814, British Captain George Downey brought his fleet around Cumberland Head into Plattsburgh Bay. Since his ships had to tack into the north wind, Downey had trouble lining up his vessels between McDonough's ships and Cumberland, as McDonough had expected. The British ships were now in a trapped position. Rodney McDonough wrote the following description of the scene on his grandfather's ship minutes before the battle commenced: "There was now a hushed, expectant moment like the stillness which precedes the storm. McDonough fired and his fleet opened fire ... British Captain Downey was killed during the battle. McDonough was knocked down twice due to explosions, once remaining senseless for a few minutes. Another shot cut off the head of the captain of the gun and drove it against McDonough with such force that he was knocked across the deck and fell between two guns. The Saratoga caught fire twice during the battle."
The Hero of Lake Champlain
Julius Hubbell, from nearby Chazy, was among the spectators and wrote this description: "The fighting was terrible, fairly shaking the ground, and so rapid that it seemed to be one continuous roar, intermingled with the flashing from the mouths of guns, and dense clouds of smoke soon hung over the two fleets. At 11:20 a.m. the British ships struck their colors, and victory belonged to the Americans."
However the decks of all ships were covered with torn sails, masts and spars and the bodies of those that had perished in this terrific battle. It was obvious that McDonough's foresight, valor, ingenuity and perserverance won the day.
Isaac Hull
Isaac
Hull, born at Shelton, Conn., March 9, 1773, died Feb. 13, 1843, was
commander of the U.S. frigate Constitution in the War of 1812. Hull
was an unassuming man born into a family with a seagoing heritage. None
of Isaac's six brothers did especially well and two died very young.
Isaac never wanted to do anything but go to sea. He left Connecticut
for Boston, went to night classes to learn navigational mathematics,
and worked his way to captain by the age of 21, in 1794. But he hadn't
figured out how to make money as a merchant ship captain. He returned
broke in 1798, only to find that his uncle, Gen. William Hull, had gotten
him a commission as lieutenant and an appointment to the United State
frigate Constitution. By the time he left the Constitution in 1802,
Hull was first lieutenant. He got his first command in 1803, distinguishing
himself against the Barbary Coast pirates.
He was appointed commander of the U.S.S. Chesapeake in 1809 and the
President in 1810. But Commodore John Rodgers, then commanding the USS
Constitution, wanted the President, thinking the Constitution too slow
for his tastes. The switch was made and Hull took command of the USS
Constitution. In July 1812, he was acclaimed for saving the Constitution
when she was surrounded by five British warships, including HMS Guerriere,
by having his crew, in rowing dinghies, tow the Constitution out of
cannon range when all six ships were becalmed.
Hull's
Constitution sank the Guerriere
Hull sailed the Constitution out of Boston on August 12, 1812, and met
the Guerriere again on August 19. After a short battle, the Constitution
captured the Guerriere and sank her. Hull was an overnight national hero.
Although he declined marriage in 1810 because of his low income, gifts from a grateful public now allowed him to marry.
He continued his
Navy career until, in 1833, he was given the honor of again commanding
Constitution while she was in the new dry dock at Charlestown.
He last commanded the USS Ohio and died in 1843, almost 70 years old.
His victory over the British frigate Guerriere (August 19, 1812), which
won for his ship the name "Old Ironsides," became one of the most famous
episodes in U.S. naval history.
William Bainbridge
The American
naval officer William Bainbridge, born May 7, 1774, died July 27, 1833,
was commissioned (1798) in the newly created U.S. Navy during the undeclared
war with France (1798-1800) that followed the XYZ affair. His first ship,
the Retaliation, was captured by the French, but he was later so successful
in running blocades and conveying American merchantmen to the French West
Indies, that he was promoted to captain in 1800.
Master blocade runner
Given command of the frigate Philadelphia during the Tripolitan War(1801-1805),
Bainbridge was again captured when he ran aground at Tripoli in 1803.
Durng the War of 1812 he successfully advocated an American strategy of
fleet dispersion, single ship action, and commerce raiding.
Commanding the U.S.S. Constitution, he captured the British frigate Java
off Brazil on Dec. 29, 1812. From 1824 to his death in 1827, Bainbridge
served as president of the Board of Navy Commissioners.
Stephen Decatur
Stephen Decatur, born at Sinepuxent, Md., Jan. 5, 1779, and died March
22, 1820, was an American naval officer who distinguished himself in
the War of 1812 and in the wars with the Barbary States. Commissioned
a midshipman in 1798, Decatur served
(1798-1800) in the West Indies during the Quasi-War with France. He
was ordered to the Mediterranean during the Tripolitan War and led a
small band of sailors into Tripoli harbor on Feb. 16, 1804. There they
boarded and set fire to the captured American frigate Philadelphia before
escaping with only one man wounded. The British admiral Horatio Nelson
hailed the exploit as the "most bold and daring act of the age," and
Decatur was promoted to captain.
During the War of 1812, Decatur, in the frigate United States, defeated (Oct. 25, 1812) the British frigate Macedonian in one of the war's most renowned single-ship engagements. He was subsequently unable to leave American waters because of the British blockade. When he tried to run the blockade out of New York in January 1815, his ship was captured by a British squadron. By this time the war had ended, however, and he was repatriated. In June 1815 he returned to the Mediterranean and dictated terms of peace to Algiers, Tunis, and Tripoli, thereby concluding the last American war with the Barbary States.
At a banquet celebrating
this achievement, Decatur chauvinistically toasted: "Our country! In her
intercourse with foreign nations may she always be in the right; but our
country, right or wrong."
A practiced and ardent duelist, Decatur accepted a challenge from James
Barron, a suspended captain on whose court-martial Decatur had sat, and
was killed in the duel.
The Montgomery
County Historical Society
512 South Court Street,
P. O. Box 1829
Montgomery, Alabama, 36102
Telephone 334-264-1837, Fax 334-834-9292
E-Mail: info@montgomeryhistorical.com
Webmaster: Myra's Original Creations
