Series 1. William Bainbridge (1815-1856)
Scope and Content
The collection consists of a manuscript and notebook detailing the outfitting of a 44-gun frigate, including required sails, furniture, medicines, and other supplies; and manuscripts of two biographies of Bainbridge. James Fenimore Cooper's biography was printed in his "Lives of distinguished American naval officers" in 1846, and in Graham's Magazine, in November, 1892. The Dearborn manuscript was the basis for James Barnes's edited version, "The life of William Bainbridge, esq. of the United States Navy, by H. A. S. Dearborn, 1816," published by Princeton University Press in 1931, and distributed to members of the Naval History Society in 1932.
The Cooper manuscript is available on microfilm.
Biographical Note
Born in 1774, Bainbridge commanded ships in the West Indies, capturing French privateers, and against the Barbary Powers in the Mediterranean. While commanding the 44-gun frigate Philadelphia, the ship foundered and he was captured and imprisoned in Tripoli for 19 months. After his release in 1805, Bainbridge made various naval and merchant marine voyages to India and Russia, returning to the United States as hostilities increased with England. As commander of Constitution, he captured the British frigate Java on December 29, 1812, during which engagement he was wounded twice. He subsequently had various commands and shore assignments and served as Naval Commissioner from 1824-1827 and from 1829-1831. His command of the Charlestown Navy Yard was curtailed by illness in November, 1832. He died in Philadelphia in 1833 and is buried in Christ Church there.
John Sanford Barnes was Bainbridge's grandson-in-law: his wife, Susan Bainbridge Hayes, was the daughter of Commodore Bainbridge's daughter, Sarah Bainbridge Hayes.