It is of little consequence whether, in the heat of a 1779 naval battle aboard the frigate Bonhomme Richard — its deck slick with blood, its hull splintered by cannon fire — Capt. John Paul Jones shouted to the opposing British captain, “I have not yet begun to fight!”
Nor does it matter whether Jones actually founded the Navy, won the American Revolutionary War on the seas or was an object of admiration among society ladies in Paris.
Jones stands tall in legend because he stood firm against adversity, especially when the odds were stacked against him. The Scottish-born captain was American by choice, not birth, and it was the man's heartfelt defense of his adopted nation's interests abroad that ranked him high in the pantheon of Revolutionary War heroes.
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