Decatur an Overlooked Revolutionary Hero

First, some background: Decatur was born in a house on Sinepuxent Bay, Maryland, close to what is today Ocean City, in 1779. His father, Stephen Sr., was a merchant ship captain from Rhode Island who fought as both a privateer and in the French Navy during the American Revolution. The boy grew to love the sailing life right away. Good thing, too, because at eight years old, he came down with whooping cough, and his father decided to take him on a voyage to Europe, thinking the sea air would improve his condition. The ploy worked, and young Decatur came home perfectly healthy. This may have worked too well for his parents’ comfort when they discovered his love for the sea came at the expense of his studies. Stephen barely graduated from the Episcopal Academy and dropped out of the University of Pennsylvania in 1795. Two years later, he was serving as a midshipman on one of the first six frigates built for the United States Navy, the USS United States.