1775, which had been drafted by the naval committee of the Continental Congress, and were chiefly the work of John Adams, based on British regulations. Not long afterwards, while the navy was still under the jurisdiction of the War Department, a more elaborate set of regulations was compiled. An act passed March 2, 1799, comprises rules and regulations to "be adopted and put in force for the government of the navy." The repeal of this act was provided for in that of April 23, 1800, which laid down a similar set of rules "for the better government of the navy."1

In addition to naval legislation, many acts were passed which had for their general purpose the strengthening of the country's defensive position. First in importance was the increase of the army. Three major-generals were appointed: Alexander Hamilton, Charles C. Pinckney, and Henry Knox. An unfortunate dispute arose as to their relative rank. General Washington wished them to stand in the order named. This would give seniority to Hamilton, in whose ability Washington placed especial confidence. President Adams proposed for them the same relative rank they had held in the Revolution, which would have reversed the order, making Knox senior, but he yielded in deference to Washington's wishes. Recruiting began, but progressed

1 Statutes at Large, vol. i, pp. 525, 709, vol. ii, p. 45; Clark's Naval History of the United States (1814), vol. ii, p. 108; Nav Reg. pp. 3, 53; Nav. Chron. pp. 114, 150; Nav. Inst. September, 1905, p. 628.

slowly. The army was not needed, for the fighting took place wholly upon the sea.1 Other measures provided for calling out and equipping the militia, building coast defenses, and borrowing the money necessary for carrying out all these enterprises.2

Commercial intercourse with France and her dependencies was suspended. War was not declared, but the capture of French armed vessels, the recapture of American vessels, the condemnation of French vessels and property taken, and retaliation under certain circumstances were authorized by Congress.

The naval force of the United States, employed in the hostilities with France between 1798 and 1801, acquired under the provisions of the various acts of Congress just considered and otherwise, consisted of forty-five vessels. Of these twenty-one were built for the service, eleven were purchased, five captured during the war, and eight transferred from the Treasury Department. There were about as many other revenue cutters not transferred to the navy, but presumably held ready to be employed

1 Washington, vol. xiv, pp. 29, 34, 40-46, 58-67, 92-107, 110119; Adams, vol. viii, pp. 573–580, 587-590, 593, 600-604.

2 Statutes at Large vol. i, pp. 521, 522, 552, 554, 555, 558, 569, 576, 604, 607, 725, 749.

8 Acts of June 13, July 16, 1798, February 9, 1799, February 27, 1800, Statutes at Large, vol. i, pp. 565, 611, 613, vol. ii, p. 7; Nav. Chron. pp. 134, 148.

4 Acts of May 28, June 25 and 28, July 9, 1798, March 3, 1799, Statutes at Large, vol. i, pp. 561, 572, 574, 578, 743; Nav. Chron. pp. 86, 88.

in harbor defense if called upon. Nine galleys, built for the navy, were also ready for this kind of service. Of these various vessels three were rated as forty-four gun, and six as thirty-six gun frigates; one carried thirty-two and four carried twenty-eight guns each; there were six of twenty-four guns, six of twenty, and four of eighteen guns. The others were all small vessels. The navy was manned by about seven hundred officers and five or six thousand men. This force was supplemented by about eleven hundred officers and men of the marine

corps.

1

1 See Appendix IV.

CHAPTER V

THE OPENING OF HOSTILITIES

THE first vessel of the navy to get to sea in the spring of 1798 was the ship Ganges, 24, which sailed from Philadelphia May 24. “This day at 11 o'clock the Secretary of War, accompanied by Captain Barry, commander of the frigate United States, and Captain Dale, commander of the ship of war Ganges, went on board the latter ship, and delivered his orders to Captain Dale. On the secretary's leaving the ship, a salute was fired; immediately after which she weighed anchor, to proceed to her cruising station." The Ganges was one of the vessels acquired by purchase; she had been an Indiaman, and Dale had been her commander in the merchant service. The orders he now received from the Secretary of War were limited, inasmuch as Congress had not yet authorized captures. He was directed to cruise between Long Island and the Virginia capes for the protection of waters within the jurisdiction of the United States. As soon as the act of May 28 was passed a pilot boat was dispatched to him, with the President's instructions of the same date. Under this first general order to commanders of the new navy Dale was "directed

1 Gazette of United States, May 24, 1798.

to seize, take, and bring into any port of the United States "any French armed vessel "which shall have committed, or which shall be found hovering on the coast of the United States for the purpose of committing, depredations on the vessels belonging to the citizens thereof"; and also to retake American vessels in the hands of the French. This cruise of the Ganges, which lasted several months, seems to have been uneventful.1 About this time the question arose as to the relative rank of the captains first appointed, and pending the decision Dale obtained a furlough and in 1799 sailed for China in a letter of marque. He therefore took no further part in the war.2

In June the frigate Constellation, Captain Thomas Truxtun, and the Delaware, 20, Captain Stephen Decatur, were ordered to sea under the instructions of May 28. They were to cruise along the southern Atlantic coast. The Delaware was a small ship of one hundred and eighty tons, which had been purchased for the navy. Her commander had been a privateersman in the Revolution, and was the father of the afterwards famous Decatur, who was at this time a midshipman in the service. The Delaware sailed July 6, and the next morning learned from an American vessel that a French

1 Nav. Chron. pp. 90–92; Naval Correspondence in War De、 partment, 304; Bulletin of New York Public Library, September, 1907, Stoddert to Dale (July 13, 1798).

2 Cooper's American Naval Officers, vol. ii, p. 259; see above,