Stephen Decatur (1779-1820)

Stephen Decatur is a name you may recognize from your high school history books. What you may not have noticed is how awesome he truly was. First in the Barbary Pirate War he was captured by the Algerians. So then he and his men snuck out in the middle of the night to destroy the ship so the enemy couldn’t use it. 12 years later during the war of 1812 he was on patrol in the West Indies. He was attacked by British ships. even run aground and out numbered 3 to 1 he still destroyed a whole British ship before his ship was ripped apart and he was captured. He went out in a blaze of glory in 1820 in a duel with James Barron.