Voting Station

Stephen Decatur

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Military Personnel

The Resume

    (January 5, 1779-March 22, 1820)
    Born in Sinepuxent, Maryland
    US naval officer
    Served during the Barbary Wars and War of 1812
    Commanded the ships USS Argus, Enterprise, Chesapeake, United States, President, Constitution and Guerriere

Why he might be annoying:

    He received his first appointment as a midshipman from a friend of the family.
    He was extremely tactless, with the curator of the Decatur House Museum noting, 'One of the things we have known much about Stephen Decatur is that he couldn't keep his mouth shut.'
    He threatened to resign from the navy after he and a friend were sent home from Malta to defuse an international incident following their participation in a duel in which a British officer was killed.
    A running feud with fellow naval officer James Barron eventually led to a duel in which he was mortally wounded.

Why he might not be annoying:

    His raid on Tripoli to burn and destroy the captured USS Philadelphia (February 16, 1804) was hailed by Lord Nelson as 'the most bold and daring act of the age.'
    After the raid, he was promoted to captain at age 25, making him the youngest man to reach that rank in US naval history.
    During the second Barbary War, he captured the flagship of the Dey of Algiers, ultimately forcing the Barbary states to stop demanding tribute payments from other nations to avoid piracy (1815).
    In an after dinner toast, he coined the phrase, 'Our Country! In her intercourse with foreign nations may she always be in the right; but right or wrong, our country.'
    His funeral was attended by President James Monroe, the justices of the Supreme Court, most of Congress and 10,000 citizens of Washington, DC.

Credit: C. Fishel


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    In 2023, Out of 1 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2022, Out of 3 Votes: 66.67% Annoying
    In 2021, Out of 9 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2020, Out of 3 Votes: 66.67% Annoying
    In 2019, Out of 5 Votes: 20.0% Annoying
    In 2018, Out of 8 Votes: 12.50% Annoying
    In 2017, Out of 14 Votes: 28.57% Annoying
    In 2016, Out of 2 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2015, Out of 10 Votes: 40.0% Annoying
    In 2014, Out of 19 Votes: 52.63% Annoying
    In 2013, Out of 21 Votes: 52.38% Annoying
    In 2012, Out of 15 Votes: 26.67% Annoying
    In 2011, Out of 13 Votes: 53.85% Annoying