The third of a four-volume documentary history on the naval and maritime aspects of the War of 1821, this publication focuses on the Chesapeake Bay, the Northern Lakes, and Pacific Ocean theaters of operation during the last two years of the war, 1814-1815. In each of these three theaters, a U.S. naval force found itself confronting a superior British naval force. Blockaded in tributaries by a significant British squadron, Commodore Joshua Barney's gunboat flotilla held out for ten weeks, engaging in several pitched battles, until Barney ordered its destruction. Barney's sailors then became foot soldiers and maintained the nation's honor in facing the red-coated foe marching on Washington, when other troops broke and ran at the battle that wit's derided as the "Bladensburg Races." The editors have culled documents from many domestic and foreign repositories and arranged them chronologically by topics within theaters of operations. An introductory essay that provides a context for the documents that follow precedes each theater. Originally published in 2002, this book contains supporting maps and illustrations.

In The Fight for Status and Privilege in Late Medieval and Early Modern Castile, 1465-1598, Michael Crawford investigates conflicts about and resistance to the status of hidalgo, conventionally understood as the lowest, most heavily populated rank in the Castilian nobility. It is generally accepted that legal privileges were based on status and class in this premodern society. Crawford presents and explains the contentious realities and limitations of such legal privileges, particularly the conventional claim of hidalgo exemption from taxation. He focuses on efforts to claim these privileges as well as opposing efforts to limit and manage them. Although historians of Spain acknowledge such conflicts, especially lawsuits associated with this status, none have focused a study on this extraordinarily widespread phenomenon. This book analyzes the inevitable contradictions inherent in negotiation for and the implementation of privilege, scrutinizing the many jurisdictions that intervened in these struggles and debates, including the crown, judiciary, city council, and financial authorities. Ultimately, this analysis imparts important insights about the nature of sixteenth-century Castilian society with wide-ranging implications about the relationship between social status and legal privileges in the early modern period as a whole.

These eleven essays, interspersed with illustrations and maps, constitute a valuable contribution to the understanding of America's naval and maritime heritage.

The purpose of this publication is to encourage understanding and further study of the naval aspects of the Spanish-American War. Study of the sea services in this conflict is especially important because of the central role the Navy played in nearly every aspect of the war from logistics to diplomacy. American planners and leaders anticipated that the fight with Spain would be primarily a naval war. The U.S. Navy's victories at Manila Bay and Santiago de Cuba were pivotal events that turned the course of the war and America's future. Joint Army-Navy operations at Santiago, Puerto Rico, and Manila sealed the success won by the U.S. Navy's command of the seas. Naval History Bibliographies, No. 5., Naval Historical Center.

In The Fight for Status and Privilege in Late Medieval and Early Modern Castile, 1465–1598, Michael Crawford investigates conflicts about and resistance to the status of hidalgo, conventionally understood as the lowest, most heavily populated rank in the Castilian nobility. It is generally accepted that legal privileges were based on status and class in this premodern society. Crawford presents and explains the contentious realities and limitations of such legal privileges, particularly the conventional claim of hidalgo exemption from taxation. He focuses on efforts to claim these privileges as well as opposing efforts to limit and manage them. Although historians of Spain acknowledge such conflicts, especially lawsuits associated with this status, none have focused a study on this extraordinarily widespread phenomenon. This book analyzes the inevitable contradictions inherent in negotiation for and the implementation of privilege, scrutinizing the many jurisdictions that intervened in these struggles and debates, including the crown, judiciary, city council, and financial authorities. Ultimately, this analysis imparts important insights about the nature of sixteenth-century Castilian society with wide-ranging implications about the relationship between social status and legal privileges in the early modern period as a whole.

"Make s] use of hitherto unknown diaries and letters of George Walton (died 1789), a Quaker convert whose accounts of dreams and conversations with fellow Quakers provide an almost unique resource."--"Choice" " O]ffer s] detailed evidence of the varied efforts made by eastern North Carolina Friends to fight re-enslavement] laws. . . . Crawford] makes clear the toll of trying to pursue one's principles (in the case of Quakers) or pursue one's freedom (in the case of African Americans) within the repressive legal climate of late-eighteenth century North Carolina--and indeed the United States."--"Journal of American History" "Remarkable. . . complements the existing scholarly literature on the antislavery movement because it deals with a period, a place, and with people often ignored. It examines antislavery Quakerism in slaveholding North Carolina, and it allows the reader to become acquainted with antislavery active individuals other than the outstanding and well-known ones, especially George Walton. . . . An illuminating book that addresses a large audience thanks to its clarity."--"Southern Historian"""

Thomas Truxtun was one of the first six captains President Washington appointed to the United States Navy in 1794. Although Truxtun therefore ranks with men like John Paul Jones in the development of the navy, this biography by Eugene Ferguson supplies the only full account of his eventful life and career.

In Truxtun of the Constellation, Ferguson tells the exciting story of a patriot who started as a teenaged merchant seaman, won command of his own ship, and became a privateer in the Revolutionary War. After the Revolution, he made four voyages to the Far East in the burgeoning China trade. He commanded the ship that brought Benjamin Franklin home to America from his ambassadorship to France. The greatest period of Truxton's career -- and the source of his importance as a historical figure -- came when he served as captain of the original Constellation, whose construction he oversaw in Baltimore. He commanded this historic frigate from the time she was launched in 1797 until her return from the undeclared naval war with France and the defeat of the heavier-armed La Vengeance in 1800.

First published by the Johns Hopkins University Press in 1956, Ferguson's lively account describes the early problems and triumphs in the fledgling navy, the battle glories, and the professional and personal squabbles that helped to explain Truxtun's resignation in 1802.