 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Updates
Barry, John – Father of U.S. Navy and First Military Academy? by William Kelly - click here
Remarks by William Kelly - click here
Somers' Washington Ring Stolen and Recovered - click here
New Jersey Passes 2 Resolutions - click here
Somers Monument at New York Avenue School, Somers Point, NJ - click here
At The Grave Of Richard Somers - click here
Chronology – Richard Somers - click here
- William Kelly
Commodore John Barry, Irish born American Revolutionary naval hero, is generally recognized, though sometimes arguably so, as the Father of the U.S. Navy. Congress recently declared a proclamation in his honor.
John Barry Kelly writes, “Few Americans are well-acquainted with the gallantry and heroic exploits of Philadelphia's Irish-born naval commander, Commodore John Barry. Obscured by his contemporary, naval commander John Paul Jones, Barry remains to this day an unsung hero of the young American Republic. As most naval historians note, Barry can be classed on a par with Jones for nautical skill and daring, but he exceeds him in the length of service (17 years) to his adopted country and his fidelity to the nurturing of a permanent American Navy. Indeed, Barry deserves the proud epithet, ‘Father of the American Navy,’ a title bestowed on him not by current generations of admirers, but by his contemporaries, who were in the best position to judge.”
Although not officially recognized as the “Father of the Navy,” John Barry is recognized as a hero of the Revolution and the first commissioned flag officer. Known for his exploits, Barry is less recognized for something equally significant – the naval education of the first class of U.S. Navy Midshipman and officers – Charles Stewart, Stephen Decatur, Richard Russ and Richard Somers, each distinguishing himself as a naval officer and establishing traditions that are still maintained by the Navy today.
While these four young men served under Barry aboard the USS UNITED STATES, formulating their conduct as officers, there is evidence that he knew them before they served with him. It is possible John Barry taught them as a teacher at the Academy they attended in Philadelphia, and recruited them into the Navy service. If so, then this academy could be considered an early prototype of the type of military academy that would later train midshipmen and officers at Annapolis, West Point and Colorado Springs.
“After the War for Independence and the dissolution of the Continental Navy,” John Barry Kelly notes, “Barry reentered the maritime trade. Between the years 1787-89, Barry helped to open commerce with China and the Orient while captaining the merchant ship, Asia.”
“In the 1790s, under Washington's guidance, the Navy was revived as a permanent entity. Barbary Pirate depredations on American merchantmen had strained relations with America's old ally France and brought about this revival. On June 5, 1794, Secretary of War Henry Knox wrote Barry to inform him that on the day earlier, Barry had been selected senior Captain of the Federal Navy by the President with the advice and consent of the Senate.”
According to Mike McCormick, the National Historian of the Hibernians, Washington’s instructions to Barry, two years before the actual establishment of the new Navy, was to recruit such young officers to serve with him. “In recognition of his vast experience and dedication, Wshingtgon demonstrated Barry’s immense value to the new nation when, on June 17, 1794, he sent for the popular naval hero to form and train a class of midshipmen, who would then be command as Ensigns, and form the nucleus of a new American navy.”
While Barry was the first U.S. Naval officer to receive his commission, others would follow, though it would take some time for the new Navy to have any ships to sail. Many of the new ships were built in Philadelphia, the nation’s temporary Capitol, where Joshua Humphreys was famous for designing and making ships. Barry’s ship would be the U.S.S. United States, and the first four midshipmen to be commissioned were Charles Stewart, Richard Somers, Richard Russ and Stephen Decatur.
Before they enlisted in the new Navy, all four were young students in Philadelphia, then a major city, but historically a young town of 30,000 people, with most of the commercial and civic activity centered around the Delaware river waterfront. Stewart, Somers, Decatur, Russ and Barry, known to be “overseeing” the construction of the United States, were all neighbors. Of the more than 350 applications, only 57 were selected for all commissions, so the competition for each position was stiff.
That Barry would select such fine young men to be his officers made them special. But how well did Barry know them?
And what did Barry do during the years 1789 when he ceased being a merchantman and 1796, when he assumed command of the USS UNITED STATES? Teaching young men at the Philadelphia Academy would fill in that black hole in Barry’s biography.
There is some documentary evidence that John Barry, during the years between the end of the Revolution and the beginning of the Navy, served as a teacher at the Episcopal Academy, a school that Stewart, Decatur, Rush and Somers attended.
One teacher there was certainly named John Barry, author of the Philadelphia Spelling Book, the first book to receive a U.S. copyright. The author of the spelling book was a Irish immigrant and Hibernian, as was the Commodore. And the years he taught at the Academy fit perfectly with the chronology of Barry, the sea Captain, beginning in 1789, when Barry’s merchant career apparently ended, and 1796, when the United States entered service under Captain John Barry.
In addition, there are known ties and relationships between the Commodore Barry and the Academy, which increase the possibility that Barry taught there when he wasn’t sailing merchant vessels and before he assumed his Navy commission.
According to John Barry Kelly, after his first wife died, “Barry was consoled by his second marriage, this time to the socially popular and attractive Sarah Keen Austin, nicknamed ‘Sally’ by her friends. Sally Austin and John Barry were married on July 7, 1777, in Old Christ Church by the Reverend William White, rector and founder of the American Episcopal Church.”
The Reverend William White was among the founders of the Classical Academy of Philadelphia 1785-1790, which became the Episcopal Academy, according to Charles Latham, Jr.(in The Episcopal Academy 1785-1984, Wm. Cooke, Pub., Devon, Pa.). So Commodore Barry at least knew Rev. White and had the opportunity of being recruited to be an instructor at the fledgling academy.
In addition, there is an association by marriage between Barry and Richard Somers.
Richard Somers’ biographer Barbara E. Koedel (Glory, at Last! – A Narrative of the Naval Career of Master Commandant Richard Somers: 1778-1804, Atlantic County Historical Society, 1993), writes, “Richard’s formal schooling probably began in 1785 when his father’s ledger showed an account with ‘Mr. Yerkess for tuition for Richard.’ Yerkess had a single school at this time. Such a school is described as ‘making their scholars good writers, good arithmeticians, good readers, and intelligent grammarians; and then…they were qualified by their own separate exertions, to improve themselves at home. Later entries mention tuition to Mr. Simmerman and Mr. Ely, both of whom are identified as ‘School Master.’ I have been unable to identify these men with a specific school.”
“A ledger contains an entry dated October 1791, stating, ‘Left my son Richard Somers at Woodbury….to go to Mr. Hunter school.’ Savage and Richard, Junior were enrolled in Andrew Hunter’s academy at Woodbury, New Jersey, for further education. Although there are entries indicating that Savage took courses in Bookkeeping and Navigation and Surveying there is no mention of specific studies for young Richard. However, there is a small notebook identified as ‘Richard Somers His Book,’ dated 1792, with notes on navigation, so he was familiar with it. Commencement was on September 20, 1792, so they were in Hunter’s school at least a year.”
“Several biographies of Decatur” notes Koedel, “state that he, with Richard Somers, Charles Stewart and Richard Rush, attended the Episcopal Academy of Dr. Abercrombie, ‘where the discipline is strict, and the educational standards low, and the code of conduct derived from that of the court of LOUIS XVI…They lived much out of doors, boating, swimming, fishing. Somers was the strongest of the four, but Decatur was the best skater, very quick at repartee and a clever mimic. All were high spirited as eagles, and they were involved in not a few fisticuff ‘duels’ settled in the old Quaker burying-ground.’ In a letter to Mrs. Decatur in 1846, Richard Rush remarks about the Academy: ‘….The Elite of the town went to that school…,’ All of this is possible but there is no mention of the Academy in the accounts of Richard’s father.”
That may be because Colonel Richard Somers died on October 22, 1794. Richard’s sister Sarah Somers married William Jones Keen, an attorney, and Richard lived with them. In addition, the Academy was known as a “free school,” the tuition being paid by solicitations from the pulpit and donations.
Claude Berube and John Rodgaard (In A Call to the Sea – Captain Charles Stewart of the USS Constitution – Potomac Books, Washington D.C., 2005, p4), report, “Young Charlie attended Dr. Abercrombie’s Academy in Philadelphia. Known later as the Episcopal Academy, it was attended by the elite sons of the city. Little other than the name of the school is known, except that it was one of several Episcopal academies located in the city before the turn of the eighteenth century. One such Episcopal academy was founded in 1785 by Reverend William White to educate the sons of Philadelphia’s Episcopalian community. Courses included Greek, Latin, mathematics, and business – all practical courses for young boys who would become the city’s merchants, traders, and ship owners, if not sea captains. At the academy, Charley met three other youths whose futures figured prominently in his life and in the U.S. Navy and diplomatic service.”
“The first and most famous friend was Stephen Decatur, Jr., the son of an American Revolution ship captain, Stephen Decatur, Sr. The elder Decatur was a sailing master on board a ship owned by the Philadelphia merchant firm of Stewart and Nesbitt.”
“A second friend, Richard Somers, less than two months Stewart’s junior, was born in Great Egg Harbor, New Jersey, bur during the American Revolution his family lived in Philadelphia. His father served as a militia colonel and judge... Somers father died in 1794 and so, like his friend Charles, young Richard lost his father at a very early age. Also like Charles, Richard Somers entered into the shipping trade when he came of age. However, Somers’ voyages were restricted to coastal routes between New York and Philadelphia.”
“In scenes that would replay themselves in their naval careers, the young Stewart, Decatur, and Somers often crossed the street from the academy, located on Forth Street, to settle their arguments with fisticuffs…But if one feature of Philadelphia life influenced Stewart, Decatur and Somers more than any other, it was the call to the sea.”
As John Barry Kelly wrote, “After the War for Independence and the dissolution of the Continental Navy, Barry reentered the maritime trade. Between the years 1787-89, Barry helped to open commerce with China and the Orient while captaining the merchant ship, Asia,” setting the dates of his merchant maritime career.
Charles Latham, in his history of the Episcopal Academy writes, “…Bishop White describes a series of meetings…beginning on 24 October 1788. The original proposal was for a boys school. A school for girls was added to the plan….Both schools apparently opened on 19 January 1789. The boys’ school was housed in the basement of the new Academy building, a wall having been built to make a separate room. The teacher was John Barry, who served until 1796, at a salary of $L100 a year. In 1790 he brought out his Philadelphia Spelling Book, which seems to have gone through several editions; the Academy owns a copy of a later edition printed in 1802. He was a member of the Hibernian Society, and in 1792 was also involved in running a Sunday school for boys.”
“In 1791, as the Classical Academy crumbled, the mangers of the Dancing Assembly, who rented the upper floors of the building, asked to have the use of the basement. In March the boys’ free school was moved to a building in the back of 62 Union Street (now DeLancy), in quarters rented from Andrew Porter at $L20 a year.”
In a footnote, Latham mentions that “The 1794 city directory lists Barry at the ‘back of 62 Union St.’”
The early address of the Classical Academy however, is listed at 83 South Third Street, on the corner of Third and Pearl Streets, and thus one block from the Fourth Street Quaker Cemetery where Stewart, Decatur and Somers were known to have engaged in fisticuffs.
That Richard Somers knew Barry before being commissioned a midshipman is given by the fact that Commodore Barry’s wife, Sarah Keen Austin, was cousin to his sister’s husband William Jonas Keen. (See: Glory at Last, p. 5).
John Barry Kean writes, “Sarah (Keen Austin Barry), an Episcopalian, eventually converted to Barry's Roman Catholic faith. The Barrys were regular parishioners at several Philadelphia Catholic churches: Old St. Joseph's, Old St. Mary's and eventually, St. Augustine's. The Barrys had no children; however, they happily raised two boys from Barry's deceased sister Eleanor's household.”
“Sarah's nephews from Ireland, Michael and Patrick Hayes, were brought to Philadelphia by Captain John Rosseter on his ship, the Rising Sun. Rosseter was a neighbor of the Barry family in Ireland, and the captain also wound up living on the same street as John Barry in Philadelphia. His close association with the Barrys continued even in death, as the Rosseter plot lies next to the Barry plot in Old St. Mary's churchyard.”
“Patrick Hayes, his second wife Sally's nephew, accompanied Barry on his eventful journeys to the Orient where porcelain and ivory treasures were brought back and sold to Philadelphians hungering for luxurious items.”
But as JPKelly notes, those merchant voyages ended in 1789.
According to the Episcopal Academy ledgers, teacher John Barry was paid L100 ($266.66) a year from January 1789 until September, 1796, the lowest paid of six teachers, indicating that he also had additional income from another source, possibly from serving as a merchant sea captain.
That Commodore John Barry, born poor and uneducated in Ireland, had no formal education other than his training at sea, could still be accepted as a teacher is possible since there were five other better paid teachers at the academy and Barry’s specialty, seamanship, would be a beneficial curriculum for boys intent on being seamen, as were Stewart, Decatur, Rush and Somers.
That professor John Barry would write, publish and obtain the first copyright for the Philadelphia Spelling Book seems to support the idea that this John Barry is a different person than the Commodore, however Commodore John Barry also wrote and published a book on naval flag signals, which can be compared to an extant copy of the Philadelphia Spelling Book to see if it is possible they were written by the same person.
On March 27, 1794 Congress passed an act to create a naval force and build six new frigates, and on June 4, 1794 John Barry made the first commissioned officer. In addition, Washington ordered Barry “to form and train a class of midshipman who wojuld then be commissioned as Ensigns, and form the nucleas of a new American navy.”
Funding for the fleet however, wasn’t approved by Congress until 1797 and the Navy Department not officially created until April 30, 1798, the day Richard Somers and Stephen Decatur received their commissions as midshipmen.
Of the 350 applicants for commissions, only 59 were approved for all grades, from midshipman to captain.
Koedel writes, “(Somers) knew Captain John Barry through his brother-in-law, William Jonas Keen, cousin to Barry’s wife. Barry was to become the captain of the UNTIED STATES and Commodore of the West Indies squadron, so we may speculate that he was influential in getting Somers on his vessel.”
The USS UNITED STATES was launched in Philadelphia on July 10, 1797 before a crowd of 30,000 people.
With Charles Stewart appointed Lieutenant, and Stewart, Deactur and Ross midshipman, the young Academy schoolmates were now shipmates, under Barry’s command.
Berbe and Rodgaard write, “In the midshipman’s berth on the UNITED STATES were two future standouts of the young navy: Charles; friends Mid. Stephen Decatur and Mid. Richard Somers. With the three childhood friends together again, one could imagine that all three thought that the USS UNITED STATES was an extension of their childhood days at Dr. Abercrombie's Episcopal Academy in Philadelphia. Under Barry’s watchful eye, the four junior officers worked the United States through the rest of her fitting out work. When the frigate was ready for sea, Captain Barry set sail for the West Indies.”
That John Barry would be their teacher at the Philadelphia Academy before becoming their commander at sea, is a distinct possibility, despite the objections of historians who believe that John Barry the teacher and Commodore John Barry are two different people.
This objection is expressed by Philadelphia Seaport Museum curator Megan Fraser, who wrote, “I don't know of any papers in the John Barry series of the Barry-Hayes Papers that pertain to him teaching at the Philadelphia Academy. Actually, I find no sources to suggest that John Barry, the naval captain, and John Barry, master of the Episcopal Academy, are the same person.”
Well now I am making that proposition, and will try to overcome the expressed objections and establish the actual truth, one way or the other.
As Megan Fraser points out, “And since the captain was a Catholic, with no documented formal education (although from his writing, one can clearly glean that he did have some sort of schooling) it seems unlikely to me that he would have served as a schoolteacher."
While Commodore Barry was indeed Catholic, it appears that the Philadelphia Free Academy, as Russ mentions years later, was a school for the city’s “elite,” regardless of religion, and the city’s Quaker traditions would have encouraged cooperation between religions. In addition, Commadore Barry was married by Bishop White, the founder of the Episcopial Academy, at White’s Episcopal church.
While Commodore Barry received no formal education, he was trained at sea by his uncle, and as Megan Fraser herself says, his education can be measured by his writings, letters and reports rather than by his formal schooling. Schools at the time certainly didn’t have the required teacher training and certification they have today, and the teachers were likely selected by what they had to offer the students. Among the chosen careers of the boys at the Academy was going to sea in ship, and the crafts of seamanship should have been on the caricullum.
Indeed, among Richard Somers’ school notebooks is the notation : “navigation,” a subject that Commadore Barry would have been well qualified as an instructor.
In addition, Barry had sailed as a captain for the merchant house owned by the father of Charles Stewart, and of those sixty some young students, all those we know of who attended this school – Stewart, Decatur, Russ and Somers, were destined to be sailors, and in fact, from his school book notes, Somers was trained in the arts of navigation at school.
The idea that the teacher would write, publish and copyrighted The Philadelphia Spelling Book, while the unschooled Commodore could not have done such a thing, is also misleading. “ I also find that the "Philadelphia Spelling Book" has the distinction of being the first book copyrighted in the United States -- a fact that surely would have made Captain Barry's standard biographies if he were the author.”
But Commodore John Barry did write and publish a book, on naval flag signals, which gives an example of his work that could be compared to the Philadelphia Spelling Book to see if they were written by the same person. Also, copies of the handwritings of the teacher could be compared to that of the Commodore, as evidence.
The standard biographies that would mention The Philadelphia Spelling Book if Commodore Barry were the author, also fail to mention what he did between the years he left the merchant sea faring business and overseeing the outfitting of the USS United States, leaving open the possibility they are one and the same man.
If they were different people, then who was John Barry, the Irish immigrant, Hibernian, author of the copyrighted book Philadelphia Spelling Book, and teacher of the first class of midshipman in the United States Navy? If not the Wexford, Ireland born Hibernian and author of the Navy Signal book, and commander of the first class of midshipmen in the United States Navy, then the other John Barry must have had another, possibly equally interesting life that’s yet to be discerned.
THIS IS A WORK IN PROGRESS.
YOUR THOUGHTS, COMMENTS AND CRITICISM IS APPRECIATED.
William Kelly – billykelly3@yahoo.com | 609-425-6297
It is quite remarkable that we are standing today in the yard of the home of Richard Somers’ grandfather, where Somers’ grew up as a boy, from where we can see the bay where he learned to sail, and from where he left to fight pirates, yet to return. And someday soon he will be laid to rest nearby.
For many people just learning the details, the story of Richard Somers is fascinating, yet for those of us who have know about it for years continue to learn more and stretch our knowledge to the limits of historical research.
Even today we are learning more about the Academy in Philadelphia attended by Somers and his schoolmates – Steven Decatur and Charles Stewart, who went on to become shipmates. Well we’ve recently learned that the teacher at this Philadelphia Academy was named John Barry, and that the father of the U.S. Navy and Captain of U.S.S. United States when Somers, Decatur and Stewart were commissioned Midshipmen was named John Barry. If they can be shown to be one and the same person, then that Academy could be the prototype of the military academies we have today, and Somers, Decatur and Stewart the first such specially trained midshipmen.
Before he left Richard Somers gave his sister Sarah a prized ring – a ring that Somers said contained some hair of George Washington and was given to him by Washington. When he didn’t return, the ring was passed on to Sarah’s family, and eventually was lent to the Pennsylvania Historical Society for public display. After the PHS put the ring in storage, it was stolen by a janitor and sold to a collector who was later arrested by the FBI. While the ring has been returned to the PHS, it remains in storage and the Somers family should request it be returned so it can be placed on permanent public display in Somers Point, and not remain in a storage at a Philadelphia museum.
Besides his school and his ring, there have been six U.S. Naval warships named after Richard Somers, and the Atlantic County Historical Society – now known as …has been active in attempting to secure a new ship with the name of USS Somers. Our military heroes have traditionally been honored by having destroyers or missile cruisers named after them, but there is a new kind of ship being built – a Litoral Combat Ship (LCS), designed for a new kind of warfare. The LCS will be a small, swift catamaran, capable of shallow water warfare and missions similar to the ones undertaken by the Intrepid in scuttling the Philadelphia and Somers’ fateful mission. The first, experimental LSC is named Freedom, while another will be called New York City. One of these new LCS should be named the USS Somers, or the USS Somers Point.
The efforts to repatriate Richard Somers have thus far taken over 200 years, so it’s not an easy task. Besides the desires of the extended Somers family and the efforts of the citizens of the Somers Point, I think it is now time for the American military veterans to get involved and educate people about this issue and to try to convince the political administration and the U.S. military that Richard Somers and the crew of the first USS Intrepid can not and will not be the only exception to our long standing policy of never leaving anyone behind enemy lines.
We don’t have to convince the Libyans to return the remains of our men, we have to convince our own administration and our own military that now is the time to repatriate these heroes.
– William Kelly-
The Somers ring, one of the most legendary relics of the nation’s family jewels, never made it to its proper heirs, was donated to the Pennsylvania Historical Society, discarded to near obscurity, was stolen by a janitor, sold to a private collector and eventually was recovered by the FBI.
Featured in a History Channel TV show about the special FBI art theft unit that recovered it, the Somers ring, which is said to contain a lock of George Washington’s hair, was recently on public display with other Washington related items at the Atwater-Kent Museum in Philadelphia.
Currently stored in a secure vault alongside other rare artifacts at the museum near Independence Hall in Philadelphia, the ring may be put on public display once again with the anticipated increase in public interest with the repatriation of the remains of its original owner, Master Commandant Richard Somers, USN.
Born during the American Revolution in Somers Point, New Jersey, Richard was the son of John Somers, a privateer who the British branded a “pirate” for capturing their merchant ships and advertising the sale of their contents. As the son of a large Quaker plantation owner, Richard Somers was trained and educated to be a gentleman and military officer at a private academy. This school could be considered the Annapolis of its day, as its principal was named John Barry and three of its students became the first commissioned Midshipman in the new Navy. The names of Richard Somers, Stephen Decatur and Charles Stewart are enshrined in U.S. Navy lore, as they would be three of four young men assigned to Captain Barry aboard the U.S.S. United States.
It was at that time, in April 1798, when Somers is said to have been given the ring by Washington, who had served as the first President until a year before. At some point Washington met Somers, gave him the ring, and reportedly encouraged Somers to be a Navy officer. Somers enlisted shortly after Washington gave a speech in Philadelphia.
After tours in the West Indies and Mediterranean, primarily chasing pirates, Midshipmen Somers, Decatur and Stewart were promoted to Lieutenants and given command of their own ships. Congress approved the construction of a number of frigates and four schooners, but the young officers couldn’t wait to build new boats and oversaw the refurbishing of some old, discarded Delaware river fishing schooners. Somers outfitted the USS Nautilus with cannon and, fresh from Tuns Tavern, took in a detachment of Marines. Decatur got the USS Enterprise, Stewart the Syren and together they set off across the North Atlantic to fight the Barbary Pirates.
Enroute Decatur encountered and boarded a suspicious merchant vessel, but discovered the sword of an officer from the USS Philadelphia, a frigate sent to blockade Tripoli harbor that ran aground and was captured. Decatur took the pirates prisoner and the French built coarser was rechristened the USS Intrepid and put in good service fighting the pirates. That other U.S. distinguished ships named Nautilus, the first submarine to reach the North Pole, the aircraft carriers Enterprise and Intrepid can trance their heraldry back to these ships and these men.
While Decatur would take the Intrepid into Tripoli Harbor, recapture and scuttle the Philadelphia, and receive a promotion to Captain as a reward, Somers was given the opportunity to match Decatur’s glory. He would convert the Intrepid into a fireship full of explosives, sail it into Tripoli harbor, light a fuse and escape in row boats before the ship would explode and destroy the anchored enemy fleet. Just before emarking on his last mission, Somers huddled with his school yard friends Stewart and Decatur, took a ring off his finger, cut it into three parts and gave the other each a piece. The ring with Washington’s hair was left back in Philadelphia with his sister Sarah.
Commanding the converted fire ship Somers died when the Intrepid inexplicitly exploded in Tripoli harbor on September 4, 1804. Somers and the two other officers and ten seamen, were buried along “the shores of Tripoli” near the old castle fort. And there they remained for two hundred years.
Now that American ties with Libya have improved, the repatriation of the remains of the thirteen Americans is expected soon, increasing interest in Somers, Stewart, Decatur, the Barbary Wars and the Somers ring.
The dark blue and white enamel ring contains thirteen pearls surround a glass locket, said to contain a genuine relic - a piece of George Washington’s hair. Washington reportedly gave Somers the ring around the time he was granted a warrant as a midshipman, in April 1798.
One possible occasion was on November 9, 1798, when the frigate to which Somers had recently been assigned as a Midshipman, the USS United States, was anchored at Chester, Pennsylvania. At 7 P.M. that evening, Captain John Barry and the ship’s designer and builder Joshua Humphries came aboard. Shortly thereafter, General George Washington arrived at Chester, where the horse troops of Philadelphia received him. Washington stayed in Chester overnight, possibly aboard the United States, which gave him a 15-gun salute upon his departure the next morning.
Before he left to fight the Barbary pirates, Somers had the ring and gave the ring to his sister Sarah Keen, whose husband became the executor of Somers’ estate, which included most of Somers Point, New Jersey at the time, as well as the ring.
Keen also handled the distribution of prize money from a pirate ship Somers had captured, which included a percentage to a Marine that Somers had earlier court marshaled, but apparently let participate in the fighting. The official U.S. Marine Corps dress sword, the Mamaluk sword, also stems from the Barbary wars.
When Somers never returned from Tripoli, his sister Sarah inherited the ring and her husband William Kean, an attorney, was executor of Richard Somers’ estate. When she died, she was buried next to the brick schoolhouse in Somers Point, and the ring was passed on to her niece, Sarah Sophia Leaming, of Upper Township, New Jersey.
The affidavit of Jonathan Leaming (December 25, 1891), the son of Constant Somers’ daughter Sarah and William Leaming, attested that, “…Among the personal effects of Sarah Keen was a peculiar, antique finger ring, which was always called Washington’s ring. It is a flat, gold ring, with a square setting of dark blue enamel. On the outside edge of this dark blue enamel square is a small stripe of white enamel, and in the center of said square is a round box and glass containing hair surrounded by thirteen pearls. On each side of said square, on the shanks of the ring are alternate gold and light blue enamel stripes, within which field of stripes on each side, is small circle of dark blue enamel. The hair contained in this ring is said to be that of George Washington.”
“This deponent avers that he has frequently heard to said Sarah Keen declare that this ring was presented to her brother Lieutenant Richard Somers, by George Washington, the first president of the United States, and that the hair within the setting was that of George Washington, and that her brother had left the ring in her care when he embarked for Tripoli…”
In 1926, Edmund Leaming, the grandson of Sarah Sophia Leaming, then Vice Chancellor of New Jersey, loaned the ring to the Museum at the State House at Independence Hall in Philadelphia. A Philadelphia Inquirer newspaper report in January 1932 notes that the Somers ring was only one of four known rings with locks of Washington’s hair, and that Leaming intended to donate the ring to the Cape May County Historical Society. The ring was put on display in Philadelphia until the National Park Service took over operations of the museum in the 1950’s. The ring was bequeathed to the Pennsylvania Historical Society in 1958 by the Leaming family of Morrestown, and was put into storage.
While kept among the extensive collection of artifacts of the Pennsylvania Historical Society (PHS), a nighttime janitor, Earnest Medford, made some spare money by pilfering some of the closeted items, mainly antique swords, but also other items, including the Somers ring. He sold them for cash to an electric company superintendent and local connoisseur of historic weapons George Csizmazia. Csizmazia didn’t do it profit, and resell them, but rather kept them for himself. He stocked his suburban apartment with millions of dollars in museum quality artifacts that he got from Medford for only about $8,000.
The Somers ring, a one-of-a-kind item, is priceless, and could not have been sold on the open market without being immediately recognized by collectors. While he didn’t try to sell his stolen collection, he was proud of it, and after Csizmazia showed off some of his prized swords at an antique show, he became a marked man.
When the museum staff began to itemize their collection and realized some things were missing, they called the FBI Art Theft unit, which is based in Philadelphia, to investigate. Since Csizmazia had showed off some of his prized swords at an antique show, the FBI questioned him and he immediately confessed. He then told the FBI about Medford, the janitor. Both were convicted in court and received four year prison terms. When Csizmazi took the FBI agents back to his apartment, they found a virtual National Treasure of looted antiques and artifacts, including Somers’ ring.
Now as the remains of Somers are being considered for repatriated home, his ring should be put on public display once again, and the Somers/Leaming families could consider requesting the ring be placed on permanent public display at a local institution that will better appreciate its history and meaning.
Bill Kelly can be reached at billykelly1@aol.com]
– William Kelly-
The New Jersey State Legislature may not agree on much, but on Thursday, June 24, 2004, the State Assembly unanimously (79-0) passed two popular resolutions regarding Richard Somers before turning their attention to the contentious budget. Both resolutions refer to New Jersey’s native son Richard Somers, a naval hero who has been Missing In Action for nearly 200 years.
Lt. Richard Somers left Somers Point, N.J. to fight Barbary pirates in Libya. He was the captain of the U.S.S. Intrepid when it exploded in Tripoli harbor on September 4, 1804, during the battle of Tripoli, which inspired the lines in the U.S. Marine corps hymn, “….from the Halls of Montezuma, to the Shores of Tripoli.”
N.J. Assembly Joint Resolution No. 91, sponsored by Assemblyman John C. Gibson (Cape May, Atlantic and Cumberland), and co-sponsored by Assemblyman Jeff Van Drew, permanently establishes September 4th as Richard Somers Day in New Jersey. [ http://www.njleg.state.nj.us/2004/Bills/AJR/91_l1.HTM ], while the other bill, Assembly Resolution No. 121, requests the Secretary of State to “open negotiations with Libyan leaders for the repatriation of Richard Somers and his crew before September 4, 2004, the 200th anniversary of their deaths.” [http:// www.njleg.state.nj.us/2004/Bills/AR/121_l1.HTM ].
Buried by American prisoners from the captured frigate USS Philadelphia, Somers, two other officers – Lt. Henry Wadsworth (Uncle of Longfellow), Charles Israel, and ten sailors and marines were laid to rest a few hundred yards east of the old Bashaw’s castle, now a museum. Apparently, sometime during the Italian occupation of Libya after World War I, five of the thirteen graves were removed to a nearby plot in what is now a city park.
While the Somers family, city and state officials and the U.S. Congress have previously called for the repatriation of Somers and his crew [See: richardsomers.org ], earlier efforts were unsuccessful due to tense U.S. – Libya relations. The recent diplomatic overtures by Libya have opened a window of opportunity that could soon lead to their return.
Jack Gibson, the chief sponsor of the resolution said, “This isn’t a bi-partisan issue, it’s a non-partisan issue that we can all agree on, and it establishes a basis for future cooperation.” Gibson, a Republican, enlisted Democrat Jeff Van Drew as a co- sponsor the resolutions, which had no opposition, passing unanimously 79-0.
“These folks are still missing. We think that, out of respect for them, they should be brought back,” said Jeff Van Drew, who also noted that it isn’t just his district but the entire state is behind this effort, “It isn’t just one city. We’re going to have everybody on board.”
“This really memorializes it,” said Van Drew, “and officially asks the Secretary of State Colon Powell to fight to have these men returned. There’s nothing more serious we can do than to vote on a piece of legislation saying we want to do this.”
Once passed by the New Jersey State Senate, “Duly authenticated copies of this resolution….shall be transmitted to the U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell and each member of the New Jersey’s congressional delegation,” where the effort to repatriate them is being handled by the House Armed Services Committee and the Department of Defense POW/MP office.
William Kelly
Billykelly3@yahoo.com
Walter Gregory 10/2005(uncorrected)
SOUTH SIDE
In memory of
Richard Somers
Son of Richard & Sophia Somers
Master Commandant
In the Navy of the United States
Born 15th Sep 1779
He perished in the 25th year of His
Age in the Ketch Intrepid in the
Memorable attempt to destroy
The Turkish flotilla in the Harbour
Of Tripoli on this night
Of the 4th of Sep 1804
Distinguished for his energy courage
And manly sense of honour
“pro patria non timidos mort.”
EAST SIDE
Here lies buried
Sarah Keen
The daughter of Capt Jonas Keen
Of Philadelphia
Daughter of
Richard + Sophia Somers
Born Dec 31st 1772
Died Jan 21st 1850
Estimable for many virtues
WEST SIDE
In memory of
Constant Somers JunR
Son of Constant and Sarah Somers
Born 3rdd Jan 1794
Died at Constadt, Russia
29th Aug 1811
Live in an instant took its flight
And vingest its very laxeatins above
There to rejoice in endless light
And praise his God with songs of love
THE SIGN OUTSIDE OF THE FENCED AREA
Burial ground of Col. Richards 1737-1794
And his immediate family
Grandson of John Somers, first settler, 1693
Member of 3rd Regiment, Gloucester County Militia
Monument erected 1850
In memory of his son
Master Commandant Richard Somers USN
1778-1804
Site restored 1981
SP Board of Ed.
Marker presented by SP Rotary
200 years and thousands of miles away, Richard Somers is now closer to home than ever before.
Richard is not buried in the Somers family grave adjacent to Greate Bay Golf Club in Somers Point, New Jersey, where his father, grandfather, sister and cousins are entombed. Instead, the remains of Lt. Richard Somers and the 12 man crew of the USS Intrepid are buried in a small park near Tripoli harbor where they died on September 4, 1804.
The location of the graves is no secret, and only a mystery to the Libyans, who recently told a visiting Congressional delegation that they assembled a team of students who conducted a “very expensive” search, yet they failed to find Somers’ grave.
The record is very clear and the location of the graves is well known, as Americans have visited the it on many occasions, most recently on March 6th, 2004 when a reporter for the Philadelphia Inquirer located the small park, overgrown with weeds and in a state of disrepair. The Libyans refused to permit him to take a photo.
Beginning with accounts of the time, according to the journal from September, 1804 of a seaman in the squadron, “….the Ketch Intrepid got under way and was sent into Tripoli as a fire ship. Commanded by Capt. Somers, he had our green cutter to make their escape from her. At ? past 9 she blew up in which unfortunately perished Capt. Somers, Mr. Wadsworth, Mr. Israel, Midshipman and 10 Men. It is supposed that she took fire in the magazine sooner than was intended or that they were attempted to be boarded by the Tripolitians and blew her up sooner than suffer her and themselves to fall into the hands of the Tripoleens, as she had 100 barrels of powder on board…The loss of those brave officers and men are much to be regretted by their country and friends. Capt. Somers was as brave and enterprising an officer as ever stepped the Deck of a ship possessing every Virtue that the human heart is susceptible of…”
According to Garden W. Allen (in Our Navy and the Barbary Corsairs [Boston: Houghton, Mifflin, & Co. p. 209-210], “…All of the thirteen bodies were recovered, two days later, by the Tripolitians. Two were found in the bottom of the ketch, which grounded on the rocks at the north side of the western entrance, one was in the six-oared boat, which drifted ashore to the westward, four were floating in the harbor, and six were picked up on the beach southeast of town…..Dr. Cowdery (of the captured USS Philadelphia), distinctly states in his journal that he ….was able to pick out three of them as officers, although of course it was not known in Tripoli how many officers were in the party, or how many in all. His opinion was based on the softness of their hands and a few fragments of clothing…The bodies were buried south of the town, the three supposed officers by themselves.”
Another report states, “(Captain) Bainbridge (of the Philadelphia) and his men buried them on the beach and erected…a fieldstone above them….to protect against the ravages of wild dogs that took the place of scavengers and street cleaners in Tripoli. The little wooden crosses they set up were knocked down by the populace as abhorment to their faith.”
James Fenimore Cooper, in Graham’s Magazine (Vol. XXI, No. 4) wrote a profile of Richard Somers in which he authoritatively reported, “…The ten seamen were buried on the beach outside the town near the walls; while the three officers were interred in the same grave, on the plain beyond, or cable’s length [200 yards] to the southward and eastward of the earth. Small stones were placed at the four corners of the last grave, to mark its site; but they were shortly after removed by the Turks, who refused to let what they conceived to be a Christian monument, disfigure their land.”
“Here, then, lie the remains of Somers, and his two gallant friends; and it might be well to instruct the commander of some national cruiser to search for their bones, that they might be finally incorporated with the dust of their native land. Their identity would at once be established by the number of the skeletons ,and the friends of the deceased might find a melancholy consolation in being permitted to drop a tear over the spot in which they would be finally entombed.”
In her excellent biography of the Naval career of Master Commandant Richard Somers, Glory at Last, Barbara Koedel wrote, “In 1949, as a result of research by Mustafa Burchis, harbor master of Tripoli, and the United States Counsul Orray Taft, Jr., the graves of five men killed from the explosion of the Intrepid on 4 September 1804 were found in the Protestant Cemetery there. On April 2, 199, the U.S.S. Spokane put in at Tripoli. In a short address, Rear Admiral Cruzen spoke of the exploits in the Barbary War; Captain W. J. Marshall narrated the Intrepid mission; and Consul Taft told of the research to identify the graves and unveiled a plaque: “In honored memory of five unknown American seamen buried here who died in the explosion of the USS Intrepid, Tripoli Harbor, 1804.’ Captain Lt. E. J. Sheridan read a short paper; an honor guard of Marines fired several volleys over the graves and played taps.” A photo of the graves, with U.S. Counsel Orray Taft, Jr., Rear Admiral Richard Cruzen, Capt. W. J. Marshall and Prince Taher Bay Karamanli standing above it is posted on the internet http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/sh-usn/usnsh-s/cl120-m.htm and available from the Navy Archives.
In the 1960s, Major Jack Templeton of San Diego, visited the graves while stationed at Wheeler Air Force base. He wrote that, “As a USAF pilot stationed in Libya for three years, living in Tripoli, I can attest to a simple grave site in the center of town (100 yards from the shore) with the names of five U.S. Marine who lost their lives there, ‘On the shores of Tripoli.’”
The marker is incorrect as to the number of men buried there, though it is most certainly the site of the graves of the men of the Intrepid. Besides Lt. Somers, the Captain of the Intrepid, and the two midshipmen Henry Wadsworth (uncle of Longfellow) and Joseph Israel, there were six men from the USS Constitution – William Harrison, Robert Clark, Hugh McCormick, Jacob Williams, Peter Renner and Issac Downes, and four from the USS Nautilus – James Simms, Thomas Tompline, James Harris and William Keith. Five were said to be sailors and five marines.
More recently, sometime in the 1980s, two tourists from New Jersey, Patricia Dougherty, a member of the Leonia Borough Council, and her friend, Melba Edmunds, “…discovered the cemetery, all but hidden in weeds, while vacationing,…They found markers placed on the graves in Tripoli and commemorated by the Navy in ceremonies in 1949.” There article about the graves in American Legion magazine sparked another attempt to repatriate them, though an act of Congress was passed to make room for the return of the men for reburial at Arlington.
Most recently, while in Tripoli covering the recent visit of a Congressional delegation led by Philadelphia Congressman Rep. Curt Weldon, a staff writer for the Philadelphia Inquirer, Sudarsan Krafrica easily found the grave site and reported [in an email], “…I visited the cemetery, but the Libyans wouldn’t let me take a picture. I’m trying to change their minds…” He later said that the cemetery is in a sad state and not surprisingly, hasn’t been cared for at all.
In a report to Rep. Curt Weldon (Rep. Pa.) and Rep. Frank LoBiondo (Rep. N.J. 2nd), the Libyans responded that a group of students were unable to locate the graves after an “expensive” search, and then it was said that the Italians, who occupied Libya until 1951, moved the graves, though that is generally believed to be an attempt by the Libyans to disclaim responsibility for them.
The location and state of the graves is well known to anyone interested, and maybe it’s best the Libyans leave it alone. These men should be treated like any other US military servicemen who die behind the lines in enemy territory, and honorably repatriated. Unlike the Koreans, who delivered the remains of 50 US servicemen in a single box of bones, there is a proper procedure for securing the remains, and a Department of Defense unit that specializes in this type of operation.
The remains of Lt. Richard Somers and the crew of the Intrepid will soon be returned home, and they should be treated with the same respect of those who sacrifice their lives today. The U.S. Military has a very good detachment that is responsible for the retrieval of the remains of American military killed in any foreign country, forensic pathologist who can and will properly remove the remains of all the Americans buried there and return them via Dover AFB, where all the dead are processed before being buried with full military honors due them.
Then, as J.F. Cooper so aptly put it over 150 years ago, “…It would be well to instruct the commander of some national cruiser to search for the bones, that they might be finally incorporated with the dust of their native land.”
CHRONOLOGY – Richard Somers
1778 - September 15 – Richard Somers, Jr. is born during the American Revolution at the home of his father, Col. Richard Somers, Sr., which still stands today as the Somers Manor office building at the corner of Shore and Bethel Roads, Somers Point.
1783 – March – Algiers pirates seize two American merchant ships en route from Marseille to Gibraltar.
1784 – October 11 – Morocco pirate corsair seize American brig Betsey.
1785 – February. Reports of the Algerian Barbary state pirates seizure of two U.S. vessels, demand tribute, and Betsey reach President Thomas Jefferson, who deploys gunboats to the Mediterranean. “Millions for defense, but not one cent for tribute.”
1785 – USA opens diplomatic relations with Barbary States of Morroco, Algiers, Tunis and Tripoli.
1787 – May 14 – State delegates convene a Federal Convention in Philadelphia, meet throughout the summer.
1787 – Enoch Stillwell (brother of Richard’s mother) dies, orphans Anna, Sophia and Savage Stillwell, move in with Somers family.
1788 – June 21 – New Constitution adopted.
1789 – Jan. to Sept. 1796 – John Barry teaches at boys Academy 3rd st. in Philadelpha.
1789 – March 4 – New government begins with first presidential election.
1789 – April 30 – George Washington sworn in. John Adams VP.
1790 – May 31 – George Washington signs first copyright act in Philadelphia.
1790 – June 6 - John Barry – teacher at Academy, publishes “Philadelphia Spelling Book – Arranged Upon A Plan Entirely New,” 1st US copyrighted publication.
1791 – April 11 – Sultan Sidi Muhammad of Morocco dies, son al-Yazid assumes power. Thomas Barclay appointed first counsel to Morocco.
1791 – Richard Somers attends Hunter School, Woodbury, N.J.
1792 – Somers takes classes in navigation.
1792 – August 8 – See Ben Franklin’s Pennsylvania Gazette.
1793 – 15 year old Richard Somers, first mate on family schooner trading in West Indies, takes command upon the death of the captain and returns safely home.
1794-? – Richard Somers attends private academy where he is ‘schoolmates with Charles Stewart and Steven Decatur, Jr., son of U.S. Navy Commodore Steven Decatur, Sr.
1794 – March 27 – an act of Congress passed to create a naval force for the US by building six new frigates, under the supervision of John Barry.
1794 – June 14 – Washington sends John Barry “to form and train a class of midshipmen who would then be commissioned as Ensigns, and form the nucleus of a new American navy.” Barry commissioned #1 Captain, United States Navy.
1794 – October 22 - Richard Somers, Sr. dies (54 years old).
1796 – September 1796 – John Barry ends teaching career at Philadelphia Academy.
1796 – Gheretti/Mastico, a French built Ketch launched (later to become USS Intrepid).
1797 – February 3 – Richard’s mother Sophia dies.
1797 – February 22 – Congressional Action on Navy.
1797 – John Adams becomes president.
1797 – June 7 - Treaty of Tripoli – Approved by Senate. [See: NARA Treaty Series #358 – American State Papers – Foreign Relations - #18-19.
1797 – June 10 – Treaty of Tripoli – Signed by President Adams
1797 – June 17 – Notice of Treaty of Tripoli published in Philadelphia/Pennsylvania Gazzette.
1797 – June 23 – President Adams message to Congress re: Algiers/Barbary States.
1797 – July 10 – Built in Philadelphia by Joshua Humphreys, the frigate United States is launched to a crowd of 30,000 people. John Barry Captain.
1797 – 350 applications for 59 commissions in new U.S. Navy.
1798 – January 26 – US counsel Richard O’Brian arrives in Algiers.
1798 - March 9 – Charles Stewart commissioned Lieutenant, predates Navy.
1798 – April 30 – Congress establishes Department of Navy, directed by secretary of cabinet rank, Benjamin Stoddert, Maryland merchant.
1798 – April 30 - Midshipman’s warrants issued to Richard Somers and Steven Decatur, sent to sea on the shakedown cruse of the USS United States under Commodore John Barry.
1798 – May 7 – President John Adams appears in Philadelphia at rally. Somers there.
1798 – May 8 – Richard Somers takes oath of allegiance.
1798 – May 15 – Algiers Dey Hassan Pasha dies of natural causes, succeeded by Bobba Mustafa
1798 – May 30 – Richard Somers returns to Egg Harbor to get his affairs in order
1798 – June 8 - Sloop Delaware (20 guns) under Commander Stephen Decatur, Sr., takes a French prize, Le Croyable off Egg Harbor.
1798 – July 7 – USS Untied States gets underway under Capt. John Barry with Decatur, Jr., Charles Stewart and Somers as Midshipmen, headed south for the West Indies in search of French ships.
1798 – October 8 – USS US ordered off Newport, RI.
1799 – January 20 - Richard Somers given commission as Lieutenant.
1799 – June 2 – Richard Somers writes will.
1799 – June 22 – Richard’s brother Constant dies in Russia in boating accident.
1799 – Schooner Nautilus built as merchant vessel on Maryland’s East Shore.
1800 – January 10 – To Be Rented – Great Egg harbor Residence of Col. Richard Somers, Apply to Wm. Jones Kean , Front St. Phila.
1801 – Somers appointed first lieutenant to the Boston, a 28 gun, 250 man sloop sent to deliver Chancellor Livingston to France, and patrol the Mediterranean.
1801 – Treaty of Tripoli violated by Yusuf Qaramanli, pasha of Tripoli.
1801 – USS Boston sails to France with new ambassador and family.
1801 – December 22 – Boston at Gibraltar.
1801 – January 21 – Boston off Tripoli. Somers gets first view of Tripoli.
1801 – May 22 – Captain Richard Dale takes command of Med. Squadron.
1801 – June – Eaton makes first contact with Ahmad Qaramanli, deposed pasha of Tripoli, and older brother of Yusuf.
1801 – July – USS Enterprise, Lt. Andrew Sterrett, takes on Tripoli (14) and leaves it destroyed.
1802 – Congress orders the construction of four schooners, the Siren (16 guns), the Argus (16), Nautilus (12) and Vixen (12), with Somers, age 24, being given command of the Nautilus.
1802 – February 2 – US fleet off Tripoli to blockade harbor.
1802 – February 6 – Congress recognizes Tripoli has declared war against USA.
1802 – September – Boston returns home.
1803 – February 28 – Congress passes Act to pay for ships.
1803 – April 11 – Richard at Somers Plantation, launches new schooner, Goard Blosom at Mays Landing, Egg Harbor.
1803 – May 13 – Richard Somers ordered to oversee the refurbishing of Nautilus.
1803 – May 21 – Captain Edward Preble given command of the Mediterranean squadron, with flagship frigate USS Constitution (44).
1803 – June 24 - Somers and Nautilus ordered to join the Mediterranean squadron under command of Captain Edward Preble.
1803 – September 13 – Commodore John Barry dies. Barry, former Captain of the USS UNITED STATES, was offered command of the Mediterranean Squadron, but declined because of his health.
1803 – September 14 – Somers and Nautilus reach Gibraltar.
1803 – Preble makes successful demonstration in Tangier against the emperor of Morocco.
1803 – October 31 – USS Philadelphia, Captain Bainbridge in command, runs aground off Tripoli, surrenders with full compliment of crew.
1803 – November 7 – The Argus, under Stephen Decatur, joins Nautilus and Constitution in Gibraltar.
1804 – February 16 – Decatur leads mission aboard Intrepid into Tripoli Harbor and successfully scuttles the captured frigate USS Philadelphia, which England’s Lord Admiral Nelson calls “The most bold and daring act of the age.” .
1804 – June 2 – USS Constitution, Enterprise, and Intrepid, converted to a floating hospital, anchored off Syracuse. Siren, Agrus, Vixen and Scourage (a pirate prize) blockade off Tripoli.
1804 – July – Mediterranean squadron heads for Tripoli, lead by Preble’s flagship, the frigate Constitution, four brigs, the Argus, Siran, Vixen and Scourge, two schooners, Nautilus (Somers) and Enterprise (Decatur) and eight gunboats (156 guns in all).
1804 – July 25 – August 28 – Battle of Tripoli.
1804 – August 3 – 4 - Somers and Decatur lead flotillas of gunboats against Tripoli fleet, win decisively, though Decatur’s younger brother is killed.
1804 – August 7 – Attack made against Tripoli fleet.
1804 – September 3 – Attack made against Tripoli fleet.
1804, September 4 – Somers leads the Intrepid back into Tripoli harbor rearmed as a fire ship, which explodes prematurely, killing three officers and ten seaman.
1804 – September 6 – Captain Bainbridge, skipper of the scuttled USS Philadelphia, and ship’s doctor Dr. Cowdery and a detachment of prisoners find 13 bodies washed ashore Tripoli harbor, three identified as officers, which are buried 100 yards south of the harbor near the castle.
1804 – September 9 – William Eaton arrives and reports to Med Squad. Commodore Barron replaces Captain Preble as commander of U.S. naval forces in the Mediterranean.
1804 – September 13 – Commodore Samuel Barron issues secret – verbal orders – to Isaac Hull of the ARGUS, to facilitate Easton’s plans to support Ahmad Qaramanli.
1804 – November 28 – Plans instituted to convince Ahmad Qaramanli to retake Tripoli throne.
1805 – February 25 – Captain Preble arrives in New York, unexpectedly finds himself a hero. 53 Preble boys sign letter.
1805 –March 5 – Congress of US passes resolution: “RESOLVED, that the President of the US be also requested to communicate to the parents, or other near relatives, of Captain Richard Somers, Lts. Henry Wadsworth,..”
1805 – March 19 – President Jefferson receives Commodore Preble’s dispatch, learns of the loss of USS Philadelphia and 307 captured prisoners.
1805 – March 6 - US diplomat warrior William Eaton and US Marine Corps Sgt. Presley O’Bannon, eight marines, 200 Greek mercinaries begin attacks across the desert from Egypt to Derna, and capture the port city east of Tripoli.
1805 – April 28 – With support from the Argus, Hornet and Nautilus, Eaton and company attack Derna, city falls in 2 hours, Stars & Stripes raised on conquered foreign soil for first time.
1805 – June 3 – Treaty settled with Yusuf Qaramanli, who accepts $60,000 ransom for prisoners, no tribute.
1805 – June 11 – Captain Hugh Campbell & USS Constellation anchors off Derna. Eaton learns of peace treaty, escapes with Ahmad Qaramanli, O’Bannon’s squad and other Christians, abandoning Derna.
1805 – November – Eaton returns to USA, a hero.
1805 – December 11 – Tripoli treaty submitted to Senate for ratification, paying $60,000 to Pasha Yusuf Qaramanli ransom for USS Philadelphia prisoners, no tribute.
1806 – April 17 – Tripoli treaty ratified by Congress.
1806 – May 27 – John Rogers confers command of the USS Constitution and U.S. squadron to Hugh G. Campbell and returns aboard ESEX.
1806 – Nautilus arrives back in USA. Somers’ brother-in-law, William Jonas Keen pays prize money to officers and men for the capture of Brig Nomenato Crucifisso.
1806 – March 17 – Report published backing Eaton’s account.
1806 – April 12 – Senate ratified peace treaty with Tripoli (21-8), Congress votes to pay Ahmad Qaramanli $2,400 and $200 a month pension.
1807 – Eaton reimbursed $12, 636, 60.
1807 – January 1 – Monument to the men who died off Tripoli set at the US Navy yard, Washington, D.C.
1807n – A. Burr stands trial for treason.
1808 – James Madison becomes president.
1811 – June 1 – William Eaton (47) dies at Brimfield, Maine, relatively unnoticed.
1811 – August 29 – Constant, Jr. dies at sea in Cronstadt, Russia.
1812 – July – U.S. counsel Tobias Lear leaves Algiers with wife and son three Americans
1812 – August 25 – Brig Edwin of Salem taken enroute from Malta to Gibraltar. Captain George C. Smith and ten man crew taken, with American passenger Mr. Pollard. Imprisoned in Algiers.
1813 – New U.S. counsel Mordecai Manuel Noah appointed to Tunis.
1814 – British capture Washington, burn Tripoli monument. It is repaired and moved to front of Capitol.
1813-1814 – Schooner USS Somers deployed.
1814 – Bey Hammuda dies of natural causes, succeeded by his brother Uthman.
1814 – December 21 – Bey Uthman assassinated by cousin Mahmud.
1815 – March 2 – Congress declares war on Algiers, granting the president authority to take whatever measures he deems necessary.
1815 – May 20 – Commadore Decatur’s squadron puts to sea.
1815 – December 21 – Peace treaty ratified, signed by President Madison on Dec. 26.
1815 – Decatur and Bainbridge return to Tripoli to secure truce.
1815 – August 2 – Commodore Decatur arrives off Tripoli.
1815 – August 5 – Decatur obtains treaty with Pasha Yusuf Qaramanli (also spelled Karamanli ) “I trust that the successful result of our small expedition, so honorable to our country, will induce other nations to follow the example; in which case the Barbary states will be compelled to abandon their piratical system.” – Decatur.
1816 – August, British under Lord Exmouth and Dutch bombard Algiers to secure truce.
1820 – March 22 – Stephen Decatur killed in a duel with Commodore James Barron.
1830 – May 26 – French invade Algiers. City falls July 5.
1842 – James F. Cooper writes biography of Richard Somers.
1842 – US Brig Somers deployed. Becomes involved in “mutiny” that inspires Herman Melville to write “Billy Budd”.
1846 – December 8 – USS Somers sinks in gale storm off Veracruz, Mexico.
1850 – January – Richard’s sister Sally dies.
1851- Monument erected at Somers’ family burial ground at Somers Point “In memory of Richard Somers…perished in the 25th year of his age in the ketch Intrepid in the memorable attempt to destroy the Turkish flotilla in the harbor of Tripoli….
1850 – January - Sarah Somers dies.
1860 – Tripoli monument moved from Capitol to Annapolis.
1898-1919 – Torpedo Boat USS Somers deployed.
1903 – President Roosevelt orders the remains of John Paul Jones to be repatriated from Paris, France to Annapolis, Md., where he is reburied with honors.
1920-1930 – USS Somers DD-301 deployed.
1930s – Sometime in the 1930s, during the Italian occupation, the Italian Army uncovers the remains of five bodies from park during the construction of a new road. The five are reburied at the Old Protestant Cemetery.
1937-1947 – USS Somers DD-381 deployed.
1938 – In response to an inquiry form the American embassy in Rome concerning the fate of the men of the USS Intrepid, Mr. Mustafa Burchis, harbormaster of Tripoli, undertakes a meticulous examination of the old Jewish records, private Arab collections of letters, papers and diaries, and interviews innumerable descendants of residents of Tripoli at the time of the disaster, and completes a report of the matter that is transmitted to the US Embassy Rome. The report is said to have been lost in the chaos of WWII.
1949 – April 2 - US Navy conducts ceremony at gravesite and places permanent marker.
1950 – April - Intrepid graves reported found by Navy publication (US NIP) by Lt. Miller. “The bodies of five American Naval heroes of the Barbary Wars which have been lying unmarked, untouched, and unclaimed for nearly a century and a half have been discovered in Tripoli, North Africa.”
1959 – USS Somers DDG-34 deployed.
1969 – Col. Quadaffi seizes power in Libyan coup d’etat.
1971 – Quadaffi’s son Seif al-Islam (Sword of Islam) born.
1976 – Americans Frank Terpil and Joseph McElroy deliver 50 revolvers to Libya.
1976-7 – Former CIA official Ed Wilson sells tons of C4 explosives to Libya, along with experts to teach covert operations.
1977 – May – American Legion Magazine publishes reports of Patricia Dougherty ( of Leonia Borough Council, NJ) and her writer friend Melba Edmunds, who visit cemetery in Tripoli, finding it overgrown with weeds.
1979 – Libyans attack US Embassy in Tripoli.
1982 – Ed Wilson is lured out of hiding in Libya and brought to New York for arrest and trial.
1983 – Wilson introduces sworn statement from CIA that Wilson didn’t do anything for the CIA after his retirement in 1971, is convicted, sentenced to 25 years and is incarcerated at federal penitentiary at Marion, Illinois.
1984 – Spring – C4 explosives explode at homes of anti-Quaddafi Libyans in Manchester England, sparking demonstrations and the shooting murder of female British constable at Libyan embassy at St. James Square. Diplomatic relations between England and Libya broken, Libyans escorted out of the country. They leave behind some of the U.S. revolvers.
.
1986 – May – USS Somers discovered in 107 feet of water off Veracruz, Mexico. Salvage Expedition underway.
1988 – December 21 – Pan Am Flight 103 explodes over Lockerbie, Scotland.
1993 – al-Islam graduates from Tripoli’s al-Fateh University where he studied urban engineering; chairs the National Anti-drug Association of Libya.
1994 – Historic Society of Pennsylvania (HSP) notifies the FBI that items from its collection are missing, (including the Somers ring).
1995 – September 8 – Senator D’Amato introduces what would become ILSA – the Iran Foreign Oil Sanctions Act of 1995.
1995 – December 20 – Senate passes ILSA, with an amendment sponsored by Senator Kennedy, that applies all provisions to Libya as well as Iran (ILSA) because of efforts of the families of the victims of the Dec. 21, 1988 downing of Pan Am 103.
1997 – December 23 – FBI question George Csizmazia in theft of Somers ring.
2001- January 31 – Libyan suspect Abd al-Baset al-Magrahi convicted of the bombing of Pan Am 103.
2003 – May 1, Thursday – Libyan Foreign Minister Abdel-Rahman Shalqam told the AP that the family of each of the 270 Lockerbie/Pan Am victims would receive $10 million in three installments. First $4 million, UN sanctions against Libya would be lifted, second $4 U.S. sanctions would go, and after final installment, U.S. would remove Libya from list of states sponsoring terrorism. Shalqam said his government will “bear the civil responsibility for the actions of its employees,” and “Libya will work hard to draw an end to that issue during the coming period.”
2003 – October – Container ship episode on high seas. German ship BBC China interdicted by USA, German, Italy, and uranium enrichment materials found.
2003, October 30 – Federal Judge in Houston, Texas throws out the conviction of former CIA operative Edwin P. Wilson, who has spent 20 years in prison for selling arms to Libya.
2003 – December 19 – Libya agrees to destroy all of its chemical, nuclear and biological weapons, allow for immediate inspections and monitoring and permits the US military to remove all WMD it has on hand.
2004 - January 26 – US congressional delegation arrives in Libya, the first since Col. Muammar Gaddafi took power.
2004 – January 27 – The Guardian of UK reports “US may pay for Libya to dismantle weapons.” Congressman Curt Weldon said “We would be interested in a similar program in Libya (as the US funding of ‘threat reduction’ in USSR), with American dollars to help you dismantle your weapons program.”
2004 – March 6 – Sudarsan, (of Krafricabureau) reporting on Weldon’s trip to Libya for Philadelphia Inquirer, visits the cemetery but reports via email “the Libyans wouldn’t let me take a picture. I’m trying to change their minds.” Sudarsan never heard from again.
2004- February 23 – Assemblymen John C. Gibson and Jeff Van Drew introduce AR – resolution No. 91 – Permanently establishing September 4th as Richard Somers Day in the State of New Jersey and AR No. 121 – requesting the federal government negotiate with Libya for the repatriation of Richard Somers and the crew of the USS Intrepid.
2004 – March 14 – Press of AC reports: “Libya cannot locate Richard Somers Grave.”
2004 – April 20 – Press of AC reports: “Fight to bring soldier home/ Richard Somers remains are missing after 200 years.”
2004 – June – Libya frees 28 detainees.
2004 – June 23 – Press of AC : “Bill Urges Return of Somers Body.”
2004 – September – Somers Point Mayor Dan Reilly and members of the Somers family (See: Dean Somers) send letters to the Gaddafi International Foundation for Charity Associations [El Fatah Towers, 5th Floor No. 57, P.O. Box 1101, Tripoli, Libya ]. “As the Mayor of Somers Point, New Jersey, I send you greetings from the United States. Our small city has two centuries of common history with Libya – a son of our founding family was buried on the shores of Tripoli in September 1804. Richard Somers and twelve of his US Navy shipmates died in a naval battle and still lie buried in Tripoli today, near the old castle fort and Old Protestant Cemetery.”
2004 – September 9 – Paul V. Kelly, Asst. Sec. Legislative Affairs DOS wrote to Rep. Frank LoBiondo, “We have been in contact with members of that DoD mission (DoDPOW/MP) to discuss Captain Somers’ case and have been advised that the next step is to bring DoD intot he process. Ken Terry is the point of contact at the Department of Navy…Mayor Dan Reilly should contact Mr. Terry directly to pursue a discussion on repatriation of Captain Somers’ remains.”
2005 – January – Somers Point officials send letter to Congressman LoBiondo, cc Sec. Navy Gordon R. England; Navy Historical Center.
2005 – February – Michael Caputo begins private, independent negotiations with the Gaddafi International Foundation for Charity Associations.
2005 – July – 6 – David Talley, American Embassy Riyadh, reports from Tripoli: “I found your website as I was researching the cemetery of the five American sailors in Tripoli. I am currently in Tripoli and have visited the site of the cemetery and am going back this Friday with a team to clean it up. I will post photos and email them to you…” [See: Photos of American cemetery in Tripoli].
2005- September 4 – Attorney Seth Grossman organizes an assembly at the grounds of the Atlantic County Historical Society (ACHS), where the consensus is the location where Somers remains should be reburied once returned.
2005 – September 20 – SP Mayor Dan Reilly writes letter to Gaddafi IFCA.
2005 – September 27 – Dean Somers writes to Gadaffi IFCA.
2005 – October – Michael Caputo uses letters from Reilly and Somers to begin backchannel negotiations with Libyans. He obtains $100,000 from an individual backer and hires a Libyan lawyer as a lobbyist and begins negotiations with Quadafi’s son and Charity Foundation.
December 9 – 2005 – DOD POW/MP office identifies remains from 1968 Laos.
2005 – December 26 – The Libyan Supreme Court overturns death sentence against five Belgan nurses and a Palestinian doctor, accused of purposely inflicting children with AIDS, sparking hundreds of family members to riot at Green Square, Tripoli.
2006 – January 15 – Pierre Welch, Global Real Estate Advisor, USDS, sends photo of the park gravesite.
2006 – January – Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command, Hawaii expresses interest.
2006 – January – Caputo says that Libyans excavated sections of park gravesite and found bones and buttons in mass grave.
2006 – January 18 – M. Caputo writes to Kelly re: contacts with LoBiondo and DOD.
.
2006 – February 18 – 10 die in Libya demonstrations against Italy for caricature t-shirts.
2006 – Larry Greer of the DOD POW/MP office in DC says, “In regards to Lt. Somers and the burial of his remains and others in Libya, we’ve also got word of that rumor that the Libyans had disinterred (the graves) – from an-on-the-scene look at the cemetery from a person who is in the US interests section, or US embassy, whatever it’s called, they say, not true. In any event, the issue of whether or not Lt. Somers’ remains will be moved, now or in the future, is a Navy issue, and the Navy has told us last time we went around on this, the Navy has told us they are NOT in any way interested in moving the remains. It’s not a POW/MP issue, because these men are not missing. But whatever happens to the remains of those men is entirely in the hands of the Navy…”
2006 – May 13 – David A. Winters, ExVP Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum and Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund offers assistance in Repatriation of original Intrepid crew from Libya, possible venue for official repatriation ceremony.
2006 – May 15 – U.S. to Renew Diplomatic Relations with Libya – AP George Gedda
2006 – May 16 – Article by Judith Miller, NYT “How Ghadafi Lost His Grove – The Complex Surrender of Libya’s WMD.”
2006 – May 21 – Libyan journalist Daif al Ghazhl kidnapped from car in Tripoli.
2006 – June 1 – “BBC China, CIA, MI6” Article by Dr. Ludwing DeBracckeleer published.
2006 – June 2 – Body of Libyan journalist Daif al Ghazhl found tortured and murdered.
2006 – August – Tuesday – Press of Atlantic City reports on City Council balking at backing Seth Grossman’s Richard Somers Day event. Sally Hastings of SPHS saves the day.
2006 – September 2 – Saturday – Press of Atlantic City reports on backchannel negotiations [see: Group confident 1804 naval hero will be brought home By Michael Clark].
2006- September 4 – Attorney Seth Grossman organizes an assembly at the grounds of Somers Mansion, where people gather to commemorate Richard Somers and ensure that the anniversary is acknowledged with a civic ceremony.
2006 – September 22 – Mohamed Eljahmi – A Libyan democracy activist in Boston writes op-ed: “Engaging Gadhafi hurts war on terror – By making the tyrant a test for nuclear diplomacy, the White House abandoned Libyan democrats.”
2006 – September 24 – Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice meets privately with her Libyan counterpart, Foreign Minister Abdurahman Shalgam in New York, emphasizing “what the United States sees as a need to resolve outstanding legal issues related to the 1988 bombing of Pan Am flight 103.”
2006 – October 6 – Libya issues oil contracts.
