Famous American Naval Officers, 1794-1815: A Select Reading List
General Works
Allen, Gardner W. Our Naval War with France. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1909. 323 pp. (Reprinted 1967 by Shoestring).
Forester, Cecil S. The Age of Fighting Sail: The Story of the Naval War of 1812. Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1956. 284 pp.
Fowler, William M., Jr. Jack Tars and Commodores: The American Navy, 1783-1815. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1984. 318 pp.
Guttridge, Leonard F., and Jay D. Smith. The Commodores. Classics of Naval Literature. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press, 1984. 340 pp. First published in 1969 by Harper & Row.
Tucker, Glenn. Dawn Like Thunder: The Barbary Wars and the Birth of the U.S. Navy. Indianapolis: Bobbs Merrill, 1963. 487 pp.
Whipple, Addison B. C. To the Shores of Tripoli: The Birth of the U.S. Navy and Marines. New York: William Morrow & Co., 1991. 357 pp.
Biographies
William Bainbridge
Long, David F. Ready to Hazard: A Biography of Commodore William Bainbridge, 1774-1843. Hanover, N.H.: University Press of New England; distributed by University Microfilms International, 1981. 359 pp.
Joshua Barney
Footner, Hulbert. Sailor of Fortune: The Life and Adventures of Commodore Barney, U.S.N. New York: Harper, 1940. 323 pp.
James Biddle
Long, David F. Sailor-Diplomat: A Biography of Commodore James Biddle, 1783-1848. Boston: Northeastern Univ. Press, 1983. 312 pp.
Stephen Decatur
Lewis, Charles L. The Romantic Decatur. Philadelphia: Univ. of Pennsylvania Press, 1937. 296 pp.
Isaac Hull
Grant, Bruce. Isaac Hull, Captain of Old Ironsides. Chicago: Pellegrini & Cudahy, 1947. 418 pp.
Maloney, Linda M. The Captain from Connecticut: The Life and Naval Times of Isaac Hull. Boston: Northeastern Univ. Press, 1986. 549 pp.
James Lawrence
Gleaves, Albert. James Lawrence, Captain, United States Navy, Commander of the "Chesapeake." New York: Putnam, 1904, 337 pp.
Thomas Macdonough
Burdick, Virginia Mason. Captain Thomas Macdonough: Delaware Born Hero of the Battle of Lake Champlain. Wilmington, Del.: Delaware Heritage Press, 1991. 100 pp.
Oliver Hazard Perry
Dillon, Richard. We Have Met the Enemy: Oliver Hazard Perry, Wilderness Commodore. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1978. 231 pp.
David Porter
Long, David F. Nothing Too Daring: A Biography of Commodore David Porter, 1780-1843. Annapolis: U.S. Naval Institute, 1970. 396 pp.
Edward Preble
McKee, Christopher. Edward Preble: A Naval Biography, 1761-1807. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press, 1972. 394 pp.
Pratt, Fletcher. Preble's Boys: Commodore Preble and the Birth of American Sea Power. New York: Wm. Sloane, 1950. 419 pp.
Silas Talbot
Fowler, William M., Jr. Silas Talbot: Captain of Old Ironsides. Mystic, Conn.: Mystic Seaport Museum, 1995. 231 pp.
Thomas Truxtun
Ferguson, Eugene S. Truxtun of the Constellation: The Life of Commodore Thomas Truxtun, U.S. Navy, 1775-1822. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Univ. Press, 1956. 322 pp. (Reprinted 1982 by Naval Institute Press).