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Historical records matching Commodore Stephen Champlin
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About Commodore Stephen Champlin
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=29864451
Stephen Champlin was born 17 November 1789 in South Kingston, Rhode Island, and lived in Lebanon, Connecticut on his father's farm, until the age of sixteen. Rejecting a future of farming, he became a seaman and attained the rank of captain in the West India trade within six years. At the beginning of the War of 1812, he was appointed sailing master in the U.S. Navy and given command of a gunboat. He was later ordered to Lake Erie where he took command of the schooner Scorpion for the 1813 Battle of Lake Erie. He is said to have fired the first and last shot of the battle, and did capture the British vessel Little Belt.
With this victory, he was placed in command of two captured British ships, the Queen Charlotte and Detroit. In 1814, as commander of the Tigris, he worked the blockade of the British port of Mackinac for several months. Under attack by a superior force of 400 British sailors and Indians, he was wounded by cannon fire with a shot that passed through one thigh and into the other, and captured.
After suffering under British imprisonment care for 38 days, he was paroled and returned to Connecticut to recover. In 1816, as commander of the Porcupine, he participated in mapping the U.S. and Canadian Boundary under the treaty of Ghent. He continued to serve the U.S. Navy until 1855, when he retired to the reserves. In 1862, he was promoted to the rank of Commodore. He suffered greatly from his 1814 war injury for the rest of his life. He fathered six children in Buffalo, New York, where he died 20 February 1870.
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Commodore Stephen Champlin's Timeline
| 1789 |
November 17, 1789
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S. Kingstown, Washington, RI, United States
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| 1823 |
1823
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Lebanon, New Haven, Connecticut
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| 1829 |
1829
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CT, United States
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| 1837 |
1837
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CT, United States
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| 1870 |
February 20, 1870
Age 80
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Buffalo, Erie, NY, United States
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February 1870
Age 80
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Forest Lawn Cemetery, Buffalo, Erie, NY, United States
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