Editing Jonathan Thorn (section)

==Early life and Naval career==
Born on 8 January 1779 in [[Schenectady, New York]], during the [[American Revolutionary War|Revolutionary War]], Thorn was the eldest of fifteen children of Samuel Thorn and Helena Van Slyck Thorn.<ref name=trgcdeath>{{cite web |url=http://www.ussjpkennedyjr.org/thorn647/ltthornbk.html |publisher=Friends of the USS J.P. Kennedy, Jr. |last=Thorn |first=Charles E. |title=Heroic life and tragic death of Lt. Jonathan Thorn, United States Navy |agency=(pamphlet)|date=June 1941 }}</ref>

He was appointed a [[midshipman]] at age 21 on 28 April 1800. His brother Robert Livingston also served in the U.S. Navy as a surgeon on the frigate {{USS|Constellation|1797|6}} during the [[War of 1812]]. His other brother, Herman, was a purser on the USS Wasp and the USS Peacock. Jonathon Thorn served in the Navy during the [[First Barbary War|Tripolitan War]] and volunteered to take part in the hazardous expedition to destroy the captured [[frigate]] [[USS Philadelphia (1799)|'' Philadelphia'']], which was moored beneath the guns of the defended [[Tripoli, Libya|Tripoli]] harbor. On 16 February 1804, Lieutenant [[Stephen Decatur]] led a party of these volunteers in the [[ketch]] [[USS Intrepid (1798)|'' Intrepid'']] into Tripoli and burned the American ship so it could not be used by the enemy. 

Attached to the [[schooner]] [[USS Enterprise (1799)|''Enterprise'']], Thorn was assigned to ''Gunboat No. 4'', under Decatur's command. In this vessel, he participated in the attack on Tripoli with [[Commodore (rank)|Commodore]] [[Edward Preble]]'s squadron on 3 August 1804. Specially commended by Decatur for his conduct in this battle, Thorn received command of one of the Tripolitan gunboats captured. On 7 August, he commanded this vessel and crew in the engagement with the Tripolitan pirates.<ref name=trgcdeath/>