Editing Silas Talbot

{{Short description|American American Continental Army officer (1751–1813)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=October 2020}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name        = Silas Talbot
| image       = Silas Talbot engraving.jpg
| office      = Member of the [[United States House of Representatives|U.S. House of Representatives]] from [[New York's 10th congressional district]]
| term_start  = March 4, 1793
| term_end    = June 5, 1794
| preceded    = ''none''
| succeeded   = [[William Cooper (judge)|William Cooper]]
| birth_name  = 
| birth_date  = {{birth date|1751|01|11}}
| birth_place = [[Dighton, Massachusetts|Dighton]], [[Province of Massachusetts Bay|Massachusetts]], [[British America]]
| death_date  = {{death date and age|1813|06|30|1751|01|11}}
| death_place = [[New York City]], [[New York (state)|New York]], U.S.
| party       = [[Federalist Party]]
| branch      = [[Continental Army]] <br /> [[Continental Navy]] <br /> [[United States Navy]]
| battles     = 
{{tree list}}
* [[American Revolutionary War]]
** [[Siege of Boston]]
** [[Battle of Rhode Island]]
* [[Quasi-War]]
** [[Battle of Puerto Plata Harbor]]
{{tree list/end}}
| rank        = [[Captain]]
}}

[[Captain]] '''Silas Talbot''' (January 11, 1751{{spnd}}June 30, 1813) was an officer in the [[Continental Army]] and [[Continental Navy]] during the [[American Revolutionary War]].  Talbot is most famous for commanding {{USS|Constitution}} from 1799 to 1801. Silas Talbot was a member of the [[Society of the Cincinnati]]'s [[New York (state)|New York]] branch.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Aimone|first=Alan Conrad|date=2005|title=New York State Society of the Cincinnati: Biographies of Original Members and Other Continental Officers (review)|url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1353/jmh.2005.0002|journal=The Journal of Military History|volume=69|issue=1|pages=231–232|doi=10.1353/jmh.2005.0002|s2cid=162248285|issn=1543-7795|url-access=subscription}}</ref>

==Early life==

Talbot was born on 11 January 1751 at [[Dighton, Massachusetts|Dighton]] in the [[Province of Massachusetts Bay]], into a large farming family. At twelve, he took to seafaring, serving as a cabin boy in a coasting vessel. Talbot's performance proved outstanding, and by 1772 had saved up enough money to buy property on Weybosset Street in Providence, Rhode Island, and build a stone home, having learned the trade of stone masonry earlier in life.<ref name=Talbot48>{{cite book |last=Eastman |first=Ralph M. |title=Some Famous Privateers of New England |publisher=Kessinger Publishing, LLC |year=2004 |page=48 |isbn=1-4179-0676-6 |ref=Eastman |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=47qAqAqUlawC}}</ref> He enslaved people.<ref name="Congress slaveowners">{{Citation|title=Congress slaveowners|date=2022-01-13|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/interactive/2022/congress-slaveowners-names-list/|newspaper=The Washington Post|access-date=2022-07-05}}</ref>

==Military service==

===American Revolutionary War===
On June 28, 1775, Talbot received the commission of a captain in the [[2nd Rhode Island Regiment]].<ref name=Talbot48/> After participating in the [[siege of Boston]], Talbot and the [[Continental Army]] began their march to New York. En route, they stopped at [[New London, Connecticut]], whose port had just received [[Esek Hopkins]], who had just landed from a naval expedition to the [[Bahamas]]. After learning that Hopkins would petition General George Washington for 200 volunteers needed to assist his squadron in reaching Providence, Talbot volunteered his services in this effort.

After Talbot made his way back to New York, where he was aiding in the transportation of troops, he obtained command of a [[fire ship]] and attempted to use it to set fire to the [[Royal Navy]] warship [[HMS Asia (1764)|HMS ''Asia'']] on September 14, 1776. The attempt failed, but the daring it displayed, and that Talbot was severely burned during the effort, won him a promotion to [[Major (United States)|major]] on October 10, 1777, retroactive to September 1.<ref name=Talbot48/>

After suffering a severe wound at [[Fort Mifflin]] while fighting to defend [[Philadelphia, Pennsylvania|Philadelphia]], on October 23, 1777, Talbot returned to active service in the summer of 1778 and fought in the [[Battle of Rhode Island]] on August 28, 1778.

As commander of the 8-gun galley {{ship|HM galley|Pigot||2}} (which he had captured from the Royal Navy in the [[Sakonnet River]] on October 28, 1778), and later the 12-gun sloop {{USS|Argo||2}}<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.usni.org/magazines/naval-history-magazine/2020/february/leading-land-and-water |title=Leading on Land and Water |date=February 2020 | accessdate=31 May 2025}}</ref>, both under the Army, he cruised against [[Loyalist (American Revolution)|Loyalist]] vessels that were harassing [[American trade]] between [[Long Island]] and [[Nantucket]] and made prisoners of many of them. On November 14, 1778, the Continental Congress passed a resolution that recognized his success in capturing ''Pigot'' and promoted him to lieutenant colonel on the same date. In October of the same year, the Rhode Island General Assembly voted to present Talbot with a "genteel silver-hilted sword" for the same action. Silversmith John Gladding Gibbs of Providence made the sword.

====Continental Navy====
Because of his success fighting afloat for the Army, Congress commissioned Talbot as a captain in the [[Continental Navy]] on September 17, 1779. However, since [[United States Congress|Congress]] had no suitable [[warship]] to entrust to him, Talbot put to sea in command of the [[privateer]] ''General Washington''. He took one prize in it but soon ran into a Royal Navy fleet off New York. After a chase, he [[Striking the colors|struck his colors]] to ''Culloden'', a 74-gun British [[ship-of-the-line]] and remained a prisoner of war until exchanged for a British officer in December 1781.<ref name="Mystic Seaport">{{cite book | last=Fowler | first=William M. | year=1900 | title=Silas Talbot: Captain of Old Ironsides | publisher=Mystic Seaport Museum | page=231 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=X-wQAQAAMAAJ | isbn= 9780913372739}}</ref>

[[File:WSTM nathanschneider 0028.jpg|thumb|Talbot is buried at [[Trinity Church Cemetery|Trinity Churchyard]]. This photo represents the original, incorrect grave marker placed by the NY SAR. As of July 2019, a new, correct marker has been installed, following years of effort by Silas Talbot's 4th great-grandson, Peter J. Talbot. The original marker is now in his possession, gifted to him by Trinity Church.|alt=]]

====Slave trader====

Talbot was twice involved in mercantile enterprises, both for a [[slave ship]] cargo including slaves.  In late 1783 he had an interest in a cargo of produce and slaves shipped to Charleston, South Carolina, in the sloop PEGGY.   In August 1785 he bought half of the ninety-ton [[brigantine]] ''Industry''. Both vessels transported slaves from the Guinea region to Charleston. On one 1786 voyage of the ''Industry'', Talbot was notified by his solicitors, Murray, Mumford, and Bower, on 9 September 1786 of a significant financial loss: "We hear about one hundred & eighty Slaves off the coast of Guinea, near half of which died before the brig arrived in Charleston where she is now."<ref>Verhoeven, Wil., ''Gilbert Imlay and the Triangular Trade'', The William and Mary Quarterly, vol. 63, no. 4, 2006, pp. 827–42, JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/4491581, Accessed 12 Jul. 2022, for the letter quoted see p. 837.</ref><ref>''Slave Voyages'', vessel, Industry, Captain Benjamin Hooks, 1786, mortality rate 53.0 %, https://www.slavevoyages.org/voyage/database</ref>  Talbot later sold his half of the Industry, but as late as 1801 was still trying to collect his half of the cargo which he claimed he had not included in the sale.<ref>G.W. Blunt Library, Mystic Seaport, Silas Talbot Collection https://research.mysticseaport.org/coll/coll018/</ref>

===Postwar===
After the Revolutionary War, Talbot settled in [[Johnstown (city), New York|Johnstown]], the seat of [[Fulton County, New York]], where he purchased the former manor house and estate of [[Sir William Johnson, 1st Baronet|William Johnson]], the city founder.<ref>{{cite book | last=Decker | first= Lewis G. |title=Images of America: Johnstown | publisher=Arcadia Publishing | location=Charleston, South Carolina | year=1999 | isbn=0-7385-0174-3}}</ref> He was a member of the [[New York State Assembly]] in 1792 and 1792 to 1793.

===Congress and United States Navy===
In [[United States House of Representatives elections in New York, 1793|January 1793]], Talbot was elected as a [[Federalist Party|Federalist]] from New York to the [[3rd United States Congress]], serving from March 4, 1793, to approximately June 5, 1794, when President [[George Washington]] chose him third in a list of six captains of the newly established [[United States Navy]].<ref>See [https://books.google.com/books?id=NMaHAAAAMAAJ&q=silas+talbot+special+election ''The Democratic Republicans of New York: The Origins, 1763-1797''] by Alfred Fabian Young (1967; page 506) [says that Talbot resigned], but [https://books.google.com/books?id=A8VCAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA511 ''Abridgment of Debates in Congress, 1789 to 1856''] (Vol. I) has no entry of a formal resignation. Talbot is documented as voting until the end of May 1794 and, after the adjournment, not retaking his seat in November.</ref> During his time in Congress, he was one of nine representatives to vote against the [[Eleventh Amendment to the United States Constitution]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Voteview {{!}} Plot Vote: 3rd Congress > House > 9 |url=https://voteview.com/rollcall/RH0030009 |access-date=2023-08-21 |website=voteview.com}}</ref> He was ordered to superintend the construction of the frigate {{USS|President|1800|6}} at New York. On April 20, 1796, the construction of ''President'' was suspended, and Talbot was discharged from the Navy.

With the outbreak of the [[Quasi-War]] with the [[French First Republic]], Talbot was re-commissioned as a captain in the United States Navy on May 11, 1798. He served as commander of {{USS|Constitution}} from June 5, 1799, until September 8, 1801, sailing it to the [[West Indies]], where he protected American commerce from French privateers during the Quasi-War. He commanded the US Navy squadron which operated off the French colony of [[Saint-Domingue]] from 1799 to 1800 and was commended by the [[Secretary of the Navy]] for protecting American commerce and for laying the foundation of permanent trade with the colony. Talbot was reportedly wounded 13 times and carried 5 bullets in his body.<ref name="Mystic Seaport"/>

Talbot resigned from the Navy on September 21, 1801, and died in [[New York City]] on June 30, 1813. He was buried in Trinity Churchyard in [[lower Manhattan]].

==Legacy and honors==
The first {{USS|Talbot|TB-15|6}} (Torpedo Boat No. 15) was named for Lt. [[John Gunnell Talbot]], no relation to Silas Talbot; the second and third Talbots ([[USS Talbot (DD-114)|''Talbot'' (DD-114/APD 7)]] and [[USS Talbot (FFG-4)|''Talbot'' (DEG/FFG-4)]], respectively) were named for Captain Silas Talbot.

Talbot was an original member of the Rhode Island [[Society of the Cincinnati]].

Battery Talbot (1899–1919), named for Silas Talbot in G.O. 30, March 19, 1902, was a reinforced concrete Endicott Period 4.72-inch coastal gun battery on Fort Adams, Newport County, Rhode Island. Both of the original guns from this battery survive. One is on display at Equality Park in Newport, and the other is at [[Fort Moultrie]] National Park near [[Charleston, South Carolina]].

There is a [[cenotaph]] in honor of Captain Talbot in the Dighton Congregational Church cemetery in his hometown of [[Dighton, Massachusetts]].

==See also==
* [[John Paul Jones]]
* [[Thomas Truxtun]]
* [[Bibliography of early American naval history]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Bibliography==

* {{cite book | last=Bradford | author-link=James C. Bradford |first=James C. | year=1955 | title=Quarterdeck and bridge: two centuries of American naval leaders | publisher=Naval Institute Press | page=455 | isbn=1-55750-073-8 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gPy0qXw-fjkC}}
* {{cite book |last=Cooper |first=James Fenimore |title=History of the navy of the United States of America |author-link =James Fenimore Cooper |ref=Cooper |year=1856 |publisher=Stringer & Townsend, New York |pages=[https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_WK3mWOlYYNsC/page/n539 508] |oclc=197401914| url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_WK3mWOlYYNsC}}
* {{cite book | last=Fowler | first=William M. | title=Silas Talbot: Captain of Old Ironsides | location=Mystic, Connecticut | publisher=Mystic Seaport Museum | year=1995 | isbn=0-913372-73-0 | url-access=registration | url=https://archive.org/details/silastalbotcapta0000fowl }}
* {{cite book | last=Heitman | first=Francis B. | year=1914 | title=Historical Register of Officers of the Continental Army | publisher=The Rare Bookshop Publishing Company Inc. | page=531 | url=https://play.google.com/store/books/details?id=tZALAAAAIAAJ&rdid=book-tZALAAAAIAAJ&rdot=1}}
* {{cite book | last=McKee | first=Christopher |year=1991 |title=A Gentlemanly and Honorable Profession: The Creation of the U.S. Naval Officer Corps, 1794-1815 | publisher=Naval Institute Press | page=600 | isbn=9780870212833 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=btvxo_jkAnMC}}
* {{cite book | title = Tattered Ensign The Story of America's Most Famous Fighting Frigate, U.S.S. Constitution | last=Jennings | first=John| publisher=Thomas Y. Crowell | year=1966 | oclc = 1291484}}
* {{cite book | last=Statham | first=Edward Phillips | year=1910 | title=Privateers and privateering. With eight illustrations | publisher=Hutchinson & co / James Pott & Co., New York | page=382 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=p5kVAQAAIAAJ }}
* {{cite book | last=Tuckerman | first=Henry | year=2009 | title=The Life of Silas Talbot | publisher=Applewood Books, Bedford, Massachusetts | page=148 | isbn=9781429021593 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ct4R0aoRoQcC}}
* {{cite web |url=http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/index.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20000819035053/http://history.navy.mil/danfs/index.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=August 19, 2000 |title=Ships Histories Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships |publisher=Department of the Navy - Naval Historical Center |work=Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships |ref=DANFS |access-date=November 1, 2011}}

==External links==
* [http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=T000019 Biographic sketch at U.S. Congress website]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20030506095854/http://www.mysticseaport.org/library/manuscripts/coll/coll018/coll018.cfm#head63744416 Mystic Seaport: Biography of Silas Talbot]
* [https://www.pbs.org/georgewashington/collection/pres_1790jan31.html Letter from Silas Talbot to George Washington]

{{s-start}}
{{s-par|us-hs}}
{{US House succession box
| state=New York
| district= 10
| new= district
| after= [[William Cooper (judge)|William Cooper]]
| years= 1793–1794}}
{{s-end}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Talbot, Silas}}
[[Category:1751 births]]
[[Category:1813 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Dighton, Massachusetts]]
[[Category:People from colonial Massachusetts]]
[[Category:Pro-Administration Party members of the United States House of Representatives from New York (state)]]
[[Category:Members of the New York State Assembly]]
[[Category:American mass murderers]]
[[Category:American shooting survivors]]
[[Category:18th-century American slave traders]]
[[Category:Continental Army officers from Rhode Island]]
[[Category:Continental Navy officers]]
[[Category:Commanders of the USS Constitution]]
[[Category:People of Massachusetts in the American Revolution]]
[[Category:People of the Quasi-War]]
[[Category:Members of the United States House of Representatives who owned slaves]]
[[Category:18th-century members of the United States House of Representatives]]
[[Category:18th-century members of the New York State Legislature]]