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93  10 “I cannot suffer men to be taken from me by force” D ecatur set to work restoring discipline and order on the ship. He had two men court-martialed, “one for desertion, the other for mutinous & seditious expressions, & insolence to his officers,” in order, he told Secretary Smith, “that proper punishment will check those evils, which otherwise may become serious.”1 When he had first stepped aboard the Chesapeake, he found Midshipman William Sim under arrest for “ungentlemanly conduct.” Decatur freed Sim, thinking that with war imminent “I should have immediate use for all the officers.” But Sim “unfortunately drinks hard,” and fearing that “his example will be injurious to the younger Midshipmen,” Decatur gave him “permission to leave the ship.”2 Among the officers Decatur found similar problems. Lieutenant John Davis , he reported, “for a long time past” had been “in the habit of drinking to excess,” which left his mind “in a deranged state for some weeks” before he shot himself through the head. Davis left behind many debts. The Argus’s purser, John Lyon, was “in the habit of frequenting gambling houses,” and was a regular at the Eagle Tavern’s gambling table. Decatur at first tried to convince Lyon of the “impropriety of any person entrusted with public money visiting such places.” Lyon gave his word of “honour if [Decatur] would not report him” to the navy secretary, then “he would not visit such places for the future.” Lyon nevertheless continued “to gamble,” and just a few nights later was “betting as high as Thirty Dollars on a card” at the Eagle Tavern. Decatur did not have another purser for the Argus; he warned the brig’s captain of Lyon’s gambling, and when Lyon came to collect his ship’s cash before sailing , Decatur withheld it, knowing that Lyon would use it to cover his gambling debts before sailing out of Norfolk.3 Gambling was not the only problem on board. Decatur’s former secretary, a Mr. Petty, was too often drunk, and he and Richard Crump had “disgrace [d] themselves by boxing while on shore at Norfolk.” Both had been drinking and were “equally to blame.” Neither man’s behavior, Decatur reported , “since they have been under my command has been correct.” He kept both boxers in the brig.4 Court-martialing, dismissing, and incarcerating troublemakers would, Decatur hoped, be a lesson for other sailors. The marine detachment, however, 94 chapter ten was another story. “The Marines on board the Chesapeake are the worst detachment I have ever seen,” he complained. “More than four fifths of them are foreigners, they are bad soldiers, turbulent men, & few of them able bodied.” When the Leopard attacked, these marines had refused to fire unless given a direct order to do so. This was unacceptable to Decatur. “Our marines ,” he told Smith, “we have ever considered as our sheet anchors, men whom we can rely upon in the worst of times.” But these men were worthless. He knew there were better marines in Washington but was “told they have selected their worst for us.”5 He asked Smith to send him better marines. Drunken and disorderly sailors, incompetent marines: these were not Decatur ’s only problems. Britain threatened the nation at sea, and Aaron Burr threatened from the west. As Decatur was preparing the fleet against a British attack, he was summoned away to Richmond to testify before the grand jury investigating Burr’s conspiracy. In September he returned to Richmond for the trial, though he was not called to testify. The government’s star witness against Burr was his former co-conspirator, General James Wilkinson, who challenged Congressman John Randolph to a duel after Randolph publicly charged Wilkinson with corruption. Decatur’s friend Littleton Tazewell thought that the idea of meeting the disgraced Wilkinson “on the field of honor” was absurd, and predicted that Jefferson would dismiss Wilkinson from the army just as he had dismissed Richard Morris from the navy. But Army Captain John Saunders, commander of Fort Nelson in Norfolk, knew the army and Jefferson better than Tazewell did; he bet that Wilkinson would not be dismissed. Tazewell and Saunders wagered a coat on the outcome. Decatur thought this a safe bet. Wilkinson had even arrested innocent civilians who threatened to betray his duplicity. Surely Jefferson would not keep such a tarnished officer in the ranks. Saunders won two coats, as Decatur and Tazewell lost their bets, as well as...

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