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Narrative of the Campaign of the Liman, John Paul Jones wrote of victoriously sailing his 24-gun flagship Vladimir against the Muslim Turks by the Black Sea's Dnieper River.
Thomas Jefferson wrote to M. Limozin, 1788:
"You have heard of the great victory (in the Black Sea) obtained by the Russians under command of Admiral Paul Jones, over the Turks commanded by the Captain Pacha."
Thomas Jefferson wrote to William Carmichael, 1788:
"I am pleased with the promotion of our countryman, Paul Jones. He commanded...in the first engagement between the Russian and Turkish galleys...prov(ing) his superiority over the Captain Pacha, as he did not choose to bring his ships into the shoals in which the Pacha ventured...
I consider this officer as the principal hope of our future efforts on the ocean."
When the Empress of Russia wanted to award him the St. Anne Decoration, John Paul Jones asked Jefferson if this was permitted, to which Jefferson replied in 1791:
"In answer to your request to obtain and transmit the proper authority of the United States for your retaining the Order of St. Anne, conferred on you by the Empress (of Russia).
The Executive are not authorized either to grant or refuse the permission you ask."
Shortly before he died, Jones was appointed as U.S. Consul in Paris to negotiate the release of captured U.S. Navy officers held in the Muslim dungeons of Algiers.
Jefferson wrote to John Paul Johns, June 1, 1792:
"Sir, The President of the United States...thought proper to appoint you commissioner for treating with the Dey (governor)...of Algiers, on the subjects of peace and ransom of our captives...
It will be necessary to give you a history...
On the 25th of July, 1785, the schooner Maria, Captain Stevens, belonging to a Mr. Foster, of Boston, was taken off Cape St. Vincents, by an Algerine cruiser;
and 5 days afterwards, the ship Dauphin, Captain O'Bryan, belonging to Messrs. Irwins of Philadelphia, was taken by another, about 50 leagues westward of Lisbon.
These vessels, with their cargoes and crews, 21 persons in number, were carried into Algiers...
We therefore gave...instruction to Mr. Lambe to ransom our captives, if it could be done for 200 dollars a man, as we know that 300 French captives had been just ransomed by the Mathurins (Catholic Religious Order), at a price very little above this sum.
He proceeded to Algiers; but his mission proved fruitless.
He wrote us word from thence, that the Dey asked 59,496 dollars for the 21 captives...
In February, 1787, I wrote to Congress to ask leave to employ the Mathurins of France in ransoming our captives;
and on the 19th of September, I received their orders to do so, and to call for the money from our bankers at Amsterdam, as soon as it could be furnished...
This expedient was rendered abortive by the revolution of France, the derangement of ecclesiastical orders there, and the revocation of church property...
It has been a fixed principle with Congress to establish the rate of ransom of American captives with the Barbary states at as low a point as possible, that it may not be the interest of those states to go in quest of our citizens in preference to those of other countries...
We look forward to the necessity of coercion by cruises on their coast."
American Minute-Notable Events of American Significance Remembered on the Date They Occurred Thomas Jefferson wrote in April of 1792:
"President Washington wished to redeem our captives at Algiers and to make peace with them on paying an annual tribute. The Senate were willing to approve this...
He agreed he would enter into the provisional treaties with the Algerines, not to be binding on us till ratified here."
Thomas Jefferson wrote to Colonel David, 1793:
"I do not wonder that Captain O'Bryan has lost patience under his long continued captivity, and that he may suppose some of the public servants have neglected him and his brethren.
He may possibly have imputed neglect to me, because a forbearance to correspond with him would have that appearance, though it was dictated by the single apprehension,
that if he received letters from me as Minister Plenipotentiary of the United States at Paris, or as Secretary of State, it would increase the expectations of his captors, and raise the ransom beyond what his countrymen would be disposed to give and so end in their perpetual captivity.
But, in truth, I have labored for them constantly and zealously..."
Jefferson ended:
"The unfortunate death of two successive commissioners (John Paul Jones and Mr. Barclay) have still retarded their relief."
John Paul Jones died July 18, 1792 and was buried at Paris in St. Louis Cemetery for Alien Protestants.
During the French Revolution's Reign of Terror the cemetery was neglected and sold, resulting in John Paul Jones' body being lost track of.
When his grave was finally identified, President Theodore Roosevelt wrote February 13, 1905:
"The remains of Admiral John Paul Jones were interred in a certain piece of ground in the city of Paris...used...as a burial place for foreign Protestants...
The great service done by him toward the achievement of independence...lead me to...do proper honor to the memory of John Paul Jones."
His remains were transported to the U.S. Naval Academy Chapel in Annapolis, Maryland, where they are guarded 24 hours a day.
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Faith in History