Stephen Decatur

American naval hero - biography here. I actually had never heard of this fellow before but I was reading up about the Jersey Devil and apparently Decatur saw it while inspecting cannonballs and fired at it. The reason I was reading about the Jersey Devil was I was reading about a movie which has the origins of this creature as a Native American dedicating his 13th son to the Devil to fight the Americans in the Revolution.
Anyway back to Stephen Decatur, Jr. (5 January 1779 – 22 March 1820) was an American naval officer notable for his heroism in the Barbary Wars and in the War of 1812. He was the youngest man to reach the rank of captain in the history of the United States Navy, and the first American celebrated as a national military hero who had not played a role in the American Revolution. Also fought in the
Quasi War - between France and the US - 1798-1800 - I didn't know about this 'conflict' either - (it's great when one thing leads to another)
In the United States, the conflict was sometimes also referred to as the Franco-American War, the Undeclared War with France, the Undeclared Naval War, the Pirate Wars, or the Half-War.