Captain James Lawrence was an American Naval Captain during the War of 1812 and he is buried here in the churchyard cemetery of Trinity Church in downtown Manhattan. The monument atop his gravesite is about 10 feet tall...and has the appearance of a stone casket atop a stone plinth.
The inscription reads:
"In memory of Captain JAMES LAWRENCE, of the United States Navy, who fell on the 1st day of June 1813, in the 32nd year of his age, in the action between the frigates Chesapeake and Shannon. He was distinguished on various occasions, but especially, when commanding the sloop of war Hornet he captured and sunk his Brittanick Majesty's sloop of war Peacock after a desperate action of fourteen minutes.
His bravery in action was equalled only by his modesty in triumph, and his magnanimity to the vanguished.
In private life, he was a Gentleman of the most generous and endearing qualities; the whole nation mourned his loss and the Enemy contended with his Countrymen who should most honor his remains."
Wikipedia (
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"James Lawrence (October 1, 1781 – June 4, 1813) was an American naval officer. During the War of 1812, he commanded the USS Chesapeake in a single-ship action against HMS Shannon (commanded by Philip Broke). He is probably best known today for his last words or "dying command" "Don't give up the ship!", which is still a popular naval battle cry, and which was invoked by Oliver Hazard Perry's personal battle flag, adopted to commemorate his dead friend...
Lawrence was born in Burlington, New Jersey but raised in Woodbury, New Jersey, the son of John and Martha (Tallman) Lawrence. His mother died when he was an infant and his Loyalist father fled to Canada during the American Revolution, leaving his half-sister to care for the infant. Though Lawrence studied law, he entered the United States Navy as a midshipman in 1798.
During the Quasi-War with France, he served on USS Ganges and the frigate USS Adams in the Caribbean. He was commissioned a lieutenant on April 6, 1802 and served aboard USS Enterprise in the Mediterranean, taking part in a successful attack on enemy craft on 2 June 1803.
In February 1804, he was second in command during the expedition to destroy the captured frigate USS Philadelphia. Later in the conflict he commanded Enterprise and a gunboat in battles with the Tripolitans. He was also First Lieutenant of the frigate Adams and, in 1805, commanded the small Gunboat No. 6 during a voyage across the Atlantic to North Africa.
Although Gunboats No. 2 through 10 (minus No. 7) arrived in the Mediterranean too late to see action, they remained there with Commodore Rodgers's squadron until summer 1806, at which time they sailed back to the United States. On 12 June 1805 Gunboat No. 6 encountered a Royal Navy vessel that impressed three seamen.
Subsequently, Lieutenant Lawrence commanded the warships USS Vixen, USS Wasp and USS Argus. In 1810, he also took part in trials of an experimental spar torpedo... Promoted to the rank of Master Commandant in November 1810, he took command of the sloop of war USS Hornet a year later and sailed her to Europe on a diplomatic mission. From the beginning of the War of 1812, Lawrence and Hornet cruised actively, capturing the privateer Dolphin in July 1812. Later in the year Hornet blockaded the British sloop HMS Bonne Citoyenne at Bahia, Brazil, and on 24 February 1813 captured HMS Peacock."