USS ''Morris'' was a 24-gun
frigate
A frigate () is a type of warship. In different eras, the roles and capabilities of ships classified as frigates have varied.
The name frigate in the 17th to early 18th centuries was given to any full-rigged ship built for speed and maneuvera ...
of the
Continental Navy
The Continental Navy was the navy of the United Colonies and United States from 1775 to 1785. It was founded on October 13, 1775 by the Continental Congress to fight against British forces and their allies as part of the American Revolutionary ...
in commission from 1778 to 1779. She was named for
Founding Father
The following is a list of national founders of sovereign states who were credited with establishing a state. National founders are typically those who played an influential role in setting up the systems of governance, (i.e., political system ...
, Continental Congressman, and a major financier of the American Revolution,
Robert Morris
Robert or Bob Morris may refer to:
:''Ordered chronologically within each section.'' Politics and the law
* Robert Hunter Morris (1700–1764), lieutenant governor of Colonial Pennsylvania
* Robert Morris (financier) (1734–1806), one of the Foun ...
.
During the
American Revolutionary War
The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was the armed conflict that comprised the final eight years of the broader American Revolution, in which Am ...
a party twenty-nine men of the
13th Virginia Regiment
The 13th Virginia Regiment was a United States infantry regiment during the American Revolutionary War.
Summary
The 13th Virginia Regiment was authorized on 16 September 1776 by the Continental Congress for service with the Continental Army d ...
led by
James Willing
James Willing (1750–1801) was a representative of the American Continental Congress who led a 1778 military expedition during the American Revolutionary War. Known as the Willing Expedition, the effort involved raiding British forts, plantatio ...
departed
Fort Pitt and traveled down the Mississippi river where they captured the British ship ''Rebecca'' moored at
Fort Bute
Fort Bute (1766–1779) was a colonial fort built by the British in 1766 to protect the confluence of Bayou Manchac with the Mississippi River and was named in honor of the Earl of Bute. Fort Bute was located on Bayou Manchac, about 115 miles (18 ...
.
Oliver Pollock
Oliver Pollock (1737, Bready, County Tyrone, Northern Ireland – December 17, 1823, Pinckneyville, Mississippi) was a merchant and financier of the American Revolutionary War, of which he has long been considered a historically undervalued ...
, the American commercial agent at
New Orleans
New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...
who had charge of naval affairs on the Mississippi during the American Revolution, purchased ''Rebecca'' for the
Continental Congress
The Continental Congress was a series of legislature, legislative bodies, with some executive function, for the Thirteen Colonies of British America, Great Britain in North America, and the newly declared United States before, during, and after ...
.
[Marshall Sprague. ]
So Vast, So Beautiful a Land: Louisiana and the Purchase
'. Swallow/Ohio University Press; 1 April 1991. . p. 206. The ship was renamed ''Morris'' and was manned and converted to a
Man-of-war
In Royal Navy jargon, a man-of-war (also man-o'-war, or simply man) was a powerful warship or frigate of the 16th to the 19th century, that was frequently used in Europe. Although the term never acquired a specific meaning, it was usually rese ...
under the command of
Captain
Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...
William Pickles.
[Frederick Stephen Ellis. ]
St. Tammany Parish
'. Pelican Publishing; . p. 51–52.
A severe
hurricane
A tropical cyclone is a rapidly rotating storm system with a low-pressure area, a closed low-level atmospheric circulation, strong winds, and a spiral arrangement of thunderstorms that produce heavy rain and squalls. Depending on its ...
destroyed ''Morris'' on 18 August 1779, causing the loss of 11 of her crew.
[Paul H. Silverstone. ]
The Sailing Navy, 1775-1854
'. Taylor & Francis; 2006. . p. 15.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Morris (1778)
Frigates of the Continental Navy