John Paul Jones is a name that should be familiar to most Americans. He was a man of his time and was one of the most effective and famous of our Revolutionary patriots. This video, from the site, We Are the Mighty, will give you some of the most salient details of Jones’s extraordinary life.
Jones had been a successful merchant mariner before the Revolutionary War. He volunteered to fight against the British for this country’s freedom. That might have had something to do with his being of Scottish birth himself. Anyone seen Braveheart lately?
He was commissioned as a Lieutenant in the navy and made second in command of his first ship. Because of his skills, that ship, on its first mission, captured 16 British ships.
Jones was obviously a man with vision and tactical skills. He realized something early on in the war too; he reasoned that instead of attacking British ships close to our shores, he would take the fight to the British homeland. That way, the British would have to split their transport and warships between the war in America and protecting the homeland. Brilliant! He was successful in this mission as well.
Jones was a man of words. You all might recognize his famous quote during a battle where it appeared he might be losing and was asked if he wanted to surrender his ship. He said, “I have not yet begun to fight.” And he won.
He was a man moved by a moral code as well. He once said, “It seems to be a law of nature, inflexible and inexorable, that those who will not risk cannot win.” His skill as a tactician is revealed in the following quote as well: “Whoever can surprise must conquer.”
John Paul Jones is known as the Father of the United States Navy. Jones’s body was first buried in a Parisian cemetery. It was discovered in an unmarked grave in that cemetery about a century ago and was identified and finally moved to its final resting place at the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, MD.
We honor the life and the service of the American patriot John Paul Jones. Enjoy this video.