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Stockton (ROBERT FIELD an American naval)

ROBERT FIELD, an American naval officer; born in Princeton, N. J., Aug. 20, 1795; entered the navy in 1810; was promoted lieutenant in 1814; engaged in the war with Tripoli in 1814-1815; went to Africa in 1821 in command of the "Erie," where he secured the territory forming the present republic of Liberia; was sent against the pirates and slavers in the West Indies in the fall of the same year; and served as flag-officer in the Mediterranean under Preble in 1838-1839. He was one of the earliest advocates of a steam navy; drew the plans for the steam sloop of war "Princeton," the explosion of one of whose guns at Washington in 1844 caused the death of the secretaries of war and the navy; was actively interested in the construction of the Delaware and Raritan canal; and during the Mexican War, as commander of the naval forces on the Pacific, took possession of California in the name of the United States. On his return in 1850 he resigned his commission; entered politics; and in 1851 was elected to the United States Senate, where he introduced and put through a bill for the abolition of flogging in the navy, and also urged the adoption of measures for coast defense. In 1853, however, he retired from the Senate, and devoted himself to the development of the Delaware and Raritan canal. He died in Princeton, N. J., Oct. 7, 1866.

STODDARD STOICS