Combat· Quasi-War with France
Trumbull skirmish vs French 18-gun brig
In one of the last actions of the Quasi-War, the USS Trumbull fought a brief skirmish with a French 18-gun brig before reaching New London in March 1801.
The engagement cost the Marines one of their own: Corporal Beehy, of Sergeant James P. Mix's Marine guard aboard the Trumbull, took a ball in the arm and was sent to the hospital when the ship made port. The fight came right at the close of the war, as the Convention of 1800 worked its way toward ratification and orders went out for American ships to keep cruising until peace was confirmed, since French depredations on commerce were not expected to stop before then. Small as it was, the skirmish was part of the war's final flurry of actions in early 1801, fought by ships and Marines who in many cases did not yet know the conflict was all but over.
Podcast episodes on Quasi-War with France
Record no. 191