The following account of the life of Commodore Uriah P. Levy is excerpted from the forthcoming book "Fireside Chats - The Forging of the United States Navy" by Rear Admiral Stuart F. Platt and Duffrey Sigurdson.

Uriah Phillips Levy was born in Philadelphia, April 22nd 1792. His family were Sephardic Jews whose roots in America went back to Levys Great-Great Grandfather, Dr. Samuel Nunez, and to his Grandfather Jonas Phillips. Nunez had been the personal physician to the King of Portugal and, fleeing the inquisition, he emigrated first to England and then to the American colonies in 1733. He landed ashore with a British fleet under the command of General James Oglethorpe and helped found the city of Savannah, the first outpost in the new colony of Georgia.

Phillips was a veteren of the American Revolution, friend to George Washington who was a guest at his wedding, and an ardent and vocal Patriot. He was also the President of the Mikveh Israel Congregation in Philadelphia.

At the age of ten Levy "ran away" to sea. Levy's mother let him go, but only after she had extracted a solemn promise from him that he would return home for his bar mitzvah!

Uriah did not disappoint her and two years later he returned to Philadelphia. At the age of 14, his Bar Mitzvah behind him, he signed on for a further 4 years of service in the merchant fleet. By the year 1811, his apprenticeship over, he had managed to put together enough money to purchase a part interest in the Sailing Brig "George Washington". He was 19 years of age and he had command of his first ship.

In a defiant show of his faith, in an era of almost global anti-semitism, he had a Mezuzah afixed to the door of his cabin. A Mezuzah is a small case containing a holy scroll and is affixed to the door to remind those persons of Jewish faith entering within, of God's presence.

His time at the helm of his own ship was short, the next year war broke out and Levy joined the United States Navy. During the War of 1812 as history came to know it, Levy held the rank of "sailing master" aboard the U.S.S. Argus.

In 1813 U.S.S. Argus was ordered to France and then into the English Channel and Irish Sea. For the first part of the raid things went well, 21 ships were captured or sunk. On the morning of August 14 1813 however, Argus had the misfortune to appear on the horizon of His Majesty's Brig "Pelican". Although the two ships were similarly armed, each carrying 18 main guns, Pelican was sailing in her home waters and quickly got the measure of Argus. Wthin minutes it was over, Argus was unable to manouver and Lieutenant William H. Allen and 9 others among the crew were dead or dying. Levy and the other survivors were taken prisoner and they spent the remainder of the war as prisoners of the Crown at notorious Dartmoor Prison. The Argus was towed to Plymouth, England as a prize of war and sold by the Admiralty.

In the Summer of 1816, while serving aboard the U.S.S. Franklin, Levy attended a ball at which a young Lieutenant made a public show of bumping in to him, not once but three times. Levy slapped him and the enraged man then cursed him as a Jew, to which Levy is reported to have replied, "That I am a Jew, I neither deny nor regret". The two men where quickly separated, but it was far from over.

A formal challenge to a duel was issued to Levy the next morning by the offended Officer and the two men met on the field of honor in a New Jersey meadow on the morning of June 21, 1816. Levy said a Hebrew prayer and then offered his foe the opportunity of forgetting the matter there and then. When his offer was rejected, they squared off at the traditional 20 paces and the challenger was given the first shot. He fired and missed, but Levy in a remarkable display of courage and honor then fired in the air, not attempting to point the pistol in the direction of the man who had challenged him. Again, shots were exchanged, the by now agitated Leuitenant missing and Levy firing into the air. Not until the fourth shot had actually nicked his ear, did Levy take aim for the first time. He fired, then turned and walked off the field, his single shot had struck home, killing his rival instantly. He was courtmartialed for his actions, but a verdict of not guilty was returned in the case.

Levy was commissioned as a Leiutenant in 1817 after his first court martial, but in a remarkable run of three successive billets, first aboard the U.S.S. United States, then U.S.S. Guerriere and lastly U.S.S. Spark he was courtmartialed again! In each case the decision was overturned on review or dealt with by reprimand.

After a relative period of calm in the storm of his career that lasted six years, Levy found himself serving onboard U.S.S. Cyane, a prize taken by U.S.S. Constitution and subsequently sold to the Navy during the war of 1812. By this time he was known amongst his fellow officers as a vocal opponent to the use of flogging to enforce discipline. This was heretical thinking to the Navy of the day.

During a period when Cyane was on station in South American waters, Levy saved the life of a fellow American who had been press ganged into the Brazilian Navy and his deed came to the attention of the then Emperor of Brazil, Dom Pedro. The Emporer was so impressed that he forbade his Navy from pressing Americans into Brazilian service and offered Levy a Command in the Imperial Navy. Levy's reply is legend… he told the Emperor “I would rather serve as a cabin boy in the United States Navy than hold the rank of Admiral in any other service in the world.”

If Levy were popular on Cyane it is certain his ideas on Corporal punishment were not. In any case, Levy challenged two of his fellow officers to duel, which brought him to the attention of a court martial once again. He was found guilty and was reprimanded.

Although he continued to meet objection and ridicule for his ideas on discipline, Levy made it his mission to abolish the practice of flogging, which he considered barbaric. He was finally given command of another ship. U.S.S. Vandalia was in poor shape and the crew was made up from the dregs of the fleet. It would be a true test of Levy's methods if he was to gain control of his command and his crew. His attempts at enforcing discipline with alternative punishments included forcing the offending crew to wear signs labeled with their crimes. It seems to have worked, he was able to report the Vandalia ready for sea 6 months after he took command.

Ironically, this search for alternative forms of punishment led to Levy being court-martialed for the sixth and final time three years later. In a further stroke of irony, the charge was for "cruel and scandalous" treatment of his crew! It is highly likely the charge would hold today, Levy was guilty of tarring and feathering the bare bottom of a malcontent, with the crew gathered as witness. In the context of the times, it was certainly the better alternative to the cat-o-nine tails.

Levy was not without friends however and he had an impeccable record of service if one disregarded the 6 courts martial, most of which had at their base level a distinct hint of Anti-Semitism. The last was reversed by President Tyler, to whom it must have been clear that Levy could hardly be guilty of an offence such as described, in light of the Navy's own practices.

Throughout his turbulent career Levy maintained an interest in life outside the Navy. He had invested wisely throughout the 1820’s primarily in real estate, most of it in the rapidly growing Manhattan district of New York City. He had become independently wealthy.

During a period of extended leave and while awaiting a sea posting, Levy travelled to France where he lived for almost two years. While there he commissioned a statue of Thomas Jefferson by Pierre Jean David d'Angers, the renowned French sculptor. The statue was erected on the lawn of the Whitehouse in 1848 by President James Polk, but was removed to the rotunda of the Capitol building in Washington D.C. in 1873. It can still be seen there today. He also had a copy of the statue cast and it was presented to the City of New York.

Levy's greatest contribution to American history though, is likely his decision to purchase and restore the home of President Thomas Jefferson at Monticello. The buildings had fallen to ruin after the descendents of Jefferson, unable to provide for the upkeep of the 218 acre property, sold it in 1831 to a druggist from Charlottesville, one James T. Barclay. Barclay was unable to make a go of it either and in 1836 he sold the estate to Levy for $2700.

Levy took great pleasure in performing much of the restoration work himself, during his oft lengthy spells ashore. He quickly began to purchase parcels of land around the estate, raising the total acreage to 2700. Although his mother Ruth is buried there, it had never been Levy's intent to keep the property to himself and in what is likely the first gesture of it’s kind in America, he opened Monticello and the surrounding estate to the public as a National Historic Monument. He left the estate to the American People upon his death many years later.

Levy continued his service to the United States Navy during the 1840's and into the 1850's. Although he was dismissed from the Navy during this period and had to petition Congress for reinstatement, he was eventually promoted to Commodore and given command of the Mediterrenean fleet.

In 1861, at the outbreak of the Civil War, he was appointed to sit on the Court Martial Board in Washington D.C. where he was finally able to see his reforms take root in law and in practice. There he completed his work, the “Manual of Internal Rules and Regulations for Men of War”.

Levy died on March 26th, 1862 and is buried in Beth Olom Cemetery in Brooklyn, NY. In that same year the United States Navy formally abolished flogging.

Sources:

Ships of the World - An Historical Encyclopedia by Lincoln Paine. Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston, New York.

http://www.monticello.org/about/levy.html

http://www.whitehousehistory.org

http://www.cjh.org/academic/findingaids/AJHS/nhprc/UriahPLevy1f.html

http://www.mrbellersneighborhood.com/beller.cgi/sec8/commodore

www.history.navy.mil/photos/ pers-us/uspers-l/u-p-levy.htm

Photo Credits:

Uriah P Levy Painting - Naval Historical Center - Original Art Donated by Mrs. Charles Mayhoff

U.S.S. United States - U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph

http://www.duffreysigurdson.com/index2.htm