Alexander Laws

Who is Alexander Laws?

Alexander Laws was an American sailor commissioned as a midshipman on 15 May 1800, and served in the ship Ganges during the Quasi-War with France. Discharged under the Peace Establishment Act on 12 August 1801, he was again appointed midshipman on 25 August 1802. Initially assigned to the frigate Constitution, he volunteered to take part in the daring expedition under Lieutenant Stephen Decatur, Jr., to board the captured U.S. frigate Philadelphia, moored “within half gunshot of the Pasha’s castle” in Tripoli harbor and put her to the torch.

On 16 February 1804, Decatur laid his command, the ketch Intrepid, alongside the captured frigate and, as Captain Edward Preble later wrote, “in a Gallant and Officer[-]like manner, boarded and carried her against all opposition…” Silence cloaked the bold American attack. “Not a musket or Pistol was fired on our side,” Preble reported, “everything [was accomplished] by the sword and tomawhawk.” Laws served under Lieutenant James Lawrence, who, with Midshipman Thomas Macdonough and ten men seized Philadelphia’s berth deck and forward storerooms.