Daniel Carmick

Who was Daniel Carmick?

Daniel Carmick, born in Philadelphia, Pa., in 1772, was appointed a lieutenant of Marines on USS Ganges on May 5, 1798, and entered the newly formed United States Marine Corps as a captain on July 11, 1798. During the Quasi-War with France, he commanded the marine detachment on the USS Constitution, and led the daring attack to spike the cannon in the fort at Puerto Plata, Santo Domingo.

Major Carmick served with distinction in the Mediterranean, and commanded the Marines in the Battle of New Orleans in the War of 1812. When the war began, the U.S. naval presence in New Orleans was perhaps stronger than at any point in the country, certainly as to "gunboats," the shallow-draft coastal and riverine craft. Wounded December 28, 1814 by a Congreve rocket in one of the engagements which set the stage for the more famous Battle of New Orleans, Major Carmick died November 6, 1816. He is buried in St. Louis Cemetery Number 2 in New Orleans.