Two hundred years ago this week, two of New Jersey’s most famous naval heroes, Capt. James Lawrence and Commodore William Bainbridge, were looking for a fight as they commanded two of the nation’s most famous warships, the USS Hornet and the frigate USS Constitution.
Both men had come from similar backgrounds. Bainbridge was born in Princeton in 1774. His father was a Loyalist doctor who had been convicted of treason by the state of New Jersey for serving with the British Army.
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