in the Civil
War, received his friend's last words.

"I tried to stand firm when I was wounded, but I could not. The blow
blinded me."

Terry was tried for murder, but by influence and other means he was
never convicted, and escaped all punishment save that inflicted by his
conscience.

In judging these affairs, it must be remembered that many of the most
prominent Americans of the past--Benton, Clay, Calhoun and Houston
among them--fought duels. And it is well known that only Abraham
Lincoln's wit and humor saved him from a deadly encounter with General
James Shields, whose challenge he accepted.

[1] The reader may consult my book "The True Andrew Jackson" for a
detailed account of this interesting transaction.

[2] See my "Border Fights and Fighters" in this series for an account
of this dramatic and heroic adventure.

{261}

III

The Cruise of the _Tonquin_

A Forgotten Tragedy in Early American History

On the morning of the 8th of September, 1810, two ships were running
side by side before a fresh southwesterly breeze off Sandy Hook, New
York. One was the great United States ship _Constitution_, Captain
Isaac Hull; the other was the little full-rigged ship _Tonquin_, of two
hundred and ninety tons burden.

This little vessel was captained by one Jonathan Thorn, who was at the
time a lieutenant in the United States Navy. He had obtained leave of
absence for the purpose of making a cruise in the _Tonquin_. Thorn was
a thoroughly experienced seaman and a skilled and practised navigator.
He was a man of magnificent physique, with a fine war record.

He was with Decatur in the _Intrepid_ when he put the captured
_Philadelphia_ to flames six years before. In the subsequent desperate
gunboat fighting at Tripoli, Midshipman Thorn had borne so
distinguished a part that he received special commendation by Commodore
Preble. As to his other qualities, Washington Irving, who knew him
from infancy, wrote of him to the last with a warm affection which
nothing could diminish.

Mr. John Jacob Astor, merchant, fur-trader, financier, had pitched upon
Thorn as the best man to take {262} the ship bearing the first
representatives of the Pacific Fur Company around the Horn and up to
the far northwestern American coast to make the first settlement at
Astoria, whose history is so interwoven with that of our country.

Mr. Astor already monopolized the fur trade of the Far West south of
the Great Lake