Young Midshipman Wilmer was on the first U.S. Navy ship to cross the equator and first to double the Cape of Good Hope, Africa, in 1800. He served in the First Barbary War and in the War of 1812 in the Caribbean Sea and the coasts of South America.
"The United States ship of war Alext, commanded by Lieutenant James P. Wilmer, arrived at this port yesterday, in 14 days from St. John's, Newfoundland, with 232 prisoners. She was captured on the 13th of August by Captain Porter, of the United States' frigate Essex, who on the 19th stripped her of all armaments excepting one gun, and sent her as cartel to St. John's with her officers, crew and other English prisoners of war amounting to 120 men," the National Intelligencer reported on September 22, 1812.
--Brock-Perry
2012 marks the 200th anniversary of America's "Forgotten War," the War of 1812 that took place over three years, 1812 to 1815.
Battle of New Orleans.
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