From the May 10, 2021, Decatur (Illinois) Herald and Review "City bears name of a hero, Decatur" by John Reidy.
When Stephen Decatur lead a successful raiding party into Tripoli Harbor to burn the captured U.S. frigate Philadelphia, it was called "the most daring act of the age" by none other than Britain's Admiral Horatio Nelson.
On that night in February 1804, the United States had a new hero as well, 21-year-old Lieutenant Stephen Decatur.
In 1829, nine years after his death in a duel at the hands of another rival in the Navy, a new city was founded in Central Illinois which bore his name.
Decatur was our country's first post-Revolutionary War national hero, leading by example in the Quasi-War vs. France, the Barbary Wars of North Africa before reaching legendary status when his frigate USS United States defeated the British frigate HMS Macedonian in the War of 1812.
He was swiftly promoted to captain then commodore.
--Brock-Perry
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