Editing Reuben James

{{Short description|United States Navy boatswain's mate and war hero}}
{{use mdy dates|date=May 2025}}
{{use American English|date=May 2025}}
{{About||the 1970 Kenny Rogers and the First Edition song "Reuben James"|Ruby, Don't Take Your Love to Town (album)|U.S. Navy ships named Reuben James|USS Reuben James}}
{{Infobox military person
| name          = Reuben James
| image         = File:US Navy sailor Reuben James, painted by Dorothy Short, 1944.png
| image_size    = 200
| caption       = James, wounded after battle in Tripoli, as painted by Dorothy Short (1944)
| birth_date    = {{circa|1776}}
| death_date    = {{BirthDeathAge|{{^}}|1776|{{^}}|{{^}}|1838|12|3}}
| placeofburial_label = 
| placeofburial = 
| birth_place   = [[Delaware]]
| death_place   = [[Washington, D.C.]], U.S.
| placeofburial_coordinates = <!-- {{coord|LAT|LONG|display=inline,title}} -->
| nickname      =
| allegiance    = United States of America
| branch        = [[United States Navy]]
| serviceyears  = {{circa|1790s}}–1836 
| rank          = [[boatswain's mate (United States Navy)|Boatswain's mate]] 
| unit          =
| commands      =
| battles       =
{{plainlist|
*[[Quasi-War]]
*[[First Barbary War]]
*[[War of 1812]]
*[[Second Barbary War]]
}}
}}
'''Reuben James''' ({{circa}} 1776 – December 3, 1838) was an American sailor who served as a [[boatswain's mate (United States Navy)|boatswain's mate]] in the [[United States Navy]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.public.navy.mil/surfor/FFG57/Pages/ourship.aspx|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110226234528/http://www.public.navy.mil/surfor/FFG57/Pages/ourship.aspx |url-status=dead |archive-date=2011-02-26 |title=USS ''Reuben James'' |publisher=[[United States Navy]] |access-date=2012-02-10}}</ref> He is best known for purportedly saving the life of his commanding officer, [[Stephen Decatur]], during the [[First Barbary War]] in 1804, though most historians agree he was wrongly credited for the actions of shipmate [[Daniel Frazier]].

==Biography==
James was born in [[Delaware]] around 1776. By 1799, he was serving in the United States Navy aboard the frigate {{USS|Constellation|1797|6}} during the [[Quasi-War]] with France, participating in the victories over ''[[USS Constellation vs L'Insurgente|L'Insurgente]]'' and ''[[HMS Vengeance (1800)|La Vengeance]]''. During the First Barbary War, James was serving aboard the [[USS Enterprise (1799)|USS ''Enterprise'']] when the frigate [[USS Philadelphia (1799)|USS ''Philadelphia'']] was captured by [[Barbary pirates]] after running aground near [[Tripoli, Libya]].<ref name="dict">{{cite book |author=[[Naval History and Heritage Command|U. S. Navy Naval History Division]] |date=1976 |title=Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/Dictionary_of_American_Naval_Fighting_Sh/v25052hy3pkC?hl=en&gbpv=1&pg=PA85&printsec=frontcover |location=Washington, D.C. |publisher=[[United States Government Printing Office]] |page=85 |isbn=<!-- None --> |access-date=2025-05-02}}</ref><ref name="wheelan">{{cite book |last=Wheelan |first=Joseph |date=2003 |title=Jefferson's War: America's First War on Terror, 1801–1805 |url=https://archive.org/details/jeffersonswarame0000whee_n8r2/page/205/mode/2up/ |location=New York |publisher=[[Carroll & Graf]] |page=205 |isbn=0-7867-1404-2 |access-date=2025-05-02}}</ref>

During the naval blockade of Tripoli, the most intense engagement was the gunboat battle of August 3, 1804. Lieutenant [[Stephen Decatur]] boarded a Tripolitan gunboat that he believed was crewed by the men who had [[perfidy|feigned surrender]] before mortally wounding his brother.<ref name="wheelan" /> While a wounded Decatur was locked in combat with the Tripolitan commander, another enemy sailor swung his sword at him. The Tripolitan's blow was absorbed by a sailor in Decatur's party, who suffered a head wound. Many traditional accounts credit James with saving Decatur's life, while modern scholarship credits Quartermaster [[Daniel Frazier]].{{efn|In 1924, Charles Lee Lewis wrote that [[Alexander Slidell Mackenzie|A. S. Mackenzie]]'s ''Life of Stephen Decatur'' (1846) was the first work to attribute James as Decatur's savior, though even Mackenzie acknowledged that "Some have said this noble act of self-devotion was performed by Daniel Frazier, which left the name of the individual somewhat uncertain." Previous to Mackenzie, several authors, such as Thomas Clark (1814), S. Putnam Waldo (1822), and [[James Fenimore Cooper]] (1839) simply attributed the heroism to one of Decatur's crew. In Charles W. Goldsborough's ''Naval Chronicle'' (1824), he names Frazier as the hero.<ref name="lewis" />}}<ref>{{cite book |last=Whipple |first=A. B. C. |date=2001 |title=To the Shores of Tripoli: The Birth of the U.S. Navy and Marines |url=https://archive.org/details/toshoresoftripol0000whip/page/320/mode/2up/ |location=Annapolis, Maryland |publisher=[[Naval Institute Press]] |page=154–155; 321 |isbn=1-55750-966-2 |access-date=2025-05-02}}</ref><ref name="lewis">{{cite magazine |last=Lewis |first=Charles Lee |date=March 1924 |title=Reuben James or Daniel Frazier? |volume=19 |number=1 |url=https://archive.org/details/marylandhistoric1919mary/page/30/mode/2up/ |magazine=Maryland Historical Magazine |pages=30–36 |access-date=2025-05-02}}</ref> As late as 1865, Rear Admiral [[Charles Stewart (United States Navy officer)|Charles Stewart]], a friend of Decatur's, said that "...Reuben James, a sailor, thrust out his arm and had it cleaved off by the blade of the weapon intended for his commander." Yet James was one of the few Americans to survive the battle uninjured, while Dr. Lewis Heermann, the surgeon aboard the ''Enterprise'', described Frazier's injuries as "two incised wounds on the head, one of them severe; one bad wound across the wrist, and seven slightly about his hands." W. M. P. Dunne, writing for the [[United States Naval Institute|U.S. Naval Institute]]'s ''[[United States Naval Institute|Naval History]]'' magazine, calls James taking the blow meant for Decatur "a myth."<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Dunne |first=W. M. P. |date=December 1993 |title=The Norfolk War Scare |url=https://archive.org/details/navalhistoryvol70000unse/page/6/mode/2up/ |volume=7 |number=4 |magazine=[[United States Naval Institute|Naval History]] |page=7 |access-date=2025-05-02}}</ref> In 1937, Lieutenant Commander R. C. Bartman wrote that "[t]he service of each might be worthy of recognition without detracting from the other."<ref>{{cite book |last=Guttridge |first=Leonard F. |date=2007 |title=Our Country, Right or Wrong: The Life of Stephen Decatur, the U.S. Navy's Most Illustrious Commander |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/Our_Country_Right_or_Wrong/6mhaNWwGkysC?hl=en&gbpv=1&pg=PT230&printsec=frontcover |location=New York |publisher=[[Tor Books|Forge]] |page=230 |isbn=978-1-4668-3993-9 |access-date=2025-05-11}}</ref> Both men have had U.S. Navy ships named for them.

After the Barbary Wars, James continued his naval career, serving under Decatur during the [[War of 1812]] aboard the {{USS|United States}}, participating in its capture of the {{HMS|Macedonian}}. James later served aboard the {{USS|President}}, and was [[prisoner of war|taken prisoner]] when that vessel was [[Capture of USS President|captured by the British]] in January 1815. Later that year, he saw action in the [[Second Barbary War]], sailing with Decatur in the fleet that captured the Algerian flagship ''[[Mashouda]]''. Declining health forced his retirement in 1836, and an old musket ball wound necessitated the amputation of a leg.<ref>{{cite book |last=Maclay |first=Edgar Stanton |date=1906 |title=A History of the United States Navy from 1775 to 1901 |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/A_History_of_the_United_States_Navy_from/fStCAAAAIAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&pg=PA659&printsec=frontcover |location=New York |publisher=[[D. Appleton & Company]] |pages=659–660 |isbn=<!-- None --> |access-date=2025-05-02}}</ref> James died on December 12, 1838 at the U.S. Naval Hospital in [[Washington, D.C.]]<ref name="dict" />

==Honors==
Three United States Navy ships have been named the [[USS Reuben James|USS ''Reuben James'']]:
* {{USS|Reuben James|DD-245|3}} (1919–1941), a {{sclass|Clemson|destroyer}}
* {{USS|Reuben James|DE-153|3}}, (1942–1971), a {{sclass|Buckley|destroyer escort}}
* {{USS|Reuben James|FFG-57|3}}, (1983–2017), an {{sclass|Oliver Hazard Perry|frigate}}

[[James Island (San Juan Islands)|James Island]] in Washington state is also named for James.<ref>{{cite book |last=Blumenthal |first=Richard W. |title=Charles Wilkes and the Exploration of Inland Washington Waters: Journals from the Expedition of 1841 |date=2009 |publisher=McFarland |location=Jefferson, North Carolina |page=76 |isbn=978-0-7864-5397-9 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nD1F1dmFW5MC&pg=PA76}}</ref>

==Notes==
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==References==
{{Reflist}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:James, Reuben}}
[[Category:1770s births]]
[[Category:1838 deaths]]
[[Category:American military personnel of the First Barbary War]]
[[Category:United States Navy sailors]]
[[Category:American military personnel of the Second Barbary War]]
[[Category:Military personnel from Delaware]]