John B. Nicolson was an officer in the United States Navy

United States Navy

The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...

 in the first half of the 19th century.

Nicolson was a native of Richmond

Richmond, Virginia

Richmond is the capital of the Commonwealth of Virginia, in the United States. It is an independent city and not part of any county. Richmond is the center of the Richmond Metropolitan Statistical Area and the Greater Richmond area...

, Virginia

Virginia

The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...

. He entered the Navy as a midshipman on July 4, 1805. He served in the brig USS Hornet

USS Hornet (1805, brig)

The third USS Hornet was a brig-rigged sloop-of-war in the United States Navy. Later, however, she was re-rigged as a ship. Hornet was launched on 28 July 1805 in Baltimore and commissioned on 18 October...

, commanded by Master Commandant (later Commodore) Isaac Chauncey

Isaac Chauncey

Isaac Chauncey was an officer in the United States Navy.-Biography:Chauncey, born in Black Rock, Connecticut, 20 February 1779, was appointed a Lieutenant in the Navy from 17 September 1798...

. Nicolson was promoted to lieutenant on May 20, 1812, while serving aboard the brig USS Flambeau

USS Flambeau (IX-192)

USS Flambeau , a tanker designated an unclassified miscellaneous vessel, was the third ship of the United States Navy to be named for a flaming torch. Her keel was laid down in 1919 by Sun Shipbuilding and Drydock Company, in Chester, Pennsylvania, as S. B. Hunt...

 in the Mediterranean. During the War of 1812

War of 1812

The War of 1812 was a military conflict fought between the forces of the United States of America and those of the British Empire. The Americans declared war in 1812 for several reasons, including trade restrictions because of Britain's ongoing war with France, impressment of American merchant...

, he served as fourth lieutenant aboard the USS United States

USS United States (1797)

USS United States was a wooden-hulled, three-masted heavy frigate of the United States Navy and the first of the six original frigates authorized for construction by the Naval Act of 1794...

 during the battle with HMS Macedonian

HMS Macedonian

HMS Macedonian was a 38-gun fifth rate in the Royal Navy, later captured by the during the War of 1812. She was built at Woolwich Dockyard, England in 1809, launched 2 June 1810 and commissioned the same month. She was commanded by Captain Lord William Fitzroy...

. He also served as first lieutenant in USS Peacock

USS Peacock (1813)

The first USS Peacock was a sloop-of-war in the United States Navy during the War of 1812.Peacock was authorized by Act of Congress 3 March 1813, laid down 9 July 1813 by Adam & Noah Brown at the New York Navy Yard, and launched 19 September 1813. She served in the War of 1812, capturing twenty ships...

 under Master Commandant

Master Commandant

Master commandant was a rank within the early United States Navy. The rank of master commandant was slightly higher than lieutenant, and a master commandant would often command warships too small to justify the command of a full captain. In the United States Navy, the rank was shortened to...

 Lewis Warrington

Lewis Warrington

Lewis Warrington was an officer in the United States Navy during the Barbary Wars and the War of 1812. He temporarily served as the Secretary of the Navy.-Life and career:...

 and took part in the victory over HMS Epervier

HMS Epervier (1812)

HMS Epervier was an 18-gun Cruizer-class brig-sloop of the Royal Navy built by Ross at Rochester, England, and launched on 2 December 1812. The USS Peacock captured her in 1814 and took her into service...

 off the coast of Florida. After the British vessel surrendered, Nicolson took Epervier back to the United States as a prize of war

Prize of war

A prize of war is a piece of military property seized by the victorious party after a war or battle, typically at sea. This term was used nearly exclusively in terms of a captured ship during the 18th and 19th centuries....

.

Nicolson was promoted to Master Commandant on March 5, 1817, and to Captain on April 24, 1828.
In May 1840, Commodore he was nominated by President Martin Van Buren

Martin Van Buren

Martin Van Buren was the eighth President of the United States . Before his presidency, he was the eighth Vice President and the tenth Secretary of State, under Andrew Jackson ....

 to serve on the Board of Navy Commissioners

Board of Navy Commissioners

The Board of Naval Commissioners was a United States Navy administrative body in existence from 1815 to 1842, with responsibility for the Navy's material support. The three-member Board was created as part of an expansion of the U.S. Navy Department at the end of the War of 1812. The system was...

, the administrative body which handled procurement and supply in the Navy Department. Nicolson, who filled the vacancy left by the death of Commodore Isaac Chauncey, served in the position until 1841. As one of the Navy's most senior captains, Nicolson was known by the courtesy rank of Commodore.

Commodore Nicolson died on November 9, 1846, at the age of 63. He is buried in the Congressional Cemetery

Congressional Cemetery

The Congressional Cemetery is a historic cemetery located at 1801 E Street, SE, in Washington, D.C., on the west bank of the Anacostia River. It is the final resting place of thousands of individuals who helped form the nation and the city of Washington in the early 19th century. Many members of...

 in Washington, D.C.

Naval sources

• US Navy Officers: 1798-1900 -- "N" - Officers of the Continental and U.S. Navy and Marine Corps, 1775-1900. 7 April 2006. Naval Historical Center
  Naval Historical Center
  The Naval History & Heritage Command is the official history program of the United States Navy and is located at the historic Washington Navy Yard in the District of Columbia.-Mission :...
  
  . Viewed 19 September 2006.
• Officers of the War of 1812 - Lieutenants. 11 May 1998. Naval Historical Center. Viewed 19 September 2006.
• Records of Boards and Commissions, 1812-90, Inventory of the Naval Records Collection of the Office of Naval Records and Library, in Record Group 45. Located at the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration

Congressional sources

• http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/hlaw:@field(DOCID+@lit(ej005175))Journal of the executive proceedings of the Senate of the United States of America, 1837-1841, TUESDAY, May 12, 1840. A Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation: U.S. Congressional Documents and Debates, 1774-1875. Library of Congress. Viewed 6 April 2006. (Reference to Nicolson's nomination for the Board of Navy Commissioners.)]

Articles

• Obituary of Commodore Nicolson from The National Intelligencer, Washington, D.C. (November 10, 1846). Historic Congressional Cemetery. Viewed 19 September 2006.
• Flanders, Alan. "SHIPYARD COMMANDER WAS HERO IN WAR OF 1812. The Virginian-Pilot (Friday, December 29, 1995), page 3. Online. Digital Library and Archives, Virginia Tech. Viewed 19 September 2006. (The article refers to Nicolson's service in the War of 1812, while under the command of Lewis Warrington.)