
07/12/2025
Happy birthday, Alexander Murray! This Revolutionary War soldier, sailor, and privateer was born on this day in 1755.
Murray, a native of Chestertown, Maryland, was elected in January 1776 as an officer in Smallwood’s Maryland Regiment. On August 27, 1776, the unit would go down in history for its action in delaying the British advance at the Battle of Long Island.
The next year, on June 10, 1777, Murray both resigned his commission in the Continental Army and became captain of the ten-gun privateer sloop General Mercer. For the next two years, Murray captained three more privateer vessels and spent his first of two stints during the war in British captivity. On July 20, 1781, Murray finally obtained his long-sought-after commission in the Continental Navy.
Murray would become an original member of the State Society of the Cincinnati of Pennsylvania and proudly wears the Society’s Eagle insignia in this early 19th century portrait miniature held in our museum collections.