John Paul Jones is perhaps the most famous naval hero in American history, but the portion of his career during which he served in the American navy was actually rather short. Before then, he served for a time in the British navy and afterwords he served Empress Catherine II of Russia. In fact, it was in Saint Petersburg, not New York or Washington, that he was given the rank of Rear Admiral. The highest rank the American navy ever game him was Captain. This article addresses his life after the American Revolution.
It was not that the American navy did not realize the tremendous debt it owned to Captain John Paul Jones. Rather, his career in the American navy was cut short by a foreign policy decision made by Congress after the war. For his great service in command of the Ranger and the Bonhomme Richard, he was given charge of the 74 gun America in 1782. Unfortunately, Congress decided to give the America to France to compensate for a ship that the French had lost during the American Revolution. Thus, John Paul Jones became a captain without a ship. Although he was given an assignment in Europe, it soon expired and left him without a position in the navy he had helped build during the war.
Having been "hung out to dry" by the Americans, John Paul Jones took the name Pavel Dzhones and entered the service of Empress Catherine II of Russia. She had great esteem for the American hero and promoted him to Rear Admiral, a rank he had never enjoyed in the American navy. He took command of a 24 gun flagship called the Vladimir and fought against the Ottoman Turks on the Black Sea. Unfortunately, some of his fellow officers became jealous of him and managed to get him recalled to Saint Petersburg. With nothing else to do so far away from his command, he wrote "Narrative of the Campaign of the Liman" about his experience on the Black Sea. He was awarded the Order of St. Anne in 1788, but soon resigned his commission after becoming discouraged at the way that his fellow offices were slandering him.
Although he made some attempts to re-enter the Russian navy, he moved to Paris in 1790 where he stayed until his death. Two years later, he was appointed US Consul to arrange for the return of American prisoners from Algiers, but he died before he could begin the negotiations. Some servants, friends, and soldiers carried his body to St. Louis Cemetery for Alien Protestants where he was buried. The French Republic soon sold the cemetery, however, and it was turned into a garden and a place to dispose of dead animals. The cemetery was forgotten for over a century until it was rediscovered in the early 20th century. The US Ambassador to France identified the remains of Admiral Jones and, after a series of test proving they indeed belonged to the American naval hero, they were returned to the United States.
In 1905, the remains were put aboard the USS Brooklyn and escorted by three cruisers across the Atlantic. While in transit, the convoy was joined by seven more battleships. The remains were then ceremoniously transferred to a vault in the United States Naval Academy. Eight years later, they were finally laid to rest in a marble and bronze sarcophagus in Annapolis, Maryland at the United States Naval Academy Chapel in a ceremony presided over by President Theodore Roosevelt. Finally, over 130 years after defeating the British on the high seas, John Paul Jones was given the honor due him by the country he helped protect.
