[5][6] He was employed in Middletown as a clerk upon the return of his brother James, who lost a leg in a naval battle with a French vessel in 1799 during the Quasi-War with France.

[8][9] He received a contemporary education here but it remains uncertain if he attended any sort of formal schools or was taught by family members or a tutor.

[10] On May 27, 1800, at the age of sixteen, Macdonough secured a warrant and served as a midshipman aboard the 24-gun USS Ganges, a corvette class ship, converted over from a merchantman vessel and outfitted as a man-of-war.

When hostilities between the United States and France had finally ended the following year on October 20, 1801, Macdonough was assigned to USS Constellation, a 38-gun frigate.

While serving aboard Constellation he received a thorough education from Murray in seamanship, navigation, gunnery, and other nautical sciences towards improving his service as a junior officer.

[13] In 1803, Navy Secretary Robert Smith selected Macdonough to serve aboard USS Philadelphia, a 38-gun frigate, commanded by William Bainbridge.

After catching up with and pulling alongside the ship involved, Decatur was the first to board the enemy vessel with Midshipman Macdonough at his heels along with nine volunteer crew members.

[16] After winning promotion to Lieutenant for his participation in the raid on Philadelphia, Macdonough served aboard the 18-gun brig USS Syren, the same vessel assisting Intrepid at Tripoli.

[17] At the beginning of the War of 1812 American naval forces were very small, allowing the British to make many advances into the Great Lakes and northern New York waterways.

[19] Taking leave from his assignment at Lake Champlain, Macdonough married Lucy Anne Shaler on December 12, 1812, at the Christ Church in Middletown by Bishop Abraham Jarvis.

When the war began in 1812, there were only two American naval vessels on Lake Champlain, Growler and Eagle, each carrying ten guns with a crew of fifty.

This prompted Macdonough to begin the construction of the corvette Saratoga and new sloop Eagle and several gunboats at the shipyard in Otter Creek at Vergennes, Vermont.

Having learned of Macdonough's ship building activity, the British constructed a heavily armed brig and five large gunboats at 'Isle Aux Noix' over the winter.

Because of unfavorable winds, the British commander Daniel Pring, whose forces were based at Isle Aux Noix in upper Lake Champlain, didn't complete the 65-mile journey to Otter Creek until May 14.

Upon arrival, Pring situated his squadron in the lake just off Otter Creek with eight galleys and a bomb sloop, preventing the American forces' passage north and to the sea.

Macdonough constructed an artillery battery with which he repelled the attack and drove the Royal Navy back to Isle Aux Noix in Canadian waters by autumn.

With the way now clear, Macdonough's squadron sailed out of Otter Creek and made its way to Plattsburgh, New York, where it anchored just off shore in anticipation of the next and inevitable British advance.

Regardless of this lack in experience, Macdonough well understood that defending and holding Plattsburgh, thus not allowing General Macomb's troops to be surrounded by British forces on land and water, was vital to winning the war.

[27] However, Prevost who had arrived in earnest was yet aware of enemy strength and positions and refused to march on the city itself without adequate naval support to divert the American forces.

In anticipation of the British squadron, Macdonough strategically positioned and anchored his ships a short distance off shore from Plattsburgh and made further preparations for Downie's advance.

[29] Upon encountering Macdonough's squadron waiting in Plattsburgh harbor, Downie immediately attacked, achieving the upper hand early in the battle, largely because of the great firepower of the 36-gun British flagship HMS Confiance.

"Because nearly every circumstance that worked to Nelson's advantage proved disadvantageous to Downie, the Battle of Lake Champlain is sometimes called the False Nile" by British sources.

[33] The British naval historian William Laird Clowes regarded Macdonough's False Nile victory as "a most notable feat, one which, on the whole, surpassed that of any other captain of either navy in this war.

Captain Pring wrote: I have much satisfaction in making you acquainted with the humane treatment the wounded have received from Commodore Macdonough; they were immediately removed to his own hospital on Crab Island, and furnished with every requisite.

The day before his death, in the presence of Dr. Turk, Macdonough drew up and signed a will leaving a small sum of money to his servant, his wife having died several months beforehand.

He had a decidedly superior force to contend against, the officers and men of the two sides being about on a par in every respect; and it was solely owing to his foresight and resource that we won the victory.