Alexander Laws, commissioned as a midshipman on 15 May 1800,
served in the ship Ganges during the Quasi-War with France;
discharged under the Peace Establishment Act on 12 August 1801,
he was again appointed midshipman on 25 August 1802. Initially
assigned to frigate Constitution, he volunteered to take part in
the daring expedition under Lieutenant Stephen Decatur, Jr., to
board the former U.S. frigate Philadelphia, moored “within half
gunshot of the Bashaw’s castle” in Tripoli harbor and put her to
the torch. On 16 February 1804, Decatur laid his command, the
ketch Intrepid, alongside the captured frigate and, as Captain
Edward Preble later wrote, “in a Gallant and Officer[-] like
manner, boarded and carried her against all opposition…” Silence
cloaked the bold American attack. “Not a musket or Pistol was
fired on our side,” Preble reported, “everything [was
accomplished] by the sword and tomawhawk [sic].” Laws served
under Lieutenant James Lawrence, who, with Midshipman Thomas
MacDonough and ten men (all c