Author Description

"First Lieutenant Marine John Brooks, Jr. was the only US commissioned officer killed in the 1813 Battle of Lake Erie, yet he has been all but forgotten in the annals of American history. Brooks graduated from Harvard Medical School and then served as an officer in the US Marines from 1807-1813. He was the third son of Col. John Brooks Sr., a Revolutionary War hero and the two term 11th Governor of Massachusetts. John Brooks Jr. spent 6 of his military years commanding the Marine Guards onboard the (1807) USS Wasp, USS Congress, USS Essex, and USS Constitution and was chosen for a secret mission by President James Madison before serving Oliver Hazard Perry onboard the USS Lawrence in The Battle of Lake Erie. In the Battle of Lake Erie, his duty was to recruit and train Marines for the entire fleet. He was killed early in the battle by a cannonball that struck him in the thigh/hip that took away his hip joint. Being mortally wounded, he survived for only about 2 hours and died 20 minutes before the battle was won. In that 2 hours of agony, he focused his concerns on Captain Oliver Perry and the rest of the Lawrence crew; not himself. Although he was a senior officer on the ship and entitled to the surgeon's care ahead of the crew's, Brooks refused care. This freed surgeon, Usher Parsons, to attend the heavily wounded 104 man crew consisting of Narragansett Indians, whites and blacks of lesser ranks, volunteers, slaves and children. The United States Navy named a 1919 destroyer the USS John Brooks in his honor. The Story of Lt. Brooks has never been written, and I hope you will learn of and appreciate his service to our country"--Back cover.