Elisha Hinman
Captain, U.S. Navy

Elisha Hinman was born on 9 March 1734 in Stonington, CT.

Hinman went to sea when he was fourteen and was a Captain at nineteen. For many years he sailed to Europe and the West Indies. On 6 April 1776, Hinman was badly wounded during a naval engagement with the British ship Glasgow, 20 guns, as he commanded the Cabot under Commander Esek Hopkins.

He abandoned the merchant service in August 1776 and was appointed, along with John Paul Jones and 22 others, as one of the first Captains in the U.S. Navy. He successively commanded the Marquis de La Fayette, 20 guns; the Dean, 30 guns; the sloop Providence; and the Alfred, 32 guns. In March 1778, Alfred was captured and Hinman was taken to England and imprisoned. Hinman escaped to France and, upon his return to America, was honorably acquitted for the loss of his ship.

President Adams offered him command of the Constitution in 1794, but his advanced age compelled him to decline. From 1798 to 1802 he was engaged in the Revenue Service. When the British, under Benedict Arnold, destroyed New London, CT, in September 1781, Hinman lost all his property.

Death and Burial

Captain Elisha Hinman died on 29 August 1807. He is buried at Cedar Grove Cemetery in New London, CT.