Born at
Williamsburg, Virginia on 3 November 1782, Warrington was the
illegitimate son of
Rachel Warrington and
Donatien de Rochambeau, who was stationed in Williamsburg during the winter of 1781–1782, following the battle of Yorktown. The matter of his parentage has long been confused by historians and writers, as other French officers, such
Louis-François-Bertrand du Pont d'Aubevoye de Lauberdière, recorded flirtations with a number of Williamsburg's women, including Rachel Warrington and her sister Cecilia, at the same time. However, more recent research has discovered extended unsuccessful attempts by members of his mother's family to persuade Rochambeau to openly acknowledge his child, along with indications that Rochambeau offered to legitimize his son after Warrington had achieved success and notoriety. He briefly attended the
College of William & Mary before accepting an appointment as a
midshipman in the Navy on 6 January 1800. His first duty, aboard the
frigate Chesapeake, took him to the
West Indies, where his ship cruised with a squadron during the last year of the
Quasi-War with
France. His ship appears to have engaged in one action near the end of the cruise. On New Year's Day 1801, she took the French privateer
La Jeune Creole. Following the cessation of hostilities with France, Midshipman Warrington remained in the Navy. His ship spent most of 1801 in ordinary at
Norfolk, Virginia. The following year, Warrington was transferred to the frigate
President for service in the
Mediterranean against the Barbary pirates. Over the next five years, he remained with the
Mediterranean Squadron, serving successively aboard the
President,
Vixen, and
Enterprise. Promoted to lieutenant in February 1807, he returned home to assume command of a
gunboat at Norfolk. In 1809, Lt. Warrington voyaged to
Europe aboard the
Syren as a dispatch courier. He next served a tour of duty in
Essex. When the
War of 1812 with the
British Empire began in June 1812, Warrington was aboard the frigate
USS Congress serving as the ship's first lieutenant while she patrolled the North Atlantic. During his tour of duty aboard
Congress, she made two cruises, capturing nine British prizes off the east coast of the United States during the first and four off the Atlantic seaboard of
South America during the second. Promoted to
Master Commandant in July 1813, he took command of the
sloop-of-war USS Peacock later in the year. On 12 March 1814, he put to sea with his new command bound for the naval station at
St. Mary's, Georgia. After delivering supplies to that installation, he encountered the 18-gun brig-sloop
HMS Epervier off
Cape Canaveral, Florida.
Peacock emerged victorious from a brisk 45-minute exchange with
Epervier, killing 8 and wounding 15 of her crew and capturing the ship. For his role in the victory, Warrington received the
Thanks of Congress in the form of a
Congressional Gold Medal, and of the state of
Virginia in the form of a gold-hilted sword. He was also elected an honorary member of the New York
Society of the Cincinnati. Warrington took his prize into
Savannah, Georgia, and then embarked upon his second cruise on 4 June. On that voyage, which took him to the
Grand Banks, the
Irish coast, the
Shetland Islands, and the
Faroe Islands, he took fourteen British prizes. After returning via the West Indies to New York, Warrington took
Peacock on her third and final war cruise. His sloop-of-war stood out of New York with the
Hornet and
Tom Bowline on 23 January 1815, sailed around the
Cape of Good Hope, and entered the
Indian Ocean. Unaware that peace had been concluded in December 1814 at
Ghent, Belgium, Warrington led his ships on another foray against British commerce. After taking three British prizes in the Indian Ocean, he entered the
East Indies in search of more targets. On 30 June, he encountered the
East India Company brig
Nautilus in the
Sunda Strait and
attacked her, despite having been told that peace had been concluded. After firing a broadside which cost
Nautilus 7 men including her first lieutenant, she surrendered to Warrington. Warrington then released the prize and started for home.
Peacock arrived back in New York on 30 October 1815, where Warrington falsely claimed that the only British casualties during the attack on
Nautilus had been Indian
lascars. In 1816, he commanded
Macedonian briefly for a voyage to
Cartagena, Spain, to convey there
Christopher Hughes, the representative of the United States at negotiations over the release of some Americans imprisoned by Spanish authorities. In 1819 and 1820, Captain Warrington commanded
Java, followed by
Guerriere in 1820 and 1821. Each ship was assigned to the Mediterranean Squadron during his tenure as her commanding officer. Captain Warrington returned home and received orders to duty at the
Norfolk Navy Yard. In February 1825, he relieved
David Porter as commander of the
West Indian Squadron during the latter stages of the piracy suppression campaign and thereafter bore the title, commodore. In 1826, Warrington served as one of three commissioners on a panel charged with selecting a site on which to establish a new South Atlantic fleet. The panel selected
Pensacola, Florida - site of the first permanent European settlement in North America in the year 1559 - and Warrington was ordered to Pensacola where he was charged with overseeing the construction of a new navy yard. Warrington established a village adjacent to the new navy yard and gave it his name. Warrington Village remained occupied until the 1930s when the property was transitioned for use in naval aviation and the residents were relocated. Many residents moved just outside the navy base, and established a New Warrington. Today, the diverse community is known simply as Warrington. In 1829, Lewis Warrington was promoted and returned to Norfolk for a decade as commandant of the
Norfolk Navy Yard. In 1840, he was reassigned to Washington for another two years as commissioner on the Navy Board. After the 1842 reorganization of the
Navy Department, Warrington became Chief of the
Bureau of Yards and Docks. On 28 February 1844, he took over temporarily the duties of the Secretary of the Navy after Secretary
Thomas W. Gilmer died as a result of wounds received when the large cannon "Peacemaker" exploded during a firing demonstration on board
Princeton at Washington. Near the end of March, Warrington relinquished those duties to the new secretary,
John Y. Mason, and resumed his former assignment. In 1846, he became Chief of the
Bureau of Ordnance, which office he held until his death on 12 October 1851. He was buried at Congressional Cemetery at a service attended by President
Millard Fillmore, members of the Cabinet, and a crowd of other dignitaries. ==Text of Congressional Gold Medal==