Regal? Overrated? Friend and benefactor? Gaseous Bob? Or all of the above and all at the same time?
Protean Stockton
Stockton's actions and beliefs throughout his life were varied and ever-changing, much like the shape-shifting of the sea god Proteus. The variety and shifts of his actions and beliefs were briefly captured in this 1847 editorial:
Stockton was indeed a “commodore”—the highest rank in the U.S. Navy before the Civil War4—and had quite a number of significant naval achievements stretching from the War of 1812 and the Barbary War to chasing pirates in the Caribbean in the 1820s and his conquest of California in 1847. A later classifier of naval officers described Stockton as a “brilliant ‘frigate-captain’ type.”5
“Peace-maker” alludes to Stockton's attempt to create the largest naval cannon in the world in 1843; he named the cannon he purchased and tested the “Peacemaker.” “Peace-maker” could also refer to Stockton’s