Benjamin Stoddert

Benjamin Stoddert
United States Secretary of the Navy
In office June 18, 1798 – March 31, 1801
President	John Adams Thomas Jefferson
Preceded by	Position established
Succeeded by	Robert Smith
Personal details
Born	1744 Charles County, Maryland, U.S.
Died	December 18, 1813 (aged 68–69) Bladensburg, Maryland, U.S.
Political party	Federalist
Spouse(s)	Rebecca Lowndes
Alma mater	University of Pennsylvania

Benjamin Stoddert (1744 – December 18, 1813) was the first United States Secretary of the Navy from May 1, 1798 to March 31, 1801.

Stoddert was born in Charles County, Maryland, in 1744, the son of Captain Thomas Stoddert. He was educated at the University of Pennsylvania, and then worked as a merchant. He served as a captain in the Pennsylvania cavalry and later as secretary to the Continental Board of War during the American Revolutionary War. During the war, he was severely injured in the Battle of Brandywine and was subsequently released from active military service. In 1781, he married Rebecca Lowndes, daughter of Christopher Lowndes, a Maryland merchant, and they had eight children. They resided at the home of his father-in-law, Bostwick, located at Bladensburg, Maryland.

In 1783, Stoddert established a tobacco export business in Georgetown, with business partners Uriah Forrest and John Murdock.

After George Washington was elected President, he asked Stoddert to purchase key parcels of land in the area that would become the nation's capital, before the formal decision to establish the federal city on the banks of the Potomac drove up prices there. Stoddert then transferred the parcels to the government. During the 1790s, he also helped found the Bank of Columbia to handle purchases of land in the District of Columbia for the federal government.

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