Alexandria, Virginia, February 28, 1844.

A cannon called the peacemaker killed six men on the Potomac River today,

and the President of the United States would have been the seventh if he hadn't stopped to raise a glass of champagne.

The USS Princeton, pride of the American fleet, had departed Alexandria that morning on a

pleasure cruise down the river. Captain Robert F. Stockton, a wealthy New Jersey Blue Blood, whose

grandfather had signed the Declaration of Independence, stood on the quarter

deck in full dress uniform and welcomed his guests aboard.

Four hundred of them.

The Cream of Washington Society dressed in their very best and crowded onto 164 feet

of deck.

President John Tyler, Secretary of State Abel Upshur,

Secretary of the Navy, Thomas Gilmer, Senator Thomas Hart Benton of Missouri, Dolly Madison,

the former First Lady, 76 years old, and still the most prominent woman in the Capitol,

decked out in bright colors and a feathered turban. Diplomats, congressmen,

their wives and daughters. A marine band struck up the star-spangled banner as the president crossed

the gangplank and the sailors in the rigging pulled off their hats and cheered. They had come to see

the guns. The Princeton carried two 12-inch

naval cannons, the largest in the United States arsenal. One was called the Oregon. The other,

Captain Stockton's personal pride, weighed more than 27,000 pounds, fired a 225-pound ball over a distance

of five miles, and bore a name its maker believed was perfectly apt.

He called it the peacemaker. The day was cold and clear, with strong westerly breezes.

The Princeton steamed south under a cloudless sky while Stockton strutted the deck and pointed out every feature of the vessel.

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