The New Student's Reference Work/Stockton, Robert Field

Stockton, Robert Field, an American naval officer, was born at Princeton, N. J., in 1795. He entered the navy in 1811, went to Africa in 1821, and helped to secure the republic of Liberia for the American Colonization Society. He was sent to the West Indies against the pirates and served in the Mediterranean. In 1845 he was sent to the Pacific coast, and next year, with Frémont, conquered California for the United States. In 1851 he was elected United States senator. He died at Princeton, N. J., Oct. 7, 1866.