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John Paul Jones (July 11, 1747 (1747-07-11) - July 18, 1792 (aged 45)) was America's first well-known naval hero in the American Revolutionary War. John Paul Jones was born and died John Paul in 1747, on the estate of Arbigland in the Stewartry of Kirkcudbright on the southern coast of Scotland. John Paul's father was a gardener at Arbigland, and his mother was a member of Clan MacDuff. John Paul adopted the alias John Jones when he fled to his brother's home in Fredericksburg, Virginia in 1773 to avoid the hangman's noose in Tobago after an incident when he was accused of murdering a sailor under his command. He began using the name John Paul Jones, at the suggestion of his brother, during the start of the American Revolution. Although his naval career never saw him above the rank of Captain in the Continental Navy after his victory over the Serapis with the frigate Bonhomme Richard , John Paul Jones remains the first genuine American Naval hero, as well as a highly regarded battle commander. His later service in the Russian Navy as an admiral showed the mark of genius that enabled him to defeat the Serapis. Jones simply was not as good a politician as he was a naval commander, in an era where politics determined promotion, both in America and abroad. Although he was originally buried in Paris, after spending his last years abroad, he was ultimately reinterred at the United States Naval Academy, a fitting homecoming for the "Father of the American Navy". During his engagement with Serapis , Jones uttered, according to the later recollection of his First Lieutenant, the legendary reply to a quip about surrender from the British captain: "I have not yet begun to fight!"
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