Biddle, James, 1783–1848, U.S. naval officer and diplomat, b. Philadelphia. He became a midshipman in 1800. At the beginning of the War of 1812 he was first lieutenant on the Wasp; he later commanded the sloop Hornet. Sent out in the Ontario in 1817, he took formal possession of the Oregon country for the United States in 1818. Afterward he protected U.S. shipping in South American waters when the difficult times of the new Latin American republics made the rights of neutrals hard to maintain. In 1846, James Biddle negotiated the first treaty between the United States and China.

Biddle, James

(born Feb. 18, 1783, Philadelphia, Pa., U.S.—died Oct. 1, 1848, Philadelphia) U.S. naval officer. He entered the navy in 1800. During the War of 1812, he served on the USS Wasp when it captured the British ship Frolic, and he commanded the USS Hornet in its victory over the Penguin. In 1817 he was sent to the Columbia River to claim the Oregon Territory for the U.S. As commodore of U.S. ships in East Asia, he negotiated the first treaty, a trade agreement, between the U.S. and China.

Biddle, James (1783–1848) naval officer; born in Philadelphia. He joined the navy in 1800 and served in the Tripolitan War and the War of 1812. By leaving a lead plate at the mouth of the Columbia River (1818) he claimed the Oregon Territory for the U.S.A. He helped to negotiate the first treaty between the U.S.A. and China (1846).