John Barry, an American naval officer, born at Tacumshane, county Wexford, Ireland, in 1745, died in Philadelphia, Sept. 13, 1803. He settled in Philadelphia about 1760, and acquired wealth as master of a sailing vessel. At the commencement of the revolution he offered his services to congress, and in February, 1776, was appointed to the command of the Lexington, 14 guns, and after a sharp action took the tender Edward, the first war vessel captured by a commissioned officer of the American navy. He was transferred to the Effingham frigate, and in 1777, in the Delaware, at the head of four boats, captured an English schooner. Finding naval operations interrupted by the ice, he served for a short time as aide-decamp to Gen. Cadwalader at Trenton. In 1781, while returning from France in the Alliance, he captured the Atalanta and the Tre-passy, and was severely wounded. After the establishment of the present navy in 1794, he was named as the senior officer with the rank of commodore.