At the ages of 16 and 17 he was a soldier in the Continental Army.  Charles served part of the time in Rhode Island under General Lafayette.  Jonathan Flynt reported that "while in the fort or trenches at Newport, a British shell blew the brains of a comrade in the face of young Morris.  He was frightened and started to leave.  Lafayette called out to him "Why for you run boy?  You can't go as fast as missile."  The reasonableness of the remark arrested his attention and recalled him to his duty.  He never attempted to run again."

After leaving the army he was for some time on a privateer.  Once he was a prisoner of war and confined in a prison ship in New York.  Later he became half owner in a ship and sailed it commercially to the West Indies and South America.  On a voyage up the Orinoco River in Venezuela, his ship was captured by revolutionaries 600 miles up the river.  He was held captive for 2 years and then escaped with another man in a canoe and was picked up by an English cruiser after getting out of the river.
 
After his marriage, he settled in Woodstock, CT, where he was made a freeman in 1785. He was appointed a Purser in the old navy of the United States on Feb 4, 1799.  He served on the "Baltimore" and later on the "Congress" until Nov 1, 1801 when he was discharged under the Peace Establishment Act.  Flynt uses the title "Captain" but does not describe how it was obtained.
 
His brother, Rufus, had moved to Canajoharie, NY.  Charles decided to follow him and bought a small farm in the village of Ames, NY
 
Charles' first son, also Charles, became perhaps the most distinguished member (to date) of this Morris line.  He became a midshipman on the "Baltimore" when his father was purser and spent the next 56 years in the Navy achieving the rank of Commodore.
 
The son's first notable achievement occurred during the war with the Barbary States.  The US ship "Philadelphia" had been captured by the Corsairs and was being refitted at Tripoli for use against the US.  Charles was a midshipman on the "Intrepid" which snuck into the harbor, despite the surrounding Turkish gunboats and batteries, boarded and destroyed the "Philadelphia" and escaped.  Morris was the first to board.
 
When the War of 1812 broke out, Lieutenant Morris was the executive officer on the frigate "Constitution".  The ship sailed from the Chesapeake in July 1812 and came upon a fleet of 6 British ships in calm waters.  The "Constitution" escaped almost sure capture by towing and warping the ships anchors with small boats, an idea advanced by Morris.  Ironically, he had perfected this method when his timid captain on another ship would never sail into the harbor at Malta.  On repeated visits he would always kedge in and out of the harbor, to the mortification of the ward-room officers who felt they could handle their ship under sail as well as the British who always came and went from Malta under sail.
 
Later, near Boston, the "Constitution" engaged the British ship "Gueriere".  Morris was seriously wounded during the boarding when a musket ball tore through his body.  This was the first naval engagement of the second war with Britain.  After several weeks of recovery, Morris was commended, promoted over some of his seniors to the rank of post captain and given commend of the sloop "Abrams".
 
With the "Abrams" he sailed to the Cape Verdes, off Africa, to Newfoundland and the coast of Ireland, capturing several merchant ships.  In August 1814, his ship struck a ledge of rock in the fog.  They limped into Penobscot Bay and moored at Hampden ME for repairs.  While the ship was dismantled a large force of British attacked.  Forewarned, Morris had the ships guns dragged ashore and set up defenses with the local militia.  When they were about to be overrun, they spiked the cannons and set fire to the Abrams and escaped to Portsmouth.
 
After 21 years at sea, he served many high positions in the Navy, commanded several Navy Yards and ended as Chief of the Bureau of Hydrography and Repairs.  When he died all Navy flags were flown at half mast.  He was married  and had 10 children.  His autobiography was published in 1880 by the Naval Academy.
 
Interestingly, Captain Charles brother Noadiah (Commodore Charles' uncle) married the daughter of Captain Edward Hartt, a noted ship builder in Boston.  The "Constitution" was one of the ships built at his yard.  Noadiah served as purser on the "Constitution" during the time when his nephew was a midshipman. 
 
Two of Commodore Morris' children are notable.  His 2nd daughter, Louise, married William Wilson Corcoran who became a banker in Washington DC and eventually one of the richest men in the country.  Unfortunately, she died at the age of 23 and missed much of his success.  He endowed The Louise Home, for widows of prominent men, in her honor.  He established the Corcoran Art Gallery in Washington, DC and gave it to the government.  It is still one of the most prominent galleries in the country.
 
George Upham Morris, the commodores' 4th son, became a naval officer in 1846.  In March of 1862 he was a lieutenant commander in charge of the sloop "Cumberland" when she was sunk by the iron clad "Merrimac" at Hampton Roads.  He fought bravely though outgunned and would not surrender the ship, not leaving until water was pouring over the bows.  He and his men were widely celebrated as heroes, and he was personally commended by President Lincoln.  Although they received the "thanks of congress" they were never compensated for their loss of belongings.1

1. Morris, Jonathan Flynt, Morris Register, 1887