ADMIRALE DER U.S. NAVY UND DER C.S. NAVY
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und Abbildungen des Nationalarchivs der USA (NARA),
der Bibliothek des Kongresses (LOC) und des Naval Historical Center
(NHC)
ADMIRALE DER U.S. NAVY
Name
DAHLGREN, John Adolphus Bernard
Born 13 November 1809, Philadelphia, PA
Died 12 July 1870, Washington, D.C.
Pre-War Profession Appointed Midshipman in 1826, service
on the U.S. Coast Survey (1834-37), assigned to Washington Navy Yard
in 1847; promoted to Commander in 1855.
War Service July 1862 chief of the Bureau of Ordnance
and promoted to Captain, promoted to Rear Admiral in February 1863;
applied for sea duty, receiving command of the South Atlantic Blocking
Squadron in July 1863, led naval forces besieging Charleston for the
next two years, helped in the capture of Charleston and Savannah.
Post War Career Service in the South Pacific Squadron,
commander of the Bureau of Ordnance, and since 1869 commander of the
Washington Navy Yard until his death..
Note Son of the Swedish consul in Philadelphia; designed
the 9-in. (22.9 cm) and 11-in. (27.9 cm) smoothbore guns that came to
be called Dahlgrens; "Father of American naval ordnance."
As a leader, he took good care of his enlisted men, but failed to inspire
his officers.
Name
DAVIS, Charles Henry
Born 16 January 1807, Boston, MA
Died 18 February 1877, Washington, DC
Pre-War Profession Appointed Midshipman in 1823, directed
operations of the Coast Survey along the New England coast; established
the American Ephemeris and Nautical Almanac in 1849 and publisher of
several hydrographic studies.
War Service Flag Officer of the Mississippi Flotilla,
directed the capture and destruction of seven Confederate gunboats and
rams near Memphis, TN, and received the surrender of the city 6 June
1862; promoted to Rear Admiral in February 1863; joined Farragut's fleet
for operations against Vicksburg; and cooperated with the Army expedition
up the Yazoo River from 16 to 27 August 1862; service as Chief of the
Bureau of Navigation from 1862 to 1865.
Post War Career Superintendent of the Naval Observatory
(1865–67 and 1874–77); Commander in Chief, South Atlantic
Squadron; Commandant of Norfolk Navy Yard; and member of the Lighthouse
Board.
Name
DU PONT (also: Dupont), Samuel Francis
Born 27 September 1803, Bergen Point, NJ
Died 23 June 1865, Philadelphia, PA
Pre-War Profession Appointed Midshipman 19 December
1815; first active duty in the Mediterranean (1817)
and service in the Mexican War.
War Service In command of the South Atlantic Blockading
Squadron from 18 September 1861 to 3 June 1863, he directed many operations
along the coast including the victorious campaign which resulted in
the fall of Port Royal, S.C., on 7 November 1861; thanks of congress,
and appointment to Rear Admiral on 16 July 1862.
The blockade Du Pont organized was generally successful, except at Charleston.
Against Du Pont's advice the Dept. of the Navy ordered him to attack
Charleston with ironclad monitors. When the attack failed (7 April 1863),
Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles blamed Du Pont and, at Du Pont's
request, relieved him of his command in July 1863. A congressional investigation
followed, but its findings were inconclusive.
Note Grandson of Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours.
Name FARRAGUT, David (born: James) Glasgow
Born 5 July 1801, Campbell's Station, TN
Died 14 August 1870, Portsmouth, NH
Pre-War Profession Appointed Midshipman on 17 December
1810 (!), serving under his adopted father during the War of 1812. At
the age of 12, Farragut was a prize master, and he rose through the
ranks to become a Captain in 1855. Living in Virginia he moved north
when, in 1861, the state seceded from the Union.
War Service In 1862 he was put on active duty, commanding
the West Gulf Blockading Squadron and also the expedition that captured
New Orleans; his victory led to his promotion to Rear Admiral on 16
July 1862 and a letter of thanks from Congress, making him the U.S.
Navy's first such officer; in 1864 he captured the defenses at Mobile,
Alabama. In December 1864, Farragut was promoted to Vice Admiral (another
first). During the Fort Fisher campaign, Farragut had fallen ill, but
recovered early in 1865 to take part in operations on the James River.
Post War Career When the war ended, Farragut was promoted
to the rank of full Admiral on 1 December 1866, and he continued service,
commanding the European Squadron in 1867-1868.
Note Adopted at a young age by Commodore David D. Porter,
changed his first name to David as a boy, in honor of his sea-faring
guardian, family friend David Porter.
Name
FOOTE, Andrew Hull
Born 12 September 1806, New Haven, CT
Died 26 June 1863, New York, NY
Pre-War Profession After attending West Point for a
short time, he joined the navy as a Midshipman in 1822 at the age of
16; assigned to the U.S. schooner Grampus of the West Indian squadron,
operating against piratical craft engaged in annoying American commerce;
promoted to Lieutenant on December 1831, service with the East Indian
squadron 1837-41, instructor of midshipmen at the Marine hospital, Philadelphia,
PA 1841-43; service with the Mediterranean squadron 1843-47, promoted
to Commander in 1856; from 1856 to 1858, he commanded the Portsmouth
in Canton, China; commander of the Brooklyn Navy Yard 1858-61.
War Service August 1861 in charge of naval defense
on the upper Mississippi River, charged with naval defense which include
the building and manning of ships, and leading them into action; attacks
on Forts Henry and Donelson with U. S. Grant in February 1862, wounded
at Donelson;
suffering from his wound and exposure, he was relieved from active duty
and was made chief of the Bureau of Equipment and Recruiting, commissioned
Rear Admiral on 16 July 1862, and was on his way to take command of
the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron when he died at New York.
Note He was the son of a U.S. senator and governor
of Connecticut; being a devout Christian he established a regular system
of religious instruction among the operators in the Brooklyn navy yard.
Name
GOLDSBOROUGH, Louis Malesherbes
Born 18 February 1805, Washington, DC
Died 20 February 1877, Washington, DC
Pre-War Profession Appointed Midshipman 28 June 1812
(!), but did not serve until 13 February 1816 when he reported for duty
at the Washington Navy Yard; led a night expedition from Porpoise in
September 1827 to rescue British merchant brig Comet from Mediterranean
pirates. In 1830 he was appointed first officer in charge of the newly
created Depot of Charts and Instruments at Washington (the beginning
of the United States Hydrographic Office); took leave in 1833 to command
a steamboat expedition and later mounted volunteers in the Seminole
War; commission as a Commander on 8 September 1841, Superintendent of
the Naval Academy at Annapolis (1853-1857); appointed Captain on 4 September
1855, commander of the Brazil Squadron (1859-1861).
War Service During his command of the North Atlantic
Blockading Squadron October 1861 to September 1862, he led his fleet
off North Carolina, where in cooperation with troops under General Burnside,
he captured Roanoke Island and destroyed the confederate fleet under
Commodore Lynch in the North Carolina waters; appointed Rear Admiral
on 16 July 1862, he was relieved of his command. After special administrative
duties in Washington, D.C., he took command of the European Squadron
in the last year of the Civil War, returning to Washington in 1868.
Post War Career Commander of the Washington Navy Yard
until his retirement in 1873.
Note In 1833 he married the daughter of William Wirt,
and went to Florida, taking with him a colony of Germans to cultivate
lands belonging to his father-in-law.
Name
GREGORY, Francis Hoyt
Born 9 October 1789, Norwalk, CT
Died 4 October 1866, Brooklyn, NY
Pre-War Profession Merchant service in 1807-1809, appointed
Midshipman on 16 January 1809; during the War of 1812, he served on
Lake Ontario under Commodore Isaac Chauncey and participated in attacks
on Toronto, Kingston, and Fort George. In August 1814 Gregory was captured
by the British; refused parole, he was sent to England and remained
there until June 1815; joined the Mediterranean Squadron and operated
along the North African coast until 1821, in that year he became captain
of Grampus and spent the following 2 years cruising the West Indies
to suppress piracy on the coasts of Cuba and Mexico; promoted to Commander
on 28 April 1828, and to Captain on 18 January 1838; service in the
Mexican War; commanded the squadron off the African coast until June
1851; Commandant of the Boston Navy Yard in May 1852 and served there
through February 1856; retirement.
War Service Returned to naval service to superintend
the building and fitting out of naval vessels in private shipyards;
made Rear Admiral on the retired list on 16 July 1862, he served throughout
the 4 years of war and then retired again.
Name PAULDING, Hiram
Born 17 December 1797, Cortlandt, NY
Died 20 October 1878, Huntington, Long Island, NY
Pre-War Profession Appointed Midshipman 1 September
1811; during the War of 1812, he served on Lakes Ontario and Champlain,
commanding the second division; participated in the Battle of Lake Champlain;
in the decades following the War of 1812, Paulding was an officer on
several ships operating in the Mediterranean, Pacific and West Indies.
He was promoted to Lieutenant in 1816. In an important mission ashore
in 1824, he travelled 1,500 miles on horseback to deliver official messages
to South American General Simon Bolivar. During the later 1820s and
1830s, Lieutenant Paulding also had shore duty with the Naval Rendezvous
at New York City. His first seagoing command was the schooner Shark,
active in the Mediterranean during 1833-1835. Promoted to the rank of
Commander in February 1837; service as Commanding Officer of the sloop-of-war
Levant in 1838-1839 was soon followed by an assignment as Executive
Officer at the New York Navy Yard. Reaching the rank of Captain in 1844,
he spent more than three years commanding the sloop-of-war Vincennes
in the Far East. His next command, in 1848-1850, was the frigate St.
Lawrence in northern European waters and the Mediterranean Sea. Captain
Paulding was commandant of the Washington Navy Yard in 1853-1855 and
commanded the Home Squadron in 1855-1858.
War Service In charge of the mid-April 1861 effort
to evacuate and destroy the Norfolk Navy Yard, VA; in October 1861 he
became commandant of the New York Navy Yard. Having reached the age
of 64, he was officially retired in December of that year, with the
rank of Commodore. However, he was immediately recalled to active duty
and remained in his post at New York for the rest of the Civil War,
with the rank Rear Admiral from July 1862 on.
Post War Career Governor of the Naval Asylum, Philadelphia,
in 1866-1869 and as port admiral at Boston in 1869-1870.
Name
PORTER, David Dixon
Born 8 June 1813, Chester, PA
Died 13 February 1891, Washington, DC
Pre-War Profession Only 14 years old, Porter entered
the Mexican Navy, of which his father was, for a time, commander in
chief.; appointed midshipman on 2 February 1829; service in the peacetime
cruising Navy, attached to coastal survey from 1836-1840, then cruised
in Brazilian waters. He later served at the U.S. Naval Observatory in
Washington, D.C.
and the Mexican War.
War Service In 1861, Porter joined the Navy's Gulf
Squadron in command of the USS Powhatan. He took part in the 1862 expedition
up the Mississippi River against New Orleans, in command of the Mortar
Flotilla (21 mortar boats and several steamers) that bombarded the forts
below the city while Farragut's ships captured the town; served as Acting
Rear Admiral, Commander, Mississippi River Squadron, 1862, commisioned
Rear Admiral on 4 July 1863, he took charge of the lower Mississippi
River as far South as New Orleans; commanded naval forces cooperating
with the Army in the Red River Expedition, 1864; since 12 October 1864
he commanded the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron, and took part in
the capture of Fort Fisher in January 1865.
Post War Career Promoted to Vice Admiral in 1866, he
served as Superintendant of the Naval Academy at Annapolis, MD. He became
the Navy's senior officer, with the rank of Admiral in 1870, and remained
an influential figure in naval affairs until his death.
Note Son of Commodore David Porter (1780-1843); his
foster brother was Admiral David Farragut.
Name
SHUBRICK, William B.
Born 31 October 1790, “Belvedere”, Bull's
Island, SC
Died 27 May 1874, Washington, DC
Pre-War Profession Studied at Harvard before accepting
an appointment as a Midshipman in 1806. Following service in the Mediterranean,
he served along the Atlantic coast of the United States; after duty
in Hornet early in the War of 1812, he was assigned to Constellation;
and, while that frigate was at Norfolk, he led a party of bluejackets
in beating off a British boat attack against Craney Island on 22 June
1813. He subsequently won a Congressional Silver Medal for service in
Constitution during her capture of Cyane and Levant; directed operation
of the West Indies Squadron from 1838 to 1840; and headed the Bureau
of Provisions and Clothing from 1845 to 1846.
At the outbreak of the war with Mexico, Shubrick requested sea duty
and sailed for the California coast to relieve Commodore Sloat in command
of American Naval forces there. However. Commodore James Biddle brought
his East India Squadron to Monterey, CA, on 2 January 1847 and assumed
command. In April, Shubrick sailed for the coast of Mexico to head the
blockade of Mazatlan and Guaymas. Early in June, Shubrick was recalled
to California where Biddle restored him to overall command on 19 July.
Under Shubrick, the Navy successfully conducted the closing operations
of the war on the Pacific coast. He took command of the Philadelphia
Navy Yard in 1849 and subsequently headed the Bureau of Construction
and Repair. In August 1852, he became chairman of the Lighthouse Board.
War Service In December 1861, Shubrick was retired;
and he was promoted to Rear Admiral on the retired list on 16 July 1862.
Note Shubrick was a shipmate with James Fenimore Cooper,
who dedicated "The Pilot" and "The Red Rover" to
him.
Name
SMITH, Joseph
Born 30 March, 1790, Boston, MT
Died 17 January, 1877, Washington, DC
Pre-War Profession Appointed Midshipman on 16 July,
1809, commissioned a Lieutenant on 24 July, 1813. He was the 1st lieutenant
of the brig Eagle in the victory on Lake Champlain on 11 September,
1814, and was severely wounded in the battle; after service in the Mediterranean
1815-17 he was commissioned commander 3 March, 1827, and captain on
9 February, 1837; from 1843 until December 1845, he commanded the Mediterranean
squadron; appointed Chief of the Bureau of Yards and Docks, which post
he filled until the spring of 1869.
War Service Best remembered for heading the board that
sanctioned the construction of the Monitor; retired on 21 December,
1861, and promoted to Rear Admiral on 10 July, 1862.
Post War Career President of the Examining Board for
the promotion of officers until September 1871. He resided at Washington
after his service with the examining board until his death, at which
time he was the senior officer in the navy on the retired list. He was
highly esteemed by Commander Isaac Hull, whose flag-ship " Ohio"
he commanded in 1839.
Note His son was killed on board the Congress when
she was attacked by the Merrimac on 8 March 1862.
Name
STEWART, Charles
Born 28 July 1778, Philadelphia, PA
Died 6 November 1869, Bordentown, NJ
Pre-War Profession Shipped as cabin boy on a merchant
vessel at the age of thirteen, and rose through the grades to become
master of a merchantman. During the Quasi-War with France, he was commissioned
a Lieutenant in the United States Navy on 9 March 1798 and joined the
frigate United States for a cruise in the West Indies; in 1802 he served
against Tripoli, first as executive officer of the Constellation and
then as commander of the Siren. In 1806 he became a Captain. From 1808
to 1812 he was in the merchant service, but on the outbreak of hostilities
against Great Britain returned to the Navy, and with Commander William
Bainbridge is said to have persuaded President Madison to send the navy
to sea instead of using it only for harbour defence. In 1813 he was
placed in command of the Constitution, and in February 1815 captured
the Cyane and the Levant, though the Levant was retaken. Stewart received
a sword of honor from the legislature of Pennsylvania and a gold medal
from Congress on 22 February 1816.
Later he commanded the Mediterranean Squadron from 1816 to 1820, the
Pacific Squadron from 1820 to 1824, the Home Squadron and served as
a Naval Commissioner from 1830 to 1832 and commanded the Philadelphia
Navy Yard from 1838 to 1841, first commanding officer of the American
Home Squadron in 1842, once again appointed to command the Philadelphia
Navy Yard in 1846, and again from 1854 to 1861.
By a bill passed on 2 March 1859, Congress made Stewart "senior
flag officer," an office created for him in recognition of his
distinguished and meritorious service.
War Service Commanded the Philadelphia Navy Yard, became
Rear Admiral on the retired list on 16 July 1862.
Name
STRINGHAM, Silas Horton
Born 7 November 1798, Middletown, NY
Died 7 February 1876, Brooklyn, NY
Pre-War Profession Appointed Midshipman in June 1810;
during the War of 1812, he served in the frigage President and took
part in the engagements with the British ships Little Belt and Belyidere.
He subsequently served in Spark in the campaign against Algerian corsairs
and later, while attached to Hornet with the West India Squadron, participated
in the capture of the slaver Moscow. From 1825 to 1829 he held a position
at the Brooklyn Navy Yard; During the Mexican War, he commanded the
ship-of-the-line Ohio and took part in the attack on Vera Cruz. In 1852
assigned to the command of the Mediterranean squadron, which he held
till 1855. He is next in command of the Charleston Navy Yard, which
he held till May, 1859.
War Service In March, 1861, he was a member of a naval
Court-martial, and while there was appointed flag officer of the Atlantic
Blockade squadron.
In 1861 Commodore Stringham was honored with the preparation of the
first of those combined naval and military expeditions. It was the capture
of the forts Clark and Hatteras, and the surrender of the garrison to
Flag-officer Stringham and General Butler. On 23 September 1861, at
his own request, he was relieved from his command, and in August, 1862,
he was commissioned to Rear Admiral, on the retired list, and soon after
this he was President of the Naval Commission to locate a new Navy Yard.
In 1863 he had command of the Navy Yard and station at Charleston, S.
C., remained there till 1866.
Post War Career In 1869 he was Port Admiral at New
York, and served three years.
ADMIRALE DER C.S. NAVY
Name BUCHANAN, Franklin
Born 13 September 1800, Baltimore, MD
Died 11 May 1874, "The Rest", Talbot County,
MD
Pre-War Profession Appointed Midshipman in 1815, was
promoted to Lieutenant in 1825, to Commander in 1841 and to Captain
in 1855. Over the four and a half decades of his U.S. Navy service,
Buchanan had extensive and worldwide sea duty. He commanded the sloops
of war Vincennes and Germantown during the 1840s and the steam frigate
Susquehanna in the Perry expedition to Japan during the 1850s. On the
morning of July 14, 1853 he became the first American to land on Japanese
soil while leading the landing of Perry's party near the village of
Kurihama. In 1845-47, he served as the first Superintendent of the U.S.
Naval Academy, followed by notable Mexican War service. In 1859-61,
Captain Buchanan was the Commandant of the Washington Navy Yard.
War Service Believing that his native state would soon
leave the Union, Buchanan resigned his commission in April 1862. When
Maryland did not secede, he tried to withdraw the resignation. Rebuffed
by the Navy Department, which dismissed him from the service in May,
he joined the Confederate States Navy, receiving a Captain's commission
in September 1861. After heading the CSN's Office of Orders and Detail,
Buchanan was placed in command of the defenses of the James River, Virginia.
He led the ironclad Virginia in her attack on the Federal warships Cumberland
and Congress in Hampton Roads on 8 March 1862, but was wounded in the
action and had to leave the ship before her battle with USS Monitor
on the following day.
In August 1862, Buchanan was promoted to the rank of Admiral and sent
to command Confederate Navy forces on Mobile Bay, Alabama. He oversaw
the construction of the ironclad CSS Tennessee and was on board her
during her gallant battle with Rear Admiral David Glasgow Farragut's
Union fleet on 5 August 1864. Wounded severely and taken prisoner; held
prisoner until February 1865, he was assigned to Mobile again, arriving
in time to surrender the city.
Post War Career President of the Maryland Agricultural
College (1868-69), and agent for a St. Louis life insurance company
in Mobile.
Name
SEMMES, Raphael
Born 27 September 1809, Charles County, MD
Died 30 August, 1877, Mobile, AL
Pre-War Profession Appointed Midshipman on 1 April
1826; served until 1832, when he was given leave of absence extending
until July 1835, during which time he studied law and was admitted to
practice. During the Mexican War, he commanded the brig USS Somers in
the Gulf of Mexico and barely survived drowning when his ship capsized
in a storm off Vera Cruz in December 1846. Promoted to the rank of Commander
in 1855, Semmes was assigned to Lighthouse duties until 1861, when Alabama's
secession from the Union prompted him to resign from the U.S. Navy
War Service He was appointed Commander in the Confederate
States Navy on 25 March 1861 and became head of the Confederate lighthouse
Service. Semmes felt that the Confederacy's small navy needed to include
commerce destroyers. With support from Confederate Secretary of the
Navy Stephen R. Mallory, he brought a steamer from New Orleans and converted
it into the cruiser, the CSS Sumter, the first Confederate
commerce destroyer.
He spent six months at sea, during which he captured 17 American merchant
ships. The ship was decommissioned and sold in 1862, and the Confederacy
obtained more cruisers. Promoted to Captain on 21 August 1862, Semmes
was assigned to one of these, the CSS Alabama. From August
1862 to June 1864, the ship helped capture and sunk 55 ships, more than
any other Confederate cruiser. Semmes took his ship through the Atlantic,
into the Gulf of Mexico, around the Cape of Good Hope and into the East
Indies, capturing some sixty merchantmen and sinking one Federal warship,
USS Hatteras. At the end of her long cruise, Alabama was blockaded
at Cherbourg, France, while seeking repairs. On 19 June 1864, Semmes
took her to sea to fight the Union cruiser USS Kearsarge and
was wounded when she was sunk in action. Rescued by the British yacht
Dearhound, he went to England, recovered and made his way back to the
Confederacy.
Semmes was promoted to Rear Admiral on 10 February 1865 and commanded
the James River Squadron during the last months of the Civil War. When
the fall of Richmond, Virginia, forced the destruction of his ships,
he was made a Brigadier General (the appointment was not made official)
and led his sailors as an infantry force.
Post War Career
Arrested and brought to Washington on 15 December 1865, he was tried
for treason and piracy, and was investigated for charges of mistreating
prisoners and violating rules of war. All charges were dropped, and
he was released after being detained for three months.
He was unable to keep his positions as professor of the Louisiana Military
Institute and newspaper editor, apparently due to harassment from the
government. He returned to Mobile, Alabama; practiced law and published
"Memoirs of Service Afloat During the War Between the States."
Note Admired among Confederates, Semmes was viewed
as a pirate by the Union.