ADMIRALE DER U. S. NAVY
UND DER C. S. NAVY

Veröffentlichungen und Abbildungen des Nationalarchivs der USA (NARA),
der Bibliothek des Kongresses (LOC) und des Naval Historical Center (NHC)

 

ADMIRALE DER U. S. NAVY

 

 

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.

 

 

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.

 

 

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.

 

 

 

 

 

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.

 

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.

 

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.

 

 

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.

 

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.

 

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.

 

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.

 

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.

 

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.

 

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

 

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.

 

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.

 

 

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