Samuel Phillips Lee

Samuel Phillips Lee, 1845, portrait by Thomas Sully .

Samuel Phillips Lee (born February 13, 1812 in Sully, Fairfax County , Virginia , † June 7, 1897 in Silver Spring , Maryland ) was a Rear Admiral in the US Navy . He commanded the North Atlantic Blockade Squadron from September 4, 1862 to October 12, 1864. His flagship was the Philadelphia .

Career

Samuel Phillips Lee, son of Francis Lightfoot Lee II and Jane Fitzgerald, was born on February 13, 1812 in Sully, Fairfax County, Virginia. He was the grandson of Richard Henry Lee , nephew of Francis Lightfoot Lee I, brother-in-law of Francis Preston Blair, Jr. and Montgomery Blair , and third cousin of Robert E. Lee . He was appointed midshipman in the US Navy in November 1825 and then did an extensive service at sea, including combat operations during the Mexican-American War , as well as exploration, surveying and oceanographic work. When the Civil War broke out in 1861, he held the rank of commander and was captain of the sloop Vandalia in the Malay Archipelago . He sailed home on his own initiative to participate in the blockade of the south coast. Commander Lee commanded the new steam-powered Oneida during the New Orleans Campaign and subsequent missions on the Mississippi River in the first half of 1862.

In September 1862, Lee was given command of the North Atlantic Blockade Squadron with the rank of acting Rear Admiral. Its flagship at the time was the Philadelphia . He led these forces for over two years while he was in charge of the blockade of the North Carolina coast . He was also responsible for operations in the inland waters of North Carolina and Virginia, all of which were very actively fought between the Union and Confederate forces. Rear Admiral Lee was given command of the Mississippi River Squadron in October 1864 , which he held until the end of the war in 1865. His flagship during this period was the Black Hawk .

After the war, he returned to his old rank as captain and continued to serve in Washington, DC. He was promoted to the rank of Rear Admiral again in 1870, but then retired from active service in February 1873.

residence

In 1859, Lee's father-in-law, Francis Preston Blair , built a house for Lee and his wife (Francis' daughter Elizabeth Blair ) in the immediate vicinity of his own. These two houses, within the White House block in Washington, DC, were later joined into a single house and are owned by the US government. Today it is known as the Blair House and is used by the President as his guest house. After his retirement, he moved to the family estate in Silver Spring, Maryland, where he died on June 7, 1897.

Honors

Two US Navy ships have been named after Rear Admiral Samuel Phillips Lee:

• SP Lee (DD-310), which entered service in October 1920, but ran aground in September 1923
• SP Lee (AG-192, ex-AGS-31), which was in naval service between 1968 and 1974.

Bibliography

• This article includes information gathered by the Naval Historical Center .

Web links

• Samuel Phillips Lee in the database of Find a Grave (English)