Existing comment:
Cost of Service:
Of the 410 midshipmen who graduated from the Naval Academy through the Class of 1860, 174 remained with the Union and 72 served the Confederacy. Sixteen graduates died in the service of the North; seven in Southern service, a casualty rate of almost ten percent. Hardest hit was a Naval Academy Class of 1863; of its 55 members eight were killed in action, five for the North and three for the South.
Many members of the Academy faculty also gave great sacrifices for their cause:
Franklin Buchanan, the first Superintendent, commanded the CSS Virginia and was wounded in action trying to break the Union blockade of Hampton Roads. He was promoted to rear admiral and commanded the Confederate naval forces at Mobile Bay where he was taken as a prisoner of war.
Samuel L. Marcy was killed while in command of the USS Vincennes on blockade duty off the Mississippi River.
Henry Lockwood, a West Point graduate, returned to the army, received a commission as brigadier general of volunteers and fought at Gettysburg.
James Harmon Ward, the first Commandant of Midshipmen, was the first naval officer killed in the war. |