![]() In the battle his brother Thomas, a Confederate brigadier general, commanded the forts whose guns exchanged fire with Drayton’s ship.ĭrayton’s performance won him promotion to captain and command of one of the new Ericsson-designed Monitor-class ironclads, the USS Passaic. In November 1861 he commanded a ship in the Port Royal expedition, in which Union forces captured Hilton Head Island, Beaufort, and Parris Island in order to gain a base for operations against Savannah and Charleston. But Drayton did not and chose instead the cause of Union. Of the navy’s fifteen hundred officers, one-quarter left to serve with the South. Eventually he commanded the schooner USS Enterprise and served in a variety of vessels, including the Mississippi, the navy’s third steam-powered warship.Īt the outbreak of the Civil War, Drayton held the rank of commander. His assignments took him to the Brazilian, Mediterranean, and Pacific squadrons. commerce abroad or showing the flag on distant stations. He served aboard frigates engaged in protecting U.S. Future naval officers began their professional lives not at formal schools but by learning the ropes at sea as midshipmen. He entered the service twenty years prior to the founding of the naval academy at Annapolis, and his naval training followed the old pattern inherited from England. After army service, Thomas returned to South Carolina and became a successful planter and state senator.Īt age fifteen, Percival Drayton was appointed midshipman in the U.S. Drayton’s older brother, Thomas Fenwick Drayton, was a graduate of the U.S. His father served in Congress from 1825 to 1833 and was a leading opponent of nullification in the early 1830s, and he eventually moved his family from Charleston to Philadelphia. Drayton was born on August 25, 1812, in Charleston, the son of William Drayton (1776–1846) and Ann Gadsden.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |