Franklin Buchanan
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| Franklin Buchanan | |
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| Personal | |
| Date & Place of Birth | September 13, 1800 Baltimore, Maryland |
| Parents | George Buchanan and Laetitia McKean Buchanan |
| Religion | unknown |
| Spouse | Ann Catherine Lloyd Buchanan |
| Children | Elizabeth Tayloe Buchanan Ellen Buchanan Letitia McKean Buchanan Mary Tilghman Buchanan Nannie Rosa Buchanan Meiere Sallie Lloyd Buchanan Screven Alice Buchanan Franklin Buchanan |
| Date & Place of Death | May 11, 1874 Baltimore, Maryland |
| Place of Burial | Wye House family plot, Easton, Maryland |
| Military | |
| Education | Appointed midshipman, 1813 |
| Branch of Service | United States Navy Confederate States Navy |
| Years of Service | 1813-1861 (USN) 1861-1865 (CSN) |
| Highest rank awarded | Captain (USN) Admiral (CSN) |
| Commands held | Commandant, Washington Navy Yard (USN) CSS Virginia James River Squadron CSS Tennessee |
| Battles participated in | Hampton Roads Mobile Bay |
| Post-war career | Businessman |
Franklin Buchanan was a commissioned officer in the United States Navy before joining the Confederacy in 1861 on the eve of the American Civil War, becoming the South's first admiral.
Franklin Buchanan was born in Baltimore, Maryland, on September 13, 1800. He became a U.S. Navy 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. 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.
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 pioneer ironclad Virginia in her successful 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 G. Farragut's Union fleet on 5 August 1864. Wounded and taken prisoner, Admiral Buchanan was not exchanged until February 1865. He was on convalescent leave until the Civil War ended a few months later. Following the conflict, Buchanan lived in Maryland, then was a businessman in Mobile until 1870, when he again took up residence in Maryland. He died there on 11 May 1874.
Three U.S. Navy destroyers have been named in honor of Admiral Franklin Buchanan, including Buchanan (DD-131), Buchanan (DD-484) and Buchanan (DDG-14).
| Copyright Details | |
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| License: | Some of this work is in the Public Domain because it is a work of an agency under the United States Federal Government under the terms of Title 17, Chapter 1, Section 105 of the U.S. Code |
| Source: | File available from [1]. |
