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Samuel Francis Du Pont | |
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 Samuel Francis Du Pont byDaniel Huntington, 1867–68, oil on canvas,National Portrait Gallery, Washington, D.C. | |
| Born | (1803-09-27)September 27, 1803 Bayonne,New Jersey |
| Died | June 23, 1865(1865-06-23) (aged 61) Philadelphia,Pennsylvania |
| Place of burial | |
| Allegiance |  United States of America |
| Service |  United States NavyUnion Navy |
| Years of service | 1815–1865 |
| Rank |  Rear admiral |
| Commands | Warren Grampus Perry Congress Cyane Minnesota South Atlantic Blockading Squadron |
| Battles / wars | Mexican–American War American Civil War |
| Relations | Du Pont family |
| Signature | .png) |
Samuel Francis Du Pont (September 27, 1803 – June 23, 1865) was arear admiral in theUnited States Navy, and a member of the prominentDu Pont family. In theMexican–American War, Du Pont capturedSan Diego, and was made commander of the California naval blockade. Through the 1850s, he promoted engineering studies at theUnited States Naval Academy, to enable more mobile and aggressive operations. In theAmerican Civil War, he played a major role in making the Union blockade effective, but was controversially blamed for thefailed attack onCharleston, South Carolina in April 1863.
Du Pont was born at Goodstay, his family home atBergen Point (nowBayonne),New Jersey, the fourth child and second son ofVictor Marie du Pont and Gabrielle Joséphine de la Fite de Pelleport. His uncle wasEleuthère Irénée du Pont, the founder ofE.I. du Pont de Nemours Company, which began as a gunpowder factory and today is a multinational chemical corporation. (Samuel was the only member of his generation to use a capitalD.)[1] Du Pont spent his childhood at his father's home,Louviers, across theBrandywine Creek from his uncle's estate and gunpowder factory, Eleutherian Mills, just north ofWilmington, Delaware. He was enrolled at Mount Airy Academy inGermantown, Pennsylvania, at age 9. However, his father was unable to fund his education because of his failing wool mill, and he was encouraged to instead enlist in theU.S. Navy. His family's close connections with PresidentThomas Jefferson helped secure him an appointment as amidshipman by PresidentJames Madison at the age of 12, and he first set sail aboard the 74-gunship of the lineFranklin out ofDelaware in December 1815.
As there was no naval academy at the time, Du Pont learnedmathematics andnavigation at sea and became an accomplished navigator by the time he took his next assignment aboard thefrigateConstitution in 1821. He then served aboard thefrigateCongress in theWest Indies and off the coast ofBrazil. Though still not yet a commissioned officer, he was promoted tosailing master during his service aboard the 74-gunNorth Carolina in 1825, which sailed on a mission to display American influence and power in theMediterranean. Soon after his promotion to Lieutenant in 1826, he was ordered aboard the 12-gunschoonerPorpoise, returned home for two years after his father's death in 1827, and then served aboard the 16-gun sloopOntario in 1829. Despite the short period in which he had been an officer by this time, Du Pont had begun to openly criticize many of his senior officers, who he believed were incompetent and had only received their commands through political influence.
After returning from theOntario in June 1833, Du Pont married Sophie Madeleine du Pont (1810–88), his first cousin as the daughter of his uncle, Eleuthère Irénée du Pont. As he never kept an officer's journal, his voluminous correspondence with Sophie serves as the main documentation of his operations and observations throughout the rest of his naval career. From 1835 until 1838, he was theexecutive officer of the frigateConstellation and the sloopWarren, commanding both the latter and the schoonerGrampus in theGulf of Mexico. In 1838 he joined the shipOhio in the Mediterranean until 1841. The following year he was promoted tocommander and set sail for China aboard thebrigPerry, but was forced to return home and give up his command because of severe illness. He returned to service in 1845 as commander of theCongress, the flagship of CommodoreRobert Stockton, reaching California by way of a cruise of theHawaiian Islands by the time theMexican–American War had begun.
Du Pont was given command of the sloopCyane in 1846 and quickly showed his skill as a naval combat commander, taking or destroying thirty enemy ships and clearing theGulf of California in the process. Du Pont transported MajorJohn Fremont's troops to San Diego, where they captured the city. Du Pont then continued operations along the Baja coast, including the capture ofLa Paz, and burnt two enemy gunboats in the harbor ofGuaymas under heavy fire. He led the main line of ships that tookMazatlán on November 11, 1847, and on February 15, 1848, launched an amphibious assault onSan José del Cabo that managed to strike three miles (5 km) inland and relieve a besieged squadron, despite heavy resistance. He was given command of the California navalblockade in the last months of the war and, after taking part in further land maneuvers, was ordered home.
Du Pont served most of the next decade on shore assignment, and his efforts during this time are credited with helping to modernize the U.S. Navy. He studied the possibilities ofsteam power, and emphasizedengineering and mathematics in the curriculum that he established for the newUnited States Naval Academy. He was appointed superintendent of the Academy, but resigned after four months because he believed it was a post more appropriate for someone closer to retirement age. He was an advocate for a more mobile and offensive Navy, rather than the harbor defense function that much of it was then relegated to, and worked on revising naval rules and regulations. After being appointed to the board of theUnited States Lighthouse Service, his recommendations for upgrading the antiquated system were largely adopted byCongress in alighthouse bill.
In 1853, Du Pont was made general superintendent over what is typically considered the firstWorld's Fair in the United States—theExhibition of the Industry of All Nations, held in New York City. Despite international praise, low attendance caused the venture to go into heavy debt, and Du Pont resigned.
Du Pont became an enthusiastic supporter of naval reform, writing in support of the 1855 congressional act to "Promote the Efficiency of the Navy." He was appointed to the Naval Efficiency Board and oversaw the removal of 201 naval officers. When those under fire called upon friends in Congress, Du Pont himself became the subject of heavy criticism, and subsequent review of the dismissals resulted in the reinstatement of nearly half of those removed.
Du Pont was promoted tocaptain in 1855. In 1857 he was given command of thesteam frigateMinnesota and ordered to transport William Reed, the U.S. Minister to China, to his post in Beijing. Du Pont'sMinnesota was one of seventeen warships parading Western force in China, and after China failed to satisfy demands for greater access to its ports, he witnessed the capture of Chinese forts on thePeiho River by the French and English on April 28, 1858. He then sailed to Japan, India, andArabia, finally returning toBoston in May 1859. He played a major role in the receiving of the Japanese ambassador that year, accompanying him on his three-month visit toWashington,Baltimore, andPhiladelphia; the trip was a breakthrough for opening Japan toAmerican trade and investment. Du Pont was then made commandant of thePhiladelphia Naval Shipyard in 1860. He expected to retire in this post, but the outbreak of the Civil War returned him to active duty.
He was elected as a member to theAmerican Philosophical Society in 1862.[2]
When communication was cut off withWashington at the start of the Civil War, Du Pont took the initiative of sending a fleet to theChesapeake Bay to protect the landing of Union troops atAnnapolis, Maryland. In June 1861 he was made president of a board in Washington formed to develop a plan of naval operations against theConfederacy. He was appointedflag officer serving aboard the steam frigateWabash as commander of theSouth Atlantic Blockading Squadron, leading fromNorfolk, Virginia, the largest fleet ever commanded by an American officer at that time. On November 7, Du Pont led a successfulattack on the fortifications atPort Royal harbor inSouth Carolina. This victory enabled Union naval forces to secure the southern waters ofGeorgia and the entire eastern coast of Florida, and an effective blockade was established. On January 3, 1862, he was promoted to the newly created rank of Flag Officer (equivalent to the rank of Commodore, which would be created in July 1862). Du Pont received commendations fromU.S. Congress for his brilliant tactical success, and was appointedrear admiral on July 16, 1862.
Towards the end of 1862, Du Pont became the first U.S. naval officer to be assigned command over armored "ironclad" ships. Though he commanded them ably in engagements with other ships, they performed poorly in anattack on Fort McAllister, due to their small number of guns and slow rate of fire. Du Pont was then given direct orders from theNavy Department to launch an attack onCharleston, South Carolina which was the site of the first shots fired in the Civil War with the fall ofFort Sumter and the main area in which the Union blockade had been unsuccessful. Though Du Pont believed that Charleston could not be taken without significant land troop support, he neverthelessattacked with nine ironclads on April 7, 1863. Unable to navigate properly in the obstructed channels leading to the harbor, his ships were caught in a blistering crossfire, and he withdrew them before nightfall. Five of his nine ironclads were disabled in the failed attack, and one more subsequently sank.
TheSecretary of the Navy,Gideon Welles, blamed Du Pont for the highly publicized failure at Charleston. Du Pont himself anguished over it and, despite an engagement in which vessels under his command defeated and captured aConfederate ironclad, was relieved of command on July 5, 1863, at his own request and was replaced in this Office by Rear AdmiralJohn A. Dahlgren. Though he enlisted the help ofMarylandU.S. RepresentativeHenry Winter Davis to get his official report of the incident published by the Navy, an ultimately inconclusive congressional investigation into the failure essentially turned into a trial of whether Du Pont had misused his ships and misled his superiors. Du Pont's attempt to garner the support of PresidentAbraham Lincoln was ignored, and he returned home to Delaware. He returned to Washington to serve briefly on a board reviewing naval promotions.
However, subsequent events arguably vindicated Du Pont's judgment and capabilities. A subsequent U.S. naval attack on the city failed, despite being launched with a significantly larger fleet of armored ships. Charleston was finally taken only by the invasion ofGeneral Sherman's army in 1865.
Du Pont died on June 23, 1865, while on a trip to Philadelphia and is buried in the du Pont family cemetery. The cemetery is located near theHagley Museum inGreenville, Delaware.
In 1882, 17 years after Du Pont's death, theU.S. Congress finally moved to recognize his service and commissioned a sculpture of him to be placed in Pacific Circle inWashington. A bronze sculpture of Du Pont byLaunt Thompson was dedicated on December 20, 1884, and the traffic circle was renamedDupont Circle. In attendance were U.S. PresidentChester A. Arthur andDelaware senatorThomas F. Bayard.[3] Though the circle still bears his name, the statue was moved toRockford Park (part ofWilmington State Parks) inWilmington, Delaware, by the du Pont family in 1920, and replaced by afountain designed byDaniel Chester French, dedicated in 1921.[4]
Louviers was added to theNational Register of Historic Places in 1971.[5]
Fort du Pont nearDelaware City, Delaware,[6] and three U.S. Navy ships; the torpedo boatTB-7,[7] and thedestroyersDD-152[8] andDD-941[9] were all named in honor of Samuel Du Pont. Public School 31 in theGreenpoint neighborhood of New York City, is named after him,[10] as isDupont Circle in Washington, D.C.Grant Avenue in San Francisco, California, at one time was named Dupont Street following the Mexican–American War of 1846–1848. While it was renamed afterPresident Ulysses S. Grant in 1906, Grant Avenue is still written and said in Chinese as "Dupont Gai" (都板街, Gai 街 means street).[citation needed]
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