Connecticut-born James Harmon Ward (1806-1861) was a dyed in the wool Yankee steeped in his region’s maritime tradition. He graduated from the American Literary Scientific and Military Academy at Norwich, Vermont in 1823 and entered the U.S. Navy as a midshipman.
His varied naval career included interdicting illegal slave traders off the African coast and teaching ordnance and gunnery at the Naval School at Philadelphia. He helped found the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland and was widely recognized for his academic prowess. He served as captain of the USS Cumberland during the Mexican-American War and authored a textbook on naval tactics.
When the Civil War broke out, President Abraham Lincoln ordered a naval blockade of the South. Ward proposed a “flying squadron” to keep navigation of the waters around Virginia open to Union ships. He was given command of what became the Potomac Flotilla, taking the steamer USS Thomas Freeborn as his flagship. On June 27, 1861, Ward was mortally wounded while providing close support to a landing party retreating from Mathias Point under enemy fire. He was the first U.S. naval officer to be killed in the Civil War.
Spirit of '61 