Samuel Barron Autographs, Memorabilia & Collectibles

Samuel Barron (1809-1888), son and namesake of a US Navy commodore, was enrolled in the navy at age 2(!), becoming a midshipman in 1820. He served with the rank of commander in the Mexican War, and later commanded the USS John Adams (fighting the slave trade off the African coast) and the USS Wabash, a steam frigatge. Appointed Chief of the Navy's Bureau of Detail in 1860, he resigned his commission after Virginia succeeded and took the rank of captain in the Confederate Navy. While in charge of coastal defenses on the Virginia and North Carolina coasts, he was captured at Fort Hatteras, imprisoned but exchanged in the same year (1862). Next he traveled to Britain to take command of one of the Confederate ironclad rams being built there. When Britain bowed to US pressure and confiscated these vessels, Barron went to Paris as Flag Officer in command of Confederate naval forces in European waters, serving as the contact person for blockade runners and privateers. After the war he took up life as a farmer in Essex County, Virginia.