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Percival Drayton was born in Charleston, South Carolina, on 25 August 1812, the son of a prominent lawyer who eventually relocated to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He was appointed a Midshipman in the Navy in December 1827 and initially served in the south Atlantic on board the frigate Hudson. He attained the rank of Lieutenant in February 1838 and had assignments in the Mediterranean, Pacific, and Atlantic, as well as shore duty at the Naval Observatory in Washington, D.C., and at the New York Navy Yard. Promoted to Commander in September 1855, Drayton subsequently served as a staff officer during the Paraguay expedition. At the beginning of the Civil War in 1861 he was stationed at the Philadelphia Navy Yard, where he helped prepare ships for war service.
In the fall of 1861 Commander Drayton was placed in command of the gunboat Pocahontas, in which he participated in the capture of Port Royal, South Carolina. He then became commanding officer of the sloop of war Pawnee and was active in inshore operations in the waters of South Carolina, Georgia and northern Florida through the summer of 1862. He was promoted to Captain in July of that year. In September 1862, he was given command of the ironclad Passaic, overseeing her outfitting and working with John Ericsson to improve elements of monitor design. Drayton commanded his ship in attacks on Forts McAllister and Sumter in March and April 1863, experiences that reinforced his opinion concerning the limitations of the monitor type when fighting against well-defended fortifications.
Captain Drayton's next assignment was as Superintendent of Ordnance at the New York Navy Yard. In December 1863 he began a year as Fleet Captain to the commander of the West Gulf Blockading Squadron, Rear Admiral David Glasgow Farragut. Also commanding the squadron flagship, the big sloop of war Hartford, he took part in the August 1864 Battle of Mobile Bay and the following operations within Mobile Bay. Appointed Chief of the Bureau of Navigation in late April 1865, Drayton was taken sick and died at Washington, D.C., on 4 August 1865.
The U.S. Navy has named two destroyers in honor of Percival Drayton, including: Drayton (Destroyer # 23, later DD-23) of 1910-1935; and Drayton (DD-366) of 1936-1946.
This page features all the views we have concerning Captain Percival Drayton, USN.
| If you want higher resolution reproductions than the "Online Library's" digital images, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions." |
Click on the small photograph to prompt a larger view of the same image.
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Photo #: NH 99498 Captain Percival Drayton, USN Portrait photograph taken circa 1864-1865. Courtesy of the Naval Historical Foundation, Washington, D.C. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph. Online Image: 62KB; 605 x 675 pixels |
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Photo #: NH 64912 Captain Percival Drayton, USN Portrait photograph, taken circa 1864. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph. Online Image: 94KB; 475 x 765 pixels |
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Photo #: NH 50435 Captain Percival Drayton, USN Portrait photograph, taken circa 1864-1865. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph. Online Image: 121KB; 585 x 765 pixels |
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Photo #: NH 88386 Captain Percival Drayton, USN Photograph taken circa 1862-1865, published on a Carte de Visite by E. and H.T. Anthony, New York. Courtesy of Dr. Walter B. LaBerge, Under Secretary of the Army, 1978. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph. Online Image: 45KB; 450 x 765 pixels |
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Photo #: NH 66611 Captain Percival Drayton, USN Engraved portrait, part of a montage of contemporary U.S. Navy officer portraits engraved by H.B. Hall, New York, and published during the Civil War era. See Photo # NH 53377 for the entire montage. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph. Online Image: 135KB; 605 x 765 pixels |
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Photo #: NH 53683 Rear Admiral David G. Farragut, Commander of the West Gulf Blockading Squadron, (right) with Captain Percival Drayton, his Fleet Captain Photographed circa August 1864. Courtesy of J.B. Williams. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph. Online Image: 110KB; 565 x 765 pixels |
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Photo #: NH 57882 Rear Admiral David G. Farragut, Commanding the West Gulf Blockading Squadron, (right center) and Captain Percival Drayton, Farragut's Fleet Captain, (left center) Standing by the steering wheel of the squadron flagship, USS Hartford, in Mobile Bay, Alabama, 1864. Note Sailor on watch, with telescope, on the quarter deck; muskets in a rack on the cabin bulkhead; and breeches of some of the ship's starboard battery of IX" Dahlgren shell guns at left. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph. Online Image: 120KB; 740 x 520 pixels |
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Photo #: NH 49501 Rear Admiral David G. Farragut, Commanding the West Gulf Blockading Squadron, (right center) and Captain Percival Drayton, Farragut's Fleet Captain, (left center) Standing by the steering wheel of the squadron flagship, USS Hartford, in Mobile Bay, Alabama, 1864. Photographed by McPherson & Oliver. The image is dated 20 November 1864. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph. Online Image: 124KB; 740 x 530 pixels |
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Photo #: NH 51962 Rear Admiral David G. Farragut, Commanding the West Gulf Blockading Squadron, (left) and Captain Percival Drayton, Farragut's Fleet Captain, (center) Standing by the wheels of a Dahlgren howitzer on the quarter deck of the squadron flagship, USS Hartford, circa 1864. Note the iron carriage for this howitzer, belaying pins at right and details of the ship's rigging. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph. Online Image: 111KB; 740 x 535 pixels |
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| If you want higher resolution reproductions than the "Online Library's" digital images, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions." |
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Historical Center home page.Page made 27 June 2004
New image added 30 August 2004