Hiram Paulding was born in Cortlandt, Westchester County, New York on 11 December 1797. He joined the U.S. Navy as a Midshipman in 1811 and served in the frigate Constitution until May 1813. He then went to the Great Lakes and, on 11 September 1814, participated in the Battle of Lake Champlain. In the decades following the War of 1812, Paulding was an officer on several ships operating in the Mediterranean, Pacific and West Indies. He was promoted to Lieutenant in 1816. In an important mission ashore in 1824, he travelled 1,500 miles on horseback to deliver official messages to South American General Simon Bolivar. During the later 1820s and 1830s, Lieutenant Paulding also had shore duty with the Naval Rendezevous at New York City. His first seagoing command was the schooner Shark, active in the Mediterranean during 1833-1835.
In February 1837 Paulding was promoted to the rank of Commander. Service as Commanding Officer of the sloop-of-war Levant in 1838-1839 was soon followed by an assignment as Executive Officer at the New York Navy Yard. Reaching the rank of Captain in 1844, he spent more than three years commanding the sloop-of-war Vincennes in the Far East. His next command, in 1848-1850, was the frigate St. Lawrence in northern European waters and the Mediterranean Sea. Captain Paulding was commandant of the Washington Navy Yard in 1853-1855 and commanded the Home Squadron in 1855-1858. The latter duty was marked by the arrest of American filibusterer William Walker in Nicaragua.
As the nation moved from political crisis into civil war during 1860 and 1861, Captain Paulding was employed at the Navy Department. He was in charge of the mid-April 1861 effort to evacuate and destroy the Norfolk Navy Yard, Virginia, and later served on the board that evaluated designs for proposed ironclads. In October 1861 he became commandant of the New York Navy Yard. Having reached the age of 64, he was officially retired in December of that year, with the rank of Commodore. However, he was immediately recalled to active duty and remained in his post at New York for the rest of the Civil War, with the rank Rear Admiral from July 1862 on. His final services were as Governor of the Naval Asylum, Philadelphia, in 1866-1869 and as port admiral at Boston in 1869-1870. Rear Admiral Hiram Paulding died at Huntington, Long Island, New York, on 20 October 1878.
USS Paulding (Destroyer # 22, later DD-22), of 1910-1934, was named in honor of Hiram Paulding.
This page features all the views we have concerning Rear Admiral Hiram Paulding.
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.
Photo #: NH 47431 Lieutenant Hiram Paulding, USN Portrait painted during the 1820s or 1830s, possibly at the time of his marriage to Ann Marie Kellogg in 1828. Courtesy of Mrs. Whitney Ashbridge. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph. Online Image: 86KB; 590 x 765 pixels |
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Photo #: NH 84379-KN (Color) Captain Hiram Paulding, USN Portrait in oils by an unknown artist, circa the 1840s or 1850s. Courtesy of Mrs. Whitney Ashbridge, 1975. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph. Online Image: 63KB; 560 x 765 pixels |
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Photo #: NH 47430 Captain Hiram Paulding, USN Photograph by E. Anthony, 501 Broadway, New York. He is wearing the uniform in use during the first year of the Civil War. The original print is mounted on a carte-de-visite. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph. Online Image: 68KB; 465 x 765 pixels |
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Photo #: NH 64910-A Rear Admiral Hiram Paulding, USN (Retired) Photograph taken circa 1862-1864 by J. Gurney & Son, 707 Broadway, New York City. The original print was mounted on a carte de visite. Courtesy of Dr. Walter B. LaBerge, Under Secretary of the Army, 1978. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph. Online Image: 58KB; 435 x 765 pixels |
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Photo #: NH 88388 Rear Admiral Hiram Paulding, USN (Retired) Photograph taken circa 1864-1866 by J. Gurney & Son, New York City. The original print was mounted on a carte de visite. Courtesy of Dr. Walter B. LaBerge, Under Secretary of the Army, 1978. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph. Online Image: 52KB; 445 x 765 pixels |
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Photo #: NH 47433 Rear Admiral Hiram Paulding, USN (Retired) Photograph taken circa 1864-1865, while he was Commandant of the New York Navy Yard. The original print is mounted on a carte-de-visite. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph. Online Image: 55KB; 440 x 765 pixels |
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Photo #: NH 88387 Rear Admiral Hiram Paulding, USN (Retired) Photograph taken circa 1864-1866. The original print was mounted on a carte de visite. Courtesy of Dr. Walter B. LaBerge, Under Secretary of the Army, 1978. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph. Online Image: 42KB; 445 x 765 pixels |
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Photo #: NH 66658 Rear Admiral Hiram Paulding, USN (Retired) Artwork portrait, based on a photograph taken circa 1864-1865. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph. Online Image: 43KB; 550 x 765 pixels |
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Photo #: NH 47429 Commodore Hiram Paulding, USN (Retired) Photograph of a Civil War era engraving. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph. Online Image: 145KB; 580 x 765 pixels |
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Photo #: NH 81514-KN (color) "Officers of Our Navy" Civil War era Carte-de-visite by Allen & Horton, Photographers, 13 Winter Street, Boston, Massachusetts. It features a portrait of Silas H. Stringham in the center, surrounded by portraits of (clockwise, from top center): Samuel F. DuPont; James H. Ward; Cadwalader Ringgold; Andrew H. Foote; Samuel L. Breese; Tunis A.M. Craven; Hiram Paulding; and Daniel L. Braine. See Photo # NH 81514-A-KN for a view of the reverse side of the original carte-de-visite, bearing the photographer's mark. Donation of A. James Chamberlin, 1974. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph. Online Image: 64KB; 420 x 765 pixels |
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Photo #: NH 81514-P Commodore Hiram Paulding, USN Image cropped from a Civil War era Carte-de-visite by Allen & Horton, Photographers, 13 Winter Street, Boston, Massachusetts, entitled "Officers of Our Navy". See Photo # NH 81514-KN for a view of the entire original carte-de-visite. Donation of A. James Chamberlin, 1974. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph. Online Image: 85KB; 565 x 765 pixels |
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Photo #: NH 53377 Civil War Naval Leaders Portrait montage engraved by H.B. Hall, New York, and published during the Civil War era, featuring (clockwise from top): Charles Wilkes, John L. Worden, Charles Ellet, Percival Drayton, Hiram Paulding, and Theodorus Bailey. In the center is John A. Winslow. The picture identified on the original as Charles Ellet is actually of his brother, Alfred W. Ellet. See Photo # NH 49621. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph. Online Image: 142KB; 560 x 765 pixels |
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Photo #: NH 47432 Mrs. Hiram Paulding (Ann Marie Kellogg) Portrait, possibly painted at the time of her marriage to Lieutenant Hiram Paulding, USN, in 1828. Courtesy of Mrs. Whitney Ashbridge. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph. Online Image: 81KB; 595 x 765 pixels |
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If you want higher resolution reproductions than the "Online Library's" digital images, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions." |
Page made 29 April 2005