Editing Hiram Paulding

{{short description|United States Navy rear-admiral}}
{{Infobox military person
| name =  Hiram Paulding
| image =  Hiram Paulding.jpg
| caption = Commodore Hiram Paulding
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1797|12|11}} 
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1878|10|20|1797|12|11}} 
| placeofburial_label = Place of burial
| placeofburial =  
| birth_place = [[Cortlandt, New York]]
| death_place = [[Huntington, New York]]
| placeofburial_coordinates = <!-- {{Coord|LAT|LONG|display=inline,title}} -->
| nickname = 
|allegiance= United States
|branch=[[United States Navy]]
| serviceyears = 1811–1870
| rank = [[Rear admiral (United States)|Rear admiral]]
| unit = 
| commands = {{USS|Shark|1821|2}}<br/>{{USS|Levant|1837|2}}<br/>{{USS|Vincennes|1826|2}}<br/>{{USS|St. Lawrence|1848|2}}<br/>[[Home Squadron]]
| battles = [[War of 1812]]<br/>[[American Civil War]]
| awards =  
| relations = [[John Paulding]] (father)
| laterwork =  
}}
'''Hiram Paulding''' (December 11, 1797 – October 20, 1878) was a [[Rear admiral (United States)|rear admiral]] in the [[United States Navy]], who served from the [[War of 1812]] until after the [[American Civil War|Civil War]].

==Naval career==
The son of [[John Paulding]], Paulding was born in [[Cortlandt, New York]]. He was appointed Midshipman on September 1, 1811. During the [[War of 1812]], he served on [[Lake Ontario|Lakes Ontario]] and [[Lake Champlain|Champlain]], commanding the second division from {{USS|Ticonderoga|1814|2}} during the [[Battle of Lake Champlain]]. After the war he served in {{USS|Constellation|1797|2}}, off the [[Algeria]]n coast, and in {{USS|Independence|1814|2}}, the brig {{USS|Prometheus|1814|2}}, and {{USS|Macedonian|1810|2}}.

On his return from service in ''Macedonian'' with the [[Pacific Squadron]] (1818–1821), he spent a year's leave at Capt. [[Alden Partridge]]’s Military Academy (later [[Norwich University]]), [[Norwich, Vermont]].  In the ensuing years of the decade he served in {{USS|Sea Gull|1818|2}} on the [[West Indies]] station, and in {{USS|United States|1797|2}} on the Pacific station. While serving on the {{USS|United States|1797|2}} Paulding was chosen to carry Commodore Hull's dispatches from Callao, Peru, to the mountain headquarters of General Simon Bolivar in the Andes; Paulding's journey of 1,500 miles on horseback was later recorded in his book, Bolivar in His War Camp.  The following year he volunteered to serve under [[John Percival|John "Roaring Jack" Percival]] in the {{USS|Dolphin|1821|2}} as that vessel pursued mutineers of the whaler ''[[Globe (1815 whaleship)|Globe]]'', then returned to ''United States''. In 1830 he rejoined ''Constellation'' to serve as 1st Lieutenant, as she cruised the Mediterranean for two years, and in 1834 assumed command of the schooner {{USS|Shark|1821|2}} for another Mediterranean tour. Appointed to command the sloop-of-war {{USS|Levant|1837|2}} in 1838, he made a cruise in the [[West Indies]] and in 1841 became Executive Officer of the [[New York Navy Yard]].
[[File:RAdm Hiram Paulding c1864.jpg|140px|thumb|right|RAdm Paulding, commandant of the New York Navy Yard. (c. 1864–1865)]]

In 1844, Paulding was promoted to captain, and in 1845 he assumed command of {{USS|Vincennes|1826|2}} for a three-year East Indian cruise and took command of that station with the departure of Commodore [[James Biddle (commodore)|James Biddle]] for the United States. Between 1848 and 1852 he commanded {{USS|St. Lawrence|1848|2}} in the Baltic, North, and Mediterranean Seas, then assumed command of the [[Washington Navy Yard]].

Promoted to [[Commodore (United States)|commodore]], Paulding took command of the [[Home Squadron]] followed aboard the [[flagship]] {{USS|Wabash|1855|2}}. The squadron was instrumental in foiling the expedition against [[Nicaragua]] underway by the American [[William Walker (filibuster)|William Walker]], who had dreamed of uniting the nations of [[Central America]] into a vast military empire led by himself. Through insurrection, Walker became president of Nicaragua in 1856 when Costa Rica declared war to him. After his surrender to an allied Central American army and his return to the United States, Walker attempted for a military comeback when he was captured in 1857 by a landing of Home Squadron [[United States Marine Corps|Marines]]. Stateside controversy over the questionable legality of seizing American nationals in foreign, neutral lands prompted President [[James Buchanan]] to relieve Paulding of his command, forcing him into retirement.

In 1861, Paulding was appointed by President [[Abraham Lincoln]] to assist in building up a wartime fleet. He then took over the New York Navy Yard. Paulding was assigned to evacuate ships from the [[Norfolk Naval Shipyard]], which the Confederates planned to seize, in April 1861.  Paulding found that [[Charles Stewart McCauley]], commander of the navy yard, had ordered destruction of the ships.  Paulding had to complete the work of burning and scuttling the largest number of the ships.  He was able to remove the USS ''Cumberland'', towed by the USS ''Pawnee''.  The {{USS|Merrimack|1855|6}} was burned to the waterline, but it was refitted latter as the [[CSS Virginia|CSS ''Virginia'']].  In August 1861, Paulding was named by Secretary of the Navy [[Gideon Welles]] to the Ironclad Board, responsible for approving designs for and construction of ironclad warships.  The result was the construction of {{USS|New Ironsides}}, {{USS|Galena|1862|6}} and (most famously) {{USS|Monitor}}.<ref name=r5>[[#Roberts99|Roberts, 1999]], p. 5</ref>

After the war Paulding served as governor of the [[Philadelphia Naval Asylum|Naval Asylum]] at Philadelphia and as post-admiral at [[Boston, Massachusetts|Boston]]. Paulding died at Huntington, Long Island, New York, 20 October 1878. He published a ''Journal of a Cruise Among the Islands of the Pacific'' (1831).<ref>{{Cite NIE|wstitle=Paulding, Hiram|year=1905}}</ref>

==Namesake==
The destroyer {{USS|Paulding|DD-22}} was named in honor of Rear Admiral Paulding.

==Further reading==
* {{Cite book|author=Rebecca Paulding Meade|title=Life of Hiram Paulding|location=New York|year=1910|publisher=The Baker & Taylor Co|url=https://archive.org/details/lifehirampauldi00meadgoog}}
* {{Cite journal|journal=Harper's New Monthly Magazine|volume=58|issue=345|date=February 1879|title=Admiral Hiram Paulding|pages=358–364|author=Meade, R. W.|url=http://digital.library.cornell.edu/cgi/t/text/pageviewer-idx?c=harp;cc=harp;rgn=full%20text;idno=harp0058-3;didno=harp0058-3;view=image;seq=0368;node=harp0058-3%3A4}}

==See also==
{{Portal|American Civil War}}
*[[Union Navy]]
*[[Confederate Navy]]
*[[CSS Virginia|CSS ''Virginia'']]
*[[Ironclad warship]]

==Notes==
{{reflist}}

==References==
* {{NHC|article=Rear Admiral Hiram Paulding, USN (1797-1878)|url=http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/pers-us/uspers-p/h-pauldg.htm}}
* {{cite book |last=Roberts |first=William H. |title=USS New Ironsides in the Civil War |ref=Roberts99 |year=1999|publisher=Naval Institute Press|location=Annapolis, Maryland|isbn=1-55750-695-7|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-eTPQuaW87QC&q=thompson,+The+Design+and+Construction+of+the+USS+Monitor}}
*Paulding, Hiram. ''Journal of a Cruise of the United States Schooner Dolphin, Among the Islands of the Pacific Ocean; and a Visit to the Mulgrave Islands, in Pursuit of the Mutineers of the Whale Ship Globe.'' New York: G. & C. & H. Carvill, 1831.
*Paulding, Hiram. ''Journal of a Cruise of the United States Schooner Dolphin, Among the Islands of the Pacific Ocean; and a Visit to the Mulgrave Islands, in Pursuit of the Mutineers of the Whale Ship Globe With a Map. With a New Introduction by A. Grove Day, Senior Professor of English, Emeritus, University of Hawaii.'' Honolulu, University of Hawaii Press 1970.
*Paulding, Hiram. "Bolivar in His War Camp" New York, 1834.
*Spencer C. Tucker, ''Blue & Gray Navies: The Civil War Afloat'', Annapolis: Naval Institute Press, 2006.

==External links==
*Paulding's [https://www.usna.edu/Library/sca/man-findingaids/MS_158.EAD.xml Letterbook of the U.S.S. ''Wabash'', 1857] held by Special Collections & Archives, Nimitz Library at the United States Naval Academy

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Paulding, Hiram}}
[[Category:1797 births]]
[[Category:1878 deaths]]
[[Category:Union Navy admirals]]
[[Category:United States Navy rear admirals (upper half)]]
[[Category:United States Navy personnel of the War of 1812]]
[[Category:People from Cortlandt, New York]]