# James Alden Jr.

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James Alden Jr. Born (1810-03-31)March 31, 1810 Portland, Maine, US Died February 6, 1877(1877-02-06) (aged 66) San Francisco, California, US Place of burial Eastern Cemetery, Portland, Maine Allegiance United States of America Union Branch United States Navy Union Navy Service years 1828–1873 Rank Rear admiral Conflicts Mexican–American War American Civil War

**James Alden Jr.** (March 31, 1810 – February 6, 1877) was a [rear admiral](/source/Rear_admiral_(United_States)) in the [United States Navy](/source/United_States_Navy). In the [Mexican–American War](/source/Mexican%E2%80%93American_War) he participated in the captures of Veracruz, Tuxpan, and Tabasco. Fighting on the Union side in the Civil War, he took part in the relief of Fort Pickens, followed by many engagements on the Lower Mississippi, before being promoted [captain](/source/Captain_(United_States_O-6)) of [USS *Brooklyn*](/source/USS_Brooklyn_(1858)) and assisting in the Union victory in the [Battle of Mobile Bay](/source/Battle_of_Mobile_Bay).

## Early career

Alden was born in [Portland, Maine](/source/Portland%2C_Maine), on March 31, 1810,[1] and was a direct descendant of [John Alden](/source/John_Alden), a [Mayflower](/source/Mayflower) pilgrim. He was appointed [United States Navy](/source/United_States_Navy) as [midshipman](/source/Midshipman#United_States_Navy_(1794–1845)) on April 1, 1828,[1] and spent the initial years of his naval career ashore at the Naval Station in [Boston](/source/Boston), Massachusetts, before he served in the [Mediterranean Squadron](/source/Mediterranean_Squadron_(United_States)) on board the sloop of war [USS *John Adams*](/source/USS_John_Adams_(1799)). Promoted to passed midshipman on June 14, 1834, Alden then served at the [Boston Navy Yard](/source/Boston_Navy_Yard) until he was assigned to the [United States Exploring Expedition](/source/United_States_Exploring_Expedition) under [Lieutenant](/source/Lieutenant_(navy)) [Charles Wilkes](/source/Charles_Wilkes).

During the course of his first voyage (1838–1842), the officers and men of the expedition were transferred freely from one vessel to another; Alden, promoted to lieutenant on February 25, 1841, concluded the cruise as [executive officer](/source/Executive_officer#United_States_Navy_and_United_States_Coast_Guard) of the sloop [USS *Porpoise*](/source/USS_Porpoise_(1836)). He saw action at Malolo, in the [Fiji](/source/Fiji) Islands, on July 26, 1840, in the [punitive expedition](/source/Punitive_expedition) against the tribe which had murdered Lieutenant Joseph Underwood and Midshipman Wilkes Henry two days before. Henry was a nephew of the expedition's leader.

After another tour of duty at the naval station at Boston, Alden was assigned to [USS *Constitution*](/source/USS_Constitution), and circumnavigated the globe in the [frigate](/source/Frigate) during her cruise under Captain [John ("Mad Jack") Percival](/source/John_Percival). While serving therein, he commanded a boat expedition that cut out several war junks from under the guns of a fort at Zuron Bay, [Cochin China](/source/Cochin_China). Later serving in the [Home Squadron](/source/Home_Squadron) during the [Mexican–American War](/source/Mexican%E2%80%93American_War) (1846), Alden, an adept surveyor, participated in the captures of [Veracruz](/source/Veracruz), [Tuxpan](/source/Tuxpan), and [Tabasco](/source/Tabasco).[2]

## Coast Survey

Following the [war with Mexico](/source/Mexican%E2%80%93American_War), Alden served as inspector of provisions and clothing at Boston until detached from this duty on May 18, 1849, to go to Washington, D.C., and report to the [United States Secretary of the Treasury](/source/United_States_Secretary_of_the_Treasury) for duty with the [United States Coast Survey](/source/United_States_Coast_and_Geodetic_Survey). From the summer of 1849 to the late winter of 1851, he commanded, in succession, the U.S. Coast Survey steamers *John Y. Mason* and *Walker* in survey duty off the [United States East Coast](/source/United_States_East_Coast). Assigned to duty on the [United States West Coast](/source/United_States_West_Coast) thereafter, Alden traveled to [San Francisco](/source/San_Francisco), [California](/source/California), where he replaced [William Pope McArthur](/source/William_Pope_McArthur) as commander of the Coast Survey [schooner](/source/Schooner) *Ewing*. He arrived in May 1851[3] and surveyed from San Francisco to San Diego, reporting on the expedition from San Francisco on February 17, 1852.[4]

### *Active*

In 1852, he assumed command of the Coast Survey [steamer](/source/Steamship) [*Active*](/source/USCS_Active),[3] purchased to replace the wrecked *[Jefferson](/source/USRC_Jefferson_(1845))* [5] (the *Ewing* was temporarily abandoned,[6]) and carried out survey work off the [United States West Coast](/source/United_States_West_Coast) into 1860. During this time, on September 1, 1855, he was promoted to [commander](/source/Commander_(United_States)#Naval). Indian disturbances in [Washington Territory](/source/Washington_Territory) in January 1856 highlighted Alden's tour of duty in command of *Active*, and his ship, joining the sloop-of-war [USS *Decatur*](/source/USS_Decatur_(1839)) and the steamer [USS *Massachusetts*](/source/USS_Massachusetts_(1845)), proved "of great service" during those troubled times. *Active* operated in the headwaters of [Puget Sound](/source/Puget_Sound), where her presence reassured the settlers. In the summer of 1859, during tensions incident to an American's killing a Britisher's pig on [San Juan Island](/source/San_Juan_Island), *Active*'s timely arrival at that isle apparently helped to quiet a potentially dangerous situation in what became later known as the "[Pig War](/source/Pig_War_(1859))."

## U.S. Civil War

James Alden Jr.

The outbreak of the [American Civil War](/source/American_Civil_War) in the spring of 1861 found Alden in command of the steamer [USS *South Carolina*](/source/USS_South_Carolina_(1860)), in which he participated in the relief of [Fort Pickens](/source/Fort_Pickens).[1] Next given the steam sloop [USS *Richmond*](/source/USS_Richmond_(1860)), Alden commanded her in the passage of [Fort Jackson](/source/Fort_Jackson_(Louisiana)) and [Fort St. Philip](/source/Fort_St._Philip), and in the engagements with Confederate batteries at [Chalmette, Louisiana](/source/Chalmette%2C_Louisiana), twice passing the southern guns at [Vicksburg, Mississippi](/source/Vicksburg%2C_Mississippi), and in the battle at [Port Hudson, Louisiana](/source/Port_Hudson%2C_Louisiana).

Promoted to captain on January 2, 1863, Alden next assumed command of the steam sloop [USS *Brooklyn*](/source/USS_Brooklyn_(1858)),[1] and led that ship in the action with [Fort Gaines](/source/Fort_Gaines_(Alabama)) and [Fort Morgan](/source/Fort_Morgan_(Alabama)) and with the Confederate gunboats in the [Battle of Mobile Bay](/source/Battle_of_Mobile_Bay). While *Brooklyn* was being sent north for repairs, she was attached to the naval forces gathering off [Fort Fisher, North Carolina](/source/Fort_Fisher), and took part in both assaults on that Confederate bastion.

In November 1865, shortly after the war's conclusion, Alden was elected as a veteran companion of the Pennsylvania Commandery of the [Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States](/source/Military_Order_of_the_Loyal_Legion_of_the_United_States). He was assigned insignia number 64.

## Promotion and late career

Promoted to [commodore](/source/Commodore_(rank)) on July 25, 1866, Alden, over the next two years, commanded, in succession, the steam sloop [USS *Susquehanna*](/source/USS_Susquehanna_(1847)) and the steam frigate [USS *Minnesota*](/source/USS_Minnesota_(1855)) before he was made commandant of the [Mare Island Navy Yard](/source/Mare_Island_Navy_Yard). Appointed Chief of the Bureau of Navigation in April 1869 and promoted to rear admiral on June 19, 1871, Alden returned to sea in 1871 with orders to command the naval force on the [European Station](/source/European_Station).[1]

Departing New York in his flagship, [USS *Wabash*](/source/USS_Wabash_(1855)), on November 17, 1871, Alden relieved rear admiral [Charles S. Boggs](/source/Charles_S._Boggs) at [Villefranche](/source/Villefranche-sur-Mer), France, on January 1, 1872. Although placed on the retired list on March 31, 1872, Alden remained on active duty commanding the European Fleet until relieved by Rear Admiral [A. Ludlow Case](/source/A._Ludlow_Case) at Villefranche on June 2, 1873. His last tour of duty afloat completed, he sailed home in his former command, *Brooklyn*.

Alden died at San Francisco on February 6, 1877,[2] but was buried in his native Portland's [Eastern Cemetery](/source/Eastern_Cemetery)[7] on February 24, 1877.

## Namesake

The U.S. Navy [destroyer](/source/Destroyer) [USS *Alden*](/source/USS_Alden_(DD-211)) was named for him.

## References

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-BDA1906_1-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-BDA1906_1-1) [***c***](#cite_ref-BDA1906_1-2) [***d***](#cite_ref-BDA1906_1-3) [***e***](#cite_ref-BDA1906_1-4) [Johnson 1906](#CITEREFJohnson1906), p. 70

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-auto_2-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-auto_2-1) *Who Was Who in American History – the Military*. Chicago: Marquis Who's Who. 1975. p. 5. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [0837932017](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/0837932017).

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-NOAA_3-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-NOAA_3-1) ["The Frontier Coast"](https://web.archive.org/web/20171017094132/https://www.lib.noaa.gov/noaainfo/heritage/coastsurveyvol1/BACHE6.html). *NOAA Central Library*. Archived from [the original](http://www.lib.noaa.gov/noaainfo/heritage/coastsurveyvol1/BACHE6.html) on 2017-10-17. Retrieved 2016-04-10.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-4)** Bache, Alexander Dallas (1853). [*Report of the Superintendent of the Coast Survey, Showing the Progress of the Survey during 1852*](https://books.google.com/books?id=WbJOAAAAcAAJ). pp. 104–107.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-5)** ["James Alden"](https://www.history.navy.mil/research/library/research-guides/z-files/zb-files/zb-files-a/alden-james.html). *Naval History and Heritage Command*.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-Davidson_6-0)** Lewis, Oscar (1954). *George Davidson: Pioneer West Coast Scientist*. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press. p. 25. [Bibcode](/source/Bibcode_(identifier)):[1954gdpw.book.....L](https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1954gdpw.book.....L).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-7)** ["Subterranean Celebrities, Spirits Alive at the Eastern Cemetery in Portland, Maine"](https://www.spiritsalive.org/subterranean-celebrities/index.htm). *www.spiritsalive.org*. Retrieved 2023-04-16.

**Attribution**

- [Johnson, Rossiter](/source/Rossiter_Johnson), ed. (1906). "[Alden, James](https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Biographical_Dictionary_of_America/Alden,_James)". *[The Biographical Dictionary of America](/source/The_Biographical_Dictionary_of_America)*. Vol. 1. Boston: American Biographical Society. p. 70.

- *This article incorporates text from the [public domain](/source/Public_domain)*[Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships](/source/Dictionary_of_American_Naval_Fighting_Ships)*. The entry can be found [here](http://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/a/alden.html).*

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[Portals](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Contents/Portals):
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- [American Civil War](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portal:American_Civil_War)
- [United States](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portal:United_States)

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [James Alden Jr.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Alden_Jr.) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Alden_Jr.?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.