USS Preston (DD-795)

Samuel William Preston was born in Ontario, Canada, on 5 April 1841. His family eventually moved to Illinois, and on 4 October 1858 he was appointed midshipman from that state and remained at the institution as the country descended into civil war. The war began in earnest in April 1861 and on 9 May 1861 Midshipman Preston graduated early with the second class at the Naval Academy, ranked first among his peers, after which the Commandant of Midshipmen assigned him to the executive department.

Appointed acting-master on 4 October 1861, Preston served in the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron as Flag Officer Samuel DuPont’s flag lieutenant and aide, working tirelessly and making an indelible impression on his commander. DuPont commended him for his actions at the November 1861 Battle of Port Royal where he flawlessly arranged the squadron commander’s signal flags, relaying important orders for an intricately planned operation. Port Royal fell to the federal forces. After Preston received promotion to lieutenant on 1 August 1862, the admiral petitioned Washington to grant the young officer a much needed break from the squadron. He wrote to Assistant Secretary of the Navy Gustavus V. Fox that Preston had “Overworked himself, and if I were to express to you the amount of his services in this fleet… you could hardly credit it… such men are born about once in a quarter century.”

By October 1862, Preston returned to the squadron, and remained with the admiral when the ironclads of the southern blockading squadron engaged the defenses of Charleston, S.C. on 7 April 1863. The young officer participated in the battle on board the ironclad New Ironsides . Again Preston impressed his commander by arranging a special code book of signals and serving on the gun deck battery. The attack, however, proved unsuccessful. On 15 May 1863, the British schooner Wonder attempted to run the blockade. A federal lightship out of Port Royal, S.C., informed Rear Adm. DuPont that the schooner had earlier requested a pilot familiar with rebel-held Savannah. The admiral dispatched Preston to the side wheel steamer Daffodil to overhaul the vessel. Locating the schooner in the dark, he boarded her and determined that her master intended to trade with the Confederacy, after which the energetic officer confiscated the ship along with her cargo and sent the crew to New York.

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From the Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships, compiled by the Naval History and Heritage Command (Preston VI (DD-795)). A work of the United States Government, in the public domain.