Excerpted from findagrave.com– Secretary of the Navy in the Lincoln administration. Born in Glastonbury, Connecticut, he studied at Norwich Academy in Vermont. By 1826 he was part owner and editor of the Hartford Times. That same year he was elected to the CT legislature, serving until 1835. He was an early supporter and personal adviser of President Andrew Jackson. After failing in his initial attempts at national office, he developed a national reputation among a wide circle of influential Americans through his writings and travels. In 1856 he left the Democratic Party to help organize the new Republican Party, promoting a more moderate view as the nation moved toward confrontation. After Abraham Lincoln was elected President in 1860, he was appointed Secretary of the Navy. He and his Assistant Secretary, Gustavus V. Fox, revitalized a Navy that had its few ships spread over the world; two of its most important navy yards seized by the Confederacy, and many of its men now serving in the Confederate Navy. Resourceful in securing a blockade fleet he was slower to realize the potential of ironclads. He took a direct part in shaping naval strategy and tactics, and is given credit for the general success of the Federal Navy. He would sometimes make policy beyond his naval concerns; as early as July 1861, he was ordering Union naval officers to protect runaway slaves and by that September he was allowing former slaves to enlist in the Navy. He supported President Andrew Johnson through the impeachment crisis in opposition to many of his former Republican colleagues. He stayed through the Johnson administration, working for the modernization of the Navy.