Samuel Barron

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For the U.S. Navy Commodore, see Samuel Barron (admiral).

Samuel Barron (November 28, 1809 – February 26, 1888) was a United States, and later Confederate naval officer, acting as a representative in Europe for the Confederacy during the American Civil War.

Born to a prominent military family in Hampton, Virginia, Barron was entered into the US Navy at age two on January 1, 1812 (presumably due to the influence of his father, a high ranking Commodore who served at the local naval base). In 1820, Barron was allowed to begin his official service in the navy serving in various positions until his promotion to Lieutenant on March 3, 1827.

Although seeing no action, Barron was promoted to commander on July 15, 1847 following the Mexican-American War. Commanding the USS John Adams from 1849 to 1853, Barron was made a Captain in September 1855 before serving as Captain aboard the steam frigate USS Wabash, whose crew included Midshipman George Dewey, from 1858 until 1859. Appointed chief of the Bureau of Detail in 1860, Barron held conserable infulance within the US Navy and, following Lincoln's inaugeration the following year, he was suspected of attempting to gain control over the Department of the Navy.

In April 1861, after Virginia announced its succession from the Union, Barron resigned from the navy and, although his resignation was denied by the United States (later being listed by Navy Secretary Gideon Welles on April 22 as dismissed), he accepted a commission as Captain in the Virginia Navy and, as chief of the Office of Naval Detail and Equipment, later assisting in organizing a coastal defense of the Virginia and North Carolina coastlines.

After Virginia's fleet was integrated with the Confederate Navy, Barron was issued a commission as commander and appointed chief of the Office of Orders and Details on June 10. Barron would remain in that post until July 20, when Confederate Secretary of the Navy Stephen R. Mallory agreed to Barron's request to be assigned as commander of coastal defences of Virginia and North Carolina, an important port for Pamlico Sound based Confederate privateers. Arriving at his headquarters on Fort Hatteras on August 28, Barron commanded the defense of both the forts Hatteras and Clark against Union Flag Officer Silas H. Stringham during the Battle of Hatteras Inlet on August 28-29, Barron was captured following the surrender of the two fortresses. Held in New York, Barron was eventually released in a prisoner exchange the next year.

In November 1862, Barron was briefly reassigned command of naval forces in Virginia before he was sent to Great Britain to oversee construction of the two Ironclad rams CSS Stonewall and CSS Georgia for the Confederacy. After the ships were seized by British authorities the following year, Barron traveled to France, remaining in Paris as "Flag Officer Commanding Confederate States Naval Forces in Europe acting as a contact for Confederate naval officers as well as blockade runners and privateers until February 25, 1865 when he resigned his commission returning to the United States shortly before the Confederacy's surrender a month later. Retiring to his home in Essex County, Virginia, Barron would take up farming living until his death on February 26, 1888.