Lt. Thomas Huger, CSN

First Lieutenant Thomas B. Huger, CSN

Thomas B. Huger (died April 25, 1862) was an officer in the Confederate States Navy during the U.S. Civil War. Before the war, he had served for over 20 years in the United States Navy.

Biography

Huger was born in South Carolina. He joined the U.S. Navy as a midshipman in March 1835. He was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant in February 1848 and continued in the service until his native state seceded from the United States. Resigning his commission in the U.S. Navy in January 1861, Huger became a First Lieutenant in the Confederate Navy the following March.

He commanded a battery on Morris Island, South Carolina in 1861 and was appointed as commanding officer of the gunboat CSS McRae later in that year. Huger's ship operated in defense of New Orleans, Louisiana and the lower Mississippi River.

On April 24, 1862, while battling Federal Navy ships near Fort Jackson and Fort St. Philip, McRae was badly damaged and Lieutenant Huger was mortally wounded. He died the next day.

Update 2/2/2017(CLM): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_B._Huger

• Reference: Find A Grave Memorial - SmartCopy: Jun 28 2019, 14:39:14 UTC

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• Death of Lieut. Thomas B. Huger.
• May 20, 1862, The Charleston Mercury

The Mobile papers bring us the sad tidings of the death of Lieut. THOMAS B. HUGER, whose conspicuous gallantry in the recent naval battle below New Orleans, as Commander of the Confederate steamer McRae, has already been chronicled in these columns. The wounds that he received on that occasion were of a terrible character, and, baffling the skill and attention of the most eminent surgeons of New Orleans, terminated fatally in that city on Saturday, the 10th inst. Notwithstanding the unhappy condition of the community, we are informed that there was an immense and spontaneous gathering of the people of New Orleans on the occasion of the funeral.

THOMAS BEE HUGER was the son of Dr. BENJ. HUGER, of Richmond, St. John’s Parish, and a grandson of Judge BEE. Having lost his mother in infancy, he was, at a very early age, received into the family of Hon. ALFRED HUGER of this city, by whom he was reared and regarded as a son. In 1835 he entered the U.S. Navy, in which, for many consecutive years, he was engaged in active service, chiefly in the Mediterranean and Home Squadrons. On the breaking out of the present war, he resigned his commission in the Navy of the United States, and drew his sword in behalf of the cause to which he has now so nobly given his life. At the time of his death, he was in his forty-second year. His wife died about three years ago; he leaves five children.

Manliness and gentleness were the well known qualities of his heart; his manners were marked by a freedom from all pretension, and he was singularly considerate and conscientious towards every one with whom he had intercourse. In the honorable consistency of his life, and in the glorious heroism of his death, he has shown himself a son of whom South Carolina may well be proud.