George C. Read
| George C. Read | |
|---|---|
Photograph of George C. Read
taken shortly before his death in 1862. |
|
| Born |
January 9, 1788 Ireland |
| Died | August 22, 1862 (aged 74) Philadelphia Pennsylvania |
| Place of burial | Laurel Hill Cemetery Philadelphia, Pennsylvania |
| Allegiance |
 United States of AmericaUnion |
| Service/branch |
 United States Navy
|
| Years of service | 1804–1862 |
| Rank |
 Rear Admiral
|
| Commands held |
USS Chippewa USS Constitution Philadelphia Naval Asylum |
| Battles/wars |
Second Barbary War |
Second Barbary War
Second Sumatran Expedition
George Campbell Read (January 9, 1788 – August 22, 1862) was a United States Naval Officer who served on Old Ironsides during the War of 1812 and commanded vessels in actions off the Barbary Coast and India. Read eventually rose to the rank of rear admiral.
George Campbell Read was born in Ireland and emigrated to the United States at an early age. (Some references give his birthplace as Glastonbury, Connecticut.) At the age of 16, Read entered service in the United States Navy as a midshipman on April 2, 1804.
Read first joined the crew of the USS Constitution (aka Old Ironsides) in 1806 under the command of his uncle, Captain Hugh G. Campbell. Early in his service, because of his relationship with the captain, he was suspected of being an informant concerning a fight between two lieutenants: Melancthon Taylor Woolsey and William Burrows. For a long time, Woolsey and the other officers shunned Read who endured the treatment without complaint. When it was eventually learned that it was the captain's clerk and not Read who had informed, Woolsey apologized to him and asked why he remained silent about the real informant. Read replied, "That would have been doing the very thing for which you blamed me, Mr. Woolsey: turning informer." Thereafter, Woolsey referred to this incident as an example of Read's great self-restraint and self-respect.
On April 25, 1810, after six years of service, Read was promoted to Lieutenant, and he served aboard the USS Constitution under Commodore Isaac Hull during the War of 1812. When the Constitution defeated the British warship HMS Guerriere on August 19, 1812, he was detailed by Hull to board the English vessel and accept her surrender. Two months later, on October 25, Read was serving under Commodore Stephen Decatur aboard the USS United States when they defeated the British warship HMS Macedonian. As a lieutenant, Read commanded the brig USS Chippewa during the Algerian War of 1815. He was promoted to Commander in 1816, and served in the Mediterranean and off the coast of Africa. After a promotion to captain in 1825, he took command of the USS Constitution. From 1838 to 1839 Read took part in retaliatory actions against the pirates and raiders who preyed on American shipping in India. he commanded the Second Sumatran Expedition which was undertaken in response to the massacre of the merchant ship Eclipse.
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