Hiram Paulding

Hiram Paulding
Commodore Hiram Paulding
Born	(1797-12-11)December 11, 1797 Cortlandt, New York
Died	October 20, 1878(1878-10-20) (aged 80) Huntington, New York
Allegiance	United States
Service/branch	United States Navy
Years of service	1811–1870
Rank	Rear Admiral
Commands held	Shark Levant Vincennes St. Lawrence Home Squadron
Battles/wars	War of 1812 American Civil War
Relations	John Paulding (father)

Hiram Paulding (December 11, 1797 – October 20, 1878) was a Rear Admiral in the United States Navy, who served from the War of 1812 until after the Civil War.

The son of John Paulding, Paulding was born in Cortlandt, New York. He was appointed Midshipman on September 1, 1811. During the War of 1812, he served on Lakes Ontario and Champlain, commanding the second division from Ticonderoga during the Battle of Lake Champlain. After the war he served in Constellation, off the Algerian coast, and in Independence, the brig Prometheus, and Macedonian.

On his return from service in Macedonian with the Pacific Squadron (1818–1821), he spent a year’s leave at Capt. Alden Partridge’s Military Academy (later Norwich University), Norwich, Vermont. In the ensuing years of the decade he served in Sea Gull on the West Indies station, and in United States on the Pacific station. While serving on the United States Paulding was chosen to carry Commodore Hull's dispatches from Callao, Peru, to the mountain headquarters of General Simon Bolivar in the Andes; Paulding's journey of 1,500 miles on horseback was later recorded in his book, Bolivar in His War Camp. The following year he volunteered to serve under John "Roaring Jack" Percival in the Dolphin as that vessel pursued mutineers of the whaler Globe, then returned to United States. In 1830 he rejoined Constellation to serve as 1st Lieutenant, as she cruised the Mediterranean for two years, and in 1834 assumed command of the schooner Shark for another Mediterranean tour. Appointed to command the sloop-of-war Levant in 1838, he made a cruise in the West Indies and in 1841 became Executive Officer of the New York Navy Yard.