Richard Wainwright | |
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Richard Wainwright in 1902
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Born |
Washington, D.C. |
December 17, 1849
Died | March 6, 1926 Washington, D.C. |
(aged 76)
Allegiance | United States of America |
Service/branch | United States Navy |
Years of service | 1868–1911 |
Rank | Rear Admiral |
Commands held |
Office of Naval Intelligence USS Gloucester 2nd Division, Great White Fleet |
Battles/wars | |
Relations | Son of Cmdr. Richard Wainwright Father of Cmdr. Richard Wainwright |
American Civil War
Sinking of the Maine
Rear Admiral Richard Wainwright (17 December 1849 – 6 March 1926), son of Commander Richard Wainwright, was an officer in the United States Navy during the Spanish–American War.
Born in Washington, D.C., the son of Sarah Franklin Bache and Richard Wainwright. He was the grandson of Richard Bache, Jr., who served in the Republic of Texas Navy and was elected as a Representative to the Second Texas Legislature in 1847 and Sophia Burrell Dallas, the daughter of Arabella Maria Smith and Alexander J. Dallas an American statesman who served as the U.S. Treasury Secretary under President James Madison. He was great-grandson of Sarah Franklin Bache and Richard Bache, the great-great-grandson of Benjamin Franklin, and a nephew of George Mifflin Dallas the 11th Vice President of the United States who served under James K. Polk.
Wainwright was appointed to the US Naval Academy in 1864 by President Abraham Lincoln and graduated near the top of his class in 1868. Wainwright's early career is not well documented. From 1890 to 1893 he commanded the Alert, and in 1896 he became the Chief Intelligence Officer of the Navy. In November 1897, he was ordered to the Armored Cruiser Maine, to serve as executive officer under Captain Charles D. Sigsbee.