Jonathan Young ( commodore ) Commodore Jonathan Young ( 27 November 1826 - 17 May 1885 ) was an officer in the United States Navy . He participated in anti - piracy actions and the African Slave Trade Patrol , fought in the Mexican War , Puget Sound War , and American Civil War , and served briefly as commander of the Asiatic Squadron . Naval career . Young was born in Ohio , on 27 November 1826 . He was appointed as a midshipman from Illinois on 19 October 1841 and served in the Home Squadron from 1841 to 1844 , attached first to the paddle steamer and then to the sloop - of - war . While in the Home Squadron , he was part of a boat expedition against pirates at the Isle of Pines south of Cuba in 1842 and participated in the capture of a slave ship carrying 500 African slaves . From 1845 to 1848 , Young was attached to the 74 - gun ship - of - the - line , the flagship of Commodore James Biddle , commander of the East India Squadron . During his time aboard " Columbus " , the ship sailed first to the East Indies and then continued around the world , stopping at Edo , Japan , in July 1846 to forcibly deliver a letter requesting the opening of trade between the United States and Japan from President of the United States James K . Polk to the Emperor of Japan , Kōmei , and receive a reply . Later in the voyage , she operated off California from 1847 to 1848 during the Mexican War before completing her circumnavigation of the globe in 1848 . Young was promoted to passed midshipman on 10 August 1847 . Young served aboard the sailing frigate , flagship of Commodore Foxhall A . Parker , Sr . , the commander of the Home Squadron , from 1849 to 1850 , and then aboard the sloop - of - war in the Pacific Squadron from 1850 to 1852 ; he again sailed around the world while aboard " St . Marys " . He then performed duty at the United States Naval Observatory in Washington , D . C . , during 1853 . He served aboard the steamer from 1854 to 1857 ; while aboard " Massachusetts " , he was promoted to master on 14 September 1855 and to lieutenant the following day , and in 1855 gained distinction for commanding landing forces in combat with Native Americans during the Puget Sound War in the Washington Territory . After duty at the Naval Observatory again in 1858 , he was aboard the steamer from 1858 to 1859 to participate in the Paraguay Expedition before another tour at the Naval Observatory from 1859 to 1860 . In 1860 , Young reported aboard the sidewheel steam frigate , which operated in the Gulf of Mexico , Mediterranean Squadron , and along the United States East Coast . He was aboard " Susqehanna " when the American Civil War broke out in April 1861 , and participated in the Union blockade of the Confederate States of America . He also took part aboard " Susquehanna " in the seizure of Hatteras Inlet , North Carolina , on 28 August 1861 and the Battle of Port Royal at Port Royal , South Carolina , on 7 November 1861 . From November 1861 to June 1862 , he was executive officer of the sloop - of - war , engaged in the blockade of Wilmington , North Carolina , and from June 1862 to November 1862 he was executive officer of the sidewheel steam frigate on blockade duty off Charleston , South Carolina , being promoted to lieutenant commander on 16 July 1862 . Young was commanding officer of the steam gunboat in 1863 . " Pembina " , on blockade duty in the Gulf of Mexico off Mobile Bay , Alabama , fought an engagement with a Confederate artillery battery which had been emplaced with a goal of driving her farther offshore ; she succeeded in silencing the battery and forcing it to withdraw inland . She also came under fire from Confederate troops on shore while she was destroying a blockade runner that had run aground . After contracting a fever while on duty in the harbor of Pensacola , Florida , later in 1863 , Young was assigned to temporary ordnance duty until he could make a full recovery . Once recovered , he became commanding officer of the double - ended steam gunboat on blockade duty in the Atlantic Ocean off South Carolina and Georgia from March to July 1864 , when he took command of the monitor in the blockade off Charleston , South Carolina . He remained in command of " Sangamon " until the fall of Savannah , Georgia , and Charleston , seeing action in all the attacks on the defenses of Charleston Harbor from July 1864 to February 1865 , after which " Sangamon " served off Wilmington , North Carolina , and on Virginias James River . For the gallantry , zeal , and effectiveness of his Civil War service , Young received letters of commendation from Vice Admiral David Dixon Porter , Rear Admirals Theodorus Bailey , John A . Dahlgren , and Sylvanus William Godon , Commodore William H . Gardner , and many others under whom he had served , and the Board of Admirals recommended him for promotion . Young detached from " Sangamon " in the final weeks of the Civil War , on 28 March 1865 . He then was commanding officer of the receiving ship at Portsmouth Navy Yard in Kittery , Maine , until 1867 , and was promoted to commander on 25 July 1866 . He returned to sea as commanding officer of the sidewheel steamer in the North Atlantic Squadron from 1867 to 1868 . He then served ashore at the Naval Observatory from 1869 to 1870 and the Portsmouth Navy Yard from 1871 to 1872 , and then as commanding officer of the receiving ship from 1872 to 1873 . He was promoted to captain on 8 November 1873 , performed duty at the Portsmouth Navy Yard from 1873 to 1876 , and commanded the screw frigate , flagship of the Asiatic Squadron , from 1876 to 1878 , and temporarily was the commander of the Asiatic Squadron from 12 August to 14 October 1877 . Young was at the Portsmouth Navy Yard again from 1879 to 1881 , and was promoted to commodore on 19 June 1882 . He became commandant of the New London Navy Yard in New London , Connecticut , in 1882 , remaining in that position until his death . Death . Young died at Crocker House in New London on 17 May 1885 of a recurring fever he had contracted six weeks previously in Washington , D . C . , while sitting as a member of the court martial of former Surgeon General of the United States Navy Philip S . Wales . He is buried with his wife and children at Green - Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn , New York .