William Ballard Preston William Ballard Preston ( November 25 , 1805 – November 16 , 1862 ) was a United States political figure . He served as the U . S . Secretary of the Navy between 1849 and 1850 . He is also the cousin of William Campbell Preston and William Preston . Born in 1805 at Smithfield Plantation in Blacksburg , Virginia , Preston entered Hampden - Sydney College in 1821 , where he was active in literary and forensic activities . Graduating in 1824 , Preston studied law at the University of Virginia and was admitted to the bar in 1826 . In 1831 he became the Commonwealth ' s Attorney for Floyd County , Virginia . He married Lucinda Redd of Henry County , Virginia . The young attorney soon entered politics as a Whig and was elected to the Virginia House of Delegates in 1830 . During the 1831 – 1832 session , he took an active part in the campaign to abolish slavery . Then there followed an eight - year hiatus in his political activities during which he returned to the practice of law . In 1840 , he was elected to the State Senate , where he served from 1840 to 1844 , before returning to the House of Delegates . In 1846 , he was elected to the United States House of Representatives . In March 1849 , President Zachary Taylor appointed the Preston Secretary of the Navy . During Preston ' s tenure in that office , the United States Navy acquired new duties in the course of America ' s westward expansion and acquisition of California . Trade and commerce in the Pacific Ocean beckoned , and the Stars and Stripes flew from the masts of Navy ships in Chinese waters , while the shores of Japan , then unopened to the west , presented a tantalizing possibility for commercial intercourse . The Navy also was progressing through a technological transition , especially in the area of moving from sails to steam propulsion , and with the improvements in gunnery and naval ordnance . Upon the death of President Taylor , new President Millard Fillmore reorganized the Cabinet and appointed William Alexander Graham Secretary of the Navy . Preston retired from office and withdrew from politics and public life . Resuming his private law practice , Preston acquired a reputation for being a fine defense lawyer before being sent to France in 1858 to negotiate for the establishment of a line of commercial steamers to operate between Le Havre and Norfolk . The mission to France progressed well , and the project appeared promising until it was brought to naught by the American Civil War . As states in the lower South seceded from the Union , the pressure mounted upon Virginia to do likewise . Moderate sentiment still held sway through 1860 ; but , early in 1861 , increasing tensions forced Virginians to consider secession . On February 13 , 1861 , the secession convention met in Richmond and numbered William B . Preston amongst the delegates . As the Confederacy was established and the United States divided into two hostile camps , both sides moved steadily toward open conflict . A special delegation , composed of William B . Preston , Alexander H . H . Stuart , and George W . Randolph , traveled to Washington , D . C . where they met President Abraham Lincoln on April 12 . Finding the President firm in his resolve to hold the Federal forts then in the South , the three men returned to Richmond on April 15 . With the news of the firing on Fort Sumter in South Carolina on April 12 , 1861 , conservative and moderate strength in the secessionist convention melted away . On April 16 , convinced that secession was inevitable , William B . Preston submitted , in secret session , an ordinance of secession . Supported 88 to 55 , the Preston Resolution passed , and Virginia left the Union . Elected C . S . Senator from Virginia in the Confederate States Congress , he served in that legislative body until his death at Smithfield Plantation in 1862 . He is interred at Preston Cemetery in Smithfield . USS " William B . Preston " ( DD - 344 ) was named for him .