Richard Worsam Meade Richard Worsam Meade III ( also called Richard Worsam Meade , Jr . , by many sources ) ( 9 October 1837 – 4 May 1897 ) was an officer in the United States Navy during the American Civil War . Biography . Born in New York City , he was the son of Captain Richard Worsam Meade II , USN , and followed his father by entering the Navy on October 2 , 1850 . He was attached to the steam frigate of the Mediterranean Squadron in 1851 - 4 , and the sailing frigate in the Home Squadron in 1854 - 55 , before attending the United States Naval Academy in 1856 . He was promoted to passed midshipman on June 20 , 1856 . He served in the steam frigate in 1856 - 1857 , and off Africa in 1857 - 1859 on board the corvette and the sloop of war . Promoted to Lieutenant on January 23 , 1858 , Meade was an officer of the steamer and sailing sloop of war , both units of the Pacific Squadron , during 1859 - 1861 . After returning to the East Coast from the Pacific in mid - 1861 , Lieutenant Meade was hospitalized for a few months for a tropical illness , then provided gunnery instruction to volunteer officers as the Navy expanded to meet the challenges of the American Civil War . In January 1862 he became Executive Officer of the steam sloop and later held the same position on the new gunboat . Promoted to Lieutenant - Commander on July 16 , 1862 , Meade ' s subsequent Civil War service was distinguished , including participation in the suppression of the July 1863 New York Draft Riots , plus active combat and blockade enforcement work while commanding the Mississippi River ironclad in the latter part of 1862 and the gunboats in South Carolina waters in 1863 - 1864 and in the Gulf of Mexico during 1864 - 1865 . Meade ' s post - Civil War career marked him as one of the Navy ' s most prominent reformist and technologically - minded officers . Duty at the Naval Academy in 1865 - 1868 was followed by promotion to Commander and service along the Alaskan coast as Commanding Officer of the steamer . In 1871 - 1873 he took on a lengthy diplomatic and information - gathering cruise through the south Pacific . During the rest of the 1870s he served ashore at Washington , D . C . , and New York . He attained the rank of Captain while commanding in the North Atlantic and West Indies in 1879 - 1882 , then had additional shore duty and commanded the new dispatch vessel . Captain Meade was Commandant of the Washington Navy Yard in 1887 - 1890 . Promoted to Commodore in 1892 and Rear Admiral two years later , his final service was as commander of the North Atlantic Squadron in 1894 - 1895 . He was a member of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States , the Society of Colonial Wars and the Military Order of Foreign Wars . Meade ' s early retirement in May 1895 followed a series of disagreements with the Navy Department . An article in the " New York Tribune " reported Meade as criticizing President Grover Cleveland , and quoted the sentence " I am an American and a Union man , two things this administration can ' t stand . " Rear Admiral Meade died in Washington , D . C . , on 4 May 1897 after complications following an operation for appendicitis . He is buried in Arlington National Cemetery alongside his brother , Lieutenant Commander Henry Meigs Meade , USN . His wife , Rebecca Paulding , was the daughter of Rear Admiral Hiram Paulding . Namesakes . Two ships have been named for him and his brother , Brigadier General Robert Leamy Meade , USMC . They were nephews of General George Gordon Meade .