Henry K . Hoff Rear Admiral Henry Kuhn Hoff ( born in Pennsylvania in 1809 ; died in Washington , D . C . , 25 December 1878 ) was a United States Navy officer . During his long career , he took part in combat in Sumatra and in the American Civil War . Biography . Hoff was appointed a midshipman from South Carolina on 28 October 1823 . He was assigned that month to the schooner in the West Indies Squadron . In 1825 he was reassigned to the frigate and was aboard her when she transported the Marquis de Lafayette to France . In 1826 he transferred to the frigate in the Mediterranean Squadron . He passed the midshipman examination in 1828 . Hoff was acting sailing master at the New York Navy Yard in Brooklyn , New York , from 1828 to 1831 and was promoted to passed midshipman on 23 March 1829 and to lieutenant on 3 March 1831 . In June 1831 he reported aboard the frigate and took part in the First Sumatran Expedition of 6 – 9 February 1832 , a punitive expedition against the Chiefdom of Quallah Battoo ( Kuala Batee , Aceh Barat Daya , Districts of Aceh , Aceh Sultanate ) mounted as a reprisal for the massacre there a year earlier of the crew of the merchant ship " Friendship " . " Potomac " bombarded the settlement . Hoff , as part of a division of bluejacket s and marines put ashore under the command of her executive officer , Lieutenant William Shubrick . In the Battle of Quallah Battoo , the landing force captured two forts and killed the chiefdom ' s leader , Raja Po Muhammad , and eleven other Sumatrans in exchange for six Americans badly wounded . The expedition made Sumatran waters safe for American shipping for the following six years . Hoff was ordered to the frigate in 1837 , then to the new frigate in the Pacific Squadron in 1843 to serve as her executive officer . Later in 1843 , promoted to lieutenant commander , he transferred to the supply ship at Callao , Peru . He reported aboard the new frigate , operating the Baltic Sea and the Atlantic Ocean , in 1848 . Promoted to commander on 6 February 1854 , Hoff returned to USS " Independence " as her commanding officer in 1856 . After " Independence " was laid up at Mare Island Navy Yard in Vallejo , California , Hoff became senior officer of the Pacific Squadron , embarked on the frigate in 1857 . He returned to the United States in 1858 by sailing around Cape Horn , and in 1859 was ordered to the steam corvette at the Philadelphia Navy Yard in Philadelphia , Pennsylvania . Shortly after the American Civil War broke out in April 1861 , Hoff was promoted to captain on 30 June 1861 . He commanded the steam sloop - of - war in the Pacific Squadron from 1861 to 1862 . Promoted to commodore on 16 July 1862 , Hoff returned to the United States in 1862 and was on special duty in 1863 , and after that performed ordnance duty in Philadelphia through the end of the war in April 1865 and thereafter until 1867 . Hoff was promoted to rear admiral on 13 April 1867 , and commanded the North Atlantic Squadron from October 1867 to October 1869 . During his tour in command of the squadron , he dealt with many sensitive issues , including troubles in Cuba , at the time a colony of Spain , where the Ten Years ' War broke out in October 1868 . He promptly and energetically intervened in the conflict to protect resident American citizen s from the actions of Spanish officials . Hoff was placed on the retired list on 19 September 1868 , but continued to serve the Navy after that . Returning to the United States in August 1869 , he became a member of the Naval Retiring Board in October 1869 , and , while serving in the capavity , was also President of the Board of Visitors at the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis , Maryland , handling examinations for the Class of 1870 . Hoff died in Washington , D . C . , on 25 December 1878 . His remains were interred at the Church of St . James the Less in Philadelphia .