Hiram Paulding Hiram Paulding ( December 11 , 1797 – October 20 , 1878 ) was a Rear Admiral in the United States Navy , who served from the War of 1812 until after the Civil War . Naval career . The son of John Paulding , Paulding was born in Cortlandt , New York . He was appointed Midshipman on September 1 , 1811 . During the War of 1812 , he served on Lakes Ontario and Champlain , commanding the second division from during the Battle of Lake Champlain . After the war he served in , off the Algerian coast , and in , the brig , and . On his return from service in " Macedonian " with the Pacific Squadron ( 1818 – 1821 ) , he spent a year ’ s leave at Capt . Alden Partridge ’ s Military Academy ( later Norwich University ) , Norwich , Vermont . In the ensuing years of the decade he served in on the West Indies station , and in on the Pacific station . While serving on the Paulding was chosen to carry Commodore Hull ' s dispatches from Callao , Peru , to the mountain headquarters of General Simon Bolivar in the Andes ; Paulding ' s journey of 1 , 500 miles on horseback was later recorded in his book , Bolivar in His War Camp . The following year he volunteered to serve under John ' Roaring Jack ' Percival in the as that vessel pursued mutineers of the whaler " Globe " , then returned to " United States " . In 1830 he rejoined " Constellation " to serve as 1st Lieutenant , as she cruised the Mediterranean for two years , and in 1834 assumed command of the schooner for another Mediterranean tour . Appointed to command the sloop - of - war in 1838 , he made a cruise in the West Indies and in 1841 became Executive Officer of the New York Navy Yard . In 1844 , Paulding was promoted to Captain and in 1845 he assumed command of for a three - year East Indian cruise and took command of that station with the departure of Commodore James Biddle for the United States . Between 1848 and 1852 he commanded in the Baltic , North , and Mediterranean Seas , then assumed command of the Washington Navy Yard . Promoted to Commodore , Paulding took command of the Home Squadron followed aboard the flagship . The squadron was instrumental in foiling the expedition against Nicaragua underway by American , William Walker , who had dreamed of uniting the nations of Central America into a vast military empire led by himself . Through insurrection , Walker became president of Nicaragua in 1856 only to have Cornelius Vanderbilt — who controlled the country ' s shipping lifelines — shut off supplies and aid . A revolt toppled Walker from power , and he was trying for a military comeback before he was captured in 1857 by a landing of Home Squadron Marines . Stateside controversy over the questionable legality of seizing American nationals in foreign , neutral lands prompted President James Buchanan to relieve Paulding of his command , forcing him into retirement . In 1861 , Paulding was appointed by President Abraham Lincoln to assist in building up a wartime fleet . He then took over the New York Navy Yard . Paulding was assigned to evacuate ships from the Norfolk Naval Shipyard , which the Confederates planned to seize , in April 1861 . Paulding found that Charles Stewart McCauley , commander of the navy yard , had ordered destruction of the ships . Paulding had to complete the work of burning and scuttling the largest number of the ships . He was able to remove the USS Cumberland , towed by the USS Pawnee . The USS Merrimack ( 1855 ) was burned to the waterline , but it was refitted latter as the CSS Virginia . In August 1861 , Paulding was named by Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles to the Ironclad Board , responsible for approving designs for and construction of ironclasd warships . The result was the construction of USS New Ironsides , USS Galena and ( most famously ) USS Monitor . After the war Paulding served as Governor , Naval Asylum at Philadelphia and as Post - Admiral at Boston . Paulding died at Huntington , Long Island , New York , 20 October 1878 . He published a " Journal of a Cruise Among the Islands of the Pacific " ( 1831 ) . Namesake . The destroyer was named in honor of Rear Admiral Paulding .