Henry Erben Henry Erben ( 5 September 1832 – 23 October 1909 ) was a rear admiral of the United States Navy , who served in the American Civil War and the Spanish – American War . Biography . Erben was born in New York City . He entered the Navy as a midshipman on 17 June 1848 , and was promoted to passed midshipman on 12 June 1855 , to master on 16 September 1855 , and to lieutenant on 27 December 1856 . At the outbreak of the Civil War he was serving aboard the store ship , which arrived at Pensacola , Florida , on 10 January 1861 , the day the state declared its secession from the Union , and as the Navy Yard there was captured by state forces . Union forces under Lieutenant Adam J . Slemmer still held Fort Pickens , and the next day Erben and men from " Supply " broke into Fort McRee , and destroyed some 20 , 000 pounds of gunpowder and spiked all of the guns . In April Erben reported aboard , and was ordered to the Mississippi Flotilla on 5 September 1861 . There he commanded the ironclad from April to June 1862 , and the from June to July 1862 . He was promoted to lieutenant commander on 16 July 1862 . He then served with the naval howitzer battery which served with the Army during the Antietam campaign in September 1862 . He commanded the ill - fated monitor from her commissioning in July 1864 until September , then the gunboat in the 2nd Division of the West Gulf Blockading Squadron under Captain George F . Emmons in the Gulf of Mexico . On 2 February 1865 he detained the schooner " Ben Willis " , sailing under British colors , with a cargo of bales of cotton . Suspecting her to be a blockade runner , Erben sent her in to New Orleans . Soon after , on 18 February 1865 , boats from " Pinola " entered Pass Cavallo , Texas , and cut out the 70 - ton schooner " Anna Dale " , which was armed with a 12 - pounder Dahlgren howitzer and plentiful small arms . Attempting to sail her out in the dark the schooner grounded , so the guns were removed , and the schooner burnt . Nine crewmen were taken prisoner , one being her commander Joseph F . Stevenson , who claimed to be a lieutenant of the Confederate Navy , but was suspected by Erben of being a privateer . Erben was promoted to commander on 6 May 1868 , and to captain on 1 November 1879 . He served as the Superintendent of the New York Nautical School ( now the State University of New York Maritime College ) from 1879 to 1882 . Promoted to commodore on 3 April 1892 , he served as the Commandant of the New York Navy Yard until May 1893 , and was then appointed Commander - in - Chief of the European Station , serving from June 1893 until August 1894 , and receiving promotion to rear admiral on 31 July 1894 . Rear Admiral Erben retired on 6 September 1894 , but returned to active duty between April and July 1898 when he was placed in command of the Patrol Fleet , which guarded the coast of the United States from Galveston , Texas to Bar Harbor , Maine during the Spanish – American War . Erben was based at New York City , while his command consisted primarily of eight old iron monitors stationed at various ports . Rear Admiral Erben died in New York City in 1909 . Namesake . The ( 1943 – 1958 ) was named in his honor . Family . His father , also named Henry Erben ( born in New York City in 1801 ; died there in May 1883 ) , was an organ builder , apprenticed in 1818 to Thomas Hall , an organ builder . His grandfather Peter Erben ( born in Philadelphia in 1771 ; died in New York City in 1863 ) was an organist . After the death of his father , who was one of the early German settlers in Pennsylvania , Peter moved to New York City , where he became an organ builder , and was also organist in Trinity parish from 1807 until 1839 .