William T . Glassell William Thornton Glassell ( January 15 , 1831 - January 28 , 1879 ) was an officer in the Confederate States Navy during the American Civil War . He was one of the world ' s first combat submarine rs . He laid out the city of Orange , California . Early life and career . Glassell was born in Culpeper County , Virginia , was appointed a midshipman in the United States Navy from the state of Alabama ( March 15 , 1848 ) . When he was still a midshipman , his ship , the " St . Laurence " was sent to The Great Exhibition ( 1851 ) in London . Lady Byron ( Anne Isabella Byron , Baroness Byron ) , widow of the famous Lord Byron , visited the ship and invited only Glassell to dine with her the next evening . He accepted and " had a very pleasant interview . " Civil War . Promoted to lieutenant in 1855 , he was aboard USS " Hartford " off China when the Civil War broke out . When " Hartford " reached Philadelphia , Glassell declined to swear an additional oath of allegiance prescribed for Southerners , and was consequently imprisoned at Fort Warren and dropped from the U . S . service ( December 6 , 1861 ) . Confederate authorities issued him a lieutenant ' s commission , arranged his exchange , and assigned him to CSS " Chicora " in the Charleston Squadron . Glassell commanded his ship ' s forward division during the squadron ' s attack on the Union blockade ( January 31 , 1863 ) . Intrigued by the army ' s experiments with torpedoes and mines , he requested and received assignment to a special command training to attack the blockading fleet ' s monitors . On the night of October 5 , 1863 , Glassell and a crew of three in the diminutive torpedo boat " David " attacked the most powerful ship in the United States Navy , " New Ironsides " . The Confederates rammed a spar torpedo against the ironclad six feet beneath the waterline . The explosion threw a geyser of water over David , extinguishing its fires and leaving it immobile in a hail of small - arms fire . Most of the Confederates abandoned ship . The pilot stayed on board and the fireman soon reboarded the drifting boat , relit the fire , and reached the safety of Charleston Harbor . Glassell , and the other crewman were however captured and returned to Fort Warren . " New Ironsides " lost one dead and two wounded . Initially thought undamaged , it was leaking so badly that repairs kept it out of action until the last months of 1864 . Glassell , while in prison , was promoted to commander for his attack on " New Ironsides " . Exchanged in the last six months of the war , he returned to Charleston , South Carolina . On the evacuation of that city he was transferred to Richmond , Virginia and assigned to command the ironclad " Fredericksburg " in the James River Squadron . With Richmond ' s evacuation , the squadron ' s personnel were reorganized as artillery and infantry , and Glassell commanded a regiment . He was paroled at Greensboro , North Carolina , on April 28 , 1865 . Orange , California . Captain Glassell ' s health had been broken as a result of his experiences while in the Confederate Army , both by his hazardous undertaking , and subsequent capture and eighteen months in a northern military prison . He came to visit his elder brother Andrew Glassell in Los Angeles , and stayed to help in developing the Richland Tract in the capacity of surveyor . The city of Orange was founded by attorneys Andrew Glassell and Alfred Chapman , who had participated in the partition of Rancho Santiago de Santa Ana and were active in similar land lawsuits . Captain Glassell surveyed the tract of land for his brother and Chapman in 1871 . In 1872 the Richland subdivision was placed on the market . In 1873 , when a post office was sought it was discovered that there was a town in Sacramento County by the name of Richland . As an alternative , Orange was chosen , possibly after Orange County , Virginia , where the Glassell family ' s ' Richland ' plantation was located . Family life . William T . Glassell died at the age of 48 in Los Angeles , unmarried and childless and is interred at Angelus Rosedale Cemetery in Los Angeles . His great - nephew was George Smith Patton .