Louis M. Goldsborough - Naval Service - Civil War Service - Peninsula Campaign

Peninsula Campaign

After aiding the capture of Roanoke Island, Goldsborough and his command were sent to Hampton Roads at the request of Major General George B. McClellan to help protect Union forces landing on the Virginia Peninsula at the start of the Peninsula Campaign. Goldsborough refused to be placed under McClellan's direct command, telling Assistant Secretary of the Navy Gustavus Vasa Fox that he would instead cooperate with McClellan. After sending six of his vessels to attack the Gloucester Point batteries, Goldsborough withdrew them, saying the area was too dangerous for his ships—even though none of them sustained any damage—and fearful of a return appearance by CSS Virginia, which had laid waste to a Union naval force in Hampton Roads while Goldsborough was at Roanoke Island.

At the start of the Seven Days Battles, Goldsborough was asked again, this time by President Abraham Lincoln, to come to McClellan's aid. Goldsborough continued to hold back his fleet, forcing Lincoln to accept a recommendation by Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles to detach ships under Goldsborough's command and place them under Commodore Charles Wilkes, who as a lieutenant had relieved Goldsborough at the Depot of Charts and Instruments (see above), and who would report directly to Welles. This move, coupled with newspaper accounts critical of the Navy, so seriously hurt Goldsborough that he requested that he be relieved. He was promoted to Rear Admiral in August 1862, and in September passed command of the squadron to Acting Rear Admiral Samuel Phillips Lee. Goldsborough would finish the war performing administrative duties in Washington, D.C.