Francis Asbury Roe | |
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![]() Francis A. Roe, circa 1866
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Born |
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October 4, 1823
Died | December 28, 1901![]() |
(aged 78)
Place of burial | Arlington National Cemetery |
Allegiance |
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Service/branch |
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Years of service | 1841–1885 |
Rank |
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Commands held |
Katahdin Sassacus Michigan Tacony Lancaster |
Battles/wars | American Civil War |
Francis Asbury Roe (October 4, 1823 – December 28, 1901) was an admiral in the United States Navy who served during the American Civil War.
Born in Elmira, New York, Roe entered the United States Navy as a midshipman on October 19, 1841, and graduated from the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland in 1848.
Roe left the Navy for eleven months, from June 1848 to May 1849, serving aboard the mail steamer SS Georgia.
After he returned to the Navy, he was assigned to the brigantine Porpoise and served in an expedition to chart the North Pacific. Cape Roe on the Japanese island of Tanegashima was named for him during this expedition. In 1854, while serving in Porpoise on the Asiatic Station, he participated in an engagement with 13 Chinese armored junks off Macau. Six of the junks were sunk and the others were scattered.
Roe received his commission as Master on August 8, 1855, and as Lieutenant on September 14 of the same year. From 1857 to 1858 he served in the U.S. Coast Survey.
During the Civil War, in April 1862, he was recommended for promotion for gallantry for his actions on board the screw steamer Pensacola while serving as executive officer, as that ship led Admiral David Farragut's starboard column past Fort Jackson and Fort St. Philip. He was promoted to Lieutenant Commander on July 16, 1862, and placed in command of the gunboat Katahdin on the Mississippi River. While commanding Katahdin, Roe defeated Confederate general John C. Breckinridge's attack on Baton Rouge, Louisiana.