- CALEB E. LEE, Lieut. of Engineers U.S.N., Sec. 12; P.O. Evansville;
born Nov. 19, 1835, in
- Crawford Co., Penn.; came to Wisconsin with his parents in
1847, and worked for his father till 1853, when he went to Janesville
and learned a mechanic's trade with the Western Novelty Works;
in the spring of 1856, he went to Minnesota, and worked at his
profession as engineer on the river and in a sawmill; in the
fall of 1858, he went to New York City and followed his trade
till April, 1861, when he received the appointment of Third Assistant
Engineer; U.S.N.; in January, 1863, was promoted Second Assistant
Engineer, and in January, 1865, First Assistant Engineer, now
called Past Assistant Engineer, with the assimilated rank of
Lieutenant; from the 3d of May, 1861, to the 16th of June, 1865,
Mr. LEE served continuously through the war; he was on the U.S.S.
Anacosta, on the Potomoc River, on picket duty principally, but
they fought and silenced the rebel battery on Atacquia Creek;
he served on the Pocahontas, under Admiral Dupont, at the taking
of Port Royal, S.C., in the fall of 1861; went on this station
till the following summer, fighting several engagements along
the coast; in the fall of 1862, they joined Admiral Farragut's
fleet in a blockade off Mobile, Ala., where they captured several
blockade runners; on the Tacony, he served under Admirals Lee
and Porter with the North Atlantic Squadron; fought both engagements
at Fort Fisher, and was at the surrender and retaking of Plymouth
on the Roanoke River, N.C., and was on blockade duty on the Albermarie
and Pamlico Sounds; he returned with this ship to Boston, Mass.,
which went out of commission at the close of the war; in August,
1865, he joined the U.S.S. Wasp, at Philadelphia, and went with
the Brazilian Squadron, visiting the whole east coast of South
America, the Falkland Islands, the west cost of Africa, from
Cape Town to the Congo River, St. Helena, etc.; he returned home
in the fall of 1868; in the spring of 1869, he was ordered to
the Mound City Navy Yard, Illinois, for iron-clad duty, remaining
there and at New Orleans for two and one-half years; in the fall
of 1871, he joined the U.S.S. Pensacola, at San Francisco, cruising
on the west coast of South America; in September, 1872, he was
sent home from Panama, sick, and was on sick leave till the fall
of 1875, when he joined the iron-clad steamer Mahopac, at Pensacola,
Fla., but in three months was sent home by medical survey; in
December, 1876, he was placed on the retired list, and is at
present living on his farm of 280 acres, in Magnolia Township,
Rock Co., Wis.; he is a member of Lodge No. 32, Chapter NO. 35,
Masons.
-
- Taken from "The History of Rock County, Wis."
(c)1879, pp. 879-880.
-
- Courtesy of Carol
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