He was attached to the West Indian Squadron, then transferred to the Philadelphia Naval School, graduating in 1843.

[1] From 1861 to 1862, he was executive officer of the navy yard at Washington, D.C. During the Civil War, he cooperated with the Army of the Potomac, protecting Alexandria, Virginia, after the First Battle of Bull Run.

He built Fort Dahlgren, and drilled 2,000 seamen in the exercise of artillery and small arms, thereby promoting the success of Admiral Andrew H. Foote's operations with the Mississippi Flotilla.

Later, until the close of the war, he commanded the Potomac Flotilla, which consisted at one time of 42 vessels, and frequently engaged Confederate forces.

In 1872, as commodore and chief of staff of the North Atlantic Fleet, he drew up a code of signals for steam tactics.