Febiger entered the United States Navy from Ohio as a midshipman on 14 September 1838, and was in the Concord, of the Brazil Squadron, when she was wrecked in the Mozambique Channel off the eastern coast of Africa on 2 October 1842.

On 11 August 1862, he was commissioned commander, and assigned to the steamer Kanawha of the Western Gulf Blockading Squadron.

Melancton Smith, and the Confederate ram CSS Albemarle, in Albemarle Sound, North Carolina In this engagement the ram was defeated, and her tender, the CSS Bombshell, captured, and Febiger was commended for his "gallantry and skill" by Capt.

He was inspector of naval reserve lands 1869–1872, was made commodore on 9 August 1874, was a member of the Board of Examiners 1874–1876, and commandant of the Washington Navy Yard 1876–1880.

He was promoted to rear admiral on 4 February 1882, and on 1 July 1882 was retired on his own application, having been in the service over forty years.