Ship's Crew
Henry Martin Blue
Rank(s): Lieutenant
Dates of Service: 12/15/1863 - 4/16/1864
Birth Date: 5/4/1839
Death Date: 8/22/1866
Henry Blue was born on May 4, 1839. He entered the U.S. Navy on September 28, 1854 as an acting midshipman and graduated from the Naval Academy on June 11, 1858. He was promoted to a passed midshipman on February 9, 1861, became a master on February 28, 1861, and then a lieutenant on April 20, 1861.
Blue participated in one of the first naval attacks of the American Civil War, in which three Union ships bombarded Confederate batteries near Aquia Creek, Virginia from May 29 to June 1, 1861. Blue was involved in the capture of Hatteras, North Carolina on August 28 and 29, 1861, and the Battle of Port Royal, South Carolina on November 7, 1861, which were both Union victories. He was also involved in the occupation of Fernandina, Florida in 1862.
Blue was senior instructor aboard Constitution from December 15, 1863 to April 16, 1864 while she was a school ship in Newport, Rhode Island. The Naval Academy was relocated to Newport during the American Civil War for fear of a Confederate attack at Annapolis. Blue also was senior instructor in the school ship Santee.
Blue was promoted to lieutenant commander on March 24, 1865. He died of typhoid fever aboard the sidewheel steamer Tacony in Charleston, South Carolina on August 22, 1866.
