George Parker Upshur (8 March 1799 – 3 November 1852) was a career officer in the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...

and superintendent of the U.S. Naval Academy (1847–1850).Appleton's Cyclopedia Vol. VII p. 214

Early and family life

Born in

Northampton County, Virginia Northampton County is a county (United States), county located in the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 12,282. Its county seat is Eastville, Virginia, Eastville. Northampton and Acco ...

, among the dozen children borne to plantation owner and politician Littleton Upshur. His elder brother

Abel P. Upshur Abel Parker Upshur (June 17, 1790 – February 28, 1844) was an American lawyer, planter, judge, and politician from the Eastern Shore of Virginia. Active in Virginia state politics for decades, with a brother and a nephew who became distinguis ...

inherited the family plantation and continued their father's political involvement, also serving in the Virginia House of Delegates and dying during a demonstration accident as

U.S. Secretary of the Navy The Secretary of the Navy (SECNAV) is a statutory officer () and the head (chief executive officer) of the Department of the Navy, a military department within the United States Department of Defense. On March 25, 2025, John Phelan was confirm ...

in 1842. His nephew John Henry Upshur (1823–1889) also became a career naval officer, and rose to the rank of rear admiral. As a midshipman, J.H. Upshur participated in the Mexican American War, despite his family's generations of slave ownership, served on a frigate which helped suppress the trans-Atlantic slave trade in 1855, and remained loyal to the Union during the U.S. Civil War, during which he took part in engagements at Fort Fisher as well as participated in the blockading squadron.

Career

George Upshur entered the United States Navy as midshipman on April 23, 1818; was promoted to lieutenant, March 3, 1827, and served in the USS ''Lexington'', on the

Brazil station The Brazil Squadron, the Brazil Station, or the South Atlantic Squadron was an overseas military station established by the United States in 1826 to protect American commerce in the South Atlantic during a war between Brazil and Argentina. When t ...

, 1832–34, against the pirates infesting the

Falkland Islands The Falkland Islands (; ), commonly referred to as The Falklands, is an archipelago in the South Atlantic Ocean on the Patagonian Shelf. The principal islands are about east of South America's southern Patagonian coast and from Cape Dub ...

. He commanded the brig USS ''Truxtun'' on her first cruise in the Mediterranean in 1843-44, and from 1844 until 1847 served in the receiving ship at Norfolk, Virginia. He was commissioned commander, February 27, 1847, and from that year until 1850 was superintendent of the

United States Naval Academy The United States Naval Academy (USNA, Navy, or Annapolis) is a United States Service academies, federal service academy in Annapolis, Maryland. It was established on 10 October 1845 during the tenure of George Bancroft as United States Secre ...

at Annapolis. On July 13, 1852, Commander Ushur took command of the sloop-of-war USS ''Levant'', at Norfolk. ''Levant'' joined the United States squadron in the Mediterranean, but Upshur died on board his ship, in the harbor of

Spezia La Spezia (, or ; ; , in the local ) is the capital city of the province of La Spezia and is located at the head of the Gulf of La Spezia in the southern part of the Liguria region of Italy. La Spezia is the second-largest city in the Liguri ...

, Italy, November 3, 1852.

Legacy

His home from 1836 to 1847 was

Caserta Caserta ( ; ) is the capital of the province of Caserta in the Campania region of Italy. An important agricultural, commercial, and industrial ''comune'' and city, Caserta is located 36 kilometres north of Naples on the edge of the Campanian p ...

, near

Eastville, Virginia Eastville is a town in Northampton County, Virginia, Northampton County, Virginia, United States. The population was 300 at the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census. It is the county seat of Northampton County. The Northampton County Courthouse ...

. It was listed on the

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in 1970 and delisted in 2001, after being destroyed by fire in 1975.

References

* The Presbyterian Magazine edited by Cortlandt Van Rensselaer, Vol iv, 1854, p. 545. * Virginia Biographical Encyclopedia {{DEFAULTSORT:Upshur, George P. United States Navy officers Superintendents of the United States Naval Academy 1799 births 1852 deaths People from Eastville, Virginia