Thomas A. Budd (April 28, 1813 – March 22, 1862) was a United States Naval officer. Budd entered the navy as a midshipman in 1829, was promoted to passed midshipman in 1835, and earned the rank of lieutenant in 1841.Delgado, James P. To California by sea: a maritime history of the California gold rush. University of South Carolina Press, 1996. p71 Budd was acting master of the during Captain

Charles Wilkes Charles Wilkes (April 3, 1798 – February 8, 1877) was an American naval officer, ship's captain, and List of explorers, explorer. He led the United States Exploring Expedition (1838–1842). During the American Civil War between 1861 and 1865 ...

United States Exploring Expedition The United States Exploring Expedition of 1838–1842 was an exploring and surveying expedition of the Pacific Ocean and surrounding lands conducted by the United States. The original appointed commanding officer was Commodore Thomas ap Catesby ...

(1838–1842). He later joined the expedition flagship, , as master. Numerous features were named for Budd during the expedition, including

Budd Coast Budd Coast (), part of Wilkes Land, is that portion of the coast of Antarctica lying between the Hatch Islands, at 109°16'E, and Cape Waldron, at 115°33'E. It was discovered in February 1840 by the U.S. Exploring Expedition (1838–42) under ...

in Antarctica,

Budd Inlet Budd Inlet is an inlet located at the southern end of Puget Sound in Thurston County, Washington. It is the southernmost arm of Puget Sound. Etymology Budd Inlet was named by Charles Wilkes during the United States Exploring Expedition, to hono ...

, a part of

Puget Sound Puget Sound ( ; ) is a complex estuary, estuarine system of interconnected Marine habitat, marine waterways and basins located on the northwest coast of the U.S. state of Washington (state), Washington. As a part of the Salish Sea, the sound ...

, and Budd's Harbor, later called Washington Harbor, in

Sequim Bay Sequim Bay is a bay in northwestern Washington (U.S. state), Washington, on the Olympic Peninsula. The bay is on the Strait of Juan de Fuca of the Pacific Ocean and is located east of Sequim, Washington and north of Blyn, Washington, Blyn. Sequ ...

, on the

Strait of Juan de Fuca The Strait of Juan de Fuca (officially named Juan de Fuca Strait in Canada) is a body of water about long that is the Salish Sea's main outlet to the Pacific Ocean. The Canada–United States border, international boundary between Canada and the ...

.Blumenthal, Richard W., ed. Charles Wilkes and the Exploration of Inland Washington Waters: Journals from the Expedition of 1841. McFarland, 2009. pp. 85, 277 In the late 1840s, he joined the California Line of the Pacific Mail Steamship Company as commander of the ''California'', serving the line during the peak of the

California Gold Rush The California gold rush (1848–1855) began on January 24, 1848, when gold was found by James W. Marshall at Sutter's Mill in Coloma, California. The news of gold brought approximately 300,000 people to California from the rest of the U ...

. In 1848, the ''California'', under command of Captain Cleveland Forbes, became the first American steamship to navigate the

Straits of Magellan The Strait of Magellan (), also called the Straits of Magellan, is a navigable sea route in southern Chile separating mainland South America to the north and the Tierra del Fuego archipelago to the south. Considered the most important natural ...

. Budd was solicited to join Commodore

Matthew C. Perry Matthew Calbraith Perry (April 10, 1794 – March 4, 1858) was a United States Navy officer who commanded ships in several wars, including the War of 1812 and the Mexican–American War. He led the Perry Expedition that Bakumatsu, ended Japan' ...

in his Japan Expedition, but resigned before its departure in 1853. He later moved to

Buffalo, New York Buffalo is a Administrative divisions of New York (state), city in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York and county seat of Erie County, New York, Erie County. It lies in Western New York at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of ...

, where he entered into an exchange and brokerage business with Nathan Thayer. In Buffalo, he occasionally contributed articles to the newspaper, ''Courieron''. Politically, he was a

democrat Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to: Politics *A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people. *A member of a Democratic Party: **Democratic Party (Cyprus) (DCY) **Democratic Part ...

and he opposed abolitionism. At the start of the Civil War, Budd offered his services to the Union and was placed in command of the gunboat . The ''Penguin'' was initially a part of the

North Atlantic Blockading Squadron The Union blockade in the American Civil War was a naval strategy by the United States to prevent the Confederacy from trading. The blockade was proclaimed by President Abraham Lincoln in April 1861, and required the monitoring of of Atlantic ...

, but joined the

Potomac Flotilla The Potomac Flotilla, also called the Potomac Squadron, was a unit of the United States Navy created in the early days of the American Civil War to secure Union communications in the Chesapeake Bay, the Potomac River and their tributaries, and to ...

on August 19, 1861. In October she shifted to the

South Atlantic Blockading Squadron The Atlantic Blockading Squadron was a unit of the United States Navy created in the early days of the American Civil War to enforce the Union blockade of the ports of the Confederate States. It was formed in 1861 and split up the same year for th ...

. He participated in the bombardment of Hilton Head in November. During that battle, the ''Penguin'' was disabled, and Budd ordered that a tug tow the ship into range so that it could continue to bombard the harbor. In December 1861, Budd assisted escaped slaves around

Edisto Island, South Carolina Edisto Island is one of South Carolina's Sea Islands, the larger part of which lies in Charleston County, South Carolina, Charleston County, with its southern tip in Colleton County, South Carolina, Colleton County. Edisto Beach is in Colleton C ...

, while supporting activities in that

area Area is the measure of a region's size on a surface. The area of a plane region or ''plane area'' refers to the area of a shape or planar lamina, while '' surface area'' refers to the area of an open surface or the boundary of a three-di ...

while under the command of

Percival Drayton Percival Drayton (August 25, 1812 – August 4, 1865) was a career United States Navy officer. He served in the Brazil Squadron, the Mediterranean Squadron and as a staff officer during the Paraguay Expedition. During the American Civil War, h ...

. He was killed in a skirmish at

Mosquito Inlet The Ponce de Leon Inlet is a natural opening in the barrier islands in central Florida that connects the north end of the Mosquito Lagoon and the south end of the Halifax River to the Atlantic Ocean. The inlet originally was named Mosquito Inlet. ...

on the east coast of

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

near Smyrna on March 22, 1862.Death of Capt. Budd, The Buffalo Commercial (Buffalo, New York) April 1, 1862, page 3, accessed May 18, 2017 at https://www.newspapers.com/clip/11088246/death_of_capt_budd_the_buffalo/ He was buried in Buffalo's Forest Lawn Cemetery.Roll of Honor, The Buffalo Commercial, (Buffalo, New York) May 31, 1900, page 8, accessed May 19, 2017 at https://www.newspapers.com/clip/11102133/roll_of_honot_the_buffalo_commercial/ Budd was married and had children.Death of Capt. Thomas A. Budd, Evening Courier and Republic (Buffalo, New York) April 1, 1862, page 2, accessed May 18, 2017 at https://www.newspapers.com/clip/11088425/

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Budd, Thomas A. 1818 births 1862 deaths Union Navy officers United States Navy officers 19th-century American explorers American oceanographers American explorers of the Pacific American explorers of Antarctica Explorers of Oregon People of the United States Exploring Expedition Union military personnel killed in the American Civil War