Samuel W. Preston

Captured by Confederate forces during an attack on Fort Sumter on 8 September 1863,
he was taken to Libby Prison in Richmond, Virginia, and exchanged in the fall of 1864.
He was killed in action during the capture of Fort Fisher, 15 January, 1965.
Ordered to the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron as Flag-Lieutenant to Rear Admiral David Dixon Porter, he participated in the attacks on Fort Fisher on 24–25 December 1864, and 13 January 1865. He was killed while leading his men against the fort on the latter date.

Second Battle of Fort Fisher

The Second Battle of Fort Fisher was a joint assault by Union Army and naval forces against Fort Fisher, outside Wilmington, North Carolina, near the end of the American Civil War. Sometimes referred to as the "Gibraltar of the South" and the last major coastal stronghold of the Confederacy, Fort Fisher had tremendous strategic value during the war, providing a port for blockade runners supplying the Army of Northern Virginia.

The battle was the largest amphibious operation until the Second World War.

An account of his death.
Battle for the Capture of Fort Fisher, 13 January 1865:

All of the navy officers had gone into battle wearing dress uniforms, and as they charged, the navy men cheered loudly. Leading the assault party from the USS Malvern was lieutenant Preston.

While the marine riflemen tried to keep the defenders of the fort off the ramparts, Preston and other navy officers led the charge up the beach but were hit with withering canister fire from the fort's cannons. Many of the charging attackers pulled their blue caps low over their eyes so as not to see the flashes of the enemy guns.

The sailors were not trained in infantry tactics, and the assault became an unorganized mess. The marines failed to keep up their covering fire and joined the charge. Of the two thousand sailors who landed on the beach, no more than two hundred made it to the walls of the fort, but that number included all of the officers.

As the blue jackets approached the fort, North Carolina troops poured volley after volley of musket fire into the sailors. Preston fell no more than twenty paces from the fort's walls.

The U.S. Navy has named several ships in honor of Samuel W. Preston, including two steamers that served briefly in 1865 and four destroyers: USS Preston (Destroyer # 19), 1910-1919; USS Preston (DD-327), 1921-1932; USS Preston (DD-379), 1936-1942; and USS Preston (DD-795), 1944-1969.

Preston, Samuel William, LT