Thomas Jefferson Page

Who is Thomas Jefferson Page?

Thomas Jefferson Page, a grandson of a signer of the Declaration of Independence, was a United States Navy officer who served in the Caribbean, carried out a hydrographical survey of the New York coastline, and worked under Lieutenant Matthew Fontaine Maury at the Naval Observatory in Washington.

Page commanded the USS Plymouth in 1849 in the East China Sea and the Sea of Japan. He battled Japanese pirates in the brig USS Dolphin at the mouth of the Yangtze River at the request of the Qing Government. Due to personal reservations about the interests of western powers in China, Page did not accompany Admiral Perry's expedition to the Far East. Following this, Lieutenant Page commanded the USS Water Witch in which he explored the Argentine rivers Paraguay and Bermejo in the late 1850s, making the first detailed hydrological studies of the Rio de la Plata.

On the secession of his state, Captain Page resigned from the United States Navy to take up the defense of Virginia. During the ensuing Civil War, he became a Colonel of Artillery and commanded batteries defending the Confederate capital, Richmond.