Daniel Ammen was a U.S. naval

United States Navy

The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...

 officer during the American Civil War

American Civil War

The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...

 and the postbellum period, as well as a prolific author.

Biography

Born in Brown County, Ohio

Brown County, Ohio

As of the census of 2000, there were 42,285 people, 15,555 households, and 11,790 families residing in the county. The population density was 86 people per square mile . There were 17,193 housing units at an average density of 35 per square mile...

, his older brother was Jacob Ammen

Jacob Ammen

Jacob Ammen was a college professor, civil engineer, and a general in the Union Army during the American Civil War. His younger brother, Daniel Ammen, was an admiral in the United States Navy.-Early life and career:...

, who became a brigadier general

Brigadier general (United States)

A brigadier general in the United States Army, Air Force, and Marine Corps, is a one-star general officer, with the pay grade of O-7. Brigadier general ranks above a colonel and below major general. Brigadier general is equivalent to the rank of rear admiral in the other uniformed...

 in the Union Army

Union Army

The Union Army was the land force that fought for the Union during the American Civil War. It was also known as the Federal Army, the U.S. Army, the Northern Army and the National Army...

. They both attended the same school as Ulysses S. Grant

Ulysses S. Grant

Ulysses S. Grant was the 18th President of the United States as well as military commander during the Civil War and post-war Reconstruction periods. Under Grant's command, the Union Army defeated the Confederate military and ended the Confederate States of America...

, who was best friends with Daniel. As children, Ammen rescued Grant from drowning.

Ammen entered the Navy as a midshipman

Midshipman

A midshipman is an officer cadet, or a commissioned officer of the lowest rank, in the Royal Navy, United States Navy, and many Commonwealth navies. Commonwealth countries which use the rank include Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, India, Pakistan, Singapore, Sri Lanka and Kenya...

 on 7 July 1836. He served on during 1838.

In February, 1852 Ammen was ordered to pick out a new location for the navy yard in California. He arrived in San Francisco around April 30, 1852 for that purpose.

In 1861–62, he commanded the gunboat

Gunboat

A gunboat is a naval watercraft designed for the express purpose of carrying one or more guns to bombard coastal targets, as opposed to those military craft designed for naval warfare, or for ferrying troops or supplies.-History:...

  in the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron. His bravery was conspicuous in the Battle of Port Royal

Battle of Port Royal

The Battle of Port Royal was one of the earliest amphibious operations of the American Civil War, in which a United States Navy fleet and United States Army expeditionary force captured Port Royal Sound, South Carolina, between Savannah, Georgia and Charleston, South Carolina, on November 7, 1861...

, November 7, 1861. Later, under Samuel F. Dupont

Samuel Francis du Pont

Samuel Francis Du Pont was an American naval officer who achieved the rank of Rear Admiral in the United States Navy, and a member of the prominent Du Pont family; he was the only member of his generation to use a capital D...

's command, he took part in all the operations on the coasts of Georgia

Georgia (U.S. state)

Georgia is a state located in the southeastern United States. It was established in 1732, the last of the original Thirteen Colonies. The state is named after King George II of Great Britain. Georgia was the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution, on January 2, 1788...

 and Florida

Florida

Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...

. In the engagements with Fort McAllister

Fort McAllister

Fort McAllister may refer to:*Fort McAllister Historic Park, a Georgia state park located near Keller and Richmond Hill in South Bryan County, Georgia ....

, March 3, 1863, and with Fort Sumter

Fort Sumter

Fort Sumter is a Third System masonry coastal fortification located in Charleston Harbor, South Carolina. The fort is best known as the site upon which the shots initiating the American Civil War were fired, at the Battle of Fort Sumter.- Construction :...

, April 7, 1863, he commanded the monitor

Monitor (warship)

A monitor was a class of relatively small warship which was neither fast nor strongly armoured but carried disproportionately large guns. They were used by some navies from the 1860s until the end of World War II, and saw their final use by the United States Navy during the Vietnam War.The monitors...

 . In the attacks on Fort Fisher

Fort Fisher

Fort Fisher was a Confederate fort during the American Civil War. It protected the vital trading routes of the port at Wilmington, North Carolina, from 1861 until its capture by the Union in 1865....

, in December 1864, and January 1865, he was commissioned captain of the July 26, 1866.


He was promoted to Rear Admiral

Rear admiral (United States)

Rear admiral is a naval commissioned officer rank above that of a commodore and captain, and below that of a vice admiral. The uniformed services of the United States are unique in having two grades of rear admirals.- Rear admiral :...

 in 1877, and was retired June 4, 1878. Two years later, he wrote The American Inter-Oceanic Ship Canal Question. Afterwards he was a member of the board to locate the new Naval Observatory

United States Naval Observatory

The United States Naval Observatory is one of the oldest scientific agencies in the United States, with a primary mission to produce Positioning, Navigation, and Timing for the U.S. Navy and the U.S. Department of Defense...

, and a representative of the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 at the Interoceanic Ship Canal Congress in Paris

Paris

Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

. He designed a cask balsa to facilitate the landing of troops and field artillery, a life-raft for steamers, and the steel ram in 1893.

His publications include The Atlantic Coast in The Navy in the Civil War Series; Recollections of Grant; and The Old Navy and the New.

He died in Washington, D. C., and was buried at Arlington National Cemetery

Arlington National Cemetery

Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington County, Virginia, is a military cemetery in the United States of America, established during the American Civil War on the grounds of Arlington House, formerly the estate of the family of Confederate general Robert E. Lee's wife Mary Anna Lee, a great...

.