Saltwater in His Veins
belonged to a small pantheon of senior officers serving the U.S. Navy at war’s outbreak. Born on September 25, 1806, and raised in Hartford, Conn., Ward joined the Navy as a midshipman in 1823 after attending American Literary Scientific and, he received a year’s leave of absence for scientific studies at Washington College, back in Hartford. Steadily rising through the ranks, Ward served on and commanded various ships that took him around the globe. His various duties included policing the slave trade off the coast of Africa and quelling a resurgence of piracy in the West Indies.
