Skip to main content
Naval History and Heritage Command

Naval History and Heritage Command

MacKenzie, Alexander Slidell

MacKenzie, Alexander Slidell

Tags
Related Content
Lieutenant Commander, USN (1842-1867)

Alexander Slidell MacKenzie was born in New York on 24 January 1842, the son of a Navy Commander of the same name. Appointed to the U.S. Naval Academy in 1855, he graduated in June 1859 and was assigned to the newly-completed steam sloop of war Hartford. During the next two years, Midshipman MacKenzie served in that ship with the East India Squadron. Promoted to Lieutenant in August 1861, he was an officer of the gunboat Kineo during the conquest of the lower Mississippi River in 1862. Later transferred to the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron, MacKenzie served off Charleston, South Carolina, in the steam frigate Wabash and monitor Patapsco, taking part in combat operations against Fort Sumter and Morris Island. Later in the Civil War he commanded the gunboat Winona, also in the waters off South Carolina. In July 1865 MacKenzie received the rank of Lieutenant Commander and soon began a second Far Eastern deployment in Hartford. He was killed in action on 13 June 1867, during a punitive expedition ashore in southern Formosa.


The Navy has named three ships in honor of Lieutenant Commander Alexander Slidell MacKenzie, including: USS MacKenzie (Torpedo Boat # 17) of 1899-1916; USS MacKenzie (Destroyer # 175, later DD-175) of 1919-1940; and USS MacKenzie (DD-614) of 1942-1974.


This page features the only views we have concerning Alexander Slidell MacKenzie, USN (1842-1867).