Skip to main content
Naval History and Heritage Command

Naval History and Heritage Command

The Navy Department Library

Related Content
Topic
Document Type
  • Finding Aids Glossaries Guides
Wars & Conflicts
  • Revolutionary War 1775-1783
File Formats
Location of Archival Materials

Officers of the Continental Navy and Marine Corps

Captains and Commanders

Esek Hopkins, Commander in Chief, 22 Dec. 1775
1. James Nicholson, 6 June 1776
2. John Manley, 17 Apri.1776
3. Hector McNeill, 15 June 1776
4. Dudley Saltonstall, 22 Dec. 1775
5. Nicholas Biddle, 22 Dec. 1775
6. Thomas Thompson, 6 June 1776
7. John Barry, 6 June 1776
8. Thomas Read, 6 June 1776
9. Thomas Grinnell, 15 June 1776
10. Charles Alexander, 18 Apr. 1776
11. Lambert Wickes
12. Abraham Whipple, 22 Dec.1775
13. John Burrows Hopkins, 22 Dec.1775
14. John Hodge, 22 Aug.1776
15. William Hallock, 18 Apr.1776

16. Hoysted Hacker
17. Isaiah Robinson
18. John Paul Jones
19. James Josiah
20. Elisha Hinman, 13 Aug. 1776
21. Joseph Olney
22. James Robinson
23. John Young
24. Elisha Warner

John Nicholson, 19 Nov. 1776
Samuel Nicholson, 10 Dec. 1776
Henry Johnson, 5 Feb. 1777
John Peck Rathburne, 15 Feb. 1777
Gustavus Conyngham, 1 Mar.1777

Samuel Tucker, 15 Mar.1777
Daniel Waters, 17 Mar.1777
John Green, 11 Feb. 1778
William Burke, 1 May 1778
Pierre Landais, 18 June 1778
Seth Harding, 23 Sept. 1778
Silas Talbot, 17 Sept. 1779
John Ayres
Peter Brewster
Samuel Chew
Benjamin Dunn
John Hazard
William Pickles
Thomas Simpson
John Skinner
William Stone
Note: The names of captains which are numbered were those appointed 10 Oct. 1776 in order of rank. Many held earlier commissions which are noted.

Lieutenants

1. Peter Shores, 22 July 1776
2. Robert Harris
3. Jonathan Maltbie, 22 Aug. 1776
4. John Brown, 15 June 1776
5.Ezekiel Burroughs, 22 Dec. 1775
6. Luke Mattheman
7. George House
8. Thomas Albertson
9. John Baldwin
10. Simon Gross
11. David Phipps, 22 Aug. 1776
12. John Sleymaker
13. Joshua Barney
14. Jonathan Pritchard
15. Adam W. Thaxter
16. Benjamin Handy
17. Joseph Greenway
18. Benjamin Page
19. Hopley Yeaton

Rhodes Arnold, 22 Dec. 1775
Jonathan Pitcher, 22 Dec. 1775
Benjamin Seabury, 22 Dec. 1775
Thomas Weaver, 22 Dec. 1775
John McDougal, 22 Dec. 1775
Daniel Vaughan, 22 Dec. 1775
Joseph Doble, 6 June 1776
John Wheelwright, 22 July 1776
Josiah Shackford, 22 July 1776
William Barnes, 17 Aug. 1776
Thomas Vaughan, 17 Aug. 1776
Hezekiah Welch, 19 Oct. 1776
Patrick Fletcher, 20 Nov. 1776
Blaney Allison, 20 Dec. 1776
Elijah Bowen, 5 Feb. 1777
Robert French, 25 Mar. 1777
Robert Martin, 22 Apr. 1777
Elijah Hall, 14 June 1777
Matthew Tibbs, 17 June 1777
John Rodez, 6 Aug. 1777
John Fanning, 10 Aug. 1777
William Mollison, 12 Aug. 1777
Arthur Dillaway, 19 Sept. 1777
Joseph Vesey, 13 Nov. 1777
Silas Devol, 28 Jan. 1778
Muscoe Livingston, 27 July 1778
Stephen Gregory, 4 Aug. 1778
Michael Knies, 7 Aug. 1778
Samuel Cardal, 15 Aug. 1778
Peter Deville, 25 Aug. 1778
Benjamin Bates, 4 Dec. 1778
Richard Dale, Aug. 1779
Alexander Murray, 20 July 1781

Joseph Adams
Robert Adamson
John Angus
James Armitage
Josiah Audibert
Benjamin Barron
William Barron
George Batson
Daniel Bears
John Bellenger
Christopher Bradley
Jacob Brooks
Philip Brown
Isaac Buck
Charles Bulkley
Edward Burke
George Champlin
John Channing
Seth Clarke
David Cullam
James Degge
William Dennis
Marie Seval Dorie
William Dunlap
William Dupar
Joshua Fanning
Wilford Fisher
William Gamble
Nicholas E. Gardner
William Grinnell
James Grinwell
William Ham
James Handy
Abraham Hawkins
John Hennessey
Stephen Hill
Christopher Hawkins
Esek Hopkins Jr.
William Hopkins
Robert Hume
Aquilla Johns
John Kemp
John Kerr
Benjamin Knight
William Leeds
Edward Leger
John Lewis
George Lovie
Cutting Lent
Henry Lunt
John McIvers
John Margisson
Richard Marvin
John Moran
William Moran
William Morrison
Isaac Olney
James Pine
Robert Pomeroy
David Porter
William Potts
Benjamin Reed
Peter Richards
James Robertson
John Robinson
Peter Rosseau
Robert Saunders
John Scott
Robert Scott
John Scranton
Nicholas Scull
James Sellers
Daniel Starr
James Stephens
John Stevens
David Welch
Jacob White
Richard Wickes
James Wilson
Robert Wilson
Samuel York
Note: The names of lieutenants which are numbered were those appointed 12 Oct. 1776 in order of rank. Many held earlier commissions, which are noted.

Marine Corps

Major
Samuel Nicholas, 25 June 1776

Captains
Matthew Parke, 26 May 1776
Andrew Porter, 25 June 1766
Samuel Shaw, 25 June 1776
Benjamin Deane, 25 June 1776
Robert Mullen, 25 June 1776
John Stewart, 25 June 1776
Gilbert Saltonstall, June 1776
Robert Palmes, 7 July 1776
George Jerry Osborne, 22 July 1776
Seth Baxter, 10 Oct. 1776
James Disney, 22 Oct. 1776
Joseph Hardy, Oct. 1776
Dennis Leary, 21 June 1777
William Morris, June 1777
William Jones, 4 Mar. 1778
Edward Arrowsmith, 20 Oct. 1778
William Nicholson, 6 Sept. 1781
Abraham Boyce
Isaac Craig
John Elliott
Robert Elliott
John Hazard
William Holton
William Matthewman
Miles Pennington
----- Rice
Joseph Shoemaker
----- Spence
John Trevett
Elihu Trowbridge
John Welch

Lieutenants
Daniel Henderson, 25 June 1776
David Love, 25 June 1776
Franklin Reed, 25 June 1776
Peregrine Brown, 25 June 1776
James McClure, 25 June 1776
William Gilmore, 25 June 1776
Abel Morgan, 25 June 1776
Hugh Montgomery, 25 June 1776
Thomas Pownal, 25 June 1776
Richard Harrison, 25 June 1776
Stephen Meade, 22 July 1776
Nathaniel Thwing, 22 July 1776
Benjamin Thompson, 22 July 1776
Alpheus Rice, 24 Aug. 1776
Jacob White, 16 Oct. 1776
Thomas Plunkett, 9 Dec. 1776
William Jennison, Feb. 1777
William Waterman, 4 Mar. 1778
Thomas Elwood, 24 Aug. 1778
Peter Green, 25 Sept. 1778
Abraham Vandyke, 24 July 1779

William Barney
Henry Becker
Peter Bedford
David Bill
Gurdon Bill
Benjamin Catlin
Seth Chapin
John Chilton
James Clarke
James Cokely
James Connolly
William Cooper
David Cullam
Robert Cummings
Robert Davis
Henry Dayton
John Dimsdell
Stephen Earle
Thomas Elting
Panatier de la Falconier
Zebadiah Farnham
William Fielding

Thomas Fitzgerald
John Fitzpatrick
Samuel Gamage
John Guignace
Roger Haddock
James Hamilton
Jonas Hamilton
William Hamilton
John Harris
Samuel Hempstead
Samuel Holt
Benjamin Huddle
William Huddle
Robert Hunter
Hugh Kirkpatrick
Daniel Longstreet
Eugene McCarthy
Richard McClure
Charles McHarron
Robert McNeal
Peter Manifold
Jonathan Mix
William Morris
Alexander Neilson
James Gerald O'Kelly
Avery Parker
Samuel Powars
Samuel Pritchard
William Radford
Jerry Reed
Nathaniel Richards
Jabez Smith
Walter Spooner
Edmund Stack
Daniel Starr
I. M. Strobach
George Trumbull
Thomas Turner
Louis de la Valette
Zebulon Varnam
----- Wadsworth
Samuel Wallingford
James Warren
John H. Wilson
Jonathan Woodworth

Supplementary List

Captains
Isaac Cazneau, 17 Apr. 1776
Samuel Tompkins, 6 Jun. 1776
Christopher Miller, 6 Jun. 1776
Henry Skinner
John Roach
Ralph Moor
Denis Nicolas Cottineau
Joseph Varage
Phillippe Nicolas Ricot
Lieutenants
Eli Stansbury, 22 Dec. 1775
Israel Turner, 6 Jun. 1776
Mark Dennet, 6 Jun. 1776
----- Plunkett, 20 July 1781
Peter Amiel
Robert Robinson
John Buckley
James Linds
Henri le Meignen
Pierre Magonet
Beninge Mischateau
Armand la Coudrais
Pierre de Nantes
Nicolas de St. Valery

Captains of Marines
John Grannis
Maurice O'Connell
Antoine Felix Wybert
Paul de Chamillard

Lieutenants of Marines
George Stillman
Barnabas Lothrop

Includes officers commissioned in France and other officer not included in the lists compiled by the Continental Congress. Some of these were never regularly commissioned officers.

Sources for Information on Continental Navy and Marine Corps Officers

There is no single official list of all officers who served in the Continental Navy and Marine Corps. This list, published in Gardner W. Allen's A Naval History of the American Revolution, is still the most complete list available. It was based on two lists compiled by the Continental Congress, one in September 1781 and a more complete list dated 18 March 1794.

Additional information on officers of the Continental Navy and Marine Corps can be found in the following sources:

Allen, Gardner W. A Naval History of the American Revolution. Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1913. 2 vols.

Callahan, Edward W. List of officers of the Navy of the United States and of the Marine Corps, from 1775 to 1900. New York: L.R. Hamersly & Co., 1901.

Clark, William Bell, et. al, editors. Naval Documents of the American Revolution. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1964 --. 10 vols. to date.

[END]

Published: Mon May 11 14:22:05 EDT 2020