Thomas H. Patterson

Thomas Harmon Patterson (May 10, 1820 – April 9, 1889) was a rear admiral in the United States Navy. Early life Patterson was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, on May 10, 1820. He was the second son of Commodore Daniel Todd Patterson (1786–1839), a War of 1812 U.S. Navy hero, and George Ann (née Pollock) Patterson (1787–1851). Among his siblings were Carlile Pollock Patterson (superintendent of the United States Coast Survey); Eliza Catherine Patterson, who married George Mifflin Bache Sr. (brother of Alexander Dallas Bache), and George Ann Patterson, who married fellow Naval officer David Dixon Porter. His maternal grandparents were George Pollock and Catherine (née Yates) Pollock and his paternal grandparents were John Patterson and Catherine (née Livingston) Patterson. His grandfather was the younger brother of Walter Patterson, the first British colonial Governor of Prince Edward Island. Through his paternal grandmother he was a great-grandson of Robert Livingston, the 3rd Lord of Livingston Manor. Career Patterson saw action in the American Civil War and later served as commander of the Asiatic Squadron (1877–1880). While in this latter post, he participated in the lengthy 1879 visit of former president and general Ulysses S. Grant to Japan at the conclusion of Grant's around-the-world tour that started in 1878.