Andrew Drakeford (11 May 1765 – 27 August 1824) was a Rear-Admiral of the US Navy who fought in the American Revolutionary War, Quasi-War, and War of 1812.
Biography
Andrew Drakeford was born on 11 May 1765 in Stafford, Virginia, in the Thirteen Colonies (present-day United States) to Edward Drakeford and Mary Cullen. He enlisted in the US Navy in 1777 at the age of 12 and served as a cabin boy aboard USS Virginia, and helped to fight off the Royal Navy of Great Britain at many points during the American Revolutionary War. Drakeford was later promoted to Captain in the late 1780s, and he became a Commodore in 1794. He was given command of a fleet of three ships-of-the-line, and in 1799 he fought his first battle when he located a fleet of two French ships off Turks and Caicos. In the Action of 21 October 1799, Drakeford routed both French ships in a victory for the United States. He later fought in the War of 1812, and he died in Baltimore in 1824.