Background
He was mortally wounded at the Battle of Galveston and died in the arms of his father, who was on the opposing side in the conflict. Lea was born in Baltimore, Maryland, the son of Army engineer Albert Miller Lea and Ellen Shoemaker.
He was mortally wounded at the Battle of Galveston and died in the arms of his father, who was on the opposing side in the conflict. Lea was born in Baltimore, Maryland, the son of Army engineer Albert Miller Lea and Ellen Shoemaker.
He entered the Naval Academy at Annapolis on October 2, 1851, graduating on June 9, 1855, with the rank of midshipman. Lea was employed in active service on various stations, receiving promotion to passed midshipman on April 15, 1858, to master on November 4, 1858, and to lieutenant on November 22, 1860. Lea was serving aboard the Hartford, flagship of the East India Squadron, when the Civil War broke out in 1861.
The ship was recalled, eventually arriving in Delaware Bay in December.
Lea was soon reassigned to the Harriet Lane, then attached to the Potomac Flotilla, but was soon reassigned in her to the Gulf Blockading Squadron, where he took part in operations leading to the capture of New Orleans in April 1862. Lea was subsequently promoted to lieutenant commander on July 16, 1862.
When Confederate forces retook Galveston on 1 January 1863, Lea, serving as the first officer (XO) of Harriet Lane, was wounded in the abdomen and side. Lea and his captain, Jonathan M. Wainwright were buried together at the Trinity Episcopal Cemetery in Galveston.
The destroyer United States Ship Lea (Doctor of Divinity-118) was named for him, as is Camp #2 of the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War in Houston.