Background
Kidder Randolph Breese was born on April 14, 1831 in Philadelphia, Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania.
Kidder Randolph Breese was born on April 14, 1831 in Philadelphia, Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania.
Kidder received his education from the Naval Academy where he studied for examination from October 1851 to June 1852.
On November 6, 1846 Kidder Breese was appointed a midshipman, from Rhode Island. In February 1847 he was ordered to the Saratoga, commanded by Commander (afterward Admiral) Farragut and served in her on the Gulf Coast during the war with Mexico.
In the spring of 1848 he joined the St. Mary's and then served in the Brandywine until December 1850. In February 1851 he joined the frigate St. Lawrence, and participated in that vessel's voyage to London, laden with articles for the World's Fair.
After studying for examination at the Naval Academy from October 1851 to June 1852, he was promoted passed midshipman during the latter month and ordered to the Mississippi, flagship of Commodore M. C. Perry, participating in the famous cruise to Japan. During this cruise he was temporarily attached to the Macedonian, which visited the northern end of Formosa to search for coal and to inquire into the captivity of Americans by savages of that island.
Returning to the United States in the Mississippi in June 1855, in 1858 he was ordered to the Preble, and took part in the expedition to Paraguay, and afterward spent some time on the Mosquito Coast, being invalided home with "Isthmus fever" in September 1859.
In 1860 he joined the Portsmouth on the African Coast, and then the San Jacinto, in which he remained until December 1861, the end of her extended cruise, in which 1, 500 slaves were captured. During the same month he was ordered to command the third division of Admiral Porter's mortar flotilla, taking part in the opening of the Mississippi River in 1862.
Promoted lieutenant commander, the promotion dating from July 16, 1862, he joined Porter's river squadron, commanding the flagship Black Hawk, and was present at nearly all the important operations on the Mississippi River and its tributaries.
When Porter was ordered to command the North Atlantic blockading squadron in September 1864, he chose Breese as his fleet-captain. This command Breese held until the end of the Civil War.
In the storming of Fort Fisher on January 15, 1865, he commanded the storming party of sailors and marines.
Breese's commission followed on July 25, 1866. His duties after the Civil War included those of the assistant superintendency of the Naval Academy under Admiral Porter; those of the inspectorship of ordnance at the Washington Navy Yard; and others connected with the testing of breech-loading arms.
He took command of the Plymouth of the European squadron on June 29, 1870; was on duty in the Bureau of Ordnance at the Navy Department in December 1872; and became commandant of midshipmen at the Naval Academy in June 1873. He was commissioned captain August 9, 1874.
In 1878 he commanded the Pensacola, flagship of the Pacific squadron, and was ordered home on sick-leave in 1880, his death occurring the following year.
Breese died at Newport, Rhode Island on 13 September 1881.
Quotes from others about the person
Admiral Porter in his report, after enumerating and highly praising the devices of Lieutenant Commander Breese, added, "He is a clever, gallant officer, and I strongly recommend his immediate promotion to a commander. "
Kidder Breese was married to Martha Irvin Curtin with whom he had a son Randolph Breese and a daughter Elizabeth Breese McIlvaine.