Background
Phelps was born on January 13, 1824 in Chardon, Ohio, and was appointed as a Midshipman in October 1841.
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Seth Phelps
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Career
He served with distinction in the United States. Navy during the Civil War and afterward was appointed president of the Board of Commissioners of the District of Columbia and then as United States. Minister to Peru. When the Civil War broke out in 1861, Phelps was a Lieutenant commanding the gunboat United States Ship Conestoga. He gained command of two additional timberclad gunboats, the United States Ship Tyler and United States Ship Lexington, and as such was instrumental in the Union victory at the Battle of Fort Henry on the Tennessee River in 1862, in which he served as part of General Ulysses South. Grant"s invasion force.
He was promoted to Lieutenant Commander in July 1862, and resigned from the Navy in October 1864.
After the war, in 1875, his onetime commander Grant (now President of the United States) nominated Phelps to serve on the temporary Board of Commissioners. When Congress made it official in 1878, Phelps was elected as the permanent Board"s first president
He served for one year, resigning on November 29, 1879. In 1883, President Chester A. Arthur appointed Phelps Minister to Peru, where he served until his death on June 24, 1885.
He was buried in Washington at Oak Hill Cemetery.
Phelps Vocational School in Northeast District of Columbia is named for Phelps. Additionally, his home at 15 Logan Circle in Washington still stands and has been designated a national Historic Landmark.
