WILLIAM H. REILY, PASSED MIDN, USN

William Reily '47

Date of birth: 1830

Date of death: September 21, 1854

Age: ~34

Loss

William was lost sometime after September 21, 1854 when USS Porpoise (1836) disappeared between Formosa and China.

Other Information

He was born in Washington, D.C. and appointed to the Naval Academy from Maryland. Year of birth (1830) is approximate.

From Cybrarygoddess:

He married Ellen T. Roche in March 1853.
They had a son, William Van Wyck Reily, born December 1853 in the District of Columbia.
2nd Lt. William Van Wyck Reily was killed with Lt. Col. George A. Custer’s battalion at the battle of Little Bighorn in June 1876.

As mentioned above, William was survived by his wife Ellen Teresa Roche Febiger, and son William Van Wyck Reily.

Career

From the Naval History and Heritage Command:

Midshipman, 9 February, 1841. Passed Midshipman, 10 August, 1847. Acting Master, 11 December, 1852. Lost in Porpoise, 21 September, 1854.

Navy Directories & Officer Registers

The "Register of Commissioned and Warrant Officers of the United States Navy and Marine Corps" was published annually from 1815 through at least the 1970s; it provided rank, command or station, and occasionally billet until the beginning of World War II when command/station was no longer included. Scanned copies were reviewed and data entered from the mid-1840s through 1922, when more-frequent Navy Directories were available.

The Navy Directory was a publication that provided information on the command, billet, and rank of every active and retired naval officer. Single editions have been found online from January 1915 and March 1918, and then from three to six editions per year from 1923 through 1940; the final edition is from April 1941.

The entries in both series of documents are sometimes cryptic and confusing. They are often inconsistent, even within an edition, with the name of commands; this is especially true for aviation squadrons in the 1920s and early 1930s.

Alumni listed at the same command may or may not have had significant interactions; they could have shared a stateroom or workspace, stood many hours of watch together… or, especially at the larger commands, they might not have known each other at all. The information provides the opportunity to draw connections that are otherwise invisible, though, and gives a fuller view of the professional experiences of these alumni in Memorial Hall.