At the outbreak of the Civil War, Franklin Buchanan one of America's foremost naval heroes, was caught in an overwhelming dilemma. Should he side with the country to which he had given so many years of distinguished naval service, or should he take up arms for his native state which was seceding from the Union to join the Confederacy? Franklin Buchanan's decision led to one of the most heroic one-man battle campaigns in the saga of American naval warfare, and in defense of a hopeless cause.

He entered the navy at the age of fourteen as a mid-shipman, and rose through the ranks to become the first Superintendent of the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis. His efficient administration set a glorious precedent for coveted naval tradition. He was a man of indomitable spirit, with an unquenchable zest for action in the service of his country. This heroic quality drove him back to the sea where he distinguished himself in the Mexican War. It was his revolutionary idea to train sailors in land warfare that helped bring the war to an early end.

When Commodore Perry was sent to Japan to negotiate trade relations with that country, he chose Franklin Buchanan as his most trusted assistant. Together they changed the course of world history and the attitudes of a heretofore hostile nation.

During the Civil War, when Buchanan allied himself with the Confederate cause, he followed the path of his duty as he saw it. For this act, his name was stricken from the rolls of the United States Navy.

In recent years, the navy which he served so long has honored the memory of one of its most daring sea warriors by naming three ships after him, the latest in 1962, a brand new guided missile destroyer.

 From the book