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378 vessel, cruising in the Gulf of Mexico and the Mediterranean. He served also in the flagship Richmond in the Mediterranean in 1861.

During the Civil war he was in service on board the flagship Hartford with Farragut, on the Mississippi river and in Mobile bay. From the time Farragut's flag was hoisted until it was hauled down near the end of the war, most of the time Lieutenant Watson was flag lieutenant to Farragut. In the Civil war he took part in the bombardment and passage of Forts Jackson and St. Philip and Chalmette batteries, April, 1862; in the passage of Vicksburg batteries, June and July, 1862; in the passage of Port Hudson, March 14, 1863; and in the engagement at Grand Gulf, the same month; and he was in the battle of Mobile bay, August 5, 1864. He was wounded by the fragment of a shell at Warrington. After the war he held various commands at sea and ashore. He has seen naval service in all grades of the United States navy, from acting midshipman in 1856 to rear-admiral in 1899, and in the latter grade until August 24, 1904, the date of his retirement. Immediately after the Civil war he served as watch division officer, navigator, and flag lieutenant on board Rear-Admiral Goldsborough's flagship, the Colorado, and was transferred as flag lieutenant to Admiral Farragut's staff on board the Franklin in Europe. He was commander of the United States sloop of war Wyoming on the European station and on the Black sea. He held the position of equipment officer, New York Navy Yard, from 1883-86. Later he commanded the United States sloop, Iroquois, in the South Pacific, and became captain of the United States flagship San Francisco, in the Pacific; and later in the Atlantic (in the International Review Fleet) and under Admiral Benham's flag in the bay of Rio Janeiro. From 1895 to 1898 he was commodore, and governor of the United States naval home.

In the war with Spain, he commanded the blockading squadron on the North Cuban coast, receiving his appointment May 6, 1898, and serving in that capacity until June 27, 1898, when he was appointed commander-in-chief of the Eastern squadron. On the fourth of July, 1898, he transferred his broad pennant to the United States battleship Oregon. He held the position of commandant, Mare Island navy yard and station, from October 9, 1898 to May 15, 1899. He was commander-in-chief of the naval forces on the Asiatic station from June 15, 1899 to April 19, 1900, as the successor of Admiral Dewey. He was made president of the naval examining board Octo-