Benjamin Franklin Tilley
US Navy Rear Admiral, Naval Acting-Governor
Died when: 58 years 354 days (707 months)Star Sign: Aries
Benjamin Franklin Tilley (March 29, 1848 – March 18, 1907), often known as B.F.Tilley, was a career officer in the United States Navy who served from the end of the American Civil War through the Spanish–American War.
He is best remembered as the first acting governor of American Samoa as well as the territory's first naval governor.
Tilley entered the United States Naval Academy during the height of the Civil War, graduating after the conflict.He gradually rose through the ranks and participated as a lieutenant in the United States military crackdown against strikers in the wake of the Great Railroad Strike of 1877.
He and a small contingent of sailors and marines defended the American consulate in Santiago, Chile during the 1891 Chilean Civil War.
He was a commander during the Spanish–American War, and his gunship USS Newport successfully captured two Spanish Navy ships.
After the war, he was made the first acting-Governor of Tutuila and Manua (later called American Samoa) and set legal and administrative precedents for the new territory.
After 41 years of service, he was promoted to rear admiral but died of pneumonia shortly afterwards.