9 April 1865. With the key defences of the city lost, the Confederate troops evacuated Mobile on April 12. A formal surrender was demanded by General Granger and Acting-Rear Admiral Thatcher, and possession taken of the city. On 10 May, the Confederate naval forces in the Gulf surrendered to Thatcher. Sabine Pass and Galveston, the only remaining rebel-held fortified points on the Gulf Coast, capitulated on 25 May and 2 June 1865. Post-war career Thatcher remained in command in the Gulf of Mexico until May 1866, receiving promotion to rear admiral on 25 July 1866, and commanded the North Pacific Squadron in 1867–68. There he was presented with a medal and made a Knight of the Order of Kamehameha I by King Kamehameha V of the Hawaiian Islands, an honor that he was permitted to accept by virtue of a special Act of Congress. Though put on the retired list on 26 May 1868 when he reached the age of 62, Thatcher served as Port Admiral at Portsmouth, New Hampshire, in 1869–70. By right of his descent from his grandfather, Major General Henry Knox, Thatcher was a member of the Massachusetts Society of the Cincinnati. He became president of the Massachusetts Society in 1871. Thatcher and his family settled in Winchester, Massachusetts, where he spent the remaining nine years of his life. Rear Admiral Thatcher died at his home on 5 April 1880. Namesakes Two U.S. Navy destroyers have been named in honor of Rear Admiral Thatcher; (1919–1940), and (1943–1948). References Notes Bibliography 1806 births 1880 deaths United States Navy admirals Union Navy admirals People of Maine in the American Civil War People from Thomaston, Maine