William Radford (September 9, 1809 – January 8, 1890) was a rear admiral of the United States Navy who served during the Mexican–American War and the American Civil War, in which he remained loyal to the Union, despite his Virginia birth. Radford commanded the Ironclad Division in the attacks on Fort Fisher (December 1864/January 1865) to assert Union control of Cape Fear. Ancestry and early life On December 23, 1806, John Radford [ – ] married Harriet Kennerly [ – ] in Fincastle, Virginia, at Santillane, the estate of her uncle George Hancock. In attendance at the wedding was William Clark direct from the Corps of Discovery exploration. There is a discrepancy about William's birth-date, with some references giving it as March 1, 1808 but family records and the U.S. Federal Census forms support the 1809 date. After William was born in Fincastle, the Radfords moved to Lewis County, Kentucky, near Maysville where William's two siblings were born. In 1817, father John Radford was killed by the wild boar he was hunting. Widow Harriet moved her three children to Saint Louis, Missouri, to join her brothers and first cousin Judith "Julia" Hancock Clark, wife of William Clark. The Radfords resided with her brother James Kennerly. Julia Clark succumbed June 27, 1820. Widower William Clark married Harriet November 28, 1821 in Saint Louis, adopted the Radford children and added three children to their combined family: Harriet Clark [dates unknown; died as infant]. Jefferson Kearny Clark [ – ] Edmund Clark [ – ] After his mother's second marriage, Radford initially refused to move into the Clark house, so he was sent to a school in Perth Amboy, New Jersey, where he became acquainted with the sea. He asked stepfather William Clark for a recommendation to the U.S. Navy. Clark sent a personal request to President John Quincy Adams. William Clark's diaries mention Radford accompanying him in 1824 from Saint Louis to Washington, D.C. Before returning home, they diverted to New York City and observed the hero's welcome for Marquis de Lafayette. On April 29, 1825 Lafayette paid a visit to Saint Louis where William Clark hosted his stay and introduced Radford, none aware that Radford would be a member of the crew sailing Lafayette back to France. Radford embarked upon another Clark trip to Washington, D.C. in the fall of 1828. An excursion in early January 1829 to visit stepbrother Meriwether