and the boy was raised by his maternal grandparents after their father's remarriage and took their surname, Dr. Francis Sims. Robert B. Corbin also repeated part of their father's career by representing Caroline County in the Virginia House of Delegates, and serving as colonel of the county militia. The second eldest brother, Francis Porteus Corbin (1801-1876) married a Philadelphia heiress and died in Paris, France, although their son, Richard Washington Corbin after education in England, returned to Virginia to serve on the staff of CSA General Fields. John Sawbridge Corbin (d. 1883) married Mary Blackwell and lived at "The Glimpse" in Hanover County. Their sister Anna Page Corbin (1803-1885) married Benjamin Franklin Randolph (1803-1889) of Culpepper, Virginia. The youngest daughter, Jane Virginia Corbin (1815-1904), and brothers William Lygon Corbin (d. 1883) and Washington Shirley Corbin (d. 1877) likewise never married. Their cousin Major Richard Corbin of Laneville had been a member of the Virginia House of Delegates before this boy's birth and raised an artillery company and served with distinction in the War of 1812, as would Major Gawin Lane Corbin of King's Creek plantation in York County. Military career Appointed from Alabama on May 15, 1838, Corbin was attached to the frigate Brandywine with the Mediterranean Squadron from 1838 to 1842. Promoted to passed midshipman on May 20, 1844, Corbin served with the Coast Survey from 1844 to 1845. He was with the frigate Columbia with the Brazil Squadron from 1845 to 1846 and then returned to the Coast Survey from 1847 to 1850. Corbin was with the sloop St. Mary's of the Pacific Squadron from 1850 to 1852. Corbin was promoted to lieutenant on June 10, 1852, and served aboard the steamer Princeton from 1852 to 1853. He conducted a survey of the Río de la Plata from 1853 to 1855, then was stationed at the Navy Yard, Mare Island, California from 1855 to 1856 and on the receiving ship at New York City from 1857 to 1858. Corbin subsequently served as Executive Officer of the steam-frigate Wabash with the Mediterranean Squadron from 1858 to 1859. In 1860 he was on leave and lived in a boarding house in Philadelphia. He returned to the Wabash in 1861, which had been reassigned to the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron after the outbreak of the American Civil War. Corbin participated in the capture of Fort Beauregard in Louisiana, Fort Walker outside