Lee transferred to the command of the Mississippi River Squadron in October 1864 and led it to the end of the Civil War in 1865. His flagship during his time as commander of the Mississippi River Squadron was the . Reverting to his permanent rank of captain after the Civil War, Lee extensively served in the Washington, D.C. area. He was promoted to rear admiral in 1870 and retired from active service in February 1873. Personal life In 1859, Lee's father-in-law, Francis Preston Blair, built a house for Lee and his wife (Francis's daughter Elizabeth Blair) next door to his own. These two houses, within a block of the White House in Washington, D.C., were later combined into one house and became the property of the U.S. government. Today they are the Blair-Lee House, used by the president as his guest house. Upon retirement he moved to the family home in Silver Spring, Maryland, where he died on June 5, 1897. Legacy Two U.S. Navy ships have been named in honor of Rear Admiral Samuel Phillips Lee, the destroyer , which was commissioned in October 1920 and lost by stranding in September 1923, and the research vessel (ex-AGS-31), which was in naval service between 1968 and 1974. References External links 1812 births 1897 deaths Union Navy admirals United States Navy admirals Samuel People from Chantilly, Virginia People of Virginia in the American Civil War Blair family