Peter U. Murphey

Peter U. Murphey was an officer in the Confederate States Navy during the U.S. Civil War.

Murphey was born in North Carolina. Appointed from that state as a United States Navy midshipman in 1834, he was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant in 1846. Murphey resigned from the U.S. Navy in April 1861 and became a Confederate States Navy officer in June of that year. In the rank of First Lieutenant, he served in Virginia and North Carolina waters in 1861-62, then was assigned to the Mobile Squadron. He commanded the gunboat CSS "Morgan" on Mobile Bay, Alabama in 1862, and the gunboat CSS "Selma" in 1862-64. Wounded when his ship was captured in the Battle of Mobile Bay on August 5, 1864, First Lieutenant Murphy was a prisoner of war until he was exchanged in October. In May 1865, at the end of the Civil War, he surrendered to Federal authorities and was paroled shortly thereafter.