A footnote biography by J. Thomas Scharf in "History of the Confederate States Navy" states the following about Lt. A.D. Wharton:

Lieut. A.D. Wharton entered the U.S. navy as cadet midshipman September 23d, 1856, and graduated at the Annapolis Naval Academy in 1860. He was in the steam-sloop Seminole on the Brazil station when the war began, and his vessel was not ordered home until March 8th, 1861. After returning he resigned his commission in the U.S. navy, was arrested and imprisoned at Fort Lafayette for two months, and then transferred to Fort Warren, where he was confined for some time, with Capt. Robert Tansell (sic) and Lieut. Wilson who had resigned from the U.S. marine corps. Early in 1862, Lieut. Wharton was exchanged for Lieut. Van Horn, who was surrendered in Texas by General Twiggs. He entered the service of the C.S. navy on February 8th, 1862, and was assigned to duty on board the C.S. steamer ARKANSAS, then building at Memphis. He was in all the desperate engagements which the ARKANSAS had with the federal fleets until she left Vicksburg, when he was ordered to Galveston as one of the officers of the captured steamer HARRIET LANE. This vessel being unfitted for a cruiser, he was ordered to Shreveport, La., where he remained during the year 1863 in charge of the steamer WEBB, to await the completion of the MISSOURI to which he was to be attached. In the winter of 1863, Lieut. Wharton proposed to the Navy Department to load the WEBB with cotton and run the blockade at the mouth of the Red River, make an effort to pass New Orleans, and proceed to Havana. Before his proposition reached Richmond, he was ordered to the TENNESSEE at Mobile. Lieut. Read afterwards attempted to run the WEBB to Havana, and came very near succeeding. Upon one occasion Captain R.H. Meade, of the U.S. navy, said that the attempt of Lieut. Read was one of the most daring feats of the war, and really did excite his admiration. Lieut. Wharton bore a distinguished and gallant part in the battle of Mobile Bay, where he was taken prisoner. He was sent to Fort Warren, and after a short imprisonment, was exchanged and returned to Richmond. He was then ordered as executive officer to the ironclad RICHMOND in the James River Squadron. In January, 1865, he conceived the idea of destroying the bridges over the Tennessee River in east Tennessee, to delay what was then supposed to be the intended advance of Gen. Thomas’ army in southwestern Virginia. He thought that by taking a boat with inflammable material and launching it near Abingdon, Va., and passing down the river by night and concealing himself during the day, he could reach the bridge unobserved, and accomplish his mission. The Navy Department assented to the plan and fitted him out with a large flat-bottomed skiff, pulling three oars on a side, with ample outfit. A dozen men volunteered for the perilous enterprise, among who we can remember Lieut. Henry Stiles, Lieut. Joseph L. Pearcy, Sergeants William H. Wharton and J. Newton Jones. The boat was conveyed by cars to near Saltville, Va., and launched in the north fork of the Holston River. The journey down the frozen river through cold rains and heavy snows was one of great privation and suffering. Often the party was compelled to wade through ice and carry their boat over shoals and bars, occasionally jumping dams, running afoul of fish traps, and passing camps of the enemy. Upon one occasion the party was wrecked, and finally while they were away from their boat the river rose so rapidly that it was caught under the overhanging branches of a tree, to which it was fastened, completely destroying all their ammunition and material. It then became necessary for the party to make their escape. The proceeded down the river and passed impotently under the bridge at Strawberry Plains; passing Knoxville and going under a second bridge at London, they were completely used up. Shortly afterwards they were taken prisoner and sent to Camp Chase, Ohio, where they were confined until the close of the war. Lieut. Wharton is at present (1887) in charge of the Hume Grammar and High Schools at Nashville, Tenn. In June, 1886 he was appointed by President Cleveland a member of the Board of Visitors to the Naval Academy.

The “Register of Officers of the Confederate States Navy 1861-1865” shows the following:

Wharton, Arthur Dickson.
Born in Alabama. Appointed from Tennessee. Formerly midshipman, U.S. Navy. Acting master, September 24, 1861. Lieutenant for the war, February 8, 1862. Second lieutenant, February 8, 1862. First lieutenant, January 7, 1864, to rank from January 6, 1864. Imprisoned for refusing to take the oath of allegiance to the U.S. Government, 1861; released February 12, 1862. Richmond station, 1862. C.S.S. Arkansas, 1862. Jackson station, 1862. Selma, Ala., 1862. C.S.S. Harriet Lane, 1863. Red River defenses, 1863-1864. C.S.S. Tennessee, Mobile Squadron, 1864; captured at battle of Mobile bay, August 5, 1864; paroled at Fort Warren, September 28, 1864; exchanged at Cox Wharf, Va., on October 18, 1864. C.S.S. Richmond, James River Squadron, 1865-1865. Captured, February 24, 1865, near Loudon, Tenn., while on an expedition to destroy bridges on Holstein and Tennessee Rivers. Confined at camp Chase, Ohio; released on oath, May 22, 1865.

“Going South: U.S. Navy Officer Resignations & Dismissals on the Eve of the Civil War” shows Ensign Wharton submitted his resignation from the U.S. Navy on August 24, 1861. His date of dismissal was August 26. He is shown to be a citizen of Tennessee.

My original “Register of the Commissioned and Warrant Officers of the Navy of the Confederate States, to January 1, 1863” lists Second Lieutenant A.D. Wharton as assigned to the steamer Huntsville.

Hope this helps,
Bob Birmingham