CHARLES D. SPARKS, MIDN, USN

From USNA Virtual Memorial Hall
Charles Sparks '56

Date of birth: unknown

Date of death: April 12, 1853

Age: unknown

Loss

Charles died of "congestion of the brain" on April 12, 1853, aboard the "sloop Vincennes, at New York." (Information from letters sent by the surgeon and commanding officer of the North Pacific Exploring Expedition, CDR Cadwalader Ringgold, to the Department of the Navy.)

From The Times-Picayune on April 24, 1853:

The telegraph some days ago informed us of the death of Midshipman Charles D. Sparks, of Louisiana, on board the U.S. ship Vincennes, at New York on the 13th inst. We learn that on the same day his remains were taken to the receiving tomb, at the Naval Hospital, escorted by the Marine Guard of the Vincennes, and attended by the commandant and officers of the navy yard, and the officers of the U.S. ships North Carolina, Vincennes, Porpoise and Hancock.

Charles was born in, and appointed from, Louisiana.

Career

From the Naval History and Heritage Command:

Midshipman, 18 April, 1850. Died 12 April, 1853.

Navy Directories & Officer Registers

The "Register of Commissioned and Warrant Officers of the United States Navy and Marine Corps" was published annually from 1815 through at least the 1970s; it provided rank, command or station, and occasionally billet until the beginning of World War II when command/station was no longer included. Scanned copies were reviewed and data entered from the mid-1840s through 1922, when more-frequent Navy Directories were available.

The Navy Directory was a publication that provided information on the command, billet, and rank of every active and retired naval officer. Single editions have been found online from January 1915 and March 1918, and then from three to six editions per year from 1923 through 1940; the final edition is from April 1941.

The entries in both series of documents are sometimes cryptic and confusing. They are often inconsistent, even within an edition, with the name of commands; this is especially true for aviation squadrons in the 1920s and early 1930s.

Alumni listed at the same command may or may not have had significant interactions; they could have shared a stateroom or workspace, stood many hours of watch together… or, especially at the larger commands, they might not have known each other at all. The information provides the opportunity to draw connections that are otherwise invisible, though, and gives a fuller view of the professional experiences of these alumni in Memorial Hall.

January 1852
Midshipman, Sloop Albany

Memorial Hall Errors

Illness is not a criteria for inclusion in Memorial Hall. Also, There is no evidence his rank was "Master," as is in Memorial Hall; should be Midshipman. He is listed as a Midshipman in the Register of Officers of the US Navy that gave the date of his death, and in three different contemporaneous newspaper reports. The letters above both use Midshipman as his rank.

Note

A special thank you to Kathy Franz, a historian who located Charles' cause of death.


Class of 1856

Charles is one of 5 members of the Class of 1856 on Virtual Memorial Hall.

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