CHARLES W. ZIMMERMAN, LT, USN

From USNA Virtual Memorial Hall
Charles Zimmerman '62

Date of birth: 1842

Date of death: January 1, 1863

Age: ~20

Naval Academy Register

Charles William Zimmerman was admitted to the Naval Academy from Maryland on September 20, 1858 at age 15 years 10 months.

Loss

Charles was lost on January 1, 1863 when USS Westfield (1861) went aground in Galveston Harbor; he was a part of the party attempting to destroy the vessel when they were killed in an explosion.

Biography

From researcher Kathy Franz:

From Baltimore, Charles was assigned to the sloop Savanah when his class was sent into active duty in May 1861. On February 7, 1862, he sent a letter requesting appointment as acting master. At the bottom, Commander John Missroon wrote a note with his “assurance of his entire fitness for the position in every respect.” Charles’ letter of October 18 acknowledged his promotion to Lieutenant. It was sent from the Westfield moored at Charleston Harbor. When the Confederates recaptured Galveston, Texas, on January 1, 1863, Commander William Renshaw, Charles, and others died while blowing up the Westfield.

Charles’ parents were George Jacob and Mary E. (Megahey.) They married on April 6, 1840, and had four children: George, Charles, Joseph and Mary. While in the Navy, his brother Joseph died of yellow fever on October 19, 1866, at Port au Prince, Haiti. One month earlier, Charles’ grandfather, Christian Zimmerman, died on September 22 at the age of 81.

Charles’ father George, a master carpenter and builder in Baltimore, built a two-story, white marble bank building and a restaurant in 1858. As a reverend of the Methodist Episcopalian Church, he later held services at the Friendsbury Methodist Chapel with “open-air services on the lawn at 5 p.m.” He was typically called Colonel when, as a Republican, he ran for the 12th Ward council. Active in the Seaman’s Union Bethel (with Relief of Seaman’s Widows,) he also served with organizations which helped the poor, orphans, and colored children. The inscription on his headstone is from a hymn: “We shall meet our loved ones gone … some sweet day.”

He is buried in Maryland and is listed on the killed in action panel in the front of Memorial Hall. Charles was survived by his parents and younger brother.

Career

From the Naval History and Heritage Command:

Acting Midshipman, 20 September, 1858. Acting Master, 12 February, 1862. Lieutenant, 1 August, 1862. Killed in Battle, 1 January, 1863.

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.

September 1861
Acting Midshipman, First Class, Sloop Savannah
September 1862
Midshipman, Steamer Westfield
January 1863
Lieutenant, Steamer Westfield


Class of 1862

Charles is one of 2 members of the Class of 1862 on Virtual Memorial Hall.

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