EDWARD C. HAZELTINE, ENS, USN

Edward Hazeltine '63

Date of birth: 1841

Age: ~22

Naval Academy Register

Edward Clarence Hazeltine was admitted to the Naval Academy from New Hampshire on September 22, 1859 at age 17 years 11 months.

Loss

Edward was lost on February 17, 1864 when USS Housatonic (1861) was sunk by CSS Hunley in the world's first submarine attack.

Other Information

From researcher Kathy Franz:

Edward was born in October 1841 in Concord, New Hampshire. His father was Life Augustus, a trader and shoe dealer, his mother was Caroline R. (Senter,) and his brothers were George, Frank, and Eugene. His parents married on April 7, 1835, and his mother received a pension of $15/month from 1888 to 1896.
Edward was on the frigate Sabine in 1861 and on USS Hartford from January to September 1862. He then went back to Concord for a few months. In 1863 he served in the West Coast Blockading Squadron. On September 17, he reported to New York Navy Yard for passage on the steamer Union to Port Royal, South Carolina. The steamer left on the 19th but was driven back by a storm. Edward was one of two officers who died when the USS Housatonic was hit and sunk by the Confederate submarine H. L. Hunley in the Charleston Harbor on February 17, 1864.

From "Cenantua's Blog":

Born ca. 1842, in New Hampshire, Edward C. Hazeltine was a son of Life A. and Caroline R. Hazeltine. On September 22, 1859, he was appointed as a midshipman with the U.S. Naval Academy.
On May 9, 1861, Edward was among the 42 members of the Second Class, of the USNA, who were ordered “detached” to active service. Young Midshipman Hazeltine appears to have seen service first aboard the USS Hartford, and later aboard the Housatonic… though I don’t have specific dates. Though I can’t say for sure on which ship he was serving at the time, he was commissioned to ensign on December 27, 1862. I wish I knew more of the details of his service, prior to his death on February 17, 1864.

He is listed on the killed in action panel in the front of Memorial Hall.

Edward is apparently buried in New Hampshire, though he has no marker on the plot. The family name is also recorded as "Haseltine"

Career

From the Naval History and Heritage Command:

Acting Midshipman, 22 September, 1859. Ensign, 27 December, 1862. Lost on the Housatonic, 17 February, 1864.

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.