Charles Wilkes | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | (1798-04-03)April 3, 1798 New York City,New York, U.S. |
| Died | February 8, 1877(1877-02-08) (aged 78) Washington, D.C., U.S. |
| Resting place | Oak Hill Cemetery (originally) Arlington National Cemetery |
| Known for | |
| Military career | |
| Allegiance | United States of America |
| Branch | United States Navy |
| Years | 1818–1866 |
| Rank | Rear admiral |
| Commands | |
| Wars | American Civil War |
| Signature | |
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Charles Wilkes (April 3, 1798 – February 8, 1877) was an American naval officer, ship's captain, andexplorer. He led the firstUnited States Exploring Expedition (1838–1842). During theAmerican Civil War (1861-1865), he commandedUSS San Jacinto during theTrent Affair incident in which he stopped a BritishRoyal Mail ship and forcibly removed two Confederate diplomats, almost leading to war between the United States andUnited Kingdom.
Wilkes was born inNew York City on April 3, 1798, the great nephew of formerLord Mayor of LondonJohn Wilkes. His mother, Mary Seton Wilkes, died in 1802 when Charles was just three years old. As a result, Charles was raised and home-tutored by his aunt,Elizabeth Ann Seton, who was fluent inFrench from her own upbringing in New Rochelle, New York in aFrench Huguenot settlement. Charles also became fluent in French, which served him well throughout his career, including an extended stay in Europe (1830-1831).[1] His fluency was also demonstrated during exploration ofPuget Sound in 1841 with French-speaking guide Simon Plamondon.[2] Since Elizabeth Seaton was the widowed mother of five, Charles was early on sent to aboarding school, then on toColumbia College (present-dayColumbia University).
Wilkes entered theUnited States Navy as amidshipman in 1818, and became a lieutenant in 1826. Based on the experience he gained in the nautical charting ofNarragansett Bay (1833), he was placed in charge of the Navy's Department of Charts and Instruments, out of which developed theNaval Observatory and Hydrographic Office. The standards set here were to be invaluable during theUnited States Exploring Expedition of 1838-1842, which set aphysical oceanography benchmark for the Office's first superintendent,Matthew Fontaine Maury, to maintain. Wilkes was elected to theAmerican Philosophical Society in 1843.[3]
During the 1820s, Wilkes was a member of the prestigiousColumbian Institute for the Promotion of Arts and Sciences, counting among its members PresidentsAndrew Jackson andJohn Quincy Adams and many prominent men of the day - including well-known representatives of the military, government service, medicine, and other professions.[4]
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In 1838, Wilkes, although not yet a seasoned naval line officer, was experienced in nautical survey work and collaborating with civilian scientists. With this background, he was given command of the government's first Exploring Expedition: "...for the purpose of exploring and surveying the Southern Ocean, ... as well to determine the existence of all doubtful islands and shoals, as to discover, and accurately fix, the position of those which [lay] in or near the track of our vessels in that quarter, and [might] have escaped the observation of scientific navigators." The U.S. Exploring Expedition was authorized by an act ofCongress on May 18, 1836.
The Exploring Expedition, commonly known as the 'Wilkes Expedition' and the American Exploratory Expedition (or the American Ex. Ex. by many) includednaturalists,botanists,taxidermists,artists, amineralogist, and aphilologist. Vessels in the Expedition wereUSS Vincennes (780 tons) andUSS Peacock (650 tons), thebrigUSS Porpoise (230 tons), the store-shipUSS Relief, and twoschooners,USS Sea Gull (110 tons) andUSS Flying Fish (96 tons).[5] Departing fromHampton Roads,Chesapeake Bay on August 18, 1838, the expedition stopped at theMadeira Islands andRio de Janeiro; visitedTierra del Fuego,Chile,Peru, theTuamotu archipelago,Samoa, andNew South Wales, Australia. In December 1839, they sailed from Sydney into theAntarctic Ocean where, west of theBalleny Islands, they sighted the coast of Antarctica on January 25, 1840.[6] After charting 1500 miles of Antarctic coastline, the expedition went on toFiji.[7][8] There, the expedition kidnapped the chief Ro Veidovi, charging him with the murder of American whalers.[9] July 1840 onMalolo Island, two sailors (one of whom was Wilkes' nephew Midshipman Wilkes Henry) were killed while bartering for food. Wilkes' retribution was swift and severe. According to an old man from Malolo Island, some 80 Fijians were killed in the incident.
The expedition then sailed on to theHawaiian Islands. From December 1840 to March 1841, he employed hundreds ofnative Hawaiian porters and many of his own men to haul apendulum to the summit ofMauna Loa to measure gravity. Instead of using the existing footpath, he blazed his own trail, taking much longer than anticipated. The conditions on the mountain reminded him of Antarctica: many of his crew suffering from snow blindness, altitude sickness, and foot injuries caused by shoes that had been torn on the sharp lava rock. While in Hawai'i the Expedition made the first measurements of the height of the islands' major mountains and created nautical charts of the coastlines. These charts were in use up to World War II.[10]
In 1841 the Exploring Expedition went on to theWest Coast of North America, exploring theStrait of Juan de Fuca,Puget Sound, theColumbia River,San Francisco Bay, and theSacramento River.[6] The firstAmerican Independence Day celebration west of theMississippi River was held atDupont, Washington, on July 5, 1841.[11][12] The expedition then sailed to theEllice Islands (now known as Tuvalu), visitingFunafuti,Nukufetau andVaitupu.[13] The expedition returned to the U.S. East Coast by way ofBorneo, Singapore, thePhilippines, theSulu Archipelago,Polynesia and theCape of Good Hope, reaching New York on June 10, 1842.[6]
After having circumnavigated the earth, the last U.S. all-sail naval mission to do so, the Exposition had logged some 87,000 miles, losing two ships and 28 men. Upon his return, Wilkes wascourt-martialed for the loss of one of his ships on the bar at the mouth of the Columbia River, for the general mistreatment of his subordinate officers, and for excessive punishment of his sailors. A major witness against him was ship doctorCharles Guillou.[14] He was acquitted on all charges except for excessive punishment of men in his squadron. For a short time, he was attached to theU.S. Coast Survey, but from 1844 to 1861, he was chiefly engaged in preparing the official report on the Exploring Expedition.[6]
HisNarrative of the United States Exploring Expedition (5 volumes and an atlas) was published in 1844. He edited the scientific reports of the Expedition (19 volumes[15][16] and 11 atlases, 1844–1874) and was the author of Vol. XI (Meteorology) and Vol. XXIII (Hydrography).Alfred Thomas Agate, engraver and illustrator, was the designated portrait and botanical artist of the expedition. His work was used to illustrate theNarrative of the United States Exploring Expedition.[17] TheNarrative contains much interesting material concerning the manners, customs, political and economic conditions of the people in many places then little known.[6] Wilkes' 1841 Map of theOregon Territory pre-datedJohn Charles Fremont's firstOregon Trail pathfinder expedition guided byKit Carson during 1842.
Other valuable contributions includeJames Dwight Dana's three studies onZoophytes (1846),Geology (1849) andCrustacea (1852–1854). Moreover, the specimens and artifacts brought back by Expedition scientists led to the founding of theSmithsonian Institution collection. In addition to many shorter articles and reports, Wilkes published the major scientific worksWestern America, including California and Oregon (1849) andVoyage Round the World: embracing the principal events of the narrative of the United States Exploring Expedition in one volume: illustrated with one hundred and seventy-eight engravings on wood (1849), andTheory of the Winds (1856).
Wilkes was promoted to the rank of Commander in 1843 and then Captain in 1855. At the outbreak of theAmerican Civil War, he was assigned command of theUSS San Jacinto with the mission to search for theConfederateCoast and Geodetic Survey commerce destroyerCSS Sumter.[6]
In 1861, he visited the British colony ofBermuda as part of his assigned duties. Wilkes, acting on orders, remained in port aboard the flagshipUSS Wachusett for nearly a week, violating the British rule permitting American naval vessels (of either side) to remain in port for only a single day. While Wilkes was in port, theUSS Tioga andUSS Sonoma, gunboats under his command, blockadedSt. George's harbor, a key Confederateblockade runner base. Wilkes learned thatJames Murray Mason andJohn Slidell, two Confederate commissioners, one assigned to Britain and the other to France, were bound for Europe on the Britishpacket boat,RMS Trent. He ordered the steam frigateSan Jacinto to stop them. On November 8, 1861,San Jacinto met theTrent and fired two shots across its bow, forcing it to stop. TheTrent was boarded, Mason and Slidell arrested, thus perpetrating a further violation of Britishneutrality. The two diplomats were summarily taken toFort Warren in Boston Harbor. The actions of "The Notorious Wilkes," as Bermuda media branded him, were contrary to maritime law and caused many British sympathizers to think full-scale war between the United States and England was inevitable.[18] Congress officially thanked Wilkes "for his brave, adroit and patriotic conduct".[19] However, his action was later disavowed byPresident Lincoln who had received diplomatic protests from the British government. Mason and Slidell were speedily released. On December 21, 1861, Wilkes was placed on the retirement list. Yet, after receiving the rank of Commodore on July 16, 1862, he was reassigned to duty pursuing blockade runners in theWest Indies.[6]
As Commander of the West Indies Squadron, Wilkes repeatedly complained of having an insufficient force. Though he had a degree of success in the capture of blockade runners, he drew criticism for failing in his primary task: the capture of the commerce raidersCSS Alabama andCSS Florida. He also repeatedly exacerbated diplomatic relations with the British, Spanish, Dutch, French, Danish and Mexican provincial governments through his high-handed actions. In violation of international law regarding belligerent nations, he set up coal depots on a number of neutral islands, consequently being sighted lingering outside neutral ports. The British, in particular, accused him of establishing blockades off the ports ofNassau andSt. George's, suspicious that he had been sent to intentionally insult them. The French also accused him of blockadingMartinique.
Wilkes justified his actions by suggesting the ports were tantamount to operational bases for blockade runners. His capture of such ships as thePeterhoff,Dolphin,Springbok, andVictor resulted in diplomatic objections explicitly directed against Wilkes' quality of leadership. In June 1863 he was recalled from the West Indies. Wilkes' failure to capture the assigned Confederate commerce raiders certainly was a factor for his recall, as was his retention of theUSS Vanderbilt for use as his flagship rather than perusing the assignment to hunt down theCSS Alabama. As significant as these points were, his removal from command seemed to be the never-ending stream of complaints over his actions coming from neutral nations.[20]
Though theSecretary of the NavyGideon Wellessupported Wilkes in many of his West Indies actions, Wilkes frequently found himself in open conflict with Welles. The Secretary suggested Wilkes was too old to receive the rank of Commodore under the legislation then governing military promotions. In Welles' December 1863 annual report, he severely criticized Wilkes over the retention of theVanderbilt. Wilkes wrote a scathing response which found its way into newspapers. A court of inquiry accused Wilkes of responsibility for its publication, and Wilkes was brought before a March 1864 Court-martial. The charges he faced were disobedience of orders, insubordination, disrespect of a superior officer, disobedience of naval regulations, and conduct unbecoming an officer. He was found guilty of all charges and sentenced to public reprimand and suspension from service for three years.[20] However, President Lincoln reduced the suspension to one year, and the balance of charges were dropped. On July 25, 1866, he was promoted to the rank of Rear Admiral on the retired list.[6]
One historian speculated that Wilkes' obsessive behavior and harsh code of shipboard discipline influencedHerman Melville's characterization of Captain Ahab inMoby-Dick.[21] Such speculation is not mentioned in the United States Navy historical archives.
In addition to his contribution to United States naval history and scientific study in his officialNarrative of the Exploring Expedition (6 volumes), Wilkes also wrote anautobiography.
Wilkes died inWashington, D.C. having achieved the rank of Rear Admiral. His funeral was held atSt. John's Episcopal Church, Lafayette Square. He was originally buried inOak Hill Cemetery (Washington, D.C.), but in August 1909 the United States moved his remains toArlington National Cemetery. His gravestone says, "He discovered the Ant-arctic continent."sic[22][23]
| External videos | |
|---|---|
 Booknotes interview with Nathaniel Philbrick onSea of Glory: America's Voyage of Discovery, the U.S. Exploring Expedition, 1838–1842, January 25, 2004,C-SPAN |
Attribution:
This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Wilkes, Charles".Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 28 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 642.
This article incorporates text from thepublic domainDictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships.
