Oscar C. Badger

Commodore Oscar Charles Badger (August 12, 1823 – June 20, 1899) was an officer of the United States Navy who served in the Mexican–American and American Civil Wars.

Service in Africa and during the Mexican–American War

Badger received an appointment as a midshipman in the United States Navy on September 9, 1841, and, after a tour of duty in the , served in along the Atlantic coast of Africa. While serving in the latter ship, he saw his first action in the punitive expedition that landed on the west coast of Africa in 1843 and destroyed the Berribee villages. In the sidewheel steamer , during the Mexican–American War, he participated in the expedition that captured the Mexican town of Alvarado in the spring of 1847.

Attended the Naval Academy at Annapolis, Maryland

Badger then attended the Naval School (as the Naval Academy was then called) at Annapolis, Maryland; completed his course of study there; and was warranted a passed midshipman on August 10, 1847.

Posted to the Pacific Squadron

By 1850, he was posted to the Pacific Squadron and served successively in the , the frigate , and the sloop . He returned to shore in 1853 for a tour of duty at the United States Naval Observatory located in Washington, D.C. In 1855, he returned to the Pacific Squadron for duty in the sloop and, that autumn, participated in an expedition to the Fiji Islands to redress wrongs suffered by members of the crews of American whalers and merchant ships at the hands of natives. The landing party destroyed the village of Vutia. To round out his pre-Civil War service, Badger was assigned in turn to the , , , and, lastly, to the Washington Navy Yard.

Service in the American Civil War

He was serving in the national capital at the outbreak of the Civil War, and took command of the screw steamer early in the conflict. In her, he participated in a series of actions against Confederate batteries along the Virginia bank of the Potomac River. During the Peninsula Campaign, he took part in the siege of Yorktown, Virginia. In 1862, he was transferred to the western theater to superintend the arming of river gunboats. In mid-1863, he was switched to the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron and participated in the attack on shore batteries on Morris Island on July 11, 1863. A week later, he commanded in an attack on Fort Wagner and, a month after that, led the ironclad in a series of operations against Forts Wagner, Gregg, and Sumter. On the night of August 22, 1863, he took command of the ironclad on another assault on Fort Sumter.

Appointed fleet captain of the South Atlantic Blockade

Soon thereafter, Badger was appointed fleet captain, ad interim, of the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron and, in that office, took part in another attack on Fort Sumter while in the flagship on the night of September 1, 1863. During that action, he was severely wounded in the leg by a flying metal splinter.

He spent the remaining years of the Civil War ashore performing ordnance duty at the Philadelphia Navy Yard and serving as inspector of cannon at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. After the war, he became a companion of the District of Columbia Commandery of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States.

Family

Badger married Margaret M. Johnston, daughter of Captain Z. F. Johnston, USN. Their son, Charles Johnston Badger, pursued a naval career and retired as a rear admiral.

Memberships

Commodore Badger was a member of the Aztec Club of 1847, the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States and the Military Order of Foreign Wars.

Honored in ship naming

The Badger (Destroyer No. 126) (1919–1945) was named for Commodore Oscar C. Badger, while his son, Admiral Charles Johnston Badger was similarly honored by the naming of the destroyer (1943–1957). The destroyer escort (subsequently rerated as a frigate) (1970–1991) honors the commodore, his son, his grandson, Admiral Oscar C. Badger II, and his cousin George Edmund Badger, the 12th United States Secretary of the Navy.

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