CHARLES H. SWASEY, LT, USN

Charles Swasey '59

Date of birth: June 21, 1839

Age: 23

Naval Academy Register

Charles Swasey was admitted to the Naval Academy from Taunton, Massachusetts on September 28, 1854 at age 15 years 3 months.

Loss

Charles was killed in action with Confederate forces on October 4, 1862 on the Mississippi River near Donaldsonville, Louisiana.

Other Information

From Wikipedia:

Born in Massachusetts, Swasey was appointed midshipman on 28 September 1854, and commissioned lieutenant on 31 August 1861. Swasey served aboard Varuna in the engagement with the steamer CSS Governor Moore below New Orleans, Louisiana, on 24 April 1862. He then served as executive officer of Sciota on the West Gulf Blockading Squadron. Lieutenant Swasey was wounded during an engagement with Confederate forces near Donaldsonville, Louisiana, on 4 October 1862, and died the same day.

From researcher Kathy Franz:

His father Albert was a railroad superintendent. Besides his brother Albert, Charles had two sisters: Mary born in 1837 and Harriet born in 1846.

From US Naval Academy Graduates’ Association, Minutes of the First Annual Meeting, June 11, 1886:

Charles Henry Swasey, graduate #374.
1854, September 24, appointed an Acting Midshipman on probation at the Naval Academy, from Massachusetts. 1859, June 9, graduated, warranted as a Midshipman from that date, and ordered to the Hartford, East India Squadron. 1861, September 18, commissioned as a Lieutenant from the 31st of August, 1861. December 5, detached from the Hartford and granted two weeks leave of absence. 1862, January 18, ordered to the Varuna, West Gulf Blockading Squadron.
He was killed in action on board the Sciota, October 4, 1862.
Sea service, 4 years; shore duty, 3 years, 11 months; unemployed, 1 month; in service, 8 years.
Charles H. Swasey was born in Taunton, Mass., in June, 1839, the son of A.E. Swasey. In the passage of the forts below New Orleans, in April, 1862, Swasey served with perfect gallantry as executive officer of the Varuna when that vessel was sunk by the rebel rams. Subsequently he became executive officer of the steamer Sciota. On October 4, 1862, his vessel was fired upon by a masked battery near Donaldsonville, Louisiana, and Swasey was mortally wounded while performing his duty, having just pointed and fired the 9-inch gun.
A 12-pounder rifle shot entered the bulwark, striking him on the hip and inflicting a terrible wound, of which he soon expired. His commander said, “This officer was characterized by all the elements which make up the hero—brave, imbued with patriotic ardor and professional ambition, chivalric as a gentleman, gentle, and with a heart full of Christian principles. His last words were,‘Tell my mother I tried to be a good man.’” In his report to the Navy Department, Admiral Farragut said: “Lieutenant Swasey was a young man of modest merit, and would, no doubt, have continued to live, as he died, in the faithful discharge of his duties. I knew him but slightly, but feel assured that he deserved all that his commander has said of him, and I deeply deplore his death, although he died at the post of honor.” P.F. Harrington

He is listed on the killed in action panel in the front of Memorial Hall and in the Register of Alumni, though the latter has no date associated with this action.

He is buried in Massachusetts.

Career

From the Naval History and Heritage Command:

Acting Midshipman, 28 September, 1854. Midshipman, 9 June, 1859. Lieutenant, 31 August, 1861. Killed in action 4 October, 1862.

Namesakes

USS Swasey (DD 273) was named for him; the ship was sponsored by Ms. Mary L. Swasey (relationship unspecified).

USS Swasey (DE 248) was also named for him.

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.