WILLIAM C. JACKSON, MIDN, CSN

William Jackson '63

Date of birth: 1843

Age: ~18

Naval Academy Register

William Congreve Jackson was admitted to the Naval Academy from Virginia on November 25, 1859 at age 16 years 6 months.

Loss

William was lost on February 10, 1862, shortly after he "was mortally wounded while making his way to the shore from the captured steamer Ellis." This occurred in the Pasquotank River, near Elizabeth City, North Carolina; following his wounding he was captured by the Union and brought aboard USS Hetzel or possibly USS Ellis, which was then under the command of his classmate Benjamin Porter '63.

He was identified as "Acting Midshipman" and was serving aboard CSS Ellis. He was buried at Fort Cobb — though the fort seems to have been just a 4-gun battery.

Other Information

From researcher Kathy Franz: "William’s father was Samuel, a physician in Leesburg, Virginia. His mother was Anna; brothers Edward, Henry and Calvert Churchill; and sisters Anna and Olivia."

William's Find A Grave page is here.

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

Confederates in Memorial Hall

This alumni is included on this site because he is listed in Memorial Hall. Pursuant to Section 377 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2021, the Naming Commission found, per Part II of their final report to Congress, that "Due to the limited factual nature of [Memorial Hall], the Commission believes it may remain as structured."

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.