William Sitgreaves Cox
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William Sitgreaves Cox (1790–1874) was a Third Lieutenant serving on USS Chesapeake during the War of 1812. During the battle with HMS Shannon in 1813, Captain James Lawrence was wounded, and Lt. Cox took him below deck. However, all other officers had been seriously wounded or killed, so Lawrence's incapacitation left Cox, the senior non-wounded officer, the ship's commanding officer. He was convicted in 1814 by court-martial of dereliction of duty, abandoning his watch station while under fire. He was discharged from the United States Navy in disgrace.
Cox's great-grandson, Electus D. Litchfield, campaigned for nearly 20 years to have that conviction overturned. In 1952 President of the United States Harry S Truman cleared Cox's name and restored his rank.
In chapter 11 of his 1959 novel Starship Troopers, Robert A. Heinlein references this story as an illustration of line officers and chain of command. In the future history in which the novel was set, Lieutenant Cox was never cleared of the charges.
[edit] References
- Maritime History: "Chesapeake and Shannon — Courts Martial"
- Time magazine: "The Case of Lieut. Cox"
- Papers of Electus D. Litchfield, 1904-1952
| Persondata | |
|---|---|
| NAME | Cox, William Sitgreaves |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | |
| SHORT DESCRIPTION | court-martialed during the War of 1812 |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 1790 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | |
| DATE OF DEATH | 1874 |
| PLACE OF DEATH | |
