| Oscar C. Badger | |
|---|---|
| Born | August 12, 1823 Mansfield, Connecticut |
| Died | June 20, 1899 (aged 75) |
| Allegiance | United States of America Union |
| Service/branch | United States Navy Union Navy |
| Years of service | 9 September 1841 - August 1885 |
| Rank | Commodore (November 1881) |
| Unit | varied |
| Battles/wars | Mexican-American War American Civil War |
| Awards | Promoted to Commodore |
Oscar C. Badger (12 August 1823 in Mansfield, Connecticut – 20 June 1899) received appointment as a midshipman in the United States Navy on 9 September 1841 and, after a tour of duty in Independence, served in Saratoga 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 Mississippi, during the Mexican-American War, he participated in the expedition that captured the Mexican town of Alvarado in the spring of 1847.
Badger then attended the Naval School (as the U.S. Naval Academy was then called) at Annapolis, Maryland; completed his course of study there; and was warranted a passed midshipman on 10 August 1847.
By 1850, he was posted to the Pacific Squadron and served successively in Supply, the frigate Savannah, and the sloop Vincennes. 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 John Adams 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 Plymouth, Macedonian, Minnesota, and, lastly, to the Washington Navy Yard.
He was serving in the national capital at the outbreak of the Civil War, and took command of the screw steamer Anacostia early in that 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 11 July 1863. A week later, he commanded Patapsco 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 22 August 1863, he took command of the ironclad Montauk for another try at Fort Sumter.
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 Weehawken on the night of 1 September 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.
Sometime during 1866 he took command of the sidewheel steamer Peoria—a unit of the North Atlantic Squadron—and, in her, rendered assistance to the victims of a fire that destroyed Basseterre on St. Kitts in the Leeward Islands. In 1868, he came ashore for equipment duty at the Portsmouth, New Hampshire, Navy Yard. He returned to sea in 1871 in command of Ticonderoga of the South Atlantic Fleet. He commanded the receiving ship Ohio at Boston, Massachusetts, in 1873 and 1874 and served again at the Washington Navy Yard between 1875 and 1878.
His last sea duty came in 1878 and 1879 when he commanded the frigate Constitution. During 1880, he was stationed in Washington for special duty. While serving at the Naval Asylum in Philadelphia, Badger was promoted to commodore in November 1881. After commanding the Boston Navy Yard between 1881 and 1885, Badger retired in August 1885. He died on 20 June 1899.
Badger (Destroyer No. 126) was named for Commodore Oscar C. Badger (a cousin of Secretary of the Navy George Edmund Badger), the father of Rear Admiral Charles Johnston Badger—the son of the commodore and the father of the admiral—was also honored by the naming of the destroyer USS Charles J. Badger (DD-657), and the grandfather of Admiral Oscar C. Badger. The ocean escort USS Badger (DE-1071) honors all four men.