Oscar C . Badger Commodore Oscar Charles Badger ( 12 August 1823 in Mansfield , Connecticut – 20 June 1899 in Concord , Massachusetts ) was an officer of the United States Navy who served in the Mexican – American and American Civil War s . Service in Africa and during the Mexican - American War . Badger received an appointment as a midshipman in the United States Navy on 9 September 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 10 August 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 11 July 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 22 August 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 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 . Post - Civil War service with the fleet . Sometime during 1866 he took command of the sidewheel steamer — a ship 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 Navy Yard in New Hampshire . He returned to sea in 1871 in command of the of the South Atlantic Fleet . He commanded the receiving ship at Boston , Massachusetts , in 1873 and 1874 and served again at the Washington Navy Yard between 1875 and 1878 . Final military service . His last sea duty came in 1878 and 1879 when he commanded the frigate . 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 . 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 ocean escort ship ( 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 .