Reginald F . Nicholson Rear Admiral Reginald Fairfax Nicholson ( 15 December 1852 – 19 December 1939 ) was an officer in the United States Navy . He fought in the American Civil War and Spanish - American War , was Commander - in - Chief of the United States Asiatic Fleet , and came out of retirement during World War I to serve as the first U . S . naval attaché to Ecuador and Peru . He retired as the last active - duty U . S . Navy officer to have served in the American Civil War . Naval career . Nicholson was born in Washington , D . C . , on 15 December 1852 , the son of U . S . Navy Commodore Somerville Nicholson ( 1822 - 1905 ) and the former Hannah Maria Jones ( 1837 - 1897 ) . His first U . S . Navy service came in 1864 , when at the age of 12 he left school to enlist in the Navy as an orderly for his father , who was the commanding officer of the steamer , then operating as part of the Union blockade of the Confederate States of America during the American Civil War . While Nicholson was aboard " State of Georgia " , the ship blockade d Wilmington , North Carolina , and fought engagements with Confederate fortifications guarding the city . After 30 days , Nicholson left the ship and returned to school . Five years later , Nicholson was appointed from the District of Columbia as a midshipman on 30 September 1869 and entered the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis , Maryland . He graduated on 31 May 1873 with the rank of midshipman . Nicholsons first assignment was to the signals office in 1873 . Promoted to ensign on 16 July 1874 , he served aboard the sidewheel steam frigate in the North Atlantic Squadron from 1875 to 1877 . He then had ordnance duty at the Washington Navy Yard in Washington , D . C . , from 1877 to 1878 . From 1878 to 1882 , Nicholson was aboard the sloop - of - war , then serving as a training ship , and was promoted to master on 22 January 1880 . He then performed duty at the United States Hydrographic Office from 1882 to 1885 , being promoted while there to lieutenant , junior grade , on 3 March 1883 . He returned to sea aboard the new steam sloop - of - war in the Pacific Squadron from 1885 to 1888 , and was promoted to lieutenant on 17 January 1886 . After leaving " Mohican " , he reported to the Washington Navy Yard for another tour of ordnance duty in 1888 . Nicholson was assigned to the new monitor in February 1893 , and to the steamer in January 1895 . He returned to the Washington Navy Yard for a third tour there in December 1895 . In December 1897 , Nicholson reported for duty aboard the battleship , and he served as her chief navigation officer during her spectacular voyage from the United States West Coast around Cape Horn to Cuba at the outset of the Spanish - American War in 1898 . On 1 October 1898 , he was assigned to the new torpedo boat , then fitting out . Promoted to lieutenant commander on 3 March 1899 , he became the first commanding officer of the new torpedo boat on 1 April 1899 , then took command of " Farragut " when she was commissioned on 5 June 1899 . He remained in command of " Farragut " until 1901 . Nicholson next served in the Bureau of Navigation and was promoted to commander on 17 September 1902 . In 1903 he was assigned to the new protected cruiser , then under construction at Union Iron Works in Mare Island , California , and became her first commanding officer when she was commissioned on 30 January 1904 , remaining aboard her until December 1905 . He began another tour of duty in the Bureau of Navigation on 22 June 1906 , remaining there into 1907 . He was promoted to captain on 1 July 1907 . Nicholson took command of the battleship in 1907 and commanded her during " Nebraska " s participation in the 1907 - 1909 round - the - world cruise of the U . S . Navys Great White Fleet , which she joined in May 1908 . After the conclusion of the voyage in 1909 , President William Howard Taft appointed him on 1 December 1909 for a four - year tour as Chief of the Bureau of Navigation in Washington , D . C . Nicholson was promoted to rear admiral on 19 May 1911 . In mid - 1911 , he was chosen to end his tour at the Bureau of Navigation early and succeed Rear Admiral Joseph B . Murdock as commander - in - chief of the U . S . Asiatic Fleet as of November 1911 , but United States Secretary of State Philander C . Knox requested that Murdock be kept on as fleet commander to allow continuity during unrest in China related to the Xinhai Revolution of that year . Meanwhile , United States Secretary of the Navy George von Lengerke Meyer had already selected Nicholsons successor as Chief of the Bureau of Navigation . President Taft explained the situation to Nicholson , who was dispatched to the Asiatic Fleet to command its Yangtze Patrol . In February 1912 , with the Chinese crisis having abated , it was again proposed that Nicholson succeed Murdock , but Knox again asked that Murdock stay on as fleet commander - in - chief . On 20 July 1912 , Nicholson finally received orders to take command of the fleet , and he relieved Murdock on 24 July 1912 . Relinquishing command of the Asiatic Fleet on 3 May 1914 , Nicholson became a member of the General Board of the United States Navy until he retired from the Navy upon reaching the statutory retirement age of 62 on 15 December 1914 . At the time , he was the last U . S . Navy officer on active duty to have seen service in the American Civil War . When the United States entered World War I in April 1917 , Nicholson was recalled to active duty . He headed a naval mission to Chile and served as the first American naval attaché to Ecuador and Peru from 7 November 1917 to 25 November 1919 before returning to retirement . Personal life . Nicholsons first wife was the former Annie Ellen Heap ( 1855 - 1889 ) , whome he married on 7 July 1877 . They had two children , Mary Jane Nicholson Durell ( 1878 - 1962 ) and Reginald Fairfax Nicholson ( 1879 - 1890 ) . After the death of his first wife , Nicholson married the former Elizabeth Code ( 26 July 1877 – 20 September 1955 ) on 2 June 1900 . Death . Nicholson died of a heart attack at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda , Maryland , on 19 December 1939 . He is buried with his second wife at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington , Virginia . Commemoration . It was reported in January 1918 that after purchasing the steamer " Northland " , the Pacific Steamship Company had renamed her " Admiral Nicholson " in honor of Nicholson .