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Civil War Soldiers - Weitzel
| Weitzel, Godfrey, major-general, U.S.
Army, was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, Nov. 1, 1835. At the West Point
military academy he was graduated on July 1, 1851, and attached to the
engineer corps. For the next four years he assisted in the
construction and repairs of the fortifications guarding the approaches
to New Orleans, La., and the following year was an assistant professor
of engineering at the military academy. In the spring of 1861 he was
attached to the engineer company which was on duty at Washington
during the dark days which immediately preceded and succeeded the
inauguration of President Lincoln. He was then ordered to Fort
Pickens, Fla., arriving just in time to aid in preventing its seizure
by the Confederates. In Oct., 1861, he became chief engineer on the
staff of Brig.-Gen. Mitchel to fortify Cincinnati, Ohio, and in
December took command of a company of sappers and miners in the
defenses of Washington city. Being familiar with the approaches to New
Orleans, he was appointed chief engineer of Gen. Butler's expedition
to capture that city. No little part of the success of the land attack
was due to Weitzel, who planned it. Butler, recognizing the high
merits of his young engineer, made him military commander and mayor of
the place. Soon afterward he was appointed brigadier-general of
volunteers and placed in command of the forces in the successful La
Fourche campaign of 1862, where he won the brevet of major, U. S. A.,
for his gallantry in the battle of Thibodeaux. He then took command of
the advance of Gen. Banks' operations in western Louisiana, and soon
afterward of a division in the siege of Port Hudson, where he was
engaged in two assaults on the place, receiving for his meritorious
services the brevet of lieutenant-colonel. In the 19th army corps he
took a conspicuous part in the La Fourche campaign and Sabine Pass
expedition of 1863, and after these repeated successes in Louisiana
was ordered to take part in the operations before Richmond. As chief
engineer of the Army of the James he was engaged in the actions at
Swift creek and near Drewry's bluff, and constructed the defenses of
Bermuda Hundred, James river and Deep Bottom. For his activity and
gallantry here he was rewarded with the brevet of major-general of
volunteers and given command of the 18th army corps, with which he
aided in repelling the enemy's assault on Fort Harrison and took part
in the attack on the Confederate intrenchments on the Williamsburg and
Nine-mile roads, for which meritorious service he received the brevet
of colonel, U. S. A., and the promotion to major-general of
volunteers. At the head of the 25th army corps he was second in
command of the first expedition to Fort Fisher, N. C. Upon his return
he took charge of all the troops north of the Appomattox river during
the final operations against Richmond, of which city he took
possession on April 3, 1865, and announced the triumph in his brief
telegram: "We entered Richmond at 8 o'clock this morning:" the news
sending a thrill of exultation throughout the loyal North. Although
Weitzel had received four brevets in the Civil war and had risen from
a lieutenant of engineers to major-general of volunteers, he was, on
the termination of hostilities, awarded two more brevets, those of
brigadier- and major-general, U. S. A., and placed in command of the
Rio Grande district, Tex., pending the government's demand that
Maximilian and his European allies should promptly evacuate Mexico.
The Southern uprising having been suppressed, Weitzel was mustered out
of the volunteer service and resumed his proper corps duties. He died
at Philadelphia, Pa., March 19, 1884. Source: The Union Army: A History of Military Affairs in the Loyal
States 1861-1865, Volume 8 Biographical, 1908
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