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Charles Wilkes
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naval officer and explorer from the United States (1798-1877)
OverviewAI-generated
Charles Wilkes was an American explorer, naval officer, geographer, and oceanographer born in New York City in 1798. He served in the United States Navy and the Union Navy, participating in the American Civil War. His military career advanced to the rank of admiral, and he held the position of commanding officer. Wilkes was educated at Columbia University and spoke English.
He is the author of works including *Narrative of the United States exploring expedition*, *Conspectus Crustaceorum*, *Synopsis of the cruise of the U.S. Exploring Expedition*, and *The following defence of Lieut. Charles Wilkes*. His works are held in collections such as the Australian National Maritime Museum. Wilkes was a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the American Philosophical Society, receiving the award of Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He died in Washington in 1877 and is buried at Arlington National Cemetery.
Synthesized by Vinony from 28 facts across 3 sources: Wikidata, Open Library, Vinony collections. Generated from structured data (not the Wikipedia text) and checked against those facts — may still contain errors.
Person · Open Library
- Born
- 1798
- Died
- 1877
- Works
- 31
Top works
- Narrative of the United States exploring expedition
- Conspectus Crustaceorum, quae in orbis terrarum circumnavigatione, Carolo Wilkes e classe reipublicae foederatae duce
- Synopsis of the cruise of the U.S. Exploring Expedition, during the years 1838, '39, '40, '41, & '42
- The following defence of Lieut. Charles Wilkes
- Antarctica
via Open Library + Wikidata
Key facts
- Born
- ( 1798-04-03 ) April 3, 1798, New York City , U.S.
- Died
- February 8, 1877 (1877-02-08) (aged 78) , Washington, D.C. , U.S.
- Resting place
- Oak Hill Cemetery (originally), Arlington National Cemetery
- Known for
- US Exploring Expedition Trent Affair
- Allegiance
- United States
- Branch
- United States Navy
- Years
- 1818–1866
- Rank
- Rear admiral
- Commands
- USS San Jacinto USS Wachusett USS Tioga USS Sonoma
- Wars
- American Civil War
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- human
- Given name
- Charles
- Gender
- male
- Citizenship
- United States
- Place of birth
- New York City
- Place of death
- Washington
- Position held
- commanding officer
- Educated at
- Columbia University
- Languages spoken
- English language
- Participant in
- United States Exploring Expedition
- Conflict
- American Civil War
- Military branch
- United States Navy
- Military rank
- admiral
- Image
- Charles-Wilkes.jpg
Show 12 more facts
- Commons category
- Charles Wilkes
- date of birth
- 1798-04-03
- date of death
- 1877-02-08
- place of burial
- Arlington National Cemetery
- Commons gallery
- Charles Wilkes
- member of
- American Philosophical Society
- name in native language
- Charles Wilkes
- writing language
- English language
- P6944
- Charles Wilkes
- has works in the collection
- Australian National Maritime Museum
- start of work period
- 1818-00-00
- collection items at
- Bishop Museum
via Wikidata · CC0
~18 min read
Encyclopedic overview
Charles Wilkes (April 3, 1798 – February 8, 1877) was an American naval officer, ship's captain, and explorer. He led the first United States Exploring Expedition (1838–1842). During the American Civil War (1861-1865), he commanded USS San Jacinto during the Trent Affair incident in which he stopped a British Royal Mail ship and forcibly removed two Confederate diplomats, almost leading to war between the United States and United Kingdom.
Early life and career
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Charles Wilkes” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.