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DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY -- NAVAL HISTORICAL CENTER
805 KIDDER BREESE SE -- WASHINGTON NAVY YARD
WASHINGTON DC 20374-5060

Online Library of Selected Images:
-- PEOPLE -- UNITED STATES --

Thomas W. Gilmer (1802-1844) --
15th Secretary of the Navy, 19 February - 28 February 1844

Thomas Walker Gilmer was born on 6 April 1802 in Albemarle County, Virginia. He studied law and, after a brief residence in Missouri, practiced that profession in Charlottesville, Virginia. Gilmer also owned and edited a newspaper in that city and was politically active. He supported the aspirations of Andrew Jackson and represented Albemarle County in the Virginia House of Delegates. In 1834, Gilmer broke with Jackson and joined the Whig party. He became state Governor in 1840, pursuing a strong states' rights policy while in office.

Elected to the U.S. Congress in 1841, Gilmer left the Whigs, returned to the Democratic Party, and emerged as a strong supporter of President John Tyler. In February 1844, Tyler nominated him to be Secretary of the Navy. On 28 February 1844, after only nine days in office, Secretary of the Navy Thomas Gilmer was one of several dignitaries killed when a cannon exploded on board the steamer USS Princeton.

USS Gilmer (DD-233, later APD-11), 1920-1946, was named in honor of Secretary of the Navy Gilmer.

This page features our only images of Thomas W. Gilmer.


If you want higher resolution reproductions than the "Online Library's" digital images, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions."

Click on the small photograph to prompt a larger view of the same image.

Photo #: NH 54752-KN (Color)

Thomas W. Gilmer (1802-1844),
Secretary of the Navy, 19 February 1844 - 28 February 1844

Portrait by Annie Bayliss Kent, 1930.

Courtesy of the Navy Art Collection, Washington, D.C.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 59KB; 580 x 765 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 54751

Thomas Walker Gilmer

Secretary of the Navy, 19 February 1844 - 28 February 1844

19th Century engraving.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 130KB; 515 x 765 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 58906-KN (Color)

"Awful Explosion of the 'Peace-Maker' on board the U.S. Steam Frigate Princeton, on Wednesday, 28th Feby. 1844"

Colored lithograph, published by N. Currier, New York, 1844.
It depicts the explosion of a heavy gun on board USS Princeton, in the Potomac River, which killed or mortally wounded seven and injured about twenty people. Some of those present are identified below the image, including (from left): Mr. Wilkins; Mr. Perrine; Lieutenant Hunt; Representative Virgil Maxcy, of Maryland; Secretary of State Abel P. Upshur; Captain Beverly Kennon, Chief of the Bureau of Construction, Equipment and Repair; Thomas Gilmer, Secretary of the Navy; Captain Robert F. Stockton; Sailors; Senator Phelps and Senator Thomas Hart Benton. Maxcy, Upshur, Kennon and Gilmer were among those killed. Stockton and Benton were among the injured.

Courtesy of the U.S. Navy Art Collection, Washington, D.C.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 122KB; 740 x 545 pixels

 


If you want higher resolution reproductions than the "Online Library's" digital images, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions."


Return to Naval Historical Center home page.

29 May 2000