William Faxon (1822–1883) was a

journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalis ...

who served as chief clerk of the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

from 1861 to 1866 and as

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

Assistant Secretary of the Navy Assistant Secretary of the Navy (ASN) is the title given to certain civilian senior officials in the United States Department of the Navy. From 1861 to 1954, the Assistant Secretary of the Navy was the second-highest civilian office in the Depar ...

from 1866 until 1869.

Biography

In 1857, Faxon formed a partnership with Joseph Roswell Hawley, Faxon & Hawley, which purchased the

Hartford Hartford is the capital city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It was the seat of Hartford County until Connecticut disbanded county government in 1960. It is the core city in the Greater Hartford metropolitan area. Census estimates since t ...

''Evening Press'', a

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

newspaper founded by

Gideon Welles Gideon Welles (July 1, 1802 – February 11, 1878), nicknamed "Father Neptune", was the United States Secretary of the Navy from 1861 to 1869, a cabinet post he was awarded after supporting Abraham Lincoln in the 1860 election. Although opposed ...

in 1856.H. Clay Williams, ''Biographical Encyclopaedia of Connecticut and Rhode Island of the Nineteenth Century'', p. 93. They soon invited

Charles Dudley Warner Charles is a masculine given name predominantly found in English and French speaking countries. It is from the French form ''Charles'' of the Proto-Germanic name (in runic alphabet) or ''*karilaz'' (in Latin alphabet), whose meaning was " ...

and Stephen A. Hubbard to join their newspaper. In 1861,

President of the United States The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States ...

Abraham Lincoln Abraham Lincoln ( ; February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was an American lawyer, politician, and statesman who served as the 16th president of the United States from 1861 until his assassination in 1865. Lincoln led the nation thro ...

appointed

United States Secretary of the Navy The secretary of the Navy (or SECNAV) is a statutory officer () and the head (chief executive officer) of the Department of the Navy, a military department (component organization) within the United States Department of Defense. By law, the se ...

. Welles wanted to appoint Faxon as chief clerk of the Navy at this time, but the politically influential

Francis Preston Blair Francis Preston Blair Sr. (April 12, 1791 – October 18, 1876) was an American journalist, newspaper editor, and influential figure in national politics advising several U.S. presidents across party lines. Blair was an early member of the D ...

and his son

Montgomery Blair Montgomery Blair (May 10, 1813 – July 27, 1883) was an American politician and lawyer from Maryland. He served in the Lincoln administration cabinet as Postmaster-General from 1861 to 1864, during the Civil War. He was the son of Francis Pres ...

pressured Lincoln to appoint

Gustavus Fox Gustavus Vasa Fox (June 13, 1821 – October 29, 1883) was an officer of the United States Navy, who served during the Mexican–American War, and as Assistant Secretary of the Navy during the Civil War. Life and career Fox was born at Saugus, Ma ...

instead.John Y. Simon and Harold Holzer, ''The Lincoln Forum: Rediscovering Abraham Lincoln'', pp. 53-54. As a compromise, the post of

was created for Fox, and Faxon joined the

United States Department of the Navy The United States Department of the Navy (DoN) is one of the three military departments within the Department of Defense of the United States of America. It was established by an Act of Congress on 30 April 1798, at the urging of Secretary o ...

as a clerk in March 1861, and then succeeded Fox as chief clerk on July 31, 1861.

Charles O. Paullin Charles Oscar Paullin (20 July 1869 – 1 September 1944) was an important naval historian, who made a significant early contribution to the administrative history of the United States Navy. Early life and education Raised in Greene County, Ohio, P ...

, "New England Secretaries of the Navy," ''New England Magazine'', Vol. 37, p. 664. As chief clerk of the Navy during the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states ...

, Faxon was in charge of the records, correspondence, and personnel of the Office of the Secretary of the Navy and oversaw the finances of the Department of the Navy. On June 1, 1866, Faxon succeeded Fox as Assistant Secretary of the Navy, holding this office until 1869.Howard K. Beale, ''The Diary of Edward Bates 1859-1866'', p. 259. Faxon died in 1883.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Faxon, William 1822 births 1883 deaths United States Assistant Secretaries of the Navy