Proceedings Isthmian Canal Commission March 22, 1904 To March 29, 1905: Meetings Nos. 1 To 90. With Circulars nos. 1-13, June 25, 1904, To April 3, 1905
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John Grimes Walker was an admiral in the United States Navy who served during the Civil War.
Background
John Grimes Walker was born at Hillsboro, N. H. , son of Alden Walker, a merchant and cotton manufacturer, and Susan (Grimes) Walker. He was a descendant of Philip Walker who was brought to Rehoboth, Massachussets, by his mother previous to 1643. After his mother's death in 1846 he lived with his uncle Gov. James W. Grimes of Iowa, and by his aid secured an appointment as midshipman, October 5, 1850. Through his uncle's subsequent service as United States senator, 1859-69, and chairman of the Senate naval committee, 1864-69, Walker also gained political contacts and influence of value in his later years.
Education
Following a long Pacific cruise in the Falmouth he attended the Naval Academy for a year, graduating in June 1856, at the head of his class.
Career
He then cruised in the Brazil Squadron and in 1859-60 was an instructor in mathematics at the Naval Academy. In the Civil War, after serving briefly in the Connecticut, he became first lieutenant, November 2, 1861, of the steamer Winona, West Gulf Squadron, was wounded slightly in the passage of the forts below New Orleans, and participated in Farragut's advance to Vicksburg. He was made lieutenant commander July 16, 1862, and given command of the small ironclad Baron De Kalb of Admiral D. D. Porter's Mississippi Squadron. In the De Kalb he led the brilliant gunboat attack on Arkansas Post, January 10-11, 1863, for which he received special mention. He was afterward greatly relied upon by Porter as one of his ablest younger officers. He took part in four subsequent expeditions up the Yazoo River, during the last of which, in June, he commanded five vessels which destroyed shipping and stores valued at $2, 000, 000. He temporarily commanded a naval battery ashore in the siege of Vicksburg, and after its fall he had charge of the naval units in a joint expedition against Yazoo City, during which the De Kalb was sunk, July 13, 1863, by a torpedo. After leave in the North he commanded the Saco, January 1864-January 1865, and subsequently the Shawmut, under Porter on the Atlantic coast blockade. He was advanced five numbers for distinguished war service and was promoted, July 25, 1866, to commander. Notable in his later career were his three years on the staff of Admiral Porter at the Naval Academy, 1866-69; his secretaryship of the lighthouse board, 1873-78; a period of two years' leave, 1879-81, during which he gained valuable experience through administrative work with the Chicago, Burlington, & Quincy Railway; and his long duty, 1881-89, as chief of the Bureau of Navigation. In this position, and up to his retirement, he was generally recognized as the most influential officer in the navy, simple in manners, with Yankee humor and nasal twang, but of excellent judgment, progressive ideas, and keen knowledge of human nature. Admiral Albert Gleaves speaks of him as "politically the most powerful man in the service" and "one of the ablest administrators and executives the Department has ever had. " He was made commodore Febuary 12, 1889, and given command of the Squadron of Evolution, which, late in 1891, during strained relations with Chile, was sent to the South Atlantic. Here he commanded the station till September 1892, and then till June 1893 the North Atlantic station. From April to August 1894, during the establishment of the Hawaiian Republic and agitation for its annexation, he was entrusted with the North Pacific command, and his reports, favorable to recognition of the republic and emphasizing the need of American naval vessels in the Islands, had considerable influence on congressional and public opinion. He retired for age on March 20, 1897, but in July following President McKinley appointed him to the Nicaragua Canal Commission, and in June 1899 he became president of the new Isthmian Canal Commission to study both the Nicaragua and Panama routes. The commission's report in November 1902 favored the Nicaragua route, but after negotiations with the French Panama Company, in which Walker took a prominent part, and a reduction of the company's price on its rights and property from $109, 000, 000 to $40, 000, 000, the commission shifted in favor of Panama. He remained head of the commission until the final transfer of the French rights in May 1904, and was again head of the reorganized commission which administered the Canal Zone and operations till April 1, 1905, when the whole commission resigned to permit more unified control. After his final retirement Walker made his home in Washington. He died from heart failure near Ogunquit, Me. , during a summer visit to that vicinity. His body was cremated and the ashes interred at Arlington.
Achievements
Admiral Walker was a veteran companion of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States and the Naval Order of the United States. He was also a hereditary companion of the Military Order of Foreign Wars. Two destroyers have been named USS Walker in his honor.
