Gov. Thomas Walker GILMER

   Cause of his death was Killed in gun explosion USS Princeton.

   User ID: P00051136.

  General Notes:

22nd Governor of Virginia (1840-1841) Sec. of Navy under President Tyler

Gilmer, Thomas Walker (1802-1844) Born in Gilmerton, Albemarle County Va., April 6 , 1802 . Lawyer; member of Virginia state house of delegates , 1829-36, 1838-39; Speaker of the Virginia State House of Delegates , 1838-39; Governor of Virginia , 1840-41; U.S. Representative from Virginia , 1841-44 (12th District 1841-43, 5th District 1843-44); U.S. Secretary of the Navy, 1844; died in office 1844. Among those killed in the explosion when a cannon burst on board the U.S.S. Princeton, on the Potomac River near Fort Washington, Prince George's County , Md., February 28, 1844 . Originally entombed at Congressional Cemetery , Washington, D.C.; reinterment at a private or family graveyard, Albemarle County, Va. Gilmer County, W.Va. is named for him. See also: congressional biography

GILMER, Thomas Walker, 1802-1844

GILMER, Thomas Walker, a Representative from Virginia; born in Gilmerton, Albemarle County, Va., April 6, 1802; attended the common schools; studied law; was admitted to the bar and commenced practice in Charlottesville, Va.; member of the State house of delegates 1829-1836 and again in 1839 and 1840, serving as speaker the last two years; elected Governor of Virginia and served from March 31, 1840, until his resignation on March 20, 1841; elected as a Whig to the Twenty-seventh Congress and as a Democrat to the Twenty-eighth Congress and served from March 4, 1841, until February 16, 1844, when he resigned; appointed Secretary of the Navy in the Cabinet of President Tyler February 15, 1844, and served until he was killed by the bursting of a gun on board the U.S.S. Princeton on the Potomac River, near Washington, D.C., February 28, 1844; interment in Mount Air Cemetery, Albermarle County, Va.

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.

USS Princeton (1843-1849)

USS Princeton, a 1046-ton screw steamer built at the Philadelphia Navy Yard, was commissioned in September 1843. Her designers, John Ericsson , Captain Robert F. Stockton and John Lenthall, fitted her with the Navy's first screw machinery and two very heavy shell guns. Sloop of war (1f/3m). L/B/D: 164 × 31.5 × 17 (50m × 9.3m × 5.2m). Tons: 954 disp. Hull: iron. Comp.: 166. Arm.: 2 × 12, 12 × 42-pdr. Mach.: semicylindrical reciprocating engines, 220 hp, 1 screw; 10 kts. Built: John Lenthall, Philadelphia Navy Yard; 1843. A warship of innovative design and armament, USS Princeton was built "under the patronage of Captain Robert F. Stockton and the superintendence of [John] Ericsson." The two had previously collaborated in the building of Robert F. Stockton , the first ship to carry a direct-acting screw engine, the primary advantage of which was that the engines could be placed below the waterline and out of the line of fire. Built by Merrick and Towne of Philadelphia, Princeton's propulsion consisted of a semicylindrical reciprocating steam engine driving a single helicoidal screw—that is, one with a single blade that spirals around the shaft. Arriving at New York, on October 19, 1843, Princeton beat Brunel's side-wheeler Great Western over a twenty-one-mile course.

The following January she received her two 12-inch shell guns, the British-built "Oregon," designed by Ericsson, and the New York-built "Peacemaker," modeled on Ericsson's gun but designed by Stockton. In February 1844, the ship sailed to Washington, D.C., with a view to persuading Congress to approve the fitting out of more ships with more heavy guns, a measure endorsed by President John Tyler. On 28 February 1844, while demonstrating one of these guns for distinguished visitors during a cruise near Washington, D.C., the cannon exploded, killing Secretary of State Abel P. Upshur , Secretary of the Navy Thomas Gilmer and several others.

Following this accident, Princeton operated off Mexico and along the Atlantic seaboard until 1847, when she went to the Mediterranean for two years. Upon her return in mid-1849, her timbers were found to be rotten, and she was broken up. Her engines were used in constructing a new USS Princeton a few years later.
@MI1880@

Thomas married Anne Elizabeth BAKER on 25 May 1826 in Albemarle County, Virginia, USA.