James Kelsey Cogswell (September 27, 1847 – August 12, 1908) was an admiral in the United States Navy who served in Spanish–American War.
Cogswell was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on September 27, 1847, the son of George Cogswell and Celestia A. Stone.
He graduated from the Naval Academy in 1868.
Cogswell was executive officer of the battleship Oregon during the Spanish–American War. He was aboard the Oregon during the historic dash around Cape Horn to join the North Atlantic Squadron in time to contribute to the destruction of the Spanish Fleet at the Battle of Santiago de Cuba in 1898. For eminent and conspicuous conduct in that decisive battle he was promoted to Commander.
Rear Admiral Cogswell died at South Jacksonville, Florida, on August 12, 1908.[1]
Cogswell’s son Captain Francis Cogswell was also a US Navy officer. Cogswell’s sister Bianca Cogswell was married to Senator John L. Mitchell, the father of General [[Billy Mitchel] John Lendrum Mitchel was the son of Alexander Mitchell. James Kelsey Cogswell also had a sister names Catherine Celeste Cogswell whom was born when James K Cogswell went to war. Catherine Celeste Cogswell became a star and performed in many high class stage shows. George Cogswell’s obituary mentions her. George Cogswell passed away before James K. Cogswell made it out of war. James K Cogswell sent a letter to the newspaper to tell his parents he had made it out alive (it was published in the newspaper in the hometown he was from) his father died a few days prior before the letter was published to see he was okay. He never found out his son made it out alive. [2][Obituary of Catherine Celeste Cogswell Thorne] [3][Obituary of George Cogswell] [4][obituary of Alexander Mitchell]
Francis Cogswell (August 19, 1887 – September 22, 1939) was a captain in the United States Navy who served in World War I and was a Navy Cross recipient.
Cogswell was born in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, the son of Rear Admiral James Kelsey Cogswell.
He was appointed to the United States Naval Academy in 1903, and graduated in 1908. Cogswell was awarded the Navy Cross for service during World War I, when he commanded the Destroyers USS Fanning and USS McDougal.
Cogswell’s Navy Cross citation reads:
The Navy Cross is awarded to Lieutenant Commander Francis Cogswell, U.S. Navy, for distinguished service in the line of his profession as commanding officer of the U.S.S. Fanning and the U.S.S. McDougal, engaged in the important, exacting and hazardous duty of patrolling the waters infested with enemy submarines and mines, in escorting and protecting vitally important convoys of troops and supplies through these waters, and in offensive and defensive action, vigorously and unremittingly prosecuted against all forms of enemy naval activity.
In 1935, he commanded the USS Oglala, the flagship of a flotilla of minesweepers assisting the US Coast and Geodetic Survey in charting the Aleutian Islands.
Cogswell was Naval attaché in Paris, France in the late 1930s.
Captain Cogswell died at Puget Sound Naval Hospital, Bremerton, Washington on 22 September 1939.
He married Grace Woodman Phillips (1887–1971) of New York City. She had previously been married to pioneer aviator, Henry Post, who died in an air crash in 1914, after establishing a new altitude record. She worked for the US Foreign Service and later for the Central Intelligence Agency until her retirement in 1954. They had no children.