Waddell, James Iredell

Waddell, James Iredell wŏdĕlˈ [key], 1824–86, Confederate naval officer in the American Civil War, b. Pittsboro, N.C. He was appointed a midshipman in the U.S. navy in 1841. On return from duty in Asia in 1862, he resigned his commission as lieutenant and in March took the same rank in the Confederate navy. In 1864 he took command of the Shenandoah, one of the outstanding Confederate cruisers, which remained in action after the fall of the Confederacy; Waddell was not apprised of the Confederacy's fall until Aug., 1865. Later he was master of a passenger ship between San Francisco and Yokohama.

See his memoirs, C.S.S. Shenandoah (ed. by J. D. Horan, 1960).

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