Weitzel, Godfrey

Weitzel, Godfrey (1835–84) soldier; born in Cincinnati, Ohio. A West Point graduate (1855), he constructed harbor defenses and taught engineering at West Point. As a Union officer, he was in charge of various fortifications, including those at Cincinnati and Washington, D.C. He served as chief engineer of the Union force that occupied New Orleans (April 1862), then commanded a division in Louisiana and a corps in the Army of the James in Virginia, participating in the siege of Petersburg and the Appomattox campaign. His mostly black XXV Corps led the Union entry into Richmond, the Confederate capital, on April 3, 1865. He remained in the army until his death.