Charles Frederick Shoemaker

Charles Frederick Shoemaker (27 March 184111 July 1913) was a captain in the United States Revenue Cutter Service and was appointed in 1895 by Secretary of the Treasury John G. Carlisle to be Chief of the Revenue Marine Division of the Department of the Treasury.

Shoemaker was noted for his leadership in gaining improvements in the retirement system for officers in the Revenue Cutter Service and for leading the service at a time when there were many engineering improvements made in the construction of vessels used by the service. During his tenure he worked successfully with three different Secretaries of the Treasury as an appointee to improve the personnel standards and the vessels used by the service.

Although he was never formally known as Commandant, he is recognized today as the second Commandant of the Coast Guard.

Early life and education Shoemaker was born in Iowa Territory on 27 March 1841. His father, William R. Shoemaker, was an officer in the ordnance department of the U.S. Army and moved the family from one post to another many times during his army career. As a child, Charles Shoemaker was educated at home by members of his family and became adept at mathematics. At 17, Shoemaker received an appointment to the U.S. Naval Academy from Miguel Otero, the congressional delegate from New Mexico Territory. After three years, he resigned from the academy and was commissioned as a third lieutenant in the Revenue Cutter Service on 20 November 1860.

Career

His first assignment was aboard the USRC Lewis Cass stationed at Mobile, Alabama. In the days leading up to the Civil War, his commanding officer, Captain James J. Morrison, resigned his commission, turned the cutter over to Alabama state authorities, and left Shoemaker to lead his officers and men back to Union territory. He served on several revenue cutters guarding the Port of New York until 4 April 1864, when he resigned his commission to go into private business. |group=Note In 1876 he was appointed assistant inspector of the Third Life Saving District of the U.S. Life-Saving Service and while serving in that billet was promoted to first lieutenant on 25 March 1878.

Shoemaker was assigned as executive officer on the USRC Seward in 1882 which at the time patrolled the Gulf Coast and was homeported at Bay Saint Louis, Mississippi.

Chief of Revenue Cutter Service USRC Manning, one of several cutters built during Shoemaker's tenure as Commandant. On 19 March 1895, Secretary of the Treasury, John Griffin Carlisle appointed Shoemaker to replace Leonard G. Shepard as Chief of the Revenue Cutter Division and promoted him to senior captain.

Improvements in service retirement As a result of Secretary Carlisle's and predecessor Shepard's efforts, legislation passed during March 1895 allowed Shoemaker to place 39 disabled officers that had been on active duty since the Civil War on a retired list, thus giving younger officers a chance at promotion. |group=Note The legislation of March 1895 allowed the Chief of the Revenue Cutter Division to take steps to retire the disabled officers at half pay; in turn opening the ranks to younger qualified officers. This helped officer morale of the Revenue Cutter Service. Unfortunately it only affected those officers that were on active duty and incapacitated at the time the legislation was enacted so it was not a permanent solution. Both Shoemaker and Carlisle continued to push for retirement reforms for officer corps, asking Congress to approve retirement at three-quarters pay any officer that had reached the age of 64 or had served for thirty years and declared physically or mentally disqualified for duty by a medical officer. Lyman Gage, who succeeded Carlisle as Secretary of the Treasury, called for enlisted men injured in the line of duty to be included on a pension list; Shoemaker endorsed this reform also. Finally, at the urging of both Gage and Shoemaker, Congress passed Senate Bill 1025 on 12 April 1902 that recognized the discrepancies in the treatment of Revenue Cutter Service officers versus officers in the other services:

By 30 June 1902, the service had retired, under the new law, nine captains, and five chief engineers because of age and one chief engineer, one third lieutenant and two assistant engineers because of disability; thus opening up opportunities for promotion for the lower ranks.

Changes in the RCS School of Instruction Shoemaker was responsible as the new Chief of the Revenue Cutter Service in enlarging the school's training cutter, USRC Salmon P. Chase so that it could accommodate more cadets. The training cutter had no specific homeport and put into various ports to only to re-provision and get mail. During his tenure, Shoemaker acquired the land for Chase to use as a homeport and for repairs at Arundel Cove in Curtis Bay, Maryland. A small two-story building was built for the school as well as a 400-foot pier for the Chase. This site eventually became the service's vessel construction and overhaul facility and today is known as the United States Coast Guard Yard.

Retirement and death Upon reaching the statutory retirement age of 64, Shoemaker was placed the Retired List on 27 March 1905. He was succeeded by Senior Captain Worth G. Ross. |group=Note He died at his home in Woodstock, Virginia on 11 July 1913 and is buried at Arlington National Cemetery