
William Nicholson Jeffers was born on 16 October 1824 in Swedesboro, New Jersey. He joined the Navy as a Midshipman in September 1840 and served in the frigates United States and Congress during the next five years. Graduating from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1846, he took part in Mexican War combat operations as an officer of the steamer Vixen. He was an instructor at the Naval Academy during the later 1840s and, over the next decade, was largely engaged in survey work in Central and South America. Lieutenant Jeffers was Commanding Officer of the steamer Water Witch when she was fired upon by a Paraguayan fort in 1855, an incident that precipitated a large Navy expedition to that area a few years later. In 1858-1860 Jeffers served in the gunnery ship Plymouth and sloops Brooklyn and Saratoga.
During April and May 1861, soon after the outbreak of the Civil War, Lieutenant Jeffers commanded the steamer Philadelphia on the Potomac River. He was an officer in the steam frigate Roanoke for most of the rest of the year, then commanded the steamer Underwriter in operations on the North Carolina Sounds, and the ironclad Monitor during service on the James River following her historic action with CSS Virginia. Promoted to Lieutenant Commander in July 1862, the technically accomplished Jeffers was employed on important ordnance duties during the rest of the Civil War.
In 1865-1868 Commander Jeffers commanded the steam sloop Swatara and, as a Captain in the early 1870s, the sloop Constellation. In April 1873 he became Chief of the Bureau of Ordnance, a position he held for the next eight years, and was promoted to the rank of Commodore in 1878. In 1881-1883 he had special duty in Europe. Commodore William N. Jeffers died at Washington, D.C., on 23 July 1883.
USS Jeffers (DD-621, later DMS-27), of 1942-1973, was named in honor of Commodore Jeffers.
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Page made 7 February 2004