JACOB ZEILIN
Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships, March 2016
Jacob Zeilin, born in Philadelphia, Pa., on 16 July 1806, entered the Marine Corps as a 2nd lieutenant on 1 October 1831 after several years of study at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. By 1836, he reached the rank of 1st lieutenant. Between 1845 and 1848, Lt. Zeilin cruised in Columbus and Congress. During the Mexican War, he commanded the Marine Guard embarked in Congress, which was attached to Commodore Robert F. Stockton’s force. He took part in the conquest of California and was brevetted to the rank of major for gallantry during the action at the San Gabriel River crossing on 9 January 1847. Later, he took part in the capture of Los Angeles and in the Battle of La Mesa. In 1847, Zeilin served as military commandant at San Diego and, in September, served with the forces that captured Guaymas and those that met the enemy at San Jose on the 30th. For the remainder of the war, Mazatlan was his center of activity, and he fought in several skirmishes with the Mexicans in that area.
After the Mexican War, Zeilin served with the Marine Guard in Mississippi in which he cruised to Japan with Commodore Matthew C. Perry’s expedition. Following that duty, various assignments ashore occupied his time until the outbreak of the Civil War. On 21 July 1861, Zeilin commanded a company of marines during the First Battle of Manassas and received a slight wound.
Later, he went to sea again, serving with the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron under Rear Admiral Dahlgren. In 1864, Zeilin assumed command of the Marine Barracks at Portsmouth, N.H. That June, he was appointed Commandant of the Marine Corps in the rank of colonel. In 1874, Zeilin became the Marine Corps’ first general officer when he was prompted to brigadier general. Brigadier General Zeilin retired from the Marine Corps on 1 November 1876. Four years later, on 18 November 1880, he died at Washington, D.C.
