Commodore Oscar Charles Badger (August 12, 1823 – June 20, 1899) was an officer of the United States Navy who served in the Mexican–American and American Civil Wars. Service in Africa and during the Mexican–American War Badger received an appointment as a midshipman in the United States Navy on September 9, 1841, and, after a tour of duty in the , served in along the Atlantic coast of Africa. While serving in the latter ship, he saw his first action in the punitive expedition that landed on the west coast of Africa in 1843 and destroyed the Berribee villages. In the sidewheel steamer , during the Mexican–American War, he participated in the expedition that captured the Mexican town of Alvarado in the spring of 1847. Attended the Naval Academy at Annapolis, Maryland Badger then attended the Naval School (as the Naval Academy was then called) at Annapolis, Maryland; completed his course of study there; and was warranted a passed midshipman on August 10, 1847. Posted to the Pacific Squadron By 1850, he was posted to the Pacific Squadron and served successively in the , the frigate , and the sloop . He returned to shore in 1853 for a tour of duty at the United States Naval Observatory located in Washington, D.C. In 1855, he returned to the Pacific Squadron for duty in the sloop and, that autumn, participated in an expedition to the Fiji Islands to redress wrongs suffered by members of the crews of American whalers and merchant ships at the hands of natives. The landing party destroyed the village of Vutia. To round out his pre-Civil War service, Badger was assigned in turn to the , , , and, lastly, to the Washington Navy Yard. Service in the American Civil War He was serving in the national capital at the outbreak of the Civil War, and took command of the screw steamer early in the conflict. In her, he participated in a series of actions against Confederate batteries along the Virginia bank of the Potomac River. During the Peninsula Campaign, he took part in the siege of Yorktown, Virginia. In 1862, he was transferred to the western theater to superintend the arming of river gunboats. In mid-1863, he was switched to the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron and participated in the attack on shore batteries on Morris Island on July 11, 1863. A week later, he commanded in