Early Life and Career
Weitzel was born in Winzeln, near Pirmasens in the Palatinate, then part of the Kingdom of Bavaria within Germany. His parents, Ludwig and Susanna (Krummel) Weitzel, immigrated to the United States and settled in Cincinnati, Ohio, where he was educated in the city schools. He was appointed to the United States Military Academy (then under the superintendency of Robert E. Lee). Weitzel demonstrated a strong proficiency for mathematics and engineering, and graduated 2nd out of 34 cadets in the Class of 1855. He was initially assigned to help improve the defenses of New Orleans. In 1859, he returned to West Point as Assistant Professor of Civil and Military Engineering. Weitzel married Louisa C. Moor of Cincinnati on November 3, 1859, but she was tragically burned to death only three weeks later. He was promoted to first lieutenant of engineers in 1860. In 1861, he was reassigned to Washington, D.C. in the Corps of Engineers. His company served as the bodyguard during the inauguration of President Abraham Lincoln.
Read more about this topic: Godfrey Weitzel
Famous quotes containing the words early, life and/or career:
“Early to bed, early to rise, work like hell and organize.”
—Albert Gore, Jr. (b. 1948)
“I do believe that the outward and the inward life correspond; that if any should succeed to live a higher life, others would not know of it; that difference and distance are one. To set about living a true life is to go on a journey to a distant country, gradually to find ourselves surrounded by new scenes and men; and as long as the old are around me, I know that I am not in any true sense living a new or a better life.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“I restore myself when I’m alone. A career is born in public—talent in privacy.”
—Marilyn Monroe (1926–1962)