Albert Gustavus Winterhalter – Rear Admiral, United States Navy

A. G. WINTERHALTER, REAR ADMIRAL, DIES
Member of General Board Succumbs to Pneumonia after Brief Illness
Was Favorite of Daniels
Former Commander-in-Chief of the Atlantic Fleet Had High Professional Attainments

WASHINGTON, June 5, 1920 – Rear Admiral Albert Gustavus Winterhalter of the Navy died in the United States Naval Hospital here this morning as the result of lobar pneumonia.

Admiral Winterhalter was an officer of wide and varied experience in the Navy and had exceptionally high professional attainments. He was a favorite of Secretary Daniels. He was born in Detroit, Michigan, October 5, 1856, and was the con of Captain John Winterhalter of Mexican War service.  He was appointed a Cadet Midshipman from Michigan in 1873 and completed the four-year course at Annapolis in 1877, graduating with distinction. He then served on the Swatara and the Powhatan, the Constitution, the Jamestown and in 1883 was ordered to the Naval Observatory.  He performed special duty in Europe connected with the Naval Observatory.

He became a Lieutenant in 1892 and was on duty in connection with the mounting of instruments at the World’s Fair in Chicago and was a member of the board on the model of the battleship Illinois.

He became a Captain in 1909 and commanded the battleship Louisiana from 1909 to 1911and then returned to duty as a member of the General Board of the Navy. In 1912 he was ordered to duty in the office of the Secretary of the Navy Daniels as aide for material.  In 1915 he was promoted to Rear Admiral and served as Commander-in-Chief of the Asiatic Fleet. In 1917 he was detached from command of the Asiatic Station and ordered to duty with the General Board of the Navy.

The illness of Admiral Winterhalter was very short and his death came as a shock to his family and friends, and his loss will be severely felt throughout the naval service. He is survived by a widow, Mrs. Helene Winterhalter, who was with him at the time of his death, and one sister, who resides in Detroit.

Funeral services will be held at St. Margaret’s Church at 3 o’clock Monday afternoon with full military honors. The body will be temporarily placed in a vault in Arlington Cemetery.

ONCE NOTED ACTRESS, WIDOW OF REAR ADMIRAL WINTERHALTER;
BURIED IN ARLINGTON

WASHINGTON, December 6, 1923 – High officers of the Navy, headed by Rear Admiral Robert E. Coontz, today attended the funeral of Mrs. Helen Gibson Winterhalter, widow of Rear Admiral Albert G. Winterhalter, who a generation ago was known throughout the United States as Helen Dauvray, the star of Bronson Howard’s play, “Our Girls.”

The services in Speare’s undertaking establishment were conducted by Chaplain E. W. Scott, U.S.N. The pallbearers were Rear Admirals W. L. Rodgers, Thomas Snowden, R. S. Griffin, Joseph Strauss, Captain George W. Rock and J. B. Weiss of Detroit.  Burial was held in Arlington National Cemetery.

Helen Dauvray was born in New York Coty and was educated abroad, studying at the Conservatoire in Paris, and becoming an accomplished linguist and musician.  She began her stage career in New York in the ‘80s and gradually advanced to stardom.  She gained a large following among playgoers and by 1892 was the owner of a theater.  “Our Girls” was the chief source of her fortune.

WINTERHALTER, HELEN W/O ALBERT GUSTAVUS

• DATE OF DEATH: 12/03/1923
• BURIED AT: SECTION S LOC  SITE 4087
  ARLINGTON NATIONAL CEMETERY

Michael Robert Patterson

Michael Robert Patterson was born in Arlington and is the son of a former officer of the US Army. So it was no wonder that sooner or later his interests drew him to American history and especially to American military history. Many of his articles can be found on renowned portals like the New York Times, Washingtonpost or Wikipedia.

Reviewed by: Michael Howard