Godfrey (Gottfried) Weitzel (November 1, 1835 – March 19, 1884) was a German-American major general in the Union army during the American Civil War.

Weitzel also is known for his post-war accomplishments with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in designing and constructing internal improvements, particularly along the Ohio River and the Great Lakes region.

They settled in Cincinnati, Ohio in 1837, where Ludwig changed his name to Lewis and his two-year-old son's to Godfrey, perhaps to avoid prejudice against German immigrants, or to Americanize the family.

Lewis Weitzel operated a grocery store in the Tenth Ward, which included the "Over-the-Rhine" neighborhood with many Germanic immigrants, and also became involved in Democratic party politics.

Storer offered to pay for the boy's college tuition, but then with the help of publisher Heinrich Roedter contacted congressman David Tiernan Disney and managed to secure an appointment to the United States Military Academy, although the process started when Godfrey was just 14 (the minimum entrance age was 16) and the tall youth arrived in West Point, New York months after his 15th birthday.

However, three weeks later her skirts caught fire as she prepared Thanksgiving dinner, and despite Godfrey's efforts to douse them, she suffered severe burns and died within hours.

[4] While remaining close to the Moor family (who had no other children and virtually "adopted" him as a son), eventually, Weitzel became engaged on another furlough home.

When the American Civil War began, Weitzel was assigned to construct defenses, including in Cincinnati and Washington, as well as for George McClellan in the Army of the Potomac in late 1861.

Weitzel commanded a brigade in the XIX Corps advancing in Major General Nathaniel P. Banks's operations in western Louisiana during April and May 1863, which led to the siege of Port Hudson.

He was engaged in May at Swift's Creek and the actions near Drewry's Bluff and the Bermuda Hundred Campaign (against his former commander, now Confederate General P.G.T.

By month's end, Weitzel was brevetted major general of volunteers "for meritorious and distinguished services during the civil war."

As the year ended, he participated in the unsuccessful First Battle of Fort Fisher, guarding Wilmington, North Carolina, the last major Confederate port.

Speaking to his men on February 20, 1865, Weitzel told them: Let history record that on the banks of the James 30,000 freemen not only gained their own liberty, but shattered the prejudice of the world, and gave to the land of their birth peace, union and glory.

[12]While other generals were feted at the end of the war, the German immigrant and his all-black Army corps were sent to Texas to evict the French who had occupied Mexico, which was considered one of the most difficult assignments.

He also designed it as a timber building in the form of a brown wooden pyramidal tower, complete with a Sixth Order Fresnel lens.

Ohio's First National Guard and Jacob D. Cox, as well as members of Cincinnati's Society of Ex-Army and Navy Officers accompanied his remains to the English Lutheran Church (which was packed), and thousands lined the streets to the cemetery.

[13] He was survived by his elderly mother, his brother State Senator Lewis Weitzel, and his widow (who died on August 18, 1927) and daughter Irene (1876–1936).