History of Columbus, (Bartholomew County) Indiana United States of America

Our database does not include an historic photo for Columbus, (Bartholomew County) Indiana, do you have one you would like to contribute? Contact Us!

William Gwin, naval officer, was born in Columbus, Ind., Dec. 5, 1832. He entered the U.S. navy as midshipman, April 7, 1847, and was regularly promoted, reaching the rank of lieutenant, Sept. 16, 1855, and lieutenant-commander, July 16, 1862. He was an officer on the Cambridge and Commodore Perry on blockading duty with the Atlantic squadron in 1861, and on the formation of the river flotilla in January, 1862, he was assigned to the Tyler, a Mississippi steamboat transformed into a gunboat, but not iron-clad. His first service in the west was in removing torpedoes planted in the Tennessee river and in the capture of Fort Henry, Feb. 6, 1862, when his vessel with the Conestoga and Lexington acted as the reserve to the iron-plated gunboats holding the advance in the assault. By orders of General Grant he then proceeded up the Tennessee river, destroyed or captured the enemy's boats, and a new gunboat, and broke up their camps. He returned in time to take part in the second day's unsuccessful assault on Fort Donelson, Feb. 14, 1862, when, as at Fort Henry, he was assigned to a position far in the rear, and the shells fired from the Tyler and Conestoga passing over the Federal ironclads holding the advance line did more damage to the U.S. gunboats than to the Confederate fort and he ordered the guns to stop firing. The Tyler was detained in the Tennessee river to cooperate with the army of General Grant while the rest of Flag-officer Foote's fleet proceeded down the river to Cairo and thence to Island No. 10. Lieutenant Gwin took part in the battle of Pittsburg Landing, April 7, 1862, and by shelling the enemy enabled the army to recover the ground lost on the first day of the battle. On July 15, 1862, the Tyler with a large body of soldiers on board left the combined fleet then stationed above Vicksburg and under sealed orders proceeded to the mouth of the Yazoo river, where he met the Queen of the West and the Carondelet going in the same direction. The Tyler had proceeded about six miles when she met the Confederate iron-clad ram Arkansas steaming down the river in the direction of the Federal fleet. As his boat was of wood, Lieutenant-Commander Gwin fired a few shots against the armored side of the ram, but they glanced off and he stopped the engines and awaited the Carondelet, an iron-clad, when they united in a running fire against the Arkansas while steaming together down the river. The soldiers on board were unprotected from the shot of the ram and under the restraint furnished by the good fight made by the Carondelet Commander Gwin was enabled to escape, as was the Queen of the West. On reaching the Federal fleet the Tyler announced the approach of the Arkansas, and after the Confederate ram had run the gauntlet of the entire fleet Gwin was dispatched to Cairo to announce the news of the escape of the Arkansas, then under protection of the batteries at Vicksburg. On Dec. 27, 1862, he was given command of a fleet of four iron-clads and two gunboats with the Benton as flagship, and directed to attack the Confederate batteries at Haynes's Bluff on the Yazoo river, but after a gallant fight of an hour and a quarter, during which time the Benton received twenty-five damaging shot and her commander was mortally wounded, the gunboats withdrew. He died on the gunboat Benton near Haynes's Bluff, Miss., Jan. 3, 1863.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor

History of Columbus, (Bartholomew County) Indiana

Biographies: