CMDR J M Wainwright

One of the Brave Men who Died for the Union - Galveston 1863 on the USS HARRIET LANE

Cenotaph Memorial∼Commander Jonathan Mayhew Wainwright was born in New York City on 27 July 1821. He was initially commissioned in the United States Navy on 30 June 1837 and served with distinction in the Civil War. Wainwright commanded Harriet Lane, Admiral David Dixon Porter's flagship, in an engagement with Forts Jackson and St. Philip and took part in operations below Vicksburg. He was killed in an attack upon Confederate forts in Galveston Harbor on 1 January 1863.

Officers of the Continental and U.S. Navy and Marine Corps, 1775-1900about Jonathan M Wainwright
Name: Jonathan M Wainwright
Rank Information: Midshipman, Passed Midshipman, Acting Master, Lieutenant, Commander
Service Dates: 13 Jun 1837, 29 Jun 1843, 10 Nov 1849, 17 Sep 1850
Military Branch: US Navy Officers (1798-1900)

U.S., Sons of the American Revolution Membership Applications, 1889-1970about Commander Jonathan Mayhew Wainwright
Name: Commander Jonathan Mayhew Wainwright
SAR Membership: 66232
Birth Date: 27 Jan 1821
Death Date: 1 Jan 1863
Father: Jonathan Mayhew Wainwright
Mother: Amelia Maria Phelps
Spouse: Maria Page
Children: Robert Powell Page Wainwright

U.S. Navy Pensions Index, 1861-1910about Jonathan M Wainwright
Name: Jonathan M Wainwright
Publication: M1274
Pension Approval: Disapproved
File Number: 23636
Certification Number: 2057
Fiche Number: 648

U.S. Civil War Soldier Records and Profilesabout Jonathan M Wainwright
Name: Jonathan M Wainwright
Residence: Massachusetts
Rank at enlistment: Lieutenant
State Served: UN
Survived the War?: No
Service Record: Commissioned an officer in the UN Navy.
Promoted to Full Lieutenant Commander on 16 Jul 1862.
Mustered out on 01 Jan 1863 at Galveston, TX.
Sources: Massachusetts Soldiers, Sailors and Marines in the Civil War

USS Harriet Lane (1861-1863).
Originally USRC Harriet Lane (1858-1861)

USS Harriet Lane, a 750-ton side-wheel gunboat, was built at New York City in 1857 as the U.S. Revenue Cutter Harriet Lane. In addition to carrying out her Revenue Service duties, she served with the Navy during the Paraguay expedition of 1858-59. Returning to Navy control in late March 1861, as the secession crisis deepened, Harriet Lane took part in the attempt to relieve Fort Sumter when that vital position in Charleston harbor, South Carolina, was beseiged by Confederate forces. While so engaged, on 12 April 1861, she fired the first U.S. Navy shot of the Civil War.

In early June 1861, Harriet Lane exchanged fire with an enemy battery near Newport News, Virginia, and in late August participated in the Navy's initial major combat operation, the capture of Forts Hatteras and Clark at Hatteras Inlet, North Carolina. She was formally transferred from the Revenue Cutter Service to the Navy in September. Also during 1861, Harriet Lane captured four prizes while enforcing the blockade and, in December, fired on Confederate positions at Freestone Point, Virginia.

Harriet Lane was sent to the Gulf of Mexico in February 1862 to serve as flagship of Commander David Dixon Porter's fleet of mortar schooners. While en route, she engaged Confederate artillery at Shipping Point, Virginia, and captured a sailing vessel off the Florida coast. During March and April, Porter's mortar flotilla played an important part in the operations that led to the capture of New Orleans. Harriet Lane accompanied this force at that time, and during some of its subsequent activities on the Mississippi River below Vicksburg. In May 1862, she also assisted in the occupation of fortifications at Pensacola, Florida.

After serving on the blockade off Mobile, Alabama, Harriet Lane participated in the early October 1862 capture of Galveston, Texas. She remained in the Galveston area and, on 1 January 1863, while inside Galveston Bay, she was boarded and captured by Confederate troops operating from the steamers Bayou City and Neptune. Following this bold action, which resulted in the recovery of Galveston by Southern forces, Harriet Lane was employed by the Confederate Army in Texas waters. In about early 1864, she was sold and converted to a blockade runner. Renamed Lavina, she left Galveston in late April and went to Havana, Cuba. Interned there through the end of the Civil War, she subsequently became the sailing merchant vessel Elliot Richie and remained in commercial service until May 1884, when she was lost off Pernambuco, Brazil.

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