CDR Jonathan Mayhew “Captain Wainwright” Wainwright II (1821-1863)

CDR Jonathan Mayhew “Captain Wainwright” Wainwright II Veteran

Birth

27 Jul 1821

New York, USA

Death

1 Jan 1863 (aged 41)

Galveston Island, Galveston County, Texas, USA

Burial

Trinity Church Cemetery and Mausoleum

Manhattan, New York County, New York, USA Add to Map

Plot

557 W.D.

Memorial ID

View Source

Commander J. M. Wainwright, USN, Captain of the USS Harriet Lane, was killed at the Battle of Galveston in a land/sea engagement during the American Civil War on New Years Day, 1863. His body was buried along with his executive officer, Lt. Cmdr. Edward Lea, with full military honors provided by General John Magruder, CSA. His original burial was a Masonic service at Trinity Episcopal Cemetery on Broadway Street, Galveston, Texas. After the war was over, Cmdr Wainwright's body was exhumed and reburied along with his wife, Maria Page Wainwright, who was exhumed from Philadelphia, in the family vault. There is a monument in Galveston's Trinity Cemetery that honors the Union dead killed in the Battle of Galveston. Wainwright's name is on the monument along with others from the Union side who are buried in a common grave in the monument's approximate location. The marker in New York does not have anyone's information on it except the original owner, Bishop J.M. Wainwright, Cmdr Wainwright's father.

Inscription

Here Rest the Beloved Remains of the RIGHT REV. JONATHAN MAYHEW WAINWRIGHT, D.D. D.C.L. Oxon Provisional Bishop of the Diocese of New York. He was successively Rector of Christ Church Hartford, Grace Church New York, and Trinity Church Boston, and an Assistant Minister of Trinity Church, New York. He was consecrated to the Episcopacy A.D. MDCCCLII and laid down his life in his Master's Service September 21, 1854 Aged 62 years, 6 months and 28 days. "God Giveth His Beloved Sleep" This monument is erected by his family to the memory of a devoted husband and father.

Gravesite Details

The inscription was taken from the "Wainwright Family Papers". Most of the inscription has worn off. One can still make out "Wainwright" and the Bishop's Mitre. There are no markers for the six other people known to be buried with the bishop.