"Saw the Elephant" Civil War News-- John A. Winslow

I came across a Waymarker blog about a "history-on-a-stick" marker in Wilmington, NC, about Admiral John A. Winslow, who, as a captain during the Civil War, commanded the USS Kearsarge when it sank the CSS Alabama of Cherbourg, France. It turns out he was born in Wilmington.

He was born in 1811 in Wilmington, NC, but was educated in the north where he became an ardent abolitionist. He served during the Mexican War and shared a shipboard cabin with Raphael Semmes, whose ship, the Alabama, he later sank.

He stayed with the Union at the outbreak of the Civil War, no doubt due to his abolitionist leanings. He served in the Western Waters until contracting malaria. After his recovery, he was put in command of the Kearsarge.

After the war, he remained in the US Navy, eventually attaining the rank of rear admiral.

Oh well, you can't account for the allegiances of everybody.

Win Some and Lose Some. --RoadDog