Winslow, Gordon Hubbard
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MILITARY SERVICE Age: 58, credited to Williston, VT Unit(s): 5th NY INF, USSC Service: enl, Falmouth, Va., 5/9/61, Chaplain, 5th NY INF, m/o 5/14/63, New York; US Sanitary Commission, drowned, Alexandria, VA, 7/7/64. Episcopalian. See Legend for expansion of abbreviations VITALSBirth: 1803, Williston, VT Death: 06/07/1864 Burial: East Williston Cemetery, Williston, VT Marker/Plot: Not recorded Gravestone photographer: Kathy Valloch Findagrave Memorial #: 37569355 MORE INFORMATION Alias?: None noted Pension?: Yes, 10/11/1901, MA Portrait?: Unknown College?: Not Found Veterans Home?: Not Found (If there are state digraphs above, this soldier spent some time in a state or national soldiers' home in that state after the war) Remarks: None DESCENDANTS (Are you a descendant, but not listed? Register today) |
BURIAL: Copyright notice   East Williston Cemetery, Williston, VT Check the cemetery for location/directions and other veterans who may be buried there. |
Gordon H. Winslow
Chaplain -- Rev. Gordon Winslow, D.D.
The Rev. Gordon Winslow, the Chaplain of the 5th Regiment, was a man somewhat advanced in years when the war broke out, his age being about sixty. At that time he was settled over a parish at Staten Island, as an Episcopalian minister. He was a type of the old Revolutionary stock, possessing an iron constitution, capable of enduring any amount of hardship, with an active, untiring, energetic disposition, and having a strong love for his country, he was among the first to volunteer his services when the authority of the Government was set at defiance. He was a man that knew no fear, and always was to be found on the advance line, sometimes even ahead of the skirmishers, and he never thought of danger or spared himself when he could be of any benefit to the wounded. He obtained the appointment of Chaplain to the 5th New York Volunteers, but the performance of the duties that rightfully belonged to the position was only a small part of the responsibilities that he assumed. He served all through with the regiment, and was mustered out with it, May 14, 1863. One of his sons was a Lieutenant in the Fifth; another, Cleveland Winslow, Col. of the Fifth, organized a new regiment of Zouaves, called the 5th Veterans, and on his being ordered to the front with his command, his father accompanied it as Chaplain, but he was soon after made Sanitary Inspector of the Army of the Potomac, and in this position his services were invaluable. There are thousands of the sick and wounded, who, if living today, can testify to his kindness and untiring zeal in their behalf night and day. Hundreds of soldiers, could they wake from the dead, would tell how he ministered unto them in their dying hours, and received their last message or memento for the friends at home. The fate of many a fallen hero would never have been known to surviving relatives had it not been for his fidelity and sympathy. The perusal of his daily journal awakens surprise that a man of his advanced years could perform all the duties which he undertook. He visited camps and inspected the sick of the various regiments day after day and night after night, traveling with his favorite horse, "Captive," over the most difficult roads, in -storm or calm, often under fire, and partaking of such hospitality as a camp affords. A few hours were spent in sleep here and there on the ground, and then his tireless rounds were resumed, looking after ambulances and the sick and wounded, who were always demanding his attention; he inspected the medical stores, examined and weighed blankets to see that they came up to the standard, and performed a thousand other duties of the long detail of a sanitary officer.
On May 3, 1864, when General Grant's great army commenced their move on Richmond, he was on General Warren's staff. From his journal, the author quotes, under date of May 3d, Tuesday:
"Left at night for Culpepper to join General Warren; moved at I2# A.m." "Fourth, Wednesday, A.M., moved the entire army to Germania Ford ; General Warren and myself arrived at the Ford at 6% A.M., before the pontoons were completed; went over and saw them completed," etc. Thus he continued from day to day, leading a most active and useful life. Occasionally on his rounds, he visited his son, the Colonel. Finally, Wednesday, June 1st, after describing the movements of the troops, and an engagement then taking place, he says:
"General Ayres, of the regulars, received the old 5th New York Veteran Volunteers, who were at once put into the fight, and acquitted themselves well." On the 2d, after, giving a detailed account of more fighting, and his own movements, he closes his account for the day with "Cleve was wounded." Friday, June 3d: "Went over to find 'Cleve ;' found him in a cellar of a house, which was being shelled, on our right." And then continues with a general description of a heavy engagement, and—" Rode all day to the several hospitals;" "brought Cleve to the 6th corps hospital and stayed with him overnight." "Wound in the left shoulder, minie ball, making exit from the back," etc. "The wound was much inflamed by his return to the field, after being dressed. He passed the night comfortably. I slept on the ground under the same fly."
Two brave hearts, father and son! The wounded Colonel, a month after was laid in his grave. The father who watched over him, in three days after his son's wound, was drowned in the Potomac.
The last entry in the journal, June 5th, White House, appears to be a copy of a note sent:
"sunday Evg.
"Dear Gen. :—I have hardly time to say we arrived on Saturday, and expect to go out to-morrow at 3 o'clock." "June 6th." (A loving hand has written, as if the dead Divine was continuing his journal). June Tth, Tuesday morning, "At Home In The Paradise Op God." Also, " Dr. Winslow was spared the agony of knowing the extent of his son's wound—a gun-shot fracture of the left shoulder—which resulted in the death of the Colonel on the 7th of July, 1864, at the Mansion House Hospital, Alexandria, Va."
Alfred Davenport, Camp and Field Life of the Fifth New York Volunteer Infantry (Duryee Zouaves), (Dick and Fitzgerald, New York, 1879), p. 439-441.THE LATE REV. DR. WINSLOW.
The public have already been informed of the death of this noble and useful man. His services in behalf of the Sanitary Commission iad rendered him known throughout our armies in Virginia. We gather up a few facts concerning him from the obituary notices in the daily papers.
The Rev. Gordon Winslow, M.D., D.D., was a native of Vermont, and graduated at Yale College. He was rector at Troy, Annapolis, and Staten Island. At the latter place he was also chaplain of the quarantine. 'When this war broke out, he was the first chaplain commissioned in New York State, and attended the "Duryea Zouaves" through their two years of heroic service. He became interested in the sanitary welfare of the army, and during the last year has been the Inspector of the Potomac Army for the Commission. At the time of his death, by drowning in the Potomac, on the 7th of June, he was conveying his wounded son, Colonel Cleveland Winslow, of the "Duryea Zouaves," to Washington; and a large circle of friends in civil and military life mourn his loss. He was an invaluable aid to the Commission; and his bravery ami fidelity on many battle-fields are remembered by a host of officers and soldiers. He was a man of large attainments in science and literature, and a member of several scientific bodies. He came from a noble family; and his brothers, the Rev. Hubbard Winslow, D.D., and the Rev. Dr. Myron Winslow, have attained high distinction in their respective spheres. At the time of his death Dr. Winslow had attained his sixtieth year, but was in perfect health and vigor.The United States Service Magazine, (Charles B. Richardson, New York, 1864), ii:294