Gordon Winslow was born on September 12, 1803, in Williston, Vermont. He attended school in Andover, Massachusetts, and he graduated from Yale University. He married Catherine G. Fish in 1833, and they had at least two children: Cleveland, born around 1837; and Gordon, born around 1839. He worked as a minister in Troy, New York; Annapolis, Maryland; and New York City, New York. According to an early biographer, he served as “chaplain of the Quarantine” in Staten Island, and his “labors during the outbreak of yellow fever…will be gratefully recalled by a large number.” By 1860, the family lived in Middletown, New York, and they owned $2,000 of personal property.

 

In May 1861, he received a commission as a chaplain in the 5^th New York Infantry, which was commanded by his son Cleveland. The regiment took part in the Peninsula campaign, the Seven Days’ Battles, the Second Battle of Manassas, the Battle of Antietam, the Battle of Fredericksburg, and the Battle of Chancellorsville. He mustered out on May 14, 1863.

 

He returned to New York after leaving the army, and he worked as an inspector with the United States Sanitary Commission. His son Cleveland was mortally wounded in the Battle of Cold Harbor on June 2, 1864, and Winslow travelled south to be with him. He drowned in the Potomac River on June 7, 1864, while “attempting to draw a bucket of water from the river.”

 

Image: Gordon Winslow (courtesy Library of Congress)

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