© 1999 by Harrold K. Henck, Jr.

Born in New York in 1821, Jonathan Mayhew Wainwright (II), came from distinguished Anglo-American roots. His grandfather, Peter Wainwright, was a prosperous English merchant who had settled in Boston, Massachusetts prior to the American Revolution. Peter was married to Elizabeth Mayhew and the couple had returned to England for the birth of their first son, Jonathan Mayhew Wainwright (I). After the family returned to Boston, Jonathan attended Harvard College, where he graduated in 1812. He taught there for two years, entered the seminary and became ordained in the Episcopal Church. In 1852, Jonathan was named Bishop of New York and became prominent in both church and higher education circles. Bishop Wainwright was both a prolific author and father, writing numerous books and articles as well as siring fourteen children in his lifetime. One of his sons was Jonathan Mayhew Wainwright, II, the subject of this sketch.

After completing his early education, the second Jonathan Wainwright joined the United States Navy in 1837, at the age of sixteen. Appointed a Midshipman, he spent his early service aboard various vessels patrolling the East and West Indies. Upon his return to the US mainland, he took part in surveying operations of the Chesapeake Bay. In June 1843, he was promoted to Passed Midshipman and assigned to shore duty at Washington, D.C. After his assignment there, he returned to the sea where he rose rapidly through the ranks. Promoted to Lieutenant in September 1850, he was assigned to the U.S.S. San Jacinto for service in the Mediterranean Sea. Subsequently, in 1856-57, he served aboard the soon-to-be famous U.S.S. Merrimack and thereafter on the U.S.S. Saratoga. When the Civil War began in 1861, he was assigned to the U.S.S. Minnesota for service in the Atlantic Blockading Squadron. In January 1862, he was promoted to the rank of Commander and given his own ship, the U.S.S. Harriet Lane.

On January 1, 1863, Confederate forces under the command of Gen. John B. Magruder attacked the city and engaged the Harriet Lane. After heavy gunfire from the rebel gunboats Bayou City and Neptune, the Lane was boarded and hand-to-hand combat ensued. Already severely wounded, Commander Wainwright was ultimately killed by a bullet in the head as he defended his ship. He, along with his executive officer, Edward Lea, who was also a casualty, were both buried in Galveston following the battle. Under the authority of Gen. Magruder, both men received an unusual funeral service in the city's Episcopal Cemetery. Union prisoners stood side-by-side with their Confederate captors and conducted the service with full military honors for both Lea and Wainwright. Because Wainright was also a Mason, he was additionally given Masonic last rites as he was buried. Many decades later, in recognition of his valor, the Navy commissioned the U.S.S. Wainwright for service in World War One. Wainright's body remained in Galveston until the 1930's when, at his descendants' request, it was moved to New York for reburial adjacent to his father and namesake, Bishop Wainwright.

JonathanWainright II left behind a wife and four children. Two of his sons, Robert Wainwright and Jonathan Wainwright, III, followed in their father's footsteps and, like their progenitor, both died while in military service. Jonathan the third died while on duty with the U.S. Navy in 1870. In honor of his deceased brother and father, Robert would christen his own son, Jonathan Mayhew Wainwright, IV in 1883. Robert died in 1902 while stationed in the Philippines with the US Army. Jonathan the fourth, grandson of the Battle of Galveston casualty, later earned fame as the "Hero of Bataan" in World War Two.

WORKS CONSULTED: Donald S. Frazier, Cottonclads! The Battle of Galveston and the Defense of the Texas Gulf Coast (Fort Worth: Ryan Place Publishers, 1996). Edward T. Cotham, Jr., Battle on the Bay: The Civil War Struggle for Galveston (Austin: The University of Texas Press, 1998). Duane Schultz, Hero of Bataan: The Story of General Jonathan M. Wainright (New York: St. Martin's Press, 1981). Jonathan M. Wainwright, General Wainwright's Story (Garden City, New York: Doubleday, 1946).