John Ancrum Winslow - Early Life and Career

Early Life and Career

Although born in Wilmington, North Carolina, Winslow was a member of the old New England Winslow family, a descendant of Mayflower passenger Mary Chilton and her husband John Winslow who was a brother of Pilgrim father Edward Winslow. One of his first cousins was Francis Winslow (I) (1818–1862) who also joined the Navy, becoming a Commander, who also fought in the Civil War and who died of Yellow Fever in 1862 while in command of the R. R. Cuyler. He was educated in the North and became an ardent abolitionist.

He entered the navy as a midshipman on 1 February 1827, became a passed midshipman, 10 June 1833, and was commissioned a lieutenant on 9 February 1839. During the Mexican War he took part in the expeditions against Tabasco, Tampico, and Tuxpan, and was present at the fall of Vera Cruz. For his gallantry in action he was allowed to have command of the schooner USS Union, which had been captured at Tampico in November 1846 and was taken into service, but she was poorly equipped and was lost on a reef off Vera Cruz on 16 December 1846. While serving at Tabasco during the Mexican-American War, he was commended for gallantry in action by Commodore Matthew Perry. He shared a shipboard cabin with his later adversary, Raphael Semmes. The two officers served together on Cumberland, Semmes as the ship's flag lieutenant and Winslow as a division officer. The two, however, never mention this fact in their respective autobiographies.

He was executive of the sloop Saratoga in the Gulf of Mexico in 1848-1849, at the Boston Navy Yard in 1849-1850, and in the frigate St. Lawrence of the Pacific Squadron, in 1851-1855. He was promoted to commander, 14 September 1855.