Josiah Gorgas

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Josiah Gorgas
West Point
Spouse(s)Amelia Gayle Gorgas
ChildrenWilliam C. Gorgas
Other workUniversity president

Josiah Gorgas (July 1, 1818 – May 15, 1883) was one of the few Northern-born Confederate generals and was later president of the University of Alabama.[1]

As chief of ordnance during the

Trenholm shipping company that brought in shipments of ordnance by means of blockade runners. He kept diaries during the Civil War which are now a popular subject of study for historians.[2]

Early life

Josiah Gorgas was born near Elizabethtown in

West Point in 1841 and was assigned to the Ordnance Department. He served in the Mexican–American War and was promoted to captain in 1855. In 1853, he married Amelia Gayle, daughter of former Alabama governor John Gayle
.

Gorgas served in

Detroit Arsenal. Following the Mexican–American War, Gorgas served in Pennsylvania and in November 1851 was transferred to Fort Monroe in Virginia. There he began his association with the Tredegar Iron Company, which would become an important Southern foundry once the Civil War began. Gorgas went on to serve at the Mount Vernon Arsenal north of Mobile, Alabama beginning in 1853. He was commanding the Frankford Arsenal when he resigned from the United States Army on March 21, 1861 (effective April 3).[2]

Civil War

In the years prior to the Civil War, Gorgas was a political opponent of Republicans and abolitionists.[3] He also made requests for transfer to arsenals in the South on multiple occasions.[4] Ultimately the decision to participate in the secession, apparently motivated as much because of professional conflict with his commander as by political principle, he moved to Richmond and became chief of ordnance for the Confederacy with the rank of major.[2] Having served in nearly every arsenal in the nation he was the perfect choice for the position.[5] In this capacity, he worked to create an armaments industry almost from scratch. The South had no foundry except the Tredegar Iron Works. There were no rifle works except small arsenals in Richmond, and Fayetteville, North Carolina, plus the captured machines from the U.S. arsenal in Harpers Ferry.

In the procurement of arms Gorgas also corresponded with Charles Prioleau, who headed Trenholm's Liverpool office, arranging for the shipping of arms and other supplies to the Confederacy. Most of the arms sent to the Confederacy departed from Liverpool. During the summer of 1861, Gorgas stockpiled supplies and prepared his first load of cargo while the Trenholm company procured a suitable ship for the voyage. A 1,200 ton iron-hulled steamer, the Bermuda, was chosen to make the voyage.[5]

Gorgas established armories and foundries and created the

brigadier general.[2]

Postbellum

After the war, Gorgas purchased an interest in the

Confederate Naval Ordnance Works in Selma.[6] The other directors appointed him to manage the iron works and he moved his family to the furnace site. Due to high operating and management costs he was forced to lease the iron works after just a couple of years in operation.[2][7]

In 1870, Gorgas accepted a position as the 2nd vice chancellor of the newly established

University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee. His position there was marked by discord with the board of trustees and the stress of keeping the university financially afloat. A student residence hall built as part of the Sewanee Military Academy
was later renamed "Gorgas Hall" in his honor.

In 1878, Gorgas was elected 8th president of the

Gorgas House
upon the death of the last two surviving Gorgas children in 1953.

Death and legacy

Gorgas died at the age of 65 in Tuscaloosa in 1883, and was buried at Evergreen Cemetery.

His widow Amelia served as the university's librarian for 23 years after his death and the main university library is named the Amelia Gayle Gorgas Library in her honor. Their oldest son,

William Crawford Gorgas (born 1854) served as Surgeon General of the U.S. Army and is credited with implementing preventive measures against yellow fever and malaria that allowed for the completion of the Panama Canal.[2]

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Vandiver, Frank E. (1952) Ploughshares into Swords: Josiah Gorgas and Confederate Ordnance. Austin, Texas
  2. ^ a b c d e f "Josiah Gorgas (1818-1883)". DeCredico, M. A.
    Encyclopedia Virginia and Virginia Foundation for the Humanities. Retrieved 14 December 2010.     {{cite web}}: External link in |publisher= (help)
  3. ISBN 0817307702
    .
  4. ISBN 0890966303
    .
  5. ^ a b Konstam, Bryan, 2004 p.8
  6. ^ "Bibb Furnace". Historical Marker Database. Retrieved 25 September 2015.
  7. ^ Kennedy, Victoria (August 23, 2010) "Team digs up 1850s historic Gorgas family home site." Birmingham News

The birthplace of Josiah Gorgas on various websites is erroneously listed as "Running Pumps, PA." Josiah was actually born in a house adjacent to the family's cotton factory near the Running Pumps Hotel, just north of Elizabethtown, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. Josiah's father once owned the Running Pumps Hotel, but due to financial difficulties, he had to sell the Running Pumps Hotel in 1813, five years before Josiah's birth in 1818. (Source: Winters Heritage House Museum, Elizabethtown, Pennsylvania.)

References

External links

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Josiah Gorgas
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