{⋆★⋆} BG Winder, John H.

John Henry Winder

Born: February 7, 1800
General Winder.jpg


Birthplace: Rewston Plantation, Somerset County, Maryland

Father: Brig. General William Henry Winder 1775 – 1824
(Buried: Green Mount Cemetery, Baltimore, Maryland)​

Mother: Gertrude Polk 1781 – 1872
(Buried: Green Mount Cemetery, Baltimore, Maryland)​

1st Wife: Elizabeth Shepherd 1804 – 1825
(Buried: Green Mount Cemetery, Baltimore, Maryland)​

2nd Wife: Caroline Ann Cox

Children:

William Sidney Winder 1828 –​
Captain William Andrew Winder 1829 – 1903
Before War.jpg
Major John Cox Winder 1831 – 1896​
(Buried: Oakwood Cemetery, Raleigh, North Carolina)​
Thomas P. Winder 1830 –​
Getrude Winder 1832 –​

Education:

1820: Graduated from West Point Military Academy (11th in class)​

Occupation before War:

1820 – 1823: Served in United States Army rising to 2nd Lt.​
1823 – 1827: Unsuccessfully Managed his father's Plantation​
1827 – 1861: Served in United States Army rising to Brevet Lt. Colonel​
1837: Tactics Instructor at West Point Military Academy​
1838 – 1840: Regimental Adjutant for 1st United States Artillery​

Civil War Career:

1861: Colonel of Confederate Army Infantry​
1861 – 1865: Brigadier General of Confederate Army Infantry​
1861: Assistant Inspector General of Camps of Instruction
John Henry Winder.jpg
1861 – 1864: Commander of Department of Henrico​
1864: Commander of 2nd District of North Carolina & Southern Virginia​
1864: Commander of Camp Sumter​
1864: Commander of Military Prisons in Georgia​
1864: Commander of Military Prisons in Alabama​
1864 – 1865: Commander of Confederate Bureau of Prison Camps​

Died: February 7, 1865

Place of Death: Florence, South Carolina

Cause of Death: Heart Attack

Age at time of Death: 64 years old

Burial Place: Green Mount Cemetery, Baltimore, Maryland
 
Last edited by a moderator:
I can't find the exact date but earlier in the war He was made provost marshal in Richmond. Included in his duties were the prisoners at Belle Isle and Libby Prison.
 
General John H. Winder, C.S.A. by Arch Fredric Blakey

1645454094609.png


After almost forty years in the U.S. Army, Winder spent the last four years of his life as a Confederate brigadier general. His command of Richmond earned him the contempt of the Confederate civilians; and, as commandant of all Union prisoners, he became known to northerners as the "beast" of Andersonville. This is a study in military ethics, an examination of one man's attempt to do his duty withough tarnishing his honor, and an account of his failures and their enduring consequences.


Cheers,
USS ALASKA
 
Had he survived the Civil War it very well could have been him who was hanged instead of Henry Wirz. On Nov. 21, 1864 he was placed in charge of all prison camps east of the Mississippi. .

I tend to agree. When Wirz was the commander of the stockade at Andersonville, John H. Winder was his commanding officer.

"One of the chief instruments employed in the infliction of cruelties upon Union prisoners was Brigadier-General John H. Winder, an inciter of the mob which attacked the Massachusetts troops in Baltimore. So notorious for his cruel acts had he become, that when (at the age of seventy years) he was sent to Georgia to carry on his horrid work at Andersonville, the Richmond Examiner exclaimed:
'Thank God Richmond has, at last, got rid of old Winder! God have mercy upon those to whom he has been sent.'"
Lossing, Benson J., A History of the United States from the Discovery of America to the Present Time, pg. 695.
 
He only taught tactics at West Point for 1 year and I believe it was 1827 not 1837. He lost his position for losing his temper with a cadet. But while he was there he met Jefferson Davis and Robert E. Lee.I would be most curious as to who that cadet was that made him lose his temper.
 
I can't find the exact date but earlier in the war He was made provost marshal in Richmond. Included in his duties were the prisoners at Belle Isle and Libby Prison.
On March 1,1862 Jefferson Davis declared martial law in Richmond. Winder was designated as provost marshal general.Winder's first order was the establishment of prohibition of alcohol and the surrender of all firearms by citizens.He earned the moniker "The Dictator of Richmond" when crime soared due also in part to a corrupt police department.
 
Last edited:
As Provost Marshal he was responsible for deserters as well martial law and prisons. And for a short time Winder set commodity prices for the residents of Richmond. Richmond doubled in population during this time period.
 
Back
Top