Military officer; born in
Black River, Lorain co., O., Feb. 28, 1825; graduated at
West Point in 1849, and entered the engineer corps.
He was for four years (1852-56) assistant instructor of engineering at
West Point.
In October, 1861, he was appointed chief engineer of an expedition against the
Southern coasts under
Gen. W. T. Sherman.
He superintended the construction of the fortifications at
Hilton Head, and planned and executed measures for the capture of
Fort Pulaski in the spring of 1862, when he was made brigadier-general of volunteers.
After service in
western Virginia and
Kentucky, he was brevet-
[
82]
ted colonel in the United States army, and succeeded
Hunter (June, 1863) in command of the Department of South Carolina, when he was promoted to majorgeneral.
After a long and unsuccessful attempt to capture
Charleston in 1862, he was assigned to the command of the 10th Army Corps, and in the autumn of 1863, resumed operations in
Charleston Harbor, which resulted in his occupation of
Morris Island, the reduction of
Fort Sumter, and the reduction and capture of
Fort Wagner and Battery Gregg.
General Gillmore was the author of many works on engineering and a notable one on
The strength of the building stones of the United States (1874). For these services during the war he was brevetted majorgeneral in the regular army.
He died in
Brooklyn, N. Y., April 7, 1888.
