Alfred W. Ellet
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Alfred Washington Ellet (October 11, 1820 – January 9, 1895) was a civil engineer and a brigadier general in the Union Army who commanded the United States Ram Fleet during the American Civil War.
Ellet was born at Penn's Manor, Pennsylvania. A civil engineer by profession, he was a resident of Illinois when the Civil War broke out. In August 1861, Ellet was commissioned a captain in the 50th Illinois Infantry. When his elder brother, Colonel Charles Ellet, Jr., undertook the conversion of several river steamers to rams in the spring of 1862, Alfred Ellet became lieutenant colonel of Charles Ellet's U.S. Ram Fleet.
Following Charles Ellet's death in June 1862, Alfred took over the unit and was appointed brigadier general of volunteers the following November. He commanded the Ram Fleet and its successor organization, the Mississippi Marine Brigade, during operations on the Western Rivers until 1864, when the unit was disestablished. He resigned his commission late in that year to return to civilian life.
Following the Civil War, Ellet was a businessman and civic leader in El Dorado, Kansas, where he died. He is buried there in Belle Vista Cemetery.
USS Ellet (DD-398), which was in service in 1939-46, was named in honor of Alfred W. Ellet and other members of his family.
[edit] References
 |
This article includes information collected from the Naval Historical Center, which, as a US government publication, is in the public domain. |
