Quincy Adams Gillmore

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Civil War–era portrait of Gillmore.

Quincy Adams Gillmore (b. February 28, 1825, Lorain County, Ohio – d. April 7, 1888, Brooklyn, New York) was a major-general for the Union forces in the American Civil War.

Gillmore attended West Point and graduated in 1849. He entered the engineer corps, and from 1852 to 1856 was the assistant instructor of engineering at West Point.

After the Civil War broke out, he was assigned to an expedition of General Sherman as chief engineer. He was in charge of building fortifications at Hilton Head, and, in 1862, assisted in the capture of Fort Pulaski.

He was promoted to Major-General in 1863. He commanded forces that occupied Morris Island, Fort Wagner, and Fort Gregg, and also participated in the destruction of Fort Sumter.

In 1864 he was transferred to the defense of Washington, where we was badly wounded. He did not participate further in the war.

He remained in the Army after the war, and was involved in the reconstruction of fortifications along the Atlantic coast (including, ironically, some that he had destroyed as a Union general). He also wrote several books on engineering.

Gillmore died in Brooklyn, New York in 1888, aged 63. His son and grandson, both also named Quincy Gillmore, were generals in the U.S. Army.