After graduating second in his 1862 West Point class, George Gillespie Jr. entered the service in Chattanooga during the Civil War. A Southerner fighting for the Union Army, he commanded two companies of the engineers’ battalion in Virginia.
In 1864, while crossing enemy lines to relay a message to Union Gen. Philip Sheridan, Gillespie was captured. He escaped and chose to continue his mission. He was captured again, this time escaping under enemy fire, according to his citation.
Gillespie was later named Sheridan’s chief engineer in the Army of the Shenandoah and the Military Division of the Gulf.
Following the war, Gillespie supervised major Army projects that included work at harbors and ports in Chicago, Boston and New York City, and built the stunning Tillamook Rock Lighthouse off the Oregon coast in 1880.
Did you know?
The Army, Navy and Air Force each has its own version of the medal. A Kingston, Tennessee, native who entered service in Chattanooga designed the Army’s. To this day, it’s referred to as the Gillespie Medal.