Background
James Entwistle was born in Paterson, New Jersey, the son of Thomas E. and Fanny (Holt) Entwistle.
James Entwistle was born in Paterson, New Jersey, the son of Thomas E. and Fanny (Holt) Entwistle.
Educated in the public schools of Paterson and New York City.
He joined the 8th New York Regiment in 1861 for three months, but on October 29 entered the navy as a third assistant engineer.
He was assigned to the gunboat Aroostook, which in May 1862 participated with the Galena, Monitor, and other vessels in attacking Drewry’s Bluff and Fort Darling on the James River, was then sent to the Mobile blockade, where it made several captures of vessels, and later, in 1864, cruised off the Texas coast, shelled Confederate batteries, captured a few prizes, and performed the routine of a blockader.
In 1866 Entwistle became a first assistant engineer of the Pacific Squadron.
He was then sent on the trial trips of the Wampanoag.
performed similar duty on the Ammonoosuc, and after a year on the Nipsic, was ordered to the Great Lakes to the twenty-five-ycar-old paddle wheel relic, the Michigan.
This assignment was followed by duty on the monitor Canonicus and by a European cruise under Admiral Worden in the Franklin.
In 1877 Entwistle began more important engineering work, acting as assistant inspector of machinery at the Morgan Iron Works, New York, and in a similar capacity at Mare Island.
Ten of the crew were lost, and Entwistle, though in no way responsible for the accident, was, with the other engineer officer, suspended for one year for neglect of duty in not seeing his men up from below before leaving the ship.
The crew was unruly, the ship constantly on the go from one European or African port to another, and the captain—temperamentally unable to cope with the situation—resorted to strait- jackets, irons, and other extreme measures.
He also reported several of his officers, among them Entwistle, for disobedience.
On the return to New York, the commanding officer was court- martialed and suspended for three years.
Entwistle was a witness against him.
Following this episode came five years of duty as inspector of machinery, most of it spent at Bath, Me. , during the construction of the harbor defense ram Katahdin and of the gunboats Machias and Castine.
He then sailed to the Orient on the Boston, and on March 24, 1897, reported to Commodore Dewey on the Olympia as fleet engineer.
He had already been retired, however, in 1899» and as a participant in the Civil War given promotion of one grade on the retired list.
Thus he returned to Paterson with the title, rank, and retired pay of a rear admiral.
He had never married, and at his death in Paterson his property was left by will to his sister and cousin but with bequests to his housekeeper, to the Paterson Eye and Ear Infirmary, and to the Memorial Day Nursery.