San Diego County Biographies
 
DR. W. A. WINDER

This file is part of the California Genealogy & History Archives
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cagha/index.htm

 
Dr. W. A. Winder--Few residents of San Diego are better known or more highly 
respected than Dr. W. A. Winder. A veteran of two wars, his life has been an 
adventurous one. He was born in Baltimore, Maryland, December 5, 1824. His 
father was an officer in the regular army, and the greater part of his early 
boyhood was passed with his parents at the different military posts between 
North Carolina and Maine. Up to the time he was nine years of age he attended 
school in North Carolina, and then went to Baltimore, where he continued in 
school until sixteen years old. Having a fondness for medicine, he now began to 
study it, and fit himself for practice. He attended lectures in Philadelphia. 
When the Mexican war broke out he volunteered his services, and just after the 
battle of Buena Vista was commissioned a Lieutenant of Artillery. He served 
during the rest of the war and continued in the service for eighteen years, 
resigning at the close of the civil war. Just after the Mexican war, in 1848, he 
was sent with part of his regiment to Florida, to assist in quelling the 
outbreak of the Seminole Indians, and he remained there thirteen months.

In 1854, he sailed from New York with his regiment, the Third Artillery, for 
California, on board the ill-fated steamship San Francisco. Thirty-six hours out 
of New York, when in the Gulf stream, the ship was caught in a hurricane and 
disabled. For fourteen days she drifted about on the ocean in a helpless 
condition. There were 750 soldiers and thirteen officers, some of whom had their 
families, besides a number of civilian passengers. During this time cholera 
broke out on board and nearly 100 died from that dread disease. Perhaps the most 
terrible of their misfortunes occurred during the height of the storm, when an 
immense sea struck the ship and carried away the upper saloon, on which were 
crowded over 200 soldiers. Finally, when hope had well-nigh given way to 
despair, a vessel hove in sight, and in answer to their signals of distress, 
replied that she would stand by them. The following day the sea had gone down 
sufficiently to permit the transfer of most of the passengers to the vessel, 
which proved to be the Scotch bark Three Bells, of Glasgow. Another vessel also 
came to their assistance, and all were rescued before the doomed steamer sank 
beneath the waves. For his heroic conduct during those dreadful days of trial on 
board the San Francisco, and the part he took in securing the safe transfer of 
the women and children to the Three Bells, Lieutenant Winder was accorded a vote 
of thanks by the Legislature of his native State, Maryland.

He started again with his regiment for the Pacific coast, and was sent with a 
detachment to the Mission San Diego, where he remained for three years, during 
which time he made ten expeditions among Cahuila Indians, living in the northern 
part of the county. At times they displayed hostile traits, and the presence of 
the troops was necessary to prevent an outbreak. He was then stationed at Fort 
Yuma for a year, during which time that post was threatened by Indians. During 
the war of the Rebellion he served about six months in the Army of the Potomac, 
commanding Battery G, Third Artillery, and then was ordered to this coast and 
placed in command of Alcatraz, in San Francisco harbor. There he remained three 
and a half years, until the close of the war. He then resigned his commission 
and entered civil life. Soon after this he engaged in a mining venture below 
Ensenada, in Lower California, for a while, and afterward was interested in a 
mine at Lyttle Creek, near San Bernadino. He then went to Los Angeles, where he 
remained until 1872. In the latter year he came to San Diego, where he has made 
his home ever since. He has practiced medicine until about three years ago, when 
he retired from active practice. He now has charge of the Marine Relief 
Hospital, an institution which he has built himself, and is but just completed.

Dr. Winder was married in 1850, in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, to the daughter of 
Governor Goodwin, of that State. He has one son, who is now a lieutenant in the 
navy and attached to the United States steamer Marion. Dr. Winder is the owner 
of Winder's addition. He is a liberal-spirited citizen, and a representative 
man.

An Illustrated History of Southern California: Embracing the Counties of San 
Diego, San Bernardino, Los Angeles and Orange, and the Peninsula of Lower 
California, from the Earliest Period of Occupancy to the Present Time.... - 
Chicago: The Lewis Publishing Company, 1890. pp 287-288