Who'd Have Figured a Rebel Captured Last Slave Ship-- Part 6: John J. Guidry Gave His Life Trying to Save Crew of USS Huron.

 Returning to Gosport, John J. Guidry accepted a commission as a captain in the Confederate Navy and served until the end of the war.

But, his career was still not at end when the war ended and the Confederacy surrendered.  He was appointed  by President Grant to be general superintendent of the life-saving stations along the North Carolina and Virginia coasts in 1875.

For the next two years, he became a pioneer in  in building the life-saving  stations into one of the finest in the world.

Almost as if by destiny had a hand in it,  the USS Huron became stranded  off Kitty Hawk on November  25, 1877.  Fighting to save the lives of his former enemies, and before that, his former shipmates,  Captain John Julius Guidry drowned in the effort to save them.

No doubt history has a place for this swashbuckling young naval officer who was Matthew Fontaine Maury's assistant, historian of Brazil, a "rebel" naval officer who captured the last slave ship for the Union, and was a hero  in the fight to save the USS Huron.

--Old B-Runner