William R. Hoel
United States Navy officer
William R. Hoel (7 March 1824 – 23 May 1879) was an American naval officer during the American Civil War. A native of Butler County, Ohio, he was a Mississippi River steamboat pilot when he entered the United States Navy 19 October 1861.
Family life
Hoel's first wife was Mary Riley, daughter of Daniel Riley, of Cincinnati. His second wife was Elizabeth Hunt, eldest daughter of Dr. Samuel Pancoast Hunt and his wife Elizabeth Thomas, of Morrow, Warren County, Ohio. Captain Hoel and Elizabeth Hoel had two children: Sarah Elizabeth Hoel and Rion Hoel.
Opening the Mississippi
On 6 February 1862, while serving as the First Master of Cincinnati, Hoel was wounded during the Battle of Fort Henry. Less than two months later, on 4 April, he volunteered to pilot gunboat Carondelet in her famous run past the Rebel batteries at Island Number 10 to reach Maj. Gen. John Pope's Army at New Madrid.
“William R. Hoel” enters the record as united States Navy officer. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what William, Hoel and United can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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