Biography

Gustavus Vasa Fox served as Assistant Secretary of the Navy during the Civil War. He had served in and retired form the Navy after serving in the Mexican-American War. At the outbreak of the Civil War, he volunteered for the Navy and was assigned by President Lincoln to relieve Fort Sumter, but could not do so before it was attacked by the Confederate Army. In August, 1861, President Lincoln appointed him Assistant Secretary of the Navy, a position he held until 1866.