GILLIS, John Pritchet, naval officer, born in Wilmington, Delaware, 6 September, 1803; died there, 25 February, 1873. He was appointed a midshipman from Illinois on 12 December 1825, his mother having removed to that state after the death of his father. He was commissioned as lieutenant on 9 February, 1837. During the Mexican war he had charge of the boats of the" Decatur," in the capture of the forts and town of Tuspan, and afterward commanded the flotilla on the Alvarado River, and acted as governor and collector of Alvarado and Tlacotalpam until prostrated by yellow fever, he was 1st lieutenant of the " Plymouth" in China in 1851, and ascended the Min River to confer with the viceroy of the province on behalf of the missionaries. In 1853-'4 he participated in the Japan expedition under Commander Perry. He was commissioned commander on 14 September, 1855, and assigned to the steam sloop "Pocahontas" at the beginning of hostilities in 1861, and. arriving at, Fort Sumter an hour before the surrender, brought away the garrison, he afterward commanded the steamer " Monticello," and took part in the fight at Hatteras Inlet, crossing the bar, after landing troops, and engaging the forts at short range. He next commanded the "Seminole," and sustained a severe fire from the forts at Shipping Point on the Potomac river. At the battle of Port Royal the "Seminole" ran in, near the close of the action, between Hilton Head and Bay Point, and, with the support of two gun-boats, raked Fort Walker and drove out the enemy. His vessel was subsequently employed in blockading service, then returned to Hampton Roads, and took an active part in the attack on Sewell's Point, in May, 1862. He was commissioned captain on 16 July, 1862, was assigned to the " Ossipee," and commanded the division of the western Gulf blockading squadron off Mobile, and then the division off the coast of Texas, making many captures, until he returned to the north in 1864 on account of illness. He was made a commodore on the retired list on 28 September, 1866.