He was born into an aristocratic
Dutch American family in
Gansevoort, New York, near
Albany. The area was named for his paternal grandfather,
Peter Gansevoort, a prosperous businessman who had served in the
Continental Army and later become a
brigadier general in the
United States Army. Guert was the son of Peter's son Leonard. Peter's daughter, Maria, was the mother of author
Herman Melville. Gansevoort was appointed a
midshipman in the Navy on 4 March 1823. Subsequently, he served in the
Mediterranean Sea on board , , and , receiving promotion to
passed midshipman on 28 April 1832, and to lieutenant on 8 March 1837. In 1842 Gansevoort was serving as first lieutenant aboard the brig , under the command of
Alexander Slidell Mackenzie, when a planned mutiny was discovered, led by Midshipman
Philip Spencer. On the advice of Gansevoort and the other officers Mackenzie sentenced Spencer, Boatswain's Mate
Samuel Cromwell and Seaman
Elisha Small to death, and on 1 December the three men were hanged from the yardarm. Mackenzie was subsequently court-martialled, but exonerated. Gansevoort's first cousin, Herman Melville, later wrote the novella
Billy Budd, inspired by the events. Gansevoort took part in the
First Battle of Tuxpan and
First Battle of Tabasco during the Mexican–American War. Promoted to commander on 14 September 1855, Between 1861 and 1863, during the Civil War, Gansevoort was in charge of ordnance at the
Brooklyn Navy Yard, receiving promotion to captain on 16 July 1862, while helping fit out ships which had been acquired for
blockade duty. He commanded the ironclad in the last year of the war. Gansevoort retired on 28 January 1867, and was promoted to commodore on the retired list. He died on 15 July 1868 at
Schenectady, New York. ==Namesake==