William Longshaw Jr. (April 26, 1839 – January 15, 1865) was a physician who volunteered for service in the United States Union Navy during the American Civil War. Longshaw obtained medical and pharmacy training in Boston, New York City, and New Orleans, receiving his medical degree from the University of Michigan. He was appointed acting assistant surgeon by the navy in 1862, serving aboard , , , , and finally his squadron's flagship . On several occasions Longshaw's gallantry and courageous actions under direct enemy fire were mentioned in reports by flag-level superiors like Rear Admirals John Dahlgren and David Dixon Porter and Secretary of the Navy Gideon Wells. Supporting the navy's amphibious landing in the Second Battle of Fort Fisher on January 15, 1865, Longshaw went onshore with the landing party and was active in tending to numerous wounded and dying during the assault. After rescuing an unconscious sailor in danger of drowning from the rising tide, Longshaw responded to the cry of a wounded marine and while treating him was shot in the head and died instantly. After a 1913 plea for recognition by United States Navy medical director James Duncan Gatewood, in 1943 the navy commissioned a named in honor of the assistant surgeon. That vessel was lost to shore battery fire in the Battle of Okinawa and received nine battle stars for its World War II service. Early life and training William Longshaw was born in Manchester, Virginia, in April 1839 , the eldest of two sons to William and Margaret (née Davies) Longshaw who had emigrated to the United States from England shortly after marriage. The family traveled to Kentucky for a time then settled in Cambridge, Massachusetts; William's younger brother Luther M. (July 31, 1844 – May 27, 1921) was born in Lowell. William appears to have attended Lyman school and the English High School, completing his studies at Phillips Academy. Longshaw studied medicine with an East Cambridge physician for a year, then moved to New York where he attended lectures at University of the City of New York (now New York University) under Valentine Mott and Thomas C. Finnell. Returning to East Boston in 1857, he joined the Maverick Congregational Church. At the age of 18, Longshaw traveled to New Orleans, working as a pharmacy clerk while attending lectures in pharmacology at the University of Louisiana (now Tulane). He was sufficiently accomplished as