Civil War Union Naval Officer. The son of Edmund, a well-known Ohio River pilot, he followed in his father's footsteps on the river and moved up to take command of his own boat. Since he had mastered riverboat navigation, he volunteered for the Union Navy in October 1861 and played a very important role on the Western Rivers during the rest of the Civil War. He became First Master on the ironclad gunboat "USS Cincinnati", on which he was wounded in action during the Battle of Fort Henry on February 6, 1862. He recovered within two months and piloted the "USS Carondelet" past the Confederate fortress on Island Number Ten, for which he was promoted to Lieutenant. That October he became commanding officer of another gunboat, the "USS Pittsburg", and operated near Vicksburg, Mississippi. On April 29, 1863, he courageously used his ship to protect the flagship "USS Benton" when that vessel was endangered by enemy fire during the bombardment of Grand Gulf, Mississippi. This campaign was so successful that General Ulysses S. Grant was able to move his troops across the Mississippi to begin operations that culminated with the capture of Vicksburg that summer. For his actions at Grand Gulf Hoel was made a Lieutenant Commander, an honor never conferred upon a volunteer in the entire previous history of the United States Navy. In late 1864 he was promoted to Acting Volunteer Lieutenant Commander and the following year took command of the "USS Vindicator". He served on it until July 7, 1865, a few months after the close of the Civil War, and was discharged from the Navy at the end of 1865. He died under mysterious circumstances in 1879. It is believed that he got in a fight with a man he believed to be having an affair with his wife, and was shot with his own revolver during the scuffle. The United States Navy named three destroyers (DD-533, DD-768 and DDG-13)) in honor of Acting Volunteer Lieutenant Commander Hoel.