“Pathfinder of the Seas” – Gone South!

Maury, "Scientist of the Seas" in 1855

On May 4, 1861 The New-York Times published an article by its FEDERALIST correspondent, who opined about military matters:

WASHINGTON, D.C., Wednesday, May 1, 1861. …

The great advantage of the rebels is in their officers. Some of the best officers of both army and navy have deserted to them. Col. (now Gen.) LEE is worth a whole battalion of ordinary men. Our leading officers — and I believe Gen. SCOTT may fairly be included — are cautious or old, and unused or disinclined to hold, active measures. I doubt whether all of them would consent to taking part in an aggressive campaign in Virginia; still, in this I may be doing them injustice. There are some noble-minded Southern men who have continued loyal to the flag through all there difficult times. They are men, whom, hereafter, a grateful country should remember. But what shall we say of such a man as MAURY, who, if any official anywhere, belonged especially to his country and not his State, who had drawn for full twenty years a generous support from this Government, and now, in her hour of peril, meanly abandoned her without even having the grace to explain or declare his resignation to the Department which supported him. Thank heaven! that the cause of Science, which never owned Mr. MAURY as one of her true sons, will bear none of the stain of this treachery.

In this time of need of good officers, it should surely be a point of honor with those civilians who have received their education at West Point, to offer their services either on the staffs or as drill officers.

I have been unable as yet to obtain any rightly drawn information, how the uprising of the North is received at the South. I think the masses never will know or care much about it, they are so besotted with whisky and self conceit; the well-informed regard it as another instance of the judicial blindness and madness which have seized on our people, and the leaders are spurred by it to more tremendous efforts to leap the gulf which yawns before them. It is war, war — war to the knife. …

"Pathfinder of the Seas" - loyal to the Old Dominion

Matthew Fontaine Maury was 19 when he obtained a naval appointment through the influence of Sam Houston. his first gig was on the USS Brandywine when it was taking Lafayette back to France. A leg injury made him unfit for active duty but allowed him to devote himself to the study of the oceans. ” … he became the first superintendent of the United States Naval Observatory in 1842, holding that position until his resignation in April 1861.” From Wikipedia:

With the outbreak of the American Civil War, Maury, a native of Virginia, ended the career that he dearly loved by handing in his commission as a U.S. Navy Commander in order to serve Virginia, which had joined the Confederacy, as Chief of Sea Coast, River and Harbor Defences. Because he was an international figure, he was ordered to go abroad for many reasons including propaganda for the Confederacy, for peace, and for purchasing ships. He also went to England, Ireland, and France, acquiring ships and supplies for the Confederacy. Through speeches and newspaper publications, Maury tried desperately to get other nations to stop the American Civil War, carrying pleas for peace in one hand and a sword in the other, each to deal with whatever the outcome.

Maury also perfected an electric torpedo which raised havoc with northern shipping.

After the war Maury became a professor at VMI. He was one of Robert E. Lee’s pall bearers.