Chapter II: Preface

This biography is based chiefly upon the Maury Papers, comprising letters, diaries, scientific notebooks, and other manuscripts, which were presented to the United States Government in 1912 by Maury’s only living child, Mrs. Mary Maury Werth, and other descendants, and then deposited in the Division of Manuscripts, Library of Congress. Other valuable sources are the letter books, numbering many volumes, in the Office of the Superintendent of the United States Naval Observatory in Washington, and the official papers relating to Maury in the Navy Department Library. Miscellaneous Maury letters are to be found in the New York Public Library, the Public Library of the City of Boston, the United States Naval Academy Museum, the Peabody Institute Library of Baltimore, the Virginia State Library, the Virginia Historical Society Library, and the Yale University Library. Mrs. C. Alphonso Smith, Raleigh, North Carolina, has one Maury letter and some fifty others, written by contemporaries in reference to the Maury Testimonial which was presented to him in England after the Civil War. Of great importance, also, are Maury’s own voluminous writings, and the numerous references to him in the periodicals and newspapers of his time.

For assistance in gathering material for this biography I wish to acknowledge my indebtedness to various members of the Maury family. In the first place, I wish to mention the “Life of Maury” by his daughter, Diana Fontaine Maury Corbin, which was of considerable help to me. Of his living descendants, Mrs. James Parmelee, a granddaughter, of Washington, D. C., and Mrs. Matthew Fontaine Maury, Jr., a daughter-in-law, of Cincinnati, Ohio gave me much assistance. Mrs. Werth of Richmond, Virginia, and her two daughters, Mrs. N. Montgomery Osborne of Norfolk, Virginia, and Mrs. Littleton Fitzgerald of Richmond, very patiently answered my numerous questions and furnished me interesting and very desirable information. The list of all the other persons who have helped me, in one way or another, in the writing of this book would be too long to set down in a preface; but among the many I wish to single out by name the following: Mr. J. C. Fitzpatrick, Assistant Chief, Division of Manuscripts, Library of Congress; Captain Edwin T. Pollock, U. S. Navy, Superintendent, and Mr. William D. Horigan, Librarian, of the United States Naval Observatory; Captain Dudley W. Knox, U. S. Navy (Retired), Superintendent, and Miss Nannie Dornin Barney, Archivist, of the Naval Records and Library of the Navy Department; Mr. Andrew Keogh, Librarian, Yale University Library; Mr. H. M. Lydenberg, Reference Librarian, New York Public Library; Mr. Charles F. D. Belden, Director of the Public Library of the City of Boston; Miss Helen C. Bates, Reference Librarian, Detroit Public Library; Dr. William G. Stanard, Corresponding Secretary and Librarian, Virginia Historical Society; Mr. Edward V. Valentine, Acting President of the Virginia Historical Society; Dr. H. R. McIlwaine, Librarian of the Virginia State Library; R. H. Crockett, Esq., Miss Susie Gentry, and Mr. Park Marshall, Vice President of the Tennessee Historical Society,—all of Franklin, Tennessee; Mr. John Trotwood Moore, State Librarian and Archivist, and Mr. A. P. Foster, Assistant Librarian and Archivist, Tennessee State Library, Nashville; President A. B. Chandler, Jr., State Teachers College, Fredericksburg, Virginia, and Mrs. V. M. Fleming, President of the Kenmore Association, Fredericksburg; Mr. John W. Herndon, Alexandria, Virginia; Harold T. Clark, Esq., of Squire, Sanders and Demsey, Counsellors at Law, Cleveland, Ohio; William M. Robinson, Jr., Augusta, Georgia; Mr. Gaston Lichstenstein, Corresponding Secretary of the Matthew Fontaine Maury Association, Richmond; and, last but by no means least, Assistant Professor Richard Johnson Duval, Librarian, Mr. Lewis H. Bolander, Assistant Librarian, and Mr. James M. Saunders, Cataloguer, of the United States Naval Academy Library, Annapolis, Maryland.

C. L. L.

_Annapolis, Maryland._

“When I became old enough to reflect, it was the aim at which all
my energies were directed to make myself a useful man. I soon found
that occupation, for some useful end or other, was the true secret
of happiness.”

(_Maury to Rutson Maury, August 31, 1840._)

“It’s the talent of industry that makes a man. I don’t think that
so much depends upon intellect as is generally supposed; but
_industry and steadiness of purpose_, they are the things.”

(_Maury to Frank Minor, July 25, 1855._)

CONTENTS

CHAPTER

I. His Early Years 1

II. His Three Cruises 10

III. He Resorts to the Pen 26

IV. His Astronomical Work 44

V. His Wind and Current Charts 51

VI. His Physical Geography of the Sea 66

VII. His Extra-professional Interests 85

VIII. His Treatment by the “Retiring Board” 107

IX. Shadows of Coming Troubles 118

X. As His Friends and Family Knew Him before the War 128

XI. His Part in the Civil War: In Virginia 143

XII. His Part in the Civil War: In England 168

XIII. With Maximilian in Mexico 186

XIV. Reunited with His Family in England 202

XV. His Last Years in Virginia 220

XVI. His Posthumous Reputation 242

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

_Page_

The Richmond Maury Monument, by F. William Sievers 1

U. S. S. “Brandywine” 9

Lieut. M. F. Maury, U. S. Navy 27

U. S. Naval Observatory, during Maury’s Superintendency 45

Decorations Conferred upon Maury 50

Matthew Fontaine Maury, Superintendent of the Observatory 67

The Set of Silver Medals Presented to Maury by Pope Pius IX 84

Gold Medals Bestowed upon Maury 84

Portrait of Maury, in Maury Hall, U. S. Naval Academy 106

The Maury Statue in Hamburg, Germany 119

The Bust of Matthew Fontaine Maury, by E. V. Valentine 129

Portrait of Maury and Raphael Semmes 142

Portrait of Maury and the Reverend Doctor Tremlett 142

C. S. Cruiser “Georgia” 171

Maury Hall, U. S. Naval Academy 187

Maury Reunited with His Family in England, 1868 203

Portrait of Maury during His Last Years at Virginia Military
Institute 220

Maury Monument in Goshen Pass 241

Destroyer U. S. S. “Maury” 246

Soon to be erected in Richmond, Virginia. The monument will be 28
feet high; diameter of globe, 9 feet; height of Maury, 7 feet (1½
life size); figures of group, life size. Through the efforts of the
Matthew Fontaine Maury Association a sum of over $60,000 was raised
for this beautiful memorial. Sculptor F. William Sievers. See page
251.]