General Henry Lockwood of Delaware (eBook)

Based on a treasure trove of newly discovered information, General Henry Lockwood of Delaware: Shipmate of Melville, Co-builder of the Naval Academy, Civil War Commander offers the first comparative study of Lockwood’s seminal influence on the emergence of the U.S. Naval Academy. Colonel Matthews shines new light on the Civil War commander, with a description of Lockwood’s duties during the Seminole Indian War, an analysis of Melville’s depiction of Professor Lockwood, a critical discussion of Alfred Thayer Mahan’s depiction of Lockwood, and a tactical reconstruction of Commodore Jones’s seizure of Monterey. Matthews inverts Lockwood's unjust historical reputation by offering a comprehensive defense of Lockwood’s actions at Cold Harbor and an unblinking exposé of the reprehensible conduct of corps commander Governor Warren in relieving him.

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General Henry Lockwood of Delaware: Shipmate of Melville, Co-builder of the Naval Academy, Civil War Commander depicts the fascinating and accomplished life of nineteenth-century Delaware son, Brig. Gen. Henry Lockwood. Excerpt for a leave of absence to fight as a Union general during the Civil War, Lockwood was a U.S. Navy professor of mathematics from 18411876, serving on the USS United States in the Pacific, at the Asylum Naval School, at the U.S. Naval Academy, and the U.S. Naval Observatory. Lockwood sailed aboard the U.S. Navy frigate United States, participating in Commodore Thomas Catesby Jones's seizure of Monterey from Mexico and figuring importantly in shipmate Herman Melville's novel White-Jacket. Later he was a co-builder of the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis. During the Civil War Lockwood pacified the slavery-bound Delmarva peninsula, and commanded a brigade at Gettysburg, the Maryland Heights at Harper's Ferry, the Middle Department/8th Corps, and a division at Cold Harbor. All these accomplishments occurred in the face of Lockwood's tendency to stutter which afflicted him throughout his life. This book also takes note of family members such as his son Lieut. James Lockwood, who died of starvation during the Greely polar expedition after having reached the furthest point north of any human; brother Navy Surgeon John Lockwood, whose essays in conjunction with Melville's White-Jacket were major factors in outlawing punitive flogging in the Navy; and son-in-law Adam Charles Sigsbee, who was in command of the USS Maine when it blew up in Havana Harbor. Several pivotal events in Lockwood's life have unjustly led to his historical neglect. Here Matthews finally gives Lockwood his due.