John Henry Russell-- Part 2: Service in the Civil War and Afterwards

He graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1848 and was briefly assigned to the Coast Survey and then made a cruise to Brazil in 1849 and served on the New York-West Indies mail line from 1853 to 1856 and then as navigator on the USS Vincennes during explorations of the North Pacific and Arctic Oceans.

Assigned to the Mediterranean Squadron at the end of the 1850s, he returned  to the United States for ordnance duty at the Washington Navy Yard just prior to the outbreak of the Civil War.

In 1861, he participated in the effort to prevent Confederate troops from capturing the U.S. ships at Norfolk, Virginia.  In September, he led an expedition to Pensacola, Florida, to destroy the Confederate privateer Judah.

He next assumed command of the gunboat USS Kennebec and participated in operations on the Mississippi River as far north as Vicksburg and later in the blockade of Mobile.  In 1863 he was commanding the USS Pontiac and returned to ordnance duty in Washington in 1864 and then to the Pacific Squadron where he commanded the USS Cyane (the ship he began his naval career on) 1864 to 1865.

Various duties ashore and afloat, on both the Atlantic and Pacific coasts followed and he completed his service as the Commandant of the Mare  Island Navy Yard in San Francisco in 1886.  Appointed to the rank of rear admiral on 4 March 1886, he retired  on 27 August and resided in Washington, D.C., until his death on 1 April 1897.

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In 1938, the destroyer USS Russell (DD-414) was named in his honor, while the USS Russell (DDG-59) is named in both his and his son's honor.

--Old B-Runner

Edward Simpson's Career in the Civil War and Afterwards

Now at the USNA, Simpson was an instructor of naval gunnery and infantry tactics.  Prior to the Civil War, he was promoted to master, then to lieutenant.  In 1862, he was promoted to lieutenant-commander and in 1863, commanded the ironclad monitor USS Passaic in the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron.

As commander, he took part in the attacks on Fort Wagner in July and August 1863 and Fort Sumter in August and September 1863.

At some point, he was removed as the Passaic's commander and became the USS Isonomia's first commander.  Now, that ship was in no way the equal of the Passaic, so at some point I'd have to believe that something bad happened to Simpson's career.

Even so, he was promoted to commander in 1865 and captain in 1870.  The next two years were spent in Europe on special duty.  In 1877, he was detailed to the Brooklyn Navy Yard as captain, and in 1878, having been promoted to commodore he was commanding officer at the New London Naval Station.

--Old B-Runner

Revenue Cutter W.L. Marcy

From Friends in Peace and War: The Russian Navy's Landmark Voyage.

At the beginning of the Civil War, the only armed government vessel available to protect San Francisco was the revenue cutter W.L. Marcy, under command of Captain William Cooke Pease.  It was a 94-foot topsail schooner that arrived in San Francisco in 1857.

In April 1861, after Fort Sumter was fired upon, the Secretary of the Treasury (the revenue cutters were a part of the Dept. of the Treasury) Salmon P. Chase ordered the Marcy to be fit for sea "for the purpose of overhauling vessels supposed to be contraband of war, or owned by members of the Confederate states."

The Marcy then sailed up the Bay of Martinez to Mare Island for extensive repairs and new armament.

It was noted that this extensive overhaul cost more than the ship had originally cost to build.

--Old B-Runner