Edward Simpson, USN-- Part 6: Quite Busy During the Mexican War

His first service in the Navy was as a midshipman aboard the sloop of war USS Decatur on patrol along the coast of Brazil in 1840.  The next assignment was on board the frigate USS Congress  in the Mediterranean and Brazil squadrons.  Both of these ships saw service during the Civil War.

After a year on the station, he attended the new U.S. Naval Academy as a member of its first graduating class.

His Class of 1846, had 47 graduates and he was promoted to the rank of passed midshipman.  His next service  was aboard the USS Vixen during the Mexican War.  He was present at the attacks on the Mexican forts of Alvarado under Commodore Conner, and at two attacks on Tabasco under Commodore Perry, at the capture of Tampico.

Next, was the siege of Vera Cruz.

After the war, he returned to the Brazil Squadron and a short time later returned to the naval academy, this time as an instructor.

--Old B-Runner

Edward Simpson, USN-- Part 5: Burial and Family

From Find A Grave.

BIRTH:  3 March 1824 in New York, NY

DEATH:  1 December 1888 in Washington, D.C.

BURIAL:  Cypress Hills Cemetery in  Brooklyn, N.Y.

His father, Edmund Simpson (1784-1848), was born in England and was an actor and for many years manager of the Park Theatre.  His mother, Julia Elizabeth Jones Simpson, died 11 Feb. 1870, at the home of her son, Edward Simpson, USN, in Washington, D.C. and is buried at Cypress Hills Cemetery.

His wife was Mary Ann Ridgley Simpson:  Born 1826 in Maryland, Died 15 Jan 1862 in Newport Rhode Island.  Buried Cedar Hill Cemetery in Philadelphia, Pa..

--Old B-Runner

Edward Simpson, USN-- Part 4: Naval Career Promotions and Honors

Midshipman:  11 February 1840

Passed Midshipman:  11 July 1846

Master:  10 July 1854

Lieutenant:  18 April 1855

Lieutenant Commander:  16 July 1862

Commander:  3 March 1865

Captain:  15 August 1870

Commodore:  26 April 1876

Rear Admiral:  9 February 1884

Retired List:  3 March 1886

The destroyer USS Simpson (DD-221), commissioned  on November 3, 1920, was named for him.  It fought in World War II.

--Old B-R'er

Edward Simpson, USN-- Part 3: Postwar Service

I'd never heard of Edward Simpson before this.

After the war, Simpson alternated duty ashore and afloat with tours of ordnance work.  He also was on a mission to Europe in 1870-1872.    Command of the Navy's Naval Torpedo Station was in 1873-1875.

By 1880, he was officer in charge of Naval Station New London, Connecticut.  In 1883, he  was appointed president of a board  to select a site for a government gun factory and made another study trip to Europe.

Promoted to Rear Admiral on February 9, 1884, he served  as President of the Naval Advisory Board and President  of the Board of Inspection  and Survey until his retirement  on March 3, 1886.

Rear Admiral Simpson died  in Washington, D.C., on December 1, 1888, and is buried at Cypress Hills Cemetery in Brooklyn, New York.

--Old B-Runner

Edward Simpson, USN-- Part 2: Civil War Service

After graduation from the Academy on July 9, 1846, he reported to the USS Vixen and participated in numerous bombardments during the Mexican War.  During the next fifteen years,  he served afloat in the Brazil Squadron and the China Squadron and was involved with the U.S. Coast Survey.

Afterwards he served ashore for two tours of duty at the U.S. Naval Academy, first as gunnery instructor and then in 1860 as the head of the Department of Ordnance and Gunnery.

CIVIL WAR SERVICE

In May 1861, he moved with the USNA to Newport, Rhode Island,  where it stayed for the remainder of the war.  In 1862, he became the Commandant of Midshipmen.

In June 1863, he took command of the monitor USS Passaic and participated in the bombardments of Charleston, S.C., from July to November 1863.  Then from July to December 1864, he commanded the USS Isonomia in the East Gulf Blockading Squadron.  (I am of the thought that something must have happened because going from command of a monitor to a ship such as the Isonomia would seem to be a demotion.  Lt. L.D.D.Voorhees was in command of the Isonomia when it captured the blockade runner George Douthwaite on May 8, 1865, which is how I ended up doing research on the USS Isonomia and Edward Simpson.)

From February to June 1865 he was Fleet Captain of the West Coast Blockading Squadron and of the forces attacking Mobile, Alabama.

--Old B-R'er

Edward Simpson, USN-- Part 1

The USS Isonomia's first officer was Lt.Cmdr. Edward Simpson.

From Wikipedia.

EDWARD SIMPSON

(March 3, 1824 to December 1, 1888)

Officer in U.S. Navy during Mexican War and Civil War.  Attained rank of rear admiral.  Was commanding officer of several warships and had various shore assignments.

He was born in New York City.

Appointed midshipman in the U.S. Navy shortly before his sixteenth birthday in 1840 and served afloat until 1845 when he became a member of the first class of midshipmen at the new United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland.

--Old B-Runner

USS Isonomia -- Part 2: Operations Off Florida

The Isonomia sailed to Beaufort, North Carolina, on August 19, 1864, and arrived there on  August 23.  She joined the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron and served off New Inlet (Fort Fisher), until ordered to Key West on 8 September with special instructions to cruise in the vicinity of Nassau and the Bahama Banks.

At Key West she was found to be unready for sea service and stationed off West Pass, Florida, where she operated until November when she returned to Key West  to prepare for cruising in Bahama waters.

At the end of January 1865, the Isonomia was returned to duty along the west coast of Florida where she continued until the end of the war.    She captured the British bark George Douthwaite attempting to slip into the Warrior River with a cargo of rum, sugar wool, ginger and mahogany from Jamaica.

Again, I have not been able to find any information on a Warrior River along the west coast of Florida.)

On 9 June 1865, she towed the USS Somerset to New York  where she was decommissioned  28 June 1865 and sold at public auction to Tabor Co.on 12 July 1865.  She subsequently became a merchant ship named the City of Providence and was later sold to foreign interests in 1867.

Still Sounded Like a Real ZSleeper.  --Old B-Runner

USS Isonomia-- Part 1

From Wikipedia.

Since I have never heard of this ship, further research is necessary.

It was originally built for the merchant service with the name SS Shamrock.  It was purchased in New York City from Charles S. Leary on 16 July 1864.  Commissioned at the New York Navy Yard on 16 August 1864, with Lt.-Cmdr. Edward Simpson in command.

593 tons
212 feet long
30 foot beam
9 foot depth
12 knots speed
85 officers and men complement

Armament:
one 3-pdr. rifle
two 24-pdr. howitzers

--Old B-Runner

May 8, 1865: Capture of a Blockade Runner in Florida

MAY 8TH, 1865:  The USS Isonomia, Lieutenant L.D.D. Voorhees, captured blockade running British bark George Douthwaits off the Warrior River, Florida, with cargo of sugar, rum, wool, ginger and mahogany.

I am unable to find a Warrior River in Florida.

Sure Sounds Like a Sleeper To Me.  --Old B-Runner

Booth's Escape from D.C. to Maryland

From Wikipedia "Assassination of Abraham Lincoln."

Within a half hour of fleeing Ford's Theatre, John Wilkes Booth crossed the Navy Yard Bridge into Maryland.  An army sentry questioned him about his late-night travel;  Booth said he was going home to the nearby town of Charles.

Even though it was illegal for civilians to cross the bridge after 9 p.m., the guard let him cross.

David Herold made it to the same bridge  less than an hour later and rendezvoused with Booth.

After retrieving weapons and supplies they had previously stashed at Surrattsville, they  went to the home of Samuel A. Mudd, a local  doctor, who splinted  the leg Booth had  broken when jumping from the presidential box at Ford's Theatre.  He later made a pair of crutches for Booth.

And, who was the sentry at the bridge who let Booth and Herold cross?

Why, it was Sgt. Silas T. Cobb.

More On Him Later.  --Old B-Runner

What Happened to the Conspirator Bodies?

A tennis court at Fort McNair marks where the four Lincoln conspirators were hanged July 7, 1865.

All four bodies remained buried at the Arsenal Penitentiary for four years, until after Johnson's presidency ended.  Their bodies were then turned over to their families.

Mary Elizabeth Jenkins Surratt's body was kept by the federal government for four years before being released to her daughter Anna and then was buried in Washington, D.C.'s

George A. Atzerodt's body was claimed by his brother and had it buried in an unmarked grave in Glenwood Cemetery, Washington, D.C..   There is some question whether he is buried here.

Lewis Paine   Very interesting story.

David E. Herold--  Buried at Congressional Cemetery, Washington, D.C. at family plot.  No marker placed.  But now there is one.

--Old B-Runner

Booth's Body Transferred Back to Washington for Autopsy-- Part 2

As word spread of the assassin's body being on board the USS Montauk, the scene aboard the ship and nearby river bank  took on a circus-like atmosphere as hundreds of  curiosity seekers jostled for a glimpse of Booth's remains.

Aboard the Montauk, an inquest was held, and the corpse, already in the initial stages of decomposition, was carefully examined.  Friends and acquaintances of Booth were summoned to identify the body.   Dr. John Frederick May, a surgeon who had removed a cyst from Booth's neck in 1863, quickly recognized and identified the unusual scar left by the operation.

The federal government was determined to keep Booth's remains out of reach of both those  who wished to desecrate them and those who wished to sanctify him as a martyr.

That night, under cover of darkness, the body was taken by rowboat  to nearby Greenleaf's Point, where it was wrapped in an army blanket, placed in a wooden gun box and secretly buried in the basement of the Washington Arsenal.  It remained there until 1869, when the Booth family was finally granted permission to rebury John Wilkes in an unmarked grave in the shadow of  his father's impressive obelisk in Baltimore's Green Mount Cemetery.

--Old B-Runner

Booth's Body Transferred Back to Washington for Autopsy-- Part 1

From American Battlefield Trust "Stalking John Wilkes Booth."

David Herold surrendered at the Garrett barn in Virginia, but John Wilkes Booth refused.  Union Sgt. Boswton Corbett shot Booth in the neck and paralyzed him from the waist down, but he retained consciousness.  Booth was then  dragged out of the barn to the porch of the Garrett home where he lingered before dying at around 7 a.m..

Among his last words were, "Tell my mother I died for my country."

His body was then placed in a wagon and taken to Belle Plain, Virginia,   There, it was placed on the steam tug John S. Ide and carried up the Potomac River, under the Naval Yard Bridge to the Washington Navy Yard, where his body was transferred to the deck of the monitor USS Montauk.

The Byline site's "The Capture, Death and Burial of John Wilkes Booth" by Ray Stannard Baker said that the John S. Ide was the same boat on which Lt. Edward P. Doherty and 25 members of the 16th New York Cavalry, including Sergeant Boston Corbett as second in command had left Washington  a little after 3 o'clock Monday, April 24 and gone to Belle Plain Landing to search for Booth, having intelligence that he was in the area.

--Old B-Runner

Major John Johnson's (CSA) Corrections to His Book: A Naval Connection

For much of April I have been writing about the Confederate Defenders of Charleston monument and Major John Johnson  who was the Confederate engineer in charge of rebuilding Fort Sumter after the horrendous Union bombardments 1863-1865.  This was in my Saw the Elephant: Civil War blog.  This information could also have been in this blog.

Major Johnson wrote a book about the defense of Charleston from 1863-1865, titled "The Defense of Charleston Harbor, Including Fort Sumter and Adjacent Islands"  in 1890.  It is regarded, even today, as one of the best, least biased, works on that period of time.

In today's post to that blog, I wrote about corrections he had made to the book when the second printing took place, and these were much of a naval character.

Including:

**  The sinking of the Confederate transport Marion

**   "Fish" torpedo boats

**  Attack on USS Pawnee and Marblehead

**  Range of Union guns at Fort Pulaski

Go to the My Blogs section to the right of this and click on Saw the Elephant.

--Old B-Runner

April 30, 1865: What Happened to the Other Conspirators?

Michael O'Laughlin and Samuel B. Arnoldm boyhood friends of Booth and conspirators in his earlier plan to abduct Lincoln and in his later plans to assassinate top government officials, were sentenced to life in prison.

Another accomplice, Edward Spangler, stagehand at the Ford Theater was sentenced to six years in prison.

The remaining two of the eight who had been incarcerated on the monitors --  Ernest Hartman Richter, a cousin of Atzerodt, and Joao Celestini, a Portuguese sea captain -- were released without being brought to trial.

--Old B-Runner