Ironclads and Big Guns of the Confederacy: The Journal and Letters of John M. Brooke

An inside look at the Confederacy's military science and technology

Loaded with previously unavailable information about the Confederate Navy's effort to supply its fledgling forces, the wartime diaries and letters of John M. Brooke (1826–1906) tell the neglected story of the Confederate naval ordnance office, its innovations, and its strategic vision. As Confederate commander of ordnance and hydrography in Richmond, Virginia, during the Civil War, Brooke numbered among the military officers who resigned their U.S. commissions and "went South" to join the Confederate forces at the onset of conflict. A twenty-year veteran of the United States Navy who had been appointed a midshipman at the age of fourteen, Brooke was a largely self-taught military scientist whose inventions included the Brooke Deep-Sea Sounding Lead. In addition to his achievements as an inventor, Brooke was a draftsman, diarist, and inveterate letter-writer. His copious correspondence about military and personal matters from the war yields detailed and often unexpected insights into the Confederacy's naval operations.

Charged with developing a vessel that could break the Union blockade, Brooke raised the Merrimack, a wooden vessel scuttled by the Union Navy, and outfitted it with armor plates as the CSS Virginia. Brooke's papers trace his conception of the plan to create the first Confederate ironclad warship and offer insight into other innovations, revealing a massive amount of factual information about the Confederacy's production of munitions.

• Language: English
• Publisher: University of South Carolina Press
• Release date: Oct 10, 2022
• ISBN: 9781643364063

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Ironclads and Big Guns of the Confederacy

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William N. Still, Jr., Series Editor

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David Syrett

John P. Holland, 1841–1914: Inventor of the Modern Submarine

Richard Knowles Morris

Cockburn and the British Navy in Transition: Admiral Sir George Cockburn, 1772–1853

Roger Morriss

The Royal Navy in European Waters during the American Revolutionary War

David Syrett

Sir John Fisher’s Naval Revolution

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The Abandoned Ocean

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Ironclads and Big Guns of the Confederacy: The Journal and Letters of John M. Brooke

Edited by George M. Brooke, Jr.

Ironclads and Big Guns of the Confederacy

The Journal and Letters of John M. Brooke

Edited by

George M. Brooke, Jr.

© 2002 University of South Carolina

Cloth edition published by the University of South Carolina Press, 2002

Ebook edition published in Columbia, South Carolina, by the University of South Carolina Press, 2022

www.uscpress.com

Manufactured in the United States of America

31 30 29 28 27 26 25 24 23 22

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

The Library of Congress has cataloged the cloth edition as follows:

Brooke, John M. (John Mercer), 1826–1906.

Ironclads and big guns of the Confederacy : the journal and letters of John M. Brooke / edited by George M. Brooke, Jr.

p. cm. — (Studies in maritime history)

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 1-57003-418-4 (alk. paper)

1. Brooke, John M. (John Mercer), 1826–1906—Diaries. 2. Brooke, John M. (John Mercer), 1826–1906—Correspondence. 3. Confederate States of America. Navy—Officers—Diaries. 4. Confederate States of America. Navy—Officers—Correspondence. 5. United States—History—Civil War, 1861–1865—Naval operations, Confederate. 6. United States—History—Civil War, 1861–1865—Personal narratives, Confederate. 7. Virginia (Ironclad) 8. Confederate States of America. Navy—Ordnance and ordnance stores. 9. Inventors—Confederate States of America—Biography. I. Brooke, George M.

II. Title. III. Series.

E467.1.B768 2001

973.7’57—dc21

200100564

Front cover illustrations: Brooke’s design for the ironclad Merrimac as drawn for his pamphlet The Virginia, or Merrimac, Her Real Projector. Inset: Battle between the Monitor and Merrimac, Hampton Roads, Virginia, March 9, 1862, copy of engraving by Evans after J. O. Davidson, National Archives and Records.

ISBN 978-1-64336-406-3 (ebook)

To Professors William Gleason Bean of Washington and Lee University and Fletcher M. Green of the University of North Carolina, eminent historians, who shaped my course for the future.

Contents

List of Illustrations

Foreword

Preface

List of Abbreviations

Introduction: Brooke’s Actions on the Eve of War

1Brooke’s Resignation from the United States Navy and Appointment to Confederate Service

2Conversion of the Merrimac to the Virginia and Experiments in Ordnance

3The Virginia in Hampton Roads

4James River Defense, Inventions, Personal Woes, and Promotion

5Developments in Ordnance

6Personal Sorrow and Continued Activity in Ordnance

7Hard Work to the End

Epilogue

Notes

Bibliography

Index

Illustrations

Following page 88

John M. Brooke

Catesby ap R. Jones

Lizzie Garnett Brooke

Foreword

T he purpose of this book is to define the contributions of John Mercer Brooke (1826–1906) to the Confederate navy. After twenty years of service as a line officer in the United States Navy, Brooke at the age of thirty-four resigned his commission at the outbreak of the Civil War and offered his services to, first, Virginia and, then, the Confederacy. Most of his work during the conflict was in the field of naval ordnance, where despite a lack of formal or specialized training he made significant contributions.

In recording Brooke’s services I have used the journals he kept and his copious correspondence. The journals are uneven, but when possible Brooke noted events and his actions daily. In such cases he usually wrote carefully and legibly. At other times when rushed he would skip a number of days and try to catch up later. When in the field conducting gun experiments Brooke often jotted rough notes and accompanied them with pencil drawings of gun bursts made at the time, which I have reproduced. In the course of the war he received many letters commenting on ordnance matters. Brooke’s many letters to his wife present a personal picture of his hectic life we would not have otherwise.

Generally I have followed the journals and letters exactly as written, but sometimes it has been necessary to correct spelling and punctuation so that an entry makes sense. Except in the case of the Merrimac, where variant spellings have been retained for academic reasons, misspellings of place names and personal names, as well as misrepresentation of a person’s initials, are followed by correct spellings in brackets. Upon first mention in each chapter, full names, where known, have been supplied in brackets.

Many historians over the years have shown a continuing interest in my grandfather’s variegated naval career. In my biography of him published in 1980 I sought to cover all aspects of his life. But the continuing interest in the Civil War and Brooke’s unique contributions make a publication of his journals and correspondence, which are in my possession, seem advisable.

As in the past I am indebted to the George C. Marshall Research Library at Virginia Military Institute, which has given me storage space for the Brooke Papers and an ideal atmosphere in which to work.

Two typists over a considerable period of time have shown great skill and the utmost patience in helping me translate rough journals and drawings into a comprehensible text. They are Sherri Wheeler and Janet Cummings.

To my wife and son, a budding historian, I express gratitude for their continuing support.

Preface

I nterest in the American Civil War continues apace, but it is concentrated on the land battles and famous generals. Interest in the naval aspects of the war continues to lag. After all, the Union navy clamped a blockade on the Confederacy at the beginning of the war, so most of the naval fighting was on inland waters: rivers and harbors. There were duels between ships and shore batteries, but lacking were the dramatic fleet actions of World War II or the hard-fought battles between single ships on the high seas reported in the War of 1812.

On the surface it would appear that the Union won the battle at sea almost without fighting. To begin with, only one-fifth of the officers in the United States Navy in 1861 entered Confederate service, and few enlisted personnel went south. In population and industrial resources the South was dwarfed by its antagonist. Being basically agricultural, the Confederacy had few factories, machine shops, shipyards, foundries, or skilled workers. Norfolk was the only important shipyard, and it soon fell to the Federals. The Tredegar Iron Works in Richmond, initially, was the only facility capable of producing heavy ordnance and armor plate. The South was compelled to import and improvise. Yet, despite many handicaps the South developed ship-building facilities, machine shops, powder mills, and an iron industry dependent on the iron furnaces of the Shenandoah Valley. Much of the effort was behind the scenes, but it is important to remember that the South did not fail because of a lack of naval armament.

Interest in the Confederate navy has focused on the exploits of public cruisers such as Raphael Semmes’s Alabama and the Shenandoah, the skills of the blockade runners, and the epic duel between the Merrimac and the Monitor, the first battle between ironclads. But behind all of this was an effective Office of Ordnance and Hydrography that pushed production of material and evaluated inventions.

Considerable credit for these accomplishments should be attributed to John Mercer Brooke, a veteran of twenty years’ service in the United States Navy. When President Abraham Lincoln called for troops to invade Virginia, Brooke, as did a number of other officers, resigned his commission and offered his services to Virginia, where he was commissioned in the Virginia navy and assigned to Gen. Robert E. Lee as naval aide. When Virginia joined the Confederate states and the latter’s capital was moved from Montgomery to Richmond, Brooke was given a commission in the Confederate navy and assigned to the Office of Ordnance and Hydrography under Comdr. George Minor. There he designed the plan for the conversion of the Merrimac into the ironclad Virginia and the Brooke Guns, notably the 7-inch and 6.4 rifles. He developed fuses and range tables and soon was put in charge of all experimental work in the Confederate navy. In April 1863 he succeeded Minor as chief of the Office of Ordnance and Hydrography.

It is remarkable that John Brooke could adapt to his scientific duties so well. His formal education was limited to the nine-month course given at the Naval Academy in its early days. A series of routine cruises was followed by a tour on the Coast Survey under Samuel Phillips Lee, where he learned much of surveying, and at the Naval Observatory under Matthew Fontaine Maury, where he studied hydrography and astronomy. While at the observatory he invented a deep-sea sounding lead for measuring the depth of the sea at more than two thousand fathoms. Later Brooke won recognition for his work in astronomy and hydrography on the North Pacific Expedition under John Rodgers. Yet none of this scientific work pertained to ordnance, his area of work during the Civil War.

At the beginning of his Confederate service Brooke established a close relationship with Secretary of the Navy Stephen Russell Mallory, a veteran legislator from Florida, who had been involved in naval affairs while serving in Congress in the 1850s. Brooke foresaw the difficulties the South faced through a lack of facilities and materials, and he suggested steps that might be taken. Although these problems did not coincide with Brooke’s previous training, Mallory listened and added steadily to Brooke’s responsibilities. Prior to the war Brooke had had a vast and varied career as a blue water sailor, but he soon became involved in a multitude of specialized duties that revealed his latent scientific talents. Despite a wealth of difficulties Brooke fulfilled his tasks with pertinacity. The South did not fail because of a deficiency in naval ordnance.

Abbreviations

Ironclads and Big Guns of the Confederacy

Introduction

Brooke’s Actions on the Eve of War

J ohn Brooke’s surveys in the western Pacific and on the coast of Japan were interrupted when his ship, the Fenimore Cooper , was beached on the Japanese coast in a storm; he and his crew were stranded for six months. After his cruise in the Pacific, Brooke returned to the United States in the warship Kanrin Maru , which he helped navigate across the Pacific at the same time staff of the Japanese Embassy crossed in the Powhatan under Capt. Josiah Tattnall. Both vessels landed in San Francisco, and from there the embassy staff and Brooke proceeded to Washington, D.C., separately. ¹ When Brooke reached the East Coast, Charles Wolcott Brooks notified him: "The pony express brought us the news of your safe arrival in New York in season to communicate it to the Japanese previous to the sailing of the ‘candinmurrah’ (Kanrin Maru) [for Japan] on the 8th inst. The Japanese were much pleased at your safe arrival. The steamer was put in fine order by Commodore [Robert B.] Cunningham [commandant at Mare Island] and was the prettiest vessel in port when completed…. Ten Japanese Seamen were left here in my charge, and are now in the hospital but getting better rapidly. Causes, Dysentery and fevers. I have a sort of apointment [sic] as commercial Agent to represent the Japanese people, take charge of the sailors and finally send them home. Funds were left with me to pay their passage back. I am promised the Consulship if the Emperor is willing." ²

In New York City, Brooke notified Secretary of the Navy Isaac Toucey of his arrival on 27 April 1860. Proceeding quickly to Washington, D.C., to resume work on the report and charts of the North Pacific Expedition, Brooke learned that his wife Lizzie, who was living with relatives in Lexington, Virginia, was very sick.³ Despite the many pressing duties he had with John Rodgers relating to the North Pacific Expedition, Brooke requested leave to travel to Lexington. Secretary Toucey responded promptly, granting three months’ leave effective 3 May.⁴ This prevented Brooke from being appointed to a select commission of naval officers that took care of the Japanese Embassy in the United States.⁵ In a letter to an old friend, the oceanographer Lt. Matthew Fontaine Maury, Brooke indicated that the timing of his return was poor. I regret exceedingly, he wrote, that in consequence of the illness of Mrs. Brooke I was compelled to leave Washington without seeing you. I have specimens of bottom from the Pacific and some water from the depths of 3,300 faths. We had quite an eventful cruise…. I shall be in Washington as soon as possible, the day I cannot now fix. Please remember me to your family.⁶

While in Lexington, Brooke continued to plan his work in Washington. He informed the secretary of the navy that he had brought to the Atlantic States the records, etc. of the survey of the route between California and China, and of portions of the nearly unknown coasts of Japan, with the data necessary to correct the positions of numerous reefs, islands, capes, etc., erroneously placed upon the latest and best charts. Brooke stressed that a timely publication of the results of the Cooper’s survey could avert such wrecks as that of an American clipper ship on French Frigate Shoals, which he had surveyed. He also noted, Several wrecks have recently occurred on the Coast of Japan, near the port of Simoda, in consequence of the want of correct charts. With no inkling of impending disaster in the United States, Brooke, who had been out of the country for two years, wrote, It will be necessary in preparing the results of these surveys and rendering them available to navigators to incur the expenses incidental to the hire of drafting rooms, the employment of draftsmen, etc. An appropriation of $5,000 would be sufficient for this purpose and ensure the speedy accomplishment of the work.⁷ It was barely more than seven months to the secession of South Carolina from the Union, but it is clear that such thoughts as civil war, ironclad ships, and naval ordnance were far from John Brooke’s mind. More to be expected was the letter from the chief of ordnance and hydrography directing him to please make a return to this Bureau, showing the disposition made of the Nautical Instruments and other articles which were supplied you by direction of this Bureau to be used in the survey between California and China.⁸

John Brooke’s sojourn in Japan in 1859–60 had made him an expert of sorts in Far Eastern affairs. He wrote to Lizzie, who remained in Lexington, "I have not only my own business to attend to but am called upon to give information etc. to Senators and others in reference to Eastern Russia the Amour [sic] and Japan, so my time is much occupied. On a personal note, Brooke said: I read your pa’s letter this morning, it was of the 18th. Tell him I will follow his advice implicitly…. I love you more than ever. Kiss Anna for me say Papa sends his love but Uncle Sam keeps him a few days from her."⁹ At this time Brooke returned to Lexington because of Lizzie’s recurring sickness.

While at home Brooke had time to write an extremely long letter to Sen. William Gwin of California. The senator, whose state had the most to gain by developing trade with eastern Asia, had strongly supported Brooke’s survey in the Fenimore Cooper for the purpose of determining the best steamship route between San Francisco and China. The beaching of the Cooper in Japan had prevented completion of the project. Rodgers and Brooke felt that it was essential to finish the survey and publish the charts. Such work would require an appropriation by Congress, so once again the two officers turned to Senator Gwin.¹⁰ In his letter to Gwin, Brooke elaborated on his views of the Far Eastern situation.

At this time when Russia in the North and England in the South are striving to get a foothold in Japan and the United States can prevent only by indirect means the accomplishment of their purpose—the absorption of that country—and consequent control of the Western Pacific, it is of the utmost importance that such situations commercial and other as will enable the United States to exert a decided and effective influence in that quarter of the globe should be cultivated. The Japanese already see that their existence as an independent nation depends upon two things, intercourse with the United States and improvement. The sending of the Candinmarruh [Kanrin Maru] to California was in accordance with this view and is a significant fact.

During my intercourse with the Japanese in their own country and onboard the Candinmarruh I found that unlike other oriental people they were perfectly aware of their inability to maintain the Empire in its integrity without availing themselves of the improvements inventions and discoveries of other nations….

They anticipate war with foreign nations but not with the United States. They are familiar (sufficiently so to put them on their guard) with the history of the British occupation in the East, and they are impatient to avail themselves of every kind of information which may tend to put Japan on a footing with other nations. It is providential that Japan has been closed until the present day when we have California on the Pacific and steamers at command. Now is the time to secure to the United States what may be called the right of way to China, as well, as the commerce of Japan. Having opened the country we are indeed responsible for its preservation as well as entitled to the first reward of a success obtained in the peaceful and legitimate extension of our Western influence. The Russians are now disputing the boundary on the North…. With the English at Nagasaki commanding the Straits of Corea and the Russians at Hakodadi commanding the Straits of Tsugar the interests of the United States in that quarter are materially diminished…. But if England with the consent of Russia occupies Nagasaki then I presume Hakodadi may fall to the former without dispute, the French having no further interest in the matter than to retard the encroachments of both.¹¹

This long quotation is only a small part of the letter’s contents. Brooke goes on to describe in detail the aspirations of the European powers, the political organization of Japan, and the economic strengths and weaknesses of Japan and Okinawa, a fief of the feudal lord of Satsuma in southern Japan.

Brooke’s letter to Senator Gwin shows that he had a profound interest in U.S. diplomatic and economic destiny in eastern Asia. Perhaps he had a greater knowledge of Japan than any of his contemporaries in the naval service. Had the Civil War not come, Brooke might have played a significant role as the United States became the dominant foreign influence in Meiji Japan. Although a naval officer, his emphasis had been on peace and friendship, diplomacy, and scientific development. Unfortunately, the Civil War ended such dreams for the United States and John Brooke. After Appomattox the United States was consumed by hate and domestic problems, so the Meiji leaders of Japan turned to Great Britain, France, and the new German Empire for help in modernizing their army and navy, establishing an educational system, and drafting a constitution. For Brooke, too, it was a sad turn of events. Throughout his career and in the letter quoted above he had shown a pride in the United States. In his early years he had demonstrated a competence in surveying, oceanography, and astronomy as well as some talent as an inventor. To this he had added, as a result of his cruising in the Pacific, some knowledge of diplomacy and geopolitics. But Virginia’s secession changed all that. It was a time of war, not peace, and the opportunities in Brooke’s fields of accomplishment were slight. So Brooke turned to naval ordnance and shipbuilding, areas of vital importance to the Confederacy in which he had shown little interest and had no specific training.

In 1860 after his return to Washington, Brooke had considerable correspondence with Secretary of the Navy Toucey and must have gotten to know him quite well. It seems to have been a smooth relationship, as Toucey granted his requests without quibble. For example, when Brooke reported that from San Francisco he had brought home Edward Kern, his draftsman, and two other members of the Fenimore Cooper’s crew, John Rodgers warned him that Charles W. Welsh, chief clerk of the Navy Department, had said bringing home the men was irregular and that Brooke ought to have waited for instructions from the Department.¹² But the secretary informed Brooke that the Department approves your course under the circumstances.¹³

In the 1850s Brooke had invented the Brooke Deep Sea Sounding Lead, which made it possible to sound the sea over two thousand fathoms deep and by bringing up a sample from the ocean floor to prove the bottom had been reached. This discovery greatly stimulated the laying of a cable across the Atlantic. Cruising in foreign waters and associating closely with the Japanese did not diminish Brooke’s interest in scientific matters. Two months after his return to the United States, Brooke wrote to Cyrus Field, the philanthropist who promoted the laying of the Atlantic cable, Having been absent from the U.S. for some two years I am desirous of learning something in relation to the Atlantic telegraph project.¹⁴ There is nothing in the Brooke Papers to indicate that Field ever replied.

While Brooke was concerned with Lizzie’s poor health, publishing of the Pacific charts, the establishment of strong relations with Japan, and the laying of the Atlantic cable, he was directed by the secretary of the navy to testify at a court martial to be held at the navy yard in Boston, Massachusetts.¹⁵ The case involved Lt. Charles E. Thorburn, who had served under Brooke as the only other officer on the Fenimore Cooper. The two officers had parted company in Japan, Brooke returning to America in the Japanese warship Kanrin Maru and Thorburn returning with the Japanese Embassy staff on the U.S. warship Powhatan. The American vessel had proceeded from Japan to San Francisco and thence to Panama. The charge against Thorburn was deserting from his station, and the specification was "that Thorburn on or about May 15, 1860 left without permission the U.S.S. Powhatan on which he was then stationed. He was accused of leaving the ship, which was then at Panama, with the intent to desert." The court found Thorburn guilty of being absent without leave and sentenced him to be dismissed from the service. Although Brooke had complained in his journals of Thorburn’s inefficiencies, that officer requested that Brooke be present at the trial as a character witness. Though present at the trial, Brooke was not called to the stand.¹⁶ President James Buchanan and Secretary Toucey approved the sentence but remitted the sentence to permit Thorburn to resign. Perhaps Brooke intervened in Thorburn’s behalf.

While in Boston at the time of the trial Brooke wrote to Lizzie, who had moved to Washington. When he wrote, his plans were indefinite, but he was eager to return to her and Anna. He noted, however, that a rail-road runs to Plymouth which is in sight from Duxbury and I have half a notion of going there one day to see my relatives. It takes two hours to go to Plymouth and less than an hour to Duxbury. Yet I cannot make up my mind to go if I can start for home sooner by not going…. If you were only here we could pay a visit together to my Yankee relatives…. The Great Eastern attracts much attention [and] if your health permits I will stop a day in New York to see her and talk to William. But I wish to see you and Anna so much that I can hardly make up my mind to delay at all.¹⁷ Correspondence indicates that Brooke did visit Duxbury at that time. Lizzie apparently had had tuberculosis for a long time, and her ill health was a constant worry to Brooke.

On 28 June, Brooke submitted to Secretary Toucey a detailed Estimate of expenses for the ensuing fiscal year to prepare a report of the Route between California and China.¹⁸ The total amount of $4,640 was quickly approved by the secretary, who told Brooke to regard himself on special duty under this Department for preparation of the survey charts.¹⁹ The secretary showed his confidence in Brooke at that time when he proposed ordering him to Chiriqui [on the Caribbean coast of Panama] under Capt. [Frederick] Engle to survey that port and the one on the West Coast of Golfita [in Costa Rica on the Pacific side of the isthmus], although the next day Brooke noted that Secretary Toucey withdrew the proposition in consequence of my wife’s ill health.²⁰ Certainly Toucey was acquainted with Brooke’s vast experience as a surveyor in foreign waters.

While many Americans in 1860 were absorbed in the question of slavery and African Americans, Brooke attempted to shed light upon the obscure relation of races. This came about because when he was in San Francisco following the voyage of the Kanrin Maru, he and some of the Japanese from the ship visited Capt. J. B. Frisbie’s plantation in Vallejo where they met Martinez, supposedly an Indian boy who had been taken into the Frisbie family. A number of the guests remarked on how much Martinez resembled the Japanese. Brooke’s friend Manjiro Nakahama, who was highly intelligent, noticed that several words used by Martinez’s tribe were identical to Japanese. When Brooke reached Washington he found that there was considerable interest in the subject, so he asked Frisbie to get more words from Martinez’s tribe to compare with Japanese. Two months later, at Secretary Toucey’s request, Brooke described the incident in detail. He then elaborated on his view that over a long period of time shipwrecked Japanese had been carried east by the currents and washed ashore in America. Even though this subject was occupying the attention of many scholars, the inferno of war would divert Brooke from any further study of the subject.²¹

On the Fenimore Cooper, Brooke had had to assume the duties of purser, and by late July he had settled the accounts of his expedition with a balance due him of $191.44. But he was soon ordered by the Bureau of Ordnance and Hydrography to compensate for two Colt pistols he had given away in line of duty on the Cooper: one to the American consul in Yokohama during disturbances and the other to the governor of Tanegasima for refreshments and aid in obtaining observations etc. on shore. Brooke was told that the Bureau of Ordnance and Hydrography had decided it had no power to sanction the expenditure of arms as presents to persons abroad.²²

On 21 July, having settled the accounts of the Cooper and being worried about Lizzie’s health, Brooke took a month’s leave with her and Anna, then four years old. They apparently visited relatives in eastern Virginia between the James and the York Rivers. Despite the joy of being together, there was a cloud of foreboding. While in Hampton, Lizzie, who must have had a premonition of early death, wrote her husband and daughter letters that were not to be opened until after her death. This would occur four years later, and in the meantime her failing health hung as a cloud over John Brooke.

The first reference in the Brooke Papers to the political situation in 1860 was a letter from Brooke’s old shipmate John Van McCollum six weeks before the election. McCollum, born in Illinois and a native of Wisconsin, had entered the navy five days before Brooke. They had served together as passed midshipmen on the North Pacific Expedition and with the Mediterranean Squadron. In 1859 McCollum had resigned from the service and entered the mill business in Erie, Pennsylvania. He wrote:

I am sorry your wife is not strong…. I must say viva the Democratic Party…. Although somewhat scared I do not think honest Old Abe will be elected…. In this section the Union and Douglass parties will vote together, and so it will be in the border Southern States. In the rest of the Southern States I am inclined to think Bell will beat Breckenridge.

Douglass is to speak here on the 21st. He appears to be the only person capable of getting up a furor. I have seen several Abolition turnouts in favor of Lincoln. At none of them was there the show of enthusiasm….

I am still milling. Paying very little attention to politics and my object in mentioning the noisy subject at all is just to let you know who I am supporting viz Douglass for Prest and Foster for Gov. Breckenridge was my choice before the announciation [sic] at Baltimore. But I am sorry to say I must now regard him as the most politically dead man in the whole United States. I don’t think he can carry more than five Southern States. His true policy would be to withdraw from the field in favor of Bell.²³

Like his friend McCollum, Brooke had little time for politics. Responding to orders of the secretary of the navy, Brooke in October filed a brief statement of the progress that had been made, during the current year in the work under my charge, its present condition, and the portions of it yet to be completed:

Since the 7th July, when the preparation of the report was commenced, the meridian differences between San Francisco, Honolulu, Guam, Hong Kong, Loo Choo and Kanagawa, primary stations in the survey of the route between California and China, have been determined after a careful examination and comparison interse or rates etc. of the chronometers of the F. Cooper, and with those of the Vincennes.

It is gratifying to find that the results are excellent.

The observations determining intermediate points, reefs, shoals and coastlines are now in process of reduction.

The deep sea soundings are under discussion; the specimens, obtained from depths ranging from 12,000 to 19,800 feet, are being examined by eminent microscientists with results of great interest.

There remains to be completed, the plotting of the work, and the report upon the results, embracing determinations of positions (final) of reefs, shoals and islands, with surveys of positions of the Coasts of Japan, causes of storms, routes to be prepared etc.²⁴

It is obvious that on the eve of the Civil War, Brooke was busy and still had much to do.

John Brooke could not get Lizzie’s poor health out of his mind. In October she gave him a second letter to be opened on her death, having left some things unsaid in her letter written in Hampton in the spring. The October letter shows how much religion meant to Brooke’s wife. All I ask for my child, she wrote, is that she sh’ld be religious, and if we do all we can, we must trust the aid to God—as long as she is with you let her say her prayers to you, as she does to me, commence from the very first. God bless you both and make you His own servants is the Prayer of Yr devoted and loving Wife.²⁵

While absorbed in a variety of activities Brooke received evidence that his duties on the Kanrin Maru had been well done. Before leaving San Francisco he had alerted the minister of foreign affairs of the Kingdom of Hawaii that the Japanese corvette Kanrin Maru would arrive in Honolulu en route to Japan. The minister replied: I had great pleasure in receiving … your letter of the 5th April, advising me of the rank and character of the Admiral, Captain and officers of the Japanese Steam Corvette…. The King and His ministers looked upon it as an act of great and very considerate kindness in you, to anticipate to us that useful information.²⁶

Secretary of the Navy Isaac Toucey’s annual report to Congress dated 1 December 1860 was of much interest to Brooke. The secretary reported the arrival of the Japanese Embassy staff in the Powhatan and described in detail Brooke’s work on the Fenimore Cooper and the Kanrin Maru, basing his statements on Brooke’s report to him. No doubt this was gratifying. But for the future, what the secretary said about the state of the navy was of intense interest to an officer who would soon be fighting the U.S. Navy. Toucey had appointed a board of officers … to examine the sailing ships of the Navy in order to determine the expediency of converting them into efficient war steamers. The board found that it is not expedient to introduce steam power into the brigs, sloops, and frigates, but that it is expedient to introduce it into these ships-of-the-line, except the Delaware, now too defective to permit it, and by razing them to convert them into first class steam frigates. The secretary stated that there were seven steam frigates, including the Merrimac, a screw frigate of thirty-two hundred tons that was stationed at Norfolk. These forty gun ships, carrying mixed batteries of eight- and nine-inch guns, had cost an average of $725,000. The Merrimac had been built at Charlestown, Massachusetts, in 1855, but the secretary reported that its engines should be renewed. Toucey was a conscientious secretary of the navy and earnestly recommended the policy of a gradual, substantial, and permanent increase of the Navy, accompanied by the universal introduction into it of the motive power of steam. Looking ahead, Toucey, a former member of the House of Representatives and senator from Connecticut, warned: "The provision in the act of Congress of June 23, 1860, which prohibits the purchase of patented articles for the use of the Army and Navy will be found