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Stephen Russell Mallory (circa 1811–1873)


On February 21, 1861, Stephen Mallory, a prominent citizen of Florida with a reputation as the best-informed man in the South on naval warfare, was appointed as Jefferson Davis’s secretary of the navy. He succeeded in building a navy where none had previously existed.

He purchased warships in Europe, refurbished captured federal vessels, and, when possible, armed Southern-owned ships then in Confederate ports. Under his direction, the Confederacy built formidable ironclad vessels and put into service the first submarine to sink an enemy ship in action.


Unidentified photographer
Daguerreotype, circa 1852
National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution

 

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