. • I&i;>i.^!^^ ' (TcrvncU ^nircvj^itn Bi^vavt) BOUGHT WITH THE INCOME FROM THE SAGE ENDOWMENT FUND THE GIFT OF Hctirg m. Sage , 1891 f|,2.^oM? i^lxuj'-^ 9724 Cornell University Library GC30.M45 C79 by Life of Matthew Fontaine Maury. Cornp. 3 1924 029 975 053 olin p^ Cornell University Library The original of tliis book is in tlie Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924029975053 A LIFE MATTHEW FONTAINE MAURY, U.S.N. AND C.S.N. AUTHOR OP 'PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY OP THE SEA AND ITS METEOROLOGY.' COMPILED BY HIS DAUGHTER, DIANA FONTAINE MAUEY COEBIN. LONDON: SAMPSON LOW, MAESTON, SEAELE, & EIVINGTON, LIMITED, Fetter Lane, Fleet Street, E.G. 1888. {All rights reserved.'] e.V- ; / / ft.Z.«0(s\? LONDOX PRINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND 80N3, LIMITED, STAMFORD STKEET AND CHAKi'nG CROSS. TO ANN HERNDON MAURY, THE LOVING WIFE AHD TENDER MOTHER, THIS VOLUME 'The heart of her husband doth safely trust in her." ' Her children also shall rise up and call her blessed." PREFACE. My object in the preparation of this biography is to establish the claim of its subject to a place among the greatest bene- factors of his race ; and to demonstrate, especially to the youth of his beloved country, how a man may be both great and good, mighty in mind and pure in heart, I have endeavoured fitly to show how he persisted in the path of duty even when it led to poverty and exile ; how he threw into any work he undertook his whole heart ; and how, after a life of exceptional fidelity to earthly obligation, as a Christian philosopher he met and triumphed over death. Much matter of value to such a memoir perished during the war, though more remained than I have as yet been able satisfactorily to use. From a mass of letters and other docu- ments collected during several years by my sister, Mrs. James E. Werth, this volume has been mainly made up ; but the limits to which I felt obliged to confine myself have excluded not a little I wished it to embrace. h PREFACE. I desire gratefully to acknowledge the assistance of my cousin, Gen. Dabney H. Maury, who has furnished several graceful sketches included in the work ; and of another kinsman, Col. Wm. W. Blackford, who has supplied help of a similar nature. My sincere thanks are also due to Professor L. M. Black- ford, of the Episcopal High School, near Alexandria, and his talented wife, for their criticisms, alterations, and additions to this work. A LIFE OF MATTHEW FONTAINE MAURY, U.S.N. AND C.S.N. CHAPTEE I. Ancestry of Matthew Fontaine Maury—Virginian Planters—Huguenots in Virginia—The Eev. James Maury—His School and Scholars—Thomas Jefferson and the Great North-West — Eichard Maury and Diana Maury—Birth of Matthew Fontaine Maury—Emigration to Tennessee —State of society in Tennessee—Occupations and amusements of Maury and his brothers—Eeligious training—School life. The subject of the present biography was one whose life- story deserves to be studied and held in reverence, not only by that great American nation which produced him, but by the whole civilised world ; for the best part of his life was devoted to the performance of services which conferred benefits on the seafaring classes of aU countries, while the ideas to which he first gave birth have since borne fruit, and are likely to be useful to the whole human race. In Maury we find two characteristics, each valuable in itself, but which almost invariably produce great results when they are combined. He was endowed with extraordinary powers of application and unflaggiag industry in working out the dryest details. But he also possessed a vivid imagination, so that the dry bones of his new science were endowed with life and interest by the magic touch of his descriptive pen. B 2 LIFE OF MA TTHE W FONTAINE MA UR Y. It was Maury who created the science of the physical geography of the sea, and gave that impetus to its study which, in other hands, continues to produce results alike of practical and speculative importance. The higher qualities of the illustrious hydrographer, his self-denying zeal, his single-minded patriotism, his private virtues, will appear in the course of the narrative. It is desirable |that the student of Maury's life should know something of the stock from which he was derived. Matthew Fontaine Maury was descended from a Huguenot family on the father's side, while his maternal ancestor received a grant of land in Virginia from King Charles II. Dudas Minor, in whose favour this grant was made in 1665, was an English gentleman who became the ancestor of the family of Minor in Virginia ; branches of which have since moved into Louisiana, Missouri, Kentucky, and other Southern States. The Virginian planters formed a colonial aristocracy with practical exemption from taxation, great command of labour, and almost a monopoly in the pro- duction of tobacco. Some of these planters possessed estates of such extent that they amounted to principalities. Lord Fairfax owned all the land between the waters of the Potomac and the Eappahannock. Twenty-six of the finest counties of Virginia were the property of a single nobleman but little over a century ago, whose descendants of to-day do not own an acre of that vast inheritance. Many of the Virginian estates were granted by Queen Anne, and some are still held under deeds from her. She was a favourite in Virginia, was good Queen Anne, and her name was bestowed upon a whole system of rivers.* In the revolutionary war the Virginian planters displayed a patriotic munificence which sufficiently proved their wealth. On one occasion * The Korth Anna, South Anna, Eivanna, Fluvianna, and Eapid Ann, perpetuate her memory. THE VIRGINIANS. Governor ISTelson bought 1000 horses for the service of his State ; on another he subscribed 200,000 dollars. Mann Page, afterwards governor, fed Washington's army for a week from the supplies of his own plantations. These Virginians had become a proud and happy race. It is to them we owe that scheme of civil liberty which has blessed the American people, and is to-day extending its happy influences over the world. Inheriting ample fortunes, they were educated in the best schools of the old country, whence they returned to their estates, and passed their lives in contemplating the great possibilities awaiting the new world, and in devising the means by wliich the capabilities of their adopted country could be developed. Living like patriarchs, served by the willing hands of kindly slaves, freed from all monetary cares, with minds stored with the pre- cedents of history, and knowing no short cuts to knowledge, these men thought out and finally proclaimed that plan of self-government which is to-day the admiration and desire of all the peoples of the earth. Thus George Mason of Gunston composed that "Bill of Eights of Virginia," on which Jefferson afterwards based the Declaration of Indepen- dence of the United States. The Church of England was the only church of the colony. Its edifices, built of English bricks, still stand amidst the graves of old Virginia. Many of them are empty and silent now, serving only as monuments of the dead generations of a noble race. Others have been repaired and modernised by the iconoclasts of these times, and still resound with the grand old ritual of the Church. Into this Virginian community the Huguenots came, bringing with them the simple service of their creed, the influence of which is still felt in the Low Church observ- ances of their adopted country. These Huguenots, after the Eevocation of the Edict of Nantes, became a persecuted B 2 4 LIFE OF MATTHEW FONTAINE MAURY. community. Some abjured their religion, for the penalties of of nonconformity were cruel ; but many thousands braver spirits, who spurned the offers and defied the threats of Louvois, left France for ever and braved exile and poverty for their faith. They brought with them their names, their courage, and their resolve to worship God according to their consciences. In Virginia they could have no grants of land, for all was already occupied. But they had absolute freedom to think, to work, and to worship God in their own way, amidst a people who welcomed and loved them for their fidelity to a common faith. Amongst these exiles the families of Fontaine and Maury, who had borne a prominent part in the resistance offered by the Huguenots of France to the dragonnades of Louvois, arrived in Virginia in 1714. Identified in a common cause and a common misfortune, they were connected by marriage before leaving France, and became still more closely affiliated in Virginia. In 1722 the Eev. James Fontaine wrote his autobiography, when he was sixty-four years of age, beginning the record of his family with the birth of his ancestor, Jean de la Fontaine, who was born in the year 1500. This worthy resided in the province of Maine, near the borders of Normandy. He was a staunch supporter of the Protestant Church, and occupied an elevated position at Court. But, having become a convert in about 1535, he was hated on account of his zeal for the pure worship of God, and it was deemed expedient to get rid of so prominent a heretic as soon as possible. Charles IX. was then in his minority, and Catherine de Medici held almost unlimited power.