Stephen Russell Mallory (1812 – November 9, 1873) was a Democratic senator from Florida from 1851 to the secession of his home state and the outbreak of the American Civil War. For much of that period, he was chairman of the Committee on Naval Affairs. It was a time of rapid naval reform, and he insisted that the ships of the US Navy should be as capable as those of Britain and France, the foremost navies in the world at that time. He also wrote a bill and guided it through Congress to provide for compulsory retirement of officers who did not meet the standards of the profession.
Although he was not a leader in the secession movement, Mallory followed his state out of the Union. When the Confederate States of America was formed, he was named Secretary of the Navy in the administration of President Jefferson Davis. He held the position throughout the existence of the Confederacy. Because of indifference to naval matters by most others in the Confederacy, Mallory was able to shape the Confederate Navy according to the principles he had learned while serving in the US Senate. Some of his ideas, such as the incorporation of armor into warship construction, were quite successful and became standard in navies around the world. On the other hand, the navy was often handicapped by administrative ineptitude in the Navy Department. During the war, he was weakened politically by a Congressional investigation into the Navy Department for its failure in defense of New Orleans. After months of taking testimony, the investigating committee concluded that it had no evidence of wrongdoing on his part. (Read more on Wikipedia)
Library of Congress Prints & Photographs
Title: [Stephen R. Mallory, Senator from Florida, Thirty-fifth Congress, half-length portrait]
Creator: Vannerson, Julian, 1827-, photographer
Date Created/Published: [1859]
Medium: 1 photographic print : salted paper ; 19.7 x 14.3 cm.
Reproduction Number: LC-DIG-ppmsca-26822 (digital file from original item)
Rights Advisory: No known restrictions on publication.
Call Number: Illus. in JK1012.M35 1859 (Case X) [P&P]
Repository: Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/pp.print
Notes:
…..Illus. in: McClees’ gallery of photographic portraits of the senators, representatives & delegates of the thirty-fifth Congress… Washington: McClees & Beck, [1859], page 283.
…..Each item includes subject’s original signature in ink.
…..Title devised by Library staff based on name provided in book’s index.
https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2010649422/
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Mike’s notes:
Note – This image has been digitally adjusted for one or more of the following:
– fade correction,
– color, contrast, and/or saturation enhancement
– selected spot and/or scratch removal
– cropped for composition and/or to accentuate subject