The day book. [volume] (Norfolk, Va.) 1857-1867, 1866-07-14
The Naval oGicers of the South.


A day or two ago we announced that Com
modore John R. Tucker, late of the Confedc.
rate Navy but formerly Of the Navy Of thu
United States, had arrived in Lima, Peru
with tive of his brother officers who hat
served with him in both the United States
and Confederate Maryland that the services
of these officers had been secured by the Pc
ruvian Government. These gallant Southern
gentlemen we regard as more fortunate than
the most, if not all, of their confreres, who
like them relinquished their positions IN The
old Navy upon principles OF honor and duty
to cast their lot with the fortunes OF Their re-
spective States, to which they conceived they
first owed allegiance, and to whose call they
were prompt to respond. The sacrlilces they
made do not seem to have been appreciated
as they should have been by the Southern
people Trained from early youth, if moi
boyhood, upon the ships deck, and Compare
lively united for other pursuits except. that
of the seaman, the results of the war, have
not only left them entirely penniless and
without means to support their families, but
in position in which they fnd themselge
comparatively without those qualifications
which are looked for and required In the
business avocations on shore, which are closed
against them for those whose experience is
more available
rhe case of these officers is one which
should elicit the universal sympathy of the
South. They, above perhaps all other classes
of the Southern community, made the most
unsel6sh sacrifices. They not only relih-
pushed their positions and standing In the
old Navy, but as has proved, they gave up
absolutely all the living that they bad-cast-
inc their lot fully, entirely and without re-
serve, with the fortunes of the cause, which
conscientious appreciation Of their duty de-
manded.
In different position we urged the APP
pointment Of these DEVOTED men to principle
and duty, to positions 1.-THE National Express
Company. We thought that the DISCIPLINE
airy training through which they had passed
would admirably tit them for posts where
order, regularity and system formed essen
tal elements in the conduct of the business
Of the Company, but our recommendation
was not needed nor appreciated as the merits
Of those officers, as we conceived, demanded.
1t has been remarked that naval men, owing
to the school of discipline to which We have
made allusion, make good farmers, whenever
their attention has been given to this pursuit,
In which order, regularity and system are so
necessary to successful operations, But,
those destitute officers have no farms, nor
have they means essential to the commence
ment even Of agricultural pursuits. Apart
from this, they are generally welded to their
profession and would prefer to exercise their
talents and skill on the element upon which
they have been reared and for hich they are
better qualified than for any other pursuit IN
life
ho,ya al1 tal In, ltc Of bo
war as the fortunes of war, and are now as
true to their ''uationap relations as any other
class of men in the country 1t would be a
noble work if the wealthy merchants in our
great commercial and seaboard centres, would
take into consideration the position and adj
mlrable qualifications Of those self-sacrihcing
Southern officers, and provide for them posi-
tons in the merchant marine for which they
are 50 pre-eminently adapted. AS an exam
pie Of the destitution OF the class, we copy
the following in the Baltimore Transcript
from its admirable article upon the merits Of
these Southern naval officers The Tran
script says
mo class OF Southern men engaged in the
late war has been involved in greater calami-
ties by their connection with the resistance to
the United States Government than the
great deal of sympathy has been expressed
Tor almost everybody else, the men who are
the greatest sufferers of all scarcely ever re-
eelve kind or appreciatve word. We have
heard of one of these gentlemen coming not
long ago to Maryland on Southern steamer,
who had not the means Of procuring a state
room, or even of paying for meal on board.
With his little wallet of bread and cheese,
and the deck for his bed, this veteran seaman,
who had been thirty years in the service of
Tie United States, and whose remarkable
efficiency in his profession had not only been
conceded by his brother officers, but extorted
on one occasion an emphatic compliment from
nigh British naval authority, came back from
Southern port in a plight that a powder
monkey might have pited. Sober, energetic,
competent, the one error of honestly believ-
ing that his supreme allegiance was due to
hts native State, Virginia, has made hope
less wreck of the fortunes of as brave and
thorough-going an officer as ever trod yes
sells deck. Nor is this by any means a soi-
'ary instance. The cases of extreme poverty
among them are numerous"