Stephen Russell Mallory

Stephen Russell Mallory (1812 – November 9, 1873) served in the United States Senate as Senator (Democrat) from Florida from 1850 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. This was a time of rapid naval reform, and he insisted that the ships of the United States Navy should be as capable as those of Great Britain and France, the foremost navies in the world at that time. He also wrote a bill, and guided it through Congress, that provided 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 U.S. 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.
Mallory resigned after the Confederate government had fled from Richmond at the end of the war, and he and several of his colleagues in the cabinet were imprisoned and charged with treason. After more than a year in prison, the public mood had softened, and he was granted parole by President Andrew Johnson. He returned to Florida, where he supported his family in his final years by again practicing law. Unable to hold elective office by the terms of his parole, he continued to make his opinions known by writing letters to newspapers. His health began to deteriorate, although he was not incapacitated until the very end. He died on November 9, 1873.
== Antebellum ==
== Service Record == 
December 26, 1860 - April 14, 1861: Operations in Charleston Harbor, South Carolina	Dispatches	 	
* At the outbreak of the war, Stephen Mallory was a United States Senator from Florida
* He resigned his post on January 21, 1861 and left to work in the Confederate government
These dispatches were compiled with primary source materials from The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies (Chapter 1)	
 
 
 CONTENTS
 
 (US SOWai) Joseph Holt
* At the outbreak of the war, Joseph Holt was the Postmaster General of the United States
* After the resignation of John Floyd, Holt was appointed Secretary of War ad interim on January 18, 1861
* He served in this capacity until March 4, 1861 when he was replaced by Simon Cameron 
{|	To Mallory:	From Mallory:
 	 	 	
== Post-War Career ==
== Family ==
== Notes ==
== Sources ==
* 
* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Mallory
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