Maury

“ The life of Maury fell on times when there were at work other currents than those of sea and river. Political passions blew to a gale and the nation drifted to Civil war. His supreme sense of duty, and loyalty to his own State, was the current that bore him away from Washington and stranded him in the final wreck of the Southern Confederacy. In those unhappy times no man sacrificed more than Maury. He not only resigned his high position at Washington, but turned his back upon tempting offers from Russia and France, in order to suffer affliction with his own people. ”

“ Maury died on 31st December 1755.
Her son was the Rev. James Maury. He paid a visit to England in 1742, when he received ordination from the Bishop of London. On his return he became minister of Fredericksville parish, Louisa county. He married a niece of Colonel Walker, described as the chief person in the Ohio Company, in whose territory he settled. His letters to his uncles in England (to whom he signs himself sometimes “Your dutiful nephew and affectionate friend” — sometimes, “Yours affectionately and dutifully,”) show him to have been a sensible and able man. ”

“ But fortunately for Maury nothing could be found prejudicial against his character and his record in the files of the Navy Department, and he exulted over the fact that he had never tripped in his youth. He became disgusted with all the accusations and insinuations that had been aroused, and declared that they were heart-sickening to a man who loved to live at peace with all the world. ”

“ Maury’s address, which is quoted in its entirety as an example of his oratorical power, was as follows: “Ladies and Gentlemen: This greeting and the terms in which my old preceptor and early friend has brought me into this presence fill me with emotions difficult to utter. I thank you for your goodness.
“Physical geography makes the whole world kin. ”

“ Such, in brief, was the life of Maury as a lad in his adopted state,—a state which he came to love and to which he referred years afterwards, when he had traveled extensively and become a famous man, as “the loveliest of lands” and “the finest country I have ever seen”. Here he was nurtured with the best the frontier6 life had to offer, and given independence of mind, courage, and self-reliance; love of honor and a chivalrous respect for woman ”

“ Captain Maury's mind was occupied in wide, diversified fields, while his kinsman's ambition and abilities were centered on the community in which he lived, and yet each was proud of the other's success and when the man of science saw the deep and widespread grief of a whole community, caused by my father's death, he would sometimes say that perhaps Walker had chosen the better part in gathering in such a harvest of love. ”

“ Never, never; the attempt to do it will only make the country suffer.
Sir, the name of Maury is endeared to every American heart. It is a name that will live as long as the odium which attaches to the inquisitorial action of the retiring board shall be remembered; and that will be forever. If the venerable Senator from Delaware had only confined himself to the use of a drag-net on these officers, and had not employed official scavengers and pimps to minister to his appetite, and enable him to assail Maury as he has done, it would have been well for him. ”

“ When he was four years old his parents moved to Tennessee and settled near Franklin. Maury assisted his father and brothers on the farm, and lived the life of the early settler in a new country. He thus became a sturdy, healthy boy. Here in the wilderness schools and churches were alike few and far between, and the education of the pioneer’s children was derived at home, or in the “old held school.” Plain living and high thinking was the motto in the Maury household. ”

“ The boldness of his character and language inspired words which even avenge a defeat, and his fine countenance, his sonorous voice, his commanding gesture, the defiance and good temper with which he braved the tribunes, frequently drew down the applauses of his enemies. The people, who recognised his invincible strength, were amused at his impotent opposition. Maury was to them as one of those gladiators whom they like to see fight, although well knowing that they must perish in the strife. One thing was wanting to the Abbé Maury,—weight to his eloquence ”

“ Next morning Major Flowerree, adjutant-general of my division, was sent under a flag of truce to General Grant to make inquiry about Lieutenant Maury. To our grief and surprise, he returned in the evening with the report that nothing was known of him by the Federal commander; but with courteous assurances from General Grant and Admiral Porter, who knew young Maury well, that they would take all possible means to ascertain if he had been taken prisoner by any party of theirs, and would communicate to me the earliest intelligence they could procure. ”

“ With reverence we record to-day the death of our illustrious associate. The latest to enter our Faculty, he was the oldest man of our number. All accorded to him the respect due to his years, but with a far profounder sentiment, all rendered to him the homage that is the meed of fame.
We claim the solemn pre-eminence over every other institution known to history, when upon the register of our dead, we add to the name of Stonewall Jackson, the name of Commodore Maury. ”

“ General Maury 's career in the Confederate army is history.
The niche assigned him in the temple of fame is a high one. It is in more than one respect unique. A distinguished soldier of the Confederacy remarked to the writer recently, that had General Maury achieved in the East the things which he achieved in the Army of the West, his final rank would have been higher and his fame greater.
As it is, he is known to the student of Confederate history as one of the bravest, one of the most skillful, and one of the hardest fighters in the Southern army. ”

“ Rutson Maury of New York: Fredericksburg, Virginia, August 31st, 1840
Dear Rutson,
My panacea, for ennui is the pen. There is no time hardly, when I enjoy more refined pleasures than when, deprived of companions, I dip into the ink-stand for friends that are far away. Therefore, I seldom or never feel lonesome. But, I account for the fact rather from an accident of education, than from any peculiarity of natural disposition.
When I became old enough to reflect, it was the aim at which all my energies were directed to make myself a useful man. ”

“ Maury never after slighted good literature, though he may have somewhat undervalued the classical languages, which he would hardly have done had he remained with his great friend Bishop Otey, for he was devoted to the Classics and had taught them in the University of North Carolina. Indeed a writer from Frankfort, Ky., criticises Maury for being too narrow in regard to the acquisition of languages in his school ship for the Navy. ”

“ Sievers has shown Maury in a reminiscent mood, representing him at that period of his life when he had achieved his greatest discoveries. In his right hand are the pencil and the compass, and in his left hand a chart. Against his chair is the Bible, from which he drew inspiration for his explorations. The sculptor has caught amazingly the spirit of the man.”—From Richmond (Va.) Times. ”

“ The scheme of colonization was abandoned by the emperor (1866) , and Maury, who had lost nearly his all during the war, settled for a while in England, where he was presented with a testimonial raised by public subscription, and among other honours received the degree of LL.D. of Cambridge University (1868) . In the same year, a general amnesty admitting of his return to America, he accepted the professorship of meteorology in the Virginia Military Institute, and settled at Lexington, Virginia, where he died on the 1st of February 1873. ”

“ M. F. Maury.
Maury's address at the laying of the corner-stone of the University of the South, on the Sewanee Mountains in East Tennessee, was delivered at the request of Bishop Otey on Nov. 30th. 1860. "Physical geography," he said, "makes the whole world kin. ”

“ Every feature and lineament of his bright countenance bespoke intellect, kindliness, and force of character. His fine blue eyes beamed from under his broad forehead with thought and emotion, while his flexible mouth smiled with the pleasure of imparting to others the ideas which were ever welling up in his active brain. In early manhood his head was well covered with fine soft, wavy brown hair which became thin before he reached middle age. Latterly, he was quite bald, as is shown in Valentine’s fine bust, taken when Maury was sixty years of age. ”

“ Maury—a Master Genius Matthew Fontaine Maury
Of all the famous men who went from Fredericksburg to take large parts in the rapidly moving history of America, or in the work of the world, Commodore Maury added most to the progress of science. Not only did he create knowledge, but he created wealth by the immense saving he effected to shipping by charting shorter ocean routes. He is buried in Hollywood Cemetery, in Richmond, under a simple shaft which bears the name, “Matthew Fontaine Maury.” ”

“ Maury, Director of the Observatory, Washington.
Paris, Feb. 24th, 1860.
Dear Sir,
I hasten to transmit to you by the present courier a letter of Admiral Mathieu's relative to the present which we are preparing for you of our hydrographical collections. I make to you also on this occasion my very sincere compliments. You should be convinced, dear sir, that we shall always be disposed to be useful or agreeable to you. I only regret that we are not able to send you something of importance on the subject of winds and currents; but we are scarcely yet organized. ”

“ Maury in England—Orders from the Confederate Secretary of the Navy to proceed to England—Leaves Charleston with his youngest son—Maury organizes a society in England to promote cessation of hostilities—Petition to the United States for peace—Letter from a chronometer-maker offering Maury a home—Letters about his son at school in England, and on news from home—Congratulation to the Archduke Maximilian on going to Mexico. Torpedo warfare was re-introduced to the world by our civil war, and it was the practical mind of Maury which appreciated its power and developed its efficiency. ”

“ After being engaged on surveying work for more than a year, Maury obtained a few weeks leave to visit his parents in Tennessee, and attend to some business matters for his father, who was now old and infirm. He also wished to make arrangements for bringing his parents into Virginia to live with him. On his way back to New York he was thrown from the top of a stagecoach, he having given his seat inside to a poor woman who could not stand the exposure of the cold night air. Maury’s leg was broken at the knee. ”

“ One sentiment of honor actuated every heart, and each divided cheerfully with the other, furnishing a striking illustration of the power of example in officers over their subordinates. Had the former claimed a larger share, or allowed suffering and famine to render them selfish, those men would have become wild beasts. Lieutenant Maury especially exhibited the noblest traits that adorn human nature; I say especially, because he was the chief hunter, and could at any time, unknown to the rest, have appropriated to himself at least some of the nuts he obtained. ”

“ It was from this Spotsylvania home, in 1810, that Richard Maury, heeding the call of the West, set out with his family, by the wagon trail, for the Blue Grass Region of Tennessee, and settled on the Big Harpeth River near Franklin. That tedious journey of more than 500 miles may be more easily imagined than described, but at last it ended on the borderland of the Golden West. They were again domiciled—father, mother, and eight children, all except John Minor, a lad of seventeen, already four years a midshipman in the United States Navy. ”

“ Mellin Chamberlain, late Librarian of Congress, in calm judicial tone, has declared, 'I do not suppose there is the least doubt that Maury was the greatest man America has ever produced.'
"A bill to honor Commodore Maury, with an appropriate monument, lies mouldering in the archives of Congress. It will some day see the light. During the last years of Maury's life the smoke of a great conflict gathered about him and hid his face from the National Government; but the smoke is fast lifting, and the healthy breezes of a great national fraternity will soon blow it far away. ”

“ Maury had written in vain, in February and again in August, 1839, to F. R. Hassler of the United States Coast Survey offering his services as head of a triangulation party. This was one of the several attempts he made at different times to find work of such a nature as to justify his resignation from the navy. By such small threads often hangs a man’s destiny. ”

“ That Maury’s fame and honor may ever grow greater and that his life’s work may be an inspiration for ax future Pathfinder of the Air appears a sufficient reason for the publication of this biography by his brother officers of the Navy. ”

“ My aunt Maury is, I understand, somewhat better in health than usual, though but crazy. She lives where my uncle lived. Aby Maury is the only child she has with her. He acts the part of a dutiful son and a worthy young man. He carries on the business of a merchant.
My cousin, the Rev. James Maury, has removed from King William, and lives in Louisa County, in the upper parish; he is much beloved by his parishioners, and has a pretty income. ”

“ Walker Maury, son of the James Maury of whom I have spoken, was conducting a large and admirable classical school in Orange County, and having been induced to remove it to Williamsburg in 1782, as a sort of appendage to William and Mary College, where there was then no professor of "the Humanities," it speedily attained a great reputation for elegance and thoroughness of scholarship, not only in Virginia, but throughout all the Southern colonies. More than one hundred pupils were in attendance from Maryland to Georgia inclusive. ”