CDV John Mercer Brooke & Daughter – Confederate Naval Commander – SOLD

Description

CDV John Mercer Brooke & Daughter – Confederate Naval Commander.

Confederate States Naval Commander, Inventor, Professor.  He entered the United States Navy as a midshipman Class of 1847.  Brooke resigned his commission on April 20, 1861, he entered the Virginia state navy, then the Confederate navy, with the rank of Lieutenant. Early in June, he met with Secretary of the Navy Stephen R. Mallory to discuss the possible use of ironclads. After he assured Mallory that the South was capable of building its own, the secretary appointed him his inspecting officer for the conversion of the USS Merrimack into an armored ship.  USS Merrimack could become the CSS Virginia, the South’s first ironclad. During the project, friction developed when the ship’s constructor, John L. Porter, claimed credit for the Virginia’s design. Though Mallory interceded to credit him, he loss of interest in the ironclad program. Promoted to Commander on September 13, 1862, he became chief of the Bureau of Ordnance and Hydrography in March 1863, an office he held until war’s end. He also was the inventor of the Brooke Rife. After the war, he was professor of physics and astronomy at the Virginia Military Institute until 1899. (Ref. from Find a Grave).

The image shows Brooke wearing civilian clothing and was presented in December of 1865, to General Robert Patterson. The Presentation reads, “John M. Brooke / to his friend / Genl R. Patterson / Dec. 1865.

Photographed by Vannerson & Jones, Richmond, Va. with ink cancelled Revenue stamp.

Included is a cdv of Brooke’s daughter, Anna Maria, (1856 – 1885).  There was a revenue stamp one on the back.  No backmark.  Both of these images are from the Robert Patterson family album (photograph of album for reference only).

Fine images, both autograph.