United States Navy officer (1803-1848)
Alexander Slidell Mackenzie
(April 6, 1803 ? September 13, 1848), born
Alexander Slidell
, was a
United States Navy
officer, famous for his 1842 decision to execute three suspected mutineers aboard a ship under his command
USS
Somers
in the
Somers Mutiny
. Mackenzie was also an accomplished man of letters, producing several volumes of travel writing and biographies of early important US naval figures, some of whom he knew personally.
Mackenzie was the brother of Senator
John Slidell
of
Louisiana
, who was later involved in the
American Civil War
's
Trent
Affair
.
Mackenzie was the captain of USS
Somers
when it became the only US Navy ship to undergo a mutiny, which led to executions, including
Philip Spencer
, the 19-year-old son of the
Secretary of War
John C. Spencer
.
Mackenzie's handling of the
Somers
Mutiny, including its lack of a lawful court martial, was highly controversial and public opinion ran against him. The mutiny proved the need for systematic training of cadets before they went to sea. In 1845,
Secretary of the Navy
George Bancroft
seized on the Somers affair as a reason to establish the
United States Naval Academy
.
[1]
Early life
[
edit
]
Mackenzie (then Slidell) was born April 6, 1803, in
New York City
, to Margery (also spelled Marjorie) (
nee
Mackenzie) and John Slidell.
[2]
Alexander was one of a large family of children. His older siblings included:
Thomas Slidell
, chief justice of
Louisiana
's state Supreme court;
[3]
John Slidell
, US Senator from Louisiana; and Jane Slidell, who married Commodore
Matthew C. Perry
. Jane's marriage to Perry was to have a particularly profound influence on her younger brother's life, bringing him into close contact with one of the nation's leading naval families, which included Matthew's heroic older brother, Commodore
Oliver Hazard Perry
, and members of Commodore
John Rodgers'
family,
[4]
with whom the Perrys intermarried.
In 1837?1838, Alexander Slidell petitioned the New York State legislature and obtained the right to change his name to Mackenzie, reputedly as a condition of claiming the inheritance of a maternal uncle.
[2]
Naval service
[
edit
]
Mackenzie entered the
U.S. Navy
as a
midshipman
in 1815. A contemporary of
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
and a personal friend of
Washington Irving
, he published a number of books, including
A Year in Spain
,
Life of John Paul Jones
,
Life of Commodore Stephen Decatur
, and
Life of Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry
(his late brother-in-law). He was promoted to
lieutenant
on January 13, 1825, and to
commander
on September 8, 1841.
USS
Somers
was
launched
by the
New York Navy Yard
on April 16, 1842, and was
commissioned
on 12 May 1842, with Mackenzie in command. After completing a shakedown cruise to
Puerto Rico
and back, the new
brig
sailed out of New York Harbor on September 13, 1842, with orders to head for the Atlantic coast of Africa with dispatches for the
sloop
USS
Vandalia
.
Somers
was also acting as an experimental
schoolship
for naval apprentices on this voyage; the
Somers
crew was mostly inexperienced sailors and seamen.
After looking for
Vandalia
at
Madeira
,
Tenerife
, and
Porto Praia
,
Somers
arrived at
Monrovia
, Liberia, on November 10, only to discover that the sloop had already sailed for home. The next day, Mackenzie set sail for the
Virgin Islands
hoping to meet up with
Vandalia
at
St. Thomas
before the return journey back to New York.
Somers
mutiny
[
edit
]
On the passage to West Africa, some of the
Somers
officers noticed a steady worsening of morale among the crew. On the way home on November 26, 1842, Mackenzie learned of the plot and arrested Midshipman
Philip Spencer
, the 19-year old son of Secretary of War
John Canfield Spencer
, for inciting mutiny. The other two young plotters arrested with Spencer were
Elisha Small
and
Samuel Cromwell
.
Mackenzie was not legally empowered to convene a court martial. So he charged his officers with making an investigation. They unanimously concluded that the three sailors were guilty and recommended their immediate execution, which took place at sea on December 1, 1842. Only 13 days later,
Somers
arrived in New York, where a naval court of inquiry was immediately ordered to investigate the affair.
[5]
[6]
Mackenzie was completely exonerated at the court of inquiry and at a subsequent court martial. However the controversial incident drew nationwide attention and colored the remainder of his life. It was customary then to commend officers cleared at a court martial, but Mackenzie's court martial made very clear that it was not commending him. The entire affair resulted in a great sensation, and Mackenzie's conduct was as severely criticized by his opponents as it was ardently defended by his supporters. His fiercest detractor was the famous novelist and naval historian
James Fenimore Cooper
.
Naval historian and author
[
edit
]
Mackenzie was also an accomplished author and naval historian. While his tours of duty in the navy were broadening, he also used several extended leaves to travel in Europe, where he mingled with other literary Americans including Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and fellow New Yorker Washington Irving, a lifelong friend. Mackenzie's first work,
A Year in Spain, by a Young American
(1829), made him known in America as well as in England. Other works followed:
Popular Essays on Naval Subjects
(1833),
The American in England
(1835),
Spain Revisited
(1836),
Life of John Paul Jones
(1841),
Life of Commodore Oliver H. Perry
(1841), and
Life of Commodore Stephen Decatur
(1846).
Mackenzie also wrote a manuscript,
A Journal of a Tour in Ireland, The Case of the 'Seiners'
; "Defence of A. S. Mackenzie", 1843.
Personal life
[
edit
]
Mackenzie married Catherine Alexander Robinson (b. 1814), eldest daughter of
Morris Robinson
, a founder of the
Mutual Life Insurance Company of New York
. Together, they were the parents of: General
Ranald Slidell Mackenzie
, who, after a successful
Civil War
career, commanded the
4th Cavalry Regiment (United States)
,
[7]
securing the line of settlement in
Texas
and throughout the West. Ranald Mackenzie was arguably the best Indian fighter of the American West. Another son was Lieutenant Commander
Alexander Slidell MacKenzie
.
According to a letter written by Captain D.W. Knox, USN (ret.) on July 1, 1938, in response to a query to the
Department of the Navy
, "Commander MacKenzie died suddenly September 13, 1848, at his residence, near
Tarrytown
, N.Y., of heart disease. The Department was notified of his death on September 14, by Captain Isaac McKeever,
Commandant
at New York, who stated that he had been informed of it by
Commodore
Matthew C. Perry
."
[8]
He was a resident of
Scarborough, New York
.
[9]
Published works
[
edit
]
- Mackenzie, Alexander Slidell.
(1915)
Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry : famous American naval hero, victor of the battle of Lake Erie, his life and achievements
(Akron, Ohio: Superior Printing Co.)
- Mackenzie, Alexander Slidell (1840)
The life of Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry.
(New York, Harper) Volume 1
,
Volume 2
.
- Mackenzie, Alexander Slidell (1841).
The Life of Paul Jones
. New York: Harper & Brothers.
- MacKenzie, Alexander Slidell (2005).
Life of Stephen Decatur: a commodore in the Navy of the United States
.
C. C. Little and J. Brown, 1846 ? Biography & Autobiography ? 443 pages.
See also
[
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]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
Lehman, John
(August 8, 2010).
"Review of William Leeman's Naval Academy history,
The Long Road to Annapolis
"
.
The Washington Post
. p. B6
. Retrieved
2010-08-08
.
- ^
a
b
McFarland, Philip S.
"Mackenzie, Alexander Slidell"
.
American National Biography Online
. Retrieved
30 August
2014
.
- ^
"Celebrating 200 Years: The Louisiana Supreme Court, 1813?2013"
.
The Louisiana Supreme Court
. Retrieved
30 August
2014
.
- ^
Emery, George W.
"Vice Admiral, USN (retired)"
.
The Rodgers Family Collection at the Navy Department Library
. Archived from
the original
on December 12, 2012
. Retrieved
30 August
2014
.
- ^
Samuel Eliot Morison,
"Old Bruin": Commodore Matthew C. Perry, 1794-1858
(1967) pp 144-62.
- ^
Buckner, Melton,
A Hanging Offense: The Strange Affair of the Warship Somers
(Simon and Schuster, 2007), a scholarly study that; compares the conspiracy to modern-day school shootings.
- ^
"1st Squadron, 4th Cavalry Regiment"
.
- ^
"Commander Alexander Slidell MacKenzie"
.
Naval History and Heritage Command
. Archived from
the original
on 4 July 2015
. Retrieved
2 July
2015
.
- ^
Our Village: Briarcliff Manor, N.Y. 1902 to 1952
. Historical Committee of the Semi?Centennial. 1952. p. 68.
LCCN
83238400
.
OCLC
24569093
.
Further reading
[
edit
]
- Morison, Samuel Eliot,
"Old Bruin": Commodore Matthew C. Perry, 1794-1858
(1967) pp 144?62; strongly defends MacKenzie.
- McFarland, Philip
Sea Dangers: The Affair of the Somers
(New York: Schocken Books, 1985), 308p., illus.
ISBN
0-8052-3990-1
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