Download IN THE UNION NAVY, 1861-1865

OFFICERS OF GREEK DESCENT
IN THE UNION NAVY, 1861-1865
By GEORGE P. PERROS
mericans of Greek descent participated in the conflict of the Civil
War on both the Union and Confederate sides. Accordingly, it is the
limited purpose of this article to present
some salient facts on a handful of compatriots whose careers in the United
States Navy spanned the Civil War.
Thomas Burgess, in his book Greeks in
America (1913), mentions three natives
of Greece who were officers in the United States Navy during the Civil War. Of
the three, George Musalas Colvocoresses is best known among those
acquainted with the annals of Greeks in
the United States. Little, however, is
known of the second officer, George
Sirian, who, at the start of the Civil
war, was a resident of the State of Virginia. Photius Fisk (Kavasales), the
third officer, is probably better known
than Sirian.
A
Turks during the massacre of Greeks on
Chios in 1822. His captors removed him
to Smyrna. There, he was ransomed by
some friends of his family, and was put
on board an American brig, then in
port, named the Margarita, with nine or
ten others through the port of Baltimore, and were received by the Greek
Relief Committee. With the consent of
that body, Captain Alden Partridge, a
military educator, assumed the responsibility for the care of Colvocoresses.
Ella Lonn, in her book Foreigners in
the Union Army and Navy (1951), p.
630, finds Colvocoresses, a native of
Chios, as probably the most interesting
of the foreign-born officers who held
the rank of commander in the Union
Navy; she characterizes him "as Greek
as his name." The Dictionary of American Biography, Vol. IV, pp. 326-327
(1930), with a bibliographical note, The
National Cyclopedia of American Biography, Vol. 23, p. 339 (1933), Appleton's Cyclopedia of American
Biography, Vol. 1, pp. 699-700 (1888),
and the Washington Historical Quarterly, Vol. XXV, pp. 163-170 (July
1934), print biographical sketches of the
officer. The sources include some particulars on the antecedents of Colvocoresses. He was made a captive of the
Mr. George Perros was an archivist at
the Bureau of Archives in Washington
D. C. He recently retired and lives in
Washington.
AUGUST, 1991
Rear Admiral
George Partridge Colvocoresses
The boy was enrolled in a military
academy at Norwich, Connecticut, of
which Captain Partriage was the
founder and head; and his award,
receiving a good education, remained
there until he procured, on February 21,
1832, an acting midshipman's warrant
in the United States Navy.
A summary account of the naval service of Colvocoresses, based on a report
prepared by the Division of Naval History, Navy Department, shows the following sea-going and land-based
assignments discharged by the officer:
USS United States, USS John Adams,
USS Delaware, and USS Potomac,
(Mediterranean Sea, Coast of Africa,
Coast of Brazil), 1832-1837; Naval
School at Norfolk, 1837; warranted
Passed Midshipman, 1838; Wilkes
Exploring Expedition: USS PORPOISE, USS PEACOCK, USS VINCENNES, USS OREGON, 1838-1842;
USS OHIO, Receiving Ship at Boston,
1843; USS WARREN, USS SHARK,
and USS RELIEF, (Pacific Ocean),
1843-46; made lieutenant, 1844; USS
Receiving Ship at New York, 1847; USS
ALLEG HANY (Coast of Brazil and
Mediterranean Sea), 1847-1849; USS
GERMANTOWN and USS PORPOISE, (Home Squadron and Coast of
Africa), 1850-1852; USS Receiving
Ship at New York, 1854-1855; USS
LEVANT (East Indies), 1855-1858;
Portsmouth Navy Yard, 1858-1861;
Commissioned Commander, 1861;
USS SUPPLY 1861-1863, and USS
SARATOGA, 1863-1864 (For details
of his service while in command of the
Supply and the Saratoga, see the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Navies in the War of the
Rebellion); USS DACOTAH, 1864;
USS WACHUSETT, 1864-1865; USS
ST. MARY'S, in the Pacific (For
reports of his search for the CSS S HENADOAH, see the Official Recorts,
Series I, vol. 3), 1865-1866; placed on
5
the Retired List, Jan. 11, 1867; and
commissioned a captain on the Retired
List, Apr. 4, 1867.
One can cite an excerpt from The
National Cyclopedia of American Biography for a concise statement of Colvocoresses' role in the Civil War:
"At the outbreak of the Civil War he
was commissioned commander and
with the U.S. Ship Supply captured
the blockade runner STEPHEN
HAR T, which was carrying supplies
to the Confederacy. In 1863 he was
transferred to the SARA TOGA
under Rear Adm. Dahlgren, and
assigned to duty off the South Carolina and Georgia Coasts. He trained
his crew for landing expeditions and
made several sorties in August, 1864,
destroying bridges and encampments, capturing enemy troops, guns
and ammunition and freeing slaves.
These achivements won two citations
in general orders by Adm. Dahlgren
and commendation by Secretary
Gideon Welles."
The commendatory letter from the
Secretary of the Navy, dated September
15, 1864, reads as follows:
"Sir: I have received from RearAdmiral Dahlgren the reports of the
several expeditions recently dispatched from the U.S .S. SARATOGA into the waters and counties of
Georgia, which were originated and
conducted by you with commendable discretion, and zeal and crowned
with success.
"The Department desires to return to
you and those under you command
its thanks for your zealous and good
services to the country on the occa-
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sions referred to." (Official Records
of the Union and Confederate Navies
in the War of the Rebellion, Series I,
vol. 15, p. 643.)
I t should be noted that Colvocoresses
recounted his experiences as a member
of the Wilkes Exploring Expedition to
the South Seas and the Antarctic (18381842) in a book titled Four Years in the
Government Exploring Expedition
(1852), a work so popular that it was
issued in five editions. In his later years,
Colvocoresses, endowed with a quick
mind and with a pleasing personality,
often gave lectures on his voyages and
on topics of natural history. Ironically,
the retired officer met a violent end in
civilian life; on June 3, 1872, he has shot
and killed by footpads on a street in
Bridgeport, Connecticut, while on a
business trip from his home in Litchfield, Connecticut.
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Burgess furnishes no details on the
naval service of George Sirian, apart
from reporting that the Greek Seafarer,
becoming a gunner, attained the rank of
warrant officer. The same source adds
the interesting sidelight that Sirian married the daughter of George Marshall, a
Greek, who "puplishes probably the
first manual of naval gunnery in our
service." Rear Admiral George Partridge Colvocoresses, the son of Captain George M. Colvocoresses, in a
letter published in the Portsmouth (Va)
May 2, 1923, provides another general
report on Sirian:
"George Sir ian was the native of
another island that was raided by the
Turks; his mother fled with him to
the beach and placing him in the bottom of an empty boat, shoved it from
the shore. She awaited a dreadful fate
while her boy drifted out to sea and
was finally picked up by men of the
U.S .S. MACEDONIAN (I believe)
then cruising in the Mediterranean
waters. The boy was received with
great kindness, adopted by the crew,
became a sailor and by intelligence
and good conduct in time was given
the warrant of Gunner. He served
with credit, was much respected and
died at a good old age."
Incidentally, the younger Colvocoresses served during the Civil War as
captain's clerk aboard the SUPPLY
and the Saratoga, under the command
of his father. It may be further remarked
that the son graduated from the United
States Naval Academy after the Civil
War, and that he distinguished himself
as the Executive Officer of the U.S .S.
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Dewey's Squadron,- at the Battle of
Manila Bay. For "eminent and conspicuous conduct" in that engagement, he
was advanced by five numbers in grade.
The record of the naval service of
George Sirian, compiled from the Navy
Registers and from other sources,
shows that he was appointed an Acting
Gunner in the United States Navy on
April 20, 1837, after having served as a
seaman; that he received his warrant as
Gunner on January 14, 1843, to date
from June 17, 1841; and that on June
29, 1853, his warrant was again antedated, efective from April 20, 1837. The
main facts of his service afloat and
ashore follow: USS FAIRFIELD
(Brazilian Squadron), 1837-40; USS
NORTH CAROLINA (Receiving
Ship, New York), 1841; USS BRANDYWINE (Mediterranean Sea), 1841-42;
Washington Navy Yard, 1842-43; USS
CONSTITUTION (East Indies and
Pacific), 1843-46; New York Navy
Yard, 1846-47; Bomb Vessel USS
HECLA (Home Squadron, Mexican
War), 1847-48; Norfolk Navy Yard,
1848-49; USS JOHN ADAMS and
USS DALE (Both vessels in the African
Squadron), 1849-53; Norfolk Navy
Yard, 1853; Receiving Ship at Norfolk,
1853-55; USS CONGRESS (Flagship
of the Mediterranean Squadron), 185558; Norfolk Navy Yard, 1858-59; USS
LANCASTER (Flagship of the Pacific
Squadron), 1859-61; New York Navy
Yard, 1861-62; USS SABINE (Recruiting Service at New London, Conn.),
1862; U.S. Naval Academy, Newport,
Rhode Island (School Ship USS CONSTITUTION), 1862-64; USS VANDERBILT (North Atlantic Blockading
Squadron), 1864-65; Receiving Ship at
Norfolk, 1865; Naval Magazine at Norfolk, 1865-66; Norfolk Navy Yard,
1866-67; USS PISCATAQUA (Flagship of the Asiatic Fleet), 1869-70; N orfolk
Navy Yard, 1870-71; Naval
Magazine at Norfolk, 1871-72; USS
YANTIC and USS IDAHO (Ordnance
Storeship at Yokohama, Japan), 187274; Norfolk Navy Yard, 1878-8; Retired
list, December 15, 1880.
The highlight in the service of Sirian
in the Civil War occurred while he was
attached to the USS VANDERBILT;
that warship, as a part of the largest
naval force that had ever been
assembled under the Union banner,
participated in the combined Army and
Navy attacks on Fort Fisher, North
Carolina - the first on December 24
and 25, 1864, and the second on January 13, 14 and 15, 1865. Fort Fisher, a
formidable earthwork erected by the
Confederates on the peninsula between
Cape Fear River and the Atlantic
Ocean, guarded the approaches to the
port of Wilmington, North Carolina. In
the first attack on the fortification, the
USS VANDERBILT threw "upward of
800 shells" against Confederate positions. In the second assault, the vessel
occupied a position in the line of attack,
and, in addition, members of its crew
were among the landing party of sailors
and marines who attacked the right
flank of the fortification while the Army
moved against the left flank. The capture of Fort Fisher on January 15, 1865,
after one of the most gallant Confederate defensive actions in the war, closed
the port of Wilmington, virtually "the
last gateway between the Confederate
States and the outside world," and
shortly thereafter led to the fall of that
city. J. Thomas Scharf, the Confederate
historian, tells of the signal importance
of these events in his History of the
Confederate States Navy. (1894).
Sirian died in Portsmouth, Virginia,
his hometown, on December 21, 1891,
at the age of 73; he had been born on
December 15, 1818. The Portsmouth
(V A) Star for May 2, 1923, reported
that the late Mr. Sirian had owned and
lived for many years in the house at the
southwest corner of Fourth and Henry
Streets in Madison Ward, and that the
late officer was in the remembrance of
the older inhabitants of the town.
Photius Kavasalas (Fisk), born in
1808, also hailed from the Grecian
Archipelago. Sources with biographical
information on him are the New York
7
Events of the Year 1890, pp. 646,647.
His early life, like that of Colvocoresses
and of Sirian, was marked with tragic
episodes. While an infant, he was taken
to Smvrna. During an outbreak of the
Daily Tribune, Feb. 9, 1980, p. 4; the
Boston Daily Advertiser, Feb. 10, 1890,
p. 5; The Boston Daily Globe, Feb. 10,
1890, p. 5; and Appleton's Annual Cyclopedia and Register of Important
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plague in 1814, he was found crying in
the streets of that ancient city; he had
apparently lost his entire family from
the pestilence. American missionaries
took Kavasales and another Greek boy
named Anastatius to Malta. The Rev.
Photius Fisk, an American missionary,
saw Kavasales on the island, were he
was studying at a Jesuit College. The
Clergyman counseled the lad to go to
the United States for his education.
Finally, Kavasales and Anastatius were
put aboard the American brig America,
and on February 21, 1823, they reached
Salem, Massachusetts. The boys were
immediately befriended by the Rev.
Elias Cornelius, pastor of the Tabernacle Church. After spending some time in
Salem, Kavasales and Anastatius went
to Litchfield, Connecticut, to become
the charge of the Rev. Lyman Beecher.
After having attended Amherst College, Kavasales sailed to the Mediterranean Sea as a representative of the
Board of Foreign Missions to deliver a
cargo of provisions for the relief of destitute Greeks, then fighting for independence from Turkey; but, upon
finding himself unable to help their
struggle, he returned to the United
States. In 1828, he became a communicant of the Congregational Church, and
began to study for the ministry. He
graduated from the Auburn (N.Y.)
Theological Seminary, was ordained at
Halifax, Vermont, and then discharged
his ministerial duties in New England.
On December 23, 1841, President
John Tyler nominated Kavasales to be a
chaplain in the United States Navy, and
the Senate confirmed to appointment
on March 14, 1842. "His appointment
to the Navy Chaplaincy in 1842; was
chiefly owing to the action of John
Quincy Adams, then in the House of
Representatives. While... Kavasales'
linguistic abilities and his Greek birth
and history were especial elements in his
favor, giving him, in the eyes of a classical scholar like Mr. Adams, a great
advantage over several other candidates, Joshua Giddings and Gerritt
Smith were also influential in his
interest."
The history of the naval service of
Kavasales, derived from the Navy Registers and from the publication of the
Navy Department entitled United
States Navy Chaplains, 1778-1945
(1948), p. 93, discloses the following sea
shore duty, along with the periods of an
inactive status: USS COLUMBIA, July
GREEK-AMERICAN REVIEW
13, 1842-Aug. 12, 1846; Norfolk Navy
Yard, Aug. 12, I 846-0ct. 24, 1846;
Washington Navy Yard, Oct. 24, 1846Feb. I, 1850; USS RARITAN, June 5,
I 850-Jan. 27, 1853; Pensacola Navy
Yard, Dec. 27, 1854 - Apr. 8, 1857;
"Awaiting orders," 1858-1864; Retired
List, Commander, July 18, 1864;
Retired and Reserve List, Captain,
1880.
When Kavasales returned from duty
aboard the USS COLUMBIA, he made
a report on the treatment of sailors and
marines in the United States Navy. His
report gave impetus to the reform
movement which, aided by him in other
ways, led to the abolition of flogging on
American men-of-war. He collected,
during assignment to the USS RARITAN, a large number of botanical specimens; the Government conservatory
was the intended recipient of them.
While stationed at the Washington
Navy Yard, the chaplain changed his
surname from Kavasales to Fisk by an
act of Congress approved on May 3,
1848 (9 Stat. 713). The Congressional
Globe for March 14, 1848, p. 460,
reporting the proceedings in the House
of Representatives on the private law,
records a proponent of it, Representative John G. Chapman, as remarking
that "Mr. Kavasales was desirous of
changing his name in consequence of
some events which had taken place in
Greece, his native country; and the
name he wished to take was that of an
early benefactor."
Fisk did not see active service in the
Civil War, for the Navy Registers covering the period from 1861 to 1865 disclose that he was in the status of
"Waiting orders." A source accounts for
his situation at that time with the statement that upon the outbreak of the Civil
War, "his religious views led him to contemplate resigning; but he was induced
to withhold his application, and, after a
long leave of absence, he was retired ... "
Fisk died in Boston, Massachusetts,
on February 7, 1890. He was a zealous
believer in, and worker for, Calvinistic
Congregationalism, but in his later
years, he lapsed from the faith. In the
days of the abolitionists, he hobnobbed
with Gerritt Smith, and fell in love with
his daughter. But when the young lady
turned down his suit, he vowed a life of
celibacy, and he was true to his vow.
Among his acts of charity was the donation, in 1879, to the Seamen's Orphan
and Friend Society, of a large burial
plot, with a suitably inscribed monuAUGUST, 1991
ment erected thereon, in the Harmony
Grove Cemetery, Salem, Massachusetts.
Leonidas D. Rodocanachi, also
known as Leonidas Rody, was another
officer of Greek extraction in the Union
Navy. Burgess does not mention him in
Greeks in America. Though the information about him on hand is scanty, yet
it suffices to attest his Greek ancestry
and his service in the Union Navy. With
the aid of the Navy Registers, and of the
publication of the Adjutant General of
Massachusetts titled Massachusetts
Soldiers, Sailors, and Marines in the
Civil War, vol. VII, p. 506, and vol.
VIII, p. 620, one can deduce Rodocanachi's naval career. These sources reveal
that the was born in Greece; that on
November 2, 1861, he enlisted, at Boston, as Landsman in the United States
Navy for "3 yrs. or war"; that he served
on the receiving ship USS OHIO, the
USS SAGAMORE, and the USS CIRCASSIAN; and that on August 22,
1863, he was appointed Acting Master's
Mate, and in 1865, Mate.
The Navy Registers disclose that in
1863 and 1864, Rodocanachi, as an
officer, served on the USS NEPTUNE,
which, during his duty aboard her, was
at first a unit of the West India Squadron, and was afterwards assigned to special conv()y service in the West Indies.
In 1865 'he was attached to the USS
TIOGA, operating with the Gulf
Squadron . .In the following year Rodocanachi reported for duty at the United
States Naval Academy; he was honorably discharged from the Navy on May
22, 1867.
In short, there were, at least, two
commissioned, and two warrant, officers of Greek birth in the United States
Navy during the Civil War.
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