Stephen R. 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 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 US 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.

Stephen R. Mallory in The Guns of the South
Stephen R. Mallory continued as Secretary of the Confederate Navy in President Jefferson Davis' administration after the successful end to the Second American Revolution. He was present at a Davis levee and played a role in his attempt to anoint General Robert E. Lee as his successor.

After the public display of support, the three continued a more private conversation where Lee expressed his concerns over the continuation of slavery in the Confederacy. Mallory was reminded that it was at Lee's urging that Davis sent the CSS Alabama on anti-slavery patrol off the west African coast. He became thoughtful at Lee's arguments over why it would become impossible for the institution to continue in future and why it should be addressed before it became a crisis.