Office of the Superintendent/Correspondence: Copies of Letters Received by the Superintendent and other Academy Officers from the Bureau of Navigation, 1862-1883: Finding Aid

History of the Office of the Superintendent

The plan of the Naval School at Fort Severn, Annapolis, Maryland, approved by the Navy Department August 28, 1846, provided that a Superintendent of the school be appointed by the Secretary of the Navy from a list of officers of a rank not higher than commander. The Superintendent was to have responsibility for the general management of the institution, including overseeing the course of study, professors, and other personnel connected with the Academy. He could appoint and remove all persons employed at the Academy except those for whose appointment or discharge special provision was made by the laws or regulations of the Navy or the Academy. He had general charge of the buildings, grounds, and ships belonging to the Academy. The Superintendent also formulated the code of rules and regulations for the internal government of the school to be submitted to the Secretary of the Navy for approval. After 1867, officers were assigned by the Navy Department to the Academy to serve as assistants or aides to the Superintendent. The Office of the Superintendent as described in the 1846 plan remained relatively unchanged throughout the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Officers of ranks higher than commander, however, have served in the position.

In May 1861, following the outbreak of Civil War, rising tensions in the Annapolis community, and the potential for Maryland to secede from the Union, the Superintendent of the Academy, Capt. George S. Blake (1857-1865) applied to the Navy Department for permission to remove the Academy to Newport, R.I. for the duration of the war. At Newport, the Academy was temporarily accommodated at Fort Adams. In October 1861 the Navy Department rented a summer hotel in Newport, the Atlantic House, where the upper-class midshipmen were quartered. The lower classes were quartered on board the frigates Constitution and Santee. The grounds at Annapolis were taken over by the Union Army, and a base hospital was established there. The Academy returned to Annapolis in September 1865. Blake's successor Rear Admiral David D. Porter (1865-1869) set the Academy on its postwar course. Porter took an interest in everything, from curriculum design to the optimum temperature aboard ships. Subsequent superintendents did not always share Porter's concern for detail, although their correspondence reflects the continuing development of the institution. By contrast, the superintendence of Commodore John L. Worden (1869-1874) oversaw substantial post-Civil War demobilization and cuts to the budget of the Navy. The general decline was reflected in the law of July 15, 1870, which changed the status of the Naval Academy midshipmen to "cadet-midshipmen," and that of the two year students to "cadet-engineers." In September, 1874 Worden was relieved by Rear Admiral Christopher R.P. Rodgers (1874-1878). Rodgers, who previously served at the Academy as Commandant of Midshipmen in 1861, clamped down on unauthorized hazing and revamped the curriculum by concentrating professional subjects in the first- and second-class years, and adding upper level electives in math, mechanics, physics and chemistry. After less than a year, Rodgers' successor Commodore Foxhall A. Parker (1878-1879) died in office, and was replaced by Rear Admiral George B. Balch (1879-1881). Balch, a highly decorated veteran of the Civil War, was viewed fondly as a forgiving figurehead by the midshipmen, and left largely unabated the reforms of the energetic Rodgers. Superintendent Captain Francis M. Ramsay (1881-1886) executed substantial changes to the Academy's curriculum, and departmental and military organization. Seamanship drills and training were systematized, the conduct grade was introduced, midshipmen were quartered according to divisions as opposed to classes, and midshipmen officers were given charge over the maintenance of order and discipline in the dormitories. During Ramsay's administration significant numbers of "naval-cadets" (the contemporary title of midshipmen) either resigned or were discharged due to the limitations on commissioning new officers stipulated in the August 5, 1882 Personnel Act.

In 1862 the Academy was placed under the Bureau of Navigation, but in 1867 the Secretary of the Navy assumed direct control of the school, leaving the Bureau of Navigation with a lesser role, as supervisor of its administrative and financial affairs. This role was eliminated in 1869 but was restored in 1889.

Description of Contents

This series contains fair copies of letters relating to various subjects, including requests for estimates of expenditures, courses of study, academy staff, library books, and buildings and grounds. During the Civil War letters were addressed to the Superintendent of the Academy at Newport R.I., and to the Superintendent of Buildings and Grounds at Annapolis when the Army was using the Academy facilities. Some of the letters for this period relate to the adoption of and instruction in the Army signal system.

There are no records from October 1862 to November 1863.

Arrangement

Arranged chronologically.

Access and Use

Access

Access is unrestricted.

Copyright and Permission

Generally, materials produced by Federal agencies are in the public domain and may be reproduced without permission. Any non-government publications held herein may still be subject to copyright. For further information, consult the Head, Special Collections & Archives.

Other Finding Aid(s)

National Archives Catalog entry available electronically at: https://catalog.archives.gov/id/2990048.

Acquisition and Appraisal

Custodial History

RG 405 Records of the United States Naval Academy is the property of the National Archives and Records Administration. The materials are housed at the United States Naval Academy, William W. Jeffries Memorial Archives, an affiliated archive, as per a Memorandum of Agreement between the National Archives and Records Administration and the United States Naval Academy.

Related Materials

Related Archival Material

Many of the original letters received from the Bureau of Navigation that were copied in this series are contained in the main series of letters received by the Superintendent in Entry 25: "Letters Received by the Superintendent, 1845-1887" (NAID: 2990043).

Materials Cataloged Separately

No materials have been removed from this collection and cataloged separately.

Processing and Other Information

Preferred Citation

Office of the Superintendent/Correspondence: Copies of Letters Received by the Superintendent and other Academy Officers from the Bureau of Navigation, RG 405.2.1 Entry 26

Special Collections & Archives Department

Nimitz Library

United States Naval Academy

Selected Bibliography

The following sources were consulted during preparation of the historical note:

Sweetman, Jack. The U.S. Naval Academy: An Illustrated History. Annapolis, Maryland: United States Naval Institute Press, 1979.

Processing Information

This collection was processed by Samuel Limneos in April 2019. Finding aid written by Samuel Limneos in April 2019. Historical Sketch and Scope and Content Note adapted in part from Inventory of Records Group 405 by Geraldine N. Phillips and Aloha South, 1975.

Subject Headings

Name and Subject Terms

• Balch, George Beall, 1821-1908
• Blake, George Smith, 1803-1871
• Fort Adams (Newport, R.I.)
• Naval education -- United States
• Parker, Foxhall A. (Foxhall Alexander), 1821-1879
• Porter, David D. (David Dixon), 1813-1891
• Ramsay, Francis Munroe, 1835-1914
• Rodgers, C. R. P. (Christopher Raymond Perry), 1819-1892
• United States -- Civil War, 1861-1865
• United States Naval Academy
• United States Naval Academy -- History -- 19th century
• United States Naval Academy. Superintendent

Genre Terms

• Correspondence