THE CONFEDERATE STATES NAVAL ACADEMY.
An act providing for a Confederate States Naval Academy was passed
by the Confederate Congress early in 1862, but it was not until March,
1863, that Secretary Mallory began to carry out its provisions. The
steamer Patrick Henry was selected as the schoolship of the academy.
Capt. John M. Brooke had charge of the establishment of the school;
Capt. Sidney Smith Lee was appointed on the board of examiners;
Lieut. Wm. H. Parker was appointed commandant of the school. In
the fall of 1863 it went into operation. The cadets found more fighting
than schooling was before them. The Patrick Henry was most of the
time stationed at Drewry's Bluff, and in the engagements in that
vicinity in 1864 the cadets were oftentimes called on to lay down their
books and take up their arms. There was less of inculcation of theory
than of actual experience of war. Early in 1865 the protection of the
bridge over the James at Wilmot was entrusted to the Patrick Henry,
the school then consisting of sixty cadets and ten officers. On the evening
of April 2d they left Richmond for Danville, guarding the train on
which was being transported the archives of the Confederate government,
and the contents of its treasury. From the 3d to the 9th they
remained in Danville, then went by rail to Greensboro, North Carolina.
For nearly a month longer they moved about, by rail and by wagon
train, to various points in North and South Carolina and in Georgia,
still guarding their charge, and seeking for some one authorized to
receive it. At the close of April they reached Abbeville, South Carolina,
a second time, and there Lieutenant Parker found President Davis and
Secretary Mallory. By their orders he turned over the treasure to the
acting secretary of the Confederate States treasury. The cadet corps
was then disbanded, at Abbeville, on May 2, 1865.
