| Fontaine, Richard Launcelot, John Herndon, Mary, Eliza, Matthew | | Fontaine, Jr., and Lucy. | | | | [14] Maury had some connection with the reconstruction of this | | vessel. In a lecture on “Man’s Power-giving Knowledge”, delivered | | by him to Virginia Military Institute students on January 23, | | 1871, he said, “After the burning of the Norfolk Navy Yard in | | 1861, the Governor’s Council advised that the _Merrimac_ should | | be raised and converted into an ironclad. Quick to perceive and | | prompt to act, as in the emergencies of the war he ever was, his | | Excellency caused it to be done”. This is corroborated by the | | following entry in the minutes of the Council for May 11, 1861, | | for a meeting at which Maury was present: “Governor submitted for | | approval a proposal of B. and I. Baker of Norfolk to raise the | | wreck of the steamer _Merrimac_ and deliver her in the Dry Dock | | at Gosport Navy Yard for $5000.... Advised unanimously that the | | proposed be accepted”. | | | | [15] “The Lost Cause” by Edward A. Pollard, p. 192. | | | | [16] “Recollections of a Rebel Reefer”, p. 100. | | | | [17] “History of the United States from the Compromise of 1850” | | by James Ford Rhodes, IV, 339. | | | | [18] “The Secret Service of the Confederate States in Europe”, | | James D. Bulloch, II, 62–63. | | | | [19] Of this son Maury wrote in the family Bible: “Our noble | | son, John Herndon, went out from Vicksburg, Miss., alive, on | | the 27th day of January, 1863, to reconnoiter the enemy. A few | | hours afterwards his horse was seen without a rider, but nothing | | was ever heard of him. From the footprints and other signs and | | marks on the levee, it is supposed that he was surprised by a | | scouting-party of the enemy in ambush within our lines and done | | to death. Comely in person, lovely in disposition, generous and | | brave, he loved right and hated wrong. Precious in the eyes of | | his parents, he was very dear to our hearts”. | | | | [20] “The Secret Service of the Confederate States in Europe” by | | James D. Bulloch, II, 415. | | |