The Bay State Monthly — Volume 1, No. 4, April, 1884Various
History
The Bay State Monthly — Volume 1, No. 4, April, 1884
Various
Massachusetts -- Periodicals; New England -- Periodicals
The following winter he was stationed at New Orleans, in charge of
ironclads, and in May, 1866, was ordered as executive officer of the
Lackawanna, for a cruise of three years in the North Pacific. The
"piping times of peace" had come, and officers who had had important
commands, now had to take a step back to the regular duties of their
grade. Returning from the Pacific in the early spring of 1869, he was
ordered to the Boston Navy Yard on ordnance duty, and in March, 1871,
received his commission as commander. Two months later, he was selected
to command the storeship Relief, to carry provisions to the suffering
French of the Franco-German war. On his return, after a lapse of six
months, he resumed his duties at the Boston yard, until appointed
lighthouse inspector of the Boston district, which position he held
until January, 1876.
Meanwhile he had taken to himself a wife, having, in 1870, married Miss
Anna Minot Weld, daughter of Mr. William F. Weld, of Boston. The issue
of the marriage has been one child, a daughter, born in 1877.
From March, 1877, until May, 1879, he was in command of the United
States steamer Ashuelot on the Asiatic station, making a most
interesting cruise, and having, for a time, the pleasure of General
Grant's company on board, as a guest.
Since his return from that cruise he has been on "waiting orders,"
varied by occasional duty as member of courts-martial, boards of
examination, and the like.
In March, 1882, he was promoted to a post-captaincy, as the grade of
captain in the navy was styled in the olden time, which grade
corresponds with that of colonel in the army.
Captain Perkins has a house in Boston, where he makes his home in
winter, but nothing has ever weakened his affection for the old Granite
State, and nothing delights him more, when possible to do so, than to
put behind him the whirl and distraction of the city for the quiet
enjoyment of the fresh, exhilarating air, unpretentious, wholesome life,
and substantial ways that await him among his dear native hills.
In glancing over the "Portraits for Posterity," the writer notes the
conspicuous absence of naval representation among the "counterfeit
presentments" that adorn the walls of the Capitol at Concord and the
halls of Dartmouth, and ventures to suggest to Governor Prescott, the
distinguished and indefatigable collector of most of the pictures, that
portraits of Thornton of the Kearsarge, and Perkins of the Cayuga and
Chickasaw, might fittingly be given place among those who, in the varied
walks of life, have lent distinction and added lustre to the Province
and State of New Hampshire from Colonial times to this. Let not the men
of the sea be forgotten!
* * * * *
FROM THE WHITE HORSE TO LITTLE RHODY.
BY CHARLES M. BARROWS.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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