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Hunter Davidson
Hunter Davidson (September 20, 1826February 16, 1913) was an American engineer, inventor, and naval officer, first serving the United States and then joining the Confederacy during the American Civil War. He later served as the first commander of the Maryland Oyster Police Force during the height of the Oyster Wars. Early life and family Davidson was born in Georgetown in 1826. He was the son of William B. Davidson, an artillery Artillery is a class of heavy military ranged weapons that launch munitions far beyond the range and power of infantry firearms. Early artillery development focused on the ability to breach defensive walls and fortifications during siege ... officer in the United States Army, and Elizabeth Chapman Hunter. Davidson was twice married and had seven children. His older brother was Union Army Brigadier general (United States), brigadier general John Wynn Davidson. In 1847, he graduated from the United States Naval Academy. Military service Unit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Africa Squadron
The Africa Squadron was a unit of the United States Navy that operated from 1819 to 1861 in the Blockade of Africa to suppress the slave trade along the coast of West Africa. However, the term was often ascribed generally to anti-slavery operations during the period leading up to the American Civil War. The squadron was an outgrowth of the 1819 treaty between the United States and the United Kingdom that was an early step in stopping the trade, and further defined by the Webster–Ashburton Treaty of 1842. Although technically coordinated with a British West Africa Squadron based in Sierra Leone, in practice the American contingent worked on its own. Matthew Perry (naval officer), Matthew Perry was the first commander of the squadron, and based himself in Portuguese Cape Verde. The squadron was generally ineffective, since the ships were too few, and since much of the trading activity had shifted to the Niger River delta area (present-day Nigeria), which was not being cover ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Maryland General Assembly
The Maryland General Assembly is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Maryland that convenes within the State House in Annapolis. It is a bicameral body: the upper chamber, the Maryland Senate, has 47 representatives and the lower chamber, the Maryland House of Delegates, has 141 representatives. Members of both houses serve four-year terms. Each house elects its own officers, judges the qualifications and election of its own members, establishes rules for the conduct of its business, and may punish or expel its own members. The General Assembly meets each year for 90 days to act on more than 2,300 bills including the state's annual budget, which it must pass before adjourning ''sine die''. The General Assembly's 441st session convened on January 9, 2020. History The forerunner of the Maryland General Assembly was the colonial institution, an Assembly of Free Marylanders (and also Council of Maryland). Maryland's foundational charter created a state ruled by the ''Pala ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Maryland Natural Resources Police
The Maryland Natural Resources Police (NRP) is the law enforcement arm of the Maryland Department of Natural Resources (DNR), tasked with enforcing laws on the state's public lands and waterways, protecting fish and wildlife, and leading search and rescue efforts. The Natural Resources Police is also the state's maritime homeland security agency. Natural Resources Police officers are the only state law enforcement officers to have full statewide jurisdiction, including Baltimore City. The Maryland State Police (MSP), the state police and highway patrol, also has statewide jurisdiction, but has limited authority within incorporated cities. NRP officers enforce the Maryland Natural Resources Code as well as the Criminal Code and Transportation Code. As of October 2020, the force has 269 sworn personnel and 78 civilian employees. Organization The current superintendent (chief of police) is Colonel G. Adrian Baker. The DNR is divided into four regions: *Western: Garrett, Allega ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dredging
Dredging is the excavation of material from a water environment. Possible reasons for dredging include improving existing water features; reshaping land and water features to alter drainage, navigability, and commercial use; constructing dams, dikes, and other controls for streams and shorelines; and recovering valuable mineral deposits or marine life having commercial value. In all but a few situations the excavation is undertaken by a specialist floating plant, known as a dredger. Dredging is carried out in many different locations and for many different purposes, but the main objectives are usually to recover material of value or use, or to create a greater depth of water. Dredges have been classified as suction or mechanical. Dredging has significant environmental impacts: it can disturb marine sediments, leading to both short- and long-term water pollution, destroy important seabed ecosystems, and can release human-sourced toxins captured in the sediment. Description ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Confederate Secret Service
The Confederate Secret Service refers to any of a number of official and semi-official secret service organizations and operations conducted by the Confederate States of America during the American Civil War. Some of the organizations were under the direction of the Confederate government, others operated independently with government approval, while still others were either completely independent of the government or operated with only its tacit acknowledgment. By 1864, the Confederate government was attempting to gain control over the various operations that had sprung up since the beginning of the war, but often with little success. Secret legislation was put before the Confederate Congress to create an official Special and Secret Bureau of the War Department. The legislation was not enacted until March 1865 and was never implemented; however, a number of groups and operations have historically been referred to as having been part of the Confederate Secret Service. In April 1865 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
James River
The James River is a river in the U.S. state of Virginia that begins in the Appalachian Mountains and flows U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map , accessed April 1, 2011 to Chesapeake Bay. The river length extends to if one includes the Jackson River, the longer of its two source tributaries. It is the longest river in Virginia. Jamestown and Williamsburg, Virginia's first colonial capitals, and Richmond, Virginia's current capital, lie on the James River. History The Native Americans who populated the area east of the Fall Line in the late 16th and early 17th centuries called the James River the Powhatan River, named for the chief of the Powhatan Confederacy which extended over most of the Tidewater region of Virginia. The Jamestown colonists who arrived in 1607 named it "James" after King James I of England (), as they constructed the first permanent English settlement in the Americas at Jamestown along t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Naval Mine
A naval mine is a self-contained explosive device placed in water to damage or destroy surface ships or submarines. Unlike depth charges, mines are deposited and left to wait until they are triggered by the approach of, or contact with, any vessel or a particular vessel type, akin to anti-infantry vs. anti-vehicle mines. Naval mines can be used offensively, to hamper enemy shipping movements or lock vessels into a harbour; or defensively, to protect friendly vessels and create "safe" zones. Mines allow the minelaying force commander to concentrate warships or defensive assets in mine-free areas giving the adversary three choices: undertake an expensive and time-consuming minesweeping effort, accept the casualties of challenging the minefield, or use the unmined waters where the greatest concentration of enemy firepower will be encountered. Although international law requires signatory nations to declare mined areas, precise locations remain secret; and non-complying individ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
CSS Teaser
CSS ''Teaser'' had been the aging Georgetown, D.C. tugboat ''York River'' until the beginning of the American Civil War, when she was taken into the Confederate States Navy and took part in the famous Battle of Hampton Roads. Later, she was captured by the United States Navy and became the first USS ''Teaser''. CSS ''Teaser'' ''Teaser'' was built at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Purchased at Richmond, Virginia by the State of Virginia in 1861, she was assigned to the naval forces in the James River with Lieutenant James Henry Rochelle, Virginia State Navy, in command. Upon the secession of Virginia, ''Teaser'' became a part of the Confederate States Navy and continued to operate in Virginia waters. With Lieutenant William A. Webb, CSN, in command, she took an active part in the Battle of Hampton Roads on March 8–March 9, 1862, acting as tender to CSS ''Virginia''. She received the thanks of the Congress of the Confederate States for this action. ''Teaser'' was a pioneer ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Battle Of Hampton Roads
The Battle of Hampton Roads, also referred to as the Battle of the ''Monitor'' and ''Virginia'' (rebuilt and renamed from the USS ''Merrimack'') or the Battle of Ironclads, was a naval battle during the American Civil War. It was fought over two days, March 8–9, 1862, in Hampton Roads, a roadstead in Virginia where the Elizabeth and Nansemond rivers meet the James River just before it enters Chesapeake Bay adjacent to the city of Norfolk. The battle was a part of the effort of the Confederacy to break the Union blockade, which had cut off Virginia's largest cities and major industrial centers, Norfolk and Richmond, from international trade.Musicant 1995, pp. 134–178; Anderson 1962, pp. 71–77; Tucker 2006, p. 151. This battle has major significance because it was the first meeting in combat of ironclad warships, and . The Confederate fleet consisted of the ironclad ram ''Virginia'' (built from the remnants of the burned steam frigate , newest warship for the United Stat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
CSS Virginia
CSS ''Virginia'' was the first steam-powered ironclad warship built by the Confederate States Navy during the first year of the American Civil War; she was constructed as a casemate ironclad using the razéed (cut down) original lower hull and engines of the scuttled steam frigate . ''Virginia'' was one of the participants in the Battle of Hampton Roads, opposing the Union's in March 1862. The battle is chiefly significant in naval history as the first battle between ironclads. USS ''Merrimack'' becomes CSS ''Virginia'' When the Commonwealth of Virginia seceded from the Union in 1861, one of the important federal military bases threatened was Gosport Navy Yard (now Norfolk Naval Shipyard) in Portsmouth, Virginia. Accordingly, orders were sent to destroy the base rather than allow it to fall into Confederate hands. On the afternoon of 17 April, the day Virginia seceded, Engineer in Chief B. F. Isherwood managed to get the frigate's engines lit. However, the previous night se ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
HMS Resolute (1850)
HMS ''Resolute'' was a mid-19th-century barque-rigged ship of the British Royal Navy, specially outfitted for Arctic exploration. ''Resolute'' became trapped in the ice and was abandoned in 1854. Recovered by an American whaler, she was returned to Queen Victoria in 1856. Timbers from the ship were later used to construct the ''Resolute'' desk which was presented to the President of the United States and is currently located in the White House Oval Office. History In the face of rising concerns regarding the fate of the Arctic expedition of Sir John Franklin, having left Britain in 1845 in search of the North West Passage, the British Government, in 1848, sent expeditions in search of the expedition. With few existing warships deemed suitable, six merchant ships were purchased between 1848 and 1850 and soon converted to exploration ships: two steamships, HMS ''Pioneer'' and HMS ''Intrepid'', the other four (''Resolute'', , and ) seagoing sailing ships. The first ship to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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