![Henry Augustus Wise](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3a/Henry_Augustus_Wise.jpg)
Henry Augustus Wise (May 24, 1819 – April 3, 1869) was an
author
An author is the writer of a book, article, play, mostly written work. A broader definition of the word "author" states:
"''An author is "the person who originated or gave existence to anything" and whose authorship determines responsibility f ...
and
United States Navy
The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...
officer
An officer is a person who has a position of authority in a hierarchical organization. The term derives from Old French ''oficier'' "officer, official" (early 14c., Modern French ''officier''), from Medieval Latin ''officiarius'' "an officer," f ...
.
Biography
He was born in
Brooklyn, New York
Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...
, to George Stewart Wise and Catherine Standsberry. The Wise family moved to Virginia and his Naval career began in 1834 as a midshipman. Henry served in the
U.S.–Mexican War as a lieutenant on board the
razee
A razee or razée is a sailing ship that has been cut down (''razeed'') to reduce the number of decks. The word is derived from the French ''vaisseau rasé'', meaning a razed (in the sense of shaved down) ship.
Seventeenth century
During the ...
, seeing action in the
Gulf of California
The Gulf of California ( es, Golfo de California), also known as the Sea of Cortés (''Mar de Cortés'') or Sea of Cortez, or less commonly as the Vermilion Sea (''Mar Bermejo''), is a marginal sea of the Pacific Ocean that separates the Baja Ca ...
. He dedicated his consequent naval service in becoming an expert in gunnery. When the
American Civil War
The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...
broke out he considered serving with his home state of
Virginia
Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...
when they left the Union but opted to stay in the U.S. Navy as a captain. Promoted to commander of the in 1862, he was soon ordered to destroy the
Gosport Navy Yard, near his old home. In 1864 President Abraham Lincoln appointed Wise chief of the
Bureau of Ordnance The Bureau of Ordnance (BuOrd) was a United States Navy organization, which was responsible for the procurement, storage, and deployment of all naval weapons, between the years 1862 and 1959.
History
Congress established the Bureau in the Departmen ...
, and he was promoted to captain in 1866; he held the ordnance position until his resignation in 1868. He died in
Naples
Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...
, Italy, the following year.
In 1850 he married Catherine Brooks Everett, daughter of
Edward Everett
Edward Everett (April 11, 1794 – January 15, 1865) was an American politician, Unitarian pastor, educator, diplomat, and orator from Massachusetts. Everett, as a Whig, served as U.S. representative, U.S. senator, the 15th governor of Massa ...
and Charlotte Gray Brooks.
Children
# Charlotte Everett Wise (1851–1935) married Archibald Hopkins
# Katherine Wise (1852–1920) married Jacob W. Miller
# Edward Everett Wise (1854–1891) married Marion McAllister
# Henrietta Augusta Wise (1860–1920) married (1) Lt. John Downes (2) W.K. Nicholsen
Principal works
Under the pen name of "Harry Gringo"
* ''Los Gringos, or an Interior View of Mexico and California, with Wanderings in Peru, Chile, and Polynesia'', 1854. (Used as the basis for the 1906 opera ''The Sacrifice'', Op. 27, by
Frederick Converse
Frederick Shepherd Converse (January 5, 1871 – June 8, 1940), was an American composer of classical music, whose works include four operas and five symphonies.
Life and career
Converse was born in Newton, Massachusetts, the son of Edmund Winc ...
)
* ''Tales for the Marines'', 1855
* ''Scampavias: From Gibel-Tarek to Stamboul'', 1857
* ''The Story of the Gray African Parrot'', 1859
* ''Captain Brand of the Schooner Centipede'', 1860–64
References
;Notes
;Sources
*Duyckinck, Evert A., and George L. Duyckinck. "Henry Augustus Wise
''Cyclopaedia of American Literature; Embracing Personal and Critical Notices of Authors, and Selections from Their Writings. From the Earliest Period to the Present Day; with Portraits, Autographs, and Other Illustrations.'' New York: C. Scribner, 1856. (pp. 669–70) Accessed January 28, 2008
*Wise, Jennings C
''Col. John Wise of England and Virginia (1617-1695); His Ancestors and Descendants.''Richmond Va: Bell Books and Stationery Co, 1918. Accessed January 28, 2008
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Wise, Henry Augustus
United States Navy officers
1819 births
1869 deaths
People from Brooklyn
19th-century American writers
American military personnel of the Mexican–American War
Union Navy officers
People of Virginia in the American Civil War
19th-century American male writers