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 C ...

. 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 ...

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 Departme ...

, 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 Mass ...

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) * ''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

* * {{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