160 HEREDITY AND DEVELOPMENT OF NAVAL OFFICERS. 



49. GEORGE HAMILTON PERKINS. 



GEORGE HAMILTON PERKINS was born December 20, 1836, at Hopkinton, Mer- 

 rimack county, New Hampshire. He was an active country boy, not partial to 

 books. At 15 years he entered the Naval Academy at Annapolis, October 1851, 

 being graduated there in 1856, after taking an extra year's work, with "the lowest 

 stand made in his class." He was assigned to the sloop Cyane, which went to the 

 isthmus of Panama to preserve order; thence he transferred to the bark Release, 

 on which he went to the Mediterranean and then to Paraguay. In April 1859 

 he successfully achieved the grade of passed midshipman, and four months later 

 went to the west coast of Africa in the Swnter, to help suppress the slave-trade. 

 There he suffered shipwreck and fevers and returned home, already a lieutenant 

 and with an acquired taste for reading, in the autumn of 1861. In February 

 1862 he began service on the gunboat Cayuga, 500 tons, which went to the mouth 

 of the Mississippi river and attempted, with other ships, the ascent to New Orleans. 

 With Perkins as pilot, the Cayuga took the lead in passing Forts Jackson and 

 Philip, which guarded New Orleans on the south. On board was Captain Bailey 

 also, in charge of the first three divisions of the fleet. The Cayuga and the other 

 ships passed at night with few casualties, despite a terrific bombardment by the 

 forts. Reaching New Orleans, Captain Bailey and Perkins, without guard or 

 arms, walked through the streets, surrounded by a howling, threatening mob, 

 to the city hall and arranged for raising the Union flag. They returned unharmed. 

 For gallantry in this affair Perkins was promoted to be lieutenant commander. 

 He was now assigned to blockade duty at the mouth of the Mississippi, from 

 June 1862 until the summer of 1863, when he was given command of the gunboat 

 New London, which passed up and down the river carrying powder to Banks's 

 army. She passed a Confederate battery five times successfully, but on the sixth 

 her boiler was pierced and exploded. Nevertheless, Perkins saved both ship and 

 men. Placed now in command of the gunboat Scioto, he engaged in blockade duty 

 from July 1863 to April 1864, capturing a prize. Given charge of the monitor 

 Chickasaw, he participated in the battle of Mobile Bay, in which his boat was 

 hit several times. When the Confederate armed ram Tennessee attacked the 

 fleet, Perkins was told to go in and fight it, the other monitors being out of action. 

 In this fight the Chickasaw worked her guns at 50 to 10 yards from the ironclad. 

 One of her shots carried away the Tennessee's smokestack, an 11-inch shell jammed 

 her turret, and another destroyed the steering-gear; no one was hurt on the Chick- 

 asaw. A few hours later the Chickasaw advanced on Fort Powell, guarding the 

 entrance to the bay, steamed to within 100 yards of it, and reduced it so that 

 it was evacuated and blown up by the defenders during that night. Perkins 

 remained on duty in Mobile bay until the end of the war and then returned home. 

 During 1865-1866 he was superintendent of ironclads at New Orleans; then 

 followed a 3 years' cruise to the Pacific on the Lackawanna. From 1869 to 

 1871 he was at the Boston navy yard, and in September 1870 married Miss Anna 

 M. Weld. In 1871 he was made commander and, in charge of the storeship Relief, 

 carried food to the famishing people of France. He was in active service until 

 in 1891, when, heart trouble having developed, Captain Perkins returned to his 

 paternal farm in New Hampshire. Here he bought land and purchased and drove 

 race-horses. He lived during the winter in Boston, enjoying reading and com- 

 panionship until he died in October 1899, of valvular heart trouble. 



