HIS EARLY YEARS 7 



service. His eldest brother, John Minor Maury, at the 

 age of thirteen, even before the family had left Virginia, 

 had become a midshipman. He then had thrilling 

 adventures in the South Seas, was with David Porter in 

 the Essex during the bloody battle with the English at 

 Valparaiso, and afterwards fought with Macdonough 

 in the Battle of Lake Champlain. All this was enough 

 to awaken the spirit of adventure and arouse the desire 

 of emulation in the heart of a younger brother. And 

 though John Maury had the misfortune, in 1824, to die 

 of yellow fever on board his ship and be buried at sea off 

 Norfolk, yet Matthew clung firmly to his decision in the 

 face of the opposition of his family, particularly his 

 father, to the entrance of a second son into so hazardous 

 a profession. 



Maury secured his midshipman's warrant with com- 

 parative ease, through General Sam Houston, who was at 

 that time the Representative of that district in Congress. 

 This appointment was gotten, however, without his 

 parents' knowledge, and when it became known to his 

 father he expressed his disapproval of his son's conduct 

 in very strong terms and determined to leave him to his 

 own resources. But young Maury was very resourceful 

 and contrived to purchase for sevent^^-five dollars a gray 

 mare from his cousin Abram Maury's overseer, which he 

 was to sell upon reaching his destination, and then he was 

 to repay the money. Still he had practically nothing for 

 traveling expenses, but this obstacle was removed by his 

 teacher, Mr. Hasbrouck, who gave him thirty dollars for 

 assistance he had rendered in teaching the younger pupils 

 in the Academy. 



On the day of his departure on that Sunday in the 

 spring of 1825, Maury's father refused to tell him good- 



