146 MATTHEW FONTAINE MAURY 



between Virginia authority and that of the Confederacy, 

 he continued, ** Davis, it appears to me, is grasping after 

 patronage. Don't think he Hkes Lee. Lee told me 

 yesterday he did not know where he was. Nor do L 

 I can see though how that may have proceeded from an 

 honest misunderstanding. But it's bad in times like 

 this to so jar your general that he does not know whether 

 he is in or out of power. . . . Where the wrong is I am 

 not so clear, but the biggest promotions seem to be on the 

 other side. You may rely upon it, the Confederate 

 States government has come here feeling that there is 

 between it and us something of antagonism". Maury 

 had reason to feel uncertain as to his standing, for Davis 

 had been unfriendly to him when he was seeking vindica- 

 tion for the unjust action of the Retiring Board, and his 

 strongest opponent at that time had been Mallory, then 

 Chairman of the Senate Naval Affairs Committee and 

 later Secretary of the Navy in the Confederate govern- 

 ment. Besides, among the naval officers whom Maury 

 had affronted during that unpleasant controversy was 

 Buchanan, who had become the officer of highest rank in 

 the Confederate Navy. 



Maury had the affairs of his family on his mind also, 

 and he was particularly concerned over his wife who had 

 been made ill by the shock incident to the sudden out- 

 break of the war and the breaking up of her home 

 in Washington. She and her younger children had, 

 through the kindness of a cousin, John Minor, been 

 taken into his home in Fredericksburg, a handsome brick 

 house with a lovely garden, which still stands at 214 

 Main Street much as it appeared when the refugees 

 occupied it. Here came also Maury's two married 

 daughters with their children, Mrs. W. A. Maury with 



