160 MATTHEW FONTAINE MAURY 



supported Maury's scheme, then suggested to President 

 Davis that the fifteen already commenced be finished 

 according to the original design, but that the remainder 

 of the appropriation be diverted to the building of iron- 

 clads. A few days later Maury wrote, "All my gunboats 

 are to be converted into shot proof or abandoned". 

 Thus ended in comparative failure this ambitious experi- 

 ment, one that was very dear to Maury. That he held 

 Mallory very much to blame is evident from the follow- 

 ing: "The administration is gravely proposing to build 

 here at Richmond a navy to go down and capture For- 

 tress Monroe! Mai. proposed the other day that I 

 should undertake to build such a navy, asserting that it 

 could be done. That, I should say, is a considerable 

 stirring up. Less than a year ago, I was to be banished 

 for advocating a navy. Now since all our naval waters 

 have been taken away and we have nowhere to float a 

 navy, yet we are to have a navy to take the strongest 

 fortress in America. Hurra for Mai.!" 



There were many others besides Maury who con- 

 sidered that Mallory's administration of the Navy 

 Department was inefficient. This is clearly shown by 

 the fact that, on A^ugust 27, 1862, the Confederate 

 Congress ordered a joint special committee of both 

 houses to investigate the affairs of this department of the 

 government. Its investigations extended from Septem- 

 ber 4, 1862 until March 24, 1863, and developed a great 

 deal of evidence of inefficient management ; but Mallory 

 was too strong politically to be ousted from his position. 

 Another severe critic of the Secretary of the Navy is 

 Pollard who, in remarking on the great energy which the 

 North from the beginning of the war displayed in naval 

 preparations, declared, "The Confederate government 



