714 



TAPPAN, JOHN. 



TATNALL, JOSIAE. 



T 



TAPPAN, Jonx, an eminent merchant and 

 philanthropist, born in Northampton, Mass., 

 in December, 1781 ; died in Boston, March 25, 

 1871. He was an elder brother of Arthur and 

 Lewis Tappan, and in 1799, at the age of eigh- 

 teen, went to Boston to enter upon a business 

 career. He was admitted as a partner in the 

 house of his employers in 1803, and from 1807 

 to 1825 was the sole manager of the very largo 

 mercantile house which was known by his 

 name. He was universally honored and es- 

 teemed as a model merchant, and when, in 

 1825, he withdrew from business, it was to the 

 regret of all his associates. But it was in the 

 wider sphere of religious, social, and moral 

 activity that he was best known and most 

 honored. He became an earnest and consist- 

 ent advocate of total abstinence from all stimu- 

 lants long before this reform had attracted 

 general attention. He was President and 

 Treasurer of the American Tract Society for 

 some forty years ; an earnest friend of foreign 

 and domestic missions ; a member of the Pru- 

 dential Committee of the American Board of 

 Commissioners for Foreign Missions, and in 

 connection with most or all of the benevolent 

 associations of Boston. 



TATNALL, JOSIAH, a naval officer, once 

 distinguished as a captain in the TJ. S. Navy, 

 but during the late civil war a commodore 

 in the so-called " Confederate " navy, born at 

 Bonaventura near Savannah, Ga., in Novem- 

 ber, 1796; died in Savannah, Ga., June 15, 

 1871. He entered the naval service in 1812, 

 and was at once ordered into active service. 

 Although a mere boy, he displayed conspicuous 

 gallantry in the well-contested but disastrous 

 battle of Bladensburg, as well as in the affair 

 at Craney Island, Hampton Eoads, where he 

 captured the admiral's barge, in June, 1813. 

 He subsequently distinguished himself, under 

 Commodore Decatur, in the Algerine War. 

 In 1818 he was commissioned a lieutenant, 

 and while commanding a gunboat in West In- 

 dian waters was so energetic in repressing 

 Spanish piracy that he received the formal 

 thanks of the Government, and was presented 

 with a service of plate by the merchants of 

 Baltimore. In 1822 he was on duty at the 

 Brooklyn Navy-yard, and in 1839 at that of 

 Oharlestown, Mass. At the outbreak of the 

 war with Mexico, Tatnall, then holding the 

 rank of commander, was placed in command 

 of the " mosquito fleet" of steamers, and par- 

 ticipated in the attacks on Tampico, Panuco, 

 and Vera Cruz. During the bombardment of 

 the castle of San Juan de Ulloa, he greatly 

 distinguished himself for the heroism with 

 which he ran his vessel under a fearful fire 

 from the Mexican guns. Before the close of 

 the action he was badly wounded in the arm. 

 Commodore Perry, in his official dispatches, 



spoke highly of his conduct, and in recogni- 

 tion of his services his native State of Georgia 

 presented him with a sword, and the citizens 

 of Savannah with a silver vase. In 1850 he 

 was promoted to the rank of captain " for gal- 

 lant and meritorious services," and in 1856 he 

 was ordered to the East Indies as flag-officer 

 of the East Indian Squadron. The war between 

 China and Great Britain was raging in 1859, 

 and in June of that year he was at the mouth 

 of the Peiho River observing the operations of 

 the belligerents. A portion of the British fleet 

 was surprised by the Chinese, who in great 

 force opened a severe fire upon the vessels and 

 very soon placed them in imminent peril. In 

 this emergency Captain Tatnall, who had been 

 watching the action, came to the rescue, de- 

 claring that " blood was thicker than water." 

 He accordingly towed the British reserves into 

 action, and thus enabled the British to gain a 

 victory. Subsequently, he passed through the 

 hottest fire in a barge, and paid a visit to Ad- 

 miral Hope, the commander of the British fleet, 

 who had been wounded. Although in giving 

 aid to the enemies of the Chinese he had vio- 

 lated the neutrality of the United States, the 

 circumstances of the case were such that hi 

 conduct received the verbal approbation 01 

 President Buchanan himself, and, as might be 

 supposed, he was officially tendered the thanks 

 of her Majesty's Government, delivered through 

 Lord Lyons, the British minister at Washington. 

 Previous to this, Captain Tatnall's support of 

 Minister Townsend Harris, while that diplomat 

 was engaged in negotiating a treaty with Ja- 

 pan, elicited the acknowledgment of the Ja- 

 panese Government for the able manner in 

 which he had aided in smoothing over difficul- 

 ties and forwarding the negotiations. In 1860 

 he brought the Japanese ambassadors to the 

 United States. In 1861, while at Sackett's 

 Harbor, his native State seceded, and, resigning 

 his commission in the service with which he 

 had so long been honorably connected, he 

 offered his sword to the cause of the Confed- 

 eracy. In the first year of the war he was in 

 command of a few puny gunboats and steam- 

 tugs at Port Eoyal when Dupont attacked it. 

 He also commanded the first Confederate iron- 

 clad Merrimac when it was burned to prevent 

 capture. In the " Confederate " navy he had 

 the rank of commodore. After the war, he 

 lived in Nova Scotia until about two years 

 ago, when he returned to Savannah. His for- 

 tune was dissipated, and the people of that 

 city elected him harbor inspector. The salary 

 of this office enabled him to pass the remainder 

 of his days in comfort. Commodore Tatnall 

 had the reputation of a sailor more distin- 

 guished for personal intrepidity in action than 

 for judgment and skill in venturing upon or 

 directing a battle. 



