Confederate Naval Cadet: The Diary and Letters of Midshipman Hubbard T. Minor, with a History of the Confederate Naval Academy by Hubbard T. Minor

Edited by R. Thomas Campbell
Illustrated, maps, appendices, notes, bibliography, index, softcover, 216 pp, 2006. McFarland & Company Inc., Publishers, Box 611, Jefferson, NC 28640, $39.95 plus shipping.

Reviewer: Joseph Derie
Joseph Derie is a VMI graduate and a long time Civil War buff and military book reviewer. A retired Coast Guard officer and licensed officer of the Merchant Marine, he is a Certified Marine Investigator and marine surveyor.

Review:
Prolific Civil War naval historian R. Thomas Campbell has combined the three diaries of Hubbard T. Minor (archived at the U.S. Army Military History Institute at Carlisle Barracks, Pa.) into one to give us a glimpse of the life of a midshipman in the Confederate States Navy.

Minor was an 18-year-old Virginian serving in the 42nd Tennessee Infantry located near Jackson, Miss., and part of Gen. Joseph E. Johnston's force that was supposed to relieve Vicksburg, when appointed to the Confederate Naval Academy (CNA) in July 1863. He had enlisted in the 42nd in November 1862 while the regiment was stationed in Port Hudson, La.

What Minor was doing in Louisiana and how he came to select the 42nd to serve with is not discussed in the volume but would certainly be of interest. Why he applied to the Naval Academy is also not given, but it is assumed the influence of his cousin, Lt. Robert D. Minor, CSN, had something to do with it.

Minor was in the first class of the CNA and the diaries he kept were part of the midshipmen's assignments to keep a written record of their duties and activities, to be presented at the time of their examination for Passed Midshipman. It is one of only two known to have survived.

The CNA was a work-study program where midshipmen were assigned to the school ship CSS Patrick Henry, at Richmond, to learn theory and then were assigned to the fleet to gain practical experience.

Minor was assigned to the ironclad CSS Savannah, part of the Savannah Squadron, in December 1863, and was selected for the expedition that captured the USS Water Witch in June 1864. He was commended for his role in that undertaking and his journal entry is particularly interesting for that operation.

He abandoned Savannah with the rest of the Confederate forces prior to Sherman's capture of the city, and returned to the Patrick Henry sometime in late December. He remained aboard until the fall of Richmond.

He was on the sick list at that time and made his own way via train to Danville and later to Charlotte. He was paroled from near there while still sick, and made his way home to Virginia after the fall of the Confederacy. He died in 1874.

The diary is unfortunately extremely short and to fill out the volume the editor has added chapters about the history of the 42nd Tennessee, a history of the CNA as well as information on it academic staff.

The volume also contains eight appendices containing the Regulations of the School Ship CSS Patrick Henry, reports from the Official Records, and reprints from articles in the Southern Historical Society Papers and the US Naval Institute Proceedings.

The diary is interesting and shows the life of a Midshipman in the Confederate Navy, as well as the life of a young man in the military who was trying to have some sort of social life. Being stationed in Richmond and Savannah certainly gave Minor more opportunity than if he were with one of the field armies.

He wasn't happy at the Academy and at one time considered attempting to get a commission as an artillery captain in the Confederate Army with orders to join the Trans-Mississippi Department. This entry is followed by: "Got to thinking of Miss Stenrod & thought how much she would think of me if I were a Captain of Artillery."

The volume is wonderfully illustrated and well edited. Portions of the diary are interspersed with comments from other contemporary observers enabling the reader to see a larger picture and providing more background. It will be of especial interest to Confederate Naval buffs as well as those who like first-hand accounts of the Civil War. It is recommended.