Enoch Greenleafe Parrott was an American naval officer.
Background
Enoch Greenleafe Parrott was born on November 27, 1815 in Portsmouth, Rockingham County, New Hampshire, United States. He was the son of Susan (Parker) and Enoch Greenleafe Parrott, a prominent merchant and naval agent. He was the cousin of Robert Parker Parrott.
Career
Enoch Greenleafe Parrottwas appointed midshipman on December 10, 1831, went to sea in the Brazil Squadron, and after several years in coast survey work was made lieutenant on September 8, 1841. A cruise in the Saratoga of the African Squadron, from 1841 to 1843, brought experience in punitive expeditions against coast settlements. In the Mexican War, while attached to the Congress of the Pacific Squadron, he was in the naval force accompanying Frémont's march from Monterey to Los Angeles, and he was present at the capture of Guaymas and Mazatl n on the Mexican west coast. In 1852 - 1853 he was in the Mediterranean on the St. Louis, celebrated for her rescue in July 1853 of the Hungarian patriot, Martin Koszta, from an Austrian brig of war at Smyrna. A cruise followed in the St. Mary's of the Pacific Squadron, then duty at the naval observatory in Washington, 1857-58, and subsequent special work in Washington. He was in the expedition that evacuated the Norfolk navy yard on April 20 and 21, 1861, and was promoted to commander in this month.
His first wartime distinction came with his capture, while commanding the brig Perry, of the privateer schooner Savannah, on June 3, 1861, sixty miles off Charleston. The Savannah had a pivot-gun and made some slight resistance. For this first capture of a Southern privateer, Secretary Welles officially commended the ability and energy of captain, officers, and crew. Shortly afterward Parrott was transferred to the steamer Augusta, in which he took part in the attack on Port Royal on November 7, 1861, and was later engaged in arduous blockade duty, much of the time as senior officer off Charleston. The Augusta went north in August 1862 but was back on the blockade on December and was one of the ships engaged with Confederate rams off Charleston on January 31, 1863, when she was struck by a nine-inch shell. When Admiral Samuel Francis du Pont left the blockading squadron on July following, he sailed north with Parrott in the Augusta, speaking of her at the time as one of the ships that had seen longest and hardest service.
Next year Parrott commanded the ironclad Canonicus in the James River, participating in the action on June 21, 1864, with Southern gunboats and battery near Howlett's. Commanding the monitor Monadnock, he was in the two attacks on Fort Fisher in the winter of 1864 - 1865 and in the blockade of Charleston until the surrender. Admiral David D. Porter paid high tribute to the personnel of the monitors in this service, "riding out heavy gales on an open coast, " and of their commanders declared, "I hope I shall ever keep them under my command". Parrott in particular seems to have liked monitor duty, remarking of his craft that he "did not see any difference between her and anything else".
After the war he was made captain on July 25, 1866, commodore on April 22, 1870, and rear admiral on November 8, 1873. He had duty as commander of the receiving ship at Boston from 1865 to 1868, at the Portsmouth navy yard in 1869, as commandant at Mare Island yard from 1871 to 1872, and in command of the Asiatic Squadron until his retirement on April 4, 1874. For some years his health and mind were affected by paralytic strokes, which finally caused his death on May 10, 1879. Enoch Greenleafe Parrott was buried in the graveyard of Saint John's Episcopal Church at Portsmouth.
Achievements
Connections
Being unmarried, Enoch Greenleafe Parrott spent subsequent summers with relatives in Portsmouth and winters at the Fifth Avenue Hotel in New York.