John Henry Russell

Background

John Henry Russell was born at Frederick, Md. , the son of Robert Grier Russell and Susan Hood (Worthington) Russell.

Education

In 1847 he entered the United States Naval Academy and was graduated in 1848.

Career

Russell entered the navy as midshipman in 1841, made one cruise in the Pacific, was then attached to the sloop St. Mary's in the Gulf of Mexico, and participated in the capture of Corpus Christi and in the blockade of Vera Cruz.

In 1853 he was assigned to the North Pacific Exploring Expedition under Cadwalader Ringgold serving as acting lieutenant and navigator in the sloop Vincennes. When the expedition reached China, Russell, under Robert Milligan McLane, the American commissioner, was present at an interview with the Chinese imperial commissioner.

After two years spent in Arctic and North Pacific waters, Russell returned to San Francisco. He was commissioned master on September 14, 1855, and lieutenant the following day.

At the outbreak of the Civil War he was on ordnance duty at the Washington navy yard. He was immediately sent to the Norfolk yard to assist in saving the Union vessels there from capture by the Confederates, and had command of the last boat to leave the yard on April 21, 1861. He was then assigned to the frigate Colorado. On the night of September 13, 1861, he commanded a boat expedition of a hundred sailors and marines to destroy the privateer Judah at Pensacola. Though she was protected by shore batteries and a force of a thousand men, Russell approached boldly in the night and, after a severe hand-to-hand fight in the early morning, succeeded in burning her to the water's edge. Admiral Porter called it "the most gallant cuttingout affair that occurred during the war" (Porter, post, p. 51). Gideon Welles extended him the special recognition of the navy department, and President Lincoln thanked him personally. The Maryland legislature also gave him a vote of thanks. He was then given command of the steamer Kennebec in Farragut's squadron. In the celebrated passage of the forts below New Orleans, the Kennebec, being slow and near the end of the line, failed to pass the forts and withdrew from action, but Russell was present at the surrender of both forts and received the garrison of Fort Jackson on board his ship.

Commissioned lieutenant commander on July 16, 1862, he commanded the Kennebec in the blockade of Mobile and the Pontiac in the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron. In 1864 he was sent to the Pacific Coast where he commanded the Cyane until the end of the war. After the war he rose successively through the grades to the rank of rear admiral on Mar. 4, 1886. He retired voluntarily in August 1886, after forty-five years of active service.

Achievements

• Russell was a capable officer and seaman, as well as a man of unflinching courage; his spectacular exploits won him the confidence and esteem of his superiors and paved the way for subsequent promotions. He participated in all the operations of Farragut's squadron up the Mississippi to Vicksburg. In September 1869 he won distinction for rescuing during a great storm in the Gulf of California the passengers and crew of the steamer Continental.

Connections

Russell married Cornelia Pierpont Treadway in 1864 and had three children.

Father:

Robert Grier Russell

Mother:

Susan Hood (Worthington) Russell

Spouse:

Cornelia Pierpont Treadway