Garrett J. Pendergrast
{{short description|American naval officer (1802-1862)}}
{{Infobox military person
| honorific_prefix =
| name = Garrett Jesse Pendergrast
| honorific_suffix =
| image = Commodore Garrett J. Pendergrast.jpg
| image_size = 300x300px
| caption = Commodore Garrett J. Pendergrast, studio portrait by Mathew Brady
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1802|12|5}}
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1862|11|7|1802|12|6}}
| birth_place = Kentucky, U.S.
| death_place = Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.
| placeofburial = Laurel Hill Cemetery
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.
| placeofburial_label =
| placeofburial_coordinates =
| nickname =
| birth_name =
| allegiance = United States
| branch = United States Navy
| serviceyears = 1812–1862
| rank = Commodore
| servicenumber =
| unit =
| commands = {{Plainlist |
- {{USS|Boston|1825|6}}
- USS Saranac
- {{USS|Merrimack|1855|6}}
- USS Columbia
- Home Squadron
- {{USS|Cumberland|1842|6}}
- Philadelphia Navy Yard
}}
| battles = War of 1812
Capture of the sloop Anne
Mexican–American War
American Civil War
| battles_label =
| awards =
| laterwork =
| signature =
}}
Commodore Garrett Jesse Pendergrast (December 5, 1802 – November 7, 1862) was an American naval officer who served in the United States Navy during the War of 1812 and as part of the Brazil Squadron and Home Squadron. He served in the Union Navy during the American Civil War. He commanded the USS Cumberland during the loss of the Gosport Navy Yard in Norfolk, Virginia to Confederate forces and captured 16 Confederate ships in the early stages of the Union blockade. He served as commander of the Philadelphia Navy Yard from October 1861 until his death in November 1862.
Career
Pendergrast was born on December 5, 1802, in Kentucky.{{cite news |title=Commodore Pendergast, American Navy |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-waterford-news/66674553/ |access-date=12 December 2023 |publisher=The Waterford News |date=December 19, 1862}} He entered the United States Navy as a midshipman on January 1, 1812, and served during the War of 1812.{{cite book |last1=Kinnaman |first1=Stephen Chapin |title=Merrimack - The Biography of a Steam Frigate |date=2019 |publisher=Vernon Press |location=Wilmington, Delaware |isbn=978-1-62273-449-8 |pages=30–31 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1iGADwAAQBAJ |access-date=11 December 2023}} He was promoted to lieutenant on March 3, 1821.{{cite web |url=http://www.history.navy.mil/books/callahan/reg-usn-p.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060623174738/http://www.history.navy.mil/books/callahan/reg-usn-p.htm |url-status=dead |archive-date=23 June 2006 |title=US Navy Officers: 1778–1900 (P) |work=history.navy.mil |year=2006 |access-date=30 March 2012 }}
In March, 1825, he participated in the capture of the sloop Anna. Pendergrast was one of twenty-six sailors ordered by John D. Sloat to pursue the pirate Roberto Cofresi and force his ship aground in Puerto Rico, which led to his capture.{{cite book |last1=Castleman |first1=Bruce A. |title=Knickerbocker Commodore: The Life and Times of John Drake Sloat 1781-1867 |date=2016 |publisher=State University of New York Press |location=Albany |isbn=978-1-4384-6151-9 |page=86 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ya4rDAAAQBAJ |access-date=13 December 2023}}
He was promoted to commander on September 8, 1841. On October 27, 1843, he recommissioned the sloop {{USS|Boston|1825|2}} at Boston and sailed to the South Atlantic to join the Brazil Squadron. He returned to the New York Navy Yard in February 1846.{{cite web |url=http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/b8/boston-iv.htm |title=USS Boston (IV) |work=Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships |year=2006 |access-date=30 March 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060724050236/http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/b8/boston-iv.htm |archive-date=24 July 2006 }}
As part of the Home Squadron, he commanded the steam sloop USS Saranac in 1852 and the sailing frigate USS Columbia from 1853 to 1854.{{cite book |title=Proceedings of the United States Naval Institute Volume 59 |date=1933 |publisher=United States Naval Institute |page=1165 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ci4aAAAAIAAJ |access-date=13 December 2023}}
Promoted to Captain on May 24, 1855, he commissioned the frigate {{USS|Merrimack|1855|2}} on February 20, 1856.{{cite web |url=http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/m9/merrimack-ii.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040314163448/http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/m9/merrimack-ii.htm |url-status=dead |archive-date=March 14, 2004 |title=USS Merrimack |work=Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships |year=2004 |accessdate=30 March 2012}}{{cite web |last1=Cressman |first1=Robert J. |title=Historic Fleets - 'The Most Beautiful of All the Ships in her Class' |url=https://www.usni.org/magazines/naval-history-magazine/2013/january/historic-fleets-most-beautiful-all-ships-her-class |website=www.usni.org |publisher=U.S. Naval Institute |access-date=11 December 2023}} He voyaged to the Caribbean and Western Europe in 1856 and 1857. He returned to Boston and the Merrimack was repaired and redeployed to the Pacific Squadron from 1857 to 1859.{{cite book |last1=Field |first1=Ron |title=Confederate Ironclad Vs Union Ironclad: Hampton Roads 1862 |date=2008 |publisher=Osprey Publishing |location=Oxford, UK |isbn=978-1-84603-232-5 |page=12 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Pi21CwAAQBAJ |access-date=13 December 2023}}
On September 24, 1860, Pendergrast sailed from Philadelphia aboard the sloop {{USS|Pawnee|1859|2}} in order to assume command of the Home Squadron, then operating off the coast of Mexico.{{cite web |url=http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/p3/pawnee-i.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040901091929/http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/p3/pawnee-i.htm |url-status=dead |archive-date=1 September 2004 |title=USS Pawnee |work=Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships |year=2004 |access-date=30 March 2012 }}
=Civil War=
At the outbreak of the American Civil War in 1861, Pendergrast was in command of the frigate {{USS|Cumberland|1842|2}} at anchor near the Gosport Navy Yard awaiting repairs. The Secretary of the Navy, Gideon Welles, ordered Pendergrast to remain in the Hampton Roads area to protect Gosport Navy Yard and Fort Monroe.{{cite book |last1=Quarstein |first1=John V. |title=The Battle of the Ironclads |date=1999 |publisher=Arcadia Publishing |location=Charleston, South Carolina |isbn=0-7385-0113-1 |page=15 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CRhwWfOOKgsC |access-date=13 December 2023}}{{cite web |url=http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/c16/cumberland-i.htm |title=USS Cumberland |work=Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships |year=2004 |access-date=30 March 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131204014811/http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/c16/cumberland-i.htm |archive-date=4 December 2013 }} Pendergrast positioned the Cumberland off the harbor to either defend it or protect the escape of Federal ships.{{cite book |last1=Quarstein |first1=John V. |title=The CSS Virginia: Sink Before Surrender |date=2012 |publisher=The History Press |location=Charleston, South Carolina |isbn=978-1-61423-835-5 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=g5x2CQAAQBAJ |access-date=12 December 2023}} Most of the blame for the loss of the Gosport Navy Yard fell to Charles Stewart McCauley although some of it was also placed on Pendergrast who controlled the Federal fleet on the Atlantic coast.{{cite book |last1=Browning |first1=Robert M. Jr. |title=From Cape Charles to Cape Fear: The North Atlantic Blockading Squadron during the Civil War |date=1993 |publisher=The University of Alabama Press |location=Tuscaloosa |isbn=0-8173-5019-5 |page=3 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TAMEDAAAQBAJ |access-date=12 December 2023}}
At the age of 58, Pendergrast was one of the oldest officers in service. On April 24, 1861, Pendergrast and the Cumberland, accompanied by a small flotilla of support ships, seized Confederate ships and privateers in the vicinity of Fort Monroe off the Virginia coastline. Within the next two weeks, Pendergrast had captured 16 enemy vessels,{{cite book |last1=Calore |first1=Paul |title=Naval Campaigns of the Civil War |date=2002 |publisher=McFarland & Company, Inc. |location=Jefferson, North Carolina |isbn=978-0-7864-1217-4 |page=65 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kHeg5VscP4IC |access-date=13 December 2023}} which showed that the Union blockade could be effective.Time-Life, p. 24.
He was promoted to commodore on July 16, 1862. In October 1861,{{cite book |last1=Wagner |first1=Margaret E. |last2=Gallagher |first2=Gary W. |last3=Finkelman |first3=Paul |title=The Library of Congress Civil War Desk Reference |date=2002 |publisher=The Stonesong Press, Inc. |location=New York |isbn=978-1-4391-4884-6 |page=544 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7svFnyOLknUC |access-date=12 December 2023}} Pendergrast was assigned to command the Philadelphia Navy Yard.{{cite book |last1=Taylor |first1=Frank H. |title=Philadelphia in the Civil War 1861-1865 |date=1913 |publisher=City of Philadelphia |location=Philadelphia |page=200 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ge4LAAAAYAAJ |access-date=11 December 2023}} He suffered a stroke on November 3, 1862, and died on November 7, 1862. He was interred at Laurel Hill Cemetery in Philadelphia.{{cite web |title=Garrett J Pendergrast |url=https://remembermyjourney.com/memorials/garret-j-pendergrast?id=4Dqdd3a1 |website=remembermyjourney.com |publisher=webCemeteries |access-date=4 January 2025}}
Personal life
At the age of 24, he married Susan Virginia Barron, daughter of Commodore James Barron. Upon the Secession, she reportedly refused to accompany her husband in his allegiance to the United States and swore she would never live with him again.
Dates of rank
- Midshipman - 1 January 1812
- Lieutenant - 3 March 1821
- Commander - 8 September 1841
- Captain - 24 May 1855
- Commodore, Retired List - 16 July 1862 {{cite web | url=https://www.history.navy.mil/research/library/online-reading-room/title-list-alphabetically/o/officers-continental-usnavy-mc-1775-1900.html | title=Officers of the Continental and U.S. Navy and Marine Corps 1775-1900 }}
References
Citations
{{Reflist}}
Sources
- The Civil War. The Blockade: Raiders and Runners. Time–Life Books, 1983.
External links
- {{find a Grave|22729}}
- [https://archive.today/20130119141041/http://www.civil-war-photos.com/Navy/imagepages/Commodore%20Garrett%20J.%20Pendergrast.html Photo of Pendergrast]
{{Portal|Biography|American Civil War}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pendergrast, Garrett J.}}
Category:19th-century American naval officers
Category:Burials at Laurel Hill Cemetery (Philadelphia)
Category:United States Navy officers
Category:Military personnel from Kentucky
Category:People of Kentucky in the American Civil War
Category:United States Navy commodores
Category:United States Navy personnel of the Mexican–American War