Alexander Slidell Mackenzie

Alexander Slidell Mackenzie ( born April 6, 1803 in New York City; † September 13, 1848 in Tarrytown, New York) was an American Navy officer who served during the first half of the 19th century. He also wrote several contemporary essays and biographies of major U.S. naval personalities of the early 19th century.

Life

Origin and private life

He was born as Alexander Slidell on April 6, 1803 in New York City. He was born the son of John and Margery Slidell Mackenzie. His older brother John Slidell was later U.S. Senator for Louisiana and gained notoriety due to his role in the Trent Affair. His sister married Commodore Matthew Perry, the brother of Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry.

He was the father of General Ranald Slidell Mackenzie and Lt.. Commander Alexander Slidell MacKenzie. To be able to lay claim to an inheritance by a maternal uncle, he underwent an official name change and called himself since Alexander Slidell Mackenzie.

After a long military career, he died on September 13, 1848 at his country estate near Tarrytown suddenly of a heart attack.

Military career

In January 1818, he joined as a cadet (English midshipman ) in the U.S. Navy. At the behest of his father, who pointed out in a letter that his son would have done on naval vessels since 1815 regular service, where he was also in the Mediterranean and his knowledge of French and Spanish have perfected its service entry to 1815 backdated. This fact makes him one of the youngest officers of the American Navy. In 1825 he was promoted to Lieutenant Commander and 1841. He served on a number of ships - most recently on the paddle steamer Mississippie - and was the commanding officer on the USS Somers, as it was born there in 1842 Somers affair.

Military historian and author

Alexander Slidell Mackenzie was a contemporary of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and a personal friend of Washington Irving. His first work, A Year in Spain, by a Young American (1829 ) was very fast polulär not only in America but also in England. He then pushing further noted essays on general, but especially about military issues and personalities of navigation, including the U.S. National hero John Paul Jones and Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry.

Published works (excerpt)

• By a Young American: A Year in Spain. Hilliard, Gray, Little, and Wilkins, Boston MA 1829 ( digitized ).
• By the author of " A year in Spain": The American in England. Harper & Bros., New York, NY, 1835.
• Spain Revisited. 2 vols. Harper & Bros., New York, NY, 1836.
• The life of Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry. 2 vols. Harper & Bros., New York NY 1840 ( digitized version of Volume 1 and digitized version of Volume 2).
• The Life of Paul Jones. Harper & Bros., New York NY 1841.
• Life of Commodore Stephen Decatur ( = Library of American Biography. 2nd Series, Vol 11). CC Little and J. Brown, Boston MA 1846 ( digitized ).